,,the ,,destiny ,,of ,,the ,,soul4 ,a ,,critical ,,history ,,of ,,the ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life1 ,,by ,,william ,,rounseville ,,alger4 ,,tenth ,,edition1 ,,with ,,six ,,new ,,chapters1 ,,and ,a ,complete ,bibliography of the ,subject4 ,note3 bibliography not included here ,,comprising #digg ,,books ,,relating ,,to ,,the ,,nature1 ,,origin1 ,,and ,,destiny ,,of ,,the ,,soul4 ,,the ,,titles ,,classified ,,and ,,arranged ,,chronologically1 ,,with ,,notes1 ,,and ,,indexes ,,of ,,the ,,authors ,,and ,,subjects4 ,,by ,,ezra ,,abbot1 ,,professor ,,of ,,new ,,testament ,,criticism ,,and ,,interpretation ,,in ,,the ,,divinity ,,school ,,of ,,harvard ,,university4 ,,boston3 ,,roberts ,,brothers4 #ahhj ,entered according to ,act of ,congress1 in the year #ahfj1 by ,,william ,,rounseville ,,alger1 in the ,clerk's ,office of the ,district ,court of the ,united ,states for the ,district of ,massachusetts4 ,copyright #ahgh1 ,w4,r4 ,alger ,,electrotyped ,,by ,,johnson ,,co41 ,,philada4 ,university ,press3 ,john ,wilson ,son1 ,cambridge4 ,,preface ,,to ,,the ,,tenth ,,edition4 ,,this work has passed through nine editions1 and has been out of print now for nearly a year4 ,during the twenty years which have elapsed since it was written1 the question of immortality1 the faith and opinions of men and the drift of criticism and doubt concerning it1 have been a subject of dominant interest to me1 and have occupied a large space in my reading and reflection4 ,accordingly1 now that my publisher1 moved by the constant demand for the volume1 urges the preparation of a new edition introducing such additional materials as my continued researches have gathered or constructed1 ,i gladly comply with his request4 ,the present work is not only historic but it is also polemic2 polemic1 however1 not in the spirit or interest of any party or conventicle1 but in the spirit and interest of science and humanity4 ,orthodoxy insists on doctrines whose irrationality in their current forms is such that they can never be a basis for the union of all men4 ,therefore1 to discredit these1 in preparation for more reasonable and auspicious views1 is a service to the whole human race4 ,this is my justification for the controversial quality which may frequently strike the reader4 ,looking back over his pages1 after nearly a quarter of a century more of investigation and experience1 the author is grateful that he finds nothing to retract or expunge4 ,he has but to add such thoughts and illustrations as have occurred to him in the course of his subsequent studies4 ,he hopes that the supplementary chapters now published will be found more suggestive and mature than the preceding ones1 while the same in aim and tone4 ,for he still believes1 as he did in his earlier time1 that there is much of error and superstition1 bigotry and cruelty1 to be purged out of the prevailing theological creed and sentiment of ,christendom4 ,and he still hopes1 as he did then1 to contribute something of good influence in this direction4 ,the large circulation of the work1 the many letters of thanks for it received by the author from laymen and clergymen of different denominations1 the numerous avowed and unavowed quotations from it in recent publications1 all show that it has not been produced in vain1 but has borne fruit in missionary service for reason1 liberty1 and charity4 ,this ventilating and illumining function of fearless and reverential critical thought will need to be fulfilled much longer in many quarters4 ,the doctrine of a future life has been made so frightful by the preponderance in it of the elements of material torture and sectarian narrowness1 that a natural revulsion of generous sentiment joins with the impulse of materialistic science to produce a growing disbelief in any life at all beyond the grave4 ,nothing else will do so much to renew and extend faith in ,god and immortality as a noble and beautiful doctrine of ,god and immortality1 freed from disfiguring terror1 selfishness1 and favoritism4 ,the most popular preacher in ,england has recently asked his fellow believers1 ,can we go to our beds and sleep while ,china1 ,india1 ,japan1 and other nations are being damned8 ,the proprietor of a great foundry in ,germany1 while he talked one day with a workman who was feeding a furnace1 accidentally stepped back1 and fell headlong into a vat of molten iron4 ,the thought of what happened then horrifies the imagination4 ,yet it was all over in two or three seconds4 ,multiply the individual instance by unnumbered millions1 stretch the agony to temporal infinity1 and we confront the orthodox idea of hell6 ,protesting human nature hurls off such a belief with indignant disdain1 except in those instances where the very form and vibration of its nervous pulp have been perverted by the hardening animus of a dogmatic drill transmitted through generations4 ,to trace the origin of such notions1 expose their baselessness1 obliterate their sway1 and replace them with conceptions of a more rational and benignant order1 is a task which still needs to be done1 and to be done in many forms1 over and over1 again and again4 ,though each repetition tell but slightly1 it tells4 ,every sound argument is instantly crowned with universal victory in the sight of ,god1 and therefore must at last be so in the sight of mankind4 ,however slowly the logic of events limps after the logic of thoughts1 it always follows4 ,let the mind of one man perceive the true meaning of the doctrine of the general resurrection and judgment and eternal life1 as a natural evolution of history from within1 and it will spread to the minds of all men2 and the misinterpretation of that doctrine so long prevalent1 as a preternatural irruption of power from without1 will be set aside forever4 ,for there is a providential plan of ,god1 not injected by arbitrary miracle1 but inhering in the order of the world1 centred in the propulsive heart of humanity1 which beats throb by throb along the web of events1 removing obstacles and clearing the way for the revelation of the completed pattern4 ,when it is done no trumpets may be blown1 no rocks rent1 no graves opened4 ,but all immortal spirits will be at their goals1 and the universe will be full of music4 ,,new ,,york1 ,february #bb1 #ahgh4 ,,preface4 ,,who follows truth carries his star in his brain4 ,even so bold a thought is no inappropriate motto for an intellectual workman1 if his heart be filled with loyalty to ,god1 the ,author of truth and the ,maker of stars4 ,in this double spirit of independence and submission it has been my desire to perform the arduous task now finished and offered to the charitable judgment of the reader4 ,one may be courageous to handle both the traditions and the novelties of men1 and yet be modest before the solemn mysteries of fate and nature4 ,he may place no veil before his eyes and no finger on his lips in presence of popular dogmas1 and yet shrink from the conceit of esteeming his mind a mirror of the universe4 ,ideas1 like coins1 bear the stamp of the age and brain they were struck in4 ,many a phantom which ought to have vanished at the first cock crowing of reason still holds its seat on the oppressed heart of faith before the terror stricken eyes of the multitude4 ,every thoughtful scholar who loves his fellow men must feel it an obligation to do what he can to remove painful superstitions1 and to spread the peace of a cheerful faith and the wholesome light of truth4 ,the theories in theological systems being but philosophy1 why should they not be freely subjected to philosophical criticism8 ,i have endeavored1 without virulence1 arrogance1 or irreverence towards any thing sacred1 to investigate the various doctrines pertaining to the great subject treated in these pages4 ,many persons1 of course1 will find statements from which they dissent1 sentiments disagreeable to them4 ,but1 where thought and discussion are so free and the press so accessible as with us1 no one but a bigot will esteem this a ground of complaint4 ,may all such passages be charitably perused1 fairly weighed1 and1 if unsound1 honorably refuted6 ,if the work be not animated with a mean or false spirit1 but be catholic and kindly1 if it be not superficial and pretentious1 but be marked by patience and thoroughness1 is it too much to hope that no critic will assail it with wholesale condemnation simply because in some parts of it there are opinions which he dislikes8 ,one dispassionate argument is more valuable than a shower of missile names4 ,the most vehement revulsion from a doctrine is not inconsistent1 in a ,christian mind1 with the sweetest kindness of feeling towards the persons who hold that doctrine4 ,earnest theological debate may be carried on without the slightest touch of ungenerous personality4 ,who but must feel the pathos and admire the charity of these eloquent words of ,henry ,giles8 ,every deep and reflective nature looking intently 'before and after1' looking above1 around1 beneath1 and finding silence and mystery to all his questionings of the ,infinite1 cannot but conceive of existence as a boundless problem1 perhaps an inevitable darkness between the limitations of man and the incomprehensibility of ,god4 ,a nature that so reflects1 that carries into this sublime and boundless obscurity 'the large discourse of ,reason1' will not narrow its concern in the solution of the problem to its own petty safety1 but will brood over it with an anxiety which throbs for the whole of humanity4 ,such a nature must needs be serious2 but never will it be arrogant3 it will regard all men with an embracing pity4 ,strange it should ever be otherwise in respect to inquiries which belong to infinite relations1 that mean enmities1 bitter hatreds1 should come into play in these fathomless searchings of the soul6 ,bring what solution we may to this problem of measureless alternatives1 whether by ,reason1 ,scripture1 or the ,church1 faith will never stand for fact1 nor the firmest confidence for actual consciousness4 ,the man of great and thoughtful nature1 therefore1 who grapples in real earnest with this problem1 however satisfied he may be with his own solution of it1 however implicit may be his trust1 however assured his convictions1 will yet often bow down before the awful veil that shrouds the endless future1 put his finger on his lips1 and weep in silence4 ,the present work is in a sense1 an epitome of the thought of mankind on the destiny of man4 ,i have striven to add value to it by comprehensiveness of plan1 not confining myself1 as most of my predecessors have confined themselves1 to one province or a few narrow provinces of the subject1 but including the entire subject in one volume2 by carefulness of arrangement1 not piling the material together or presenting it in a chaos of facts and dreams1 but grouping it all in its proper relations2 by clearness of explanation1 not leaving the curious problems presented wholly in the dark with a mere statement of them1 but as far as possible tracing the phenomena to their origin and unveiling their purport2 by poetic life of treatment1 not handling the different topics dryly and coldly1 but infusing warmth and color into them2 by copiousness of information1 not leaving the reader to hunt up every thing for himself1 but referring him to the best sources for the facts1 reasonings1 and hints which he may wish2 and by persevering patience of toil1 not hastily skimming here and there and hurrying the task off1 but searching and researching in every available direction1 examining and re examining each mooted point1 by the devotion of twelve years of anxious labor4 ,how far my efforts in these particulars have been successful is submitted to the public4 ,to avoid the appearance of pedantry in the multiplication of foot notes1 ,i have inserted many authorities incidentally in the text itself1 and have omitted all except such as ,i thought would be desired by the reader4 ,every scholar knows how easy it is to increase the number of references almost indefinitely1 and also how deceptive such an ostensible evidence of wide reading may be4 ,when the printing of this volume was nearly completed1 and ,i had in some instances made more references than may now seem needful1 the thought occurred to me that a full list of the books published up to the present time on the subject of a future life1 arranged according to their definite topics and in chronological order1 would greatly enrich the work and could not fail often to be of vast service4 ,accordingly1 upon solicitation1 a valued friend ,mr4 ,ezra ,abbot1 ,jr41 a gentleman remarkable for his varied and accurate scholarship undertook that laborious task for me2 and he has accomplished it in the most admirable manner4 ,no reader1 however learned1 but may find much important information in the bibliographical appendix which ,i am thus enabled to add to this volume4 ,every student who henceforth wishes to investigate any branch of the historical or philosophical doctrine of the immortality of the soul1 or of a future life in general1 may thank ,mr4 ,abbot for an invaluable aid4 ,as ,i now close this long labor and send forth the result1 the oppressive sense of responsibility which fills me is relieved by the consciousness that ,i have herein written nothing as a bigoted partisan1 nothing in a petty spirit of opinionativeness1 but have intended every thought for the furtherance of truth1 the honor of ,god1 the good of man4 ,the majestic theme of our immortality allures yet baffles us4 ,no fleshly implement of logic or cunning tact of brain can reach to the solution4 ,that secret lies in a tissueless realm whereof no nerve can report beforehand4 ,we must wait a little4 ,soon we shall grope and guess no more1 but grasp and know4 ,meanwhile1 shall we not be magnanimous to forgive and help1 diligent to study and achieve1 trustful and content to abide the invisible issue8 ,in some happier age1 when the human race shall have forgotten1 in philanthropic ministries and spiritual worship1 the bigotries and dissensions of sentiment and thought1 they may recover1 in its all embracing unity1 that garment of truth which ,god made originally seamless as the firmament1 now for so long a time torn in shreds by hating schismatics4 ,oh1 when shall we learn that a loving pity1 a filial faith1 a patient modesty1 best become us and fit our state8 ,the pedantic sciolist1 prating of his clear explanations of the mysteries of life1 is as far from feeling the truth of the case as an ape1 seated on the starry summit of the dome of night1 chattering with glee over the awful prospect of infinitude4 ,what ordinary tongue shall dare to vociferate egotistic dogmatisms where an inspired apostle whispers1 with reverential reserve1 ,we see through a glass darkly8 ,there are three things1 said an old monkish chronicler1 which often make me sad4 ,first1 that ,i know ,i must die2 second1 that ,i know not when2 third1 that ,i am ignorant where ,i shall then be4 ,est primum durum quod scio me moriturum3 ,secundum1 timeo quia hoc nescio quando3 ,hine tertium1 flebo quod nescio ubi manebo4 ,man is the lonely and sublime ,columbus of the creation1 who1 wandering on this cloudy strand of time1 sees drifted waifs and strange portents borne far from an unknown somewhere1 causing him to believe in another world4 ,comes not death as a means to bear him thither8 ,accordingly as hope rests in heaven1 fear shudders at hell1 or doubt faces the dark transition1 the future life is a sweet reliance1 a terrible certainty1 or a pathetic perhaps4 ,but living in the present in the humble and loving discharge of its duties1 our souls harmonized with its conditions though aspiring beyond them1 why should we ever despair or be troubled overmuch8 ,have we not eternity in our thought1 infinitude in our view1 and ,god for our guide8 ,,contents ,part ,first4 ,,historical ,,and ,,critical ,,introductory ,,views4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,theories ,,of ,,the ,,soul',s ,,origin ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,history ,,of ,,death ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,grounds ,,of ,,the ,,belief ,,in ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,theories ,,of ,,the ,,soul',s ,,destination ,part ,second4 ,,ethnic ,,thoughts ,,concerning ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,barbarian ,,notions ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,druidic ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,scandinavian ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,etruscan ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,v4 ,,egyptian ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,bramanic ,,and ,,buddhist ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,persian ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,hebrew ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,rabbinical ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,x4 ,,greek ,,and ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,mohammedan ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,explanatory ,,survey ,,of ,,the ,,field ,,and ,,its ,,myths ,part ,third4 ,,new ,,testament ,,teachings ,,concerning ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,peter',s ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,in ,,the ,,epistle ,,to ,,the ,,hebrews ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,in ,,the ,,apocalypse ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,paul',s ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,v4 ,,john',s ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,christ',s ,,teachings ,,concerning ,,the ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,resurrection ,,of ,,christ ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,essential ,,christian ,,doctrine ,,of ,,death ,,and ,,life ,part ,fourth4 ,,christian ,,thoughts ,,concerning ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,patristic ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,mediaval ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,modern ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,part ,fifth4 ,,historical ,,and ,,critical ,,dissertations ,,concerning ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,in ,,the ,,ancient ,,mysteries ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,metempsychois2 ,,or1 ,,transmigration ,,of ,,souls ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,resurrection ,,of ,,the ,,flesh ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,doctrine ,,of ,,future ,,punishment2 ,,or1 ,,critical ,,history ,,of ,,the ,,idea ,,of ,a ,,hell ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the ,,five ,,theoretic ,,modes ,,of ,,salvation ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,recognition ,,of ,,friends ,,in ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,local ,,fate ,,of ,,man ,,in ,,the ,,astronomic ,,universe ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,critical ,,history ,,of ,,disbelief ,,in ,a ,,future ,,life ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,morality ,,of ,,the ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,part ,sixth4 ,,supplementary ,,chapters4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,end ,,of ,,the ,,world ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,day ,,of ,,judgment ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,mythological ,,hell ,,and ,,the ,,true ,,one2 ,,or1 ,,the ,,law ,,of ,,perdition ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,gates ,,of ,,heaven2 ,,or1 ,,the ,,law ,,of ,,salvation ,,in ,,all ,,worlds ,,chapter ,v4 ,,resume ,,of ,,the ,,subject3 ,,how ,,the ,,question ,,of ,,immortality ,,now ,,stands ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,the ,,transient ,,and ,,the ,,permanent ,,in ,,the ,,destiny ,,of ,,the ,,soul ,,part ,,first4 ,,historical ,,and ,,critical ,,introductory ,,views4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,theories ,,of ,,the ,,soul',s ,,origin4 ,,pausing1 in a thoughtful hour1 on that mount of observation whence the whole prospect of life is visible1 what a solemn vision greets us6 ,we see the vast procession of existence flitting across the landscape1 from the shrouded ocean of birth1 over the illuminated continent of experience1 to the shrouded ocean of death4 ,who can linger there and listen1 unmoved1 to the sublime lament of things that die8 ,although the great exhibition below endures1 yet it is made up of changes1 and the spectators shift as often4 ,each rank of the host1 as it advances from the mists of its commencing career1 wears a smile caught from the morning light of hope1 but1 as it draws near to the fatal bourne1 takes on a mournful cast from the shadows of the unknown realm4 ,the places we occupy were not vacant before we came1 and will not be deserted when we go1 but are forever filling and emptying afresh4 ,still to every draught of vital breath ,renew'd throughout the bounds of earth and ocean1 ,the melancholy gates of death ,respond with sympathetic motion4 ,we appear1 there is a short flutter of joys and pains1 a bright glimmer of smiles and tears1 and we are gone4 ,but whence did we come8 ,and whither do we go8 ,can human thought divine the answer8 ,it adds no little solemnity and pathos to these reflections to remember that every considerate person in the unnumbered successions that have preceded us1 has1 in his turn1 confronted the same facts1 engaged in the same inquiry1 and been swept from his attempts at a theoretic solution of the problem into the real solution itself1 while the constant refrain in the song of existence sounded behind him1 ,one generation passeth away1 and another generation cometh2 but the earth abideth forever4 ,the evanescent phenomena1 the tragic plot and scenery of human birth1 action1 and death1 conceived on the scale of reality1 clothed in ,the sober coloring taken from an eye ,that hath kept watch o'er man's mortality1 and viewed in a susceptible spirit1 are1 indeed1 overwhelmingly impressive4 ,they invoke the intellect to its most piercing thoughts4 ,they swell the heart to its utmost capacity of emotion4 ,they bring us upon the bended knees of wonder and prayer4 ,between two worlds life hovers1 like a star' ,twixt night and morn upon the horizon's verge4 ,how little do we know that which we are6 ,how less what we may be6 ,the eternal surge ,of time and tide rolls on1 and bears afar ,our bubbles3 as the old burst1 new emerge1 ,lash'd from the foam of ages3 while the graves ,of empires heave but like some passing waves4 ,widely regarding the history of human life from the beginning1 what a visionary spectacle it is6 ,how miraculously permanent in the whole6 how sorrowfully ephemeral in the parts6 ,what pathetic sentiments it awakens6 ,amidst what awful mysteries it hangs6 ,the subject of the derivation of the soul has been copiously discussed by hundreds of philosophers1 physicians1 and poets1 from ,vyasa to ,des ,cartes1 from ,galen to ,ennemoser1 from ,orpheus to ,henry ,more1 from ,aristotle to ,frohschammer4 ,german literature during the last hundred years has teemed with works treating of this question from various points of view4 ,the present chapter will present a sketch of these various speculations concerning the commencement and fortunes of man ere his appearance on the stage of this world4 ,the first theory to account for the origin of souls is that of emanation4 ,this is the analogical theory1 constructed from the results of sensible observation4 ,there is1 it says1 one infinite ,being1 and all finite spirits are portions of his substance1 existing a while as separate individuals1 and then reassimilated into the general soul4 ,this form of faith1 asserting the efflux of all subordinate existence out of one ,supreme ,being1 seems sometimes to rest on an intuitive idea4 ,it is spontaneously suggested whenever man confronts the phenomena of creation with reflective observation1 and ponders the eternal round of birth and death4 ,accordingly1 we find traces of this belief all over the world2 from the ancient ,hindu metaphysics whose fundamental postulate is that the necessary life of ,god is one constant process of radiation and resorption1 letting out and drawing in1 to that modern ,english poetry which apostrophizes the glad and winsome child as ,a silver stream ,breaking with laughter from the lake ,divine ,whence all things flow4 ,the conception that souls are emanations from ,god is the most obvious way of accounting for the prominent facts that salute our inquiries4 ,it plausibly answers some natural questions1 and boldly eludes others4 ,for instance1 to the early student demanding the cause of the mysterious distinctions between mind and body1 it says1 the one belongs to the system of passive matter1 the other comes from the living ,fashioner of the ,universe4 ,again3 this theory relieves us from the burden that perplexes the finite mind when it seeks to understand how the course of nature1 the succession of lives1 can be absolutely eternal without involving an alternating or circular movement4 ,the doctrine of emanation has1 moreover1 been supported by the supposed analytic similarity of the soul to ,god4 ,its freedom1 consciousness1 intelligence1 love1 correspond with what we regard as the attributes and essence of ,deity4 ,the inference1 however unsound1 is immediate1 that souls are consubstantial with ,god1 dissevered fragments of ,him1 sent into bodies4 ,but1 in actual effect1 the chief recommendation of this view has probably been the variety of analogies and images under which it admits of presentation4 ,the annual developments of vegetable life from the bosom of the earth1 drops taken from a fountain and retaining its properties in their removal1 the separation of the air into distinct breaths1 the soil into individual atoms1 the utterance of a tone gradually dying away in reverberated echoes1 the radiation of beams from a central light1 the exhalation of particles of moisture from the ocean1 the evolution of numbers out of an original unity1 these are among the illustrations by which an exhaustless ingenuity has supported the notion of the emanation of souls from ,god4 ,that something cannot come out of nothing is an axiom resting on the ground of our rational instincts4 ,and seeing all things within our comprehension held in the chain of causes and effects1 one thing always evolving from another1 we leap to the conclusion that it is precisely the same with things beyond our comprehension1 and that ,god is the aboriginal reservoir of being from which all the rills of finite existence are emitted4 ,against this doctrine the current objections are these two4 ,first1 the analogies adduced are not applicable4 ,the things of spirit and those of matter have two distinct sets of predicates and categories4 ,it is1 for example1 wholly illogical to argue that because the circuit of the waters is from the sea1 through the clouds1 over the land1 back to the sea again1 therefore the derivation and course of souls from ,god1 through life1 back to ,god1 must be similar4 ,there are mysteries in connection with the soul that baffle the most lynx eyed investigation1 and on which no known facts of the physical world can throw light4 ,secondly1 the scheme of emanation depends on a vulgar error1 belonging to the infancy of philosophic thought1 and inconsistent with some necessary truths4 ,it implies that ,god is separable into parts1 and therefore both corporeal and finite4 ,divisible substance is incompatible with the first predicates of ,deity1 namely1 immateriality and infinity4 ,before the conception of the illimitable1 spiritual unity of ,god1 the doctrine of the emanation of souls from ,him fades away1 as the mere figment of a dreaming mind brooding over the suggestions of phenomena and apparent correspondences4 ,the second explanation of the origin of souls is that which says they come from a previous existence4 ,this is the theory of imagination1 framed in the free and seductive realm of poetic thought4 ,it is evident that this idea does not propose any solution of the absolute origination of the soul1 but only offers to account for its appearance on earth4 ,the pre existence of souls has been most widely affirmed4 ,nearly the whole world of ,oriental thinkers have always taught it4 ,many of the ,greek philosophers held it4 ,no small proportion of the early ,church ,fathers believed it4#a ,and it is not without able advocates among the scholars and thinkers #a ,keil1 ,opuscula2 ,be ,pre existentia ,animarum4 ,beausobre1 ,hist4 du ,manicheisme1 lib4 vii4 cap4 iv4 of our own age4 ,there are two principal forms of this doctrine2 one asserting an ascent of souls from a previous existence below the rank of man1 the other a descent of souls from a higher sphere4 ,generation is the true ,jacob's ladder1 on which souls are ever ascending or descending4 ,the former statement is virtually that of the modern theory of development1 which argues that the souls known to us1 obtaining their first organic being out of the ground life of nature1 have climbed up through a graduated series of births1 from the merest elementary existence1 to the plane of human nature4 ,a gifted author1 ,dr4 ,hedge1 has said concerning pre existence in these two methods of conceiving it1 writing in a half humorous1 half serious1 vein1 ,it is to be considered as expressing rather an exceptional than a universal fact4 ,if here and there some pure liver1 or noble doer1 or prophet voice1 suggests the idea of a revenant who1 moved with pity for human kind1 and charged with celestial ministries1 has condescended to ',soil his pure ambrosial weeds ,with the rank vapors of this sin worn mould1' or if1 on the other hand1 the 'superfluity of naughtiness' displayed by some abnormal felon seems to warrant the supposition of a visit from the ,pit1 the greater portion of mankind1 we submit1 are much too green for any plausible assumption of a foregone training in good or evil4 ,this planet is not their missionary station1 nor their ,botany ,bay1 but their native soil4 ,or1 if we suppose they pre existed at all1 we must rather believe they pre existed as brutes1 and have travelled into humanity by the fish fowl quadruped road with a good deal of the habitudes and dust of that tramp still sticking to them4 ,the theory of development1 deriving human souls by an ascension from the lower stages of rudimentary being1 considered as a fanciful hypothesis or speculative toy1 is interesting1 and not destitute of plausible aspects4 ,but1 when investigated as a severe thesis1 it is found devoid of proof4 ,it is enough here to say that the most authoritative voices in science reject it1 declaring that1 though there is a development of progress in the plan of nature1 from the more general to the more specific1 yet there is no advance from one type or race to another1 no hint that the same individual ever crosses the guarded boundaries of genus from one rank and kingdom to another4 ,whatever progress there may be in the upward process of natural creation or the stages of life1 yet to suppose that the life powers of insects and brutes survive the dissolution of their bodies1 and1 in successive crossings of the death gulf1 ascend to humanity1 is a bare assumption4 ,it befits the delirious lips of ,beddoes1 who says1 ,had ,i been born a four legg'd child1 methinks ,i might have found the steps from dog to man ,and crept into his nature4 ,are there not ,those that fall down out of humanity ,into the story where the four legg'd dwell8 ,the doctrine that souls have descended from an anterior life on high may be exhibited in three forms1 each animated by a different motive4 ,the first is the view of some of the ,manichean teachers1 that spirits were embodied by a hostile violence and cunning1 the force and fraud of the apostatized ,devil4 ,adam and ,eve were angels sent to observe the doings of ,lucifer1 the rebel king of matter4 ,he seized these heavenly spies and encased them in fleshly prisons4 ,and then1 in order to preserve a permanent union of these celestial natures with matter1 he contrived that their race should be propagated by the sexes4 ,whenever by the procreative act the germ body is prepared1 a fiend hies from bale1 or an angel stoops from bliss1 or a demon darts from his hovering in the air1 to inhabit and rule his growing clay house for a term of earthly life4 ,the spasm of impregnation thrills in fatal summons to hell or heaven1 and resistlessly drags a spirit into the appointed receptacle4 ,shakspeare1 whose genius seems to have touched every shape of thought with adorning phrase1 makes ,juliet1 distracted with the momentary fancy that ,romeo is a murderous villain1 cry1 ,o ,nature6 what hadst thou to do in hell ,when thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend ,in mortal paradise of such sweet flesh8 ,the second method of explaining the descent of souls into this life is by the supposition that the stable bliss1 the uncontrasted peace and sameness1 of the heavenly experience1 at last wearies the people of ,paradise1 until they seek relief in a fall4 ,the perfect sweetness of heaven cloys1 the utter routine and safety tire1 the salient spirits1 till they long for the edge and hazard of earthly exposure1 and wander down to dwell in fleshly bodies and breast the tempest of sin1 strife1 and sorrow1 so as to give a fresh charm once more to the repose and exempted joys of the celestial realm4 ,in this way1 by a series of recurring lives below and above1 novelty and change with larger experience and more vivid contentment are secured1 the tedium and satiety of fixed happiness and protection are modified by the relishing opposition of varied trials of hardship and pain1 the insufferable monotony of immortality broken up and interpolated by epochs of surprise and tingling dangers of probation4 ,mortals1 behold6 the very angels quit ,their mansions unsusceptible of change1 ,amid your dangerous bowers to sit ,and through your sharp vicissitudes to range6 ,thus round and round we run through an eternity of lives and deaths4 ,surfeited with the unqualified pleasures of heaven1 we straggle down to this terrene nativity3 ,when1 amid the sour exposures and cruel storms of the world1 we have renewed our appetite for the divine ambrosia of peace and sweetness1 we forsake the body and ascend to heaven2 this constant recurrence illustrating the great truths1 that alternation is the law of destiny1 and that variety is the spice of life4 ,but the most common derivation of the present from a previous life is that which explains the descent as a punishment for sin4 ,in that earlier and loftier state1 souls abused their freedom1 and were doomed to expiate their offences by a banished1 imprisoned1 and burdensome life on the earth4 ,the soul1 ,plutarch writes1 has removed1 not from ,athens to ,sardis1 or from ,corinth to ,lemnos1 but from heaven to earth2 and here1 ill at ease1 and troubled in this new and strange place1 she hangs her head like a decaying plant4 ,hundreds of passages to the same purport might easily be cited from as many ancient writers4 ,sometimes this fall of souls from their original estate was represented as a simultaneous event3 a part of the heavenly army1 under an apostate leader1 having rebelled1 were defeated1 and sentenced to a chained bodily life4 ,our whole race were transported at once from their native shores in the sky to the convict land of this world4 ,sometimes the descent was attributed to the fresh fault of each individual1 and was thought to be constantly happening4 ,a soul tainted with impure desire1 drawn downwards by corrupt material gravitation1 hovering over the fumes of matter1 inhaling the effluvia of vice1 grew infected with carnal longings and contagions1 became fouled and clogged with gross vapors and steams1 and finally fell into a body and pursued the life fitted to it below4 ,a clear human child is a shining seraph from heaven sunk thus low4 ,men are degraded cherubim4 ,our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting3 ,the soul that rises with us1 our life's star1 ,hath had elsewhere its setting1 ,and cometh from afar4 ,the theory of the pre existence of the soul merely removes the mystery one stage further back1 and there leaves the problem of our origin as hopelessly obscure as before4 ,it is sufficiently refuted by the open fact that it is absolutely destitute of scientific basis4 ,the explanation of its wide prevalence as a belief is furnished by two considerations4 ,first1 there were old authoritative sages and poets who loved to speculate and dream1 and who published their speculations and dreams to reign over the subject fancies of credulous mankind4 ,secondly1 the conception was intrinsically harmonious1 and bore a charm to fascinate the imagination and the heart4 ,the fragmentary visions1 broken snatches1 mystic strains1 incongruous thoughts1 fading gleams1 with which imperfectrecollection comes laden from our childish years and our nightly dreams1 are referred by self pleasing fancy to some earlier and nobler existence4 ,we solve the mysteries of experience by calling them the veiled vestiges of a bright life departed1 pathetic waifs drifted to these intellectual shores over the surge of feeling from the wrecked orb of an anterior existence4 ,it gratifies our pride to think the soul a star travelled stranger1 a disguised prince1 who has passingly alighted on this globe in his eternal wanderings4 ,the gorgeous glimpses of truth and beauty here vouchsafed to genius1 the wondrous strains of feeling that haunt the soul in tender hours1 are feeble reminiscences of the prerogatives we enjoyed in those eons when we trod the planets that sail around the upper world of the gods4 ,that ennui or plaintive sadness which in all life's deep and lonesome hours seems native to our hearts1 what is it but the nostalgia of the soul remembering and pining after its distant home8 ,vague and forlorn airs come floating into our consciousness1 as from an infinitely remote clime1 freighted with a luxury of depressing melancholy4 ,ah6 not the nectarous poppy lovers use1 ,not daily labor's dull ,lethean spring1 ,oblivion in lost angels can infuse ,of the soil'd glory and the trailing wing4 ,how attractive all this must be to the thoughts of men1 how fascinating to their retrospective and aspiring reveries1 it should be needless to repeat4 ,how baseless it is as a philosophical theory demanding sober belief1 it should be equally superfluous to illustrate further4 ,the third answer to the question concerning the origin of the soul is that it is directly created by the voluntary power of ,god4 ,this is the theory of faith1 instinctively shrinking from the difficulty of the problem on its scientific ground1 and evading it by a wholesale reference to ,deity4 ,some writers have held that all souls were created by the ,divine fiat at the beginning of the world1 and laid up in a secret repository1 whence they are drawn as occasion calls4 ,the ,talmudists say1 ,all souls were made during the six days of creation2 and therefore generation is not by traduction1 but by infusion of a soul into body4 ,others maintain that this production of souls was not confined to any past period1 but is continued still1 a new soul being freshly created for every birth4 ,whenever certain conditions meet1 ,then ,god smites his hands together1 ,and strikes out a soul as a spark1 ,into the organized glory of things1 ,from the deeps of the dark4 ,this is the view asserted by ,vincentius ,victor in opposition to the dogmatism of ,tertullian on the one hand and to the doubts of ,augustine on the other4#b ,it is called the theory of ,insufflation1 because it affirms that ,god immediately breathes a soul into each new being3 even as in the case of ,adam1 of whom we read that ,god breathed into his nostrils the breath of life1 and he became a living soul4 ,the doctrine drawn from this ,mosaic text1 that the soul is a divine substance1 a breath of ,god1 miraculously breathed by ,him into every creature at the commencement of its existence1 often reappears1 and plays a prominent part in the history of psychological opinions4 ,it corresponds with the beautiful ,greek myth of ,prometheus1 who is fabled to have made a human image from the dust of the ground1 and then1 by fire stolen from heaven1 to have animated it with a living soul4 ,so man1 as to his body1 is made of earthly clay2 but the ,promethean spark that forms his soul is the fresh breath of ,god4 ,there is no objection to the real ground and essence of this theory1 only to its form and accompaniments4 ,it is purely anthropomorphitic2 it conceives ,god as working1 after the manner of a man1 intermittently1 arbitrarily4 ,it insulates the origination of souls from the fixed course of nature1 severs it from all connection with that common process of organic life which weaves its inscrutable web through the universe1 that system of laws which expresses the unchanging will of ,god1 and which constitutes the order by whose solemn logic alone ,he acts4 ,the objection to this view is1 in a word1 that it limits the creative action of ,god to human souls4 ,we suppose that ,he creates our bodies as well2 that ,he is the immediate ,author of all life in the same sense in which ,he is the immediate ,author of our souls4 ,the opponents of the creation theory1 who strenuously fought it in the seventeenth century1 were accustomed to urge against it the fanciful objection that it puts ,god to an invenust #b ,augustine1 ,de ,anima et ejus ,origine1 lib4 iv4 employment scarce consistent with his verecundious holiness2 for1 if it be true1 whenever the lascivious consent to uncleanness and are pleased to join in unlawful mixture1 ,god is forced to stand a spectator of their vile impurities1 stooping from his throne to attend their bestial practices1 and raining down showers of souls to animate the emissions of their concupiscence#c ,a fourth reply to the inquiry before us is furnished in ,tertullian's famous doctrine of ,traduction1 the essential import of which is that all human souls have been transmitted1 or brought over1 from the soul of ,adam4 ,this is the theological theory3 for it arose from an exigency in the dogmatic system generally held by the patristic ,church4 ,the universal depravity of human nature1 the inherited corruption of the whole race1 was a fundamental point of belief4 ,but how reconcile this proposition with the conception1 entertained by many1 that each new born soul is a fresh creation from the substance1 spirit1 or breath of ,god8 ,augustine writes to ,jerome1 asking him to solve this question4#d ,tertullian1 whose fervid mind was thoroughly imbued with materialistic notions1 unhesitatingly cut this ,gordian knot by asserting that our first parent bore within him the undeveloped germ of all mankind1 so that sinfulness and souls were propagated together4 #e ,thus the perplexing query1 how souls are held in the chain of original sin1 was answered4 ,as ,neander says1 illustrating ,tertullian's view1 ,the soul of the first man was the fountain head of all human souls3 all the varieties of individual human nature are but modifications of that one spiritual substance4 ,in the light of such a thought1 we can see how ,nature might1 when solitary ,adam lived1 fulfil ,lear's wild conjuration1 and ,all the germens spill ,at once that make ingrateful man4 ,in the seventh chapter of the ,koran it is written1 ,the ,lord drew forth their posterity from the loins of the sons of ,adam4 ,the commentators say that ,god passed his hand down ,adam's back1 and extracted all the generations which should come into the world until the resurrection4 ,assembled in the presence of the angels1 and endued with understanding1 they confessed their dependence on ,god1 and were then caused to return into the loins of their great ancestor4 ,this is one of the most curious doctrines within the whole range of philosophical history4 ,it implies the strict corporeality of the soul2 and yet how infinitely fine must be its attenuation when it has been diffused into countless thousands of millions6 ,der ,urkeim theilt sich ins ,unendliche4 ,what6 will the line stretch out to the crack of doom8 ,the whole thought is absurd4 ,it was not reached by an induction of facts1 a study of phenomena1 or any fair process of reasoning1 but was arbitrarily created to rescue a dogma from otherwise inevitable rejection4 ,it was the desperate clutch of a heady theologian reeling in a vortex of hostile argument1 and ready to seize any fancy1 however artificial1 to save #c ,edward ,warren1 ,no ,pre ,existence1 p4 #gd4 #d ,epistola ,,clxvi4 #e ,de ,anima1 cap4 x4 et xix4 himself from falling under the ruins of his system4 ,henry ,woolner published in ,london1 in #afee1 a book called ,extraction of ,soul3 a sober and judicious inquiry to prove that souls are propagated2 because1 if they are created1 original sin is impossible4 ,the theological dogma of traduction has been presented in two forms4 ,first1 it is declared that all souls are developed out of the one substance of ,adam's soul2 a view that logically implies an ultimate attenuating diffusion1 ridiculously absurd4 ,secondly1 it is held that the eating of the forbidden fruit corrupted all the vital fluids of ,eve2 and this corruption carried vicious and chaotic consequences into her ova1 in which lay the souls of all her posterity1 with infinitely little bodies1 already existing4#f ,this form is as incredible as the other2 for it equally implies a limitless distribution of souls from a limited deposit4 ,as ,whewell says1 ,this successive inclusion of germs 7,einschachtelungs ,theorie7 implies that each soul contains an infinite number of germs4#g ,it necessarily excludes the formation of new spiritual substance3 else original transmitted sin is excluded4 ,the doctrine finds no parallelism anywhere else in nature4 ,who1 no matter how wedded to the theology of original sin and transmitted death1 would venture to stretch the same thesis over the animal races1 and affirm that the dynamic principles1 or animating souls1 of all serpents1 eagles1 and lions1 were once compressed in the first patriarchal serpent1 eagle1 or lion8 ,that the whole formative power of all the simultaneous members of our race was concentrated in the first cell germ of our original progenitor1 is a scientific impossibility and incredibleness4 ,the fatal sophistry in the traducian account of the transmission of souls may be illustrated in the following manner4 ,the germs of all the apple trees now in existence did not lie in the first apple seed4 ,all the apple trees now existing were not derived by literal development out of the actual contents of the first apple seed4 ,no3 but the truth is this4 ,there was a power in the first apple seed to secure certain conditions2 that is1 to organize a certain status in which the plastic vegetative life of nature would posit new and similar powers and materials4 ,so not all souls were latent in ,adam's1 but only an organizing power to secure the conditions on which the ,divine ,will that first began1 would1 in accordance with ,his creative plan1 forever continue1 ,his spirit creation4 ,the distinction of this statement from that of traduction is the difference between evolution from one original germ or stock and actual production of new beings4 ,its distinction from the third theory the theory of immediate creation is the difference between an intermittent interposition of arbitrary acts and the continuous working of a plan according to laws scientifically traceable4 ,there is another solution to the question of the soul's origin1 which has been propounded by some philosophers and may be called the speculative theory4 ,its statement is that the germs of souls were created simultaneously with the formation of the material universe1 and were copiously sown abroad through all nature1 waiting there to be successively taken up and furnished with the conditions of development4#h ,these latent seeds of souls1 swarming in all places1 are drawn in with the first breath or imbibed with the earliest nourishment of the #f ,hennings1 ,geschichte von den ,seelen der ,menschen1 s4 #ejj4 #g ,philosophy of the ,inductive ,sciences1 vol4 ,i4 b4 ix4 ch4 iv4 sect4 #d4 #h ,ploucquet1 ,de ,origin atque ,generatione ,anima ,humana ex ,principiis ,monadologicis stabilita4 new born child into the already constructed body which before has only a vegetative life4 ,the ,germans call this representation panspermismus1 or the dissemination theory4 ,leibnitz1 in his celebrated monadology1 carries the same view a great deal further4 ,he conceives the whole created universe1 visible and invisible1 to consist of monads1 which are not particles of matter1 but metaphysical points of power4 ,these monads are all souls4 ,they are produced by what he calls fulgurations of ,god4 ,the distinction between fulguration and emanation is this3 in the latter case the procession is historically defined and complete2 in the former case it is momentaneous4 ,the monads are radiated from the ,divine ,will1 forth through the creation1 by the constant flashes of ,his volition4 ,all nature is composed of them1 and nothing is depopulated and dead4 ,their naked being is force1 and their indestructible predicates are perception1 desire1 tendency to develop4 ,while they lie dormant1 their potential capacities all inwrapped1 they constitute what we entitle matter4 ,when1 by the rising stir of their inherent longing1 they leave their passive state and reach a condition of obscure consciousness1 they become animals4 ,finally1 they so far unwind their bonds and evolve their facultative potencies as to attain the rank of rational minds in the grade of humanity4 ,generation is merely the method by which the aspiring monad lays the organic basis for the grouped building of its body4 ,man is a living union of monads1 one regent monad presiding over the whole organization4 ,that king monad which has attained to full apperception1 the free exercise of perfect consciousness1 is the immortal human soul4 #i ,any labored attempt to refute this ingenious doctrine is needless1 since the doctrine itself is but the developed structure of a speculative conception with no valid basis of observed fact4 ,it is a sheer hypothesis1 spun out of the self fed bowels of a priori assumption and metaphysic fancy4 ,it solves the problems only by changes of their form1 leaving the mysteries as numerous and deep as before4 ,it is a beautiful and sublime piece of latent poetry1 the evolution and architecture of which well display the wonderful genius of ,leibnitz4 ,it is a more subtle and powerful process of thought than ,aristotle's ,organon1 a more pure and daring work of imagination than ,milton's ,paradise ,lost4 ,but it spurns the tests of experimental science1 and is entitled to rank only among the splendid curiosities of philosophy2 a brilliant and plausible theorem1 not a sober and solid induction4 ,one more method of treating the inquiry before us will complete the list4 ,it is what we may properly call the scientific theory1 though in truth it is hardly a theory at all1 but rather a careful statement of the observed facts1 and a modest confession of inability to explain the cause of them4 ,those occupying this position1 when asked what is the origin of souls1 do not pretend to unveil the final secret1 but simply say1 everywhere in the world of life1 from bottom to top1 there is an organic growth in accordance with conditions4 ,this is what is styled the theory of epigenesis1 and is adopted by the chief physiologists of the present day4 ,swammerdam1 ,malebranche1 even ,cuvier1 had defended the doctrine of successive inclusion2 but ,wolf1 ,blumenbach1 and ,von ,baer established in its place the doctrine of epigenesis4 #aj #i ,leibnitz1 ,monadologie4 #aj ,ennemoser1 ,historisch psychologische ,untersuchungen tiber den ,ursprung der menschlichen ,seelen1 zweite ,auflage4 ,scrupulously confining themselves to the mass of collected facts and the course of scrutinized phenomena1 they say there is a natural production of new living beings in conformity to certain laws1 and give an exposition of the fixed conditions and sequences of this production4 ,here they humbly stop1 acknowledging that the causal root of power1 which produces all these consequences1 is an inexplicable mystery4 ,their attitude is well represented by ,swedenborg when he says1 in reference to this very subject1 ,any one may form guesses2 but let no son of earth pretend to penetrate the mysteries of creation4 #aa ,let us notice now the facts submitted to us4 ,first1 at the base of the various departments of nature1 we see a mass of apparently lifeless matter4 ,out of this crude substratum of the outward world we observe a vast variety of organized forms produced by a variously named but unknown ,power4 ,they spring in regular methods1 in determinate shapes1 exist on successive stages of rank1 with more or less striking demarcations of endowment1 and finally fall back again1 as to their physical constituents1 into the inorganic stuff from which they grew4 ,this mysterious organizing ,power1 pushing its animate and builded receptacles up to the level of vegetation1 creates the world of plants4 ,every clod feels a stir of might1 ,an instinct within it that reaches and towers1 ,and1 grasping blindly above it for light1 ,climbs to a soul in grass and flowers4 ,on the level of sensation1 where the obscure rudiments of will1 understanding1 and sentiment commence1 this life giving ,power creates the world of animals4 ,and so1 on the still higher level of reason and its concomitants1 it creates the world of men4 ,in a word1 the great general fact is that an unknown ,power call it what we may1 ,nature1 ,vital ,force1 or ,god creates1 on the various planes of its exercise1 different families of organized beings4 ,secondly1 a more special fact is1 that when we have overleaped the mystery of a commencement1 every being yields seed according to its kind1 wherefrom1 when properly conditioned1 its species is perpetuated4 ,how much1 now1 does this second fact imply8 ,it is by adding to the observed phenomena an indefensible hypothesis that the error of traduction is obtained4 ,we observe that human beings are begotten by a deposit of germs through the generative process4 ,to affirm that these germs are transmitted down the generations from the original progenitor of each race1 in whom they all existed at first1 is an unwarranted assertion and involves absurdities4 ,it is refuted both by ,geoffrey ,st4 ,hilaire's famous experiments on eggs1 and by the crossing of species4#ab ,in opposition to this theological figment1 observation and science require the belief that each being is endowed independently with a germ forming power4 ,organic life requires three things3 a fruitful germ2 a quickening impulse2 a nourishing medium4 ,science plainly shows us that this primal nucleus is given1 in the human species1 by the union of the contents of a sperm cell with those of a germ cell2 that this dynamic start is imparted from the life force of the parents2 and that this feeding environment is #aa ,tract on the ,origin and ,propagation of the ,soul1 chap4 i4 #ab ,flourens1 ,amount of ,life on the ,globe1 part ii4 ch4 iii4 sect4 ii4 furnished by the circle of co ordinated relations4 ,that the formative power of the new organism comes from1 or at least is wholly conditioned by1 the parent organism1 should be believed1 because it is the obvious conclusion1 against which there is nothing to militate4 ,that the soul of the child comes in some way from the soul of the parent1 or is stamped by it1 is also implied by the normal resemblance of children to parents1 not more in bodily form than in spiritual idiosyncrasies4 ,this fact alone furnishes the proper qualification to the acute and significant lines of the ,platonizing poet3 ,wherefore who thinks from souls new souls to bring1 ,the same let presse the sunne beames in his fist ,and squeeze out drops of light1 or strongly wring ,the rainbow till it die his hands1 well prest4 ,that which is born of the flesh is flesh3 that which is born of the spirit is spirit4 ,as the body of the child is the derivative of a germ elaborated in the body of the parent1 so the soul of the child is the derivative of a developing impulse of power imparted from the soul of the parent4 ,and as the body is sustained by absorbing nutrition from matter1 so the soul is sustained by assimilating the spiritual substances of the invisible kingdom4 ,the most ethereal elements must combine to nourish that consummate plant whose blossom is man's mind4 ,this representation is not materialism2 for spirit belongs to a different sphere and is the subject of different predicates from matter1 though equally under a constitution of laws4 ,nor does this view pretend to explain what is inherently transcendent3 it leaves the creation of the soul within as wide a depth and margin of mystery as ever4 ,neither is this mode of exposing the problem atheistic4 ,it refers the forms of life1 all growths1 all souls1 to the indefinable ,power that works everywhere1 creates each thing1 vivifies1 governs1 and contains the universe4 ,and1 however that ,power be named1 is it not ,god8 ,and thus we still reverently hold that it is ,god's own hands ,that reach through nature1 moulding men4 ,the ancient heroes of ,greece and ,india were fond of tracing their genealogy up directly to their deities1 and were proud to deem that in guarding them the gods stooped to watch over a race of kings1 a puissant and immortal stock1 ,whose glories stream'd from the same clond girt founts ,whence their own dawn'd upon the infant world4 ,after all the researches that have been made1 we yet find the secret of the beginning of the soul shrouded among the fathomless mysteries of the ,almighty ,creator1 and must ascribe our birth to the ,will of ,god as piously as it was done in the eldest mythical epochs of the world4 ,notwithstanding the careless frivolity of skepticism and the garish light of science abroad in this modern time1 there are still stricken and yearning depths of wonder and sorrow enough1 profound and awful shadows of night and fear enough1 to make us recognise1 in the golden joys that visit us rarely1 in the illimitable visions that emancipate us often1 in the unearthly thoughts and dreams that ravish our minds1 enigmatical intimations of our kinship with ,god1 prophecies of a super earthly destiny whose splendors already break through the clouds of ignorance1 the folds of flesh1 and the curtains of time in which our spirits here sit pavilioned4 ,augustine pointedly observes1 ,it is no evil that the origin of the soul remains obscure1 if only its redemption be made certain4#ac ,non est periculum si origo animoe lateat1 dum redemptio clareat4 ,no matter how humanity originates1 if its object be to produce fruit1 and that fruit be immortal souls4 ,when our organism has perfected its intended product1 willingly will we let the decaying body return into the ground1 if so be we are assured that the ripened spirit is borne into the heavenly garner4 ,let us1 in close1 reduce the problem of the soul's origin to its last terms4 ,the amount of force in the universe is uniform4#ad ,action and reaction being equal1 no new creation of force is possible3 only its directions1 deposits1 and receptacles may be altered4 ,no combination of physical processes can produce a previously non existent subject3 it can only initiate the modification1 development1 assimilation1 of realities already in being4 ,something cannot come out of nothing4 ,the quickening formation of a man1 therefore1 implies the existence1 first1 of a material germ1 the basis of the body2 secondly1 of a power to impart to that germ a dynamic impulse1 in other words1 to deposit in it a spirit atom1 or monad of life force4 ,now1 the fresh body is originally a detached product of the parent body1 as an apple is the detached product of a tree4 ,so the fresh soul is a transmitted force imparted by the parent soul1 either directly from itself1 or else conditioned by it and drawn from the ground life of nature1 the creative power of ,god4 ,if filial soul be begotten by procession and severance of conscious force from parental soul1 the spiritual resemblance of offspring and progenitors is clearly explained4 ,this phenomenon is also equally well explained if the parent soul1 so called1 be a die striking the creative substance of the universe into individual form4 ,the latter supposition seems1 upon the whole1 the more plausible and scientific4 ,generation is a reflex condition moving the life basis of the world to produce a soul1 as a physical impression moves the soul to produce a perception4#ae ,but1 however deep the mystery of the soul's origin1 whatever our conclusion in regard to it1 let us not forget that the inmost essence and verity of the soul is conscious power2 and that all power defies annihilation4 ,it is an old declaration that what begins in time must end in time2 and with the metaphysical shears of that notion more than once the burning faith in eternal life has been snuffed out4 ,yet how obvious is its sophistry6 ,a being beginning in time need not cease in time1 if the ,power which originated it intends and provides for its perpetuity4 ,and that such is the ,creative intention for man appears from the fact that the grand forms of belief in all ages issuing from his mental organization have borne the stamp of an expected immortality4 ,our ideas may disappear1 but they are always recoverable4 ,if the souls of men are ideas of ,god1 must they not be as enduring as his mind8 #ac ,epist4 ,,clvi4 #ad ,faraday1 ,conservation of ,force1 ,phil4 ,mag41 ,april1 #aheg4 #ae ,dr4 ,frohschammer1 ,ursprang der menechlichen ,seelen1 sect4 #aae4 ,the naturalist who so immerses his thoughts in the physical phases of nature as to lose hold on indestructible centres of personality1 should beware lest he lose the motive which propels man to begin here1 by virtue and culture1 to climb that ladder of life whose endless sides are affections1 but whose discrete rounds are thoughts4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,history ,,of ,,death4 ,,death is not an entity1 but an event2 not a force1 but a state4 ,life is the positive experience1 death the negation4 ,yet in nearly every literature death has been personified1 while no kindred prosopopoeia of life is anywhere to be found4 ,with the ,greeks1 ,thanatos was a god2 with the ,romans1 ,mors was a goddess3 but no statue was ever moulded1 no altar ever raised1 to ,zoe or ,vita4 ,at first thought1 we should anticipate the reverse of this2 but1 in truth1 the fact is quite naturally as it is4 ,life is a continuous process2 and any one who makes the effort will find how difficult it is to conceive of it as an individual being1 with distinctive attributes1 functions1 and will4 ,it is an inward possession which we familiarly experience1 and in the quiet routine of custom we feel no shock of surprise at it1 no impulse to give it imaginative shape and ornament4 ,on the contrary1 death is an impending occurrence1 something which we anticipate and shudder at1 something advancing toward us in time to strike or seize us4 ,its externality to our living experience1 its threatening approach1 the mystery and alarm enwrapping it1 are provocative conditions for fanciful treatment1 making personifications inevitable4 ,with the ,old ,aryan race of ,india1 death is ,yama1 the soul of the first man1 departed to be the king of the subterranean realm of the subsequent dead1 and returning to call after him each of his descendants in turn4 ,to the good he is mild and lovely1 but to the impious he is clad in terror and acts with severity4 ,the purely fanciful character of this thought is obvious2 for1 according to it1 death was before death1 since ,yama himself died4 ,yama does not really represent death1 but its arbiter and messenger4 ,he is the ruler over the dead1 who himself carries the summons to each mortal to become his subject4 ,in the ,hebrew conception1 death was a majestic angel1 named ,sammael1 standing in the court of heaven1 and flying thence over the earth1 armed with a sword1 to obey the behests of ,god4 ,the ,talmudists developed and dressed up the thought with many details1 half sublime1 half fantastic4 ,he strides through the world at a step4 ,from the soles of his feet to his shoulders he is full of eyes4 ,every person in the moment of dying sees him2 and at the sight the soul retreats1 running through all the limbs1 as if asking permission to depart from them4 ,from his naked sword fall three drops3 one pales the countenance1 one destroys the vitality1 one causes the body to decay4 ,some ,rabbins say he bears a cup from which the dying one drinks1 or that he lets fall from the point of his sword a single acrid drop upon the sufferer's tongue3 this is what is called tasting the bitterness of death4 ,here again1 we see1 it is not strictly death that is personified4 ,the embodiment is not of the mortal act1 but of the decree determining that act4 ,the ,jewish angel of death is not a picture of death in itself1 but of ,god's decree coming to the fated individual who is to die4 ,the ,greeks sometimes depicted death and sleep as twin boys1 one black1 one white1 borne slumbering in the arms of their mother1 night4 ,in this instance the phenomenon of dissolving unconsciousness which falls on mortals1 abstractly generalized in the mind1 is then concretely symbolized4 ,it is a bold and happy stroke of artistic genius2 but it in no way expresses or suggests the scientific facts of actual death4 ,there is also a classic representation of death as a winged boy with a pensive brow and an inverted torch1 a butterfly at his feet4 ,this beautiful image1 with its affecting accompaniments1 conveys to the beholder not the verity1 nor an interpretation1 of death1 but the sentiments of the survivors in view of their bereavement4 ,the sad brow denotes the grief of the mourner1 the winged insect the disembodied psyche1 the reversed torch the descent of the soul to the under world2 but the reality of death itself is nowhere hinted4 ,the ,romans give descriptions of death as a female figure in dark robes1 with black wings1 with ravenous teeth1 hovering everywhere1 darting here and there1 eager for prey4 ,such a view is a personification of the mysteriousness1 suddenness1 inevitableness1 and fearfulness1 connected with the subject of death in men's minds1 rather than of death itself4 ,these thoughts are grouped into an imaginary being1 whose sum of attributes are then ignorantly both associated with the idea of the unknown cause and confounded with the visible effect4 ,it is1 in a word1 mere poetry1 inspired by fear and unguided by philosophy4 ,death has been shown in the guise of a fowler spreading his net1 setting his snares for men4 ,but this image concerns itself with the accidents of the subject1 the unexpectedness of the fatal blow1 the treacherous springing of the trap1 leaving the root of the matter untouched4 ,the circumstances of the mortal hour are infinitely varied1 the heart of the experience is unchangeably the same3 there are a thousand modes of dying1 but there is only one death4 ,ever so complete an exhibition of the occasions and accompaniments of an event is no explanation of what the inmost reality of the event is4 ,the ,norse conception of death as a vast1 cloudy presence1 darkly sweeping on its victims1 and bearing them away wrapped in its sable folds1 is evidently a free product of imagination brooding not so much on the distinct phenomena of an individual case as on the melancholy mystery of the disappearance of men from the familiar places that knew them once but miss them now4 ,in a somewhat kindred manner1 the startling magnificence of the sketch in the ,apocalypse1 of death on the pale horse1 is a product of pure imagination meditating on the wholesale slaughter which was to deluge the earth when ,god's avenging judgments fell upon the enemies of the ,christians4 ,but to consider this murderous warrior on his white charger as literally death1 would be as erroneous as to imagine the bare armed executioner and the guillotine to be themselves the death which they inflict4 ,no more appalling picture of death has been drawn than that by ,milton1 whose dire image has this stroke of truth in it1 that its adumbrate formlessness typifies the disorganizing force which reduces all cunningly built bodies of life to the elemental wastes of being4 ,the incestuous and mistreated progeny of ,sin is thus delineated3 ,the shape1 ,if shape it might be call'd that shape had none ,distinguishable in member1 joint1 or limb1 ,or substance might be call'd that shadow seem'd1 ,for each seem'd either1 black it stood as night1 ,fierce as ten furies1 terrible as hell1 ,and shook a dreadful dart3 what seem'd his head ,the likeness of a kingly crown had on4 ,but the most common personification of death is as a skeleton brandishing a dart2 and then he is called the grisly king of terrors2 and people tremble at the thought of him1 as children do at the name of a bugbear in the dark4 ,what sophistry this is6 ,it is as if we should identify the trophy with the conqueror1 the vestiges left in the track of a traveller with the traveller himself4 ,death literally makes a skeleton of man2 so man metaphorically makes a skeleton of ,death6 ,all these representations of death1 however beautiful1 or pathetic1 or horrible1 are based on superficial appearances1 misleading analogies1 arbitrary fancies1 perturbed sensibilities1 not on a firm hold of realities1 insight of truth1 and philosophical analysis4 ,they are all to be brushed aside as phantoms of nightmare or artificial creations of fiction4 ,poetry has mostly rested1 hitherto1 on no veritable foundation of science1 but on a visionary foundation of emotion4 ,it has wrought upon flitting1 sensible phenomena rather than upon abiding substrata of facts4 ,for example1 a tender ,greek bard personified the life of a tree as a ,hamadryad1 the moving trunk and limbs her undulating form and beckoning arms1 the drooping boughs her hair1 the rustling foliage her voice4 ,a modern poet1 endowed with the same strength of sympathy1 but acquainted with vegetable chemistry1 might personify sap as a pale1 liquid maiden1 ascending through the roots and veins to meet air1 a blue boy robed in golden warmth1 descending through the leaves1 with a whisper1 to her embrace4 ,so the personifications of death in literature1 thus far1 give us no penetrative glance into what it really is1 help us to no acute definition of it1 but poetically fasten on some feature1 or accident1 or emotion1 associated with it4 ,there are in popular usage various metaphors to express what is meant by death4 ,the principal ones are1 extinction of the vital spark1 departing1 expiring1 cutting the thread of life1 giving up the ghost1 falling asleep4 ,these figurative modes of speech spring from extremely imperfect correspondences4 ,indeed1 the unlikenesses are more important and more numerous than the likenesses4 ,they are simply artifices to indicate what is so deeply obscure and intangible4 ,they do not lay the secret bare1 nor furnish us any aid in reaching to the true essence of the question4 ,moreover1 several of them1 when sharply examined1 involve a fatal error4 ,for example1 upon the admitted supposition that in every case of dying the soul departs from the body1 still1 this separation of the soul from the body is not what constitutes death4 ,death is the state of the body when the soul has left it4 ,an act is distinct from its effects4 ,we must1 therefore1 turn from the literary inquiry to the metaphysical and scientific method1 to gain any satisfactory idea and definition of death4 ,a ,german writer of extraordinary acumen and audacity has said1 ,only before death1 but not in death1 is death death4 ,death is so unreal a being that he only is when he is not1 and is not when he is4#a ,this paradoxical and puzzling as it may appear is susceptible of quite lucid interpretation and defence4 ,for death is1 in its naked significance1 the state of not being4 ,of course1 then1 it has no existence save in the conceptions of the living4 ,we compare a dead #a ,feuerbach1 ,gedanken uber ,tod and ,unsterblichkeit1 sect4 #hd4 person with what he was when living1 and instinctively personify the difference as death4 ,death1 strictly analyzed1 is only this abstract conceit or metaphysical nonentity4 ,death1 therefore1 being but a conception in the mind of a living person1 when that person dies death ceases to be at all4 ,and thus the realization of death is the death of death4 ,he annihilates himself1 dying with the dart he drives4 ,having in this manner disposed of the personality or entity of death1 it remains as an effect1 an event1 a state4 ,accordingly1 the question next arises1 ,what is death when considered in this its true aspect8 ,a positive must be understood before its related negative can be intelligible4 ,bichat defined life as the sum of functions by which death is resisted4 ,it is an identical proposition in verbal disguise1 with the fault that it makes negation affirmation1 passiveness action4 ,death is not a dynamic agency warring against life1 but simply an occurrence4 ,life is the operation of an organizing force producing an organic form according to an ideal type1 and persistently preserving that form amidst the incessant molecular activity and change of its constituent substance4 ,that operation of the organic force which thus constitutes life is a continuous process of waste1 casting off the old exhausted matter1 and of replacement by assimilation of new material4 ,the close of this process of organific metamorphosis and desquamation is death1 whose finality is utter decomposition1 restoring all the bodily elements to the original inorganic conditions from which they were taken4 ,the organic force with which life begins constrains chemical affinity to work in special modes for the formation of special products3 when it is spent or disappears1 chemical affinity is at liberty to work in its general modes2 and that is death4 ,life is the co ordination of actions2 the imperfection of the co ordination is disease1 its arrest is death4 ,in other words1 life is the continuous adjustment of relations in an organism with relations in its environment4 ,disturb that adjustment1 and you have malady2 destroy it1 and you have death4 ,life is the performance of functions by an organism2 death is the abandonment of an organism to the forces of the universe4 ,no function can be performed without a waste of the tissue through which it is performed3 that waste is repaired by the assimilation of fresh nutriment4 ,in the balancing of these two actions life consists4 ,the loss of their equipoise soon terminates them both2 and that is death4 ,upon the whole1 then1 scientifically speaking1 to cause death is to stop that continuous differentiation and integration of tissues and of states of consciousness constituting life4 #b ,death1 therefore1 is no monster1 no force1 but the act of completion1 the state of cessation2 and all the bugbears named death are but poor phantoms of the frightened and childish mind4 ,life consisting in the constant differentiation of the tissues by the action of oxygen1 and their integration from the blastema furnished by the blood1 why is not the harmony of these processes preserved forever8 ,why should the relation between the integration and disintegration going on in the human organism ever fall out of correspondence with the relation between the oxygen and food supplied from its environment8 ,that is to say1 whence originated the sentence of death upon man8 ,why do we not live immortally as we are8 ,the current reply is1 we die because our first parent sinned4 ,death is a penalty inflicted upon the #b ,spencer1 ,principles of ,psychology1 pp4 #ccd-cgc4 human race because ,adam disobeyed his ,maker's command4 ,we must consider this theory a little4 ,the narrative in ,genesis1 of the creation of man and of the events in the ,garden of ,eden1 cannot be traced further back than to the time of ,solomon1 three thousand years after the alleged occurrences it describes4 ,this portion of the book of ,genesis1 as has long been shown1 is a distinct document1 marked by many peculiarities1 which was inserted in its present place by the compiler of the elder ,hebrew ,scriptures somewhere between seven and ten centuries before ,christ4#c ,ewald has fully demonstrated that the book of ,genesis consists of many separate fragmentary documents of different ages1 arranged together by a comparatively late hand4 ,among the later of these pieces is the account of the primeval pair in paradise4 ,grotefend argues1 with much force and variety of evidence1 that this story was derived from a far more ancient legend book1 only fragments of which remained when the final collection was made of this portion of the ,old ,testament4#d ,many scholars have thought the account was not of ,hebrew origin1 but was borrowed from the literary traditions of some earlier ,oriental nation4 ,rosenmuller1 ,von ,bohlen1 and others1 say it bears unmistakable relationship to the ,zendavesta which tells how ,ahriman1 the old ,serpent1 beguiled the first pair into sin and misery4 ,these correspondences1 and also that between the tree of life and the ,zoroastrian plant hom1 which gives life and will produce the resurrection1 are certainly striking4 ,buttmann sees in ,god's declaration to ,adam1 ,behold1 ,i have given you for food every herb bearing seed1 and every tree in which is fruit bearing seed1 traces of a prohibition of animal food4 ,this was not the vestige of a ,hebrew usage1 but the vegetarian tradition of some sect eschewing meat1 a tradition drawn from ,south ,asia1 whence the fathers of the ,hebrew race came4#e ,gesenius says1 ,many things in this narrative were drawn from older ,asiatic tradition4 #f ,knobel also affirms that numerous matters in this relation were derived from traditions of ,east ,asian nations4#g ,still1 it is not necessary to suppose that the writer of the account in ,genesis borrowed any thing from abroad4 ,the ,hebrew may as well have originated such ideas as anybody else4 ,the ,egyptians1 the ,phoenicians1 the ,chaldeans1 the ,persians1 the ,etruscans1 have kindred narratives held as most ancient and sacred4#h ,the ,chinese1 the ,sandwich ,islanders1 the ,north ,american ,indians1 also have their legends of the origin and altered fortunes of the human race4 ,the resemblances between many of these stories are better accounted for by the intrinsic similarities of the subject1 of the mind1 of nature1 and of mental action1 than by the supposition of derivation from one another4 ,regarding the ,hebrew narrative as an indigenous growth1 then1 how shall we explain its origin1 purport1 and authority8 ,of course we cannot receive it as a miraculous revelation conveying infallible truth4 ,the ,bible1 it is now acknowledged1 was not given in the providence #c ,tuch1 ,kommentar uber ,genesis1 s4 xcviii4 #d ,zur altesten ,sagenpoesie des ,orients4 ,zeitschrift der deutschen ,morgenlandischen ,gesellschaft1 band viii4 ss4 #ggb-ggi4 #e ,mythologus1 7,schopfung and ,sundenfall1 7 band i4 s4 #acg4 #f ,article ,adam1 in ,encyclopadia by ,ersch and ,gruber4 #g ,die ,genesis erklart1 s4 #bh4 #h ,palfrey's ,academical ,lectures1 vol4 ii4 pp4 #ba-bh4 of ,god to teach astronomy1 geology1 chronology1 and the operation of organic forces1 but to help educate men in morality and piety4 ,it is a religious1 not a scientific1 work4 ,some unknown ,hebrew poet1 in the early dawn of remembered time1 knowing little metaphysics and less science1 musing upon the fortunes of man1 his wickedness1 sorrow1 death1 and impressed with an instinctive conviction that things could not always have been so1 casting about for some solution of the dim1 pathetic problem1 at last struck out the beautiful and sublime poem recorded in ,genesis1 which has now for many a century1 by ,jews1 ,christians1 ,mohammedans1 been credited as authentic history4 ,with his own hands ,god moulds from earth an image in his own likeness1 breathes life into it1 and new made man moves1 lord of the scene1 and lifts his face1 illuminated with soul1 in submissive love to his ,creator4 ,endowed with free will1 after a while he violated his ,maker's command3 the divine displeasure was awakened1 punishment ensued1 and so rushed in the terrible host of ills under which we suffer4 ,the problem must early arise3 the solution is1 to a certain stage of thought1 at once the most obvious and the most satisfactory conceivable4 ,it is the truth4 ,only it is cast in imaginative1 not scientific1 form1 arrayed in emblematic1 not literal1 garb4 ,the ,greeks had a lofty poem by some early unknown author1 setting forth how ,prometheus formed man of clay and animated him with fire from heaven1 and how from ,pandora's box the horrid crew of human vexations were let into the world4 ,the two narratives1 though most unequal in depth and dignity1 belong in the same literary and philosophical category4 ,neither was intended as a plain record of veritable history1 each word a naked fact1 but as a symbol of its author's thoughts1 each phrase the metaphorical dress of a speculative idea4 ,eichhorn maintains1 with no slight plausibility1 that the whole account of the ,garden of ,eden was derived from a series of allegorical pictures which the author had seen1 and which he translated from the language of painting into the language of words4 ,at all events1 we must take the account as symbolic1 a succession of figurative expressions4 ,many of the best minds have always so considered it1 from ,josephus to ,origen1 from ,ambrose to ,kant4 ,what1 then1 are the real thoughts which the author of this ,hebrew poem on the primal condition of man meant to convey beneath his legendary forms of imagery8 ,these four are the essential ones4 ,first1 that ,god created man2 secondly1 that he created him in a state of freedom and happiness surrounded by blessings2 third1 that the favored subject violated his ,sovereign's order2 fourth1 that in consequence of this offence he was degraded from his blessed condition1 beneath a load of retributive ills4 ,the composition shows the characteristics of a philosopheme or a myth1 a scheme of conceptions deliberately wrought out to answer an inquiry1 a story devised to account for an existing fact or custom4 ,the picture of ,god performing his creative work in six days and resting on the seventh1 may have been drawn after the septenary division of time and the religious separation of the ,sabbath1 to explain and justify that observance4 ,the creation of ,eve out of the side of ,adam was either meant by the author as an allegoric illustration that the love of husband and wife is the most powerful of social bonds1 or as a pure myth seeking to explain the incomparable cleaving together of husband and wife by the entirely poetic supposition that the first woman was taken out of the first man1 bone of his bone1 flesh of his flesh4 ,all early literatures teem with exemplifications of this process1 a spontaneous secretion by the imagination to account for some presented phenomenon4 ,or perhaps this part of the relation and he called her woman manness1 because she was taken out of man may be an instance of those etymological myths with which ancient literature abounds4 ,woman is named ,isha because she was taken out of man1 whose name is ,ish4 ,the barbarous treatment the record under consideration has received1 the utter baselessness of it in the light of truth as foundation for literal belief1 find perhaps no fitter exposure than in the fact that for many centuries it was the prevalent faith of ,christendom that every woman has one rib more than man1 a permanent memorial of the ,divine theft from his side4 ,unquestionably1 there are many good persons now who1 if ,richard ,owen should tell them that man has the same number of ribs as woman1 would think of the second chapter of ,genesis and doubt his word6 ,there is no reason for supposing the serpent in this recital to be intended as a representative of ,satan4 ,the earliest trace of such an interpretation is in the ,wisdom of ,solomon1 an anonymous and apocryphal book composed probably a thousand years later4 ,what is said of the snake is the most plainly mythical of all the portions4 ,what caused the snake to crawl on his belly in the dust1 while other creatures walk on feet or fly with wings8 ,why1 the sly1 winding creature1 more subtle1 more detestable1 than any beast of the field1 deceived the first woman2 and this is his punishment6 ,such was probably the mental process in the writer4 ,to seek a profound and true theological dogma in such a statement is as absurd as to seek it in the classic myth that the lapwing with his sharp beak chases the swallow because he is the descendant of the enraged ,tereus who pursued poor ,progne with a drawn sword4 ,or1 to cite a more apposite case1 as well might we seek a reliable historical narrative in the following ,greek myth4 ,zeus once gave man a remedy against old age4 ,he put it on the back of an ass and followed on foot4 ,it being a hot day1 the ass grew thirsty1 and would drink at a fount which a snake guarded4 ,the cunning snake knew what precious burden the ass bore1 and would not1 except at the price of it1 let him drink4 ,he obtained the prize2 but with it1 as a punishment for his trick1 he incessantly suffers the ass's thirst4 ,thus the snake1 casting his skin1 annually renews his youth1 while man is borne down by old age4#i ,in all these cases the mental action is of the same kind in motive1 method1 and result4 ,the author of the poem contained in the third chapter of ,genesis does not say that man was made immortal4 ,the implication plainly is that he was created mortal1 taken from the dust and naturally to return again to the dust4 ,but by the power of ,god a tree was provided whose fruit would immortalize its partakers4 ,the penalty of ,adam's sin was directly1 not physical death1 but being forced in the sweat of his brow to wring his subsistence from the sterile ground cursed for his sake2 it was indirectly literal death1 in that he was prevented from eating the fruit of the tree of life4 ,god sent him out of the garden1 lest he eat and live forever4 ,he was therefore1 according to the narrative1 made originally subject to death2 but an immortalizing antidote was prepared for him1 which he forfeited by his transgression4 ,that the writer made use of the trees of life and knowledge as embellishing allegories is most #i ,alian1 no ,nat4 ,animal41 lib4 vi4 cap4 #ea4 probable4 ,but1 if not1 he was not the only devout poet who1 in the early times1 with sacred reverence believed the wonders the inspiring muse gave him as from ,god4 ,it is not clear from the ,biblical record that ,adam was imagined the first man4 ,on the contrary1 the statement that ,cain was afraid that those who met him would kill him1 also that he went to the land of ,nod and took a wife and builded a city1 implies that there was another and older race4 ,father ,peyrere wrote a book1 called ,praadamita1 more than two hundred years ago1 pointing out this fact and arguing that there really were men before ,adam4 ,if science should thoroughly establish the truth of this view1 religion need not suffer2 but the common theology1 inextricably built upon and intertangled with the dogma of original sin1 would be hopelessly ruined4 ,but the leaders in the scientific world will not on that account shut their eyes nor refuse to reason4 ,christians should follow their example of truth seeking1 with a deeper faith in ,god1 fearless of results1 but resolved upon reaching reality4 ,it is a very singular and important fact that1 from the appearance in ,genesis of the account of the creation and sin and punishment of the first pair1 not the faintest explicit allusion to it is subsequently found anywhere in literature until about the time of ,christ4 ,had it been all along credited in its literal sense1 as a divine revelation1 could this be so8 ,philo ,judaus gives it a thoroughly figurative meaning4 ,he says1 ,adam was created mortal in body1 immortal in mind4 ,paradise is the soul1 piety the tree of life1 discriminative wisdom the tree of knowledge2 the serpent is pleasure1 the flaming sword turning every way is the sun revolving round the world4#aj ,jesus himself never once alludes to ,adam or to any part of the story of ,eden4 ,in the whole ,new ,testament there are but two important references to the tradition1 both of which are by ,paul4 ,he says1 in effect1 ,as through the sin of ,adam all are condemned unto death1 so by the righteousness of ,christ all shall be justified unto life4 ,it is not a guarded doctrinal statement1 but an unstudied1 rhetorical illustration of the affiliation of the sinful and unhappy generations of the past with their offending progenitor1 ,adam1 of the believing and blessed family of the chosen with their redeeming head1 ,christ4 ,he does not use the word death in the ,epistle to the ,romans prevailingly in the narrow sense of physical dissolution1 but in a broad1 spiritual sense1 as appears1 for example1 in these instances3 ,to be carnally minded is death2 ,the law of the spirit of life in ,christ hath made me free from the law of sin and death4 ,for the spiritually minded were not exempt from bodily death4 ,paul himself died the bodily death4 ,his idea of the relations of ,adam and ,christ to humanity is more clearly expressed in the other passage already alluded to4 ,it is in the ,epistle to the ,corinthians1 and appears to be this4 ,the first man1 ,adam1 was of the earth1 earthy1 the head and representative of a corruptible race whose flesh and blood were never meant to inherit the kingdom of ,god4 ,the second man1 ,christ the ,lord1 soon to return from heaven1 was a quickening spirit1 head and representative of a risen spiritual race for whom is prepared the eternal inheritance of the saints in light4 ,as by the first man came death1 whose germ is transmitted with the flesh1 so by the second man comes the resurrection of the dead1 whose type is seen in his glorified ascension from ,hades to heaven4 ,as in ,adam all die1 even so in #aj ,de ,mundi ,opificio1 liv lvi4 ,de ,cherub4 viii4 ,christ shall all be made alive4 ,upon all the line of ,adam sin has entailed1 what otherwise would not have been known1 moral death and a disembodied descent to the under world4 ,but the gospel of ,christ1 and his resurrection as the first fruits of them that slept1 proclaim to all those that are his1 at his speedy coming1 a kindred deliverance from the lower gloom1 an investiture with spiritual bodies1 and an admission into the kingdom of ,god4 ,according to ,paul1 then1 physical death is not the retributive consequence of ,adam's sin1 but is the will of the ,creator in the law of nature1 the sowing of terrestrial bodies for the gathering of celestial bodies1 the putting off of the image of the earthy for the putting on of the image of the heavenly4 ,the specialty of the marring and punitive interference of sin in the economy is1 in addition to the penalties in moral experience1 the interpolation1 between the fleshly unclothing and the spiritual clothing upon1 of the long1 disembodied1 subterranean residence1 from the descent of ,abel into its palpable solitude to the ascent of ,christ out of its multitudinous world4 ,from ,adam1 in the flesh1 humanity sinks into the grave realm2 from ,christ1 in the spirit1 it shall rise into heaven4 ,had man remained innocent1 death1 considered as change of body and transition to heaven1 would still have been his portion2 but all the suffering and evil now actually associated with death would not have been4 ,leaving the ,scriptures1 the first man appears in literature1 in the history of human thought on the beginning of our race1 in three forms4 ,there is the ,mythical ,adam1 the embodiment of poetical musings1 fanciful conceits1 and speculative dreams2 there is the ,theological ,adam1 the central postulate of a group of dogmas1 the support of a fabric of controversial thought1 the lay figure to fill out and wear the hypothetical dresses of a doctrinal system2 and there is the ,scientific ,adam1 the first specimen of the genus man1 the supposititious personage who1 as the earliest product1 on this grade1 of the ,creative organic force or ,divine energy1 commenced the series of human generations4 ,the first is a hypostatized legend1 the second a metaphysical personification1 the third a philosophical hypothesis4 ,the first is an attractive heap of imaginations1 the next a dialectic mass of dogmatisms1 the last a modest set of theories4 ,philo says ,god made ,adam not from any chance earth1 but from a carefully selected portion of the finest and most sifted clay1 and that1 as being directly created by ,god1 he was superior to all others generated by men1 the generations of whom deteriorate in each remove from him1 as the attraction of a magnet weakens from the iron ring it touches along a chain of connected rings4 ,the ,rabbins say ,adam was so large that when he lay down he reached across the earth1 and when standing his head touched the firmament3 after his fall he waded through the ocean1 ,orion like4 ,even a ,french ,academician1 ,nicolas ,fleurion1 held that ,adam was one hundred and twenty three feet and nine inches in height4 ,all creatures except the angel ,eblis1 as the ,koran teaches1 made obeisance to him4 ,eblis1 full of envy and pride1 refused1 and was thrust into hell by ,god1 where he began to plot the ruin of the new race4 ,one effect of the forbidden fruit he ate was to cause rotten teeth in his descendants4 ,he remained in ,paradise but one day4 ,after he had eaten from the prohibited tree1 ,eve gave of the fruit to the other creatures in ,eden1 and they all ate of it1 and so became mortal1 with the sole exception of the phoenix1 who refused to taste it1 and consequently remained immortal4 ,the ,talmud teaches that ,adam would never have died had he not sinned4 ,the majority of the ,christian fathers and doctors1 from ,tertullian and ,augustine to ,luther and ,calvin1 have maintained the same opinion4 ,it has been the orthodox that is1 the prevailing doctrine of the ,church1 affirmed by the ,synod at ,carthage in the year four hundred and eighteen1 and by the ,council of ,trent in the year fifteen hundred and forty five4 ,all the evils which afflict the world1 both moral and material1 are direct results of ,adam's sin4 ,he contained all the souls of men in himself2 and they all sinned in him1 their federal head and legal representative4 ,when the fatal fruit was plucked1 ,earth felt the wound1 and ,nature from her seat1 ,sighing through all her works1 gave signs of woe ,that all was lost4 ,earthquakes1 tempests1 pestilences1 poverty1 war1 the endless brood of distress1 ensued4 ,for then were ,turn'd askance ,the poles of earth twice ten degrees and more ,from the sun's axle1 and with labor push'd ,oblique the centric globe4 ,adam's transcendent faculties and gifts were darkened and diminished in his depraved posterity1 and all base propensities let loose to torment1 confuse1 and degrade them4 ,we can scarcely form a conception of the genius1 the beauty1 the blessedness1 of the first man1 say the theologians in chorus4#aa ,augustine declares1 ,the most gifted of our time must be considered1 when compared with ,adam in genius1 as tortoises to birds in speed4 ,adam1 writes ,dante1 was made from clay1 accomplished with every gift that life can teem with4 ,thomas ,aquinas teaches that he was immortal by grace though not by nature1 had universal knowledge1 fellowshipped with angels1 and saw ,god4 ,south1 in his famous sermon on ,man the ,image of ,god1 after an elaborate panegyric of the wondrous majesty1 wisdom1 peacefulness1 and bliss of man before the fall1 exclaims1 ,aristotle was but the rubbish of an ,adam1 and ,athens the rudiments of ,paradise6 ,jean ,paul has amusingly burlesqued these conceits4 ,adam1 in his state of innocence1 possessed a knowledge of all the arts and sciences1 universal and scholastic history1 the several penal and other codes of law1 and all the old dead languages1 as well as the living4 ,he was1 as it were1 a living ,pegasus and ,pindus1 a movable lodge of sublime light1 a royal literary society1 a pocket seat of the ,muses1 and a short golden age of ,louis the ,fourteenth6 ,adam has been called the ,man without a ,navel1 because1 not being born of woman1 there could be no umbilical cord to cut4 ,the thought goes deep4 ,in addition to the mythico theological pictures of the mechanical creation and superlative condition of the first man1 two forms of statement have been advanced by thoughtful students of nature4 ,one is the theory of chronological progressive development2 the other is the theory of the #aa ,strauss gives a multitude of apposite quotations in his ,christliche ,glaubenslehre1 band i4 s4 #fia1 sect4 #ea1 ff4 simultaneous creation of organic families of different species or typical forms4 ,the advocate of the former goes back along the interminable vistas of geologic time1 tracing his ancestral line through the sinking forms of animal life1 until1 with the aid of a microscope1 he sees a closed vesicle of structureless membrane2 and this he recognises as the scientific ,adam4 ,this theory has been brought into fresh discussion by ,mr4 ,darwin in his rich and striking work on the ,origin of ,species#ab ,the other view contrasts widely with this1 and is not essentially different from the account in ,genesis4 ,it shows ,god himself creating by regular methods1 in natural materials1 not by a vicegerent law1 not with the anthropomorphitic hands of an external potter4 ,every organized fabric1 however complex1 originates in a single physiological cell4 ,every individual organism from the simple plant known as red snow to the oak1 from the zoophyte to man is developed from such a cell4 ,this is unquestionable scientific knowledge4 ,the phenomenal process of organic advancement is through growth of the cell by selective appropriation of material1 self multiplication of the cell1 chemical transformations of the pabulum of the cell1 endowment of the muscular and nervous tissues produced by those transformations with vital and psychical properties4 ,but the essence of the problem lies in the question1 ,why does one of these simple cells become a cabbage1 another a rat1 another a whale1 another a man8 ,within the limits of known observation during historic time1 every organism yields seed or bears progeny after its own kind4 ,between all neighboring species there are impassable1 discrete chasms4 ,the direct reason1 therefore1 why one cell stops in completion at any given vegetable stage1 another at a certain animal stage1 is that its producing parent was that vegetable or that animal4 ,now1 going back to the first individual of each kind1 which had no determining parent like itself1 the theory of the gradually ameliorating development of one species out of the next below it is one mode of solving the problem4 ,another mode more satisfactory at least to theologians and their allies is to conclude that ,god1 the ,divine ,force1 by whom the life of the universe is given1 made the world after an ideal plan1 including a systematic arrangement of all the possible modifications4 ,this plan was in his thought1 in the unity of all its parts1 from the beginning2 and the animate creation is the execution of its diagrams in organic life4 ,instead of the lineal extraction of the complicated scheme out of one cell1 there has been1 from epoch to epoch1 the simultaneous production of all included in one of its sections4 ,the ,creator1 at his chosen times1 calling into existence a multitude of cells1 gave each one the amount and type of organic force which would carry it to the destined grade and form4 ,in this manner may have originated1 at the same time1 the first sparrow1 the first horse1 the first man1 in short1 a whole circle of congeners4 ,the grassy clods now calved2 now half appear'd ,the tawny lion1 pawing to get free ,his hinder parts1 then springs as broke from bonds1 ,and rampant shakes his brinded mane4 #ab ,the most forcible defence of this hypothesis is that made by ,herbert ,spencer4 ,see1 in his volume of ,essays1 ,no4 #b of the ,haythorne ,papers4 ,also see ,oken1 ,entstehung des ersten ,menechen1 ,isis1 #ahai1 ss4 #aaag-aabc4 ,each creature1 therefore1 would be distinct from others from the first4 ,man1 though rising from not man1 came forth sharply defined4 ,the races thus originated in their initiative representatives by the creative power of ,god1 thenceforth possess in themselves the power1 each one1 in the generative act1 to put its typical dynamic stamp upon the primordial cells of its immediate descendants4 ,adam1 then1 was a wild man1 cast in favoring conditions of climate1 endowed with the same faculties as now1 only not in so high a degree4 ,for1 by his peculiar power of forming habits1 accumulating experience1 transmitting acquirements and tendencies1 he has slowly risen to his present state with all its wealth of wisdom1 arts1 and comforts4 ,by either of these theories1 that of ,darwin1 or that of ,agassiz1 man1 the head of the great organic family of the earth1 and it matters not at all whether there were only one ,adam and ,eve1 or whether each separate race had its own ,adams and ,eves1#ac not merely a solitary pair1 but simultaneous hundreds1 man1 physically considered1 is indistinguishably included in the creative plan under the same laws and forces1 and visibly subject to the same destination1 as the lower animals4 ,he starts with a cell as they do1 grows to maturity by assimilative organization and endowing transformation of foreign nutriment as they do1 his life is a continuous process of waste and repair of tissues as theirs is1 and there is1 from the scientific point of view1 no conceivable reason why he should not be subject to physical death as they are4 ,they have always been subject to death1 which1 therefore1 is an aboriginal constituent of the ,creative plan4 ,it has been estimated1 upon data furnished by scientific observation1 that since the appearance of organic life on earth1 millions of years ago1 animals enough have died to cover all the lands of the globe with their bones to the height of three miles4 ,consequently1 the historic commencement of death is not to be found in the sin of man4 ,we shall discover it as a necessity in the first organic cell that was ever formed4 ,the spherule of force which is the primitive basis of a cell spends itself in the discharge of its work4 ,in other words1 the amount of vital action which can be performed by each living cell has a definite limit4 ,when that limit is reached1 the exhausted cell is dead4 ,to state the fact differently3 no function can be performed without the disintegration of a certain amount of tissue1 whose components are then removed as effete by the excretory processes4 ,this final expenditure on the part of a cell of its modification of force is the act of molecular death1 the germinal essence of all decay4 ,that this organic law should rule in every living structure is a necessity inherent in the actual conditions of the creation4 ,and wherever we look in the realm of physical man1 even from the red outline of beginning ,adam to the amorphous adipocere of the last corpse when fate's black curtain falls on our race1 we shall discern death4 ,for death is the other side of life4 ,life and death are the two hands with which the organic power works4 ,the threescore simple elements known to chemists die1 that is1 surrender their peculiar powers and properties1 and enter into new combinations to produce and support higher forms of life4 ,otherwise these inorganic elemental wastes would be all that the material universe could show4 #ac ,the ,diversity of ,origin of the ,human ,races1 by ,louis ,agassiz1 ,christian ,examiner1 ,july1 #ahej4 ,the simple plant consists of single cells1 which1 in its development1 give up their independent life for the production of a more exalted vegetable form4 ,the formation of a perfectly organized plant is made possible only through the continuous dying and replacement of its cells4 ,similarly1 in the development of an animal1 the constituent cells die for the good of the whole creature2 and the more perfect the animal the greater the subordination of the parts4 ,the cells of the human body are incessantly dying1 being borne off and replaced4 ,the epidermis or scarf skin is made of millions of insensible scales1 consisting of former cells which have died in order with their dead bodies to build this guardian wall around the tender inner parts4 ,thus1 death1 operating within the individual1 seen in the light of natural science1 is a necessity1 is purely a form of self surrendering beneficence1 is1 indeed1 but a hidden and indirect process and completion of life4#ad ,and is not the death of the total organism just as needful1 just as benignant1 as the death of the component atoms8 ,is it not the same law1 still expressing the same meaning8 ,the chemicalelements wherein individuality is wanting1 as ,wagner says1 die that vegetable bodies may live4 ,individual vegetable bodies die that new individuals of the species may live1 and that they may supply the conditions for animals to live4 ,the individual beast dies that other individuals of his species may live1 and also for the good of man4 ,the plant lives by the elements and by other plants3 the animal lives by the elements1 by the plants1 and by other animals3 man lives and reigns by the service of the elements1 of the plants1 and of the animals4 ,the individual man dies if we may trust the law of analogy for the good of his species1 and that he may furnish the conditions for the development of a higher life elsewhere4 ,it is quite obvious that1 if individuals did not die1 new individuals could not live1 because there would not be room4 ,it is also equally evident that1 if individuals did not die1 they could never have any other life than the present4 ,the foregoing considerations1 fathomed and appreciated1 transform the institution of death from caprice and punishment into necessity and benignity4 ,in the timid sentimentalist's view1 death is horrible4 ,nature unrolls the chart of organic existence1 a convulsed and lurid list of murderers1 from the spider in the window to the tiger in the jungle1 from the shark at the bottom of the sea to the eagle against the floor of the sky4 ,as the perfumed fop1 in an interval of reflection1 gazes at the spectacle through his dainty eyeglass1 the prospect swims in blood and glares with the ghastly phosphorus of corruption1 and he shudders with sickness4 ,in the philosophical naturalist's view1 the dying panorama is wholly different4 ,carnivorous violence prevents more pain than it inflicts2 the wedded laws of life and death wear the solemn beauty and wield the merciful functions of ,god2 all is balanced and ameliorating2 above the slaughterous struggle safely soar the dove and the rainbow2 out of the charnel blooms the rose to which the nightingale sings love2 nor is there poison which helps not health1 nor destruction which supplies not creation with nutriment for greater good and joy4 ,by painting such pictures as that of a woman with ,sin written on her forehead in great glaring letters1 giving to ,death a globe entwined by a serpent1 or that of ,death as a #ad ,hermann ,wagner1 ,der ,tod1 beleuchtet vom ,standpunkte der ,naturwissenschaften4 skeleton1 waving a black banner over the world and sounding through a trumpet1 ,woe1 woe to the inhabitants of the earth6 by interpreting the great event as punishment instead of fulfilment1 extermination instead of transition1 men have elaborated1 in the faith of their imaginations1 a melodramatic death which nature never made4 ,truly1 to the capable observer1 death bears the double aspect of necessity and benignity3 necessity1 because it is an ultimate fact1 as the material world is made1 that1 since organic action implies expenditure of force1 the modicum of force given to any physical organization must finally be spent2 benignity1 because a bodily immortality on earth would both prevent all the happiness of perpetually rising millions and be an unspeakable curse upon its possessors4 ,the benevolence of death appears from this fact1 that it boundlessly multiplies the numbers who can enjoy the prerogatives of life4 ,it calls up ever fresh generations1 with wondering eyes and eager appetites1 to the perennial banquet of existence4 ,had ,adam not sinned and been expelled from ,paradise1 some of the ,christian ,fathers thought1 the fixed number of saints foreseen by ,god would have been reached and then no more would have been born4#ae ,such would have been the necessity1 there being no death4 ,but1 by the removal of one company as they grow tired and sated1 room is made for a new company to approach and enjoy the ever renewing spectacle and feast of the world4 ,thus all the delightful boons life has1 instead of being cooped within a little stale circle1 are ceaselessly diffused and increased4 ,vivacious claimants advance1 see what is to be seen1 partake of what is furnished1 are satisfied1 and retire2 and their places are immediately taken by hungry successors4 ,thus the torch of life is passed briskly1 with picturesque and stimulating effect1 along the manifold race of running ages1 instead of smouldering stagnantly forever in the moveless grasp of one4 ,the amount of enjoyment1 the quantity of conscious experience1 gained from any given exhibition by a million persons to each of whom it is successively shown for one hour1 is1 beyond all question1 immensely greater and keener than one person could have from it in a million hours4 ,the generations of men seem like fire flies glittering down the dark lane of ,history2 but each swarm had its happy turn1 fulfilled its hour1 and rightfully gave way to its followers4 ,the disinterested beneficence of the ,creator ordains that the same plants1 insects1 men1 shall not unsurrenderingly monopolize and stop the bliss of breath4 ,death is the echo of the voice of love reverberated from the limit of life4 ,the cumulative fund of human experience1 the sensitive affiliating line of history1 like a cerebral cord of personal identity traversing the centuries1 renders a continual succession of generations equivalent to the endless existence of one generation2 but with this mighty difference1 that it preserves all the edge and spice of novelty4 ,for consider what would be the result if death were abolished and men endowed with an earthly immortality4 ,at first they might rejoice1 and think their last1 dreadest enemy destroyed4 ,but what a mistake6 ,in the first place1 since none are to be removed from the earth1 of course none must come into it4 ,the space and material are all wanted by those now in possession4 ,all are soon mature men and women1 not another infant ever to hang upon a mother's breast or be lifted in a father's arms4 #ae ,augustine1 ,op4 ,imp4 iii4 #aih4 ,all the prattling music1 fond cares1 yearning love1 and gushing joys and hopes associated with the rearing of children1 gone6 ,what a stupendous fragment is stricken from the fabric of those enriching satisfactions which give life its truest value and its purest charm6 ,ages roll on4 ,they see the same everlasting faces1 confront the same returning phenomena1 engage in the same worn out exercises1 or lounge idly in the unchangeable conditions which bear no stimulant which they have not exhausted4 ,thousands of years pass4 ,they have drunk every attainable spring of knowledge dry4 ,not a prize stirs a pulse4 ,all pleasures1 permutated till ingenuity is baffled1 disgust them4 ,no terror startles them4 ,no possible experiment remains untried2 nor is there any unsounded fortune left4 ,no dim marvels and boundless hopes beckon them with resistless lures into the future4 ,they have no future4 ,one everlasting now is their all4 ,at last the incessant repetition of identical phenomena1 the unmitigated sameness of things1 the eternal monotony of affairs1 become unutterably burdensome and horrible4 ,full of loathing and immeasurable fatigue1 a weariness like the weight of a universe oppresses them2 and what would they not give for a change6 any thing to break the nightmare spell of ennui1 to fling off the dateless flesh1 to die1 to pass into some unguessed realm1 to lie down and sleep forever3 it would be the infinite boon6 ,take away from man all that is dependent on1 or interlinked with1 the appointment of death1 and it would make such fundamental alterations of his constitution and relations that he would no longer be man4 ,it would leave us an almost wholly different race4 ,if it is a divine boon that men should be1 then death is a good to us2 for it enables us to be men4 ,without it there would neither be husband and wife1 nor parent and child1 nor family hearth and altar2 nor1 indeed1 would hardly any thing be as it is now4 ,the existent phenomena of nature and the soul would comprise all4 ,and when the jaded individual1 having mastered and exhausted this finite sum1 looked in vain for any thing new or further1 the world would be a hateful dungeon to him1 and life an awful doom2 and how gladly he would give all that lies beneath the sun's golden round and top of sovereignty to migrate into some untried region and state of being1 or even to renounce existence altogether and lie down forever in the attractive slumber of the grave6 ,without death1 mankind would undergo the fate of ,sisyphus1 no future1 and in the present the oppression of an intolerable task with an aching vacuum of motive4 ,the certainty and the mystery of death create the stimulus and the romance of life4 ,give the human race an earthly immortality1 and you exclude them from every thing greater and diviner than the earth affords4 ,who could consent to that8 ,take away death1 and a brazen wall girds in our narrow life1 against which1 if we remained men1 we should dash and chafe in the climax of our miserable longing1 as the caged lion or eagle beats against his bars4 ,the gift of an earthly immortality conferred on a single person a boon which thoughtless myriads would clasp with frantic triumph would prove1 perhaps1 a still more fearful curse than if distributed over the whole species4 ,retaining his human affections1 how excruciating and remediless his grief must be1 to be so cut off from all equal community of experience and destiny with mankind1 to see all whom he loves1 generation after generation1 fading away1 leaving him alone1 to form new ties again to be dissolved1 to watch his beloved ones growing old and infirm1 while he stands without a change6 ,his love would be left1 in agony of melancholy grandeur1 a solitary angel hovering over a universe of tombs on the tremulous wings of memory and grief1 those wings incapacitated1 by his madly coveted prerogative of deathlessness1 ever to move from above the sad rows of funereal urns4 ,zanoni1 in ,bulwer's magnificent conception1 says to ,viola1 ,the flower gives perfume to the rock on whose breast it grows4 ,a little while1 and the flower is dead2 but the rock still endures1 the snow at its breast1 the sunshine on its summit4 ,a deathless individual in a world of the dying1 joined with them by ever bereaved affections1 would be the wretchedest creature conceivable4 ,as no man ever yet prayed for any thing he would pray to be released1 to embrace dear objects in his arms and float away with them to heaven1 or even to lie down with them in the kind embrace of mother earth4 ,and if he had no affections1 but lived a stoic existence1 exempt from every sympathy1 in impassive solitude1 he could not be happy1 he would not be man3 he must be an intellectual marble of thought or a monumental mystery of woe4 ,death1 therefore1 is benignity4 ,when men wish there were no such appointed event1 they are deceived1 and know not what they wish4 ,literature furnishes a strange and profound1 though wholly unintentional1 confirmation of this view4 ,every form in which literary genius has set forth the conception of an earthly immortality represents it as an evil4 ,this is true even down to ,swift's painful account of the ,struldbrugs in the island of ,laputa4 ,the legend of the ,wandering ,jew1#af one of the most marvellous products of the human mind in imaginative literature1 is terrific with its blazoned revelation of the contents of an endless life on earth4 ,this story has been embodied1 with great variety of form and motive1 in more than a hundred works4 ,every one is1 without the writer's intention1 a disguised sermon of gigantic force on the benignity of death4 ,as in classic fable poor ,tithon became immortal in the dawning arms of ,eos only to lead a shrivelled1 joyless1 repulsive existence2 and the fair young witch of ,cuma had ample cause to regret that ever ,apollo granted her request for as many years as she held grains of dust in her hand2 and as all tales of successful alchemists or ,rosicrucians concur in depicting the result to be utter disappointment and revulsion from the accursed prize2 we may take it as evidence of a spontaneous conviction in the depths of human nature a conviction sure to be brought out whenever the attempt is made to describe in life an opposite thought that death is benign for man as he is constituted and related on earth4 ,the voice of human nature speaks truth through the lips of ,cicero1 saying1 at the close of his essay on ,old ,age1 ,quodsi non sumus immortales futuri1 tamen exstingui homini suo tempore optabile est4 ,in a conversation at the house of ,sappho1 a discussion once arose upon the question whether death was a blessing or an evil4 ,some maintained1 the former alternative2 but ,sappho victoriously closed the debate by saying1 ,if it were a blessing to die1 the immortal gods would experience it4 ,the gods live forever3 therefore1 death is an evil4#ag ,the reasoning was plausible and brilliant4 ,yet its sophistry is complete4 ,to men1 conditioned as they are in this world1 death may be the greatest blessing2 while to the gods1 conditioned so differently1 it may have no similar application4 #af ,bibliographical notice of the legend of the wandering ,jew1 by ,paul ,lacroix2 trans4 into ,english by ,g4,w4 ,thornbury4 ,grasse1 ,der ewige ,jude4 #ag ,fragment ,x4 ,quoted in ,mare's ,hist4 ,lit4 ,greece1 book iii4 chap4 v4 sect4 #ah4 ,because an earthly eternity in the flesh would be a frightful calamity1 is no reason why a heavenly eternity in the spirit would be other than a blissful inheritance4 ,thus the remonstrance which may be fallaciously based on some of the foregoing considerations namely1 that they would equally make it appear that the immortality of man in any condition would be undesirable is met4 ,a conclusion drawn from the facts of the present scene of things1 of course1 will not apply to a scene inconceivably different4 ,those whose only bodies are their minds may be fetterless1 happy1 leading a wondrous life1 beyond our deepest dream and farthest fancy1 and eternally free from trouble or satiety4 ,death is to us1 while we live1 what we think it to be4 ,if we confront it with analytic and defiant eye1 it is that nothing which ever ceases in beginning to be4 ,if1 letting the superstitious senses tyrannize over us and cow our better part of man1 we crouch before the imagination of it1 it assumes the shape of the skeleton monarch who takes the world for his empire1 the electric fluid for his chariot1 and time for his sceptre4 ,in the contemplation of death1 hitherto1 fancy inspired by fear has been by far too much the prominent faculty and impulse4 ,the literature of the subject is usually ghastly1 appalling1 and absurd1 with point of view varying from that of the credulous ,hindu1 personifying death as a monster with a million mouths devouring all creatures and licking them in his flaming lips as a fire devours the moths or as the sea swallows the torrents1#ah to that of the atheistic ,german dreamer1 who converts nature into an immeasurable corpse worked by galvanic forces1 and that of the bold ,french philosopher1 ,carnot1 whose speculations have led to the theory that the sun will finally expend all its heat1 and constellated life cease1 as the solar system hangs1 like a dead orrery1 ashy and spectral1 the ghost of what it was4 ,so the extravagant author of ,festus says1 ,god tore the glory from the sun's broad brow ,and flung the flaming scalp away4 ,the subject should be viewed by the unclouded intellect1 guided by serene faith1 in the light of scientific knowledge4 ,then death is revealed1 first1 as an organic necessity in the primordial life cell2 secondly1 as the cessation of a given form of life in its completion2 thirdly1 as a benignant law1 an expression of the ,creator's love2 fourthly1 as the inaugurating condition of another form of life4 ,what we are to refer to sin is all the seeming lawlessness and untimeliness of death4 ,had not men sinned1 all would reach a good age and pass away without suffering4 ,death is benignant necessity2 the irregularity and pain associated with it are an inherited punishment4 ,finally1 it is a condition of improvement in life4 ,death is the incessant touch with which the artist1 ,nature1 is bringing her works to perfection4 ,physical death is experienced by man in common with the brute4 ,upon grounds of physiology there is no greater evidence for man's ,spiritual survival through that overshadowed crisis than there is for the brute's4 ,and on grounds of sentiment man ought not to shrink from sharing his open future with these mute comrades4 ,des ,cartes and ,malebranche taught that animals are mere machines1 without souls1 worked by ,god's arbitrary power4 ,swedenborg held that the souls of brutes are extinguished with their bodies4 #ai #ah ,thomson's trans4 of ,bhagavad ,gita1 p4 #gg4 #ai ,outlines of the ,infinite1 chap4 ii4 sect4 iv4 #ac4 ,leibnitz1 by his doctrine of eternal monads1 sustains the immortality of all creatures4 ,coleridge defended the same idea4 ,agassiz1 with much power and beauty1 advocates the thought that animals as well as men have a future life4 #bj ,the old traditions affirm that at least four beasts have been translated to heaven2 namely1 the ass that spoke to ,balaam1 the white foal that ,christ rode into ,jerusalem1 the steed ,borak that bore ,mohammed on his famous night journey1 and the dog that wakened the ,seven ,sleepers4 ,to recognise1 as ,goethe did1 brothers in the green wood and in the teeming air1 to sympathize with all lower forms of life1 and hope for them an open range of limitless possibilities in the hospitable home of ,god1 is surely more becoming to a philosopher1 a poet1 or a ,christian1 than that careless scorn which commonly excludes them from regard and contemptuously leaves them to annihilation4 ,this subject has been genially treated by ,richard ,dean in his ,essay on the ,future ,life of ,brutes4 ,but on moral and psychological grounds the distinction is vast between the dying man and the dying brute4 ,bretschneider1 in a beautiful sermon on this point1 specifies four particulars4 ,man foresees and provides for his death3 the brute does not4 ,man dies with unrecompensed merit and guilt3 the brute does not4 ,man dies with faculties and powers fitted for a more perfect state of existence3 the brute does not4 ,man dies with the expectation of another life3 the brute does not4 ,three contrasts may be added to these4 ,first1 man desires to die amidst his fellows3 the brute creeps away by himself1 to die in solitude4 ,secondly1 man inters his dead with burial rites1 rears a memorial over them1 cherishes recollections of them which often change his subsequent character3 but who ever heard of a deer watching over an expiring comrade1 a deer funeral winding along the green glades of the forest8 ,the barrows of ,norway1 the mounds of ,yucatan1 the mummy pits of ,memphis1 the rural cemeteries of our own day1 speak the human thoughts of sympathetic reverence and posthumous survival1 typical of something superior to dust4 ,thirdly1 man often makes death an active instead of a passive experience1 his will as it is his fate1 a victory instead of a defeat4#ba ,as ,mirabeau sank towards his end1 he ordered them to pour perfumes and roses on him1 and to bring music2 and so1 with the air of a haughty conqueror1 amidst the volcanic smoke and thunder of reeling ,france1 his giant spirit went forth4 ,the patriot is proud to lay his body a sacrifice on the altar of his country's weal4 ,the philanthropist rejoices to spend himself without pay in a noble cause1 to offer up his life in the service of his fellow men4 ,thousands of generous students have given their lives to science and clasped death amidst their trophied achievements4 ,who can count the confessors who have thought it bliss and glory to be martyrs for truth and ,god8 ,creatures capable of such deeds must inherit eternity4 ,their transcendent souls step from their rejected mansions through the blue gateway of the air to the lucid palace of the stars4 ,any meaner allotment would be discordant and unbecoming their rank4 ,contemplations like these exorcise the spectre host of the brain and quell the horrid brood of fear4 ,the noble purpose of self sacrifice enables us to smile upon the grave1 as some sweet clarion's breath stirs the soldier's scorn of danger4 #bj ,contributions to the ,natural ,history of the ,united ,states1 vol4 i4 pp4 #fd-ff4 ,umbreit1 fiber das ,sterben ais einen ,akt menschlich personlicher ,selbststandigkeit4 ,studien und ,kritiken1 #ahcg4 ,death parts with its false frightfulness1 puts on its true beauty1 and becomes at once the evening star of memory and the morning star of hope1 the ,hesper of the sinking flesh1 the ,phosphor of the rising soul4 ,let the night come1 then3 it shall be welcome4 ,and1 as we gird our loins to enter the ancient mystery1 we will exclaim1 with vanishing voice1 to those we leave behind1 ,though ,i stoop ,into a dark tremendous sea of cloud1 ,it is but for a time ,i press ,god's lamp ,close to my breast3 its splendor1 soon or late1 ,will pierce the gloom3 ,i shall emerge somewhere4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,grounds ,,of ,,the ,,belief ,,in ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,it is the purpose of the following chapter to describe the originating supports of the common belief in a future life2 not to probe the depth and test the value of the various grounds out of which the doctrine grows1 but only to give a descriptive sketch of what they are1 and a view of the process of growth4 ,the objections urged by unbelievers belong to an open discussion of the question of immortality1 not to an illustrative statement of the suggesting grounds on which the popular belief rests4 ,when1 after sufficient investigation1 we ask ourselves from what causes the almost universal expectation of another life springs1 and by what influences it is nourished1 we shall not find adequate answer in less than four words3 feeling1 imagination1 faith1 and reflection4 ,the doctrine of a future life for man has been created by the combined force of instinctive desire1 analogical observation1 prescriptive authority1 and philosophical speculation4 ,these are the four pillars on which the soul builds the temple of its hopes2 or the four glasses through which it looks to see its eternal heritage4 ,first1 it is obvious that man is endowed at once with foreknowledge of death and with a powerful love of life4 ,it is not a love of being here2 for he often loathes the scene around him4 ,it is a love of self possessed existence2 a love of his own soul in its central consciousness and bounded royalty4 ,this is an inseparable element of his very entity4 ,crowned with free will1 walking on the crest of the world1 enfeoffed with individual faculties1 served by vassal nature with tributes of various joy1 he cannot bear the thought of losing himself1 of sliding into the general abyss of matter4 ,his interior consciousness is permeated with a self preserving instinct1 and shudders at every glimpse of danger or hint of death4 ,the soul1 pervaded with a guardian instinct of life1 and seeing death's steady approach to destroy the body1 necessitates the conception of an escape into another state of existence4 ,fancy and reason1 thus set at work1 speedily construct a thousand theories filled with details4 ,desire first fathers thought1 and then thought woos belief4 ,secondly1 man1 holding his conscious being precious beyond all things1 and shrinking with pervasive anxieties from the moment of destined dissolution1 looks around through the realms of nature1 with thoughtful eye1 in search of parallel phenomena further developed1 significant sequels in other creatures' fates1 whose evolution and fulfilment may haply throw light on his own4 ,with eager vision and heart prompted imagination he scrutinizes whatever appears related to his object4 ,seeing the snake cast its old slough and glide forth renewed1 he conceives1 so in death man but sheds his fleshly exuvia1 while the spirit emerges1 regenerate4 ,he beholds the beetle break from its filthy sepulchre and commence its summer work2 and straightway he hangs a golden scarsbaus in his temples as an emblem of a future life4 ,after vegetation's wintry deaths1 hailing the returning spring that brings resurrection and life to the graves of the sod1 he dreams of some far off spring of ,humanity1 yet to come1 when the frosts of man's untoward doom shall relent1 and all the costly seeds sown through ages in the great earth tomb shall shoot up in celestial shapes4 ,on the moaning sea shore1 weeping some dear friend1 he perceives1 now ascending in the dawn1 the planet which he lately saw declining in the dusk2 and he is cheered by the thought that ,as sinks the day star in the ocean bed1 ,and yet anon repairs his drooping head1 ,and tricks his beams1 and with new spangled ore ,flames in the forehead of the morning sky1 ,so ,lycidas1 sunk low1 shall mount on high4 ,some traveller or poet tells him fabulous tales of a bird which1 grown aged1 fills its nest with spices1 and1 spontaneously burning1 soars from the aromatic fire1 rejuvenescent for a thousand years2 and he cannot but take the phoenix for a miraculous type of his own soul springing1 free and eternal1 from the ashes of his corpse4 ,having watched the silkworm1 as it wove its cocoon and lay down in its oblong grave apparently dead1 until at length it struggles forth1 glittering with rainbow colors1 a winged moth1 endowed with new faculties and living a new life in a new sphere1 he conceives that so the human soul may1 in the fulness of time1 disentangle itself from the imprisoning meshes of this world of larva1 a thing of spirit beauty1 to sail through heavenly airs2 and henceforth he engraves a butterfly on the tombstone in vivid prophecy of immortality4 ,thus a moralizing observation of natural similitudes teaches man to hope for an existence beyond death4 ,thirdly1 the prevailing belief in a future life is spread and upheld by the influence of authority4 ,the doctrine of the soul's survival and transference to another world1 where its experience depends on conditions observed or violated here1 conditions somewhat within the control of a select class of men here1 such a doctrine is the very hiding place of the power of priest craft1 a vast engine of interest and sway which the shrewd insight of priesthoods has often devised and the cunning policy of states subsidized4 ,in most cases of this kind the asserted doctrine is placed on the basis of a divine revelation1 and must be implicitly received4 ,god proclaims it through his anointed ministers3 therefore1 to doubt it or logically criticize it is a crime4 ,history bears witness to such a procedure wherever an organized priesthood has flourished1 from primeval pagan ,india to modern papal ,rome4 ,it is traceable from the dark ,osirian shrines of ,egypt and the initiating temple at ,eleusis to the funeral fires of ,gaul and the ,druidic conclave in the oak groves of ,mona2 from the reeking altars of ,mexico in the time of ,montezuma to the masses for souls in ,purgatory said this day in half the churches of ,christendom4 ,much of the popular faith in immortality which has prevailed in all ages has been owing to the authority of its promulgators1 a deep and honest trust on the part of the people in the authoritative dicta of their religious teachers4 ,in all the leading nations of the earth1 the doctrine of a future life is a tradition handed down from immemorial antiquity1 embalmed in sacred books which are regarded as infallible revelations from ,god4 ,of course the thoughtless never think of questioning it2 the reverent piously embrace it2 all are educated to receive it4 ,in addition to the proclamation of a future life by the sacred books and by the priestly hierarchies1 it has also been affirmed by countless individual saints1 philosophers1 and prophets4 ,most persons readily accept it on trust from them as a demonstrated theory or an inspired knowledge of theirs4 ,it is natural for modest unspeculative minds1 busied with worldly cares1 to say1 ,these learned sages1 these theosophic seers1 so much more gifted1 educated1 and intimate with the divine counsels and plan than we are1 with so much deeper experience and purer insight than we have1 must know the truth3 we cannot in any other way do so well as to follow their guidance and confide in their assertions4 ,accordingly1 multitudes receive the belief in a life to come on the authority of the world's intellectual and religious leaders4 ,fourthly1 the belief in a future life results from philosophical meditation1 and is sustained by rational proofs4#a ,for the completion of the present outline1 it now remains to give a brief exposition of these arguments4 ,for the sake of convenience and clearness1 we must arrange these reasonings in five classes2 namely1 the physiological1 the analogical1 the psychological1 the theological1 and the moral4 ,there is a group of considerations drawn from the phenomena of our bodily organization1 life and death1 which compose the physiological argument for the separate existence of the soul4 ,in the first place1 it is contended that the human organization1 so wondrously vitalized1 developed1 and ruled1 could not have grown up out of mere matter1 but implies a pre existent mental entity1 a spiritual force or idea1 which constituted the primeval impulse1 grouped around itself the organic conditions of our existence1 and constrained the material elements to the subsequent processes and results1 according to a prearranged plan4#b ,this dynamic agent1 this ontological cause1 may naturally survive when the fleshly organization which it has built around itself dissolves4 ,its independence before the body began involves its independence after the body is ended4 ,stahl has especially illustrated in physiology this idea of an independent soul monad4 ,secondly1 as some potential being must have preceded our birth1 to assimilate and construct the physical system1 so the great phenomena attending our conscious life necessitate1 both to our instinctive apprehension and in our philosophical conviction1 the distinctive division of man into body and soul1 tabernacle and tenant4 ,the illustrious ,boerhaave wrote a valuable dissertation on the distinction of the mind from the body1 which is to be found among his works4 ,every man knows that he dwells in the flesh but is not flesh4 ,he is a free1 personal mind1 occupying and using a material body1 but not identified with it4 ,ideas and passions of purely immaterial origin pervade every nerve with terrific intensity1 and shake his encasing corporeity like an earthquake4 ,a thought1 a sentiment1 a fancy1 may prostrate him as effectually as a blow on his brain from a hammer4 ,he wills to move a palsied limb3 the soul is unaffected by the paralysis1 but the muscles refuse to obey his volition3 the distinction between the person willing and the instrument to be wielded is unavoidable4 ,thirdly1 the fact of death itself irresistibly suggests the duality of flesh and spirit4 ,it is the removal of the energizing mind that leaves the frame so empty and meaningless4 ,think of the undreaming sleep of a corpse which dissolution is winding in its chemical embrace4 ,a moment ago that hand was uplifted to clasp yours1 intelligent accents were vocal on those #a ,wohlfarth1 ,triumph des ,glaubens an ,unsterblichkeit und ,wiedersehen uber jeden ,zweifel4 ,oporinus1 ,historia ,critica ,doctrina de ,immortalitate ,mortalium4 #b ,muller1 ,elements of ,physiology1 book vi4 sect4 i4 ch4 #a4 lips1 the light of love beamed in that eye4 ,one shuddering sigh1 and how cold1 vacant1 forceless1 dead1 lies the heap of clay6 ,it is impossible to prevent the conviction that an invisible power has been liberated2 that the flight of an animating principle has produced this awful change4 ,why may not that untraceable something which has gone still exist8 ,its vanishing from our sensible cognizance is no proof of its perishing4 ,not a shadow of genuine evidence has ever been afforded that the real life powers of any creature are destroyed4#c ,in the absence of that proof1 a multitude of considerations urge us to infer the contrary4 ,surely there is room enough for the contrary to be true2 for1 as ,jacobi profoundly observes1 life is not a form of body2 but body is one form of life4 ,therefore the soul which now exists in this form1 not appearing to be destroyed on its departure hence1 must be supposed to live hereafter in some other form4#d ,a second series of observations and reflections1 gathered from partial similarities elsewhere in the world1 are combined to make the analogical argument for a future life4 ,for many centuries1 in the literature of many nations1 a standard illustration of the thought that the soul survives the decay of its earthy investiture has been drawn from the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into the butterfly4#e ,this world is the scene of our grub state4 ,the body is but a chrysalis of soul4 ,when the preliminary experience and stages are finished and the transformation is complete1 the spirit emerges from its cast off cocoon and broken cell into the more ethereal air and sunnier light of a higher world's eternal day4 ,the emblematic correspondence is striking1 and the inference is obvious and beautiful4 ,nor is the change1 the gain in endowments and privileges1 greater in the supposed case of man than it is from the slow and loathsome worm on the leaf to the swift and glittering insect in the air4 ,secondly1 in the material world1 so far as we can judge1 nothing is ever absolutely destroyed4 ,there is no such thing as annihilation4 ,things are changed1 transformations abound2 but essences do not cease to be4 ,take a given quantity of any kind of matter2 divide and subdivide it in ten thousand ways1 by mechanical violence1 by chemical solvents4 ,still it exists1 as the same quantity of matter1 with unchanged qualities as to its essence1 and will exist when ,nature has manipulated it in all her laboratories for a billion ages4 ,now1 as a solitary exception to this1 are minds absolutely destroyed8 are will1 conscience1 thought1 and love annihilated8 ,personal intelligence1 affection1 identity1 are inseparable components of the idea of a soul4 ,and what method is there of crushing or evaporating these out of being8 ,what force is there to compel them into nothing8 ,death is not a substantive cause working effects4 ,it is itself merely an effect4 ,it is simply a change in the mode of existence4 ,that this change puts an end to existence is an assertion against analogy1 and wholly unsupported4 ,thirdly1 following the analogy of science and the visible order of being1 we are led to the conception of an ascending series of existences rising in regular gradation from coarse to fine1 from brutal to mental1 from earthly composite to simply spiritual1 and thus pointing up the rounds of life's ladder1 through all nature1 to the angelic ranks of heaven4 ,then1 feeling his kinship and common vocation with supernal beings1 man is assured of a loftier condition of #c ,sir ,humphry ,davy1 ,proteus or ,immortality4 #d ,bakewell1 ,natural ,evidence of a ,future ,state4 #e ,butler1 ,analogy1 part i4 ch4 #a4 of existence reserved for him4 ,there are no such immense1 vacantly yawning chasms1 as that would be1 between our fleshly estate and the ,godhead4 ,nature takes no such enormous jumps4 ,her scaling advance is by staid and normal steps4 ,there's lifeless matter4 ,add the power of shaping1 ,and you've the crystal3 add again the organs ,wherewith to subdue sustenance to the form ,and manner of one's self1 and you've the plant3 ,add power of motion1 senses1 and so forth1 ,and you've all kinds of beasts3 suppose a pig4 ,to pig add reason1 foresight1 and such stuff1 ,then you have man4 ,what shall1 we add to man ,to bring him higher8 ,freedom from the load of clay1 emancipation of the spirit into the full range and masterdom of a spirit's powers6 ,fourthly1 many strong similarities between our entrance into this world and our departure out of it would make us believe that death is but another and higher birth4#f ,any one acquainted with the state of an unborn infant deriving its sole nutriment1 its very existence1 from its vascular connection with its mother could hardly imagine that its separation from its mother would introduce it to a new and independent life4 ,he would rather conclude that it would perish1 like a twig wrenched from its parent limb4 ,so it may be in the separation of the soul from the body4 ,further1 as our latent or dimly groping senses were useless while we were developing in embryo1 and then implied this life1 so we now have1 in rudimentary condition1 certain powers of reason1 imagination1 and heart1 which prophesy heaven and eternity2 and mysterious intimations ever and anon reach us from a diviner sphere1 ,like hints and echoes of the world ,to spirits folded in the womb4 ,the ,persian poet1 ,buzurgi1 says on this theme1 ,what is the soul8 ,the seminal principle from the loins of destiny4 ,this world is the womb3 the body1 its enveloping membrane3 ,the bitterness of dissolution1 dame ,fortune's pangs of childbirth4 ,what is death8 ,to be born again1 an angel of eternity4 ,fifthly1 many cultivated thinkers have firmly believed that the soul is not so young as is usually thought1 but is an old stager on this globe1 having lived through many a previous existence1 here or elsewhere4#g ,they sustain this conclusion by various considerations1 either drawn from premises presupposing the necessary eternity of spirits1 or resting on dusky reminiscences1 shadowy recollections1 of visions and events vanished long ago4 ,now1 if the idea of foregone conscious lives1 personal careers oft repeated with unlost being1 be admitted1 as it frequently has been by such men as ,plato and ,wordsworth1 all the #f ,bretschneider1 ,predigten uber ,tod1 ,unsterblichkeit1 und ,anferstehung4 #g ,james ,parker1 ,account of the ,divine ,goodness concerning the ,pre existence of ,souls4 connected analogies of the case carry us to the belief that immortality awaits us4 ,we shall live through the next transition1 as we have lived through the past ones4 ,sixthly1 rejecting the hypothesis of an anterior life1 and entertaining the supposition that there is no creating and overruling ,god1 but that all things have arisen by spontaneous development or by chance1 still1 we are not consistently obliged to expect annihilation as the fate of the soul4 ,fairly reasoning from the analogy of the past1 across the facts of the present1 to the impending contingencies of the future1 we may say that the next stage in the unfolding processes of nature is not the destruction of our consciousness1 but issues in a purer life1 elevates us to a spiritual rank4 ,it is just to argue that if mindless law or boundless fortuity made this world and brought us here1 it may as well make1 or have made1 another world1 and bear us there4 ,law or chance excluding ,god from the question may as easily make us immortal as mortal4 ,reasoning by analogy1 we may affirm that1 as life has been given us1 so it will be given us again and forever4 ,seventhly1 faith in immortality is fed by another analogy1 not based on reflection1 but instinctively felt4 ,every change of material in our organism1 every change of consciousness1 is a kind of death4 ,we partially die as often as we leave behind forgotten experiences and lost states of being4 ,we die successively to infancy1 childhood1 youth1 manhood4 ,the past is the dead3 but our course is still on1 forever on4 ,having survived so many deaths1 we expect to survive all others and to be ourselves eternally4 ,there is a third cluster of reasonings1 deduced from the distinctive nature of spirit1 constituting the psychological argument for the existence of the soul independent of the body4 ,in the outset1 obviously1 if the soul be an immaterial entity1 its natural immortality follows2 because death and decay can only be supposed to take effect in dissoluble combinations4 ,several ingenious reasons have been advanced in proof of the soul's immateriality1 reasons cogent enough to have convinced a large class of philosophers4#h ,it is sufficient here to notice the following one4 ,all motion implies a dynamic mover4 ,matter is dormant4 ,power is a reality entirely distinct from matter in its nature4 ,but man is essentially an active power1 a free will4 ,consequently there is in him an immaterial principle1 since all power is immaterial4 ,that principle is immortal1 because subsisting in a sphere of being whose categories exclude the possibility of dissolution4#i ,secondly1 should we admit the human soul to be material1 yet if it be an ultimate monad1 an indivisible atom of mind1 it is immortal still1 defying all the forces of destruction4 ,and that it actually is an uncompounded unit may be thus proved4 ,consciousness is simple1 not collective4 ,hence the power of consciousness1 the central soul1 is an absolute integer4 ,for a living perceptive whole cannot be made of dead imperceptive parts4 ,if the soul were composite1 each component part would be an individual1 a distinguishable consciousness4 ,such not being the fact1 the conclusion results that the soul is one1 a simple substance4#aj #h ,astrue1 ,dissertation sur l',immaterialite et l',immortalite de l',ame4 ,broughton1 ,defence of the ,doctrine of the ,human ,soul as an ,immaterial and ,naturally ,immortal ,principle4 ,marstaller1 ,von der ,unsterblichkeit der ,menschlichen ,seele4 #i ,andrew ,baxter1 ,inquiry into the ,nature of the ,soul4 #aj ,herbart1 ,lehrbuch zur ,psychologie1 sect4 #aej4 ,of course it is not liable to death1 but is naturally eternal4 ,thirdly1 the indestructibleness of the soul is a direct inference from its ontological characteristics4 ,reason1 contemplating the elements of the soul1 cannot but embrace the conviction of its perpetuity and its essential independence of the fleshly organization4 ,our life in its innermost substantive essence is best defined as a conscious force4 ,our present existence is the organic correlation of that personal force with the physical materials of the body1 and with other forces4 ,the cessation of that correlation at death by no means involves1 so far as we can see1 the destruction or the disindividualization of the primal personal force4 ,it is a fact of striking significance1 often noticed by psychologists1 that we are unable to conceive ourselves as dead4 ,the negation of itself is impossible to consciousness4 ,the reason we have such a dread of death is that we conceive ourselves as still alive1 only in the grave1 or wandering through horrors and shut out from wonted pleasures4 ,it belongs to material growths to ripen1 loosen1 decay2 but what is there in sensation1 reflection1 memory1 volition1 to crumble in pieces and rot away8 ,why should the power of hope1 and joy1 and faith1 change into inanity and oblivion8 ,what crucible shall burn up the ultimate of force8 ,what material processes shall ever disintegrate the simplicity of spirit8 ,earth and plant1 muscle1 nerve1 and brain1 belong to one sphere1 and are subject to the temporal fates that rule there2 but reason1 imagination1 love1 will1 belong to another1 and1 immortally fortressed there1 laugh to scorn the fretful sieges of decay4 ,fourthly1 the surviving superiority of the soul1 inferred from its contrast of qualities to those of its earthy environment1 is further shown by another fact1 the mind's dream power1 and the ideal realm it freely soars or walks at large in when it pleases4#aa ,this view has often been enlarged upon1 especially by ,bonnet and ,sir ,henry ,wotton4 ,the unhappy ,achilles1 exhausted with weeping for his friend1 lay1 heavily moaning1 on the shore of the far sounding sea1 in a clear spot where the waves washed in upon the beach1 when sleep took possession of him4 ,the ghost of miserable ,patroclus calve to him and said1 ,sleepest thou and art forgetful of me1 ,o ,achilles8 ,and the son of ,peleus cried1 ,come nearer3 let us embrace each other1 though but for a little while4 ,then he stretched out his friendly hands1 but caught him not2 for the spirit1 shrieking1 vanished beneath the earth like smoke4 ,astounded1 ,achilles started up1 clasped his hands1 and said1 dolefully1 ,alas6 there is then indeed in the subterranean abodes a spirit and image1 but there is no body in it4#ab ,the realm of dreams is a world of mystic realities1 intangible1 yet existent1 and all prophetic1 through which the soul nightly floats while the gross body slumbers4 ,it is everlasting1 because there is nothing in it for corruption to take hold of4 ,the appearances and sounds of that soft inner sphere1 veiled so remote from sense1 are reflections and echoes from the spirit world4 ,or are they a direct vision and audience of it8 ,the soul really is native resident in a world of truth1 goodness1 and beauty1 fellow citizen with divine ideas and affections4 ,through the senses it has knowledge and communion with the hard outer world of matter4 ,when the senses fall away1 it is left1 imperishable denizen of its own appropriate world of idealities4 #aa ,schubert1 ,die ,symbolik des ,traumes4 #ab ,iliad1 lib4 xxiii4 ll4 #fj #ajf4 ,another assemblage of views1 based on the character of ,god1 form the theological argument for the future existence of man4#ac ,starting with the idea of a ,god of infinite perfections1 the immortality of his children is an immediate deduction from the eternity of his purposes4 ,for whatever purpose ,god originally gave man being1 for the disinterested distribution of happiness1 for the increase of his own glory1 or whatever else1 will he not for that same purpose continue him in being forever8 ,in the absence of any reason to the contrary1 we must so conclude4 ,in view of the unlimited perfections of ,god1 the fact of conscious responsible creatures being created is sufficient warrant of their perpetuity4 ,otherwise ,god would be fickle4 ,or1 as one has said1 he would be a mere drapery painter1 nothing within the dress4 ,secondly1 leaving out of sight this illustration of an eternal purpose in eternal fulfilment1 and confining our attention to the analogy of the divine works and the dignity of the divine ,worker1 we shall be freshly led to the same conclusion4 ,has ,god moulded the dead clay of the material universe into gleaming globes and ordered them to fly through the halls of space forever1 and has he created1 out of his own omnipotence1 mental personalities reflecting his own attributes1 and doomed them to go out in endless night after basking1 poor ephemera1 in the sunshine of a momentary life8 ,it is not to be imagined that ,god ever works in vain4 ,yet if a single consciousness be extinguished in everlasting nonentity1 so far as the production of that consciousness is concerned he has wrought for nothing4 ,his action was in vain1 because all is now1 to that being1 exactly the same as if it had never been4 ,god does nothing in sport or unmeaningly3 least of all would he create filial spirits1 dignified with the solemn endowments of humanity1 without a high and serious end4#ad ,to make men1 gifted with such a transcendent largess of powers1 wholly mortal1 to rot forever in the grave after life's swift day1 were work far more unworthy of ,god than the task was to ,michael ,angelo set him in mockery by ,pietro1 the tyrant who succeeded ,lorenzo the ,magnificent in the dukedom of ,florence1 that he should scoop up the snow in the ,via ,larga1 and with his highest art mould a statue from it1 to dissolve ere night in the glow of the ,italian sun4 ,thirdly1 it is an attribute of ,infinite ,wisdom to proportion powers to results1 to adapt instruments to ends with exact fitness4 ,but if we are utterly to die with the ceasing breath1 then there is an amazing want of symmetry between our endowments and our opportunity2 our attainments are most superfluously superior to our destiny4 ,can it be that an earth house of six feet is to imprison forever the intellect of a ,la ,place1 whose telescopic eye1 piercing the unfenced fields of immensity1 systematized more worlds than there are grains of dust in this globe8 the heart of a ,borromeo1 whose seraphic love expanded to the limits of sympathetic being8 the soul of a ,wycliffe1 whose undaunted will1 in faithful consecration to duty1 faced the fires of martyrdom and never blenched8 the genius of a ,shakspeare1 whose imagination exhausted worlds and then invented new8 ,there is vast incongruity between our faculties and the scope given them here4 ,on all it sees below the soul reads ,inadequate1 and rises #ac ,aebli1 ,unsterblichkeit der menschlichen ,seele1 sechster ,brief4 #ad ,ulrici1 ,unsterblichkeit der menschlichen ,seele aus dem ,wesen ,gottes erwiesen4 dissatisfied from every feast1 craving1 with divine hunger and thirst1 the ambrosia and nectar of a fetterless and immortal world4 ,were we fated to perish at the goal of threescore1 ,god would have harmonized our powers with our lot4 ,he would never have set such magnificent conceptions over against such poor possibilities1 nor have kindled so insatiable an ambition for so trivial a prize of dust to dust4 ,fourthly1 one of the weightiest supports of the belief in a future life is that yielded by the benevolence of ,god4 ,annihilation is totally irreconcilable with this4 ,that ,he whose love for his creatures is infinite will absolutely destroy them after their little span of life1 when they have just tasted the sweets of existence and begun to know the noble delights of spiritual progress1 and while illimitable heights of glory and blessedness are beckoning them1 is incredible4 ,we are unable to believe that while his children turn to him with yearning faith and gratitude1 with fervent prayer and expectation1 he will spurn them into unmitigated night1 blotting out those capacities of happiness which he gave them with a virtual promise of endless increase4 ,will the affectionate ,god permit humanity1 ensconced in the field of being1 like a nest of ground sparrows1 to be trodden in by the hoof of annihilation8 ,love watches to preserve life4 ,it were ,moloch1 not the universal ,father1 that could crush into death these multitudes of loving souls supplicating him for life1 dash into silent fragments these miraculous personal harps of a thousand strings1 each capable of vibrating a celestial melody of praise and bliss4 ,fifthly1 the apparent claims of justice afford presumptive proof1 hard to be resisted1 of a future state wherein there are compensations for the unmerited ills1 a complement for the fragmentary experiences1 and rectification for the wrongs1 of the present life4#ae ,god is just2 but he works without impulse or caprice1 by laws whose progressive evolution requires time to show their perfect results4 ,through the brief space of this existence1 where the encountering of millions of free intelligences within the fixed conditions of nature causes a seeming medley of good and evil1 of discord and harmony1 wickedness often triumphs1 villany often outreaches and tramples ingenuous nobility and helpless innocence4 ,some saintly spirits1 victims of disease and penury1 drag out their years in agony1 neglect1 and tears4 ,some bold minions of selfishness1 with seared consciences and nerves of iron1 pluck the coveted fruits of pleasure1 wear the diadems of society1 and sweep through the world in pomp4 ,the virtuous suffer undeservedly from the guilty4 ,the idle thrive on the industrious4 ,all these things sometimes happen4 ,in spite of the compensating tendencies which ride on all spiritual laws1 in spite of the mysterious ,nemesis which is throned in every bosom and saturates the moral atmosphere with influence1 the world is full of wrongs1 sufferings1 and unfinished justice4#af ,there must be another world1 where the remunerating processes interiorly begun here shall be openly consummated4 ,can it be that ,christ and ,herod1 ,paul and ,nero1 ,timour and ,fenelon1 drop through the blind trap of death into precisely the same condition of unwaking sleep8 ,not if there be a ,god6 #ae ,m4 ,jules ,simon1 ,la ,religion ,naturelle1 liv4 iii43 l',immortalite4 #af ,dr4 ,chalmers1 ,bridgewater ,treatise1 chap4 #aj4 ,there is a final assemblage of thoughts pertaining to the likelihood of another life1 which1 arranged together1 may be styled the moral argument in behalf of that belief4#ag ,these considerations are drawn from the seeming fitness of things1 claims of parts beseeching completion1 vaticinations of experience4 ,they form a cumulative array of probabilities whose guiding forefingers all indicate one truth1 whose consonant voices swell into a powerful strain of promise4 ,first1 consider the shrinking from annihilation naturally felt in every breast4 ,if man be not destined for perennial life1 why is this dread of non existence woven into the soul's inmost fibres8 ,attractions are co ordinate with destinies1 and every normal desire foretells its own fulfilment4 ,man fades unwillingly from his natal haunts1 still longing for a life of eternal remembrance and love1 and confiding in it4 ,all over the world grows this pathetic race of forget me nots4 ,shall not ,heaven pluck and wear them on her bosom8 ,secondly1 an emphatic presumption in favor of a second life arises from the premature mortality prevalent to such a fearful extent in the human family4 ,nearly one half of our race perish before reaching the age of ten years4 ,in that period they cannot have fulfilled the total purposes of their creation4 ,it is but a part we see1 and not the whole4 ,the destinies here seen segmentary will appear full circle beyond the grave4 ,the argument is hardly met by asserting that this untimely mortality is the punishment for non observance of law2 for1 denying any further life1 would a scheme of existence have been admitted establishing so awful a proportion of violations and penalties8 ,if there be no balancing sphere beyond1 then all should pass through the experience of a ripe and rounded life4 ,but there is the most perplexing inequality4 ,at one fell swoop1 infant1 sage1 hero1 reveller1 martyr1 are snatched into the invisible state4 ,there is1 as a noble thinker has said1 an apparent caprice in the dispensation of death strongly indicative of a hidden sequel4 ,immortality unravels the otherwise inscrutable mystery4 ,thirdly1 the function of conscience furnishes another attestation to the continued existence of man4 ,this vicegerent of ,god in the breast1 arrayed in splendors and terrors1 which shakes and illumines the whole circumference of our being with its thunders and lightnings1 gives the good man1 amidst oppressions and woes1 a serene confidence in a future justifying reward1 and transfixes the bad man1 through all his retinue of guards and panoplied defences1 with icy pangs of fear and with a horrid looking for judgment to come4 ,the sublime grandeur of moral freedom1 the imperilling dignities of probation1 the tremendous responsibilities and hazards of man's felt power and position1 are all inconsistent with the supposition that he is merely to cross this petty stage of earth and then wholly expire4 ,such momentous endowments and exposures imply a corresponding arena and career4 ,after the trial comes the sentence2 and that would be as if a palace were built1 a prince born1 trained1 crowned1 solely that he might occupy the throne five minutes6 ,the consecrating1 royalizing idea of duty cannot be less than the core of eternal life4 ,conscience is the sensitive corridor along which the mutual whispers of a divine communion pass and repass4 ,a moral law and a free will #ag ,crombie1 ,natural ,theology1 ,essay ,,iv43 ,the ,arguments for ,immortality4 ,bretschneider1 ,die ,religiose ,glaubenslehre1 sect4 #bj-ba4 are the root by which we grow out of ,god1 and the stem by which we are grafted into him4 ,fourthly1 all probable surmisings in favor of a future life1 or any other moral doctrine1 are based on that primal postulate which1 by virtue of our rational and ethical constitution1 we are authorized and bound to accept as a commencing axiom1 namely1 that the scheme of creation is as a whole the best possible one1 impelled and controlled by wisdom and benignity4 ,whatever1 then1 is an inherent part of the plan of nature cannot be erroneous nor malignant1 a mistake nor a curse4 ,essentially and in the finality1 every fundamental portion and element of it must be good and perfect4 ,so far as science and philosophy have penetrated1 they confirm by facts this a priori principle1 telling us that there is no pure and uncompensated evil in the universe4 ,now1 death is a regular ingredient in the mingled world1 an ordered step in the plan of life4 ,if death be absolute1 is it not an evil8 ,what can the everlasting deprivation of all good be called but an immense evil to its subject8 ,such a doom would be without possible solace1 standing alone in steep contradiction to the whole parallel moral universe4 ,then might man utter the most moving and melancholy paradox ever expressed in human speech3 ,what good came to my mind ,i did deplore1 ,because it perish must1 and not live evermore4 ,fifthly1 the soul1 if not outwardly arrested by some hostile agent1 seems capable of endless progress without ever exhausting either its own capacity or the perfections of infinitude4#ah ,there are before it unlimited truth1 beauty1 power1 nobleness1 to be contemplated1 mastered1 acquired4 ,with indefatigable alacrity1 insatiable faculty and desire1 it responds to the infinite call4 ,the obvious inference is that its destiny is unending advancement4 ,annihilation would be a sequel absurdly incongruous with the facts4 ,true1 the body decays1 and all manifested energy fails2 but that is the fault of the mechanism1 not of the spirit4 ,were we to live many thousands of years1 as ,martineau suggests1 no one supposes new souls1 but only new organizations1 would be needed4 ,and what period can we imagine to terminate the unimpeded spirit's abilities to learn1 to enjoy1 to expand8 ,kant's famous demonstration of man's eternal life on the grounds of practical reason is similar4 ,the related ideas of absolute virtue and a moral being necessarily imply the infinite progress of the latter towards the former4 ,that progress is impossible except on condition of the continued existence of the same being4 ,therefore the soul is immortal4#ai ,sixthly1 our whole life here is a steady series of growing preparations for a continued and ascending life hereafter4 ,all the spiritual powers we develop are so much athletic training1 all the ideal treasures we accumulate are so many preliminary attainments1 for a future life4 ,they have this appearance and superscription4 ,man alone foreknows his own death and expects a succeeding existence2 and that foresight is given to prepare him4 ,there are wondrous impulses in us1 constitutional convictions prescient of futurity1 like those prevising instincts in birds leading them to take preparatory flights before their actual migration4 #ah ,addison1 ,spectator1 ,nos4 #c and #baj4 #ai ,jacob1 ,beweis fur die ,unsterblichkeit der ,seele aus dem ,begriffe der ,pflicht4 ,eternity is the stuff of which our love1 flying forward1 builds its nest in the eaves of the universe4 ,if we saw wings growing out upon a young creature1 we should be forced to conclude that he was intended some time to fly4 ,it is so with man4 ,by exploring thoughts1 disciplinary sacrifices1 supernal prayers1 holy toils of disinterestedness1 he fledges his soul's pinions1 lays up treasures in heaven1 and at last migrates to the attracting clime4 ,here sits he1 shaping wings to fly3 ,his heart forebodes a mystery2 ,he names the name eternity4 ,seventhly1 in the degree these preparations are made in obedience to obscure instincts and the developing laws of experience1 they are accompanied by significant premonitions1 lucid signals of the future state looked to1 assuring witnesses of its reality4 ,the more one lives for immortality1 the more immortal things he assimilates into his spiritual substance1 the more confirming tokens of a deathless inheritance his faith finds4 ,he becomes conscious of his own eternity4#bj ,when hallowed imagination weighs anchor and spreads sail to coast the dim shores of the other world1 it hears cheerful voices of welcome from the headlands and discerns beacons burning in the port4 ,when in earnest communion with our inmost selves1 solemn meditations of ,god1 mysterious influences shed from unseen spheres1 fall on our souls1 and many a strange thought1 transcending our wonted themes1 into glory peeps4 ,a vague1 constraining sense of invisible beings1 by whom we are engirt1 fills us4 ,we blindly feel that our rank and destination are with them4 ,lift but one thin veil1 we think1 and the occult ,universe of ,spirit would break to vision with cloudy crowds of angels4 ,thousand hints chance dropped from nature's sphere1 pregnant with friendly tidings1 reassure us4 ,strange1 said a gifted metaphysician once1 that the barrel organ1 man1 should terminate every tune with the strain of immortality6 ,not strange1 but divinely natural4 ,it is the tentative prelude to the thrilling music of our eternal bliss written in the score of destiny4 ,when at night we gaze far out into immensity1 along the shining vistas of ,god's abode1 and are almost crushed by the overwhelming prospects that sweep upon our vision1 do not some pre monitions of our own unfathomed greatness also stir within us8 ,yes3 the sense of ,existence1 the ideas of ,right and ,duty1 awful intuitions of ,god and immortality1 these1 the grand facts and substance of the spirit1 are independent and indestructible4 ,the bases of the ,moral ,law1 they shall stand in every tittle1 although the stars should pass away4 ,for their relations and root are in that which upholds the stars1 even with worlds unseen from the finite1 whose majestic and everlasting arrangements shall burst upon us as the heavens do through the night when the light of this garish life gives place to the solemn splendors of eternity4 ,eighthly1 the belief in a life beyond death has virtually prevailed everywhere and always4 ,and the argument from universal consent1 as it is termed1 has ever been esteemed one of the foremost testimonies1 if not indeed the most convincing testimony1 to the truth of the doctrine4 ,unless the belief can be shown to be artificial or sinful1 it must seem conclusive4 ,its innocence is self evident1 and its naturalness is evidenced by its universality4 #bj ,theodore ,parker1 ,sermon of ,immortal ,life4 ,the rudest and the most polished1 the simplest and the most learned1 unite in the expectation1 and cling to it through every thing4 ,it is like the ruling presentiment implanted in those insects that are to undergo metamorphosis4 ,this believing instinct1 so deeply seated in our consciousness1 natural1 innocent1 universal1 whence came it1 and why was it given8 ,there is but one fair answer4 ,god and nature deceive not4 ,ninthly1 the conscious1 practical faith of civilized nations1 to day1 in a future life1 unquestionably1 in a majority of individuals1 rests directly on the basis of authority1 trust in a foreign announcement4 ,there are two forms of this authority4 ,the authority of revelation is most prominent and extensive4 ,god has revealed the truth from heaven4 ,it has been exemplified by a miraculous resurrection4 ,it is written in an infallible book1 and sealed with authenticating credentials of super natural purport4 ,it is therefore to be accepted with implicit trust4 ,secondly1 with some1 the authority of great minds1 renowned for scientific knowledge and speculative acumen1 goes far4 ,thousands of such men1 ranking among the highest names of history1 have positively affirmed the immortality of the soul as a reliable truth4 ,for instance1 ,goethe says1 on occasion of the death of ,wieland1 ,the destruction of such high powers is something which can never1 and under no circumstances1 even come into question4 ,such a dogmatic expression of conviction resting on bare philosophical grounds1 from a mind so equipped1 so acute1 and so free1 has great weight1 and must influence a modest student who hesitates in confessed incompetence4#ba ,the argument is justly powerful when but humanly considered1 and when divinely derived1 of course1 it absolutely forecloses all doubts4 ,tenthly1 there is another life1 because a belief in it is necessary to order this world1 necessary as a comfort and an inspiration to man now4 ,a good old author writes1 the very nerves and sinews of religion is hope of immortality4 ,the conviction that there is a retributive life hereafter is the moral cement of the social fabric4 ,take away this truth1 and one great motive of patriots1 martyrs1 thinkers1 saints1 is gone4 ,take it away1 and to all low minded men selfishness becomes the law1 earthly enjoyment the only good1 suffering and death the only evil4 ,life then is to be supremely coveted and never put in risk for any stake4 ,self indulgence is to be secured at any hazard1 little matter by what means4 ,abandon all hope of a life to come1 and from that instant there is nothing serious in mortality4 ,in order that the world should be governable1 ethical1 happy1 virtuous1 magnanimous1 is it possible that it should be necessary for the world to believe in an untruth8 ,so1 thou hast immortality in mind8 ,hast grounds that will not let thee doubt it8 ,the strongest ground herein ,i find3 ,that we could never do without it6 ,finally1 the climax of these argumentations is capped by that grand closing consideration which we may entitle the force of congruity1 the convincing results of a confluence of harmonious reasons4 ,the hypothesis of immortality accords with the cardinal facts of observation1 meets all points of the case1 and satisfactorily answers every requirement4 #ba ,lewis1 ,influence of ,authority in ,matters of ,opinion4 ,it is the solution of the problem1 as the fact of ,neptune explained the perturbations of the adjacent planets4 ,nothing ever gravitates towards nothing2 and it must be an unseen orb that so draws our yearning souls4 ,if it be not so1 then what terrible contradictions stagger us1 and what a chilling doom awaits us6 ,oh1 what mocking irony then runs through the loftiest promises and hopes of the world6 ,just as the wise and good have learned to live1 they disappear amidst the unfeeling waves of oblivion1 like snow flakes in the ocean4 ,the super earthly desires of man are then created in him only1 like swallowed diamonds1 to cut slowly through his material shell and destroy him4 ,the denial of a future life introduces discord1 grief1 and despair in every direction1 and1 by making each step of advanced culture the ascent to a wider survey of tantalizing glory and experienced sorrow1 as well as the preparation for a greater fall and a sadder loss1 turns faithful affection and heroic thought into blind furies slinging flame4 ,unless immortality be true1 man appears a dark riddle1 not made for that of which he is made capable and desirous3 every thing is begun1 nothing ended2 the facts of the present scene are unintelligible2 the plainest analogies are violated2 the delicately rising scale of existence is broken off abrupt2 our best reasonings concerning the character and designs of ,god1 also concerning the implications of our own being and experience1 are futile2 and the soul's proud faculties tell glorious lies as thick as stars4 ,such1 at least1 is the usual way of thinking4 ,however formidable a front may be presented by the spectral array of doubts and difficulties1 seeming impediments to faith in immortality1 the faithful servant of ,god1 equipped with philosophical culture and a saintly life1 will fearlessly advance upon them1 scatter them right and left1 and win victorious access to the prize4 ,so the mariner sometimes1 off ,sicilian shores1 sees a wondrous island ahead1 apparently stopping his way with its cypress and cedar groves1 glittering towers1 vine wreathed balconies1 and marble stairs sloping to the water's edge4 ,he sails straight forward1 and1 severing the pillared porticos and green gardens of ,fata ,morgana1 glides far on over a glassy sea smiling in the undeceptive sun4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,theories ,,of ,,the ,,soul',s ,,destination4 ,,before examining1 in their multifarious detail1 the special thoughts and fancies respecting a future life prevalent in different nations and times1 it may be well to take a sort of bird's eye view of those general theories of the destination of the soul under which all the individual varieties of opinion may be classified4 ,vast and incongruous as is the heterogeneous mass of notions brought forth by the history of this province of the world's belief1 the whole may be systematized1 discriminated1 and reduced to a few comprehensive heads4 ,such an architectural grouping or outlining of the chief schemes of thought on this subject will yield several advantages4 ,showing how the different views arose from natural speculations on the correlated phenomena of the outward world and facts of human experience1 it affords an indispensable help towards a philosophical analysis and explanation of the popular faith as to the destiny of man after death1 in all the immense diversity of its contents4 ,an orderly arrangement and exposition of these cardinal theories also form an epitome holding a bewildering multitude of particulars in its lucid and separating grasp1 changing the fruits of learned investigation from a cumbersome burden on the memory to a small number of connected formularies in the reason4 ,these theories serve as a row of mirrors hung in a line of historic perspective1 reflecting every relevant shape and hue of meditation and faith humanity has known1 from the ideal visions of the ,athenian sage to the instinctive superstitions of the ,fejee savage4 ,when we have adequately defined these theories1 of which there are seven1 traced their origin1 comprehended their significance and bearings1 and dissected their supporting pretensions1 then the whole field of our theme lies in light before us2 and1 however grotesque or mysterious1 simple or subtle1 may be the modes of thinking and feeling in relation to the life beyond death revealed in our subsequent researches1 we shall know at once where to refer them and how to explain them4 ,the precise object1 therefore1 of the present chapter is to set forth the comprehensive theories devised to solve the problem1 ,what becomes of man when he dies8 ,but a little while man flourishes here in the bosom of visible nature4 ,soon he disappears from our scrutiny1 missed in all the places that knew him4 ,whither has he gone8 ,what fate has befallen him8 ,it is an awful question4 ,in comparison with its concentrated interest1 all other affairs are childish and momentary4 ,whenever that solemn question is asked1 earth1 time1 and the heart1 natural transformations1 stars1 fancy1 and the brooding intellect1 are full of vague oracles4 ,let us see what intelligible answers can be constructed from their responses4 ,the first theory which we shall consider propounds itself in one terrible word1 annihilation4 ,logically this is the earliest1 historically the latest1 view4 ,the healthy consciousness1 the eager fancy1 the controlling sentiment1 the crude thought1 all the uncurbed instinctive conclusions of primitive human nature1 point forcibly to a continued existence for the soul1 in some way1 when the body shall have perished4 ,and so history shows us in all the savage nations a vivid belief in a future life4 ,but to the philosophical observer1 who has by dint of speculation freed himself from the constraining tendencies of desire1 faith1 imagination1 and authority1 the thought that man totally ceases with the destruction of his visible organism must occur as the first and simplest settlement of the question4#a ,the totality of manifested life has absolutely disappeared3 why not conclude that the totality of real life has actually lost its existence and is no more8 ,that is the natural inference1 unless by some means the contrary can be proved4 ,accordingly1 among all civilized people1 every age has had its skeptics1 metaphysical disputants who have mournfully or scoffingly denied the separate survival of the soul4 ,this is a necessity in the inevitable sequences of observation and theory2 because1 when the skeptic1 suppressing or escaping his biassed wishes1 the trammels of traditional opinion1 and the spontaneous convictions prophetic of his own uninterrupted being1 first looks over the wide scene of human life and death1 and reflectingly asks1 ,what is the sequel of this strange1 eventful history8 obviously the conclusion suggested by the immediate phenomena is that of entire dissolution and blank oblivion4 ,this result is avoided by calling in the aid of deeper philosophical considerations and of inspiring moral truths4 ,but some will not call in that aid2 and the whole superficial appearance of the case regarding that alone1 as they then will is fatal to our imperial hopes4 ,the primordial clay claims its own from the disanimated frame2 and the vanished life1 like the flame of an outburnt taper1 has ceased to be4 ,men are like bubbles or foam flakes on the world's streaming surface3 glittering in a momentary ray1 they break and are gone1 and only the dark flood remains still flowing forward4 ,they are like tones of music1 commencing and ending with the unpurposed breath that makes them4 ,nature is a vast congeries of mechanical substances pervaded by mindless forces of vitality4 ,consciousness is a production which results from the fermentation and elaboration of unconscious materials2 and after a time it deceases1 its conditions crumbling into their inorganic grounds again4 ,from the abyss of silence and dust intelligent creatures break forth1 shine1 and sink back1 like meteor flashes in a cloud4 ,the generations of sentient being1 like the annual growths of vegetation1 by spontaneity of dynamic development1 spring from dead matter1 flourish through their destined cycle1 and relapse into dead matter4 ,the bosom of nature is1 therefore1 at once the wondrous womb and the magnificent mausoleum of man4 ,fate1 like an iron skeleton seated at the summit of the world on a throne of fresh growing grass and mouldering skulls1 presides over all1 and annihilation is the universal doom of individual life4 ,such is the atheistic naturalist's creed4 ,however indefensible or shocking it is1 it repeatedly appears in the annals of speculation2 and any synopsis of the possible conclusions in which the inquiry into man's destiny may rest that should omit this1 would be grossly imperfect4 ,this scheme of disbelief is met by insuperable objections4 ,it excludes some essential elements of the case1 confines itself to a wholly empirical view2 and consequently the relentless solution it announces applies only to a mutilated problem4 ,to assert the cessation of the soul because its physical manifestations through the body have ceased1 is certainly to affirm without just warrant4 ,it would appear impossible for volition and intelligence to #a ,lalande1 ,dictionnaire des ,athees ,anciens et ,modernes4 originate save from a free parent mind4 ,numerous cogent evidences of design seem to prove the existence of a ,god by whose will all things are ordered according to a plan4 ,many powerful impressions and arguments1 instinctive1 critical1 or moral1 combine to teach that in the wreck of matter the spirit emerges1 deathless1 from the closing waves of decay4 ,the confirmation of that truth becomes irresistible when we see how reason and conscience1 with delighted avidity1 seize upon its adaptedness alike to the brightest features and the darkest defects of the present life1 whose imperfect symmetries and segments are harmoniously filled out by the adjusting complement of a future state4#b ,the next representation of the fate of the soul disposes of it by re absorption into the essence from which it emanated4 ,there is an eternal fountain of unmade life1 from which all individual1 transient lives flow1 and into which they return4 ,this conception arose in the outset from a superficial analogy which must have obtruded itself upon primitive notice and speculation2 for man is led to his first metaphysical inquiries by a feeling contemplation of outward phenomena4 ,now1 in the material world1 when individual forms perish1 each sensible component relapses into its original element and becomes an undistinguishable portion of it4 ,our exhaled breath goes into the general air and is united with it3 the dust of our decaying frames becomes part of the ground and vegetation4 ,so1 it is strongly suggested1 the lives of things1 the souls of men1 when they disappear from us1 are remerged in the native spirit whence they came4 ,the essential longing of every part for union with its whole is revealed and vocal throughout all nature4 ,water is sullen in stillness1 murmurs in motion1 and never ceases its gloom or its complaining until it sleeps in the sea4 ,like spray on the rock1 the stranding generations strike the sepulchre and are dissipated into universal vapor4 ,as lightnings slink back into the charged bosom of the thunder cloud1 as eager waves1 spent1 subside in the deep1 as furious gusts die away in the great atmosphere1 so the gleaming ranks of genius1 the struggling masses of toil1 the pompous hosts of war1 fade and dissolve away into the peaceful bosom of the all engulfing ,,soul4 ,this simplest1 earliest philosophy of mankind has had most extensive and permanent prevalence4#c ,for immemorial centuries it has possessed the mind of the countless millions of ,india4 ,baur thinks the ,egyptian identification of each deceased person with ,osiris and the burial of him under that name1 were meant to denote the reception of the individual human life into the universal nature life4 ,the doctrine has been implicitly held wherever pantheism has found a votary1 from ,anaximander1 to whom finite creatures were disintegrations or decompositions from the ,infinite1 to ,alexander ,pope1 affirming that ,all are but parts of one stupendous whole1 ,whose body nature is1 and ,god the soul4 ,the first reasoners1 who gave such an ineradicable direction and tinge to the thinking of after ages1 were furthermore driven to the supposition of a final absorption1 from the #b ,drossbach1 ,die ,harmonie der ,ergebnisse der ,naturforschung mit den ,forderungen des ,menschlichen ,gemuthes4 #c ,blount1 ,anima ,mundi2 or1 ,the ,opinions of the ,ancients concerning ,man's ,soul after this ,life4 impossibility1 in that initiatory stage of thought1 of grasping any other theory which would apparently meet the case so well or be more satisfactory4 ,they1 of course1 had not yet arrived at the idea that ,god is a personal ,spirit whose nature is revealed in the constitutive characteristics of the human soul1 and who carries on his works from eternity to eternity without monotonous repetition or wearisome stagnancy1 but with perpetual variety in never ceasingmotion4 ,whatever commences must also terminate1 they said1 forgetting that number begins with one but has no end4 ,they did not conceive of the universe of being as an eternal line1 making immortality desirable for its endless novelty1 but imaged it to themselves as a circle1 making an everlasting individual consciousness dreadful for its intolerable sameness1 an immense round of existence1 phenomena1 and experience1 going forth and returning into itself1 over and over1 forever and ever4 ,to escape so repulsive a contemplation1 they made death break the fencing integument of consciousness and empty all weary personalities into the absolute abyss of being4 ,again3 the extreme difficulty of apprehending the truth of a ,creator literally infinite1 and of a limitless creation1 would lead to the same result in another way4 ,without doubt1 it seemed to the naive thinkers of antiquity1 that if hosts of new beings were continually coming into life and increasing the number of the inhabitants of the future state1 the fountain from which they proceeded would some time be exhausted1 or the universe grow plethoric with population4 ,there would be no more substance below or no more room above4 ,the easiest method of surmounting this problem would be by the hypothesis that all spirits come out of a great ,world ,spirit1 and1 having run their mortal careers1 are absorbed into it again4 ,many especially the deepest ,oriental dreamers have also been brought to solace themselves with this conclusion by a course of reasoning based on the exposures1 and assumed inevitable sufferings1 of all finite being4 ,they argue that every existence below the absolute ,god1 because it is set around with limitations1 is necessarily obnoxious to all sorts of miseries4 ,its pleasures are only honey drops scarce tasted in a sea of gall4 ,this conviction1 with its accompanying sentiment1 runs through the sacred books of the ,east1 is the root and heart of their theology1 the dogma that makes the cruelest penances pleasant if a renewed existence may thus be avoided4 ,the sentiment is not alien to human longing and surmise1 as witnesses the night thought of the ,english poet who1 world sated1 and sadly yearning1 cries through the starry gloom to ,god1 ,when shall my soul her incarnation quit1 ,and1 readopted to thy blest embrace1 ,obtain her apotheosis in thee8 ,having stated and traced the doctrine of absorption1 it remains to investigate the justice of its grounds4 ,the doctrine starts from a premise partly true and ends in a conclusion partly false4 ,we emanate from the creative power of ,god1 and are sustained by the in flowing presence of his life1 but are not discerptions from his own being1 any more than beams of light are distinct substances shot out and shorn off from the sun to be afterwards drawn back and assimilated into the parent orb4 ,we are destined to a harmonious life in his unifying love1 but not to be fused and lost as insentient parts of his total consciousness4 ,we are products of ,god's will1 not component atoms of his soul4 ,souls are to be in ,god as stars are in the firmament1 not as lumps of salt are in a solvent4 ,this view is confirmed by various arguments4 ,in the first place1 it is supported by the philosophical distinction between emanation and creation4 ,the conception of creation gives us a personal ,god who wills to certain ends2 that of emanation reduces the ,supreme ,being to a ghastly array of laws1 revolving abysses1 galvanic forces1 nebular star dust1 dead ideas1 and vital fluids4 ,according to the latter supposition1 finite existences flow from the ,infinite as consequences from a principle1 or streams from a fountain2 according to the former1 they proceed as effects from a cause1 or thoughts from a mind4 ,that is pantheistic1 fatal1 and involves absorption by a logical necessity2 this is creative1 free1 and does not presuppose any circling return4 ,material things are thoughts which ,god transiently contemplates and dismisses2 spiritual creatures are thoughts which he permanently expresses in concrete immortality4 ,the soul is a thought2 the body is the word in which it is clothed4 ,secondly1 the analogy which first leads to belief in absorption is falsely interpreted4 ,taken on its own ground1 rightly appreciated1 it legitimates a different conclusion4 ,a grain of sand thrown into the bosom of ,sahara does not lose its individual existence4 ,distinct drops are not annihilated as to their simple atoms of water1 though sunk in the midst of the sea4 ,the final particles or monads of air or granite are not dissolvingly blended into continuity of unindividualized atmosphere or rock when united with their elemental masses1 but are thrust unapproachably apart by molecular repulsion4 ,now1 a mind1 being1 as we conceive1 no composite1 but an ultimate unity1 cannot be crushed or melted from its integral persistence of personality4 ,though plunged into the centre of a surrounding wilderness or ocean of minds1 it must still retain itself unlost in the multitude4 ,therefore1 if we admit the existence of an inclusive mundane ,soul1 it by no means follows that lesser souls received into it are deprived of their individuality4 ,it is one not otherwise than as the sea is one1 by a similarity and contiguity of parts1 being composed of an innumerable host of distinct spirits1 as that is of aqueous particles2 and as the rivers continually discharge into the sea1 so the vehicular people1 upon the disruption of their vehicles1 discharge and incorporate into that ocean of spirits making the mundane ,soul4#d ,thirdly1 every consideration furnished by the doctrine of final causes as applied to existing creatures makes us ask1 ,what use is there in calling forth souls merely that they may be taken back again8 ,to justify their creation1 the fulfilment of some educative aim1 and then the lasting fruition of it1 appear necessary4 ,why else should a soul be drawn from out the unformed vastness1 and have its being struck into bounds1 and be forced to pass through such appalling ordeals of good and evil1 pleasure and agony8 ,an individual of any kind is as important as its race2 for it contains in possibility all that its type does4 ,and the purposes of things1 so far as we can discern them1 the nature of our spiritual constitution1 the meaning of our circumstances and probation1 the resulting tendencies of our experience1 all seem to prophesy1 not the destruction1 but the perfection and perpetuation1 of individual being4 #d ,tucker1 ,light of ,nature1 ,part ,,ii4 chap4 xxii4 ,fourthly1 the same inference is yielded by applying a similar consideration to the ,creator4 ,allowing him consciousness and intentions1 as we must1 what object could he have either in exerting his creative power or in sending out portions of himself in new individuals1 save the production of so many immortal personalities of will1 knowledge1 and love1 to advance towards the perfection of holiness1 wisdom1 and blessedness1 filling his mansions with his children8 ,by thus multiplying his own image he adds to the number of happy creatures who are to be bound together in bands of glory1 mutually receiving and returning his affection1 and swells the tide of conscious bliss which fills and rolls forever through his eternal universe4 ,nor1 finally1 is it necessary to expect personal oblivion in ,god in order to escape from evil and win exuberant happiness4 ,those ends are as well secured by the fruition of ,god's love in us as by the drowning of our consciousness in his plenitude of delight4 ,precisely herein consists the fundamental distinction of the ,christian from the ,brahmanic doctrine of human destiny4 ,the ,christian hopes to dwell in blissful union with ,god's will1 not to be annihilatingly sunk in his essence4 ,to borrow an illustration from ,scotus ,erigena1#e as the air when thoroughly illumined by sunshine still keeps its aerial nature and does not become sunshine1 or as iron all red in the flame still keeps its metallic substance and does not turn to fire itself1 so a soul fully possessed and moved by ,god does not in consequence lose its own sentient and intelligent being4 ,it is still a bounded entity1 though recipient of boundless divinity4 ,thus evil ceases1 each personality is preserved and intensely glorified1 and1 at the same time1 ,god is all in all4 ,the totality of perfected1 enraptured1 immortalized humanity in heaven may be described in this manner1 adopting the masterly expression of ,coleridge3 ,and as one body seems the aggregate ,of atoms numberless1 each organized1 ,so1 by a strange and dim similitude1 ,infinite myriads of self conscious minds ,in one containing ,spirit live1 who fills ,with absolute ubiquity of thought ,all his involved monads1 that yet seem ,each to pursue its own self centring end4 ,a third mode of answering the question of human destiny is by the conception of a general resurrection4 ,souls1 as fast as they leave the body1 are gathered in some intermediate state1 a starless grave world1 a ghostly limbo4 ,when the present cycle of things is completed1 when the clock of time runs down and its lifeless weight falls in the socket1 and ,death's empty helmet yawns grimly over the funeral hatchment of the world1 the gates of this long barred receptacle of the deceased will be struck open1 and its pale prisoners1 in accumulated hosts1 issue forth1 and enter on the immortal inheritance reserved for them4 ,in the sable land of ,hades all departed generations are bivouacking in one vast army4 ,on the resurrection morning1 striking their shadowy tents1 they will scale the walls of the abyss1 and1 reinvested with their bodies1 either plant their banners on the summits of the earth in permanent encampment1 or storm the battlements of the sky and colonize heaven with flesh and blood4 #e ,philosophy and ,doctrines of ,erigena1 ,universalist ,quarterly ,review1 vol4 vii4 p4 #ajj4 ,all advocates of the doctrine of psychopannychism1 or the sleep of souls from death till the last day1 in addition to the general body of orthodox ,christians1 have been supporters of this conclusion4#f ,three explanations are possible of the origination of this belief4 ,first1 a man musing over the affecting panorama of the seasons as it rolls through the year1 budding life alternating with deadly desolation1 spring still bringing back the freshness of leaves1 flowers1 and carolling birds1 as if raising them from an annual interment in winter's cold grave1 and then thinking of the destiny of his own race1 how many generations have ripened and decayed1 how many human crops have been harvested from the cradle and planted in the tomb1 might naturally especially if he had any thing of the poet's associating and creative mind say to himself1 ,are we altogether perishable dust1 or are we seed sown for higher fields1 seed lying dormant now1 but at last to sprout into swift immortality when ,god shall make a new sunshine and dew omnipotently penetrate the dry mould where we tarry8 ,no matter how partial the analogy1 how forced the process1 how false the result1 such imagery would sooner or later occur2 and1 having occurred1 it is no more strange that it should get literal acceptance than it is that many other popular figments should have secured the firm establishment they have4 ,secondly1 a mourner just bereaved of one in whom his whole love was garnered1 distracted with grief1 his faculties unbalanced1 his soul a chaos1 is of sorrow and fantasy all compact2 and he solaces himself with the ideal embodiment of his dreams1 half seeing what he thinks1 half believing what he wishes4 ,his desires pass through unconscious volition into supposed facts4 ,before the miraculous power of his grief wielded imagination the world is fluent1 and fate runs in the moulds he conceives4 ,the adored form on which corruption now banquets1 he sees again1 animated1 beaming1 clasped in his arms4 ,he cries1 ,it cannot be that those holy days are forever ended1 that ,i shall never more realize the blissful dream in which we trod the sunny world together6 ,oh1 it must be that some time ,god will give me back again that beloved one6 the sepulchre closed so fast shall be unsealed1 the dead be restored1 and all be as it was before6 ,the conception thus once born out of the delirium of busy thought1 anguished love1 and regnant imagination1 may in various ways win a fixed footing in faith4 ,thirdly1 the notion which we are now contemplating is one link in a chain of thought which1 in the course of time and the range of speculation1 the theorizing mind could not fail to forge4 ,the concatenation of reflections is this4 ,death is the separation of soul and body4 ,that separation is repulsive1 an evil4 ,therefore it was not intended by the ,infinite ,goodness1 but was introduced by a foe1 and is a foreign1 marring element4 ,finally ,god will vanquish his antagonist1 and banish from the creation all his thwarting interferences with the primitive perfection of harmony and happiness4 ,accordingly1 the souls which ,satan has caused to be separated from their bodies are reserved apart until the fulness of time1 when there shall be a universal resurrection and restoration4 ,so far as reason is competent to pronounce on this view considered as a sequel to the disembodying doom of man1 it is an arbitrary piece of fancy4 ,philosophy ignores it4 ,science gives no hint of it4 #f ,baumgarten1 ,beantwortung des ,sendschreibens ,heyns vom ,schlafe der abgeschiedenen ,seelen4 ,chalmers4 ,astronomical ,discourses1 iv4 ,it sprang from unwarranted metaphors1 perverted1 exaggerated1 based on analogies not parallel4 ,so far as it assumes to rest on revelation it will be examined in another place4 ,fourthly1 after the notion of a great1 epochal resurrection1 as a reply to the inquiry1 ,what is to become of the soul8 a dogma is next encountered which we shall style that of a local and irrevocable conveyance4 ,the disembodied spirit is conveyed to some fixed region1#g a penal or a blissful abode1 where it is to tarry unalterably4 ,this idea of the banishment or admission of souls1 according to their deserts1 or according to an elective grace1 into an anchored location called hell or heaven1 a retributive or rewarding residence for eternity1 we shall pass by with few words1 because it recurs for fuller examination in other chapters4 ,in the first place1 the whole picture is a gross simile drawn from occurrences of this outward world and unjustifiably applied to the fortunes of the mind in the invisible sphere of the future4 ,the figment of a judicial transportation of the soul from one place or planet to another1 as if by a ,charon's boat1 is a clattering and repulsive conceit1 inadmissible by one who apprehends the noiseless continuity of ,god's self executing laws4 ,it is a jarring mechanical clash thrust amidst the smooth evolution of spiritual destinies4 ,it compares with the facts as the supposition that the planets are swung around the sun by material chains compares with the law of gravitation4 ,moral compensation is no better secured by imprisonment or freedom in separate localities than it is1 in a common environment1 by the fatal working of their interior forces of character1 and their relations with all things else4 ,moreover1 these antagonist kingdoms1 ,tartarean and ,elysian1 defined as the everlasting habitations of departed souls1 have been successively driven1 as dissipated visions1 from their assumed latitudes and longitudes1 one after another1 by progressive discovery1 until now the intelligent mind knows of no assignable spot for them4 ,since we are not acquainted with any fixed locations to which the soul is to be carried1 to abide there forever in appointed joy or woe1 and since there is no scientific necessity nor moral use for the supposition of such places and of the transferrence of the departed to them1 we cannot hesitate to reject the associated belief as a deluding mistake4 ,the truth1 as we conceive it1 is not that different souls are borne by constabulary apparitions to two immured dwellings1 manacled and hurried into ,tophet or saluted and ushered into ,paradise1 but that all souls spontaneously pass into one immense empire1 drawn therein by their appropriate attractions1 to assimilate a strictly discriminative experience4 ,but1 as to this1 let each thinker form his own conclusion4 ,the fifth view of the destination of the soul may be called the theory of recurrence4#h ,when man dies1 his surviving spirit is immediately born again in a new body4 ,thus the souls1 assigned in a limited number to each world1 continually return1 each one still forgetful of his previous lives4 ,this seems to be the specific creed of the ,druses1 who affirm that all souls were created at once1 and that the number is unchanged1 while they are born over and over4 ,a ,druse boy1 dreadfully alarmed by the discharge of a gun1 on being asked by a ,christian the cause of his fear1 replied1 ,i was born murdered2 that is1 the soul of a man who had been shot #g ,lange1 ,das ,land der ,herrlichkelt4 #h ,schmidius1 ,diss4 de ,multiplici ,animarum ,reditu in ,corpora4 passed into his body at the moment of his birth4#i ,the young mountaineer would seem1 from the sudden violence with which he was snatched out of his old house1 to have dragged a trail of connecting consciousness over into his new one4 ,as a general rule1 in distinction from such an exception1 memory is like one of those passes which the conductors of railroad trains give their passengers1 good for this trip only4 ,the notion of an endless succession of lives on the familiar stage of this dear old world1 commencing each with clean wiped tablets1 possesses for some minds a fathomless allurement2 but others wish for no return pass on their ticket to futurity1 preferring an adventurous abandonment to fresh fields and pastures new1 in unknown immensity1 to a renewed excursion through landscapes already traversed and experiences drained before4 ,fourier's doctrine of immortality belongs here4 ,according to his idea1 the ,great ,soul of this globe is a composite being1 comprising about ten billions of individual souls4 ,their connection with this planet will be for nearly eighty thousand years4 ,then the whole sum of them will swarm to some higher planet1 ,fourier himself1 perhaps1 being the old gray gander that will head the flock1 pilot king of their flight4 ,each man is to enjoy about four hundred births on earth1 poetic justice leading him successively through all the grades and phases of fortune1 from cripplehood and beggary to paragonship and the throne4 ,the invisible residence of spirits and the visible are both on this globe1 the former in the ,great ,soul1 the latter in bodies4 ,in the other life the soul becomes a sharer in the woes of the ,great ,soul1 which is as unhappy as seven eighths of the incarnated souls2 for its fate is a compound of the fates of the human souls taken collectively4 ,coming into this outward scene at birth1 we lose anew all memory of past existence1 but wake up again in the ,great ,soul with a perfect recollection of all our previous lives both in the invisible and in the visible world4 ,these alternating passages between the two states will continue until the final swooping of total humanity from this exhausted planet in search of a better abode4#aj ,the idea of the recurrence of souls is the simplest means of meeting a difficulty stated thus by the ingenious ,abraham ,tucker in his ,light of ,nature ,pursued4 ,the numbers of souls daily pouring in from hence upon the next world seem to require a proportionable drain from it somewhere or other2 for else the country might be overstocked4 ,the objection urged against such a belief from the fact that we do not remember having lived before is rebutted by the assertion that ,some draught of ,lethe doth await1 ,as old mythologies relate1 ,the slipping through from state to state4 ,the theory associated with this ,lethean draught is confirmed by its responsive correspondence with many unutterable experiences1 vividly felt or darkly recognised1 in our deepest bosom4 ,it seems as if occasionally the poppied drug or other oblivious antidote #i ,churchill1 ,mount ,lebanon1 vol4 ii4 ch4 #ab4 #aj ,fourier1 ,passions of the ,human ,soul1 7,morell's translation17 ,introduction1 vol4 i4 pp4 #ad-ah2 also pp4 #bcc-bcf4 administered by nature had been so much diluted that reason1 only half baffled1 struggles to decipher the dim runes and vestiges of a foregone state2 ,and ever something is or seems ,that touches us with mystic gleams1 ,like glimpses of forgotten dreams4 ,in those excursive reveries1 fed by hope and winged with dream1 which scour the glens and scale the peaks of the land of thought1 this nook of hypothesis must some time be discovered4 ,and1 brought to light1 it has much to interest and to please2 but it is too destitute of tangible proof to be successfully maintained against assault4#aa ,there is another faith as to the fate of souls1 best stated1 perhaps1 in the phrase perpetual migration4 ,the soul1 by successive deaths and births1 traverses the universe1 an everlasting traveller through the rounds of being and the worlds of space1 a transient sojourner briefly inhabiting each4#ab ,all reality is finding its way up towards the attracting1 retreating ,godhead4 ,minerals tend to vegetables1 these to animals1 these to men4 ,blind but yearning matter aspires to spirit1 intelligent spirits to divinity4 ,in every grain of dust sleep an army of future generations4 ,as every thing below man gropes upward towards his conscious estate1 the trees being imperfect men1 that seem to bemoan their imprisonment1 rooted in the ground1 so man himself shall climb the illimitable ascent of creation1 every step a star4 ,the animal organism is a higher kind of vegetable1 whose development begins with those substances with the production of which the life of an ordinary vegetable ends4#ac ,the fact1 too1 that embryonic man passes through ascending stages undistinguishable from those of lower creatures1 is full of meaning4 ,does it not betoken a preserved epitome of the long history of slowly rising existence8 ,what unplummeted abysses of time and distance intervene from the primary rock to the ,victoria ,regia6 and again from the first crawling spine to the fetterless mind of a ,schelling6 ,but1 snail pace by snail pace1 those immeasurable separations have been bridged over2 and so every thing that now lies at the dark basis of dust shall finally reach the transplendent apex of intellect4 ,the objection of theological prejudice to this developing succession of ascents that it is degrading is an unhealthy mistake4 ,whether we have risen or fallen to our present rank1 the actual rank itself is not altered4 ,and in one respect it is better for man to be an advanced oyster than a degraded god2 for in the former case the path is upwards1 in the latter it is downwards4 ,we wake1 observes a profound thinker1 and find ourselves on a stair3 there are other stairs below us1 which we seem to have ascended2 there are stairs above us1 many a one1 which go upward and out of sight4 ,such was plainly the trust of the author of the following exhortation3 ,be worthy of death2 and so learn to live ,that every incarnation of thy soul ,in other realms1 and worlds1 and firmaments ,shall be more pure and high4 #aa ,bertram1 ,prufung der ,meinung von der ,praexistenz der menechlichen ,seele4 #ab ,nurnberger1 ,still ,leben1 oder uber die ,unsterblichkeit der ,seele4 #ac ,liebig1 ,animal ,chemistry1 ch4 ix4 ,bulwer likewise has said1 ,eternity may be but an endless series of those emigrations which men call deaths1 abandonments of home after home1 ever to fairer scenes and loftier heights4 ,age after age1 the spirit that glorious nomad may shift its tent1 fated not to rest in the dull ,elysium of the heathen1 but carrying with it evermore its twin elements1 activity and desire4 ,but there is something unsatisfactory1 even sad and dreary1 in this prospect of incessant migration4 ,must not the pilgrim pine and tire for a goal of rest8 ,exhausted with wanderings1 sated with experiments1 will he not pray for the exempted lot of a contented fruition in repose8 ,one must weary at last of being even so sublime a vagabond as he whose nightly hostelries are stars4 ,and1 besides1 how will sundered friends and lovers1 between whom1 on the road1 races and worlds interpose1 ever over take each other1 and be conjoined to journey hand in hand again or build a bower together by the way8 ,a poet of finest mould1 in happiest mood1 once saw a leaf drop from a tree which overhung a mirroring stream4 ,the reflection of the leaf in the watery sky hollow far below seemed to rise from beneath as swiftly as the object fell from above2 and the two1 encountering at the surface1 became one4 ,then he sang1 touching with his strain the very marrow of deepest human desire1 ,how speeds1 from in the river's thought1 ,the spirit of the leaf that falls1 ,its heaven in that calm bosom wrought1 ,as mine among yon crimson walls6 ,from the dry bough it spins1 to greet ,its shadow on the placid river3 ,so might ,i my companions meet1 ,nor roam the countless worlds forever6 ,moreover1 some elements of this theory are too grotesque1 are the too rash inferences from a too crude induction1 to win sober credit to any extent4 ,it is easy to devise and carry out in consistent descriptive details the hypothesis that the soul has risen1 through ten thousand transitions1 from the condition of red earth or a tadpole to its present rank1 and that1 ,as it once crawl'd upon the sod1 ,it yet shall grow to be a god2 but what scientific evidence is there to confirm and establish the supposition as a truth8 ,why1 if it be so1 to borrow the humorous satire of good old ,henry ,more1 ,then it will follow that cold stopping curd ,and harden'd moldy cheese1 when they have rid ,due circuits through the heart1 at last shall speed ,of life and sense1 look thorough our thin eyes ,and view the close wherein the cow did feed ,whence they were milk'd3 grosse pie crust will grow wise1 ,and pickled cucumbers sans doubt philosophize6 ,the form of this general outline stalks totteringly on stilts of fancy1 and sprawls headlong with a logical crash at the first critical probe4 ,the final theory of the destination of souls1 now left to be set forth1 may be designated by the word transition4#ad ,it affirms that at death they pass from the separate material worlds1 which are their initiating nurseries1 into the common spiritual world1 which is everywhere present4 ,thus the visible peoples the invisible1 each person in his turn consciously rising from this world's rudimentary darkness to that world's universal light4 ,dwelling here1 free souls1 housed in frames of dissoluble clay1 ,we hold a middle rank 'twixt heaven and earth1 ,on the last verge of mortal being stand1 lose to the realm where angels have their birth1 ,just on the boundaries of the spirit land4 ,why has ,god broken up the solid material of the universe into innumerable little globes1 and swung each of them in the centre of an impassable solitude of space1 unless it be to train up in the various spheres separate households for final union as a single diversified family in the boundless spiritual world8 #ae ,the surmise is not unreasonable1 but recommends itself strongly1 that1 ,if yonder stars be fill'd with forms of breathing clay like ours1 ,perchance the space which spreads between is for a spirit's powers4 ,the soul encased in flesh is thereby confined to one home1 its natal nest2 but1 liberated at death1 it wanders at will1 unobstructed1 through every world and cerulean deep2 and wheresoever it is1 there1 in proportion to its own capacity and fitness1 is heaven and is ,god4#af ,all those world spots so thickly scattered through the ,yggdrasill of universal space are but the brief sheltering places where embryo intelligences clip their shells1 and whence1 as soon as fledged through the discipline of earthly teaching and essays1 the broodlet souls take wing into the mighty airs of immensity1 and thus enter on their eternal emancipation4 ,this conjecture is1 of all which have been offered yet1 perhaps the completest1 least perplexed1 best recommended by its harmony with our knowledge and our hope4 ,and so one might wish to rest in it with humble trust4 ,the final destiny of an immortal soul1 after its transition into the other world1 must be either unending progress towards infinite perfection1 or the reaching of its perihelion at last and then revolving in uninterrupted fruition4 ,in the former case1 pursuing an infinite aim1 with each degree of its attainment the flying goal still recedes4 ,in the latter case1 it will in due season touch its bound and there be satisfied1 ,when weak ,time shall be pour'd out ,into ,eternity1 and circular joys ,dance in an endless round4 #ad ,taylor1 ,physical ,theory of ,another ,life1 ch4 xii4 #ae ,taylor1 ,saturday ,evening1 pp4 #ie-aaa4 #af ,taylor1 ,physical ,theory of ,another ,life1 ch4 xvii4 ,this result seems the more probable of the two2 for the assertion of countless decillions of personalities all progressing beyond every conceivable limit1 on1 still on1 forever1 is incredible4 ,if endless linear progress were the destiny of each being1 the whole universe would at last become a line6 ,and though it is true that the idea of an ever novel chase attracts and refreshes the imagination1 while the idea of a monotonous revolution repels and wearies it1 this is simply because we judge after our poor earthly experience and its flagging analogies4 ,it will not be so if that revolution is the vivid realization of all our being's possibilities4 ,annihilation1 absorption1 resurrection1 conveyance1 recurrence1 migration1 transition1 these seven answers to the question of our fate1 and of its relation to the course of nature1 are thinkable in words4 ,we may choose from among them1 but can construct no real eighth4 ,first1 there is a constant succession of growth and decay4 ,second1 there is a perpetual flow and ebb of personal emanation and impersonal resumption4 ,third1 there is a continual return of the same persistent entities4 ,fourth1 all matter may be sublimated to spirit1 and souls alone remain to occupy boundless space4 ,fifth1 the power of death may cease1 all the astronomic orbs be populated and enjoyed1 each by one generation of everlasting inhabitants1 the present order continuing in each earth until enough have lived to fill it1 then all of them1 physically restored1 dwelling on it1 with no more births or deaths4 ,sixth1 if matter be not transmutable to soul1 when that peculiar reality from which souls are developed is exhausted1 and the last generation of incarnated beings have risen from the flesh1 the material creation may1 in addition to the inter stellar region1 be eternally appropriated by the spirit races to their own free range and use1 through adaptations of faculty unknown to us now2 else it may vanish as a phantasmal spectacle4 ,or1 finally1 souls may be absolutely created out of nothing by the omnipotence of ,god1 and the universe may be infinite3 then the process may proceed forever4 ,but men's beliefs are formed rather by the modes of thought they have learned to adopt than by any proofs they have tested2 not by argumentation about a subject1 but by the way of looking at it4 ,the moralist regards all creation as the work of a personal ,god1 a theatre of moral ends1 a just ,providence watching over the parts1 and the conscious immortality of the actors an inevitable accompaniment4 ,the physicist contemplates the universe as constituted of atoms of attraction and repulsion1 which subsist in perfect mobility through space1 but are concreted in the molecular masses of the planets4 ,the suns are vast engines for the distribution of heat or motion1 the equivalent of all kinds of force4 ,this1 in its diffusion1 causes innumerable circulations and combinations of the original atoms4 ,organic growth1 life1 is the fruition of a force derived from the sun4 ,decay1 death1 is the rendering up of that force in its equivalents4 ,thus1 the universe is a composite unity of force1 a solidarity of ultimate unities which are indestructible1 though in constant circulation of new groupings and journeys4 ,to the religious faith of the moralist1 man is an eternal person1 reaping what he has sowed4 ,to the speculative intellect of the physicist1 man is an atomic force1 to be liberated into the ethereal medium until again harnessed in some organism4 ,in both cases he is immortal3 but in that1 as a free citizen of the ideal world2 in this1 as a flying particle of the dynamic immensity4 ,,part ,,second4 ,,ethnic ,,thoughts ,,concerning ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,barbarian ,,notions ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,proceeding now to give an account of the fancies and opinions in regard to a future life which have been prevalent1 in different ages1 in various nations of the earth1 it will be best to begin by presenting1 in a rapid series1 some sketches of the conceits of those uncivilized tribes who did not so far as our knowledge reaches possess a doctrine sufficiently distinctive and full1 or important enough in its historical relations1 to warrant a detailed treatment in separate chapters4 ,we will glance first at the negroes4 ,according to all accounts1 while there are1 among the numerous tribes1 diversities and degrees of superstition1 there is yet1 throughout the native pagan population of ,africa1 a marked general agreement of belief in the survival of the soul1 in spectres1 divination1 and witchcraft2 and there is a general similarity of funeral usages4 ,early travellers tell us that the ,bushmen conceived the soul to be immortal1 and as impalpable as a shadow1 and that they were much afraid of the return of deceased spirits to haunt them4 ,they were accustomed to pray to their departed countrymen not to molest them1 but to stay away in quiet4 ,they also employed exorcisers to lay these ill omened ghosts4 ,meiners relates of some inhabitants of the ,guinea coast that their fear of ghosts and their childish credulity reached such a pitch that they threw their dead into the ocean1 in the expectation of thus drowning soul and body together4 ,superstitions as gross and lawless still have full sway4 ,wilson1 whose travels and residence there for twenty years have enabled him to furnish the most reliable information1 says1 in his recent work1#a ,a native ,african would as soon doubt his present as his future state of being4 ,every dream1 every stray suggestion of the mind1 is interpreted1 with unquestioning credence1 as a visit from the dead1 a whisper from a departed soul4 ,if a man wakes up with pains in his bones or muscles1 it is because his spirit has wandered abroad in the night and been flogged by some other spirit4 ,on certain occasions the whole community start up at midnight1 with clubs1 torches1 and hideous yells1 to drive the evil spirits out of the village4 ,they seem to believe that the souls of dead men take rank with good or bad spirits1 as they have themselves been good or bad in this life4 ,they bury with the deceased clothing1 ornaments1 utensils1 #a ,western ,africa1 ch4 xii4 and statedly convey food to the grave for the use of the revisiting spirit4 ,with the body of king ,weir of the ,cavalla towns1 who was buried in ,december of #ahed1 in presence of several missionaries1 was interred a quantity of rice1 palm oil1 beef1 and rum3 it was supposed the ghost of the sable monarch would come back and consume these articles4 ,the ,african tribes1 where their notions have not been modified by ,christian or by ,mohammedan teachings1 appear to have no definite idea of a heaven or of a hell2 but future reward or punishment is considered under the general conception of an association1 in the disembodied state1 with the benignant or with the demoniacal powers4 ,the ,new ,zealanders imagine that the souls of the dead go to a place beneath the earth1 called ,reinga4 ,the path to this region is a precipice close to the sea shore at the ,north ,cape4 ,it is said that the natives who live in the neighborhood can at night hear sounds caused by the passing of spirits thither through the air4 ,after a great battle they are thus warned of the event long before the news can arrive by natural means4#b ,it is a common superstition with them that the left eye of every chief1 after his death1 becomes a star4 ,the ,pleiades are seven ,new ,zealand chiefs1 brothers1 who were slain together in battle and are now fixed in the sky1 one eye of each1 in the shape of a star1 being the only part of them that is visible4 ,it has been observed that the mythological doctrine of the glittering host of heaven being an assemblage of the departed heroes of earth never received a more ingenious version4#c ,certainly it is a magnificent piece of insular egotism4 ,it is noticeable here that1 in the ,norse mythology1 ,thor1 having slain ,thiasse1 the giant genius of winter1 throws his eyes up to heaven1 and they become stars4 ,shungie1 a celebrated ,new ,zealand king1 said he had on one occasion eaten the left eye of a great chief whom he had killed in battle1 for the purpose of thus increasing the glory of his own eye when it should be transferred to the firmament4 ,sometimes1 apparently1 it was thought that there was a separate immortality for each of the eyes of the dead1 the left ascending to heaven as a star1 the right1 in the form of a spirit1 taking flight for ,reinga4 ,the custom1 common in ,africa and in ,new ,zealand1 of slaying the slaves or the wives of an important person at his death and burying them with him1 prevails also among the inhabitants of the ,feejee ,islands4 ,a chief's wives are sometimes strangled on these occasions1 sometimes buried alive4 ,one cried to her brother1 ,i wish to die1 that ,i may accompany my husband to the land where he has gone4 ,love me1 and make haste to strangle me1 that ,i may overtake him4#d ,departing souls go to the tribunal of ,ndengei1 who either receives them into bliss1 or sends them back1 as ghosts1 to haunt the scenes of their former existence1 or distributes them as food to devils1 or imprisons them for a period and then dooms them to annihilation4 ,the ,feejees are also very much afraid of ,samiulo1 ruler of a subterranean world1 who sits at the brink of a huge fiery cavern1 into which he hurls the souls he dislikes4 ,in the road to ,ndengei stands an enormous giant1 armed with an axe1 who tries to maim and murder the passing souls4 ,a powerful chief1 whose gun was interred with him1 loaded it1 and1 when #b ,shortland1 ,traditions of the ,new ,zealanders1 ch4 vii4 #c ,library of ,ent4 ,knowl43 ,the ,new ,zealanders1 pp4 #bbc-bcg4 #d ,wilkes1 ,narrative of the ,u4 ,s4 ,exploring ,expedition1 vol4 iii4 ch4 #c4 he came near the giant1 shot at him1 and ran by while the monster was dodging the bullet4 ,the people of the ,sandwich ,islands held a confused medley of notions as to another life4 ,in different persons among them were found1 in regard to this subject1 superstitious terror1 blank indifference1 positive unbelief4 ,the current fancy was that the souls of the chiefs were led1 by a god whose name denotes the eyeball of the sun1 to a life in the heavens1 while plebeian souls went down to ,akea1 a lugubrious underground abode4 ,some thought spirits were destroyed in this realm of darkness2 others1 that they were eaten by a stronger race of spirits there2 others still1 that they survived there1 subsisting upon lizards and butterflies4#e ,what a piteous life they must have led here whose imaginations could only soar to a future so unattractive as this6 ,the ,kamtschadales send all the dead alike to a subterranean elysium1 where they shall find again their wives1 clothes1 tools1 huts1 and where they shall fish and hunt4 ,all is there as here1 except that there are no fire spouting mountains1 no bogs1 streams1 inundations1 and impassable snows2 and neither hunting nor fishing is ever pursued in vain there4 ,this lower paradise is but a beautified ,kamtschatka1 freed from discommoding hardships and cleansed of tormenting ,cossacks and ,russians4 ,they have no hell for the rectification of the present wrong relations of virtue and misery1 vice and happiness4 ,the only distinction they appear to make is that all who in ,kamtschatka are poor1 and have few small and weak dogs1 shall there be rich and be furnished with strong and fat dogs4 ,the power of imagination is very remarkable in this raw people1 bringing the future life so near1 and awakening such an impatient longing for it and for their former companions that they often1 the sooner to secure a habitation there1 anticipate the natural time of their death by suicide4#f ,the ,esquimaux betray the influence of their clime and habits1 in the formation of their ideas of the life to come1 as plainly as the ,kamtschadales do4 ,the employments and enjoyments of their future state are rude and earthy4 ,they say the soul descends through successive places of habitation1 the first of which is full of pains and horrors4 ,the good1 that is1 the courageous and skilful1 those who have endured severe hardships and mastered many seals1 passing through this first residence1 find that the other mansions regularly improve4 ,they finally reach an abode of perfect satisfaction1 far beneath the storms of the sea1 where the sun is never obscured by night1 and where reindeer wander in great droves beside waters that never congeal1 and wherein the whale1 the walrus1 and the best sea fowls always abound4#g ,hell is deep1 but heaven deeper still4 ,hell1 they think1 is among the roots1 rocks1 monsters1 and cold of the frozen or vexed and suffering waters2 but ,beneath tempestuous seas and fields of ice ,their creed has placed a lowlier paradise4 ,the ,greenlanders1 too1 located their elysium beneath the abysses of the ocean1 where the good ,spirit ,torngarsuk held his reign in a happy and eternal summer4 ,the wizards1 who pretended to visit this region at will1 described the disembodied souls as pallid1 and1 if one #e ,jarves1 ,hist4 of the ,sandwich ,islands1 p4 #db4 #f ,christoph ,meiners1 ,vermischte ,philosophische ,schriften1 #afi-agc4 #g ,prichard1 ,physical ,hist4 of ,mankind1 vol4 i4 ch4 #b4 sought to seize them1 unsubstantial4#h ,some of these people1 however1 fixed the site of paradise in the sky1 and regarded the aurora borealis as the playing of happy souls4 ,so ,coleridge pictures the ,laplander ,marking the streamy banners of the ,north1 ,and thinking he those spirits soon should join ,who there1 in floating robes of rosy light1 ,dance sportively4 ,but others believed this state of restlessness in the clouds was the fate only of the worthless1 who were there pinched with hunger and plied with torments4 ,all agreed in looking for another state of existence1 where1 under diverse circumstances1 happiness and misery should be awarded1 in some degree at least1 according to desert4#i ,the ,peruvians taught that the reprobate were sentenced to a hell situated in the centre of the earth1 where they must endure centuries of toil and anguish4 ,their paradise was away in the blue dome of heaven4 ,there the spirits of the worthy would lead a life of tranquil luxury4 ,at the death of a ,peruvian noble his wives and servants frequently were slain1 to go with him and wait on him in that happy region4#aj ,many authors1 including ,prescott1 yielding too easy credence to the very questionable assertions of the ,spanish chroniclers1 have attributed to the ,peruvians a belief in the resurrection of the body4 ,various travellers and writers have also predicated this belief of savage nations in ,central ,africa1 of certain ,south ,sea islanders1 and of several native tribes in ,north ,america4 ,in all these cases the supposition is probably erroneous1 as we think for the following reasons4 ,in the first place1 the idea of a resurrection of the body is either a late conception of the associative imagination1 or else a doctrine connected with a speculative theory of recurring epochs in the destiny of the world2 and it is in both instances too subtle and elaborate for an uncultivated people4 ,secondly1 in none of the cases referred to has any reliable evidence been given of the actual existence of the belief in question4 ,it has merely been inferred1 by persons to whose minds the doctrine was previously familiar1 from phenomena by no means necessarily implying it4 ,for example1 a recent author ascribes to the ,feejees the belief that there will be a resurrection of the body just as it was at the time of death4 ,the only datum on which he founds this astounding assertion is that they often seem to prefer to die in the full vigor of manhood rather than in decrepit old age6 #aa ,thirdly1 we know that the observation and statements of the ,spanish monks and historians1 in regard to the religion of the pagans of ,south ,america1 were of the most imperfect and reckless character4 ,they perpetrated gross frauds1 such as planting in the face of high precipices white stones in the shape of the cross1 and then pointing to them in proof of their assertion that1 before the ,christians came1 the ,devil had here parodied the rites and doctrines of the gospel4 #ab ,they said the ,mexican goddess1 wife of the sun1 was ,eve1 or #h ,egede1 ,greenland1 ch4 #ah4 #i ,dr4 ,karl ,andree1 ,gronland4 #aj ,prescott1 ,conquest of ,peru1 vol4 i4 ch4 #c4 #aa ,erskine1 ,islands of the ,western ,pacific1 p4 #bdh4 #ab ,schoolcraft1 ,history1 c4 of the ,indian ,tribes1 part v4 p4 #ic4 the ,virgin ,mary1 and ,quetzalcoatl was ,st4 ,thomas6 #ac ,such affirmers are to be cautiously followed4 ,finally1 it is a quite significant fact that while some point to the pains which the ,peruvians took in embalming their dead as a proof that they looked for a resurrection of the body1 ,acosta expressly says that they did not believe in the resurrection1 and that this unbelief was the cause of their embalming4#ad ,garcilaso de la ,vega1 in his ,royal ,commentaries of the ,peruvian ,incas1 says that when he asked some ,peruvians why they took so great care to preserve in the cemeteries of the dead the nails and hair which had been cut off1 they replied that in the day of resurrection the dead would come forth with whatever of their bodies was left1 and there would be too great a press of business in that day for them to afford time to go hunting round after their hair and nails4#ae ,the fancy of a ,christian is too plain here4 ,if the answer were really made by the natives1 they were playing a joke on their credulous questioner1 or seeking to please him with distorted echoes of his own faith4 ,the conceits as to a future life entertained by the ,mexicans varied considerably from those of their neighbors of ,peru4 ,souls neither good nor bad1 or whose virtues and vices balanced each other1 were to enter a medium state of idleness and empty content4 ,the wicked1 or those dying in any of certain enumerated modes of death1 went to ,mictlan1 a dismal hell within the earth4 ,the souls of those struck by lightning1 or drowned1 or dying by any of a given list of diseases1 also the souls of children1 were transferred to a remote elysium1 ,tlalocan4 ,there was a place in the chief temple where1 it was supposed1 once a year the spirits of all the children who had been sacrificed to ,tlaloc invisibly came and assisted in the ceremonies4 ,the ultimate heaven was reserved for warriors who bravely fell in battle1 for women who died in labor1 for those offered up in the temples of the gods1 and for a few others4 ,these passed immediately to the house of the sun1 their chief god1 whom they accompanied for a term of years1 with songs1 dances1 and revelry1 in his circuit around the sky4 ,then1 animating the forms of birds of gay plumage1 they lived as beautiful songsters among the flowers1 now on earth1 now in heaven1 at their pleasure4#af ,it was the ,mexican custom to dress the dead man in the garb appropriated to the guardian deity of his craft or condition in life4 ,they gave him a jug of water4 ,they placed with him slips of paper to serve as passports through guarded gates and perilous defiles in the other world4 ,they made a fire of his clothes and utensils1 to warm the shivering soul while traversing a region of cold winds beyond the grave4#ag ,the following sentence occurs in a poem composed by one of the old ,aztec monarchs3 ,illustrious nobles1 loyal subjects1 let us aspire to that heaven where all is eternal and corruption cannot come4 ,the horrors of the tomb are but the cradle of the sun1 and the shadows of death are brilliant lights for the stars4 #ah #ac ,squier1 ,serpent ,symbol in ,america1 p4 #ac4 #ad ,acosta1 ,natural and ,moral ,history of the ,indies1 book v4 ch4 #g4 #ae ,book ii4 ch4 #g4 #af ,clavigero1 ,history of ,mexico1 book vi4 sect4 #a4 #ag ,prescott1 ,conquest of ,mexico1 vol4 i4 ch4 #f4 #ah ,ibid4 sect4 #ci4 ,amidst the mass of whimsical conceptions entering into the faith of the widely spread tribes of ,north ,america1 we find a ruling agreement in the cardinal features of their thought concerning a future state of existence4 ,in common with nearly all barbarous nations1 they felt great fear of apparitions4 ,the ,sioux were in the habit of addressing the deceased at his burial1 and imploring him to stay in his own place and not come to distress them4 ,their funeral customs1 too1 from one extremity of the continent to the other1 were very much alike4 ,those who have reported their opinions to us1 from the earliest ,jesuit missionaries to the latest investigators of their mental characteristics1 concur in ascribing to them a deep trust in a life to come1 a cheerful view of its conditions1 and a remarkable freedom from the dread of dying4 ,charlevoix says1 ,the best established opinion among the natives is the immortality of the soul4 ,on the basis of an account written by ,william ,penn1 ,pope composed the famous passage in his ,essay on ,man3 ,lo6 the poor ,indian1 whose untutor'd mind ,sees ,god in clouds and hears him in the wind4 ,his soul proud ,science never taught to stray ,far as the solar walk or milky way3 ,yet simple nature to his faith hath given1 ,behind the cloud topp'd hill1 an humbler heaven1 ,some safer world in depth of woods embraced1 ,or happier island in the watery waste4 ,to be1 contents his natural desire3 ,he asks no angel's wing1 no seraph's fire1 ,but thinks1 admitted to that equal sky1 ,his faithful dog shall bear him company4 ,their rude instinctive belief in the soul's survival1 and surmises as to its destiny1 are implied in their funeral rites1 which1 as already stated1 were1 with some exceptions1 strikingly similar even in the remotest tribes4#ai ,in the bark coffin1 with a dead ,indian the ,onondagas buried a kettle of provisions1 a pair of moccasins1 a piece of deer skin and sinews of the deer to sew patches on the moccasins1 which it was supposed the deceased would wear out on his journey4 ,they also furnished him with a bow and arrows1 a tomahawk and knife1 to procure game with to live on while pursuing his way to the land of spirits1 the blissful regions of ,ha wah ne u4#bj ,several ,indian nations1 instead of burying the food1 suspended it above the grave1 and renewed it from time to time4 ,some writers have explained this custom by the hypothesis of an ,indian belief in two souls1 one of which departed to the realm of the dead1 while the other tarried by the mound until the body was decayed1 or until it had itself found a chance to be born in a new body4#ba ,the supposition seems forced and extremely doubtful4 ,the truth probably lies in a simpler explanation1 which will be offered further on4 #ai ,baumgarten1 ,geschichte der ,volker von ,america1 xiii4 haupts43 vom ,tod1 ,vergribniss1 und ,trauer4 #bj ,clarke1 ,onondaga1 vol4 l4 p4 #ea4 #ba ,muller1 ,geschichte der ,amerikanischen ,urreligionen1 sect4 #ff4 ,the ,winnebagoes located paradise above1 and called the milky way the ,road of the ,dead4 #bb ,it was so white with the crowds of journeying ghosts6 ,but almost all1 like the ,ojibways1 imagined their elysium to lie far in the ,west4 ,the soul1 freed from the body1 follows a wide beaten path westward1 and enters a country abounding with all that an ,indian covets4 ,on the borders of this blessed land1 in a long glade1 he finds his relatives1 for many generations back1 gathered to welcome him4#bc ,the ,chippewas1 and several other important tribes1 always kindled fires on the fresh graves of their dead1 and kept them burning four successive nights1 to light the wandering souls on their way4#bd ,an ,indian myth represents the ghosts coming back from ,ponemah1 the land of the ,hereafter1 and singing this song to the miraculous ,hiawatha3 ,do not lay such heavy burdens ,on the graves of those you bury1 ,not such weight of furs and wampum1 ,not such weight of pots and kettles2 ,for the spirits faint beneath them4 ,only give them food to carry1 ,only give them fire to light them4 ,four days is the spirit's journey ,to the land of ghosts and shadows1 ,four its lonely night encampments4 ,therefore1 when the dead are buried1 ,let a fire1 as night approaches1 ,four times on the grave be kindled1 ,that the soul upon its journey ,may not grope about in darkness4 #be ,the subject of a future state seems to have been by far the most prominent one in the ,indian imagination4 ,they relate many traditions of persons who have entered it1 and returned1 and given descriptions of it4 ,a young brave1 having lost his betrothed1 determined to follow her to the land of souls4 ,far ,south1 beyond the region of ice and snows1 he came to a lodge standing before the entrance to wide blue plains4 ,leaving his body there1 he embarked in a white stone canoe to cross a lake4 ,he saw the souls of wicked ,indians sinking in the lake2 but the good gained an elysian shore1 where all was warmth1 beauty1 ease1 and eternal youth1 and where the air was food4 ,the ,master of ,breath sent him back1 but promised that he might at death return and stay4 #bf ,the ,wyandots tell of a dwarf1 ,tcha ka bech1 who climbed a tree which grew higher as often as he blew on it4 ,at last he reached heaven1 and discovered it to be an excellent place4 ,he descended the tree1 building wigwams at intervals in the branches4 ,he then returned with his sister and nephew1 resting each night in one of the wigwams4 #bb ,schoolcraft1 ,history1 c4 of the ,indian ,tribes1 part iv4 p4 #bdj4 #bc ,ibid4 part ii4 p4 #ace4 #bd ,ibid4 part v4 p4 #fd2 part iv4 p4 #ee4 #be ,longfellow1 ,song of ,hiawatha1 xix43 ,the ,ghosts4 #bf ,schoolcraft1 ,indian in his ,wigwam4 p #gi4 ,he set his traps up there to catch animals4 ,rising in the night to go and examine his traps1 he saw one all on fire1 and1 upon approaching it1 found that he had caught the sun6 ,where the ,indian is found believing in a ,devil and a hell1 it is the result of his intercourse with ,europeans4 ,these elements of horror were foreign to his original religion4#bg ,there are in some quarters faint traces of a single purgatorial or retributive conception4 ,it is a representation of paradise as an island1 the ordeal consisting in the passage of the dark river or lake which surrounds it4 ,the worthy cross with entire facility1 the unworthy only after tedious struggles4 ,some say the latter are drowned2 others1 that they sink up to their chins in the water1 where they pass eternity in vain desires to attain the alluring land on which they gaze4#bh ,even this notion may be a modification consequent upon ,european influence4 ,at all events1 it is subordinate in force and only occasional in occurrence4 ,for the most part1 in the ,indian faith mercy swallows up the other attributes of the ,great ,spirit4 ,the ,indian dies without fear1 looking for no punishments1 only for rewards4#bi ,he regards the ,master of ,breath not as a holy judge1 but as a kind father4 ,he welcomes death as opening the door to a sweet land4 ,ever charmingly on his closing eyes dawns the prospect of the aboriginal elysium1 a gorgeous region of soft shades1 gliding streams1 verdant groves waving in gentle airs1 warbling birds1 herds of stately deer and buffalo browsing on level plains4 ,it is the earth in noiseless and solemn metamorphosis4#cj ,we shall conclude this chapter by endeavoring to explain the purport and origin of the principal ceremonies and notions which have now been set forth pertaining to the disembodied state4 ,the first source of these particulars is to be sought1 not in any clear mental perceptions1 or conscious dogmatic belief1 but in the natural workings of affection1 memory1 and sentiment4 ,among almost every people1 from the ,chinese to the ,araucanians1 from the ,ethiopians to the ,dacotahs1 rites of honor have been paid to the dead1 various offerings have been placed at their graves4 ,the ,vedas enjoin the offering of a cake to the ghosts of ancestors back to the third generation4 ,the ,greeks were wont to pour wine1 oil1 milk1 and blood into canals made in the graves of their dead4 ,the early ,christians adopted these ,feasts of the ,dead as ,augustine and ,tertullian call them from the heathen1 and ,celebrated them over the graves of their martyrs and of their other deceased friends4 ,such customs as these among savages like the ,shillooks or the ,choctaws are usually supposed to imply the belief that the souls of the deceased remain about the places of sepulture and physically partake of the nourishment thus furnished4 ,the interpretation is farther fetched than need be1 and is unlikely2 or1 at all events1 if it be true in some cases1 it is not the whole truth4 ,in the first place1 these people see that the food and drink remain untouched1 the weapons and utensils are left unused in the grave4 ,secondly1 there are often certain features in the barbaric ritual obviously metaphorical1 incapable of literal acceptance4 ,for instance1 the ,winnebagoes light a small fire on the grave of a deceased warrior to light him on his journey to the land of souls1 #bg ,loskiel1 ,hist4 ,mission of ,united ,brethren to ,n4 ,a4 ,indians1 part i4 ch4 #c4 #bh ,schoolcraft1 ,indian in his ,wigwam1 p4 #bjb4 ,history1 c4 of ,indian ,tribes1 part iv4 p4 #agc4 #bi ,schoolcraft1 ,history of ,indian ,tribes1 part ii4 p4 #fh4 #cj ,ibid4 pp4 #djc1 #djd4 although they say that journey extends to a distance of four days and nights and is wholly invisible4 ,they light and tend that watch fire as a memorial of their departed companion and a rude expression of their own emotions2 as an unconscious emblem of their own struggling faith1 not as a beacon to the straying ghost4 ,again1 the ,indian mother1 losing a nursing infant1 spurts some of her milk into the fire1 that the little spirit may not want for nutriment on its solitary path4#ca ,plato approvingly quotes ,hesiod's statement that the souls of noble men become guardian demons coursing the air1 messengers and agents of the gods in the world4 ,therefore1 he adds1 we should reverence their tombs and establish solemn rites and offerings there2 though by his very statement these places were not the dwellings or haunts of the freely circuiting spirits4#cb ,not by an intellectual doctrine1 but by an instinctive association1 when not resisted and corrected1 we connect the souls of the dead in our thoughts with the burial places of their forms4 ,the ,new ,zealand priests pretend by their spells to bring wandering souls within the enclosed graveyards4#cc ,these sepulchral folds are full of ghosts4 ,a sentiment native to the human breast draws pilgrims to the tombs of ,shakspeare and ,washington1 and1 if not restrained and guided by cultivated thought1 would lead them to make offerings there4 ,until the death of ,louis ,,xv41 the kings of ,france lay in state and were served as in life for forty days after they died4#cd ,it would be ridiculous to attempt to wring any doctrinal significance from these customs4 ,the same sentiment which1 in one form1 among the ,alfoer inhabitants of the ,arru ,islands1 when a man dies1 leads his relatives to assemble and destroy whatever he has left1 which1 in another form1 causes the ,papist to offer burning candles1 wreaths1 and crosses1 and to recite prayers1 before the shrines of the dead saints1 which1 in still another form1 moved ,albert ,durer to place all the pretty playthings of his child in the coffin and bury them with it1 this same sentiment1 in its undefined spontaneous workings1 impelled the ,peruvian to embalm his dead1 the ,blackfoot to inter his brave's hunting equipments with him1 and the ,cherokee squaw to hang fresh food above the totem on her husband's grave post4 ,what should we think if we could foresee that1 a thousand years hence1 when the present doctrines and customs of ,france and ,america are forgotten1 some antiquary1 seeking the reason why the mourners in ,pere la ,chaise and ,mount ,auburn laid clusters of flowers on the graves of their lamented ones1 should deliberately conclude that it was believed the souls remained in the bodies in the tomb and enjoyed the perfume of the flowers8 ,an ,american traveller1 writing from ,vienna on ,all ,saints' ,day1 in #ahee1 describes the avenues of the great cemetery filled with people hanging festoons of flowers on the tombstones1 and placing burning candles of wax on the graves1 and kneeling in devotion2 it being their childish belief1 he says1 that their prayers on this day have efficacy to release their deceased relatives from purgatory1 and that the dim taper flickering on the sod lights the unbound soul to its heavenly home4 ,of course these rites are not literal expressions of literal beliefs1 but are #ca ,andree1 ,north ,america1 p4 #bdf4 #cb ,republic1 book v4 ch4 #ae4 #cc ,r4 ,taylor1 ,new ,zealand1 ch4 #g4 #cd ,meiners1 ,kritische ,geschichte der ,religionen1 buch iii4 absch4 #a4 symbols of ideas1 emblems of sentiments1 figurative and inadequate shadows of a theological doctrine1 although1 as is well known1 there is1 among the most ignorant persons1 scarcely any deliberately apprehended distinction between image and entity1 material representation and spiritual verity4 ,if a member of the ,oneida tribe died when they were away from home1 they buried him with great solemnity1 setting a mark over the grave2 and whenever they passed that way afterwards they visited the spot1 singing a mournful song and casting stones upon it1 thus giving symbolic expression to their feelings4 ,it would be absurd to suppose this song an incantation to secure the repose of the buried brave1 and the stones thrown to prevent his rising2 yet it would not be more incredible or more remote from the facts than many a commonly current interpretation of barbarian usages4 ,an amusing instance of error well enforcing the need of extreme caution in drawing inferences is afforded by the example of those explorers who1 finding an extensive cemetery where the aborigines had buried all their children apart from the adults1 concluded they had discovered the remains of an ancient race of pigmies6 #ce ,the influence of unspeculative affection1 memory1 and sentiment goes far towards accounting for the funeral ritual of the barbarians4 ,but it is not sufficient4 ,we must call in further aid2 and that aid we find in the arbitrary conceits1 the poetic associations1 and the creative force of unregulated fancy and imagination4 ,the poetic faculty which1 supplied with materials by observation and speculation1 constructed the complex mythologies of ,egypt and ,greece1 and which1 turning on its own resources1 composed the ,arabian tales of the genii and the modern literature of pure fiction1 is particularly active1 fertile1 and tyrannical1 though in a less continuous and systematic form1 in the barbarian mind4 ,acting by wild fits and starts1 there is no end to the extravagant conjectures and visions it bodies forth4 ,destitute of philosophical definitions1 totally unacquainted with critical distinctions or analytic reflection1 absurd notions1 sober convictions1 dim dreams1 and sharp perceptions run confusedly together in the minds of savages4 ,there is to them no clear and permanent demarcation between rational thoughts and crazy fancies4 ,now1 no phenomenon can strike more deeply or work more powerfully in human nature1 stirring up the exploring activities of intellect and imagination1 than the event of death1 with its bereaving stroke and prophetic appeal4 ,accordingly1 we should expect to find among uncultivated nations1 as we actually do1 a vast medley of fragmentary thoughts and pictures plausible1 strange1 lovely1 or terrible relating to the place and fate of the disembodied soul4 ,these conceptions would naturally take their shaping and coloring1 in some degree1 from thescenery1 circumstances1 and experience amidst which they were conceived and born4 ,sometimes these figments were consciously entertained as wilful inventions1 distinctly contemplated as poetry4 ,sometimes they were superstitiously credited in all their grossness with full assent of soul4 ,sometimes all coexisted in vague bewilderment4 ,these lines of separation unquestionably existed3 the difficulty is to know where1 in given instances1 to draw them4 ,a few examples will serve at once to illustrate the #ce ,smithsonian ,contributions1 vol4 ii4 ,squier's ,aboriginal ,monuments1 appendix1 pp4 #abg-aca4 operation of the principle now laid down1 and to present still further specimens of the barbarian notions of a future life4 ,some ,indian tribes made offerings to the spirits of their departed heroes by casting the boughs of various trees around the ash1 saying that the branches of this tree were eloquent with the ghosts of their warrior sires1 who came at evening in the chariot of cloud to fire the young to deeds of war4#cf ,there is an ,indian legend of a witch who wore a mantle composed of the scalps of murdered women4 ,taking this off1 she shook it1 and all the scalps uttered shrieks of laughter4 ,another describes a magician scudding across a lake in a boat whose ribs were live rattlesnakes4#cg ,an exercise of mind virtually identical with that which gave these strokes made the ,philippine ,islanders say that the souls of those who die struck by lightning go up the beams of the rainbow to a happy place1 and animated ,ali to declare that the pious1 on coming out of their sepulchres1 shall find awaiting them white winged camels with saddles of gold4 ,the ,ajetas suspended the bow and arrows of a deceased ,papuan above his grave1 and conceived him as emerging from beneath every night to go a hunting4#ch ,the fisherman on the coast of ,lapland was interred in a boat1 and a flint and combustibles were given him to light him along the dark cavernous passage he was to traverse4 ,the ,dyaks of ,borneo believe that every one whose head they can get possession of here will in the future state be their servant3 consequently1 they make a business of head hunting1 accumulating the ghastly visages of their victims in their huts4#ci ,the ,caribs have a sort of sensual paradise for the brave and virtuous1 where1 it is promised1 they shall enjoy the sublimated experience of all their earthly satisfactions2 but the degenerate and cowardly are threatened with eternal banishment beyond the mountains1 where they shall be tasked and driven as slaves by their enemies4#dj ,the ,hispaniolians locate their elysium in a pleasant valley abounding with guava1 delicious fruits1 cool shades1 and murmuring rivulets1 where they expect to live again with their departed ancestors and friends4#da ,the ,patagonians say the stars are their translated countrymen1 and the milky way is a field where the departed ,patagonians hunt ostriches4 ,clouds are the feathers of the ostriches they kill4#db ,the play is here seen of the same mythological imagination which1 in ,italy1 pictured a writhing giant beneath ,mount ,vesuvius1 and1 in ,greenland1 looked on the ,pleiades as a group of dogs surrounding a white bear1 and on the belt of ,orion as a company of ,greenlanders placed there because they could not find the way to their own country4 ,black ,bird1 the redoubtable chief of the ,o ,ma ,haws1 when dying1 said to his people1 ,bury me on yonder lofty bluff on the banks of the ,missouri1 where ,i can see the men and boats passing by on the river4 #dc ,accordingly1 as soon as he ceased #cf ,browne1 ,trees of ,america1 p4 #cbh4 #cg ,schoolcraft1 ,hist4 c part i4 pp4 #cb-cd4 #ch ,earl1 ,the ,papuans1 p4 #acb4 #ci ,earl1 ,the ,eastern ,seas1 ch4 #h4 #dj ,edwards1 ,hist4 of the ,west ,indies1 book i4 ch4 #b4 #da ,ibid4 ch4 #c4 #db ,falkner1 ,patagonia1 ch4 #e4 #dc ,catlin1 ,north ,american ,indians1 vol4 ii4 p4 #f4 to breathe1 they set him there1 on his favorite steed1 and heaped the earth around him4 ,this does not imply any believed doctrine1 in our sense of the term1 but is plainly a spontaneous transference for the moment1 by the poetic imagination1 of the sentiments of the living man to the buried body4 ,the unhappy ,africans who were snatched from their homes1 enslaved and cruelly tasked in the far ,west ,india islands1 pined under their fate with deadly homesickness4 ,the intense longing moulded their plastic belief1 just as the sensation from some hot bricks at the feet of a sleeping man shaped his dreams into a journey up the side of ,atna4 ,they fancied that if they died they should immediately live again in their fatherland4 ,they committed suicide in great numbers4 ,at last1 when other means had failed to check this epidemic of self destruction1 a cunning overseer brought them ropes and every facility for hanging1 and told them to hang themselves as fast as they pleased1 for their master had bought a great plantation in ,africa1 and as soon as they got there they would be set to work on it4 ,their helpless credulity took the impression2 and no more suicides occurred4#dd ,the mutual formative influences exerted upon a people's notions concerning the future state1 by the imagination of their poets and the peculiarities of their clime1 are perhaps nowhere more conspicuously exhibited than in the case of the ,caledonians who at an early period dwelt in ,north ,britain4 ,they had picturesque traditions locating the habitation of ghosts in the air above their fog draped mountains4 ,they promised rewards for nothing but valor1 and threatened punishments for nothing but cowardice2 and even of these they speak obscurely4 ,nothing is said of an under world4 ,they supposed the ghosts at death floated upward naturally1 true children of the mist1 and dwelt forever in the air1 where they spent an inane existence1 indulging in sorrowful memories of the past1 and1 in unreal imitation of their mortal occupations1 chasing boars of fog amid hills of cloud and valleys of shadow4 ,the authority for these views is ,ossian1 whose genuine strains1 ,dr4 ,good observes1 assume a higher importance as historical records than they can claim when considered as fragments of exquisite poetry4 ,a dark red stream comes down from the hill4 ,crugal sat upon the beam2 he that lately fell by the hand of ,swaran striving in the battle of heroes4 ,his face is like the beam of the setting moon2 his robes are of the clouds of the hill2 his eyes are like two decaying flames2 dark is the wound on his breast4 ,the stars dim twinkled through his form1 and his voice was like the sound of a distant stream4 ,dim and in tears he stood1 and stretched his pale hand over the hero4 ,faintly he raised his feeble voice1 like the gale of the reedy ,lego4 ',my ghost1 ,o',connal1 is on my native hills1 but my corse is on the sands of ,ullin4 ,thou shalt never talk with ,crugal nor find his lone steps on the heath4 ,i am light as the blast of ,cromla1 and ,i move like the shadow of mist4 ,connal1 son of ,colgar1 ,i see the dark cloud of death4 ,it hovers over the plains of ,lena4 ,the sons of green ,erin shall fall4 ,remove from the field of ghosts4' ,like the darkened moon1 he retired in the midst of the whistling blast4 ,we recognise here several leading traits in all the early unspeculative faiths1 the vapory form1 the echoless motion1 the marks of former wounds1 the feeble voice1 the memory #dd ,meiners1 ,geschichte der ,religionen1 buch xiv4 sect4 #gfe4 of the past1 the mournful aspect1 and the prophetic words4 ,but the rhetorical imagery1 the scenery1 the location of the spirit world in the lower clouds1 are stamped by emphatic climatic peculiarities1 whose origination1 easily traceable1 throws light on the growth of the whole mass of such notions everywhere4 ,two general sources have now been described of the barbarian conceptions in relation to a future state4 ,first1 the natural operation of an earnest recollection of the dead2 sympathy1 regret1 and reverence for them leading the thoughts and the heart to grope after them1 to brood over the possibilities of their fate1 and to express themselves in rites and emblems4 ,secondly1 the mythological or arbitrary creations of the imagination when it is set strongly at work1 as it must be by the solemn phenomena associated with death4 ,but beyond these two comprehensive statements there is1 directly related to the matter1 and worthy of separate illustration1 a curious action of the mind1 which has been very extensively experienced and fertile of results4 ,it is a peculiar example of the unconscious impartation of objective existence to mental ideas4 ,with the death of the body the man does not cease to live in the remembrance1 imagination1 and heart of his surviving friends4 ,by an unphilosophical confusion1 this internal image is credited as an external existence4 ,the dead pass from their customary haunts in our society to the imperishable domain of ideas4 ,this visionary world of memory and fantasy is projected outward1 located1 furnished1 and constitutes the future state apprehended by the barbarian mind4 ,feuerbach says in his subtle and able ,thoughts on ,death and ,immortality1 ,the ,realm of ,memory is the ,land of ,souls4 ,ossian1 amid the midnight mountains1 thinking of departed warriors and listening to the tempest1 fills the gale with the impersonations1 of his thoughts1 and exclaims1 ,i hear the steps of the dead in the dark eddying blast4 ,the barbarian brain seems to have been generally impregnated with the feeling that every thing else has a ghost as well as man4 ,the ,gauls lent money in this world upon bills payable in the next4 ,they threw letters upon the funeral pile to be read by the soul of the deceased4#de ,as the ghost was thought to retain the scars of injuries inflicted upon the body1 so1 it appears1 these letters were thought1 when destroyed1 to leave impressions of what had been written on them4 ,the custom of burning or burying things with the dead probably arose1 in some cases at least1 from the supposition that every object has its mancs4 ,the obolus for ,charon1 the cake of honey for ,cerberus1 the shadows of these articles would be borne and used by the shadow of the dead man4 ,leonidas saying1 ,bury me on my shield3 ,i will enter even ,hades as a ,lacedamonian1 #df must either have used the word ,hades by metonymy for the grave1 or have imagined that a shadowy fac simile of what was interred in the grave went into the grim kingdom of ,pluto4 ,it was a custom with some ,indian tribes1 on the new made grave of a chief1 to slay his chosen horse2 and when he fell they supposed ,that then1 upon the dead man's plain1 ,the rider grasp'd his steed again4 #de ,pomponius ,mela1 ,de ,orbis ,situ1 iii4 #b4 #df ,translation of ,greek ,anthology1 in ,bohn's ,library1 p4 #eh4 ,the hunter chases the deer1 each alike a shade4 ,a ,feejee once1 in presence of a missionary1 took a weapon from the grave of a buried companion1 saying1 ,the ghost of the club has gone with him4 ,the ,iroquois tell of a woman who was chased by a ghost4 ,she heard his faint war whoop1 his spectre voice1 and only escaped with her life because his war club was but a shadow wielded by an arm of air4 ,the ,slavonians sacrificed a warrior's horse at his tomb4#dg ,nothing seemed to the ,northman so noble as to enter ,valhalla on horseback1 with a numerous retinue1 in his richest apparel and finest armor4 ,it was firmly believed1 ,mallet says1 that ,odin himself had declared that whatsoever was burned or buried with the dead accompanied them to his palace4#dh ,before the ,mohammedan era1 on the death of an ,arab1 the finest camel he had owned was tied to a stake beside his grave1 and left to expire of hunger over the body of his master1 in order that1 in the region into which death had introduced him1 he should be supplied with his usual bearer4#di ,the ,chinese who surpass all other people in the offerings and worship paid at the sepulchres of their ancestors make little paper houses1 fill them with images of furniture1 utensils1 domestics1 and all the appurtenances of the family economy1 and then burn them1 thus passing them into the invisible state for the use of the deceased whom they mourn and honor4#ej ,it is a touching thought with the ,greenlanders1 when a child dies1 to bury a dog with him as a guide to the land of souls2 for1 they say1 the dog is able to find his way anywhere4#ea ,the shadow of the faithful servant guides the shadow of the helpless child to heaven4 ,in fancy1 not without a moved heart1 one sees this spiritual ,bernard dog bearing the ghost child on his back1 over the spectral ,gothard of death1 safe into the sheltering hospice of the ,greenland paradise4 ,it is strange to notice the meeting of extremes in the rude antithetical correspondence between ,plato's doctrine of archetypal ideas1 the immaterial patterns of earthly things1 and the belief of savages in the ghosts of clubs1 arrows1 sandals1 and provisions4 ,the disembodied soul of the philosopher1 an eternal idea1 turns from the empty illusions of matter to nourish itself with the substance of real truth4 ,the spectre of the ,mohawk devours the spectre of the haunch of roast venison hung over his grave4 ,and why should not the two shades be conceived1 if either8 ,pig1 bullock1 goose1 must have their goblins too1 ,else ours would have to go without their dinners3 ,if that starvation doctrine were but true1 ,how hard the fate of gormandizing sinners6 ,the conception of ghosts has been still further introduced also into the realm of mathematics in an amusing manner4 ,bishop ,berkeley1 bantered on his idealism by ,halley1 retorted that he too was an idealist2 for his ultimate ratios terms only appearing with the #dg ,wilkinson1 ,dalmatia and ,montenegro1 vol4 i4 ch4 #a4 #dh ,northern ,antiquities1 ch4 #aj4 #di ,lamartine1 ,history of ,turkey1 book i4 ch4 #aj4 #ej ,kidd1 ,china1 sect4 #c4 #ea ,crantz1 ,history of ,greenland1 book iii4 ch4 #f1 sect4 #dg4 disappearance of the forms in whose relationship they consist were but the ghosts of departed quantities6 ,it may be added here that1 according to the teachings of physiological psychology1 all memories or recollected ideas are literally the ghosts of departed sensations4 ,we have thus seen that the conjuring force of fear1 with its dread apparitions1 the surmising1 half articulate struggles of affection1 the dreams of memory1 the lights and groups of poetry1 the crude germs of metaphysical speculation1 the deposits of the inter action of human experience and phenomenal nature1 now in isolated fragments1 again1 huddled indiscriminately together conspire to compose the barbarian notions of a future life4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,druidic ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,that strange body of men1 commonly known as the ,druids1 who constituted what may1 with some correctness1 be called the ,celtic priesthood1 were the recognised religious teachers throughout ,gaul1 ,armorica1 a small part of ,germany on the southern border1 all ,great ,britain1 and some neighboring islands4 ,the notions in regard to a future life put forth by them are stated only in a very imperfect manner by the ,greek and ,roman authors in whose surviving works we find allusions to the ,druids or accounts of the ,celts4 ,several modern writers especially ,borlase1 in his ,antiquities of ,cornwall#a have collected all these references from ,diodorus1 ,strabo1 ,procopius1 ,tacitus1 ,casar1 ,mela1 ,valerius ,maximus1 and ,marcellinus4 ,it is therefore needless to cite the passages here1 the more so as1 even with the aid of all the analytic and constructive comments which can be fairly made upon them1 they afford us only a few general views1 leaving all the details in profound obscurity4 ,the substance of what we learn from these sources is this4 ,first1 that the ,druids possessed a body of science and speculation comprising the doctrine of immortality1 which they taught with clearness and authority4 ,secondly1 that they inculcated the belief in a future life in inseparable connection with the great dogma of metempsychosis4 ,thirdly1 that the people held such cheerful and attractive views of the future state1 and held them with such earnestness1 that they wept around the newborn infant and smiled around the corpse2 that they encountered death without fear or reluctance4 ,this reversal of natural sentiments shows the tampering of a priesthood who had motives4 ,a somewhat more minute conception of the ,druidic view of the future life is furnished us by an old mythologic tale of ,celtic origin4#b ,omitting the story1 as irrelevant to our purpose1 we derive from it the following ideas4 ,the soul1 on being divested of its earthly envelop1 is borne aloft4 ,the clouds are composed of the souls of lately deceased men4 ,they fly over the heads of armies1 inspiring courage or striking terror4 ,not yet freed from terrestrial affections1 they mingle in the passions and affairs of men4 ,vainly they strive to soar above the atmosphere2 an impassable wall of sapphire resists their wings4 ,in the moon1 millions of souls traverse tremendous plains of ice1 losing all perception but that of simple existence1 forgetting the adventures they have passed through and are about to recommence4 ,during eclipses1 on long tubes of darkness they return to the earth1 and1 revived by a beam of light from the all quickening sun1 enter newly formed bodies1 and begin again the career of life4 ,the disk of the sun consists of an assemblage of pure souls swimming in an ocean of bliss4 ,souls sullied with earthly impurities are to be purged by repeated births and probations till the last stain is removed1 and they are all finally fitted to ascend to a succession of spheres still higher than the sun1 whence they can never sink again to reside in the circle of the lower globes and grosser atmosphere4 #a ,book ii4 ch4 #ad4 #b ,davies1 ,celtic ,researches1 appendix1 pp4 #eeh-efa4 ,these representations are neither ,gothic nor ,roman1 but ,celtic4 ,but a far more adequate exposition of the ,druidic doctrine of the soul's destinies has been presented to us through the translation of some of the preserved treasures of the old ,bardic lore of ,wales4 ,the ,welsh bards for hundreds of years were the sole surviving representatives of the ,druids4 ,their poems numerous manuscripts of which1 with apparent authentication of their genuineness1 have been published and explained contain quite full accounts of the tenets of ,druidism1 which was nowhere else so thoroughly systematized and established as in ancient ,britain4#c ,the curious reader will find this whole subject copiously treated1 and all the materials furnished1 in the ,myvyrian ,archaology of ,wales1 a work in two huge volumes1 published at ,london at the beginning of the present century4 ,after the introduction and triumph of ,christianity in ,britain1 for several centuries the two systems of thought and ritual mutually influenced each other1 corrupting and corrupted4#d ,a striking example in point is this4 ,the notion of a punitive and remedial transmigration belonged to ,druidism4 ,now1 ,taliesin1 a famous ,welsh bard of the sixth century1 locates this purifying metempsychosis in the ,hell of ,christianity1 whence the soul gradually rises again to felicity1 the way for it having been opened by ,christ6 ,cautiously eliminating the ,christian admixtures1 the following outline1 which we epitomize from the pioneer#e of modern scholars to the ,welsh ,bardic literature1 affords a pretty clear knowledge of that portion of the ,druidic theology relating to the future life4 ,there are1 says one of the ,bardic triads1 three circles of existence4 ,first1 the ,circle of ,infinity1 where of living or dead there is nothing but ,god1 and which none but ,god can traverse4 ,secondly1 the ,circle of ,metempsychosis1 where all things that live are derived from death4 ,this circle has been traversed by man4 ,thirdly1 the ,circle of ,felicity1 where all things spring from life4 ,this circle man shall hereafter traverse4 ,all animated beings originate in the lowest point of existence1 and1 by regular gradations through an ascending series of transmigrations1 rise to the highest state of perfection possible for finite creatures4 ,fate reigns in all the states below that of humanity1 and they are all necessarily evil4 ,in the states above humanity1 on the contrary1 unmixed good so prevails that all are necessarily good4 ,but in the middle state of humanity1 good and evil are so balanced that liberty results2 and free will and consequent responsibility are born4 ,beings who in their ascent have arrived at the state of man1 if1 by purity1 humility1 love1 and righteousness1 they keep the laws of the ,creator1 will1 after death1 rise into more glorious spheres1 and will continue to rise still higher1 until they reach the final destination of complete and endless happiness4 ,but if1 while in the state of humanity1 one perverts his reason and will1 and attaches himself to evil1 he will1 on dying1 fall into such a state of animal existence as corresponds with the baseness of his soul4 ,this baseness may be so great as to precipitate him to the lowest point of being2 but he shall climb thence through a series of births best fitted to free him from his evil propensities4 ,restored to the probationary state1 he may fall again2 but1 though this should occur again and again #c ,sketch of ,british ,bardism1 prefixed to ,owen's translation of the ,heroic ,elegies of ,llywarch ,hen4 #d ,herbert1 ,essay on the ,neo ,druidic ,heresy in ,britannia4 #e ,poems1 ,lyric and ,pastoral1 by ,edward ,williams1 vol4 ii4 notes1 pp4 #aid-bef4 for a million of ages1 the path to happiness still remains open1 and he shall at last infallibly arrive at his preordained felicity1 and fall nevermore4 ,in the states superior to humanity1 the soul recovers and retains the entire recollection of its former lives4 ,we will quote a few illustrative triads4 ,there are three necessary purposes of metempsychosis3 to collect the materials and properties of every nature2 to collect the knowledge of every thing2 to collect power towards removing whatever is pernicious4 ,the knowledge of three things will subdue and destroy evil3 knowledge of its cause1 its nature1 and its operation4 ,three things continually dwindle away3 the ,dark1 the ,false1 the ,dead4 ,three things continually increase3 ,light1 ,truth1 ,life4 ,these will prevail1 and finally absorb every thing else4 ,the soul is an inconceivably minute particle of the most refined matter1 endowed with indestructible life1 at the dissolution of one body passing1 according to its merits1 into a higher or lower stage of existence1 where it expands itself into that form which its acquired propensities necessarily give it1 or into that animal in which such propensities naturally reside4 ,the ultimate states of happiness are ceaselessly undergoing the most delightful renovations1 without which1 indeed1 no finite being could endure the tedium of eternity4 ,these are not1 like the death of the lower states1 accompanied by a suspension of memory and of conscious identity4 ,all the innumerable modes of existence1 after being cleansed from every evil1 will forever remain as beautiful varieties in the creation1 and will be equally esteemed1 equally happy1 equally fathered by the ,creator4 ,the successive occupation of these modes of existence by the celestial inhabitants of the ,circle of ,felicity will be one of the ways of varying what would otherwise be the intolerable monotony of eternity4 ,the creation is yet in its infancy4 ,the progressive operation of the providence of ,god will bring every being up from the great ,deep to the point of liberty1 and will at last secure three things for them3 namely1 what is most beneficial1 what is most desired1 and what is most beautiful4 ,there are three stabilities of existence3 what cannot be otherwise1 what should not be otherwise1 what cannot be imagined better2 and in these all shall end1 in the ,circle of ,felicity4 ,such is a hasty synopsis of what here concerns us in the theology of the ,druids4 ,in its ground germs it was1 it seems to us1 unquestionably imported into ,celtic thought and ,cymrian song from that prolific and immemorial ,hindu mind which bore ,brahmanism and ,buddhism as its fruit4 ,its ethical tone1 intellectual elevation1 and glorious climax are not unworthy that free hierarchy of minstrel priests whose teachings were proclaimed1 as their assemblies were held1 in the face of the sun and in the eye of the light1 and whose thrilling motto was1 ,,the ,,truth ,,against ,,the ,,world4 ,the latest publication on the subject of old ,welsh literature is ,taliesin2 or1 ,the ,bards and ,druids of ,britain4 ,the author1 ,d4 ,w4 ,nash1 is obviously familiar with his theme1 and he throws much light on many points of it4 ,his ridicule of the arbitrary tenets and absurdities which ,davies1 ,pughe1 and others have taught in all good faith as ,druidic lore and practice is richly deserved4 ,but1 despite the learning and acumen displayed in his able and valuable volume1 we must think ,mr4 ,nash goes wholly against the record in denying the doctrine of metempsychosis to the ,druidic system1 and goes clearly beyond the record in charging ,edward ,williams and others with forgery and fraud in their representations of ancient ,bardic doctrines4#f ,in support of such grave charges direct evidence is needed2 only suspicious circumstances are adduced4 ,the non existence of public documents is perfectly reconcilable with the existence of reliable oral accounts preserved by the initiated few1 one of whom ,williams1 with seeming sincerity1 claimed to be4 #f ,taliesin1 ch4 iv4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,scandinavian ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,many considerations combine to make it seem likely that at an early period a migration took place from ,southern ,asia to ,northern ,europe1 which constituted the commencement of what afterwards grew to be the great ,gothic family4 ,the correspondence of many of the leading doctrines and symbols of the ,scandinavian mythology with well known ,persian and ,buddhist notions notions of a purely fanciful and arbitrary character is too peculiar1 apparently1 to admit of any other explanation4#a ,but the germs of thought and imagination transplanted thus from the warm and gorgeous climes of the ,east to the snowy mountains of ,norway and the howling ridges of ,iceland1 obtained a fresh development1 with numerous modifications and strange additions1 from the new life1 climate1 scenery1 and customs to which they were there exposed4 ,the temptation to predatory habits and strife1 the necessity for an intense though fitful activity arising from their geographical situation1 the fierce spirit nourished in them by their actual life1 the tremendous phenomena of the ,arctic world around them1 all these influences break out to our view in the poetry1 and are reflected by their results in the religion1 of the ,northmen4 ,from the flame world1 ,muspelheim1 in the south1 in which ,surtur1 the dread fire king1 sits enthroned1 flowed down streams of heat4 ,from the mist world1 ,niflheim1 in the north1 in whose central caldron1 ,hvergelmir1 dwells the gloomy dragon ,nidhogg1 rose floods of cold vapor4 ,the fire and mist meeting in the yawning abyss1 ,ginungagap1 after various stages of transition1 formed the earth4 ,there were then three principal races of beings3 men1 whose dwelling was ,midgard2 ,jotuns1 who occupied ,utgard2 and the ,asir1 whose home was ,asgard4 ,the ,jotuns1 or demons1 seem to have been originally personifications of darkness1 cold1 and storm1 the disturbing forces of nature1 whatever is hostile to fruitful life and peace4 ,they were frost giants ranged in the outer wastes around the habitable fields of men4 ,the ,asir1 or gods1 on the other hand1 appear to have been personifications of light1 and law1 and benignant power1 the orderly energies of the universe4 ,between the ,jotuns and the ,asir there is an implacable contest4#b ,the rainbow1 ,bifrost1 is a bridge leading from earth up to the skyey dwelling place of the ,asir2 and their sentinel1 ,heimdall1 whose senses are so acute that he can hear the grass spring in the meadows and the wool grow on the backs of the sheep1 keeps incessant watch upon it4 ,their chief deity1 the father ,zeus of the ,northern pantheon1 was ,odin1 the god of war1 who wakened the spirit of battle by flinging his spear over the heads of the people1 its inaudible hiss from heaven being as the song of ,ate let loose on earth4 ,next in rank was ,thor1 the personification of the exploding tempest4 ,the crashing echoes of the thunder are his chariot wheels rattling through the cloudy halls of ,thrudheim4 ,whenever the lightning strikes a cliff or an iceberg1 then ,thor has flung his hammer1 ,mjolnir1 at ,joton's head4 #a ,vans ,kennedy1 ,ancient and ,hindu ,mythology1 pp4 #deb1 #dfc-dfd4 #b ,thorpe1 ,northern ,mythology1 vol4 ii4 ,balder was the god of innocence and gentleness1 fairest1 kindest1 purest of beings4 ,light emanated from him1 and all things loved him4 ,after ,christianity was established in the ,north1 ,jesus was called the ,white ,christ1 or the new ,balder4 ,the appearance of ,balder amidst the frenzied and bloody divinities of the ,norse creed is beautiful as the dew cool moon hanging calmly over the lurid storm of ,vesuvius4 ,he was entitled the ,band in the ,wreath of the ,gods1 because with his fate that of all the rest was bound up4 ,his death1 ominously foretold from eldest antiquity1 would be the signal for the ruin of the universe4 ,asa ,loki was the ,momus ,satan or ,devil ,buffoon of the ,scandinavian mythology1 the half amusing1 half horrible embodiment of wit1 treachery1 and evil2 now residing with the gods in heaven1 now accompanying ,thor on his frequent adventures1 now visiting and plotting with his own kith and kin in frosty ,jotunheim1 beyond the earth environing sea1 or in livid ,helheim deep beneath the domain of breathing humanity4#c ,with a ,jotun woman1 ,angerbode1 or ,messenger of ,evil1 ,loki begets three fell children4 ,the first is ,fenris1 a savage wolf1 so large that nothing but space can hold him4 ,the second is ,jormungandur1 who1 with his tail in his mouth1 fills the circuit of the ocean4 ,he is described by ,sir ,walter ,scott as ,that great sea snake1 tremendous curl'd1 ,whose monstrous circle girds the world4 ,the third is ,hela1 the grim goddess of death1 whose ferocious aspect is half of a pale blue and half of a ghastly white1 and whose empire1 stretching below the earth through ,niflheim1 is full of freezing vapors and discomfortable sights4 ,her residence is the spacious under world2 her court yard1 faintness2 her threshold1 precipice2 her door1 abyss2 her hall1 pain2 her table1 hunger2 her knife1 starvation2 her man servant1 delay2 her handmaid1 slowness2 her bed1 sickness2 her pillow1 anguish2 and her canopy1 curse4 ,still lower than her house is an abode yet more fearful and loathsome4 ,in ,nastrond1 or strand of corpses1 stands a hall1 the conception of which is prodigiously awful and enormously disgusting4 ,it is plaited of serpents' backs1 wattled together like wicker work1 whose heads turn inwards1 vomiting poison4 ,in the lake of venom thus deposited within these immense wriggling walls of snakes the worst of the damned wade and swim4 ,high up in the sky is ,odin's hall1 the magnificent ,valhalla1 or temple of the slain4 ,the columns supporting its ceiling are spears4 ,it is roofed with shields1 and the ornaments on its benches are coats of mail4 ,the ,valkyrs are ,odin's battle maids1 choosers of heroes for his banquet rooms4 ,with helmets on their heads1 in bloody harness1 mounted on shadowy steeds1 surrounded by meteoric lightnings1 and wielding flaming swords1 they hover over the conflict and point the way to ,valhalla to the warriors who fall4 ,the valiant souls thus received to ,odin's presence are called ,einheriar1 or the elect4 ,the ,valkyrs1 as white clad virgins with flowing ringlets1 wait on them in the capacity of cup bearers4 ,each morning1 at the crowing #c ,oehlenschlager1 ,gods of the ,north4 ,this celebrated and brilliant poem1 with the copious notes in ,frye's translation1 affords the ,english reader a full conception of the ,norse pantheon and its salient adventures4 of a huge gold combed cock1 the well armed ,einheriar rush through ,valhalla's five hundred and forty doors into a great court yard1 and pass the day in merciless fighting4 ,however pierced and hewn in pieces in these fearful encounters1 at evening every wound is healed1 and they return into the hall whole1 and are seated1 according to their exploits1 at a luxurious feast4 ,the perennial boar ,sehrimnir1 deliciously cooked by ,andrimnir1 though devoured every night1 is whole again every morning and ready to be served anew4 ,the two highest joys these terrible berserkers and vikings knew on earth composed their experience in heaven3 namely1 a battle by day and a feast by night4 ,it is a vulgar error1 long prevalent1 that the ,valhalla heroes drink out of the skulls of their enemies4 ,this notion1 though often refuted1 still lingers in the popular mind4 ,it arose from the false translation of a phrase in the death song of ,ragnar ,lodbrok1 the famous sea king1 ,soon shall we drink from the curved trees of the head1 which1 as a figure for the usual drinking horns1 was erroneously rendered by ,olaus ,wormius1 ,soon shall we drink from the hollow cups of skulls4 ,it is not the heads of men1 but the horns of beasts1 from which the ,einheriar quaff ,heidrun's mead4#d ,no women being ever mentioned as gaining admission to ,valhalla or joining in the joys of the ,einheriar1 some writers have affirmed that1 according to the ,scandinavian faith1 women had no immortal souls1 or1 at all events1 were excluded from heaven4 ,the charge is as baseless in this instance as when brought against ,mohammedanism4 ,valhalla was the exclusive abode of the most daring champions2 but ,valhalla was not the whole of heaven4 ,vingolf1 the ,hall of ,friends1 stood beside the ,hall of the ,slain1 and was the assembling place of the goddesses4#e ,there1 in the palace of ,freya1 the souls of noble women were received after death4 ,the elder ,edda says that ,thor guided ,roska1 a swift footed peasant girl who had attended him as a servant on various excursions1 to ,freya's bower1 where she was welcomed1 and where she remained forever4 ,the virgin goddess ,gefjone1 the ,northern ,diana1 also had a residence in heaven1 and all who died maidens repaired thither4#f ,the presence of virgin throngs with ,gefjone1 and the society of noble matrons in ,vingolf1 shed a tender gleam across the carnage and carousal of ,valhalla4 ,more is said of the latter the former is scarcely visible to us now because the only record we have of the ,norse faith is that contained in the fragmentary strains of ferocious ,skalds1 who sang chiefly to warriors1 and the staple matter of whose songs was feats of martial prowess or entertaining mythological stories4 ,furthermore1 there is above the heaven of the ,asir a yet higher heaven1 the abode of the far removed and inscrutable being1 the rarely named ,omnipotent ,one1 the true ,all ,father1 who is at last to come forth above the ruins of the universe to judge and sentence all creatures and to rebuild a better world4 ,in this highest region towers the imperishable gold roofed hall1 ,gimle1 brighter than the sun4 ,there is no hint anywhere in the ,skaldic strains that good women are repulsed from this dwelling4 ,according to the rude morality of the people and the time1 the contrasted conditions of admission to the upper paradise or condemnation to the infernal realm were the admired #d ,pigott1 ,manual of ,scandinavian ,mythology1 p4 #fe4 #e ,keyser1 ,religion of the ,northmen1 trans4 by ,pennock1 p4 #adi4 #f ,pigott1 p4 #bde4 virtues of strength1 open handed frankness1 reckless audacity1 or the hated vices of feebleness1 cowardice1 deceit1 humility4 ,those who have won fame by puissant feats and who die in battle are snatched by the ,valkyrs from the sod to ,valhalla4 ,to die in arms is to be chosen of ,odin1 ,in whose hall of gold ,the steel clad ghosts their wonted orgies hold4 ,some taunting jest begets the war of words3 ,in clamorous fray they grasp their gleamy swords1 ,and1 as upon the earth1 with fierce delight ,by turns renew the banquet and the fight4 ,all1 on the contrary1 who1 after lives of ignoble labor or despicable ease1 die of sickness1 sink from their beds to the dismal house of ,hela4 ,in this gigantic vaulted cavern the air smells like a newly stirred grave2 damp fogs rise1 hollow sighs are heard1 the only light comes from funeral tapers held by skeletons2 the hideous queen1 whom ,thor eulogizes as the ,scourger of ,cowards1 sits on a throne of skulls1 and sways a sceptre1 made of a dead man's bone bleached in the moonlight1 over a countless multitude of shivering ghosts4#g ,but the ,norse moralists plunge to a yet darker doom those guilty of perjury1 murder1 or adultery4 ,in ,nastrond's grisly hail1 which is shaped of serpents' spines1 and through whose loop holes drops of poison drip1 where no sunlight ever reaches1 they welter in a venom sea and are gnawed by the dragon ,nidhogg4#h ,in a word1 what to the crude moral sense of the martial ,goth seemed piety1 virtue1 led to heaven2 what seemed blasphemy1 baseness1 led to hell4 ,the long war between good and evil1 light and darkness1 order and discord1 the ,asir and the ,jotuns1 was at last to reach a fatal crisis and end in one universal battle1 called ,ragnarokur1 or the ,twilight of the ,gods1 whose result would be the total destruction of the present creation4 ,portentous inklings of this dread encounter were abroad among all beings4 ,a shuddering anticipation of it sat in a lowering frown of shadow on the brows of the deities4 ,in preparation for ,ragnarokur1 both parties anxiously secured all the allies they could4 ,odin therefore joyously welcomes every valiant warrior to ,valhalla1 as a recruit for his hosts on that day when ,fenris shall break loose4 ,when ,hakon ,jarl fell1 the ,valkyrs shouted1 ,now does the force of the gods grow stronger when they have brought ,hakon to their home4 ,a ,skald makes ,odin say1 on the death of ,king ,eirilc ,blood ,axe1 as an excuse for permitting such a hero to be slain1 ,our lot is uncertain3 the gray wolf gazes on the host of the gods2 that is1 we shall need help at ,ragnarokur4 ,but as all the brave and magnanimous champions received to ,valhalla were enlisted on the side of the ,asir1 so all the miserable cowards1 invalids1 and wretches doomed to ,hela's house would fight for the ,jotuns4 ,from day to day the opposed armies1 above and below1 increase in numbers4 ,some grow impatient1 some tremble4 ,when ,balder dies1 and the ship ,nagelfra is completed1 the hour of infinite suspense will strike4 ,nagelfra is a vessel for the conveyance of the hosts of frost giants to the battle4 ,it is to be built of dead men's nails3 therefore no one should die with unpaired nails1 for if he does he #g ,pigott1 pp4 #acg1 #ach4 #h ,the ,voluspa1 strophes #cd1 #ce4 furnishes materials for the construction of that ship which men and gods wish to have finished as late as possible4#i ,at length ,loki treacherously compasses the murder of ,balder4 ,the frightful foreboding which at once flies through all hearts finds voice in the dark ,raven ,song of ,odin4 ,having chanted this obscure wail in heaven1 he mounts his horse and rides down the bridge to ,helheim4 ,with resistless incantations he raises from the grave1 where she has been interred for ages1 wrapt in snows1 wet with the rains and the dews1 an aged vala or prophetess1 and forces her to answer his questions4 ,with appalling replies he returns home1 galloping up the sky4 ,and now the crack of doom is at hand4 ,heimdall hurries up and down the bridge ,bifrost1 blowing his horn till its rousing blasts echo through the universe4 ,the wolf ,skoll1 from whose pursuit the frightened sun has fled round the heavens since the first dawn1 overtakes and devours his bright prey4 ,nagelfra1 with the ,jotun hosts on board1 sails swiftly from ,utgard4 ,loki advances at the head of the troops of ,hela4 ,fenris snaps his chain and rushes forth with jaws so extended that the upper touches the firmament1 while the under rests on the earth2 and he would open them wider if there were room4 ,jormungandur writhes his entire length around ,midgard1 and1 lifting his head1 blows venom over air and sea4 ,suddenly1 in the south1 heaven cleaves asunder1 and through the breach the sons of ,muspel1 the flame genii1 ride out on horseback with ,surtur at their head1 his sword outflashing the sun4 ,now ,odin leads forward the ,asir and the ,einheriar1 and on the predestined plain of ,vigrid the strife commences4 ,heimdall and ,loki mutually slay each other4 ,thor kills ,jormungandur2 but as the monster expires he belches a flood of venom1 under which the matchless thunder god staggers and falls dead4 ,fenris swallows ,odin1 but is instantly rent in twain by ,vidar1 the strong silent one1 ,odin's dumb son1 who well avenges his father on the wolf by splitting the jaws that devoured him4 ,then ,surtur slings fire abroad1 and the reek rises around all things4 ,iggdrasill1 the great ,ash ,tree of ,existence1 totters1 but stands4 ,all below perishes4 ,finally1 the unnamable ,mighty ,one appears1 to judge the good and the bad4 ,the former hie from fading ,valhalla to eternal ,gimle1 where all joy is to be theirs forever2 the latter are stormed down from ,hela to ,nastrond1 there1 under curdling mists1 in a snaky marsh whose waves freeze black and thaw in blood1 to be scared forever1 for punishment1 with terrors ever new4 ,all strife vanishes in endless peace4 ,by the power of ,all ,father1 a new earth1 green and fair1 shoots up from the sea1 to be inhabited by a new race of men free from sorrow4 ,the foul1 spotted dragon ,nidhogg flies over the plains1 bearing corpses and ,death itself away upon his wings1 and sinks out of sight4#aj ,it has generally been asserted1 in consonance with the foregoing view1 that the ,scandinavians believed that the good and the bad1 respectively in ,gimle and ,nastrond1 would experience everlasting rewards and punishments4 ,but ,blackwell1 the recent editor of ,percy's translation of ,mallet's ,northern ,antiquities as published in ,bohn's ,antiquarian ,library1 argues with great force against the correctness of the assertion4#aa ,the point is #i ,grimm1 ,deutsche ,mythologie1 s4 #gge1 note4 #aj ,keyser1 ,religion of the ,northmen1 part i4 ch4 vi4 #aa ,pp4 #dig-ejc4 dubious2 but it is of no great importance1 since we know that the spirit and large outlines of their faith have been reliably set forth4 ,that faith1 rising from the impetuous blood and rude mind of the martial race of the ,north1 gathering wonderful embellishments from the glowing imagination of the ,skalds1 reacting1 doubly nourished the fierce valor and fervid fancy from which it sprang4 ,it drove the dragon prows of the ,vikings marauding over the seas4 ,it rolled the ,goths' conquering squadrons across the nations1 from the shores of ,finland and ,skager ,rack to the foot of the ,pyrenees and the gates of ,rome4 ,the very ferocity with which it blazed consumed itself1 and the conquest of the flickering faith by ,christianity was easy4 ,during the dominion of this religion1 the earnest sincerity with which its disciples received it appears alike from the fearful enterprises it prompted them to1 the iron hardihood and immeasurable contempt of death it inspired in them1 and the superstitious observances which1 with pains and expenses1 they scrupulously kept4 ,they buried1 with the dead1 gold1 useful implements1 ornaments1 that they might descend1 furnished and shining1 to the halls of ,hela4 ,with a chieftain they buried a pompous horse and splendid armor1 that he might ride like a warrior into ,valhalla4 ,the true ,scandinavian1 by age or sickness deprived of dying in battle1 ran himself through1 or flung himself from a precipice1 in this manner to make amends for not expiring in armed strife1 if haply thus he might snatch a late seat among the ,einheriar4 ,with the same motive the dying sea king had himself laid on his ship1 alone1 and launched away1 with out stretched sails1 with a slow fire in the hold1 which1 when he was fairly out at sea1 should flame up and1 as ,carlyle says1 worthily bury the old hero at once in the sky and in the ocean4 ,surely then1 if ever1 the kingdom of heaven suffered violence1 and the violent took it by force4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,etruscan ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,although the living form and written annals of ,etruria perished thousands of years ago1 and although but slight references to her affairs have come down to us in the documents of contemporary nations1 yet1 through a comparatively recent acquisition of facts1 we have quite a distinct and satisfactory knowledge of her condition and experience when her power was palmiest4 ,we follow the ancient ,etruscans from the cradle to the tomb1 perceiving their various national costumes1 peculiar physiognomies1 names and relationships1 houses1 furniture1 ranks1 avocations1 games1 dying scenes1 burial processions1 and funeral festivals4 ,and1 further than this1 we follow their souls into the world to come1 behold them in the hands of good or evil spirits1 brought to judgment and then awarded their deserts of bliss or woe4 ,this knowledge has been derived from their sepulchres1 which still resist the corroding hand of ,time when nearly every thing else ,etruscan has mingled with the ground4#a ,they hewed their tombs in the living rock of cliffs and hills1 or reared them of massive masonry4 ,they painted or carved the walls with descriptive and symbolic scenes1 and crowded their interiors with sarcophagi1 cinerary urns1 vases1 goblets1 mirrors1 and a thousand other articles covered with paintings and sculptures rich in information of their authors4 ,from a study of these things1 lately disinterred in immense quantities1 has been constructed1 for the most part1 our present acquaintance with this ancient people4 ,strange that1 when the whole scene of life has passed away1 a sepulchral world should survive and open itself to reveal the past and instruct the future6 ,we seem to see1 rising from her tombs1 and moving solemnly among the mounds where all she knew or cared for has for so many ages been inurned1 the ghost of a mighty people4 ,with dejected air she leans on a ruined temple and muses2 and her shadowy tears fall silently over what was and is not4 ,the ,etruscans were accustomed to bury their deceased outside their walls2 and sometimes the city of the living was thus surrounded by a far reaching city of the dead4 ,at this day the decaying fronts of the houses of the departed1 for miles upon miles along the road1 admonish the living traveller4 ,these stone hewn sepulchres crowd nearly every hill and glen4 ,whole acres of them are also found upon the plains1 covered by several feet of earth1 where every spring the plough passes over them1 and every autumn the harvest waves2 but the dust beneath reposes well1 and knows nothing of this4 ,time buries graves4 ,how strange6 a buried grave6 ,death cannot from more death its own dead empire save4 ,the houses of the dead were built in imitation of the houses of the living1 only on a smaller scale2 and the interior arrangements were so closely copied that it is said the resemblance held in all but the light of day and the sound and motion of life4 ,the images #a ,mrs4 ,gray1 ,sepulchres of ,etruria4 painted or etched on the urns and sarcophagi that fill the sepulchres were portraits of the deceased1 accurate likenesses1 varying with age1 sex1 features1 and expression4 ,these personal portraits were taken and laid up here1 doubtless1 to preserve their remembrance when the original had crumbled to ashes4 ,what a touching voice is this from antiquity1 telling us that our poor1 fond human nature was ever the same6 ,the heart longed to be kept still in remembrance when the mortal frame was gone4 ,but how vain the wish beyond the vanishing circle of hearts that returned its love6 ,for1 as we wander through those sepulchres now1 thousands of faces thus preserved look down upon us with a mute plea1 when every vestige of their names and characters is forever lost1 and their very dust scattered long ago4 ,along the sides of the burial chamber were ranged massive stone shelves1 or sometimes benches1 or tables1 upon which the dead were laid in a reclining posture1 to sleep their long sleep4 ,it often happens that on these rocky biers lie the helmet1 breastplate1 greaves1 signet ring1 and weapons1 or1 if it be a female1 the necklace1 ear rings1 bracelet1 and other ornaments1 each in its relative place1 when the body they once encased or adorned has not left a single fragment behind4 ,an antiquary once1 digging for discoveries1 chanced to break through the ceiling of a tomb4 ,he looked in2 and there1 to quote his own words1 ,i beheld a warrior stretched on a couch of rock1 and in a few minutes ,i saw him vanish under my eyes2 for1 as the air entered the cemetery1 the armor1 thoroughly oxydized1 crumbled away into most minute particles1 and in a short time scarcely a trace of what ,i had seen was left on the couch4 ,it is impossible to express the effect this sight produced upon me4 ,an important element in the religion of ,etruria was the doctrine of ,genii1 a system of household deities who watched over the fortunes of individuals and families1 and who are continually shown on the engravings in the sepulchres as guiding1 or actively interested in1 all the incidents that happen to those under their care4 ,it was supposed that every person had two genii allotted to him1 one inciting him to good deeds1 the other to bad1 and both accompanying him after death to the judgment to give in their testimony and turn the scales of his fate4 ,this belief1 sincerely held1 would obviously wield a powerful influence over their feelings in the conduct of life4 ,the doctrine concerning the gods that prevailed in this ancient nation is learned partly from the classic authors1 partly from sepulchral monumental remains4 ,it was somewhat allied to that of ,egypt1 but much more to that of ,rome1 who indeed derived a considerable portion of her mythology from this source4 ,as in other pagan countries1 a multitude of deities were worshipped here1 each having his peculiar office1 form of representation1 and cycle of traditions4 ,it would be useless to specify all4#b ,the goddess of ,fate was pictured with wings1 showing her swiftness1 and with a hammer and nail1 to typify that her decrees were unalterably fixed4 ,the name of the supreme god was ,tinia4 ,he was the central power of the world of divinities1 and was always represented1 like ,jupiter ,tonans1 with a thunderbolt in his hand4 ,there were twelve great consenting gods1 composing the council of ,tinia1 and called ,the ,senators of ,heaven4 ,they were pitiless beings1 dwelling in the inmost recesses #b ,muller1 ,die ,etrusker1 buch iii4 kap4 iv4 sects4 #g-ad4 of heaven1 whose names it was not lawful to pronounce4 ,yet they were not deemed eternal1 but were supposed to rise and fall together4 ,there was another class1 called ,the ,shrouded ,gods1 still more awful1 potent1 and mysterious1 ruling all things1 and much like the inscrutable ,necessity that filled the dark background of the old ,greek religion4 ,last1 but most feared and most prominent in the ,etruscan mind1 were the rulers of the lower regions1 ,mantus and ,mania1 the king and queen of the under world4 ,mantus was figured as an old man1 wearing a crown1 with wings at his shoulders1 and a torch reversed in his hand4 ,mania was a fearful personage1 frequently propitiated with human sacrifices4 ,macrobius says boys were offered up at her annual festival for a long time1 till the heads of onions and poppies were substituted4#c ,intimately connected with these divinities was ,charun1 their chief minister1 the conductor of souls into the realm of the future1 whose dread image1 hideous as the imagination could conceive1 is constantly introduced in the sepulchral pictures1 and who with his attendant demons well illustrates the terrible character of the superstition which first created1 then deified1 and then trembled before him4 ,who can become acquainted with such horrors as these without drawing a freer breath1 and feeling a deeper gratitude to ,god1 as he remembers how1 for many centuries now1 the religion of love has been redeeming man from subterranean darkness1 hatred1 and fright1 to the happiness and peace of good will and trust in the sweet1 sunlit air of day6 ,that a belief in a future existence formed a prominent and controlling feature in the creed of the ,etruscans#d is abundantly shown by the contents of their tombs4 ,they would never have produced and preserved paintings1 tracings1 types1 of such a character and in such quantities1 had not the doctrines they shadow forth possessed a ruling hold upon their hopes and fears4 ,the symbolic representations connected with this subject may be arranged in several classes4 ,first1 there is an innumerable variety of death bed scenes1 many of them of the most touching and pathetic character1 such as witnesses say can scarcely be looked upon without tears1 others of the most appalling nature1 showing perfect abandonment to fright1 screams1 sobbing1 and despair4 ,the last hour is described under all circumstances1 coming to all sorts of persons1 prince1 priest1 peasant1 man1 mother1 and child4 ,patriarchs are dying surrounded by groups in every posture of grief2 friends are waving a mournful farewell to their weeping lovers2 wives are torn from the embrace of their husbands2 some seem resigned and willingly going1 others reluctant and driven in terror4 ,the next series of engravings contain descriptions and emblems of the departure of the soul from this world1 and of its passage into the next4 ,there are various symbols of this mysterious transition3 one is a snake with a boy riding upon its back1 its amphibious nature plainly typifying the twofold existence allotted to man4 ,the soul is also often shown muffled in a veil and travelling garb1 seated upon a horse1 and followed by a slave carrying a large sack of provisions1 an emblem of the long and dreary journey about to be taken4 ,horses are depicted harnessed to cars in which disembodied spirits are seated1 a token of the swift ride #c ,saturnal4 lib4 i4 cap4 #g4 #d ,dennis1 ,cities and ,cemeteries of ,etruria1 ch4 xii4 of the dead to their doom4 ,sometimes the soul is gently invited1 or led1 by a good spirit1 sometimes beaten1 or dragged away1 by the squalid and savage ,charun1 the horrible death king1 or one of his ministers2 sometimes a good and an evil spirit are seen contending for the soul2 sometimes the soul is seen1 on its knees1 beseeching the aid of its good genius and grasping at his departing wing1 as1 with averted face1 he is retiring2 and sometimes the good and the evil spirits are leading it away together1 to abide the sentence of the tribunal of ,mantus4 ,whole companies of souls are also set forth marching in procession1 under the guidance of a winged genius1 to their subterranean abode4 ,finally1 there is a class of representations depicting the ultimate fate of souls after judgment has been passed4 ,some are shown seated at banquet1 in full enjoyment1 according to their ideas of bliss4 ,some are shown undergoing punishment1 beaten with hammers1 stabbed and torn by black demons4 ,there are no proofs that the ,etruscans believed in the translation of any soul to the abode of the gods above the sky1 no signs of any path rising to the supernal heaven2 but they clearly expected just discriminations to be made in the under world4 ,into that realm many gates are shown leading1 some of them peaceful1 inviting1 surrounded by apparent emblems of deliverance1 rest1 and blessedness2 others yawning1 terrific1 engirt by the heads of gnashing beasts and furies threatening their victim4 ,shown is the progress of the guilty soul ,from earth's worn threshold to the throne of doom2 ,here the black genius to the dismal goal ,drags the wan spectre from the unsheltering tomb1 ,while from the side it never more may warn ,the better angel1 sorrowing1 flees forlorn4 ,there 7closed the eighth7 seven yawning gates reveal ,the sevenfold anguish that awaits the lost4 ,closed the eighth gate1 for there the happy dwell4 ,no glimpse of joy beyond makes horror less4 ,in these lines1 from ,bulwer's learned and ornate epic of ,king ,arthur1 the dire severity of the ,etruscan doctrine of a future life is well indicated1 with the local imagery of some parts of it1 and the impenetrable obscurity which enwraps the great sequel4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,egyptian ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,in attempting to understand the conceptions of the ancient inhabitants of ,egypt on the subject of a future life1 we are first met by the inquiry why they took such great pains to preserve the bodies of their dead4 ,it has been supposed that no common motive could have animated them to such lavish expenditure of money1 time1 and labor as the process of embalming required4 ,it has been taken for granted that only some recondite theological consideration could explain this phenomenon4 ,accordingly1 it is now the popular belief that the ,egyptians were so scrupulous in embalming their dead and storing them in repositories of eternal stone1 because they believed that the departed souls would at some future time come back and revivify their former bodies1 if these were kept from decay4 ,this hypothesis seems to us as false as it is gratuitous4 ,in the first place1 there is no evidence of it whatever1 neither written testimony nor circumstantial hint4 ,herodotus tells us1 ,the ,egyptians say the soul1 on the dissolution of the body1 always enters into some other animal then born1 and1 having passed in rotation through the various terrestrial1 aquatic1 and arial beings1 again enters the body of a man then born4#a ,there is no assertion that1 at the end of the three thousand years occupied by this circuit1 the soul will re enter its former body4 ,the plain inference1 on the contrary1 is that it will be born in a new body1 as at each preceding step in the series of its transmigrations4 ,secondly1 the mutilation of the body in embalming forbids the belief in its restoration to life4 ,the brain was extracted1 and the skull stuffed with cotton4 ,the entrails were taken out1 and sometimes1 according to ,porphyry#b and ,plutarch1#c thrown into the ,nile2 sometimes1 as modern examinations have revealed1 bound up in four packages and either replaced in the cavity of the stomach or laid in four vases beside the mummy4 ,it is absurd to attribute1 without clear cause1 to an enlightened people the belief that these stacks of brainless1 eviscerated mummies1 dried and shrunken in ovens1 coated with pitch1 bound up in a hundredfold bandages1 would ever revive1 and1 inhabited by the same souls that fled them thirty centuries before1 again walk the streets of ,thebes6 ,besides1 a third consideration demands notice4 ,by the theory of metempsychosis universally acknowledged to have been held by the ,egyptians it is taught that souls at death1 either immediately1 or after a temporary sojourn in hell or heaven has struck the balance of their merits1 are born in fresh bodies2 never that they return into their old ones4 ,but the point is set beyond controversy by the discovery of inscriptions1 accompanying pictures of scenes illustrating the felicity of blessed souls in heaven1 to this effect3 ,their bodies shall repose in their tombs forever2 they live in the celestial regions eternally1 enjoying the presence of the ,supreme ,god4 #d ,a writer on this subject says1 ,a people who believed in the transmigration #a ,herod4 lib4 ii4 cap4 #abc4 #b ,de ,abstinentia1 lib4 iv4 cap4 #aj4 #c ,banquet of the ,seven ,wise ,men4 #d ,champollion1 ,descr4 de l',egypte1 ,antiq4 tom ii4 p4 #acb4 ,stuart's ,trans4 of ,greppo's ,essay1 p4 #bfb4 of souls would naturally take extraordinary pains to preserve the body from putrefaction1 in the hope of the soul again joining the body it had quitted4 ,the remark is intrinsically untrue1 because the doctrine of transmigration coexists in reconciled belief with the observed law of birth1 infancy1 and growth1 not with the miracle of transition into reviving corpses4 ,the notion is likewise historically refuted by the fact that the believers of that doctrine in the thronged ,east have never preserved the body1 but at once buried or burned it4 ,the whole ,egyptian theology is much more closely allied to the ,hindu1 which excluded1 than to the ,persian1 which emphasized1 the resurrection of the body4 ,another theory which has been devised to explain the purpose of ,egyptian embalming1 is that it was to unite the soul permanently to its body1 and keep the vital principle from perishing or transmigrating2 the body and soul ran together through the journey of the dead and its dread ordeal4 #e ,this arbitrary guess is incredible4 ,the preservation of the body does not appear in any way not even to the rawest fancy to detain or unite the soul with it2 for the thought is unavoidable that it is precisely the absence of the soul which constitutes death4 ,again3 such an explanation of the motive for embalming cannot be correct1 because in the hieroglyphic representations of the passage to the judgment the separate soul is often depicted as hovering over the body1 #f or as kneeling before the judges1 or as pursuing its adventures through the various realms of the creation4 ,when the body is represented1 ,champollion says1 it is as an aid to the spectator1 and not as teaching a bodily resurrection4 ,sharpe's opinion that the picture of a bird poised over the mouth of a mummy1 with the emblems of breath and life in its claws1 implies the doctrine of a general physical resurrection1 is an inferential leap of the most startling character4 ,what proof is there that the symbol denotes this8 ,hundreds of paintings in the tombs show souls undergoing their respective allotments in the other world while their bodily mummies are quiet in the sepulchres of the present4 ,in his treatise on ,isis and ,osiris1 ,plutarch writes1 ,the ,egyptians believe that while the bodies of eminent men are buried in the earth their souls are stars shining in heaven4 ,it is equally nonsensical in itself and unwarranted by evidence to imagine that1 in the ,egyptian faith1 embalming either retained the soul in the body or preserved the body for a future return of the soul4 ,who can believe that it was for either of those purposes that they embalmed the multitudes of animals whose mummies the explorer is still turning up8 ,they preserved cats1 hawks1 bugs1 crocodiles1 monkeys1 bulls1 with as great pains as they did men4#g ,when the ,canary ,islands were first visited1 it was found that their inhabitants had a custom of carefully embalming the dead4 ,the same was the case among the ,peruvians1 whose vast cemeteries remain to this day crowded with mummies4 ,but the expectation of a return of the souls into these preserved bodies is not to be ascribed to those peoples4 ,herodotus informs us that the ,ethiopians1 having dried the bodies of their dead1 coat them with white plaster1 which they paint with colors to the likeness of the deceased and encase in a transparent substance4 ,the dead1 thus kept from being offensive1 and yet plainly visible1 are retained a #e ,bonomi and ,arundel on ,egyptian ,antiq41 p4 #df4 #f ,pl4 xxxiii4 in ,lepsius' ,todtenb4 der4 ,agypter4 #g ,pettigrew1 ,hist of ,egyptian ,mummies1 ch4 xii4 whole year in the houses of their nearest relatives4 ,afterwards they are carried out and placed upright in the tombs around the city4 #h ,it has been argued1 because the ,egyptians expended so much in preparing lasting tombs and in adorning their walls with varied embellishments1 that they must have thought the soul remained in the body1 a conscious occupant of the dwelling place provided for it4#i ,as well might it be argued that1 because the ancient savage tribes on the coast of ,south ,america1 who obtained their support by fishing1 buried fish hooks and bait with their dead1 they supposed the dead bodies occupied themselves in their graves by fishing6 ,the adornment of the tomb1 so lavish and varied with the ,egyptians1 was a gratification of the spontaneous workings of fancy and affection1 and needs no far fetched explanation4 ,every nation has its funeral customs and its rites of sepulture1 many of which would be as difficult of explanation as those of ,egypt4 ,the ,scandinavian sea king was sometimes buried1 in his ship1 in a grave dug on some headland overlooking the ocean4 ,the ,scythians buried their dead in rolls of gold1 sometimes weighing forty or fifty solid pounds4 ,diodorus the ,sicilian says1 ,the ,egyptians1 laying the embalmed bodies of their ancestors in noble monuments1 see the true visages and expressions of those who died ages before them4 ,so they take almost as great pleasure in viewing their bodily proportions and the lineaments of their faces as if they were still living among them4 #aj ,that instinct which leads us to obtain portraits of those we love1 and makes us unwilling to part even with their lifeless bodies1 was the cause of embalming4 ,the bodies thus prepared1 we know from the testimony of ancient authors1 were kept in the houses of their children or kindred1 until a new generation1 who knew not ,joseph1 removed them4 ,then nothing could be more natural than that the priesthood should take advantage of the custom1 so associated with sacred sentiments1 and throw theological sanctions over it1 shroud it in mystery1 and secure a monopoly of the power and profit arising from it4 ,it is not improbable1 too1 as has been suggested1 that hygienic considerations1 expressing themselves in political laws and priestly precepts1 may at first have had an influence in establishing the habit of embalming1 to prevent the pestilences apt to arise in such a climate from the decay of animal substances4 ,there is great diversity of opinion among ,egyptologists on this point4 ,one thinks that embalming was supposed to keep the soul in the body until after the funeral judgment and interment1 but that1 when the corpse was laid in its final receptacle1 the soul proceeded to accompany the sun in its daily and nocturnal circuit1 or to transmigrate through various animals and deities4 ,another imagines that the process of embalming was believed to secure the repose of the soul in the other world1 exempt from transmigrations1 so long as the body was kept from decay4#aa ,perhaps the different notions on this subject attributed by modern authors to the ,egyptians may all have prevailed among them at different times or among distinct sects4 ,but it seems most likely1 as we have said1 that embalming first arose from physical and sentimental considerations naturally operating1 rather than from any #h ,lib4 iii4 cap4 #bd4 #i ,kenrick1 ,ancient ,egypt1 vol4 i4 ch4 xxi4 sect4 iii4 #aj ,lib4 i4 cap4 #g4 #aa ,library of ,entertaining ,knowledge1 vol4 ii4 ch4 iii4 theological doctrine carefully devised2 although1 after the priesthood appropriated the business1 it is altogether probable that they interwove it with an artificial and elaborate system of sacerdotal dogmas1 in which was the hiding of the national power4 ,the second question that arises is1 ,what was the significance of the funeral ceremonies celebrated by the ,egyptians over their dead8 ,when the body had been embalmed1 it was presented before a tribunal of forty two judges sitting in state on the eastern borders of the lake ,acherusia4 ,they made strict inquiry into the conduct and character of the deceased4 ,any one might make complaint against him1 or testify in his behalf4 ,if it was found that he had been wicked1 had died in debt1 or was otherwise unworthy1 he was deprived of honorable burial and ignominiously thrown into a ditch4 ,this was called ,tartar1 from the wailings the sentence produced among his relatives4 ,but if he was found to have led an upright life1 and to have been a good man1 the honors of a regular interment were decreed him4 ,the cemetery a large plain environed with trees and lined with canals lay on the western side of the lake1 and was named ,elisout1 or rest4 ,it was reached by a boat1 the funeral barge1 in which no one could cross without an order from the judges and the payment of a small fee4 ,in these and other particulars some of the scenes supposed to be awaiting the soul in the other world were dramatically shadowed forth4 ,each rite was a symbol of a reality existing1 in solemn correspondence1 in the invisible state4 ,what the priests did over the body on earth the judicial deities did over the soul in ,amenthe4 ,it seems plain that the ,greeks derived many of their notions concerning the fate and state of the dead from ,egypt4 ,hades corresponds with ,amenthe2 ,pluto1 with the subterranean ,osiris2 ,mercury psychopompos1 with ,anubis1 the usher of souls2 ,aacus1 ,minos1 and ,rhadamanthos1 with the three assistant gods who help in weighing the soul and present the result to ,osiris2 ,tartarus1 to the ditch ,tartar2 ,charon's ghost boat over the ,styx1 to the barge conveying the mummy to the tomb2 ,cerberus1 to ,oms2 ,acheron1 to ,acherusia2 the ,elysian ,fields1 to ,elisout4#ab ,kenrick thinks the ,greeks may have developed these views for themselves1 without indebtedness to ,egypt4 ,but the notions were in existence among the ,egyptians at least twelve hundred years before they can be traced among the ,greeks4#ac ,and they are too arbitrary and systematic to have been independently constructed by two nations4 ,besides1 ,herodotus positively affirms that they were derived from ,egypt4 ,several other ancient authors also state this2 and nearly every modern writer on the subject agrees in it4 ,the triumphs of modern investigation into the antiquities of ,egypt1 unlocking the hieroglyphics and lifting the curtain from the secrets of ages1 have unveiled to us a far more full and satisfactory view of the ,egyptian doctrine of the future life than can be constructed from the narrow glimpses afforded by the accounts of the old ,greek authorities4 ,three sources of knowledge have been laid open to us4 ,first1 the papyrus rolls1 one of which was placed in the bosom of every mummy4 ,this roll1 covered with hieroglyphics1 is called the funeral ritual1 or book of the dead4 ,it served as a passport through the burial rites4 ,it contained the names of the deceased and his parents1 a series of prayers he was to recite #ab ,spineto on ,egyptian ,antiq1 ,lectures ,,iv41 ,v4 #ac ,wilkinson1 ,manners and ,customs of the ,ancient ,egyptians1 #b;d ,series1 vol4 i4 ch4 #ab4 before the various divinities he would meet on his journey1 and representations of some of the adventures awaiting him in the unseen state4#ad ,secondly1 the ornamental cases in which the mummies are enclosed are painted all over with scenes setting forth the realities and events to which the soul of the dead occupant has passed in the other life4#ae ,thirdly1 the various fates of souls are sculptured and painted on the walls in the tombs1 in characters which have been deciphered during the present century3#af ,those mystic1 stony volumes on the walls long writ1 ,whose sense is late reveal'd to searching modern wit4 ,combining the information thus obtained1 we learn that1 according to the ,egyptian representation1 the soul is led by the god ,thoth into ,amenthe1 the infernal world1 the entrance to which lies in the extreme west1 on the farther side of the sea1 where the sun goes down under the earth4 ,it was in accordance with this supposition that ,herod caused to be engraved1 on a magnificent monument erected to his deceased wife1 the line1 ,zeus1 this blooming woman sent beyond the ocean4 #ag ,at the entrance sits a wide throated monster1 over whose head is the inscription1 ,this is the devourer of many who go into ,amenthe1 the lacerator of the heart of him who comes with sins to the house of justice4 ,the soul next kneels before the forty two assessors of ,osiris1 with deprecating asseverations and intercessions4 ,it then comes to the final trial in the terrible ,hall of the two ,truths1 the approving and the condemning2 or1 as it is differently named1 the ,hall of the double ,justice1 the rewarding and the punishing4 ,here the three divinities ,horns1 ,anubis1 and ,thoth proceed to weigh the soul in the balance4 ,in one scale an image of ,thmei1 the goddess of ,truth1 is placed2 in the other1 a heart shaped vase1 symbolizing the heart of the deceased with all the actions of his earthly life4 ,then happy is he ,who1 weighed 'gainst ,truth1 down dips the awful scale4 ,thoth notes the result on a tablet1 and the deceased advances with it to the foot of the throne on which sits ,osiris1 lord of the dead1 king of ,amenthe4 ,he pronounces the decisive sentence1 and his assistants see that it is at once executed4 ,the condemned soul is either scourged back to the earth straightway1 to live again in the form of a vile animal1 as some of the emblems appear to denote2 or plunged into the tortures of a horrid hell of fire and devils below1 as numerous engravings set forth2 or driven into the atmosphere1 to be vexed and tossed by tempests1 violently whirled in blasts and clouds1 till its sins are expiated1 and another probation granted through a renewed existence in human form4 ,we have two accounts of the ,egyptian divisions of the universe4 ,according to the first view1 they conceived the creation to consist of three grand departments4 ,first came the earth1 or zone of trial1 where men live on probation4 ,next was the atmosphere1 or zone of temporal #ad ,das ,todtenbuch der ,agypter1 edited with an introduction by ,dr4 ,lepsius4 #ae ,ch4 ix4 of ,pettigrew's ,history of ,egyptian ,mummies4 #af ,champollion's ,letter1 dated ,thebes1 ,may #af1 #ahbi4 ,an abstract of this letter may be found in ,stuart's trans4 of ,greppo's ,essay on ,champollion's ,hieroglyphic ,system1 appendix1 note ,n4 #ag ,basnage1 ,hist4 of the ,jews1 lib4 ii4 ch4 #ab1 sect4 #ai4 punishment1 where souls are afflicted for their sins4 ,the ruler of this girdle of storms was ,pooh1 the overseer of souls in penance4 ,such a notion is found in some of the later ,greek philosophers1 and in the writings of the ,alexandrian ,jews1 who undoubtedly drew it from the priestly science of ,egypt4 ,every one will recollect how ,paul speaks of the prince of the power off the air4 ,and ,shakspeare makes the timid ,claudio shrink from the verge of death with horror1 lest his soul should1 through ages1 ,be imprison'd in the viewless winds1 ,and blown with restless violence round about ,the pendent world4 ,after their purgation in this region1 all the souls live again on earth by transmigration4#ah ,the third realm was in the serene blue sky among the stars1 the zone of blessedness1 where the accepted dwell in immortal peace and joy4 ,eusebius says1 ,the ,egyptians represented the universe by two circles1 one within the other1 and a serpent with the head of a hawk twining his folds around them1 thus forming three spheres1 earth1 firmament1 divinity4 ,but the representation most frequent and imposing is that which pictures the creation simply as having the earth in the centre1 and the sun with his attendants as circulating around it in the brightness of the superior1 and the darkness of the infernal1 firmament4 ,souls at death pass down through the west into ,amenthe1 and are tried4 ,if condemned1 they are either sent back to the earth1 or confined in the nether space for punishment4 ,if justified1 they join the blissful company of the ,sun ,god1 and rise with him through the east to journey along his celestial course4 ,the upper hemisphere is divided into twelve equal parts1 corresponding with the twelve hours of the day4 ,at the gate of each of these golden segments a sentinel god is stationed1 to whom the newly arriving soul must give its credentials to secure a passage4 ,in like manner1 the lower hemisphere is cut into the same number of gloomy sections1 corresponding with the twelve hours of the night4 ,daily the chief divinity1 in robes of light1 traverses the beaming zones of the blessed1 where they hunt and fish1 or plough and sow1 reap and gather1 in the ,fields of the ,sun on the banks of the heavenly ,nile4 ,nightly1 arrayed in deep black from head to foot1 he traverses the dismal zones of the damned1 where they undergo appropriate retributions4 ,thus the future destiny of man was sublimely associated with the march of the sun through the upper and lower hemispheres4#ai ,astronomy was a part of the ,egyptian's theology4 ,he regarded the stars not figuratively1 but literally1 as spirits and pure genii2 the great planets as deities4 ,the calendar was a religious chart1 each month1 week1 day1 hour1 being the special charge and stand point of a god4#bj ,there was much poetic beauty and ethical power in these doctrines and symbols4 ,the necessity of virtue1 the dread ordeals of the grave1 the certainty of retribution1 the mystic circuits of transmigration1 a glorious immortality1 the paths of planets and gods and souls through creation1 all were impressively enounced1 dramatically shown4 #ah ,liber ,metempsychosis ,veterum ,agyptiorum1 edited and translated into ,latin from the funeral papyri by ,h4 ,brugsch4 #ai ,l',univers1 ,egypte ,ancienne1 par ,champollion ,figeac1 pp4 #abc #ade4 #bj ,agyptische ,glaubenslehre von ,dr4 ,ed4 ,roth1 ss4 #aga1 #agd4 ,the ,egyptain soul sail'd o'er the skyey sea ,in ark of crystal1 mann'd by beamy gods1 ,to drag the deeps of space and net the stars1 ,where1 in their nebulous shoals1 they shore the void ,and through old ,night's ,typhonian blindness shine4 ,then1 solarized1 he press'd towards the sun1 ,and1 in the heavenly ,hades1 hall of ,god1 ,had final welcome of the firmament4 ,this solemn linking of the fate of man with the astronomic universe1 this grand blending of the deepest of moral doctrines with the most august of physical sciences1 plainly betrays the brain and hand of that hereditary hierarchy whose wisdom was the wonder of the ancient world4 ,osburn thinks the localization of ,amenthe in the west may have arisen in the following way4 ,some superstitious ,egyptians1 travelling westwards1 at twilight1 on the great marshes haunted by the strange gray white ibis1 saw troops of these silent1 solemn1 ghostlike birds1 motionless or slow stalking1 and conceived them to be souls waiting for the funeral rites to be paid1 that they might sink with the setting sun to their destined abode4#ba ,that such a system of belief was too complex and elaborate to have been a popular development is evident4 ,but that it was really held by the people there is no room to doubt4 ,parts of it were publicly enacted on festival days by multitudes numbering more than a hundred thousand4 ,parts of it were dimly shadowed out in the secret recesses of temples1 surrounded by the most astonishing accompaniments that unrivalled learning1 skill1 wealth1 and power could contrive4 ,its authority commanded the allegiance1 its charm fascinated the imagination1 of the people4 ,its force built the pyramids1 and enshrined whole generations of ,egypt's embalmed population in richly adorned sepulchres of everlasting rock4 ,its substance of esoteric knowledge and faith1 in its form of exoteric imposture and exhibition1 gave it vitality and endurance long4 ,in the vortex of change and decay it sank at last4 ,and now it is only after its secrets have been buried for thirty centuries that the exploring genius of modern times has brought its hidden hieroglyphics to light1 and taught us what were the doctrines originally contained in the altar lore of those priestly schools which once dotted the plains of the ,delta and studded the banks of eldest ,nile1 where now1 disfigured and gigantic1 the solemn ,old ,syhinxes lift their countenances bland ,athwart the river sea and sea of sand4 #ba ,monumental ,history of ,egypt1 vol4 i4 ch4 #h4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,brahmanic ,,and ,,buddhist ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,in the ,hindu views of the fate of the human soul1 metaphysical subtlety and imaginative vastness1 intellect and fancy1 slavish tradition and audacious speculation1 besotted ritualism and heaven storming spirituality1 are mingled together on a scale of grandeur and intensity wholly without a parallel elsewhere in the literature or faith of the world4 ,brahmanism1 with its hundred million adherents holding sway over ,india1 and ,buddhism1 with its four hundred million disciples scattered over a dozen nations1 from ,java to ,japan1 and from the ,ceylonese to the ,samoyedes1 practically considered1 in reference to their actually received dogmas and aims pertaining to a future life1 agree sufficiently to warrant us in giving them a general examination together4 ,the chief difference between them will be explained in the sequel4 ,the most ancient ,hindu doctrine of the future fate of man1 as given in the ,vedas1 was simple1 rude1 and very unlike the forms in which it has since prevailed4 ,professor ,wilson says1 in the introduction to his translation of the ,rig ,veda1 that the references to this subject in the primeval ,sanscrit scriptures are sparse and incomplete4 ,but no one has so thoroughly elucidated this obscure question as ,roth of ,tubingen1 in his masterly paper on the ,morality of the ,vedas1 of which there is a translation1 by ,professor ,whitney1 in the ,journal of the ,american ,oriental ,society4#a ,the results of his researches may be stated in few words4 ,when a man dies1 the earth is invoked to wrap his body up1 as a mother wraps her child in her garment1 and to lie lightly on him4 ,he himself is addressed thus3 ,go forth1 go forth on the ancient paths which our fathers in old times have trodden3 the two rulers in bliss1 ,yama and ,varuna1 shalt thou behold4 ,varuna judges all4 ,he thrusts the wicked down into darkness2 and not a hint or clew further of their doom is furnished4 ,they were supposed either to be annihilated1 as ,professor ,roth thinks the ,vedas imply1 or else to live as demons1 in sin1 blackness1 and woe4 ,the good go up to heaven and are glorified with a shining spiritual body like that of the gods4 ,yama1 the first man1 originator of the human race on earth1 is the beginner and head of renewed humanity in another world1 and is termed the ,assembler of ,men4 ,it is a poetic and grand conception that the first one who died1 leading the way1 should be the patriarch and monarch of all who follow4 ,the old ,vedic hymns imply that the departed good are in a state of exalted felicity1 but scarcely picture forth any particulars4 ,the following passage1 versified with strict fidelity to the original1 is as full and explicit as any3 ,where glory never fading is1 where is the world of heavenly light1 ,the world of immortality1 the everlasting1 set me there6 ,where ,yama reigns1 ,vivasvat's son1 in the inmost sphere of heaven bright4 ,where those abounding waters flow1 oh1 make me but immortal there6 ,where there is freedom unrestrain'd1 where the triple vault of heaven's in sight1 ,where worlds of brightest glory are1 oh1 make me but immortal there6 ,where pleasures and enjoyments are1 where bliss and raptures ne'er take flight1 ,where all desires are satisfied1 oh1 make me but immortal there6 #a ,vol iii4 pp4 #cdb-cdf4 ,but this form of doctrine long ago passed from the ,hindu remembrance1 lost in the multiplying developments and specifications of a mystical philosophy1 and a teeming superstition nourished by an unbounded imagination4 ,both ,brahmans and ,buddhists conceive of the creation on the most enormous scale4 ,mount ,meru rises from the centre of the earth to the height of about two millions of miles4 ,on its summit is the city of ,brahma1 covering a space of fourteen thousand leagues1 and surrounded by the stately cities of the regents of the spheres4 ,between ,meru and the wall of stone forming the extreme circumference of the earth are seven concentric circles of rocks4 ,between these rocky bracelets are continents and seas4 ,in some of the seas wallow single fishes thousands of miles in every dimension4 ,the celestial spaces are occupied by a large number of heavens1 called dewa lokas1 increasing in the glory and bliss of their prerogatives4 ,the worlds below the earth are hells1 called naraka4 ,the description of twenty eight of these1 given in the ,vishnu ,purana1#b makes the reader sup full of horrors4 ,the ,buddhist ,books of ,ceylon #c tell of twenty six heavens placed in regular order above one another in the sky1 crowded with all imaginable delights4 ,they also depict1 in the abyss underneath the earth1 eight great hells1 each containing sixteen smaller ones1 the whole one hundred and thirty six composing one gigantic hell4 ,the eight chief hells are situated over one another1 each partially enclosing and overlapping that next beneath2 and the sufferings inflicted on their unfortunate occupants are of the most terrific character4 ,but these poor hints at the local apparatus of reward and punishment afford no conception whatever of the extent of their mythological scheme of the universe4 ,they call each complete solar system a sakwala1 and say that1 if a wall were erected around the space occupied by a million millions of sakwalas1 reaching to the highest heaven1 and the entire space were filled with mustard seeds1 a god might take these seeds1 and1 looking towards any one of the cardinal points1 throw a single seed towards each sakwala until all the seeds were gone1 and still there would be more sakwalas1 in the same direction1 to which no seed had been thrown1 without considering those in the other three quarters of the heavens4 ,in comparison with this ,eastern vision of the infinitude of worlds1 the wildest ,western dreamer over the vistas opened by the telescope may hide his diminished head6 ,their other conceptions are of the same crushing magnitude1 ,thus1 when the demons1 on a certain occasion1 assailed the gods1 ,siva using the ,himalaya range for his bow1 ,vasuke for the string1 ,vishnu for his arrow1 the earth for his chariot with the sun and moon for its wheels and the ,vedas for its horses1 the starry canopy for his banner with the tree of ,paradise for its staff1 ,brahma for his charioteer1 and the mysterious monosyllable ,om for his whip reduced them all to ashes4#d ,the five hundred million ,brahmanic and ,buddhist believers hold that all the gods1 men1 demons1 and various grades of animal life occupying this immeasurable array of worlds compose one cosmic family4 ,the totality of animated beings1 from a detestable gnat to #b ,wilson's trans4 pp4 #bjg-bji4 #c ,upham's trans4 vol4 iii4 pp4 #h1 #ff1 #aei4 #d ,vans ,kennedy1 ,ancient and ,hindu ,mythology1 p4 #dbi4 thundering ,indra1 from the meanest worm to the supreme ,buddha1 constitute one fraternal race1 by the unavoidable effects of the law of retribution constantly interchanging their residences in a succession of rising and sinking existences1 ranging through all the earths1 heavens1 and hells of the universe1 bound by the terrible links of merit and demerit in the phantasmagoric dungeon of births and deaths4 ,the ,vishnu ,purana declares1 ,the universe1 this whole egg of ,brahma1 is everywhere swarming with living creatures1 all of whom are captives in the chains of acts4 #e ,the one prime postulate of these ,oriental faiths the ground principle1 never to be questioned any more than the central and stationary position of the earth in the ,ptolemaic system is that all beings below the ,infinite ,one are confined in the circle of existence1 the whirl of births and deaths1 by the consequences of their virtues and vices4 ,when a man dies1 if he has an excess of good desert1 he is born1 as a superior being1 in one of the heavens4 ,according to the nature and degree of his merit1 his heavenly existence is prolonged1 or perhaps repeated many times in succession2 or1 if his next birth occurs on earth1 it is under happy circumstances1 as a sage or a king4 ,but when he expires1 should there1 on the other hand1 be an overbalance of ill desert1 he is born as a demon in one of the hells1 or may in repeated lives run the circuit of the hells2 or1 if he at once returns to the earth1 it is as a beggar1 a leprous outcast1 a wretched cripple1 or in the guise of a rat1 a snake1 or a louse4 ,the illustrious souls of great and virtuous men ,in godlike beings shall revive again2 ,but base and vicious spirits wind their way ,in scorpions1 vultures1 sharks1 and beasts of prey4 ,the fair1 the gay1 the witty1 and the brave1 ,the fool1 the coward1 courtier1 tyrant1 slave1 ,each one in a congenial form1 shall find ,a proper dwelling for his wandering mind4 ,a specific evil is never cancelled by being counterbalanced by a greater good4 ,the fruit of that evil must be experienced1 and also of that greater good1 by appropriate births in the hells and heavens1 or in the higher and lower grades of earthly existence4 ,the two courses of action must be run through independently4 ,this is what is meant by the phrases1 so often met with in ,oriental works1 eating the fruits of former acts1 bound in the chains of deeds4 ,merit or demerit can be balanced or neutralized only by the full fruition of its own natural and necessary consequences4#f ,the law of merit and of demerit is fate4 ,it works irresistibly1 through all changes and recurrences1 from the beginning to the end4 ,the cessation of virtue or of vice does not put an end to its effects until its full force is exhausted2 as an arrow continues in flight until all its imparted power is spent4 ,a man faultlessly and scrupulously good through his present life may be guilty of some foul crime committed a hundred lives before and not yet expiated4 ,accordingly1 he may now suffer for it1 or his next birth may take place in a hell4 ,on the contrary1 he may be credited with some great merit acquired thousands of #e ,p4 #bhf4 #f ,journal of the ,american ,oriental ,society1 vol4 iv4 p4 #hg4 generations ago1 whose fruit he has not eaten1 and which may bring him good fortune in spite of present sins1 or on the rolling and many colored wheel of metempsychosis may secure for him next a celestial birthplace4 ,in short periods1 it will be seen1 there is moral confusion1 but1 in the long run1 exact compensation4 ,the exuberant prodigiousness of the ,hindu imagination is strikingly manifest in its descriptions of the rewards of virtue in the heavens and of the punishments of sin in the hells4 ,visions pass before us of beautiful groves full of fragrance and music1 abounding in delicious fruits1 and birds of gorgeous plumage1 crystal streams embedded with pearls1 unruffled lakes where the lotus blooms1 palaces of gems1 crowds of friends and lovers1 endless revelations of truth1 boundless graspings of power1 all that can stir and enchant intellect1 will1 fancy1 and heart4 ,in some of the heavens the residents have no bodily form1 but enjoy purely spiritual pleasures4 ,in others they are self resplendent1 and traverse the ether4 ,they are many miles in height1 one being described whose crown was four miles high and who wore on his person sixty wagon loads of jewels4 ,the ordinary lifetime of the inhabitants of the dewa loka named ,wasawartti equals nine billions two hundred and sixteen millions of our years4 ,they breathe only once in sixteen hours4 ,the reverse of this picture is still more vigorously drawn1 highly colored1 and diversified in contents4 ,the walls of the ,hindu hell are over a hundred miles thick2 and so dazzling is their brightness that it bursts the eyes which look at them anywhere within a distance of four hundred leagues4#g ,the poor creatures here1 wrapped in shrouds of fire1 writhe and yell in frenzy of pain4 ,the very revelry and ecstasy of terror and anguish fill the whole region4 ,the skins of some wretches are taken off from head to foot1 and then scalding vinegar is poured over them4 ,a glutton is punished thus3 experiencing an insatiable hunger in a body as large as three mountains1 he is tantalized with a mouth no larger than the eye of a needle4#h ,the infernal tormentors1 throwing their victims down1 take a flexible flame in each hand1 and with these lash them alternately right and left4 ,one demon1 ,rahu1 is seventy six thousand eight hundred miles tall3 the palm of his hand measures fifty thousand acres2 and when he is enraged he rushes up the sky and swallows the sun or the moon1 thus causing an eclipse6 ,in the ,asiatic ,journal for #ahdj is an article on ,the ,chinese ,judges of the ,dead1 which describes a series of twenty four paintings of hell found in a ,buddhist temple4 ,devils in human shapes are depicted pulling out the tongues of slanderers with redhot wires1 pouring molten lead down the throats of liars1 with burning prongs tossing souls upon mountains planted with hooks of iron reeking with the blood of those who have gone before1 screwing the damned between planks1 pounding them in husking mortars1 grinding them in rice mills1 while other fiends1 in the shape of dogs1 lap up their oozing gore4 ,but the hardest sensibility must by this time cry1 ,hold6 ,with the turmoil and pain of entanglement in the vortex of births1 and all the repulsive exposures of finite life1 the ,hindus contrast the idea of an infinite rest and bliss1 an endless #g ,hardy1 ,manual of ,buddhism1 p4 #bf4 #h ,coleman1 ,mythology of the ,hindus1 p4 #aih4 exemption from evil and struggle1 an immense receptivity of reposing power and quietistic contemplation4 ,in consequence of their endlessly varied1 constantly recurring1 intensely earnest speculations and musings over this contrast of finite restlessness and pain with infinite peace and blessedness1 a contrast which constitutes the preaching of their priests1 saturates their sacred books1 fills their thoughts1 and broods over all their life1 the ,orientals are pervaded with a profound horror of individual existence1 and with a profound desire for absorption into the ,infinite ,being4 ,a few quotations from their own authors will illustrate this3 ,a sentient being in the repetition of birth and death is like a worm in the midst of a nest of ants1 like a lizard in the hollow of a bamboo that is burning at both ends4#i ,emancipation from all existence is the fulness of felicity4#aj ,the being who is still subject to birth may now sport in the beautiful gardens of heaven1 now be cut to pieces in hell2 now be ,maha ,brahma1 now a degraded outcast2 now sip nectar1 now drink blood2 now repose on a couch with gods1 now be dragged through a thicket of thorns2 now reside in a mansion of gold1 now be exposed on a mountain of lava2 now sit on the throne of the gods1 now be impaled amidst hungry dogs2 now be a king glittering with countless gems1 now a mendicant taking a skull from door to door to beg alms2 now eat ambrosia as the monarch of a dewa loka1 now writhe and die as a bat in the shrivelling flame4#aa ,the ,supreme ,soul and the human soul do not differ1 and pleasure or pain ascribable to the latter arises from its imprisonment in the body4 ,the water of the ,ganges is the same whether it run in the river's bed or be shut up in a decanter2 but a drop of wine added to the water in the decanter imparts its flavor to the whole1 whereas it would be lost in the river4 ,the ,supreme ,soul1 therefore1 is beyond accident2 but the human soul is afflicted by sense and passion4 ,happiness is only obtained in reunion with the ,supreme ,soul1 when the dispersed individualities combine again with it1 as the drops of water with the parent stream4 ,hence the slave should remember that he is separated from ,god by the body alone1 and exclaim1 perpetually1 ',blessed be the moment when ,i shall lift the veil from off that face6 the veil of the face of my ,beloved is the dust of my body4'#ab ,a pious man was once born on earth1 who1 in his various transmigrations1 had met eight hundred and twenty five thousand ,buddhas4 ,he remembered his former states1 but could not enumerate how many times he had been a king1 a beggar1 a beast1 an occupant of hell4 ,he uttered these words3 ',a hundred thousand years of the highest happiness on earth are not equal to the happiness of one day in the dewa lokas2 and a hundred thousand years of the deepest misery on earth are not equal to the misery of one day in hell2 but the misery of hell is reckoned by millions of centuries4 ,oh1 how shall ,i escape1 and obtain eternal bliss8' #ac #i ,eastern ,monachism1 p4 #bdg4 #aj ,vishnu ,purana1 p4 #efh4 #aa ,hardy1 ,manual of ,buddhism1 p4 #ded4 #ab ,asiatic ,researches1 vol4 xvii4 p4 #bih4 #ac ,journal of the ,american ,oriental ,society1 vol4 iv4 p4 #aad4 ,the literary products of the ,eastern mind wonderfully abound with painful descriptions of the compromises1 uncleannesses1 and afflictions inseparably connected with existence4 ,volumes would be required to furnish an adequate representation of the vivid and inexhaustible amplification with which they set forth the direful disgusts and loathsome terrors associated with the series of ideas expressed by the words conception1 birth1 life1 death1 hell1 and regeneration4 ,the fifth chapter in the sixth book of the ,vishnu ,purana affords a good specimen of these details2 but1 to appreciate them fully1 one must peruse dispersed passages in a hundred miscellaneous works3 ,as long as man lives1 he is immersed in afflictions1 like the seed of the cotton amidst the down4 4 4 4 ,where could man1 scorched by the fires of the sun of this world1 look for felicity1 were it not for the shade afforded by the tree of emancipation8 4 4 4 ,travelling the path of the world for many thousands of births1 man attains only the weariness of bewilderment1 and is smothered by the dust of imagination4 ,when that dust is washed away by the bland water of real knowledge1 then the weariness is removed4 ,then the internal man is at peace1 and obtains supreme felicity4#ad ,the result of these views is the awakening of an unquenchable desire to break from the fetters of existence1 to be delivered from the whirlpool of transmigration4 ,both ,brahmanism and ,buddhism are in essence nothing else than methods of securing release from the chain of incarnated lives1 and attaining to identification with the ,infinite4 ,there is a text in the ,apocalypse which may be strikingly applied to this exemption from further metempsychosis3 ,him that overcometh ,i will make a pillar in the temple of my ,god1 and he shall go no more out forever4 ,the testimony of all who have investigated the subject agrees with the following assertion by ,professor ,wilson3 ,the common end of every system studied by the ,hindus is the ascertainment of the means by which perpetual exemption from the necessity of repeated births may be won4#ae ,in comparison with this aim1 every thing else is utterly insignificant4 ,prahlada1 on being offered by ,vishnu any boon he might ask1 exclaimed1 ,wealth1 virtue1 love1 are as nothing2 for even liberation is in his reach whose faith is firm in thee4 ,and ,vishnu replied1 ,thou shalt1 therefore1 obtain freedom from existence4#af ,all true ,orientals1 however favored or persecuted by earthly fortune1 still cry night and day upwards into the infinite1 with outstretched arms and yearning voice1 ,o ,lord1 our separate lives destroy6 ,merge in thy gold our souls' alloy3 ,pain is our own1 and ,thou art ,joy6 ,according to the system of ,brahmanism1 the creation is regularly called into being and again destroyed at the beginning and end of certain stupendous epochs called kalpas4 ,four thousand three hundred and twenty million years make a day of ,brahma4 ,at the end of this day the lower worlds are consumed by fire2 and ,brahma sleeps on the abyss for a night as long #ad ,vishnu ,parana1 p4 #fej4 #ae ,sankhya ,karika1 preface1 p4 #c4 #af ,vishnu ,purana1 p4 #add4 as his day4 ,during this night the saints1 who in high ,jana loka have survived the dissolution of the lower portions of the universe1 contemplate the slumbering deity until he wakes and restores the mutilated creation4 ,three hundred and sixty of these days and nights compose a year of ,brahma2 a hundred such years measure his whole life4 ,then a complete destruction of all things takes place1 every thing merging into the ,absolute ,one1 until he shall rouse himself renewedly to manifest his energies4#ag ,although created beings who have not obtained emancipation are destroyed in their individual forms at the periods of the general dissolution1 yet1 being affected by the good or evil acts of former existence1 they are never exempted from their consequences1 and when ,brahma creates the world anew they are the progeny of his will1 in the fourfold condition of gods1 men1 animals1 and inanimate things4#ah ,and ,buddhism embodies virtually the same doctrine1 declaring the whole universe of sakwalas to be subject alternately to destruction and renovation1 in a series of revolutions to which neither beginning nor end can be discovered4 ,what is the ,brahmanic method of salvation1 or secret of emancipation8 ,rightly apprehended in the depth and purity of the real doctrine1 it is this4 ,there is in reality but ,,one ,,soul3 every thing else is error1 illusion1 misery4 ,whoever acquires the knowledge of this truth by personal perception is thereby liberated4 ,he has won the absolute perfection of the unlimited ,godhead1 and shall never be born again4 ,whosoever views the ,supreme ,soul as manifold1 dies death after death4 ,god is formless1 but seems to assume form2 as moonlight1 impinging upon various objects1 appears crooked or straight4#ai ,bharata says to the king of ,sauriva1 ,the great end of all is not union of self with the ,supreme ,soul1 because one substance cannot become another4 ,the true wisdom1 the genuine aim of all1 is to know that ,soul is one1 uniform1 perfect1 exempt from birth1 omnipresent1 undecaying1 made of true knowledge1 dissociated with unrealities4#bj ,it is ignorance alone which enables ,maya to impress the mind with a sense of individuality2 for as soon as that is dispelled it is known that severalty exists not1 and that there is nothing but one undivided ,whole4 #ba ,the ,brahmanic scriptures say1 ,the ,eternal ,deity consists of true knowledge4 ,brahma that is ,supreme is produced of reflection4#bb ,the logic runs thus4 ,there is only ,one ,soul1 the absolute ,god4 ,all beside is empty deception4 ,that ,one ,soul consists of true knowledge4 ,whoever attains to true knowledge1 therefore1 is absolute ,god1 forever freed from the sphere of semblances4 ,the foregoing exposition is philosophical and scriptural ,brahmanism4 ,but there are numerous schismatic sects which hold opinions diverging from it in regard to the nature and destiny of the human soul4 ,they may be considered in two classes4 ,first1 there are some who defend the idea of the personal immortality of the soul4 ,the ,siva ,gnana ,potham establishes the doctrine of the soul's eternal existence as an individual being4 #bc ,the ,saiva school #ag ,vishnu ,purana1 p4 #be4 ,hardy1 ,manual of ,buddhism1 p4 #cc1 note4 #ah ,vishnu ,parana1 pp4 #ci1 #aaf4 #ai ,colebrooke1 ,essays1 vol4 i4 p4 #cei4 #bj ,vishnu ,purana1 p4 #beb4 #ba ,vans ,kennedy1 ,ancient and ,hindu ,mythology1 p4 #bja4 #bb ,vishnu ,purana1 pp4 #edf1 #fdb4 #bc ,journal of the ,american ,oriental ,society1 vol4 ii4 p4 #ada4 teach that when1 at the close of every great period1 all other developed existences are rendered back to their primordial state1 souls are excepted4 ,these1 once developed and delivered from the thraldom of their merit and demerit1 will ever remain intimately united with ,deity and clothed in the resplendent wisdom4#bd ,secondly1 there are others and probably at the present time they include a large majority of the ,brahmans who believe in the real being both of the ,supreme ,soul and of separate finite souls1 conceiving the latter to be individualized parts of the former and their true destiny to consist in securing absorption into it4 ,the relation of the soul to ,god1 they maintain1 is not that of ruled and ruler1 but that of part and whole4 ,as gold is one substance still1 however diversified as bracelets1 tiaras1 ear rings1 or other things1 so ,vishnu is one and the same1 although modified in the forms of gods1 animals1 and men4 ,as the drops of water raised from the earth by the wind sink into the earth again when the wind subsides1 so the variety of gods1 men1 and animals1 which have been detached by the agitation of the qualities1 are reunited1 when the disturbance ceases1 with the ,eternal4 #be ,the whole obtains its destruction in ,god1 like bubbles in water4 ,the ,madhava sect believe that there is a personal ,all ,soul distinct from the human soul4 ,their proofs are detailed in one of the ,maha ,upanishads4#bf ,these two groups of sects1 however1 agree perfectly with the ancient orthodox ,brahmans in accepting the fundamental dogma of a judicial metempsychosis1 wherein each one is fastened by his acts and compelled to experience the uttermost consequences of his merit or demerit4 ,they all coincide in one common aspiration as regards the highest end1 namely1 emancipation from the necessity of repeated births4 ,the difference between the three is1 that the one class of dissenters expect the fruition of that deliverance to be a finite personal immortality in heaven2 the other interpret it as an unwalled absorption in the ,over ,soul1 like a breath in the air2 while the more orthodox believers regard it as the entire identity of the soul with the ,infinite ,one4 ,against the opinion that there is only one ,soul for all bodies1 as one string supports all the gems of a necklace1 some ,hindu philosophers argue that the plurality of souls is proved by the consideration that1 if there were but one soul1 then when any one was born1 or died1 or was lame1 or deaf1 or occupied1 or idle1 all would at once be born1 die1 be lame1 deaf1 occupied1 or idle4 ,but ,professor ,wilson says1 ,this doctrine of the multitudinous existence or individual incorporation of ,soul clearly contradicts the ,vedas4 ,they affirm one only existent soul to be distributed in all beings4 ,it is beheld collectively or dispersedly1 like the reflection of the moon in still or troubled water4 ,soul1 eternal1 omnipresent1 undisturbed1 pure1 one1 is multiplied by the power of delusion1 not of its own nature4#bg ,all the ,brahmanic sects unite in thinking that liberation from the net of births is to be obtained and the goal of their wishes to be reached by one means only2 and that is knowledge1 real wisdom1 an adequate sight of the truth4 ,without this knowledge there is no possible emancipation2 but there are three ways of seeking the needed knowledge4 #bd ,ibid4 vol4 iv4 p4 #ae4 #be ,vishnu ,purana1 p4 #bhg4 #bf ,weber1 ,akademische ,vorlesungen uber ,indische ,literaturgeschichte1 s4 #afj4 #bg ,sankbya ,karika1 p4 #gj4 ,some strive1 by direct intellectual abstraction and effort1 by metaphysical speculation1 to grasp the true principles of being4 ,others try1 by voluntary penance1 self abnegation1 and pain1 to accumulate such a degree of merit1 or to bring the soul into such a state of preparedness1 as will compel the truth to reveal itself4 ,and still others devote themselves to the worship of some chosen deity1 by ritual acts and fervid contemplation1 to obtain by his favor the needed wisdom4 ,a few quotations may serve to illustrate the ,brahmanic attempts at winning this one thing needful1 the knowledge which yields exemption from all incarnate lives4 ,the ,sankhya philosophy is a regular system of metaphysics1 to be studied as one would study algebra4 ,it presents to its disciples an exhaustive statement of the forms of being in twenty five categories1 and declares1 ,he who knows the twenty five principles1 whatever order of life he may have entered1 and whether he wear braided hair1 a top knot only1 or be shaven1 he is liberated4 ,this discriminative wisdom releases forever from worldly bondage4#bh ,the virtuous is born again in heaven1 the wicked is born again in hell2 the fool wanders in error1 the wise man is set free4 ,by ignorance is bondage1 by knowledge is deliverance4 ,when ,nature finds that soul has discovered that it is to her the distress of migration is owing1 she is put to shame by the detection1 and will suffer herself to be seen no more4#bi ,through knowledge the sage is absorbed into ,supreme ,spirit4#cj ,the ,supreme ,spirit attracts to itself him who meditates upon it1 as the loadstone attracts the iron4#ca ,he who seeks to obtain a knowledge of the ,soul is gifted with it1 the ,soul rendering itself conspicuous to him4 ,man1 having known that ,nature which is without a beginning or an end1 is delivered from the grasp of death4 ,souls are absorbed in the ,supreme ,soul as the reflection of the sun in water returns to him on the removal of the water4#cb ,the thought underlying the last statement is that there is only one ,soul1 every individual consciousness being but an illusory semblance1 and that the knowledge of this fact constitutes the all coveted emancipation4 ,as one diffusive breath passing through the perforations of a flute is distinguished as the several notes of the scale1 so the ,supreme ,spirit is single1 though1 in consequence of acts1 it seems manifold4 ,as every placid lakelet holds an unreal image of the one real moon sailing above1 so each human soul is but a deceptive reflection of the one veritable ,soul1 or ,god4 ,it may be worth while to observe that ,plotinus1 as is well known1 taught the doctrine of the absolute identity of each soul with the entire and indistinguishable entity of ,god3 ,though ,god extends beyond creation's rim1 ,yet every being holds the whole of him4 ,it belongs to an unextended substance1 an immateriality1 to be everywhere by totality1 not by portions4 ,if ,god be omnipresent1 he cannot be so dividedly1 a part of him here and a part #bh ,ibid4 pp4 #a1 #af4 #bi ,ibid4 pp4 #dh1 #adb1 #agd4 #cj ,vishnu ,purana1 p4 #eg4 #ca ,ibid4 p4 #fea4 #cb ,rammohun ,roy1 ,translations from the ,veda1 #b;d ed41 ,london1 #ahcb1 pp4 #fi1 #ci1 #aj4 of him there2 but the whole of him must be in every particle of matter1 in every point of space1 in all infinitude4 ,the ,brahmanic religion is a philosophy2 and it keeps an incomparably strong hold on the minds of its devotees4 ,its most vital and comprehensive principle is expressed in the following sentence3 ,the soul itself is not susceptible of pain1 or decay1 or death2 the site of these things is nature2 but nature is unconscious2 the consciousness that pain exists is restricted to the soul1 although the soul is not the actual seat of pain4 ,this is the reason why every ,hindu yearns so deeply to be freed from the meshes of nature1 why he so anxiously follows the light of faith and penance1 or the clew of speculation1 through all mazes of mystery4 ,it is that he may at last gaze on the central ,,truth1 and through that sight seize the fruition of the supreme and eternal good of man in the unity of his selfhood with the ,infinite1 and so be born no more and experience no more trouble4 ,it is very striking to contrast with this profound and gorgeous dream of the ,east1 whatever form it assumes1 the more practical and definite thought of the ,west1 as expressed in these lines of ,tennyson's ,in ,memoriam3 ,that each1 who seems a separate whole1 ,should move his rounds1 and1 fusing all ,the skirts of self again1 should fall ,remerging in the general ,soul1 ,is faith as vague as all unsweet3 ,eternal form shall still divide ,the eternal soul from all beside1 ,and ,i shall know him when we meet4 ,but is it not still more significant to notice that1 in the lines which immediately succeed1 the love inspired and deep musing genius of the ,english thinker can find ultimate repose only by recurring to the very faith of the ,hindu theosophist8 ,and we shall sit at endless feast1 ,enjoying each the other's good3 ,what vaster dream can hit the mood ,of ,love on earth6 ,he seeks at least ,upon the last and sharpest height1 ,before the spirits fade away1 ,some landing place1 to clasp and say1 ,farewell6 ,we lose ourselves in light6 ,we turn now to the ,buddhist doctrine of a future life as distinguished from the ,brahmanic4 ,the ,four ,sublime ,truths of ,buddhism1 as they are called1 are these3 first1 that there is sorrow2 secondly1 that every living person necessarily feels it2 thirdly1 that it is desirable to be freed from it2 fourthly1 that the only deliverance from it is by that pure knowledge which destroys all cleaving to existence4 ,a ,buddha is a being who1 in consequence of having reached the ,buddhaship1 which implies the possession of infinite goodness1 infinite power1 and infinite wisdom1 is able to teach men that true knowledge which secures emancipation4 ,the ,buddhaship that is1 the possession of ,supreme ,godhead is open to every one1 though few ever acquire it4 ,most wonderful and tremendous is the process of its attainment4 ,upon a time1 some being1 perhaps then incarnate as a mosquito alighting on a muddy leaf in some swamp1 pauses for a while to muse4 ,looking up through infinite stellar systems1 with hungry love and boundless ambition1 to the throne and sceptre of absolute immensity1 he vows within himself1 ,i will become a ,buddha4 ,the total influences of his past1 the forces of destiny1 conspiring with his purpose1 omnipotence is in that resolution4 ,nothing shall ever turn him aside from it4 ,he might soon acquire for himself deliverance from the dreadful vortex of births2 but1 determined to achieve the power of delivering others from their miseries as sentient beings1 he voluntarily throws himself into the stream of successive existences1 and with divine patience and fortitude undergoes every thing4 ,from that moment1 no matter in what form he is successively born1 whether as a disgusting bug1 a white elephant1 a monarch1 or a god1 he is a ,bodhisat1 that is1 a candidate pressing towards the ,buddhaship4 ,he at once begins practising the ten primary virtues1 called paramitas1 necessary for the securing of his aim4 ,the period required for the full exercise of one of these virtues is a bhumi4 ,its duration is thus illustrated4 ,were a ,bodhisat once in a thousand births to shed a single drop of blood1 he would in the space of a bhumi shed more blood than there is water in a thousand oceans4 ,on account of his merit he might always be born amidst the pleasures of the heavens2 but since he could there make no progress towards his goal1 he prefers being born in the world of men4 ,during his gradual advance1 there is no good he does not perform1 no hardship he does not undertake1 no evil he does not willingly suffer2 and all for the benefit of others1 to obtain the means of emancipating those whom he sees fastened by ignorance in the afflictive circle of acts4 ,wherever born1 acting1 or suffering1 his eye is still turned towards that ,,empty ,,throne1 at the apex of the universe1 from which the last ,buddha has vaulted into ,nirwana4 ,the ,buddhists have many scriptures1 especially one1 called the ,book of the ,five ,hundred and ,fifty ,births1 detailing the marvellous adventures of the ,bodhisat during his numerous transmigrations1 wherein he exhibits for each species of being to which he belongs a model character and life4 ,at length the momentous day dawns when the unweariable ,bodhisat enters on his well earned ,buddhaship4 ,from that time1 during the rest of his life1 he goes about preaching discourses1 teaching every prepared creature he meets the method of securing eternal deliverance4 ,leaving behind in these discourses a body of wisdom sufficient to guide to salvation all who will give attentive ear and heart1 the ,buddha then his sublime work of disinterested love being completed receives the fruition of his toil1 the super essential prize of the universe1 the ,infinite ,good4 ,in a word1 he dies1 and enters ,nirwana4 ,there is no more evil of any sort for him at all forever4 ,the final fading echo of sorrow has ceased in the silence of perfect blessedness2 the last undulation of the wave of change has rolled upon the shore of immutability4 ,the only historic ,buddha is ,sakya ,muni1 or ,gotama1 who was born at ,kapila about six centuries before ,christ4 ,his teachings contain many principles in common with those of the ,brahmans4 ,but he revolted against their insufferable conceit and cruelty4 ,he protested against their claim that no one could obtain emancipation until after being born as a ,brahman and passing through the various rites and degrees of their order4 ,in the face of the most powerful and arrogant priesthood in the world1 he preached the perfect equality of all mankind1 and the consequent abolition of castes4 ,whoever acquires a total detachment of affection from all existence is thereby released from birth and misery2 and the means of acquiring that detachment are freely offered to all in his doctrine4 ,thus did ,gotama preach4 ,he took the monopoly of religion out of the hands of a caste1 and proclaimed emancipation to every creature that breathes4 ,he established his system in the valley of the ,ganges near the middle of the sixth century before ,christ4 ,it soon overran the whole country1 and held sway until about eight hundred years after ,christ1 when an awful persecution and slaughter on the part of the uprising ,brahmans drove it out of the land with sword and fire4 ,the colossal figure which for fourteen centuries had bestridden the ,indian continent vanished suddenly1 like a rainbow at sunset4#cc ,gotama's philosophy1 in its ontological profundity1 is of a subtlety and vastness that would rack the brain of a ,fichte or a ,schelling2 but1 popularly stated1 so far as our present purpose demands1 it is this4 ,existence is the one all inclusive evil2 cessation of existence1 or ,nirwana1 is the infinite good4 ,the cause of existence is ignorance1 which leads one to cleave to existing objects2 and this cleaving leads to reproduction4 ,if one would escape from the chain of existence1 he must destroy the cause of his confinement in it1 that is1 evil desire1 or the cleaving to existing objects4 ,the method of salvation in ,gotama's system is to vanquish and annihilate all desire for existing things4 ,how is this to be done8 ,by acquiring an intense perception of the miseries of existence1 on the one hand1 and an intense perception1 on the other hand1 of the contrasted desirableness of the state of emancipation1 or ,nirwana4 ,accordingly1 the discourses of ,gotama1 and the sacred books of the ,buddhists1 are filled with vivid accounts of every thing disgusting and horrible connected with existence1 and with vivid descriptions1 consciously faltering with inadequacy1 of every thing supremely fascinating in connection with ,nirwana4 ,the three reflections on the impermanency1 suffering1 and unreality of the body are three gates leading to the city of ,nirwana4 ,the constant claim is1 that whosoever by adequate moral discipline and philosophical contemplation attains to a certain degree of wisdom1 a certain degree of intellectual insight1 instead of any longer cleaving to existence1 will shudder at the thought of it1 and1 instead of shrinking from death1 will be ravished with unfathomable ecstasy by the prospect of ,nirwana4 ,then1 when he dies1 he is free from all liability to a return4 ,when ,gotama1 early in life1 had accidentally seen in succession a wretchedly decrepit old man1 a loathsomely diseased man1 and a decomposing dead man1 then the three worlds of passion1 matter1 and spirit seemed to him like a house on fire1 and he longed to be extricated from the dizzy whirl of existence1 and to reach the still haven of ,nirwana4 ,finding ere long that he had now1 as the reward of his incalculable endurances through untold aons past1 become ,buddha1 he said to himself1 ,you have borne the misery of the whole round of transmigrations1 and have arrived at infinite wisdom1 which is the highway to ,nirwana1 the #cc ,major ,cunningham1 ,bbilsa ,topes1 or ,buddhist ,monuments of ,central ,india1 p4 #afh4 city of peace4 ,on that road you are the guide of all beings4 ,begin your work and pursue it with fidelity4 ,from that time until the day of his death he preached the three laws of mortality1 misery1 and mutability4 ,every morning he looked through the world to see who should be caught that day in the net of truth1 and took his measures accordingly to preach in the hearing of men the truths by which alone they could climb into ,nirwana4 ,when he was expiring1 invisible gods1 with huge and splendid bodies1 came and stood1 as thick as they could be packed1 for a hundred and twenty miles around the banyan tree under which he awaited ,nirwana1 to gaze on him who had broken the circle of transmigration4#cd ,the system of ,gotama distinguishes seven grades of being3 six subject to repeated death and birth2 one the condition of the rahats and the ,buddhaship exempt therefrom4 ,who wins this has reached the shore of the stormy ocean of vicissitudes1 and is in safety forever4 ,baur says1 ,the aim of ,buddhism is that all may obtain unity with the original empty ,space1 so as to unpeople the worlds4#ce ,this end it seeks by purification from all modes of cleaving to existing objects1 and by contemplative discrimination1 but never by the fanatical and austere methods of ,brahmanism4 ,edward ,upham1 in his ,history of ,buddhism1 declares this earth to be the only ford to ,nirwana4 ,others also make the same representation3 ,for all that live and breathe have once been men1 ,and in succession will be such again4 ,but the ,buddhist authors do not always adhere to this statement4 ,we sometimes read of men's entering the paths to ,nirwana in some of the heavens1 likewise of their entering the final fruition through a decease in a dewa loka4 ,still1 it is the common view that emancipation from all existence can be secured only by a human being on earth4 ,the last birth must be in that form4 ,the emblem of ,buddha1 engraved on most of his monuments1 is a wheel1 denoting that he has finished and escaped from the circle of existences4 ,henceforth he is named ,tathagata1 he who has gone4 ,let us notice a little more minutely what the ,buddhists say of ,nirwana2 for herein to them hides all the power of their philosophy and lies the absorbing charm of their religion4 ,the state that is peaceful1 free from body1 from passion1 and from fear1 where birth or death is not1 that is ,nirwana4 ,nirwana puts an end to coming and going1 and there is no other happiness4 ,it is a calm wherein no wind blows4 ,there is no difference in ,nirwana4 ,it is the annihilation of all the principles of existence4 ,nirwana is the completion and opposite shore of existence1 free from decay1 tranquil1 knowing no restraint1 and of great blessedness4 ,nirwana is unmixed satisfaction1 entirely free from sorrow4 ,the wind cannot be squeezed in the hand1 nor can its color be told4 ,yet the wind is4 ,even so ,nirwana is1 but its properties cannot be told4 ,nirwana1 like space1 is causeless1 does not live nor die1 and has no locality4 ,it is the abode of those liberated from existence4 ,nirwana is not1 except to the being who attains it4#cf #cd ,life of ,gotama in ,journal of the ,american ,oriental ,society1 vol4 iii4 #ce ,symbolik and ,mythologie1 th4 ii4 abth4 #b1 s4 #djg4 #cf ,for these quotations1 and others similar1 see ,hardy's valuable work1 ,eastern ,monachism1 chap4 xxii41 on ,nirwana1 its ,paths and ,fruition4 ,some scholars maintain that the ,buddhist ,nirwana is nothing but the atheistic ,annihilation4 ,the subject is confessedly a most difficult one4 ,but it seems to us that the opinion just stated is the very antithesis of the true interpretation of ,nirwana4 ,in the first place1 it should be remembered that there are various sects of ,buddhists4 ,now1 the word ,nirwana may be used in different senses by different schools4#cg ,a few persons a small party1 represented perhaps by able writers may believe in annihilation in our sense of the term1 just as has happened in ,christendom1 while the common doctrine of the people is the opposite of that4 ,in the second place1 with the ,oriental horror of individuated existence1 and a highly poetical style of writing1 nothing could be more natural1 in depicting their ideas of the most desirable state of being1 than that they should carry their metaphors expressive of repose1 freedom from action and emotion1 to a pitch conveying to our cold and literal thought the conceptions of blank unconsciousness and absolute nothingness4 ,colebrooke says1 ,nirwana is not annihilation1 but unceasing apathy4 ,the notion of it as a happy state seems derived from the experience of ecstasies2 or else the pleasant1 refreshed feeling with which one wakes from profound repose is referred to the period of actual sleep4#ch ,a ,buddhist author speculates thus3 ,that the soul feels not during profound trance1 is not for want of sensibility1 but for want of sensible objects4 ,wilson1 ,hodgson1 and ,vans ,kennedy three able thinkers1 as well as scholars1 in this field agree that ,nirwana is not annihilation as we understand that word4 ,mr4 ,hodgson believes that the ,buddhists expect to be conscious in ,nirwana of the eternal bliss of rest1 as they are in this world of the ceaseless pain of activity4 ,forbes also argues against the nihilistic explanation of the ,buddhist doctrine of futurity1 and says he is compelled to conclude that ,nirwana denotes imperishable being in a blissful quietude4#ci ,many additional authorities in favor of this view might be adduced1 enough to balance1 at least1 the names on the other side4 ,koeppen1 in his very fresh1 vigorous1 and lucid work1 just published1 entitled ,the ,religion of ,buddha1 and its ,origin1 says1 ,nirwana is the blessed ,nothing4 ,buddhism is the ,gospel of ,annihilation4 ,but he forgets that the motto on the title page of his volume is the following sentence quoted from ,sakya ,muni himself3 ,to those who know the concatenation of causes and effects1 there is neither being nor nothing4 ,to them ,nirwana is4 ,considering it1 then1 as an open question1 unsettled by any authoritative assertion1 we will weigh the probabilities of the case4 ,no definition of ,nirwana is more frequent than the one given by the ,kalpa ,sutra1#dj namely1 cessation from action and freedom from desire4 ,but this1 like many of the other representations1 such1 for instance1 as the exclusion of succession1 very plainly is not a denial of all being1 but only of our present modes of experience4 ,the dying ,gotama is said to have passed through the several states1 one after another1 until he arrived at the state where there is no pain4 ,he then continued to enter the other higher states1 and from the highest entered ,nirwana4 ,can literal annihilation1 the naked emptiness of nonentity1 be better than #cg ,burnouf1 ,introduction a l',histoire du ,buddhisme ,indien1 ,appendice ,no4 ,i41 ,du mot ,nirvana4 #ch ,colebrooke1 ,essays1 vol4 i4 p4 #cec4 #ci ,eleven ,years in ,ceylon1 vol4 ii4 chap4 ix4 #dj ,tanslation by ,dr4 ,stevenson1 p4 #bc4 the highest state of being8 ,it can be so only when we view ,nothing on the positive side as identical with ,all1 make annihilating deprivation equivalent to universal bestowment1 regard negation as affirmation1 and1 in the last synthesis of contradictions1 see the abysmal ,vacuum as a ,plenum of fruition4 ,as ,oken says1 ,the ideal zero is absolute unity2 not a singularity1 as the number one1 but an indivisibility1 a numberlessness1 a homogeneity1 a translucency1 a pure identity4 ,it is neither great nor small1 quiescent nor moved2 but it is1 and it is not1 all this4#da ,furthermore1 if some of the ,buddhist representations would lead us to believe that ,nirwana is utter nothingness1 others apparently imply the opposite4 ,the discourses of ,buddha are a charm to cure the poison of evil desire2 a succession of fruit bearing trees placed here and there to enable the traveller to cross the desert of existence2 a power by which every sorrow may be appeased2 a door of entrance to the eternal city of ,nirwana4 ,the mind of the rahat 7one who has obtained assurance of emancipation and is only waiting for it to arrive7 knows no disturbance1 because it is filled with the pleasure of ,nirwana4 ,the sight of ,nirwana bestows perfect happiness4 ,the rahat is emancipated from existence in ,nirwana1 as the lotus is separated from the mud out of which it springs4 ,fire may be produced by rubbing together two sticks1 though previously it had no locality3 it is the same with ,nirawna4 ,nirwana is free from danger1 peaceful1 refreshing1 happy4 ,when a man who has been broiled before a huge fire is released1 and goes quickly into some open space1 he feels the most agreeable sensation4 ,all the evils of existence are that fire1 and ,nirwana is that open space4 ,these passages indicate the cessation in ,nirwana of all sufferings1 perhaps of all present modes of existence1 but not the total end of being4 ,it may be said that these are but figurative expressions4 ,the reply is1 so are the contrasted statements metaphors1 and it is probable that the expressions which denote the survival of pure being in ,nirwana are closer approximations to the intent of their authors than those which hint at an unconscious vacancy4 ,if ,nirwana in its original meaning was an utter and infinite blank1 then1 out of that very ,nothing1 as ,max ,muller says1 human nature made a new paradise4 ,there is a scheme of doctrine held by some ,buddhist philosophers which may be thus stated4 ,there are five constituent elements of sentient existence4 ,they are called khandas1 and are as follows3 the organized body1 sensation1 perception1 discrimination1 and consciousness4 ,death is the dissolution and entire destruction of these khandas1 and apart from them there is no synthetical unit1 soul1 or personality4 ,yet in a certain sense death is not the absolute annihilation of a human existence1 because it leaves a potentiality inherent in that existence4 ,there is no identical ego to survive and be born again2 but karma that is1 the sum of a man's action1 his entire merit and demerit produces at his death a new being1 and so on in continued series until ,nirwana is attained4 ,thus the succession of being is kept up with transmitted responsibility1 as a flame is transferred from one wick to another4 ,it is evident enough1 as is justly claimed by ,hardy and others1 that the limitation of existence to the five khandas1 excluding the idea of any independent individuality1 makes death #da ,elements of ,physiophilosophy1 ,tulk's trans4 p4 #i4 annihilation1 and renders the very conception of a future life for those now living an absurdity4 ,but we are convinced that this view is the speculative peculiarity of a sect1 and by no means the common belief of the ,buddhist populace or the teaching of ,gotama himself4 ,this appears at the outset from the fact that ,gotama is represented as having lived through millions of existences1 in different states and worlds1 with preserved identity and memory4 ,the history of his concatenated advance towards the ,buddhaship is the supporting basis and the saturating spirit of documentary ,buddhism4 ,and the same idea pervades the whole range of narratives relating to the repeated births and deaths of the innumerable ,buddhist heroes and saints who1 after so many residences on earth1 in the hells1 in the dewalokas1 have at last reached emancipation4 ,they recollect their adventures2 they recount copious portions of their experience stretching through many lives4 ,again3 the arguments cited from ,buddha seem aimed to prove1 not that there is absolutely no self in man1 but that the five khandas are not the self1 that the real self is something distinct from all that is exposed to misery and change1 something deep1 wondrous1 divine1 infinite4 ,for instance1 the report of a debate on this subject between ,buddha and ,sachaka closes with these words3 ,thus was ,sachaka forced to confess that the five khandas are impermanent1 connected with sorrow1 unreal1 not the self4#db ,these terms appear to imply the reality of a self1 only that it is not to be confounded with the apprehensible elements of existence4 ,besides1 the attainment of ,nirwana is held up as a prize to be laboriously sought by personal effort4 ,to secure it is a positive triumph quite distinct from the fated dissolution of the khandas in death4 ,now1 if there be in man no personal entity1 what is it that with so much joy attains ,nirwana8 ,the genuine ,buddhist notion1 as seems most probable1 is that the conscious essence of the rahat1 when the exterior elements of existence fall from around him1 passes by a transcendent climax and discrete leap beyond the outermost limits of appreciable being1 and becomes that ,,infinite which knows no changes and is susceptible of no definitions4 ,in the ,ka gyur collection of ,tibetan sacred books1 comprising a hundred volumes1 and now belonging to the ,cabinet of ,manuscripts in the ,royal ,library of ,paris1 there are two volumes exclusively occupied by a treatise on ,nirwana4 ,it is a significant fact that the title of these volumes is ,nirwana1 or ,deliverance from ,pain4 ,if ,nirwana be simply annihilation1 why is it not so stated8 ,why should recourse be had to a phrase partially descriptive of one feature1 instead of comprehensively announcing or implying the whole case8 ,still further3 it deserves notice that1 according to the unanimous affirmation of ,buddhist authors1 if any ,buddhist were offered the alternative of an existence as king of a dewa loka1 keeping his personality for a hundred million years in the uninterrupted enjoyment of perfect happiness1 or of translation into ,nirwana1 he would spurn the former as defilement1 and would with unutterable avidity choose the latter4 ,we must therefore suppose that by ,nirwana he understands1 not naked destruction1 but some mysterious good1 too vast for logical comprehension1 too obscure to ,occidental thought to find expression in ,occidental language4 #db ,hardy1 ,manual1 p4 #dbg4 ,at the moment when ,gotama entered upon the ,buddhaship1 like a vessel overflowing with honey1 his mind overflowed with the nectar of oral instruction1 and he uttered these stanzas3 ,through many different births ,i have run1 vainly seeking ,the architect of the desire resembling house4 ,painful are repeated births4 ,o house builder6 ,i have seen thee4 ,again a house thou canst not build for me4 ,i have broken thy rafters and ridge pole2 ,i have arrived at the extinction of evil desire2 ,my mind is gone to ,nirwana4 ,hardy1 who stoutly maintains that the genuine doctrine of ,buddha's philosophy is that there is no transmigrating individuality in man1 but that the karma creates a new person on the dissolution of the former one1 confesses the difficulties of this dogma to be so great that it is almost universally repudiated4 ,m4 ,obry published at ,paris1 in #ahef1 a small volume entirely devoted to this subject1 under the title of ,the ,indian ,nirwana1 or the ,enfranchisement of the ,soul after ,death4 ,his conclusion1 after a careful and candid discussion1 is1 that ,nirwana had different meanings to the minds of the ancient ,aryan priests1 the orthodox ,brahmans1 the ,sankhya ,brahmans1 and the ,buddhists1 but had not to any of them1 excepting possibly a few atheists1 the sense of strict annihilation4 ,he thinks that ,burnouf and ,barthelemy ,saint ,hilaire themselves would have accepted this view if they had paid particular attention to the definite inquiry1 instead of merely touching upon it in the course of their more comprehensive studies4 ,what ,spinoza declares in the following sentence ,god is one1 simple1 infinite2 his modes of being are diverse1 complex1 finite strongly resembles what the ,buddhists say of ,nirwana and the contrasted vicissitudes of existence1 and may perhaps throw light on their meaning4 ,the supposition of immaterial1 unlimited1 absolutely unalterable being the scholastic ens sine qualitate answers to the descriptions of it much more satisfactorily than the idea of unqualified nothingness does4 ,nirwana is real2 all else is phenomenal4 ,the ,sankhyas1 who do not hold to the nonentity nor to the annihilation of the soul1 but to its eternal identification with the ,infinite ,one1 use nevertheless nearly the same phrases in describing it that the ,buddhists do4 ,for example1 they say1 ,the soul is neither a production nor productive1 neither matter nor form#dc ,the ,vishnu ,purana says1 ,the mundane egg1 containing the whole creation1 was surrounded by seven envelops1 water1 air1 fire1 ether1 egotism1 intelligence1 and finally the indiscrete principle#dd ,is not this ,indiscrete ,principle of the ,brahmans the same as the ,nirwana of the ,buddhists8 ,the latter explicitly claim that man is capable of enlarging his faculties to infinity4 #dc ,sankhya ,karika1 pp4 #af-ah4 #dd ,vishnu ,purana1 p4 #ai4 ,nagasena says to the king of ,sagal1 ,neither does ,nirwana exist previously to its reception1 nor is that which was not1 brought into existence3 still1 to the being who attains it1 there is ,nirwana4 ,according to this statement1 taken in connection with the hundreds similar to it1 ,nirwana seems to be a simple mental perception1 most difficult of acquirement1 and1 when acquired1 assimilating the whole conscious being perfectly to itself4 ,the ,asangkrata ,sutra1 as translated by ,mr4 ,hardy1 says1 ,from the joyful exclamations of those who have seen ,nirwana1 its character may be known by those who have not made the same attainment4 ,the superficial thinker1 carelessly scanning the recorded sayings of ,gotama and his expositors in relation to ,nirwana1 is aware only of a confused mass of metaphysical hieroglyphs and poetical metaphors2 but the ,buddhist sages avow that whoso1 by concentrated study and training of his faculties1 pursues the inquiry with adequate perseverance1 will at last elicit and behold the real meaning of ,nirwana1 the achieved insight and revelation forming the widest horizon of rapturous truth ever contemplated by the human mind4 ,the memorable remark of ,sir ,william ,hamilton1 that capacity of thought is not to be constituted into the measure of existence1 should show the error of those who so unjustifiably affirm that1 since ,nirwana is said to be neither corporeal nor incorporeal1 nor at all describable1 it is therefore absolutely nothing4 ,a like remark is also to be addressed to those who draw the same unwarrantable conclusion of the nothingness of ,nirwana from the fact that it has no locality1 or from the fact that it is sometimes said to exclude consciousness4 ,plato1 in the ,timaus1 stigmatizes as a vulgar error the notion that what is not in any place is a nonentity4 ,many a weighty philosopher has followed him in this opinion4 ,the denial of place is by no means necessarily the denial of being4 ,so1 too1 with consciousness4 ,it is conceivable that there is a being superior to all the modes of consciousness now known to us4 ,we are1 indeed1 unable to define this1 yet it may be4 ,the profoundest analysis shows that consciousness consists of co ordinated changes4#de ,consciousness is a succession of changes combined and arranged in special ways4 ,now1 in contrast to the ,occidental thinker1 who covets alternation because in his cold climate action is the means of enjoyment1 the ,hindu1 in the languid ,east1 where repose is the condition of enjoyment1 conceives the highest blessedness to consist in exemption from every disturbance1 in an unruffled unity excluding all changes4 ,therefore1 while in some of its forms his dream of ,nirwana admits not consciousness1 still1 it is not inconsistent with a homogeneous state of being1 which he1 in his metaphysical and theosophie soarings1 apprehends as the grandest and most ecstatic of all4 ,the etymological force of the word ,nirwana is extinction1 as when the sun has set1 a fire has burned out1 or a lamp is extinguished4 ,the fair laws of interpretation do not compel us1 in cases like this1 to receive the severest literal significance of a word as conveying the meaning which a popular doctrine holds in the minds of its believers4 ,there is almost always looseness1 vagueness1 metaphor1 accommodation4 ,but take the term before us in its strictest sense1 and mark the result4 ,when a fire is extinguished1 it is obvious that1 while the flame has disappeared1 the substance of the flame1 whatever it was1 has not ceased to be1 has not been #de ,herbert ,spencer1 ,principles of ,psychology1 ch4 xxv4 actually annihilated4 ,it has only ceased to be in a certain visible form in which it existed before2 but it still survives under altered conditions4 ,now1 to compare the putting out of a lamp to the death of a man1 extinction is not actual destruction1 but a transition of the flame into another state of being4 ,that other state1 in the case of the soul1 is ,nirwana4 ,there is a final consideration1 possibly of some worth in dealing with this obscure theme4 ,we will approach it through a preliminary query and quotation4 ,that nothing can extend beyond its limits is an identical proposition4 ,how vast1 then1 must be the soul of man in form or in power6 ,if souls be substances corporeal1 ,be they as big just as the body is8 ,or shoot they out to the height ethereal8 ,doth it not seem the impression of a seal ,can be no larger than the wax8 ,the soul with that vast latitude must move ,which measures the objects that it doth descry4 ,so must it be upstretch'd unto the sky ,and rub against the stars4 ,cousin asserts that man is conscious of infinity1 that the unconditional1 the absolute1 the infinite1 is immediately known in consciousness by difference1 plurality1 and relation4 ,now1 does not the consciousness of infinity imply the infinity of consciousness8 ,if not1 we are compelled into the contradiction that a certain entity or force reaches outside of its outermost boundary4 ,the ,buddhist ideal is not self annihilation1 but self universalization4 ,it is not the absorption of a drop into the sea1 but the dilatation of a drop to the sea4 ,each drop swells to the whole ocean1 each soul becomes the ,boundless ,one1 each rahat is identified with the total ,nirwana4 ,the rivers of emancipated men neither disembogue into the ocean of spirit nor evaporate into the abyss of nonentity1 but are blended with infinitude as an ontological integer4 ,nirwana is unexposed and illimitable space4 ,buddhism is perfect disinterestedness1 absolute self surrender4 ,it is the gospel of everlasting emancipation for all4 ,it cannot be that a deliberate suicide of soul is the ideal holding the deepest desire of four hundred millions of people4 ,nirwana is not negation1 but a pure positive without alternation or foil4 ,some light may be thrown on the subject by contemplating the successive states through which the dying ,gotama passed4 ,max ,muller describes them1 after the ,buddhist documents1 thus3 ,he enters into the first stage of meditation when he feels freedom from sin1 acquires a knowledge of the nature of all things1 and has no desire except that of ,nirvana4 ,but he still feels pleasure2 he even uses his reasoning and discriminating powers4 ,the use of these powers ceases in the second stage of meditation1 when nothing remains but a desire after ,nirvana1 and a general feeling of satisfaction arising from his intellectual perfection4 ,that satisfaction1 also1 is extinguished in the third stage4 ,indifference succeeds2 yet there is still self consciousness1 and a certain amount of physical pleasure4 ,in the fourth stage these last remnants are destroyed2 memory fades away1 all pleasure and pain are gone1 and the doors of ,nirvana now open before him4 ,we must soar still higher1 and1 though we may feel giddy and disgusted1#df we must sit out the tragedy till the curtain falls4 ,after the four stages of meditation are passed1 the ,buddha 7and every being is to become a ,buddha7 enters first into the infinity of space1 then into the infinity of intelligence1 and thence he passes into the third region1 the realm of nothing4 ,but even here there is no rest4 ,there is still something left1 the idea of the nothing in which he rejoices4 ,that also must be destroyed2 and it is destroyed in the fourth and last region1 where there is not even the idea of a nothing left1 and where there is complete rest1 undisturbed by nothing1 or what is not nothing4#dg ,analyze away all particulars until you reach an uncolored boundlessness of pure immateriality1 free from every predicament2 and that is ,nirwana4 ,this is one possible way of conceiving the fate of the soul2 and the speculative mind must conceive it in every possible way4 ,however closely the result resembles the vulgar notion of annihilation1 the difference in method of approach and the difference to the contemplator's feeling are immense4 ,the ,buddhist apprehends ,nirwana as infinitude in absolute and eternal equilibrium3 the atheist finds ,nirwana in a coffin4 ,that is thought of with rapture1 this1 with horror4 ,it should be noticed1 before we close this chapter1 that some of the ,hindus give a spiritual interpretation to all the gross physical details of their so highly colored and extravagant mythology4 ,one of their sacred books says1 ,pleasure and pain are states of the mind4 ,heaven is that which delights the mind1 hell is that which gives it pain4 ,hence vice is called hell1 and virtue is called heaven4 ,another author says1 ,the fire of the angry mind produces the fire of hell1 and consumes its possessor4 ,a wicked person causes his evil deeds to impinge upon himself1 and that is hell4 ,the various sects of mystics1 allied in faith and feeling to the ,sufis1 which are quite numerous in the ,east1 agree in a deep metaphorical explanation of the vulgar notions pertaining to ,deity1 judgment1 heaven1 and hell4 ,in conclusion1 the most remarkable fact in this whole field of inquiry is the contrast of the ,eastern horror of individuality and longing for absorption with the ,western clinging to personality and abhorrence of dissolution4#dh ,the true ,orientalist1 whether ,brahman1 ,buddhist1 or ,sufi1 is in love with death4 ,through this gate he expects to quit his frail and pitiable consciousness1 losing himself1 with all evil1 to be born anew and find himself1 with all good1 in ,god4 ,all sense1 passion1 care1 and grief shall cease with deliverance from the spectral semblances of this false life4 ,all pure contemplation1 perfect repose1 unsullied and unrippled joy shall begin with entrance upon the true life beyond4 ,thus thinking1 he feels that death is the avenue to infinite expansion1 freedom1 peace1 bliss2 and he longs for it with an intensity not dreamed of by more frigid natures4 ,he often compares himself1 in this world aspiring towards another1 to an enamored moth drawn towards the fire1 and he exclaims1 with a sigh and a thrill1 #df ,not disgust1 but wonder and awe1 fathomless intellectual emotion1 at so unparalleled a phenomenon of our miraculous human nature4 #dg ,buddhism and ,buddhist ,pilgrims1 p4 #ai4 #dh ,burnouf1 ,le ,bhagavata ,purana1 tome i4 livre iii4 ch4 #bh3 ,acquisition de la ,delivrance1 ch4 #ca4 ,marche de l'ame individuelle4 ,highest nature wills the capture2 ',light to light6' the instinct cries2 ,and in agonizing rapture falls the moth1 and bravely dies4 ,think not what thou art1 ,believer2 think but what thou mayst become ,for the ,world is thy deceiver1 and the ,light thy only home4 #di ,the ,western mind approaches the subject of death negatively1 stripping off the attributes of finite being2 the ,eastern mind1 positively1 putting on the attributes of infinite being4 ,negative acts1 denying function1 are antipathetic1 and lower the sense of life2 positive acts1 affirming function1 are sympathetic1 and raise the sense of life4 ,therefore the end to which those look1 annihilation1 is dreaded2 that to which these look1 ,nirwana1 is desired4 ,to become nothing1 is measureless horror2 to become all1 is boundless ecstasy4 #di ,milnes1 ,palm ,leaves4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,persian ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,the name of ,zoroaster is connected1 either as author or as reviser1 with that remarkable system of rites and doctrines which constituted the religion of the ancient ,iranians1 and which yet finds adherents in the ,ghebers of ,persia and the ,parsees of ,india4 ,pliny1 following the affirmation of ,aristotle1 asserts that he flourished six thousand years before ,plato4 ,moyle1 ,gibbon1 ,volney1 ,rhode1 concur in throwing him back into this vast antiquity4 ,foucher1 ,holty1 ,heeren1 ,tychsen1 ,guizot1 assign his birth to the beginning of the seventh century before ,christ4 ,hyde1 ,prideaux1 ,du ,perron1 ,kleuker1 ,herder1 ,klaproth1 and others1 bring him down to about a hundred and fifty years later4 ,meanwhile1 several weighty names press the scale in favor of the hypothesis of two or three ,zoroasters1 living at separate epochs4 ,so the learned men differ1 and the genuine date in question cannot1 at present at least1 be decided4 ,it is comparatively certain that1 if he was the author of the work attributed to him1 he must have flourished as early as the sixth century before ,christ4 ,the probabilities seem1 upon the whole1 that he lived four or five centuries earlier than that1 even1 in the pre historic time1 as ,spiegel says4 ,however1 the settlement of the era of ,zoroaster is not a necessary condition of discovering the era when the religion commonly traced to him was in full prevalence as the established faith of the ,persian empire4 ,the latter may be conclusively fixed without clearing up the former4 ,and it is known1 without disputation1 that that religion whether it was primarily ,persian1 ,median1 ,assyrian1 or ,chaldean was flourishing at ,babylon in the maturity of its power in the time of the ,hebrew prophets ,ezekiel1 ,jeremiah1 and ,daniel1 twenty five hundred years ago4 ,the celebrated work on the religion of the ancient ,medes and ,persians by ,dr4 ,hyde1 published in #agjj1 must be followed with much caution and be taken with many qualifications4 ,the author was biassed by unsound theories of the relation of the ,hebrew theology to the ,persian1 and was1 of course1 ignorant of the most authoritative ancient documents afterwards brought to light4 ,his work1 therefore1 though learned and valuable1 considering the time when it was written1 is vitiated by numerous mistakes and defects4 ,in #agfb1 ,anquetil du ,perron1 returning to ,france from protracted journeying and abode in the ,east1 brought home1 among the fruits of his researches1 manuscripts purporting to be parts of the old ,persian ,bible composed or collected by ,zoroaster4 ,it was written in a language hitherto unknown to ,european scholars1 one of the primitive dialects of ,persia4 ,this work1 of which he soon published a ,french version at ,paris was entitled by him the ,zend ,avesta4 ,it confirmed all that was previously known of the ,zoroastrian religion1 and1 by its allusions1 statements1 and implications1 threw great additional light upon the subject4 ,a furious controversy1 stimulated by personal rivalries and national jealousy1 immediately arose4 ,du ,perron was denounced as an impostor or an ignoramus1 and his publication stigmatized as a wretched forgery of his own1 or a gross imposition palmed upon him by some lying pundit4 ,sir ,william ,jones and ,john ,richardson1 both distinguished ,english ,orientalists1 and ,meiners in ,germany1 were the chief impugners of the document in hand4 ,richardson obstinately went beyond his data1 and did not live long enough to retract2 but ,sir ,william1 upon an increase of information1 changed his views1 and regretted his first inconsiderate zeal and somewhat mistaken championship4 ,the ablest defender of ,du ,perron was ,kleuker1 who translated the whole work from ,french into ,german1 adding many corrections1 new arguments1 and researches of great ability4 ,his work was printed at ,riga1 in seven quarto volumes1 from #aggg to #aghc4 ,the progress and results of the whole discussion are well enough indicated in the various papers which the subject drew forth in the volumes of the ,asiatic ,researches and the numbers of the ,asiatic ,journal4 ,the conclusion was that1 while ,du ,perron had indeed betrayed partial ignorance and crudity1 and had committed some glaring errors1 there was not the least ground for doubt that his asserted discovery was in every essential what it claimed to be4 ,it is a sort of litany2 a collection of prayers and of sacred dialogues held between ,ormuzd and ,zoroaster1 from which the ,persian system of theology may be inferred and constructed with some approach to completeness4 ,the assailants of the genuineness of the ,zend ,avesta were effectually silenced when1 some thirty years later1 ,professor ,rask1 a well known ,danish linguist1 during his inquiries in the ,east1 found other copies of it1 and gave to the world such information and proofs as could not be suspected4 ,he1 discovering the close affinities of the ,zend with ,sanscrit1 led the way to the most brilliant triumph yet achieved by comparative philology4 ,portions of the work in the original character were published in #ahbi1 under the supervision of ,burnouf at ,paris and of ,olshausen at ,hamburg4 ,the question of the genuineness of the dialect exhibited in these specimens1 once so freely mooted1 has been discussed1 and definitively settled in the affirmative1 by several eminent scholars1 among whom may be mentioned ,bopp1 whose ,comparative ,grammar of the ,sanscrit1 ,zend1 ,greek1 ,latin1 ,lithuanian1 ,gothic1 and ,german ,languages is an astonishing monument of erudition and toil4 ,it is the conviction of ,major ,rawlinson that the ,zoroastrian books of the ,parsees were imported to ,bombay from ,persia in their present state in the seventh century of our era1 but that they were written at least twelve centuries earlier4#a ,but the two scholars whose opinions upon any subject within this department of learning are now the most authoritative are ,professor ,spiegel of ,erlangen1 and ,professor ,westergaard of ,copenhagen4 ,their investigations1 still in progress1 made with all the aids furnished by their predecessors1 and also with the advantage of newly discovered materials and processes1 are of course to be relied on in preference to the earlier1 and in some respects necessarily cruder1 researches4 ,it appears that the proper ,zoroastrian ,scriptures namely1 the ,yasna1 the ,vispered1 the ,vendidad1 the ,yashts1 the ,nyaish1 the ,afrigans1 the ,gahs1 the ,sirozah1 and a few other fragments were composed in an ancient ,iranian dialect1 which may as ,professor ,w4 ,d4 ,whitney suggests in his very lucid and able article in vol4 v4 of the ,journal of the ,american ,oriental ,society most fitly be called the ,avestan dialect4 7,no other book in this dialect1 we believe1 is known to be in existence now47 ,it is difficult to say when these #a ,wilson1 ,parsi ,religion ,unfolded1 p4 #dje4 documents were written2 but in view of all the relevant information now possessed1 including that drawn from the deciphered cuneiform inscriptions1 the most probable date is about a thousand years before ,christ4 ,professor ,r4 ,roth of ,tubingen whose authority herein as an original investigator is perhaps hardly second to any other man's says the books of the ,zoroastrian faith were written a considerable time before the rise of the ,achamenian dynasty4 ,he is convinced that the whole substantial contents of the ,zend ,avesta are many centuries older than the ,christian era4#b ,professor ,muller of ,oxford also holds the same opinion4#c ,and even those who set the date of the literary record a few centuries later1 as ,spiegel does1 freely admit the great antiquity of the doctrines and usages then first committed to manuscript4 ,in the fourth century before ,christ1 ,alexander of ,macedon overran the ,persian empire4 ,with the new rule new influences prevailed1 and the old national faith and ritual fell into decay and neglect4 ,early in the third century of the ,christian era1 ,ardeshir overthrew the ,parthian dominion in ,persia and established the ,sassanian dynasty4 ,one of his first acts was1 stimulated doubtless by the surviving ,magi and the old piety of the people1 to reinaugurate the ancient religion4 ,a fresh zeal of loyalty broke out1 and all the prestige and vigor of the long suppressed worship were restored4 ,the ,zoroastrian ,scriptures were now sought for1 whether in manuscript or in the memories of the priests4 ,it would seem that only remnants were found4 ,the collection1 such as it was1 was in the ,avestan dialect1 which had grown partially obsolete and unintelligible4 ,the authorities accordingly had a translation of it made in the speech of the time1 ,pehlevi4 ,this translation most of which has reached us written in with the original1 sentence after sentence forms the real ,zend language1 often confounded by the literary public with ,avestan4 ,the translation of the ,avestan books1 probably made under these circumstances as early as ,a4 ,d4 #cej1 is called the ,huzvaresch4 ,in regard to some of these particulars there are questions still under investigation1 but upon which it is not worth our while to pause here4 ,for example1 ,spiegel thinks the ,zend identical with the ,pehlevi of the fourth century2 ,westergaard believes it entirely distinct from ,pehlevi1 and in truth only a disguised mode of writing ,parsee1 the oldest form of the modern ,persian language4 ,the source from which the fullest and clearest knowledge of the ,zoroastrian faith1 as it is now held by the ,parsees1 is drawn1 is the ,desatir and the ,bundehesh4 ,the former work is the unique vestige of an extinct dialect called the ,mahabadian1 accompanied by a ,persian translation and commentary4 ,it is impossible to ascertain the century when the ,mahabadian text was written2 but the translation into ,persian was1 most probably1 made in the seventh century of the ,christian era4#d ,spiegel1 in #ahdg1 says there can be no doubt of the spuriousness of the ,desatir2 but he gives no reasons for the statement1 and we do not know that it is based on any other arguments than those which1 advanced by ,de ,sacy1 were refuted by ,von ,hammer4 ,the ,bundehesh is in the ,pehlevi or ,zend language1 and was written1 it is #b ,ueber die ,heiligen ,schriften der ,arier4 ,jahrbucher fur ,deutsche ,theologie1 #aheg1 band ii4 ss4 #adf1 #adg4 #c ,essay on the ,veda and the ,zend ,avesta1 p4 #bd4 ,see also ,bunsen's ,christianity and ,mankind1 vol4 iii4 p4 #aad4 #d ,baron von ,hammer1 in ,heidelberger ,jabrbucher der ,literatur1 #ahbc4 ,id4 in ,journal ,asiatique1 ,juillet1 #ahcc4 ,dabistan1 ,preliminary ,discourse1 pp4 xix4 lxv4 thought1 about the seventh century1 but was derived1 it is claimed1 from a more ancient work4#e ,the book entitled ,revelations of ,ardai ,viraf exists in ,pehlevi probably of the fourth century1 according to ,troyer1#f and is believed to have been originally written in the ,avestan tongue1 though this is extremely doubtful4 ,it gives a detailed narrative of the scenery of heaven and hell1 as seen by ,ardai ,viraf during a visit of a week which his soul leaving his body for that length of time paid to those regions4 ,many later and enlarged versions of this have appeared4 ,one of them1 dating from the sixteenth century1 was translated into ,english by ,t4 ,a4 ,pope and published in #ahaf4 ,sanscrit translations of several of the before named writings are also in existence4 ,and several other comparatively recent works1 scarcely needing mention here1 although considered as somewhat authoritative by the modern followers of ,zoroaster1 are to be found in ,guzeratee1 the present dialect of the ,indian ,parsees4 ,a full exposition of the ,zoroastrian religion1 with satisfactory proofs of its antiquity and documentary genuineness1 is presented in the ,preliminary ,discourse and ,notes to the ,dabistan4 ,this curious and entertaining work1 a fund of strange and valuable lore1 is an historico critical view of the principal religions of the world1 especially of the ,oriental sects1 schools1 and manners4 ,it was composed in ,persian1 apparently by ,mohsan ,fani1 about the year #afde4 ,an ,english translation1 with elaborate explanatory matter1 by ,david ,shea and ,anthony ,troyer1 was published at ,london and at ,paris in #ahdc4g ,in these records there are obscurities1 incongruities1 and chasms1 as might naturally be anticipated1 admitting them to be strictly what they would pass for4 ,these faults may be accounted for in several ways4 ,first1 in a rude stage of philosophical culture1 incompleteness of theory1 inconsistent conceptions in different parts of a system1 are not unusual1 but are rather to be expected1 and are slow to become troublesome to its adherents4 ,secondly1 distinct contemporary thinkers or sects may give expression to their various views in literary productions of the same date and possessing a balanced authority4 ,or1 thirdly1 the heterogeneous conceptions in some particulars met with in these scriptures may be a result of the fact that the collection contains writings of distinct ages1 when the same problems had been differently approached and had given birth to opposing or divergent speculations4 ,the later works of course cannot have the authority of the earlier in deciding questions of ancient belief3 they are to be taken rather as commentaries1 interpreting and carrying out in detail many points that lie only in obscure hints and allusions in the primary documents4 ,but it is a significant fact that1 in the generic germs of doctrine and custom1 in the essential outlines of substance1 in rhetorical imagery1 in practical morals1 the statements of all these books are alike3 they only vary in subordinate matters and in degrees of fulness4 ,the charge has repeatedly been urged that the materials of the more recent of the ,parsee ,scriptures the ,desatir and the ,bundehesh were drawn from ,christian and ,mohammedan sources4 ,no evidence of value for sustaining such assertions has been adduced4 ,under the circumstances1 scarcely any motive for such an imposition appears4 ,in view of the whole case1 #e ,dabistan1 vol4 i4 p4 #bbf1 note4 #f ,ibid4 p4 #ahe1 note4 #g ,reviewed in ,asiatic ,journal1 #ahdd1 pp4 #ehb-eie4 the reverse supposition is rather to be credited4 ,in the first place1 we have ample evidence for the existence of the general ,zoroastrian system long anterior to the rise of ,christianity4 ,the testimony of the classic authors to say nothing of the known antiquity of the language in which the system is preserved is demonstrative on this point4 ,secondly1 the striking agreement in regard to fundamental doctrines1 pervading spirit1 and ritual forms between the accounts in the classics and those in the ,avestan books1 and of both these with the later writings and traditional practice of the ,parsees1 furnishes powerful presumption that the religion was a connected development1 possessing the same essential features from the time of its national establishment4 ,thirdly1 we have unquestionable proofs that1 during the period from the ,babylonish captivity to the advent of ,christ1 the ,jews borrowed and adapted a great deal from the ,persian theology1 but no proof that the ,persians took any thing from the ,jewish theology4 ,this is abundantly confessed by such scholars as ,gesenius1 ,rosenmuller1 ,stuart1 ,lucke1 ,de ,wette1 ,neander2 and it will hardly be challenged by any one who has investigated the subject4 ,but the ,jewish theology being thus impregnated with germs from the ,persian faith1 and being in a sense the historic mother of ,christian theology1 it is far more reasonable1 in seeking the origin of dogmas common to ,parsees and ,christians1 to trace them through the ,pharisees to ,zoroaster1 than to imagine them suddenly foisted upon the former by forgery on the part of the latter at a late period4 ,fourthly1 it is notorious that ,mohammed1 in forming his religion1 made wholesale draughts upon previously existing faiths1 that their adherents might more readily accept his teachings1 finding them largely in unison with their own4 ,it is altogether more likely1 aside from historic evidence which we possess1 that he drew from the tenets and imagery of the ,ghebers1 than that they1 when subdued by his armies and persecuted by his rule from their native land1 introduced new doctrines from the ,koran into the ancestral creed which they so revered that neither exile nor death could make them abjure it4 ,for1 driven by those fierce proselytes1 the victorious ,arabs1 to the mountains of ,kirman and to the ,indian coast1 they clung with unconquerable tenacity to their religion1 still scrupulously practising its rites1 proudly mindful of the time when every village1 from the shore of the ,caspian ,sea to the outlet of the ,persian ,gulf1 had its splendid fire temple1 ,and ,iran like a sunflower turn'd ,where'er the eye of ,mithra burn'd4 ,we therefore see no reason for believing that important ,christian or ,mohammedan ideas have been interpolated into the old ,zoroastrian religion4 ,the influence has been in the other direction4 ,relying then1 though with caution1 on what ,dr4 ,edward ,roth says1 that the certainty of our possessing a correct knowledge of the leading ancient doctrines of the ,persians is now beyond all question1 we will try to exhibit so much of the system as is necessary for appreciating its doctrine of a future life4 ,in the deep background of the ,magian theology looms1 in mysterious obscurity1 the belief in an infinite ,first ,principle1 ,zeruana ,akerana4 ,according to most of the scholars who have investigated it1 the meaning of this term is ,time without ,bounds1 or absolute duration4 ,but ,bohlen says it signifies the ,untreated ,whole2 and ,schlegel thinksit denotes the ,indivisible ,one4 ,the conception seems to have been to the people mostly an unapplied abstraction1 too vast and remote to become prominent in their speculation or influential in their faith4 ,spiegel1 indeed1 thinks the conception was derived from ,babylon1 and added to the system at a later period than the other doctrines4 ,the beginning of vital theology1 the source of actual ethics to the ,zoroastrians1 was in the idea of the two antagonist powers1 ,ormuzd and ,ahriman1 the first emanations of ,zeruana1 who divide between them in unresting strife the empire of the universe4 ,the former is the ,principle of ,good1 the perfection of intelligence1 beneficence1 and light1 the source of all reflected excellence4 ,the latter is the ,principle of ,evil1 the contriver of misery and death1 the king of darkness1 the instigator of all wrong4 ,with sublime beauty the ancient ,persian said1 ,light is the body of ,ormuzd2 ,darkness is the body of ,ahriman4 ,there has been much dispute whether the ,persian theology grew out of the idea of an essential and eternal dualism1 or was based on the conception of a partial and temporary battle2 in other words1 whether ,ahriman was originally and necessarily evil1 or fell from a divine estate4 ,in the fragmentary documents which have reached us1 the whole subject lies in confusion4 ,it is scarcely possible to unravel the tangled mesh4 ,sometimes it seems to be taught that ,ahriman was at first good1 an angel of light who1 through envy of his great compeer1 sank from his primal purity1 darkened into hatred1 and became the rancorous enemy of truth and love4 ,at other times he appears to be considered as the pure primordial essence of evil4 ,the various views may have prevailed in different ages or in different schools4 ,upon the whole1 however1 we hold the opinion that the real ,zoroastrian idea of ,ahriman was moral and free1 not physical and fatal4 ,the whole basis of the universe was good2 evil was an after perversion1 a foreign interpolation1 a battling mixture4 ,first1 the perfect ,zeruana was once all in all3 ,ahriman1 as well as ,ormuzd1 proceeded from him2 and the inference that he was pure would seem to belong to the idea of his origin4 ,secondly1 so far as the account of ,satan given in the book of ,job perhaps the earliest appearance of the ,persian notion in ,jewish literature warrants any inference or supposition at all1 it would lead to the image of one who was originally a prince in heaven1 and who must have fallen thence to become the builder and potentate of hell4 ,thirdly1 that matter is not an essential core of evil1 the utter antagonist of spirit1 and that ,ahriman is not evil by an intrinsic necessity1 will appear from the two conceptions lying at the base and crown of the ,persian system3 that the creation1 as it first came from the hands of ,ormuzd1 was perfectly good2 and that finally the purified material world shall exist again unstained by a breath of evil1 ,ahriman himself becoming like ,ormuzd4 ,he is not1 then1 aboriginal and indestructible evil in substance4 ,the conflict between ,ormuzd and him is the temporary ethical struggle of light and darkness1 not the internecine ontological war of spirit and matter4 ,roth says1 ,ahriman was originally good3 his fall was a determination of his will1 not an inherent necessity of his nature4 #h ,whatever other conceptions may be found1 whatever inconsistencies or contradictions to this may appear1 still1 we believe the genuine ,zoroastrian view was such as we have now stated4 ,the opposite doctrine arose from the more abstruse lucubrations of a more modern time1 and is ,manichaan1 not ,zoroastrian4 #h ,zoroastrische ,glaubenslehre1 ss4 #cig1 #cih4 ,ormuzd created a resplendent and happy world4 ,ahriman instantly made deformity1 impurity1 and gloom1 in opposition to it4 ,all beauty1 virtue1 harmony1 truth1 blessedness1 were the work of the former4 ,all ugliness1 vice1 discord1 falsehood1 wretchedness1 belonged to the latter4 ,they grappled and mixed in a million hostile shapes4 ,this universal battle is the ground of ethics1 the clarion call to marshal out the hostile hosts of good and ill2 and all other war is but a result and a symbol of it4 ,the strife thus indicated between a ,deity and a ,devil1 both subordinate to the unmoved ,,eternal1 was the ,persian solution of the problem of evil1 their answer to the staggering question1 why pleasure and pain1 benevolence and malignity1 are so conflictingly mingled in the works of nature and in the soul of man4 ,in the long struggle that ensued1 ,ormuzd created multitudes of co operant angels to assail his foe1 stocking the clean empire of ,light with celestial allies of his holy banner1 who hang from heaven in great numbers1 ready at the prayer of the righteous man to hie to his aid and work him a thousandfold good4 ,ahriman1 likewise1 created an equal number of assistant demons1 peopling the filthy domain of ,darkness with counterbalancing swarms of infernal followers of his pirate flag1 who lurk at the summit of hell1 watching to snatch every opportunity to ply their vocation of sin and ruin4 ,there are such hosts of these invisible antagonists sown abroad1 and incessantly active1 that every star is crowded and all space teems with them4 ,each man has a good and a bad angel1 a ferver and a dev1 who are endeavoring in every manner to acquire control over his conduct and possession of his soul4 ,the ,persians curiously personified the source of organic life in the world under the emblem of a primeval bull4 ,in this symbolic beast were packed the seeds and germs of all the creatures afterwards to people the earth4 ,ahriman1 to ruin the creation of which this animal was the life medium1 sought to kill him4 ,he set upon him two of his devs1 who are called adepts of death4 ,they stung him in the breast1 and plagued him until he died of rage4 ,but1 as he was dying1 from his right shoulder sprang the androgynal ,kaiomorts1 who was the stock root of humanity4 ,his body was made from fire1 air1 water1 and earth1 to which ,ormuzd added an immortal soul1 and bathed him with an elixir which rendered him fair and glittering as a youth of fifteen1 and would have preserved him so perennially had it not been for the assaults of the ,evil ,one4#i ,ahriman1 the enemy of all life1 determined to slay him1 and at last accomplished his object2 but1 as ,kaiomorts fell1 from his seed1 through the power of ,ormuzd1 originated ,meschia and ,meschiane1 male and female1 the first human pair1 from whom all our race have descended4 ,they would never have died1#aj but ,ahriman1 in the guise of a serpent1 seduced them1 and they sinned and fell4 ,this account is partly drawn from that later treatise1 the ,bundehesh1 whose mythological cosmogony reminds us of the ,scandinavian ,ymer4 ,but we conceive it to be strictly reliable as a representation of the ,zoroastrian faith in its essential doctrines2 for the earlier documents1 the ,yasna1 the ,yeshts1 and the ,vendidad1 contain the same things in obscure and undeveloped expressions4 ,they1 too1 make repeated mention of the mysterious bull1 and of ,kaiomorts4#aa ,they invariably represent death as resulting #i ,kleuker1 ,zend ,avesta1 band i4 anhang #a1 s4 #bfc4 #aj ,ibid4 band i4 s4 #bg4 #aa ,yasna1 #bdth ,i,ia4 from the hostility of ,ahriman4 ,the earliest ,avestan account of the earthly condition of men describes them as living in a garden which ,yima or ,jemschid had enclosed at the command of ,ormuzd4#ab ,during the golden age of his reign they were free from heat and cold1 sickness and death4 ,in the garden which ,yima made they led a most beautiful life1 and they bore none of the marks which ,ahriman has since made upon men4 ,but ,ahriman's envy and hatred knew no rest until he and his devs had1 by their wiles1 broken into this paradise1 betrayed ,yima and his people into falsehood1 and so1 by introducing corruption into their hearts1 put an end to their glorious earthly immortality4 ,this view is set forth in the opening fargards of the ,vendidad2 and it has been clearly illustrated in an elaborate contribution upon the ,old ,iranian ,mythology by ,professor ,westergaard4#ac ,death1 like all other evils1 was an after effect1 thrust into the purely good creation of ,ormuzd by the cunning malice of ,ahriman4 ,the ,vendidad1 at its commencement1 recounts the various products of ,ormuzd's beneficent power1 and adds1 after each particular1 ,thereupon ,ahriman1 who is full of death1 made an opposition to the same4 ,according to the ,zoroastrian modes of thought1 what would have been the fate of man had ,ahriman not existed or not interfered8 ,plainly1 mankind would have lived on forever in innocence and joy4 ,they would have been blessed with all placid delights1 exempt from hate1 sickness1 pain1 and every other ill2 and1 when the earth was full of them1 ,ormuzd would have taken his sinless subjects to his own realm of light on high4 ,but when they forsook the true service of ,ormuzd1 falling into deceit and defilement1 they became subjects of ,ahriman2 and he would inflict on them1 as the creatures of his hated rival1 all the calamities in his power1 dissolve the masterly workmanship of their bodies in death1 and then take their souls as prisoners into his own dark abode4 ,had ,meschia continued to bring meet praises1 it would have happened that when the time of man1 created pure1 had come1 his soul1 created pure and immortal1 would immediately have gone to the seat of bliss4#ad ,heaven was destined for man upon condition that he was humble of heart1 obedient to the law1 and pure in thought1 word1 and deed4 ,but by believing the lies of ,ahriman they became sinners1 and their souls must remain in his nether kingdom until the resurrection of their bodies4#ae ,ahriman's triumph thus culminates in the death of man and that banishment of the disembodied soul into hell which takes the place of its originally intended reception into heaven4 ,the law of ,ormuzd1 revealed through ,zoroaster1 furnishes to all who faithfully observe it in purity of thought1 speech1 and action1 when body and soul have separated1 attainment of paradise in the next world1#af while the neglecters of it will pass into the dwelling of the devs1#ag after death will have no part in paradise1 but will occupy the place of darkness #ab ,die ,sage von ,dschemschid4 ,von ,professor ,r4 ,roth4 ,in ,zeitschrift der ,deutschen ,morgeulandischen ,gesellschaft1 band iv4 ss4 #dag-dca4 #ac ,weber1 ,indische ,studien1 band iii4 #h4 #daa4 #ad ,yesht ,,lxxxvii4 ,kleuker1 band ii4 sect4 #baa4 #ae ,bundehesh1 ch4 xv4 #af ,avesta die ,heiligen ,schriften der ,parsen4 ,von ,dr4 ,f4 ,spiegel1 band i4 s1 #aga4 #ag ,ibid4 s4 #aeh4 destined for the wicked4#ah ,the third day after death1 the soul advances upon the way created by ,ormuzd for good and bad1 to be examined as to its conduct4 ,the pure soul passes up from this evanescent world1 over the bridge ,chinevad1 to the world of ,ormuzd1 and joins the angels4 ,the sinful soul is bound and led over the way made for the godless1 and finds its place at the bottom of gloomy hell4#ai ,an ,avestan fragment #bj and the ,viraf ,nameh give the same account1 only with more picturesque fulness4 ,on the soaring bridge the soul meets ,rashne rast1 the angel of justice1 who tries those that present themselves before him4 ,if the merits prevail1 a figure of dazzling substance1 radiating glory and fragrance1 advances and accosts the justified soul1 saying1 ,i am thy good angel3 ,i was pure at the first1 but thy good deeds have made me purer2 and the happy one is straightway led to ,paradise4 ,but when the vices outweigh the virtues1 a dark and frightful image1 featured with ugliness and exhaling a noisome smell1 meets the condemned soul1 and cries1 ,i am thy evil spirit3 bad myself1 thy crimes have made me worse4 ,then the culprit staggers on his uncertain foothold1 is hurled from the dizzy causeway1 and precipitated into the gulf which yawns horribly below4 ,a sufficient reason for believing these last details no late and foreign interpolation1 is that the ,vendidad itself contains all that is essential in them1 ,garotman1 the heaven of ,ormuzd1 open to the pure1 ,dutsakh1 the abode of devs1 ready for the wicked1 ,chinevad1 the bridge of ordeal1 upon which all must enter4#ba ,some authors have claimed that the ancient disciples of ,zoroaster believed in a purifying1 intermediate state for the dead4 ,passages stating such a doctrine are found in the ,yeshts1 ,sades1 and in later ,parsee works4 ,but whether the translations we now possess of these passages are accurate1 and whether the passages themselves are authoritative to establish the ancient prevalence of such a belief1 we have not yet the means for deciding4 ,there was a yearly solemnity1 called the ,festival for the ,dead1 still observed by the ,parsees1 held at the season when it was thought that that portion of the sinful departed who had ended their penance were raised from ,dutsakh to earth1 from earth to ,garotman4 ,du ,perron says that this took place only during the last five days of the year1 when the souls of all the deceased sinners who were undergoing punishment had permission to leave their confinement and visit their relatives2 after which1 those not yet purified were to return1 but those for whom a sufficient atonement had been made were to proceed to ,paradise4 ,for proof that this doctrine was held1 reference is made to the following passage1 with others3 ,during these five days ,ormuzd empties hell4 ,the imprisoned souls shall be freed from ,ahriman's plagues when they pay penance and are ashamed of their sins2 and they shall receive a heavenly nature2 the meritorious deeds of themselves and of their families cause this liberation3 all the rest must return to ,dutsakh4#bb ,rhode thinks this was a part of the old ,persian faith1 and the source of #ah ,ibid4 s4 #abg4 #ai ,ibid4 ss4 #bdh-beb4 ,vendidad1 ,fargard ,,xix4 #bj ,kleuker1 band i4 ss4 xxxi4 xxxv4 #ba ,spiegel1 ,vendidad1 ss4 #bjg1 #bbi1 #bcc1 #bej4 #bb ,kleuker1 band ii4 s4 #agc4 the ,roman ,catholic doctrine of purgatory4#bc ,but1 whether so or not1 it is certain that the ,zoroastrians regarded the whole residence of the departed souls in hell as temporary4 ,the duration of the present order of the world was fixed at twelve thousand years1 divided into four equal epochs4 ,in the first three thousand years1 ,ormuzd creates and reigns triumphantly over his empire4 ,through the next cycle1 ,ahriman is constructing and carrying on his hostile works4 ,the third epoch is occupied with a drawn battle between the upper and lower kings and their adherents4 ,during the fourth period1 ,ahriman is to be victorious1 and a state of things inconceivably dreadful is to prevail4 ,the brightness of all clear things will be shrouded1 the happiness of all joyful creatures be destroyed1 innocence disappear1 religion be scoffed from the world1 and crime1 horror1 and war be rampant4 ,famine will spread1 pests and plagues stalk over the earth1 and showers of black rain fall4 ,but at last ,ormuzd will rise in his might and put an end to these awful scenes4 ,he will send on earth a savior4 ,sosiosch1 to deliver mankind1 to wind up the final period of time1 and to bring the arch enemy to judgment4 ,at the sound of the voice of ,sosiosch the dead will come forth4 ,good1 bad1 indifferent1 all alike will rise1 each in his order4 ,kaiomorts1 the original single ancestor of men1 will be the firstling4 ,next1 ,meschia and ,meschiane1 the primal parent pair1 will appear4 ,and then the whole multitudinous family of mankind will throng up4 ,the genii of the elements will render up the sacred materials intrusted to them1 and rebuild the decomposed bodies4 ,each soul will recognise1 and hasten to reoccupy1 its old tenement of flesh1 now renewed1 improved1 immortalized4 ,former acquaintances will then know each other4 ,behold1 my father6 my mother6 my brother6 my wife6 they shall exclaim4 #bd ,in this exposition we have following the guidance of ,du ,perron1 ,foucher1 ,kleuker1 ,j4 ,g4 ,muller1 and other early scholars in this field attributed the doctrine of a general and bodily resurrection of the dead to the ancient ,zoroastrians4 ,the subsequent researches of ,burnouf1 ,roth1 and others1 have shown that several1 at least1 of the passages which ,anquetil supposed to teach such a doctrine were erroneously translated by him1 and do not really contain it4 ,and recently the ground has been often assumed that the doctrine of the resurrection does not belong to the ,avesta1 but is a more modern dogma1 derived by the ,parsees from the ,jews or the ,christians1 and only forced upon the old text by misinterpretation through the ,pehlevi version and the ,parsee commentary4 ,a question of so grave importance demands careful examination4 ,in the absence of that reliable translation of the entire original documents1 and that thorough elaboration of all the extant materials1 which we are awaiting from the hands of ,professor ,spiegel1 whose second volume has long been due1 and ,professor ,westergaard1 whose second and third volumes are eagerly looked for1 we must make the best use of the resources actually available1 and then leave the point in such plausible light as existing testimony and fair reasoning can throw upon it4 ,in the first place1 it should be observed that1 admitting the doctrine to be nowhere mentioned in the ,avesta1 still1 it does not follow that the belief was not prevalent when the #bc ,rhode1 ,heilige ,sage des ,zendvolks1 s4 #daj4 #bd ,bundehesh1 ch4 xxxi4 ,avesta was written4 ,we know that the ,christians of the first two centuries believed a great many things of which there is no statement in the ,new ,testament4 ,spiegel holds that the doctrine in debate is not in the ,avesta1 the text of which in its present form he thinks was written after the time of ,alexander4#be ,but he confesses that the resurrection theory was in existence long before that time4#bf ,now1 if the ,avesta1 committed to writing three hundred years before ,christ1 at a time when the doctrine of the resurrection is known to have been believed1 contains no reference to it1 the same relation of facts may just as well have existed if we date the record seven centuries earlier4 ,we possess only a small and broken portion of the original ,zoroastrian ,scriptures2 as ,roth says1 songs1 invocations1 prayers1 snatches of traditions1 parts of a code1 the shattered fragments of a once stately building4 ,if we could recover the complete documents in their earliest condition1 it might appear that the now lost parts contained the doctrine of the general resurrection fully formed4 ,we have many explicit references to many ancient ,zoroastrian books no longer in existence4 ,for example1 the ,parsees have a very early account that the ,avesta at first consisted of twenty one ,nosks4 ,of these but one has been preserved complete1 and small parts of three or four others4 ,the rest are utterly wanting4 ,the fifth ,nosk1 whereof not any portion remains to us1 was called the ,do az ah ,hamast4 ,it contained thirty two chapters1 treating1 among other things1 of the upper and nether world1 of the resurrection1 of the bridge ,chinevad1 and of the fate after death4 #bg ,if this evidence be true1 and we know of no reason for not crediting it1 it is perfectly decisive4 ,but1 at all events1 the absence from the extant parts of the ,zend ,avesta of the doctrine under examination would be no proof that that doctrine was not received when those documents were penned4 ,secondly1 we have the unequivocal assertion of ,theopompus1 in the fourth century before ,christ1 that the ,magi taught the doctrine of a general resurrection4#bh ,at the appointed epoch ,ahriman shall be subdued1 and men shall live again and shall be immortal4 ,and ,diogenes adds1 ,eudemus of ,rhodes affirms the same things4 ,aristotle calls ,ormuzd ,zeus1 and ,ahriman ,haides1 the ,greek names respectively of the lord of the starry ,olympians above1 and the monarch of the ,stygian ghosts beneath4 ,another form also in which the early ,greek authors betray their acquaintance with the ,persian conception of a conflict between ,ormuzd and ,ahriman is in the idea expressed by ,xenophon in his ,cyropadia1 in the dialogue between ,araspes and ,cyrus of two souls in man1 one a brilliant efflux of good1 the other a dusky emanation of evil1 each bearing the likeness of its parent4#bi ,since we know from ,theopompus that certain conceptions1 illustrated in the ,bundehesh and not contained in the fragmentary ,avestan books which have reached us1 were actually received ,zoroastrian #be ,studien uber das ,zend ,avesta1 in ,zeitschrift der ,deutschen ,morgenlandischen ,gesellschaft1 #ahee1 band ix4 s4 #aib4 #bf ,spiegel1 ,avesta1 band i4 s4 #af4 #bg ,dabistan1 vol4 i4 pp4 #bgb-bgd4 #bh ,diogenes ,laertius1 ,lives of the ,philosophers1 ,introduction1 sect4 vi4 ,plutarch1 concerning ,isis and ,osiris4 #bi ,lib4 vi4 cap4 i4 sect4 #da4 tenets four centuries before ,christ1 we are strongly supported in giving credence to the doctrinal statements of that book as affording1 in spite of its lateness1 a correct epitome of the old ,persian theology4 ,thirdly1 we are still further warranted in admitting the antiquity of the ,zoroastrian system as including the resurrection theory1 when we consider the internal harmony and organic connection of parts in it2 how the doctrines all fit together1 and imply each other1 and could scarcely have existed apart4 ,men were the creatures of ,ormuzd4 ,they should have lived immortally under his favor and in his realm4 ,but ,ahriman1 by treachery1 obtained possession of a large portion of them4 ,now1 when1 at the end of the fourth period into which the world course was divided by the ,magian theory1 as ,theopompus testifies1 ,ormuzd overcomes this arch adversary1 will he not rescue his own unfortunate creatures from the realm of darkness in which they have been imprisoned8 ,when a king storms an enemy's castle1 he delivers from the dungeons his own soldiers who were taken captives in a former defeat4 ,the expectation of a great prophet1 ,sosiosch1 to come and vanquish ,ahriman and his swarms1 unquestionably appears in the ,avesta itself4#cj ,with this notion1 in inseparable union1 the ,parsee tradition1 running continuously back1 as is claimed1 to a very remote time1 joins the doctrine of a general resurrection2 a doctrine literally stated in the ,vendidad1#ca and in many other places in the ,avesta1#cb where it has not yet been shown to be an interpolation1 but only supposed so by very questionable constructive inferences4 ,the consent of intrinsic adjustment and of historic evidence would1 therefore1 lead to the conclusion that this was an old ,zoroastrian dogma4 ,in disproof of this conclusion we believe there is no direct positive evidence whatever1 and no inferential argument cogent enough to produce conviction4 ,there are sufficient reasons for the belief that the doctrine of a resurrection was quite early adopted from the ,persians by the ,jews1 not borrowed at a much later time from the ,jews by the ,parsees4 ,the conception of ,ahriman1 the evil serpent1 bearing death1 7die ,schlange ,angramainyus der voll ,tod ist17 is interwrought from the first throughout the ,zoroastrian scheme4 ,in the ,hebrew records1 on the contrary1 such an idea appears but incidentally1 briefly1 rarely1 and only in the later books4 ,the account of the introduction of sin and death by the serpent in the garden of ,eden dates from a time subsequent to the commencement of the ,captivity4 ,von ,bohlen1 in his ,introduction to the ,book of ,genesis1 says the narrative was drawn from the ,zend ,avesta4 ,rosenmuller1 in his commentary on the passage1 says the narrator had in view the ,zoroastrian notions of the serpent ,ahriman and his deeds4 ,dr4 ,martin ,haug an acute and learned writer1 whose opinion is entitled to great weight1 as he is the freshest scholar acquainted with this whole field in the light of all that others have done thinks it certain that ,zoroaster lived in a remote antiquity1 from fifteen hundred to two thousand years before ,christ4 ,he says that ,judaism after the exile and1 through ,judaism1 ,christianity afterwards received an important influence from ,zoroastrianism1 #cj ,spiegel1 ,avesta1 band i4 ss4 #af1 #bdd4 #ca ,fargard ,,xviii1 ,spiegel's ,uebersetzung1 s4 #bcf4 #cb ,kleuker1 band ii4 ss4 #abc1 #abd1 #afd4 an influence which1 in regard to the doctrine of angels1 ,satan1 and the resurrection of the dead1 cannot be mistaken4#cc ,the ,hebrew theology had no demonology1 no ,satan1 until after the residence at ,babylon4 ,this is admitted4 ,well1 is not the resurrection a pendant to the doctrine of ,satan8 ,without the idea of a ,satan there would be no idea of a retributive banishment of souls into hell1 and of course no occasion for a vindicating restoration of them thence to their former or a superior state4 ,on this point the theory of ,rawlinson is very important4 ,he argues1 with various proofs1 that the ,dualistic doctrine was a heresy which broke out very early among the primitive ,aryans1 who then were the single ancestry of the subsequent ,iranians and ,indians4 ,this heresy was forcibly suppressed4 ,its adherents1 driven out of ,india1 went to ,persia1 and1 after severe conflicts and final admixture with the ,magians1 there established their faith4#cd ,the sole passage in the ,old ,testament teaching the resurrection is in the so called ,book of ,daniel1 a book full of ,chaldean and ,persian allusions1 written less than two centuries before ,christ1 long after we know it was a received ,zoroastrian tenet1 and long after the ,hebrews had been exposed to the whole tide and atmosphere of the triumphant ,persian power4 ,the unchangeable tenacity of the ,medes and ,persians is a proverb4 ,how often the ,hebrew people lapsed into idolatry1 accepting ,pagan gods1 doctrines1 and ritual1 is notorious4 ,and1 in particular1 how completely subject they were to ,persian influence appears clearly in large parts of the ,biblical history1 especially in the ,books of ,esther and ,ezekiel4 ,the origin of the term ,beelzebub1 too1 in the ,new ,testament1 is plain4 ,to say that the ,persians derived the doctrine of the resurrection from the ,jews seems to us as arbitrary as it would be to affirm that they also borrowed from them the custom1 mentioned by ,ezekiel1 of weeping for ,tammuz in the gates of the temple4 ,in view of the whole case as it stands1 until further researches either strengthen it or put a different aspect upon it1 we feel forced to think that the doctrine of a general resurrection was a component element in the ancient ,avestan religion4 ,a further question of considerable interest arises as to the nature of this resurrection1 whether it was conceived as physical or as spiritual4 ,we have no data to furnish a determinate answer4 ,plutarch quotes from ,theopompus the opinion of the ,magi1 that when1 at the subdual of ,ahriman1 men are restored to life1 they will need no nourishment and cast no shadow4 ,it would appear1 then1 that they must be spirits4 ,the inference is not reliable2 for the idea may be that all causes of decay will be removed1 so that no food will be necessary to supply the wasting processes which no longer exist2 and that the entire creation will be so full of light that a shadow will be impossible4 ,it might be thought that the familiar ,persian conception of angels1 both good and evil1 fervers and devs1 and the reception of departed souls into their company1 with ,ormuzd in ,garotman1 or with ,ahriman in ,dutsakh1 would exclude the belief in a future bodily resurrection4 ,but ,christians and ,mohammedans at this day believe in immaterial angels and devils1 and in the immediate entrance of disembodied souls upon reward or #cc ,die ,lehre ,zoroasters nach den alten ,liedern des ,zendavesta4 ,zeitschrift der ,morgenlandischen ,gesellschaft1 band ix4 ss4 #bhf1 #fhc-fib4 #cd ,rawlinson's ,herodotus1 vol4 i4 pp4 #dbf-dca4 punishment in their society1 and still believe in their final return to the earth1 and in a restoration to them of their former tabernacles of flesh4 ,discordant1 incoherent1 as the two beliefs may be1 if their coexistence is a fact with cultivated and reasonable people now1 much more was it possible with an undisciplined and credulous populace three thousand years in the past4 ,again1 it has been argued that the indignity with which the ancient ,persians treated the dead body1 refusing to bury it or to burn it1 lest the earth or the fire should be polluted1 is incompatible with the supposition that they expected a resurrection of the flesh4 ,in the first place1 it is difficult to reason safely to any dogmatic conclusions from the funeral customs of a people4 ,these usages are so much a matter of capricious priestly ritual1 ancestral tradition1 unreasoning instinct1 blind or morbid superstition1 that any consistent doctrinal construction is not fairly to be put upon them4 ,secondly1 the ,zoroastrians did not express scorn or loathing for the corpse by their manner of disposing of it4 ,the greatest pains were taken to keep it from disgusting decay1 by placing it in the driest1 purest1 openest place1 upon a summit where fresh winds blew1 and where certain beasts and birds1 accounted most sacred1 might eat the corruptible portion3 then the clean bones were carefully buried4 ,the dead body had yielded to the hostile working of ,ahriman1 and become his possession4 ,the priests bore it out on a bed or a carpet1 and exposed it to the light of the sun4 ,the demon was thus exorcised2 and the body became further purified in being eaten by the sacred animals1 and no putrescence was left to contaminate earth1 water1 or fire4#ce ,furthermore1 it is to be noticed that the modern ,parsees dispose of their dead in exactly the same manner depicted in the earliest accounts2 yet they zealously hold to a literal resurrection of the body4 ,if the giving of the flesh to the dog and the vulture in their case exists with this belief1 it may have done so with their ancestors before ,nebuchadnezzar swept the ,jews to ,babylon4 ,finally1 it is quite reasonable to conclude that the old ,persian doctrine of a resurrection did include the physical body1 when we recollect that in the ,zoroastrian scheme of thought there is no hostility to matter or to earthly life1 but all is regarded as pure and good except so far as the serpent ,ahriman has introduced evil4 ,the expulsion of this evil with his ultimate overthrow1 the restoration of all as it was at first1 in purity1 gladness1 and eternal life1 would be the obvious and consistent carrying out of the system4 ,hatred of earthly life1 contempt for the flesh1 the notion of an essential and irreconcilable warfare of soul against body1 are ,brahmanic and ,manichaan1 not ,zoroastrian4 ,still1 the ground plan and style of thought may not have been consistently adhered to4 ,the expectation that the very same body would be restored was known to the ,jews a century or two before ,christ4 ,one of the martyrs whose history is told in the ,second ,book of ,maccabees1 in the agonies of death plucked out his own bowels1 and called on the ,lord to restore them to him again at the resurrection4 ,considering the notion of a resurrection of the body as a sensuous burden on the idea of a resurrection of the soul1 it may have been a later development originating with the ,jews4 ,but it seems to us decidedly more probable that the ,magi held it as a part of their creed before they came in contact with the children of ,israel4 ,such an opinion may be modestly held until further information is #ce ,spiegel1 ,avesta1 ss4 #hb1 #ajd1 #aji1 #aaa1 #abb4 afforded #cf or some new and fatal objection brought4 ,after this resurrection a thorough separation will be made of the good from the bad4 ,father shall be divided from child1 sister from brother1 friend from friend4 ,the innocent one shall weep over the guilty one1 the guilty one shall weep for himself4 ,of two sisters one shall be pure1 one corrupt3 they shall be treated according to their deeds4 #cg ,those who have not1 in the intermediate state1 fully expiated their sins1 will1 in sight of the whole creation1 be remanded to the pit of punishment4 ,but the author of evil shall not exult over them forever4 ,their prison house will soon be thrown open4 ,the pangs of three terrible days and nights1 equal to the agonies of nine thousand years1 will purify all1 even the worst of the demons4 ,the anguished cry of the damned1 as they writhe in the lurid caldron of torture1 rising to heaven1 will find pity in the soul of ,ormuzd1 and he will release them from their sufferings4 ,a blazing star1 the comet ,gurtzscher1 will fall upon the earth4 ,in the heat of its conflagration1 great and small mountains will melt and flow together as liquid metal4 ,through this glowing flood all human kind must pass4 ,to the righteous it will prove as a pleasant bath1 of the temperature of milk2 but on the wicked the flame will inflict terrific pain4 ,ahriman will run up and down ,chinevad in the perplexities of anguish and despair4 ,the earth wide stream of fire1 flowing on1 will cleanse every spot and every thing4 ,even the loathsome realm of darkness and torment shall be burnished and made a part of the all inclusive ,paradise4 ,ahriman himself1 reclaimed to virtue1 replenished with primal light1 abjuring the memories of his envious ways1 and furling thenceforth the sable standard of his rebellion1 shall become a ministering spirit of the ,most ,high1 and1 together with ,ormuzd1 chant the praises of ,time without ,bounds4 ,all darkness1 falsehood1 suffering1 shall flee utterly away1 and the whole universe be filled by the illumination of good spirits blessed with fruitions of eternal delight4 ,in regard to the fate of man1 ,such are the parables ,zartushi address'd ,to ,iran's faith1 in the ancient ,zend ,avest4 #cf ,windischmann has now 7#ahfc7 fully proved this1 in his ,zoroastrische ,studien4 ,spiegel frankly avows it3 ,avesta1 band iii41 einleitung1 s4 lxxv4 #cg ,rhode1 ,heilige ,sage des ,zendvolks1 s4 #dfg4 ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,hebrew ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,on the one extreme1 a large majority of ,christian scholars have asserted that the doctrine of a retributive immortality is clearly taught throughout the ,old ,testament4 ,able writers1 like ,bishop ,warburton1 have maintained1 on the other extreme1 that it says nothing whatever about a future life1 but rather implies the total and eternal end of men in death4 ,but the most judicious1 trustworthy critics hold an intermediate position1 and affirm that the ,hebrew ,scriptures show a general belief in the separate existence of the spirit1 not indeed as experiencing rewards and punishments1 but as surviving in the common silence and gloom of the under world1 a desolate empire of darkness yawning beneath all graves and peopled with dream like ghosts4#a ,a number of important passages have been cited from different parts of the ,old ,testament by the advocates of the view first mentioned above4 ,it will be well for us to notice these and their misuse before proceeding farther4 ,the translation of ,enoch has been regarded as a revelation of the immortality of man4 ,it is singular that ,dr4 ,priestley should suggest1 as the probable fact1 so sheer and baseless a hypothesis as he does in his notes upon the ,book of ,genesis4 ,he says1 ,enoch was probably a prophet authorized to announce the reality of another life after this2 and he might be removed into it without dying1 as an evidence of the truth of his doctrine4 ,the gross materialism of this supposition1 and the failure of ,god's design which it implies1 are a sufficient refutation of it4 ,and1 besides the utter unlikelihood of the thought1 it is entirely destitute of support in the premises4 ,one of the most curious of the many strange things to be found in ,warburton's argument for the ,divine ,legation of ,moses an argument marked1 as is well known1 by profound erudition1 and1 in many respects1 by consummate ability is the use he makes of this account to prove that ,moses believed the doctrine of immortality1 but purposely obscured the fact from which it might be drawn by the people1 in order that it might not interfere with his doctrine of the temporal special providence of ,jehovah over the ,jewish nation4 ,such a course is inconsistent with sound morality1 much more with the character of an inspired prophet of ,god4 ,the only history we have of ,enoch is in the fifth chapter of the ,book of ,genesis4 ,the substance of it is as follows3 ,and ,enoch walked with ,god during his appointed years2 and then he was not1 for ,god took him4 ,the author of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews1 following the example of those ,rabbins who1 several centuries before his time1 began to give mystical interpretations of the ,scriptures1 infers from this statement that ,enoch was borne into heaven without tasting death4 ,but it is not certainly known who the author of that epistle was2 and1 whoever he was1 his opinion1 of course1 can have no authority upon a subject of criticism like #a ,boettcher1 ,de ,inferis ,rebusque post mortem futuris ex ,hebraorum et ,gracoram ,opinionibus4 this4 ,replying to the supposititious argument furnished by this passage1 we say1 ,take the account as it reads1 and it neither asserts nor implies the idea commonly held concerning it4 ,it says nothing about translation or immortality2 nor can any thing of the kind be legitimately deduced from it4 ,its plain meaning is no more nor less than this3 ,enoch lived three hundred and sixty five years1 fearing ,god and keeping his commandments1 and then he died4 ,many of the ,rabbins1 fond as they are of finding in the ,pentateuch the doctrine of future blessedness for the good1 interpret this narrative as only signifying an immature death2 for ,enoch1 it will be recollected1 reached but about half the average age of the others whose names are mentioned in the chapter4 ,had this occurrence been intended as the revelation of a truth1 it would have been fully and clearly stated2 otherwise it could not answer any purpose4 ,as ,le ,clerc observes1 ,if the writer believed so important a fact as that ,enoch was immortal1 it is wonderful that he relates it as secretly and obscurely as if he wished to hide it4 ,but1 finally1 even admitting that the account is to be regarded as teaching literally that ,god took ,enoch1 it by no means proves a revelation of the doctrine of general immortality4 ,it does not show that anybody else would ever be translated or would in any way enter upon a future state of existence4 ,it is not put forth as a revelation2 it says nothing whatever concerning a revelation4 ,it seems to mean either that ,enoch suddenly died1 or that he disappeared1 nobody knew whither4 ,but1 if it really means that ,god took him into heaven1 it is more natural to think that that was done as a special favor than as a sign of what awaited others4 ,no general cause is stated1 no consequence deduced1 no principle laid down1 no reflection added4 ,how1 then1 can it be said that the doctrine of a future life for man is revealed by it or implicated in it8 ,the removal of ,elijah in a chariot of fire1 of which we read in the second chapter of the ,second ,book of ,kings1 is usually supposed to have served as a miraculous proof of the fact that the faithful servants of ,jehovah were to be rewarded with a life in the heavens4 ,the author of this book is not known1 and can hardly be guessed at with any degree of plausibility4 ,it was unquestionably written1 or rather compiled1 a long time probably several hundred years after the prophets whose wonderful adventures it recounts had passed away4 ,the internal evidence is sufficient1 both in quality and quantity1 to demonstrate that the book is for the most part a collection of traditions4 ,this characteristic applies with particular force to the ascension of ,elijah4 ,but grant the literal truth of the account3 it will not prove the point in support of which it is advanced1 because it does not purport to have been done as a revelation of the doctrine in question1 nor did it in any way answer the purpose of such a revelation4 ,so far from this1 in fact1 it does not seem even to have suggested the bare idea of another state of existence in a single instance4 ,for when ,elisha returned without ,elijah1 and told the sons of the prophets at ,jericho that his master had gone up in a chariot of fire1 which event they knew beforehand was going to happen1 they1 instead of asking the particulars or exulting over the revelation of a life in heaven1 calmly said to him1 ,behold1 there be with thy servants fifty sons of strength3 let them go1 we pray thee1 and seek for ,elijah1 lest peradventure a whirlwind1 the blast of the ,lord1 hath caught him up and cast him upon one of the mountains or into one of the valleys4 ,and he said1 ,ye shall not send4 ,but when they urged him till he was ashamed1 he said1 ,send4 ,this is all that is told us4 ,had it occurred as is stated1 it would not so easily have passed from notice1 but mighty inferences1 never to be forgotten1 would have been drawn from it at once4 ,the story as it stands reminds one of the closing scene in the career of ,romulus1 speaking of whom the historians say1 ,in the thirty seventh year of his reign1 while he was reviewing an army1 a tempest arose1 in the midst of which he was suddenly snatched from the eyes of men4 ,hence some thought he was killed by the senators1 others1 that he was borne aloft to the gods4#b ,if the ascension of ,elijah to heaven in a chariot of fire did really take place1 and if the books held by the ,jews as inspired and sacred contained a history of it at the time of our ,savior1 it is certainly singular that neither he nor any of the apostles allude to it in connection with the subject of a future life4 ,the miracles performed by ,elijah and by ,elisha in restoring the dead children to life related in the seventeenth chapter of the ,first ,book of ,kings and in the fourth chapter of the ,second ,book are often cited in proof of the position that the doctrine of immortality is revealed in the ,old ,testament4 ,the narration of these events is found in a record of unknown authorship4 ,the mode in which the miracles were effected1 if they were miracles1 the prophet measuring himself upon the child1 his eyes upon his eyes1 his mouth upon his mouth1 his hands upon his hands1 and in one case the child sneezing seven times1 looks dubious4 ,the two accounts so closely resemble each other as to cast still greater suspicion upon both4 ,in addition to these considerations1 and even fully granting the reality of the miracles1 they do not touch the real controversy1 namely1 whether the ,hebrew ,scriptures contain the revealed doctrine of a conscious immortality or of a future retribution4 ,the prophet said1 ,o ,lord my ,god1 let this child's soul1 ,i pray thee1 come into his inward parts again4 ,and the ,lord heard the voice of ,elijah1 and the soul of the child came into him again1 and he revived4 ,now1 the most this can show is that the child's soul was then existing in a separate state4 ,it does not prove that the soul was immortal1 nor that it was experiencing retribution1 nor even that it was conscious4 ,and we do not deny that the ancient ,jews believed that the spirits of the dead retained a nerveless1 shadowy being in the solemn vaults of the under world4 ,the ,hebrew word rendered soul in the text is susceptible of three meanings3 first1 the shade1 which1 upon the dissolution of the body1 is gathered to its fathers in the great subterranean congregation2 second1 the breath of a person1 used as synonymous with his life2 third1 a part of the vital breath of ,god1 which the ,hebrews regarded as the source of the life of all creatures1 and the withdrawing of which they supposed was the cause of death4 ,it is clear that neither of these meanings can prove any thing in regard to the real point at issue1 that is1 concerning a future life of rewards and punishments4 ,one of the strongest arguments brought to support the proposition which we are combating at least1 so considered by nearly all the ,rabbins1 and by not a few modern critics is the account of the vivification of the dead recorded in the thirty seventh chapter of the ,book of ,ezekiel4 ,the prophet was carried in the spirit of ,jehovah that is1 mentally1 in a prophetic ecstasy into a valley full of dry bones4 ,the bones came together1 the flesh #b ,livy1 i4 #af2 ,dion4 ,hal4 ii4 #ef4 grew on them1 the breath came into them1 and they lived and stood on their feet1 an exceeding great army4 ,it should first be observed that this account is not given as an actual occurrence1 but1 after the manner of ,ezekiel1 as a prophetic vision meant to symbolize something4 ,now1 of what was it intended as the symbol8 a doctrine1 or a coming event8 a general truth to enlighten and guide uncertain men1 or an approaching deliverance to console and encourage the desponding ,jews8 ,it is fair to let the prophet be his own interpreter1 without aid from the glosses of prejudiced theorizers4 ,it must be borne in mind that at this time the prophet and his countrymen were bearing the grievous burden of bondage in a foreign nation4 ,and ,jehovah said to me1 ,son of man1 these bones denote the whole house of ,israel4 ,behold1 they say1 ,our bones are dried1 and our hope is lost1 and we are cut off4 ,this plainly denotes their present suffering in the ,babylonish captivity1 and their despair of being delivered from it4 ,therefore prophesy1 and say to them1 ,thus saith the ,lord ,jehovah1 ,behold1 ,i will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves1 ,o my people1 and bring you into the land of ,israel4 ,that is1 ,i will rescue you from your slavery and restore you to freedom in your own land4 ,the dry bones and their subsequent vivification1 therefore1 clearly symbolize the misery of the ,israelites and their speedy restoration to happiness4 ,death is frequently used in a figurative sense to denote misery1 and life to signify happiness4 ,but those who maintain that the doctrine of the resurrection is taught as a revealed truth in the ,hebrew ,scriptures are not willing to let this passage pass so easily4 ,mr4 ,barnes says1 ,the illustration proves that the doctrine was one with which the people were familiar4 ,jerome states the argument more fully1 thus3 ,a similitude drawn from the resurrection1 to foreshadow the restoration of the people of ,israel1 would never have been employed unless the resurrection itself were believed to be a fact of future occurrence2 for no one thinks of confirming what is uncertain by what has no existence4 ,it is not difficult to reply to these objections with convincing force4 ,first1 the vision was not used as proof or confirmation1 but as symbol and prophecy4 ,secondly1 the use of any thing as an illustration does by no means imply that it is commonly believed as a fact4 ,for instance1 we are told in the ninth chapter of the ,book of ,judges that ,jotham related an allegory to the people as an illustration of their conduct in choosing a king1 saying1 ,the trees once on a time went forth to anoint a king over them2 and they said to the olive tree1 ,come thou and reign over us2 and so on4 ,does it follow that at that time it was a common belief that the trees actually went forth occasionally to choose them a king8 ,thirdly1 if a given thing is generally believed as a fact1 a person who uses it expressly as a symbol1 of course does not thereby give his sanction to it as a fact4 ,and if a belief in the resurrection of the dead was generally entertained at the time of the prophet1 its origin is not implied1 and it does not follow that it was a doctrine of revelation1 or even a true doctrine4 ,finally1 there is one consideration which shows conclusively that this vision was never intended to typify the resurrection2 namely1 that it has nothing corresponding to the most essential part of that doctrine4 ,when the bones have come together and are covered with flesh1 ,god does not call up the departed spirits of these bodies from ,sheol1 does not bring back the vanished lives to animate their former tabernacles1 now miraculously renewed4 ,no3 he but breathes on them with his vivifying breath1 and straightway they live and move4 ,this is not a resurrection1 but a new creation4 ,the common idea of a bodily restoration implies and1 that any just retribution be compatible with it1 it necessarily implies the vivification of the dead frame1 not by the introduction of new life1 but by the reinstalment of the very same life or spirit1 the identical consciousness that before animated it4 ,such is not represented as being the case in ,ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones4 ,that vision had no reference to the future state4 ,in this connection1 the revelation made by the angel in his prophecy1 recorded in the twelfth chapter of the ,book of ,daniel1 concerning the things which should happen in the ,messianic times1 must not be passed without notice4 ,it reads as follows3 ,and many of the sleepers of the dust of the ground shall awake1 those to life everlasting1 and these to shame1 to contempt everlasting4 ,and they that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament1 and they that turn many to righteousness1 as the stars for ever and ever4 ,no one can deny that a judgment1 in which reward and punishment shall be distributed according to merit1 is here clearly foretold4 ,the meaning of the text1 taken with the connection1 is1 that when the ,messiah appears and establishes his kingdom the righteous shall enjoy a bodily resurrection upon the earth to honor and happiness1 but the wicked shall be left below in darkness and death4#c ,this seems to imply1 fairly enough1 that until the advent of the ,messiah none of the dead existed consciously in a state of retribution4 ,the doctrine of the passage1 as is well known1 was held by some of the ,jews at the beginning of the ,christian era1 and1 less distinctly1 for about two centuries previous4 ,before that time no traces of it can be found in their history4 ,now1 had a doctrine of such intense interest and of such vast importance as this been a matter of revelation1 it seems hardly possible that it should have been confined to one brief and solitary text1 that it should have flashed up for a single moment so brilliantly1 and then vanished for three or four centuries in utter darkness4 ,furthermore1 nearly one half of the ,book of ,daniel is written in the ,chaldee tongue1 and the other half in the ,hebrew1 indicating that it had two authors1 who wrote their respective portions at different periods4 ,its critical and minute details of events are history rather than prophecy4 ,the greater part of the book was undoubtedly written as late as about a hundred and sixty years before ,christ1 long after the awful simplicity and solitude of the original ,hebrew theology had been marred and corrupted by an intermixture of the doctrines of those heathen nations with whom the ,jews had been often brought in contact4 ,such being the facts in the case1 the text is evidently without force to prove a divine revelation of the doctrine it teaches4 ,in the twenty second chapter of the ,gospel by ,matthew1 ,jesus says to the ,sadducees1 ,but as touching the resurrection of the dead1 have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by ,god1 saying1 ,i am the ,god of ,abraham1 and the ,god of ,isaac1 and the ,god of ,jacob8 ,god is not the ,god of the dead1 but of the living4 ,the passage to which reference is made is written in the third chapter of the ,book of ,exodus4 ,in order to ascertain the force of the ,savior's argument1 the extent of meaning it had in his mind1 and the amount of knowledge attributed by it to ,moses1 it will be necessary to determine first the definite purpose he had #c ,wood1 ,the ,last ,things1 p4 #de4 in view in his reply to the ,sadducees1 and how he proposed to accomplish it4 ,we shall find that the use he made of the text does not imply that ,moses had the slightest idea of any sort of future life for man1 much less of an immortal life of blessedness for the good and of suffering for the bad4 ,we should suppose1 beforehand1 that such would be the case1 since upon examining the declaration cited1 with its context1 we find it to be simply a statement made by ,jehovah explaining who he was1 that he was the ancient national guardian of the ,jews1 the ,lord ,god of ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob4 ,this does not seem to contain the most distant allusion to the immortality of man1 or to have suggested any such thought to the mind of ,moses4 ,it should be distinctly understood from the outset that ,jesus did not quote this passage from the ,pentateuch as proving any thing of itself1 or as enabling him to prove any thing by it directly1 but as being of acknowledged authority to the ,sadducees themselves1 to form the basis of a process of reasoning4 ,the purpose he had in view1 plainly1 was to convince the ,sadducees either of the possibility or of the actuality of the resurrection of the dead3 its possibility1 if we assume that by resurrection he meant the ,jewish doctrine of a material restoration1 the reunion of soul and body2 its actuality1 if we suppose he meant the conscious immortality of the soul separate from the body4 ,if the resurrection was physical1 ,christ demonstrates to the ,sadducees its possibility1 by refuting the false notion upon which they based their denial of it4 ,they said1 ,the resurrection of the body is impossible1 because the principle of life1 the consciousness1 has utterly perished1 and the body cannot live alone4 ,he replied1 ,it is possible1 because the soul has an existence separate from the body1 and1 consequently1 may be reunited to it4 ,you admit that ,jehovah said1 after they were dead1 ,i am the ,god of ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob3 but he is the ,god of the living1 and not of the dead1 for all live unto him4 ,you must confess this4 ,the soul1 then1 survives the body1 and a resurrection is possible4 ,it will be seen that this implies nothing concerning the nature or duration of the separate existence1 but merely the fact of it4 ,but1 if ,christ meant by the resurrection of the dead as we think he did the introduction of the disembodied and conscious soul into a state of eternal blessedness1 the ,sadducees denied its reality by maintaining that no such thing as a soul existed after bodily dissolution4 ,he then proved to them its reality in the following manner4 ,you believe for ,moses1 to whose authority you implicitly bow1 relates it that ,god said1 ,i am the ,god of ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob1 and this1 long after they died4 ,but evidently he cannot be said to be the ,god of that which does not exist3 therefore their souls must have been still alive4 ,and if ,jehovah was emphatically their ,god1 their friend1 of course he will show them his loving kindness4 ,they are1 then1 in a conscious state of blessedness4 ,the ,savior does not imply that ,god said so much in substance1 nor that ,moses intended to teach1 or even knew1 any thing like it1 but that1 by adding to the passage cited a premise of his own1 which his hearers granted to be true1 he could deduce so much from it by a train of new and unanswerable reasoning4 ,his opponents were compelled to admit the legitimacy of his argument1 and1 impressed by its surpassing beauty and force1 were silenced1 if not convinced4 ,the credit of this cogent proof of human immortality1 namely1 that ,god's love for man is a pledge and warrant of his eternal blessedness a proof whose originality and significance set it far beyond all parallel is due to the dim gropings of no ,hebrew prophet1 but to the inspired insight of the great ,founder of ,christianity4 ,the various passages yet unnoticed which purport to have been uttered by ,jehovah or at his command1 and which are urged to show that the reality of a retributive life after death is a revealed doctrine of the ,old ,testament1 will be found1 upon critical examination1 either to owe their entire relevant force to mistranslation1 or to be fairly refuted by the reasonings already advanced4 ,professor ,stuart admits that he finds only one consideration to show that ,moses had any idea of a future retribution2 and that is1 that the ,egyptians expressly believed it2 and he is not able to comprehend how ,moses1 who dwelt so long among them1 should be ignorant of it4#d ,the reasoning is obviously inconsequential4 ,it is not certain that the ,egyptians held this doctrine in the time of ,moses3 it may have prevailed among them before or after1 and not during1 that period4 ,if they believed it at that time1 it may have been an esoteric doctrine1 with which he did not become acquainted4 ,if they believed it1 and he knew it1 he might have classed it with other heathen doctrines1 and supposed it false4 ,and1 even if he himself believed it1 he might possibly not have inculcated it upon the ,israelites2 and the question is1 what he did actually teach1 not what he knew4 ,the opinions of the ,jews at the time of the ,savior have no bearing upon the point in hand1 because they were acquired at a later period than that of the writing of the records we are now considering4 ,they were formed1 and gradually grew in consistency and favor1 either by the natural progress of thought among the ,jews themselves1 or1 more probably1 by a blending of the intimations of the ,hebrew ,scriptures with ,gentile speculations1 the doctrines of the ,egyptians1 ,hindus1 and ,persians4 ,we leave this portion of the subject1 then1 with the following proposition4 ,in the canonic books of the ,old ,dispensation there is not a single genuine text1 claiming to come from ,god1 which teaches explicitly any doctrine whatever of a life beyond the grave4 ,that doctrine as it existed among the ,jews was no part of their pure religion1 but was a part of their philosophy4 ,it did not1 as they held it1 imply any thing like our present idea of the immortality of the soul reaping in the spiritual world what it has sowed in the physical4 ,it simply declared the existence of human ghosts amidst unbroken gloom and stillness in the cavernous depths of the earth1 without reward1 without punishment1 without employment1 scarcely with consciousness1 as will immediately appear4 ,we proceed to the second general division of the subject4 ,what does the ,old ,testament1 apart from the revelation claimed to be contained in it1 and regarding only those portions of it which are confessedly a collection of the poetry1 history1 and philosophy of the ,hebrews1 intimate concerning a future state of existence8 ,examining these writings with an unbiased mind1 we discover that in different portions of them there are large variations and opposition of opinion4 ,in some books we trace an undoubting belief in certain rude notions of the future condition of souls2 in other books we encounter unqualified denials of every such thought4 ,man lieth down and riseth not1 sighs the despairing ,job4 ,the dead cannot praise ,god1 neither any that go down into darkness1 wails the repining ,psalmist4 ,all go to one place1 #d ,exegetical ,essays1 7,andover1 #ahcj17 p4 #ajh4 and the dead know not any thing1 asserts the disbelieving ,preacher4 ,these inconsistencies we shall not stop to point out and comment upon4 ,they are immaterial to our present purpose1 which is to bring together1 in their general agreement1 the sum and substance of the ,hebrew ideas on this subject4 ,the separate existence of the soul is necessarily implied by the distinction the ,hebrews made between the grave1 or sepulchre1 and the under world1 or abode of shades4 ,the ,hebrew words bor and keber mean simply the narrow place in which the dead body is buried2 while ,sheol represents an immense cavern in the interior of the earth where the ghosts of the deceased are assembled4 ,when the patriarch was told that his son ,joseph was slain by wild beasts1 he cried aloud1 in bitter sorrow1 ,i will go down to ,sheol unto my son1 mourning4 ,he did not expect to meet ,joseph in the grave2 for he supposed his body torn in pieces and scattered in the wilderness1 not laid in the family tomb4 ,the dead are said to be gathered to their people1 or to sleep with their fathers1 and this whether they are interred in the same place or in a remote region4 ,it is written1 ,abraham gave up the ghost1 and was gathered unto his people1 notwithstanding his body was laid in a cave in the field of ,machpelah1 close by ,hebron1 while his people were buried in ,chaldea and ,mesopotamia4 ,isaac gave up the ghost and died1 and was gathered unto his people2 and then we read1 as if it were done afterwards1 ,his sons1 ,jacob and ,esau1 buried him4 ,these instances might be multiplied4 ,they prove that to be gathered unto one's fathers means to descend into ,sheol and join there the hosts of the departed4 ,a belief in the separate existence of the soul is also involved in the belief in necromancy1 or divination1 the prevalence of which is shown by the stern laws against those who engaged in its unhallowed rites1 and by the history of the witch of ,endor4 ,she1 it is said1 by magical spells evoked the shade of old ,samuel from below4 ,it must have been the spirit of the prophet that was supposed to rise2 for his body was buried at ,ramah1 more than sixty miles from ,endor4 ,the faith of the ,hebrews in the separate existence of the soul is shown1 furthermore1 by the fact that the language they employed expresses1 in every instance1 the distinction of body and spirit4 ,they had particular words appropriated to each4 ,as thy soul liveth1 is a ,hebrew oath4 ,with my spirit within me will ,i seek thee early4 ,i1 ,daniel1 was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body3 the figure here represents the soul in the body as a sword in a sheath4 ,our bones are scattered at the mouth of the under world1 as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth2 that is1 the soul1 expelled from its case of clay by the murderer's weapon1 flees into ,sheol and leaves its exuvioe at the entrance4 ,thy voice shall be as that of a spirit out of the ground3 the word ,lhere used signifies the shade evoked by a necromancer from the region of death1 which was imagined to speak in a feeble whisper4 ,the term rephaim is used to denote the manes of the departed4 ,the etymology of the word1 as well as its use1 makes it mean the weak1 the relaxed4 ,i am counted as them that go down into the under world2 ,i am as a man that hath no strength4 ,this faint1 powerless condition accords with the idea that they were destitute of flesh1 blood1 and animal life1 mere umbroe4 ,these ghosts are described as being nearly as destitute of sensation as they are of strength4 ,they are called the inhabitants of the land of stillness4 ,they exist in an inactive1 partially torpid state1 with a dreamy consciousness of past and present1 neither suffering nor enjoying1 and seldom moving4 ,herder says of the ,hebrews1 ,the sad and mournful images of their ghostly realm disturbed them1 and were too much for their self possession4 ,respecting these images1 he adds1 ,their voluntary force and energy were destroyed4 ,they were feeble as a shade1 without distinction of members1 as a nerveless breath4 ,they wandered and flitted in the dark nether world4 ,this wandering and flitting1 however1 is rather the spirit of ,herder's poetry than of that of the ,hebrews2 for the whole tenor and drift of the representations in the ,old ,testament show that the state of disembodied souls is deep quietude4 ,freed from bondage1 pain1 toil1 and care1 they repose in silence4 ,the ghost summoned from beneath by the witch of ,endor said1 ,why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up8 ,it was1 indeed1 in a dismal abode that they took their long quiet2 but then it was in a place where the wicked ceased from troubling and the weary were at rest4 ,those passages which attribute active employments to the dwellers in the under world are specimens of poetic license1 as the context always shows4 ,when ,job says1 ,before ,jehovah the shades beneath tremble1 he likewise declares1 ,the pillars of heaven tremble and are confounded at his rebuke4 ,when ,isaiah breaks forth in that stirring lyric to the ,king of ,babylon1 ,the under world is in commotion on account of thee1 ,to meet thee at thy coming2 ,it stirreth up before thee the shades1 all the mighty of the earth2 ,it arouseth from their thrones all the kings of the nations2 ,they all accost thee1 and say1 ,art thou too become weak as we8 he also exclaims1 in the same connection1 ,even the cypress trees exult over thee1 ,and the cedars of ,lebanon1 saying1 ,since thou art fallen1 ,no man cometh up to cut us down4 ,the activity thus vividly described is evidently a mere figure of speech3 so is it in the other instances which picture the rephaim as employed and in motion4 ,why1 complainingly sighed the afflicted patriarch1 why died ,i not at my birth8 ,for now should ,i lie down and be quiet2 ,i should slumber2 ,i should then be at rest4 ,and the wise man says1 in his preaching1 ,there is no work1 nor device1 nor knowledge1 nor wisdom1 in ,sheol4 ,what has already been said is sufficient to establish the fact that the ,hebrews had an idea that the souls of men left their bodies at death and existed as dim shadows1 in a state of undisturbed repose1 in the bowels of the earth4 ,sheol is directly derived from a ,hebrew word1 signifying1 first1 to dig or excavate4 ,it means1 therefore1 a cavity1 or empty subterranean place4 ,its derivation is usually connected1 however1 with the secondary meaning of the ,hebrew word referred to1 namely1 to ask1 to desire1 from the notion of demanding1 since rapacious ,orcus lays claim unsparingly to all2 or1 as others have fancifully construed it1 the object of universal inquiry1 the unknown mansion concerning which all are anxiously inquisitive4 ,the place is conceived on an immense scale1 shrouded in accompaniments of gloomy grandeur and peculiar awe3 an enormous cavern in the earth1 filled with night2 a stupendous hollow kingdom1 to which are poetically attributed valleys and gates1 and in which are congregated the slumberous and shadowy hosts of the rephaim1 never able to go out of it again forever4 ,its awful stillness is unbroken by noise4 ,its thick darkness is uncheered by light4 ,it stretches far down under the ground4 ,it is wonderfully deep4 ,in language that reminds one of ,milton's description of hell1 where was ,no light1 but rather darkness visible1 ,job describes it as the land of darkness1 like the blackness of death shade1 where is no order1 and where the light is as darkness4 ,the following passages1 selected almost at random1 will show the ideas entertained of the place1 and confirm and illustrate the foregoing statements4 ,but he considers not that in the valleys of ,sheol are her guests4 ,now shall ,i go down into the gates of ,sheol4 ,the ground slave asunder1 and the earth opened her mouth1 and swallowed them up1 and their houses1 and all their men1 and all their goods3 they and all that appertained to them went down alive into ,sheol1 and the earth closed upon them4 ,its depth is contrasted with the height of the sky4 ,though they dig into ,sheol1 thence shall mine hand take them2 though they climb up to heaven1 thence will ,i bring them down4 ,it is the destination of all2 for1 though the ,hebrews believed in a world of glory above the solid ceiling of the dome of day1 where ,jehovah and the angels dwelt1 there was no promise1 hope1 or hint that any man could ever go there4 ,the dirge like burden of their poetry was literally these words3 ,what man is he that liveth and shall not see death8 ,shall he deliver his spirit from the hand of ,sheol8 ,the old ,hebrew graves were crypts1 wide1 deep holes1 like the habitations of the troglodytes4 ,in these subterranean caves they laid the dead down2 and so the ,grave became the mother of ,sheol1 a rendezvous of the fathers1 a realm of the dead1 full of eternal ghost life4 ,this under world is dreary and altogether undesirable1 save as an escape from extreme anguish4 ,but it is not a place of retribution4 ,jahn says1 ,that1 in the belief of the ancient ,hebrews1 there were different situations in ,sheol for the good and the bad1 cannot be proved4#e ,the sudden termination of the present life is the judgment the ,old ,testament threatens upon sinners2 its happy prolongation is the reward it promises to the righteous4 ,texts that prove this might be quoted in numbers from almost every page4 ,the wicked shall be turned into ,sheol1 and all the nations that forget ,god1 not to be punished there1 but as a punishment4 ,it is true1 the good and the bad alike pass into that gloomy land2 but the former go down tranquilly in a good old age and full of days1 as a shock of corn fully ripe cometh in its season1 while the latter are suddenly hurried there by an untimely and miserable fate4 ,the man that loves the ,lord shall have length of days2 the unjust1 though for a moment he flourishes1 yet the wind bloweth1 and where is he8 ,we shall perhaps gain a more clear and adequate knowledge of the ideas the ,hebrews had of the soul and of its fate1 by marking the different meanings of the words they used to #e ,biblical ,archeology1 sect4 #cad4 denote it4 ,neshamah1 primarily meaning breath or airy effluence1 next expresses the ,spirit of ,god as imparting life and force1 wisdom and love2 also the spirit of man as its emanation1 creation1 or sustained object4 ,the citation of a few texts in which the word occurs will set this in a full light4 ,the ,lord ,god formed man of the dust of the ground1 and breathed into his nostrils the spirit of existence1 and man became a conscious being4 ,it is the divine spirit of man1 even the inspiration of the ,almighty1 that giveth him understanding4 ,the ,spirit of ,god made me1 and his breath gave me life4 ,ruah signifies1 originally1 a breathing or blowing4 ,two other meanings are directly connected with this4 ,first1 the vital spirit1 the principle of life as manifested in the breath of the mouth and nostrils4 ,and they went in unto ,noah into the ark1 two and two of all flesh in whose nostrils was the breath of life4 ,second1 the wind1 the motions of the air1 which the ,hebrews supposed caused by the breath of ,god4 ,by the blast of thine anger the waters were gathered on an heap4 ,the channels of waters were seen1 and the foundations of the world were discovered1 ,o ,lord1 at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils4 ,so they regarded the thunder as his voice4 ,the voice of ,jehovah cutteth out the fiery lightnings1 and shaketh the wilderness of ,kadesh4 ,this word is also frequently placed for the rational spirit of man1 the seat of intellect and feeling4 ,it is likewise sometimes representative of the character and disposition of men1 whether good or bad4 ,hosea speaks of a spirit of vile lust4 ,in the ,second ,book of ,chronicles we read1 ,there came out a spirit1 and stood before ,jehovah1 and said1 ,i will entice ,king ,ahab to his destruction4 ,i will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets4 ,belshazzar says to ,daniel1 ,i know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee4 ,finally1 it is applied to ,jehovah1 signifying the divine spirit1 or power1 by which all animate creatures live1 the universe is filled with motion1 all extraordinary gifts of skill1 genius1 strength1 or virtue are bestowed1 and men incited to forsake evil and walk in the paths of truth and piety4 ,thou sendest forth thy spirit1 they are created1 and thou renewest the face of the earth2 thou takest away their breath1 they die and return to their dust4 ,jehovah will be a spirit of justice in them that sit to administer judgment4 ,it seems to be implied that the life of man1 having emanated from the spirit1 is to be again absorbed in it1 when it is said1 ,then shall the dust return to the earth as it was1 and the spirit shall return unto ,god who gave it4 ,nephesh is but partially a synonym for the word whose significations we have just considered4 ,the different senses it bears are strangely interchanged and confounded in ,king ,james's version4 ,its first meaning is breath1 the breathing of a living being4 ,next it means the vital spirit1 the indwelling life of the body4 ,if any mischief follow1 thou shalt take life for life4 ,the most adequate rendering of it would be1 in a great majority of instances1 by the term life4 ,in jeopardy of his life not soul hath ,adonijah spoken this4 ,it sometimes represents the intelligent soul or mind1 the subject of knowledge and desire4 ,my soul knoweth right well44 ,also the heart1 is often used more frequently perhaps than any other term as meaning the vital principle1 and the seat of consciousness1 intellect1 will1 and affection4 ,jehovah said to ,solomon1 in answer to his prayer1 ,lo1 ,i have given thee a wise and an understanding heart4 ,the later ,jews speculated much1 with many cabalistic refinements1 on these different words4 ,they said many persons were supplied with a ,nephesh without a ,ruah1 much more without a ,neshamah4 ,they declared that the ,nephesh 7,psyche7 was the soul of the body1 the ,ruah 7,pneuma7 the soul of the ,nephesh1 and the ,neshamah 7,nous7 the soul of the ,ruah4 ,some of the ,rabbins assert that the destination of the ,nephesh1 when the body dies1 is ,sheol2 of the ,ruah1 the air2 and of the ,neshamah1 heaven4 #f ,the ,hebrews used all those words in speaking of brutes1 to denote their sensitive existence1 that they did in reference to men4 ,they held that life was in every instance an emission1 or breath1 from the ,spirit of ,god4 ,but they do not intimate of brutes1 as they do of men1 that they have surviving shades4 ,the author of the ,book of ,ecclesiastes1 however1 bluntly declares that all have one breath1 and all go to one place1 so that a man hath no pre eminence above a beast4 ,as far as the words used to express existence1 soul1 or mind1 legitimate any inference1 it would seem to be1 either that the essential life is poured out at death as so much air1 or else that it is received again by ,god1 in both cases implying naturally1 though not of philosophic necessity1 the close of conscious1 individual existence4 ,but the examination we have made of their real opinions shows that1 however obviously this conclusion might flow from their pneumatology1 it was not the expectation they cherished4 ,they believed there was a dismal empire in the earth where the rephaim1 or ghosts of the dead1 reposed forever in a state of semi sleep4 ,it is a land of shadows3 yea1 the land ,itself is but a shadow1 and the race ,that dwell therein are voices1 forms of forms4 ,and echoes of themselves4 ,that the ,hebrews1 during the time covered by their sacred records1 had no conception of a retributive life beyond the present1 knew nothing of a blessed immortality1 is shown by two conclusive arguments1 in addition to the positive demonstration afforded by the views which1 as we have seen1 they did actually hold in regard to the future lot of man4 ,first1 they were puzzled1 they were troubled and distressed1 by the moral phenomena of the present life1 the misfortunes of the righteous1 the prosperity of the wicked4 ,read the ,book of ,ecclesiastes1 the ,book of ,job1 some of the ,psalms4 ,had they been acquainted with future reward and punishment1 they could easily have solved these problems to their satisfaction4 ,secondly1 they regarded life as the one blessing1 death as the one evil4 ,something of sadness1 we may suppose1 was in the wise man's tones when he said1 ,a living dog is better than a dead lion4 ,obey ,jehovah's laws1 that thy days may be long in the land he giveth thee2 the wicked shall not live out half his days3 such is the burden of the ,old ,testament4 ,it was reserved for a later age to see life and immortality brought to light1 and for the disciples of a clearer faith to feel that death is gain4 ,there are many passages in the ,hebrew ,scriptures generally supposed and really appearing1 upon a slight examination1 not afterwards to teach doctrines different from those here stated4 ,we will give two examples in a condensed form4 ,thou wilt not leave #f ,tractatus de ,anima a ,r4 ,moscheh ,korduero4 ,in ,kabbala ,denudata4 tom4 i4 pars ii4 my soul in ,sheol3 4 4 4 at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore4 ,this text1 properly translated and explained1 means1 ,thou wilt not leave me to misfortune and untimely death3 4 4 4 in thy royal favor is prosperity and length of days4 ,i know that my ,redeemer liveth34 4 4 in my flesh ,i shall see ,god4 ,the genuine meaning of this triumphant exclamation of faith is1 ,i know that ,god is the ,vindicator of the upright1 and that he will yet justify me before ,i die4 ,a particular examination of the remaining passages of this character with which erroneous conceptions are generally connected would show1 first1 that in nearly every case these passages are not accurately translated2 secondly1 that they may be satisfactorily interpreted as referring merely to this life1 and cannot by a sound exegesis be explained otherwise2 thirdly1 that the meaning usually ascribed to them is inconsistent with the whole general tenor1 and with numberless positive and explicit statements1 of the books in which they are found2 fourthly1 that if there are1 as there dubiously seem to be in some of the ,psalms1 texts implying the ascent of souls after death to a heavenly life1 for example1 ,thou shalt guide me with thy countenance1 and afterward receive me to glory1 they were the product of a late period1 and reflect a faith not native to the ,hebrews1 but first known to them after their intercourse with the ,persians4 ,christians reject the allegorizing of the ,jews1 and yet traditionally accept1 on their authority1 doctrines which can be deduced from their ,scriptures in no other way than by the absurd hypothesis of a double or mystic sense4 ,for example1 scores of ,christian authors have taught the dogma of a general resurrection of the dead1 deducing it from such passages as ,god's sentence upon ,adam3 ,from the dust wast thou taken1 and unto the dust shalt thou return2 as ,joel's patriotic picture of the ,jews victorious in battle1 and of the vanquished heathen gathered in the valley of ,jehoshaphat to witness their installation as rulers of the earth2 and as the declaration of the ,god of battles3 ,i am he that kills and that makes alive1 that wounds and that heals4 ,and they maintain that the doctrine of immortality is inculcated in such texts as these3 when ,moses asks to see ,god1 and the reply is1 ,no man can see me and live2 when ,bathsheba bows and says1 ,let my lord ,king ,david live forever2 and when the sacred poet praises ,god1 saying1 ,thou hast delivered my soul from death1 mine eyes from tears1 and my feet from falling4 ,such interpretations of ,scripture are lamentable in the extreme2 their context shows them to be absurd4 ,the meaning is forced into the words1 not derived from them4 ,such as we have now seen were the ancient ,hebrew ideas of the future state4 ,to those who received them the life to come was cheerless1 offering no attraction save that of peace to the weary sufferer4 ,on the other hand1 it had no terror save the natural revulsion of the human heart from everlasting darkness1 silence1 and dreams4 ,in view of deliverance from so dreary a fate1 by translation through ,jesus ,christ to the splendors of the world above the firmament1 there are many exultations in the ,epistles of ,paul1 and in other portions of the ,new ,testament4 ,the ,hebrew views of the soul and its destiny1 as discerned through the intimations of their ,scriptures are very nearly what1 from a fair consideration of the case1 we should suppose they would be1 agreeing in the main with the natural speculations of other early nations upon the same subject4 ,these opinions underwent but little alteration until a century or a century and a half before the dawn of the ,christian era4 ,this is shown by the phraseology of the ,septuagint version of the ,pentateuch1 and by the allusions in the so called ,apocryphal books4 ,in these1 so far as there are any relevant statements or implications1 they are of the same character as those which we have explained from the more ancient writings4 ,this is true1 with the notable exceptions of the ,wisdom of ,solomon and the ,second ,maccabees1 neither of which documents can be dated earlier than a hundred and twenty years before ,christ4 ,the former contains the doctrine of transmigration4 ,the author says1 ,being wise1 ,i came into a body undefiled4#g ,but1 with the exception of this and one other passage1 there is little or nothing in the book which is definite on the subject of a future life4 ,it is difficult to tell what the author's real faith was3 his words seem rather rhetorical than dogmatic4 ,he says1 ,to be allied unto wisdom is immortality2 but other expressions would appear to show that by immortality he means merely a deathless posthumous fame1 leaving an eternal memorial of himself to all who shall come after him4 ,again he declares1 ,the spirit when it is gone forth returneth not2 neither the soul received up cometh again4 ,and here we find1 too1 the famous text1 ,god created man to be immortal1 and made him to be an image of his own eternity4 ,nevertheless1 through envy of the devil came death into the world1 and they that hold of his side do find it4#h ,upon the whole1 it is pretty clear that the writer believed in a future life2 but the details are too partially and obscurely shadowed to be drawn forth4 ,we may1 however1 hazard a conjecture on the passage last quoted1 especially with the help of the light cast upon it from its evident ,persian origin4 ,what is it1 expressed by the term death1 which is found by the adherents of the devil distinctively8 ,death cannot here be a metaphor for an inward state of sin and woe1 because it is contrasted with the plainly literal phrases1 created to be immortal1 an image of ,god's eternity4 ,it cannot signify simply physical dissolution1 because this is found as well by ,god's servants as by the devil's4 ,its genuine meaning is1 most probably1 a descent into the black kingdom of sadness and silence under the earth1 while the souls of the good were received up4 ,the ,second ,book of ,maccabees with emphasis repeatedly asserts future retribution and a bodily resurrection4 ,in the seventh chapter a full account is given of seven brothers and their mother who suffered martyrdom1 firmly sustained by faith in a glorious reward for their heroic fidelity1 to be reaped at the resurrection4 ,one of them says to the tyrant by whose order he was tortured1 ,as for thee1 thou shalt have no resurrection to life4 ,nicanor1 bleeding from many horrible wounds1 plucked out his bowels and cast them upon the throng1 and1 calling upon the ,lord of life and spirit to restore him those again1 at the day of resurrection1 he thus died4#i ,other passages in this book to the same effect it is needless to quote4 ,the details lying latent in those we have quoted will soon be illuminated and filled out when we come to treat of the opinions of the ,pharisees4 #aj #g ,cap4 viii4 #bj4 #h ,cap4 ii4 #bc1 #bd4 #i ,cap4 xiv4 #df4 #aj ,see a very able discussion of the relation between the ideas concerning immortality1 resurrection1 judgment1 and retribution1 contained in the ,old ,testament ,apocrypha1 and those in the ,new ,testament1 by ,frisch1 inserted in ,eichhorn's ,allgemeine ,bibliothek der ,biblischen ,literatur1 band iv4 stuck iv4 ,there lived in ,alexandria a very learned ,jew named ,philo1 the author of voluminous writings1 a zealous ,israelite1 but deeply imbued both with the doctrines and the spirit of ,plato4 ,he was born about twenty years before ,christ1 and survived him about thirty years4 ,the weight of his character1 the force of his talents1 the fascinating adaptation of his peculiar philosophical speculations and of his bold and subtle allegorical expositions of ,scripture to the mind of his age and of the succeeding centuries1 together with the eminent literary position and renown early secured for him by a concurrence of causes1 have combined to make him exert according to the expressed convictions of the best judges1 such as ,lucke and ,norton a greater influence on the history of ,christian opinions than any single man1 with the exception of the ,apostle ,paul1 since the days of ,christ4 ,it is important1 and will be interesting1 to see some explanation of his views on the subject of a future life4 ,a synopsis of them must suffice4 ,philo was a ,platonic ,alexandrian ,jew1 not a ,zoroastrian ,palestinian ,pharisee4 ,it was a current saying among the ,christian ,fathers1 ,vel ,plato ,philonizat1 vel ,philo ,platonizat4 ,he has little to say of the ,messiah1 nothing to say of the ,messianic eschatology4 ,we speak of him in this connection because he was a ,jew1 flourishing at the commencement of the ,christian epoch1 and contributing much1 by his cabalistic interpretations1 to lead ,christians to imagine that the ,old ,testament contained the doctrine of a spiritual immortality connected with a system of rewards and punishments4 ,three principal points include the substance of ,philo's faith on the subject in hand4 ,he rejected the notion of a resurrection of the body and held to the natural immortality of the soul4 ,he entertained the most profound and spiritual conceptions of the intrinsically deadly nature and wretched fruits of all sin1 and of the self contained welfare and self rewarding results of every element of virtue1 in themselves1 independent of time and place and regardless of external bestowments of woe or joy4 ,he also believed at the same time in contrasted localities above and below1 appointed as the residences of the disembodied souls of good and of wicked men4 ,we will quote miscellaneously various passages from him in proof and illustration of these statements3 ,man's bodily form is made from the ground1 the soul from no created thing1 but from the ,father of all2 so that1 although man was mortal as to his body1 he was immortal as to his mind4#aa ,complete virtue is the tree of immortal life4#ab ,vices and crimes1 rushing in through the gate of sensual pleasure1 changed a happy and immortal life for a wretched and mortal one4#ac ,referring to the allegory of the garden of ,eden1 he says1 ,the death threatened for eating the fruit was not natural1 the separation of soul and body1 but penal1 the sinking of the soul in the body4#ad ,death is twofold1 one of man1 one of the soul4 ,the death of man is the separation of the soul from the body2 the death of the soul is the corruption of virtue #aa ,mangey's edition of ,philo's works1 vol4 i4 p4 #cb4 #ab ,ibid4 p4 #ch4 #ac ,ibid4 p4 #cg4 #ad ,ibid4 p4 #fe4 and the assumption of vice4#ae ,to me1 death with the pious is preferable to life with the impious4 ,for those so dying1 deathless life delivers2 but those so living1 eternal death seizes4#af ,he writes of three kinds of life1 one of which neither ascends nor cares to ascend1 groping in the secret recesses of ,hades and rejoicing in the most lifeless life4#ag ,commenting on the promise of the ,lord to ,abram1 that he should be buried in a good old age1 ,philo observes that ,a polished1 purified soul does not die1 but emigrates3 it is of an inextinguishable and deathless race1 and goes to heaven1 escaping the dissolution and corruption which death seems to introduce4#ah ,a vile life is the true ,hades1 despicable and obnoxious to every sort of execration4 #ai ,different regions are set apart for different things1 heaven for the good1 the confines of the earth for the bad4#bj ,he thinks the ladder seen by ,jacob in his dream is a figure of the air1 which1 reaching from earth to heaven1 is the house of unembodied souls1 the image of a populous city having for citizens immortal souls1 some of whom descend into mortal bodies1 but soon return aloft1 calling the body a sepulchre from which they hasten1 and1 on light wings seeking the lofty ether1 pass eternity in sublime contemplations4#ba ,the wise inherit the ,olympic and heavenly region to dwell in1 always studying to go above2 the bad1 the innermost parts of ,hades1 always laboring to die4#bb ,he literally accredits the account1 in the sixteenth chapter of ,numbers1 of the swallowing of ,korah and his company1 saying1 ,the earth opened and took them alive into ,hades4#bc ,ignorant men regard death as the end of punishments1 whereas in the ,divine judgment it is scarcely the beginning of them4#bd ,he describes the meritorious man as fleeing to ,god and receiving the most intimate honor of a firm place in heaven2 but the reprobate man is dragged below1 down to the very lowest place1 to ,tartarus itself and profound darkness4#be ,he who is not firmly held by evil may by repentance return to virtue1 as to the native land from which he has wandered4 ,but he who suffers from incurable vice must endure its dire penalties1 banished into the place of the impious until the whole of eternity4#bf ,such1 then1 was the substance of ,philo's opinions on the theme before us1 as indeed many more passages1 which we have omitted as superfluous1 might be cited from him to show4 ,man was made originally a mortal body and an immortal soul4 ,he should have been happy and pure while in the body1 and on leaving it have soared up to the realm of light and bliss on high1 to join the angels4 ,abraham1 leaving his mortal part1 was added to the people of ,god1 #ae ,ibid4 p4 #fe4 #af ,ibid4 p4 #bcc4 #ag ,ibid4 p4 #dgi4 #ah ,ibid4 p4 #eac4 #ai ,ibid4 p4 #ebg4 #bj ,ibid4 p4 #eee4 #ba ,ibid4 p4 #fda1 #fdb4 #bb ,ibid4 p4 #fdc4 #bc ,ibid4 vol4 ii4 p4 #agh4 #bd ,ibid4 p4 #dai4 #be ,mangey's edition of ,philo's ,works1 vol4 ii4 p4 #dcc4 #bf ,ibid4 vol4 i4 p4 #aci4 enjoying immortality and made similar to the angels4 ,for the angels are the army of ,god1 bodiless and happy souls4#bg ,but1 through the power of evil1 all who yield to sin and vice lose that estate of bright and blessed immortality1 and become discordant1 wretched1 despicable1 and1 after the dissolution of the body1 are thrust down to gloom and manifold just retribution in ,hades4 ,he believed in the pre existence1 and in a limited transmigration1 of souls4 ,here he leaves the subject1 saying nothing of a resurrection or final restoration1 and not speculating as to any other of the details4 #bh ,we pass on to speak of the ,jewish sects at the time of ,christ4 ,there were three of these1 cardinally differing from each other in their theories of the future fate of man4 ,first1 there were the skeptical1 materialistic ,sadducees1 wealthy1 proud1 few4 ,they openly denied the existence of any disembodied souls1 avowing that men utterly perished in the grave4 ,the cloud faileth and passeth away3 so he that goeth down to the grave doth not return4#bi ,we read in the ,acts of the ,apostles1 ,the ,sadducees say there is no resurrection1 neither angel nor spirit4 ,at the same time they accepted the ,pentateuch1 only rejecting or explaining away those portions of it which relate to the separate existence of souls and to their subterranean abode4 ,they strove to confound their opponents1 the advocates of a future life1 by such perplexing questions as the one they addressed to ,jesus1 asking1 in the case of a woman who had had seven successive husbands1 which one of them should be her husband in the resurrection4 ,all that we can gather concerning the ,sadducees from the ,new ,testament is amply confirmed by ,josephus1 who explicitly declares1 ,their doctrine is that souls die with the bodies4 ,the second sect was the ascetical and philosophical ,essenes1 of whom the various information given by ,philo in his celebrated paper on the ,therapeuta agrees with the account in ,josephus and with the scattered gleams in other sources4 ,the doctrine of the ,essenes on the subject of our present inquiry was much like that of ,philo himself2 and in some particulars it remarkably resembles that of many ,christians4 ,they rejected the notion of the resurrection of the body1 and maintained the inherent immortality of the soul4 ,they said that the souls of men1 coming out of the most subtle and pure air1 are bound up in their bodies as in so many prisons2 but1 being freed at death1 they do rejoice1 and are borne aloft where a state of happy life forever is decreed for the virtuous2 but the vicious are assigned to eternal punishment in a dark1 cold place4 #cj ,such sentiments appear to have inspired the heroic ,eleazar1 whose speech to his followers is reported by ,josephus1 when they were besieged at ,masada1 urging them to rush on the foe1 for death is better than life1 is the only true life1 leading the soul to infinite freedom and joy above4#ca #bg ,ibid4 p4 #afd4 #bh ,see1 in the ,analekten of ,keil and ,tzschirner1 band i stuck ii41 an article by ,dr4 ,schreiter1 entitled ,philo's ,ideen uber ,unsterblichkeit1 ,auferstehung1 und ,vergeltung4 #bi ,lightfoot in ,matt4 xxii4 #bc4 #cj ,josephus1 ,de ,bell4 lib4 ii4 cap4 #h4 #ca ,ibid4 lib4 vii4 cap4 #h4 ,but by far the most numerous and powerful of the ,jewish sects at that time1 and ever since1 were the eclectic1 traditional1 formalist ,pharisees3 eclectic1 inasmuch as their faith was formed by a partial combination of various systems2 traditional1 since they allowed a more imperative sway to the authority of the ,fathers1 and to oral legends and precepts1 than to the plain letter of ,scripture2 formalist1 for they neglected the weightier spiritual matters of the law in a scrupulous tithing of mint1 cumin1 and anise seed1 a pretentious wearing of broad phylacteries1 an uttering of long prayers in the streets1 and the various other hypocritical priestly paraphernalia of a severe mechanical ritual4 ,from ,josephus we learn that the ,pharisees believed that the souls of the faithful that is1 of all who punctiliously observed the law of ,moses and the traditions of the elders would live again by transmigration into new bodies2 but that the souls of all others1 on leaving their bodies1 were doomed to a place of confinement beneath1 where they must abide forever4 ,these are his words3 ,the ,pharisees believe that souls have an immortal strength in them1 and that in the under world they will experience rewards or punishments according as they have lived well or ill in this life4 ,the righteous shall have power to live again1 but sinners shall be detained in an everlasting prison4#cb ,again1 he writes1 ,the ,pharisees say that all souls are incorruptible1 but that only the souls of good men are removed into other bodies4#cc ,the fragment entitled ,concerning ,hades1 formerly attributed to ,josephus1 is now acknowledged on all sides to be a gross forgery4 ,the ,greek culture and philosophical tincture with which he was imbued led him to reject the doctrine of a bodily resurrection2 and this is probably the reason why he makes no allusion to that doctrine in his account of the ,pharisees4 ,that such a doctrine was held among them is plain from passages in the ,new ,testament1 passages which also shed light upon the statement actually made by ,josephus4 ,jesus says to ,martha1 ,thy brother shall rise again4 ,she replies1 ,i know that he shall rise in the resurrection1 at the last day4 ,some of the ,pharisees1 furthermore1 did not confine the privilege or penalty of transmigration1 and of the resurrection1 to the righteous4 ,they once asked ,jesus1 ,who did sin1 this man or his parents1 that he was born blind8 ,plainly1 he could not have been born blind for his own sins unless he had known a previous life4 ,paul1 too1 says of them1 in his speech at ,casarea1 ,they themselves also allow that there shall be a resurrection of the dead1 both of the just and of the unjust4 ,this1 however1 is very probably an exception to their prevailing belief4 ,their religious intolerance1 theocratic pride1 hereditary national vanity1 and sectarian formalism1 often led them to despise and overlook the ,gentile world1 haughtily restricting the boon of a renewed life to the legal children of ,abraham4 ,but the grand source now open to us of knowledge concerning the prevailing opinions of the ,jews on our present subject at and subsequent to the time of ,christ is the ,talmud4 ,this is a collection of the traditions of the oral law1 7,mischna17 with the copious precepts and comments 7,gemara7 of the most learned and authoritative ,rabbins4 ,it is a wonderful monument of myths and fancies1 profound speculations and ridiculous puerilities1 antique #cb ,antiq4 lib4 xviii4 cap4 #a4cc ,de ,bell4 lib4 ii4 cap4 #h4 legends and cabalistic subtleties1 crowned and loaded with the national peculiarities4 ,the ,jews reverence it extravagantly1 saying1 ,the ,bible is salt1 the ,mischna pepper1 the ,gemara balmy spice4 ,rabbi ,solomon ben ,joseph sings1 in our poet's version1 ,the ,kabbala and ,talmud hoar ,than all the ,prophets prize ,i more2 ,for water is all ,bible lore1 ,but ,mischna is pure wine4 ,the rambling character and barbarous dialect of this work have joined with various other causes to withhold from it far too much of the attention of ,christian critics4 ,saving by old ,lightfoot and ,pocock1 scarcely a contribution has ever been offered us in ,english from this important field4 ,the ,germans have done far better2 and numerous huge volumes1 the costly fruits of their toils1 are standing on neglected shelves4 ,the eschatological views derived from this source are authentically ,jewish1 however closely they may resemble some portion of the popular ,christian conceptions upon the same subject4 ,the correspondences between some ,jewish and some ,christian theological dogmas betoken the influx of an adulterated ,judaism into a nascent ,christianity1 not the reflex of a pure ,christianity upon a receptive ,judaism4 ,it is important to show this2 and it appears from several considerations4 ,in the first place1 it is demonstrable1 it is unquestioned1 that at least the germs and outlines of the dogmas referred to were in actual existence among the ,pharisees before the conflict between ,christianity and ,judaism arose4,secondly1 in the ,rabbinical writings these dogmas are most fundamental1 vital1 and pervading1 in relation to the whole system2 but in the ,christian they seem subordinate and incidental1 have every appearance of being ingrafts1 not outgrowths4 ,thirdly1 in the apostolic age ,judaism was a consolidated1 petrified system1 defended from outward influence on all sides by an invulnerable bigotry1 a haughty exclusiveness2 while ,christianity was in a young and vigorous1 an assimilating and formative1 state4 ,fourthly1 the overweening sectarian vanity and scorn of the ,jews1 despising1 hating1 and fearing the ,christians1 would not permit them to adopt peculiarities of belief from the latter2 but the ,christians were undeniably ,jews in almost every thing except in asserting the ,messiahship of ,jesus3 they claimed to be the genuine ,jews1 children of the law and realizers of the promise4 ,the ,jewish dogmas1 therefore1 descended to them as a natural lineal inheritance4 ,finally1 in the ,acts of the ,apostles1 the letters of ,paul1 and the progress of the ,ebionites1 7which sect included nearly all the ,christians of the first century17 we can trace step by step the actual workings1 in reliable history1 of the process that we affirm1 namely1 the assimilation of ,jewish elements into the popular ,christianity4 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,rabbinical ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,the starting point in the ,talmud on this subject is with the effects of sin upon the human race4 ,man was made radiant1 pure1 immortal1 in the image of ,god4 ,by sin he was obscured1 defiled1 burdened with mortal decay and judgment4 ,in this representation that misery and death were an after doom brought into the world by sin1 the ,rabbinical authorities strikingly agree4 ,the testimony is irresistible4 ,we need not quote confirmations of this statement1 as every scholar in this department will accept it at once4 ,but as to what is meant precisely by the term death1 as used in such a connection1 there is no little obscurity and diversity of opinion4 ,in all probability1 some of the ,pharisaical fathers perhaps the majority of them conceived that1 if ,adam had not sinned1 he and his posterity would have been physically immortal1 and would either have lived forever on the earth1 or have been successively transferred to the home of ,jehovah over the firmament4 ,they call the devil1 who is the chief accuser in the heavenly court of justice1 the angel of death1 by the name of ,sammael4 ,rabbi ,reuben says1 ,when ,sammael saw ,adam sin1 he immediately sought to slay him1 and went to the heavenly council and clamored for justice against him1 pleading thus3 ',god made this decree1 ,in the day thou eatest of the tree thou shalt surely die4 ,therefore give him to me1 for he is mine1 and ,i will kill him2 to this end was ,i created2 and give me power over all his descendants4' ,when the celestial ,sanhedrim perceived that his petition was just1 they decreed that it should be granted4#a ,a great many expressions of kindred tenor might easily be adduced1 leaving it hardly possible to doubt as indeed we are not aware that any one does doubt that many of the ,jews literally held that sin was the sole cause of bodily dissolution4 ,but1 on the other hand1 there were as certainly others who did not entertain that idea1 but understood and explained the terms in which it was sometimes conveyed in a different1 a partially figurative1 sense4 ,rabbi ,samuel ben ,david writes1 ,although the first ,adam had not sinned1 yet death would have been2 for death was created on the first day4 ,the reference here is1 as ,rabbi ,berechias explains1 to the account in ,genesis where we read that darkness was upon the face of the deep1 by which is to be understood the angel of death1 who has darkened the face of man4#b ,the ,talmudists generally believed also in the pre existence of souls in heaven1 and in a spiritual body investing and fitting the soul for heaven1 as the present carnal body invests and fits it for the earth4 ,schoettgen has collected numerous illustrations in point1 of which the following may serve as specimens4#c ,when the first ,adam had not sinned1 he was every way an angel of the ,lord1 perfect and spotless1 and it was decreed that he should live forever like one of the celestial ministers4 ,the soul cannot ascend into ,paradise except it be first invested with a #a ,schoettgen1 ,dissertatio de ,hierosolyma ,coelesti1 cap4 iii4 sect4 #i4 #b ,schoettgen1 ,hora ,biblica et ,talmudica1 in ,rom4 v4 #ab1 et in ,johan4 iii4 #ai4 #c ,ibid4 in #b ,cor4 v4 #b4 clothing adapted to that world1 as the present is for this world4 ,these notions do not harmonize with the thought that man was originally destined for a physical eternity on this globe4 ,all this difficulty disappears1 we think1 and the true metaphorical force often intended in the word death comes to view1 through the following conception1 occupying the minds of a portion of the ,jewish ,rabbins1 as we are led to believe by the clews furnished in the close connection between the ,pharisaic and the ,zoroastrian eschatology1 by similar hints in various parts of the ,new ,testament1 and by some quite explicit declarations in the ,talmud itself1 which we shall soon cite in a different connection4 ,god at first intended that man should live for a time in pure blessedness on the earth1 and then without pain should undergo a glorious change making him a perfect peer of the angels1 and be translated to their lofty abode in his own presence2 but1 when he sinned1 ,god gave him over to manifold suffering1 and on the destruction of his body adjudged his naked soul to descend to a doleful imprisonment below the grave4 ,the immortality meant for man was a timely ascent to heaven in a paradisal clothing1 without dying4 ,the doom brought on him by sin was the alteration of that desirable change of bodies and ascension to the supernal splendors1 for a permanent disembodiment and a dreaded descent to the subterranean glooms4 ,it is a ,talmudical as much as it is a ,pauline idea1 that the triumphant power of the ,messiah would restore what the unfortunate fall of ,adam forfeited4 ,now1 if we can show as we think we can1 and as we shall try to do in a later part of this article that the later ,jews expected the ,messianic resurrection to be the prelude to an ascent into heaven1 and not the beginning of a gross earthly immortality1 it will powerfully confirm the theory which we have just indicated4 ,when1 says one of the old ,rabbins1 the dead in ,israelitish earth are restored alive1 their bodies will be as the body of the first ,adam before he sinned1 and they shall all fly into the air like birds4#d ,at all events1 whether the general ,rabbinical belief was in the primitive destination of man to a heavenly or to an earthly immortality1 whether the death decreed upon him in consequence of sin was the dissolution of the body or the wretchedness of the soul1 they all agree that the banishment of souls into the realm of blackness under the grave was a part of the penalty of sin4 ,some of them maintained1 as we think1 that1 had there been no sin1 souls would have passed to heaven in glorified bodies2 others of them maintained1 as we think1 that1 had there been no sin1 they would have lived eternally upon earth in their present bodies2 but all of them agreed1 it is undisputed1 that in consequence of sin souls were condemned to the under world4 ,no man would have seen the dismal realm of the sepulchre had there not been sin4 ,the earliest ,hebrew conception was that all souls went down to a common abode1 to spend eternity in dark slumber or nerveless groping4 ,this view was first modified soon after the ,persian captivity1 by the expectation that there would be discrimination at the resurrection which the ,jews had learned to look for1 when the just should rise but the wicked should be left4 ,the next alteration of their notions on this subject was the subdivision of the underworld into ,paradise and ,gehenna1 a conception known among them probably as early as a century before ,christ1 and very prominent with them in the apostolic age4 ,when ,rabbi #d ,schoettgen1 in #a ,cor4 xv4 #dd4 ,jochanan was dying1 his disciples asked him1 ',light of ,israel1 main pillar of the right1 thou strong hammer1 why dost thou weep8' ,he answered1 ',two paths open before me1 the one leading to bliss1 the other to torments2 and ,i know not which of them will be my doom4'#e ,paradise is separated from hell by a distance no greater than the width of a thread4#f ,so1 in ,christ's parable of ,dives and ,lazarus1 ,abraham's bosom and hell are two divisions4 ,there are three doors into ,gehenna3 one in the wilderness1 where ,korah and his company were swallowed2 one in the sea1 where ,jonah descended when he 'cried out of the belly of hell2' one in ,jerusalem1 for the ,lord says1 ',my furnace is in ,jerusalem4'#g ,the under world is divided into palaces1 each of which is so large that it would take a man three hundred years to roam over it4 ,there are distinct apartments where the hell punishments are inflicted4 ,one place is so dark that its name is ',night of ,horrors4#h ,in ,paradise there are certain mansions for the pious from the ,gentile peoples1 and for those mundane kings who have done kindness to the ,israelites4#i ,the fire of ,gehenna was kindled on the evening of the first ,sabbath1 and shall never be extinguished4#aj ,the ,egyptians1 ,persians1 ,hindus1 and ,greeks1 with all of whom the ,jews held relations of intercourse1 had1 in their popular representations of the under world of the dead1 regions of peace and honor for the good1 and regions of fire for the bad4 ,the idea may have been adopted from them by the ,jews1 or it may have been at last developed among themselves1 first by the imaginative poetical1 afterwards by the literally believing1 transference below of historical and local imagery and associations1 such as those connected with the ingulfing of ,sodom and ,gomorrah in fire and sulphur1 and with the loathed fires in the valley of ,hinnom4 ,many of the ,rabbins believed in the transmigration or revolution of souls1 an immemorial doctrine of the ,fast1 and developed it into the most ludicrous and marvellous details4#aa ,but1 with the exception of those who adopted this ,indian doctrine1 the ,rabbins supposed all departed souls to be in the under world1 some in the division of ,paradise1 others in that of hell4 ,here they fancied these souls to be longingly awaiting the advent of the ,messiah4 ,messiah and the patriarchs weep together in ,paradise over the delay of the time of the kingdom4#ab ,in this quotation the ,messiah is represented as being in the under world1 for the ,jews expected that he would be a man1 very likely some one who had already lived4 ,for a delegation was once sent to ask ,jesus1 ,art thou ,elias8 art thou the ,messiah8 art thou that prophet8 ,light is thus thrown upon the ,rabbinical saying that it was doubted whether the ,messiah would come from the living1 or the dead4#ac ,borrowing some ,persian modes of thinking1 and adding them to their own inordinate national pride1 the ,rabbins soon began #e ,talmud1 tract4 ,berachoth4 #f ,eisenmenger1 ,entdecktes ,judenthum1 th4 ii4 cap4 v4 s4 #cae4 #g ,lightfoot1 in ,matt4 v4 #bb4 #h ,schroder1 ,satzungen and ,gebrauche des ,talmudisch ,rabbinischen ,judenthums1 s4 #djh4 #i ,schoettgen1 in ,johan4 xiv4 #b4 #aj ,nov4 ,test4 ex ,talmude1 etc4 illustratum a ,j4 ,g4 ,menschen1 p4 #abe4 #aa ,basnage1 ,hist4 of ,jews1 lib4 iv4 cap4 #cj4 ,also1 ,traditions of the ,rabbins1 in ,blackwood for ,april1 #ahcc4 #ab ,eisenmenger1 th4 ii4 s4 #cjd4 #ac ,lightfoot1 in ,matt4 ii4 #af4 to fancy that the observance or non observance of the ,pharisaic ritual1 and kindred particulars1 must exert a great effect in determining the destination of souls and their condition in the under world4 ,observe the following quotations from the ,talmud4 ,abraham sits at the gate of hell to see that no ,israelite enters4 ,circumcision is so agreeable to ,god1 that he swore to ,abraham that no one who was circumcised should descend into hell4#ad ,what does ,abraham to those circumcised who have sinned too much8 ,he takes the foreskins from ,gentile boys who died without circumcision1 and places them on those ,jews who were circumcised but have become godless1 and then kicks them into hell4#ae ,hell here denotes that division in the under world where the condemned are punished4 ,the younger ,buxtorf1 in a preface to his father's ,synagoga ,judaica1 gives numerous specimens of ,jewish representations of the efficacy of circumcision being so great that no one who has undergone it shall go down into hell4 ,children can help their deceased parents out of hell by their good deeds1 prayers1 and offerings4#af ,beyond all doubt1 says ,gfrorer1 the ancient ,jewish synagogue inculcated the doctrine of supererogatory good works1 the merit of which went to benefit the departed souls4#ag ,here all souls were1 in the under world1 either in that part of it called ,paradise1 or in that named ,gehenna1 according to certain conditions4 ,but in whichever place they were1 and under whatever circumstances1 they were all tarrying in expectation of the advent of the ,messiah4 ,how deeply rooted1 how eagerly cherished1 the ,jewish belief in the approaching appearance of the ,messiah was1 and what a splendid group of ideas and imaginations they clustered around his reign1 are well known facts4 ,he was to be a descendant of royal ,david1 an inspired prophet1 priest1 and king1 was to subdue the whole earth beneath his ,jewish sceptre and establish from ,jerusalem a theocratic empire of unexampled glory1 holiness1 and delight4 ,in so much the consent was general and earnest2 though in regard to many further details there would seem to have been an incongruous diversity of opinions4 ,they supposed the coming of the ,messiah would be preceded by ten frightful woes1#ah also by the appearance of the prophet ,elias as a forerunner4#ai ,there are a few passages in the ,rabbinical writings which1 unless they were forged and interpolated by ,christians at a late period1 show that there were in the ,jewish mind anticipations of the personal descent of the ,messiah into the under world4#bj ,after this the ,messiah1 the son of ,david1 came to the gates of the underworld4 ,but when the bound1 who are in ,gehenna1 saw the light of the ,messiah1 they began rejoicing to receive him1 saying1 ',he shall lead us up from this darkness4' ,the captives shall #ad ,schroder1 s4 #ccb4 #ae ,eisenmenger1 th4 ii4 kap4 vi4 s4 #cdj4 #af ,ibid4 s4 #ceh4 #ag ,geschichte des ,urchristenthums1 zweit4 abth4 s4 #ahf4 ,maimonides also asserts the doctrine of supererogatory works3 see p4 #bcg of ,h4 ,h4 ,bernard's ,selections from the ,yad ,hachazakah of ,maimonides4 #ah ,surenhusius1 ,mischna1 pars tertia1 p4 #cjh4 #ai ,lightfoot1 in ,matt4 xvii4 #aj4 #bj ,for a general view of the ,jewish eschatology1 see ,gfrorer1 ,geschichte des ,urchristenthums1 kap4 x42 ,eisenmenger1 ,entdecktes ,judenthum1 th4 ii4 kap4 xv4 xvii4 ascend from the under world1 ,schechinah at their head4#ba ,gfrorer derives the origin of the doctrine that ,christ rescued souls out of the under world1 from a ,jewish notion1 preserved in the ,talmud1#bb that the just patriarchs sometimes did it4#bc ,bertholdt adduces ,talmudical declarations to show that through the ,messiah ,god would hereafter liberate the ,israelites from the under world1 on account of the merit of circumcision#bd ,schoettgen quotes this statement from the ,sohar3 ,messia shall die1 and shall remain in the state of death a time1 and shall rise4#be ,the so called ,fourth ,book of ,ezra says1 in the seventh chapter1 ,my son1 the ,christ1 shall die3 then follow the resurrection and the judgment4 ,although it is clear1 from various other sources1 as well as from the account in ,john xii4 #cd1 that there was a prevalent expectation among the ,jews that the ,messiah would abide forever1 it also seems quite certain that there were at the same time at least obscure presentiments1 based on prophecies and traditions1 that he must die1 that an important part of his mission was connected with his death4 ,this appears from such passages as we have cited above1 found in early ,rabbinical writers1 who would certainly be very unlikely to borrow and adapt a new idea of such a character from the ,christians2 and from the manner in which ,jesus assumes his death to be a part of the ,messianic fate and interprets the ,scriptures as necessarily pointing to that effect4 ,he charges his disciples with being fools and blind in not so understanding the doctrine2 thus seeming to imply that it was plainly known to some4 ,but this question the origin of the idea of a suffering1 atoning1 dying ,messiah is confessedly a very nice and obscure one4 ,the evidence1 the silence1 the inferences1 the presumptions and doubts on the subject are such1 that some of the most thorough and impartial students say they are unable to decide either way4 ,however the foregoing question be decided1 it is admitted by all that the ,jews earnestly looked for a resurrection of the dead as an accompaniment of the ,messiah's coming4 ,whether ,christ was to go down into the under world1 or to sit enthroned on ,mount ,zion1 in either case the dead should come up and live again on earth at the blast of his summoning trumpet4 ,rabbi ,jeremiah commanded1 ,when you bury me1 put shoes on my feet1 and give me a staff in my hand1 and lay me on one side1 that when the ,messiah comes ,i may be ready4#bf ,most of the ,rabbins made this resurrection partial4 ,whoever denies the resurrection of the dead shall have no part in it1 for the very reason that he denies it4#bg ,rabbi ,abbu says1 ,a day of rain is greater than the resurrection of the dead2 because the rain is for all1 while the resurrection is only for the just4#bh ,sodom and ,gomorrah shall not rise in the resurrection of the dead4#bi ,rabbi ,chebbo says1 ,the patriarchs so vehemently desired to be buried in #ba ,schoettgen1 ,de ,messia1 lib4 vi4 cap4 v4 sect4 #a4 #bb ,eisenmenger1 th4 ii4 ss4 #cdc1 #cfd4 #bc ,geschichte ,urchrist4 kap4 viii4 s4 #ahd4 #bd ,christologia ,judaorum ,jesu ,apostolorumque ,atate1 sect4 #cd1 7,de ,descensu ,messia ad ,inferos47 #be ,de ,messia1 lib4 vi4 cap4 v4 sect4 #b4 #bf ,lightfoot1 in ,matt4 xxvii4 #eb4 #bg ,witsius1 ,dissertatio de ,seculo1 etc4 sect4 #i4 #bh ,nov4 ,test4 ,illustratum1 etc4 a ,meuschen1 p4 #fb4 #bi ,schoettgen1 in ,johan4 vi4 #ci4 the land of ,israel1 because those who are dead in that land shall be the first to revive and shall devour his years1 the years of the ,messiah4 ,but for those just who are interred beyond the holy land1 it is to be understood that ,god will make a passage in the earth1 through which they will be rolled until they reach the land of ,israel4#cj ,rabbi ,jochanan says1 ,moses died out of the holy land1 in order to show that in the same way that ,god will raise up ,moses1 so he will raise all those who observe his law4 ,the national bigotry of the ,jews reaches a pitch of extravagance in some of their views that is amusing4 ,for instance1 they declare that one ,israelitish soul is dearer and more important to ,god than all the souls of a whole nation of the ,gentiles6 ,again1 they say1 ,when ,god judges the ,israelites1 he will stand1 and make the judgment brief and mild2 when he judges the ,gentiles1 he will sit1 and make it long and severe6 ,they affirm that the resurrection will be effected by means of a dew2 and they quote to that effect this verse from ,canticles3 ,i sleep1 but my heart waketh2 my head is filled with dew1 and my locks with drops of the night4 ,some assert that the resurrection will be immediately caused by ,god1 who never gives to any one the three keys of birth1 rain1 and the resurrection of the dead4 ,others say that the power to raise and judge the dead will be delegated to the ,messiah1 and even go so far as to assert that the trumpet whose formidable blasts will then shake the universe is to be one of the horns of that ram which ,abraham offered up instead of his son ,isaac6 ,some confine the resurrection to faithful ,jews1 some extend it to the whole ,jewish nation1 some think all the righteous of the earth will have part in it1 and some stretch its pale around all mankind alike4#ca ,they seem to agree that the reprobate would either be left in the wretched regions of ,sheol when the just arose1 or else be thrust back after the judgment1 to remain there forever4 ,it was believed that the righteous after their resurrection would never die again1 but ascend to heaven4 ,the ,jews after a time1 when the increase of geographical knowledge had annihilated from the earth their old ,eden whence the sinful ,adam was expelled1 changed its location into the sky4 ,thither1 as the later fables ran1 ,elijah was borne in his chariot of fire by the horses thereof4 ,rabbi ,pinchas says1 ,carefulness leads us to innocence1 innocence to purity1 purity to sanctity1 sanctity to humility1 humility to fear of sins1 fear of sins to piety1 piety to the holy spirit1 the holy spirit to the resurrection of the dead1 the resurrection of the dead to the prophet ,elias4#cb ,the writings of the early ,christian ,fathers contain many allusions to this blessed habitation of saints above the clouds4 ,it is illustrated in the following quaint ,rabbinical narrative4 ,rabbi ,jehosha ben ,levi once besought the angel of death to take him up1 ere he died1 to catch a glimpse of ,paradise4 ,standing on the wall1 he suddenly snatched the angel's sword and sprang over1 swearing by ,almighty ,god that he would not come out4 ,death was not allowed to enter ,paradise1 and the son of ,levi did not restore his sword until he had promised to be more gentle towards the dying4#cc ,the righteous were never to return to the dust1 but at the end #cj ,schoettgen1 ,de ,messia1 lib4 vi4 cap4 vi4 sect4 #bg4 #ca ,see an able dissertation on ,jewish ,notions of the ,resurrection of the ,dead1 prefixed to ,humphrey's ,translation of ,athenagoras on the ,resurrection4 #cb ,surenhusius1 ,mischna1 pars tertia1 p4 #cji4 #cc ,schroder1 s4 #dai4 of the thousand years1 the duration of the ,messiah's earthly reign1 when the ,lord is lifted up1 ,god shall fit wings to the just1 like the wings of eagles4#cd ,in a word1 the ,messiah and his redeemed ones would ascend into heaven to the right hand of ,god4 ,so ,paul1 who said1 ,i am a ,pharisee1 the son of a ,pharisee1 declares that when the dead have risen we shall be caught up in the clouds to be forever with the ,lord4 ,we forbear to notice a thousand curious details of speculation and fancy in which individual ,rabbins indulged2 for instance1 their common notion concerning the bone luz1 the single bone which1 withstanding dissolution1 shall form the nucleus of the resurrection body4 ,it was a prevalent belief with them that the resurrection would take place in the valley of ,jehoshaphat1 in proof of which they quote this text from ,joel3 ,let the heathen be wakened and come up to the valley of ,jehoshaphat2 for there will ,i sit to judge the nations around4 ,to this day1 wherever scattered abroad1 faithful ,jews cling to the expectation of the ,messiah's coming1 and associate with his day the resurrection of the dead4#ce ,the statement in the ,song of ,solomon1 ,the king is held in the galleries1 means1 says a ,rabbinical book1 that the ,messiah is detained in ,paradise1 fettered by a woman's hair6 ,every day1 throughout the world1 every consistent ,israelite repeats the words of ,moses ,maimonides1 the peerless ,rabbi1 of whom it is a proverb that from ,moses to ,moses there arose not a ,moses3 ,i believe with a perfect faith that the ,messiah will come1 and though he delays1 nevertheless1 ,i will always expect him till he come4 ,then shall glory cover the living1 and the risen1 children of ,israel1 and confusion fall on their ,gentile foes4 ,in almost every inch of the beautiful valley of ,jehoshaphat a ,jew has been buried4 ,all over the slopes of the hill sides around lie the thick clustering sepulchral slabs1 showing how eagerly the chosen people seek to sleep in the very spot where the first rising of the dead shall be4 ,entranced and mute1 ,in old ,jehoshaphat's valley1 they ,of ,israel think the assembled world ,will stand upon that awful day1 ,when the ,ark's light1 aloft unfurl'd1 ,among the opening clouds shall shine1 ,divinity's own radiant shrine4 ,any one familiar with the ,persian theology#cf will at once notice a striking resemblance between many of its dogmas and those1 first1 of ,pharisaism1 secondly1 of the popular ,christianity4 ,some examination of this subject properly belongs here4 ,there is1 then1 as is well known1 a circle or group of ideas1 particularly pertaining to eschatology1 which appear in the later ,jewish writings1 and remarkably correspond to those held by the ,parsees1 the followers of ,zoroaster4 ,the same notions also reappear in the early ,christianity as popularly understood4 ,we will specify some of these correspondences4 ,the doctrine of angels1 received by the ,jews1 their names1 offices1 rank1 and destiny1 was borrowed and formed #cd ,schoettgen1 de ,messia1 lib4 vi4 cap4 vi4 sect4 #bc2 cap4 vii4 ss4 #c1 #d4 #ce ,john ,allen1 ,modern ,judaism1 ch4 vi4 and xv4 #cf ,see ,abriss der ,religion ,zoroasters nach den ,zendbuchern1 von ,abbe ,foucher1 in ,kleuker's ,zend ,avesta1 band i4 zweit anhang1 ss4 #cbh-cdb4 by them during and just after the ,babylonish captivity1 and is much like that which they found among their enslavers4#cg ,the guardian angels appointed over nations1 spoken of by ,daniel1 are ,persian4 ,the angels called in the ,apocalypse the seven spirits of ,god sent forth into all the earth1 in ,zechariah the seven eyes of ,god which run to and fro through all the earth1 are the ,amschaspands of the ,persian faith4 ,the wars of the angels are described as minutely by the old ,persians as by ,milton4 ,the ,zend ,avesta pictures ,ahriman pregnant with ,death1 7die alte hollenschlange1 todschwangere ,ahriman17 as ,milton describes the womb of ,sin bearing that fatal monster4 ,the ,gahs1 or second order of angels1 the ,persians supposed1#ch were employed in preparing clothing and laying it up in heaven to clothe the righteous after the resurrection1 a fancy frequent among the ,rabbins and repeatedly alluded to in the ,new ,testament4 ,with both the ,persians and the ,jews1 all our race both sexes sprang from one original man4 ,with both1 the first pair were seduced and ruined by means of fruit which the devil gave to them4 ,with both1 there was a belief in demoniacal possessions1 devils or bad spirits entering human bodies4 ,with both1 there was the expectation of a great ,deliverer1 the ,persian ,sosiosch1 the ,jewish ,messiah1 whose coming would be preceded by fearful woes1 who would triumph over all evil1 raise the dead1 judge the world1 separate the righteous and the wicked1 purge the earth with fire1 and install a reign of glorious blessedness4#ci ,the conception of an under world1 says ,dr4 ,roth1 was known centuries before ,zoroaster2 but probably he was the first to add to the old belief the idea that the under world was a place of purification1 wherein souls were purged from all traces of sin4#dj ,of this belief in a subterranean purgatory there are numerous unmistakable evidences and examples in the ,rabbinical writings4#da ,these notions and others the ,pharisees early adopted1 and wrought into the texture of what they called the ,oral ,law1 that body of verbally transmitted legends1 precepts1 and dogmas1 afterwards written out and collected in the ,mischna1 to which ,christ repeatedly alluded with such severity1 saying1 ,ye by your traditions make the commandments of ,god of none effect4 ,to some doctrines of kindred character and origin with these ,paul refers when he warns his readers against the worshipping of angels1 endless genealogies1 philosophy falsely so called1 and various besetting heresies of the time4 ,but others were so woven and assimilated into the substance of the popular ,judaism of the age1 as inculcated by the ,rabbins1 that ,paul himself held them1 the lingering vestiges of his earnest ,pharisaic education and organized experience4 ,they naturally found their way into the ,apostolic ,church1 principally composed of ,ebionites1 ,christians who had been ,jews2 and from it they were never separated1 but have come to us in seeming orthodox garb1 and are generally #cg ,schroder1 p4 #che4 #ch ,yacna1 ,ha #daa4 ,kleuker1 zweit4 auf4 s4 #aih4 #ci ,die ,heiligen ,schriften der ,parsen1 von ,dr4 ,f4 ,spiegel1 kap4 ii4 ss4 #cb-cg4 ,studien and ,kritiken1 #ahhe1 band i41 ,ist die ,lehre von der ,anferstehung des ,leibes nicht ein alt ,persische ,lehre8 ,f4 ,nork1 ,mythen der ,alten ,perser als ,quellen ,christlicher ,glaubenslehren und ,ritualien4 #dj ,die ,zoroastrischen ,glaubenslehre1 von ,dr4 ,eduard ,roth4 s4 #dej4 #da ,see1 ,in tom4 i4 ,kabbala ,denudata1 ,synopsis ,dogmatum ,libri ,sohar pp4 #ajh1 #aji1 #aac4 retained now4 ,still1 they were errors4 ,they are incredible to the thinking minds of to day4 ,it is best to get rid of them by the truth1 that they are pagan growths introduced into ,christianity1 but to be discriminated from it4 ,by removing these antiquated and incredible excrescences from the real religion of ,christ1 we shall save the essential faith from the suspicion which their association with it1 their fancied identity with it1 invites and provokes4 ,the correspondences between the ,persian and the ,pharisaic faith1 in regard to doctrines1 are of too arbitrary and peculiar a character to allow us for a moment to suppose them to have been an independent product spontaneously developed in the two nations2 though even in that case the doctrines in question have no sanction of authority1 not being ,mosaic nor ,prophetic1 but only ,rabbinical4 ,one must have received from the other4 ,which was the bestower and which the recipient is quite plain4#db ,there is not a whit of evidence to show1 but1 on the contrary1 ample presumption to disprove1 that a certain cycle of notions were known among the ,jews previous to a period of most intimate and constant intercourse between them and the ,persians4 ,but before that period those notions were an integral part of the ,persian theology4 ,even ,prideaux admits that the first ,zoroaster lived and ,magianism flourished at least a thousand years before ,christ4 ,and the dogmas we refer to are fundamental features of the religion4 ,these dogmas of the ,persians1 not derived from the ,old ,testament nor known among the ,jews before the captivity1 soon after that time began to show themselves in their literature1 and before the opening of the ,new ,testament were prominent elements of the ,pharisaic belief4 ,the inference is unavoidable that the confluence of ,persian thought and feeling with ,hebrew thought and feeling1 joined with the materials and flowing in the channels of the subsequent experience of the ,jews1 formed a mingled deposit about the age of ,christ1 which deposit was ,pharisaism4 ,again3 the doctrines common to ,zoroastrianism and ,pharisaism in the former seem to be prime sources1 in the latter to be late products4 ,in the former1 they compose an organic1 complete1 inseparable system2 in the latter1 they are disconnected1 mixed piecemeal1 and1 to a considerable extent1 historically traceable to an origin beyond the native1 national mind4 ,it is a significant fact that the abnormal symbolic beasts described by several of the ,jewish prophets1 and in the ,apocalypse1 were borrowed from ,persian art4 ,sculptures representing these have been brought to light by the recent researches at ,persepolis4 ,finally1 all early ecclesiastical history incontestably shows that ,persian dogmas exerted on the ,christianity of the first centuries an enormous influence1 a pervasive and perverting power unspent yet1 and which it is one of the highest tasks of honest and laborious ,christian students in the present day to explain1 define1 and separate4 ,what was that ,manichaanism which nearly filled ,christendom for a hundred years1 what was it1 in great part1 but an influx of tradition1 speculation1 imagination1 and sentiment1 from ,persia8 ,the ,gnostic ,christians even had a scripture called ,zoroaster's ,apocalypse4#dc ,the wise men from the east1 who knelt before the infant ,christ1 and opened their treasures1 and gave him gifts1 gold1 frankincense1 and myrrh1 were ,persian ,magi4 ,we may imaginatively regard that sacred scene as an emblematical figure of the far different tributes which #db ,lucke1 ,einleitung in die ,offenbarung des ,johannes1 kap4 #b1 sect4 #h4 #dc ,kleuker1 ,zend ,avesta1 band ii4 anhang i4 s4 #ab4 a little later came from their country to his religion1 the unfortunate contributions that permeated and corrupted so much of the form in which it thenceforth appeared and spread4 ,in the pure gospel's pristine day1 ere it had hardened into theological dogmas or become encumbered with speculations and comments1 from the lips of ,god's ,anointed ,son repeatedly fell the earnest warning1 ,beware of the leaven of the ,pharisees4 ,there is far more need to have this warning intelligently heeded now1 coming with redoubled emphasis from the ,master's own mouth1 ,beware of the leaven of the ,pharisees4 ,for1 as the gospel is now generally set forth and received1 that leaven has leavened well nigh the whole lump of it4 ,,chapter ,x4 ,,greek ,,and ,,roman ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,the disembodied soul1 as conceived by the ,greeks1 and after them by the ,romans1 is material1 but of so thin a contexture that it cannot be felt with the hands4 ,it is exhaled with the dying breath1 or issues through a warrior's wounds4 ,the sword passes through its uninjured form as through the air4 ,it is to the body what a dream is to waking action4 ,retaining the shape1 lineaments1 and motion the man had in life1 it is immediately recognised upon appearing4 ,it quits the body with much reluctance1 leaving that warm and vigorous investiture for a chill and forceless existence4 ,it glides along without noise and very swiftly1 like a shadow4 ,it is unable to enter the lower kingdom and be at peace until its deserted body has been buried with sacred rites3 meanwhile1 naked and sad1 it flits restlessly about the gates1 uttering doleful moans4 ,the early ,greek authors describe the creation as a stupendous hollow globe cut in the centre by the plane of the earth4 ,the upper hemisphere is lighted by beneficent luminaries2 the lower hemisphere is filled with unvarying blackness4 ,the top of the higher sphere is ,heaven1 the bright dwelling of the ,olympian gods2 its bottom is the surface of the earth1 the home of living men4 ,the top of the lower sphere is ,hades1 the abode of the ghosts of the dead2 its bottom is ,tartarus1 the prison of the ,titans1 rebellious giants vanquished by ,zeus4 ,earth lies half way from the cope of ,heaven to the floor of ,tartarus4 ,this distance is so great that1 according to ,hesiod1 it would take an anvil nine days to fall from the centre to the nadir4 ,some of the ancients seem to have surmised the sphericity of the earth1 and to have thought that ,hades was simply its dark side1 the dead being our antipodes4 ,in the ,odyssey1 ,ulysses reaches ,hades by sailing across the ocean stream and passing the eternal night land of the ,cimmerians1 whereupon he comes to the edge of ,acheron1 the moat of ,pluto's sombre house4 ,virgil also says1 ,one pole of the earth to us always points aloft2 but the other is seen by black ,styx and the infernal ghosts1 where either dead night forever reigns or else ,aurora returns thither from us and brings them back the day4#a ,but the prevalent notion evidently was that ,hades was an immense hollow region not far under the surface of the ground1 and that it was to be reached by descent through some cavern1 like that at ,avernus4 ,this subterranean place is the destination of all alike1 rapacious ,orcus sparing no one1 good or bad4 ,it is wrapped in obscurity1 as the etymology of its name implies1 a place where one cannot see4 ,no sun e'er gilds the gloomy horrors there2 ,no cheerful gales refresh the stagnant air4 ,the dead are disconsolate in this dismal realm1 and the living shrink from entering it1 except as a refuge from intolerable afflictions4 ,the shade of the princeliest hero dwelling there the #a ,georg4 lib4 i4 ,,ii4 #bdb-bej4 swift footed ,achilles says1 ,i would wish1 being on earth1 to serve for hire another man of poor estate1 rather than rule over all the dead4 ,souls carry there their physical peculiarities1 the fresh and ghastly likenesses of the wounds which have despatched them thither1 so that they are known at sight4 ,companies of fellow countrymen1 knots of friends1 are together there1 preserving their remembrance ofearthly fortunes and beloved relatives left behind1 and eagerly questioning each newly arriving soul for tidings from above4 ,when the soul of ,achilles is told of the glorious deeds of ,neoptolemus1 he goes away taking mighty steps through the meadow of asphodel in joyfulness1 because he had heard that his son was very illustrious4#b ,sophocles makes the dying ,antigone say1 ,departing1 ,i strongly cherish the hope that ,i shall be fondly welcomed by my father1 and by my mother1 and by my brother4#c ,it is important to notice that1 according to the early and popular view1 this ,hades1 the dark dwelling of the joyless images of deceased mortals1 is the destination of universal humanity4 ,in opposition to its dolorous gloom and repulsive inanity are vividly pictured the glad light of day1 the glory and happiness of life4 ,not worth so much to me as my life1 says the incomparable son of ,peleus1 are all the treasures which populous ,troy possessed1 nor all which the stony threshold of ,phoebus ,apollo contains in rocky ,pytho4 ,oxen1 and fat sheep1 and trophies1 and horses with golden manes1 may be acquired by effort2 but the breath of man to return again is not to be obtained by plunder nor by purchase1 when once it has passed the barrier of his teeth4 ,it is not probable that all the ornamental details associated by the poets with the fate and state of the dead as they are set forth1 for instance1 by ,virgil in the sixth book of the ,aneid were ever credited as literal truth4 ,but there is no reason to doubt that the essential features of this mythological scenery were accepted in the vulgar belief4 ,for instance1 that the popular mind honestly held that1 in some vague sense or other1 the ghost1 on leaving the body1 flitted down to the dull banks of ,acheron and offered a shadowy obolus to ,charon1 the slovenly old ferryman1 for a passage in his boat1 seems attested not only by a thousand averments to that effect in the current literature of the time1 but also by the invariable custom of placing an obolus in the dead man's mouth for that purpose when he was buried4 ,the ,greeks did not view the banishment of souls in ,hades as a punishment for sin1 or the result of any broken law in the plan of things4 ,it was to them merely the fulfilment of the inevitable fate of creatures who must die1 in the order of nature1 like successive growths of flowers1 and whose souls were too feeble to rank with gods and climb into ,olympus4 ,that man should cease from his substantial life on the bright earth and subside into sunless ,hades1 a vapid form1 with nerveless limbs and faint voice1 a ghostly vision bemoaning his existence with idle lamentation1 or busying himself with the misty mockeries of his former pursuits1 was melancholy enough2 but it was his natural destiny1 and not an avenging judgment4 ,but that powerful instinct in man which desires to see villany punished and goodness rewarded could not fail1 among so cultivated a people as the ,greeks1 to develop a doctrine of future compensation for the contrasted deserts of souls4 ,the earliest trace of the idea of #b ,odyssey1 lib4 xi4 ,,ii4 #ech1 #eci4 #c ,antigone1 ,,ii4 #hgb-hgd4 retribution which we find carried forward into the invisible world is the punishment of the ,titans1 those monsters who tried by piling up mountains to storm the heavenly abodes1 and to wrest the ,thunderer's bolts from his hand4 ,this germ is slowly expanded2 and next we read of a few specified criminals1 who had been excessively impious1 personally offending ,zeus1 condemned by his direct indignation to a severe expiation in ,tartarus4 ,the insulted deity wreaks his vengeance on the tired ,sisyphus1 the mocked ,tantalus1 the gnawed ,tityus1 and others4 ,afterwards we meet the statement that condign retribution is always inflicted for the two flagrant sins of perjury and blasphemy4 ,finally1 we discern a general prevalence of the belief that punishment is decreed1 not by vindictive caprice1 but on the grounds of universal morality1 all souls being obliged in ,hades to pass before ,rhadamanthus1 ,minos1 or ,aacus1 three upright judges1 to be dealt with1 according to their merits1 with impartial accuracy4 ,the distribution of poetic justice in ,hades at last became1 in many authors1 so melodramatic as to furnish a fair subject for burlesque4 ,some ludicrous examples of this may be seen in ,lucian's ,dialogues of the ,dead4 ,a fine instance of it is also furnished in the ,emperor ,julian's ,symposium4 ,the gods prepare for the ,roman emperors a banquet1 in the air1 below the moon4 ,the good emperors are admitted to the table with honors2 but the bad ones are hurled headlong down into ,tartarus1 amidst the derisive shouts of the spectators4 ,as the notion that the wrath of the gods would pursue their enemies in the future state gave rise to a belief in the punishments of ,tartarus1 so the notion that the distinguishing kindness of the gods would follow their favorites gave rise to the myth of ,elysium4 ,the ,elysian ,fields were earliest portrayed lying on the western margin of the earth1 stretching from the verge of ,oceanus1 where the sun set at eve4 ,they were fringed with perpetual green1 perfumed with the fragrance of flowers1 and eternally fanned by refreshing breezes4 ,they were represented merely as the select abode of a small number of living men1 who were either the mortal relatives or the special favorites of the gods1 and who were transported thither without tasting death1 there to pass an immortality which was described1 with great inconsistency1 sometimes as purely happy1 sometimes as joyless and wearisome4 ,to all except a few chosen ones this region was utterly inaccessible4 ,homer says1 ,but for you1 ,o ,menelaus1 it is not decreed by the gods to die2 but the immortals will send you to the ,elysian plain1 because you are the son in law of ,zeus4#d ,had the inheritance of this clime been proclaimed as the reward of heroic merit1 had it been really believed attainable by virtue1 it would have been held up as a prize to be striven for4 ,the whole account1 as it was at first1 bears the impress of imaginative fiction as legibly upon its front as the story of the dragon watched garden of ,hesperus's daughters1 whose trees bore golden apples1 or the story of the enchanted isle in the ,arabian tales4 ,the early location of ,elysium1 and the conditions of admission to it1 were gradually changed2 and at length it reappeared1 in the under world1 as the abode of the just4 ,on one side of the primitive ,hades ,tartarus had now been drawn up to admit the condemned into its penal tortures1 and on the other side ,elysium was lowered down to reward the justified by receiving them into its peaceful and perennial happiness2 while1 between the two1 ,erebus #d ,odyssey1 lib4 iv4 ,,ii4 #eee-egj4 remained as an intermediate state of negation and gloom for unsentenced shades4 ,the highly colored descriptions of this subterranean heaven1 frequently found thenceforth1 it is to be supposed were rarely accepted as solid verities4 ,they were scarcely ever used1 to our knowledge1 as motives in life1 incitement in difficulties1 consolation in sorrow4 ,they were mostly set forth in poems1 works even professedly fictitious4 ,they were often denied and ridiculed in speeches and writings received with public applause4 ,still1 they unquestionably exerted some influence on the common modes of thought and feeling1 had a shadowy seat in the popular imagination and heart1 helped men to conceive of a blessed life hereafter and to long for it1 and took away something of the artificial horror with which1 under the power of rooted superstition1 their departing ghosts hailed the dusky limits of futurity3 ,umbra ,non tacitas ,erebi sedes1 ,ditisque profundi ,pallida regna petunt4 ,first1 then1 from a study of the ,greek mythology we find all the dead a dull populace of ghosts fluttering through the neutral melancholy of ,hades without discrimination4 ,and finally we discern in the world of the dead a sad middle region1 with a ,paradise on the right and a ,hell on the left1 the whole presided over by three incorruptible judges1 who appoint the new corners their places in accordance with their deserts4 ,the question now arises1 ,what did the ,greeks think in relation to the ascent of human souls into heaven among the gods8 ,did they except none from the remediless doom of ,hades8 ,was there no path for the wisest and best souls to climb starry ,olympus8 ,to dispose of this inquiry fairly1 four distinct considerations must be examined4 ,first1 ,ulysses sees in the infernal regions the image of ,herakles shooting the shadows of the ,stymphalian birds1 while his soul is said to be rejoicing with fair legged ,hebe at the banquets of the immortal gods in the skies4 ,to explain this1 we must remember that ,herakles was the son of ,alcmene1 a mortal woman1 and of ,zeus1 the king of the gods4 ,accordingly1 in the flames on ,mount ,oeta1 the surviving ghost which he derived from his mother descends to ,hades1 but the purified soul inherited from his father has the proper nature and rank of a deity1 and is received into the ,olympian synod4#e ,of course no blessed life in heaven for the generality of men is here implied4 ,herakles1 being a son and favorite of ,zeus1 has a corresponding destiny exceptional from that of other men4 ,secondly1 another double representation1 somewhat similar1 but having an entirely different interpretation1 occurs in the case of ,orion1 the handsome ,hyrian hunter whom ,artemis loved4 ,at one time he is described1 like the spectre of the ,north ,american ,indian1 chasing over the ,stygian plain the disembodied animals he had in his lifetime killed on the mountains3 ,swift through the gloom a giant hunter flies3 ,a ponderous brazen mace1 with direful sway1 ,aloft he whirls to crush the savage prey2 #e ,ovid1 ,met4 lib4 ix4 ,,ii4 #bde-bgb4 ,grim beasts in trains1 that by his truncheon fell1 ,now1 phantom forms1 shoot o'er the lawn of hell4 ,in the common belief this1 without doubt1 was received as actual fact4 ,but at another time ,orion is deified and shown as one of the grandest constellations of the sky1 ,a belted giant1 who1 with arm uplift1 ,threatening the throne of ,zeus1 forever stands1 ,sublimely impious4 ,this1 obviously1 is merely a poetic symbol1 a beautiful artifice employed by the poets to perpetuate a legend by associating it with the imperishable hieroglyphs of the galaxy4 ,it is not credible that men imagined that group of stars only outlined in such shape by the help of arbitrary fancy to be literally the translated hunter himself4 ,the meaning simply was that he was immortalized through the eternal linking of his name and form with a stellar cluster which would always shine upon men4 ,the reverence and gratitude of a weak world for the heroes and benefactors they could not comprehend1 named them divinities1 whom they did star together to an idolatrous immortality which nationalized the heavens with the shining shapes of the great and brave4 ,these types of poetry1 symbols lent to infant science1 were never meant to indicate a literal translation and metamorphosis of human souls1 but were honors paid to the memories of illustrious men1 emblems and pledged securities of their unfading fame4 ,with what glorious characters1 with what forms of deathless beauty1 defiant of decay1 the sky was written over6 ,go out this evening beneath the old rolling dome1 when the starry scroll is outspread1 and you may still read the reveries of the marvelling minds of the antique world1 as fresh in their magic loveliness as when the bards and seers of ,olympus and the ,agean first stamped them in heaven4 ,there the great snake binds in his bright coil half the mighty host4 ,there is ,arion with his harp and the charmed dolphin4 ,the fair ,andromeda1 still chained to her eternal rock1 looks mournfully towards the delivering hero whose conquering hand bears aloft the petrific visage of ,medusa4 ,far off in the north the gigantic ,bootes is seen driving towards the ,centaur and the ,scorpion4 ,and yonder1 smiling benignantly upon the crews of many a home bound ship1 are revealed the twin brothers1 joined in the embrace of an undying friendship4 ,thirdly1 it is asserted by several ,latin authors1 in general terms1 that the ghost goes to ,hades but the soul ascends to heaven2 and it has been inferred most erroneously that this statement contains the doctrine of an abode for men after death on high with the gods4 ,ovid expresses the real thought in full1 thus3 ,terra tegit carnem2 tumulum circumvolat umbra2 ,orcus habet manes2 spiritus astra petit4 ,the earth conceals the flesh2 the shade flits round the tomb2 the under world receives the image2 the spirit seeks the stars4 ,those conversant with the opinions then prevalent will scarcely doubt that these words were meant to express the return of the composite man to the primordial elements of which he was made4 ,the particulars of the dissolving individual are absorbed in the general elements of the universe4 ,earth goes back to earth1 ghost to the realm of ghosts1 breath to the air1 fiery essence of soul to the lofty ether in whose pure radiance the stars burn4 ,euripides expressly says that when man dies each part goes whence it came1 the body to the ground1 the spirit to the ether4#f ,therefore the often misunderstood phrase of the ,roman writers1 the soul seeks the stars1 merely denotes the impersonal mingling after death of the divine portion of man's being with the parent ,divinity1 who was supposed indeed to pervade all things1 but more especially to reside beyond the empyrean4 ,fourthly3 what shall be said of the apotheosis of their celebrated heroes and emperors by the ,greeks and ,romans1 whereby these were elevated to the dignity of deities1 and seats were assigned them in heaven8 ,what was the meaning of this ceremony8 ,it does not signify that a celestial immortality awaits all good men2 because it appears as a thing attainable by very few1 is only allotted by vote of the ,senate4 ,neither was it supposed actually to confer on its recipients equality of attributes with the great gods1 making them peers of ,zeus and ,apollo4 ,the homage received as gods by ,alexander and others during their lives1 the deification of ,julius ,casar during the most learned and skeptical age of ,rome1 with other obvious considerations1 render such a supposition inadmissible4 ,in view of all the direct evidence and collateral probabilities1 we conclude that the genuine import of an ancient apotheosis was this3 that the soul of the deceased person so honored was admitted1 in deference to his transcendent merits1 or as a special favor on the part of the gods1 into heaven1 into the divine society4 ,he was really a human soul still1 but was called a god because1 instead of descending1 like the multitude of human souls1 to ,hades1 he was taken into the abode and company of the gods above the sky4 ,this interpretation derives support from the remarkable declaration of ,aristotle1 that of two friends one must be unwilling that the other should attain apotheosis1 because in such case they must be forever separated4#g ,one would be in ,olympus1 the other in ,hades4 ,the belief that any1 even a favored few1 could ever obtain this blessing1 was of quite limited development1 and probably sprang from the esoteric recesses of the ,mysteries4 ,to call a human soul a god is not so bold a speech as it may seem4 ,plotinus says4 ,whoever has wisdom and true virtue in soul itself differs but little from superior beings1 in this alone being inferior to them1 that he is in body4 ,such an one1 dying1 may therefore properly say1 with ,empedocles1 ',farewell6 a god immortal now am ,i4' ,the expiring ,vespasian exclaimed1 ,i shall soon be a god4#h ,mure says that the doctrine of apotheosis belonged to the ,graco ,pelasgic race through all their history4#i ,seneca severely satirizes the ceremony1 and the popular belief which upheld it1 in an elaborate lampoon called ,apocolocyntosis1 or the reception of ,claudius among the pumpkins4 ,the broad travesty of #f ,the ,suppliants1 l4 #ecc4 #g ,nicomachean ,ethics1 lib4 viii4 cap4 #g4 #h ,suetonius1 cap4 xxiii4 #i ,hist4 ,greek ,literature1 vol4 i4 ch4 #b1 sect4 #e4 ,deification exhibited in ,pumpkinification obviously measures the distance from the honest credulity of one class and period to the keen infidelity of another4 ,one of the most important passages in ,greek literature1 in whatever aspect viewed1 is composed of the writings of the great ,theban lyrist4 ,let us see what representation is there made of the fate of man in the unseen world4 ,the ethical perception1 profound feeling1 and searching mind of ,pindar could not allow him to remain satisfied with the undiscriminating views of the future state prevalent in his time4 ,upon such a man the problem of death must weigh as a conscious burden1 and his reflections would naturally lead him to improved conclusions4 ,accordingly1 we find him representing the ,blessed ,isles not as the haven of a few favorites of the gods1 but as the reward of virtue2 and the punishments of the wicked1 too1 are not dependent on fickle inclinations1 but are decreed by immutable right4 ,he does not describe the common multitude of the dead1 leading a dark sad existence1 like phantoms in a dream3 his references to death and ,hades seem cheerful in comparison with those of many other ancient ,greek authors4 ,dionysius the ,rhetorician1 speaking of his ,threnes1 dirges sung at funerals1 says1 ,simonides lamented the dead pathetically1 ,pindar magnificently4 ,his conceptions of the life to come were inseparably connected with certain definite locations4 ,he believed ,hades to be the destination of all our mortal race1 but conceived it subdivided into a ,tartarus for the impious and an ,elysium for the righteous4 ,he thought that the starry firmament was the solid floor of a world of splendor1 bliss1 and immortality1 inhabited by the gods1 but fatally inaccessible to man4 ,when he thinks of this place1 it is with a sigh1 a sigh that man's aspirations towards it are vain and his attempts to reach it irreverent4 ,this latter thought he enforces by an earnest allusion to the myth of ,bellerophon1 who1 daring to soar to the cerulean seat of the gods on the winged steed ,pegasus1 was punished for his arrogance by being hurled down headlong4 ,these assertions are to be sustained by citations of his own words4 ,the references made are to ,donaldson's edition4 ,in the second ,pythian ,ode#aj ,pindar repeats1 and would appear to endorse1 the old monitory legend of ,ixion1 who for his outrageous crimes was bound to an ever revolving wheel in ,hades and made to utter warnings against such offences as his own4 ,in the first ,pythian we read1 ,hundred headed ,typhon1 enemy of the gods1 lies in dreadful ,tartarus4#aa ,among the preserved fragments of ,pindar the one numbered two hundred and twenty three reads thus3 ,the bottom of ,tartarus shall press thee down with solid necessities4 ,the following is from the first ,isthmian ,ode3 ,he who1 laying up private wealth1 laughs at the poor1 does not consider that he shall close up his life for ,hades without honor4#ab ,the latter part of the tenth ,nemean ,ode recounts1 with every appearance of devout belief1 the history of ,castor and ,pollux1 the god begotten twins1 who1 reversing conditions with each other on successive days and nights1 spent their interchangeable immortality each alternately in heaven and in ,hades4 ,the astronomical interpretation of this account may be correct2 but its applicability to the wondering faith of the earlier poets is extremely doubtful4 #aj ,l4 #ci4 #aa ,,li4 #ae1 #af4 #ab ,l4 #fh4 ,the seventh ,isthmian contains this remarkable sentence3 ,unequal is the fate of man3 he can think of great things1 but is too ephemeral a creature to reach the brazen floored seat of the gods4#ac ,a similar sentiment is expressed in the sixth ,nemean3 ,men are a mere nothing2 while to the gods the brazen heaven remains a firm abode forever4#ad ,the one hundred and second fragment is supposed to be a part of the dirge composed by ,pindar on the death of the grandfather of ,pericles4 ,it runs in this way3 ,whoso by good fortune has seen the things in the hollow under the earth knows indeed the end of life3 he also knows the beginning vouchsafed by ,zeus4 ,it refers to initiation in the ,eleusinian ,mysteries1 and means that the initiate understands the life which follows death4 ,it is well known that a clear doctrine of future retribution was inculcated in the ,mysteries long before it found general publication4 ,the ninety fifth fragment is all that remains to us of a dirge which appears1 from the allusion in the first line1 to have been sung at a funeral service performed at midnight1 or at least after sunset4 ,while it is night here with us1 to those below shines the might of the sun2 and the red rosied meadows of their suburbs are filled with the frankincense tree1 and with golden fruits4 ,some delight themselves there with steeds and exercises1 others with games1 others with lyres2 and among them all fair blossoming fortune blooms1 and a fragrance is distilled through the lovely region1 and they constantly mingle all kinds of offerings with the far shining fire on the altars of the gods4 ,this evidently is a picture of the happy scenes in the fields that stretch around the ,city of the ,blessed in the under world1 and is introduced as a comfort to the mourners over the dead body4 ,the ensuing passage the most important one on our subject is from the second ,olympic ,ode4#ae ,an honorable1 virtuous man may rest assured as to his future fate4 ,the souls of the lawless1 departing from this life1 suffer punishment4 ,one beneath the earth1 pronouncing sentence by a hateful necessity imposed upon him1 declares the doom for offences committed in this realm of ,zeus4 ,but the good lead a life without a tear1 among those honored by the gods for having always delighted in virtue3 the others endure a life too dreadful to look upon4 ,whoever has had resolution thrice in both worlds to stand firm1 and to keep his soul pure from evil1 has found the path of ,zeus to the tower of ,kronos1 where the airs of the ocean breathe around the ,isle of the ,blessed1 and where some from resplendent trees1 others from the water glitter golden flowers1 with garlandsofwhich they wreathe their wrists and brows in the righteous assemblies of ,rhadamanthus1 whom father ,kronos has as his willing assistant4 ,the path of ,zeus1 in the above quotation1 means the path which ,zeus takes when he goes to visit his father ,kronos1 whom he originally dethroned and banished1 but with whom he is now reconciled1 and who has become the ruler of the departed spirits of the just1 in a peaceful and joyous region4 ,the following passage constitutes the ninety eighth fragment4 ,to those who descend from a fruitless and ill starred life ,persephone the ,queen of the ,dead will grant a compensation for their former misfortune1 after eight years the judicial period of atonement and lustration for great crimes granting them their lives again4 ,then1 illustrious kings1 strong1 #ac ,ll4 #db-dd4 #ad ,ll4 #d-f4 #ae ,ll4 #ee-gh4 swift1 wise1 they shall become the mightiest leaders2 and afterwards they shall be invoked by men as sacred heroes4 ,in this piece1 as in the preceding one where reference is made to the thrice living man1 is contained the doctrine1 early brought from the ,east1 that souls may repeatedly return from the dead and in new bodies lead new lives4 ,one other fragment1 the ninety sixth1 added to the foregoing1 will make up all the important genuine passages in ,pindar relating to the future life4 ,by a beneficent allotment1 all travel to an end freeing from toil4 ,the body indeed is subject to the power of death2 but the eternal image is left alive1 and this alone is allied to the gods4 ,when we are asleep1 it shows in many dreams the approaching judgment concerning happiness and misery4 ,when our physical limbs are stretched in insensible repose1 the inward spirit1 rallying its sleepless and prophetic powers1 foretells the balancing awards of another world4 ,we must not wholly confound with the mythological schemes of the vulgar creed the belief of the nobler philosophers1 many of whom1 as is well known1 cherished an exalted faith in the survival of the conscious soul and in a just retribution4 ,strike6 one of them said1 with the dauntless courage of an immortal1 to a tyrant who had threatened to have him brayed in a mortar3 strike6 you may crush the shell of ,anaxarchus3 you cannot touch his life4 ,than all the maze of fabulous fancies and physical rites in which the dreams of the poets and the guesses of the people were entangled1 how much more ,just was the prescience of the eternal goal,that gleamed1 'mid ,cyprian shades1 on ,zeno's soul1 ,or shone to ,plato in the lonely cave1 ,god in all space1 and life in every grave6 ,an account of the ,greek views on the subject of a future life which should omit the doctrine of ,plato would be defective indeed4 ,the influence of this sublime autocrat in the realms of intellect has transcended calculation4 ,however coldly his thoughts may have been regarded by his contemporary countrymen1 they soon obtained cosmopolitan audience1 and surviving the ravages of time and ignorance1 overleaping the bars of rival schools and sects1 appreciated and diffused by the loftiest spirits of succeeding ages1 closely blended with their own speculations by many ,christian theologians have held an almost unparalleled dominion over the minds of millions of men for more than fifty generations4 ,in the various dialogues of ,plato1 written at different periods of his life1 there are numerous variations and inconsistencies of doctrine4 ,there are also many mythical passages obviously intended as symbolic statements1 poetic drapery1 by no means to be handled or looked at as the severe outlines of dialectic truth4 ,furthermore1 in these works there are a vast number of opinions and expressions introduced by the interlocutors1 who often belong to antagonistic schools of philosophy1 and for which1 of course1 ,plato is not to be held responsible4 ,making allowance for these facts1 and resolutely grappling with the many other difficulties of the task1 we shall now attempt to exhibit what we consider were the real teachings of ,plato in relation to the fate of the soul4 ,this exposition1 sketchy as it is1 and open to question as it may be in some particulars1 is the carefully weighed result of earnest1 patient1 and repeated study of all the relevant passages4 ,in the first place1 it is plain that ,plato had a firm religious and philosophical faith in the immortality of the soul1 which was continually attracting his thoughts1 making it a favorite theme with him and exerting no faint influence on his life4 ,this faith rested both on ancient traditions1 to which he frequently refers with invariable reverence1 and on metaphysical reasonings1 which he over and over presents in forms of conscientious elaboration4 ,there are two tests of his sincerity of faith3 first1 that he always treats the subject with profound seriousness2 secondly1 that he always uses it as a practical motive4 ,i do not think1 said ,socrates1 that any one who should now hear us1 even though he were a comic poet1 would say that ,i am talking idly4#af ,again1 referring to ,homer's description of the judgments in ,hades1 he says1 ,i1 therefore1 ,callicles1 am persuaded by these accounts1 and consider how ,i may exhibit my soul before the judge in the most healthy condition4#ag ,to a base man no man nor god is a friend on earth while living1 nor under it when dead1 say the souls of their ancestors to the living2 but live honorably1 and when your destined fate brings you below you shall come to us as friends to friends4#ah ,we are plants1 not of earth1 but of heaven4#ai ,we start1 then1 with the affirmation that ,plato honestly and cordially believed in a future life4 ,secondly1 his ethical and spiritual beliefs1 like those of nearly all the ancients1 were closely interwoven with physical theories and local relations4 ,the world to him consisted of two parts1 the celestial region of ideas1 and the mundane region of material phenomena1 corresponding pretty well1 as ,lewes suggests1 to our modern conception of heaven and earth4 ,near the close of the ,phado1 ,socrates says that the earth is not of the kind and magnitude usually supposed4 ,we dwell in a decayed and corroded1 muddy and filthy region in the sediment and hollows of the earth1 and imagine that we inhabit its upper parts2 just as if one dwelling in the bottom of the sea should think that he dwelt on the sea1 and1 beholding the sun through the water1 should imagine that the sea was the heavens4 ,so1 if we could fly up to the summit of the air as fishes emerging from the sea to behold what is on the earth here and emerge hence1 we should know that the true earth is there4 ,the people there dwell with the gods1 and see things as they really are2 and what the sea is to us the air is to them1 and what the air is to us the ether is to them4 ,again1 in the tenth book of the ,republic1 eleventh chapter1 the soul is metaphorically said in the sea of this corporeal life to get stones and shell fish attached to it1 and1 fed on earth1 to be rendered to a great extent earthy1 stony1 and savage1 like the marine ,glaucus1 some parts of whose body were broken off and others worn away by the waves1 while such quantities of shells1 sea weed1 and stones had grown to him that he more resembled a beast than a man4 ,in keeping with the whole tenor of the ,platonic teaching1 this is a fine illustration of the fallen state of man in his vile environment of flesh here below4 ,the soul1 in its earthly sojourn1 embodied here1 is as much mutilated and degraded from its equipped and pure condition in its lofty natal home1 the archetypal world of ,truth above the base ,babel of material existence1 as ,glaucus was on #af ,phado1 #dj4 #ag ,gorgias1 #agc4 #ah ,menexenus1 #ai4 #ai ,timaus1 #ga4 descending from his human life on the sunny shore to his encrusted shape and blind prowling in the monstrous deep4 ,at another time ,plato contrasts the situation of the soul on earth with its situation in heaven by the famous comparison of the dark cave4 ,he supposes men1 unable to look upwards1 dwelling in a cavern which has an opening towards the light extending lengthwise through the top of the cavern4 ,a great many images1 carrying various objects and talking aloud1 pass and repass along the edge of the opening4 ,their shadows fall on the side of the cave below1 in front of the dwellers there2 also the echoes of their talk sound back from the wall4 ,now1 the men1 never having been or looked out of the cave1 would suppose these shadows to be the real beings1 these echoes the real voices4 ,as respects this figure1 says ,plato1 we must compare ourselves with such persons4 ,the visible region around us is the cave1 the sun is the light1 and the soul's ascent into the region of mind is the ascent out of the cave and the contemplation of things above4#bj ,still again1 ,plato describes the ethereal paths and motions of the gods1 who1 in their chariots1 which are the planets and stars1 ride through the universe1 accompanied by all pure souls1 the family of true science1 contemplating things as they really are4 ,reaching the summit1 they proceed outside1 and1 standing on the back of heaven1 its revolution carries them round1 and they behold that supercelestial region which no poet here can ever sing of as it deserves4 ,in this archetypal world all souls of men have dwelt1 though few have memory enough left1 after their fall hither1 to call to mind former things from the present4 ,now1 of justice and temperance1 and whatever else souls deem precious1 there are here but faint resemblances1 dull images2 but beauty was then splendid to look on when we1 in company with the gods1 beheld that blissful spectacle1 and were initiated into that most blessed of all mysteries1 which we celebrated when we were unaffected by the evils that awaited us in time to come1 and when we beheld1 in the pure light1 perfect and calm visions1 being ourselves pure and as yet unmasked with this shell of a body to which we are now fettered4#ba ,to suppose all this employed by ,plato as mere fancy and metaphor is to commit an egregious error4 ,in studying an ancient author1 we must forsake the modern stand point of analysis1 and envelop ourselves in the ancient atmosphere of thought1 where poetry and science were as indistinguishably blended in the personal beliefs as oxygen and nitrogen are in the common air4 ,we have not a doubt that ,plato means to teach1 literally1 that the soul was always immortal1 and that in its anterior states of existence1 in the realm of ideas on high1 it was in the midst of those essential realities whose shifting shadows alone it can behold in its lapsed condition and bodily imprisonment here4 ,that he closely intertwisted ethical with physical theories1 spiritual destinies with insphering localities1 the fortunes of men with the revolutions of the earth and stars1 is a fact which one can hardly read the ,timaus and fail to see2 a fact which continually reappears4 ,it is strikingly shown in his idea of the consummation of all things at regular epochs determined by the recurrence of a grand #bj ,republic1 lib4 vii4 cap4 #a #d4 #ba ,phadrus1 #ef-eh1 #fc1 #fd4 revolution of the universe1 a period vulgarly known under the name of the ,platonic ,year4#bb ,the second point1 therefore1 in the present explanation of ,plato's doctrine of another life1 is the conception that there is in the empyrean a glorious world of incorruptible truth1 beauty1 and goodness1 the place of the gods1 the native haunt of souls2 and that human souls1 having yielded to base attractions and sunk into bodies1 are but banished sojourners in this phenomenal world of evanescent shadows and illusions1 where they are stung with resistless longings for the skies1 and only solaced by the vague and broken reminiscences of their former state4 ,thirdly1 ,plato taught that after death an unerring judgment and compensation await all souls4 ,every soul bears in itself the plain evidence of its quality and deeds1 its vices and virtues2 and in the unseen state it will meet inevitable awards on its merits4 ,to go to ,hades with a soul full of crimes is the worst of all evils4#bc ,when a man dies1 he possesses in the other world a destiny suited to the life which he has led in this4#bd ,in the second book of the ,republic he says1 ,we shall in ,hades suffer the punishment of our misdeeds here2 and he argues at much length the absolute impossibility of in any way escaping this4 ,the fact of a full reward for all wisdom and justice1 a full retribution for all folly and vice1 is asserted unequivocally in scores of passages1 most of them expressly connecting the former with the notion of an ascent to the bright region of truth and intellect1 the latter with a descent to the black penal realm of ,hades4 ,let the citation of a single further example suffice4 ,some souls1 being sentenced1 go to places of punishment beneath the earth2 others are borne upward to some region in heaven4#be ,he proves the genuineness of his faith in this doctrine by continually urging it1 in the most earnest1 unaffected manner1 as an animating motive in the formation of character and the conduct of life1 saying1 ,he who neglects his soul will pass lamely through existence1 and again pass into ,hades1 aimless and unserviceable4#bf ,the fourth and last step in this exposition is to show the particular form in which ,plato held his doctrine of future retribution1 the way in which he supposed the consequences of present good and evil would appear hereafter4 ,he received the ,oriental theory of transmigration4 ,souls are born over and over4 ,the banishment of the wicked to ,tartarus is provisional1 a preparation for their return to incarnate life4 ,the residence of the good in heaven is contingent1 and will be lost the moment they yield to carelessness or material solicitations4 ,the circumstances under which they are reborn1 the happiness or misery of their renewed existence1 depend on their character and conduct in their previous career2 and thus a poetic justice is secured4 ,at the close of the ,timaus1 ,plato describes the whole animal kingdom as consisting of degraded human souls1 from the tribe of birds1 which were light minded souls1 to the tribe of oysters1 which have received the most remote habitations as a punishment of their extreme ignorance4 ,after this manner1 then1 both formerly and #bb ,statesman1 #ad1 #ae4 #bc ,gorgias1 #afe4 #bd ,republic1 lib4 vi4 cap4 i4 #be ,phadrus1 #fa4 #bf ,timaus1 #ah4 now1 animals transmigrate1 experiencing their changes through the loss or acquisition of intellect and folly4 ,the general doctrine of metempsychosis is stated and implied very frequently in many of the ,platonic dialogues4 ,some recent writers have tried to explain these representations as figures of speech1 not intended to portray the literal facts1 but merely to hint their moral equivalents4 ,such persons seem to us to hold ,plato's pages in the full glare of the nineteenth century and read them in the philosophic spirit of ,bacon and ,comte1 instead of holding them in the old shades of the ,academy and pondering them in the marvelling spirit of ,pythagoras and ,empedocles4 ,we are led by the following considerations to think that ,plato really meant to accredit the transmigration of souls literally4 ,first1 he often makes use of the current poetic imagery of ,hades1 and of ancient traditions1 avowedly in a loose metaphorical way1 as moral helps1 calling them fables4 ,but the metempsychosis he sets forth1 without any such qualification or guard1 with so much earnestness and frequency1 as a promise and a warning1 that we are forced1 in the absence of any indication to the contrary1 to suppose that he meant the statements as sober fact and not as mythical drapery4 ,as with a parable1 of course we need not interpret all the ornamental details literally2 but we must accept the central idea4 ,and in the present case the fundamental thought is that of repeated births of the soul1 each birth trailing retributive effects from the foregone4 ,for example1 the last four chapters of the tenth book of the ,republic contain the account of ,erus1 a ,pamphylian1 who1 after lying dead on the battle field ten days1 revived1 and told what he had seen in the other state4 ,plato in the outset explicitly names this recital an apologue4 ,it recounts a multitude of moral and physical particulars4 ,these details may fairly enough be considered in some degreeas mythical drapery1 or as the usual traditional painting2 but the essential conception running through the account1 for the sake of which it is told1 we are not at liberty to explain away as empty metaphor4 ,now1 that essential conception is precisely this3 that souls after death are adjudged to ,hades or to heaven as a recompense for their sin or virtue1 and that1 after an appropriate sojourn in those places1 they are born again1 the former ascending1 squalid and scarred1 from beneath the earth1 the latter descending1 pure1 from the sky4 ,in perfect consonance with this conclusion is the moral drawn by ,plato from the whole narrative4 ,he simply says1 ,if the company will be persuaded by me1 considering the soul to be immortal and able to bear all evil and good1 we shall always persevere in the road which leads upwards4 ,secondly1 the conception of the metempsychosis is thoroughly coherent with ,plato's whole philosophy4 ,if he was in earnest about any doctrine1 it was the doctrine that all knowledge is reminiscence4 ,the following declarations are his4 ,soul is older than body4 ,souls are continually born over again from ,hades into this life4 ,to search and learn is simply to revive the images of what the soul saw in its pre existent state of being in the world of realities4#bg ,why should we hesitate to attribute a sincere belief in the metempsychosis to the acknowledged author of the doctrine that the soul lived in another world before appearing here1 and that its knowledge is but reminiscence8 ,if born from the other world #bg ,menexenus1 #ae4 once1 we may be many times2 and then all that is wanted to complete the dogma of transmigration is the idea of a presiding justice4 ,had not ,plato that idea8 ,thirdly1 the doctrine of a judicial metempsychosis was most profoundly rooted in the popular faith1 as a strict verity1 throughout the great ,east1 ages before the time of ,plato1 and was familiarly known throughout ,greece in his time4 ,it had been imported thither by ,musaus and ,orpheus at an early period1 was afterwards widely recommended and established by the ,pythagoreans1 and was unquestionably held by many of ,plato's contemporaries4 ,he refers once to those who strongly believe that murderers who have gone to ,hades will be obliged to come back and end their next lives by suffering the same fate which they had before inflicted on others4#bh ,it is also a remarkable fact that he states the conditions of transmigration1 and the means of securing exemption from it1 in the same way that the ,hindus have from immemorial time3 ,the soul which has beheld the essence of truth remains free from harm until the next revolution2 and if it can preserve the vision of the truth it shall always remain free from harm1 that is1 be exempt from birth2 but when it fails to behold the field of truth it falls to the earth and is implanted in a body4#bi ,this statement and several others in the context corresponds precisely with ,hindu theology1 which proclaims that the soul1 upon attaining real wisdom1 that is1 upon penetrating beneath illusions and gazing on reality1 is freed from the painful necessity of repeated births4 ,now1 since the ,hindus and the ,pythagoreans held the doctrine as a severe truth1 and ,plato states it in the identical forms which they employed1 and never implies that he is merely poetizing1 we naturally conclude that he1 too1 veritably inculcates it as fact4 ,finally1 we are the more confirmed in this supposition when we find that his lineal disciples and most competent expounders1 such as ,proclus1 and nearly all his later commentators1 such as ,ritter1 have so understood him4 ,the great chorus of his interpreters1 from ,plotinus to ,leroux1 with scarcely a dissentient voice1 approve the opinion pronounced by the learned ,german historian of philosophy1 that the conception of the metempsychosis is so closely interwoven both with his physical system and with his ethical as to justify the conviction that ,plato looked upon it as legitimate and valid1 and not as a merely figurative exposition of the soul's life after death4 ,to sum up the whole in one sentence3 ,plato taught with grave earnestness the immortality of the soul1 subject to a discriminating retribution1 which opened for its temporary residences three local regions1 heaven1 earth1 and ,hades1 and which sometimes led it through different grades of embodied being4 ,o thou youth who thinkest that thou art neglected by the gods1 the person who has become more wicked departs to the more wicked souls2 but he who has become better departs to the better souls1 both in life and in all deaths4#cj ,whether ,aristotle taught or denied the immortality of the soul has been the subject of innumerable debates from his own time until now4 ,it is certainly a most ominous fact that his great name has been cited as authority for rejecting the doctrine of a future life by so many #bh ,the ,laws1 b4 ix4 ch4 #aj4 #bi ,phadrus1 #fj-fb4 #cj ,the ,laws1 lib4 x4 cap4 #ac4 of his keenest followers2 for this has been true of weighty representatives of every generation of his disciples4 ,antagonistic advocates have collected from his works a large number of varying statements1 endeavoring to distinguish between the literal and the figurative1 the esoteric and the popular4 ,it is not worth our while here1 either for their intrinsic interest or for their historic importance1 to quote the passages and examine the arguments4 ,all that is required for our purpose may be expressed in the language of ,ritter1 who has carefully investigated the whole subject3 ,no passage in his extant works is decisive2 but1 from the general context of his doctrine1 it is clear that he had no conception of the immortality of any individual rational entity4#ca ,it would take a whole volume instead of a chapter to set forth the multifarious contrasting tenets of individual ,greek philosophers1 from the age of ,pherecydes to that of ,iamblichus1 in relation to a future life4 ,not a few held1 with ,empedocles1 that human life is a penal state1 the doom of such immortal souls as for guilt have been disgraced and expelled from heaven4 ,man is a fallen god condemned to wander on the earth1 sky aspiring but sense clouded4 ,purged by a sufficient penance1 he returns to his former godlike existence4 ,when1 leaving this body1 thou comest to the free ether1 thou shalt be no longer a mortal1 but an undying god4 ,notions of this sort fairly represent no small proportion of the speculations upon the fate of the soul which often reappear throughout the course of ,greek literature4 ,another class of philosophers are represented by such names as ,marcus ,antoninus1 who1 comparing death to disembarkation at the close of a voyage1 says1 ,if you land upon another life1 it will not be empty of gods3 if you land in nonentity1 you will have done with pleasures1 pains1 and drudgery4#cb ,and again he writes1 ,if souls survive1 how has ethereal space made room for them all from eternity8 ,how has the earth found room for all the bodies buried in it8 ,the solution of the latter problem will solve the former4 ,the corpse turns to dust and makes space for another3 so the spirit1 let loose into the air1 after a while dissolves1 and is either renewed into another soul or absorbed into the universe4 ,thus room is made for succession4#cc ,these passages1 it will be observed1 leave the survival of the soul at all entirely hypothetical1 and1 even supposing it to survive1 allow it but a temporary duration4 ,such was the common view of the great sect of the ,stoics4 ,they all agreed that there was no real immortality for the soul2 but they differed greatly as to the time of its dissolution4 ,in the words of ,cicero1 ,diu mansuros aiunt animos2 semper1 negant3 they say souls endure for a long time1 but not forever4 ,cleanthes taught that the intensity of existence after death would depend on the strength or weakness of the particular soul4 ,chrysippus held that only the souls of the wise and good would survive at all4#cd ,panatius said the soul always died with the body1 because it was born with it1 which he proved by the resemblances of children's souls to those of their parents4#ce ,seneca has a great many contradictory passages on this subject #ca ,hist4 ,anc4 ,phil4 p4 iii4 b4 ix4 ch4 #d4 #cb ,meditations1 lib4 iii4 cap4 #c4 #cc ,ibid4 lib4 iv4 cap4 #ba4 #cd ,plutarch1 ,plac4 ,phil4 iv4 #g4 #ce ,tusc4 ,quast4 lib4 i4 cap4 #cb4 in his works2 but his preponderant authority1 upon the whole1 is that the soul and the body perish together4#cf ,at one time he says1 ,the day thou fearest as the last is the birthday of eternity4 ,as an infant in the womb is preparing to dwell in this world1 so ought we to consider our present life as a preparation for the life to come4#cg ,at another time he says1 with stunning bluntness1 ,there is nothing after death1 and death itself is nothing4 ,post mortem nihil est1 ipsaque mors nihil4 #ch ,besides the mystics1 like ,plotinus1 who affirmed the strict eternity of the soul1 and the ,stoics1 like ,poseidonius1 who believed that the soul1 having had a beginning1 must have an end1 although it might endure for a long period after leaving the body1 there were among the ,greeks and ,romans two other classes of believers in a future life1 namely1 the ignorant body of the people1 who credited1 more or less fully1 the common fables concerning ,hades2 and an educated body of select minds1 who1 while casting off the popular superstitions1 yet clung tenaciously to the great fact of immortality in some form or other1 without attempting to define the precise mode of it4 ,there was among the illiterate populace1 both ,greek and ,roman1 even from the age of ,eumolpus to that of ,augustus1 a good deal of firm faith in a future life1 according to the gross scheme and particulars preserved to us still in the classic mythology4 ,a thousand current allusions and statements in the general literature of those times prove the actual existence of a common and literal belief in ,hades with all its accompaniments4 ,this was far from being1 in the average apprehension1 a mere myth4 ,plato says1 ,many1 of their own accord1 have wished to descend into ,hades1 induced by the hope of there seeing and being with those they have loved4#ci ,he also says1 ,when a man is about to die1 the stories of future punishment which he had formerly ridiculed trouble him with fears of their truth4#dj ,and that frightful accounts of hell really swayed and terrified the people1 even so late as the time of the ,roman republic1 appears from the earnest and elaborate arguments employed by various writers to refute them4 ,the same thing is shown by the religious ritual enacted at funerals and festivals1 the forms of public and private worship observed till after the conversion of ,constantine4 ,the cake of rice and honey borne in the dead hand for ,cerberus1 the periodical offerings to the ghosts of the departed1 as at the festivals called ,feralia and ,parentalia1#da the pictures of the scenery of the under world1 hung in the temples1 of which there was a famous one by ,polygnotus1#db all imply a literal crediting of the vulgar doctrine4 ,altars were set up on the spots where ,tiberius and ,caius ,gracchus were murdered1 and services were there performed in honor of their manes4 ,festus1 an old ,roman lexicographer who lived in the second or third century1 tells us there was in the ,comitium a stone covered pit which was supposed to be the #cf ,christoph ,meiners1 ,vermischte ,philosophische ,schriften4 ,commentarius quo ,stoicorum ,sententia2 de ,animorum post mortem ,statu satis illustrantur4 #cg ,epist4 #ajb4 #ch ,troades1 #a4 #cig4 #ci ,phado1 #cd4 #dj ,republic1 lib4 i4 cap4 #e4 #da ,ovid1 ,fasti1 lib4 ii4 ,,ii4 #ecj-ehj4 #db ,pausanias1 lib4 x4 cap4 #bh4 mouth of ,orcus1 and was opened three days in the year for souls to rise out into the upper world4#dc ,apuleius describes1 in his treatise on the god of ,socrates1 the ,roman conceptions of the departed spirits of men4 ,they called all disembodied human souls lemures4 ,those of good men were lares1 those of bad men larva4 ,and when it was uncertain whether the specified soul was a lar or a larva1 it was named manes4 ,the lares were mild household gods to their posterity4 ,the larva were wandering1 frightful shapes1 harmless to the pious1 but destructive to the reprobate4#dd ,the belief in necromancy is well known to have prevailed extensively among the ,greeks and ,romans4 ,aristophanes represents the coward1 ,pisander1 going to a necromancer and asking to see his own soul1 which had long departed1 leaving him a man with breath alone4#de ,in ,latin literature no popular terror is more frequently alluded to or exemplified than the dread of seeing ghosts4 ,every one will recall the story of the phantom that appeared in the tent of ,brutus before the battle of ,philippi4 ,it pervades the ,haunted ,house of ,plautus4 ,callimachus wrote the following couplet as an epitaph on the celebrated misanthrope3 ,timon1 hat'st thou the world or ,hades worse8 ,speak clear6 ,hades1 ,o fool1 because there are more of us here6 #df ,pythagoras is said once to have explained an earthquake as being caused by a synod of ghosts assembled under ground6 ,it is one of the best of the numerous jokes attributed to the great ,samian2 a good nut for the spirit rappers to crack4 ,there is an epigram by ,diogenes ,laertius1 on one ,lycon1 who died of the gout3 ,he who before could not so much as walk alone1 ,the whole long road to ,hades travell'd in one night6 ,philostratus declares that the shade of ,apollonius appeared to a skeptical disciple of his and said1 ,the soul is immortal4#dg ,it is unquestionable that the superstitious fables about the under world and ghosts had a powerful hold1 for a very long period1 upon the ,greek and ,roman imagination1 and were widely accepted as facts4 ,at the same time1 there were many persons of more advanced culture to whom such coarse and fanciful representations had become incredible1 but who still held loyally to the simple idea of the survival of the soul4 ,they cherished a strong expectation of another life1 although they rejected the revolting form and drapery in which the doctrine was usually set forth4 ,xenophon puts the following speech into the mouth of the expiring ,cyrus3 ,i was never able1 my children1 to persuade myself that the soul1 as long as it was in a mortal body1 lived1 but when it was removed from this1 that it died2 neither could ,i believe that the soul ceased to think when separated from the unthinking and senseless body2 but it seemed to me most probable that when pure and free from any union with the body1 then it became most #dc ,de ,significatione ,verborum1 verbum ,manalis4 #dd ,lessing1 ,wie die ,alten den ,tod gebildet4 #de ,ayes1 ,i4 #adhe4 #df ,epigram ,,iv4 #dg ,vita ,apollonii1 lib4 viii4 cap4 #ca4 wise4#dh ,every one has read of the young man whose faith and curiosity were so excited by ,plato's writings that he committed suicide to test the fact of futurity4 ,callimachus tells the story neatly3 ,cleombrotus1 the ,ambracian1 having said1 ',farewell1 ,o sun6' leap'd from a lofty wall into the world ,of ghosts4 ,no deadly ill had chanced to him at all2 ,but he had read in ,plato's book upon the soul4 #di ,the falling of ,cato on his sword at ,utica1 after carefully perusing the ,phado1 is equally familiar4 ,in the case of ,cicero1 too1 notwithstanding his fluctuations of feeling and the obvious contradictions of sentiment in some of his letters and his more deliberate essays1 it is1 upon the whole1 plain enough that1 while he always regarded the vulgar notions as puerile falsehoods1 the hope of a glorious life to come was powerful in him4 ,this may be stated as the result of a patient investigation and balancing of all that he says on the subject1 and of the circumstances under which he says it4 ,to cite and criticize the passages here would occupy too much space to too little profit4 ,at the siege of ,jerusalem1 ,titus made a speech to his soldiers1 in the course of it saying to them1 ,those souls which are severed from their fleshly bodies by the sword in battle1 are received by the pure ether and joined to that company which are placed among the stars4#ej ,the beautiful story of ,cupid and ,psyche1 that loveliest of all the myths concerning the immortality of the soul1 was a creation by no means foreign to the prevalent ideas and feelings of the time when it was written4 ,the ,dissertations of ,maximus ,tyrius abound with sentences like the following4 ,this very thing which the multitude call death is the birth of a new life1 and the beginning of immortality4#ea ,when ,pherecydes lay sick1 conscious of spiritual energy1 he cared not for bodily disease1 his soul standing erect and looking for release from its cumbersome vestment4 ,so a man in chains1 seeing the walls of his prison crumbling1 waits for deliverance1 that from the darkness in which he has been buried he may soar to the ethereal regions and be filled with glorious light4#eb ,the conception of man as a member of the cosmic family of gods and genii was known to all the classic philosophers1 and was cherished by the larger portion of them4 ,pindar affirms one origin for gods and men4 ,plato makes wise souls accompany the gods in their excursions about the sky4 ,cicero argues that heaven1 and not ,hades1 is the destination of the soul at death1 because the soul1 being lighter than the earthly elements surrounding it here1 would rise aloft through the natural force of gravitation4#ec ,plutarch says1 ,demons are the spies and scouts of the gods1 wandering and circuiting around on their commands4 ,disembodied souls #dh ,cyropadia1 lib4 viii4 cap4 #g4 #di ,epigram ,,xxiv4 #ej ,josephus1 ,de ,bell4 lib4 vi4 cap4 #a4 #ea ,diss4 ,,xxv4 #eb ,diss4 ,,xli4 #ec ,tusc4 ,quest4 lib i4 cap4 #ag4 and demons were the same4 ,the prevalence of such ideas as these produced in the ,greek and ,roman imagination a profound sense of invisible beings1 a sense which was further intensified by the popular personifications of all natural forces1 as in fountains and trees1 full of lapsing naiads and rustling dryads4 ,an illustrative fact is furnished by an effect of the tradition that ,thetis1 snatching the body of ,achilles from the funeral pile1 conveyed him to ,leuke1 an island in the ,black ,sea4 ,the mariners sailing by often fancied they saw his mighty shade flitting along the shore in the dusk of evening4#ed ,but a passage in ,hesiod yields a more adequate illustration3 ,when the mortal remains of those who flourished during the golden age were hidden beneath the earth1 their souls became beneficent demons1 still hovering over the world they once inhabited1 and still watching1 clothed in thin air and gliding rapidly through every region of the earth1 as guardians over the affairs of men4#ee ,but there were always some who denied the common doctrine of a future life and scoffed at its physical features4 ,through the absurd extravagances of poets and augurs1 and through the growth of critical thought1 this unbelief went on increasing from the days of ,anaxagoras1 when it was death to call the sun a ball of fire1 to the days of ,catiline1 when ,julius ,casar could be chosen ,pontifex ,maximus1 almost before the ,senate had ceased to reverberate his voice openly asserting that death was the utter end of man4 ,plutarch dilates upon the wide skepticism of the ,greeks as to the infernal world1 at the close of his essay on the maxim1 ,live concealed4 ,the portentous growth of irreverent unbelief1 the immense change of feeling from awe to ribaldry1 is made obvious by a glance from the known gravity of ,hesiod's ,descent of ,theseus and ,pirithous into ,hades1 to ,lucian's ,kataplous1 which represents the cobbler ,mycillus leaping from the banks of the ,styx1 swimming after ,charon's boat1 climbing into it upon the shoulders of the tyrant ,megapenthes and tormenting him the whole way4 ,pliny1 in his ,natural ,history1 affirms that death is an everlasting sleep4#ef ,the whole great sect of the ,epicureans united in supporting that belief by the combined force of ridicule and argument4 ,their views are the most fully and ably defended by the consummate ,lucretius1 in his masterly poem on the ,nature of ,things4 ,horace1#eg ,juvenal1#eh ,persius1#ei concur in scouting at the tales which once1 when recited on the stage1 had made vast audiences perceptibly tremble4#fj ,and ,cicero asks1 ,what old woman is so insane as to fear these things8#fa ,there were two classes of persons who sought differently to free mankind from the terrors which had invested the whole prospect of death and another world4 ,the first were the materialists1 who endeavored to prove that death was to man the absolute end of every thing4 ,secondly1 there were the later ,platonists1 who maintained that this world is the only ,hades1 that heaven is our home1 that all death is ascent to better life4 ,to remain on high with the gods is life2 to descend into this world is death1 a descent into ,orcus1 they said4 ,the following couplet1 of an unknown date1 is translated from the ,greek ,anthology3 ,diogenes1 whose tub stood by the road1 ,now1 being dead1 has the stars for his abode4 #ed ,muller1 ,greek ,literature1 ch4 vi4 #ee ,works and ,days1 lib4 i4 ,,ii4 #abj-abe4 #ef ,lib4 ii4 cap4 #g4 #eg ,lib4 i4 epist4 #af4 #eh ,sat4 ,,ii4 #ei ,sat4 ,,ii4 #fj ,tusc4 ,quest4 lib4 i4 cap4 #af4 #fa ,ibid4 cap4 #ba4 ,macrobius writes1 in his commentary on the ,dream of ,scipio1 ,here1 on earth1 is the cavern of ,dis1 the infernal region4 ,the river of oblivion is the wandering of the mind forgetting the majesty of its former life and thinking a residence in the body the only life4 ,phlegethon is the fires of wrath and desire4 ,acheron is retributive sadness4 ,cocytus is wailing tears4 ,styx is the whirlpool of hatreds4 ,the vulture eternally tearing the liver is the torment of an evil conscience4#fb ,to the ancient ,greek in general1 death was a sad doom4 ,when he lost a friend1 he sighed a melancholy farewell after him to the faded shore of ghosts4 ,summoned himself1 he departed with a lingering look at the sun1 and a tearful adieu to the bright day and the green earth4 ,to the ,roman1 death was a grim reality4 ,to meet it himself he girded up his loins with artificial firmness4 ,but at its ravages among his friends he wailed in anguished abandonment4 ,to his dying vision there was indeed a future2 but shapes of distrust and shadow stood upon its disconsolate borders2 and1 when the prospect had no horror1 he still shrank from its poppied gloom4 #fb ,lib4 i4 cap4 #i1 #aj4 ,,chapter ,,xi4 ,,mohammedan ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,islam has been a mighty power in the earth since the middle of the seventh century4 ,a more energetic and trenchant faith than it was for eight hundred years has not appeared among men4 ,finally expelled from its startling encampments in ,spain and the ,archipelago1 it still rules with tenacious hold over ,turkey1 a part of ,tartary1 ,palestine1 ,persia1 ,arabia1 and large portions of ,africa4 ,at this moment1 as to adherence and influence1 it is subordinate only to the two foremost religious systems in the world1 ,buddhism and ,christianity4 ,the dogmatic structure of ,islam as a theology and its practical power as an experimental religion offer a problem of the gravest interest4 ,but we must hasten on to give an exposition of merely those elements in it which are connected with its doctrine of a future life4 ,it is a matter of entire notoriety that there is but the least amount of originality in the tenets of the ,mohammedan faith4 ,the blending together of those tenets was distinctive1 the unifying soul breathed into them was a new creation1 and the great aim to which the whole was subordinated was peculiar2 but the component doctrines themselves1 with slight exception1 existed before as avowed principles in the various systems of belief and practice that prevailed around4 ,mohammed adopted many of the notions and customs of the pagan ,arabs1 the central dogma of the ,jews as to the unity of ,god1 most of the traditions of the ,hebrew ,scriptures1 innumerable fanciful conceits of the ,rabbins1#a whole doctrines of the ,magians with their details1 some views of the ,gnostics1 and extensive portions of a corrupted ,christianity1 grouping them together with many modifications of his own1 and such additions as his genius afforded and his exigencies required4 ,the motley strangely results in a compact and systematic working faith4 ,the ,islamites are divided into two great sects1 the ,sunnees and the ,sheeahs4 ,the ,arabs1 ,tartars1 and ,turks are ,sunnees1 are dominant in numbers and authority1 are strict literalists1 and are commonly considered the orthodox believers4 ,the ,persians are ,sheeahs1 are inferior in point of numbers1 are somewhat freer in certain interpretations1 placing a mass of tradition1 like the ,jewish ,mischna1 on a level with the ,koran1#b and are usually regarded as heretical4 ,to apply our own ecclesiastical phraseology to them1 the latter are the ,moslem ,protestants1 the former the ,moslem ,catholics4 ,yet in relation to almost every thing which should seem at all fundamental or vital they agree in their teachings4 ,their differences in general are upon trivial opinions1 or especially upon ritual particulars4 ,for instance1 the ,sheeahs send all the ,sunnees to hell because in their ablutions they wash from the elbow to the finger tips2 the ,sunnees return the compliment to their rival sectarists because they wash from the finger tips to the elbow4 ,within these two grand denominations of ,sheeah and #a ,rabbi ,abraham ,geiger1 ,prize ,essay upon the question1 proposed by the ,university of ,bonn1 ,was hat ,mohammed aus dem ,judenthum aufgenommen8 #b ,merrick1 ,translation of the ,sheeah ,traditions of ,mohammed in the ,hyat ul ,kuloob1 note x4 ,sunnee are found a multitude of petty sects1 separated from each other on various questions of speculative faith and ceremonial practice4 ,some take the ,koran alone1 and that in its plain literal sense1 as their authority4 ,others read the ,koran in the explanatory light of a vast collection of parables1 proverbs1 legends1 purporting to be from ,mohammed4 ,there is no less than a score of mystic allegorizing sects#c who reduce almost every thing in the ,koran to symbol1 or spiritual signification1 and some of whom as the ,sufis are the most rapt and imaginative of all the enthusiastic devotees in the world4 ,a cardinal point in the ,mohammedan faith is the asserted existence of angels1 celestial and infernal4 ,eblis is ,satan4 ,he was an angel of lofty rank2 but when ,god created ,adam and bade all the angels worship him1 ,eblis refused1 saying1 ,i was created of fire1 he of clay3 ,i am more excellent and will not bow to him4#d ,upon this ,god condemned ,eblis and expelled him from ,paradise4 ,he then became the unappeasable foe and seducing destroyer of men4 ,he is the father of those swarms of jins1 or evil spirits1 who crowd all hearts and space with temptations and pave the ten thousand paths to hell with lures for men4 ,the next consideration preliminary to a clear exhibition of our special subject1 is the doctrine of predestination1 the unflinching fatalism which pervades and crowns this religion4 ,the breath of this appalling faith is saturated with fatality1 and its very name of ,islam means ,submission4 ,in heaven the prophet saw a prodigious wax tablet1 called the ,preserved ,table1 on which were written the decrees of all events between the morning of creation and the day of judgment4 ,the burning core of ,mohammed's preaching was the proclamation of the one true ,god whose volition bears the irresistible destiny of the universe2 and inseparably associated with this was an intense hatred of idolatry1 fanned by the wings of ,god's wrath and producing a fanatic sense of a divine commission to avenge him on his insulters and vindicate for him his rightful worship from every nation4 ,there is an apparent conflict between the ,mohammedan representations of ,god's absolute predestination of all things1 and the abundant exhortations to all men to accept the true faith and bring forth good works1 and thus make sure of an acceptable account in the day of judgment4 ,the former make ,god's irreversible will all in all4 ,the latter seem to place alternative conditions before men1 and to imply in them a power of choice4 ,but this is a contradiction inseparable from the discussion of ,god's infinite sovereignty and man's individual freedom4 ,the inconsistency is as gross in ,augustine and ,calvinism as it is in the ,arabian lawgiver and the creed of the ,sunnees4 ,the ,koran1 instead of solving the difficulty1 boldly cuts it1 and does that in exactly the same way as the thorough ,calvinist4 ,god has respectively elected and reprobated all the destined inhabitants of heaven and hell1 unalterably1 independently of their choice or action4 ,at the same time1 reception of the true faith1 and a life conformed to it1 are virtually necessary for salvation1 because it is decreed that all the elect shall profess and obey the true faith4 ,their obedient reception of it proves them to be elected4 ,on the other hand1 it is foreordained that none of the reprobate shall become disciples and followers of the ,prophet4 ,their rejection of #c ,churchill1 ,mount ,lebanon1 vol4 i4 ch4 xv4 #d ,sale's ,translation of the ,koran1 ch4 vii4 him1 their wicked misbelief1 is the evidence of their original reprobation4 ,as the ,koran itself expresses it1 salvation is for all who are willing to be warned2 but they shall not be warned unless ,god please3#e all who shall be willing to walk uprightly2 but they shall not be willing unless ,god willeth4#f ,but such fine drawn distinctions are easily lost from sight or spurned in the eager affray of affairs and the imminent straits of the soul4 ,while in dogma and theory the profession of an orthodox belief1 together with scrupulous prayer1 fasting1 alms1 and the pilgrimage to ,mecca1 or the absence of these things1 simply denotes the foregone determinations of ,god in regard to the given individuals1 in practice and feeling the contrasted beliefs and courses of conduct are held to obtain heaven and hell4 ,and we find1 accordingly1 that ,mohammed spoke as if ,god's primeval ordination had fixed all things forever1 whenever he wished to awaken in his followers reckless valor and implicit submission4 ,whole armies cannot slay him who is fated to die in his bed4 ,on the contrary1 when he sought to win converts1 to move his hearers by threatenings and persuasions1 he spoke as if every thing pertaining to human weal and woe1 present and future1 rested on conditions within the choice of men4 ,say1 ',there is but one ,god1 and ,mohammed is his prophet1' and heaven shall be your portion2 but cling to your delusive errors1 and you shall be companions of the infernal fire4 ,practically speaking1 the essence of propagandist ,islam was a sentiment like this4 ,all men who do not follow ,mohammed are accursed misbelievers4 ,we are ,god's chosen avengers1 the commissioned instruments for reducing his foes to submission4 ,engaged in that work1 the hilts of all our scimitars are in his hand4 ,he snatches his servant martyr from the battle field to heaven4 ,thus the weapons of the unbelievers send their slain to paradise1 while the weapons of the believers send their slain to hell4 ,up1 then1 with the crescent banner1 and1 dripping with idolatrous gore1 let it gleam over mountain and plain till our sickles have reaped the earth6 ,the sword is the key of heaven and the key of hell4 ,a drop of blood shed in the cause of ,allah1 a night spent in arms1 is of more avail than two months of fasting and prayer4 ,whoever falls in battle1 his sins are forgiven4 ,in the day of judgment his wounds shall be resplendent as vermilion and odoriferous as musk4#g ,an infuriated zeal against idolaters and unbelievers inflamed the ,moslem heart1 a fierce martial enthusiasm filled the ,moslem soul1 and tangible visions of paradise and hell floated1 illuminate1 throughthe,moslem imagination4 ,and so from the ,persian ,gulf to the ,caucasus1 from ,sierra ,leone to the ,pyrenees1 the polity of ,mohammed overran the nations1 with the ,koran in its left hand1 the exterminating blade in its right1 one thunder shout still breaking from its awful lips3 ,profess ,islam1 and live1 with the clear prospect of eternal bliss beyond life2 reject it1 and die1 with the full certainty of eternal anguish beyond death4 ,when the crusading ,christians and the ,saracenic hosts met in battle1 the conflict was the very frenzy of fanaticism4 ,there the question of salvation or damnation lay on the ground between the marshalled armies1 to be fought for and carried by the stronger4 ,christ and ,allah encountered1 and the endless fate of their opposed #e ,koran1 ch4 lxxiv4 #f ,ibid4 ch4 lxxxi4 #g ,gibbon1 ,decline and ,fall of ,rome1 ch4 #a4 followers hung on the swift turning issue4 ,never have the appalling ideas of the invisible world so much and so distinctly mingled with the fury of mortal strife as in this instance4 ,to the eyes of ,turk and ,arab the smoke of the infernal pit appeared to break up from the ground in the rear of the infidel lines4 ,as the squadrons of the faithful moved on to the charge1 that pit yawned to receive the miscreant host2 and in chasing the foe the prophet's champions believed they were driving their antagonists down the very slopes of perdition4 ,when at length steel clashed upon steel and the yell of death shook the air1 the strife was not so much between arm and arm as between spirit and spirit1 and each deadly thrust was felt to pierce the life at once of the body and of the soul4#h ,that terrible superstition prevails almost universally among the ,mussulmans1 designated the ,beating in the ,sepulchre1 or the examination and torture of the body in the grave4 ,as soon as a corpse is interred1 two black and livid angels1 called the ,examiners1 whose names are ,munkeer and ,nakeer1 appear1 and order the dead person to sit up and answer certain questions as to his faith4 ,if he give satisfactory replies1 they suffer him to rest in peace1 refreshed by airs from paradise2 but if he prove to have been an unbeliever or heretic1 they beat him on the temples with iron maces till he roars aloud with pain and terror4 ,they then press the earth on the body1 which remains gnawed and stung by dragons and scorpions until the last day4 ,some sects give a figurative explanation of these circumstances4 ,the utter denial of the whole representation is a schismatic peculiarity of the sect of ,motozallites4 ,but all true believers1 both ,sunnee and ,sheeah1 devoutly accept it literally4 ,the commentators declare that it is implied in the following verse of the ,koran itself3 ,how1 therefore1 will it be with them when they die and the angels shall strike their faces and their backs8 #i ,the intermediate state of souls from the time of death until the resurrection has been the subject of extensive speculation and argument with the ,islamites4 ,the souls of the prophets1 it is thought1 are admitted directly to heaven4 ,the souls of martyrs1 according to a tradition received from ,mohammed1 rest in heaven in the crops of green birds who eat of the fruits and drink of the rivers there4 ,as to the location of the souls of the common crowd of the faithful1 the conclusions are various4 ,some maintain that they and the souls of the impious alike sleep in the dust until the end1 when ,israfil's blasts will stir them into life to be judged4 ,but the general and orthodox impression is that they tarry in one of the heavens1 enjoying a preparatory blessedness4 ,the souls of the wicked1 it is commonly held1 after being refused a place in the tomb and also being repulsed from heaven1 are carried down to the lower abyss1 and thrown into a dungeon under a green rock1 or into the jaw of ,eblis1 there to be treated with foretastes of their final doom until summoned to the judgment4#aj ,a very prominent doctrine in the ,moslem creed is that of the resurrection of the body4 ,this is a central feature in the orthodox faith4 ,it is expounded in all the emphatic details of its gross literality by their authoritative doctors1 and is dwelt upon with unwearied reiteration by the ,koran4 ,true1 some minor heretical sects give it a spiritual interpretation2 but the great #h ,taylor1 ,hist4 of ,fanaticism1 sect4 vii4 #i ,ch4 xlvii4 #aj ,sale1 ,preliminary ,discourse1 sect4 iv4 body of believers accept it unhesitatingly in its most physical shape4 ,the intrinsic unnaturalness and improbability of the dogma were evidently felt by ,mohammed and his expositors2 and all the more they strove to bolster it up and enforce its reception by vehement affirmations and elaborate illustrations4 ,in the second chapter of the ,koran it is related that1 in order to remove the skepticism of ,abraham as to the resurrection1 ,god wrought the miracle of restoring four birds which had been cut in pieces and scattered4 ,in chapter seventh1 ,god says1 ,we bring rain upon a withered country and cause the fruits to spring forth4 ,thus will we bring the dead from their graves4 ,the prophet frequently rebukes those who reject this belief4 ,what aileth them1 that they believe not the resurrection8#aa ,is not ,he who created man able to quicken the dead8#ab ,the scoffers say1 ',shall we be raised to life1 and our forefathers too1 after we have become dust and bones8 ,this is nothing but sorcery4'#ac ,first1 ,israfil will blow the blast of consternation4 ,after an interval1 he will blow the blast of examination1 at which all creatures will die and the material universe will melt in horror4 ,thirdly1 he will blow the blast of resurrection4 ,upon that instant1 the assembled souls of mankind will issue from his trumpet1 like a swarm of bees1 and fill the atmosphere1 seeking to be reunited to their former bodies1 which will then be restored1 even to their very hairs4 ,the day of judgment immediately follows4 ,this is the dreadful day for which all other days were made2 and it will come with blackness and consternation to unbelievers and evil doers1 but with peace and delight to the faithful4 ,the total race of man will be gathered in one place4 ,mohammed will first advance in front1 to the right hand1 as intercessor for the professors of ,islam4 ,the preceding prophets will appear with their followers4 ,gabriel will hold suspended a balance so stupendous that one scale will cover paradise1 the other hell4 ,hath the news of the overwhelming day of judgment reached thee8#ad ,whoever hath wrought either good or evil of the weight of an ant shall in that day behold the same4#ae ,an infallible scrutiny shall search and weigh every man's deeds1 and exact justice shall be done1 and no foreign help can avail any one4 ,one soul shall not be able to obtain any thing in behalf of another soul4#af ,every man of them on that day shall have business enough of his own to employ his thoughts4#ag ,in all the ,mohammedan representations of this great trial and of the principles which determine its decisions1 no reference is made to the doctrine of predestination1 but all turns on strict equity4 ,reckoning a reception or rejection of the true faith as a crowning merit or demerit1 the only question is1 ,do his good works outweigh1 by so much as a hair1 his evil works8 ,if so1 he goes to the right2 if not1 he must take the left4 ,the solitary trace of fatalism or rather favoritism is this3 that no idolater1 once in hell1 can ever possibly be released1 while no ,islamite1 however wicked1 can be damned eternally4 ,the punishment of unbelievers is everlasting1 that of believers limited4 ,the opposite of this opinion is a great heresy with the generality of the ,moslems4 ,some say the judgment will require but the twinkling of an eye2 others that it will occupy fifty thousand years1 during which time the sun will be drawn from its sheath and burn insufferably1 and the wicked will stand looking up1 their feet shod with shoes of fire1 and their skulls boiling like pots4 ,at last1 #aa ,ch4 lxxxiv4 #ab ,ch4 lxxv4 #ac ,ch4 xxxvii41 lvi4 #ad ,koran1 ch4 lxxxviii4 #ae ,ibid4 ch4 xcix4 #af ,ibid4 ch4 lxxxii4 #ag ,ibid4 ch4 lxxx4 when sentence has been passed on them1 all souls are forced to try the passage of al ,sirat1 a bridge thinner than a hair1 sharper than a razor1 and hotter than flame1 spanning in one frail arch the immeasurable distance1 directly over hell1 from earth to paradise4 ,some affect a metaphorical solution of this air severing causeway1 and take it merely as a symbol of the true ,sirat1 or bridge of this world1 namely1 the true faith and obedience2 but every orthodox ,mussulman firmly holds it as a physical fact to be surmounted in the last day4#ah ,mohammed leading the way1 the faithful and righteous will traverse it with ease and as quickly as a flash of lightning4 ,the thin edge broadens beneath their steps1 the surrounding support of convoying angels' wings hides the fire lake below from their sight1 and they are swiftly enveloped in paradise4 ,but as the infidel with his evil deeds essays to cross1 thorns entangle his steps1 the lurid glare beneath blinds him1 and he soon topples over and whirls into the blazing abyss4 ,in ,dr4 ,frothingham's fine translation from ,ruckert1 ,when the wicked o'er it goes1 stands the bridge all sparkling2 ,and his mind bewilder'd grows1 and his eye swims darkling4 ,wakening1 giddying1 then comes in1 with a deadly fright1 ,memory of all his sin1 rushing on his sight4 ,but when forward steps the just1 he is safe e'en here3 ,round him gathers holy trust1 and drives back his fear4 ,each good deed's a mist1 that wide1 golden borders gets2 ,and for him the bridge1 each side1 shines with parapets4 ,between hell and paradise is an impassable wall1 al ,araf1 separating the tormented from the happy1 and covered with those souls whose good works exactly counterpoise their evil works1 and who are1 consequently1 fitted for neither place4 ,the prophet and his expounders have much to say of this narrow intermediate abode4#ai ,its lukewarm denizens are contemptuously spoken of4 ,it is said that ,araf seems hell to the blessed but paradise to the damned2 for does not every thing depend on the point of view8 ,the ,mohammedan descriptions of the doom of the wicked1 the torments of hell1 are constantly repeated and are copious and vivid4 ,reference to chapter and verse would be superfluous1 since almost every page of the ,koran abounds in such tints and tones as the following4 ,the unbelievers shall be companions of hell fire forever4 ,those who disbelieve we will surely cast to be broiled in hell fire3 so often as their skins shall be well burned we will give them other skins in exchange1 that they may taste the sharper torment4 ,i will fill hell entirely full of genii and men4 ,they shall be dragged on their faces into hell1 and it shall be said unto them1 ',taste ye that torment of hell fire which ye rejected as a falsehood4' ,the unbelievers shall be driven into hell by troops4 ,they shall be taken by the forelocks and the feet and flung into hell1 where they shall drink scalding water4 ,their only entertainment shall be boiling water1 and they shall be fuel for hell4 ,the smoke of hell shall cast forth sparks as big as towers1 resembling yellow camels in color4 ,they who believe not shall #ah ,w4 ,c4 ,taylor1 ,mohammedanism and its ,sects4 #ai ,koran1 ch4 viii4 ,sale1 ,preliminary ,discourse1 p4 #abe4 have garments of fire fitted on them1 and they shall be beaten with maces of red hot iron4 ,the true believers1 lying on couches1 shall look down upon the infidels in hell and laugh them to scorn4 ,there is a tradition that a door shall be shown the damned opening into paradise1 but when they approach it1 it shall be suddenly shut1 and the believers within will laugh4 ,pitiless and horrible as these expressions from the ,koran are1 they are merciful compared with the pictures in the later traditions1 of women suspended by their hair1 their brains boiling1 suspended by their tongues1 molten copper poured down their throats1 bound hands and feet and devoured piecemeal by scorpions1 hung up by their heels in flaming furnaces and their flesh cut off on all sides with scissors of fire4 #bj ,their popular teachings divide hell into seven stories1 sunk one under another4 ,the first and mildest is for the wicked among the true believers4 ,the second is assigned to the ,jews4 ,the third is the special apartment of the ,christians4 ,they fourth is allotted to the ,sabians1 the fifth to the ,magians1 and the sixth to the most abandoned idolaters2 but the seventh the deepest and worst belongs to the hypocrites of all religions4 ,the first hell shall finally be emptied and destroyed1 on the release of the wretched believers there2 but all the other hells will retain their victims eternally4 ,if the visions of hell which filled the fancies of the faithful were material and glowing1 equally so were their conceptions of paradise4 ,on this world of the blessed were lavished all the charms so fascinating to the ,oriental luxuriousness of sensual languor1 and which the poetic ,oriental imagination knew so well how to depict4 ,as soon as the righteous have passed ,sirat1 they obtain the first taste of their approaching felicity by a refreshing draught from ,mohammed's ,pond4 ,this is a square lake1 a month's journey in circuit1 its water whiter than milk or silver and more fragrant than to be comparable to any thing known by mortals4 ,as many cups are set around it as there are stars in the firmament2 and whoever drinks from it will never thirst more4 ,then comes paradise1 an ecstatic dream of pleasure1 filled with sparkling streams1 honeyed fountains1 shady groves1 precious stones1 all flowers and fruits1 blooming youths1 circulating goblets1 black eyed houris1 incense1 brilliant birds1 delightsome music1 unbroken peace4#ba ,a ,sheeah tradition makes the prophet promise to ,ali twelve palaces in paradise1 built of gold and silver bricks laid in a cement of musk and amber4 ,the pebbles around them are diamonds and rubies1 the earth saffron1 its hillocks camphor4 ,rivers of honey1 wine1 milk1 and water flow through the court of each palace1 their banks adorned with various resplendent trees1 interspersed with bowers consisting each of one hollow transparent pearl4 ,in each of these bowers is an emerald throne1 with a houri upon it arrayed in seventy green robes and seventy yellow robes of so fine a texture1 and she herself so transparent1 that the marrow of her ankle1 notwithstanding robes1 flesh1 and bone1 is as distinctly visible as a flame in a glass vessel4 ,each houri has seventy locks of hair1 every one under the care of a maid1 who perfumes it with a censer which ,god has made to smoke with incense without the presence of fire2 and no mortal has ever breathed such fragrance as is there exhaled4 #bb #bj ,hyat ul ,kuloob1 ch4 x4 p4 #bjf4 #ba ,koran1 ch4 lv4 ch4 lvi4 #bb ,hyat ul ,kuloob1 ch4 xvi4 p4 #bhf4 ,such a doctrine of the future life as that here set forth1 it is plain1 was strikingly adapted to win and work fervidly on the minds of the imaginative1 voluptuous1 indolent1 passionate races of the ,orient4 ,it possesses a nucleus of just and natural moral conviction and sentiment1 around which is grouped a composite of a score of superstitions afloat before the rise of ,islam1 set off with the arbitrary drapery of a poetic fancy1 colored by the peculiar idiosyncrasies of ,mohammed1 emphasized to suit his special ends1 and all inflamed with a vindictive and propagandist animus4 ,any word further in explanation of the origin1 or in refutation of the soundness1 of this system of belief once so imminently aggressive and still so widely established would seem to be superfluous4 ,,chapter ,,xii4 ,,explanatory ,,survey ,,of ,,the ,,field ,,and ,,its ,,myths4 ,,surveying the thought of mankind upon the subject of a future life1 as thus far examined1 one can hardly fail to be struck by the multitudinous variety of opinions and pictures it presents4 ,whence and how arose this heterogeneous mass of notions8 ,in consequence of the endowments with which ,god has created man1 the doctrine of a future life arises as a normal fact in the development of his experience4 ,but the forms and accompaniments of the doctrine1 the immense diversity of dress and colors it appears in1 are subject to all the laws and accidents that mould and clothe the products within any other department of thought and literature4 ,we must refer the ethnic conceptions of a future state to the same sources to which other portions of poetry and philosophy are referred1 namely1 to the action of sentiment1 fancy1 and reason1 first2 then to the further action1 reaction1 and interaction of the pictures1 dogmas1 and reasonings of authoritative poets1 priests1 and philosophers on one side1 and of the feeling1 faith1 and thought of credulous multitudes and docile pupils on the other4 ,in the light of these great centres of intellectual activity1 parents of intellectual products1 there is nothing pertaining to the subject before us1 however curious1 which may not be intelligibly explained1 seen naturally to spring out of certain conditions of man's mind and experience as related with the life of society and the phenomena of the world4 ,so far as the views of the future life set forth in the religions of the ancient nations constitute systematically developed and arranged schemes of doctrine and symbol1 the origin of them therefore needs no further explanation than is furnished by a contemplation of the regulated exercise of the speculative and imaginative faculties4 ,but so far as those representations contain unique1 grotesque1 isolated particulars1 their production is accounted for by this general law3 ,in the early stages of human culture1 when the natural sensibilities are intensely preponderant in power1 and the critical judgment is in abeyance1 whatever strongly moves the soul causes a poetical secretion on the part of the imagination4#a ,thus the rainbow is personified2 a waterfall is supposed to be haunted by spiritual beings2 a volcano with fiery crater is seen as a ,cyclops with one flaming eye in the centre of his forehead4 ,this law holds not only in relation to impressive objects or appearances in nature1 but also in relation to occurrences1 traditions1 usages4 ,in this way innumerable myths arise1 explanatory or amplifying thoughts secreted by the stimulated imagination and then narrated as events4 ,sometimes these tales are given and received in good faith for truth1 as ,grote abundantly proves in his volume on ,legendary ,greece2 sometimes they are clearly the gleeful play of the fancy1 as when it is said that the hated infant ,herakles having been put to ,hera's breast as she lay asleep in heaven1 she1 upon waking1 thrust him away1 and the lacteal fluid1 streaming athwart the firmament1 originated the ,milky ,way6 ,to apply this law to our special subject3 #a ,chambers's ,papers for the ,people1 vol4 i43 ,the ,myth1 p4 #a4 ,what would be likely to work more powerfully on the minds of a crude1 sensitive people1 in an early stage of the world1 with no elaborate discipline of religious thought1 than the facts and phenomena of death8 ,plainly1 around this centre there must be deposited a vast quantity of ideas and fantasies4 ,the task is to discriminate them1 trace their individual origin1 and classify them4 ,one of the most interesting and difficult questions connected with the subject before us is this3 ,what1 in any given time and place1 were the limits of the popular belief8 ,how much of the current representations in relation to another life were held as strict verity8 ,what portions were regarded as fable or symbolism8 ,it is obvious enough that among the civilized nations of antiquity the distinctions of literal statement1 allegory1 historic report1 embellished legend1 satire1 poetic creation1 philosophical hypothesis1 religious myth1 were more or less generally known4 ,for example1 when ,aschylus makes one of his characters say1 ,yonder comes a herald3 so ,dust1 ,clay's thirsty sister1 tells me1 the personification1 unquestionably1 was as purposed and conscious as it is when a poet in the nineteenth century says1 ,thirst dived from the brazen glare of the sky and clutched me by the throat4 ,so1 too1 when ,homer describes the bag of ,aolus1 the winds1 in possession of the sailors on board ,ulysses' ship1 the half humorous allegory cannot be mistaken for religious faith4 ,it is equally obvious that these distinctions were not always carefully observed1 but were often confounded4 ,therefore1 in respect to the faith of primitive times1 it is impossible to draw any broad1 fixed lines and say conclusively that all on this side was consciously considered as fanciful play or emblem1 all on that side as earnest fact4 ,each particular in each case must be examined by itself and be decided on its own merits by the light and weight of the moral probabilities4 ,for example1 if there was any historic basis for the myth of ,herakles dragging ,cerberus out of ,hades1 it was that this hero forcibly entered the ,mysteries and dragged out to light the enactor of the part of the three headed dog4 ,the aged ,north man1 committing martial suicide rather than die in his peaceful bed1 undoubtedly accepted the ensanguined picture of ,valhalla as a truth4 ,virgil1 dismissing ,aneas from the ,tartarean realm through the ivory gate by which false dreams and fictitious visions are wont to issue1 plainly wrought as a poet on imaginative materials4 ,it should be recollected that most of the early peoples had no rigid formularies of faith like the ,christian creeds4 ,the writings preserved to us are often rather fragments of individual speculations and hopes than rehearsals of public dogmas4 ,plato is far from revealing the contemporaneous belief of ,greece in the sense in which ,thomas ,aquinas reveals the contemporaneous belief of ,christendom4 ,in ,egypt1 ,persia1 ,rome1 among every cultured people1 there were different classes of minds1 the philosophers1 the priests1 the poets1 the warriors1 the common multitude1 whose modes of thinking were in contrast1 whose methods of interpreting their ancestral traditions and the phenomena of human destiny were widely apart1 whose respective beliefs had far different boundaries4 ,the openly skeptical ,euripides and ,lucian are to be borne in mind as well as the apparently credulous ,hesiod and ,homer4 ,of course the ,fables of ,asop were not literally credited4 ,neither1 as a general thing1 were the ,metamorphoses of ,ovid4 ,with the ancients1 while there was a general national cast of faith1 there were likewise varieties of individual and sectarian belief and unbelief1 skepticism and credulity1 solemn reason and recreative fancy4 ,the people of ,lystra1 as we read in the ,acts of the ,apostles1 actually thought ,barnabas and ,paul were ,zeus and ,hermes1 and brought oxen and garlands to offer them the sacrifices appropriate to those deities4 ,peisistratus obtained rule over ,athens by dressing a stately woman1 by the name of ,phye1 as ,athene1 and passing off her commands as those of the tutelary goddess4 ,herodotus ridicules the people for unsuspiciously accepting her4#b ,the incredibleness of a doctrine is no obstacle to a popular belief in it4 ,whosoever thinks of the earnest reception of the dogma of transubstantiation the conversion of a wheaten wafer into the infinite ,god by nearly three quarters of ,christendom at this moment1 must permit the paradox to pass unchallenged4 ,doubtless the closing eye of many an expiring ,greek reflected the pitiless old oarsman plying his frost cold boat across the ,stygian ferry1 and his failing ear caught the rush of the ,phlegethonian surge4 ,it is equally certain that1 at the same time1 many another laughed at these things as childish fictions1 fitted only to scare the baby of a girl4 ,stricken memory1 yearning emotion1 kindled fancy1 a sensitive and timorous observation of natural phenomena1 rustling leaves1 wavering shadows1 apparent effects of unknown causes1 each is a superstitious mother of beliefs4 ,the ,sonora ,indians say that departed souls dwell among the caves and rocks of the cliffs1 and that the echoes often heard there are their voices4 ,ruskin suggests that the cause of the ,greeks surrounding the lower world residence of ,persephone with poplar groves was that the frailness1 fragility1 and inconstancy of the leafage of the poplar tree resembled the fancied ghost people4 ,we can very easily imagine how1 in the breeze at the entrance to some subterranean descent1 ,a ghostly rank ,of poplars1 like a halted train of shades1 ,trembled4 ,the operations of fierce passions1 hate1 fright1 and rage1 in a brain boiling with blood and fire1 make pictures which the savage afterwards holds in remembrance as facts4 ,he does not by reflection consciously distinguish the internal acts and sights of the mind from objective verities4 ,barbarians as travellers and psychologists have repeatedly observed usually pay great attention to the vagaries of madmen1 the doings and utterances of the insane4 ,these persons are regarded as possessed by higher beings4 ,their words are oracles3 the horrible shapes1 the grotesque scenes1 which their disordered and inflamed faculties conjure up1 are eagerly caught at1 and such accounts of them as they are able to make out are treasured up as revelations4 ,this fact is of no slight importance as an element in the hinting basis of the beliefs of uncultivated tribes4 ,many a vision of delirium1 many a raving medley of insanity1 has been accepted as truth4#c ,another phenomenon1 closely allied to the former1 has wrought in a similar manner and still more widely4 ,it has been a common superstition with barbarous nations in every part of the world1 from ,timbuctoo to ,siberia1 to suppose that dreams are real #b ,lib4 i4 cap4 #fj4 #c ,de ,boismont1 ,rational ,history of ,hallucinations1 ch4 #ae3 ,of ,hallucinations considered in a ,psychological1 ,historical1 and ,religious ,point of ,view4 adventures which the soul passes through1 flying abroad while the body lies1 a dormant shell1 wrapped in slumber4 ,the power of this influence in nourishing a copious credulity may easily be imagined4 ,the origin of many notions touching a future state1 found in literature1 is to be traced to those rambling thoughts and poetic reveries with which even the most philosophical minds1 in certain moods1 indulge themselves4 ,for example1 ,sir ,isaac ,newton doubts whether there be not superior intelligencies who1 subject to the ,supreme1 oversee and control the revolutions of the heavenly bodies4 ,and ,goethe1 filled with sorrow by the death of ,wieland1 musing on the fate of his departed friend1 solemnly surmised that he had become the soul of a world in some far realm of space4 ,the same mental exercises which supply the barbarian superstitions reappear in disciplined minds1 on a higher plane and in more refined forms4 ,culture and science do not deliver us from all illusion and secure us sober views conformed to fact4 ,still1 what we think amid the solid realities of waking life1 fancy in her sleep disjointedly reverberates from hollow fields of dream4 ,the metaphysician or theologian1 instead of resting contented with mere snatches and glimpses1 sets himself deliberately to reason out a complete theory4 ,in these elaborate efforts many an opinion and metaphor1 plausible or absurd1 sweet or direful1 is born and takes its place4 ,there is in the human mind a natural passion for congruity and completeness1 a passion extremely fertile in complementary products4 ,for example1 the early ,jewish notion of literally sitting down at table with ,abraham and ,isaac and ,jacob1 in the resurrection1 was gradually developed by accretion of assisting particulars into all the details of a consummate banquet1 at which ,leviathan was to be the fish1 ,behemoth the roast1 and so on4#d ,in the construction of doctrines or of discourses1 one thought suggests1 one premise or conclusion necessitates1 another4 ,this genetic application is sometimes plainly to be seen even in parts of incoherent schemes4 ,for instance1 the conception that man has returned into this life from anterior experiences of it is met by the opposing fact that he does not remember any preceding career4 ,the explanatory idea is at once hit upon of a fountain of oblivion a river ,lethe from which the disembodied soul drinks ere it reappears4 ,once establish in the popular imagination the conception of the ,olympian synod of gods1 and a thousand dramatic tales of action and adventure1 appropriate to the characters of the divine personages1 will inevitably follow4 ,the interest1 cunning1 and authority of priesthoods are another source of prevailing opinions concerning a life to come4 ,many nations1 early and late1 have been quite under the spiritual direction of priests1 and have believed almost every thing they said4 ,numerous motives conspire to make the priest concoct fictions and exert his power to gain credence for them4 ,he must have an alluringly colored elysium to reward his obedient disciples4 ,when his teachings are rejected and his authority mocked1 his class isolation and incensed pride find a natural satisfaction in threatening the reprobate aliens that a rain of fire will one day wash them down the smoking gulfs of sulphur4 ,the ,maronites1 a sect of ,catholic ,christians in ,syria1 purchase of their priests a few yards of land in heaven1 to secure a residence there when #d ,corrodi1 ,gesch4 des ,chiliasmns1 th4 i4 abschn4 #ae3 ,gastmahl des ,leviathan4 they die4#e ,the ,siamese ,buddhists accumulate silver and bury it in secret1 to supply the needs of the soul during its wandering in the separate state4 ,this foolish opinion robs the state of immense sums4 ,the lords and rich men erect pyramids over these treasures1 and for their greater security place them in charge of the talapoins6#f ,when1 for some reason or other1 either as a matter of neatness and convenience1 or as a preventive of mutual clawing1 or for some to us unimaginable end1 the authoritative ,skald wished to induce the ,northmen to keep their nails close cut1 he devised the awful myth of the ship ,nagelfra1 and made his raw minded people swallow it as truth4 ,the same process was followed unquestionably in a thousand other cases1 in different particulars of thought and aim1 in different parts of the world4 ,in a bird's eye survey of the broad field we have traversed1 one cannot help noticing the marked influence of the present scenery and habits1 history and associations1 of a people in deciding the character of their anticipations of the future4 ,the ,esquimaux paradise is surrounded by great pots full of boiled walrus meat4 ,the ,turk's heaven is a gorgeously idealized pleasure garden or celestial harem4 ,as the apparition of a man wanders into the next state1 a shadow of his present state floats over into the future with him4 ,the ,hereafter is the image flung by the ,now4 ,heaven and hell are the upward and downward echoes of the earth4 ,like the spectre of the ,brocken on the ,hartz ,mountains1 our ideas of another life are a reflection of our present experience thrown in colossal on the cloud curtains of futurity4 ,charles ,lamb1 pushing this elucidating observation much further1 says1 ,the shapings of our heavens are the modifications of our constitutions4 ,a tribe of savages has been described who hoped to go after death to their forefathers in an under ground elysium whose glory consisted in eternal drunkenness1 that being their highest conception of bliss and glory4 ,what can be more piteous than the contemplation of those barbarians whose existence here is so wretched that even their imagination and faith have lost all rebound1 and who conceive of the land of souls only as poorer and harder than this1 expecting to be tasked and beaten there by stronger spirits1 and to have nothing to eat8 ,the relation of master and servant1 the tyranny of class1 is reflected over into the other life in those aristocratic notions which break out frequently in the history of our subject4 ,the ,pharisees some of them1 at least excluded the rabble from the resurrection4 ,the ,peruvians confined their heaven to the nobility4 ,the ,new ,zealanders said the souls of the ,atuas1 the nobles1 were immortal1 but the ,cookees perished entirely4 ,meiners declares that the ,russians1 even so late as the times of ,peter the ,great1 believed that only the ,czar and the boyars could reach heaven4 ,it was almost a universal custom among savage nations when a chieftain died to slay his wives and servants1 that their ghosts might accompany his to paradise1 to wait on him there as here4 ,even among the ,greeks1 as ,bulwer has well remarked1 the ,hades of the ancients was not for the many2 and the dwellers of ,elysium are chiefly confined to the oligarchy of earth4 ,the coarse and selfish assumption on the part of man of superiority over woman1 based on his brawniness and tyranny1 has sometimes appeared in the form of an assertion that #e ,churchill1 ,mt4 ,lebanon1 vol4 iii4 ch4 #g4 #f ,pallegoix1 ,description du ,royaume de ,siam1 ch4 xx4 p4 #aac4 women have no souls1 or at least cannot attain to the highest heaven possible for man4 ,the former statement has been vulgarly attributed to the ,moslem creed1 but with utter falsity4 ,a pious and aged female disciple once asked ,mohammed concerning her future condition in heaven4 ,the prophet replied1 ,there will not be any old women in heaven4 ,she wept and bewailed her fate1 but was comforted upon the gracious assurance from the prophet's lips1 ,they will all be young again when there4 ,the ,buddhists relate that ,gotama once directed queen ,prajapati1 his foster mother1 to prove by a miracle the error of those who supposed it impossible for a woman to attain ,nirwana4 ,she immediately made as many repetitions of her own form as filled the skies of all the sakwalas1 and1 after performing various wonders1 died and rose into ,nirwana1 leading after her five hundred virtuous princesses4#g ,how spontaneously the idiosyncrasies of men in the present are flung across the abysm into the future state is exhibited amusingly1 and with a rough pathos1 in an old tradition of a dialogue between ,saint ,patrick and ,ossian4 ,the bard contrasts the apostle's pitiful psalms with his own magnificent songs1 and says that the virtuous ,fingal is enjoying the rewards of his valor in the aerial existence4 ,the saint rejoins1 ,no matter for ,fingal's worth2 being a pagan1 assuredly he roasts in hell4 ,in hot wrath the honest ,caledonian poet cries1 ,if the children of ,morni and the tribes of the clan ,ovi were alive1 we would force brave ,fingal out of hell1 or the same habitation should be our own4#h ,many of the most affecting facts and problems in human experience and destiny have found expression1 hypothetic solution1 in striking myths preserved in the popular traditions of nations4 ,the mutual resemblances in these legends in some cases1 though among far separated peoples1 are very significant and impressive4 ,they denote that1 moved by similar motives and exercised on the same soliciting themes1 human desire and thought naturally find vent in similar theories1 stories1 and emblems4 ,the imagination of man1 as ,gfrorer says1 runs in ruts which not itself but nature has beaten4 ,the instinctive shrinking from death felt by man would1 sooner or later1 quite naturally suggest the idea that death was not an original feature in the divine plan of the world1 but a retributive additional discord4 ,benignant nature meant her children should live on in happy contentment here forever2 but sin and ,satan came in1 and death was the vengeance that followed their doings4 ,the ,persians fully developed this speculation4 ,the ,hebrews either also originated it1 or borrowed it from the ,persians2 and afterwards the ,christians adopted it4 ,traces of the same conception appear among the remotest and rudest nations4 ,the ,caribbeans have a myth to the effect that the whole race of men were doomed to be mortal because ,carus1 the first man1 offended the great god ,tiri4 ,the ,cherokees ascribe to the ,great ,spirit the intention of making men immortal on earth2 but1 they say1 the sun when he passed over told them there was not room enough1 and that people had better die6 ,they also say that the ,creator attempted to make the first man and woman out of two stones1 but failed1 and afterwards fashioned them of clay2 and therefore it is that they are perishable4#i ,the #g ,hardy1 ,manual of ,buddhism1 p4 #cad4 #h ,logan1 ,scottish ,gael1 ch4 xiv4 #i ,squier1 ,serpent ,symbol1 p4 #fg1 note c4 ,indians of the ,oronoco declare that the ,great ,spirit dwelt for a while1 at first1 among men4 ,as he was leaving them1 he turned around in his canoe and said1 ,ye shall never die1 but shall shed your skins4 ,an old woman would not believe what he said2 he therefore recalled his promise and vowed that they should die4 ,the thought of more than one death that the composite man is simplified by a series of separating deaths has repeatedly found place4 ,the ,new ,testament speaks of the second death2 but that is a metaphorical phrase1 descriptive1 as there employed1 of condemnation and suffering4 ,it is a thought of ,plato that the ,deity put intellect in soul1 and soul in a material envelope4 ,following this hint1 ,plutarch says1 in his essay on the ,face in the ,moon1 that the earth furnishes the body1 the moon the soul1 the sun the mind4 ,the first death we die1 he continues1 makes us two from three2 the second makes us one from two4 ,the ,feejees tell how one of their warriors1 seeing the spectre of a recently deceased enemy of his1 threw his war club at it and killed it4 ,they believed the spirit itself was thus destroyed4 ,there is something pathetic in this accumulation of dissolution upon dissolution1 this pursuit of death after death4 ,we seem to hear1 in this thin succession of the ghosts of ghosts1 the fainter growing echoes of the body fade away4 ,many narratives reveal the fond hovering of the human mind over the problem of avoiding death altogether4 ,the ,hebrew ,scriptures have made us familiar with the translation of ,enoch and the ascension of ,elijah without tasting death4 ,the ,hindus tell of ,divadassa1 who1 as a reward for his exceeding virtue and piety1 was permitted to ascend to heaven alive4#aj ,they also say that the good ,trisanku1 having pleased a god1 was elevated in his living body to heaven4#aa ,the ,buddhists of ,ceylon preserve a legend of the elevation of one of the royal descendants of ,maha ,sammata to the superior heavens without undergoing death4#ab ,there are ,buddhist traditions1 furthermore1 of four other persons who were taken up to ,indra's heaven in their bodies without tasting death1 namely1 the musician ,gattila1 and the kings ,sadhina1 ,nirni1 and ,mandhatu4#ac ,a beautiful myth of the translation of ,cyrus is found in ,firdousi's ,shah ,nameh3 ,ky ,khosru bow'd himself before his ,god3 ,in the bright water he wash'd his head and his limbs2 ,and he spake to himself the ,zend ,avesta's prayers2 ,and he turn'd to the friends of his life and exclaim'd1 ',fare ye well1 fare ye well for evermore6 ,when to morrow's sun lifts its blazing banner1 ,and the sea is gold1 and the land is purple1 ,this world and ,i shall be parted forever4 ,ye will never see me again1 save in ,memory's dreams4',when the sun uplifted his head from the mountain1 ,the king had vanish'd from the eyes of his nobles4 ,they roam'd around in vain attempts to find him2 #aj ,vans ,kennedy1 ,ancient and ,hindu ,mythology1 p4 #dca4 #aa ,vishnu ,purana1 p4 #cga4 #ab ,upham1 ,sacred ,books of ,ceylon1 vol4 i4 ,introduction1 p4 #ag4 #ac ,hardy1 ,manual of ,buddhism1 p4 #be1 note4 ,and every one1 as he came back to the place1 ,bade a long farewell to the king of the world4 ,never hath any one seen such a marvel ,no1 though he live long in the world ,that a man should go alive into the presence of ,god4 ,there is a ,greek story that ,empedocles1 after a sacred festival1 was drawn up to heaven in a splendor of celestial effulgence4#ad ,philostratus relates a tradition of the ,cretans1 affirming that1 ,apollonius having entered a temple to worship1 a sound was heard as of a chorus of virgins singing1 ,come from the earth2 come into heaven2 come4 ,and he was taken up1 never having been seen afterwards4 ,here may be cited also the exquisite fable of ,endymion4 ,zeus promised to grant what he should request4 ,he begged for immortality1 eternal sleep1 and never fading youth4 ,accordingly1 in all his surpassing beauty he slumbers on the summit of ,latmus1 where every night the enamored moon stoops to kiss his spotless forehead4 ,one of the most remarkable fragments in the traditions of the ,american aborigines is that concerning the final departure of ,tarenyawagon1 a mythic chief of supernatural knowledge and power1 who instructed and united the ,iroquois4 ,he sprang across vast chasms between the cliffs1 and shot over the lakes with incredible speed1 in a spotless white canoe4 ,at last the ,master of ,breath summoned him4 ,suddenly the sky was filled with melody4 ,while all eyes were turned up1 ,tarenyawagon was seen1 seated in his snow white canoe1 in mid air1 rising with every burst of the heavenly music1 till he vanished beyond the summer clouds1 and all was still4#ae ,another mythological method of avoidingdeath is by bathing in some immortal fountain4 ,the ,greeks tell of ,glaucus1 who by chance discovered and plunged in a spring of this charmed virtue1 but was so chagrined at being unable to point it out to others that he flung himself into the ocean4 ,he could not die1 and so became a marine deity1 and was annually seen off the headlands sporting with whales4 ,the search for the ,fountain of ,youth by the ,spaniards who landed in ,florida is well known4 ,how with a vain eagerness did ,ponce de ,leon1 the battered old warrior1 seek after the magic wave beneath which he should sink to emerge free from scars and stains1 as fresh and fair as when first he donned the knightly harness6 ,khizer1 the ,wandering ,jew of the ,east1 accompanied ,iskander ,zulkarnain 7the ,oriental name for ,alexander the ,great7 in his celebrated expedition to find the fountain of life4#af ,zulkarnain1 coming to a place where there were three hundred and sixty fountains1 despatched three hundred and sixty men1 ordering each man to select one of the fountains in which to wash a dry salted fish wherewith he was furnished4 ,the instant ,khizer's fish touched the water of the fountain which he had chosen1 it sprang away1 alive4 ,khizer leaped in after it and drank4 ,therefore he cannot die till the last trump sounds4 ,meanwhile1 clad in a green garb1 he roams through the world1 a personified spring of the year4 #ad ,lewes1 ,biographical ,history of ,philosophy1 vol4 i4 p4 #ace1 7#ast ,eng4 edit47 #ae ,schoolcraft1 ,notes on the ,iroquois1 ch4 ix4 #af ,adventures of ,hatim ,tai1 p4 #abe4 ,the same influences which have caused death to be interpreted as a punitive after piece in the creation1 and which have invented cases wherein it was set aside1 have also fabricated tales of returns from its shrouded realm4 ,the ,thracian lover's harp1 drawing iron tears down ,pluto's cheek1 won his mistress half way to the upper light1 and would have wholly redeemed her had he not in impatience looked back4 ,the grim king of ,hades1 yielding to passionate entreaties1 relented so far as to let the hapless ,protesilaus return to his mourning ,laodameia for three hours4 ,at the swift end of this poor period he died again2 and this time she died with him4 ,erus1 who was killed in battle1 and ,timarchus1 whose soul was rapt from him in the cave of ,trophonius1 both returned1 as we read in ,plato and ,plutarch1 to relate with circumstantial detail what they saw in the other world4 ,alcestis1 who so nobly died to save her husband's life1 was brought back from the region of the dead1 by the interposition of ,herakles1 to spend happy years with her grateful ,admetus4 ,the cunning ,sisyphus1 who was so notorious for his treachery1 by a shrewd plot obtained leave1 after his death1 to visit the earth again4 ,safely up in the light1 he vowed he would stay2 but old ,hermes psychopompus forcibly dragged him down4 ,when ,columbus landed at ,san ,salvador1 the natives thought he had descended from the sun1 and by signs inquired if he had not4 ,the ,hawaiians took ,captain ,cook for the god ,lono1 who was once their king but was afterwards deified1 and who had prophesied1 as he was dying1 that he should in after times return4 ,te ,wharewara1 a ,new ,zealand youth1 relates a long account of the return of his aunt from the other world1 with a minute description of her adventures and observations there4#ag ,schoolcraft gives a picturesque narrative of a journey made by a ,wyandot brave to and from the land of souls4#ah ,there is a group of strangely pleasing myths1 closely allied to the two preceding classes1 showing how the popular heart and imagination glorify their heroes1 and1 fondly believing them too godlike to die1 fancy them only removed to some secret place1 where they still live1 and whence in the time of need they will come again to rescue or to bless their people4 ,greece dreamed that her swift footed ,achilles was yet alive in the ,white ,island4 ,denmark long saw king ,holger lingering on the old warrior cairns of his country4 ,portugal trusted that her beauteous prince ,sebastian had escaped from the fatal field to the ,east1 and would one day return to claim his usurped realm4#ai ,so1 too1 of ,roderick the ,goth1 who fell in disastrous battle with the ,arabs1 the ,visiogothic traditions and faith of the people long insisted that he would reappear4 ,the ,swiss herdsmen believe the founders of their confederacy still sleep in a cavern on the shores of ,lucerne4 ,when ,switzerland is in peril1 the ,three ,tells1 slumbering there in their antique garb1 will wake to save her4 ,sweetly and often1 the ancient ,british lays allude to the puissant ,arthur borne away to the mystic vales of ,avalon1 and yet to be hailed in his native kingdom1 ,excalibur once more gleaming in his hand4 ,the strains of the ,troubadours swell and ring as they tell of ,charlemagne sleeping beneath #ag ,shortland1 ,traditions of the ,new ,zealanders1 p4 #abh4 #ah ,history1 c4 of ,indian ,tribes1 part ii4 p4 #bce4 #ai ,there is a fanatic sect of ,sebastianists in ,brazil now4 ,see ,brazil and the ,brazilians1 by ,kidier and ,fletcher1 pp4 #eai-eba4 the ,untersberg1 biding his appointed time to rise1 resume his unrivalled sceptre1 and glorify the ,frank race4 ,and what grand and weird ballads picture great ,barbarossa seated in the vaults of ,kyffhauser1 his beard grown through the stone table in front of him1 tarrying till he may come forth1 with his minstrels and knights around him1 in the crisis hour of ,germany's fortunes6 ,the ,indians of ,pecos1 in ,new ,mexico1 still anxiously expect the return of ,montezuma2 while in ,san ,domingo1 on the ,rio ,grande1 a sentinel every morning ascends to the top of the highest house1 at sunrise1 and looks out eastward for the coming of the great chief4#bj ,the peasants of ,brittany maintain as a recent traveller testifies that ,napoleon is still alive in concealment somewhere1 and will one day be heard of or seen in pomp and victory4 ,one other dead man there has been who was expected to return4 the hated ,nero1 the popular horror of whom shows itself in the shuddering belief expressed in the ,apocalypse and in the ,sibylline ,oracles that he was still alive and would reappear4#ba ,alian1 in his ,various ,history1 recounts the following singular circumstances concerning the ,meropes who inhabited the valley of ,anostan4#bb ,it would seem to prove that no possible conceit of speculation pertaining to our subject has been unthought of4 ,a river of grief and a river of pleasure1 he says1 lapsed through the valley1 their banks covered with trees4 ,if one ate of the fruit growing on the trees beside the former stream1 he burst into a flood of tears and wept till he died4 ,but if he partook of that hanging on the shore of the latter1 his bliss was so great that he forgot all desires2 and1 strangest of all1 he returned over the track of life to youth and infancy1 and then gently expired4 ,he turned ,into his yesterdays1 and wander'd back ,to distant childhood1 and went out to ,god ,by the gate of birth1 not death4 ,mohammed1 during his night journey1 saw1 in the lower heaven1 ,adam1 the father of mankind1 a majestic old man1 with all his posterity who were destined for paradise on one side1 and all who were destined for hell on the other4 ,when he looked on the right he smiled and rejoiced1 but as often as he looked on the left he mourned and wept4 ,how finely this reveals the stupendous pathos there is in the theological conception of a ,federal ,head of humanity6 ,the idea of a great terminal crisis is met with so often in reviewing the history of human efforts to grasp and solve the problem of the world's destiny1 that we must consider it a normal concomitant of such theorizings4 ,the mind reels and loses itself in trying to conceive of the everlasting continuance of the present order1 or of any one fixed course of things1 but finds relief in the notion of a revolution1 an end1 and a fresh start4 ,the ,mexican ,cataclysm or universal crash1 the close of the ,hindu ,calpa1 the ,persian ,resurrection1 the ,stoic ,conflagration1 the ,scandinavian ,ragnarokur1 the ,christian ,day of ,judgment1 all embody this one thought4 ,the ,drama of ,humanity is played out1 the curtain falls1 and when it rises again #bj ,abbe ,domenech's ,seven ,years' ,residence in the ,great ,deserts of ,north ,america2 ,vol4 ,i4 ch4 viii4 #ba ,stuart1 ,commentary on the ,apocalypse3 ,excursus upon ch4 xiii4 v4 #ah4 #bb ,lib4 iii4 cap4 #ah4 all is commenced afresh4 ,the clock of creation runs down and has to be wound up anew4 ,the ,brahmans are now expecting the tenth avatar of ,vishnu4 ,the ,parsees look for ,sosiosch to come1 to consummate the triumph of good1 and to raise the dead upon a renewed earth4 ,the ,buddhists await the birth of ,maitri ,buddha1 who is tarrying in the dewa loka ,tusita until the time of his advent upon earth4 ,the ,jews are praying for the appearance of the ,messiah4 ,and many ,christians affirm that the second advent of ,jesus draws nigh4 ,one more fact1 even in a hasty survey of some of the most peculiar opinions current in bygone times as to a future life1 can scarcely fail to attract notice4 ,it is the so constant linking of the soul's fate with the skyey spaces and the stars1 in fond explorings and astrologic dreams4 ,nowhere are the kingly greatness and the immortal aspiring of man more finely shown4 ,the loadstone of his destiny and the prophetic gravitation of his thoughts are upward1 into the eternal bosom of heaven's infinite hospitality4 ,ye stars1 which are the poetry of heaven6 ,if in your bright leaves we would read the fate ,of men and empires1 'tis to be forgiven1 ,that1 in our aspirations to be great1 ,our destinies o'erleap their mortal state ,and claim a kindred with you2 for ye are ,a beauty and a mystery1 and create ,in us such love and reverence from afar ,that fortune1 fame1 power1 life1 have named themselves a star4 ,what an immeasurable contrast between the dying ,cherokee1 who would leap into heaven with a war whoop on his tongue and a string of scalps in his hand1 and the dying ,christian1 who sublimely murmurs1 ,father1 into thy hands ,i commit my spirit6 ,what a sweep of thought1 from the poor woman whose pious notion of heaven was that it was a place where she could sit all day in a clean white apron and sing psalms1 to the far seeing and sympathetic natural philosopher whose loving faith embraces all ranks of creatures and who conceives of paradise as a spiritual concert of the combined worlds with all their inhabitants in presence of their ,creator6 ,yet from the explanatory considerations which have been set forth we can understand the derivation of the multifarious swarm of notions afloat in the world1 as the fifteen hundred varieties of apple now known have all been derived from the solitary white crab4 ,differences of fancy and opinion among men are as natural as fancies and opinions are4 ,the mind of a people grows from the earth of its deposited history1 but breathes in the air of its living literature4#bc ,by his philosophic learning and poetic sympathy the cosmopolitan scholar wins the last victory of mind over matter1 frees himself from local conditions and temporal tinges1 and1 under the light of universal truth1 traces1 through the causal influences of soil and clime and history1 and the colored threads of great individualities1 the formation of peculiar national creeds4 ,through sense the barbarian mind feeds on the raw pabulum furnished by the immediate phenomena of the world and of its own life4 ,through culture the civilized mind feeds on the elaborated substance of literature1 #bc ,schouw1 ,earth1 ,plants1 and ,man1 ch4 xxx4 science1 and art4 ,plants eat inorganic1 animals eat organized1 material4 ,the ignorant man lives on sensations obtained directly from nature2 the educated man lives also on sensations obtained from the symbols of other people's sensations4 ,the illiterate savage hunts for his mental living in the wild forest of consciousness2 the erudite philosopher lives also on the psychical stores of foregone men4 ,,note4 ,to the ten instances1 stated on pages #baj1 #baa1 of remarkable men who after their death were popularly imagined to be still alive1 and destined to appear again1 an eleventh may be added4 ,the ,indians of ,pecos1 in ,new ,mexico1 anxiously expect the return of ,montezuma4 ,in ,san ,domingo1 on the ,rio ,grande1 a sentinel every morning ascends to the roof of the highest house at sunrise and looks out eastward for the coming of the great chief4 ,see the ,abbe ,domenech's ,seven ,years' ,residence in the ,great ,deserts of ,north ,america1 vol4 ii4 ch4 viii4 ,,part ,,third4 ,,new ,,testament ,,teachings ,,concerning ,,afuture ,,life4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,peter',s ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,in entering upon an investigation of the thoughts of the ,new ,testament writers concerning the fate of man after his bodily dissolution1 we may commence by glancing at the various allusions contained in the record to opinions on this subject prevalent at the time of the ,savior or immediately afterwards1 but which formed no part of his religion1 or were mixed with mistakes4 ,there are several incidents recorded in the ,gospels which show that a belief in the transmigration of the soul was received among the ,jews4 ,as ,jesus was passing near ,siloam with his disciples1 he saw a man who had been blind from his birth2 and the disciples said to him1 ,master1 who did sin1 this man or his parents1 that he was born blind8 ,the drift of this question is1 ,did the parents of this man commit some great crime1 for which they were punished by having their child born blind1 or did he come into the world under this calamity in expiation of the iniquities of a previous life8 ,jesus denies the doctrine involved in this interrogation1 at least1 as far as his reply touches it at all2 for he rarely enters into any discussion or refutation of incidental errors4 ,he says1 ,neither hath this man sinned nor his parents as the cause of his blindness2 but the regular workings of the laws of ,god are made manifest in him3 moreover1 it is a providential occasion offered me that ,i should show the divinity of my mission by giving him sight4 ,when ,herod heard of the miracles and the fame of ,jesus1 he said1 ,this is ,john the ,baptist1 whom ,i beheaded3 he is risen from the dead2 and therefore mighty works are wrought by him4 ,this brief statement plainly shows that the belief in the reappearance of a departed spirit1 in bodily form1 to run another career1 was extant in ,judea at that period4 ,the ,evangelists relate another circumstance to the same effect4 ,jesus asked his disciples who the people thought he was4 ,and they replied1 ,some think that thou art ,john the ,baptist1 some ,elias1 and some ,jeremiah or some other of the old prophets1 a forerunner of the ,messiah4 ,then ,jesus asked1 ,but who think ye that ,i am8 ,and ,simon ,peter said1 ,thou art the promised ,messiah himself4 ,there was a prophetic tradition among the ,jews1 drawn from the words of ,malachi1 that before the ,messiah was revealed ,elias would appear and proclaim his coming4 ,therefore1 when the disciples of ,christ recognised him as the great ,anointed1 they were troubled about this prophecy1 and said to their ,master1 ,why do the ,scribes say that ,elias must first come8 ,he replies to them1 in substance1 ,it is even so3 the prophet's words shall not fail3 they are already fulfilled4 ,but you must interpret the prophecy aright4 ,it does not mean that the ancient prophet himself1 in physical form1 shall come upon earth1 but that one with his office1 in his spirit and power1 shall go before me4 ,if ye are able to understand the true import of the promise1 it has been realized4 ,john the ,baptist is the ,elias which was to come4 ,the ,new ,testament1 therefore1 has allusions to the doctrine of transmigration1 but gives it no warrant4 ,the ,jewish expectations in regard to the ,messiah1 the nature of his kingdom1 and the events which they supposed would attend his coming or transpire during his reign1 were the source and foundation of the phraseology of a great many passages in the ,christian ,scriptures and of the sense of not a few4 ,the national ideas and hopes of the ,jews at that time were singularly intense and extensive4 ,their influence over the immediate disciples of ,jesus and the authors of the ,new ,testament is often very evident in the interpretations they put upon his teachings1 and in their own words4 ,still1 their intellectual and spiritual obtuseness to the true drift of their ,master's thoughts was not so great1 their mistakes are neither so numerous nor so gross1 as it is frequently supposed they were4 ,this is proved by the fact that when they use the language of the ,messianic expectations of the ,jews in their writings they often do it1 not in the material1 but in a spiritual sense4 ,when they first came under the instruction of ,jesus1 they were fully imbued with the common notions of their nation and age4 ,by his influence their ideas were slowly and with great difficulty spiritualized and made to approach his own in some degree4 ,but it is unquestionably true that they never not even after his death arrived at a clear appreciation of the full sublimity1 the pure spirituality1 the ultimate significance1 of his mission and his words4 ,still1 they did cast off and rise above the grossly carnal expectations of their countrymen4 ,partially instructed in the spiritual nature of ,christ's kingdom1 and partially biassed by their ,jewish prepossessions1 they interpreted a part of his language figuratively1 according to his real meaning1 and a part of it literally1 according to their own notions4 ,the result of this was several doctrines neither taught by ,christ nor held by the ,jews1 but formed by conjoining and elaborating a portion of the conceptions of both4 ,these doctrines are to be found in the ,new ,testament2 but it should be distinctly understood that the religion of ,christ is not responsible for them1 is to be separated from them4 ,the fundamental and pervading aim of that epistle of ,peter the genuineness of which is unquestioned and the same is true in a great degree of his speeches recorded in the ,acts of the ,apostles is to exhort the ,christians to whom it is written to purify themselves by faith1 love1 and good works2 to stand firmly amidst all their tribulations1 supported by the expectations and prepared to meet the conditions of a glorious life in heaven at the close of this life4 ,eschatology1 the doctrine of the ,last ,things1 with its practical inferences1 all inseparably interwoven with the mission of ,christ1 forms the basis and scope of the whole document4 ,peter believed that when ,christ had been put to death his spirit1 surviving1 descended into the separate state of departed souls4 ,having cited from the sixteenth ,psalm the declaration1 ,thou wilt not leave my soul in the under world1 he says it was a prophecy concerning ,christ1 which was fulfilled in his resurrection4 ,the soul of this ,jesus was not left in the under world1 but ,god hath raised him up1 whereof we all are witnesses4 ,when it is written that his soul was not left in the subterranean abode of disembodied spirits1 of course the inference cannot be avoided that it was supposed to have been there for a time4 ,in the next place1 we are warranted by several considerations in asserting that ,peter believed that down there1 in the gloomy realm of shades1 were gathered and detained the souls of all the dead generations4 ,we attribute this view to ,peter from the combined force of the following reasons3 because such was1 notoriously1 the belief of his ancestral and contemporary countrymen2 because he speaks of the resurrection of ,jesus as if it were a wonderful prophecy or unparalleled miracle1 a signal and most significant exception to the universal law2 because he says expressly of ,david that he is not yet ascended into the heavens1 and if ,david was still retained below1 undoubtedly all were2 because the same doctrine is plainly inculcated by other of the ,new ,testament writers2 and1 finally1 because ,peter himself1 in another part of this epistle1 declares1 in unequivocal terms1 that the soul of ,christ went and preached to the souls confined in the under world1 for such is the perspicuous meaning of the famous text1 being put to death in the body1 but kept alive in the soul1 in which also he went and preached went as a herald to the spirits in prison4 ,the meaning we have attributed to this celebrated passage is the simple and consistent explanation of the words and the context1 and is what must have been conveyed to those familiar with the received opinions of that time4 ,accordingly1 we find that1 with the exception of ,augustine1 it was so understood and interpreted by the whole body of the ,fathers4#a ,it is likewise so held now by an immense majority of the most authoritative modern commentators4 ,rosenmuller says1 in his commentary on this text1 ,that by the spirits in prison is meant souls of men separated from their bodies and detained as in custody in the under world1 which the ,greeks call ,hades1 the ,hebrews ,sheol1 can hardly be doubted1 7vix dubitari posse videtur47 ,such has ever been and still is the common conclusion of nearly all the best critical theologians1 as volumes of citations might easily be made to show4 ,the reasons which led ,augustine to give a different exposition of the text before us are such as should make1 in this case1 even his great name have little or no weight4 ,he firmly held1 as revealed and unquestionable truth1#b the whole doctrine which we maintain is implied in the present passage2 but he was so perplexed by certain difficult queries#c as to locality and method and circumstance1 addressed to him with reference to this text1 that he1 waveringly1 and at last1 gave it an allegorical interpretation4 ,his exegesis is not only arbitrary and opposed to the catholic doctrine of the ,church2 it is also so far fetched and forced as to be destitute of #a ,see1 for example1 ,clem4 ,alex4 ,stromata1 lib4 vi42 ,cyprian1 ,test4 adv4 ,judaos1 lib4 ii4 cap4 #bg1 ,lactantius1 ,divin4 ,instit4 lib4 vii4 cap4 #bj4 #b ,epist4 ,,xcix4 #c ,ibid4 plausibility4 ,he says the spirits in prison may be the souls of men confined in their bodies here in this life1 to preach to whom ,christ came from heaven4 ,but the careful reader will observe that ,peter speaks as if the spirits were collected and kept in one common custody1 refers to the spirits of a generation long ago departed to the dead1 and represents the preaching as taking place in the interval between ,christ's death and his resurrection4 ,a glance from the eighteenth to the twenty second verse inclusive shows indisputably that the order of events narrated by the apostle is this3 ,first1 ,christ was put to death in the flesh1 suffering for sins1 the just for the unjust2 secondly1 he was quickened in the spirit2 thirdly1 he went and preached to the spirits in prison2 fourthly1 he rose from the dead2 fifthly1 he ascended into heaven4 ,how is it possible for any one to doubt that the text under consideration teaches his subterranean mission during the period of his bodily burial8 ,in the exposition of the ,apostles' ,creed put forth by the ,church of ,england under ,edward ,,vi41 this text in ,peter was referred to as an authoritative proof of the article on ,christ's descent into the under world2 and when1 some years later1 thatreference was stricken out1 notoriously it was not because the ,episcopal rulers were convinced of a mistake1 but because they had become afraid of the associated ,romish doctrine of purgatory4 ,if ,peter believed as he undoubtedly did that ,christ after his crucifixion descended to the place of departed spirits1 what did he suppose was the object of that descent8 ,calvin's theory was that he went into hell in order that he might there suffer vicariously the accumulated agonies due to the ,,lost1 thus placating the just wrath of the ,father and purchasing the release of the elect4 ,a sufficient refutation of that dogma1 as to its philosophical basis1 is found in its immorality1 its forensic technicality4 ,as a mode of explaining the ,scriptures1 it is refuted by the fact that it is nowhere plainly stated in the ,new ,testament1 but is arbitrarily constructed by forced and indirect inferences from various obscure texts1 which texts can be perfectly explained without involving it at all4 ,for what purpose1 then1 was it thought that ,jesus went to the imprisoned souls of the under world8 ,the most natural supposition the conception most in harmony with the character and details of the rest of the scheme and with the prevailing thought of the time would be that he went there to rescue the captives from their sepulchral bondage1 to conquer death and the devil in their own domain1 open the doors1 break the chains1 proclaim good tidings of coming redemption to the spirits in prison1 and1 rising thence1 to ascend to heaven1 preparing the way for them to follow with him at his expected return4 ,this1 indeed1 is the doctrine of the ,judaizing apostles1 the unbroken catholic doctrine of the ,church4 ,paul writes to the ,colossians1 and to the ,ephesians1 that1 when ,christ had spoiled the principalities and powers of the world of the dead1 he ascended up on high1 leading a multitude of captives4 ,peter himself declares1 a little farther on in his epistle1 that the glad tidings were preached to the dead1 that1 though they had been persecuted and condemned in the flesh by the will of men1 they might be blessed in the spirit by the will of ,god4#d ,christ fulfilled the law of #d ,see ,rosenmuller's explanation in hoc loco4 death1#e descending to the place of separate spirits1 that he might declare deliverance to the quick and the dead by coming triumphantly back and going into heaven1 an evident token of the removal of the penalty of sin which hitherto had fatally doomed all men to the under world4#f ,let us see if this will not enable us to explain ,peter's language satisfactorily4 ,death1 with the lower residence succeeding it1 let it be remembered1 was1 according to the ,jewish and apostolic belief1 the fruit of sin1 the judgment pronounced on sin4 ,but ,christ1 ,peter says1 was sinless4 ,he was a lamb without blemish and without spot4 ,he did no sin1 neither was guile found in his mouth4 ,therefore he was not exposed to death and the under world on his own account4 ,consequently1 when it is written that he bore our sins in his own body on the tree1 that he suffered for sins1 the just for the unjust1 in order to give the words their clear1 full meaning it is not necessary to attribute to them the sense of a vicarious sacrifice offered to quench the anger of ,god or to furnish compensation for a broken commandment2 but this sense1 namely1 that although in his sinlessness he was exempt from death1 yet he suffered for us1 he voluntarily died1 thus undergoing for our sakes that which was to others the penalty of their sin4 ,the object of his dying was not to conciliate the alienated ,father or to adjust the unbalanced law3 it was to descend into the realm of the dead1 heralding ,god's pardon to the captives1 and to return and rise into heaven1 opening and showing to his disciples the way thither4 ,for1 owing to his moral sinlessness1 or to his delegated omnipotence1 if he were once in the abode of the dead1 he must return3 nothing could keep him there4 ,epiphanius describes the devil complaining1 after ,christ had burst through his nets and dungeons1 ,miserable me6 what shall ,i do8 ,i did not know ,god was concealed in that body4 ,the son of ,mary has deceived me4 ,i imagined he was a mere man4#g ,in an apocryphal writing of very early date1 which shows some of the opinions abroad at that time1 one of the chief devils1 after ,christ had appeared in hell1 cleaving its grisly prisons from top to bottom and releasing the captives1 is represented upbraiding ,satan in these terms3 ,o prince of all evil1 author of death1 why didst thou crucify and bring down to our regions a person righteous and sinless8 ,thereby thou hast lost all the sinners of the world4#h ,again1 in an ancient treatise on the ,apostles' ,creed1 we read as follows3 ,in the bait of ,christ's flesh was secretly inserted the hook of his divinity4 ,this the devil knew not1 but1 supposing he must stay when he was #e ,see ,king's ,history of the ,apostles' ,creed1 #c;d ed41 pp4 #bcd-bci4 ,the purpose of ,christ's descent was to undergo the laws of death1 pass through the whole experience of man1 conquer the devil1 break the fetters of the captives1 and fix a time for their resurrection4 ,to the same effect1 old ,hilary1 ,bishop of ,poictiers1 in his commentary on ,psalm cxxxviii41 says1 ,it is a law of human necessity that1 the body being buried1 the soul should descend ad interos4 #f ,ambrose1 ,de ,fide1 etc41 lib4 iv4 cap4 #a1 declares that no one ascended to heaven until ,christ1 by the pledge of his resurrection1 solved the chains of the under world and translated the souls of the pious4 ,also ,cyril1 ,bishop of ,jerusalem1 in his fourth catechetical lecture1 sect4 #aa1 affirms that ,christ descended into the under world to deliver those who1 from ,adam downwards1 had been imprisoned there4 #g ,in ,assumptionem ,christi4 #h ,evan4 ,nicodemi1 cap4 xviii4 devoured1 greedily swallowed the corpse1 and the bolts of the nether world were wrenched asunder1 and the ensnared dragon himself dragged from the abyss4#i ,peter himself explicitly declares1 ,it was not possible that he should be held by death4 ,theodoret says1 ,whoever denies the resurrection of ,christ rejects his death4#aj ,if he died1 he must needs rise again4 ,and his resurrection would demonstrate the forgiveness of sins1 the opening of heaven to men1 showing that the bond which had bound in despair the captives in the regions of death for so many voiceless ages was at last broken4 ,accordingly1 ,god1 having loosed the chains of the under world1 raised him up and set him at his own right hand4#aa ,and now the question1 narrowed down to the smallest compass1 is this3 ,what is the precise1 real signification of the sacrificial and other connected terms employed by ,peter1 those phrases which now1 by the intense associations of a long time1 convey so strong a ,calvinistic sense to most readers8 ,peter says1 ,ye know that ye were redeemed with the precious blood of ,christ4 ,if there were not so much indeterminateness of thought1 so much unthinking reception of traditional1 confused impressions of ,scripture texts1 it would be superfluous to observe that by the word blood here1 and in all parallel passages1 is meant simply and literally death3 the mere blood1 the mere shedding of the blood1 of ,christ1 of course1 could have no virtue1 no moral efficacy1 of any sort4 ,when the infuriated ,jews cried1 ,his blood be on us1 and on our children6 they meant1 ,let the responsibility of his death rest on us4 ,when the ,english historian says1 ,sidney gave his blood for the cause of civil liberty1 the meaning is1 he died for it4 ,so1 no one will deny1 whenever the ,new ,testament speaks in any way of redemption by the blood of the crucified ,son of ,man1 the unquestionable meaning is1 redemption by his death4 ,what1 then1 does the phrase redemption by the death of ,christ mean8 ,let it be noted here let it be particularly noticed that the ,new ,testament nowhere in explicit terms explains the meaning of this and the kindred phrases3 it simply uses the phrases without interpreting them4 ,they are rhetorical figures of speech1 necessarily1 upon whatever theological system we regard them4 ,no sinner is literally washed from his transgressions and guilt in the blood of the slaughtered ,lamb4 ,these expressions1 then1 are poetic images1 meant to convey a truth in the language of association and feeling1 the traditionary language of imagination4 ,the determination of their precise significance is wholly a matter of fallible human construction and inference1 and not a matter of inspired statement or divine revelation4 ,this is so1 beyond a question1 because1 we repeat1 they are figures of speech1 having no direct explanation in the records where they occur4 ,the ,calvinistic view of the atonement was a theory devised to explain this scriptural language4 ,it was devised without sufficient consideration of the peculiar notions and spirit1 the peculiar grade of culture1 and the time1 from which that language sprang4 ,we freely admit the inadequacy of the ,unitarian #i ,ruffinus1 ,expos4 in ,symb4 ,apost4 #aj ,comm4 in #b ,tim4 ii4 #ai4 #aa ,by a mistake and a false reading1 the common version has the pains of death1 instead of the chains of the under world4 ,the sense requires the latter4 ,besides1 numerous manuscripts read non ,,ascii characters4 ,see1 furthermore1 ,rosenmuller's thorough criticism in loc4 ,likewise see ,robinson's ,new ,testament ,greek ,lexicon1 in ,,nac4 doctrine of the atonement to explain the figures of speech in which the apostles declare their doctrine4 ,but1 since the ,calvinistic scheme was devised by human thought to explain the ,new ,testament language1 any scheme which explains that language as well has equal ,scripture claims to credence2 any which better explains it1 with sharper1 broader meaning and fewer difficulties1 has superior claims to be received4 ,we are now prepared to state what we believe was the meaning originally associated with1 and meant to be conveyed by1 the phrases equivalent to redemption by the death of ,christ4 ,in consequence of sin1 the souls of all mankind1 after leaving the body1 were shut up in the oblivious gloom of the under world4 ,christ alone1 by virtue of his perfect holiness1 was not subject to any part of this fate4 ,but1 in fulfilment of the ,father's gracious designs1 he willingly submitted1 upon leaving the body1 to go among the dead1 that he might declare the good tidings to them1 and burst the bars of darkness1 and return to life1 and rise into heaven as a pledge of the future translation of the faithful to that celestial world1 instead of their banishment into the dismal bondage below1 as hitherto4 ,the death of ,christ1 then1 was the redemption of sinners1 in that his death implied his ascent1 because it was not possible that he should be holden of death2 and his ascension visibly demonstrated the truth that ,god had forgiven men their sins and would receive their souls to his own abode on high4 ,three very strong confirmations of the correctness of this interpretation are afforded in the declarations of ,peter4 ,first1 he never even hints1 in the faintest manner1 that the death of ,christ was to have any effect on ,god1 any power to change his feeling or his government4 ,it was not to make a purchasing expiation for sins and thus to reconcile ,god to us2 but it was1 by a revelation of the ,father's freely pardoning love1 to give us penitence1 purification1 confidence1 and a regenerating piety1 and so to reconcile us to ,god4 ,he says in one place1 in emphatic words1 that the express purpose of ,christ's death was simply that he might lead us to ,god4 ,in the same strain1 in another place1 he defines the object of ,christ's death to be that we1 being delivered from sins1 should live unto righteousness4 ,it is plain that in literal reality he refers our marvellous salvation to the voluntary goodness of ,god1 and not to any vicarious ransom paid in the sacrifice of ,christ1 when he says1 ,the ,god of all grace hath called us unto his eternal glory by ,jesus ,christ4 ,the death of ,christ was not1 then1 to appease the fierce justice of ,god by rectifying the claims of his inexorable law1 but it was to call out and establish in men all moral virtues by the power of faith in the sure gift of eternal life sealed to them through the ascension of the ,savior4 ,for1 secondly1 the practical inferences drawn by ,peter from the death of ,christ1 and the exhortations founded upon it1 are inconsistent with the prevailing theory of the atonement4 ,upon that view the apostle would have said1 ,christ has paid the debt and secured a seat in heaven for you1 elected ones3 therefore believe in the sufficiency of his offerings1 and exult4 ,but not so4 ,he calls on us in this wise3 ,forasmuch as ,christ hath suffered for us1 arm yourselves with the same mind4 ,christ suffered for you1 leaving an example that ye should follow his steps4 ,the whole burden of his practical argument based on the mission of ,christ is1 the obligation of a religious spirit and of pure morals4 ,he does not speak1 as many modern sectarists have spoken1 of the filthy rags of righteousness2 but he says1 ,live no longer in sins1 have a meek and quiet spirit1 which is in the sight of ,god of great price1 be ye holy in all manner of conversation1 purify your souls by obedience to the truth1 be ye a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices1 have a good conscience1 avoid evil and do good1 above all1 have fervent love1 for love will cover a multitude of sins4 ,no candid person can peruse the epistle and not see that the great moral deduced in it from the mission of ,christ is this3 ,since heaven is offered you1 strive by personal virtue to be prepared for it at the judgment which shall soon come4 ,the disciple is not told to trust in the merits of ,jesus2 but he is urged to abstain from evil1 and sanctify the ,lord ,god in his heart1 and love the brethren1 and obey the laws1 and do well1 girding up the loins of his mind in sobriety and hope4 ,this is not ,calvinism4 ,the third fortification of this exposition is furnished by the following fact4 ,according to our view1 the death of ,christ is emphasized1 not on account of any importance in itself1 but as the necessary condition preliminary to his resurrection1 the humiliating prelude to his glorious ascent into heaven4 ,the really essential1 significant thing is not his suffering1 vicarious death1 but his triumphing1 typical ascension4 ,now1 the plain1 repeated statements of ,peter strikingly coincide with this representation4 ,he says1 ,god raised ,christ up from the dead1 and gave him glory1 that is1 received him into heaven1 that your faith and hope might be in ,god4 ,again he writes1 ,blessed be ,god1 who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of ,jesus ,christ from the dead unto an incorruptible inheritance in heaven4 ,still again1 he declares that the figure of baptism1 signifying thereby the answer of a good conscience toward ,god1 saves us by the resurrection of ,jesus ,christ1 who is gone into heaven4 ,according to the commonly received doctrine1 instead of these last words the apostle ought to have said1 saves us by the death of him who suffered in expiation of our sins4 ,he does not say so4 ,finally1 in the intrepid speech that ,peter made before the ,jewish council1 referring to their wicked crucifixion of ,jesus1 he says1 ,him hath ,god raised up to his own right hand1 to be a ,leader and a ,savior1 to give repentance to ,israel and forgiveness of sins4 ,how plainly remission of sins is here predicated1 not through ,christ's ignominious suffering1 but through his heavenly exaltation6 ,that exaltation showed in dramatic proof that by ,god's grace the dominion of the lower world was about to be broken and an access to the celestial world to be vouchsafed4 ,if ,christ bought off our merited punishment and earned our acceptance1 then salvation can no more be reckoned of grace1 but of debt4 ,but the whole ,new ,testament doctrine is1 that sinners are justified freely through the redemption that is in ,christ ,jesus4 ,the redemption that is in ,christ6 ,take these words literally1 and they yield no intelligible meaning4 ,the sense intended to be conveyed or suggested by them depends on interpretation2 and here disagreement arises4 ,the ,calvinist says they mean the redemption undertaken1 achieved1 by ,christ4 ,we say they mean the redemption proclaimed1 brought to light1 by ,christ4 ,the latter explanation is as close to the language as the former4 ,neither is unequivocally established by the statement itself4 ,we ought therefore to adopt the one which is at once most rational and plausible in itself1 and most in harmony with the peculiar opinions and culture of the person by whom1 and of the time when1 the document was written4 ,all these considerations1 historical1 philosophical1 and moral1 undeniably favor our interpretation1 leaving nothing to support the other save the popular theological belief of modern ,protestant ,christendom1 a belief which is the gradual product of a few great1 mistaken teachers like ,augustine and ,calvin4 ,we do not find the slightest difficulty in explaining sharply and broadly1 with all its niceties of phraseology1 each one of the texts urged in behalf of the prevalent doctrine of the atonement1 without involving the essential features of that doctrine4 ,three demonstrable assertions of fact afford us all the requisite materials4 ,first1 it was a prevalent belief with the ,jews1 that1 since death was the penalty of sin1 the suffering of death was in itself expiatory of the sins of the dying man4#ab ,lightfoot says1 ,it is a common and most known doctrine of the ,talmudists1 that repentance and ritual sacrifice expiate some sins1 death the rest4 ,death wipes off all unexpiated sins4#ac ,tholuck says1 ,it was a ,jewish opinion that the death of the just atoned for the people4#ad ,he quotes from the ,talmud an explicit assertion to that effect1 and refers to several learned authorities for further citations and confirmations4 ,secondly1 the apostles conceived ,christ to be sinless1 and consequently not on his own account exposed to death and subject to ,hades4 ,if1 then1 death was an atonement for sins1 and he was sinless1 his voluntary death was expiatory for the sins of the world2 not in an arbitrary and unheard of way1 according to the ,calvinistic scheme1 but in the common way1 according to a ,pharisaic notion4 ,and thirdly1 it was partly a ,jewish expectation concerning the ,messiah that he would1#ae and partly an apostolic conviction concerning ,christ that he did1 break the bolts of the old ,hadean prison and open the way for human ascent to heaven4 ,as ,jerome says1 ,before ,christ ,abraham was in hell1 after ,christ the crucified thief was in paradise2#af for until the advent of ,christ all alike went down into the under world1 heaven being shut until ,christ threw aside the flaming sword that turned every way4#ag ,these three thoughts that death is the expiatory penalty of sin1 that ,christ was himself sinless1 that he died as ,god's envoy to release the prisoners of gloom and be their pioneer to bliss leave nothing to be desired in explaining the sacrificial terms and kindred phrases employed by the apostles in reference to his mission4 ,without question1 ,peter1 like his companions1 looked for the speedy return of ,christ from heaven to judge all1 and to save the worthy4 ,indications of this belief are numerously afforded in his words4 ,the end of all things is at hand3 be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer4 ,you shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead4 ,here the common idea of that time namely1 that the resurrection of the captives of the #ab ,witsius1 ,dissertatio de ,seculo hoc et futuro1 sect4 #h4 #ac ,lightfoot on ,matt4 xii4 #cb4 #ad ,comm4 on ,john i4 #bi4 #ae ,god shall liberate the ,israelites from the under world4 ,bertholdt's ,christologia ,judaorum1 sect4 xxxiv41 7,de descensu ,messia ad ,inferos17 note #b4 ,the captives shall ascend from the under world1 ,shechinah at their head4 ,schoettgen de ,messia1 lib4 vi4 cap4 #e1 sect4 #a4 #af ,see his ,letter to ,heliodorus1 ,epiat4 ,,xxxv41 ,benedict4 ed4 #ag ,comm4 in ,eccles4 cap4 iii4 #ba1 et cap4 ix4 under world would occur at the return of ,christ is undoubtedly implied4 ,salvation is now ready to be revealed in the last time4 ,that your faith may be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of ,jesus ,christ4 ,be sober1 and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of ,jesus ,christ4 ,be ye examples to the flock1 and when the chief ,shepherd shall appear ye shall receive an unfading crown of glory4 ,god shall send ,jesus ,christ1 4 4 4 whom the heavens must receive until the times of the restitution of all things4 ,it is evident that the author of these passages expected the second coming of the ,lord ,jesus to consummate the affairs of his kingdom4 ,if the apostle had formed definite conclusions as to the final fate of unbelieving1 wicked1 reprobate men1 he has not stated them4 ,he undeniably implies certain general facts upon the subject1 but leaves all the details in obscurity4 ,he adjures his readers with exceeding earnestness he over and over again adjures them to forsake every manner of sinful life1 to strive for every kind of righteous conversation1 that by faith and goodness they may receive the salvation of their souls4 ,he must have supposed an opposite fate in some sort to impend over those who did otherwise1 rejecting ,christ1 revelling in lasciviousness and idolatry4 ,everywhere he makes the distinction between the faithful and the wicked prominent1 and presents the idea that ,christ shall come to judge them both1 and shall reward the former with gladness1 crowns1 and glory2 while it is just as clearly implied as if he had said it that the latter shall be condemned and punished4 ,when a judge sits in trial on the good and the bad1 and accepts those1 plainly the inference is that he rejects these1 unless the contrary be stated4 ,what their doom is in its nature1 what in its duration1 is neither declared1 nor inferrible from what is declared4 ,all that the writer says on this point is substantially repeated or contained in the fourth chapter of his epistle1 from verses #ab to #ai4 ,a slight explanatory paraphrase of it will make the position clear so far as it can be made clear4 ,christian believers1 in the fiery trials which are to try you1 stand firm1 even rejoicing that you are fellow sufferers with ,christ1 a pledge that when his glory is revealed you shall partake of it with him4 ,see to it that you are free from crime1 free from sins for which you ought to suffer2 then1 if persecuted and slain for your ,christian profession and virtues1 falter not4 ,the terrible time preceding the second advent of your ,master is at hand4 ,the sufferings of that time will begin with the ,christian household2 but how much more dreadful will be the sufferings of the close of that time among the disobedient that spurn the gospel of ,god6 ,if the righteous shall with great difficulty be snatched from the perils and woes encompassing that time1 surely it will happen very much worse with ungodly sinners4 ,therefore let all who suffer in obedience to ,god commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing4 ,the souls of men were confined in the under world for sin4 ,christ came to turn men from sin and despair to holiness and a reconciling faith in ,god4 ,he went to the dead to declare to them the good tidings of pardon and approaching deliverance through the free grace of ,god4 ,he rose into heaven to demonstrate and visibly exhibit the redemption of men from the under world doom of sinners4 ,he was soon to return to the earth to complete the unfinished work of his commissioned kingdom4 ,his accepted ones should then be taken to glory and reward4 ,the rejected ones should ,their fate is left in gloom1 without a definite clew4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,in ,,the ,,epistle ,,to ,,the ,,hebrews4 ,,the ,epistle to the ,hebrews was written by some person who was originally a ,jew1 afterwards a zealous ,christian4 ,he was unquestionably a man of remarkable talent and eloquence and of lofty religious views and feelings4 ,he lived in the time of the immediate followers of ,jesus1 and apparently was acquainted with them4 ,the individual authorship it is now impossible to determine with certainty4 ,many of the most learned1 unprejudiced1 and able critics have ascribed it to ,apollos1 an ,alexandrian ,jew1 a compeer of ,paul and a fellow citizen of ,philo4 ,this opinion is more probable than any other4 ,indeed1 so numerous are the resemblances of thoughts and words in the writings of ,philo to those in this epistle1 that even the wild conjecture has been hazarded that ,philo himself at last became a ,christian and wrote to his ,hebrew countrymen the essay which has since commonly passed for ,paul's4 ,no one can examine the hundreds of illustrations of the epistle gathered from ,philo by ,carpzov1 in his learned but ill reasoned work1 without being greatly impressed4 ,the supposition which has repeatedly been accepted and urged1 that this composition was first written in ,hebrew1 and afterwards translated into ,greek by another person1 is absurd1 in view of the masterly skill and eloquence1 critical niceties1 and felicities in the use of language1 displayed in it4 ,we could easily fill a paragraph with the names of those eminent in the ,church such as ,tertullian1 ,hippolytus1 ,erasmus1 ,luther1 ,le ,clerc1 and ,neander who have concluded that1 whoever the author of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews was1 he was not ,paul4 ,the list of those names would reach from the ,egyptian ,origen1 whose candor and erudition were without parallel in his age1 to the ,german ,bleek1 whose masterly and exhaustive work is a monument of united talent and toil1 leaving little to be desired4 ,it is not within our present aim to argue this point3 we will therefore simply refer the reader to the thorough and unanswerable discussion and settlement of it by ,norton4#a ,the general object of the composition is1 by showing the superiority of the ,christian system to the ,hebrew1 to arm the converts from ,judaism to whom it is addressed against the temptations to desert the fulfilling faith of ,christ and to return to the emblematic faith of their fathers4 ,this aim gives a pervading cast and color to the entire treatment to the reasoning and especially to the chosen imagery of the epistle4 ,omitting1 for the most part1 whatever is not essentially interwoven with the subject of death1 the resurrection1 and future existence1 and with the mission of ,christ in relation to those subjects1 we advance to the consideration of the views which the epistle presents or implies concerning those points4 ,it is to be premised that we are forced to construct from fragments and hints the theological fabric that stood in the mind of the writer4 ,the suggestion also is quite obvious that1 since the letter is addressed solely to the ,hebrews and describes ,christianity as the completion of #a ,christian ,examiner1 vols4 for #ahbg #bi4 ,judaism1 an acquaintance with the characteristic ,hebrew opinions and hopes at that time may be indispensable for a full comprehension of its contents4 ,the view of the intrinsic nature and rank of ,christ on which the epistle rests seems very plainly to be that great ,logos doctrine which floated in the philosophy of the apostolic age and is so fully developed in the ,gospel of ,john3 ,the ,logos of ,god1 alive1 energetic1 irresistibly piercing1 to whose eyes all things are bare and open2 first begotten of ,god2 faithful to ,him that made him2 inferior to ,god1 superior to all beside2 by whom ,god made the worlds2 whose seat is at the right hand of ,god1 the angels looking up to him1 and the world to come put in subjection to him4 ,the author1 thus assuming the immensely super human rank and the pre existence of ,christ1 teaches that1 by the good will of ,god1 he descended to the world in the form of a man1 to save them that were without faith and in fear1 them that were lost through sin4 ,god bringeth in the first begotten into the world4 ,when he cometh into the world he saith1 ,sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not1 but a body hast thou prepared for me4 ,jesus was made a little while inferior to the angels4 ,forasmuch1 then1 as the children are partakers of flesh and blood1 he also himself likewise partook of the same2 that is1 in order to pass through an experience like that of those whom he wished to deliver1 he assumed their nature4 ,he taketh not hold of angels1 but he taketh hold of the seed of ,abraham3 in other words1 he aimed not to assist angels1 but men4 ,these passages1 taken in connection with the whole scope and drift of the document in which they are found1 declare that ,jesus was a spirit in heaven1 but came to the earth1 taking upon him a mortal frame of flesh and blood4 ,why he did this is the question that naturally arises next4 ,we do not see how it is possible for any person to read the epistle through intelligently1 in the light of an adequate knowledge of contemporary ,hebrew opinions1 and not perceive that the author's answer to that inquiry is1 that ,christ assumed the guise and fate of humanity in order to die2 and died in order to rise from the dead2 and rose from the dead in order to ascend to heaven2 and ascended to heaven in order to reveal the grace of ,god opening the way for the celestial exaltation and blessedness of the souls of faithful men4 ,we will commence the proof and illustration of these statements by bringing together some of the principal passages in the epistle which involve the objects of the mission of ,christ1 and then stating the thought that chiefly underlies and explains them4 ,we see ,jesus who was made a little while inferior to the angels1 in order that by the kindness of ,god he might taste death for every man through the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor4 ,with the best critics1 we have altered the arrangement of the clauses in the foregoing verse1 to make the sense clearer4 ,the exact meaning is1 that the exaltation of ,christ to heaven after his death authenticated his mission1 showed that his death had a divine meaning for men2 that is1 showed that they also should rise to heaven4 ,when he had by himself made a purification of our sins1 he sat down at the right hand of the ,majesty on high4 ,for this cause he is the ,mediator of the new covenant1 that1 his death having occurred1 7for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant17 they which are called might enter upon possession of the promised eternal inheritance4 ,the force of this last passage1 with its context1 turns on the double sense of the ,greek word for covenant1 which likewise means a will4 ,several statements in the epistle show the author's belief that the subjects of the old dispensation had the promise of immortal life in heaven1 but had never realized the thing itself4#b ,now1 he maintains the purpose of the new dispensation to be the actual revelation and bestowment of the reality which anciently was only promised and typically foreshadowed2 and in the passage before us he figures ,christ the author of the ,christian covenant as the maker of a will by which believers are appointed heirs of a heavenly immortality4 ,he then following the analogy of testamentary legacies and legatees describes those heirs as entering on possession of that eternal inheritance by the death of the ,testator4 ,he was led to employ precisely this language by two obvious reasons3 first1 for the sake of that paronomasia of which he was evidently fond2 secondly1 by the fact that it really was the death of ,christ1 with the succeeding resurrection and ascension1 which demonstrated both the reality of the thing promised in the will and the authority of the ,testator to bestow it4 ,all the expressions thus far cited1 and kindred ones scattered through the work1 convey a clear and consistent meaning1 with sharp outlines and coherent details1 if we suppose their author entertained the following general theory2 and otherwise they cannot be satisfactorily explained4 ,a dreadful fear of death1 introduced by sin1 was tyrannizing over men4 ,in consequence of conscious alienation from ,god through transgressions1 they shuddered at death4 ,the writer does not say what there was in death that made it so feared2 but we know that the prevailing ,hebrew conception was1 that death led the naked soul into the silent1 dark1 and dreary region of the under world1 a doleful fate1 from which they shrank with sadness at the best1 guilt converting that natural melancholy into dread foreboding4 ,in the absence of any evidence or presumption whatever to the contrary1 we are authorized1 nay1 rather forced1 to conclude that such a conception is implied in the passages we are considering4 ,now1 the mission of ,jesus was to deliver men from that fear and bondage1 by assuring them that ,god would forgive sin and annul its consequence4 ,instead of banishing their disembodied spirits into the sepulchral ,sheol1 he would take them to himself into the glory above the firmament4 ,this aim ,christ accomplished by literally exemplifying the truths it implies2 that is1 by personally assuming the lot of man1 dying1 rising from among the spirits of the dead1 and ascending beyond the veil into heaven4 ,by his death and victorious ascent he purged our sins1 redeemed transgressions1 overthrew him that has the power of death1 in the sense that he thereby1 as the writer thought1 swept away the supposed train of evils caused by sin1 namely1 all the concomitants of a banishment after death into the cheerless subterranean empire4 ,it will be well now to notice more fully1 in the author's scheme1 the idea that ,christ did locally ascend into the heavens1 into the presence of ,god1 where he ever liveth1 and #b xi4 #ac1 #af1 et al4 ,see chap4 x4 #cf1 where to receive the promise most plainly means to obtain the thing promised1 as it does several times in the epistle4 ,so ,paul1 in his speech at ,antioch1 7,acts xiii4 #cb1 #cc17 says1 ,we declare unto you glad tidings1 how that the promise which was made unto the fathers1 ,god hath fulfilled the same unto us their children1 in that he hath raised up ,jesus again that by this ascent he for the first time opened the way for others to ascend to him where he is1 avoiding the doom of ,hades4 ,we have a great ,high ,priest1 who has passed through the heavens1 ,jesus1 the ,son of ,god4 ,christ is not entered into the most holy place1 made with hands1 the figure of the true1 but into heaven itself1 now to appear in the presence of ,god for us4 ,indeed1 that ,jesus1 in a material and local sense1 rose to heaven1 is a conception fundamental to the epistle and prominent on all its face4 ,it is much more necessary for us to show that the author believed that the men who had previously died had not risen thither1 but that it was the ,savior's mission to open the way for their ascension4 ,it is extremely significant1 in the outset1 that ,jesus is called the first leader and the bringer to the end of our faith2 for the words in this clause which the common version renders author and finisher#c mean1 from their literal force and the latent figure they contain1 a guide who runs through the course to the goal so as to win and receive the prize1 bringing us after him to the same consummation4 ,still more striking is the passage we shall next adduce4 ,having enumerated a long list of the choicest worthies of the ,old ,testament1 the writer adds1 ,these all1 having obtained testimony through faith1 did not realize the promise1#d ,god having provided a better thing for us1 that they without us should not be perfected1 should not be brought to the end1 the end of human destiny1 that is1 exaltation to heaven4 ,undoubtedly the author here means to say that the faithful servants of ,god under the ,mosaic dispensation were reserved in the under world until the ascension of the ,messiah4 ,augustine so explains the text in hand1 declaring that ,christ was the first that ever rose from the under world4#e ,the same exposition is given by ,origen1#f and indeed by nearly every one of the ,fathers who has undertaken to give a critical interpretation of the passage4 ,this doctrine itself was held by ,catholic ,christendom for a thousand years2 is now held by the ,roman1 ,greek1 and ,english ,churches2 but is1 for the most part1 rejected or forgotten by the dissenting sects1 from two causes4 ,it has so generally sunk out of sight among us1 first1 from ignorance1 ignorance of the ancient learning and opinions on which it rested and of which it was the necessary completion2 secondly1 from rationalistic speculations1 which1 leading men to discredit the truth of the doctrine1 led them arbitrarily to deny its existence in the ,scripture1 making them perversely force the texts that state it and wilfully blink the texts that hint it4 ,whether this be a proper and sound method of proceeding in critical investigations any one may judge4 ,to us it seems equally unmanly and immoral4 ,we know of but one justifiable course1 and that is1 with patience1 with earnestness1 and with all possible aids1 to labor to discern the real and full meaning of the words according to the understanding and intention of the author4 ,we do so elsewhere1 regardless of consequences4 ,no other method1 in the case of the ,scriptures1 is exempt from guilt4 ,the meaning 7namely1 to bring to the end7 which we have above attributed to the word ,,nac7translated in the common version to make perfect7 is the first meaning and the #c ,robinson's ,lexicon1 first edition1 under ,,nac2 also see ,philo1 cited there4 #d ,ch4 x4 #cf4 #e ,epist4 ,,clxiv4 sect4 ix41 ed4 ,benedictina4 #f ,de ,principiis1 lib4 ii4 cap4 #b4 etymological force of the word4 ,that we do not refine upon it over nicely in the present instance1 the following examples from various parts of the epistle unimpeachably witness4 ,for it was proper that ,god1 in bringing many sons unto glory1 should make him who was the first leader of their salvation perfect reach the end through sufferings2 that is1 should raise him to heaven after he had passed through death1 that he1 having himself arrived at the glorious heavenly goal of human destiny1 might bring others to it4 ,christ1 being made perfect1 7brought through all the intermediate steps to the end17 became the cause of eternal salvation to all them that obey him2 called of ,god an high priest4 ,the context1 and the after assertion of the writer that the priesthood of ,jesus is exercised in heaven1 show that the word perfected1 as employed here1 signifies exalted to the right hand of ,god4 ,perfection 7bringing unto the end7 was not by the ,levitical priesthood4 ,the law perfected nothing1 but it was the additional introduction of a better hope by which we draw near unto ,god4 ,the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity1 which are not suffered to continue1 by reason of death2 but the word of the oath after the law maketh the ,son perfect for evermore1 bringeth him to the end1 namely1 an everlasting priesthood in the heavens4 ,that ,christian believers are not under the first covenant1 whereby1 through sin1 men commencing with the blood of ,abel1 the first death were doomed to the lower world1 but are under the second covenant1 whereby1 through the gracious purpose of ,god1 taking effect in the blood of ,christ1 the first resurrection1 they are already by faith1 in imagination1 translated to heaven1 this is plainly what the author teaches in the following words3 ,ye are not come to the palpable mount that burneth with fire1 and to blackness and tempest1 where so terrible was the sight that ,moses exceedingly trembled1 but ye are come to ,mount ,zion1 to the heavenly ,jerusalem1 and to an innumerable company of angels1 and to ,god1 and to the spirits of the perfected just1 and to ,jesus1 the mediator of the new covenant1 and to the lustral blood which speaks better things than that of ,abel4 ,the connection here demonstrates that the souls of the righteous are called perfected1 as having arrived at the goal of their destiny in heaven4 ,again1 the author1 when speaking of the sure and steadfast hope of eternal life1 distinguishes ,jesus as a non-,,ascii characters1 one who runs before as a scout or leader3 the ,forerunner1 who for us has entered within the veil1 that is1 has passed beyond the firmament into the presence of ,god4 ,the ,jews called the outward or lowermost heaven the veil4#g ,but the most conclusive consideration upon the opinion we are arguing for and it must be entirely convincing is to be drawn from the first half of the ninth chapter4 ,to appreciate it1 it is requisite to remember that the ,rabbins with whose notions our author was familiar and some of which he adopts in his reasoning were accustomed to compare the ,jewish temple and city with the temple and city of ,jehovah above the sky1 considering the former as miniature types of the latter4 ,this mode of thought was originally learned by philosophical ,rabbins from the ,platonic doctrine of ideas1 without doubt1 and was entertained figuratively1 spiritually2 but in the unreflecting1 popular mind the ,hebraic views to which it gave rise were soon grossly materialized and located4 ,they also derived the same conception from ,god's command to ,moses when he was about to build the tabernacle3 #g ,schoettgen1 ,hora ,hebraica et ,talmudica in #b ,cor4 xii4 #b4 ,see thou make all things according to the pattern showed to thee in the mount4 ,they refined upon these words with many conceits4 ,they compared the three divisions of the temple to the three heavens3 the outer ,court of the ,gentiles corresponded with the first heaven1 the ,court of the ,israelites with the second heaven1 and the ,holy of ,holies represented the third heaven or the very abode of ,god4 ,josephus writes1 ,the temple has three compartments3 the first two for men1 the third for ,god1 because heaven is inaccessible to men4#h ,now1 our author says1 referring to this triple symbolic arrangement of the temple1 ,the priests went always into the first tabernacle1 accomplishing the service1 but into the second went the high priest alone1 once every year1 not without blood2 this1 which was a figure for the time then present1 signifying that the way into the holiest of all#i was not yet laid open2 but ,christ being come1 an high priest of the future good things1 by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place1 having obtained eternal deliverance4 ,the points of the comparison here instituted are these3 ,on the great annual day of atonement1 after the death of the victim1 the ,hebrew high priest went into the adytum of the earthly temple1 but none could follow2 ,jesus1 the ,christian high priest1 went after his own death into the adytum of the heavenly temple1 and enabled the faithful to enter there after him4 ,imagery like the fore going1 which implies a ,sanctum ,sanctorum above1 the glorious prototype of that below1 is frequent in the ,talmud4#aj ,to remove all uncertainty from the exposition thus presented1 if any doubt linger1 it is only necessary to cite one more passage from the epistle4 ,we have1 therefore1 brethren1 by the blood of ,jesus1 leading into the holiest1 a free road1 a new and blessed road1 which he hath inaugurated for us through the veil1 that is to say1 through his flesh4 ,as there was no entrance for the priest into the holiest of the temple save by the removal of the veil1 so ,christ could not enter heaven except by the removal of his body4 ,the blood of ,jesus here1 as in most cases in the ,new ,testament1 means the death of ,jesus1 involving his ascension4 ,chrysostom1 commenting on these verses1 says1 in explanation of the word non-,,ascii characters1 ,christ laid out the road and was the first to go over it4 ,the first way was of death1 leading ad inferos to the under world2 the other is of life1 leading to heaven4 ,the interpretation we have given of these passages reconciles and blends that part of the known contemporary opinions which applies to them1 and explains and justifies the natural force of the imagery and words employed4 ,its accuracy seems to us unquestionable by any candid person who is competently acquainted with the subject4 ,the substance of it is1 that ,jesus came from ,god to the earth as a man1 laid down his life that he might rise from the dead into heaven again1 into the real ,sanctum ,sanctorum of the universe1 thereby proving that faithful believers also shall rise thither1 being thus delivered1 after the pattern of his evident deliverance1 from the imprisonment of the realm of death below4 ,we now proceed to quote and unfold five distinct passages1 not yet brought forward1 from the epistle1 each of which proves that we are not mistaken in attributing to the writer #h ,antiq4 lib4 iii4 cap4 #f1 sect4 #d2 ibid4 cap4 #g1 sect4 #g4 #i ,philo declares1 ,the whole universe is one temple of ,god1 in which the holiest of all is heaven4 ,de ,monarchia1 p4 #bbb1 ed4 ,mangey4 #aj ,schoettgen1 ,dissertatio de ,hierosolyma ,coelesti1 cap4 #b1 sect4 #i4 of it the above stated general theory4 ,in the first verse which we shall adduce it is certain that the word death includes the entrance of the soul into the subterranean kingdom of ghosts4 ,it is written of ,christ that1 in the days of his flesh1 when he had earnestly prayed to ,him that was able to do it1 to save him from death1 he was heard1 and was advanced to be a high priest in the heavens1 was made higher than the heavens4 ,now1 obviously1 ,god did not rescue ,christ from dying1 but he raised him1 non-,,ascii characters1 from the world of the dead4 ,so ,chrysostom declares1 referring to this very text1 ,not to be retained in the region of the dead1 but to be delivered from it1 is virtually not to die4#aa ,moreover1 the phrase above translated to save him from death may be translated1 with equal propriety1 to bring him back safe from death4 ,the ,greek verb non-,,ascii characters1 to save1 is often so used to denote the safe restoration of a warrior from an incursion into an enemy's domain4 ,the same use made here by our author of the term death we have also found made by ,philo ,judaus4 ,the wise1 ,philo says1 inherit the ,olympic and heavenly region to dwell in1 always studying to go above2 the bad inherit the innermost parts of the under world1 always laboring to die4#ab ,the antithesis between going above and dying1 and the mention of the under world in connection with the latter1 prove that to die here means1 or at least includes1 going below after death4 ,the ,septuagint version of the ,old ,testament twice translates ,sheol by the word death4#ac ,the ,hebrew word for death1 maveth1 is repeatedly used for the abode of the dead4#ad ,and the nail of the interpretation we are urging is clenched by this sentence from ,origen3 ,the under world1 in which souls are detained by death1 is called death4#ae ,bretschneider cites nearly a dozen passages from the ,new ,testament where1 in his judgment1 death is used to denote ,hades4 ,again3 we read that ,christ took human nature upon him in order that by means of his own death he might render him that has the power of death that is1 the devil idle1 and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage4 ,it is apparent at once that the mere death of ,christ1 so far from ending the sway of ,death1 would be giving the grim monster a new victory1 incomparably the most important he had ever achieved4 ,therefore1 the only way to make adequate sense of the passage is to join with the ,savior's death what followed it1 namely1 his resurrection and ascension4 ,it was the ,hebrew belief that sin1 introduced by the fraud of the devil1 was the cause of death1 and the doomer of the disembodied spirits of men to the lower caverns of darkness and rest4 ,they personified ,death as king1 tyrannizing over mankind2 and1 unless in severe affliction1 they dreaded the hour when they must lie down under his sceptre and sink into his voiceless kingdom of shadows4 ,christ broke the power of ,satan1 closed his busy reign1 rescued the captive souls1 and relieved the timorous hearts of the faithful1 by rising triumphantly from #aa ,homil4 ,epist4 ad ,heb4 in hoc loc4 #ab ,quod a ,deo mitt4 ,somn41 p4 #fdc1 ed4 ,mangey4 #ac #b ,sam4 xxii4 #f2 ,prov4 xxiii4 #ad4 #ad ,ps4 ix4 #ac4 ,prov4 vii1 #bg4 #ae ,comm4 in ,epist4 ad ,rom41 lib4 vi4 cap4 #f1 sect4 #f43 ,inferni locus in quo anima detinebantur a morte mors appellatur4 the long bound dominion of the grave1 and ascending in a new path of light1 pioneering the saints to immortal glory4 ,in another part of the epistle1 the writer1 having previously explained that as the high priest after the death of the expiatory goat entered the typical holy place in the temple1 so ,christ after his own death entered the true holy place in the heavens1 goes on to guard against the analogy being forced any further to deny the necessity of ,christ's service being repeated1 as the priest's was annually repeated1 saying1 ,for then he must have died many times since the foundation of the world2 but1 on the contrary1 it suffices that once1 at the close of the ages1 through the sacrifice of himself he hath appeared in heaven for the abrogation of sin4#af ,the rendering and explanation we give of this language are those adopted by the most distinguished commentators1 and must be justified by any one who examines the proper punctuation of the clauses and studies the context4 ,the simple idea is1 that1 by the sacrifice of his body through death1 ,christ rose and showed himself in the presence of ,god4 ,the author adds that this was done unto the annulling of sin4 ,it is with reference to these last words principally that we have cited the passage4 ,what do they mean8 ,in what sense can the passing of ,christ's soul into heaven after death be said to have done away with sin8 ,in the first place1 the open manifestation of ,christ's disenthralled and risen soul in the supernal presence of ,god did not in any sense abrogate sin itself1 literally considered1 because all kinds of sin that ever were upon the earth among men before have been ever since1 and are now4 ,in the second place1 that miraculous event did not annul and remove human guilt1 the consciousness of sin and responsibility for it1 because1 in fact1 men feel the sting and load of guilt now as badly as ever2 and the very epistle before us1 as well as the whole ,new ,testament1 addresses ,christians as being exposed to constant and varied danger of incurring guilt and woe4 ,but1 in the third place1 the ascension of ,jesus did show very plainly to the apostles and first ,christians that what they supposed to be the great outward penalty of sin was annulled2 that it was no longer a necessity for the spirit to descend to the lower world after death2 that fatal doom1 entailed on the generations of humanity by sin1 was now abrogated for all who were worthy4 ,such1 we have not a doubt1 is the true meaning of the declaration under review4 ,this exposition is powerfully confirmed by the two succeeding verses1 which we will next pass to examine4 ,as it is appointed for men to die once1 but after this the judgment1 so ,christ1 having been offered once to bear the sins of many1 shall appear a second time1 without sin1 for salvation unto those expecting him4 ,man dies once1 and then passes into that state of separate existence in the under world which is the legal judgment for sin4 ,christ1 taking upon himself1 with the nature of man1 the burden of man's lot and doom1 died once1 and then rose from the dead by the gracious power of the ,father1 bearing away the outward penalty of sin4 ,he will come again into the world1 uninvolved1 the next time1 with any of the accompaniments or consequences of sin1 to save them that look for him1 and victoriously lead them into heaven with him4 ,in this instance1 as all through the writings of the apostles1 #af ,griesbach in loc42 and ,rosenmuller4 sin1 death1 and the under world are three segments of a circle1 each necessarily implying the others4 ,the same remark is to be made of the contrasted terms righteousness1 grace1 immortal life above the sky2 #ag the former being traced from the sinful and fallen ,adam1 the latter from the righteous and risen ,christ4 ,the author says1 ,if the blood of bulls and goats sanctifies unto the purification of the flesh1 how much more shall the blood of ,christ1 who having#ah an eternal spirit offered himself faultless to ,god1 cleanse your consciousness6 ,the argument1 fully expressed1 is1 if the blood of perishable brutes cleanses the body1 the blood of the immortal ,christ cleanses the soul4 ,the implied inference is1 that as the former fitted the outward man for the ritual privileges of the temple1 so the latter fitted the inward man for the spiritual privileges of heaven4 ,this appears clearly from what follows in the next chapter1 where the writer says1 in effect1 that it is not possible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take away sins1 however often it is offered1 but that ,christ1 when he had offered one sacrifice for sins1 forever sat down at the right hand of ,god4 ,the reason given for the efficacy of ,christ's offering is that he sat down at the right hand of ,god4 ,when the chosen animals were sacrificed for sins1 they utterly perished1 and there was an end4 ,but when ,christ was offered1 his soul survived and rose into heaven1 an evident sign that the penalty of sin1 whereby men were doomed to the under world after death1 was abolished4 ,this perfectly explains the language2 and nothing else1 it seems to us1 can perfectly explain it4 ,that ,christ would speedily reappear from heaven in triumph1 to judge his foes and save his disciples1 was a fundamental article in the primitive ,church scheme of the last things4 ,there are unmistakable evidences of such a belief in our author4 ,for yet a little while1 and the coming one will come1 and will not delay4 ,provoke one another unto love and good works1 4 4 4 so much the more as ye see the day drawing near4 ,there is another reference to this approaching advent1 which1 though obscure1 affords important testimony4 ,jesus1 when he had ascended1 sat down at the right hand of ,god1 henceforward waiting till his enemies be made his footstool4 ,that is to say1 he is tarrying in heaven for the appointed time to arrive when he shall come into the world again to consummate the full and final purposes of his mission4 ,we may leave this division of the subject established beyond all question1 by citing a text which explicitly states the idea in so many words3 ,unto them that look for him he shall appear the second time4 ,that expectation of the speedy second coming of the ,messiah which haunted the early ,christians1 therefore1 unquestionably occupied the mind of the composer of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews4 ,if the writer of this epistolary essay had a firm and detailed opinion as to the exact fate to be allotted to wicked and persistent unbelievers1 his allusions to that opinion are too few and vague for us to determine precisely what it was4 ,we will briefly quote the substance of what he says upon the subject1 and add a word in regard to the inferences it does1 or it does not1 warrant4 ,if under the ,mosaic dispensation every transgression received a just recompense1 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation1 first proclaimed by the #ag ,neander1 ,planting and ,training of the ,church1 ,ryland's trans4 p4 #bih4 #ah ,non-,,ascii characters is often used in the sense of with1 or possessing4 ,see ,wahl's ,new ,testament ,lexicon4 ,lord8 ,as the ,israelites that were led out of ,egypt by ,moses1 on account of their unbelief and provocations1 were not permitted to enter the promised land1 but perished in the wilderness1 so let us fear1 lest1 a promise being left us of entering into his rest1 any of you should seem to come short of it4 ,christ became the cause of eternal salvation to all them that obey him4 ,he hath brought unto the end forever them that are sanctified4 ,it will be observed that these last specifications are partial1 and that nothing is said of the fate of those not included under them4 ,it is impossible for those who were once enlightened1 4 4 4 if they shall fall away1 to renew them again unto repentance4 4 4 4 ,but1 beloved1 we are persuaded better things of you1 even things that accompany salvation4 ,we are not of them who draw back unto the destruction1 but of them who believe unto the preservation1 of the soul4 ,if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth1 there is no longer left a sacrifice for sins1 but a certain fearful looking for of judgment1 and of fiery indignation to devour the adversaries4 ,it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living ,god4 ,if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth1 ,moses1 much more we shall not escape if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven1 7,christ47 ,in view of the foregoing passages1 which represent the entire teaching of the epistle in relation to the ultimate destination of sinners1 we must assert as follows4 ,first1 the author gives no hint of the doctrine of literal torments in a local hell4 ,secondly1 he is still further from favoring nay1 he unequivocally denies the doctrine of unconditional1 universal salvation4 ,thirdly1 he either expected that the reprobate would be absolutely destroyed at the second coming of ,christ1 which does not seem to be declared2 or that they would be exiled forever from the kingdom of glory into the sad and slumberous under world1 which is not clearly implied2 or that they would be punished according to their evil1 and then1 restored to ,divine favor1 be exalted into heaven with the original elect1 which is not written in the record2 or1 lastly1 that they would be disposed of in some way unknown to him1 which he does not avow4 ,he makes no allusion to such a terrific conception as is expressed by our modern use of the word hell3 he emphatically predicates conditionality of salvation1 he threatens sinners in general terms with severe judgment4 ,further than this he has neglected to state his faith4 ,if it reached any further1 he has preferred to leave the statement of it in vague and impressive gloom4 ,let us stop a moment and epitomize the steps we have taken4 ,jesus1 the ,son of ,god1 was a spirit in heaven4 ,he came upon the earth in the guise of humanity to undergo its whole experience and to be its redeemer4 ,he died1 passed through the vanquished kingdom of the grave1 and rose into heaven again1 to exemplify to men that through the grace of ,god a way was opened to escape the under world1 the great external penalty of sin1 and reach a better country1 even a heavenly4 ,from his seat at ,god's right hand1 he should ere long descend to complete ,god's designs in his mission1 judge his enemies and lead his accepted followers to heaven4 ,the all important thought running through the length and breadth of the treatise is the ascension of ,christ from the midst of the dead non-,,ascii charactersinto the celestial presence1 as the pledge of our ascent4 ,among the things of which we are speaking1 this is the capital consideration1 non-,,ascii characters the most essential point1 that we have such a high priest1 who hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of the ,majesty in the heavens4 ,neander says1 though apparently without perceiving the extent of its ulterior significance1 ,the conception of the resurrection in relation to the whole ,christian system lies at the basis of this epistle4 ,a brief sketch and exposition of the scope of the epistle in general will cast light and confirmation upon the interpretation we have given of its doctrine of a future life in particular4 ,the one comprehensive design of the writer1 it is perfectly clear1 is to prove to the ,christian converts from the ,hebrews the superiority of ,christianity to ,judaism1 and thus to arm them against apostasy from the new covenant to the ancient one4 ,he begins by showing that ,christ1 the bringer of the gospel1 is greater than the angels1 by whom the law was given1#ai and consequently that his word is to be reverenced still more than theirs4#bj ,next he argues that ,jesus1 the ,christian ,mediator1 as the ,son of ,god1 is crowned with more authority and is worthy of more glory than ,moses1 the ,jewish mediator1 as the servant of ,god2 and that as ,moses led his people towards the rest of ,canaan1 so ,christ leads his people towards the far better rest of heaven4 ,he then advances to demonstrate the superiority of ,christ to the ,levitical priesthood4 ,this he establishes by pointing out the facts that the ,levitical priest had a transient honor1 being after the law of a carnal commandment1 his offerings referring to the flesh1 while ,christ has an unchangeable priesthood1 being after the power of an endless life1 his offering referring to the soul2 that the ,levitical priest once a year went into the symbolic holy place in the temple1 unable to admit others1 but ,jesus rose into the real holy place itself above1 opening a way for all faithful disciples to follow2 and that the ,hebrew temple and ceremonies were but the small type and shadow of the grand archetypal temple in heaven1 where ,christ is the immortal ,high ,priest1 fulfilling in the presence of ,god the completed reality of what ,judaism merely miniatured1 an emblematic pattern that could make nothing perfect4 ,by him therefore let us continually offer to ,god the sacrifice of praise4 ,the author intersperses1 and closes with1 exhortations to steadfast faith1 pure morals1 and fervent piety4 ,there is one point in this epistle which deserves1 in its essential connection with the doctrine of the future life1 a separate treatment4 ,it is the subject of the ,atonement4 ,the correspondence between the sacrifices in the ,hebrew ritual and the sufferings and death of ,christ would1 from the nature of the case1 irresistibly suggest the sacrificial terms and metaphors which our author uses in a large part of his argument4 ,moreover1 his precise aim in writing compelled him to make these resemblances as prominent1 as significant1 and as effective as possible4 ,griesbach says well1 in his learned and able essay1 ,when it was impossible for the ,jews1 lately brought to the ,christian faith1 to tear away the attractive associations of their ancestral religion1 which were twined among the very roots of their minds1 and they were consequently in danger of falling away from ,christ1 the most ingenious author of this epistle met the case by a masterly expedient4 ,he instituted a careful comparison1 showing the superiority of ,christianity to ,judaism even in regard to the very point where the latter seemed so much more glorious1 namely1 in priesthoods1 temples1 #ai ,heb4 i4 #d #ad1 ii4 #b2 ,acts vii4 #ec2 ,gal4 iii4 #bj ,heb4 ii4 #a #c4 altars1 victims1 lustrations1 and kindred things4#ba ,that these comparisons are sometimes used by the writer analogically1 figuratively1 imaginatively1 for the sake of practical illustration and impression1 not literally as logical expressions and proofs of a dogmatic theory of atonement1 is made sufficiently plain by the following quotations4 ,the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest for sin are burned without the camp4 ,wherefore ,jesus also1 that he might sanctify the people through his own blood1 suffered without the gate4 ,let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp1 bearing his reproach4 ,every one will at once perceive that these sentences are not critical statements of theological truths1 but are imaginative expressions of practical lessons1 spiritual exhortations4 ,again1 we read1 ,it was necessary that the patterns of the heavenly things should be purified with sacrificed animals1 but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these4 ,certainly it is only by an exercise of the imagination1 for spiritual impression1 not for philosophical argument1 that heaven can be said to be defiled by the sins of men on earth so as to need cleansing by the lustral blood of ,christ4 ,the writer also appeals to his readers in these terms3 ,to do good and to communicate forget not2 for with such sacrifices ,god is well pleased4 ,the purely practical aim and rhetorical method with which the sacrificial language is employed here are evident enough4 ,we believe it is used in the same way wherever it occurs in the epistle4 ,the considerations which have convinced us1 and which we think ought to convince every unprejudiced mind1 that the ,calvinistic scheme of a substitutional expiation for sin1 a placation of ,divine wrath by the offering of ,divine blood1 was not in the mind of the author1 and does not inform his expressions when they are rightly understood1 may be briefly presented4 ,first1 the notion that the suffering of ,christ in itself ransomed lost souls1 bought the withheld grace and pardon of ,god for us1 is confessedly foreign and repulsive to the instinctive moral sense and to natural reason1 but is supposed to rest on the authority of revelation4 ,secondly1 that doctrine is nowhere specifically stated in the epistle1 but is assumed1 or inferred1 to explain language which to a superficial look seems to imply it1 perhaps even seems to be inexplicable without it2#bb but in reality such a view is inconsistent with that language when it is accurately studied4 ,for example1 notice the following passage3 ,when ,christ cometh into the world1 he is represented as saying1 ,i come to do thy will1 ,o ,god4 ,by the which will1 the writer continues1 we are sanctified through the offering of the body of ,jesus4 ,that is1 the death of ,christ1 involving his resurrection and ascension into heaven1 fulfils and exemplifies the gracious purpose of ,god1 not purchases for us an otherwise impossible benignity4 ,the above cited explicit declaration is irreconcilable #ba ,opuscula3 ,de ,imaginibus ,judaicis in ,epist4 ad ,hebraos4 #bb ,that these texts were not originally understood as implying any vicarious efficacy in ,christ's painful death1 but as attributing a typical power to his triumphant resurrection1 his glorious return from the world of the dead into heaven1 appears very plainly in the following instance1 ,theodoret1 one of the earliest explanatory writers on the ,new ,testament1 says1 while expressly speaking of ,christ's death1 the sufferings through which he was perfected1 ,his resurrection certified a resurrection for us all4 ,comm4 in ,epist4 ad ,heb4 cap4 #b1 v4 #aj4 with the thought that ,christ came into the world to die that he might appease the flaming justice and anger of ,god1 and by vicarious agony buy the remission of human sins3 it conveys the idea1 on the contrary1 that ,god sent ,christ to prove and illustrate to men the free fulness of his forgiving love4 ,thirdly1 the idea1 which we think was the idea of the author of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews1 that ,christ1 by his death1 resurrection1 and ascent1 demonstrated to the faith of men ,god's merciful removal of the supposed outward penalty of sin1 namely1 the banishment of souls after death to the under world1 and led the way1 as their forerunner1 into heaven1 this idea1 which is not shocking to the moral sense nor plainly absurd to the moral reason1 as the ,augustinian dogma is1 not only yields a more sharply defined1 consistent1 and satisfactory explanation of all the related language of the epistle1 but is also which cannot be said of the other doctrine in harmony with the contemporary opinions of the ,hebrews1 and would be the natural and almost inevitable development from them and complement of them in the mind of a ,pharisee1 who1 convinced of the death and ascension of the sinless ,jesus1 the appointed ,messiah1 had become a ,christian4 ,in support of the last assertion1 which is the only one that needs further proof1 we submit the following considerations4 ,in the first place1 every one familiar with the eschatology of the ,hebrews knows that at the time of ,christ the belief prevailed that the sin of ,adam was the cause of death among men4 ,in the second place1 it is equally well known that they believed the destination of souls upon leaving the body to be the under world4 ,therefore does it not follow by all the necessities of logic8 they believed that sin was the cause of the descent of disembodied spirits to the dreary lower realm4 ,in the third place1 it is notorious and undoubted that the ,jews of that age expected that1 when the ,messiah should appear1 the dead of their nation1 or at least a portion of them1 would be raised from the under world and be reclothed with bodies1 and would reign with him for a period on earth and then ascend to heaven4 ,now1 what could be more natural than that a person holding this creed1 who should be brought to believe that ,jesus was the true ,messiah and after his death had risen from among the dead into heaven1 should immediately conclude that this was a pledge or illustration of the abrogation of the gloomy penalty of sin1 the deliverance of souls from the subterranean prison1 and their admission to the presence of ,god beyond the sky8 ,we deem this an impregnable position4 ,every relevant text that we consider in its light additionally fortifies it by the striking manner in which such a conception fits1 fills1 and explains the words4 ,to justify these interpretations1 and to sustain particular features of the doctrine which they express1 almost any amount of evidence may be summoned from the writings both of the most authoritative and of the simplest ,fathers of the ,church1 beginning with ,justin ,martyr1#bc philosopher of ,neapolis1 at the close of the apostolic age1 and ending with ,john ,hobart1#bd ,bishop of ,new ,york1 in the early part of the nineteenth century4 ,we refrain from adducing the throng of such authorities here1 because they will be more appropriately brought forward in future chapters4 #bc ,dial4 cum ,tryph4 cap4 v4 et cap4 lxxx4#bd ,state of the ,departed4 ,the intelligent reader will observe that the essential point of difference distinguishing our exposition of the fundamental doctrine of the composition in review1 on the one hand1 from the ,calvinistic interpretation of it1 and1 on the other hand1 from the ,unitarian explanation of it1 is this4 ,calvinism says that ,christ1 by his death1 his vicarious pains1 appeased the wrath of ,god1 satisfied the claims of justice1 and purchased the salvation of souls from an agonizing and endless hell4 ,unitarianism says that ,christ1 by his teachings1 spirit1 life1 and miracles1 revealed the character of the ,father1 set an example for man1 gave certainty to great truths1 and exerted moral influences to regenerate men1 redeem them from sin1 and fit them for the blessed kingdom of immortality4 ,we understand the writer of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews really to say in subtraction from what the ,calvinist1 in addition to what the ,unitarian1 says that ,christ1 by his resurrection from the tyrannous realm of death1 and ascent into the unbarred heaven1 demonstrated the fact that ,god1 in his sovereign grace1 in his free and wondrous love1 would forgive mankind their sins1 remove the ancient penalty of transgression1 no more dooming their disembodied spirits to the noiseless and everlasting gloom of the under world1 but admitting them to his own presence1 above the firmamental floor1 where the beams of his chambers are laid1 and where he reigneth forever1 covered with light as with a garment4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,in ,,the ,,apocalypse4 ,,before attempting to exhibit the doctrine of a future life contained in the ,apocalypse1 we propose to give a brief account of what is contained1 relating to this subject1 in the ,epistle of ,james1 the ,epistle of ,jude1 and the 7so called7 ,second ,epistle of ,peter4 ,the references made by ,james to the group of points included under the general theme of the ,future ,life are so few and indirect1 or vague1 that it is impossible to construct any thing like a complete doctrine from them1 save by somewhat arbitrary and uncertain suppositions4 ,his purpose in writing1 evidently1 was practical exhortation1 not dogmatic instruction4 ,his epistle contains no expository outline of a system2 but it has allusions and hints which plainly imply some partial views belonging to a system1 while the other parts of it are left obscure4 ,he says that evil desire brings forth sin1 and sin1 when it is finished1 brings forth death4 ,but whether he intended this text as a moral metaphor to convey a spiritual meaning1 or as a literal statement of a physical fact1 or as a comprehensive enunciation including both these ideas1 there is nothing in the context positively to determine4 ,he offers not the faintest clew to his conception of the purpose of the death and resurrection of ,christ4 ,he uses the word for the ,jewish hell but once1 and then1 undeniably1 in a figurative sense1 saying that a curbless and defiling tongue is set on fire of ,gehenna4 ,he appears to adopt the common notion of his contemporary countrymen in regard to demoniacal existences1 when he declares that the devils believe there is one ,god1 and tremble1 and when he exclaims1 ,resist the devil1 and he will flee from you4 ,he insists on the necessity of a faith that evinces itself in good works and in all the virtues1 as the means of acceptance with ,god4 ,he compares life to a vanishing vapor1 denounces terribly the wicked and dissolute rich men who wanton in crimes and oppress the poor4 ,then he calls on the suffering brethren to be patient under their afflictions until the coming of the ,lord2 to abstain from oaths1 be fervent in prayer1 and establish their hearts1 for the coming of the ,lord draweth nigh4 ,grudge not one against another1 brethren1 lest ye be condemned3 behold1 the ,judge standeth before the door4 ,here the return of ,christ1 to finish his work1 sit in judgment1 accept some1 and reject others1 is clearly implied4 ,and if ,james held this element of the general scheme of eschatology held by the other apostles as shown in their epistles1 it is altogether probable that he also embraced the rest of that scheme4 ,there are no means of definitely ascertaining whether he did or did not2 though1 according to a very learned and acute theologian1 another fundamental part of that general system of doctrine is to be found in the last verse of the epistle1 where ,james says that he who converts a sinner from the error of his ways shall save a soul from death and hide a multitude of sins4 ,bretschneider thinks that saving a soul from death here means rescuing it from a descent into the under world1 the word death being often used in the ,new ,testament as by the ,rabbins to denote the subterranean abode of the dead4#a ,this #a ,bretschneider1 ,religiose ,glaubenslehre1 sect4 #ei4 interpretation may seem forced to an unlearned reader1 who examines the text for personal profit1 but will not seem at all improbable to one who1 to learn its historic meaning1 reads the text in the lighted foreground of a mind over whose background lies a fitly arranged knowledge of all the materials requisite for an adequate criticism4 ,for such a man was ,bretschneider himself4 ,the eschatological implications and references in the ,epistle of ,jude are of pretty much the same character and extent as those which we have just considered4 ,a thorough study and analysis of this brief document will show that it may be fairly divided into three heads and be regarded as having three objects4 ,first1 the writer exhorts his readers to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints1 to remember the words of ,christ's apostles1 to keep themselves in the love of ,god1 looking for eternal life4 ,he desires to stir them up to diligence in efforts to preserve their doctrinal purity and their personal virtue4 ,secondly1 he warns them of the fearful danger of depravity1 pride1 and lasciviousness4 ,this warning he enforces by several examples of the terrible judgments of ,god on the rebellious and wicked in other times4 ,among these instances is the case of the ,cities of the ,plain1 eternally destroyed by a storm of fire for their uncleanness2 also the example of the fallen angels1 who kept not their first estate1 but left their proper habitation1 and are reserved in everlasting chains and darkness unto the judgment of the great day4 ,the writer here adopts the doctrine of fallen angels1 and the connected views1 as then commonly received among the ,jews4 ,this doctrine is not of ,christian origin1 but was drawn from ,persian and other ,oriental sources1 as is abundantly shown1 with details1 in almost every history of ,jewish opinions1 in almost every ,biblical commentary4#b ,in this connection ,jude cites a legend from an apocryphal book1 called the ,ascension of ,moses1 of which ,origen gives an account4#c ,the substance of the tradition is1 that1 at the decease of ,moses1 ,michael and ,satan contended whether the body should be given over to death or be taken up to heaven4 ,the appositeness of this allusion is1 that1 while in this strife the archangel dared not rail against ,satan1 yet the wicked men whom ,jude is denouncing do not hesitate to blaspheme the angels and to speak evil of the things which they know not4 ,woe unto such ungodly men3 gluttonous spots1 dewless clouds1 fruitless trees plucked up and twice dead1 they are ordained to condemnation4 ,thirdly1 the epistle announces the second coming of ,christ1 in the last time1 to establish his tribunal4 ,the ,prophecy of ,enoch an apocryphal book1 recovered during the present century is quoted as saying1 ,behold1 the ,lord cometh1 with ten thousand of his saints1 to execute judgment upon all1 and to convict the ungodly of their ungodly deeds4#d ,jude1 then1 anticipated the return of the ,lord1 at the judgment of the great day1 to judge the world2 considered the under world1 or abode of the dead1 not as a region of fire1 but a place of imprisoning gloom1 wherein to defiled and blaspheming dreamers is reserved the blackness of darkness forever2 #b ,e4 g4 ,stuart's ,dissertation on the ,angelology of the ,scriptures1 published in vol4 i4 of the ,bibliotheca ,sacra4 #c ,de ,principiis1 lib4 iii4 cap #b4 ,see1 also1 in ,michaelis's ,introduction to the ,new ,testament1 sect4 #d of the chapter on ,jude4 #d ,book of ,enoch1 translated by ,dr4 ,r4 ,laurence1 cap4 ii4 thought it imminently necessary for men to be diligent in striving to secure their salvation1 because all sensual mockers1 not having the spirit1 but walking after their own ungodly lusts1 would be lost4 ,he probably expected that1 when all free contingencies were past and ,christ had pronounced sentence1 the condemned would be doomed eternally into the black abyss1 and the accepted would rise into the immortal glory of heaven4 ,he closes his letter with these significant words1 which plainly imply much of what we have just been setting forth3 ,everlasting honor and power1 through ,jesus ,christ our ,lord1 be unto ,god1 who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the face of his glory with exceeding joy4#e ,the first chapter of the so called ,second ,epistle of ,peter is not occupied with theological propositions1 but with historical1 ethical1 and practical statements and exhortations4 ,these are1 indeed1 of such a character1 and so expressed1 that they clearly presuppose certain opinions in the mind of the writer4 ,first1 he evidently believed that a merciful and holy message had been sent from ,god to men by ,jesus ,christ1 whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises4 ,the substance of these promises was a call to escape the corruption of the world1 and enter into glory and be partakers of the ,divine nature4 ,by partaking of the ,divine nature1 we understand the writer to mean entering the ,divine abode and condition1 ascending into the safe and eternal joy of the celestial prerogatives4 ,that the author here denotes heaven by the term glory1 as the other ,new ,testament writers frequently do1 appears distinctly from the seventeenth and eighteenth verses of the chapter1 where1 referring to the incident at the baptism of ,jesus1 he declares1 ,there came a voice from the excellent glory1 saying1 ',this is my beloved ,son2' and this voice1 which came from heaven1 we heard4 ,secondly1 our author regarded this glorious promise as contingent on the fulfilment of certain conditions4 ,it was to be realized by means of faith1 courage1 knowledge1 temperance1 patience1 godliness1 kindness1 and love4 ,he that hath these things shall never fall1 but an entrance shall be ministered unto him abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our ,lord and ,savior1 ,jesus ,christ4 ,the writer furnishes us no clew to his idea of the particular part performed by ,christ in our salvation4 ,he says not a word concerning the sufferings or death of the ,savior2 and the extremely scanty and indefinite allusions made to the relation in which ,christ was supposed to stand between ,god and men1 and the redemption and reconciliation of men with ,god1 do not enable us to draw any dogmatic conclusions4 ,he speaks of false teachers1 who shall bring in damnable heresies1 even denying the ,lord that bought them4 ,but whether by this last phrase he means to imply a ransom of imprisoned souls from the under world by ,christ's descent thither and victory over its powers1 or a purchased exemption of sinners from their merited doom by the vicarious sufferings of ,christ's death1 or a practical regenerative redemption of disciples from their sins by the moral influences of his mission1 his teachings1 example1 and character1 there is nothing in the epistle clearly to decide2 though1 forming our judgment by the aid of other sources of information1 we should conclude in favor of the first of these three conceptions as most probably expressing the writer's thought4 #e ,griesbuch's reading of the #beth verse of ,jude4 ,the second chapter of the epistle is almost an exact parallel with the ,epistle of ,jude3 in many verses it is the same1 word for word4 ,it threatens unclean1 self willed1 unjust1 and blaspheming men1 that they shall be reserved unto the day of judgment1 to be punished4 ,it warns such persons by citing the example of the rebellious angels1 who were thrust down into ,tartarus1 and fastened in chains of darkness until the judgment4 ,it speaks of cursed children1 to whom is reserved the mist of darkness forever4 ,herein1 plainly enough1 is betrayed the common notion of the ,jews of that time1 the conception of a dismal under world1 containing the evil angels of the ,persian theology1 and where the wicked were to be remanded after judgment and eternally imprisoned4 ,the third and last chapter is taken up with the doctrine of the second coming of ,christ4 ,be mindful of the words of the prophets and apostles1 knowing this first1 that in the last days there shall be scoffers1 who will say1 ',where is the promise of his coming8 for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as from the beginning4' ,the writer meets this skeptical assertion with denial1 and points to the ,deluge1 whereby the world that then was1 being overflowed with water1 perished4 ,his argument is1 the world was thus destroyed once1 therefore it may be destroyed again4 ,he then goes on to assert positively relying for authority on old traditions and current dogmas that the heavens and the earth which are now are kept by the word of ,god in store to be destroyed by fire in the day of judgment1 when the perdition of ungodly men shall be sealed4 ,the delay of the ,lord to fulfil his promise is not from procrastination1 but from his long suffering who is not willing that any should perish4 ,he waits that all may come to repentance4 ,but his patience will end1 and the day of ,god come as a thief in the night1 when the heavens1 being on fire1 shall pass away with a crash1 and the elements melt with fervent heat4 ,there are two ways in which these declarations may be explained1 though in either case the events they refer to are to occur in connection with the physical reappearance of ,christ4 ,first1 they may be taken in a highly figurative sense1 as meaning the moral overthrow of evil and the establishment of righteousness in the world4 ,similar expressions were often used thus by the ancient ,hebrew prophets1 who describe the triumphs of ,israel and the destruction of their enemies1 the ,edomites or the ,assyrians1 by the interposition of ,jehovah's arm1 in such phrases as these4 ,the mountains melt1 the valleys cleave asunder like wax before a fire1 like waters poured over a precipice4 ,the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll1 all their hosts shall melt away and fall down2 for ,jehovah holdeth a great slaughter in the land of ,edom3 her streams shall be turned into pitch1 and her dust into brimstone1 and her whole land shall become burning pitch4 ,the suppression of ,satan's power and the setting up of the ,messiah's kingdom might1 according to the prophetic idiom1 be expressed in awful images of fire and woe1 the destruction of the old1 and the creation of a new1 heaven and earth4 ,but1 secondly1 this phraseology1 as used by the writer of the epistle before us1 may have a literal significance1 may have been intended to predict strictly that the world shall be burned and purged by fire at the second coming of the ,lord4 ,that such a catastrophe would take place in the last day1 or occurred periodically1 was notoriously the doctrine of the ,persians and of the ,stoics4#f ,for our own part1 we are convinced that the latter is the real meaning of the writer4 ,this seems to be shown alike by the connection of his argument1 by the prosaic literality of detail with which he speaks1 and by the earnest exhortations he immediately bases on the declaration he has made4 ,he reasons that1 since the world was destroyed once by water1 it may be again by fire4 ,the deluge he certainly regarded as literal3 was not1 then1 in his conception1 the fire1 too1 literal8 ,he says1 with calm1 prosaic precision1 ,the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up4 ,seeing1 then1 that all these things shall be dissolved1 what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holiness1 looking for a new heaven and a new earth1 and striving that ye may be found by him in peace1 without spot1 and blameless6 ,we do not suppose this writer expected the annihilation of the physical creation1 but only that the fire would destroy all unransomed creatures from its surface1 and thoroughly purify its frame1 and make it clean and fit for a new race of sinless and immortal men4 ,tears shall not break from their full source1 ,nor ,anguish stray from her ,tartarean den1 ,the golden years maintain a course ,not undiversified1 though smooth and even1 ,we not be mock'd with glimpse and shadow then1 ,bright seraphs mix familiarly with men1 ,and earth and sky compose a universal heaven4 ,we have now arrived at the threshold of the last book in the ,new ,testament1 that book which1 in the words of ,lucke1 lies like a ,sphinx at the lofty outgate of the ,bible4 ,there are three modes of interpreting the ,apocalypse1 each of which has had numerous and distinguished advocates4 ,first1 it may be regarded as a congeries of inspired prophecies1 a scenic unfolding1 with infallible foresight1 of the chief events of ,christian history from the first century till now1 and onwards4 ,this view the combined effect of the facts in the case and of all the just considerations appropriate to the subject compels us to reject4 ,there is no evidence to support it2 the application of it is crowded with egregious follies and absurdities4 ,we thus simply state the result of our best investigation and judgment1 for there is no space here to discuss it in detail4 ,secondly1 the book may be taken as a symbolic exhibition of the transitional crises1 exposures1 struggles1 and triumphs of the individual soul1 a description of personal experience1 a picture of the inner life of the ,christian in a hostile world4 ,the contents of it can be made to answer to such a characterization only by the determined exercise of an unrestrained fancy1 or by the theory of a double sense1 as the ,swedenborgians expound it4 ,this method of interpreting the ,revelation is adopted1 not by scholarly thinkers1 who1 by the light of learning and common sense1 seek to discern what the writer meant to express1 but by those persons who go to the obscure document1 with traditional superstition and lawless imaginations1 to see what lessons they can find there for their experimental guidance and edification4 ,we suppose that every intelligent and informed student who has #f ,cicero de ,nat4 ,deorum1 lib4 ii4 cap4 #df4 ,also ,ovid1 ,minucius ,felix1 ,seneca1 and other authorities1 as quoted by ,rosenmuller on #b ,peter iii4 #g4 examined the subject with candid independence holds it as an exegetical axiom that the ,apocalypse is neither a pure prophecy1 blazing full illumination from ,patmos along the track of the coming centuries1 nor an exhaustive vision of the experience of the faithful ,christian disciple4 ,we are thus brought to the third and1 as we think1 the correct mode of considering this remarkable work4 ,it is an outburst from the commingled and seething mass of opinions1 persecutions1 hopes1 general experience1 and expectation of the time when it was written4 ,this is the view which would naturally arise in the mind of an impartial student from the nature of the case1 and from contemplating the fervid faith1 suffering1 lowering elements1 and thick coming events of the apostolic age4 ,it also strikingly corresponds with numerous express statements and with the whole obvious spirit and plan of the work2 for its descriptions and appeals have the vivid colors1 the thrilling tones1 the significantly detailed allusions to experiences and opinions and anticipations notoriously existing at the time1 which belong to present or immediately impending scenes4 ,this way of considering the ,apocalypse likewise enables one who is acquainted with the early ,jewish ,christian doctrines1 legends1 and hopes1 to explain clearly a large number of passages in it whose obscurity has puzzled many a commentator4 ,we should be glad to give various illustrations of this1 if our limits did not confine us strictly to the one class of texts belonging to the doctrine of a future life4 ,furthermore1 nearly all the most gifted critics1 such as ,ewald1 ,bleek1 ,lucke1 ,de ,wette1 those whose words on such matters as these are weightiest1 now agree in concluding that the ,revelation of ,john was a product springing out of the intense ,jewish ,christian belief and experience of the age1 and referring1 in its dramatic scenery and predictions1 to occurrences supposed to be then transpiring or very close at hand4 ,finally1 this view in regard to the ,apocalypse is strongly confirmed by a comparison of that production with the several other works similar to it in character and nearly contemporaneous in origin4 ,these apocryphal productions were written or compiled according to the pretty general agreement of the great scholars who have criticized them somewhere between the beginning of the first century before1 and the middle of the second century after1 ,christ4 ,we merely propose here1 in the briefest manner1 to indicate the doctrine of a future life contained in them1 as an introduction to an exposition of that contained in the ,new ,testament ,apocalypse4 ,in the ,,testament ,,of ,,the ,,twelve ,,patriarchs it is written that the under world shall be spoiled through the death of the ,most ,exalted4#g ,again1 we read1 ,the ,lord shall make battle against the devil1 and conquer him1 and rescue from him the captive souls of the righteous4 ,the just shall rejoice in ,jerusalem1 where the ,lord shall reign himself1 and every one that believes in him shall reign in truth in the heavens4#h ,farther on the writer says of the ,lord1 after giving an account of his crucifixion1 ,he shall rise up from the under world and ascend into heaven4#i ,these extracts seem to imply the common doctrine of that time1 that ,christ descended into the under world1 freed the captive saints1 and rose into heaven1 and would soon return to establish his throne in ,jerusalem1 to reign there for a time with his accepted followers4 #g ,see this book in ,fabricii ,codex ,pseudepigraphus ,veteris ,testamenti1 ,test4 ,lev4 sect4 iv4 #h ,ibid4 ,test4 ,dan4 sect4 v4 #i ,ibid4 ,test4 ,benj4 sect4 ix4 ,the ,,fourth ,,book ,,of ,,ezra contains scattered declarations and hints of the same nature4#aj ,it describes a vision of the ,messiah1 on ,mount ,zion1 distributing crowns to those confessors of his name who had died in their fidelity4#aa ,the world is said to be full of sorrows and oppressions2 and as the souls of the just ask when the harvest shall come1#ab for the good to be rewarded and the wicked to be punished1 they are told that the day of liberation is not far distant1 though terrible trials and scourges must yet precede it4 ,my ,son ,jesus shall be revealed4 ,my ,son the ,christ shall die2 and then a new age shall come1 the earth shall give up the dead1 sinners shall be plunged into the bottomless abyss1 and ,paradise shall appear in all its glory4#ac ,the ,son of ,god will come and consume his enemies with fire2 but the elect will be protected and made happy4#ad ,the ,,ascension ,,of ,,isaiah is principally occupied with an account of the rapture of the soul of that prophet through the seven heavens1 and of what he there saw and learned4 ,it describes the descent of ,christ1 the beloved ,son of ,god1 through all the heavens1 to the earth2 his death2 his resurrection after three days2 his victory over ,satan and his angels1 who dwell in the welkin or higher region of the air2 and his return to the right hand of ,god4#ae ,it predicts great apostasy and sin among the disciples of the apostles1 and much dissension respecting the nearness of the second advent of ,christ4#af ,it emphatically declares that ,christ shall come with his angels1 and shall drag ,satan and his powers into ,gehenna4 ,then all the saints shall descend from heaven in their heavenly clothing1 and dwell in this world2 while the saints who had not died shall be similarly clothed1 and after a time leave their bodies here1 that they may assume their station in heaven4 ,the general resurrection and judgment will follow1 when the ungodly will be devoured by fire4#ag ,the author as ,gesenius1 with almost all the rest of the critics1 says was unquestionably a ,jewish ,christian1 and his principal design was to set forth the speedy second coming of ,christ1 and the glorious triumph of the saints that would follow with the condign punishment of the wicked4 ,the first book of the ,,sibylline ,,oracles contains a statement that in the golden age the souls of all men passed peacefully into the under world1 to tarry there until the judgment2 a prediction of a future ,messiah2 and an account of his death1 resurrection1 and ascension4 ,the second book begins with a description of the horrors that will precede the last time1 threats against the persecuting tyrants1 and promises to the faithful1 especially to the martyrs1 and closes with an account of the general judgment1 when ,elijah shall come from heaven1 consuming flames break out1 all souls be summoned to the tribunal of ,god at whose right hand ,christ will sit1 the bodies of the dead be raised1 the righteous be purified1 and the wicked be plunged into final ruin4 ,the fundamental thought and aim of the apocryphal ,,book ,,of ,,enoch are the second coming of ,christ to judge the world1 the encouragement of the ,christians1 and the warning #aj ,see the abstract of it given in section vi4 of ,stuart's ,commentary on the ,apocalypse4 #aa ,cap4 ii4 #ab ,cap4 iv4 #ac ,cap4 v41 vii4 #ad ,cap4 xiii41 xvi4 #ae ,ascensio ,isaia ,vatis1 a ,ricardo ,laurence1 cap4 ix41 x41 xi4 #af ,ibid4 cap4 ii41 iii4 #ag ,ibid4 cap4 iv4 #ac-ah4 of their oppressors by declarations of approaching deliverance to those and vengeance to these4 ,this is transparent at frequent intervals through the whole book4#ah ,ye righteous1 wait with patient hope3 your cries have cried for judgment1 and it shall come1 and the gates of heaven shall be opened to you4 ,woe to you1 powerful oppressors1 false witnesses6 for you shall suddenly perish4 ,the voices of slain saints accusing their murderers1 the oppressors of their brethren1 reach to heaven with interceding cries for swift justice4#ai ,when that justice comes1 the horse shall wade up to his breast1 and the chariot shall sink to its axle1 in the blood of sinners4#bj ,the author teaches that the souls of men at death go into the under world1 a place deep and dark1 where all souls shall be collected2 where they shall remain in darkness till the day of judgment1 the spirits of the righteous being in peace and joy1 separated from the tormented spirits of the wicked1 who have spurned the ,messiah and persecuted his disciples4#ba ,a day of judgment is at hand4 ,behold1 he cometh1 with ten thousand of his saints1 to execute judgment4 ,then the righteous shall rise from the under world1 be approved1 become as angels1 and ascend to heaven4 ,but the wicked shall not rise3 they remain imprisoned below forever4#bb ,the angels descend to earth to dwell with men1 and the saints ascend to heaven to dwell with angels4#bc ,from beginning to end1 like the ,apocalypse1 the book is filled1 says ,professor ,stuart1 7and the most careless reader must remark it17 with threats for the wicked persecutors and consolations for the suffering pious4 ,a great number of remarkable correspondences between passages in this book and passages in the ,apocalypse solicit a notice which our present single object will not allow us to give them here4 ,an under world divided into two parts1 a happy for the good1 a wretched for the bad2 temporary woes prevailing on the earth2 the speedy advent of ,christ for a vindication of his power and his servants2 the resurrection of the dead2 the final translation of the accepted into heaven1 and the hopeless dooming of the rejected into the abyss1 these are the features in the book before us which we are now to remember4 ,there is one other extant apocryphal book whose contents are strictly appropriate to the subject we have in hand1 namely1 the ,,apocalypse ,,of ,,john4#bd ,it claims to be the work of the ,apostle ,john himself4 ,it represents ,john as going to ,mount ,tabor after the ascension of ,christ1 and there praying that it may be revealed to him when the second coming of ,christ will occur1 and what will be the consequences of it4 ,in answer to his request1 a long and minute disclosure is made4 ,the substance of it is1 that1 after famines and woes1 ,antichrist will appear and reign three years4 ,then ,enoch and ,elijah will come to expose him2 but they will die1 and all men with them4 ,the earth will be purified with fire1 the dead will rise1 ,christ #ah ,book of ,enoch1 translated into ,english by ,dr4 ,r4 ,laurence4 ,see particularly the following places3 i4 #a #e2 lii4 #g2 liv4 #ab2 lxi4 #ae2 lxii4 #ad1 #ae2 xciv42 xcv42 civ4 #ai ,ibid4 cap4 ix4 #i #aa2 xxii4 #e #h2 xlvii4 #a-d4 #bj ,ibid4 cap4 xcviii4 #c4 #ba ,ibid4 cap4 x4 #f #i1 #ae1 #af2 xxii4 #b #e1 #aa #ac2 cii4 #f2 ciii4 #e4 #bb ,ibid4 cap4 xxii4 #ad1 #ae2 xlv4 #b2 xlvi4 #d2 #a4 #a-d4 #bc cap4 xxxviii4 xl4 #bd ,see the abstract of it given in ,lucke's ,einleit4 in die ,offenbar4 ,joh41 cap4 #b1 sect4 #ag4 will descend in pomp1 with myriads of angels1 and the judgment will follow4 ,the spirits of ,antichrist will be hurled into a gulf of outer darkness1 so deep that a heavy stone would not plunge to the bottom in three years4 ,unbelievers1 sinners1 hypocrites1 will be cast into the under world2 while true ,christians are placed at the right hand of ,christ1 all radiant with glory4 ,the good and accepted will then dwell in an earthly paradise1 with angels1 and be free from all evils4 ,in addition to these still extant ,apocalypses1 we have references in the works of the ,fathers to a great many others long since perished2 especially the ,apocalypses of ,adam1 ,abraham1 ,moses1 ,elijah1 ,hystaspes1 ,paul1 ,peter1 ,thomas1 ,cerinthus1 and ,stephen4 ,so far as we have any clew1 by preserved quotations or otherwise1 to the contents of these lost productions1 they seem to have been much occupied with the topics of the avenging and redeeming advent of the ,messiah1 the final judgment of mankind1 the supernal and subterranean localities1 the resurrection of the dead1 the inauguration of an earthly paradise1 the condemnation of the reprobate to the abyss beneath1 the translation of the elect to the ,angelic realm on high4 ,these works1 all taken together1 were plainly the offspring of the mingled mass of glowing faiths1 sufferings1 fears1 and hopes1 of the age they belonged to4 ,an acquaintance with them will help us to appreciate and explain many things in our somewhat kindred ,new ,testament ,apocalypse1 by placing us partially in the circumstances and mental attitude of the writer and of those for whom it was written4 ,the ,persian ,jewish and ,jewish ,christian notions and characteristics of the ,book of ,revelation are marked and prevailing1 as every prepared reader must perceive4 ,the threefold division of the universe into the upper world of the angels1 the middle world of men1 and the under world of the dead2 the keys of the bottomless pit2 the abode of ,satan1 the accuser1 in heaven2 his revolt2 the war in the sky between his seduced host and the angelic army under ,michael1 and the thrusting down of the former2 the banquet of birds on the flesh of kings1 mighty men1 and horses2 the battle of ,gog and ,magog2 the tarrying of souls under the altar of ,god2 the temple in heaven containing the ark of the covenant1 and the scene of a various ritual service2 the twelve gates of the celestial city bearing the names of the twelve tribes of the children of ,israel1 and the twelve foundations of the walls having the names of the twelve ,apostles of the ,lamb2 the bodily resurrection and general judgment1 and the details of its sequel1 all these doctrines and specimens of imagery1 with a hundred others1 carry us at once into the ,zend ,avesta1 the ,talmud1 and the ,ebionitish documents of the earliest ,christians1 who mixed their interpretations of the mission and teaching of ,christ with the poetic visions of ,zoroaster and the cabalistic dogmatics of the ,pharisees4 #be ,it is astonishing that any intelligent person can peruse the ,apocalypse and still suppose that it is occupied with prophecies of remote events1 events to transpire successively in distant ages and various lands4 ,immediateness1 imminency1 hazardous urgency1 swiftness1 alarms1 are written all over the book4 ,a suspense1 frightfully thrilling1 fills it1 as if the world were holding its breath in view of the universal crash that was coming with electric velocity4 #be ,see1 e4 g41 ,corrodi1 ,kritische ,geschichte des ,chiliasmus1 band ii4 th4 #c #g2 ,gfrorer1 ,geschichte ,urchristenthums1 abth4 ii4 kap4 #h #aj2 ,schottgen in ,apoc4 xii4 #f #i2 ibid4 in #b ,cor4 v4 #b4 ,four words compose the key to the ,apocalypse3 ,rescue1 ,reward1 ,overthrow1 ,vengeance4 ,the followers of ,christ are now persecuted and slain by the tyrannical rulers of the earth4 ,let them be of good cheer3 they shall speedily be delivered4 ,their tyrants shall be trampled down in blood flowing up to the horse bridles1 and they shall reign in glory4 ,here is the faith and the patience of the saints1 trusting that1 if true unto death1 they shall have a crown of life1 and shall not be hurt of the second death1 but shall soon rejoice over the triumphant establishment of the ,messiah's kingdom and the condign punishment of his enemies who are now making themselves drunk with the blood of the martyrs of ,jesus4 ,the ,beast1 described in the thirteenth chapter1 is unquestionably ,nero2 and this fact shows the expected immediateness of the events pictured in connection with the rise and destruction of that monstrous despot4#bf ,the truth of this representation is sealed by the very first verses of the book1 indicating the nature of its contents and the period to which they refer3 ,the revelation of ,jesus ,christ1 which ,god gave unto him1 to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass3 ,blessed are they who hear the words of this prophecy and keep them2 for the time is at hand4 ,this rescue and reward of the faithful1 this overthrow and punishment of the wicked1 were to be effected by the agency of a unique and sublime personage1 who was expected very soon to appear1 with an army of angels from heaven1 for this purpose4 ,the conception of the nature1 rank1 and offices of ,jesus ,christ which existed in the mind of the writer of the ,apocalypse is in some respects but obscurely hinted in the words he employs2 yet the relationship of those words to other and fuller sources of information in the contemporaneous notions of his countrymen is such as to give us great help in arriving at his ideas4 ,he represents ,christ as distinct from and subordinate to ,god4 ,he makes ,christ say1 ,to him that overcometh ,i will give power over the nations1 even as ,i received of my ,father4 ,he characterizes him as the beginning of the creation of ,god1 and describes him as mounted on a white horse1 leading the heavenly armies to war1 and his name is called the ,logos of ,god4 ,these terms evidently correspond to the phrases in the introduction to the ,gospel of ,john1 and in the ,book of the ,wisdom of ,solomon1 where are unfolded some portions of that great doctrine1 so prevalent among the early ,fathers1 which was borrowed and adapted by them from the ,persian ,honover1 the ,hebrew ,wisdom1 and the ,platonic ,logos4#bg ,in the beginning was the ,logos1 and the ,logos was with ,god1 and all things were made by him2444 and the ,logos was made flesh and dwelt among us4#bh ,god of our fathers1 and ,lord of mercy1 who hast made all things by thy ,logos4#bi ,thine almighty ,logos leaped down from heaven from his royal throne1 a fierce warrior1 into the midst of a land of destruction4#cj ,plainly enough1 the ,apocalyptic view of ,christ is based on that profound ,logos doctrine so copiously #bf ,see the excursus by ,stuart in his ,commentary on the ,apoc4 xiii4 #ah1 which conclusively shows that the ,beast could be no other than ,nero4 #bg ,lucke1 ,einleitung in das ,evang4 ,joh4 #bh ,evang4 ,joh4 i4 #a1 #c1 #ad4 #bi ,wisdom of ,solomon1 ix4 #a1 #b4 #cj ,ibid4 xviii4 #ae4 developed in the writings of ,philo ,judaus and so distinctly endorsed in numerous passages of the ,new ,testament4 ,first1 there is the absolute ,god4 ,next1 there is the ,logos1 the first begotten ,son and representative image of ,god1 the instrumental cause of the creation1 the head of all created beings4 ,this ,logos1 born into our world as a man1 is ,christ4 ,around him are clustered all the features and actions that compose the doctrine of the last things4 ,the vast work of redemption and judgment laid upon him has in part been already executed1 and in part remains yet to be done4 ,we are first to inquire1 then1 into the significance of what the writer of the ,apocalypse supposes has already been effected by ,christ in his official relations between ,god and men1 so far as regards the general subject of a life beyond the grave4 ,a few brief and vague but comprehensive expressions include all that he has written which furnishes us a guide to his thoughts on this particular4 ,he describes ,jesus1 when advanced to his native supereminent dignity in heaven1 as the ,logos1 clothed in a vesture dipped in blood1 and also as the ,lamb that was slain1 to whom the celestial throng sing a new song1 saying1 ,thou hast redeemed us unto ,god by thy blood4 ,christ1 he says1 loved us1 and washed us from our sins in his own blood4 ,he represents the risen ,savior as declaring1 ,i am he that liveth1 and was dead1 and1 behold1 ,i am alive for evermore1 and have the keys of the under world and of death4 ,jesus ,christ1 again he writes1 is the faithful witness1 the first begotten from the dead4 ,what1 now1 is the real meaning of these pregnant phrases8 ,what is the complete doctrine to which fragmentary references are here made8 ,we are confident that it is this4 ,mankind1 in consequence of sin1 were alienated from ,god1 and banished1 after death1 to ,hades1 the subterranean empire of shadows4 ,christ1 leaving his exalted state in heaven1 was born into the world as a messenger1 or faithful witness1 of surprising grace to them from ,god1 and died that he might fulfil his mission as the agent of their redemption1 by descending into the great prison realm of the dead1 and1 exerting his irresistible power1 return thence to light and life1 and ascend into heaven as the forerunner and pledge of the deliverance and ascension of others4 ,moses ,stuart1 commenting on the clause first begotten from the dead1 says1 ,christ was in fact the first who enjoyed the privilege of a resurrection to eternal glory and he was constituted the leader of all who should afterwards be thus raised from the dead4#ca ,all who had died1 with the sole exception of ,christ1 were yet in the under world4 ,he1 since his triumphant subdual of its power and return to heaven1 possessed authority over it1 and would ere long summon its hosts to resurrection1 as he declares3 ,i was dead1 and1 behold1 ,i am alive for ever more1 and have the keys of the under world4 ,the figure is that of a conqueror1 who1 returning from a captured and subdued city1 bears the key of it with him1 a trophy of his triumph and a pledge of its submission4 ,the text ,thou hast redeemed us unto ,god by thy blood is not received in an absolutely literal sense by any theological sect whatever4 ,the severest ,calvinist does not suppose that the physical blood shed on the cross is meant2 but he explains it as denoting the atoning efficacy of the vicarious sufferings of ,christ4 ,but this interpretation is as forced and constructive an exposition as the one we have given1 and is not #ca ,stuart1 ,comm4 in ,apoc4 i4 #e4 warranted by the theological opinions of the apostolic age1 which do1 on the contrary1 support and necessitate the other4 ,the direct statement is1 that men were redeemed unto ,god by the blood of ,christ4 ,all agree that in the word blood is wrapped up a figurative meaning4 ,the ,calvinistic dogma makes it denote the satisfaction of the law of retributive justice by a substitutional anguish4 ,we maintain that a true historical exegesis1 with far less violence to the use of language1 and consistently with known contemporaneous ideas1 makes it denote the death of ,christ1 and the events which were supposed to have followed his death1 namely1 his appearance among the dead1 and his ascent to heaven1 preparatory to their ascent1 when they should no longer be exiled in ,hades1 but should dwell with ,god4 ,out of an abundance of illustrative authorities we will cite a few4 ,augustine describes the ancient saints as being in the under world1 in places most remote from the tortures of the impious1 waiting for ,christ's blood and descent to deliver them4#cb ,epiphanius says1 ,christ was the first that rose from the under world to heaven from the time of the creation4#cc ,lactantius affirms1 ,christ's descent into the under world and ascent into heaven were necessary to give man the hope of a heavenly immortality4#cd ,hilary of ,poictiers says1 ,christ went down into ,hades for two reasons3 first1 to fulfil the law imposed on mankind that every soul on leaving the body shall descend into the under world1 and1 secondly1 to preach the ,christian religion to the dead4#ce ,chrysostom writes1 ,when the ,son of ,god cometh1 the earth shall burst open1 and all the men that ever were born1 from ,adam's birth up to that day1 shall rise up out of the earth4#cf ,irenaus testifies1 ,i have heard from a certain presbyter1 who heard it from those who had seen the apostles and received their instructions1 that ,christ descended into the under world1 and preached the gospel and his own advent to the souls there1 and remitted the sins of those who believed on him4#cg ,eusebius records that1 after the ascension of ,jesus1 ,thomas sent ,thaddeus1 one of the ,seventy1 to ,abgarus1 ,king of ,edessa4 ,this disciple told the king how that ,jesus1 having been crucified1 descended into the under world1 and burst the bars which had never before been broken1 and rose again1 and also raised with himself the dead that had slept for ages2 and how he descended alone1 but ascended with a great multitude to his ,father2 and how he was about to come again to judge the living and the dead4#ch ,finally1 we cite the following undeniable statement from ,daille's famous work on the ,right ,use of the ,fathers3 ,that heaven shall not be opened till the second coming of ,christ and the day of judgment1 that during this time the souls of all men1 with a few exceptions1 are shut up in the under world1 was held by ,justin ,martyr1 ,irenaus1 ,tertullian1 ,augustine1 ,origen1 ,lactantius1 ,victorinus1 ,ambrose1 ,chrysostom1 ,theodoret1 ,o,ecumenius1 ,aretas1 ,prudentius1 ,theophylact1 ,bernard1 #cb ,de ,civitate ,dei1 lib4 xx4 cap4 #ae4 #cc ,in ,resurrectionem ,christi4 #cd ,divin4 ,instit4 lib4 iv4 cap4 #ai1 #bj4 #ce ,hilary in ,ps4 cxviii4 et cxix4 #cf ,homil4 in ,rom4 viii4 #be4 #cg ,adv4 ,hares4 lib4 iv4 sect4 #de4 #ch ,ecc4 ,hist4 lib4 i4 cap4 #ac4 and many others1 as is confessed by all4 ,this doctrine is literally held by the whole ,greek ,church at the present day4 ,nor did any of the ,latins expressly deny any part of it until the ,council of ,florence1 in the year of our ,lord #adci4ci ,in view of these quotations1 and of volumes of similar ones which might be adduced1 we submit to the candid reader that the meaning most probably in the mind of the writer of the ,apocalypse when he wrote the words redemption by the ,blood of ,christ was this1 the rescue certified to men by the commissioned power and devoted self sacrifice of ,christ in dying1 going down to the mighty congregation of the dead1 proclaiming good tidings1 breaking the hopeless bondage of death and ,hades1 and ascending as the pioneer of a new way to ,god4 ,if before his death all men were supposed to go down to helpless confinement in the under world on account of sin1 but after his resurrection the promise of an ascension to heaven was made to them through his gospel and exemplification1 then well might the grateful believers1 fixing their hearts on his willing martyrdom in their behalf1 exclaim1 ,he loved us1 and washed us from our sins in his own blood1 and hath made us kings and priests unto ,god4 ,it is certainly far more natural1 far more reasonable1 to suppose that the scriptural phrase the blood of ,christ means the death of ,christ1 with its historical consequences1 than to imagine that it signifies a complicated and mysterious scheme of sacerdotal or ethical expiation1 especially when that scheme is unrelated to contemporaneous opinion1 irreconcilable withmorality1and confessedly nowhere plainly stated in ,scripture1 but a matter of late and laborious construction and inference4 ,we have not spoken of the strictly moral and subjective mission and work of ,christ1 as conceived by the author of the ,apocalypse1 his influences to cleanse the springs of character1 purify and inspire the heart1 rectify and elevate the motives1 regenerate and sanctify the soul and the life1 because all this is plain and unquestioned4 ,but he also believed in something additional to this1 an objective function3 and what that was we think is correctly explained above4 ,we are next to inquire more immediately into the closing parts of the doctrine of the last things4 ,christ has appeared1 declared the tidings of grace1 died1 visited the dead1 risen victoriously1 and gone back to heaven1 where he now tarries4 ,but there remain many things for him1 as the eschatological ,king1 yet to do4 ,what are they8 and what details are connected with them8 ,first of all1 he is soon to return from heaven1 visiting the earth a second time4 ,the first chapter of the book begins by declaring that it is a revelation of things which must shortly come to pass1 and blessed is he that readeth2 for the time is at hand4 ,the last chapter is full of such repetitions as these3 things which must shortly be done2 ,behold1 ,i come quickly2 ,the time is at hand2 ,he that is unjust1 let him be unjust still1 and he that is holy1 let him be holy still2 ,surely ,i come quickly2 ,even so1 come1 ,lord ,jesus4 ,herder says1 in his acute and eloquent work on the ,apocalypse1 ,there is but one voice in it1 through all its epistles1 seals1 trumpets1 signs1 and plagues1 namely1 ,,the ,,lord ,,is ,,coming6 ,the souls of the martyrs1 impatiently waiting1 under the altar1 the completion of the great drama1 cry1 ,how long1 ,o ,lord1 dost thou delay to avenge our blood8 and they are told that they shall #ci ,lib4 ii4 cap4 #d1 pp4 #bgb1 #bgc of the ,english translation4 rest only for a little season4 ,tertullian writes1 without a trace of doubt1 ,is not ,christ quickly to come from heaven with a quaking of the whole universe1 with a shuddering of the world1 amidst the wailings of all men save the ,christians8 ,the ,apocalyptic seer makes ,christ say1 ,behold1 ,i come as a thief in the night3 blessed is he that watcheth4 ,accordingly1 a sentinel gazed wherever a ,christian prayed1 and1 though all the watchmen died without the sight1 the expectation lingered for centuries4 ,the ,christians of the ,new ,testament time to borrow the words of one of the most competent of living scholars carried forward to the account of ,christ in years to come the visions which his stay1 as they supposed1 was too short to realize1 and assigned to him a quick return to finish what was yet unfulfilled4 ,the suffering1 the scorn1 the rejection of men1 the crown of thorns1 were over and gone2 the diadem1 the clarion1 the flash of glory1 the troop of angels1 were ready to burst upon the world1 and might be looked for at midnight or at noon4#dj ,secondly1 when ,christ returned1 he was to avenge the sufferings and reward the fidelity of his followers1 tread the heathen tyrants in the wine press of his wrath1 and crown the persecuted saints with a participation in his glory4 ,when the time of his wrath is come1 he shall give reward to the prophets1 and to the saints1 and to them that fear his name1 and shall destroy them that destroy the earth4 ,the kings1 captains1 mighty men1 rich men1 bondmen1 and freemen1 shall cry to the mountains and rocks1 ,fall on us1 and hide us from the wrath of the ,lamb4 ,to him that overcometh1 and doeth my works1 ,i will give power over the ,gentiles2 ,i will give him the morning star2 ,i will grant him to sit with me on my throne4 ,independently1 moreover1 of these distinct texts1 the whole book is pervaded with the thought that1 at the speedy second advent of the ,messiah1 all his enemies shall be fearfully punished1 his servants eminently compensated and glorified4#da ,thirdly1 the writer of the ,apocalypse expected in accordance with that ,jewish anticipation of an earthly ,messianic kingdom which was adopted with some modifications by the earliest ,christians that ,jesus1 on his return1 having subdued his foes1 would reign for a season1 in great glory1 on the earth1 surrounded by the saints4 ,a door was opened in heaven1 and the seer looked in1 and saw a vision of the redeemed around the throne1 and heard them singing a new song unto the ,lamb that was slain1 in the course of which1 particularizing the favors obtained for them by him1 they say1 ,we shall reign upon the earth4 ,again1 the writer says that the worshippers of the beast and of his image shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels1 and in the presence of the ,lamb4 ,now1 the lake of sulphurous fire into which the reprobate were to be thrust was located1 not in the sky1 but under the surface of the earth4 ,the foregoing statement1 therefore1 implies that ,christ and his angels would be tarrying on the earth when the final woe of the condemned was inflicted4 ,but we need not rely on indirect arguments4 ,the writer explicitly declares #dj ,martineau1 ,sermon1 ,the ,god of ,revelation his own ,interpreter4 #da ,it seems to have been a ,jewish expectation that when the ,messiah should appear he would thrust his enemies into ,hades4 ,in a passage of the ,talmud ,satan is represented as seeing the ,messiah under the ,throne of ,glory3 he falls on his face at the sight1 exclaiming1 ,this is the ,messiah1 who will precipitate me and all the ,gentiles into the under world4 ,bertholdt1 ,christologia1 sect4 #cf4 that1 in his vision of what was to take place1 the ,christian martyrs1 those who were slain for the witness of ,jesus1 lived and reigned with ,christ a thousand years1 while the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished4 ,this is the first resurrection4 ,then ,satan was loosed out of his prison1 and gathered the hosts of ,gog and ,magog to battle1 and went up on the breadth of the earth and compassed the camp of the saints about1 and fire came down out of heaven and devoured them4 ,it seems impossible to avoid seeing in this passage a plain statement of the millennial reign of ,christ on the earth with his risen martyrs4 ,fourthly1 at the termination of the period just referred to1 the author of the ,apocalypse thought all the dead would be raised and the tribunal of the general judgment held4 ,as ,lactantius says1 ,all souls are detained in custody in the under world until the last day2 then the just shall rise and reign2 afterwards there will be another resurrection of the wicked4#db ,the time of the dead is come1 that they should be judged4 ,and ,i saw the dead1 small and great1 stand before ,god2 and the books were opened1 and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books1 according to their works4 ,and the sea gave up the dead which were in it1 and death and the under world delivered up the dead which were in them1 and they were judged1 every man according to his works4 ,blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection3 on such the second death hath no power1 but they shall be priests of ,god and of ,christ1 and reign with him a thousand years4 ,this text1 with its dark and tacit reference by contrast to those who have no lot in the millennial kingdom1 brings us to the next step in our exposition4 ,for1 fifthly1 after the general resurrection and judgment at the close of the thousand years1 the sentence of a hopeless doom to hell is to be executed on the condemned4 ,whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire4 ,the fearful1 and unbelieving1 and the abominable1 and murderers1 and whoremongers1 and sorcerers1 and idolaters1 and all liars1 shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone2 which is the second death4 ,the second death is a term used by ,onkelos in his ,targum1#dc and sometimes in the ,talmud1 and by the ,rabbins generally4 ,it denotes1 as employed by them1 the return of the wicked into hell after their summons thence for judgment4#dd ,in the ,apocalypse1 its relative meaning is this4 ,the martyrs1 who were slain for their allegiance to the gospel1 died once1 and descended into the under world1 the common realm of death4 ,at the coming of ,christ they were to rise and join him1 and to die no more4 ,this was the first resurrection4 ,at the close of the millennium1 all the rest of the dead were to rise and be judged1 and the rejected portion of them were to be thrust back again below4 ,this was a second death for them1 a fate from which the righteous were exempt4 ,there was a difference1 greatly for the worse in the latter1 between their condition in the two deaths4 ,in the former they descended to the dark under world1 the silent and temporary abode of the universal dead2 but in the latter they went down into the lake of fire and brimstone1 where the devil and the beast and the false prophet are1 and shall be tormented day and night for #db ,divin4 ,instit4 lib4 vii4 cap4 #bj1 #ba1 #bf4 #dc on ,deut4 xxxiii4 #f4 #dd ,gfrorer1 ,geschichte des ,urchristenthums1 kap4 #aj4 s4 #bhi4 ever and ever4 ,for ,death and ,hades1 having delivered up the dead which were in them1 were cast into the lake of fire4 ,this is the second death4 ,it is plain that here the common locality of departed souls is personified as two demons1 ,death and ,hades1 and the real thought meant to be conveyed is1 that this region is to be sunk beneath a ,tartarean drench1 which shall henceforth roll in burning billows over its victims there1 the smoke of their torment ascending up for ever and ever4 ,this awful imagery of a lake of flaming sulphur1 in which the damned were plunged1 was of comparatively late origin or adoption among the ,jews1 from whom the ,christians received it4 ,the native ,hebrew conception of the state of the dead was that of the voiceless gloom and dismal slumber of ,sheol1 whither all alike went4 ,the notion of fiery tortures inflicted there on the wicked was either conceived by the ,pharisees from the loathed horrors of the filth fire kept in the vale of ,hinnom1 outside of ,jerusalem1 7which is the opinion of most commentators17 or was imagined from the sea of burning brimstone that showered from heaven and submerged ,sodom and ,gomorrah in a vast fire pool1 7which is maintained by ,bretschneider and others17 or was derived from the ,egyptians1 or the ,persians1 or the ,hindus1 or the ,greeks1 all of whom had lakes and rivers of fire in their theological hells1 long before history reveals the existence of such a belief among the ,jews1 7which is the conclusion of many learned authors and critics47 ,we have now reached the last feature in the scheme of eschatology shadowed forth in the ,apocalypse1 the most obscure and difficult point of all1 namely1 the locality and the principal elements of the final felicity of the saved4 ,the difficulty of clearly settling this question is twofold1 arising1 first1 from the swift and partial glimpses which are all that the writer yields us on the subject1 and1 secondly1 from the impossibility of deciding with precision how much of his language is to be regarded as figurative and how much as literal1 where the poetic presentation of symbol ends and where the direct statement of fact begins4 ,a large part of the book is certainly written in prophetic figures and images1 spiritual visions1 never meant to be accepted in a prosaic sense with severe detail4 ,and yet1 at the same time1 all these imaginative emblems were1 unquestionably1 intended to foreshadow1 in various kinds and degrees1 doctrinal conceptions1 hopes1 fears1 threats1 promises1 historical realities1 past1 present1 or future4 ,but to separate sharply the dress and the substance1 the superimposed symbols and the underlying realities1 is always an arduous1 often an impossible1 achievement4 ,the writer of the ,apocalypse plainly believed that the souls of all1 except the martyrs1 at death descended to the under world1 and would remain there till after the second coming of ,christ4 ,but whether he thought that the martyrs were excepted1 and would at death immediately rise into heaven and there await the fulfilment of time1 is a disputed point4 ,for our own part1 we think it extremely doubtful1 and should rather decide in the negative4 ,in the first place1 his expressions on this subject seem essentially figurative4 ,he describes the prayers of the saints as being poured out from golden vials and burned as incense on a golden altar in heaven before the throne of ,god4 ,under that altar1 he says1 ,i saw the souls of them that were slain for the word of ,god4 ,if the souls of the martyrs1 in his belief1 were really admitted into heaven1 would he have conceived of them as huddled under the altar and not walking at liberty8 ,does not the whole idea appear rather like a rhetorical image than like a sober theological doctrine8 ,true1 the scene is pictured in heaven2 but then it is a picture1 and not a conclusion4 ,with ,de ,wette1 we regard it1 not as a dogmatic1 but as a poetical and prophetic1 representation4 ,and in regard to the seer's vision of the innumerable company of the redeemed in heaven1 surrounding the throne and celebrating the praises of ,god and the ,lamb1 surely it is obvious enough that this1 like the other affiliated visions1 is a vision1 by inspired insight1 in the present tense1 of what is yet to occur in the successive unfolding of the rapid scenes in the great drama of ,christ's redemptive work1 a prophetic vision of the future1 not of what already is4 ,we know that in ,tertullian's time the idea was entertained by some that ,christian martyrs1 as a special allotment1 should pass at once from their sufferings to heaven1 without going1 as all others must1 into the under world2 but the evidence preponderates with us1 upon the whole1 that no such doctrine is really implied in the ,apocalypse4 ,in the fourteenth chapter1 the author describes the hundred and forty four thousand who were redeemed from among men1 as standing with the ,lamb on ,mount ,zion and hearing a voice from heaven singing a new song1 which no man1 save the hundred and forty four thousand1 could learn4 ,the probabilities are certainly strongest that this great company of the selected first fruits unto ,god and the ,lamb1 now standing on the earth1 had not yet been in heaven2 for they only learn the heavenly song which is sung before the throne by hearing it chanted down from heaven in a voice like multitudinous thunders4 ,finally1 the most convincing proof that the writer did not suppose that the martyrs entered heaven before the second advent of ,christ a proof which1 taken by itself1 would seem to leave no doubt on the subject is this4 ,in the famous scene detailed in the twentieth chapter usually called by commentators the martyr scene it is said that the souls of them that were beheaded for the word of ,god1 and which had not worshipped the beast1 lived and reigned with ,christ a thousand years4 ,this is the first resurrection4 ,now1 is it not certain that if the writer supposed these souls had never been in the under world1 but in heaven1 he could not have designated their preliminary descent from above as the first resurrection1 the first rising up8 ,that phrase implies1 we think1 that all the dead were below3 the faithful and chosen ones were to rise first to reign a while with ,jesus1 and after that the rest should rise to be judged4 ,after that judgment1 which was expected to be on earth in presence of the descended ,lamb and his angels1 the lost were to be plunged1 as we have already seen1 into the subterranean pit of torture1 the unquenchable lake of fire4 ,but what was to become of the righteous and redeemed8 ,whether1 by the ,apocalyptic representation1 they were to remain forever on earth1 or to ascend into heaven1 is a question which has been zealously debated for over sixteen hundred years1 and in some theological circles is still warmly discussed4 ,were the angels who came down to the earth with ,christ to the judgment never to return to their native seats8 ,were they permanently to transfer their deathless citizenship from the sky to ,judea8 ,were the constitution of human nature and the essence of human society to be abrogated1 and the members of the human family to cease enlarging1 lest they should overflow the borders of the world8 ,was ,god himself literally to desert his ancient abode1 and1 with the celestial city and all its angelic hierarchy1 float from the desolated firmament to ,mount ,zion1 there to set up the central eternity of his throne4 ,we cannot believe that such is the meaning1 which the seer of the ,apocalypse wished to convey by his symbolic visions and pictures1 any more than we can believe that he means literally to say that he saw a woman in heaven clothed with the sun1 and the moon under her feet1 and upon her head a crown of twelve stars1 or that there were actually armies in heaven1 seated on white horses and clothed in fine linen1 white and clean1 which is the righteousness of saints4 ,our conviction is that he expected the ,savior would ascend with his angels and the redeemed into heaven1 the glorious habitation of ,god above the sky4 ,he speaks in one place of the temple of ,god in heaven1 into which no man could enter until the seven plagues were fulfilled1 and in another place says that the great multitude of the redeemed are before the throne of ,god in heaven1 and serve him day and night in his temple2 and in still another place he describes two prophets1 messengers of ,god1 who had been slain1 as coming to life1 and hearing a great voice from heaven saying to them1 ',come up hither2' and they ascended up to heaven in a cloud1 and their enemies beheld them4 ,de ,wette writes1 ,it is certain that an abstract conception of heavenly blessedness with ,god duskily hovers over the ,new ,testament eschatology4 ,we think this is true of the ,book of ,revelation4 ,it was a ,persian ,jewish idea that the original destination of man1 had he not sinned1 was heaven4 ,the apostles thought it was a part of the mission of ,christ to restore that lost privilege4 ,we think the writer of the ,apocalypse shared in that belief4 ,his allusions to a new heaven and a new earth1 and to the descent of a ,new ,jerusalem from heaven1 and other related particulars1 are symbols neither novel nor violent to ,jewish minds1 but both familiar and expressive1 to denote a purifying glorification of the world1 the installation of a divine kingdom1 and the brilliant reign of universal righteousness and happiness among men1 as if under the very eyes of the ,messiah and the very sceptre of ,god4 ,the ,christians shall reign in ,jerusalem1 which shall be adorned with indescribable splendors and shall be the centre of a world wide dominion1 the saved nations of the earth surrounding it and walking in the light of it1 their kings bringing their glory and honor into it4 ,god shall wipe away all tears from their eyes1 and there shall be no more death4 ,that is1 upon the whole1 as we understand the scattered hints relevant to the subject to imply1 when ,christ returns to the ,father with his chosen1 he will leave a regenerated earth1 with ,jerusalem for its golden and peerless capital1 peopled1 and to be peopled1 with rejoicing and immortal men1 who will keep the commandments1 be exempt from ancient evils1 hold intimate communion with ,god and the ,lamb1 and1 from generation to generation1 pass up to heaven through that swift and painless change1 alluded to by ,paul1 whereby it was intended at the first that sinless man1 his corruptible and mortal putting on incorruption and immortality1 should be fitted for the companionship of angels in the pure radiance of the celestial world1 and should be translated thither without tasting the bitterness of death1 which was supposed to be the subterranean banishment of the disembodied ghost4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,paul',s ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,the principal difficulty in arriving at the system of thought and faith in the mind of ,paul arises from the fragmentary character of his extant writings4 ,they are not complete treatises drawn out in independent statements1butspecial letters full of latent implications4 ,they were written to meet particular emergencies1 to give advice1 to convey or ask information and sympathy1 to argue or decide concerning various matters to a considerable extent of a personal or local and temporal nature4 ,obviously their author never suspected they would be the permanent and immensely influential documents they have since become4 ,they were not composed as orderly developments or full presentations of a creed1 but rather as supplements to more adequate oral instruction previously imparted4 ,he says to the ,thessalonians1 ,brethren1 stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught1 whether by word or by our epistle4 ,several of his letters also perhaps many have been lost4 ,he exhorts the ,colossians to read likewise the epistle from ,laodicea4 ,in his present ,first ,epistle to the ,corinthians he intimates that he had previously corresponded with them1 in the words1 ,i wrote to you in a letter4 ,there are good reasons1 too1 for supposing that he transmitted other epistles of which we have now no account4 ,owing1 therefore1 to the facts that his principal instructions were given by word of mouth1 and that his surviving writings set forth no systematic array of doctrines1 we have no choice left1 if we desire to know what his opinions concerning the future life were1 when deduced and arranged1 but to exercise our learning and our faculties upon the imperfect discussions and the significant hints and clews in his extant epistles4 ,bringing these together1 in the light of contemporary ,pharisaic and ,christian conceptions and opinions1 we may construct a system from them which will represent his theory2 somewhat as the naturalist from a few fragmentary bones describes the entire skeleton to which they belonged4 ,as we proceed to follow this process1 we must particularly remember the leading notions in the doctrinal belief of the ,jews at that period1 and the fact that ,paul himself was brought up at the feet of ,gamaliel1 after the most straitest order of the sect1 a ,pharisee4 ,when on trial at ,jerusalem1 he cried1 ,men and brethren1 ,i am a ,pharisee1 the son of a ,pharisee3 of the hope of the resurrection of the dead ,i am called in question4 ,we can hardly suppose that he would entirely throw off the influence and form of the ,pharisaic dogmas and grasp ,christianity in its pure spirituality4 ,it is most reasonable to expect what we shall find actually the fact that he would mix the doctrinal and emotional results of his ,pharisaic training with the teachings of ,christ1 thus forming a composite system considerably modified from any then existing4 ,indeed1 a great many obscure texts in ,paul may be made perspicuous by citations from the old ,talmudists4 ,considering the value and the importance of this means of illustrating the ,new ,testament1 it is neglected by modern commentators in a very remarkable manner4 ,in common with his countrymen and the ,gentiles1 ,paul undoubtedly believed in a world of light and bliss situated over the sky1 where the ,deity1 surrounded by his angels1 reigns in immortal splendor4 ,according to the ,greeks1 ,zeus and the other gods1 with a few select heroes1 there lived an imperishable life4 ,according to the ,hebrews1 there was the house of ,jehovah1 the habitation of eternity1 the world of holy angels4 ,the ,old ,testament contains many sublime allusions to this place4 ,jacob in his dream saw a ladder set up that reached unto heaven1 and the angels were ascending and descending upon it4 ,fixing his eyes upon the summit1 the patriarch exclaimed1 not referring1 as is commonly supposed1 to the ground on which he lay1 but to the opening in the sky through which the angels were passing and repassing1 ,surely this is the house of ,god and this the gate of heaven4 ,jehovah is described as riding over the heaven of heavens2 as treading upon the arch of the sky4 ,the firmament is spoken of as the solid floor of his abode1 where he layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters1 the waters above1 which the ,book of ,genesis says were divided from the waters beneath4 ,though this divine world on high was in the early ages almost universally regarded as a local reality1 it was not conceived by ,jews or ,gentiles to be the destined abode of human souls4 ,it was thought to be exclusively occupied by ,jehovah and his angels1 or by the gods and their messengers4 ,only here and there were scattered a few dim traditions1 or poetic myths1 of a prophet1 a hero1 a god descended man1 who1 as a special favor1 had been taken up to the supernal mansions4 ,the common destination of the disembodied spirits of men was the dark1stupendous realms of the under world4 ,as ,augustine observes1 ,christ died after many2 he rose before any3 by dying he suffered what many had suffered before2 by rising he did what no one had ever done before4#a ,these ideas of the celestial and the infernal localities and of the fate of man were of course entertained by ,paul when he became a ,christian4 ,a few texts by way of evidence of this fact will here suffice4 ,that at the name of ,jesus every knee should bow1 of those in heaven1 and those on earth1 and those under the earth4 ,he that descended first into the lower parts of the earth is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens4 ,the untenableness of that explanation which makes the descent into the lower parts of the earth refer to ,christ's descent to earth from his pre existent state in heaven must be evident1 as it seems to us1 to every mind4 ,irenaus1 discussing this very text from ,ephesians1 exposes the absurdity and stigmatizes the heresy of those who say that the infernal world is this earth1 7qui dicunt inferos quidem esse hunc mundum47#b ,i knew a man caught up to the third heaven1 4 4 4 caught up into paradise4 ,the threefold heaven of the ,jews1 here alluded to1 was1 first1 the region of the air1 supposed to be inhabited by evil spirits4 ,paul repeatedly expresses this idea1 as when he speaks of the prince of the power of the air1 the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience1 and when he says1 ,for we wrestle not against flesh and blood1 but against principalities1 against powers1 against the rulers of the darkness1 against wicked spirits in heavenly places4 ,the second heaven comprised the region of the planetary bodies4 ,the third lay beyond the firmament1 and was the actual residence of ,god and the angelic hosts4 ,these quotations1 sustained as they are by the well known previous opinions of the ,jews1 as well as by numerous unequivocal texts in the writings of the other apostles and by many additional ones in those #a ,enarratio in ,psalmum ,,xc4 #b ,adv4 ,hares4 lib4 v4 cap4 #ca4 of ,paul1 are conclusive evidence that he believed in the received heaven above the blue ether and stellar dome1 and in the received ,hadean abyss beneath the earth4 ,in the absence of all evidence to the contrary1 every presumption justifies the supposition that he also believed as we know all his orthodox contemporaries did that that under world was the abode of all men after death1 and that that over world was solely the dwelling place of ,god and the angels4 ,nay1 we are not left to conjecture2 for he expressly declares of ,god that he dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto4 ,this conclusion will be abundantly established in the course of the following exposition4 ,with these preliminaries1 we are prepared to see what was ,paul's doctrine of death and of salvation4 ,there are two prevalent theories on this subject1 both of which we deem partly scriptural1 neither of them wholly so4 ,on the one extreme1 the consistent disciple of ,augustine the historic ,calvinist attributes to the apostle the belief that the sin of ,adam was the sole cause of literal death1 that but for ,adam's fall men would have lived on the earth forever or else have been translated bodily to heaven without any previous process of death4 ,that such really was not the view held by ,paul we are convinced4 ,indeed1 there is one prominent feature in his faith which by itself proves that the disengagement of the soul from the material frame did not seem to him an abnormal event caused by the contingency of sin4 ,we refer to his doctrine of two bodies1 the outward man and the inward man1 the earthly house and the heavenly house1 the natural body and the spiritual body4 ,neander says this is an express assertion of ,paul's belief that man was not literally made mortal by sin1 but was naturally destined to emerge from the flesh into a higher form of life4#c ,paul thought that1 in the original plan of ,god1 man was intended to drop his gross1 corruptible body and put on an incorruptible one1 like the glorious body of the risen ,christ4 ,he distinctly declares1 ,flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of ,god4 ,therefore1 we cannot interpret the word death to mean merely the separation of the soul from its present tabernacle1 when he says1 ,by one man sin entered into the world1 and death by sin2 and so death passed upon all men4 ,on the other extreme1 the fully developed ,pelagian the common ,unitarian holds that the word death is always used in the arguments of ,paul in a spiritual or figurative sense1 merely meaning moral alienation from ,god in guilt1 misery1 and despair4 ,undoubtedly it is used thus in many instances1 as when it is written1 ,i was alive without the law once2 but1 when the commandment came1 sin rose to life1 and ,i died4 ,but in still more numerous cases it means something more than the consciousness of sin and the resulting wretchedness in the breast1 and implies something external1 mechanical1 visible1 as it were4 ,for example1 ,since by man came death1 by man came also the resurrection of the dead4 ,any one who reads the context of this sentence may see that the terms death and resurrection antithetically balance each other1 and refer not to an inward experience1 but to an outward event1 not to a moral change1 but to the physical descent and resurrection4 ,it is certain that here the words are not employed in a moral sense4 ,the phraseology ,paul uses in stating the connection of the sin of ,adam with death1 the connection of the resurrection of ,christ with immortal life1 is too peculiar1 emphatic1 and extensive not to be loaded with #c ,planting and ,training1 ,ryland's trans4 p4 #bdj4 a more general and vivid significance than the simple unhappiness of a sense of guilt1 the simple peace and joy of a reconciled conscience4 ,the advocates1 then1 of both theories the ,calvinist asserting that ,paul supposed sin to be the only reason why we do not live eternally in the world with our present organization1 and the ,rationalist asserting that the apostle never employs the word death except with a purely interior signification are alike beset by insuperable difficulties1 perplexed by passages which defy their fair analysis and force them either to use a violent interpretation or to confess their ignorance4 ,we must therefore seek out some third view1 which1 rejecting the errors1 shall combine the truths and supply the defects of the two former4 ,we have now to present such a view1 a theory of the ,pauline doctrine of the last things which obviously explains and fills out all the related language of the epistles4 ,we suppose he unfolded it fully in his preaching1 while in his supplementary and personal letters he only alludes to such disconnected parts of it as then rose upon his thoughts4 ,a systematic development of it as a whole1 with copious allusions and labored defences1 was not needed then1 as it might seem to us to have been4 ,for the fundamental notions on which it rested were the common belief of the nation and age4 ,geology and astronomy had not disturbed the credit of a definitely located ,hades and heaven1 nor had free metaphysics sharpened the common mind to skeptical queries4 ,the view itself1 as we conceive it occupied the mind of ,paul1 is this4 ,death was a part of the creative plan for us from the first1 simply loosing the spirit from its corruptible body1 clothing it with an ethereal vehicle1 and immediately translating it to heaven4 ,sin marred this plan1 alienated us from the ,divine favor1 introduced all misery1 physical and moral1 and doomed the soul1 upon the fall of its earthly house1 to descend into the slumberous gloom of the under world4 ,thus death was changed from a pleasant organic fulfilment and deliverance1 spiritual investiture and heavenly ascent1 to a painful punishment condemning the naked ghost to a residence below the grave4 ,as ,ewald says1 through ,adam's sin death acquired its significance as pain and punishment4#d ,herein is the explanation of the word death as used by ,paul in reference to the consequence of ,adam's offence4 ,christ came to reveal the free grace and gift of ,god in redeeming us from our doom and restoring our heavenly destiny4 ,this he exemplified1 in accordance with the ,father's will1 by dying1 descending into the dreary world of the dead1 vanquishing the forces there1 rising thence1 and ascending to the right hand of the throne of heaven as our forerunner4 ,on the very verge of the theory just stated as ,paul's1 ,neander hovers in his exposition of the apostle's views1 but fails to grasp its theological scope and consequences4 ,krabbe declares that death did not arise from the native perishableness of the body1 but from sin4#e ,this statement ,neander controverts1 maintaining that sin introduced no essential change in the physical organization of man1 but merely in the manner in which his earthly existence terminates4 ,had it not been for sin1 death would have been only the form of a higher development of life4#f ,exactly so4 ,with innocence1 the soul at death #d ,sendschreiben des ,apostels ,paulus1 s4 #baj4 #e ,die ,lehre von oer ,sunde und vom ,tode1 cap4 xi1 s4 #aib4 #f ,neander's ,planting and ,training1 book vi4 ch4 #a4 would have ascended pleasantly1 in a new body1 to heaven2 but sin compelled it to descend painfully1 without any body1 to ,hades4 ,we will cite a few of the principal texts from which this general outline has been inferred and constructed4 ,the substance of the fifth chapter of the ,epistle to the ,romans may be thus stated4 ,as by the offence of one1 sin entered into the world1 and the judgment of the law came upon all men in a sentence of condemnation unto death1 so by the righteousness of one1 the free gift of ,god came upon all men in a sentence of justification unto life2 that as sin1 by ,adam's offence1 hath reigned unto death1 so grace1 by ,christ's righteousness1 might reign unto eternal life4 ,now1 we maintain that the words death and life cannot in the present instance be entirely explained1 in a spiritual sense1 as signifying disturbance and woe in the breast1 or peace and bliss there1 because the whole connected discourse is not upon the internal contingent experience of individuals1 but upon the common necessity of the race1 an objective sentence passed upon humanity1 followed by a public gift of reversal and annulment4 ,so1 too1 we deny that the words can be justly taken1 in their strictly literal sense1 as meaning cessation or continuance of physical existence on the earth1 because1 in the first place1 that would be inconsistent with the doctrine of a spiritual body within the fleshly one and of a glorious inheritance reserved in heaven1 a doctrine by which ,paul plainly shows that he recognised a natural organic provision1 irrespective of sin1 for a change in the form and locality of human existence4 ,secondly1 we submit that death and life here cannot mean departure from the body or continuance in it1 because that is a matter with which ,christ's mission did in no way interfere1 but left exactly as it was before2 whereas1 in the thing really meant by ,paul1 ,christ is represented as standing1 at least partially1 in the same relation between life and men that ,adam stands in between death and men4 ,the reply to the question1 ,what is that relation8 will at once define the genuine signification of the terms death and life in the instance under review4 ,and thus it is to be answered4 ,the death brought on mankind by ,adam was not only internal wretchedness1 but also the condemnation of the disembodied soul to the under world2 the life they were assured of by ,christ was not only internal blessedness1 but also the deliverance of the soul from its subterranean prison and its reception into heaven in a body celestial1 according to its original destiny had sin not befallen4 ,this interpretation is explicitly put forth by ,theodoret in his comments on this same passage1 7,rom4 v4 #ae-ah47 ,he says1 ,there must be a correspondence between the disease and the remedy4 ,adam's sin subjected him to the power of death and the tyranny of the devil4 ,in the same manner that ,adam was compelled to descend into the under world1 we all are associates in his fate4 ,thus1 when ,christ rose1 the whole humankind partook in his vivification4#g ,origen also and who1 after the apostles themselves1 knew their thoughts and their use of language better than he8 emphatically declares in exposition of the expression of ,paul1 the wages of sin is death that the #g ,impatib41 dialogue iii4 pp4 #acb1 #acc1 ed4 ,sirmondi4 under world in which souls are detained is called death4#h ,as in ,adam all die1 even so in ,christ shall all be made alive4 ,these words cannot be explained1 ,as in ,adam the necessity of physical death came on all1 so in ,christ that necessity shall be removed1 because ,christ's mission did not touch physical death1 which was still reigning as ever1 before ,paul's eyes4 ,neither can the passage signify1 ,as through ,adam wretchedness is the portion of every heart of man1 so through ,christ blessedness shall be given to every heart1 because1 while the language itself does not hint that thought1 the context demonstrates that the real reference is not to an inward experience1 but to an outward event1 not to the personal regeneration of the soul1 but to a general resurrection of the dead4 ,the time referred to is the second coming of ,christ2 and the force of the text must be this3 ,as by our bodily likeness to the first man and genetic connection with him through sin we all die like him1 that is1 leave the body and go into the under world1 and remain there1 so by our spiritual likeness to the second man and redeeming connection with him through the free grace of ,god we shall all rise thence like him1 revived and restored4 ,adam was the head of a condemned race1 doomed to ,hades by the visible occurrence of death in lineal descent from him2 ,christ is the head of a pardoned race1 destined for heaven in consonance with the plain token of his resurrection and ascension4 ,again1 the apostle writes1 ,in the twinkling of an eye1 at the last trump1 the dead shall be raised incorruptible1 and we 7who are then living7 shall be changed2 for this corruptible must put on incorruption1 and this mortal immortality4 ,then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written1 ',death is swallowed up in victory8 ,o ,death1 where is thy sting8 ,o ,hades1 where is thy victory8' ,the writer evidently exults in the thought that1 at the second coming of ,christ1 death shall lose its retributive character and the under world be baffled of its expected prisoners1 because the living shall instantly experience the change of bodies fitting them to ascend to heaven with the returning and triumphant ,lord4 ,paul also announces that ,jesus ,christ hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light4 ,the word death here cannot mean physical dissolution1 because ,christ did not abolish that4 ,it cannot denote personal sin and unhappiness1 because that would not correspond with and sustain the obvious meaning of the contrasted member of the sentence4 ,its adequate and consistent sense is this4 ,god intended that man should pass from a preliminary existence on earth to an eternal life in heaven2 but sin thwarted this glorious design and altered our fate to a banishment into the cheerless under world4 ,but now1 by the teachings and resurrection of ,christ1 we are assured that ,god of his infinite goodness has determined freely to forgive us and restore our original destination4 ,our descent and abode below are abolished and our heavenly immortality made clear4 ,we earnestly desire to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven1 if so be that1 being clothed1 we shall not be found naked4 ,not that we desire to be unclothed1 but clothed upon1 that mortality may be swallowed up of life4 #h ,comm4 in ,epist4 ad ,rom4 lib4 vi4 cap4 #f1 sect4 #f4 ,also see ,jerome1 ,comm4 in ,ecc4 iii4 #ba4 ,professor ,mau1 in his able treatise ,von dem ,tode dem ,solde der ,sunden1 and der ,aufhebung desselben durch die ,auferstehung ,christi1 cogently argues1 against ,krabbe1 that death as the punishment of sin is not bodily dissolution1 but wretchedness and condemnation to the under world1 7amandatio ,orcum47 ,in ,pelt's ,theologische ,mitarbeiten1 #ahch1 heft ii4 ss4 #ajg-ajh4 ,in these remarkable words the apostle expresses several particulars of what we have already presented as his general doctrine4 ,he states his conviction that1 when his earthly house of this tabernacle dissolves1 there is a divinely constructed1 heavenly1 and eternal house prepared for him4 ,he expresses his desire at the coming of the ,lord not to be dead1 but still living1 and then to be divested of his earthly body and invested with the heavenly body1 that thus1 being fitted for translation to the incorruptible kingdom of ,god1 he might not be found a naked shadow or ghost in the under world4 ,ruckert says1 in his commentary1 and the best critics agree with him1 ,paul herein desires to become immortal without passing the gates of death4 ,language similar to the foregoing in its peculiar phrases is found in the ,jewish ,cabbala4 ,the ,zohar describes the ascent of the soul to heaven clothed with splendor1 and afterwards illustrates its meaning in these terms3 ,as there is given to the soul a garment with which she is clothed in order to establish her in this world1 so there is given her a garment of heavenly splendor in order to establish her in that world4#i ,so in the ,ascension of ,isaiah the ,prophet an apocryphal book written by some ,jewish ,christian as early1 without doubt1 as the close of the second century the following passages occur4 ,speaking of what was revealed to him in heaven1 the prophet says1 ,there ,i saw all the saints1 from ,adam1 without the clothing of the flesh3 ,i viewed them in their heavenly clothing like the angels who stood there in great splendor4 ,again he says1 ,all the saints from heaven in their heavenly clothing shall descend with the ,lord and dwell in this world1 while the saints who have not died shall be clothed like those who come from heaven4 ,then the general resurrection will take place and they will ascend together to heaven4#aj ,schoettgen1 commenting on this text1 7#b ,cor4 v4 #b1 7 likewise quotes a large number of examples of like phraseology from ,rabbinical writers4 ,the statements thus far made and proofs offered will be amply illustrated and confirmed as we go on to consider the chief component parts of the ,pauline scheme of the last things4 ,for1 having presented the general outline1 it will be useful1 in treating so complex and difficult a theme1 to analyze it by details4 ,we are met upon the threshold of our inquiry by the essential question1 ,what1 according to ,paul1 was the mission of ,christ8 ,what did he accomplish8 ,a clear reply to this question comprises three distinct propositions4 ,first1 the apostle plainly represents the resurrection1 and not the crucifixion1 as the efficacious feature in ,christ's work of redemption4 ,when we recollect the almost universal prevalence of the opposite notion among existing sects1 it is astonishing how clear it is that ,paul generally dwells upon the dying of ,christ solely as the necessary preliminary to his rising4 ,if ,christ be not risen1 then is our preaching vain1 and your faith also is vain3 ye are yet in your sins4 ,these words are irreconcilable with that doctrine which connects our justification with the atoning death1 and not with the typical resurrection1 of ,christ4 ,that ,christ died for our sins1 and that he was buried1 and that he rose again the third day4 ,to place a vicarious stress upon the first clause of this text is as arbitrary as it would be to place it upon the second2 but naturally emphasize the third clause1 #i ,laurence1 ,ascensio ,isaia ,vatis1 appendix1 p4 #afh4 #aj ,laurence1 ,ascensio ,isaia atis1 cap4 #i1 v4 #g1 #i2 cap4 #d4 and all is clear4 ,the inferences and exhortations drawn from the mission of ,christ are not usually connected in any essential manner with his painful death1 but directly with his glorious resurrection out from among the dead unto the heavenly blessedness4 ,if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death1 we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection4 ,sinking into the water1 when buried by baptism into the death of ,christ1 was1 to those initiated into the ,christian religion1 a symbol of the descent of ,christ among the dead2 rising out of the water was a symbol of the ascent of ,christ into heaven4 ,if ye then be risen with ,christ1 seek those things which are above1 where ,christ sitteth on the right hand of ,god4 ,when ,paul cries1 exultingly1 ,thanks be to ,god1 who through ,christ giveth us the victory over the sting of death and the strength of sin1 ,jerome says1 ,we cannot and dare not interpret this victory otherwise than by the resurrection of the ,lord4#aa ,commenting on the text ,to this end ,christ both died and lived again1 that he might reign both over the dead and the living1 ,theodoret says that ,christ1 going through all these events1 promised a resurrection to us all4 ,paul makes no appeal to us to believe in the death of ,christ1 to believe in the atoning sacrifice of ,christ1 but he unequivocally affirms1 ,if thou shalt believe in thine heart that ,god hath raised him from the dead1 thou shalt be saved4 ,paul conceived that ,christ died in order to rise again and convince men that the ,father would freely deliver them from the bondage of death in the under world4 ,all this took place on account of sin1 was only made requisite by sin1 one of whose consequences was the subterranean confinement of the soul1 which otherwise1 upon deserting its clayey tent1 would immediately have been clothed with a spiritual body and have ascended to heaven4 ,that is to say1 ,christ was delivered because of our offences and was raised again because of our justification4 ,in ,romans viii4 #aj the preposition occurs twice in exactly the same construction as in the text just quoted4 ,in the latter case the authors of the common version have rendered it because of4 ,they should have done so in the other instance1 in accordance with the natural force and established usage of the word in this connection4 ,the meaning is1 ,our offences had been committed1 therefore ,christ was delivered into ,hades2 our pardon had been decreed1 therefore ,christ was raised into heaven4 ,such as we have now stated is the real material which has been distorted and exaggerated into the prevalent doctrine of the vicarious atonement1 with all its dread concomitants4#ab ,the believers of that doctrine suppose themselves obliged to accept it by the language of the epistles4 ,but the view above maintained as that of ,paul solves every difficulty and gives an intelligent and consistent meaning to all the phrases usually thought to legitimate the ,calvinistic scheme of redemption4 ,while we deny the correctness of the ,calvinistic interpretation of those passages in which occur such expressions as ,christ gave himself for us1 died for our sins1 we also affirm the inadequacy #aa ,comm4 in ,osee1 lib4 iii4 cap4 #ac4 #ab ,die ,lehre von ,christi ,hollenfahrt nach der ,heil4 ,schrift1 der altesten ,kirche1 den ,christlichen ,symbolen1 und nach ihrer unendlichen ,wichtigkeit und vielumfassenden ,bedeutung dargestellt1 von ,joh4 ,ludwig ,konig4 ,the author presents in this work an irresistible array of citations and authorities4 ,in an appendix he gives a list of a hundred authors on the theme of ,christ's descent into hell4 of the explanations of them proposed by ,unitarians1 and assert that their genuine force is this4 ,christ died and rose that we might be freed through faith from the great entailed consequence of sin1 the bondage of the under world2 beholding1 through his ascension1 our heavenly destination restored4 ,god made him1 who knew no sin1 to be sin on our account1 that we might become the righteousness of ,god in him1 might through faith in him be assured of salvation4 ,in other words1 ,christ1 who was not exposed to the evils brought on men by sin1 did not think his divine estate a thing eagerly to be retained1 but descended to the estate of man1 underwent the penalties of sin as if he were himself a sinner1 and then rose to the right hand of ,god1 by this token to assure men of ,god's gracious determination to forgive them and reinstate them in their forfeited primal privileges4 ,if we be reconciled by his death1 much more shall we be saved by his life4 ,that is1 if ,christ's coming from heaven as an ambassador from ,god to die convinces us of ,god's pardoning good will towards us1 much more does his rising again into heaven1 where he now lives1 deliver us from the fear of the under world condemnation and assure us of the heavenly salvation4 ,except in the light and with the aid of the theory we have been urging1 a large number of texts like the foregoing cannot1 as we think1 be interpreted without constructive violence1 and even with that violence cannot convey their full point and power4 ,secondly1 in ,paul's doctrine of the redeeming work of ,christ we recognise something distinct from any subjective effect in animating and purifying the hearts and lives of men4 ,christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law4 ,in ,christ we have redemption through his blood1 even the forgiveness of sins4 ,nothing but the most desperate exegesis can make these and many similar texts signify simply the purging of individual breasts from their offences and guilt4 ,seeking the genuine meaning of ,paul1 we are forced to agree with the overwhelming majority of the critics and believers of all ,christendom1 from the very times of the apostles till now1 and declare that these passages refer to an outward deliverance of men by ,christ1 the removal by him of a common doom resting on the race in consequence of sin4 ,what ,paul supposed that doom was1 and how he thought it was removed1 let us try to see4 ,it is necessary to premise that in ,paul's writings the phrase the righteousness of ,god is often used by metonymy to mean ,god's mode of accounting sinners righteous1 and is equivalent to the ,christian method of salvation4 ,by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified2 but the righteousness of ,god without the law is manifested1 freely justifying them through the redemption that is in ,christ4 ,how evidently in this verse the righteousness of ,god denotes ,god's method of justifying the guilty by a free pardon proclaimed through ,christ6 ,the apostle employs the word faith in a kindred technical manner1 sometimes meaning by it promise1 sometimes the whole evangelic apparatus used to establish faith or prove the realization of the promise4 ,what if some did not believe8 ,shall their unbelief make the faith of ,god without effect8 ,evidently by faith is intended promise or purpose4 ,is the law against the promises of ,god8 ,god forbid6 ,but before faith came we were kept under the law1 shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed4 ,here faith plainly means the object of faith1 the manifested fulfilment of the promises3 it means the gospel4 ,again1 ,whereof he hath offered faith to all1 in that he hath raised him from the dead4 ,hath offered faith here signifies1 unquestionably1 as the common version well expresses it1 hath given assurance1 or hath exemplified the proof4 ,wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto ,christ1 that we might be justified by faith4 ,but after that faith is come1 we are no longer under a schoolmaster4 ,in this instance faith certainly means ,christianity1 in contradistinction to ,judaism1 and justification by faith is equivalent to salvation by the grace of ,god1 shown through the mission of ,christ4 ,it is not so much internal and individual in its reference as it is public and general4 ,we believe that no man1 sacredly resolved to admit the truth1 can study with a purposed reference to this point all the passages in ,paul's epistles where the word faith occurs1 without being convinced that for the most part it is used in an objective sense1 in contradistinction to the law1 as synonymous with the gospel1 the new dispensation of grace4 ,therefore justification by faith does not usually mean salvation through personal belief1 either in the merits of the ,redeemer or in any thing else1 but it means salvation by the plan revealed in the gospel1 the free remission of sins by the forbearance of ,god4 ,in those instances where faith is used in a subjective sense for personal belief1 it is never described as the effectual cause of salvation1 but as the condition of personal assurance of salvation4 ,grace has outwardly come to all2 but only the believers inwardly know it4 ,this ,pauline use of terms in technical senses lies broadly on the face of the ,epistles to the ,romans and the ,galatians4 ,new ,testament lexicons and commentaries1 by the best scholars of every denomination1 acknowledge it and illustrate it4 ,mark now these texts4 ,and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of ,moses4 ,to declare his righteousness1 that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in ,jesus4 ,what things were gain to me under ,judaism ,i counted loss in comparison with ,christ1 that ,i may be found in him1 not having mine own righteousness1 which is of the law1 but the righteousness which is of ,god through faith in ,christ4 ,by the deeds of the law no man can be justified1 but ye are saved through faith4 ,we submit that these passages1 and many others in the epistles1 find a perfect explanation in the following outline of faith1 commenced in the mind of ,paul while he was a ,pharisee1 completed when he was a ,christian4 ,the righteousness of the law1 the method of salvation by keeping the law1 is impossible4 ,the sin of the first man broke that whole plan and doomed all souls helplessly to the under world4 ,if a man now should keep every tittle of the law without reservation1 it would not release him from the bondage below and secure for him an ascent to heaven4 ,but what the law could not do is done for us in ,christ4 ,sin having destroyed the righteousness of the law1 that is1 the fatal penalty of ,hades having rendered salvation by the law impossible1 the righteousness of ,god1 that is1 a new method of salvation1 has been brought to light4 ,god has sent his ,son to die1 descend into the under world1 rise again1 and return to heaven1 to proclaim to men the glorious tidings of justification by faith1 that is1 a dispensation of grace freely annulling the great consequence of sin and inviting them to heaven in the ,redeemer's footsteps4 ,paul unequivocally declares that ,christ broke up the bondage of the under world by his irresistible entrance and exit1 in the following text3 ,when he had descended first into the lower parts of the earth1 he ascended up on high1 leading a multitude of captives4 ,what can be plainer than that8 ,the same thought is also contained in another passage1 a passage which was the source of those tremendous pictures so frequent in the cathedrals of the ,middle ,age1 ,christus spoliat ,infernum3 ,god hath forgiven you all trespasses1 blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us1 and took it away1 nailing it to ,christ's cross2 and1 having spoiled principalities and powers1 he made a show of them1 openly triumphing over them in ,christ4 ,the entire theory which underlies the exposition we have just set forth is stated in so many words in the passage we next cite4 ,for the word righteousness in order to make the meaning more perspicuous we simply substitute method of salvation1 which is unquestionably its signification here4 ,they the ,jews being ignorant of ,god's method of salvation1 and going about to establish their own method1 have not submitted themselves unto ,god's4 ,for ,christ is the end of the law for a way of salvation to every one that believeth4 ,for ,moses describeth the method of salvation which is of the law1 that the man who doeth these things shall be blessed in them4 ,but the method of salvation which is of faith faith here means the gospel1 ,christianity speaketh on this wise3 ,say not in thy heart1 ',who shall ascend into heaven8' that is1 to bring ,christ down2 or1 ',who shall descend into the under world8' that is1 to bring up ,christ again from among the dead4 ,this has been done already1 once for all4 ,and if thou shalt believe in thine heart that ,god hath raised him from the dead1 thou shalt be saved4 ,the apostle avows that his heart's desire and his prayer unto ,god for ,israel is1 that they may be saved2 and he asserts that they cannot be saved by the law of ,moses1 but only by the gospel of ,christ2 that is1 faith2 that is1 the dispensation of grace4 ,paul's conception of the foremost feature in ,christ's mission is precisely this4 ,he came to deliver men from the stern law of ,judaism1 which could not wipe away their transgressions nor save them from ,hades1 and to establish them in the free grace of ,christianity1 which justifies them from all past sin and seals them for heaven4 ,what could be a more explicit declaration of this than the following8 ,when the fulness of the time was come1 ,god sent forth his ,son to redeem them that were under the law4 ,herein is the explanation of that perilous combat which ,paul waged so many years1 and in which he proved victorious1 the great battle between the ,gentile ,christians and the ,judaizing ,christians2 a subject of altogether singular importance1 without a minute acquaintance with which a large part of the ,new ,testament cannot be understood4 ,christ gave himself for our sins1 that he might deliver us from this present evil world1 according to the will of ,god4 ,now1 the ,hebrew terms corresponding with the ,english terms present world and future world were used by the ,jews to denote the ,mosaic and the ,messianic dispensations4 ,we believe with ,schoettgen and other good authorities that such is the sense of the phrase present world in the instance before us4 ,not only is that interpretation sustained by the usus loquendi1 it is also the only defensible meaning2 for the effect of the establishment of the gospel was not to deliver men from the present world1 though it did deliver them from the hopeless bondage of ,judaism1 wherein salvation was by ,christians considered impossible4 ,and that is precisely the argument of the ,epistle to the ,galatians1 in which the text occurs4 ,in a succeeding chapter1 while speaking expressly of the external forms of the ,jewish law1 ,paul says1 ,by the cross of ,christ the world is crucified unto me1 and ,i unto the world2 and he instantly adds1 by way of explanation1 for in ,christ ,jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing1 nor uncircumcision4 ,undeniably1 world here means ,judaism2 as ,rosenmuller phrases it1 ,judaica vanitas4 ,in another epistle1 while expostulating with his readers on the folly of subjecting themselves to observances in meat and drink1 and new moons and sabbaths1 after the handwriting of ordinances that was against them had been blotted out1 taken away1 nailed to the cross1 ,paul remonstrates with them in these words3 ,wherefore1 if ye be dead with ,christ from the rudiments of the world1 why1 as though living in the world1 are ye subject to ordinances8 ,we should suppose that no intelligent person could question that this means1 ,now that by the gospel of ,christ ye are emancipated from the technical requisitions of ,judaism1 why are ye subject to its ordinances1 as if ye were still living under its rule8 as many of the best commentators agree in saying1 tanquam viventes adhuc in ,judaismo4 ,from these collective passages1 and from others like them1 we draw the conclusion1 in ,paul's own words1 that1 ,when we were children1 we were in bondage under the rudiments of the world1 the weak and beggarly elements of ,judaism2 but1 now that the fulness of the time has come1 and ,god has sent forth his ,son to redeem us1 we are called to receive the adoption of sons and become heirs of ,god1 inheritors of a heavenly destiny4 ,we think that the intelligent and candid reader1 who is familiar with ,paul's epistles1 will recognise the following features in his belief and teaching4 ,first1 all mankind alike were under sin and condemnation4 ,jews and ,gentiles all are under sin4 ,all the world is subject to the sentence of ,god4 ,and we maintain that that condemning sentence consisted1 partly at least1 in the banishment of their disembodied souls to ,hades4 ,secondly1 a promise was given to ,abraham1 before the introduction of the ,mosaic dispensation1 that in his seed that is1 in ,christ all the nations of the earth should be blessed4 ,when ,paul speaks1 as he does in numerous instances1 of the hope of eternal life which ,god1 who cannot lie1 promised before the world began1 the promise given before the foundation of the world1 the promise made of ,god unto the fathers1 that ,god would raise the dead1 the date referred to is not when the decree was formed in the eternal counsels of ,god1 previous to the origin of the earth1 but when the covenant was made with ,abraham1 before the establishment of the ,jewish dispensation4 ,the thing promised plainly was1 according to ,paul's idea1 a redemption from ,hades and an ascension to heaven2 for this is fully implied in his expectation of the resurrection of the dead from the intermediate state1 and their being clothed in celestial bodies4 ,this promise made unto ,abraham by ,god1 to be fulfilled by ,christ1 the law1 which was four hundred and thirty years afterwards1 could not disannul4 ,that is1 as any one may see by the context1 the law could not secure the inheritance of the thing promised1 but was only a temporary arrangement on account of transgressions1 until the seed should come to whom the promise was made4 ,in other words1 there was no mode of salvation by the law2 the law could not give life2 for if it could it would have superseded the promise1 made it without effect1 whereas the inviolable promise of ,god was1 that in the one seed of ,abraham that is1 in ,christ alone should salvation be preached to all that believed4 ,for if they which are of the law be heirs1 faith is made useless1 and the promise is made useless4 ,in the mean time1 until ,christ be come1 all are shut up under sin4 ,thirdly1 the special advantage of the ,jews was1 that unto them this promise of ,god was committed1 as the chosen covenant people4 ,the ,gentiles1 groaning under the universal sentence of sin1 were ignorant of the sure promise of a common salvation yet to be brought4 ,while the ,jews indulged in glowing and exclusive expectations of the ,messiah who was gloriously to redeem them1 the ,gentiles were aliens from the commonwealth of ,israel1 strangers from the covenants of promise1 having no hope and without ,god in the world4 ,fourthly1 in the fulness of time long after the ,scripture1 foreseeing that ,god would justify the heathen1 had preached the gospel beforehand unto ,abraham1 saying1 ,in thy seed shall all nations be blessed ,christ redeemed us from the curse of the law1 being made a curse for us1 that the blessing promised to ,abraham might come upon the ,gentiles4 ,it was the precise mission of ,christ to realize and exemplify and publish to the whole world the fulfilment of that promise4 ,the promise itself was1 that men should be released from the under world through the imputation of righteousness by grace that is1 through free forgiveness and rise to heaven as accredited sons and heirs of ,god4 ,this aim and purpose of ,christ's coming were effected in his resurrection4 ,but how did the ,gentiles enter into belief and participation of the glad tidings8 ,thus1 according to ,paul3 ,the death1 descent1 resurrection1 and ascent of ,jesus1 and his residence in heaven in a spiritual form1 divested him of his nationality4#ac ,he was then to be known no more after the flesh4 ,he was no longer an earthly ,jew1 addressing ,jews1 but a heavenly spirit and son of ,god1 a glorified likeness of the spirits of all who were adopted as sons of ,god1 appealing to them all as joint heirs with himself of heaven4 ,he has risen into universality1 and is accessible to the soul of every one that believeth4 ,in him there is neither ,greek nor ,jew1 circumcision nor uncircumcision1 barbarian1 ,scythian1 bond nor free4 ,the experience resulting in a heart raised into fellowship with him in heaven is the inward seal assuring us that our faith is not vain4 ,ye ,gentiles1 who formerly were afar off1 are now made nigh by the blood of ,christ2 for he hath broken down the middle wall of partition between ,jews and ,gentiles1 having abolished in his flesh the enmity1 namely1 the law of commandments in ordinances1 in order to make in himself of twain one new man4 ,for through him we both have access by one spirit unto the ,father4 ,now1 therefore1 ye are no more strangers and foreigners1 but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of ,god4 ,circumcision was of the flesh2 and the vain hope of salvation by it was confined to the ,jews4 ,grace was of the spirit2 and the revealed assurance of salvation by it was given to the ,gentiles too1 when ,christ died to the nationalizing flesh1 rose in the universalizing spirit1 and from heaven impartially exhibited himself1 through the preaching of the gospel1 to the appropriating faith of all4 ,the foregoing positions might be further substantiated by applying the general theory they contain to the explication of scores of individual texts which it fits and unfolds1 and which1 we think1 cannot upon any other view be interpreted without forced constructions unwarranted by a thorough acquaintance with the mind of ,paul and with the mind of his age4 ,but we must be content with one or two such applications as specimens4 ,the word mystery often occurs in the letters of ,paul4 ,its current meaning in his time was something concealed1 something into which one must be initiated in order to understand it4 #ac ,martineau1 ,liverpool ,controversy3 ,inconsistency of the ,scheme of ,vicarious ,redemption4 ,the ,eleusinian ,mysteries1 for instance1 were not necessarily any thing intrinsically dark and hard to be comprehended1 but things hidden from public gaze and only to be known by initiation into them4 ,paul uses the term in a similar way to denote the peculiar scheme of grace1 which had been kept secret from the beginning of the world1 hidden from ages and generations1 but now made manifest4 ,no one denies that ,paul means by this mystery the very heart and essence of the gospel1 precisely that which distinguishes it from the law and makes it a universal method of salvation1 a wondrous system of grace4 ,so much is irresistibly evident from the way and the connection in which he uses the term4 ,he writes thus in explanation of the great mystery as it was dramatically revealed through ,christ3 ,who was manifested in the flesh1 i4 e4 seen in the body during his life on earth1 justified in the spirit1 i4 e4 freed after death from the necessity of imprisonment in ,hades1 seen of angels1 i4 e4 in their fellowship after his resurrection1 preached unto the ,gentiles1 i4 e4 after the gift of tongues on ,pentecost day1 believed on in the world1 i4 e4 his gospel widely accepted through the labors of his disciples1 received up into glory1 i4 e4 taken into heaven to the presence of ,god4 ,the revelation of the mystery means1 then1 the visible enactment and exhibition1 through the resurrection of ,christ1 of ,god's free forgiveness of men1 redeeming them from the ,hadean gloom to the heavenly glory4 ,the word glory in the ,new ,testament confessedly often signifies the illumination of heaven1 the defined abode of ,god and his angels4 ,robinson collects1 in his ,lexicon1 numerous examples wherein he says it means that state which is the portion of those who dwell with ,god in heaven4 ,now1 ,paul repeatedly speaks of the calling of believers to glory as one of the chief blessings and new prerogatives of the gospel4 ,being justified by faith1 we rejoice in hope of the glory of ,god4 ,walk worthy of ,god1 who hath called you unto his glory4 ,we speak wisdom to the initiates1 the hidden wisdom of ,god in a mystery1 which before the world the ,jewish dispensation ,god ordained for our glory4 ,flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of ,god3 behold1 ,i show you a mystery3 we shall all be changed in a moment1 and put on immortality4 ,in the first chapter of the letter to the ,colossians1 ,paul speaks of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven1 whereof ye have heard in the gospel2 also of the inheritance of the saints in light3 then he says1 ,god would now make known among the ,gentiles the mystery1 which is1 ,christ among you1 the hope of glory4 ,in the light of what has gone before1 how significant and how clear is this declaration6 ,all have sinned1 and failed to attain unto the glory of ,god2 but now1 through the faith of ,jesus ,christ1 through the dispensation brought to light by ,christ1 the righteousness of ,god ,god's method of salvation is unto all that believe4 ,that is1 by the law all were shut up in ,hades1 but by grace they are now ransomed and to be received to heaven4 ,the same thought or scheme is contained in that remarkable passage in the ,epistle to the ,galatians where ,paul says the free ,isaac and the bond woman ,hagar were an allegory1 teaching that there were two covenants1 one by ,abraham1 the other by ,moses4 ,the ,mosaic covenant of the law answers to the ,jerusalem which is on earth1 and is in bondage with her children1 and belongs only to the ,jews4 ,the ,abrahamic covenant of promise answers to the ,jerusalem which is above1 and is free1 and is the mother of us all4 ,in the former1 we were begotten unto bondage4 ,in the latter1 ,christ hath made us free4 ,we will notice but one more text in passing3 it is1 of all the proof texts of the doctrine of a substitutional expiation1 the one which has ever been regarded as the very ,achilles4 ,and yet it can be made to support that doctrine only by the aid of arbitrary assumptions and mistranslations1 while by its very terms it perfectly coincides with nay1 expressly declares the theory which we have been advocating as the genuine interpretation of ,paul4 ,the usual commentators1 in their treatment of this passage1 have exhibited a long continued series of perversions and sophisms1 affording a strong example of unconscious prejudice4 ,the correct ,greek reading of the text is justly rendered thus3 ,whom ,god set forth1 a mercy seat through the faith in his blood1 to exhibit his righteousness through the remission of former sins by the forbearance of ,god4 ,for rendering non-,,ascii characters mercy seat1 the usus loquendi and the internal harmony of meaning are in our favor1 and also the weight of many orthodox authorities1 such as ,theodoret1 ,origen1 ,theophylact1 ,o,ecumenius1 ,erasmus1 ,luther1 and from ,pelagius to ,bushnell4 ,still1 we are willing to admit the rendering of it by sin offering4 ,that makes no important difference in the result4 ,christ was a sin offering1 in the conception of ,paul1 in this sense3 that when he was not himself subject to death1 which was the penalty of sin1 he yet died in order to show ,god's purpose of removing that penalty of sin through his resurrection4 ,for rendering non-,,ascii characters through1 no defence is needed3 the only wonder is1 how it ever could have been here translated for4 ,now1 let two or three facts be noticed4 ,first1 the ,new ,testament phrase the faith of ,christ1 the faith of ,jesus1 is very unfairly and unwarrantably made to mean an internal affection towards ,christ1 a belief of men in him4 ,its genuine meaning is the same as the gospel of ,christ1 or the religion of ,christ1 the system of grace which he brought4#ad ,who can doubt that such is the meaning of the word in these instances8 ,contend for the faith once delivered to the saints2 ,greet them that love us in the faith2 ,have not the faith of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ with respect of persons4 ,so1 in the text now under our notice1 the faith which is in his blood means the dispensation of pardon and justification1 the system of faith1 which was confirmed and exemplified to us in his death and resurrection4 ,secondly1 the righteousness of ,god1 which is here said to be pointed out by ,christ's death1 denotes simply1 in ,professor ,stuart's words1 ,god's pardoning mercy1 or acquittal1 or gratuitous justification1 in which sense1 he says truly1 it is almost always used in ,paul's epistles4#ae ,it signifies neither more nor less than ,god's method of salvation by freely forgiving sins and treating the sinner as if he were righteous1 the method of salvation now carried into effect and revealed in the gospel brought by ,christ1 and dramatically enacted in his passion and ascension4 ,furthermore1 we ask attention to the fact that the ordinary interpreter1 hard pressed by his unscriptural creed1 interpolates a disjunctive conjunction in the opposing teeth of ,paul's plain statement4 ,paul says1 as the common version has it1 ,god is just1 and i4 e4 even the justifier4 ,the creed bound commentators read it1 #ad ,robinson has gathered a great number of instances in his ,lexicon1 under the word ,faith1 wherein it can only mean1 as he says1 the system of ,christian doctrines1 the gospel4 #ae ,stuart's ,romans i4 #ag1 iii4 #be1 #bf1 c4 just and yet the justifier4 ,we will now present the true meaning of the whole passage1 in our view of it1 according to ,paul's own use of language4 ,to establish a conviction of the correctness of the exposition1 we only ask the ingenuous reader carefully to study the clauses of the ,greek text and recollect the foregoing data4 ,god has set ,christ forth1 to be to us a sure sign that we have been forgiven and redeemed through the faith that was proved by his triumphant return from death1 the dispensation of grace inaugurated by him4 ,herein ,god has exhibited his method of saving sinners1 which is by the free remission of their sins through his kindness4 ,thus ,god is proved to be disposed to save1 and to be saving1 by the system of grace shown through ,jesus1 him that believeth4 ,in consequence of sin1 men were under sentence of condemnation to the under world4 ,in the fulness of time ,god fulfilled his ancient promise to ,abraham4 ,he freely justified men1 that is1 forgave them1 redeemed them from their doom1 and would soon open the sky for their abode with him4 ,this scheme of redemption was carried out by ,christ4 ,that is to say1 ,god proclaimed it to men1 and asked their belief in it1 by setting forth ,christ to die1 descend among the dead1 rise thence1 and ascend into heaven1 as an exemplifying certification of the truth of the glad tidings4 ,thirdly1 ,paul teaches that one aim of ,christ's mission was to purify1 animate1 and exalt the moral characters of men1 and rectify their conduct1 to produce a subjective sanctification in them1 and so prepare them for judgment and fit them for heaven4 ,the establishment of this proposition will conclude the present part of our subject4 ,he writes1 ,our ,saviour1 ,jesus ,christ1 gave himself for us1 that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works4 ,let every one that nameth the name of ,christ depart from iniquity4 ,in various ways he often represents the fact that believers have been saved by grace through ,christ as the very reason1 the intensified motive1 why they should scrupulously keep every tittle of the moral law and abstain even from the appearance of evil1 walking worthy of their high vocation4 ,the grace of ,god that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared1 teaching us that1 denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts1 we should live soberly1 righteously1 and godly in this present world4 ,bad men1 that obey not the gospel of ,christ1 such characters as thieves1 extortioners1 drunkards1 adulterers1 shall not inherit the kingdom of ,god4 ,he proclaims1 in unmistakable terms1 ,god will render to every man according to his deeds1 wrath and tribulation to the evil doer1 honor and peace to the well doer1 whether ,jew or ,gentile4 ,the conclusion to be drawn from these and other like declarations is unavoidable4 ,it is that every one1 ,jew and ,gentile1 shall stand before the judgment seat of ,christ and receive according to the deeds done in the body2 for there is no respect of persons4 ,and one part of ,christ's mission was to exert a hallowing moral influence on men1 to make them righteous1 that they might pass the bar with acquittal4 ,but the reader who recollects the class of texts adduced a little while since will remember that an opposite conclusion was as unequivocally drawn from them4 ,then ,paul said1 ,by faith ye are justified1 without the deeds of the law4 ,now he says1 ,for not the hearers of the law are just before ,god1 but the doers of the law shall be justified in the day when ,god shall judge the secrets of men by ,jesus ,christ4 ,is there a contradiction1 then1 in ,paul8 ,only in appearance4 ,let us distinguish and explain4 ,in the two quotations above1 the apostle is referring to two different things4 ,first1 he would say1 ,by the faith of ,christ1 the free grace of ,god declared in the gospel of ,christ1 ye are justified1 gratuitously delivered from that necessity of imprisonment in ,hades which is the penalty of sin doomed upon the whole race from ,adam1 and from which no amount of personal virtue could avail to save men4 ,secondly1 when he exclaims1 ,know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of ,god8 his thought is of a spiritual qualification of character1 indispensable for positive admission among the blest in heaven4 ,that is to say1 the impartial penalty of primeval sin consigned all men to ,hades4 ,they could not by their own efforts escape thence and win heaven4 ,that fated inability ,god has removed1 and through ,christ revealed its removal2 but1 that one should actually obtain the offered and possible prize of heaven1 personal purity1 faith1 obedience1 holiness1 are necessary4 ,in ,paul's conception of the scheme of ,christian salvation1 then1 there were two distinct parts3 one1 what ,god had done for all2 the other1 what each man was to do for himself4 ,and the two great classes of seemingly hostile texts filling his epistles1 which have puzzled so many readers1 become clear and harmonious when we perceive and remember that by righteousness and its kindred terms he sometimes means the external and fulfilled method of redeeming men from the transmitted necessity of bondage in the under world1 and sometimes means the internal and contingent qualifications for actually realizing that redemption4 ,in the former instance he refers to the objective mode of salvation and the revelation of it in ,christ4 ,in the latter1 he refers to the subjective fitness for that salvation and the certitude of it in the believer4 ,so1 too1 the words death and life1 in ,paul's writings1 are generally charged1 by a constructio proegnans1 with a double sense1 one spiritual1 individual1 contingent1 the other mechanical1 common1 absolute4 ,death1 in its full ,pauline force1 includes inward guilt1 condemnation1 and misery1 and outward descent into the under world4 ,life1 in its full ,pauline force1 includes inward rectitude1 peace1 and joy1 and outward ascent into the upper world4 ,holiness is necessary1 for without it no one can see the ,lord2 yet by itself it can secure only inward life3 it is ineffectual to win heaven4 ,grace by itself merely exempts from the fatality of the condemnation to ,hades3 it offers eternal life in heaven only upon condition of patient continuance in well doing by faith1 obedience to the truth1 and sanctification of the spirit4 ,but ,god's free grace and man's diligent fidelity1 combined1 give the full fruition of blessedness in the heart and of glory and immortality in the sky4 ,such1 as we have set forth in the foregoing three divisions1 was ,paul's view of the mission of ,christ and of the method of salvation4 ,it has been for centuries perverted and mutilated4 ,the toil now is by unprejudiced inspection to bring it forward in its genuine completeness1 as it stood in ,paul's own mind and in the minds of his contemporaries4 ,the essential view1 epitomized in a single sentence1 is this4 ,the independent grace of ,god has interfered1 first1 to save man from ,hades1 and secondly1 to enable him1 by the co operation of his own virtue1 to get to heaven4 ,here are two separate means conjoined to effect the end1 salvation4 ,now1 compare1 in the light of this statement1 the three great theological theories of ,christendom4 ,the ,,unitarian1 overlooking the objective justification1 or offered redemption from the death realm to the sky home1 which whether it be a truth or an error is surely in the epistles1 makes the subjective sanctification all in all4 ,the ,,calvinist1 in his theory1 comparatively scorns the subjective sanctification1 which ,paul insists on as a necessity for entering the kingdom of ,god1 and1 having perverted the objective justification from its real historic meaning1 exaggerates it into the all in all4 ,the ,,roman ,,catholic holds that ,christ simply removed the load of original sin and its entailed doom1 and left each person to stand or fall by his own merits1 in the helping communion of the ,church4 ,he also maintains that a part of ,christ's office was to exert an influence for the moral improvement and consecration of human character4 ,his error1 as an interpreter of ,paul's thought1 is1 that he1 like the ,calvinist1 attributes to ,christ's death a vicarious efficacy by suffering the pangs of mankind's guilt to buy their ransom from the inexorable justice of ,god2 whereas the apostle really represents ,christ's redeeming mission as consisting simply in a dramatic exemplification of the ,father's spontaneous love and purpose to pardon past offences1 unbolt the gates of ,hades1 and receive the worthy to heaven4 ,moreover1 while ,paul describes the heavenly salvation as an undeserved gift from the grace of ,god1 the ,catholic often seems to make it a prize to be earned1 under the ,christian dispensation1 by good works which may fairly challenge that reward4 ,however1 we have little doubt that this apparent opposition is rather in the practical mode of exhortation than in any interior difference of dogma2 for ,paul himself makes personal salvation hinge on personal conditions1 the province of grace being seen in the new extension to man of the opportunity and invitation to secure his own acceptance4 ,and so the ,roman ,catholic exposition of ,paul's doctrine is much more nearly correct than any other interpretation now prevalent4 ,we should expect1 a priori1 that it would be1 since that ,church1 containing two thirds of ,christendom1 is the most intimately connected1 by its scholars1 members1 and traditions1 with the apostolic age4 ,a prominent feature in the belief of ,paul1 and one deserving distinct notice as necessarily involving a considerable part of the theory which we have attributed to him1 is the supposition that ,christ was the first person1 clothed with humanity and experiencing death1 admitted into heaven4 ,of all the hosts who had lived and died1 every soul had gone down into the dusky under world4 ,there they all were held in durance1 waiting for the ,great ,deliverer4 ,in the splendors of the realm over the sky1 ,god and his angels dwelt alone4 ,that we do not err in ascribing this belief to ,paul we might summon the whole body of the ,fathers to testify in almost unbroken phalanx1 from ,polycarp to ,st4 ,bernard4 ,the ,roman1 ,greek1 and ,english ,churches still maintain the same dogma4 ,but the apostle's own plain words will be sufficient for our purpose4 ,that ,christ should suffer1 and that he should be the first that should rise from among the dead4 ,now is ,christ risen from among the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept4 ,he is the beginning1 the first born from among the dead1 that among all he might have the pre eminence4 ,god raised ,christ from among the dead1 and set him at his own right hand#af in the heavenly places1 far above every principality1 and power1 and might1 and dominion4 ,the last words refer to different orders of spirits1 supposed #af ,griesbach argues at length1 and shows unanswerably1 that this passage cannot bear a moral interpretation1 but necessarily has a physical and local sense4 ,griesbachii ,opuscula ,academica1 ed4 ,gabler1 vol4 ii4 pp4 #ade-adi4 by the ,jews to people the aerial region below the heaven of ,god4 ,god hath 7already in our anticipating faith7 raised us up together with ,christ and made us sit in heavenly places with him4 ,these testimonies are enough to show that ,paul believed ,jesus to have been raised up to the abode of ,god1 the first man ever exalted thither1 and that this was done as a pledge and illustration of the same exaltation awaiting those who believe4 ,if we be dead with ,christ1 we believe we shall also live with him4 ,and the apostle teaches that we are not only connected with ,christ's resurrection by the outward order and sequence of events1 but also by an inward gift of the spirit4 ,he says that to every obedient believer is given an experimental knowledge of the power of the resurrection of ,christ1 which is the seal of ,god within him1 the pledge of his own celestial destination4 ,after that ye believed1 ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession4 ,the office of this gift of the spirit is to awaken in the believing ,christian a vivid realization of the things in store for him1 and a perfect conviction that he shall yet possess them in the unclouded presence of ,god1 beyond the canopy of azure and the stars4 ,eye hath not seen1 nor ear heard1 nor the heart of man conceived1 the things which ,god hath prepared for them that love him4 ,but he hath revealed them unto us2 for we have received his spirit1 that we might know them4 ,the spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are children and heirs of ,god1 even joint heirs with ,christ1 that we may be glorified i4 e4 advanced into heaven with him4 ,we will leave this topic with a brief paraphrase of the celebrated passage in the eighth chapter of the ,epistle to the ,romans4 ,not only do the generality of mankind groan in pain in this decaying state1 under the bondage of perishable elements1 travailing for emancipation from the flesh into the liberty of the heavenly glory appointed for the sons and heirs of ,god1 but even we1 who have the first fruits of the spirit1 i4 e4 the assurance springing from the resurrection of ,christ1 we too wait1 painfully longing for the adoption1 that is1 our redemption from the body4 ,by longing for the adoption1 or filiation1 is meant impatient desire to be received into heaven as children to the enjoyment of the privileges of their ,father's house4 ,god predetermined that those called should be conformed to the image of his ,son1 i4 e4 should pass through the same course with ,christ and reach the heavenly goal1 that he might be the first born among many brethren4 ,to the securing of this end1 whom he called1 them he also justified1 i4 e4 ransomed from ,hades2#ag and whom he justified1 them he also glorified1 7i4 e4 advanced to the glory of heaven47 ,it is evident that ,paul looked for the speedy second coming of the ,lord in the clouds of heaven1 with angels and power and glory4 ,he expected that at that time all enemies would be overthrown and punished1 the dead would be raised1 the living would be changed1 and all that were ,christ's would be translated to heaven4#ah ,the ,lord ,jesus shall be revealed from #ag ,that justify often means1 in ,paul's usage1 to absolve from ,hades1 we have concluded from a direct study of his doctrines and language4 ,we find that ,bretschneider gives it the same definition in his ,lexicon of the ,new ,testament4 ,see non ,,ascii characters #ah ,every one shall rise in his own division of the great army of the dead1 ,christ1 the first fruits2 afterwards1 they that are ,christ's1 at his coming4 heaven1 with his mighty angels1 in flaming fire1 taking vengeance on them that know not ,god and obey not the gospel of ,christ4 ,we shall not all sleep1 but we shall all be changed1 in a moment1 at the last trump4 ,we who are alive and remain until the coming of the ,lord shall not anticipate those that are asleep4 ,for the ,lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout1 with the voice of the archangel1 and with the trump of ,god2#ai and the dead in ,christ shall rise first4 ,then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up with them in the clouds1 to meet the ,lord in the air2 and so we shall always be with the ,lord4 ,brethren1 you need not that ,i should specify the time to you2 for yourselves are perfectly aware that the day of the ,lord so cometh as a thief in the night4 ,the time is short4 ,i pray ,god your whole spirit1 soul1 and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ4 ,at his appearing he shall judge the living and the dead4 ,the ,lord is at hand4 ,the author of these sentences undeniably looked for the great advent soon4 ,than ,paul1 indeed1 no one more earnestly believed 7or did more to strengthen in others that belief7 in that speedy return of ,christ1 the anticipation of which thrilled all early ,christendom with hope and dread1 and kept the disciples day and night on the stretch and start of expectation to hear the awful blast of the judgment trump and to see the glorious vision of the ,son of ,god descending amidst a convoy of angels4 ,what sublime emotions must have rushed through the apostle's soul when he thought that he1 as a survivor of death's reign on earth1 might behold the resurrection without himself entering the grave6 ,upon a time when he should be perchance at home1 or at ,damascus1 or1 it might be1 at ,jerusalem1 the sun would become as blood1 the moon as sackcloth of hair1 the last trump would swell the sky1 and1 ,lo6 the nations of the dead1 ,which do outnumber all earth's races1 rise1 ,and high in sumless myriads overhead ,sweep past him in a cloud1 as 'twere the skirts ,of the ,eternal passing by4 ,the resurrection which ,paul thought would attend the second coming of ,christ was the rising of the summoned spirits of the deceased from their rest in the under world4 ,most certainly it was not the restoration of their decomposed bodies from their graves1 although that incredible surmise has been generally entertained4 ,he says1 while answering the question1 ,how are the dead raised up1 and with what body do they come8 ,that which thou sowest1 thou sowest not that body which shall be1 but naked grain3 ,god giveth it a body as it hath pleased him4 ,the comparison is1 that so the naked soul is sown in the under world1 and ,god1 when he raiseth it1 giveth it a fitting body4 ,he does not hesitate to call the man a fool who expects the restoration of the same body that was buried4 ,his whole argument is explicitly against that idea4 ,there are bodies celestial1 as well as bodies terrestrial3 the first man was #ai ,rabbi ,akiba says1 in the ,talmud1 ,god shall take and blow a trumpet a thousand godlike yards in length1 whose echo shall sound from end to end of the world4 ,at the first blast the earth shall tremble4 ,at the second1 the dust shall part4 ,at the third1 the bones shall come together4 ,at the fourth1 the members shall grow warm4 ,at the fifth1 they shall be crowned with the head4 ,at the sixth1 the soul shall re enter the body4 ,and at the seventh1 they shall stand erect4 ,corrodi1 ,geschichte des ,chiliasmus1 band i4 s4 #cee4 of the earth1 earthy2 the second man was the ,lord from heaven2 and as we have borne the image of the earthy1 we shall also bear the image of the heavenly2 for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of ,god4 ,in view of these declarations1 it is astonishing that any one can suppose that ,paul believed in the resurrection of these present bodies and in their transference into heaven4 ,in this tabernacle we groan1 being burdened1 and1 ,who shall deliver me from this body of death8 he cries4 ,if ever there was a man whose goading experience1 keen intellectual energies1 and moral sensibilities1 made him weary of this slow1 gross body1 and passionately to long for a more corresponding1 swift1 and pure investiture1 it was ,paul4 ,and in his theory of the glorious body of ,christ1 according to which our vile body shall be changed1 he relieved his impatience and fed his desire4 ,what his conception of that body was1 definitely1 we cannot tell2 but doubtless it was the idea of a vehicle adapted to his mounting and ardent soul1 and in many particulars very unlike this present groaning load of clay4 ,the epistles of ,paul contain no clear implication of the notion of a millennium1 a thousand years' reign of ,christ with his saints on the earth after his second advent4 ,on the contrary1 in many places1 particularly in the fourth chapter of the ,first ,epistle to the ,thessalonians1 7supposing that letter to be his17 he says that the ,lord and they that are his will directly pass into heaven after the consummation of his descent from heaven and their resurrection from the dead4 ,but the declaration ,he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet1 taken with its context1 is thought1 by ,bertholdt1 ,billroth1 ,de ,wette1 and others1 to imply that ,christ would establish a millennial kingdom on earth1 and reign in it engaged in vanquishing all hostile forces4 ,against this exegesis we have to say1 first1 that1 so far as that goes1 the vast preponderance of critical authorities is opposed to it4 ,secondly1 if this conquest were to be secured on earth1 there is nothing to show that it need occupy much time3 one hour might answer for it as well as a thousand years4 ,there is nothing here to show that ,paul means just what the ,rabbins taught4 ,thirdly1 even if ,paul supposed a considerable period must elapse before all enemies would be subdued1 during which period ,christ must reign1 it does not follow that he believed that reign would be on earth3 it might be in heaven4 ,the enemies referred to are1 in part at least1 the wicked spirits occupying the regions of the upper air2 for he specifies these principalities1 authorities1 and powers4#bj ,and the author of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews represents ,god as saying to ,jesus1 ,sit thou on my right hand1 until ,i make thine enemies thy footstool4 ,fourthly1 it seems certain that1 if in the apostle's thought a thousand years were interpolated between ,christ's second coming and the delivering of his mediatorial sceptre to ,god1 he would have said so1 at least somewhere in his writings4 ,he would naturally have dwelt upon it a little1 as the ,chiliasts did so much4 ,instead of that1 he repeatedly contradicts it4 ,upon the whole1 then1 with ,ruckert1 we cannot #bj ,the apocryphal ,ascension of ,isaiah1 already spoken of1 gives a detailed description of the upper air as occupied by ,satan and his angels1 among whom fighting and evil deeds rage2 but ,christ in his ascent conquers and spoils them all1 and shows himself a victor ever brightening as he rises successively through the whole seven heavens to the feet of ,god4 ,ascensio ,vatis ,isaia1 cap4 vi x4 see any reason for not supposing that1 according to ,paul1 the end was immediately to succeed the coming1 as non-,,ascii characters would properly indicate4 ,the doctrine of a long earthly reign of ,christ is not deduced from this passage1 by candid interpretation1 because it must be there1 but foisted into it1 by ,rabbinical information1 because it may be there4 ,paul distinctly teaches that the believers who died before the second coming of the ,savior would remain in the under world until that event1 when they and the transformed living should ascend together with the ,lord4 ,all the relevant expressions in his epistles1 save two1 are obviously in harmony with this conception of a temporary subterranean sojourn1 waiting for the appearance of ,jesus from heaven to usher in the resurrection4 ,but in the fifth chapter of the ,second ,epistle to the ,corinthians he writes1 ,abiding in the body we are absent from the ,lord4 ,it is usually inferred1 from these words and those which follow them1 that the apostle expected whenever he died to be instantly with ,christ4 ,certainly they do mean pretty nearly that2 but they mean it in connection with the second advent and the accompanying circumstances and events2 for ,paul believed that many of the disciples possibly himself would live until ,christ's coming4 ,all through these two chapters 7the fourth and fifth7 it is obvious1 from the marked use of the terms we and you1 and from other considerations1 that we here refers solely to the writer1 the individual ,paul4 ,it is the plural of accommodation used by common custom and consent4 ,in the form of a slight paraphrase we may unfold the genuine meaning of the passage in hand4 ,in this body ,i am afflicted3 not that ,i would merely be released from it1 for then ,i should be a naked spirit4 ,but ,i earnestly desire1 unclothing myself of this earthly body1 at the same time to clothe myself with my heavenly body1 that ,i may lose all my mortal part and its woes in the full experience of heaven's eternal life4 ,god has determined that this result shall come to me sooner or later1 and has given me a pledge of it in the witnessing spirit4 ,but it cannot happen so long as ,i tarry in the flesh1 the ,lord delaying his appearance4 ,having the infallible earnest of the spirit1 ,i do not dread the change1 but desire to hasten it4 ,confident of acceptance in that day at the judgment seat of ,christ1 before which we must all then stand1 ,i long for the crisis when1 divested of this body and invested with the immortal form wrought for me by ,god1 ,i shall be with the ,lord4 ,still1 knowing the terror which shall environ the ,lord at his coming to judgment1 ,i plead with men to be prepared4 ,whoever carefully examines the whole connected passage1 from iv4 #f to v4 #af1 will see1 we think1 that the above paraphrase truly exposes its meaning4 ,the other text alluded to as an apparent exception to the doctrine of a residence in the lower land of ghosts intervening between death and the ascension1 occurs in the ,epistle to the ,philippians3 ,i am in a strait betwixt two1 having a desire to depart and to be with ,christ1 which is far better2 but that ,i should abide in the flesh is more needful for you4 ,there are three possible ways of regarding this passage4 ,first1 we may suppose that ,paul1 seeing the advent of the ,lord postponed longer and longer1 changed his idea of the intermediate state of deceased ,christians1 and thought they would spend that period of waiting in heaven1 not in ,hades4 ,neander advocates this view4 ,but there is little to sustain it1 and it is loaded with fatal difficulties4 ,a change of faith so important and so bright in its view as this must have seemed under the circumstances would have been clearly and fully stated4 ,attention would have been earnestly invited to so great a favor and comfort2 exultation and gratitude would have been expressed over so unheard of a boon4 ,moreover1 what had occurred to effect the alleged new belief8 ,the unexpected delay of ,christ's coming might make the apostle wish that his departed friends were tarrying above the sky instead of beneath the sepulchre2 but it could furnish no ground to warrant a sudden faith in that wish as a fulfilled fact4 ,besides1 the truth is that ,paul never ceased1 even to the last1 to expect the speedy arrival of the ,lord and to regard the interval as a comparative trifle4 ,in this very epistle he says1 ,the ,lord is at hand3 be careful for nothing4 ,secondly1 we may imagine that he expected himself1 as a divinely chosen and specially favored servant1 to go to ,christ in heaven as soon as he died1 if that should happen before the ,lord's appearance1 while the great multitude of believers would abide in the under world until the general resurrection4 ,the death he was in peril of and is referring to was that of martyrdom for the gospel at the hands of ,nero4 ,and many of the ,fathers maintained that in the case of every worthy ,christian martyr there was an exception to the general doom1 and that he was permitted to enter heaven at once4 ,still1 to argue such a thought in the text before us requires an hypothesis far fetched and unsupported by a single clear declaration of the apostle himself4 ,thirdly1 we may assume and it seems to us by far the least encumbered and the most plausible theory that attempts to meet the case that ,paul believed there would be vouchsafed to the faithful ,christian during his transient abode in the under world a more intimate and blessed spiritual fellowship with his ,master than he could experience while in the flesh4 ,for ,i am persuaded that neither death separation from the body nor depth the under world shall be able to separate us from ,god's love1 which he has manifested through ,christ4 ,he may refer1 therefore1 by his hopes of being straightway with ,christ on leaving the body1 to a spiritual communion with him in the disembodied state below1 and not to his physical presence in the supernal realm1 the latter not being attainable previous to the resurrection4 ,indeed1 a little farther on in this same epistle1 he plainly shows that he did not anticipate being received to heaven until after the second coming of ,christ4 ,he says1 ,we look for the ,savior from heaven1 who shall change our vile body and fashion it like unto his own glorious body4 ,this change is the preliminary preparation to ascent to heaven1 which change he repeatedly represents as indispensable4 ,what ,paul believed would be the course and fate of things on earth after the final consummation of ,christ's mission is a matter of inference from his brief and partial hints4 ,the most probable and consistent view which can be constructed from those hints is this4 ,he thought all mankind would become reconciled and obedient to ,god1 and that death1 losing its punitive character1 would become what it was originally intended to be1 the mere change of the earthly for a heavenly body preparatory to a direct ascension4 ,then shall the ,son himself be subject unto ,him that put all things under him1 that ,god may be all in all4 ,then placid virtues and innocent joys should fill the world1 and human life be what it was in ,eden ere guilt forbade angelic visitants and converse with heaven4#ba ,so when without a #ba ,neander thinks ,paul's idea was that the perfected kingdom of ,god would then blend itself harmoniously throughout his unbounded dominions4 ,we believe his apprehension is correct4 ,this globe would become a part of the general paradise1 an ante room or a l ower story to the ,temple of the ,universe4 previous descent into ,hades1 as the context proves this mortal shall have put on immortality1 then shall be brought to pass the saying which is written1 ',death shall be swallowed up in victory4 ,o ,death1 thou last enemy1 where is thy sting8 ,o ,hades1 thou gloomy prison1 where is thy victory8' ,the exposition just offered is confirmed by its striking adaptedness to the whole ,pauline scheme4 ,it is also the interpretation given by the earliest ,fathers1 and by the ,church in general until now4 ,this idea of men being changed and rising into heaven without at all entering the disembodied state below was evidently in the mind of ,milton when he wrote the following lines3 ,and from these corporeal nutriments1 perhaps4 ,your bodies may at last turn all to spirit1 ,and1 wing'd1 ascend ethereal1 may1 at choice1 ,here1 or in heavenly paradise1 dwell4 ,it now remains to see what ,paul thought was to be the final portion of the hardened and persevering sinner4 ,one class of passages in his writings1 if taken by themselves1 would lead us to believe that on that point he had no fixed convictions in regard to particulars1 but1 thinking these beyond the present reach of reason1 contented himself with the general assurance that all such persons would meet their just deserts1 and there left the subject in obscurity4 ,god will render to every man to the ,jew first1 and also to the ,greek according to his deeds4 ,whatsoever a man soweth1 that shall he also reap4 ,so then every one of us shall give an account of himself to ,god4 ,at the judgment seat of ,christ every one shall receive the things done in his body1 according to that he hath done1 whether it be good or whether it be bad4 ,from these and a few kindred texts we might infer that the author1 aware that he knew but in part1 simply held the belief without attempting to pry into special methods1 details1 and results that at the time of the judgment all should have exact justice4 ,he may1 however1 have unfolded in his preaching minutia of faith not explained in his letters4 ,a second class of passages in the epistles of ,paul would naturally cause the common reader to conclude that he imagined that the unregenerate those unfit for the presence of ,god were to be annihilated when ,christ1 after his second coming1 should return to heaven with his saints4 ,those who know not ,god and obey not the gospel of ,christ shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence and glory of the ,lord when he shall come4 ,the end of the enemies of the cross of ,christ is destruction4 ,the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction4 ,as many as have sinned without law shall perish without law4 ,but it is to be observed that the word here rendered destruction need not signify annihilation4 ,it often1 even in ,paul's epistles1 plainly means severe punishment1 dreadful misery1 moral ruin1 and retribution4 ,for example1 foolish and hurtful lusts1 which drown men in destruction and perdition1 piercing them through with many sorrows4 ,it may or may not have that sense in the instances above cited4 ,their meaning is intrinsically uncertain3 we must bring other passages and distinct considerations to aid our interpretation4 ,from a third selection of texts in ,paul's epistles it is not strange that some persons have deduced the doctrine of unconditional1 universal salvation4 ,as in ,adam all die1 even so in ,christ shall all be made alive4 ,but the genuine explanation of this sentence1 we are constrained to believe1 is as follows3 ,as1 following after the example of ,adam1 all souls descend below1 so1 following after ,christ1 all shall be raised up1 that is1 at the judgment1 after which event some may be taken to heaven1 others banished again into ,hades4 ,we trust in the living ,god1 who is the ,savior of all men1 especially of them that believe4 ,this means that all men have been saved now from the unconditional sentence to ,hades brought on them by the first sin1 but not all know the glad tidings3 those who receive them into believing hearts are already exulting over their deliverance and their hopes of heaven4 ,all are objectively saved from the unavoidable and universal necessity of ,hadean imprisonment2 the obedient believers are also subjectively saved from the contingent and personal risk of incurring that doom4 ,god hath shut them all up together in unbelief1 that he might have mercy upon all4 ,all here means both ,jews and ,gentiles2 and the reference is to the universal annulment of the universal fatality1 and the impartial offer of heaven to every one who sanctifies the truth in his heart4 ,in some cases the word all is used with rhetorical looseness1 not with logical rigidness1 and denotes merely all ,christians4 ,ruckert shows this well in his commentary on the fifteenth chapter of ,first ,corinthians4 ,in other instances the universality1 which is indeed plainly there1 applies to the removal from the race of the inherited doom2 while a conditionality is unquestionably implied as to the actual salvation of each person4 ,we say ,paul does constantly represent personal salvation as depending on conditions1 as beset by perils and to be earnestly striven for4 ,lest that by any means ,i myself should be a castaway4 ,deliver such an one to ,satan for the destruction of the flesh1 that the spirit may be saved in the day of the ,lord ,jesus4 ,wherefore we labor1 that1 whether present or absent1 we may be accepted of the lord4 ,to them that are saved we are a savor of life unto life2 to them that perish1 a savor of death unto death4 ,charge them that are rich that they be humble and do good1 laying up in store a good foundation1 that they may lay hold on eternal life4 ,it is clear1 from these and many similar passages of ,paul1 that he did not believe in the unconditional salvation1 the positive mechanical salvation1 of all individuals1 but held personal salvation to be a contingent problem1 to be worked out1 through the permitting grace of ,god1 by ,christian faith1 works1 and character4 ,how plainly this is contained1 too1 in his doctrine of a resurrection of the just and the unjust1 and of a day of judgment1 from whose august tribunal ,christ is to pronounce sentence according to each man's deeds6 ,at the same time1 the undeniable fact deserves particular remembrance that he says1 and apparently knows1 nothing whatever of a hell1 in the present acceptation of that term1 a prison house of fiery tortures4 ,he assigns the realm of ,satan and the evil spirits to the air1 the vexed region between earth and heaven1 according to the demonology of his age and country4 #bb ,finally1 there is a fourth class of passages1 from which we might infer that the apostle's faith merely excluded the reprobate from participating in the ascent with ,christ1 just as some of the ,pharisees excluded the ,gentiles from their resurrection1 and there left the subject in darkness4 #bb ,a detailed and most curious account of this region1 which he calls ,tartarus1 is given by ,angustine4 ,de ,gen4 ad4 lit4 lib4 iii4 cap4 #ad1 #ae1 ed4 ,benedictina4 ,they that are ,christ's1 the dead in ,christ1 shall rise4 ,no sensualist1 extortioner1 idolater1 hath any inheritance in the kingdom of ,christ and of ,god4 ,there is laid up a crown of righteousness1 which the ,lord shall give in that day to all them that love his appearing4 ,in all these1 and in many other cases1 there is a marked omission of any reference to the ultimate positive disposal of the wicked4 ,still1 against the supposition of his holding the doctrine that all except good ,christians would be left below eternally1 we have his repeated explicit avowals4 ,i have hope towards ,god that there shall be a resurrection both of the just and the unjust4 ,we must all appear before the judgment seat of ,christ4 ,these last statements1 however1 prove only that ,paul thought the bad as well as the good would be raised up and judged3 they are not inconsistent with the belief that the condemned would afterwards either be annihilated1 or remanded everlastingly to the under world4 ,this very belief1 we think1 is contained in that remarkable passage where ,paul writes to the ,philippians that he strives if by any means he may attain unto the resurrection4 ,now1 the common resurrection of the dead for judgment needed not to be striven for3 it would occur to all unconditionally4 ,but there is another resurrection1 or another part remaining to complete the resurrection1 namely1 after the judgment1 a rising of the accepted to heaven4 ,all shall rise from ,hades upon the earth to judgment4 ,this ,paul calls simply the resurrection1 ,non ,,ascii ,characters ,after the judgment1 the accepted shall rise to heaven4 ,this ,paul calls1 with distinctive emphasis1 ,non ,,ascii ,characters the pre eminent or complete resurrection1 the prefix being used as an intensive4 ,this is what the apostle considers uncertain and labors to secure1 stretching forward and pressing towards the goal for the prize of that call upwards1 ,non ,,ascii ,characters 7that invitation to heaven17 which ,god has extended through ,christ4 ,those who are condemned at the judgment can have no part in this completion of the resurrection1 cannot enter the heavenly kingdom1 but must be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence and glory of the ,lord1 that is1 as we suppose is signified1 be thrust into the under world for evermore4 ,as unessential to our object1 we have omitted an exposition of the ,pauline doctrine of the natural rank and proper or delegated offices of ,christ in the universe2 also an examination of the validity of the doubts and arguments brought against the genuineness of the lesser epistles ascribed to ,paul4 ,in close1 we will sum up in brief array the leading conceptions in his view of the last things4 ,first1 there is a world of immortal light and bliss over the sky1 the exclusive abode of ,god and the angels from of old2 and there is a dreary world of darkness and repose under the earth1 the abode of all departed human spirits4 ,secondly1 death was originally meant to lead souls into heaven1 clothed in new and divine bodies1 immediately on the fall of the present tabernacle2 but sin broke that plan and doomed souls to pass disembodied into ,hades4 ,thirdly1 the ,mosaic dispensation of law could not deliver men from that sentence2 but ,god had promised ,abraham that through one of his posterity they should be delivered4 ,to fulfil that promise ,christ came4 ,he illustrated ,god's unpurchased love and forgiveness and determination to restore the original plan1 as if men had never sinned4 ,christ effected this aim1 in conjunction with his teachings1 by dying1 descending into ,hades1 as if the doom of a sinful man were upon him also1 subduing the powers of that prison house1 rising again1 and ascending into heaven1 the first one ever admitted there from among the dead1 thus exemplifying the fulfilled expectation of the creature that was groaning and travailing in pain to be born into the freedom of the heavenly glory of the sons of ,god4 ,fourthly1 justification by faith1 therefore1 means the redemption from ,hades by acceptance of the dispensation of free grace which is proclaimed in the gospel4 ,fifthly1 every sanctified believer receives a pledge or earnest of the spirit sealing him as ,god's and assuring him of acceptance with ,christ and of advance to heaven4 ,sixthly1 ,christ is speedily to come a second time1 come in glory and power irresistible1 to consummate his mission1 raise the dead1 judge the world1 establish a new order of things1 and return into heaven with his chosen ones4 ,seventhly1 the stubbornly wicked portion of mankind will be returned eternally into the under world4 ,eighthly1 after the judgment the subterranean realm of death will be shut up1 no more souls going into it1 but all men at their dissolution being instantly invested with spiritual bodies and ascending to the glories of the ,lord4 ,finally1 ,jesus having put down all enemies and restored the primeval paradise will yield up his mediatorial throne1 and ,god the ,father be all in all4 ,the preparatory rudiments of this system of the last things existed in the belief of the age1 and it was itself composed by the union of a theoretic interpretation of the life of ,christ and of the connected phenomena succeeding his death1 with the elements of ,pharasaic ,judaism1 all mingled in the crucible of the soul of ,paul and fused by the fires of his experience4 ,it illustrates a great number of puzzling passages in the ,new ,testament1 without the necessity of recourse to the unnatural1 incredible1 unwarranted dogmas associated with them by the unique1 isolated peculiarities of ,calvinism4 ,the interpretation given above1 moreover1 has this strong confirmation of its accuracy1 namely1 that it is arrived at from the stand point of the thought and life of the ,apostle ,paul in the first century1 not from the stand point of the theology and experience of the educated ,christian of the nineteenth century4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,john',s ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,we are now to see if we can determine and explain what were the views of the ,apostle ,john upon the subject of death and life1 condemnation and salvation1 the resurrection and immortality4 ,to understand his opinions on these points1 it is obviously necessary to examine his general system of theological thought4 ,john is regarded as the writer of the proem to the fourth ,gospel1 also of three brief epistles4 ,there are such widely spread doubts of his being the author of the ,apocalypse that it has seemed better to examine that production separately1 leaving each one free to attribute its doctrine of the last things to whatever person known or unknown he believes wrote the book4 ,it is true that the authorship of the fourth ,gospel itself is powerfully disputed2 but an investigation of that question would lead us too far and detain us too long from our real aim1 which is not to discuss the genuineness or the authority of the ,new ,testament documents1 but to show their meaning in what they actually contain and imply concerning a future life4 ,it is necessary to premise that we think it certain that ,john wrote with some reference to the sprouting philosophy of his time1 the ,platonic and ,oriental speculations so early engrafted upon the stock of ,christian doctrine4 ,for the peculiar theories which were matured and systematized in the second and third centuries by the ,gnostic sects were floating about1 in crude and fragmentary forms1 at the close of the first century1 when the apostle wrote4 ,they immediately awakened dissension and alarm1 cries of heresy and orthodoxy1 in the ,church4 ,some modern writers deny the presence in the ,new ,testament of any allusion to such views2 but the weight of evidence on the other side internal1 from similarity of phrase1 and external1 from the testimony of early ,fathers is1 when accumulated and appreciated1 overwhelming4 ,among these ,gnostic notions the most distinctive and prominent was the belief that the world was created and the ,jewish dispensation given1 not by the true and infinite ,god1 but by a subordinate and imperfect deity1 the absolute ,god remaining separate from all created things1 unknown and afar1 in the sufficiency of his aboriginal pleroma or fulness4 ,the ,gnostics also maintained that ,creative ,power1 ,reason1 ,life1 ,truth1 ,love1 and other kindred realities1 were individual beings1 who had emanated from ,god1 and who by their own efficiency constructed1 illuminated1 and carried on the various provinces of creation and races of existence4 ,many other opinions1 fanciful1 absurd1 or recondite1 which they held1 it is not necessary here to state4 ,the evangelist1 without alluding perhaps to any particular teachers or systems of these doctrines1 but only to their general scope1 traverses by his declarations partially the same ground of thought which they cover1 stating dogmatically the positive facts as he apprehended them4 ,he agrees with some of the ,gnostic doctrines and differs from others1 not setting himself to follow or to oppose them indiscriminately1 but to do either as the truth seemed to him to require4 ,there are two methods of seeking the meaning of the introduction to the fourth ,gospel where the ,johannean doctrine of the ,logos is condensed4 ,we may study it grammatically1 or historically2 morally1 or metaphysically2 from the point of view of experimental religious faith1 or from that of contemporary speculative philosophy4 ,he who omits either of these ways of regarding the subject must arrive at an interpretation essentially defective4 ,both modes of investigation are indispensable for acquiring a full comprehension of the expressions employed and the thoughts intended4 ,but to be fitted to understand the theme in its historical aspect which1 in this case1 for purposes of criticism1 is by far the more important one must be intelligently acquainted with the ,hebrew personification of the ,wisdom1 also of the ,word1 of ,god2 with the ,platonic conception of archetypal ideas2 with the ,alexandrian ,jewish doctrine of the ,divine ,logos2 and with the relevant ,gnostic and ,christian speculation and phraseology of the first two centuries4 ,especially must the student be familiar with ,philo1 who was an eminent ,platonic ,jewish philosopher and a celebrated writer1 flourishing previous to the composition of the fourth ,gospel1 in which1 indeed1 there is scarcely a single superhuman predicate of ,christ which may not be paralleled with striking closeness from his extant works4 ,in all these fields are found1 in imperfect proportions and fragments1 the materials which are developed in ,john's belief of the ,logos become flesh4 ,to present all these materials here would be somewhat out of place and would require too much room4 ,we shall1 therefore1 simply state1 as briefly and clearly as possible1 the final conclusions to which a thorough study has led us1 drawing such illustrations as we do advance almost entirely from ,philo4#a #a ,the reader who wishes to see in smallest compass and most lucid order the facts requisite for the formation of a judgment is referred to ,lucke's ,dissertation on the ,logos1 to ,norton's ,statement of ,reasons1 and to ,neander's exposition of the ,johannean theology in his ,planting and ,training of the ,church4 ,nearly every thing important1 both external and internal1 is collected in these three sources taken together1 and set forth with great candor1 power1 and skill4 ,differing in their conclusions1 they supply pretty adequate means for the independent student to conclude for himself4 ,in the first place1 what view of the ,father himself1 the absolute ,deity1 do these writings present8 ,john conceives of ,god no one can well collate the relevant texts in his works without perceiving this as the one perfect and eternal ,spirit1 in himself invisible to mortal eyes1 the ,personal ,love1 ,life1 ,truth1 ,light1 in whom is no darkness at all4 ,this corresponds entirely with the purest and highest idea the human mind can form of the one untreated infinite ,god4 ,the apostle1 then1 going back to the period anterior to the material creation1 and soaring to the contemplation of the sole ,god1 does not conceive of him as being utterly alone1 but as having a ,son with him1 an only begotten ,son1 a beloved companion before the foundation of the world4 ,in the beginning was the ,logos1 and the ,logos was with ,god1 and the ,logos was ,god4 ,he was in the beginning with ,god4 ,all things were made through him1 and without him was nothing made that was made4 ,the true explanation of these words1 according to their undeniable historical and their unforced grammatical4 ,there is an ,english translation of it1 by ,professor ,g4 ,r4 ,noyes1 in the numbers of the ,christian ,examiner for ,march and ,may1 #ahdi1 meaning1 is as follows4 ,before the material creation1 when ,god was yet the sole being1 his first production1 the ,logos1 was a ,son1 at once the image of himself and the idea of the yet uncreated world4 ,by him this personal ,idea1 ,son1 or ,logos all things were afterward created2 or1 more exactly1 through him1 by means of him1 all things became1 that is1 were brought1 from their being in a state of conception in the mind of ,god1 into actual existence in space and time4 ,thus ,philo says1 ,god is the most generic2 second is the ,logos of ,god4#b ,the ,logos is the first begotten ,son4#c ,the ,logos of ,god is above the whole world1 and is the most ancient and generic of all that had a beginning4#d ,nothing intervenes between the ,logos and ,god on whom he rests4#e ,this sensible world is the junior son of ,god2 the ,senior is the ,idea1#f or ,logos4 ,the shadow and seeming portrait of ,god is his ,logos1 by which1 as by an assumed instrument1 he made the world4 ,as ,god is the original of the image here called shadow1 so this image becomes the original of other things4#g ,the intelligible world1 or world of archetypal ideas1 is the ,logos of the world creating ,god2 as an intelligible or ideal city is the thought of the architect reflecting to build a sensible city4#h ,of the world1 ,god is the cause by which1 the four elements the material from which1 the ,logos the instrument through which1 the goodness of the ,creator the end for which1 it was made4#i ,these citations from ,philo clearly show1 in various stages of development1 that doctrine of the ,logos which began first arguing to the ,divine ,being from human analogies with separating the conception of a plan in the mind of ,god from its execution in fact2 proceeded with personifying that plan1 or sum of ideas1 as a mediating agent between motive and action1 between impulse and fulfilment2 and ended with hypostatizing the arranging power of the ,divine thought as a separate being1 his intellectual image or ,son1 his first and perfect production4 ,they unequivocally express these thoughts3 that ,god is the only being who was from eternity2 that the ,logos was the first begotten1 antemundane being1 that he was the likeness1 image1 immediate manifestation1 of the ,father2 that he was the medium of creation1 the instrumental means in the outward formation of the world4 ,history shows us this doctrine unfolded by minute steps1 which it would be tedious to follow1 from the ,book of ,proverbs to ,philo ,judaus and ,john1 from ,plato to ,justin ,martyr and ,athanasius4 ,but the rapid sketch just presented may be sufficient now4 ,when it is written1 and the ,logos was ,god1 the meaning is not strictly literal4 ,to guard against its being so considered1 the author tautologically repeats what he had said immediately before1 the same was in the beginning with ,god4 ,upon the supposition that the ,logos is strictly identical with ,god1 the verses make utter nonsense4 ,in the beginning was ,god1 and ,god was with ,god1 and ,god was ,god4 ,god was in the beginning with ,god4 ,but suppose the ,logos to mean an ante mundane but subordinate being1 who was a perfect image or likeness of ,god1 and the sense is both clear and satisfactory1 and no violence is done either to historical data or to grammatical demands4 ,and the ,logos was ,god1 that is1 was the mirror or facsimile of ,god4 ,so1 employing the same idiom1 we are accustomed to say #b ,mangey's edition of ,philo1 vol4 i4 p4 #hb4 #c ,ibid4 p4 #cjh4 #d ,ibid4 p4 #aba4 #e ,ibid4 p4 #efj4 #f ,ibid4 p4 #bgg4 #g ,ibid4 p4 #ajf4 #h ,ibid4 p4 #e4 #i ,ibid4 p4 #afb4 of an accurate representation of a person1 ,it is the very man himself6 ,or1 without the use of this idiom1 we may explain the expression the ,logos was ,god thus3 ,he stands in the place of ,god to the lower creation3 practically considered1 he is as ,god to us4 ,as ,philo writes1 ,to the wise and perfect the ,most ,high is ,god2 but to us1 imperfect beings1 the ,logos ,god's interpreter is ,god4#aj ,the inward significance of the ,logos doctrine1 in all its degrees and phases1 circumstantially and essentially1 from first to last1 is the revelation of ,god4 ,god himself1 in himself1 is conceived as absolutely withdrawn beyond the apprehension of men1 in boundless immensity and inaccessible secrecy4 ,his own nature is hidden1 as a thought is hidden in the mind2 but he has the power of revealing it1 as a thought is revealed by speaking it in a word4 ,that uttered word is the ,logos1 and is afterwards conceived as a person1 and as creative1 then as building and glorifying the world4 ,all of ,god that is sent forth from passive concealment into active manifestation is the ,logos4 ,the term ,logos comprehends1 ,norton says1 all the attributes of ,god manifested in the creation and government of the universe4 ,the ,logos is the hypostasis of the unfolded portion1 the revealing power1 the self showing faculty1 the manifesting action1 of ,god4 ,the essential idea1 then1 concerning the ,logos is that he is the means through which the hidden ,god comes to the cognizance of his creatures4 ,in harmony with this prevailing philosophy one who believed the ,logos to have been incarnated in ,christ would suppose the purpose of his incarnation to be the fuller revelation of ,god to men4 ,and ,martineau says1 ,the view of revelation which is implicated in the folds of the ,logos doctrine that everywhere pervades the fourth ,gospel1 is that it is the appearance to beings who have something of a divine spirit within them1 of a yet diviner without them1 leading them to the divinest of all1 who embraces them both4 ,this is a fine statement of the practical religious aspect of ,john's conception of the nature and office of the ,savior4 ,since he regarded ,god as personal love1 life1 truth1 and light1 and ,christ1 the embodied ,logos1 as his only begotten ,son1 an exact image of him in manifestation1 it follows that ,john regarded ,christ1 next in rank below ,god1 as personal love1 life1 truth1 and light2 and the belief that he was the necessary medium of communicating these ,divine blessings to men would naturally result4 ,accordingly1 we find that ,john repeats1 as falling from the lips of ,christ1 all the declarations required by and supporting such an hypothesis4 ,i am the way1 the truth1 and the life4 ,no man cometh unto the ,father but by me4 ,but ,philo1 too1 had written before in precisely the same strain4 ,witness the correspondences between the following quotations respectively from ,john and ,philo4 ,i am the bread which came down from heaven to give life to the world4#aa ,whoso eateth my body and drinketh my blood hath eternal life4#ab ,behold1 ,i rain bread upon you from heaven3 the heavenly food of the soul is the word of ,god1 and the ,divine ,logos1 from whom all eternal instructions and wisdoms flow4#ac ,the bread the ,lord gave us to eat was his word4#ad ,except ye eat my flesh and drink my blood1 ye have no life #aj ,mangey's edition of ,philo1 vol4 ii4 p4 #abh4 #aa ,john vi4 #cc4 #da4 #ab ,ibid4 #ed4 #ac ,quoted by ,g4 ,scheffer in his ,treatise ,de ,usu ,philonis in ,interpretatione ,novi ,testamenti1 p4 #hb4 #ad lbid4 p4 #ha4 in you4#ae ,he alone can become the heir of incorporeal and divine things whose whole soul is filled with the salubrious ,word4#af ,every one that seeth the ,son and believeth on him shall have everlasting life4#ag ,he strains every nerve towards the highest ,divine ,logos1 who is the fountain of wisdom1 in order that1 drawing from that spring1 he may escape death and win everlasting life4#ah ,i am the living bread which came down from heaven3 if any man eat of this bread he shall live forever4#ai ,lifting up his eyes to the ether1 man receives manna1 the ,divine ,logos1 heavenly and immortal nourishment for the right desiring soul4#bj ,god is the perennial fountain of life2 ,god is the fountain of the most ancient ,logos4#ba ,as the living ,father hath sent me1 and ,i live by the ,father1 so he that eateth me1 even he shall live by me4#bb ,does it not seem perfectly plain that ,john's doctrine of the ,christ is at bottom identical with ,philo's doctrine of the ,logos8 ,the difference of development in the two doctrines1 so far as there is a difference1 is that the latter view is philosophical1 abstract2 the former1 practical1 historical4 ,philo describes the ,logos ideally1 filling the supersensible sphere1 mediating between the world and ,god2 ,john presents him really1 incarnated as a man1 effecting the redemption of our race4 ,the same dignity1 the same offices1 are predicated of him by both4 ,john declares1 ,in him the ,divine ,logos was life1 and the life was the light of men4#bc ,philo asserts1 ,nothing is more luminous and irradiating than the ,divine ,logos1 by the participation of whom other things expel darkness and gloom1 earnestly desiring to partake of living light4#bd ,john speaks of ,christ as the only begotten ,son1 who is in the bosom of the ,father4#be ,philo says1 ,the ,logos is the first begotten ,son of ,god1 between whom and ,god nothing intervenes4#bf ,john writes1 ,the ,son of man will give you the food of everlasting life2 for him hath ,god the ,father sealed4#bg ,philo writes1 ,the stamp of the seal of ,god is the immortal ,logos4#bh ,we have this from ,john3 ,he was manifested to take away our sins2 and in him is no sin4#bi ,and this from ,philo3 ,the ,divine ,logos is free from all sins1 voluntary and involuntary4#cj ,the ,johannean ,christ is the ,philonean ,logos born into the world as a man4 ,and the ,logos was made flesh1 and dwelt among us1 full of grace and truth4 ,the substance of what has thus far been established may now be concisely stated4 ,the essential thought1 whether the subject be metaphysically or practically considered1 is this4 ,god is the eternal1 infinite personality of love and truth1 life and light4 ,the ,logos is his first born ,son1 his exact image1 the reproduction of his being1 the next lower personality of love and truth1 life and light1 the instrument for creating and ruling the world1 the revelation of ,god1 the medium of communication between ,god and his works4 ,christ is that ,logos come upon the earth as a man to save the perishing1 proving his pre existence and superhuman nature by his miraculous knowledge and works4 ,that the belief expressed in the last sentence is correctly attributed to ,john will #ae ,john vi4 #ec4 #af ,philo1 vol4 i4 p4 #dhb4 #ag ,john vi4 #dj4 #ah ,philo1 vol4 i4 p4 #efj4 #ai ,john vi4 #ea4 #bj ,philo1 vol4 i4 p4 #dih4 #ba ,ibid4 pp4 #ege1 #bjg4 #bb ,john vi4 #eg4 #bc ,john i4 #d4 #bd ,philo1 vol4 i4 p4 #aba4 #be ,john i4 #ah4 #bf ,philo1 vol4 i4 pp4 #dbg1 #efj4 #bg ,john vi4 #bg4 #bh ,philo1 vol4 ii4 p4 #fjf4 #bi #a ,john iii4 #e4 #cj ,philo1 vol4 i4 p4 #efb4 be repeatedly substantiated before the close of this chapter3 in regard to the statements in the preceding sentences no further proof is thought necessary4 ,with the aid of a little repetition1 we will now attempt to make a step of progress4 ,the tokens of energy1 order1 splendor1 beneficence1 in the universe1 are not1 according to ,john1 as we have seen1 the effects of angelic personages1 emanating gods1 ,gnostic aons1 but are the workings of the self revealing power of the one true and eternal ,god1 this power being conceived by ,john1 according to the philosophy of his age1 as a proper person1 ,god's instrument in creation4 ,reason1 life1 light1 love1 grace1 righteousness1 kindred terms so thickly scattered over his pages1 are not to him1 as they were to the ,gnostics1 separate beings1 but are the very working of the ,logos1 consubstantial manifestations of ,god's nature and attributes4 ,but mankind1 fallen into folly and vice1 perversity and sin1 lying in darkness1 were ignorant that these ,divine qualities were in reality mediate exhibitions of ,god1 immediate exhibitions of the ,logos4 ,the light was shining in darkness1 and the darkness comprehended it not4 ,then1 to reveal to men the truth1 to regenerate them and conjoin them through himself with the ,father in the experience of eternal life1 the hypostatized ,logos left his transcendent glory in heaven and came into the world in the person of ,jesus4 ,no man hath seen ,god at any time3 the only begotten ,son who is in the bosom of the ,father1 he hath revealed him4 ,i came down from heaven to do the will of ,him that sent me4 ,this will is that all who see and believe on the ,son shall have everlasting life4 ,god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten ,son1 that whosoever believeth in him should not perish1 but have everlasting life4 ,the bread of ,god is ,he who cometh down from heaven and giveth life to the world4 ,the doctrine of the pre existence of souls1 and of their being born into the world in the flesh1 was rife in ,judea when this ,gospel was written1 and is repeatedly alluded to in it4#ca ,that ,john applies this doctrine to ,christ in the following and in other instances is obvious4 ,before ,abraham was1 ,i am4 ,i came forth from the ,father and am come into the world4 ,father1 glorify thou me with the glory which ,i had with thee before the world was4 ,what and if ye shall see the ,son of ,man ascend up where he was before8 ,as for ourselves1 we do not see how it is possible for any unprejudiced person1 after studying the fourth ,gospel faithfully with the requisite helps1 to doubt that the writer of it believed that ,jesus pre existed as the ,divine ,logos1 and that he became incarnate to reveal the ,father and to bring men into the experience of true eternal life4 ,john declares this1 in his first epistle1 in so many words1 saying1 ,the living ,logos1 the eternal life which was with the ,father from the beginning1 was manifested unto us2 and1 ,god sent his only begotten ,son into the world that we might live through him4 ,whether the doctrine thus set forth was really entertained and taught by ,jesus himself1 or whether it is the interpretation put on his language by one whose mind was full of the notions of the age1 are distinct questions4 ,with the settlement of these questions we are not now concerned3 such a discussion would be more appropriate when examining the genuine meaning of the words of ,christ4 ,all that is necessary here is the suggestion that when we show the theological system of ,john it does not necessarily follow that that is the true #ca ,john i4 #ba2 ix4 #b4 teaching of ,christ4 ,having adopted the ,logos doctrine1 it might tinge and turn his thoughts and words when reporting from memory1 after the lapse of many years1 the discourses of his ,master4 ,he might unconsciously1 under such an influence1 represent literally what was figuratively intended1 and reflect from his own mind lights and shades1 associations and meanings1 over all or much of what he wrote4 ,there are philosophical and literary peculiarities which have forced many of the best critics to make this distinction between the intended meaning of ,christ's declarations as he uttered them1 and their received meaning as this evangelist reported them4 ,norton says1 ,whether ,st4 ,john did or did not adopt the ,platonic conception of the ,logos is a question not important to be settled in order to determine our own judgment concerning its truth4#cb ,lucke has written to the same effect1 but more fully3 ,we are allowed to distinguish the sense in which ,john understood the words of ,christ1 from the original sense in which ,christ used them4#cc ,it is to be observed that in all that has been brought forward1 thus far1 there is not the faintest hint of the now current notion of the ,trinity4 ,the idea put forth by ,john is not at all allied with the idea that the infinite ,god himself assumed a human shape to walk the earth and undergo mortal sufferings4 ,it is simply said that that manifested and revealing portion of the ,divine attributes which constituted the hypostatized ,logos was incarnated and displayed in a perfect1 sinless sample of man1 thus exhibiting to the world a finite image of ,god4 ,we will illustrate this doctrine with reference to the inferences to be drawn from it in regard to human nature4 ,john repeatedly says1 in effect1 ,god is truth1 ,god is light1 ,god is love1 ,god is life4 ,he likewise says of the ,savior1 ,in him was life1 and the life was the light of men1 and reports him as saying of himself1 ,i am the truth1 ,i am the life1 ,i am the light of the world4 ,the fundamental meaning of these declarations so numerous1 striking1 and varied in the writings of ,john is1 that all those qualities which the consciousness of humanity has recognised as ,divine are consubstantial with the being of ,god2 that all the reflections of them in nature and man belong to the ,logos1 the eldest ,son1 the first production1 of ,god2 and that in ,jesus their personality1 the very ,logos himself1 was consciously embodied1 to be brought nearer to men1 to be exemplified and recommended to them4 ,reason1 power1 truth1 light1 love1 blessedness1 are not individual aons1 members of a hierarchy of deities1 but are the revealing elements of the one true ,god4 ,the personality of the abstract and absolute fulness of all these substantial qualities is ,god4 ,the personality of the discerpted portion of them shown in the universe is the ,logos4 ,now1 that latter personality ,christ was4 ,consequently1 while he was a man1 he was not merely a man1 but was also a supernatural messenger from heaven1 sent into the world to impersonate the image of ,god under the condition of humanity1 free from every sinful defect and spot4 ,thus1 being the manifesting representative of the ,father1 he could say1 ,he that hath seen me hath virtually seen the ,father4 ,not that they were identical in person1 but that they were similar in nature and character1 spirit and design3 both were eternal holiness1 love1 truth1 and life4 ,i and my ,father are one thing1 7in essence1 not in personality47 ,nothing can be more #cb ,statement of ,reasons1 #ast ed4 p4 #bci4 #cc ,christian ,examiner1 ,may1 #ahdi1 p4 #dca4 unequivocally pronounced than the subordination of the ,son to the ,father that the ,father sent him1 that he could do nothing without the ,father1 that his ,father was greater than he1 that his testimony was confirmed by the ,father's in a hundred places by ,john1 both as author writing his own words and as interpreter reporting ,christ's4 ,there is not a text in the record that implies ,christ's identity with ,god1 but only his identity with the ,logos4 ,the identity of the ,logos with ,god is elementary1 not personal4 ,from this view it follows that every man who possesses1 knows1 and exhibits the elements of the ,divine life1 the characteristics of ,god1 is in that degree a son of ,god1 ,christ being pre eminently the ,son on account of his pre eminent likeness1 his supernatural divinity1 as the incarnate ,logos4 ,that the apostle held and taught this conclusion appears1 first1 from the fact1 otherwise inexplicable1 that he records the same sublime statements concerning all good ,christians1 with no other qualification than that of degree1 that he does concerning ,christ himself4 ,was ,jesus the ,son of ,god8 ,to as many as received him he gave power to become the sons of ,god4 ,there is in ,philo a passage corresponding remarkably with this one from ,john3 ,those who have knowledge of the truth are properly called sons of ,god3 he who is still unfit to be named a son of ,god should endeavor to fashion himself to the first born ,logos of ,god4#cd ,was ,jesus from above1 while wicked men were from beneath8 ,they are not of the world1 even as ,i am not of the world4 ,was ,jesus sent among men with a special commission8 ,as thou hast sent me into the world1 even so have ,i also sent them into the world4 ,was ,jesus the subject of a peculiar glory1 bestowed upon him by the ,father8 ,the glory which thou gavest me ,i have given them1 that they may be one1 even as we are one4 ,had ,jesus an inspiration and a knowledge not vouchsafed to the princes of this world8 ,ye have an unction from the ,holy ,one1 and ye know all things4 ,did ,jesus perform miraculous works8 ,he that believeth on me1 the works that ,i do shall he do also4 ,in the light of the general principle laid down1 that ,god is the actual fulness of truth and love and light and blessedness2 that ,christ1 the ,logos1 is the manifested impersonation of them2 and that all men who receive him partake of their ,divine substance and enjoy their prerogative1 the texts just cited1 and numerous other similar ones1 are transparent4 ,it is difficult to see how on any other hypothesis they can be made to express an intelligible and consistent meaning4 ,secondly1 we are brought to the same conclusion by the synonymous use and frequent interchange of different terms in the ,johannean writings4 ,not only it is said1 ,whoever is born of ,god cannot sin1 but it is also written1 ,every one that doeth righteousness is born of ,god2 and again1 ,whosoever believeth that ,jesus is the ,christ is born of ,god4 ,in other words1 having a good character and leading a just life1 heartily receiving and obeying the revelation made by ,christ1 are identical phrases4 ,he that hath the ,son hath life4 ,whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of ,christ hath not ,god4 ,this is the victory that overcometh the world1 even our faith in the doctrine of ,christ4 ,he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in ,god and ,god in him4 ,he that keepeth the commandments dwelleth in ,god and ,god in him4 ,he that confesseth that ,jesus is the ,son of ,god1 ,god #cd ,philo1 vol4 i4 p4 #dbg4 dwelleth in him and he in ,god4 ,he that doeth good is of ,god4 ,god hath given to us eternal life1 and this life is in his ,son4 ,the ,son of ,god is come1 and hath given us an understanding that we may know the true ,god and eternal life4 ,from these citations1 and from other passages which will readily occur1 we gather the following pregnant results4 ,to do the truth1 walk in the truth1 walk in the light1 keep the commandments1 do righteousness1 abide in the doctrine of ,christ1 do the will of ,god1 do good1 dwell in love1 abide in ,christ1 abide in ,god1 abide in life1 all are expressions meaning precisely the same thing4 ,they all signify essentially the conscious possession of goodness2 in other words1 the practical adoption of the life and teachings of ,jesus2 or1 in still other terms1 the personal assimilation of the spiritual realities of the ,logos1 which are love1 life1 truth1 light4 ,jesus having been sent into the world to exemplify the characteristics and claims of the ,father1 and to regenerate men from unbelief and sin to faith and righteousness1 those who were walking in darkness1 believers of lies and doers of unrighteousness1 those who were abiding in alienation and death1 might by receiving and following him be restored to the favor of ,god and pass from darkness and death into life and light4 ,this is eternal life1 that they should know thee1 the only true ,god1 and ,jesus ,christ whom thou hast sent4 ,the next chief point in the doctrine of ,john is his belief in an evil being1 the personality of wickedness1 and the relation between him and bad men4 ,there have been1 from the early centuries1 keen disputes on the question whether this apostle uses the terms devil and evil one with literal belief or with figurative accommodation4 ,we have not a doubt that the former is the true view4 ,the popular denial of the existence of evil spirits1 with an arch demon over them1 is the birth of a philosophy much later than the apostolic age4 ,the use of the term devil merely as the poetic or ethical personification of the seductive influences of the world is the fruit of theological speculation neither originated nor adopted by the ,jewish prophets or by the ,christian apostles4 ,whoso will remember the prevailing faith of the ,jews at that time1 and the general state of speculative opinion1 and will recollect the education of ,john1 and notice the particular manner in which he alludes to the subject throughout his epistles and in his reports of the discourses of ,jesus1 we think will be convinced that the ,johannean system includes a belief in the actual existence of ,satan according to the current ,pharisaic dogma of that age4 ,it is not to be disguised1 either1 that the investigations of the ablest critics have led an overwhelming majority of them to this interpretation4 ,i write unto you1 young men1 because ye have overcome the evil one4 ,he that is begotten of ,god guardeth himself1 and the evil one toucheth him not4 ,he that committeth sin is of the devil1 for the devil sinneth from the beginning4 ,whosoever is born of ,god cannot sin4 ,in this the children of ,god are manifest1 and the children of the devil4 ,ye are of your father the devil1 and his lusts ye will do4 ,there can be no doubt that these1 and other passages of a kindred and complementary nature1 yield the following view4 ,good men are allied to ,god1 because their characteristics are the same as his1 truth1 light1 love1 life1 righteousness4 ,as he is1 so are we in this world4 ,bad men are allied to the devil1 because their characteristics are the same as his1 falsehood1 darkness1 hatred1 death1 sin4 ,cain1 who slew his brother1 was of the evil one4 ,the facts1 then1 of the great moral problem of the world1 according to ,john1 were these4 ,god is the infinite ,father1 whose nature and attributes comprehend all holy1 beautiful1 desirable realities1 and who would draw mankind to his blessed embrace forever4 ,the goodness1 illumination1 and joy of holy souls reflect his holiness and display his reign4 ,the devil is the great spirit of wickedness1 whose attributes comprehend all evil1 dark1 fearful realities1 and who entices mankind to sin4 ,the wickedness1 gloom1 and misery of corrupt souls reveal his likeness and his kingdom4 ,the former manifests himself in the glories of the world and in the divine qualities of the soul4 ,the latter manifests himself in the whole history of temptation and sin and in the vicious tendencies of the heart4 ,good men1 those possessing pre eminently the moral qualities of ,god1 are his children1 are born of him1 that is1 are inspired and led by him4 ,bad men1 those possessing in a ruling degree the qualities of the devil1 are his children1 are born of him1 that is1 are animated and governed by his spirit4 ,whether the evangelist gave to his own mind any philosophical account of the origin and destiny of the devil or not is a question concerning which his writings are not explicit enough for us to determine4 ,in the beginning he represents ,god as making1 by means of the ,logos1 all things that were made1 and his light as shining in darkness that comprehended it not4 ,now1 he may have conceived of matter as uncreated1 eternally existing in formless night1 the ground of the devil's being1 and may have limited the work of creation to breaking up the sightless chaos1 defining it into orderly shapes1 filling it with light and motion1 and peopling it with children of heaven4 ,such was the ,persian faith1 familiar at that time to the ,jews4 ,neander1 with others1 objects to this view that it would destroy ,john's monotheism and make him a dualist1 a believer in two self existents1 aboriginal and everlasting antagonists4 ,it only needs to be observed1 in reply1 that ,john was not a philosopher of such thorough dialectic training as to render it impossible for inconsistencies to coexist in his thoughts4 ,in fact1 any one who will examine the beliefs of even such men as ,origen and ,augustine will perceive that such an objection is not valid4 ,some writers of ability and eminence have tried to maintain that the ,johannean conception of ,satan was of some exalted archangel who apostatized from the law of ,god and fell from heaven into the abyss of night1 sin1 and woe4 ,they could have been led to such an hypothesis only by preconceived notions and prejudices1 because there is not in ,john's writings even the obscurest intimation of such a doctrine4 ,on the contrary1 it is written that the devil is a liar and the father of lies from the beginning1 the same phrase used to denote the primitive companionship of ,god and his ,logos anterior to the creation4 ,the devil is spoken of by ,john1 with prominent consistency1 as bearing the same relation to darkness1 falsehood1 sin1 and death that ,god bears to light1 truth1 righteousness1 and life1 that is1 as being their original personality and source4 ,whether the belief itself be true or not1 be reconcilable with pure ,christianity or not1 in our opinion ,john undoubtedly held the belief of the personality of the source of wickedness1 and supposed that the great body of mankind had been seduced by him from the free service of heaven1 and had become infatuated in his bondage4 ,just here in the scheme of ,christianity arises the necessity1 appears the profound significance in the apostolic belief1 of that disinterested interference of ,god through his revelation in ,christ which aimed to break the reigning power of sin and redeem lost men from the tyranny of ,satan4 ,for this purpose the ,son of ,god was manifested1 that he might destroy the works of the devil4 ,that is to say1 the revelation of the nature and will of ,god in the works of the creation and in the human soul was not enough1 even when aided by the law of ,moses1 to preserve men in the truth and the life4 ,they had been seduced by the evil one into sin1 alienated from the ,divine favor1 and plunged in darkness and death4 ,a fuller1 more powerful manifestation of the character1 claims1 attractions of the ,father was necessary to recall the benighted wanderers from their lost state and restore them to those right relations and to that conscious communion with ,god in which alone true life consists4 ,then1 and for that purpose1 ,jesus ,christ was commissioned to appear1 a pre existent being of most exalted rank1 migrating from the super stellar sphere into this world1 to embody and mirror forth through the flesh those characteristics which are the natural attributes of ,god the ,father and the essential conditions of heaven the home4 ,in him the glorious features of the ,divinity were miniatured on a finite scale and perfectly exhibited1 thus revealing1 7as ,neander says1 in his exposition of ,john's doctrine17 for the first time1 in a comprehensible manner1 what a being that ,god is whose holy personality man was created to represent4 ,so ,philo says1 ,the ,logos is the image of ,god1 and man is the image of the ,logos4#ce ,therefore1 according to this view1 man is the image of the image of ,god4 ,the dimmed1 imperfect reflection of the ,father1 originally shining in nature and the soul1 would enable all who had not suppressed it and lost the knowledge of it1 to recognise at once and adore the illuminated image of ,him manifested and moving before them in the person of the ,son2 the faint gleams of ,divine qualities yet left within their souls would spontaneously blend with the full splendors irradiating the form of the inspired and immaculate ,christ4 ,thus they would enter into a new and intensified communion with ,god1 and experience an unparalleled depth of peace and joy1 an inspired assurance of eternal life4 ,but those who1 by worldliness and wickedness1 had obscured and destroyed all their natural knowledge of ,god and their affinities to him1 being without the inward preparation and susceptibility for the ,divine which the ,savior embodied and manifested1 would not be able to receive it1 and thus would pass an infallible sentence upon themselves4 ,when the ,comforter is come1 he will convict the world of sin1 because they believe not on me4 ,he that believeth on the ,son hath eternal life2 but he that believeth not is condemned already1 in that he loveth darkness rather than light4 ,hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error3 he that knoweth ,god heareth us2 he that is not of ,god heareth not us4 ,who is a liar but he that denieth that ,jesus is the ,christ8 ,the idea is1 that such a denial must be caused by inward depravity1 could only spring from an evil character4 ,in the ground thought just presented we may find the explanation of the seemingly obscure and confused use of terms in the following instances1 and learn to understand more fully ,john's idea of the effect of spiritual contact with ,christ4 ,he that doeth righteousness is born of ,god4 ,he that believeth ,jesus to be the ,christ is born of ,god4 ,he that denieth the ,son1 the same hath not the ,father4 ,he that hath the ,son hath life4 ,these passages all become perspicuous and concordant in view of ,john's conception of the inward unity of #ce ,philo1 vol4 i4 p4 #ajf4 truth1 or the universal oneness of the ,divine life1 in ,god1 in ,christ1 in all souls that partake of it4 ,a character in harmony with the character of ,god will1 by virtue of its inherent light and affinity1 recognise the kindred attributes or characteristics of ,god1 wherever manifested4 ,he who perceives and embraces the ,divinity in the character of ,christ proves thereby that he was prepared to receive it by kindred qualities residing in himself1 proves that he was distinctively of ,god4 ,he who fails to perceive the peculiar glory of ,christ proves thereby that he was alienated and blinded by sin and darkness1 distinctively of the evil one4 ,varying the expression to illustrate the thought1 if the light and warmth of a living love of ,god were in a soul1 it would necessarily1 when brought into contact with the concentrated radiance of ,divinity incarnated and beaming in ,christ1 effect a more fervent1 conscious1 and abiding union with the ,father than could be known before he was thus revealed4 ,but if iniquities1 sinful lusts1 possessing the soul1 had made it hard and cold1 even the blaze of spotless virtues and miraculous endowments in the manifesting ,messiah would be the radiation of light upon darkness insensible to it4 ,therefore1 the presentation of the ,divine contents of the soul or character of ,jesus to different persons was an unerring test of their previous moral state3 the good would apprehend him with a thrill of unison1 the bad would not4 ,to have the ,son1 to have the ,father1 to have the truth1 to have eternal life1 all are the same thing3 hence1 where one is predicated or denied all are predicated or denied4 ,continuing our investigation1 we shall find the distinction drawn of a sensual or perishing life and a spiritual or eternal life4 ,the term world 7kosmos7 is used by ,john apparently in two different senses4 ,first1 it seems to signify all mankind1 divided sometimes into the unbelievers and the ,christians4 ,christ is the propitiation for our sins1 and not for ours only1 but also for the sins of the whole world4 ,god sent not his ,son to condemn the world1 but that the world through him might be saved4 ,it is undeniable that world here means not the earth1 but the men on the earth4 ,secondly1 world in the dialect of ,john means all the evil1 all the vitiating power1 of the material creation4 ,now shall the ,prince of this world be cast out4 ,it is not meant that this is the devil's world1 because ,john declares in the beginning that ,god made it2 but he means that all diabolic influence comes from the darkness of matter fighting against the light of ,divinity1 and by a figure he says world1 meaning the evils in the world1 meaning all the follies1 vanities1 sins1 seductive influences1 of the dark and earthy1 the temporal and sensual4 ,in this case the love of the world means almost precisely what is expressed by the modern word worldliness4 ,love not the world1 neither the things that are in the world4 ,if any man love the world1 the love of the ,father is not in him4 ,in a vein strikingly similar1 ,philo writes1 ,it is impossible for the love of the world and the love of ,god to coexist1 as it is impossible for light and darkness to coexist4#cf ,for all that is in the world1 says ,john1 the lust of the flesh1 and the greed of the eyes1 and the pomp of living1 is not of the ,father1 but is of the world4 ,and the world passes away1 with the lust thereof3 but he that does the will of ,god abides forever4 ,he who is taken up and absorbed in the gauds and pleasures of time and sense has no deep spring of religious experience3 #cf ,philo1 vol4 ii4 p4 #fdi4 his enjoyments are of the decaying body2 his heart and his thoughts are set on things which soon fly away4 ,but the earnest believer in ,god pierces through all these superficial and transitory objects and pursuits1 and fastens his affections to imperishable verities3 he feels1 far down in his soul1 the living well of faith and fruition1 the cool fresh fountain of spiritual hope and joy1 whose stream of life flows unto eternity4 ,the vain sensualist and hollow worldling has no true life in him3 his love reaches not beyond the grave4 ,the loyal servant of duty and devout worshipper of ,god has a spirit of conscious superiority to death and oblivion3 though the sky fall1 and the mountains melt1 and the seas fade1 he knows he shall survive1 because immaterial truth and love are deathless4 ,the whole thought contained in the texts we are considering is embodied with singular force and beauty in the following passage from one of the sacred books of the ,hindus3 ,who would have immortal life must beware of outward things1 and seek inward truth1 purity1 and faith2 for the treacherous and evanescent world flies from its votaries1 like the mirage1 or devil car1 which moves so swiftly that one cannot ascend it4 ,the mere negation of real life or blessedness is predicated of the careless worldling2 positive death or miserable condemned unrest is predicated of the bad hearted sinner4 ,both these classes of men1 upon accepting ,christ1 that is1 upon owning the ,divine characteristics incarnate in him1 enter upon a purified1 exalted1 and new experience4 ,he that hates his brother is a murderer and abides in death4 ,we know that we have passed from death unto life1 because we love the brethren4 ,this new experience is distinctively1 emphatically1 life2 it is spiritual peace1 joy1 trust1 communion with ,god1 and therefore immortal4 ,it brings with it its own sufficient evidence1 leaving its possessor free from misgiving doubts1 conscious of his eternity4 ,he that believeth on the ,son of ,god hath the witness in himself4 ,hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us1 because he hath given us of his spirit4 ,that ye may know that ye have eternal life4 ,the objects of ,christ's mission1 so far as they refer to the twofold purpose of revealing the ,father by an impersonation of his image1 and giving new moral life to men by awakening within them a conscious fellowship with ,divine truth and goodness1 have already been unfolded4 ,but this does not include the whole3 all this might have been accomplished by his appearance1 authoritative teachings1 miracles1 and return to heaven1 without dying4 ,why1 then1 did he die8 ,what was the meaning or aim of his death and resurrection8 ,the apostle conceives that he came not only to reveal ,god and to regenerate men1 but also to be a propitiation for men's sins1 to redeem them from the penalty of their sins2 and it was for this end that he must suffer the doom of physical death4 ,ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins4 ,it is the more difficult to tell exactly what thoughts this language was intended by ,john to convey1 because his writings are so brief and miscellaneous1 so unsystematic and incomplete4 ,he does not explain his own terms1 but writes as if addressing those who had previously received such oral instruction as would make the obscurities clear1 the hints complete1 and the fragments whole4 ,we will first quote from ,john all the important texts bearing on the point before us1 and then endeavor to discern and explain their sense4 ,if we walk in the light as ,god is in the light1 the blood of ,jesus ,christ1 his ,son1 cleanseth us from all sin4 ,he is the propitiation for our sins4 ,your sins are forgiven through his name4 ,the whole world is subject to the evil one4 ,these texts1 few and vague as they are1 comprise every thing directly said by ,john upon the atonement and redemption3 other relevant passages merely repeat the same substance4 ,certainly these statements do not of themselves teach any thing like the ,augustinian doctrine of expiatory sufferings to placate the ,father's indignation at sin and sinners1 or to remove1 by paying the awful debt of justice1 the insuperable bars to forgiveness4 ,nothing of that sort is anywhere intimated in the ,johannean documents1 even in the faintest manner4 ,so far from saying that there was unwillingness or inability in the ,father to take the initiative for our ransom and pardon1 he expressly avows1 ,herein is love1 not that we loved ,god1 but that he loved us and sent his ,son to be the propitiation for our sins4 ,instead of exclaiming1 with the majority of modern theologians1 ,believe in the atoning death1 the substitutional sufferings1 of ,christ1 and your sins shall then all be washed away1 and you shall be saved1 he explicitly says1 ,if we confess our sins1 he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins4 ,and again3 ,whosoever believeth in him not in his death1 but in him shall have eternal life4 ,the allusions in ,john to the doctrine of redemption and reconciliation do not mean1 it is plain enough1 the buying off of the victims of eternal condemnation by the vicarious pains of ,jesus4 ,what1 then1 do they mean8 ,they are too few1 short1 and obscure for us to decide this question conclusively by their own light alone4 ,we must get assistance from abroad4 ,the reader will remember that it was the ,jewish belief1 and the retained belief of the converts to ,christianity1 at that time1 that men's souls1 in consequence of sin1 were doomed upon leaving the body to descend into the under world4 ,this was the objective penalty of sin1 inherited from ,adam4 ,now1 ,christ in his superangelic state in heaven was not involved in sin or in its doom of death and subterranean banishment4 ,yet at the will of the ,father he became a man1 went through our earthly experiences1 died like a sinner1 and after death descended into the prison of disembodied souls below1 then rose again and ascended into heaven to the ,father1 to show men that their sins were forgiven1 the penalty taken away1 and the path opened for them too to rise to eternal life in the celestial mansions with ,christ and be with him where he is4 ,christ's death1 then1 cleanses men from sin1 he is a propitiation for their sins1 in two ways4 ,first1 by his resurrection from the power of death and his ascent to heaven he showed men that ,god had removed the great penalty of sin3 by his death and ascension he was the medium of giving them this knowledge4 ,secondly1 the joy1 gratitude1 love to ,god1 awakened in them by such glorious tidings1 would purify their natures1 exalt their souls into spiritual freedom and virtue1 into a blessed and ,divine life4 ,according to this view1 ,christ was a vicarious sacrifice1 not in the sense that he suffered instead of the guilty1 to purchase their redemption from the iron justice of ,god1 but in the sense that1 when he was personally free from any need to suffer1 he died for the sake of others1 to reveal to them the mighty boon of ,god's free grace1 assuring them of the wondrous gift of a heavenly immortality4 ,this representation perfectly fills and explains the language1 without violence or arbitrary suppositions1 does it in harmony with all the exegetical considerations1 historical and grammatical2 which no other view that we know of can do4 ,there are several independent facts which lend strong confirmation to the correctness of the exposition now given4 ,we know that we have not directly proved the justice of that exposition1 only constructively1 inferentially1 established it2 not shown it to be true1 only made it appear plausible4 ,but that plausibility becomes an extreme probability nay1 shall we not say certainty8 when we weigh the following testimonies for it4 ,first1 this precise doctrine is unquestionably contained in other parts of the ,new ,testament4 ,we have in preceding chapters demonstrated its existence in ,paul's epistles1 in ,peter's1 in the ,epistle to the ,hebrews1 and in the ,apocalypse4 ,therefore1 since ,john's phraseology is better explained by it than by any other hypothesis1 it is altogether likely that his real meaning was the same4 ,secondly1 the terms light and darkness1 so frequent in this evangelist1 were not originated by him1 but adopted4 ,they were regarded by the ,persian theology1 by ,plato1 by ,philo1 by the ,gnostics1 as having a physical basis as well as a spiritual significance4 ,in their conceptions1 physical light1 as well as spiritual holiness1 was an efflux or manifestation from the supernal ,god2 physical darkness1 as well as spiritual depravity1 was an emanation or effect from the infernal ,satan1 or principle of evil4 ,is it not so in the usage of ,john8 ,he uses the terms1 it is true1 prevailingly in a moral sense3 still1 there is much in his statements that looks as if he supposed they had a physical ground4 ,if so1 then how natural is this connection of thought6 ,all good comes from the dazzling world of ,god beyond the sky2 all evil comes from the nether world of his adversary1 the prince of darkness4 ,that ,john believed in a local heaven on high1 the residence of ,god1 is made certain by scores of texts too plain to be evaded4 ,would he not1 then1 in all probability1 believe in a local hell8 ,believing1 as he certainly did1 in a devil1 the author and lord of darkness1 falsehood1 and death1 would he not conceive a kingdom for him8 ,in the development of ideas reached at that time1 it is evident that the conception of ,god implied an upper world1 his resplendent abode1 and that the conception of ,satan equally implied an under world1 his gloomy realm4 ,to the latter human souls were doomed by sin4 ,from the former ,christ came1 and returned to it again1 to show that the ,father would forgive our sins and take us there4 ,thirdly1 ,john expected that ,christ1 after death1 would return to the ,father in heaven4 ,this appears from clear and reiterated statements in his reports of the ,savior's words4 ,but after the resurrection he tells us that ,jesus had not yet ascended to the ,father1 but was just on the point of going4 ,touch me not1 for ,i am not yet ascended to my ,father2 but go to my brethren1 and say unto them1 ,i ascend unto my ,father4 ,where1 then1 did he suppose the soul of his crucified ,master had been during the interval between his death and his resurrection8 ,dormant in the body1 dead with the body1 laid in the tomb8 ,that is opposed to the doctrine of uninterrupted life which pervades his writings4 ,besides1 such a belief was held only by the ,sadducees1 whom the ,new ,testament stigmatizes4 ,to assume that such was ,john's conception of the fact is an arbitrary supposition1 without the least warrant from any source whatever4 ,if he imagined the soul of ,jesus during that time to have been neither in heaven nor in the sepulchre1 is it not pretty sure that he supposed it was in the under world1 the common receptacle of souls1 where1 according to the belief of that age1 every man went after death8 ,fourthly1 it is to be observed1 in favor of this general interpretation1 that the doctrine it unfolds is in harmony with the contemporary opinions1 a natural development from them1 a development which would be forced upon the mind of a ,jewish ,christian accepting the resurrection of ,christ as a fact4 ,it was the ,jewish opinion that ,god dwelt with his holy angels in a world of everlasting light above the firmament4 ,it was the ,jewish opinion that the departed souls of men1 on account of sin1 were confined beneath the earth in ,satan's and death's dark and slumberous cavern of shadows4 ,it was the ,jewish opinion that the ,messiah would raise the righteous dead and reign with them on earth4 ,now1 the first ,christians clung to the ,jewish creed and expectations1 with such modifications merely as the variation of the actual ,jesus and his deeds from the theoretical ,messiah and his anticipated achievements compelled4 ,then1 when ,christ having been received as the bringer of glad tidings from the ,father died1 and after three days rose from the dead and ascended to ,god1 promising his brethren that where he was they should come1 must they not have regarded it all as a dramatic exemplification of the fact that the region of death was no longer a hopeless dungeon1 since one mighty enough to solve its chains and burst its gates had returned from it8 must they not have considered him as a pledge that their sins were forgiven1 their doom reversed1 and heaven attainable8 ,john1 in common with all the first ,christians1 evidently expected that the second advent of the ,lord would soon take place1 to consummate the objects he had left unfinished1 to raise the dead and judge them1 justifying the worthy and condemning the unworthy4 ,there was a well known ,jewish tradition that the appearance of ,antichrist would immediately precede the triumphant coming of the ,messiah4 ,john says1 ,even now are there many ,antichrists3 thereby we know that it is the last hour4#cg ,abide in him1 that1 when he shall appear1 we may not be ashamed before him at his coming4 ,that we may have boldness in the day of judgment4 ,the evangelist's outlook for the return of the ,savior is also shown at the end of his ,gospel4 ,jesus said not unto him1 ',he shall not die2' but1 ',if ,i will that he tarry till ,i come1 what is that to thee8' ,that the doctrine of a universal resurrection which the ,jews probably derived1 through their communication with the ,persians1 from the ,zoroastrian system1 and1 with various modifications1 adopted is embodied in the following passage1 who can doubt8 ,the hour is coming when all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the ,son of ,man and shall come forth4 ,that a general resurrection would literally occur under the auspices of ,jesus was surely the meaning of the writer of those words4 ,whether that thought was intended to be conveyed by ,christ in the exact terms he really used or not is a separate question1 with which we are not now concerned1 our object being simply to set forth ,john's views4 ,some commentators1 seizing the letter and neglecting the spirit1 have inferred from various texts that ,john expected that the resurrection would be limited to faithful ,christians1 just as the more rigid of the ,pharisees confined it to the righteous ,jews4 ,except ye eat the flesh of the ,son of ,man and drink his blood1 ye have no life in you4 ,whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life2 and ,i will raise him up at the last day4 #cg ,see the able and impartial discussion of ,john's belief on this subject contained in ,lucke's ,commentary on the ,first ,epistle of ,john1 i4 #ah-bh4 ,to force this figure into a literal meaning is a mistake2 for in the preceding chapter it is expressly said that ,they that have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life2 they that have done evil unto the resurrection of condemnation4 ,both shall rise to be judged2 but as we conceive the most probable sense of the phrases the good shall be received to heaven1 the bad shall be remanded to the under world4 ,has no life in him of course cannot mean is absolutely dead1 annihilated1 but means has not faith and virtue1 the elements of blessedness1 the qualifications for heaven4 ,the particular figurative use of words in these texts may be illustrated by parallel idioms from ,philo1 who says1 ,of the living some are dead2 on the contrary1 the dead live4 ,for those lost from the life of virtue are dead1 though they reach the extreme of old age2 while the good1 though they are disjoined from the body1 live immortally4#ch ,again he writes1 ,deathless life delivers the dying pious2 but the dying impious everlasting death seizes4#ci ,and a great many passages plainly show that one element of ,philo's meaning1 in such phrases as these1 is1 that he believed that1 upon their leaving the body1 the souls of the good would ascend to heaven1 while the souls of the bad would descend to ,hades4 ,these discriminated events he supposed would follow death at once4 ,his thorough ,platonism had weaned him from the ,persian ,pharisaic doctrine of a common intermediate state detaining the dead below until the triumphant advent of a ,redeemer should usher in the great resurrection and final judgment4#dj ,john declares salvation to be conditional4 ,the blood of ,christ that is1 his death and what followed cleanses us from all sin1 if we walk in the light as he is in the light2 not otherwise4 ,he that believeth not the ,son shall not see eternal life1 but the wrath of ,god abideth on him4 ,if any man see his brother commit a sin which is not unto death1 he shall pray1 and shall receive life for them that sin not unto death4 ,there is a sin unto death3 ,i do not say that he shall pray for it4 ,beloved1 now are we the sons of ,god1 and it doth not yet appear what we shall be2 but we know that when he ,christ shall appear we shall be like him1 for we shall see him as he is4 ,every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself1 even as he is pure4 ,the heads of the doctrine which seems to underlie these statements are as follow4 ,christ shall come again4 ,all the dead shall rise for judicial ordeal4 ,those counted worthy shall be accepted1 be transfigured into the resemblance of the glorious ,redeemer and enter into eternal blessedness in heaven4 ,the rest shall be doomed to the dark kingdom of death in the under world1 to remain there for aught that is hinted to the contrary forever4 ,from these premises two practical inferences are drawn in exhortations4 ,first1 we should earnestly strive to fit ourselves for acceptance by moral purity1 brotherly love1 and pious faith4 ,secondly1 we should seek pardon for our sins by confession and prayer1 and take heed lest by aggravated sin we deprave our souls beyond recovery4 ,there are those who sin unto death1 for whom it is hopeless to pray4 ,light1 truth1 and the divine life of heaven can never receive them2 darkness1 falsehood1 and the deep realm of death irrevocably swallow them4 ,and now we may sum up in a few words the essential results of this whole inquiry into the principles of ,john's theology1 especially as composing and shown in his doctrine of a #ch ,vol4 i4 p4 #eed4 #ci ,ibid4 p4 #bcc4 #dj ,see vol4 i4 pp4 #aci1 #daf1 #dag1 #eee1 #fdc1 #fdh2 vol4 ii4 pp4 #agh1 #dcc4 future life4 ,first1 ,god is personal love1 truth1 light1 holiness1 blessedness4 ,these realities1 as concentrated in their incomprehensible absoluteness1 are the elements of his infinite being4 ,secondly1 these spiritual substances1 as diffused through the worlds of the universe and experienced in the souls of moral creatures1 are the medium of ,god's revelation of himself1 the direct presence and working of his ,logos4 ,thirdly1 the persons who prevailingly partake of these qualities are ,god's loyal subjects and approved children1 in peaceful communion with the ,father1 through the ,son1 possessing eternal life4 ,fourthly1 ,satan is personal hatred1 falsehood1 darkness1 sin1 misery4 ,these realities1 in their abstract nature and source1 are his being2 in their special manifestations they are his efflux and power4 ,fifthly1 the persons who partake rulingly of these qualities are the devil's enslaved subjects and lineal children3 in sinful bondage to him1 in depraved communion with him1 they dwell in a state of hostile banishment and unhappiness1 which is moral death4 ,sixthly1 ,christ was the ,logos who1 descending from his anterior glory in heaven1 and appearing in mortal flesh1 embodied all the ,divine qualities in an unflawed model of humanity1 gathered up and exhibited all the spiritual characteristics of the ,father in a stainless and perfect soul supernaturally filled and illumined1 thus to bear into the world a more intelligible and effective revelation of ,god the ,father than nature or common humanity yielded1 to shine with regenerating radiance upon the deadly darkness of those who were groping in lying sins1 that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly4 ,seventhly1 the fickle and perishing experience of unbelieving and wicked men1 the vagrant life of sensuality and worldliness1 the shallow life in vain and transitory things1 gives place in the soul of a ,christian to a profoundly earnest1 unchanging experience of truth and love1 a steady and everlasting life in ,divine and everlasting things4 ,eighthly1 the experimental reception of the revealed grace and verity by faith and discipleship in ,jesus is accompanied by internal convincing proofs and seals of their genuineness1 validity1 and immortality4 ,they awaken a new consciousness1 a new life1 inherently ,divine and self warranting4 ,ninthly1 ,christ1 by his incarnation1 death1 resurrection1 and ascension1 was a propitiation for our sins1 a mercy seat pledging forgiveness2 that is1 he was the medium of showing us that mercy of ,god which annulled the penalty of sin1 the descent of souls to the gloomy under world1 and opened the celestial domains for the ransomed children of earth to join the sinless angels of heaven4 ,tenthly1 ,christ was speedily to make a second advent4 ,in that last day the dead should come forth for judgment1 the good be exalted to unfading glory with the ,father and the ,son1 and the bad be left in the lower region of noiseless shadows and dreams4 ,these ten points of view1 we believe1 command all the principal features of the theological landscape which occupied the mental vision of the writer of the ,gospel and epistles bearing the superscription1 ,john4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,christ',s ,,teachings ,,concerning ,,the ,,future ,,life4 ,,in approaching the teachings of the ,savior himself concerning the future fate of man1 we should throw off the weight of creeds and prejudices1 and1 by the aid of all the appliances in our power1 endeavor to reach beneath the imagery and unessential particulars of his instructions to learn their bare significance in truth4 ,this is made difficult by the singular perversions his religion has undergone2 by the loss of a complete knowledge of the peculiarities of the ,messianic age in the lapse of the ages since2 by the almost universal change in our associations1 modes of feeling and thought1 and styles of speech2 and by the gradual accretion and hardening of false doctrines and sectarian biases and wilfulness4 ,as we examine the words of ,christ to find their real meaning1 there are four prominent considerations to be especially weighed and borne in mind4 ,first1 we must not forget the poetic ,eastern style common to the ,jewish prophets2 their symbolic enunciations in bold figures of speech3 ,i am the door2 ,i am the bread of life2 ,i am the vine2 ,my sheep hear my voice2 ,if these should hold their peace1 the stones would immediately cry out4 ,this daring emblematic language was natural to the ,oriental nations2 and the ,bible is full of it4 ,is the overthrow of a country foretold8 ,it is not said1 ,babylon shall be destroyed1 but ,the sun shall be darkened at his going forth1 the moon shall be as blood1 the stars shall fall from heaven1 and the earth shall stagger to and fro as a drunken man4 ,if we would truly understand ,christ's declarations1 we must not overlook the characteristics of figurative language4 ,for he spake to the multitude in parables1 and without a parable spake he not unto them2 and a parable1 of course1 is not to be taken literally1 but holds a latent sense and purpose which are to be sought out4 ,the greatest injustice is done to the teachings of ,christ when his words are studied as those of a dry scholastic1 a metaphysical moralist1 not as those of a profound poet1 a master in the spiritual realm4 ,secondly1 we must remember that we have but fragmentary reports of a small part of the teachings of ,christ4 ,he was engaged in the active prosecution of his mission probably about three years1 at the shortest over one year2 while all the different words of his recorded in the ,new ,testament would not occupy more than five hours4 ,only a little fraction of what he said has been transmitted to us2 and though this part may contain the essence of the whole1 yet it must naturally in some instances be obscure and difficult of apprehension4 ,we must therefore compare different passages with each other1 carefully probe them all1 and explain1 so far as possible1 those whose meaning is recondite by those whose meaning is obvious4 ,some persons may be surprised to think that we have but a small portion of the sayings of ,jesus4 ,the fact1 however1 is unquestionable4 ,and perhaps there is no more reason that we should have a full report of his words than there is that we should have a complete account of his doings2 and the evangelist declares1 ,there are also many other things which ,jesus did1 the which1 if they should every one be written1 ,i suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books4 ,thirdly1 when examining the instructions of ,jesus1 we should recollect that he adopted1 and applied to himself and to his kingdom1 the common ,jewish phraseology concerning the ,messiah and the events that were expected to attend his advent and reign4 ,but he did not take up these phrases in the perverted sense held in the corrupt opinions and earthly hopes of the ,jews3 he used them spiritually1 in the sense which accorded with the true ,messianic dispensation as it was arranged in the forecasting providence of ,god4 ,no investigation of the ,new ,testament should be unaccompanied by an observance of the fundamental rule of interpretation1 namely1 that the strident of a book1 especially of an ancient1 obscure1 and fragmentary book1 should imbue himself as thoroughly as he can with the knowledge and spirit of the opinions1 events1 influences1 circumstances1 of the time when the document was written1 and of the persons who wrote it4 ,the inquirer must be equipped for his task by a mastery of the ,rabbinism of ,gamaliel1 at whose feet ,paul was brought up2 for the ,jewish mind of that age was filled1 and its religious language directed1 by this ,rabbinism4 ,guided by this principle1 furnished with the necessary information1 in the helpful light of the best results of modern critical scholarship1 we shall be able to explain many dark texts1 and to satisfy ourselves1 at least in a degree1 as to the genuine substance of ,christ's declarations touching the future destinies of men4 ,finally1 he who studies the ,new ,testament with patient thoroughness and with honest sharpness will arrive at a distinction most important to be made and to be kept in view1 namely1 a distinction between the real meaning of ,christ's words in his own mind and the actual meaning understood in them by his auditors and reporters4#a ,here we approach a most delicate and vital point1 hitherto too little noticed1 but destined yet to become prominent and fruitful4 ,a large number of religious phrases were in common use among the ,jews at the time of ,jesus4 ,he adopted them1 but infused into them a deeper1 a correct meaning1 as ,copernicus did into the old astronomic formulas4 ,but the bystanders who listened to his discourses1 hearing the familiar terms1 seized the familiar meaning1 and erroneously attributed it to him4 ,it is certain that the ,savior was often misunderstood and often not understood at all4 ,when he declared himself the ,messiah1 the people would have made him a king by force6 ,even the apostles frequently grossly failed to appreciate his spirit and aims1 wrenched unwarrantable inferences from his words1 and quarrelled for the precedency in his coming kingdom and for seats at his right hand4 ,in numerous cases it is glaringly plain that his ideas were far from their conceptions of them4 ,we have no doubt the same was true in many other instances where it is not so clear4 ,he repeatedly reproves them for folly and slowness because they did not perceive the sense of his instructions4 ,perhaps there was a slight impatience in his tones when he said1 ,how is it that ye do not understand that ,i spake it not to you concerning bread1 that ye should beware of the leaven of the ,pharisees and of the ,sadducees8 ,jesus uttered in established phrases new and profoundly spiritual thoughts4 ,the apostles educated in1 and full of1 as they evidently were1 the dogmas1 prejudices1 and #a ,see this distinction affirmed by ,de ,wette1 in the preface to his ,commentatio de ,morte ,jesus ,christi ,expiatoria4 ,see also ,thurn1 ,jesus und seine ,apostel in ,widerspruch in ,ansehung der ,lehre von der ,ewigcn ,verdamnniss4 ,in ,scherer's ,schriftforsch4 sect4 i4 nr4 #d4 hopes of their age and land would naturally1 to some extent1 misapprehend his meaning4 ,then1 after a tumultuous interval1 writing out his instructions from memory1 how perfectly natural that their own convictions and sentiments would have a powerful influence in modifying and shaping the animus and the verbal expressions in their reports6 ,under the circumstances1 that we should now possess the very equivalents of his words with strict literalness1 and conveying his very intentions perfectly translated from the ,aramaan into the ,greek tongue1 would imply the most sustained and amazing of all miracles4 ,there is nothing whatever that indicates any such miraculous intervention4 ,there is nothing to discredit the fair presumption that the writers were left to their own abilities1 under the inspiration of an earnest consecrating love and truthfulness4 ,and we must1 with due limitations1 distinguish between the original words and conscious meaning of the sublime ,master1 illustrated by the emphasis and discrimination of his looks1 tones1 and gestures1 and the apprehended meaning recorded long afterwards1 shaped and colored by passing through the minds and pens of the sometimes dissentient and always imperfect disciples4 ,he once declared to them1 ,i have many things to say unto you1 but ye are not able to bear them4 ,admitting his infallibility1 as we may1 yet asserting their fallibility1 as we must1 and accompanied1 too1 as his words now are by many very obscuring circumstances1 it is extremely difficult to lay the hand on discriminated texts and say1 non ,,ascii characters ,the ,messianic doctrine prevalent among the ,jews in the time of ,jesus appears to have been built up little by little1 by religious faith1 national pride1 and priestly desire1 out of literal interpretations of figurative prophecy1 and ,cabalistic interpretations of plain language1 and ,rabbinical traditions and speculations1 additionally corrupted in some particulars by intercourse with the ,persians4 ,under all this was a central spiritual germ of a ,divine promise and plan4 ,a ,messiah was really to come4 ,it was in answering the questions1 what kind of a king he was to be1 and over what sort of a kingdom he was to reign1 that the errors crept in4 ,the ,messianic conceptions which have come down to us through the ,prophets1 the ,targums1 incidental allusions in the ,new ,testament1 the ,talmud1 and the few other traditions and records yet in existence1 are very diverse and sometimes contradictory4 ,they agreed in ardently looking for an earthly sovereign in the ,messiah1 one who would rise up in the line of ,david and by the power of ,jehovah deliver his people1 punish their enemies1 subdue the world to his sceptre1 and reign with ,divine auspices of beneficence and splendor4 ,they also expected that then a portion of the dead would rise from the under world and assume their bodies again1 to participate in the triumphs and blessings of his earthly kingdom4 ,his personal reign in ,judea was what they usually meant by the phrases the kingdom of heaven1 the kingdom of ,god4 ,the apostles cherished these ideas1 and expressed them in the terms common to their countrymen4 ,but we cannot doubt that ,jesus employed this and kindred language in a purer and deeper sense1 which we must take pains to distinguish from the early and lingering errors associated with it4 ,upon the threshold of our subject we meet with predictions of a second coming of ,christ from heaven1 with power and glory1 to sit on his throne and judge the world4 ,the portentous imagery in which these prophecies are clothed is taken from the old prophets2 and to them we must turn to learn its usage and force4 ,the ,hebrews called any signal manifestation of power especially any dreadful calamity a coming of the ,lord4 ,it was a coming of ,jehovah when his vengeance strewed the ground with the corpses of ,sennacherib's host2 when its storm swept ,jerusalem as with fire1 and bore ,israel into bondage2 when its sword came down upon ,idumea and was bathed in blood upon ,edom4 ,the day of the ,lord is another term of precisely similar import4 ,it occurs in the ,old ,testament about fifteen times4 ,in every instance it means some mighty manifestation of ,god's power in calamity4 ,these occasions are pictured forth with the most astounding figures of speech4 ,isaiah describes the approaching destruction of ,babylon in these terms3 ,the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall give no light2 the sun shall be darkened1 the moon shall not shine1 the heavens shall shake1 and the earth shall remove out of her place and be as a frightened sheep that no man taketh up4 ,the ,jews expected that the coming of the ,messiah would be preceded by many fearful woes1 in the midst of which he would appear with peerless pomp and might4 ,the day of his coming they named emphatically the day of the ,lord4 ,jesus actually appeared1 not1 as they expected1 a warrior travelling in the greatness of his strength1 with dyed garments from ,bozrah1 staining his raiment with blood as he trampled in the wine vat of vengeance1 but the true ,messiah1 ,god's foreordained and anointed ,son1 despised and rejected of men1 bringing good tidings1 publishing peace4 ,it must have been impossible for the ,jews to receive such a ,messiah without explanations4 ,those few who became converts apprehended his ,messianic language1 at least to some extent1 in the sense which previously occupied their minds4 ,he knew that often he was not understood2 and he frequently said to his followers1 ,who hath ears to hear1 let him hear4 ,his disciples once asked him1 ,what shall be the sign of thy coming1 and of the end of the world8 ,he replied1 substantially1 ,there shall be wars1 famines1 and unheard of trials2 and immediately after the sun shall be darkened1 the moon shall not give her light1 the stars shall fall from heaven1 and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken4 ,then shall they see the ,son of ,man coming in the clouds of heaven with great power4 ,and he shall sit upon the throne of his glory1 and all nations shall be gathered before him1 and he shall separate them one from another4 ,that this language was understood by the evangelists and the early ,christians1 in accordance with their ,pharisaic notions1 as teaching literally a physical reappearance of ,christ on the earth1 a resurrection1 and a general judgment1 we fully believe4 ,those ideas were prevalent at the time1 are expressed in scores of places in the ,new ,testament1 and are the direct strong assertion of the words themselves4 ,but that such was the meaning of ,christ himself we much more than doubt4 ,in the first place1 in his own language in regard to his second coming there is not the least hint of a resurrection of the dead3 the scene is confined to the living1 and to the earth4 ,secondly1 the figures which he employs in this connection are the same as those used by the ,jewish prophets to denote great and signal events on the earth1 and may be so taken here without violence to the idiom4 ,thirdly1 he expressly fixed the date of the events he referred to within that generation2 and if1 therefore1 he spoke literally1 he was grossly in error1 and his prophecies failed of fulfilment1 a conclusion which we cannot adopt4 ,to suppose that he partook in the false1 mechanical dogmas of the carnal ,jews would be equally irreconcilable with the common idea of his ,divine inspiration1 and with the profound penetration and spirituality of his own mind4 ,he certainly used much of the phraseology of his contemporary countrymen1 metaphorically1 to convey his own purer thoughts4 ,we have no doubt he did so in regard to the descriptions of his second coming4 ,let us state in a form of paraphrase what his real instructions on this point seem to us to have been3 ,you cannot believe that ,i am the ,messiah1 because ,i do not deliver you from your oppressors and trample on the ,gentiles4 ,your minds are clouded with errors4 ,the ,father hath sent me to found the kingdom of peace and righteousness1 and hath given me all power to reward and punish4 ,by my word shall the nations of the earth be honored and blessed1 or be overwhelmed with fire2 and every man must stand before my judgment seat4 ,the end of the world is at the doors4 ,the ,mosaic dispensation is about to be closed in the fearful tribulations of the day of the ,lord1 and my dispensation to be set up4 ,when you see ,jerusalem encompassed with armies1 know that the day is at hand1 and flee to the mountains2 for not one stone shall be left upon another4 ,then the power of ,god will be shown on my behalf1 and the sign of the ,son of ,man be seen in heaven4 ,my truths shall prevail1 and shall be owned as the criteria of ,divine judgment4 ,according to them1 all the righteous shall be distinguished as my subjects1 and all the iniquitous shall be separated from my kingdom4 ,some of those standing here shall not taste death till all these things be fulfilled4 ,then it will be seen that ,i am the ,messiah1 and that through the eternal principles of truth which ,i have proclaimed ,i shall sit upon a throne of glory1 not literally1 in person1 as you thought1 blessing the ,jews and cursing the ,gentiles1 but spiritually1 in the truth1 dispensing joy to good men and woe to bad men1 according to their deserts4 ,such we believe to be the meaning of ,christ's own predictions of his second coming4 ,he figuratively identifies himself with his religion according to that idiom by which it is written1 ,moses hath in every city them that read him1 being read in the synagogues every ,sabbath day4 ,his figure of himself as the universal judge is a bold personification2 for he elsewhere says1 ,he that believeth in me believeth not in me1 but in ,him that sent me4 ,and again1 ,he that rejecteth me1 ,i judge him not3 the word that ,i have spoken1 that shall judge him4 ,his coming in the clouds of heaven with great power and glory was when1 at the destruction of ,jerusalem1 the old age closed and the new began1 the obstacles to his religion were removed and his throne established on the earth4#b ,the apostles undoubtedly understood the doctrine differently2 but that such was his own thought we conclude1 because he did sometimes undeniably use figurative language in that way1 and because the other meaning is an error1 not in harmony either with his character1 his mind1 or his mission4 ,this interpretation is so important that it may need to be illustrated and confirmed by further instances3 ,when the ,son of ,man sits on the throne of his glory1 and all nations are gathered before him1 his angels shall sever the wicked from among the just1 and shall cast them into a furnace of fire3 there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth4 ,a few such picturesque phrases have led to the general belief in a great world judgment at the end of the #b ,norton1 ,statement of ,reasons1 ,appendix4 appointed time1 after which the condemned are to be thrown into the tortures of an unquenchable world of flame4 ,how arbitrary and violent a conclusion this is1 how unwarranted and gross a perversion of the language of ,christ it is1 we may easily see4 ,the fact that the old prophets often described fearful misfortunes and woes in images of clouds and flame and falling stars1 and other portentous symbols1 and that this style was therefore familiar to the ,jews1 would make it very natural for ,jesus1 in foretelling such an event as the coming destruction of ,jerusalem1 in conflagration and massacre1 with the irretrievable subversion of the old dispensation1 to picture it forth in a similar way4 ,fire was to the ,jews a common emblem of calamity and devastation2 and judgments incomparably less momentous than those gathered about the fall of ,jerusalem and the dispersion of the self boasted favorites of ,jehovah were often described by the prophets in appalling images of darkened planets1 shaking heavens1 clouds1 fire1 and blackness4 ,joel1 speaking of a day of the ,lord1 when there should be famine and drought1 and a horrid army of destroying insects1 before whom a fire devoureth1 and behind them a flame burneth1 draws the scene in these terrific colors3 ,the earth shall quake before them2 the sun and moon shall be dark1 and the stars shall withdraw their shining2 and the ,lord shall utter his voice before his terrible army of locusts1 caterpillars1 and destroying worms3 ,ezekiel represents ,god as saying1 ,the house of ,israel is to me become dross3 therefore ,i will gather you into the midst of ,jerusalem3 as they gather silver1 brass1 iron1 tin1 and lead into the midst of the furnace to blow the fire upon it1 so will ,i gather you1 and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath1 and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof4 ,we read in ,isaiah1 ,the ,assyrian shall flee1 and his princes shall be afraid1 saith the ,lord1 whose fire is in ,zion and his furnace in ,jerusalem4 ,malachi also says1 ,the day cometh that shall burn as a furnace1 and all that do wickedly shall be stubble1 and shall be burned up root and branch4 ,they shall be trodden as ashes beneath the feet of the righteous4 ,the meaning of these passages1 and of many other similar ones1 is1 in every instance1 some severe temporal calamity1 some dire example of ,jehovah's retributions among the nations of the earth4 ,their authors never dreamed of teaching that there is a place of fire beyond the grave in which the wicked dead shall be tormented1 or that the natural creation is finally to be devoured by flame4 ,it is perfectly certain that not a single text in the ,old ,testament was meant to teach any such doctrine as that4 ,the judgments shadowed forth in kindred metaphors by ,christ are to be understood in the light of this fact4 ,their meaning is1 that all unjust1 cruel1 false1 impure men shall endure severe punishments4 ,this general thought is fearfully distinct2 but every thing beyond all details are left in utter obscurity4 ,in the august scene of the ,king in judgment1 when the sentence has been pronounced on those at the left hand1 ,depart from me1 ye cursed1 into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels1 it is written1 and they shall go away into everlasting punishment4 ,it is obvious to remark that the imagery of a fiery prison built for ,satan and the fallen angels1 and into which the bad shall be finally doomed1 is poetical language1 or language of accommodation to the current notions of the time4 ,these startling ,oriental figures are used to wrap and convey the assertion that the wicked shall be severely punished according to their deserts4 ,no literal reference seems to be made either to the particular time1 to the special place1 or to the distinctive character1 of the punishment2 but the mere fact is stated in a manner to fill the conscience with awe and to stamp the practical lesson vividly on the memory4 ,but admitting the clauses apparently descriptive of the nature of this retribution to be metaphorical1 yet what shall we think of its duration8 ,is it absolutely unending8 ,there is nothing in the record to enable a candid inquirer to answer that question decisively4 ,so far as the letter of ,scripture is concerned1 there are no data to give an indubitable solution to the problem4 ,it is true the word everlasting is repeated2 but1 when impartially weighed1 it seems a sudden rhetorical expression1 of indefinite force1 used to heighten the impressiveness of a sublime dramatic representation1 rather than a cautious philosophical term employed to convey an abstract conception4 ,there is no reason whatever for supposing that ,christ's mind was particularly directed to the metaphysical idea of endlessness1 or to the much more metaphysical idea of timelessness4 ,the presumptive evidence is that he spoke popularly4 ,had he been charged to reveal a doctrine so tremendous1 so awful1 so unutterably momentous in its practical relations1 as that of the endless close of all probation at death1 is it conceivable that he would merely have couched it in a few figurative expressions and left it as a matter of obscure inference and uncertainty8 ,no3 in that case1 he would have iterated and reiterated it1 defined1 guarded1 illustrated it1 and have left no possibility of honest mistake or doubt of it4 ,the ,greek word non-,,ascii characters1 and the same is true of the corresponding ,hebrew word1 translated everlasting in the ,english ,bible1 has not in its popular usage the rigid force of eternal duration1 but varies1 is now applied to objects as evanescent as man's earthly life1 now to objects as lasting as eternity4#c ,its power in any given case is to be sought from the context and the reason of the thing4 ,isaiah1 having threatened the unrighteous nations that they should conceive chaff and bring forth stubble1 that their own breath should be fire to devour them1 and that they should be burnt like lime1 like thorns cut up in the fire1 makes the terror smitten sinners and hypocrites cry1 ,who among us can dwell in devouring fire8 ,who among us can dwell in everlasting burnings8 ,yet his reference is solely to an outward1 temporal judgment in this world4 ,the ,greek adjective rendered everlasting is etymologically1 and by universal usage1 a term of duration1 but indefinite1 its extent of meaning depending on the subjects of which it is predicated4 ,therefore1 when ,christ connects this word with the punishment of the wicked1 it is impossible to say with any certainty1 judging from the language itself1 whether he implies that those who die in their sins are hopelessly lost1 perfectly irredeemable forever1 or not1 though the probabilities are very strongly in the latter direction4 ,everlasting punishment may mean1 in philosophical strictness1 a punishment absolutely eternal1 or may be a popular expression denoting1 with general indefiniteness1 a very long duration4 ,since in all ,greek literature1 sacred and profane1 non-,,ascii characters is applied to things that end1 ten times as often as it is to things immortal1 no fair critic can assert positively that when it is connected with future punishment it has the stringent meaning of metaphysical endlessness4 ,on the other hand1 no one has any critical #c ,see ,christian ,examiner for ,march1 #ahed1 pp4 #bhj-big4 right to say positively that in such cases it has not that meaning4 ,the ,master has not explained his words on this point1 but has left them veiled4 ,we can settle the question itself concerning the limitedness or the unlimitedness of future punishment only on other grounds than those of textual criticism1 even on grounds of enlightened reason postulating the cardinal principles of ,christianity and of ethics4 ,will not the unimpeded ,spirit of ,christ lead all free minds and loving hearts to one conclusion8 ,but that conclusion is to be held modestly as a trusted inference1 not dogmatically as a received revelation4 ,another point in the ,savior's teachings which it is of the utmost importance to understand is the sense in which he used the ,jewish phrases ,resurrection of the ,dead and ,resurrection at the ,last ,day4 ,the ,pharisees looked for a restoration of the righteous from their graves to a bodily life4 ,this event they supposed would take place at the appearance of the ,messiah2 and the time of his coming they called the last day4 ,so the ,apostle ,john says1 ,already are there many antichrists2 whereby we know that it is the last time4 ,now1 ,jesus claimed to be the ,messiah1 clothed in his functions1 though he interpreted those functions as carrying an interior and moral1 not an outward and physical1 force4 ,this is the will of ,him that sent me1 that every one which seeth the ,son and believeth on him should have everlasting life2 and ,i will raise him up at the last day4 ,again1 when ,martha told ,jesus that she knew her brother ,lazarus would rise again in the resurrection at the last day1 he replied1 ,i am the resurrection and the life3 he that believeth in me1 though he were dead1 yet shall he live2 and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die4 ,this utterance is surely metaphorical2 for belief in ,jesus does not prevent physical dissolution4 ,the thoughts contained in the various passages belonging to this subject1 when drawn out1 compared1 and stated in general terms1 seem to us to be as follows3 ,you suppose that in the last day your ,messiah will restore the dead to live again upon the earth4 ,i am the ,messiah1 and the last days have therefore arrived4 ,i am commissioned by the ,father to bestow eternal life upon all who believe on me2 but not in the manner you have anticipated4 ,the true resurrection is not calling the body from the tomb1 but opening the fountains of eternal life in the soul4 ,i am come to open the spiritual world to your faith4 ,he that believeth in me and keepeth my commandments has passed from death unto life1 become conscious that though seemingly he passes into the grave1 yet really he shall live with ,god forever4 ,the true resurrection is1 to come into the experience of the truth that ',god is not the ,god of the dead1 but of the living2 for all live unto him4' ,over the soul that is filled with such an experience1 death has no power4 ,verily1 ,i say unto1 you1 the hour is coming1 and now is1 when the dead1 the ignorant and guilty1 buried in trespasses and sins1 shall hear these truths declared1 and they that believe shall lay hold of the life thus offered and be blessed4 ,the ,father hath given me authority to execute judgment1 that is1 to lay down the principles by which men shall be judged according to their deserts4 ,all mankind shall be judged in the spiritual state by the spirit and precepts of my religion as veritably as if in their graves the generations of the dead heard my voice and came forth1 the good to blessedness1 the evil to misery4 ,the judgment which is1 as it were1 committed unto me1 is not really committed unto me1 but unto the truth which ,i declare2 for of mine own self ,i can do nothing4 ,we believe this paraphrase expresses the essential meaning of ,christ's own declarations concerning a resurrection and an associated judgment4 ,coming to bring from the ,father authenticated tidings of immortality1 and to reveal the laws of the ,divine judgment1 he declared that those who believed and kept his words were delivered from the terror of death1 and1 knowing that an endless life of blessedness was awaiting them1 immediately entered upon its experience4 ,he did not teach the doctrine of a bodily restoration1 but said1 ,in the resurrection1 that is1 in the spiritual state succeeding death1 they neither marry nor are given in marriage1 but are as the angels of heaven4 ,he did not teach the doctrine of a temporary sleep in the grave1 but said to the penitent thief on the cross1 ,this day shalt thou be with me in ,paradise3 instantly upon leaving the body their souls would be together in the state of the blessed4 ,it is often said that the words of ,jesus in relation to the dead hearing his voice and coming forth must be taken literally2 for the metaphor is of too extreme violence4 ,but it is in keeping with his usage4 ,he says1 ,let the dead bury their dead4 ,it is far less bold than ,this is my body2 this is my blood4 ,it is not nearly so strong as ,paul's adjuration1 ,awake1 thou that sleepest1 and rise from the dead1 and ,christ shall give thee light4 ,it is not more daringly imaginative than the assertion that the heroes sleeping in ,marathon's gory bed stirred in their graves when ,leonidas fought at ,thermopyla2 or than ,christ's own words1 ,if thou hadst faith like a grain of mustard seed1 thou couldst say to this mountain1 ,be thou cast into yonder sea1 and it should obey you4 ,so one might say1 ,where'er the gospel comes1 ,it spreads diviner light2 ,it calls dead sinners from their tombs ,and gives the blind their sight4 ,and in the latter days1 when it has done its work1 and the glorious measure of human redemption is full1 liberty1 intelligence1 and love shall stand hand in hand on the mountain summits and raise up the long generations of the dead to behold the completed fruits of their toils4 ,in this figurative moral sense ,jesus probably spoke when he said1 ,thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just4 ,he referred simply to the rewards of the virtuous in the state beyond the grave4 ,the phraseology in which he clothed the thought he accommodatingly adopted from the current speech of the ,pharisees4 ,they unquestionably meant by it the group of notions contained in their dogma of the destined physical restoration of the dead from their sepulchres at the advent of the ,messiah4 ,and it seems perfectly plain to us1 on an impartial study of the record1 that the evangelist1 in reporting his words1 took the ,pharisaic dogma1 and not merely the ,christian truth1 with them4 ,but that ,jesus himself modified and spiritualized the meaning of the phrase when he employed it1 even as he did the other contemporaneous language descriptive of the ,messianic offices and times1 we conclude for two reasons4 ,first1 he certainly did often use language in that spiritual way1 dressing in bold metaphors moral thoughts of inspired insight and truth4 ,secondly1 the moral doctrine is the only one that is true1 or that is in keeping with his penetrative thought4 ,the notion of a physical resurrection is an error borrowed most likely from the ,persians by the ,pharisees1 and not belonging to the essential elements of ,christianity4 ,the notion being prevalent at the time in ,judea1 and being usually expressed in certain appropriated phrases1 when ,christ used those phrases in a true spiritual sense the apostles would naturally apprehend from them the carnal meaning which already filled their minds in common with the minds of their countrymen4 ,the word ,hades1 translated in the ,english ,new ,testament by the word hell1 a word of nearly the same etymological force1 but now conveying a quite different meaning1 occurs in the discourses of ,jesus only three several times4 ,the other instances of its use are repetitions or parallels4 ,first1 ,and thou1 ,capernaum1 which art exalted to heaven1 shalt be brought down to the under world2 that is1 the great and proud city shall become powerless1 a heap of ruins4 ,second1 ,upon this rock ,i will found my ,church1 and the gates of the under world shall not prevail against it2 that is1 the powers of darkness1 the opposition of the wicked1 the strength of evil1 shall not destroy my religion2 in spite of them it shall assert its organization and overcome all obstacles4 ,the remaining example of the ,savior's use of this word is in the parable of ,dives and ,lazarus4 ,the rich man is described1 after death1 as suffering in the under world4 ,seeing the beggar afar off in ,abraham's bosom1 he cries1 ,father ,abraham1 pity me1 and send ,lazarus1 that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue2 for ,i am tormented in this flame4 ,well known fancies and opinions are here wrought up in scenic form to convey certain moral impressions4 ,it will be noticed that the implied division of the under world into two parts1 with a gulf between them1 corresponds to the common ,gentile notion of an ,elysian region of delightful meadows for the good and a ,tartarean region of blackness and fire for the bad1 both included in one subterranean kingdom1 but divided by an interval4 #d ,the dramatic details of the account ,lazarus being borne into bliss by angels1 ,dives asking to have a messenger sent from bale to warn his surviving brothers rest on opinions afloat among the ,jews of that age1 derived from the ,persian theology4 ,zoroaster prays1 ,when ,i shall die1 let ,aban and ,bahman carry me to the bosom of joy4#e ,and it was a common belief among the ,persians that souls were at seasons permitted to leave purgatory and visit their relatives on earth4#f ,it is evident that the narrative before us is not a history to be literally construed1 but a parable to be carefully analyzed4 ,the imagery and the particulars are to be laid aside1 and the central thoughts to be drawn forth4 ,take the words literally1 that the rich man's immaterial soul1 writhing in flames1 wished the tip of a finger dipped in water to cool his tongue1 and they are ridiculous4 ,take them figuratively1 as a type of unknown spiritual anguish1 and they are awful4 ,besides1 had ,christ intended to teach the doctrine of a local burning hell1 he surely would have enunciated it in plain words1 with solemn iteration and explanatory amplifications1 instead of merely insinuating it incidentally1 in metaphorical #d ,see copious illustrations by ,rosenmuller1 in ,luc4 cap4 xvi4 #bb1 #bc4 ,hic locus est partes ubi se via findit in ambas3 ,dextera1 qua ,ditis magni sub moenia tendit2 ,hac iter ,elysium nobis3 at lava malorum ,exercet poenas1 et ad impia ,tartara mittit4 #e ,rhode1 ,heilige ,sage des ,zendvolks1 s4 #djh4 #f ,ibid4 s4 #daj4 terms1 in a professed parable4 ,the sense of the parable is1 that the formal distinctions of this world will have no influence in the allotments of the future state1 but will often be reversed there2 that a righteous ,providence1 knowing every thing here1 rules hereafter1 and will dispense compensating justice to all2 that men should not wait for a herald to rise from the dead to warn them1 but should heed the instructions they already have1 and so live in the life that now is1 as to avoid a miserable condemnation1 and secure a blessed acceptance1 in the life that is to come4 ,by inculcating these truths in a striking manner1 through the aid of a parable based on the familiar poetical conceptions of the future world and its scenery1 ,christ no more endorses those conceptions than by using the ,messianic phrases of the ,jews he approves the false carnal views which they joined with that language4 ,to interpret the parable literally1 then1 and suppose it meant to teach the actual existence of a located hell of fire for sinners after death1 is to disregard the proprieties of criticism4 ,gehenna1 or the equivalent phrase1 ,gehenna of fire1 unfortunately translated into our tongue by the word hell1 is to be found in the teachings of ,christ in only five independent instances1 each of which1 after tracing the original ,jewish usage of the term1 we will briefly examine4 ,gehenna1 or the ,vale of ,hinnom1 is derived from two ,hebrew words1 the first meaning a vale1 the second being the name of its owner4 ,the place thus called was the eastern part of the beautiful valley that forms the southern boundary of ,jerusalem4 ,here ,moloch1 the horrid idol god worshipped by the ,ammonites1 and by the ,israelites during their idolatrous lapses1 was set up4 ,this monstrous idol had the head of an ox and the body of a man4 ,it was hollow2 and1 being filled with fire1 children were laid in its arms and devoured alive by the heat4 ,this explains the terrific denunciations uttered by the prophets against those who made their children pass through the fire to ,moloch4 ,the spot was sometimes entitled ,tophet1 a place of abhorrence2 its name being derived1 as some think1 from a word meaning to vomit with loathing1 or1 as others suppose1 from a word signifying drum1 because drums were beaten to drown the shrieks of the burning children4 ,after these horrible rites were abolished by ,josiah1 the place became an utter abomination4 ,all filth1 the offal of the city1 the carcasses of beasts1 the bodies of executed criminals1 were cast indiscriminately into ,gehenna4 ,fires were kept constantly burning to prevent the infection of the atmosphere from the putrifying mass4 ,worms were to be seen preying on the relics4 ,the primary meaning1 then1 of ,gehenna1 is a valley outside of ,jerusalem1 a place of corruption and fire1 only to be thought of with execration and shuddering4 ,now1 it was not only in keeping with ,oriental rhetoric1 but also natural in itself1 that figures of speech should be taken from these obvious and dreadful facts to symbolize any dire evil4 ,for example1 how naturally might a ,jew1 speaking of some foul wretch1 and standing1 perhaps1 within sight of the place1 exclaim1 ,he deserves to be hurled into the fires of ,gehenna6 ,so the term would gradually become an accepted emblem of abominable punishment4 ,such was the fact2 and this gives a perspicuous meaning to the word without supposing it to imply a fiery prison house of anguish in the future world4 ,isaiah threatens the ,king of ,assyria with ruin in these terms3 ,tophet is ordained of old1 and prepared for the king3 it is made deep and large2 the pile thereof is fire and much wood2 the breath of ,jehovah1 like a stream of brimstone1 doth kindle it4 ,the prophet thus portrays1 with the dread imagery of ,gehenna1 approaching disaster and overthrow4 ,a thorough study of the ,old ,testament shows that the ,jews1 during the period which it covers1 did not believe in future rewards and punishments1 but expected that all souls without discrimination would pass their shadowy dream lives in the silence of ,sheol4 ,between the termination of the ,old ,testament history and the commencement of the ,new1 various forms of the doctrine of future retribution had been introduced or developed among the ,jews4 ,but during this period few1 if any1 decisive instances can be found in which the image of penal fire is connected with the future state4 ,on the contrary1 darkness1 gloom1 blackness1 profound and perpetual night1 are the terms employed to characterize the abode and fate of the wicked4 ,josephus says that1 in the faith of the ,pharisees1 the worst criminals were banished to the darkest part of the under world4 ,philo represents the depraved and condemned as groping in the lowest and darkest part of the creation4 ,the word ,gehenna is rarely found in the literature of this time1 and when it is it commonly seems to be used either simply to denote the detestable ,vale of ,hinnom1 or else plainly as a general symbol of calamity and horror1 as in the elder prophets4 ,but in some of the ,targums1 or ,chaldee paraphrases of the ,hebrew ,scriptures1 especially in the ,targum of ,jonathan ben ,uzziel1 we meet repeated applications of the word ,gehenna to signify a punishment by fire in the future state4#g ,this is a fact about which there can be no question4 ,and to the documents showing such a usage of the word1 the best scholars are pretty well agreed in assigning a date as early as the days of ,christ4 ,the evidence afforded by these ,targums1 together with the marked application of the term by ,jesus himself1 and the similar general use of it immediately after both by ,christians and ,jews1 render it not improbable that ,gehenna was known to the contemporaries of the ,savior as the metaphorical name of hell1 a region of fire1 in the under world1 where the reprobate were supposed to be punished after death4 ,but admitting that1 before ,christ began to teach1 the ,jews had modified their early conception of the under world as the silent and sombre abode of all the dead in common1 and had divided it into two parts1 one where the wicked suffer1 called ,gehenna1 one where the righteous rest1 called ,paradise1 still1 that modification having been borrowed1 as is historically evident1 from the ,gentiles1 or1 if developed among themselves1 at all events unconnected with revelation1 of course ,christianity is not involved with the truth or falsity of it1 is not responsible for it4 ,it does not necessarily follow that ,jesus gave precisely the same meaning to the word ,gehenna that his contemporaries or successors did4 ,he may have used it in a modified emblematic sense1 as he did many other current terms4 ,in studying his language1 we should especially free our minds both from the tyranny of pre ,christian notions and dogmas and from the associations and influences of modern creeds1 and seek to interpret it in the light of his own instructions and in the spirit of his own mind4 ,we will now examine the cases in which ,christ uses the term ,gehenna1 and ask what it means4 ,first3 ,whosoever shall say to his brother1 ,thou vile wretch6 shall be in danger of the fiery ,gehenna4 ,interpret this literally1 and it teaches that whosoever calls his brother a #g ,gesenius1 ,hebrew ,thesaurus1 ,ge ,hinnom4 wicked apostate is in danger of being thrown into the filthy flames in the ,vale of ,hinnom4 ,but no one supposes that such was its meaning4 ,jesus would say1 as we understand him1 ,i am not come to destroy1 but to fulfil1 the law2 to show how at the culmination of the old dispensation a higher and stricter one opens4 ,i say unto you1 that1 unless your righteousness exceeds that of the ,pharisees1 you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven4 ,the conditions of acceptance under the new order are far more profound and difficult than under the old4 ,that said1 ,whosoever commits murder shall be exposed to legal punishment from the public tribunal4 ,this says1 ,an invisible inward punishment1 as much to be dreaded as the judgments of the ,sanhedrim1 shall be inflicted upon those who harbor the secret passions that lead to crime2 whosoever1 out of an angry heart1 insults his brother1 shall be exposed to spiritual retributions typified by the horrors of yon flaming valley4 ,they of old time took cognizance of outward crimes by outward penalties4 ,i take cognizance of inward sins by inward returns more sure and more fearful4 ,second3 ,if thy right eye be a source of temptation to thee1 pluck it out and fling it away2 for it is better for thee that one of thy members perish than that thy whole body should be cast into ,gehenna4 ,give these words a literal interpretation1 and they mean1 ,if your eyes or your hands are the occasions of crime1 if they tempt you to commit offences which will expose you to public execution1 to the ignominy and torture heaped upon felons put to a shameful death and then flung among the burning filth of ,gehenna1 pluck them out1 cut them off betimes1 and save yourself from such a frightful end2 for it is better to live even thus maimed than1 having a whole body1 to be put to a violent death4 ,no one can suppose that ,jesus meant to convey such an idea as that when he uttered these words4 ,we must1 then1 attribute a deeper1 an exclusively moral1 significance to the passage4 ,it means1 ,if you have some bosom sin1 to deny and root out which is like tearing out an eye or cutting off a hand1 pause not1 but overcome and destroy it immediately1 at whatever cost of effort and suffering2 for it is better to endure the pain of fighting and smothering a bad passion than to submit to it and allow it to rule until it acquires complete control over you1 pervades your whole nature with its miserable unrest1 and brings you at last into a state of woe of which ,gehenna and its dreadful associations are a fit emblem4 ,a verse spoken1 according to ,mark1 in immediate connection with the present passage1 confirms the figurative sense we have attributed to it3 ,whosoever shall cause one of these little ones that believe in me to fall1 it were better for him that a millstone were hanged around his neck and he were plunged into the midst of the sea2 that is1 in literal terms1 a man had better meet a great calamity1 even the loss of life1 than commit a foul crime and thus bring the woe of guilt upon his soul4 ,the phrase1 their worm dieth not1 and their fire is not quenched1 is a part of the imagery naturally suggested by the scene in the ,valley of ,hinnom1 and was used to give greater vividness and force to the moral impression of the discourse4 ,by an interpretation resulting either from prejudice or ignorance1 it is generally held to teach the doctrine of literal fire torments enduring forever4 ,it is a direct quotation from a passage in ,isaiah which signifies that1 in a glorious age to come1 ,jehovah will cause his worshippers to go forth from new moon to new moon and look upon the carcasses of the wicked1 and see them devoured by fire which shall not be quenched and gnawed by worms which shall not die1 until the last relics of them are destroyed4 ,third3 ,fear not them that kill the body but are not able to kill the soul2 but rather fear ,him who is able to destroy both soul and body in ,gehenna4 ,a similar use of figurative language1 in a still bolder manner1 is found in ,isaiah4 ,intending to say nothing more than that ,assyria should be overthrown and crushed1 the prophet bursts out1 ,under the glory of the ,king of ,assyria ,jehovah shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire2 and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day1 and shall consume the glory of his forest and of his fruitful field1 both soul and body4 ,reading the whole passage in ,matthew with a single eye1 its meaning will be apparent4 ,we may paraphrase it thus4 ,jesus says to his disciples1 ,you are now going forth to preach the gospel4 ,my religion and its destinies are intrusted to your hands4 ,as you go from place to place1 be on your guard2 for they will persecute you1 and scourge you1 and deliver you up to death4 ,but fear them not4 ,it is enough for the disciple that he be as his master2 and if they have done so unto me1 how much more shall they unto you6 ,do not1 through fear of hostile men1 who can only kill your bodies and are not able in any wise to injure your souls1 shrink from danger and prove recreant to the momentous duties imposed upon you2 but be inspired to proclaim the principles of the heavenly kingdom with earnestness and courage1 in the face of all perils1 by fearing ,god1 him who is able to plunge both your souls and your bodies in abomination and agony1 him who1 if you prove unfaithful and become slothful servants or wicked traitors1 will leave your bodies to a violent death and after that your souls to bitter shame and anguish4 ,fear not the temporal1 physical power of your enemies1 to be turned from your work by it2 but rather fear the eternal1 spiritual power of your ,god1 to be made faithful by it4 ,fourth3 ,woe unto you1 ,scribes and ,pharisees1 hypocrites6 for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte2 and1 when he is made1 ye make him twofold more a child of ,gehenna than yourselves4 ,that is1 ,ye make him twice as bad as yourselves in hypocrisy1 bigotry1 extortion1 impurity1 and malice1 a subject of double guilt and of double retribution4 ,finally1 ,jesus exclaims to the children of those who killed the prophets1 ,serpents1 brood of vipers6 how can ye escape the condemnation of ,gehenna8 ,that is to say1 ,venomous creatures1 bad men6 you deserve the fate of the worst criminals2 you are worthy of the polluted fires of ,gehenna2 your vices will surely be followed by condign punishment3 how can such depravity escape the severest retributions8 ,these five are all the distinct instances in which ,jesus uses the word ,gehenna4 ,it is plain that he always uses the word metaphorically4 ,we therefore conclude that ,christianity1 correctly understood1 never implies that eternal fire awaits sinners in the future world1 but that moral retributions1 according to their deeds1 are the portion of all men here and hereafter4 ,there is no more reason to suppose that essential ,christianity contains the doctrine of a fiery infernal world than there is to suppose that it really means to declare that ,god is a glowing mass of flame1 when it says1 ,our ,god is a consuming fire4 ,we must remember the metaphorical character of much scriptural language4 ,wickedness is a fire1 in that it preys upon men and draws down the displeasure of the ,almighty1 and consumes them4 ,as ,isaiah writes1 ,wickedness burneth as the fire1 the anger of ,jehovah darkens the land1 and the people shall be the food of the fire4 ,and ,james declares to proud extortioners1 ,the rust of your cankered gold and silver shall eat your flesh as it were fire4 ,when ,jesus says1 ,it shall be more tolerable for ,sodom and ,gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city which will not listen to the preaching of my kingdom1 but drives my disciples away1 he uses a familiar figure to signify that ,sodom and ,gomorrah would at such a call have repented in sackcloth and ashes4 ,the guilt of ,chorazin and ,bethsaida was1 therefore1 more hardened than theirs1 and should receive a severer punishment2 or1 making allowance for the natural exaggeration of this kind of language1 he means1 ,that city whose iniquities and scornful unbelief lead it to reject my kingdom when it is proffered shall be brought to judgment and be overwhelmed with avenging calamities4 ,two parallel illustrations of this image are given us by the old prophets4 ,isaiah says1 ,babylon shall be as when ,god overthrew ,sodom and ,gomorrah4 ,and ,jeremiah complains1 ,the punishment of ,jerusalem is greater than the punishment of ,sodom4 ,it is certainly remarkable that such passages should ever have been thought to teach the doctrine of a final1 universal judgment day breaking on the world in fire4 ,the subject of our ,lord's teachings in regard to the punishment of the wicked is included in two classes of texts1 and may be summed up in a few words4 ,one class of texts relate to the visible establishment of ,christianity as the true religion1 the ,divine law1 at the destruction of the ,jewish power1 and to the frightful woes which should then fall upon the murderers of ,christ1 the bitter enemies of his cause4 ,all these things were to come upon that generation1 were to happen before some of them then standing there tasted death4 ,the other class of texts and they are by far the more numerous signify that the kingdom of ,truth is now revealed and set up2 that all men are bound to accept and obey it with reverence and love1 and thus become its blessed subjects1 the happy and immortal children of ,god2 that those who spurn its offers1 break its laws1 and violate its pure spirit shall be punished1 inevitably and fearfully1 by moral retributions proportioned to the degrees of their guilt4 ,christ does not teach that the good are immortal and that the bad shall be annihilated1 but that all alike1 both the just and the unjust1 enter the spiritual world4 ,he does not teach that the bad shall be eternally miserable1 cut off from all possibility of amendment1 but simply that they shall be justly judged4 ,he makes no definitive reference to duration1 but leaves us at liberty1 peering into the gloom as best we can1 to suppose1 if we think it most reasonable1 that the conditions of our spiritual nature are the same in the future as now1 and therefore that the wicked may go on in evil hereafter1 or1 if they will1 all turn to righteousness1 and the universe finally become as one sea of holiness and as one flood of praise4 ,another portion of ,christ's doctrine of the future life hinges on the phrase the kingdom of heaven4 ,much is implied in this term and its accompaniments1 and may be drawn out by answering the questions1 ,what is heaven8 ,who are citizens of1 and who are aliens from1 the kingdom of ,god8 ,let us first examine the subordinate meanings and shades of meaning with which the ,savior sometimes uses these phrases4 ,ye shall see heaven open and the angels of ,god ascending and descending upon the ,son of ,man4 ,no confirmation of the literal sense of this that is afforded by any incident found in the ,gospels4 ,there is every reason for supposing that he meant by it1 ,there shall be open manifestations of supernatural power and favor bestowed upon me by ,god1 evident signs of direct communications between us4 ,his ,divine works and instructions justified the statement4 ,the word heaven as here used1 then1 does not mean any particular place1 but means the approving presence of ,god4 ,the instincts and natural language of man prompt us to consider objects of reverence as above us4 ,we kneel below them4 ,the splendor1 mystery1 infinity1 of the starry regions help on the delusion4 ,but surely no one possessing clear spiritual perceptions will think the literal facts in the case must correspond to this1 that ,god must dwell in a place overhead called heaven4 ,he is an ,omnipresence4 ,blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you for my sake3 rejoice1 for great is your reward in heaven4 ,this passage probably means1 ,in the midst of tribulation be exceeding glad2 because you shall be abundantly rewarded in a future state for all your present sufferings in my cause4 ,in that case1 heaven signifies the spiritual world1 and does not involve reference to any precisely located spot4 ,or it may mean1 ,be not disheartened by insults and persecutions met in the cause of ,god2 for you shall be greatly blessed in your inward life3 the approval of conscience1 the immortal love and pity of ,god1 shall be yours3 the more you are hated and abused by men unjustly1 the closer and sweeter shall be your communion with ,god4 ,in that case1 heaven signifies fellowship with the ,father1 and is independent of any particular time or place4 ,our ,father1 who art in heaven4 ,jesus was not the author of this sentence4 ,it was a part of the ,rabbinical synagogue service1 and was based upon the ,hebrew conception of ,god as having his abode in an especial sense over the firmament4 ,the ,savior uses it as the language of accommodation1 as is evident from his conversation with the woman of ,samaria2 for he told her that no exclusive spot was an acceptable place of worship1 since ,god is a ,spirit2 and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth4 ,no one who comprehends the meaning of the words can suppose that the ,infinite ,spirit occupies a confined local habitation1 and that men must literally journey there to be with him after death4 ,wherever they may be now1 they are away from him or with him1 according to their characters4 ,after death they are more banished from him or more immediately with him1 instantly1 wherever they are1 according to the spirit they are of4 ,lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth1 but in heaven4 ,in other words1 ,be not absorbed in efforts to accumulate hoards of gold and silver1 and to get houses and lands1 which will soon pass away2 but rather labor to acquire heavenly treasures1 wisdom1 love1 purity1 and faith1 which will never pass from your possession nor cease from your enjoyment4 ,i go to prepare a place for you4 ,and if ,i go and prepare a place for you1 ,i will come again and receive you unto myself1 that where ,i am there ye may be also4 ,to understand this text1 we must carefully study the whole four chapters of the connection in which it stands4 ,they abound in bold symbols4 ,an instance of this is seen where ,jesus1 having washed his disciples' feet1 says to them1 ,ye are clean1 but not all4 ,for he knew who should betray him4 ,therefore said he1 ,ye are not all clean4 ,the actual meaning of the passage before us may be illustrated by a short paraphrase of it with the context3 ,let not your hearts be troubled by the thought that ,i must die and be removed from you2 for there are other states of being besides this earthly life4 ,when they crucify me1 as ,i have said to you before1 ,i shall not perish1 but shall pass into a higher state of existence with my ,father4 ,whither ,i go ye know1 and the way ye know3 my ,father is the end1 and the truths that ,i have declared point out the way4 ,if ye loved me1 ye would rejoice because ,i say that ,i go to the ,father4 ,and if ,i go to him1 if1 when they have put me to death1 ,i pass into an unseen state of blessedness and glory 7as ,i prophesy unto you that ,i shall17 ,i will reveal myself unto you again1 and tell you4 ,i go before you as a pioneer1 and will surely come back and confirm1 with irresistible evidence1 the reality of what ,i have already told you4 ,therefore1 trouble not your hearts1 but be of good cheer4 ,there is joy in the presence of the angels of ,god over one sinner that repenteth4 ,the sentiment of this ,divine declaration simply implies that all good beings sympathize with every triumph of goodness2 that the living chain of mutual interest runs through the spiritual universe1 making one family of those on earth and those in the invisible state4 ,touch me not2 for ,i am not yet ascended to my ,father4 ,cling not to me1 detain me not1 for ,i have not yet left the world forever1 to be in the spiritual state with my ,father2 and ere ,i do this ,i must seek my disciples1 to convince them of my resurrection and to give them my parting commission and blessing4 ,he used the common language1 for it was the only language which she whom he addressed would understand2 and although1 literally interpreted1 it conveyed the idea of a local heaven on high1 yet at the same time it conveyed1 and in the only way intelligible to her1 all the truth that was important1 namely1 that when he disappeared he would still be living1 and be1 furthermore1 with ,god4 ,when ,christ finally went from his disciples1 he seemed to them to rise and vanish towards the clouds4 ,this would confirm their previous material conceptions1 and the old forms of speech would be handed down1 strengthened by these phenomena1 misunderstood in themselves and exaggerated in their importance4 ,we generally speak now of ,god's throne1 of heaven1 as situated far away in the blue ether2 we point upward to the world of bliss1 and say1 ,there the celestial hosannas roll2 there the happy ones1 the unforgotten ones of our love1 wait to welcome us4 ,these forms of speech are entirely natural2 they are harmless2 they aid in giving definiteness to our thoughts and feelings1 and it is well to continue their use2 it would be difficult to express our thoughts without them4 ,however1 we must understand that they are not strictly and exclusively true4 ,god is everywhere2 and wherever he is there is heaven to the spirits that are like him and1 consequently1 see him and enjoy his ineffable blessedness4 ,jesus sometimes uses the phrase kingdom of heaven as synonymous with the ,divine will1 the spiritual principles or laws which he was inspired to proclaim4 ,many of his parables were spoken to illustrate the diffusive power and the incomparable value of the truth he taught1 as when he said1 ,the kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed1 which becomes a great tree2 it is like unto leaven1 which a woman put in two measures of meal until the whole was leavened2 it is like a treasure hid in a field1 or like a goodly pearl of great price1 which1 a man finding1 he goes and sells all that he has and buys it4 ,in these examples the kingdom of heaven is plainly a personification of the revealed will of ,god1 the true law of salvation and eternal life4 ,in answer to the question why he spoke so many things to the people in parables1 ,jesus said to his disciples1 ,because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven2 but unto them it is not given2 that is1 ,you are prepared to understand the hitherto concealed truths of ,god's government1 if set forth plainly2 but they are not prepared4 ,here as also in the parables of the vineyard let out to husbandmen1 and of the man who sowed good seed in his field1 and in a few other cases the kingdom of heaven means ,god's government1 his mode of dealing with men1 his method of establishing his truths in the hearts of men4 ,the kingdom of heaven sometimes signifies personal purity and peace1 freedom from sensual solicitations4 ,there be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake4 ,he that is able to receive it1 let him receive it4 ,christ frequently uses the term kingdom of heaven in a somewhat restricted1 traditional sense1 based in form but not in spirit upon the ,jewish expectations of the ,messiah's kingdom4 ,be ye sure of this1 that the kingdom of ,god is come nigh unto you2 ,i must preach the kingdom of ,god to other cities also2 ,repent1 for the kingdom of heaven is at hand4 ,christ was charged to bear to men a new revelation from ,god of his government and laws1 that he might reign over them as a monarch over conscious and loyal subjects4 ,many shall come from the ,east and the ,west1 and shall sit down with ,abraham and ,isaac and ,jacob in the kingdom of heaven2 but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness4 ,the sense of these texts is as follows4 ,god is now offering unto you1 through me1 a spiritual dispensation1 a new kingdom2 but1 unless you faithfully heed it and fulfil its conditions1 you shall be rejected from it and lose the ,divine favor4 ,although1 by your position as the chosen people1 and in the line of revelation1 you are its natural heirs1 yet1 unless you rule your spirits and lives by its commands1 you shall see the despised ,gentiles enjoying all the privileges your faith allows to the revered patriarchs of your nation1 while yourselves are shut out from them and overwhelmed with shame and anguish4 ,your pride of descent1 haughtiness of spirit1 and reliance upon dead rites unfit you for the true kingdom of ,god1 the inward reign of humility and righteousness2 and the very publicans and harlots1 repenting and humbling themselves1 shall go into it before you4 ,to be welcomed under this ,messianic dispensation1 to become a citizen of this spiritual kingdom of ,god1 the ,savior declares that there are certain indispensable conditions4 ,a man must repent and forsake his sins4 ,this was the burden of ,john's preaching1 that the candidate for the kingdom of heaven must first be baptized with water unto repentance1 as a sign that he abjures and is cleansed from all his old errors and iniquities4 ,then he must be baptized with the ,holy ,spirit and with fire1 that is1 must learn the positive principles of the coming kingdom1 and apply them to his own character1 to purge away every corrupt thing4 ,he must be born again1 born of water and of the ,spirit3 in other words1 he must be brought out from his impurity and wickedness into a new and ,divine life of holiness1 awakened to a conscious experience of purity1 truth1 and love1 the great prime elements in the reign of ,god4 ,he must be guileless and lowly4 ,whosoever will not receive the kingdom of ,god as a little child shall in no wise enter therein4 ,the kingdom of heaven1 the better dispensation which ,christ came to establish1 is the humility of contrite hearts1 the innocence of little children1 the purity of undefiled consciences1 the fruit of good works1 the truth of universal laws1 the love of ,god1 and the conscious experience of an indestructible1 blessed being4 ,those who enter into these qualities in faith1 in feeling1 and in action are full citizens of that eternal kingdom2 all others are aliens from it4 ,heaven1 then1 according to ,christ's use of the word1 is not distinctively a world situated somewhere in immensity1 but a purely spiritual experience1 having nothing to do with any special time or place4 ,it is a state of the soul1 or a state of society1 under the rule of truth1 governed by ,god's will1 either in this life or in a future4 ,he said to the young ruler who had walked faithfully in the law1 and whose good traits drew forth his love1 ,thou art not far from the kingdom of ,god4 ,it is evident that this does not mean a bounded place of abode1 but a true state of character1 a virtuous mode of life ,my kingdom is not of this world4 ,every one that is of the truth heareth my voice4 ,that is1 ,my kingdom is the realm of truth1 the dominion of ,god's will1 and all true men are my subjects4 ,evidently this is not a material but a moral reign and therefore unlimited by seasons or places4 ,wherever purity1 truth1 love1 obedience1 prevail1 there is ,god1 and that is heaven4 ,it is not necessary to depart into some distant sphere to meet the ,infinite ,holy ,one and dwell with him4 ,he is on the very dust we tread1 he is the very centre of our souls and breath of our lives1 if we are only in a state that is fitted to recognise and enjoy him4 ,he that hath sent me is with me3 the ,father hath not left me alone1 for ,i always do those things which please him4 ,it is a fair inference from such statements as this that to do with conscious adoration and love those things that please ,god is to be with him1 without regard to time or place2 and that is heaven4 ,i speak that which ,i have seen with my ,father1 ,god1 and ye do that which ye have seen with your father1 the devil4 ,no one will suppose that ,jesus meant to tell the wicked men whom he was addressing that they committed their iniquities in consequence of lessons learned in a previous state of existence with an arch fiend1 the parent of all evil4 ,his meaning1 then1 was1 ,i bring forth in words and deeds the things which ,i have learned in my secret soul from inspired communion with infinite goodness and perfection2 you bring forth the things which you have learned from communion with the source of sin and woe1 that is1 foul propensities1 cruel passions1 and evil thoughts4 ,i come forth from the ,father and am come into the world2 again ,i leave the world and go unto the ,father4 ,i go unto ,him that sent me4 ,since it is declared that ,god is an ,omnipresent ,spirit1 and that those who obey and love him see him and are with him everywhere1 these striking words must bear one of the two following interpretations4 ,first1 they may imply in general that man is created and sent into this state of being by the ,father1 and that after the termination of the present life the soul is admitted to a closer union with the ,parent ,spirit4 ,this gives a natural meaning to the language which represents dying as going to the ,father4 ,not that it is necessary to travel to reach ,god1 but that the spiritual verity is most adequately expressed under such a metaphor4 ,but1 secondly1 and more probably1 the phraseology under consideration may be meant as an assertion of the ,divine origin and authority of the special mission of ,christ4 ,neither came ,i of myself1 but ,he sent me2 ,the words that ,i speak unto you ,i speak not of myself2 ,as the ,father hath taught me1 ,i speak these things4 ,these passages do not necessarily teach the pre existence of ,christ and his descent from heaven in the flesh4 ,that is a carnal interpretation which does great violence to the genuine nature of the claims put forth by our ,savior4 ,they may merely declare the supernatural commission of the ,son of ,god1 his direct inspiration and authority4 ,he did not voluntarily assume his great work1 but was ,divinely ordered on that service4 ,compare the following text3 ,the baptism of ,john1 whence was it1 from ,heaven1 or of men8 ,that is to say1 was it of human or of ,divine origin and authority8 ,so when it is said that the ,son of ,man descended from heaven1 or was sent by the ,father1 the meaning in ,christ's mind probably was that he was raised up1 did his works1 spoke his words1 by the inspiration and with the sanction of ,god4 ,the accuracy of this interpretation is seen by the following citation from the ,savior's own words1 when he is speaking in his prayer at the last supper of sending his disciples out to preach the gospel3 ,as thou hast sent me into the world1 even so have ,i also sent them into the world4 ,the reference1 evidently1 is to a ,divine choice and sealing1 not to a descent upon the earth from another sphere4 ,that the author of the ,fourth ,gospel believed that ,christ descended from heaven literally we have not the shadow of a doubt4 ,he repeatedly speaks of him as the great super angelic ,logos1 the first born ,son and perfect image of ,god1 the instrumental cause of the creation4 ,his mind was filled with the same views1 the same lofty ,logos theory that is so abundantly set forth in the writings of ,philo ,judaus4 ,he reports and describes the ,savior in conformity with such a theological postulate4 ,possessed with the foregone conclusion that ,jesus was the ,divine ,logos1 descended from the celestial abode1 and born into the world as a man1 in endeavoring to write out from memory1 years after they were uttered1 the ,savior's words1 it is probable that he unconsciously misapprehended and tinged them according to his theory4 ,the ,delphic apothegm1 ,know thyself1 was said to have descended from heaven3 ,e coelo descendit non ,,ascii characters4 ,by a familiar ,jewish idiom1 to ascend into heaven meant to learn the will of ,god4#h ,and whatever bore the direct sancion of ,god was said to descend from heaven4 ,when in these figurative terms ,jesus asserted his ,divine commission1 it seems that some understood him literally1 and concluded perhaps in consequence of his miracles1 joined with their own speculations that he was the ,logos incarnated4 ,that such a conclusion was an unwarranted inference from metaphorical language and from a foregone pagan dogma appears from his own explanatory and justifying words spoken to the ,jews4 ,for when they accused him of making himself ,god1 he replies1 ,if in your law they are called gods to whom the word of ,god came1 charge ye him whom the ,father hath sanctified and sent into the world with blasphemy1 because he says he is the ,son of ,god8 ,christ's language in the ,fourth ,gospel #h ,schoettgen1 in ,john iii4 #ac4 may be fairly explained without implying his actual pre existence or superhuman nature4 ,but it does not seem to us that ,john's possibly can be4 ,his miracles1 according to the common idea of them1 did not prove him to be the coequal fac simile1 but merely proved him to be the delegated envoy1 of ,god4 ,we may sum up the consideration of this point in a few words4 ,christ did not essentially mean by the term heaven the world of light and glory located by the ,hebrews1 and by some other nations1 just above the visible firmament4 ,his meaning1 when he spoke of the kingdom of ,god or heaven1 was always1 in some form1 either the reign of justice1 purity1 and love1 or the invisible world of spirits4 ,if that world1 heaven1 be in fact1 and were in his conception1 a sphere located in space1 he never alluded to its position1 but left it perfectly in the dark1 keeping his instructions scrupulously free from any such commitment4 ,he said1 ,i go to ,him that sent me2 ,i will come again and receive you unto myself1 that where ,i am there ye may be also4 ,the references to locality are vague and mysterious4 ,the nature of his words1 and their scantiness1 are as if he had said1 ,we shall live hereafter2 we shall be with the ,father2 we shall be together4 ,all the rest is mystery1 even to me3 it is not important to be known1 and the ,father hath concealed it4 ,such1 almost1 are his very words4 ,a little while1 and ye shall not see me2 again1 a little while1 and ye shall see me1 because ,i go to the ,father4 ,father1 ,i will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where ,i am4 ,whether heaven be technically a material abode or a spiritual state it is of little importance to us to know2 and the teachings of ,jesus seem to have nothing to do with it4 ,the important things for us to know are that there is a heaven1 and how we may prepare for it2 and on these points the revelation is explicit4 ,to suppose the ,savior ignorant of some things is not inconsistent with his endowments2 for he himself avowed his ignorance1 saying1 ,of that day knoweth no man2 no1 not even the angels which are in heaven1 neither the ,son1 but the ,father4 ,and it adds an awful solemnity1 an indescribably exciting interest1 to his departure from the world1 to conceive him hovering on the verge of the same mystery which has enveloped every passing mortal1 hovering there with chastened wonder and curiosity1 inspired with an absolute trust that in that fathomless obscurity the ,father would be with him1 and would unveil new realms of life1 and would enable him to come back and assure his disciples4 ,he certainly did not reveal the details of the future state3 whether he was acquainted with them himself or not we cannot tell4 ,we next advance to the most important portion of the words of ,christ regarding the life and destiny of the soul1 those parts of his doctrine which are most of a personal1 experimental character1 sounding the fountains of consciousness1 piercing to the dividing asunder of our being4 ,it is often said that ,jesus everywhere takes for granted the fact of immortality1 that it underlies and permeates all he does and says4 ,we should know at once that such a being must be immortal2 such a life could never be lived by an ephemeral creature2 of all possible proofs of immortality he is himself the sublimest4 ,this is true1 but not the whole truth4 ,the resistless assurance1 the ,divine inspiration1 the sublime repose1 with which he enunciates the various thoughts connected with the theme of endless existence1 are indeed marvellous4 ,but he not only authoritatively assumes the truth of a future life3 he speaks directly of it in many ways1 often returns to it1 continually hovers about it1 reasons for it1 exhorts upon it1 makes most of his instructions hinge upon it1 shows that it is a favorite subject of his communion4 ,we may put the justice of these statements in a clear light by bringing together and explaining some of his scattered utterances4 ,his express language teaches that man in this world is a twofold being1 leading a twofold life1 physical and spiritual1 the one temporal1 the other eternal1 the one apt unduly to absorb his affections1 the other really deserving his profoundest care4 ,this separation of the body and the soul1 and survival of the latter1 is brought to light in various striking forms and with various piercing applications4 ,in view of the dangers that beset his disciples on their mission1 he exhorted and warned them thus3 ,fear not them which have power to kill the body and afterwards have no more that they can do2 but rather fear ,him who can kill both soul and body2 ,whosoever will save his life shall lose it2 and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it2 that is1 whosoever1 for the sake of saving the life of his body1 shrinks from the duties of this dangerous time1 shall lose the highest welfare of the soul2 but whosoever loveth his lower life in the body less than he loves the virtues of a consecrated spirit shall win the true blessedness of his soul4 ,both of these passages show that the soul has a life and interest separate from the material tabernacle4 ,with what pathos and convincing power was the same faith expressed in his ejaculation from the cross1 ,father1 into thy hands ,i commend my spirit6 an expression of trust which1 under such circumstances of desertion1 horror1 and agony1 could only have been prompted by that inspiration of ,god which he always claimed to have4 ,christ once reasoned with the ,sadducees as touching the dead1 that they rise2 in other words1 that the souls of men upon the decease of the body pass into another and an unending state of existence3 ,neither can they die any more2 for they are equal with the angels1 and are children of ,god1 being children of the resurrection4 ,his argument was1 that ,god is the ,god of the living1 not of the dead2 that is1 the spiritual nature of man involves such a relationship with ,god as pledges his attributes to its perpetuity4 ,the thought which supports this reasoning penetrates far into the soul and grasps the moral relations between man and ,god4 ,it is most interesting viewed as the unqualified affirmation by ,jesus of the doctrine of a future life which shall be deathless4 ,but the ,savior usually stood in a more imposing attitude and spoke in a more commanding tone than are indicated in the foregoing sentences4 ,the prevailing stand point from which he spoke was that of an oracle giving responses from the inner shrine of the ,divinity4 ,the words and sentiments he uttered were not his1 but the ,father's2 and he uttered them in the clear tones of knowledge and authority1 not in the whispering accents of speculation or surmise4 ,how these entrancing tidings came to him he knew not3 they were no creations of his2 they rose spontaneously within him1 bearing the miraculous sign and seal of ,god1 a recommendation he could no more question or resist than he could deny his own existence4 ,he was set apart as a messenger to men4 ,the tide of inspiration welled up till it filled every nerve and crevice of his being with conscious life and with an overmastering recognition of its living relations with the ,omnipresent and ,everlasting ,life4 ,straightway he knew that the ,father was in him and he in the ,father1 and that he was commissioned to reveal the mind of the ,father to the world4 ,he knew1 by the direct knowledge of inspiration and consciousness1 that he should live forever4 ,before his keen1 full1 spiritual vitality the thought of death fled away1 the thought of annihilation could not come4 ,so far removed was his soul from the perception of interior sleep and decay1 so broad and powerful was his consciousness of indestructible life1 that he saw quite through the crumbling husks of time and sense to the crystal sea of spirit and thought4 ,so absorbing was his sense of eternal life in himself that he even constructed an argument from his personal feeling to prove the immortality of others1 saying to his disciples1 ,because ,i live1 ye shall live also2 ,ye believe in ,god1 believe also in me4 ,ye believe what ,god declares1 for he cannot be mistaken2 believe what ,i declare for his inspiration makes me infallible when ,i say there are many spheres of life for us when this is ended4 ,it was from the fulness of this experience that ,jesus addressed his hearers4 ,he spoke not so much as one who had faith that immortal life would hereafter be revealed and certified1 but rather as one already in the insight and possession of it1 as one whose foot already trod the eternal floor and whose vision pierced the immense horizon4 ,verily1 verily1 ,i say unto you1 he that heareth my word and believeth on ,him that sent me hath everlasting life1 and shall not come into condemnation1 but is passed from death unto life4 ,being himself brought to this immovable assurance of immortal life by the special inspiration of ,god1 it was his aim to bring others to the same blessed knowledge4 ,his efforts to effect this form a most constant feature in his teachings4 ,his own definition of his mission was1 ,i am come that they might have life1 and that they might have it more abundantly4 ,we see by the persistent drift of his words that he strove to lead others to the same spiritual point he stood at1 that they might see the same prospect he saw1 feel the same certitude he felt1 enjoy the same communion with ,god and sense of immortality he enjoyed4 ,as the ,father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them1 even so the ,son quickeneth whom he will2 ,for as the ,father hath life in himself1 so hath he given the ,son to have life in himself2 ,father1 glorify thy ,son1 that thy ,son also may glorify thee2 as thou hast given him power over all flesh1 that he might give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him3 and this is life eternal1 that they might know thee1 the only true ,god1 and ,jesus ,christ whom thou hast sent4 ,in other words1 the mission of ,christ was to awaken in men the experience of immortal life2 and that would be produced by imparting to them reproducing in them the experience of his own soul4 ,let us notice what steps he took to secure this end4 ,he begins by demanding the unreserved credence of men to what he says1 claiming to say it with express authority from ,god1 and giving miraculous credentials4 ,whatsoever ,i speak1 therefore1 as the ,father said to me1 so ,i speak4 ,this claim to inspired knowledge he advances so emphatically that it cannot be overlooked4 ,he then announces1 as an unquestionable truth1 the supreme claim of man's spiritual interests upon his attention and labor1 alike from their inherent superiority and their enduring subsistence4 ,for what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul8 ,thou fool1 this night thy soul shall be required of thee3 then whose shall be those things thou hast gathered8 ,labor not for the meat which perisheth1 but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life4 ,the inspiration which dictated these instructions evidently based them upon the profoundest spiritual philosophy1 upon the truth that man lives at once in a sphere of material objects which is comparatively unimportant because he will soon leave it1 and in a sphere of moral realities which is all important because he will live in it forever4 ,man shall not live by bread alone1 but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of ,god4 ,the body1 existing in the sphere of material relations1 is supported by material bread2 but the soul1 existing in the sphere of spiritual relations1 is supported by truth1 the nourishing breath of ,god's love4 ,we are in the eternal world1 then1 at present4 ,its laws and influences penetrate and rule us2 its ethereal tides lave and bear us on2 our experience and destiny in it are decided every moment by our characters4 ,if we are pure in heart1 have vital faith and force1 we shall see ,god and have new revelations made to us4 ,such are among the fundamental principles of ,christianity4 ,there is another class of texts1 based upon a highly figurative style of speech1 striking ,oriental idioms1 the explanation of which will cast further light upon the branch of the subject immediately before us4 ,as the living ,father hath sent me1 and ,i live by the ,father1 so he that eateth me1 even he shall live by me2 that is1 ,as the blessed ,father hath inspired me with the knowledge of him1 and ,i am blessed with the consciousness of his immortal love1 so he that believes and assimilates these truths as ,i proclaim them1 he shall experience the same blessedness through my instruction4 ,the words4 ,i am the bread of life are explained by the words ,i am the truth4 ,the declaration ,whoso eateth my flesh hath eternal life is illustrated by the declaration ,whosoever heareth my word and believeth on ,him that sent me hath everlasting life4 ,there is no difficulty in understanding what ,jesus meant when he said1 ,i have meat to eat ye know not of3 my meat is to do the will of ,him that sent me4 ,why should we not with the same ease1 upon the same principles1 interpret his kindred expression1 ,this is the bread which cometh down from heaven1 that a man may eat thereof and not die8 ,the idea to be conveyed by all this phraseology is1 that whosoever understands1 accepts1 assimilates1 and brings out in earnest experience1 the truths ,christ taught1 would realize the life of ,christ1 feel the same assurance of ,divine favor and eternal blessedness4 ,he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and ,i in him2 that is1 we have the same character1 are fed by the same nutriment1 rest in the same experience4 ,fortunately1 we are not left to guess at the accuracy of this exegesis3 it is demonstrated from the lips of the ,master himself4 ,when he knew that the disciples murmured at what he had said about eating his flesh1 and called it a hard saying1 he said to them1 ,it is the spirit that quickeneth2 the flesh profiteth nothing3 the words that ,i speak unto you1 they are spirit and they are life4 ,but there are some of you that believe not4 ,any man who heartily believed what ,christ said that he was ,divinely authorized to declare1 and did declare1 the pervading goodness of the ,father and the immortal blessedness of the souls of his children1 by the very terms was delivered from the bondage of fear and commenced the consciousness of eternal life4 ,of course1 we are not to suppose that faith in ,christ obtains immortality itself for the believer3 it only rectifies and lights up the conditions of it1 and awakens the consciousness of it4 ,i am the resurrection and the life3 whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die4 ,we suppose this means1 he shall know that he is never to perish3 it cannot refer to physical dissolution1 for the believer dies equally with the unbeliever2 it cannot refer to immortal existence in itself1 for the unbeliever is as immortal as the believer3 it must refer to the blessed nature of that immortality and to the personal assurance of it1 because these ,christ does impart to the disciple1 while the unregenerate unbeliever in his doctrine1 of course1 has them not4 ,coming from ,god to reveal his infinite love1 exemplifying the ,divine elements of an immortal nature in his whole career1 coming back from the grave to show its sceptre broken and to point the way to heaven1 well may ,christ proclaim1 ,whosoever believes in me knows he shall never perish4 ,among the ,savior's parables is an impressive one1 which we cannot help thinking perhaps fancifully was intended to illustrate the dealings of ,providence in ordering the earthly destiny of humanity4 ,so is the kingdom of ,god1 as if a man should cast seed into the ground and the seed should grow up2 but when the fruit is ripe he putteth in the sickle1 because the harvest is come4 ,men are seed sown in this world to ripen and be harvested in another4 ,the figure1 taken on the scale of the human race and the whole earth1 is sublime4 ,whether such an image were originally suggested by the parable or not1 the conception is consistent with ,christian doctrine4 ,the pious ,sterling prays1 ,give thou the life which we require1 ,that1 rooted fast in thee1 ,from thee to thee we may aspire1 ,and earth thy garden be4 ,the symbol shockingly perverted from its original beautiful meaning by the mistaken belief that we sleep in our graves until a distant resurrection day is often applied to burial grounds4 ,let its appropriate significance be restored4 ,life is the field1 death the reaper1 another sphere of being the immediate garner4 ,an enlightened ,christian1 instead of entitling a graveyard the garden of the dead1 and looking for its long buried forms to spring from its cold embrace1 will hear the angel saying again1 ,they are not here3 they are risen4 ,the line which written on ,klopstock's tomb is a melancholy error1 engraved on his cradle would have been an inspiring truth3 ,seed sown by ,god to ripen for the harvest4 ,several fragmentary speeches1 which we have not yet noticed1 of the most tremendous and even exhaustive import1 are reported as having fallen from the lips of ,christ at different times4 ,these sentences1 rapid and incomplete as they are in the form in which they have reached us1 do yet give us glimpses of the most momentous character into the profoundest thoughts of his mind4 ,they are sufficient to enable us to generalize their fundamental principles1 and construct the outlines1 if we may so speak1 of his theology1 his inspired conception of ,god1 the universe1 and man1 and the resulting duties and destiny of man4 ,we will briefly bring together and interpret these passages1 and deduce the system which they seem to presuppose and rest upon4 ,jesus told the woman of ,samaria that ,god was to be worshipped acceptably neither in that mountain nor at ,jerusalem exclusively1 but anywhere1 if it were worthily done4 ,god is a ,spirit2 and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth4 ,this passage1 with others1 teaches the spirituality and omnipresence of ,god4 ,christ conceived of ,god as an infinite ,spirit4 ,again1 comforting his friends in view of his approaching departure1 he said1 ,in my ,father's house are many mansions3 if it were not so ,i would have told you4 ,i go to prepare a place for you4 ,here he plainly figures the universe as a house containing many apartments1 all pervaded and ruled by the ,father's presence4 ,he was about taking leave of this earth to proceed to another part of the creation1 and he promised to come back to his followers and assure them there was another abode prepared for them4 ,christ conceived of the universe1 with its innumerable divisions1 as the house of ,god4 ,furthermore1 he regarded truth or the essential laws and right tendencies of things and the will of ,god as identical4 ,he said he came into the world to do the will of ,him that sent him2 that is1 as he at another time expressed it1 he came into the world to bear witness unto the truth4 ,thus he prayed1 ,father1 sanctify them through the truth3 thy word is truth4 ,christ conceived of pure truth as the will of ,god4 ,finally1 he taught that all who obey the truth1 or do the will of ,god1 thereby constitute one family of brethren1 one family of the accepted children of ,god1 in all worlds forever4 ,he that doeth the truth cometh to the light1 that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in ,god2 ,whosoever shall do the will of ,god1 the same is my brother1 and my sister1 and mother2 ,ye shall know the truth1 and the truth shall make you free4 ,whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin4 ,and the servant abideth not in the house forever2 but the son abideth forever4 ,if the ,son1 therefore1 make you free1 ye shall be free indeed4 ,that is to say1 truth gives a good man the freedom of the universe1 makes him know himself an heir1 immortally and everywhere at home2 sin gives the wicked man over to bondage1 makes him feel afraid of being an outcast1 loads him with hardships as a servant4 ,whoever will believe the revelations of ,christ1 and assimilate his experience1 shall lose the wretched burdens of unbelief and fear and be no longer a servant1 but be made free indeed1 being adopted as a son4 ,the whole conception1 then1 is this3 ,the universe is one vast house1 comprising many subordinate mansions4 ,all the moral beings that dwell in it compose one immortal family4 ,god is the universal ,father4 ,his will the truth is the law of the household4 ,whoever obeys it is a worthy son and has the ,father's approbation2 whoever disobeys it is alienated and degraded into the condition of a servant4 ,we may roam from room to room1 but can never get lost outside the walls beyond the reach of the ,paternal arms4 ,death is variety of scenery and progress of life3 ,we bow our heads ,at going out1 we think1 and enter straight ,another golden chamber of the ,king's1 ,larger than this we leave1 and lovelier4 ,who can comprehend the idea1 in its overwhelming magnificence and in its touching beauty1 its sweeping amplitude embracing all mysteries1 its delicate fitness meeting all wants1 without being impressed and stirred by it1 even to the regeneration of his soul8 ,if there is any thing calculated to make man feel and live like a child of ,god1 it would surely seem to be this conception4 ,its unrivalled simplicity and verisimilitude compel the assent of the mind to its reality4 ,it is the most adequate and sublime view of things that ever entered the reason of man4 ,it is worthy the inspiration of ,god1 worthy the preaching of the ,son of ,god4 ,all the artificial and arbitrary schemes of fanciful theologians are as ridiculous and impertinent before it as the offensive flaring of torches in the face of one who sees the steady and solemn splendors of the sun4 ,to live in the harmony of the truth of things1 in the conscious love of ,god and enjoyment of immortality1 blessed children1 everywhere at home in the hospitable mansions of the everlasting ,father1 this is the experience to which ,christ calls his followers2 and any eschatology inconsistent with such a conception is not his4 ,there are two general methods of interpretation respectively applied to the words of ,christ1 the literal1 or mechanical1 and the spiritual1 or vital4 ,the former leads to a belief in his second visible advent with an army of angels from heaven1 a bodily resurrection of the dead1 a universal judgment1 the burning up of the world1 eternal tortures of the wicked in an abyss of infernal fire1 a heaven located on the arch of the ,hebrew firmament4 ,the latter gives us a group of the profoundest moral truths clustered about the illuminating and emphasizing mission of ,christ1 sealed with ,divine sanctions1 truths of universal obligation and of all redeeming power4 ,the former method is still adopted by the great body of ,christendom1 who are landed by it in a system of doctrines well nigh identical with those of the ,pharisees1 against which ,christ so emphatically warned his followers1 a system of traditional dogmas not having the slightest support in philosophy1 nor the least contact with the realities of experience1 nor the faintest color of inherent or historical probability4 ,in this age they are absolutely incredible to unhampered and studious minds4 ,on the other hand1 the latter method is pursued by the growing body of rational ,christians1 and it guides them to a consistent array of indestructible moral truths1 simple1 fundamental1 and exhaustive1 an array of spiritual principles commanding universal and implicit homage1 robed in their own brightness1 accredited by their own fitness1 armed with the loveliness and terror of their own rewarding and avenging divinity1 flashing in mutual lights and sounding in consonant echoes alike from the law of nature and from the soul of man1 as the ,son of ,god1 with miraculous voice1 speaks between4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,resurrection ,,of ,,christ4 ,,of all the single events that ever were supposed to have occurred in the world1 perhaps the most august in its moral associations and the most stupendous in its lineal effects1 both on the outward fortunes and on the inward experience of mankind1 is the resurrection of ,jesus ,christ from the dead4 ,if1 therefore1 there is one theme in all the range of thought worthy of candid consideration1 it is this4 ,there are two ways of examining it4 ,we may1 as unquestioning ,christians1 inquire how the ,new ,testament writers represent it1 what premises they assume1 what statements they make1 and what inferences they draw4 ,thus1 without perversion1 without mixture of our own notions1 we should construct the ,scripture doctrine of the resurrection of the ,savior4 ,again as critical scholars and philosophical thinkers1 we may study that doctrine in all its parts1 scrutinize it in all its bearings1 trace1 as far as possible1 the steps and processes of its formation1 discriminate as well as we can1 by all fair tests1 whether it be entirely correct1 or wholly erroneous1 or partly true and partly false4 ,both of these methods of investigation are necessary to a full understanding of the subject4 ,both are obligatory upon the earnest inquirer4 ,whoso would bravely face his beliefs and intelligently comprehend them1 with their grounds and their issues1 with a devout desire for the pure truth1 whatsoever it may be1 putting his trust in the ,god who made him1 will never shrink from either of these courses of examination4 ,whoso does shrink from these inquiries is either a moral coward1 afraid of the results of an honest search after that truth of things which expresses the will of the ,creator1 or a spiritual sluggard1 frightened by a call to mental effort and torpidly clinging to ease of mind4 ,and whoso1 accepting the personal challenge of criticism1 carries on the investigation with prejudice and passion1 holding errors because he thinks them safe and useful1 and rejecting realities because he fancies them dangerous and evil1 is an intellectual traitor1 disloyal to the sacred laws by which ,god hedges the holy fields and rules the responsible subjects of the realm of truth4 ,we shall combine the two modes of inquiry1 first singly asking what the ,scriptures declare1 then critically seeking what the facts will warrant1 it being unimportant to us whether these lines exactly coincide or diverge somewhat1 the truth itself being all4 ,we now pass to an examination of ,christ's resurrection from five points of view3 first1 as a fact2 second1 as a fulfilment of prophecy2 third1 as a pledge2 fourth1 as a symbol2 and fifth1 as a theory4 ,the writers of the ,new ,testament speak of the resurrection of ,christ1 in the first place1 as a fact4 ,jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree1 him hath ,god raised up4 ,it could not have been viewed by them in the light of a theory or a legend1 nor1 indeed1 as any thing else than a marvellous but literal fact4 ,this appears from their minute accounts of the scenes at the sepulchre and of the disappearance of his body4 ,their declarations of this are most unequivocal1 emphatic1 iterated1 ,the ,lord is risen indeed4 ,all that was most important in their faith they based upon it1 all that was most precious to them in this life they staked upon it4 ,else why stand we in jeopardy every hour8 ,they held it before their inner vision as a guiding star through the night of their sufferings and dangers1 and freely poured out their blood upon the cruel shrines of martyrdom in testimony that it was a fact4 ,that they believed he literally rose from the grave in visible form also appears1 and still more forcibly1 from their descriptions of his frequent manifestations to them4 ,these show that in their faith he assumed at his resurrection the same body in which he had lived before1 which was crucified and buried4 ,all attempts1 whether by ,swedenborgians or others1 to explain this ,scripture language as signifying that he rose in an immaterial body1 are futile4#a ,he appeared to their senses and was recognised by his identical bodily form4 ,he partook of physical food with them4 ,they gave him a piece of broiled fish and of an honey comb2 and he ate before them4 ,the marks in his hands and side were felt by the incredulous ,thomas1 and convinced him4 ,he said to them1 ,handle me1 and see2 for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have4 ,to a candid mind there can hardly be a question that the gospel records describe the resurrection of ,christ as a literal fact1 that his soul reanimated the deceased body1 and that in it he showed himself to his disciples4 ,yet that there are a few texts implying the immateriality of his resurrection body that there are two accounts of it in the gospels we cannot deny4 ,we advance to see what is the historical evidence for the fact of the resurrection of ,christ4 ,this argument1 of course1 turns chiefly on one point1 namely1 the competency of the witnesses1 and the validity of their testimony4#b ,we will present the usually exhibited scheme of proof as strongly as we can4#c ,in the first place1 those who testified to the resurrection were numerous enough1 so far as mere numbers go1 to establish the fact beyond question4 ,paul declares there were above five hundred who from their personal knowledge could affirm of the ,lord's resurrection4 ,but particularly there were the eleven apostles1 the two ,marys1 ,cleopas1 and the disciples from whom ,joseph and ,matthias the candidates for ,judas ,iscariot's apostleship were selected1 consisting probably of most of the seventy4 ,if the evidence of any number of men ought to convince us of the alleged event1 then1 under the existing circumstances1 that of twelve ought4 ,important matters of history are often unhesitatingly received on the authority of a single historian4 ,if the occurrences at the time were sufficient to demonstrate to a reasonable mind the reality of the resurrection1 then the unanimous testimony of twelve men to those occurrences should convince us4 ,the oaths of a thousand would be no stronger4 ,these men possessed sufficient abilities to be trusted1 good powers of judgment1 and varied experience4 ,the selection of them by ,him who knew what was in man1 the boldness and efficiency of their lives1 the fruits of their labors everywhere1 amply prove their #a ,the opposite view is ably argued by ,bush in his valuable treatise on the ,resurrection4 #b ,sherlock1 ,trial of the ,witnesses4 #c ,ditton1 ,demonstration of the ,resurrection of ,christ4 ,for a sternly faithful estimate of the cogency of this argument1 it must be remembered that all the data1 every fact and postulate in each step of the reasoning1 rest on the historical authority of the four ,gospels1 documents whose authorship and date are lost in obscurity4 ,even of orthodox theologians few1 with any claims to scholarship1 now hold that these ,gospels1 as they stand1 were written by the persons whose names they bear4 ,they wander and waver in a thick fog4 ,see ,milman's ,history of ,christianity1 vol4 i4 ch4 ii4 appendix ii4 general intelligence and energy4 ,and they had1 too1 the most abundant opportunities of knowledge in regard to the facts to which they bore witness4 ,they were present in the places1 at the times1 when and where the events occurred4 ,every motive would conspire to make them scrutinize the subject and the attendant circumstances4 ,and it seems they did examine2 for at first some doubted1 but afterwards believed4 ,they had been close companions of ,jesus for more than a year at the least4 ,they had studied his every feature1 look1 gesture4 ,they must have been able to recognise him1 or to detect an impostor1 if the absurd idea of an attempted imposition can be entertained4 ,they saw him many times1 near at hand1 in the broad light4 ,not only did they see him1 but they handled his wounded limbs and listened to his wondrous voice4 ,if these means of knowing the truth were not enough to make their evidence valid1 then no opportunities could be sufficient4 ,whoso allows its full force to the argument thus far will admit that the testimony of the witnesses to the resurrection is conclusive1 unless he suspects that by some cause they were either incapacitated to weigh evidence fairly1 or were led wilfully to stifle the truth and publish a falsehood4 ,very few persons have ever been inclined to make this charge1 that the apostles were either wild enthusiasts of fancy1 or crafty calculators of fraud2 and no one has ever been able to support the position even with moderate plausibility4 ,granting1 in the first place1 hypothetically1 that the disciples were ever so great enthusiasts in their general character and conduct1 still1 they could not have been at all so in relation to the resurrection1 because1 before it occurred1 they had no belief1 expectations1 nor thoughts about it4 ,by their own frank confessions1 they did not understand ,christ's predictions1 nor the ancient supposed prophecies of that event4 ,and without a strong faith1 a burning hopeful desire1 or something of the kind1 for it to spring from1 and rest on1 and be nourished by1 evidently no enthusiasm could exist4 ,accordingly1 we find that previous to the third day after ,christ's death they said nothing1 thought nothing1 about a resurrection2 but from that time1 as by an inspiration from heaven1 they were roused to both words and deeds4 ,the sudden astonishing change here alluded to is to be accounted for only by supposing that in the mean time they had been brought to a belief that the resurrection had occurred4 ,but1 secondly1 it is to be noticed that these witnesses were not enthusiasts on other subjects4 ,no one could be the subject of such an overweening enthusiasm as the hypothesis supposes1 without betraying it in his conduct1 without being overmastered and led by it as an insane man is by his mania4 ,the very opposite of all this was actually the case with the apostles4 ,the ,gospels are unpretending1 dispassionate narratives1 without rhapsody1 adulation1 or vanity4 ,their whole conduct disproves the charge of fanaticism4 ,their appeals were addressed more to reason than to feeling2 their deeds were more courageous than rash4 ,they avoided tumult1 insult1 and danger whenever they could honorably do so2 but1 when duty called1 their noble intrepidity shrank not4 ,they were firm as the trunks of oaks to meet the agony and horror of a violent death when it came2 yet they rather shunned than sought to wear the glorious crown from beneath whose crimson circlet drops of bloody sweat must drip from a martyr's brows4 ,the number of the witnesses for the resurrection1 the abilities they possessed1 their opportunities for knowing the facts1 prove the impossibility of their being duped1 unless we suppose them to have been blind fanatics4 ,this we have just shown they were not4 ,would it not1 moreover1 be most marvellous if they were such heated fanatics1 all of them1 so many men8 ,but there is one further foothold for the disbeliever in the historic resurrection of ,christ4 ,he may say1 ,i confess the witnesses were capable of knowing1 and undoubtedly did know1 the truth2 but1 for some reason1 they suppressed it1 and proclaimed a deception4 ,as to this charge1 we not only deny the actuality1 but even the possibility1 of its truth4 ,the narratives of the evangelists contain the strongest evidences of their honesty4 ,the many little unaccountable circumstances they recount1 which are so many difficulties in the way of critical belief1 the real and the apparent inconsistencies1 none of these would have been permitted by fraudulent authors4 ,they are the most natural things in the world1 supposing their writers unsuspiciously honest4 ,they also frankly confess their own and each others' errors1 ignorance1 prejudices1 and faults4 ,would they have done this save from simple hearted truthfulness8 ,would a designing knave voluntarily reveal to a suspicious scrutiny actions and traits naturally subversive of confidence in him8 ,the conduct of the disciples under the circumstances1 through all the scenes of their after lives1 proves their undivided and earnest honesty4 ,the cause they had espoused was1 if we deny its truth1 to the last degree repulsive in itself and in its concomitants1 and they were surrounded with allurements to desert it4 ,yet how unyielding1 wonderful1 was their disinterested devotedness to it1 without exception6 ,not one1 overcome by terror or bowed by strong anguish1 shrank from his self imposed task and cried out1 ,i confess6 ,no2 but when they1 and their first followers who knew what they knew1 were laid upon racks and torn1 when they were mangled and devoured alive by wild beasts1 when they were manacled fast amidst the flames till their souls rode forth into heaven in chariots of fire1 amidst all this1 not one of them ever acknowledged fraud or renounced his belief in the resurrection of ,jesus4 ,were they not honest8 ,others have died in support of theories and opinions with which their convictions and passions had become interwoven3 they died rather than deny facts which were within the cognizance of their senses4 ,could any man1 however firm and dauntless1 under the circumstances1 go through the trials they bore1 without a feeling of truth and of ,god to support him8 ,these remarks are particularly forcible in connection with the career of ,paul4 ,endowed with brilliant talents1 learned1 living at the time and place1 he must have been able to form a reliable opinion4 ,and yet1 while all the motives that commonly actuate men loudmouthed consistency1 fame1 wealth1 pride1 pleasure1 the rooted force of inveterate prejudices all were beckoning to him from the temples and palaces of the ,pharisaic establishment1 he spurned the glowing visions of his ambition and dashed to earth the bright dreams of his youth4 ,he ranged himself among the ,christians1 the feeble1 despised1 persecuted ,christians2 and1 after having suffered every thing humanity could bear1 having preached the resurrection everywhere with unflinching power1 he was at last crucified1 or beheaded1 by ,nero2 and there1 expiring among the seven hills of ,rome1 he gave the resistless testimony of his death to the resurrection of ,jesus1 gasping1 as it were1 with his last breath1 ,it is true4 ,granting the honesty of these men1 we could not have any greater proof of it than we have now4 ,but dishonesty in this matter was not merely untrue2 it was also impossible4 ,if fraud is admitted1 a conspiracy must have been formed among the witnesses4 ,but that a conspiracy of such a character should have been entered into by such men is in itself incredible1 in the outset4 ,and then1 if it had been entered into1 it must infallibly have broken through1 been found out1 or been betrayed1 in the course of the disasters1 perils1 terrible trials1 to which it and its fabricators were afterwards exposed4 ,prove that a body of from twelve to five hundred men could form a plan to palm off a gross falsehood upon the world1 and could then adhere to it unfalteringly through the severest disappointments1 dangers1 sufferings1 differences of opinion1 dissension of feeling and action1 without retiring from the undertaking1 letting out the secret1 or betraying each other in a single instance in the course of years1 prove this1 and you prove that men may do and dare1 deny and suffer1 not only without motives1 but in direct opposition to their duty1 interest1 desire1 prejudice1 and passion4 ,the disciples could not have pretended the resurrection from sensitiveness to the probable charge that they had been miserably deceived2 for they did not understand their ,master to predict any such event1 nor had they the slightest expectation of it4 ,they could not have pretended it for the sake of establishing and giving authority to the good precepts and doctrines ,jesus taught2 because such a course would have been in the plainest antagonism to all those principles themselves1 and because1 too1 they must have known both the utter wickedness and the desperate hazards and forlornness of such an attempt to give a fictitious sanction to moral truths4 ,in such an enterprise there was before them not the faintest probability of even the slightest success4 ,every selfish motive would tend to deter them2 for poverty1 hatred1 disgrace1 stripes1 imprisonment1 contempt1 and death stared in their faces from the first step that way4 ,dishonesty1 deliberate fraud1 then1 in this matter1 was not merely untrue1 but was impossible4 ,the conclusion from the whole view is1 therefore1 the conviction that the evidence of the witnesses for the resurrection of ,jesus is worthy of credence4 ,there are three considerations1 further1 worthy of notice in estimating the strength of the historic argument for the resurrection4 ,first1 the conduct of the ,savior himself in relation to the subject4 ,the charge of unbalanced enthusiasm is inconsistent with the whole character and life of ,jesus2 but suppose on this point he was an enthusiast1 and really believed that three days after his death he would rise again4 ,in that case1 would not his mind have dwelt upon the wonderful anticipated phenomenon8 ,would not his whole soul have been wrapped up in it1 and his speech have been almost incessantly about it8 ,yet he spoke of it only three or four times1 and then with obscurity4 ,again3 suppose he was an impostor4 ,an impostor would hardly have risked his reputation voluntarily on what he knew could never take place4 ,had he done so1 his only reliance must have been upon the credulous enthusiasm of his followers4 ,he would then have made it the chief topic1 would have striven strenuously to make it a living and intense hope1 an immovable1 all controlling faith1 concentrating on it their desires and expectations1 heart and soul4 ,but he really did not do this at all4 ,he did not even make them understand what his vaticinations of the resurrection meant4 ,and when they saw his untenanted body hanging on the cross1 they slunk away in confusion and despair4 ,admit1 again1 that ,christ was enthusiast1 or impostor1 or both3 these qualities exist not in the grave4 ,here was their end4 ,they could neither raise him from the dead nor move him from the tomb4 ,no considerations in any way connected with ,christ himself1 therefore1 can account for the occurrences that succeeded his death4 ,secondly1 if the resurrection did not take place1 what became of the ,savior's body8 ,we have already given reasons why the disciples could not have falsely pretended the resurrection4 ,it is also impossible that they obtained1 or surreptitiously disposed of1 the dead and interred body2 because it was in a tomb of rock securely sealed against them1 and watched by a guard which they could neither bribe nor overpower2 because they were too much disheartened and alarmed to try to get it2 because they could not possibly want it1 since they expected a temporal ,messiah1 and had no hope of a resurrection like that which they soon began proclaiming to the world4 ,and as for the story told by the watch1 or rather by the chief priests and ,pharisees1 it has not consistency enough to hold together4 ,its foolish unlikelihood has always been transparent4 ,it is unreasonable to suppose that fresh guards would slumber at a post where the penalty of slumbering was death4 ,and1 if one or two did sleep1 it is absurd to think all would do so4 ,besides1 if they slept1 how knew they what transpired in the mean time8 ,could they have dreamed it8 ,dreams are not taken in legal depositions2 and1 furthermore1 it would be an astounding1 gratuitous miracle if they all dreamed the same thing at the same time4 ,finally1 a powerful collateral argument in proof of the resurrection of ,christ is furnished by the conduct of the ,jews4 ,it might seem that if the guards told the chief priests1 scribes1 and ,pharisees1 of the miracles which occurred at the sepulchre1 they must immediately have believed and proclaimed their belief in the ,messiahship and resurrection of the crucified ,savior4 ,but they had previously remained invulnerable to as cogent proof as this would afford4 ,they had acknowledged the miracles wrought by him when he was alive1 but attributed them even his works of beneficence to demoniacal power4 ,they said1 ,he casteth out devils by the power of ,beelzebub1 the prince of devils4 ,so they acted in the present case1 and1 notwithstanding the peerless miracle related by the sentinels1 still persisted in their alienation from the ,christian faith4 ,their intensely cherished preconceptions respecting the ,messiah1 their persecution and crucifixion of ,jesus1 the glaring inconsistency of his teachings and experience with most that they expected1 these things compelled their incredulity to every proof of the ,messiahship of the contemned and murdered ,nazarene4 ,for1 if they admitted the facts on which such proof was based1 they would misinterpret them and deny the inferences justly drawn from them4 ,this was plainly the case4 ,it may be affirmed that the ,jews believed the resurrection1 because they took no fair measures to disprove it1 but threatened those who declared it4 ,since they had every inducement to demonstrate its falsity1 and might1 it seems1 have done so had it been false1 and yet never made the feeblest effort to unmask the alleged fraud1 we must suspect that they were themselves secretly convinced of its truth1 but dared not let it be known1 for fear it would prevail1 become mighty in the earth1 and push them from their seats4 ,in the rage and blindness of their prejudices1 they cried1 ,his blood be on us and on our children6 ,and from that generation to our own1 their history has afforded a living proof of the historic truth of the gospel1 and of the stability of its chief corner stone1 the resurrection of ,christ4 ,the triumphal progress of ,christianity from conquering to conquering1 together with the baffled plans and complete subjection of the ,jews1 show that their providential preparatory mission has been fulfilled4 ,if ,god is in history1 guiding the moral drift of human affairs1 then the dazzling success of the proclamation of the risen ,redeemer is the ,divine seal upon the truth of his mission and the reality of his apotheosis4 ,planting himself on this ground1 surrounding himself with these evidences1 the reverential ,christian will at least for a long time to come cling firmly to the accepted fact of the resurrection of ,christ1 regardless of whatever misgivings and perplexities may trouble the mind of the iconoclastic and critical truth seeker4 ,the ,christian ,scriptures1 assuming the resurrection of ,christ as a fact1 describe it as a fulfilment of prophecy4 ,luke reports from the risen ,savior the words1 ,o fools1 and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken6 ,ought not ,christ to have suffered these things1 and to enter into his glory8 ,thus it is written1 and thus it behooved ,christ to suffer1 and to rise from the dead the third day4 ,peter declares that the patriarch ,david before spake of the resurrection of ,christ4 ,and ,paul also affirms1 ,that the promise which was made unto the fathers1 ,god hath fulfilled the same unto us their children1 in that he hath raised up ,jesus again4 ,one can scarcely hesitate in deciding the meaning of these words as they were used by the apostles4 ,the unanimous opinion and interpretation of the ,christians of the first centuries1 and of all the ,church ,fathers1 leave no shadow of a doubt that it was believed that the resurrection of ,jesus was repeatedly foretold in the ,old ,testament1 expected by the prophets1 and fulfilled in the event as a seal of the inspired prophecy4 ,furthermore1 ,jesus himself repeatedly prophesied his own resurrection from the dead1 though his disciples did not understand his meaning until the event put a clear comment on the words4 ,he charged those who saw his transfiguration on the mount1 ,tell it to no man until the ,son of ,man be risen again from the dead4 ,the chief priests told ,pilate that they remembered that ,jesus said1 while he was yet alive1 ,after three days ,i will rise again4 ,standing in the temple at ,jerusalem1 ,jesus said once1 ,destroy this temple1 and in three days ,i will raise it up4 ,when1 therefore1 he was risen from the dead1 his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them2 and then they understood that he had spoken of the temple of his body4 ,it is perfectly plain that the ,new ,testament represents the resurrection of ,christ as the fulfilment of prophecies1 those prophecies having been so expounded by him4 ,there are few problems presented to the candid ,christian scholar of to day more perplexing than the one involved in the subject of these prophecies4 ,paul declares to ,king ,agrippa1 ,i say none other things than those which the prophets and ,moses did say should come3 that ,christ should suffer1 and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead and should show light unto the ,gentiles4 ,it is vain to attempt to disguise the fact that the ingenuous student cannot find these prophecies in the ,old ,testament as we now have it4 ,he will search it through in vain1 unless his eyes create what they see4 ,let any man endeavor to discover a passage in the ,hebrew ,scriptures which1 taken with its context1 can fairly bear such a sense4 ,there is not a shadow of valid evidence of any kind to support the merely traditional notions on this subject4 ,the only way of discerning predictions of a death1 descent1 and ascent1 of the ,messiah1 in the law and the prophets1 is by the application of ,cabalistic methods of interpretation1 theories of occult types1 double senses1 methods which now are not tolerable to intelligent men4 ,that ,rabbinical interpretation which made the story of ,ishmael and ,isaac1 the two children borne to ,abraham by ,hagar and ,sarah1 an allegory referring to the two covenants of ,judaism and ,christianity1 could easily extract any desired meaning from any given text4 ,bearing in mind the prevalence of this kind of exegesis among the ,jews1 and remembering also that they possessed in the times of ,jesus a vast body of oral law1 to which they attributed as great authority as to the written1 there are two possible ways of honestly meeting the difficulty before us4 ,first3 in ,god's counsels it was determined that a ,messiah should afterwards arise among the ,jews4 ,the revealed hope of this stirred the prophets and the popular heart4 ,it became variously and vaguely hinted in their writings1 still more variously and copiously unfolded in their traditions4 ,the conception of him gradually took form2 and they began to look for a warrior prophet1 a national deliverer1 a theocratic king4 ,jesus1 being the true ,messiah1 though a very different personage from the one meant by the writers and understood by the people1 yet being the ,messiah foreordained by ,god1 applied these ,messianic passages to himself1 and explained them according to his experience and fate4 ,this will satisfactorily clear up the application of some texts4 ,and others may be truly explained as poetical illustrations1 rhetorical accommodations1 as when he applies to ,judas1 at the ,last ,supper1 the words of the ,psalm1 ,he that eateth with me lifteth up his heel against me2 and when he refers to ,jonah's tarry in the whale's belly as a symbol of his own destined stay beneath the grave for a similar length of time4 ,or1 secondly1 we may conclude that the prophecies under consideration1 referred to in the ,new ,testament1 were not derived from any sacred documents now in our possession1 but either from perished writings1 or from oral sources1 which we know were abundant then4 ,justin ,martyr says there was formerly a passage in ,jeremiah to this effect3 ,the ,lord remembered the dead who were sleeping in the earth1 and went down to them to preach salvation to them4 #d ,there were floating in the ,jewish mind1 at the time of ,christ1 at least some fragmentary traditions1 vague expectations1 that the ,messiah was to die1 descend to ,sheol1 rescue some of the captives1 and triumphantly ascend4 ,it is true1 this statement is denied by some2 but the weight of critical authorities seems to us to preponderate in its favor1 and the intrinsic historical probabilities leave hardly a doubt of it in our own minds4#e ,now1 three alternatives are offered us4 ,either ,jesus interpreted ,moses1 the ,psalms1 and the ,prophets1 on the ,rabbinical ground of a double sense1 with mystic applications2 or he accepted the prophecies referred to1 from oral traditions held by his countrymen2 or the apostles misunderstood1 and in consequence partially misreported1 him4 ,all we can positively say is that these precise predictions are plainly not in the ,jewish ,scriptures1 undoubtedly were in the oral law1 and were certainly received by the apostles as authoritative4 ,continuing our inquiry into the apostolic view of the resurrection of ,christ1 we shall perceive that it is most prominently set forth as the certificate of our redemption from the #d ,dial4 cum ,tryph4 sect4 lxxii4 #e ,discussed1 with full list of references1 in ,strauss's ,life of ,jesus1 part iii4 cap4 i4 sect4 #aab4 kingdom of death to the same glorious destiny which awaited him upon his ascension into heaven4 ,the apostles regarded his resurrection as a supernatural seal set on his mission1 warranting his claims as an inspired deliverer and teacher4 ,thereby1 they thought1 ,god openly sanctioned and confirmed his promises4 ,thereby1 they considered1 was shown to men ,god's blessed grace1 freely forgiving their sins1 and securing to them1 by this pledge1 a deliverance from the doom of sin as he had risen from it1 and an acceptance to a heavenly immortality as he had ascended to it4 ,the resurrection of ,christ1 then1 and not his death1 was to them the point of vital interest1 the hinge on which all hung4 ,does not the record plainly show this to an impartial reader8 ,wherever the apostles preach1 whenever they write1 they appeal not to the death of a veiled ,deity1 but to the resurrection of an appointed messenger2 not to a vicarious atonement or purchase effected by the mortal sufferings of ,jesus1 but to the confirmation of the good tidings he brought1 afforded by the ,father's raising him from the dead4 ,whereof he hath given assurance unto all1 in that he hath raised him from the dead1 ,paul proclaimed on ,mars ,hill4 ,in the discourses of the apostles recorded in the ,book of ,acts1 we find that1 when they preached the new religion to new audiences1 the great doctrine in all cases set forth as fundamental and absorbing is the resurrection2 not an atoning death1 but a justifying resurrection4 ,he died for our sins1 and rose for our justification4 ,some of the ,athenians thought ,paul a setter forth of two strange gods1 ,jesus and ,resurrection4 ,and when they desire to characterize ,christ1 the distinguishing culminating phrase which they invariably select shows on what their minds rested as of chief import3 they describe him as the one whom ,god hath raised from the dead4 ,if we believe that ,jesus died and rose again1 even so them also which sleep in ,jesus will ,god bring with him4 ,that ye may know what is the exceeding greatness of ,god's power toward us who believe1 according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in ,christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in heaven4 ,it is plain here that the dying of ,christ is regarded merely as preliminary to his rising1 and that his resurrection and entrance into heaven are received as an assurance that faithful disciples1 too1 shall obtain admission into the heavenly kingdom4 ,the ,calvinistic doctrine is that the unutterable vicarious agonies of the death of ,christ placated the wrath of ,god1 satisfied his justice1 and ransomed the souls of the elect from the tortures of hell1 and that his resurrection was simply his victorious return from a penal conflict with the powers of ,satan4 ,the ,unitarian doctrine is that the violent death of ,christ was an expression of self sacrificing love1 to exert a moral power on the hearts of men1 and that his resurrection was a miraculous proof of the authority and truth of his teachings1 a demonstration of human immortality4 ,we maintain that neither of these views fully contains the true representation of the ,new ,testament4 ,the artificial horrors of the former cannot be forced into nor wrung out of the written words2 while the natural simplicity and meagerness of the latter cannot be made to fill up the written words with adequate significance4 ,there is a medium doctrine1 based on the conceptions prevalent at the time the ,christian system was constructed and written2 a doctrine which equally avoids the credulous excess of the ,calvinistic interpretation and the skeptical poverty of the ,unitarian2 a doctrine which fully explains all the relevant language of the ,new ,testament without violence2 a doctrine which1 for our own part1 we feel sure accurately represents the ideas meant to be conveyed by the ,scripture authors4 ,we will state it1 and then quote1 for its illustration and for their own explanation1 the principal texts relating to the resurrection of ,jesus4 ,on account of sin1 which had alienated man from ,god and unfitted him for heaven1 he was condemned after death to descend as a disembodied soul into the dark kingdom of the grave1 the under world4 ,in that cheerless realm of helpless shades and stillness all departed human spirits were prisoners1 and must be1 until the advent of the ,messiah1 when they1 or a part of them1 should rise4 ,this was the ,jewish belief4 ,now1 the apostles were ,jews1 who had the ideas of their countrymen1 to which1 upon becoming ,christians1 they added the new conceptions formed in their minds by the teachings1 character1 deeds1 death1 resurrection1 of ,christ1 mixed with their own meditations and experience4 ,accepting1 with these previous notions1 the resurrection of ,christ as a fact and a fulfilment of prophecy1 they immediately supposed that his triumphant exit from the prison of the dead and return to heaven were the prefiguration of the similar deliverance of others and their entrance into heaven4 ,they considered him as the first born from the dead1 the first fruits of the dead4 ,they emphatically characterize his return to life as a resurrection out from among the dead1 non-,,ascii characters1 plainly implying that the rest of the dead still remained below4#f ,they received his experience in this respect as the revealing type of that which was awaiting his followers4 ,so far as relates to the separate existence of the soul1 the restoration of the widow's son by ,elijah1 or the resurrection of ,lazarus1 logically implies all that is implied in the mere resurrection of ,christ4 ,but certain notions of localities1 of a redemptive ascent1 and an opening of heaven for the redeemed spirits of men to ascend thither1 were associated exclusively with the last4 ,when1 through the will of ,god1 ,christ rose1 then first humanity triumphant passed the crystal ports of light1 and seized eternal youth6 ,their view was not that ,christ effected all this by means of his own2 but that the free grace of ,god decreed it1 and that ,christ came to carry the plan into execution4 ,god1 for his great love to us1 even when we were dead in sins1 has quickened us together with ,christ4 ,this was effected as in dramatic show3 ,christ died1 which was suffering the fate of a sinner2 he went in spirit to the subterranean abode of spirits1 which was bearing the penalty of sin2 he rose again1 which was showing the penalty of sin removed by ,divine forgiveness2 he ascended into heaven1 which was revealing the way for our ascent thrown open4 ,such is the general scope of thought in close and vital connection with which the doctrine of the resurrection of ,christ stands4 ,we shall spare enlarging on those parts of it which have been sufficiently proved and illustrated in preceding chapters1 and confine our attention as much as may be to those portions which have direct relations with the resurrection of ,christ4 ,it is our object1 then1 to show what we think will plainly appear in the light of the above general statement that1 to the ,new ,testament writers1 the resurrection1 and not the death1 of ,christ is the fact of central moment1 is the assuring seal of our forgiveness1 reconciliation1 and heavenly adoption4 #f ,wood1 ,the ,last ,things1 pp4 #ca-dd4 ,they saw two antithetical starting points in the history of mankind3 a career of ruin1 beginning with condemned ,adam in the garden of ,eden at the foot of the forbidden tree1 dragging a fleshly race down into ,sheol2 a career of remedy1 beginning with victorious ,christ in the garden of ,joseph at the mouth of the rent sepulchre1 guiding a spiritual race up into heaven4 ,the ,savior himself is reported as saying1 ,i lay down my life that ,i may take it again3 the dying was not for the sake of substitutional suffering1 but for the sake of a resurrection4 ,except a corn of wheat die1 it abideth alone2 but1 if it die1 it bringeth forth much fruit4 ,a woman when she is in travail hath sorrow2 but as soon as she is delivered of the child she remembereth no more the anguish1 for joy that a man is born into the world4 ,the context here shows the ,savior's meaning to be that the woe of his death would soon be lost in the weal of his resurrection4 ,the death was merely the necessary antecedent to the significant resurrection4 ,blessed be the ,god and ,father of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 who1 according to his abundant mercy1 hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of ,jesus ,christ from the dead unto an inheritance1 incorruptible1 undefiled1 and that fadeth not away1 reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of ,god through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed4 ,him hath ,god raised on high by his right hand1 to give repentance to ,israel and forgiveness of sins4 ,how clear it is here that not the vicarious death of ,christ buys off sinners1 but his resurrection shows sins to be freely forgiven1 the penalty remitted6 ,remember that ,jesus ,christ was raised from the dead1 according to my gospel3 therefore ,i endure all things for the elect's sake1 that they may obtain the salvation which is in ,christ ,jesus with eternal glory4 ,be it known unto you1 therefore1 men1 brethren1 that through ,him whom ,god raised again is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins4 ,the passage in the ,epistle to the ,hebrews1 ninth chapter1 from the twenty third verse to the twenty seventh1 most emphatically connects the annulling of sin through the sacrifice of ,christ with his ascended appearance in heaven4 ,jesus who was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification3 that is1 ,jesus died because he had entered the condition of sinful humanity1 the penalty of which was death2 he was raised to show that ,god had forgiven us our sins and would receive us to heaven instead of banishing us to the under world4 ,if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the ,lord ,jesus1 and shalt believe in thine heart that ,god hath raised him from the dead1 thou shalt be saved4 ,belief in the resurrection of ,christ is here undeniably made the great condition of salvation4 ,no text can be found in which belief in the death1 or blood1 or atoning merits1 of ,christ is made that condition4 ,and yet nine tenths of ,christendom by their creeds are to day proclaiming1 ,believe in the vicarious sufferings of ,christ1 and thou shalt be saved2 believe not in them1 and thou shalt be damned6 ,god hath both raised up the ,lord and will also raise up us4 ,if ,christ be not raised1 your faith is vain3 ye are yet in your sins4 ,this text cannot be explained upon the common ,calvinistic or ,unitarian theories4 ,whether ,christ was risen or not made no difference in their justification before ,god if his death had atoned for them1 made no difference in their moral condition1 which was as it was2 but if ,christ had not risen1 then they were mistaken in supposing that heaven had been opened for them3 they were yet held in the necessity of descending to the under world1 the penalty of their sins4 ,the careful reader will observe that1 in many places in the ,scriptures where a burden and stress of importance seem laid upon the death of ,christ1 there immediately follows a reference to his resurrection1 showing that the dying is only referred to as the preparatory step to the rising1 the resurrection being the essential thing4 ,the ,apostle ,paul scarcely speaks of the death of the ,savior except in connection with his resurrection1 ,bleek says1 in his ,commentary on the ,epistle to the ,hebrews4 ,it is ,christ that died1 yea1 rather1 that is risen again and is now at the right hand of ,god4 ,if we believe that ,jesus died and rose again4 ,to this end ,christ both died1 and rose and lived again4 ,he died for them and rose again4 ,we confidently avow1 therefore1 that the ,christian ,scriptures concentrate the most essential significance and value of the mission of ,jesus in his resurrection1 describing it as the ,divine seal of his claims1 the visible proof and pledge of our redemption1 by ,god's freely forgiving grace1 from the fatal bondage of death's sepulchral domain to the blessed splendors of heaven's immortal life4 ,there remain a class of passages to be particularly noticed1 in which an extraordinary emphasis seems to be laid on ,christ's sufferings1 ,christ's blood1 ,christ's death1 three phrases that mean virtually the same thing and are used interchangeably4 ,the peculiar prominence given to the idea of the sacrifice of ,christ in the instances now referred to is such as might lead one to suppose that some mysterious efficacy was meant to be attributed to it4 ,but we think an accurate examination of the subject will show that these texts are really in full harmony with the view we have been maintaining4 ,admitting that the resurrection of ,christ was the sole circumstance of ultimate meaning and importance1 still1 his violent and painful death would naturally be spoken of as often and strongly as it is1 for two reasons4 ,first1 the chief ground of wonder and claim for gratitude to him was that he should have left his pre existent state of undisturbed bliss and glory1 and submitted to such humiliation and anguish for others1 for sinners4 ,secondly1 it was the prerequisite to his resurrection1 the same1 in effect1 with it1 since the former must lead to the latter2 for1 as the foremost apostle said1 ,it was not possible that he should be holden in death4 ,the apostolical writers do not speak of salvation by the blood of ,christ any more plainly than they do of salvation by the name of ,christ1 salvation by grace1 and salvation by faith4 ,if at one time they identify him with the sacrificial lamb1 at another time they as distinctively identify him with the high priest offering himself1 and again with the great ,shepherd of the sheep1 and again with the mediator of the new covenant1 and again with the second ,adam4 ,these are all figures of speech1 and1 taken superficially1 they determine nothing as to doctrine4 ,the propriety and the genuine character and force of the metaphor are in each case to be carefully sought with the lights of learning and under the guidance of a docile candor4 ,the thoughts that1 in consequence of transmitted sin1 all departed souls of men were confined in the under world that ,christ1 to carry out and revealingly exemplify the free grace of the ,father1 came into the world1 died a cruel death1 descended to the prison world of the dead1 declared there the glad tidings1 rose thence and ascended into heaven1 the forerunner of the ransomed hosts to follow1 these thoughts enable us to explain1 in a natural1 forcible1 and satisfactory manner1 the peculiar phraseology of the ,new ,testament in regard to the death of ,christ1 without having recourse to the arbitrary conceptions and mystical horror usually associated with it now4 ,for instance1 consider the passage in the second chapter of the ,epistle to the ,ephesians1 from the eleventh verse to the nineteenth4 ,the writer here says that the ,gentiles1 who formerly were far off1 strangers from the covenants of promise1 are now made nigh by the blood of ,christ4 ,this language he clearly explains as meaning that through the death and resurrection of ,christ the middle wall of partition between ,jews and ,gentiles was broken down and a universal religion inaugurated1 free from all invidious distinctions and carnal ordinances4 ,in his bodily death and spiritual ascension the ,jewish ritual law was abolished and the world wide moral law alone installed4 ,from his spirit1 rising into heaven1 all national peculiarities fell away1 and through him ,jews and ,gentiles both had access1 by communion with his ascended and cosmopolitan soul1 unto the ,father4 ,a careful study of all the passages in the ,new ,testament which speak of ,christ as delivering men from the wrath of ,god will lead1 it seems to us1 almost every unprejudiced person to agree with one of the ablest ,german critics1 who says that the technical phrase 'wrath of ,god' here means1 historically1 banishment of souls into the under world1 and that the fact of ,christ's triumph and ascent was a precious pledge showing to the ,christians that they too should ascend to eternal life in heaven4#g ,the doctrine of the descent of ,christ among the dead and of his redemptive mission there has of late wellnigh faded from notice2 but if any one wishes to see the evidence of its universal reception and unparalleled importance in the ,christian ,church for fifteen hundred years1 presented in overwhelming quantity and irresistible array1 let him read the learned work devoted to this subject recently published in ,germany4#h ,he can hardly peruse this work and follow up its references without seeing that1 almost without an exception1 from the days of ,peter and ,paul to those of ,martin ,luther1 it has been held that the death and resurrection of ,christ are the two poles between which1 as ,guder says1 his descent into the under world lies4 ,the phrase blood of ,christ is often used in ,scripture in a pregnant sense1 including the force of meaning that would be expressed by his death1 descent1 resurrection1 and ascension1 with all their concomitants4 ,as a specimen of innumerable passages of like import which might be cited1 we will quote a single expression from ,epiphanius1 showing that the orthodox teachers in the fourth century attributed redeeming efficacy to ,christ's resurrection rather than to his death4 ,as the pelican restores its dead offspring by dropping its own blood upon their wounds1 so our ,lord ,jesus ,christ dropped his blood upon ,adam1 ,eve1 and all the dead1 and gave them life by his burial and resurrection4 #i ,it was a part of the ,mosaic ritual1 laid down in the sixteenth chapter of ,leviticus1 that on the great annual day of expiation there should be two goats chosen by lot1 one for the ,lord and one for ,azazel4 ,the former the high priest was to slay1 and with his blood sprinkle #g ,bretschneider1 ,religiose ,glaubenslehre1 sect4 #ei3 ,christus der ,erloser vom ,tode4 #h ,guder1 ,die ,lehre von der ,erscheinung ,jesu ,christi unter den ,todten3 ,in ihrem ,zusammenhange mit der ,lehre von den ,letzten ,dingen4 #i ,physiol41 cap4 #h3 ,de ,pelecano4 the mercy seat4 ,the latter1 when the high priest's hands had been laid on his head and all the iniquities of the children of ,israel confessed over him1 was to be sent into the wilderness and loosed4 ,the former goat is called a sin offering for the people4 ,the latter is called a scape goat to make an atonement with the ,lord4 ,the blood of the sin offering could not have been supposed to be a substitute purchasing the pardon of men's offences1 because there is no hint of any such idea in the record1 and because it was offered to reconcile houses1 tabernacles1 altars1 as well as to reconcile men4 ,it had simply a ceremonial significance4 ,such rites were common in many of the early religions4 ,they were not the efficient cause of pardon1 but were the formal condition of reconciliation4 ,and then1 in regard to the scapegoat1 it was not sacrificed as an expiation for sinners2 it merely symbolically carried off the sins already freely forgiven4 ,all these forms and phrases were inwrought with the whole national life and religious language of the ,jews4 ,now1 when ,jesus appeared1 a messenger from ,god1 to redeem men from their sins and to promise them pardon and heaven1 and when he died a martyr's death in the fulfilment of his mission1 how perfectly natural that this sacrificial imagery these figures of blood1 propitiation1 sprinkling the mercy seat should be applied to him1 and to his work and fate6 ,the burden of sins forgiven by ,god's grace in the old covenant the scape goat emblematically bore away1 and the people went free4 ,so if the words must be supposed to have an objective and not merely a moral sense when the ,baptist cried1 ,behold the ,lamb of ,god1 that beareth off the sin of the world1 his meaning was that ,jesus was to bear off the penalty of sin that is1 the ,hadean doom which ,god's free grace had annulled and open heaven to the ranks of reconciled souls4 ,there is not the least shadow of proof that the sacrifices in the ,mosaic ritual were ,divinely ordained as types pre figuring the great sacrifice of ,christ4 ,there is no such pretence in the record1 no such tradition among the people1 not the slightest foundation whatever of any sort to warrant that arbitrary presumption4 ,all such applications of them are rhetorical2 and their historical force and moral meaning are clearly explicable on the views which we have presented in the foregoing pages1 but are most violently strained and twisted by the ,calvinistic theory to meet the severe exigencies of a theoretical dogma4 ,if any one1 granting that the central efficacy of the mission of ,christ1 dogmatically and objectively considered1 lay in his descent into ,hades and in his resurrection1 maintains that still certain passages in the ,new ,testament do ascribe an expiatory effect directly to his death as such1 we reply that this interpretation is quite likely to be correct4 ,and we can easily trace the conception to its origin beyond the pale of revelation4 ,it was an idea prevalent among the ,jews in the time of the apostles1 and before1 that death was an atonement for all sins1 and that the death of the righteous atoned for the sins of others4#aj ,now1 the apostles might adopt this view and apply it pre eminently to the case of ,christ4 ,this is the very explanation given by ,origen4#aa ,de ,wette quotes the following sentence1 and many others of the same purport1 #aj ,gfrorer1 ,gesehichte des ,urchristenthums1 abth4 ii4 pp4 #ahg #aij4 #aa ,mosheim1 ,commentaries on ,christianity in the ,first ,three ,centuries1 ,eng4 trans41 vol4 ii4 pp4 #afb-afc4 from the ,talmud3 ,the death of the just is the redemption of sinners4#ab ,the blood of any righteous man was a little atonement2 that of ,christ was a vast one4 ,the former all ,protestants call a heathen error4 ,so they should the latter1 because it sprung from the same source and is the same in principle4 ,if1 then1 there are any scriptural texts which imply that the mere death of ,christ had a vicarious1 expiatory efficacy1 they are1 so far forth1 the reflection of heathen and ,jewish errors yet lingering in the minds of the writers1 and not the inspired revelation of an isolated1 arbitrary after expedient contrived in the secret counsels of ,god and wonderfully interpolated into the providential history of the world4 ,but1 if there are any such passages1 they are few and unimportant4 ,the great mass of the scriptural language on this subject is fairly and fully explained by the historical theory whose outlines we have sketched4 ,the root of the matter is the resurrection of ,christ out from among the dead and his ascent into heaven4 ,it has not been our purpose in this chapter1 or in the preceding chapters1 to present the history of the ,christian doctrine of the atonement1 either in its intrinsic significance or in its relations to subjective religious experience4 ,we have only sought to explain it1 according to the original understanding of it1 in its objective relations to the fate of men in the future life4 ,the importance of the subject1 its difficulty1 and the profound prejudices connected with it1 are so great as not only to excuse1 but even to require1 much explanatory repetition to make the truth clear and to recommend it1 in many lights1 with various methods1 and by accumulated authorities4 ,those who wish to see the whole subject of the atonement treated with consummate fulness and ability1 leaving nothing to be desired from the historical point of view1 have only to read the masterly work of ,baur4#ac ,in leaving this part of our subject here1 we would submit the following considerations to the candid judgment of the reader4 ,admitting the truth of the common doctrine of the atonement1 why did ,christ die8 ,it does not appear how there could be any particular efficacy in mere death4 ,the expiation of sin which he had undertaken required only a certain amount of suffering4 ,it did not as far as we can see on the theory of satisfaction by an equivalent substituted suffering require death4 ,it seems as if local and physical ideas must have been associated with the thought of his death4 ,and we find the author of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews thus replying to the question1 ,why did ,christ die8 ,that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death1 that is1 the devil1 and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage4 ,now1 plainly1 this end was accomplished by his resurrection bursting asunder the bonds of ,hades and showing that it was no longer the hopeless prison of the dead4 ,the justice of this explanation appears from the logical necessity of the series of ideas1 the internal coherence and harmony of thought4 ,it has been ably shown that substantially this view is the accurate interpretation of the ,new ,testament doctrine by #ab ,comm4 de ,morte ,christi ,expiatoria1 cap4 iii43 ,qua ,judaorum ,recentiorum ,christologia de ,passione ac ,morte ,messia docet4 #ac ,die ,christliche ,lehre von der ,versohnung in ihrer ,geschichtlichen ,entwicklung von der ,alteaten ,zeit bis auf die ,neueste4 ,steinbart1#ad ,schott1#ae ,bretschneider1#af ,klaiber1#ag and others4 ,the gradual deviations from this early view can be historically traced1 step by step1 through the refining speculations of theologians4 ,first1 in ecclesiastical history1 after the ,new ,testament times1 it is thought the devil has a right over all souls in consequence of sin4 ,christ is a ransom offered to the devil to offset his claim4 ,sometimes this is represented as a fair bargain1 sometimes as a deception practised on the devil1 sometimes as a battle waged with him4 ,next1 it is conceived that the devil has no right over human souls1 that it is ,god who has doomed them to the infernal prison and holds them there for their sin4 ,accordingly1 the sacrifice of ,christ for their ransom is offered not to the tyrannical devil but to the offended ,god4 ,finally1 in the progress of culture1 the satisfaction theory appears2 and now the suffering of ,christ is neither to buy souls from the devil nor to appease ,god and soften his anger into forgiveness2 but it is to meet the inexorable exigencies of the abstract law of infinite justice and deliver sinners by bearing for them the penalty of sin4 ,the whole course of thought1 once commenced1 is natural1 inevitable2 but the starting point is from an error1 and the pausing places are at false goals4 ,the view which we have asserted to be the scriptural view prevailed as the orthodox doctrine of the ,church throughout the first three centuries1 as ,bahr has proved in his valuable treatise on the subject4#ah ,he shows that during that period ,christ's death was regarded as a revelation of ,god's love1 a victory over the devil1 7through his resurrection17 a means of obtaining salvation for men1 but not as a punitive sacrifice1 not as a vindication of ,god's justice1 not as a vicarious satisfaction of the law4#ai ,if the leading theologians of ,christendom1 such as ,anselm1 ,calvin1 and ,grotius1 have so thoroughly repudiated the original ,christian and patristic doctrine of the atonement1 and built another doctrine upon their own uninspired speculations1 why should our modern sects defer so slavishly to them1 and1 instead of freely investigating the subject for themselves from the first sources of ,scripture and spiritual philosophy1 timidly cling to the results reached by these biassed1 morbid1 and over sharp thinkers8 ,in proportion as scholarly1 unfettered minds engage in such a criticism1 we believe the exposition given in the foregoing pages will be recognised as scriptural4 ,without involving this whole theory1 how can any one explain the unquestionable fact that during the first four centuries the entire orthodox ,church believed that ,christ at his resurrection from the under world delivered ,adam from his imprisonment there8#bj ,all acknowledge that the phrase redemption by the blood of ,christ is a metaphor4 ,the only question is1 what meaning was it intended to convey8 ,we maintain its meaning to be that #ad ,system der ,reinen ,philosophie1 oder ,gluckseligkeitslehre des ,christenthums1 u4s4f4 #ae ,epitome ,theologia ,christiana ,dogmatica4 #af ,die ,lehren von ,adam's ,fall1 der ,erbsunde1 und dem ,opfer ,christi4 #ag ,studien der ,evang4 ,geietlichkeit ,wurtemburgs1 viii4 #a1 #b4 ,doederlein1 ,morus1 ,knapp1 ,schwarze1 and ,reinhard affirm that the death of ,christ was not the price of our pardon1 but the confirming declaration of free pardon from ,god4 ,hagenbach1 ,dogmengeschichte1 sect4 #big1 note #e4 #ah ,die ,lehre der ,kirche vom ,tode ,jesu in den ,ersten ,drei ,jahrhunderteu4 #ai ,die ,lehre der ,kirche vom ,tode ,jesu in den ,ersten ,drei ,jahrhunderten1 ss4 #agf-ahj4 #bj ,augustine1 ,epist4 ad ,evodium #ii4 ,op4 ,imp4 vi4 #bb1 #cj4 ,epist4 #afd4 ,dante makes ,adam say he had been #dcjb years in ,limbo when ,christ1 at his descent1 rescued him4 ,paradise1 canto xxvi4 through all the events and forces associated with the death of ,christ1 including his descent to ,hades and his resurrection1 men are delivered from the doom of the under world4 ,the common theology explains it as teaching that there was an expiatory efficacy in the unmerited sufferings of ,christ4 ,the system known as ,unitarianism says it denotes merely the exertion of a saving spiritual power on the hearts of men4 ,the first interpretation charges the figure of speech with a dramatic revelation of the love of ,god freely rescuing men from their inherited fate4 ,the second seems to make it a tank of gore1 where ,divine vengeance legally laps to appease its otherwise insatiable appetite4 ,the third fills it with a regenerative moral influence to be distributed upon the characters of believers4 ,the two former also include the last2 but it excludes them4 ,now1 as it seems to us1 the first is the form of mistake in which the early ,church1 including the apostles1 embodied the true significance of the mission of ,christ4 ,owing to the circle of ideas in which they lived1 this was the only possible form in which the disciples of ,jesus could receive the new doctrine of a blessed immortality brought to light by ,christianity4#ba ,the second is the form of false theory in which a few scholastic brains elaborated the cruel results of their diseased metaphysical speculations4 ,the third is the dry1 meager1 inadequate statement of the most essential truth in the case4 ,there is one more point of view in which the ,new ,testament holds up the resurrection of ,christ4 ,it is regarded as a summons to a moral and spiritual resurrection within the breast of the believer4 ,as the great ,forerunner had ascended to a spiritual and immortal life in the heavens1 so his followers should be inspired with such a realizing sense of heavenly things1 with such ,divine faith and fellowship1 as would lift them above the world1 with all its evanescent cares1 and fix their hearts with ,god4 ,this high communion with ,christ1 and intense assurance of a destined speedy inheritance with him1 should render the disciple insensible to the clamorous distractions of earth1 invulnerable to the open and secret assaults of sin1 as if in the body he were already dead1 and only alive in the spirit to the obligations of holiness1 the attractions of piety1 and the promises of heaven4 ,when we were dead in trespasses and sins1 ,god loved us1 and hath quickened us together with ,christ1 and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places4 ,if ye1 then1 be risen with ,christ1 set your affection on things above1 not on earthly things2 for ye are dead1 and your life is hid with ,christ in ,god4 ,this moral symbolic application of the resurrection is most beautiful and effective4 ,christ has risen1 immaculate and immortal1 into the pure and holy heaven3 then live virtuously and piously1 that you may be found worthy to be received unto him4 ,he that hath this hope purifieth himself1 even as ,he is pure4 ,paul enforces this thought through the striking figure that1 since we are freed from the law through the death of ,christ1 we should be married to his risen spirit and bring forth fruit unto ,god4 ,and again1 when he speaks in these words1 ,christ in you the hope of glory1 we suppose he refers to the spiritual image of the risen ,redeemer formed in the disciples' imagination and heart1 the prefiguring and witnessing pledge of their ascension also to heaven4 ,the same practical use is made of the doctrine through the rite and sign of baptism4 ,ye are buried with ,christ in #ba ,bretschneider forcibly illustrates this in his ,handbuch der ,dogmatik der ,evang4 ,luther4 ,kirche1 sects4 #aef-aeh1 band ii4 baptism1 wherein also ye are risen with him through faith in the working of ,god1 who hath raised him from the dead4 ,wherefore1 if ye be dead with ,christ1 why are ye subject to worldly ordinances8 and if ye be risen with him1 seek those things which are above4 ,when the disciple sunk beneath the baptizing waters1 he was typically dead and buried1 as ,jesus was in the tomb2 when he rose from the waters into the air again1 he figuratively represented ,christ rising from the dead into heaven4 ,henceforth1 therefore1 he was to consider himself as dead to all worldly sins and lusts1 alive to all heavenly virtues and aspirations4 ,therefore1 the apostle says1 we are buried with ,christ by baptism unto death1 that like as ,christ was raised up from the dead1 even so we should walk in newness of life4 ,in that ,christ died1 he died unto sin once2 but in that he liveth1 he liveth unto ,god4 ,likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin1 but alive unto ,god4 ,therefore1 if any man be in ,christ1 he is a new creature3 old things are passed away2 behold1 all things are become new4 ,this was strictly true to the immediate disciples of ,jesus4 ,when he died1 their hearts died within them2 they shrank away in hopeless confusion and gloom4 ,when he returned to life and ascended to heaven1 in feeling and imagination they went with him4 ,every moral power and motive started into new life and energy4 ,the day when from the dead ,our ,lord arose1 then everywhere1 ,out of their darkness and despair1 ,triumphant over fears and foes1 ,the souls of his disciples rose4 ,an unheard of assurance of the ,father's love and of their eternal inheritance flooded their being with its regenerating1 uplifting power4 ,to their absorbing anticipations the mighty consummation of all was at hand4 ,in reflective imagination it was already past1 and they1 dead to the world1 only lived to ,god4 ,the material world and the lust thereof had sunk beneath them and vanished4 ,they were moving in the universe of imperishable realities unseen by the fleshly eye4 ,to their faith already was unrolled over them that new firmament in whose spanless welkin no cloudy tempests ever gather and break1 and the serene lights never fade nor go down4 ,this experience of a spiritual exaltation above the sins and degrading turmoils of passion1 above the perishing baubles of the earth1 into the religious principles which are independent and assured1 peace1 and bliss1 and eternity1 is attainable by all who with the earnestness of their souls assimilate the moral truths of ,christianity1 pressing in pious trust after the steps of the risen ,master4 ,and this1 after all1 is the vital essence of the doctrine of the resurrection as it makes practical appeal to us4 ,this will stand1 though gnawing time and hostile criticism should assail and shake all the rest4 ,it is something not to be mechanically wrought upon us from without1 but to be done within by our own voluntary effort and prayer1 by ,god's help4 ,to rise from sloth1 unbelief1 sin1 from moral death1 to earnestness1 faith1 beneficence1 to eternal life in the breast1 is a real and most sublime resurrection1 the indispensable preparation for that other and final one which shall raise us from the sepulchre to the sky4 ,when1 on ,easter morning1 ,christian disciples throughout the world hear the joyous cry1 ,christ is risen1 and their own hearts instinctively respond1 with an unquenchable persuasion that he is now alive somewhere in the heights of the universe1 ,christ is risen indeed1 they should endeavor in spirit to rise too1 rise from the deadly bondage and corruption of vice and indifference4 ,while the earth remains1 and men survive1 and the evils which alienate them from ,god and his blessedness retain any sway over them1 so oft as that hallowed day comes round1 this is the kindling message of ,divine authority ever fresh1 and of transcendent import never old1 that it bears through all the borders of ,christendom to every responsible soul3 ,awake from your sleep1 arise from your death1 lift up your eyes to heaven1 and the risen ,redeemer will give you the light of immortal life6 ,have this awakening and deathless experience in the soul1 and you will be troubled by no doubts about an everlasting life succeeding the close of the world4 ,but so long as this spiritual resurrection in the breast is unknown1 you can have no knowledge of eternal life1 no experimental faith in a future entrance from the grave into heaven1 no1 not though millions of resurrections had crowded the interstellar space with ascending shapes4 ,rise1 then1 from your moral graves1 and already1 by faith and imagination1 sit in heavenly places with ,christ ,jesus4 ,before leaving this subject1 it belongs to us to look at it as a theory2 that is1 to consider with critical scrutiny the conclusions which are supposed to flow from its central fact4 ,we must regard it from three distinct points of view1 seeking its meaning in sound logic1 its force in past history1 its value in present experience4 ,first1 then1 we are to inquire what really is the logical significance of the resurrection of ,christ4 ,the looseness and confusion of thought prevailing in relation to this point are amazing4 ,it seems as if mankind were contented with investigations careless1 reasonings incoherent1 and inferences arbitrary1 in proportion to the momentousness of the matter in hand4 ,in regard to little details of sensible fact and daily business their observation is sharp1 their analysis careful1 their reflection patient2 but when they approach the great problems of morality1 ,god1 immortality1 they shrink from commensurate efforts to master those mighty questions with stern honesty1 and remain satisfied with fanciful methods and vague results4 ,the resurrection of ,christ is generally regarded as a direct demonstration of the immortality of man1 an argument of irrefragable validity4 ,but this is an astonishing mistake4 ,the argument was not so constructed by ,paul4 ,he did not seek directly to prove the immortality of the soul1 but the resurrection of the dead4 ,he took for granted the ,pharisaic doctrine that all souls on leaving their bodies descended to ,sheol1 where they darkly survived1 waiting to be summoned forth at the arrival of the ,messianic epoch4 ,assuming the further premise that ,christ after death went down among these imprisoned souls1 and then rose thence again1 ,paul infers1 by a logical process strictly valid and irresistible to one holding those premises1 that the general doctrine of a resurrection from the dead is true1 and that by this visible pledge we may expect it soon1 since the ,messiah1 who is to usher in its execution1 has already come and finished the preliminary stages of his work4 ,the apostle's own words plainly show this to be his meaning4 ,if there be no resurrection of the dead1 then is ,christ not risen4 ,but now is ,christ risen from the dead1 become the first fruits of them that slept4 ,for since by man came death1 by man came also the resurrection of the dead4 ,every man shall be made alive in his own order3 ,christ the first fruits2 then they that are ,christ's1 at his coming2 then the last remnant1 when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to ,god4 ,the notions of a universal imprisonment of souls in the intermediate state1 and of a universal raising of them thence at an appointed time1 having faded from a deep and vivid belief into a cold traditional dogma1 ridiculed by many1 cared for at all by few1 realizingly held by almost none1 ,paul's argument has been perverted and misinterpreted1 until it is now commonly supposed to mean this3 ,christ has risen from the dead3 therefore the soul of man is immortal4 ,whereas the argument really existed in his mind in the reverse form1 thus3 ,the souls of men are immortal and are hereafter to be raised up3 therefore ,christ has risen as an example and illustration thereof4 ,it is singular to notice that he has himself clearly stated the argument in this form three times within the space of four consecutive verses1 as follows3 ,if there be no resurrection of the dead1 then is ,christ not risen3 ,god raised ,christ not up1 if so be that the dead rise not4 ,for if the dead rise not1 then is ,christ not raised4 ,the fact of the resurrection of ,christ1 taken in connection with the related notions previously held in the mind of ,paul1 formed the complement of an irresistible argument to prove the impending resurrection of the dead1 ,but if it be now perceived that those other notions were ,pharisaic errors1 the argument1 as he employed it1 falls to the ground4 ,taken by itself and analyzed by a severe logic1 the resurrection of ,christ proves nothing conclusively in regard to our immortality4 ,if it did of itself prove any thing1 the direct logical inference from it would be that henceforth all men1 three days after death1 would rise bodily from the dead1 appear for a season on earth as before1 and then ascend visibly into the sky4 ,if at the present time a man who had been put to death and entombed three days should openly come forth alive1 considered as an isolated fact1 what would it prove8 ,it would merely prove that a wonderful event had occurred4 ,it would show that either by some mysterious means he had escaped death1 or else that by some apparently preternatural agency he had been restored to life from the dead4 ,taken by itself1 it could not prove whether the occurrence was caused by a demoniacal or by a ,divine power1 or by some occult force of nature developed by a peculiar combination of conditions4 ,the strange event would stand clear to our senses2 but all beyond that would be but an hypothesis of our own1 and liable to mistake4 ,consequently1 we say1 the resurrection1 taken by itself1 proves no doctrine4 ,but we may so suppose the case that such an event would1 from its relation to something else1 acquire logical meaning4 ,for instance1 if ,christ had taught that he had supernatural knowledge of truth1 a ,divine commission to reveal a future life1 and said that1 after he should have been dead and buried three days1 ,god would restore him to life to authenticate his words1 and if1 then1 so stupendous a miracle occurred in accordance with his prediction1 it would prove that his claims and doctrine were true1 because ,god is no accomplice in deception4 ,such was the case with ,jesus as narrated2 and thus his resurrection appears1 not as having doctrinal significance and demonstrative validity in itself1 but as a miraculous authentication of his mission4 ,that is to say1 the ,christian's faith in immortality rests not directly on the resurrection of ,christ1 but on his teachings1 which were confirmed and sealed by his resurrection4 ,it is true that1 even in this modified form1 some persons of dialectical minds will deny all validity to the argument4 ,what necessary connection is there1 they will ask1 between the exhibition of mechanico chemical wonders1 physical feats1 however abnormal and inexplicable1 and the possession of infallibility of intellectual insight and moral utterance8 ,if a man should say1 ,god is falsehood and hatred1 and in evidence of his declaration should make a whole cemetery disembogue its dead alive1 or cause the sun suddenly to sink from its station at noon and return again1 would his wonderful performance prove his horrible doctrine8 ,why1 or how1 then1 would a similar feat prove the opposite doctrine8 ,plainly1 there is not1 on rigid logical principles1 any connecting tie or evidencing coherence between a physical miracle and a moral doctrine4#bb ,we admit the correctness of this1 on philosophical grounds4 ,but the validity of a miracle as proof of a doctrine rests on the spontaneous assumption that no man can work a miracle unless ,god specially delegate him the power3 thereby ,god becomes the voucher of his envoy4 ,and when a person claiming to be a messenger from ,god appears1 saying1 ,the ,father hath commanded me to declare that in the many mansions of his house there is a blessed life for men after the close of this life1 and when he promises that1 in confirmation of his claim1 ,god will restore him to life after he shall have been three days dead1 and when he returns accordingly triumphant from the sepulchre1 the argument will be unquestioningly received as valid by the instinctive common sense of all who are convinced of the facts4 ,we next pass from the meaning of the resurrection in logic to its force and working in history4 ,when ,jesus hung on the cross1 and the scornful shouts of the multitude murmured in his ears1 the disciples had fled away1 disappointed1 terror stricken1 despairing4 ,his star seemed set in a hopeless night of shame and defeat4 ,the new religion appeared a failure4 ,but in three days affairs had taken a new aspect4 ,he that was crucified had risen1 and the scattered disciples rallied from every quarter1 and1 animated by faith and zeal1 went forth to convert the world4 ,as an organic centre of thought and belief1 as a fervid and enduring incitement to action1 in the apostolic times and all through the early centuries1 the received fact of the resurrection of ,christ wielded an incomparable influence and produced incalculable results4 ,christianity indeed rose upon it1 and1 to a great extent1 flourished through it4 ,the principal effect which the gospel has had in bringing life and immortality to light throughout a large part of the world is to be referred to the proclaimed resurrection of ,christ4 ,for without the latter the former would not have been4 ,its historical value has therefore been immense4 ,more than nine tenths of the dormant common faith of ,christendom in a future life now outwardly reposes on it from tradition and custom4 ,the great majority of ,christians grow up1 by education and habit1 without any sharp conscientious investigation of their own1 to an undisturbed belief in immortality1 a belief passively resting on the demonstration of the doctrine supposed to have been furnished by the resurrection of ,christ in ,judea two thousand years ago4 ,the historical power of that fact has therefore been inexpressibly important2 and its vast and happy consequences as food and basis of faith still remain4 ,but this historic force is no longer what it once was as a living and present cause4 ,it now operates mostly through traditional reception as an established doctrine to be taken #bb ,j4 ,blanco ,white1 ,letter on ,miracles1 in appendix to ,martineau's ,rationale of ,religious ,inquiry4 for granted1 without fresh individual inquiry4 ,education and custom use it as an unexamined but trusted foundation to build on by common assumptions4 ,and so the historic impetus is not yet spent4 ,but it certainly has diminished2 and it will diminish more4 ,when faced with dauntless eyes and approached by skeptical methods1 it of course cannot have the silencing1 all sufficient authority1 now that it is buried in the dim remoteness of nineteen centuries and surrounded by obscuring accompaniments1 that it had when its light blazed close at hand4 ,the historical force of the alleged resurrection of ,christ must evidently1 other things being equal1 lessen to an unprejudiced inquirer in some proportion to the lengthening distance of the event from him in time1 and the growing difficulties of ignorance1 perplexity1 doubt1 manifold uncertainty1 deficiency1 infidel suggestions1 and naturalistic possibilities1 intervening between it and him4 ,the shock of faith given by the miracle is dissipated in coming through such an abyss of time4 ,the farther off and the longer ago it was1 the more chances for error and the more circumstances of obscurity there are1 and so much the worth and force of the historical belief in it will naturally become fainter1 till they will finally fade away4 ,an honest student may bow humbly before the august front of ,christian history and join with the millions around in acknowledging the fact of the resurrection of ,christ4 ,but we maintain that the essential fact in this historic act is not the visible resuscitation of the dead body1 but the celestial reception of the deathless spirit4 ,so ,paul evidently thought2 for he had never seen ,christ in the flesh1 yet he places himself1 as a witness to the resurrection of ,christ1 in the same rank with those who had seen him on his reappearance in the body3 ,last of all he was seen of me also4 ,paul had only seen him in vision as a glorified spirit of heaven4 ,we know that our belief in the fleshly resurrection of ,jesus rests on education and habit1 on cherished associations of reverence and attachment1 rather than on sifted testimony and convincing proof4 ,it is plain1 too1 that if a person takes the attitude1 not of piety and receptive trust1 but of skeptical antagonism1 it is impossible1 as the facts within our reach are to day1 to convince him of the asserted reality in question4 ,an unprejudiced mind competently taught and trained for the inquiry1 but whose attitude towards the declared fact is that of distrust1 a mind which will admit nothing but what is conclusively proved1 cannot be driven from its position by all the extant material of evidence4 ,education1 associations1 hopes1 affections1 leaning that way1 he may be convinced2 but leaning the other way1 or poised in indifference on a severe logical ground1 he will honestly remain in his unbelief despite of all the arguments that can be presented4 ,in the first place1 he will say1 ,the only history we have of the resurrection is in the ,new ,testament2 and the testimony of witnesses in their own cause is always suspicious2 and it is wholly impossible now really to prove who wrote those documents1 or precisely when and how they originated3 besides that1 the obvious discrepancies in the accounts1 and the utterly uncritical credulity and unscientific modes of investigation which satisfied the writers1 destroy their value as witnesses in any severe court of reason4 ,and in reply1 although we may claim that there is sufficient evidence to satisfy an humble ,christian1 previously inclined to such a faith1 that the ,new ,testament documents were written by the persons whose names they bear1 and that their accounts are true1 yet we cannot pretend that there is sufficient evidence effectually to convince a critical inquirer that there is no possibility of ungenuineness and unauthenticity4 ,in the second place1 such a person will say1 ,many fabulous miracles have been eagerly credited by contemporaries of their professed authors1 and handed down to the credulity of after times2 many actual events1 honestly1 interpreted as miracles1 without fraud in any party concerned1 have been so accepted and testified to4 ,roman ,catholic ,christendom claims to this day the performance of miracles within the ,church2 while all ,protestant ,christendom scouts them as ridiculous tales3 and this may be one of them4 ,how can we demonstrate that it does not fall within the same class on the laws of evidence8 ,and although our own moral beliefs and sympathies may force upon us the most profound conviction to the contrary1 it is plainly out of our power to disprove the possibility of this hypothesis being true4 ,in the third place1 he will say1 ,of all who testify to the resurrection1 there is nothing in the record admitting its entire reliableness as an ingenuous statement of the facts as apprehended by the authors to show that any one of them knew that ,jesus was actually dead1 or that any one of them made any real search into that point4 ,he may have revived from a long insensibility1 wandered forth in his grave clothes1 mingled afterwards with his disciples1 and at last have died from his wounds and exhaustion1 in solitude1 as he was used to spend seasons in lonely prayer by night4 ,then1 with perfectly good faith1 his disciples1 involving no collusion or deceit anywhere1 may have put a miraculous interpretation upon it all1 such additional particulars as his visible ascension into the sky being a later mythical accretion4 ,this view may well seem offensive1 even shocking1 to the pious believer2 but it is plainly possible4 ,it is intrinsically more easily conceivable than the accredited miracle4 ,it is impossible positively to refute it3 the available data do not exist4 ,upon the whole1 then1 we conclude that the time is coming when the basis of faith in immortality1 in order to stand the tests of independent scrutiny1 must be historically as well as logically shifted from a blind dependence on the miraculous resurrection of ,christ to a wise reliance on insight into the supernatural capacity and destiny of man1 on the deductions of moral reason and the prophecies of religious trust4 ,finally1 we pause a moment1 in closing this discussion1 to weigh the practical value of the resurrection of ,christ as acknowledged in the experience of the present time4 ,how does that event1 admitted as a fact1 rest in the average personal experience of ,christians now8 ,we shall provoke no intelligent contradiction when we say that it certainly does not often rest on laborious research and rigorous testing of evidence4 ,we surely risk nothing in saying that with the multitude of believers it rests on a docile reception of tradition1 an unquestioning conformity to the established doctrine4 ,and that reception and conformity in the present instance depend1 we shall find by going a step further back1 upon a deep a priori faith in ,god and immortality4 ,when ,paul reasons that1 if the dead are not to rise1 ,christ is not risen1 but that the dead are to rise1 and therefore ,christ is risen1 his argument reposes on a spontaneous practical method of moral assumption1 not on a judicial process of logical proof4 ,so is it with ,christians now4 ,the intense moral conviction that ,god is good1 and that there is another life1 and that it would be supremely worthy of ,god to send a messenger to teach that doctrine and to rise from the dead in proof of it1 it is this earnest previous faith that gives plausibility1 vitality1 and power to the preserved tradition of the actual event4 ,if we trace the case home to the last resort1 as it really lies in the experience developed in us by ,christianity1 we shall find that a deep faith in ,god is the basis of our belief1 first in general immortality1 and secondly in the special resurrection of ,christ as related thereto4 ,but1 by a confusion1 or a want1 of thought1 the former is mistakenly supposed to rest directly and solely on the latter4 ,the doctrinal inferences built up around the resurrection of ,christ fall within the province of faith1 resting on moral grounds1 not within that of knowledge1 resting on logical grounds4 ,for example3 what direct proof is there that ,christ1 when he vanished from the disciples1 went to the presence of ,god in heaven1 to die no more8 ,it was only seen that he disappeared3 all beyond that except as it rests on belief in the previous words of ,christ himself is an inference of faith1 a faith kindled in the soul by ,god and not created by the miracle of the resurrection4 ,that imagination1 tradition1 feeling1 and faith1 have much more to do with the inferences commonly drawn from the resurrection of ,christ than any strict investigation of its logical contents has1 appears clearly enough from the universal neglect to draw any inferences from1 or to attribute any didactic importance to1 the other resurrections recorded in the ,new ,testament4 ,we refer especially to the resurrection narrated in the twenty seventh chapter of ,matthew1 the most stupendous miracle ever wrought upon earth1 it has been termed2 and yet hardly any one ever deigns to notice it4 ,thus the evangelist writes3 ,and the graves were opened1 and many bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out of the graves after his resurrection1 and went into the holy city1 and appeared unto many4 ,nothing is inferred from this alleged event but the power of ,god4 ,yet logically what separates it from the resurrection of ,christ8 ,in ,greece there was the accredited account of the resurrection of ,er1 in ,persia that of ,viraf1 in ,judea that of ,lazarus1 in other nations those of other persons4 ,none of these ever produced great results4 ,yet the resurrection of one individual from the dead logically contains all that that of any other individual can4 ,why1 then1 has that of ,christ alone made such a change in the faith of the world8 ,because1 through a combination of causes1 it has appealed to the imagination and heart of the world and stirred their believing activity1 because the thought was here connected with a person1 a history1 a moral force1 and a providential interposition1 fit for the grandest deductions and equal to the mightiest effects4 ,it is not accurate philosophical criticism that has done this1 but humble love and faith4 ,in the experience of earnest ,christians1 a personal belief in the resurrection of ,christ1 vividly conceived in the imagination and taken home to the heart1 is chiefly effective in its spiritual1 not in its argumentative1 results4 ,it stirs up the powers and awakens the yearnings of the soul1 opens heaven to the gaze1 locates there1 as it were visibly1 a glorious ideal1 and thus helps one to enter upon an inward realization of the immortal world4 ,the one essential thing is not that ,jesus appeared alive in the flesh after his physical death1 the revealer of superhuman power and possessor of infallibility1 but that he divinely lives now1 the forerunner and type of our immortality4 ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,essential ,,christian ,,doctrine ,,of ,,death ,,and ,,life4 ,,let ,,us first notice the uncommon amount of meaning which ,christ and the apostolic writers usually put into the words death1 life1 and other kindred terms4 ,these words are scarcely ever used in their merely literal sense1 but are charged with a vivid fulness of significance not to be fathomed without especial attention4 ,if thou wilt enter into life1 keep the commandments4 ,obviously this means more than simple life2 because those who neglect the laws of virtue may live4 ,it signifies1 distinctively1 true life1 the experience of inward peace and of ,divine favor4 ,whosoever hateth his brother hath not eternal life abiding in him1 but abideth in death2 that is to say1 a soul rankling with bad passions is in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity1 but1 when converted from hatred to love1 it passes from wretchedness to blessedness4 ,let the dead bury their dead4 ,no one reading this passage with its context can fail to perceive that it means1 substantially1 ,let those who are absorbed in the affairs of this world1 and indifferent to the revelation ,i have brought from heaven1 attend to the interment of the dead2 but delay not thou1 who art kindled with a lively interest in the truth1 to proclaim the kingdom of ,god4 ,when the returning prodigal had been joyfully received1 the father said1 in reply to the murmurs of the elder son1 ,thy brother was dead and is alive again2 he was lost in sin and misery1 he is found in penitence and happiness4 ,paul writes to the ,romans1 ,without the law sin was dead1 and ,i was alive2 but when the law was made known1 sin came to life1 and ,i died4 ,in other words1 when a man is ignorant of the moral law1 immoral conduct does not prevent him from feeling innocent and being at peace2 but when a knowledge of the law shows the wickedness of that conduct1 he becomes conscious of guilt1 and is unhappy4 ,for instance1 to state the thought a little differently1 to a child knowing nothing of the law1 the law1 or its purposed violation1 sin1 does not exist1 is dead3 he therefore enjoys peace of conscience2 but when he becomes aware of the law and its authority1 if he then break it1 sin is generated and immediately stings1 and spiritual happiness dies4 ,these passages are sufficient to show that ,christianity uses the words death and life in a spiritual sense1 penetrating to the hidden realities of the soul4 ,to speak thus of the guilty1 unbelieving man as dead1 and only of the virtuous1 believing man as truly alive1 may seem at first a startling use of figurative language4 ,it will not appear so when we notice its appropriateness to the case1 or remember the imaginative nature of ,oriental speech and recollect how often we employ the same terms in the same way at the present time4 ,we will give a few examples of a similar use of language outside of the ,scriptures4 ,that which threatens or produces death is sometimes1 by a figure1 identified with death4 ,orpheus1 in the ,argonautika1 speaks of a terrible serpent whose yawning jaw is full of death4 ,so ,paul says he was in deaths oft4 ,ovid says1 ,the priests poured out a dog's hot life on the altar of ,hecate at the crossing of two roads4 ,the ,pythagoreans1 when one of their number became impious and abandoned1 were accustomed to consider him dead1 and to erect a tomb to him1 on which his name and his age at the time of his moral decease were engraved4 ,the ,roman law regarded an excommunicated citizen as civilis mortuus1 legally dead4 ,fenelon writes1 ,god has kindled a flame at the bottom of every heart1 which should always burn as a lamp for him who hath lighted it2 and all other life is as death4 ,chaucer says1 in one of his ,canterbury ,tales1 referring to a man enslaved by dissolute habits1 ,but certes1 he that haunteth swiche delices ,is ded while that he liveth in tho' vices4 ,and in a recent poem the following lines occur3 ,from his great eyes ,the light has fled3 ,when faith departs1 when honor dies1 ,the man is dead4 ,to be subjected to the lower impulses of our nature by degraded habits of vice and criminality is wretchedness and death4 ,the true life of man consists1 the ,great ,teacher declared1 not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth1 but rather in his being rich toward ,god1 in conscious purity of heart1 energy of faith1 and union with the ,holy ,spirit4 ,he that lives in sensual pleasure is dead while he lives1 ,paul asserts2 but he that lives in spiritual righteousness has already risen from the dead4 ,to sum up the whole in a single sentence1 the service and the fruits of sin form an experience which ,christianity calls death1 because it is a state of insensibility to the elements and results of true life1 in the adequate sense of that term1 meaning the serene activity and religious joy of the soul4 ,the second particular in the essential doctrine of ,christianity concerning the states of human experience which it entitles death and life is their inherent1 enduring nature1 their independence on the objects and changes of this world4 ,the gospel teaches that the elements of our being and experience are transferred from the life that now is into the life that is to come1 or1 rather1 that we exist continuously forever1 uninterrupted by the event of physical dissolution4 ,whosoever drinketh of the water that ,i shall give him1 ,jesus declares1 shall never thirst2 but the water that ,i shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life4 ,john affirms1 ,the world passeth away1 and the lust thereof2 but he that doeth the will of ,god abideth forever4 ,paul writes to the ,christians at ,rome1 ,in that ,christ died1 he died unto sin once2 but in that he liveth1 he liveth unto ,god4 ,likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin1 but alive unto ,god4 ,numerous additional texts of kindred import might be cited4 ,they announce the immortality of man1 the unending continuance of the ,christian consciousness1 unless forfeited by voluntary defection4 ,they show that sin and woe are not arbitrarily bounded by the limits of time and sense in the grave1 and that nothing can ever exhaust or destroy the satisfaction of true life1 faith in the love of ,god3 it abides1 blessed and eternal1 in the uninterrupted blessedness and eternity of its ,object4 ,the revelation and offer of all this to the acceptance of men1 its conditions1 claims1 and alternative sanctions1 were first divinely made known and planted in the heart of the world1 as the ,scriptures assert1 by ,jesus ,christ1 who promulgated them by his preaching1 illustrated them by his example1 proved them by his works1 attested them by his blood1 and crowned them by his resurrection4 ,and now there is opened for all of us1 through him1 that is to say1 through belief and obedience of what he taught and exemplified1 an access unto the ,father1 an assurance of his forgiveness of us and of our reconciliation with him4 ,we thus enter upon the experience of that true life which is joy and peace in believing1 and which remains indestructible through all the vanishing vagrancy of sin1 misery1 and the world4 ,this is eternal life1 that they might know thee1 the only true ,god1 and ,jesus ,christ whom thou hast sent3 that is1 imperishable life is to be obtained by union with ,god in faith and love1 through a hearty acceptance of the instructions of ,christ4 ,the two points thus far considered are1 first1 that the sinful1 unbelieving1 wretched man abides in virtual death1 while the righteous1 happy believer in the gospel has the experience of genuine life2 and1 secondly1 that these essential elements of human character and experience survive all events of time and place in everlasting continuance4 ,the next consideration prominent in the ,christian doctrine of death and life is the distinction continually made between the body and the soul4 ,man is regarded under a twofold aspect1 as flesh and spirit1 the one a temporal accompaniment and dependent medium1 the other an immortal being in itself4 ,the distinction is a fundamental one1 and runs through nearly all philosophy and religion in their reference to man4 ,in the ,christian ,scriptures it is not sharply drawn1 with logical precision1 nor always accurately maintained1 but is loosely defined1 with waving outlines1 is often employed carelessly1 and sometimes1 if strictly taken1 inconsistently4 ,let us first note a few examples of the distinction itself in the instructions of the ,savior and of the different ,new ,testament writers4 ,that which is born of the flesh is flesh1 and that which is born of the spirit is spirit4 ,fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul4 ,though our outward man perish1 yet the inward man is renewed4 ,he that soweth to his flesh shall reap corruption2 he that soweth to the spirit shall reap life everlasting4 ,being put to death in the flesh1 but quickened in the spirit4 ,knowing that ,i must shortly put off this tabernacle4 ,the body without the spirit is dead4 ,it would be useless to accumulate examples4 ,it is plain that these authors distinguish the body and the soul as two things conjoined for a season1 the latter of which will continue to live when the other has mixed with the dust4 ,the facts and phenomena of our being from which this distinction springs are so numerous and so influential1 so profound and so obvious1 that it is impossible they should escape the knowledge of any thinking person4 ,indeed1 the distinction has found a recognition everywhere among men1 from the ignorant savage1 whose instincts and imagination shadow forth a dim world in which the impalpable images of the departed dwell1 to the philosopher of piercing intellect and universal culture1 ,whose lore detects beneath our crumbling clay ,a soul1 exiled1 and journeying back to day4 ,labor not for the meat which perisheth1 ,jesus exhorts his followers1 but labor for the meat which endureth unto everlasting life4 ,the body and the luxury that pampers it shall perish1 but the spirit and the love that feeds it shall abide forever4 ,we now pass to examine some metaphorical terms often erroneously interpreted as conveying merely their literal force4 ,every one familiar with the language of the ,new ,testament must remember how repeatedly the body and the soul1 or the flesh and the spirit1 are set in direct opposition to each other1 sin being referred to the former1 righteousness to the latter4 ,i know that in my flesh there is no good thing2 but with my mind ,i delight in the law of ,god4 ,the flesh lusteth against the spirit1 and the spirit lusteth against the flesh1 and these are contrary the one to the other4 ,all this language and it is extensively used in the epistles is quite generally understood in a fixed1 literal sense2 whereas it was employed by its authors in a fluctuating1 figurative sense1 as the critical student can hardly help perceiving4 ,we will state the real substance of ,christian teaching and phraseology on this point in two general formulas1 and then proceed to illustrate them4 ,first1 both the body and the soul may be corrupt1 lawless1 empty of ,divine belief1 full of restlessness and suffering1 in a state of moral death2 or both may be pure1 obedient1 acceptable in the sight of ,god1 full of faith1 peace1 and joy1 in a state of genuine life4 ,secondly1 whatever tends in any way to the former result to make man guilty1 feeble1 and wretched1 to deaden his spiritual sensibilities1 to keep him from union with ,god and from immortal reliances is variously personified as the ,flesh1 ,sin1 ,death1 ,mammon1 the ,world1 the ,law of the ,members1 the ,law of ,sin and ,death2 whatever1 on the contrary1 tends in any way to the latter result to purify man1 to intensify his moral powers1 to exalt and quicken his consciousness in the assurance of the favor of ,god and of eternal being is personified as the ,spirit1 ,life1 ,righteousness1 the ,law of ,god1 the ,law of the ,inward ,man1 ,christ1 the ,law of the ,spirit of ,life in ,christ4 ,under the first class of terms are included all the temptations and agencies by which man is led to sin1 and the results of misery they effect2 under the second class are included all the aspirations and influences by which he is led to righteousness1 and the results of happiness they insure4 ,for example1 it is written1 in the ,epistle to the ,galatians1 that the manifest works of the flesh are excessive sensuality1 idolatry1 hatred1 emulations1 quarrels1 heresies1 murders1 and such like4 ,certainly some of these evils are more closely connected with the mind than with the body4 ,the term flesh is obviously used in a sense coextensive with the tendencies and means by which we are exposed to guilt and degradation4 ,these personifications1 it will therefore be seen1 are employed with general rhetorical looseness1 not with definite logical exactness4 ,it is self evident that the mind is the actual agent and author of all sins and virtues1 and that the body in itself is unconscious1 irresponsible1 incapable of guilt4 ,every sin that man doeth is without the body4 ,in illustration of this point ,chrysostom says1 ,if a tyrant or robber were to seize some royal mansion1 it would not be the fault of the house4 ,and how greatly they err who think that any of the ,new ,testament writers mean to represent the flesh as necessarily sinful and the spirit as always pure1 the following cases to the contrary from ,paul1 whose speech seems most to lean that way1 will abundantly show4 ,glorify ,god in your body and in your spirit1 which are his4 ,know ye not that your body is the temple of the ,holy ,ghost8 ,yield not your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin1 but as instruments of righteousness unto ,god4 ,that the life of ,jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh4 ,present your bodies a living sacrifice1 holy1 acceptable unto ,god4 ,it is clear that the author of these sentences did not regard the body1 or literal flesh1 as necessarily unholy1 but as capable of being used by the man himself in fulfilling the will of ,god4 ,texts that appear to contradict this must be held as figures1 or as impassioned rhetorical exclamations4 ,we also read of the lusts of the mind1 the fleshly mind1 filthiness of the spirit1 seducing spirits1 corrupt minds1 mind and conscience defiled1 reprobate mind1 showing plainly that the spirit was sometimes regarded as guilty and morally dead4 ,the apostle writes1 ,i pray that your whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless4 ,the scriptural declarations now cited teach explicitly that both the body and the soul may be subjected to the perfect law of ,god1 or that both may abide in rebellion and wickedness1 the latter state being called1 metaphorically1 walking after the flesh1 the former walking after the spirit1 that being sin and death1 this being righteousness and life4 ,an explanation of the origin of these metaphors will cast further light upon the subject4 ,the use of a portion of them arose from the fact that many of the most easily besetting and pernicious vices1 conditions and allurements of sin1 defilements and clogs of the spirit1 come through the body1 which1 while it is itself evidently fated to perish1 does by its earthly solicitations entice1 contaminate1 and debase the soul that by itself is invited to better things and seems destined to immortality4 ,not that these evils originate in the body1 of course1 all the doings of a man spring from the spirit of man which is in him1 but that the body is the occasion and the aggravating medium of their manifestation4 ,this thought is not contradicted1 it is only omitted1 in the words of ,peter3 ,i beseech you1 as strangers and pilgrims1 abstain from fleshly lusts1 which war against the soul4 ,for such language would be spontaneously suggested by the fact that to be in bondage to the baser nature is hostile alike to spiritual dignity and peace1 and to physical health and strength4 ,the principles of the moral nature are at war with the passions of the animal nature2 the goading vices of the mind are at war with the organic harmonies of the body2 and on the issues of these conflicts hang all the interests of life and death1 in every sense the words can be made to bear4 ,another reason for the use of these figures of speech1 undoubtedly1 was the philosophy of the ineradicable hostility of matter and spirit1 the doctrine1 so prevalent in the ,east from the earliest times1 that matter is wholly corrupt and evil1 the essential root and source of all vileness4 ,an old1 unknown ,greek poet embodies the very soul of this faith in a few verses which we find in the ,anthology4 ,literally rendered1 they run thus3 ,the body is the torment1 hell1 fate1 load1 tyrant1 ,dreadful pest1 and punishing trial1 of the soul ,which1 when it quits the body1 flies1 as from the bonds ,of death1 to immortal ,god4 ,it was this idea that produced the wild asceticism prevalent in the ,christian ,church during the ,middle ,age and previously1 the fearful macerations1 scourgings1 crucifixions of the flesh4 ,it should be understood that1 though some of the phraseology of the ,scriptures is tinged by the influence of this doctrine1 the doctrine itself is foreign to ,christianity4 ,christ came eating and drinking1 not abjuring nature1 but adopting its teachings1 viewing it as a ,divine work through which the providence of ,god is displayed and his glory gleams4 ,he was no more of a ,pharisee than nature is4 ,as corn grows on the ,sabbath1 so it may be plucked and eaten on the ,sabbath4 ,the apostles never recommend self inflicted torments4 ,the ascetic expressions found in their letters grew directly out of the perils besetting them and their expectation of the speedy end of the world4 ,christianity1 rightly understood1 renders even the body of a good man sacred and precious1 through the indwelling of the ,infinite4 ,we have this treasure in earthen vessels1 and the poor1 dying tenement of flesh is hallowed as ,a vase of earth1 a trembling clod1 ,constrain'd to hold the breath of ,god4 ,the chief secret1 however1 of the origin of the peculiar phrases under consideration consisted in their striking fitness to the nature and facts of the case1 their adaptedness to express these facts in a bold and vivid manner4 ,the revelation of the transcendent claims of holiness1 of the pardoning love of ,god1 of the splendid boon of immortality1 made by ,christ and enforced by the miraculous sanctions and the kindling motives presented in his example1 thrilled the souls of the first converts1 shamed them of their degrading sins1 opened before their imaginations a vision that paled the glories of the world1 and regenerated them1 stirring up the depths of their religious sensibilities1 and flooding their whole being with a warmth1 an energy1 a spirituality1 that made their previous experience seem a gross carnal slumber1 a virtual death4 ,and you hath he quickened1 who were dead in trespasses and sins4 ,they were animated and raised to a new1 pure1 glad life1 through the feeling of the hopes and the practice of the virtues of the gospel of ,christ4 ,unto those who were formerly in the flesh1 the servants of sin1 bringing forth fruit unto death1 but now obeying the new form of doctrine delivered unto them1 with renewed hearts and changed conduct1 it is written1 ,if ,christ be in you1 the body is dead because of sin2 but the spirit is life because of righteousness2 that is1 ,if ,christian truth reign in you1 the body may still be tormented1 or powerless1 owing to your previous bad habits2 but the soul will be redeemed from its abandonment to error and vice1 and be assured of pardon and immortal life by the witnessing spirit of ,god4 ,the apostle likewise says unto them1 ,if the ,spirit of ,god dwell in you1 it shall also quicken your mortal bodies4 ,this remarkable expression was meant to convey a thought which the observation of common facts approves and explains4 ,if the love of the pure principles of the gospel was established in them1 their bodies1 debilitated and deadened by former abandonment to their lusts1 should be freed and reanimated by its influence4 ,the body to a great extent reflects the permanent mind and life of a man4 ,it is an aphorism of ,solomon that a sound heart is the life of the flesh4 ,and ,plotinus declares1 ,temperance and justice are the saviors of the body so far as they are received by it4 ,deficiency of thought and knowledge1 laziness of spirit1 animality of habits1 betray themselves plainly enough in the state and expression of the physical frame3 they render it coarse1 dim1 and insensible2 the person verges towards the condition of a clod2 spiritual things are clouded1 the beacon fire of his destiny wanes1 the possibilities of ,christian faith lessen1 the external and the insensate creep in on his organized clay1 he feels the chain of the brute earth more and more1 and finally gives himself up to utter death4 ,on the other hand1 the assimilation of ,divine truth and goodness by a man1 the cherishing love of all high duties and aspirations1 exert a purifying1 energizing power both on the flesh and the mind1 animate and strengthen them1 like a heavenly flame burn away the defiling entanglements and spiritual fogs that fill and hang around the wicked and sensual1 increasingly pervade his consciousness with an inspired force and freedom1 illuminate his face1 touch the magnetic springs of health and healthful sympathy1 make him completely alive1 and bring him into living connection with the ,omnipresent ,life1 so that he perceives the full testimony that he shall never die4 ,for1 when brought into such a state by the experience of live spirits in live frames1 ,we feel through all this fleshly dresse ,bright shootes of everlastingnesse4 ,spiritual sloth and sensual indulgence stupefy1 blunt1 and confuse together in lifeless meshes1 the vital tenant and the mortal tenement2 they grow incorporate1 alike unclean1 powerless1 guilty1 and wretched4 ,then ,man lives a life half dead1 a living death1 ,himself his sepulchre1 a moving grave4 ,active virtue1 profound love1 and the earnest pursuit1 in the daily duties of life1 of ,those lofty musings which within us sow ,the seeds of higher kind and brighter being4 ,cleanse1 vivify1 and distinguish the body and the soul1 so that1 when this tabernacle of clay crumbles from around it1 the unimprisoned spirit soars into the universe at once1 and1 looking back upon the shadowy king bearing his pale prey to the tomb1 exclaims1 ,o death1 where is thy sting8 ,o grave1 where is thy victory8 ,the facts1 then1 of sin1 guilt1 weakness1 misery1 unbelief1 decay1 insensibility1 and death1 joined with the opposite corresponding class of facts1 and considered in their mutual spiritual and physical relations and results1 originally suggested1 and now interpret and justify1 that peculiar phraseology of the ,new ,testament which we have been investigating4 ,it has no recondite meaning drawn from arbitrary dogmas1 but a plain meaning drawn from natural truths4 ,it remains next to see what is the ,christian doctrine concerning literal1 physical death1 concerning the actual origin and significance of that solemn event4 ,this point must be treated the more at length on account of the erroneous notions prevailing upon the subject4 ,for that man's first disobedience was the procuring cause of organic1 as well as of moral1 death1 is a doctrine quite generally believed4 ,it is a fundamental article in the creeds of all the principal denominations of ,christendom1 and is traditionally held1 from the neglect of investigation1 by nearly all ,christians4 ,by this theory the words of ,james who writes1 ,sin1 when it is finished1 bringeth forth death are interpreted with strict literalness4 ,it is conceived that1 had not evil entered the first man's heart and caused him to fall from his native innocence1 he would have roamed among the flowers of ,eden to this day4 ,but he violated the commandment of his ,maker1 and sentence of death was passed upon him and his posterity4 ,we are now to prove that this imaginative theory is far from the truth4 #a4 ,the language in which the original account of ,adam's sin and its punishment is stated shows conclusively that the penalty of transgression was not literal death1 but spiritual1 that is1 degradation1 suffering4 ,god's warning in relation to the forbidden tree was1 ,in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die4 ,of course1 ,jehovah's solemn declaration was fulfilled as he had said4 ,but in the day that man partook of the prohibited fruit he did not die a physical death4 ,he lived1 driven from the delights of ,paradise1 7according to the account17 upwards of eight hundred years1 earning his bread by the sweat of his brow4 ,consequently1 the death with which he had been threatened must have been a moral death1 loss of innocence and joy1 experience of guilt and woe4 #b4 ,the common usage of the words connected with this subject in the ,new ,testament still more clearly substantiates the view here taken of it4 ,there is a class of words1 linked together by similarity of meaning and closeness of mutual relation1 often used by the ,christian writers loosely1 figuratively1 and sometimes interchangeably1 as has been shown already in another connection4 ,we mean the words sin1 flesh1 misery1 death4 ,the same remark may be made of another class of words of precisely opposite signification1 righteousness1 faith1 life1 blessedness1 eternal life4 ,these different words frequently stand to represent the same idea4 ,as the law hath reigned through sin unto death1 so shall grace reign through righteousness unto life4 ,in other terms1 as the recognition of the retributive law of ,god through rebellion and guilt filled the consciences of men with wretchedness1 so the acceptance of the pardoning love of ,god through faith and conformity will fill them with blessedness4 ,sin includes conscious distrust1 disobedience1 and alienation2 righteousness includes conscious faith1 obedience1 and reconciliation4 ,sin and death1 it will be seen1 are related just as righteousness and life are4 ,the fact that they are sometimes represented in the relation of identity the minding of the flesh is death1 but the minding of the spirit is life and sometimes in the relation of cause and effect the fruit of sin is death1 the fruit of righteousness is life proves that the words are used metaphorically1 and really mean conscious guilt and misery1 conscious virtue and blessedness4 ,no other view is consistent4 ,we are urged to be dead unto sin1 but alive unto ,god2 that is1 to be in a state of moral perfection which turns a deaf and invincible front to all the influences of evil1 but is open and joyfully sensitive to every thing good and holy4 ,paul also wrote1 in his letter to the ,philippians1 that he had not yet attained unto the resurrection1 but was striving to attain unto it2 that is1 he had not yet reached1 but was striving to reach1 that lofty state of holiness and peace invulnerable to sin1 which no change can injure1 with which the event of bodily dissolution cannot interfere1 because its elements faith1 truth1 justice1 and love are the immutable principles of everlasting life4 #c4 ,in confirmation of this conclusion1 an argument amounting to certainty is afforded by the way in which the disobedience of ,adam and its consequences1 and the obedience of ,christ and its consequences1 are spoken of together2 by the way in which a sort of antithetical parallel is drawn between the result of ,adam's fall and the result of ,christ's mission4 ,as by one man sin entered into the world1 and death by sin1 and so death passed upon all men1 so much more shall all receive the gift of ,god by one man1 ,jesus ,christ1 and reign unto eternal life4 ,this means1 as the writer himself afterwards explains1 that as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners and suffered the consequences of sin1 figuratively expressed by the word death1 so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous and enjoy the consequences of righteousness1 figuratively expressed by the word life4 ,give the principal terms in this passage their literal force1 and no meaning which is not absolutely incompatible with the plainest truths can be drawn from it4 ,surely literal death had come equally and fully upon all men everywhere2 literal life could do no more4 ,but render the idea in this way1 the blessedness offered to men in the revelation of grace made by ,jesus outweighs the wretchedness brought upon them through the sin introduced by ,adam1 and the sense is satisfactory4 ,that which ,adam is represented as having lost1 that1 the apostle affirms1 ,christ restored2 that which ,adam is said to have incurred1 that ,christ is said to have removed4 ,but ,christ did not restore to man a physical immortality on the earth3 therefore that is not what ,adam forfeited2 but he lost peace of conscience and trust in the ,divine favor4 ,furthermore1 ,christ did not free his followers from natural decay and death3 therefore that is not what ,adam's transgression brought upon his children2 but it entailed upon them proclivities to evil1 spiritual unrest1 and woe4 ,the basis of the comparison is evidently this3 ,adam's fall showed that the consequences of sin1 through the stern operation of the law1 were strife1 despair1 and misery1 all of which is implied in the ,new ,testament usage of the word death2 ,christ's mission showed that the consequences of righteousness1 through the free grace of ,god1 were faith1 peace1 and indestructible happiness1 all of which is implied in the ,new ,testament usage of the word life4 ,in the mind of ,paul there was undoubtedly an additional thought1 connecting the descent of the soul to the under world with the death of the sinful ,adam1 and its ascent to heaven with the resurrection of the immaculate ,christ2 but this does not touch the argument just advanced1 because it does not refer to the cause of physical dissolution1 but to what followed that event4 #d4 ,it will not be out of place here to demonstrate that sin actually was not the origin of natural decay1 by the revelations of science1 which prove that death was a monarch on the earth for ages before moral transgression was known4 ,as the geologist wanders1 and studies the records of nature1 where earthquake1 deluge1 and volcano have exposed the structure of the globe and its organic remains in strata piled on strata1 upon these1 as upon so many pages of the earth's autobiography1 he reads the history of a hundred races of animals which lived and died1 leaving their bones layer above layer1 in regular succession1 centuries before the existence of man4 ,it is evident1 then1 that1 independent of human guilt1 and from the very first1 chemical laws were in force1 and death was a part of ,god's plan in the material creation4 ,as the previous animals perished without sin1 so without sin the animal part of man too would have died4 ,it was made perishable from the outset4 ,the important point just here in the theology of ,paul was1 as previously implied1 that death was intended to lead the soul directly to heaven in a new spiritual body or heavenly house2 but sin marred the plan1 and doomed the soul to go into the under world1 a naked manes1 when unclothed of the natural body or earthly house4 ,the mission of ,christ was to restore the original plan2 and it would be consummated at his second coming4 #e4 ,there is a gross absurdity involved in the supposition that an earthly immortality was the intended destiny of man4 ,that supposition necessarily implies that the whole groundwork of ,god's first design was a failure1 that his great purpose was thwarted and changed into one wholly different4 ,and it is absurd to think such a result possible in the providence of the ,almighty4 ,besides1 had there been no sin1 could not man have been drowned if he fell into the water without knowing how to swim8 ,if a building tumbled upon him1 would he not have been crushed8 ,nor is this theory free from another still more palpable absurdity2 for1 had there been no interference of death to remove one generation and make room for another1 the world could not support the multitudes with which it would now swarm4 ,moreover1 the time would arrive when the earth could not only not afford sustenance to its so numerous inhabitants1 but could not even contain them4 ,so that if this were the original arrangement1 unless certain other parts which were indisputable portions of it were cancelled1 the surplus myriads would have to be removed to some other world4 ,that is just what death accomplishes4 ,consequently1 death was a part of ,god's primal plan1 and not a contingence accidentally caused by sin4 #f4 ,if death be the result of sin1 then1 of course1 it is a punishment inflicted upon man for his wickedness4 ,in fact1 this is an identical proposition4 ,but death cannot be intended as a punishment1 because1 viewed in that light1 it is unjust4 ,it comes equally upon old and young1 good and bad1 joyous and wretched4 ,it does not permit the best man to live longest2 it does not come with the greatest terror and agony to the most guilty4 ,all these things depend on a thousand contingencies strung upon an iron law1 which inheres to the physical world of necessity1 and has not its basis and action in the spiritual sphere of freedom1 character1 and experience4 ,the innocent babe and the hardened criminal are struck at the same instant and die the same death4 ,solomon knew this when he said1 ,as dieth the fool1 so the wise man dieth4 ,death regarded as a retribution for sin is unjust1 because it is destitute of moral discrimination4 ,it therefore is not a consequence of transgression1 but an era1 incident1 and step in human existence1 an established part of the visible order of things from the beginning4 ,when the ,new ,testament speaks of death as a punishment1 it always uses the word in a symbolic sense1 meaning spiritual deadness and misery1 which is a perfect retribution1 because it discriminates with unerring exactness4 ,this has been conclusively proved by ,klaiber1#a who shows that the peculiar language of ,paul in regard to the trichotomist division of man into spirit1 soul1 and body necessarily involves the perception of physical death as a natural fact4 #g4 ,finally1 natural death cannot be the penalty of unrighteousness1 because it is not a curse and a woe1 but a blessing and a privilege4 ,epictetus wrote1 ,it would be a curse upon ears of corn not to be reaped2 and we ought to know that it would be a curse upon man not to die4 #b ,it cannot be the effect of man's sin1 because it is the improvement of man's condition4 ,who can believe it would be better for man to remain on earth forever1 under any #a ,die ,neutestamentliche ,lehre von der ,sunde and ,erlosung1 ss4 #bb #de4 #b ,dissert4 ii4 #f1 #b4 circumstances1 than it is for him to go to heaven to such an experience as the faithful follower of ,christ supposes is there awaiting him8 ,it is not to be thought by us that death is a frowning enemy thrusting us into the gloom of eternal night or into the flaming waves of irremediable torment1 but rather a smiling friend ushering us into the endless life of the spiritual world and into the unveiled presence of ,god4 ,according to the arrangement and desire of ,god1 for us to die is gain3 every personal exception to this if there be any exception is caused through the marring interference of personal wickedness with the ,creator's intention and with natural order4 ,who has not sometimes felt the bondage of the body and the trials of earth1 and peered with awful thrills of curiosity into the mysteries of the unseen world1 until he has longed for the hour of the soul's liberation1 that it might plume itself for an immortal flight8 ,who has not experienced moments of serene faith1 in which he could hardly help exclaiming1 ,i would not live alway2 ,i ask not to stay3 ,oh1 who would live alway away from his ,god8 ,a favorite of ,apollo prayed for the best gift ,heaven could bestow upon man4 ,the god said1 ,at the end of seven days it shall be granted3 in the mean time1 live happy4 ,at the appointed hour he fell into a sweet slumber1 from which he never awoke4#c ,he who regards death as upon the whole an evil does not take the ,christian's view of it1 not even the enlightened pagan's view1 but the frightened sensualist's view1 the superstitious atheist's view4 ,and if death be upon the whole normally a blessing1 then assuredly it cannot be a punishment brought upon man by sin4 ,the common hypothesis of our mortality namely1 that sin1 hereditarily lodged in the centre of man's life1 spreads its dynamic virus thence until it appears as death in the periphery1 expending its final energy within the material sphere in the dissolution of the physical frame is totally opposed to the spirit of philosophy and to the most lucid results of science4 ,science announces death universally as the initial point of new life4#d ,the ,new ,testament does not teach that natural death1 organic separation1 is the fruit of sin1 that1 if man had not sinned1 he would have lived forever on the earth4 ,but it teaches that moral death1 misery1 is the consequence of sin4 ,the pains and afflictions which sometimes come upon the good without fault of theirs do yet spring from human faults somewhere1 with those exceptions alone that result from the necessary contingencies of finite creatures1 exposures outside the sphere of human accountability4 ,with this qualification1 it would be easy to show in detail that the sufferings of the private individual and of mankind at large are1 directly or indirectly1 the products of guilt1 violated law4 ,all the woes1 for instance1 of poverty are the results of selfishness1 pride1 ignorance1 and vice4 ,and it is the same with every other class of miseries4 ,the world in ,titanic immortality ,writhes beneath the burning mountain of its sins4 #c ,herod4 i4 #ca2 ,cic4 ,tusc4 ,quast4 i4 #dg4 #d ,klencke1 ,das ,buch vom ,tode4 ,entwurf einer ,lehre vom ,sterben in der ,natur und vom ,tode des ,mensehen insbesondere4 ,fur denkende ,freunde der ,wissenschaft4 ,had there been no sin1 men's lives would have glided on like the placid rivers that flow through the woodlands4 ,they would have lived without strife or sorrow1 grown old without sadness or satiety1 and died without a pang or a sigh4 ,but1 alas6 sin so abounds in the world that there is not a just man that lives and sins not2 and it is a truth whose omnipresent jurisdiction can neither be avoided nor resisted that every kind of sin1 every offence against ,divine order1 shall somewhere1 at some time1 be judged as it deserves4 ,he who denies this only betrays the ignorance which conceals from him a pervading law of inevitable application1 only reveals the degradation and insensibility which do not allow him to be conscious of his own experience4 ,a harmonious1 happy existence depends on the practice of pure morals and communion with the love of ,god4 ,this great idea that the conscientious culture of the spiritual nature is the sole method of ,divine life is equally a fundamental principle of the gospel and a conclusion of observation and reason3 upon the devout observance of it hinge the possibilities of true blessedness4 ,the pursuit of an opposite course necessitates the opposite experience1 makes its votary a restless1 wretched slave1 wishing for freedom but unable to obtain it4 ,the thought just stated1 we maintain1 strikes the key note of the ,christian ,scriptures2 and the voices of truth and nature accord with it4 ,that ,christianity declares sin to be the cause of spiritual death1 in all the deep and wide meaning of the term1 has been fully shown2 that this is also a fact in the great order of things has been partially illustrated1 but in justice to the subject should be urged1 in a more precise and adequate form4 ,in the first place1 there is a positive punishment flowing evidently from sin1 consisting both in outward inflictions of suffering and disgrace through human laws and social customs1 and in the private endurance of bodily and mental pains and of strange misgivings that load the soul with fear and anguish4 ,subjection to the animal nature in the obedience of unrighteousness sensibly tends to bring upon its victim a woeful mass of positive ills1 public and personal1 to put him under the vile tyranny of devouring lusts1 to induce deathlike enervation and disease in his whole being1 to pervade his consciousness with the wretched gnawings of remorse and shame1 and with the timorous1 tormenting sense of guilt1 discord1 alienation1 and condemnation4 ,in the second place1 there is a negative punishment for impurity and wrong doing1 less gross and visible than the former1 but equally real and much more to be dreaded4 ,sin snatches from a man the prerogatives of eternal life1 by brutalizing and deadening his nature1 sinking the spirit with its delicate delights in the body and its coarse satisfactions1 making him insensible to his highest good and glory1 lowering him in the scale of being away from ,god1 shutting the gates of heaven against him1 and leaving him to wallow in the mire4 ,the wages of sin is misery1 and its gift is a degradation which prevents any elevation to true happiness4 ,these positive and negative retributions1 however delayed or disguised1 will come where they are deserved1 and will not fail4 ,do a wrong deed from a bad motive1 and1 though you fled on the pinions of the inconceivable lightning from one end of infinite space to the other1 the fated penalty would chase you through eternity but that you should pay its debt2 or1 rather1 the penalty is grappling with you from within on the instant1 is a part of you4 ,thirdly1 if1 by the searing of his conscience and absorption in the world1 a sinner escapes for a season the penal consequences threatened in the law1 and does not know how miserable he is1 and thinks he is happy1 yet let him remember that the remedial1 restorative process through which he must pass1 either in this life or in the next1 involves a concentrated experience of expiatory pangs1 as is shown both by the reason of the thing and by all relevant analogies4 ,when the bad man awakes as some time or other he will awake to the infinite perfections and unalterable love of the ,father whose holy commands he has trampled and whose kind invitations he has spurned1 he will suffer agonies of remorseful sorrow but faintly shadowed in the bitterness of ,peter's tears when his forgiving ,master looked on him4 ,such is the common deadness of our consciences that the vices of our corrupt characters are far from appearing to us as the terrific things they really are4 ,angels1 looking under the fleshly garment we wear1 and seeing a falsehood or a sin assimilated as a portion of our being1 turn away with such feeling as we should experience at beholding a leprous sore beneath the lifted ermine of a king4 ,a well taught ,christian will not fail to contemplate physical death as a stupendous1 awakening crisis1 one of whose chief effects will be the opening to personal consciousness1 in the most vivid manner1 of all the realities of character1 with their relations towards things above and things below himself4 ,this thought leads us to a fourth and final consideration1 more important than the previous4 ,the tremendous fact that all the inwrought elements and workings of our being are self retributive1 their own exceeding great and sufficient good or evil1 independent of external circumstances and sequences1 is rarely appreciated4 ,men overlook it in their superficial search after associations1 accompaniments1 and effects4 ,when all tangible punishments and rewards are wanting1 all outward penalties and prizes fail1 if we go a little deeper into the mysterious facts of experience we shall find that still goodness is rewarded and evil is punished1 because the mind is its own place1 and can itself1 if virtuous1 make a heaven of hell1 if wicked1 a hell of heaven4 ,it is a truth1 springing from the very nature of ,god and his irreversible relations towards his creatures1 that his united justice and love shall follow both holiness and iniquity now and ever1 pouring his beneficence upon them to be converted by them into their food and bliss or into their bane and misery4 ,there is1 then1 no essential need of adventitious accompaniments or results to justify and pay the good1 or to condemn and torture the bad1 here or hereafter4 ,to be wise1 and pure1 and strong1 and noble1 is glory and blessedness enough in itself4 ,to be ignorant1 and corrupt1 and mean1 and feeble1 is degradation and horror enough in itself4 ,the one abides in true life1 the other in moral death2 and that is sufficient4 ,even now1 in this world1 therefore1 the swift and diversified retributions of men's characters and lives are in them and upon them1 in various ways1 and to a much greater extent than they are accustomed to think4 ,history preaches this with all her revealing voices4 ,philosophy lays it bare1 and points every finger at the flaming bond that binds innocence to peace1 guilt to remorse4 ,it is the substance of the gospel1 emphatically pronounced4 ,and the clear experience of every sensitive soul confirms its truth1 echoing through the silent corridors of the conscience the declarations which fell in ancient ,judea from the lips of ,jesus and the pen of ,paul3 ,the pure in heart shall see ,god2 ,the wages of sin is death4 ,we will briefly sum up the principal positions of the ground we have now traversed4 ,to be enslaved by the senses in the violation of the ,divine laws1 neglecting the mind and abusing the members1 is to be dead to the goodness of ,god1 the joys of virtue1 and the hopes of heaven1 and alive to guilt1 anguish1 and despair4 ,to obey the will of ,god in love1 keeping the body under1 and cherishing a pure soul1 is to be dead to the evil of the world1 the goading of passions1 and the fears of punishment1 and alive to innocence1 happiness1 and faith4 ,according to the natural plan of things from the dawn of creation1 the flesh was intended to fall into the ground1 but the spirit to rise into heaven4 ,suffering is the retributive result and accumulated merit of iniquity2 while enjoyment is the gift of ,god and the fruit of conformity to his law4 ,to receive the instructions of ,christ and obey them with the whole heart1 walking after his example1 is to be quickened from that deadly misery into this living blessedness4 ,the inner life of truth and goodness thus revealed and proposed to men1 its personal experience being once obtained1 is an immortal possession1 a conscious fount springing up unto eternity through the beneficent decree of the ,father1 to play forever in the light of his smile and the shadow of his arm4 ,such are the great component elements of the ,christian doctrine of life and death1 both present and eternal4 ,the purely interior character of the genuine teachings of ,christianity on this subject is strikingly evident in the foregoing epitome4 ,the essential thing is simply that the hate life of error and sin is inherent alienation from ,god1 in slavery1 wretchedness1 death2 while the love life of truth and virtue is inherent communion with ,god1 in conscious freedom and blessedness4 ,here pure ,christianity leaves the subject1 declaring this with authority1 but not pretending to clear up the mysteries or set forth the details of the subject4 ,whatever in the ,new ,testament goes beyond this and meddles with minute external circumstances we regard as a corrupt addition or mixture drawn from various ,gentile and ,pharisaic sources and erroneously joined with the authentic words of ,christ4 ,what we maintain in regard to the apostles and the early ,christians in general is not so much that they failed to grasp the deep spiritual principles of the ,master's teaching1 not that they were essentially in error1 but that1 while they held the substance of the ,savior's true thoughts1 they also held additional notions which were errors retained from their ,pharisaic education and only partially modified by their succeeding ,christian culture1 a set of traditional and mechanical conceptions4 ,these errors1 we repeat1 concern not the heart and essence of ideas1 but their form and clothing4 ,for instance1 ,christ teaches that there is a heaven for the faithful2 the apostles suppose that it is a located region over the firmament4 ,the dying ,stephen said1 ,behold1 ,i see the heavens opened1 and the ,son of ,man standing at the right hand of ,god4 ,again3 ,christ teaches that there is a banishment for the wicked2 the apostles suppose that it is into a located region under the earth4 ,in accordance with the theological dogmas of their time and countrymen1 with such modification as the peculiar character1 teachings1 and life of ,jesus enforced1 they believed that sin sent through the black gates of ,sheol those who would otherwise have gone through the glorious doors of heaven2 that ,christ would return from heaven soon1 raise the dead from the under world1 judge them1 rebanish the reprobate1 establish his perfect kingdom on earth1 and reascend to heaven with his elect4 ,that these distinctive notions came into the ,new ,testament through the mistakes and imperfect knowledge of the apostles1 how can any candid and competent scholar doubt8#e ,in the first place1 the process whereby these conceptions were transmitted and assimilated from ,zoroastrian ,persia to ,pharisaic ,judea is historically traceable4 ,secondly1 the brevity and vagueness of the apostolic references to eschatology1 and their perfect harmony with known ,pharisaic beliefs1 prove their mutual consonance and the derivation of the later from the earlier4 ,if the supposed ,christian views had been unheard of before1 their promulgators would have taken pains to define them carefully and give detailed expositions of them4 ,thirdly1 it was natural almost inevitable that the apostles would retain at least some of their original peculiarities of belief1 and mix them with their new ideas1 unless they were prevented by an infallible inspiration4 ,of the presence of any such infallibility there is not a shadow of evidence2 but1 on the contrary1 there is a demonstration of its absence4 ,for they differed among themselves1 carried on violent controversies on important points4 ,paul says of ,peter1 ,i withstood him to the face4 ,the ,gentile and ,judaic dissensions shook the very foundations of the ,apostolic ,church4 ,paul and ,barnabas had a sharp controversy1 insomuch that they parted asunder4 ,almost every commentator and scholar worthy of notice has been compelled to admit the error of the apostles in expecting the visible return of ,christ in their own day4 ,and1 if they erred in that1 they might in other matters4 ,the progress of positive science and the improvement of philosophical thought have rendered the mechanical dogmas popularly associated with ,christianity incredible to enlightened minds4 ,for this reason1 as for many others1 it is the duty of the ,christian teacher to show that those dogmas are not an integral part of the gospel1 but only an adventitious element imported into it from an earlier and unauthoritative system4 ,take away these incongruous and outgrown errors1 and the pure religion of ,christ will be seen1 and will be seen to be the everlasting truth of ,god4 ,in attempting to estimate the actual influence of ,christianity1 wherever it has spread1 in establishing among men a faith in immortality1 we must specify six separate considerations4 ,first1 the immediate reception of the resurrection and ascension of ,christ as a miraculous and typical fact1 putting an infallible seal on his teachings1 and demonstrating1 even to the senses of men1 the reality of a heavenly life1 was an extremely potent influence in giving form and vigor to faith1 more potent for ages than every thing else combined4 ,the image of the victorious ,christ taken up to heaven and glorified there forever1 this image1 pictured in every believer's mind1 stimulated the imagination and kept an ideal vision of heaven in constant remembrance as an apprehended reality4 ,there is ,jesus1 they said1 pointing up to heaven2 and there one day we shall be with him4 ,secondly1 the obloquy and desertion experienced by the early ,christians threw them back upon a double strength of spiritual faith1 and opened to them an intensified communion with ,god4 ,as worldly goods and pleasures were sacrificed1 the more powerful became their #e ,eschatologie1 oder die ,lebre von den ,letzten ,dingen4 ,mit besonderer ,rucksicht anf die gangbare ,irriehre vom ,hades4 ,basel1 #ahdj4 ,de ,wette interprets the doctrine of ,christ's descent into ,hades as a myth derived from the idea that he was the ,savior not only of his living followers but also of the heathen and the dead4 ,bibl4 ,dogmatik1 s4 #bgb4 perception of moral truths and their grasp of invisible treasures4 ,the more fiercely they were assailed1 the dearer became the cause for which they suffered1 and the more profoundly the moral springs of faith were stirred in their souls4 ,the natural revulsion of their souls was from destitution1 contempt1 peril1 and pain on earth to a more vivid and magnified trust in a great reward laid up for them in heaven4 ,thirdly1 the unflinching zeal kindled in the early confessors of ,christianity1 the sublime heroism shown by them amidst the awful tortures inflicted on them by the persecuting ,jews and ,romans1 reacted on their brethren to give profounder firmness and new intensity to their faith in a glorious life beyond the grave4 ,the ,christians thrown into the amphitheatre to the lions calmly kneeled in prayer1 and to the superstitious bystanders a bright nimbus seemed to play around their brows and heaven to be opened above4 ,as they perished at the stake1 amidst brutal jeers and shrivelling flames1 serenely maintaining their profession1 and calling on ,christ1 over the lurid vista of smoke and fire broke on their rapt vision the blessed splendors of ,paradise2 and their joy seemed1 to the enthusiastic believers around1 no less than a ,divine inspiration1 confirming their faith1 and preaching1 through the unquestionable truthfulness of martyrdom1 the certainty of immortal life4 ,the survivors celebrated the anniversaries of the martyrs' deaths as their birthdays into the endless life4 ,fourthly1 another means by which ,christianity operated to deepen and spread a belief in the future life was1 indirectly1 through its influence in calling out and cultivating the affections of the heart4 ,the essence of the gospel in theory1 as taught by all its teachers1 in fact1 as incarnated by ,christ1 and in practice1 as working in history is love4 ,from the first it condemned and tended to destroy all the coldness and hatred of human hearts2 and it strove to elicit and foster every kindly sentiment and generous impulse1 to draw its disciples together by those yearning ties of sympathy and devotion which instinctively demand and divinely prophesy an eternal union in a better world4 ,the more mightily two human hearts love each other1 the stronger will be their spontaneous longing for immortality4 ,the unrivalled revelation of the disinterested love of ,god made by ,christianity1 and its effect in refining and increasing the love of men1 have contributed in a most important degree to sanction and diffuse the faith in a blessed life reserved for men hereafter4 ,one remarkable specification may be noticed4 ,the only pagan description of children in the future life is that given by some of the classic poets1 who picture the infant shades lingering in groups around the dismal gates of the under world1 weeping and wailing because they could never find admittance4 ,continuo audita voces1 vagitus et ingens1 ,infantumque animaflentes in limine primo4 ,go the long round of the pagan heavens1 you will find no trace of a child4 ,children were withered blossoms blown to oblivion4 ,the soft breezes that fanned the ,blessed ,isles and played through the perennial summer of ,elysium blew upon no infant brows4 ,the grave held all the children very fast4 ,by the memorable words1 ,of such is the kingdom of heaven1 ,christ unbarred the portals of the future world and revealed therein hosts of angelic children4 ,ever since then children have been seen in heaven4 ,the poet has sung that the angel child is first on the wing to welcome the parent home4 ,painters have shown us1 in their visions of the blessed realms1 crowds of cherubs1 have shown us ,how at the ,almighty ,father's hand1 ,nearest the throne of living light1 ,the choirs of infant seraphs stand1 ,and dazzling shine where all are bright4 ,fifthly1 the triumphant establishment of ,christianity in the world has thrown the prestige of public opinion1 the imposing authority of general affirmation and acceptance1 around its component doctrines chief among which is the doctrine of immortality and secured in their behalf the resistless influences of current custom and education4 ,from the time the gospel was acknowledged by a nation as the true religion1 each generation grew up by habitual tutelage to an implicit belief in the future life4 ,it became a dogma not to be questioned4 ,and the reception of it was made more reasonable and easy by the great superiority of its moral features over those of the relative superstitions embodied in the ethnic religions which ,christianity displaced4 ,finally1 ,christianity has exerted no small influence both in expressing and imparting faith in immortality by means of the art to which it has given birth4 ,the ,christian ritual and symbolism1 which culminated in the ,middle ,age1 from the very first had their vitality and significance in the truth of another life4 ,every phase and article of them implied1 and with mute or vocal articulation proclaimed1 the superiority and survival of mind and heart1 the truth of the gospel history1 the reality of the opened heaven4 ,who1 in the excited atmosphere1 amidst the dangers1 living traditions1 and dramatic enactments of that time1 could behold the sacraments of the ,church1 listen to a mighty chant1 kneel beside a holy tomb1 or gaze on a painting of a gospel scene1 without feeling that the story of ,christ's ascent to ,god was true1 being assured that elsewhere than on earth there was a life for the believer1 and in rapt imagination seeing visions of the supernatural kingdom unveiled8 ,the inmost thought or sentiment of mediaval art to adapt a remarkable passage from ,heine#f was the depression of the body and the elevation of the soul4 ,statues of martyrs1 pictures of crucifixions1 dying saints1 pale1 faint sufferers1 drooping heads1 long1 thin arms1 meager bones1 poor1 awkwardly hung dresses1 emaciated features celestially illuminated by faith and love1 expressed the ,christian self denial and unearthliness4 ,architecture enforced the same lesson as sculpture and painting4 ,entering a cathedral1 we at once feel the soul exalted1 the flesh degraded4 ,the inside of the dome is itself a hollow cross1 and we walk there within the very witness work of martyrdom4 ,the gorgeous windows fling their red and green lights upon us like drops of blood and decay4 ,funereal music wails and fades away along the dim arches4 ,under our feet are gravestones and corruption4 ,with the colossal columns the soul climbs aloft1 loosing itself from the body1 which sinks to the floor as a weary weed4 ,and when we look on one of these vast ,gothic structures from without1 so airy1 graceful1 tender1 transparent1 it seems cut out of one piece1 or may be taken for an ethereal lace work of marble4 #f ,die ,romantische ,schule1 buch i4 ,then only do we feel the power of the inspiration which could so subdue even stone that it shines spectrally possessed1 and make the most insensate of materials voice forth the grand teaching of ,christianity1 the triumph of the spirit over the flesh4 ,in these six ways1 therefore1 by placing a tangible image of it in the imagination through the resurrection of ,christ1 by the powerful stirring of the springs of moral faith through the persecutions that attended its confession1 by the apparent inspiration of the martyrs who died in its strength1 by calling out the latent force of the heart's affections that crave it1 by the moulding power of establishment1 custom1 and education1 by the spiritualizing1 vision conjuring effect of its worship and art1 has ,christianity done a work of incalculable extent in strengthening the world's belief in a life to come4#g ,a remarkable evidence of the impression ,christianity carried before it is furnished by an incident in the history of the missionary ,paulinus4 ,he had preached before ,edwin1 ,king of ,northumbria4 ,an old earl stood up and said1 ,the life of man seems1 when compared with what is hidden1 like the sparrow1 who1 as you sit in your hall1 with your thanes and attendants1 warmed by the blazing fire1 flies through4 ,as he flies through from door to door1 he enjoys a brief escape from the chilling storms of rain and snow without4 ,again he goes forth into the winter and vanishes4 ,so seems the short life of man4 ,if this new doctrine brings us something more certain1 in my mind it is worthy of adoption4#h ,the most glorious triumph of ,christianity in regard to the doctrine of a future life was in imparting a character of impartialness and universality to the proud1 oligarchic faith which had previously excluded from it the great multitude of men4 ,the lofty conceptions of the fate of the soul cherished by the illustrious philosophers of ,greece and ,rome were not shared by the commonalty until the gospel its right hand touching the throne of ,god1 its left clasping humanity announced in one breath the resurrection of ,jesus and the brotherhood of man4 ,their highest lore was for the few conceived1 ,by schools discuss'd1 but not by crowds believed4 ,the angel ladder clomb the heavenly steep1 ,but at its foot the priesthoods lay1 asleep4 ,they did not preach to nations1 ',lo1 your ,god6' ,no thousands follow'd where their footsteps trod3 ,not to the fishermen they said1 ',arise6' ,not to the lowly offer'd they the skies4 ,wisdom was theirs3 alas6 what men most need ,is no sect's wisdom1 but the people's creed4 ,then1 not for schools1 but for the human kind1 ,the uncultured reason1 the unletter'd mind1 ,the poor1 the oppress'd1 the laborer1 and the slave1 ,god said1 ',be light6' and light was on the grave6 ,no more alone to sage and hero given1 ,for all wide oped the impartial gates of heaven4 #i #g ,compare ,bengal's essay1 ,quid ,doctrina de ,animarum ,immortalitate ,religioni ,christiana debeat4 #h ,venerable ,bede1 book ii4 ch4 xiv4 #i ,bulwer1 ,new ,timon1 part iv4 ,,part ,,fourth ,,christian ,,thoughts ,,concerning ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,patristic ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,with reference to the present subject1 we shall consider the period of the ,church ,fathers as including the nine centuries succeeding the close of the apostolic age4 ,it extends from ,clement1 ,barnabas1 and ,hermas to ,o,ecumenius and ,gerbert4 ,the principal components of the doctrine of the future life held during this period1 though showing some diversities and changes1 are in their prevailing features of one consistent type1 constituting the belief which would in any of those centuries have been generally recognised by the ,church as orthodox4 ,for reasons previously given1 we believe that ,jesus himself taught a purely moral doctrine concerning the future life1 a doctrine free from arbitrary1 mechanical1 or sacerdotal peculiarities4 ,with experimental knowledge1 with inspired insight1 with fullest authority1 he set forth conclusions agreeing with the wisest philosophy and confirmatory of our noblest hopes1 namely1 that a conscious immortality awaits the soul in the many mansions of the ,father's house1 which it enters on leaving the body1 and where its experience will depend upon ethical and spiritual conditions4 ,to this simple and sublime doctrine announced by ,jesus1 so rational and satisfactory1 we believe for reasons already explained that the apostles joined various additional and modifying notions1 ,judaic and ,gentile1 such as the local descent of ,christ into the prison world of the dead1 his mission there1 his visible second coming1 a bodily resurrection1 a universal scenic judgment1 and other kindred views4 ,the sum of results thus reached the ,fathers developed in greater detail1 distinguishing and emphasizing them1 and also still further corrupting them with some additional conceptions and fancies1 ,greek and ,oriental1 speculative and imaginative4 ,the peculiar theological work of the apostles in regard to this subject was the organizing of the ,persian ,jewish doctrine of the ,pharisees1 with a ,christian complement and modifications1 around the person of ,christ1 and fixing so near in the immediate future the period when it was to be consummated that it might be looked for at any time4 ,the peculiar theological work of the ,fathers in regard to the doctrine thus formed by the apostles was twofold4 ,first1 being disappointed of the expected speedy second coming of ,christ1 they developed the intermediate state of the dead more fully1 and made it more prominent4 ,secondly1 in the course of the long and vehement controversies which sprang up1 they were led to complete and systematize their theology1 to define their terms1 to explain and defend their doctrines1 comparing them together and attempting to harmonize them with history1 reason1 and ethics1 as well as with ,scripture and tradition4 ,in this way the patristic mind became familiar with many processes of thought1 with many special details1 and with some general principles1 quite foreign to the apostolic mind4 ,meanwhile1 defining and systematizing went on1 loose notions hardened into rigid dogmas1 free thought was hampered by authority1 the scheme generally received assumed the title of orthodox1 anathematizing all who dared to dissent1 and the fundamental outlines of the patristic eschatology were firmly established4#a ,in seeking to understand and to give an exposition of this scheme of faith1 we have1 besides various collateral aids1 three chief guidances4 ,first1 we possess the symbols or confessions of faith put forth by several of the leading theologians of those times1 or by general councils1 and openly adopted as authority in many of the churches1 the creed falsely called the ,apostles'1 extant as early as the close of the third century1 the creed of ,arius1 that of ,cyril1 the ,nicene creed1 the creed falsely named the ,athanasian1 and others4 ,secondly1 we have the valuable assistance afforded by the treatises of ,irenaus1 ,tertullian1 ,epiphanius1 ,augustine1 and others still later1 on the heresies that had arisen in the ,church1 treatises which make it easy to infer1 by contrast and construction1 what was considered orthodox from the statement of what was acknowledged heretical4 ,and1 thirdly1 abundant resources are afforded us in the extant theological dissertations1 and historical documents of the principal ecclesiastical authors of the time in review1 a cycle of well known names1 sweeping from ,theophilus of ,antioch to ,photius of ,byzantium1 from ,cyprian of ,carthage to ,maurus of ,mentz4 ,we think that any candid person1 mastering these sources of information in the illustrating and discriminating light of a sufficient knowledge of the previous and the succeeding related opinions1 will recognise in the following abstract a fair representation of the doctrine of a future life as it was held by the orthodox ,fathers of the ,christian ,church in the period extending from the first to the tenth century4 ,before proceeding to set forth the common patristic scheme1 a few preliminary remarks are necessary in relation to some of the peculiar1 prominent features of ,origen's theology1 and in relation to the rival systems of ,augustine and ,pelagius4 ,origen was a man of vast learning1 passionately fond of philosophy2 and he modifyingly mingled a great many ,oriental and ,platonic notions with his theology4 ,he imagined that innumerable worlds like this had existed and perished before it1 and that innumerable others will do so after it in endless succession4#b ,he held that all souls whether devils1 men1 angels1 or of whatever rank were of the same nature2 that all who exist in material bodies are imprisoned in them as a punishment for sins committed in a previous state2 the fig leaves in which ,adam and ,eve were dressed after their sin were the fleshly bodies they were compelled to assume on being expelled from the ,paradise of their previous existence2 that in proportion to their sins they are confined in subtile or gross bodies of adjusted grades until by penance and wisdom they slowly win their #a ,bretschneider1 ,was lehren die altesten ,kirchenvater uber die ,entstehung der ,sude und des ,todes1 ,adam's ,vergehen und die ,versohnung durch ,christum4 ,oppositionsschrift1 band viii4 hft4 #c1 ss4 #chj-djg4 #b ,de ,principiis1 lib4 lit4 cap4 #e4 deliverance1 this gradual descent and ascent of souls being figuratively represented by ,jacob's ladder2 that all punishments and rewards are exactly fitted to the degree of sin or merit1 without possibility of failure2 that all suffering even that in the lowest hell is benevolent and remedial1 so that even the worst spirits1 including ,satan himself1 shall after a time be restored to heaven2 that this alternation of fall and restoration shall be continued so often as the cloy and satiety of heavenly bliss1 or the preponderant power of temptation1 pervert free will into sin4#c ,he declared that it was impossible to explain the phenomena and experience of human life1 or to justify the ways of ,god1 except by admitting that souls sinned in a pre existent state4 ,he was ignorant of the modern doctrine of vicarious atonement1 considered as placation or satisfaction1 and regarded ,christ's suffering not as a substitute for ours1 but as having merely the same efficacy in kind as the death of any innocent person1 only more eminent in degree4 ,he represents the mission of ,christ to be to show men that ,god can forgive and recall them from sin1 banishment1 and hell1 and to furnish them1 in various ways1 helps and incitements to win salvation4 ,the foregoing assertions1 and other kindred points1 are well established by ,mosheim1 in his exposition of the characteristic views of ,origen4#d ,the famous controversy between ,augustine and ,pelagius shook ,christendom for a century and a half1 and has rolled its echoing results even to the theological shores of to day4 ,augustine was more ,calvinistic in his doctrines than the ,fathers before him1 and even than most of those after him4 ,in a few particulars perhaps a majority of the ,fathers really agreed more nearly with ,pelagius than with him4 ,but his system prevailed1 and was publicly adopted for all ,christendom by the third general council at ,ephesus in the year #dca4 ,yet some of its principles1 in their full force1 were actually not accepted4 ,for instance1 his dogma of unconditional election that some were absolutely predestinated to eternal salvation1 others to eternal damnation has never been taught by the ,roman ,catholic ,church4 ,when ,gottschalk urged it in the ninth century1 it was condemned as a heresy2#e and among the ,protestants in the sixteenth century ,calvin was obliged to fight for it against odds4 ,augustine's belief must therefore be taken as a representation of the general patristic belief only with caution and with qualifications4 ,the distinctive views of ,augustine as contrasted with those of ,pelagius were as follow4#f ,augustine held that1 by ,adam's fault1 a burden of sin was entailed on all souls1 dooming them1 without exception1 to an eternal banishment in the infernal world4 ,pelagius denied the doctrine of original sin1 and made each one responsible only for his own personal sins4 ,augustine taught that baptism was necessary to free its subject from the power which the devil had over the soul on account of original sin1 and that all would infallibly be doomed to hell who were not baptized1 except1 first1 the ancient saints1 who foreknew the evangelic doctrines and believed1 and1 secondly1 the martyrs1 whose blood was their baptism4 ,pelagius claimed that ,christian baptism was only necessary to secure an #c ,ibid4 lib4 ii4 cap4 #i1 #aj4 #d ,commentaries on the ,affairs of the ,christians in the ,first ,three ,centuries3 ,third ,century sects4 #bg-bi4 #e ,hagenbach1 ,dogmengeschichte1 sect4 #ahc4 #f ,wiggers1 ,augustinism and ,pelagianism1 trans4 from the ,german by ,r4 ,emerson1 ch4 xix42 also pp4 #fb1 #fh1 #ge1 #gi4 entrance into heaven3 infants and good men1 if unbaptized2 would enjoy a happy immortality in ,paradise1 but they never could enter the kingdom of heaven4 ,augustine affirmed that ,adam's sin destroyed the freedom of the will in the whole human race4 ,pelagius asserted the freedom of the individual will4 ,augustine declared that a few were arbitrarily elected to salvation from eternity1 and that ,christ died only for them4 ,pelagius taught that salvation or reprobation depended on personal deserts1 and that the ,divine election was merely through prescience of merits4 ,augustine said that saving grace was supernatural1 irresistible1 unattainable by human effort4 ,pelagius said it might be won or resisted by conformity to certain conditions in each person's power4 ,augustine believed that bodily death was inflicted as a punishment for sin2#g ,pelagius1 that it was the result of a natural law4 ,the extensive1 various learning1 massive1 penetrating mind1 and remorseless logical consistency1 of ,augustine1 enabled him to gather up the loose1 floating theological elements and notions of the time1 and generalize them into a complete system1 in striking harmony1 indeed1 with the general character and drift of patristic thought1 but carried out more fully in its details and applied more unflinchingly in its principles than had been done before1 and therefore in some of its dogmas outstripping the current convictions of his contemporaries4 ,his dogma of election was too revolting and immoral ever to win universal assent2 and few could have the heart to unite with him in stigmatizing the whole human race in their natural state as one damned batch and mass of perdition6 7conspersio damnata1 massa perditionis47 ,with these hints1 we are ready to advance to the general patristic scheme of eschatology4 ,the exceptional variations and heresies will be referred to afterwards4 ,first1 in regard to the natural state of men under the law1 from the time of ,adam's sin to the time of ,christ's suffering1 their moral condition and destination1 no one can deny that the ,fathers commonly supposed that the dissolution of the body and the descent of the soul to the under world were a penalty brought on all men through the sin of the first man4 ,wherever the lengthening line of human generations wandered1 the trail of the serpent1 stamp of depravity1 was on them1 sealing them as ,death's and marking them for the ,hadean prison4 ,this was the indiscriminate and the inevitable doom4 ,there is no need of citing proofs of this statement1 as it is well known that the writings of the ,fathers are thronged both with indirect implications and with explicit avowals of it4 ,secondly1 they thought that ,christ came from heaven to redeem men from their lost state and subterranean bondage and to guide them to heaven4 ,augustine1 and perhaps some others1 maintained that he came merely to effectuate the salvation of a foreordained few2 but undoubtedly the common belief was that he came to redeem all who would conform to certain conditions which he proposed and made feasible4 ,the important question here is1 ,what did the ,fathers suppose the essence of ,christ's redemptive work to be8 and how1 in their estimation1 did he achieve that work8 ,was it the renewal and sanctification of human character by the melting power of a proclamation of mercy and love from ,god1 by the regenerating influences and motives of the truths and appeals spoken by his lips1 illustrated #g ,in ,gen4 lib4 ix4 cap4 #aj1 #aa3 ,parents would have yielded to children not by death1 but by translation1 and would have become as the angels4 in his life1 and brought to a focus in his martyr death8 ,certainly this was too plainly and prominently a part of the mission of ,christ ever to be wholly overlooked4 ,and yet one acquainted with the writings of the ,fathers can hardly mistake so widely as to think that they esteemed this the principal element in ,christ's redemptive work4 ,was the essence of that work1 then1 the making of a vicarious atonement1 according to the ,calvinistic interpretation of that phrase1 the offering of a substitutional anguish sufficient to satisfy the claims of inexorable justice1 so that the guilty might be pardoned8 ,no4 ,the modern doctrine of the atonement the satisfaction theory1 as it is called was unknown to the ,fathers4 ,it was developed1 step by step1 after many centuries4#h ,it did not receive its acknowledged form until it came from the mind of the great ,archbishop of ,canterbury1 ,anselm1 as late as the twelfth century4 ,no scholar will question this confessed fact4 ,what1 then1 were the essence and method of ,christ's redemptive mission according to the ,fathers8 ,in brief1 they were these4 ,he was1 as they believed1 a superangelic being1 the only begotten ,son of ,god1 possessing a nature1 powers1 and credentials transcending those delegated to any other being below ,god himself4 ,he became flesh1 to seek and to save the lost4 ,this saving work was done not by his mortal sufferings alone1 but by the totality of labors extending through the whole period of his incarnation4 ,the subjective or moral part of his redemptive mission was to regenerate the characters of men and fit them for heaven by his teachings and example2 the objective or physical part was to deliver their souls from the fatal confinement of the under world and secure for them the gracious freedom of the sky1 by descending himself as the suppressing conqueror of death and then ascending as the beckoning pioneer of his followers4 ,the ,fathers did not select the one point or act of ,christ's death as the pivot of human redemption2 but they regarded that redemption as wrought out by the whole of his humiliation1 instruction1 example1 suffering1 and triumph1 as the resultant of all the combined acts of his incarnate drama4 ,run over the relevant writings of ,justin ,martyr1 ,clement of ,alexandria1 ,lactantius1 ,cyril1 ,ambrose1 ,augustine himself1 ,jerome1 ,chrysostom1 and the rest of the prominent authors of the first ten centuries1 and you cannot fail to be struck with the fact that they invariably speak of redemption1 not in connection with ,christ's death alone1 but emphatically in connection with the group of ideas1 his incarnation1 death1 descent1 resurrection1 and ascension6 ,for the most part1 they received it by tradition as a fact1 without much philosophizing1 that1 in consequence of the sin of ,adam1 all men were doomed to die1 that is1 to leave their bodies and descend into the shadowy realm of death4 ,they also accepted it as a fact1 without much attempt at theoretical explanation1 that when ,christ1 the sinless and resistless ,son of ,god1 died and went thither1 before his immaculate ,divinity the walls fell1 the devils fled1 the prisoners' chains snapped1 and the power of ,satan was broken4 ,they received it as a fact that through the mediation of ,christ the original boon forfeited by ,adam was to be restored1 and that men1 instead of undergoing death and banishment to ,hades1 should be translated to heaven4 ,so far as they had a theory about the cause1 it turned on two simple points3 first1 the free grace and love of ,god2 second1 the self sacrifice and sufficient power of #h ,hagenbach1 ,dogmengeschichte1 sect4 #fh4 ,christ4 ,in the progressive course of dogmatic controversy1 metaphysical speculation1 and desire for system1 explanations have been devised in a hundred different forms1 from that of ,aquinas to that of ,calvin2 from that of ,anselm to that of ,grotius2 from that of ,socinus to that of ,bushnell4 ,tertullian describes the profound abyss beneath the grave1 in the bowels of the earth1 where1 he says1 all the dead are detained unto the day of judgment1 and where ,christ in his descent made the patriarchs and prophets his companions4#i ,augustine says that nearly the whole ,church agreed in believing that ,christ delivered ,adam from the under world when he rose thence himself4#aj ,one must be very ignorant on the subject to doubt that the ,fathers attributed unrivalled importance to the literal descent of ,christ into the abode of the departed4#aa ,thirdly1 after the advent of ,christ1 what were the conditions proposed for the actual attainment of personal salvation8 ,it was the orthodox belief that ,christ led up into ,paradise with him the ancient saints who were awaiting his appearance in the under world3#ab but with this exception it was not supposed that he saved any outright3 he only put it in their power to save themselves1 removing the previously insuperable obstacles4 ,in the faith of those who accepted the dogma of predestination1 of course1 the presupposed condition of actual personal salvation was that the given individual should become one of the elect number4 ,but it seems to have been usually believed that baptism was indispensable to give final efficacy to the decree of election in each individual case4#ac ,augustine says1 ,all are born under the power of the devil1 held in chains by him as a jailer3 baptism alone1 through the force of ,christ's redemptive work1 breaks these chains and secures heaven4 ,in regard to this necessity of baptism ,pelagius agreed with his great adversary1 saving an unessential modification1 as we have seen before4 ,the same may be said of ,cyprian1 ,tertullian1 and many other leading ,fathers4 ,again1 the so called ,athanasian ,creed1 which shows the prevalent opinion of the ,church in the fifth and sixth centuries1 asserts that whoso believes not in the ,trinity and kindred dogmas as therein laid down without doubt shall perish everlastingly4 ,in other words1 assent of mind to the established creed of the ,church is a vital condition of salvation4 ,finally1 in the writings of nearly all of the ,fathers we find frequent declarations of the necessity of moral virtue1 righteous conduct1 and piety1 as a condition of admission into the kingdom of heaven4 ,for example1 ,augustine says1 ,such as have been baptized1 partaken of the sacraments1 and remained always in the catholic faith1 but have led wicked lives1 can have no hope of escaping eternal damnation4 #ad ,these points were not sharply defined1 authoritatively established1 and consistently adhered to2 and yet there was a pretty general agreement among the body of the ,fathers that for actual salvation there were three practical necessary conditions1 baptism1 a sound faith1 a good life4 #i ,de ,anima1 sects4 #g et #ee4 #aj ,epist4 ,,clxiv4 #aa ,huidekoper1 ,belief of the ,first ,three ,centuries concerning ,christ's ,mission to the ,under ,world4 #ab ,augustine1 ,de ,civ4 ,del4 lib4 xx4 cap4 xv4 ,wiedenfeld1 ,de ,exorcismi ,origine1 ,mutatione1 deque hujus ,actus peragendi ,ratione ,neander1 ,church ,history1 vol4 i4 p4 #c #ac ,torrey's trans4 #ad ,de ,civ4 ,dei41 lib4 xxi4 cap4 xxv4 ,fourthly1 the ,fathers believed that none of the righteous dead could be admitted into heaven itself1 the abode of ,god and his angels1 until after the second coming of ,christ and the holding of the general judgment2 neither were any of the reprobate dead1 according to their view1 to be thrust into hell itself until after those events2 but meanwhile all were detained in an intermediate state1 the justified in a peaceful region of the under world enjoying some foretaste of their future blessedness1 the condemned in a dismal region of the same under world suffering some foretaste of their future torment4#ae ,after the numerous evidences given in previous chapters of the prevalence of this view among the ,fathers1 it would be superfluous to cite further authorities here4 ,we will only reply to an objection which may be urged4 ,it may be said1 the ,fathers believed that ,enoch and ,elijah were translated to heaven1 also that the patriarchs1 whom ,christ rescued on his descent to ,hades1 were admitted thither1 and1 furthermore1 that the martyrs by special privilege were granted entrance there4 ,the point is an important one4 ,the reply turns on the broad distinction made by the ,fathers between heaven and ,paradise4 ,some of the ,fathers regarded ,paradise as one division of the under world2 some located it in a remote and blessed region of the earth2 others thought it was high in the air1 but below the dwelling place of ,god4#af ,now1 it was to ,paradise1 not to heaven1 that the dying thief1 penitent on the cross1 was promised admission4 ,it was of ,paradise1 not of heaven1 that ,tertullian said the blood of the martyrs is the perfect key4 ,so1 too1 when ,jerome1 ,chrysostom1 and others speak of a few favored ones delivered from the common fate before the day of judgment1 it is ,paradise1 and not heaven1 that is represented as being thrown open to them4 ,irenaus says1 ,those who were translated were translated to the ,paradise whence disobedient ,adam was driven into the world4#ag ,a notable attempt has been repeatedly made for example1 by the famous ,dr4 ,coward1 by ,dodwell1 and by some other more obscure writers to prove that the ,fathers of the ,greek ,church1 in opposition to the ,latin ,fathers1 denied the consciousness of the soul during the interval from death to the resurrection1 and maintained that the soul died with the body and would be restored with it at the last day4 ,but this is an error arising from the misinterpretation of the figurative terms in which the ,greek ,fathers express themselves4 ,tatian1 ,justin1 ,theophilus1 and ,irenaus do not differ from the others in reality1 but only in words4 ,the opinion that the soul is literally mortal is erroneously attributed to those ,greek ,fathers1 who in truth no more held it than ,tertullian did4 ,the death they mean is1 to borrow their own language1 deprived of the rays of ,divine light1 to bear a deathly immortality1 7in immortalitate mortem tolerantes17 an eternal existence in the ghostly under world4#ah ,the con #ae ,they feel1 as ,novatian says1 7,de ,trinitate1 #a17 a prajudicium futuri judicii4 ,see also ,ernesti1 ,excurs4 de ,veter4 ,patrum ,opinione de ,statu ,medio ,animor4 a ,corpore sejunctorum4 ,in his ,lect4 ,acad4 in ,ep4 ad ,hebr4 #af ,e4 g41 see ,ambrose1 ,de ,paradiso4 #ag ,adv4 ,hares41 lib4 v4 cap4 v4 #ah ,see this point ably argued in an academic dissertation published at ,konigsberg1 #ahbg1 bearing the title ,antiquissimorum ,ecclesia ,grsecte ,patrum de ,immortalitate ,anima ,sententia ,recensentur4 ,they held that the inner man was originally a spirit non-,,ascii characters omitted and a soul non-,,ascii characters omitted blended and immortal1 that is1 indestructibly united and blessed4 ,but by sin the soul loses the spirit and becomes subject to death4 that is1 to ignorance of its ,divine origin1 alienation from ,god1 darkness1 and an abode in ,hades4 ,by the influences flowing from the mission of ,christ1 man is elevated again to conscious communion with ,god1 and the spirit is restored to the soul4 ,si restituitur1 manet non-,,ascii characters omitted fit autem non-,,ascii characters omitted2 si non restituitur1 manet non-,,ascii characters omitted1 fit autem non-,,ascii characters omitted1 quod haud differt a morte4 cordant doctrine of the ,fathers as to the intermediate state of the dead was that1 with the exception of a few admitted to ,paradise1 they were in the under world waiting the fulness of time1 when the world should be judged and their final destination be assigned to them4 ,as ,tertullian says1 constituimus omnem animam apud inferos seguestrari in diem ,domini4 ,finally1 the ,fathers expected that ,christ would return from heaven1 hold a general day of judgment1 and consummate all things4 ,the earliest disciples seem to have looked anxiously1 almost from hour to hour1 for that awful crisis4 ,but1 as years rolled on and the last apostle died1 and it came not1 the date was fixed more remotely2 and1 as other years passed away1 and still no clear signs of its arrival appeared1 the date grew more and more indefinite4 ,some still looked for the solemn dawn speedily to break2 others assigned it to the year #ajjj2 others left the time utterly vague2 but none gave up the doctrine4 ,all agreed that sooner or later a time would come when the deep sky would open1 and ,christ1 clothed in terrors and surrounded by pomp of angels1 would alight on the globe1 when3 ,the angel of the trumpet ,shall split the charnel earth ,with his blast so clear and brave1 ,and quicken the charnel birth ,at the roots of the grave1 ,till the dead all stand erect4 ,augustine1 representing the catholic faith1 says1 ,the coming of ,elias1 the conversion of the ,jews1 ,antichrist's persecution1 the setting up of ,christ's tribunal1 the raising of the dead1 the severing of the good and the bad1 the burning of the world1 and its renovation1 this is the destined order of events4#ai ,the saved were to be transported bodily to the eternal bliss of heaven2 the damned1 in like manner1 were to be banished forever to a fiery hell in the centre of the earth1 there to endure uncomprehended agonies1 both physical and spiritual1 without any respite1 without any end4 ,there were important1 and for a considerable period quite extensive1 exceptions1 to the belief in this last dogma3 nevertheless1 such was undeniably the prevailing view1 the orthodox doctrine1 of the patristic ,church4 ,the strict literality with which these doctrines were held is strikingly shown in ,jerome's artless question3 ,if the dead be not raised with flesh and bones1 how can the damned1 after the judgment1 gnash their teeth in hell8 ,during the period now under consideration there were great fluctuations1 growths1 changes1 of opinion on three subjects in regard to which the public creeds did not prevent all freedom of thought by laying down definite propositions4 ,we refer to baptism1 the millennium1 and purgatory4 ,christian baptism was first simply a rite of initiation into the ,christian religion4 ,then it became more distinctly a symbol of faith in ,christ and in his gospel1 and an emblem of a new birth4 ,next it was imagined to be literally efficacious to #ai ,de ,civ4 ,del1 lib4 xx4 cap4 #cj1 sect4 #e4 personal salvation1 solving the chains of the devil1 washing off original sin1 and opening the door of heaven4#bj ,to trace the doctrine through its historical variations and its logical windings would require a large volume1 and is not requisite for our present purpose4 ,almost all the early ,fathers believingly looked for a millennium1 a reign of ,christ on earth with his saints for a thousand years4 ,daille has shown that this belief was generally held1 though with great diversities of conception as to the form and features of the doctrine4#ba ,it was a ,jewish notion which crept among the ,christians of the first century and has been transmitted even to the present day4 ,some supposed the millennium would precede the destruction of the world1 others that it would follow that terrible event1 after a general renovation4 ,none but the faithful would have part in it2 and at its close they would pass up to heaven4 ,irenaus quotes a tradition1 delivered by ,papias1 that in the millennium each vine will bear ten thousand branches1 each branch ten thousand twigs1 each twig ten thousand clusters1 each cluster ten thousand grapes1 each grape yielding a hogshead of wine2 and if any one plucks a grape its neighbors will cry1 ,take me3 ,i am better6 ,this1 of course1 was a metaphor to show what the plenty and the joy of those times would be4 ,according to the heretics ,cerinthus and ,marcion1 the millennium was to consist in an abundance of all sorts of sensual riches and delights4 ,many of the orthodox ,fathers held the same view1 but less grossly2 while others made its splendors and its pleasures mental and moral4#bb ,origen attacked the whole doctrine with vehemence and cogency4 ,his admirers continued the warfare after him1 and the belief in this celestial ,cocaigne suffered much damage and sank into comparative neglect4 ,the subject rose into importance again at the approaching close of the first chiliad of ,christianity1 but soon died away as the excitement of that ominous epoch passed with equal disappointment to the hopes and the fears of the believers4 ,a galvanized controversy has been carried on about it again in the present century1 chiefly excited by the modern sect of ,second ,adventists4 ,large volumes have recently appeared1 principally aiming to decide whether the millennium is to precede or to follow the second coming of ,christ6 #bc ,the doctrine itself is a ,jewish ,christian figment supported only by a shadowy basis of fancy4 ,the truth contained in it1 though mutilated and disguised1 is that when the religion of ,christ is truly enthroned over the earth1 when his real teachings and life are followed1 the kingdom of ,god will indeed cover the world1 and not for a thousand years only1 but unimaginable glory and happiness shall fill the dwellings of the successive generations of men forever4#bd ,the doctrine of a purgatory a place intermediate between ,paradise and hell1 where souls not too sinful were temporarily punished1 and where their condition and stay were in the power of the ,church on earth1 a doctrine which in the ,middle ,age became practically #bj ,neander1 ,planting and ,training1 ,eng4 trans4 p4 #ajb4 #ba ,de ,usu ,patrum1 lib4 ii4 cap4 #d4 #bb ,munscher1 ,entwickelung der ,lehre vom ,tausendjahrigen ,reiche in den ,drei ,ersten ,jahrhunderten4 ,in ,henke's ,magaz4 b4 vi4 ss4 #bcc #bed4 #bc ,see e4 g4 ,the ,end1 by ,dr4 ,cumming4 ,the ,second ,advent1 by ,d4 ,brown4 #bd ,bush1 ,on the ,millennium4 ,bishop ,russell1 ,discourses on the ,millennium4 ,carroll1 ,geschichte des ,chiliasmus4 the foremost instrument of ecclesiastical influence and income was through the age of the ,fathers gradually assuming shape and firmness4 ,it seems to have been first openly avowed as a ,church dogma and effectively organized as a working power by ,pope ,gregory the ,great1 in the latter part of the sixth century4#be ,no more needs to be said here1 as the subject more properly belongs to the next chapter4 ,it but remains in close to notice those opinions relating to the future life which were generally condemned as heresies by the ,fathers4 ,one of the earliest of these was the destruction of the intermediate state and the denial of the general judgment by the assertion1 which ,paul charges so early as in his day upon ,hymeneus and ,philetus1 that the resurrection has passed already2 that is1 that the soul1 when it leaves the body1 passes immediately to its final destination4 ,this opinion reappeared faintly at intervals1 but obtained very little prevalence in the early ages of the ,church4 ,hierax1 an author who lived at ,leontopolis in ,egypt early in the fourth century1 denied the resurrection of the body1 and excluded from the kingdom of heaven all who were married and all who died before becoming moral agents4 ,another heretical notion which attracted some attention was the opposite extreme from the foregoing1 namely1 that the soul totally dies with the body1 and will be restored to life with it in the general resurrection at the end of the world2 an opinion held by an ,arabian sect of ,christians1 who were vanquished in debate upon it by ,origen1 and renounced it4#bf ,still another doctrine known among the ,fathers was the belief that ,christ1 when he descended into the under world1 saved and led away in triumph all who were there1 ,jews1 pagans1 good1 bad1 all1 indiscriminately4 ,this is number seventy nine in ,augustine's list of the heresies4 ,and there is now extant among the writings of ,pope ,boniface ,,vi1 of the ninth century1 a letter furiously assailing a man who had recently maintained this damnable doctrine4 ,the numerous ,gnostic sects represented by ,valentinus1 ,cerinthus1 ,marcion1 ,basilides1 and other less prominent names1 held a system of speculation copious1 complex1 and of intensely ,oriental character4 ,that portion of it directly connected with our subject may be stated in few words4 ,they taught that all souls pre existed in a world of pure light1 but1 sinning through the instigation and craft of demons1 they fell1 were mixed with darkness and matter1 and bound in bodies4 ,through sensual lusts and ignorance1 they were doomed to suffer after death in hell for various periods1 and then to be born again4 ,jehovah was the enemy of the true ,god1 and was the builder of this world and of hell1 wherein he contrives to keep his victims imprisoned by deceiving them to worship him and to live in errors and indulgences4 ,christ came1 they said1 to reveal the true ,god1 unmask the infernal character and wiles of ,jehovah1 rescue those whom he had cruelly shut up in hell1 and teach men the real way of salvation4 ,accordingly1 ,marcion declared that when ,christ descended into the under world he released and took into his own kingdom ,cain1 and the ,sodomites1 and all the #be ,flugge1 ,geschichte der ,lehre vom ,zustande des ,menschen nach dem ,tode in der ,christlichen ,kirche1 absch4 v4 ss4 #cbj-ceb4 #bf ,eusebius1 ,hist4 ,eccl4 lib4 vi4 cap4 #cg4 ,gentiles who had refused to obey the demon worshipped by the ,jews1 but left there1 unsaved1 ,abel1 ,enoch1 ,noah1 ,abraham1 and the other patriarchs1 together with all the prophets4#bg ,the ,gnostics agreed in attributing evil to matter1 and made the means of redemption to consist in fastings and scourgings of the flesh1 with denial of all its cravings1 and in lofty spiritual contemplations4 ,of course1 with one accord they vehemently assailed the dogma of the resurrection of the flesh4 ,their views1 too1 were inconsistent with the strict eternity of future hell punishments4 ,the fundamental basis of their system was the same as that of nearly all the ,oriental philosophies and religions1 requiring an ascetic war against the world of sense4 ,the notion that the body is evil1 and the cause of evil1 was rife even among the orthodox ,fathers2 but they stopped guardedly far short of the extreme to which the ,gnostics carried it1 and indignantly rejected all the strange imaginations which those heretics had devised to explain the subject of evil in a systematic manner4#bh ,augustine said1 ,if we say all sin comes from the flesh1 we make the fleshless devil sinless6 ,hermogenes1 some of whose views at least were tinged with ,gnosticism1 believed the abyss of hell was formed by the confluence of matter1 and that the devil and all his demons would at last be utterly resolved into matter4#bi ,the theological system of the ,manichaan sect was in some of its cardinal principles almost identical with those of the ,gnostics1 but it was still more imaginative and elaborate4#cj ,it started with the ,persian doctrine of two antagonist deities1 one dwelling with good spirits in a world of light and love1 the other with demons in a realm of darkness and horror4 ,upon a time the latter1 sallying forth1 discovered1 far away in the vastness of space1 the world of light4 ,they immediately assailed it4 ,they were conquered after a terrible struggle and driven back2 but they bore with them captive a multitude of the celestial souls1 whom they instantly mixed with darkness and gross matter4 ,the good ,god built this world of mingled light and darkness to afford these imprisoned souls an opportunity to purge themselves and be restored to him4 ,in arranging the material substances to form the earth1 a mass of evil fire1 with no particle of good in it1 was found4 ,it had been left in their flight by the vanquished princes of darkness4 ,this was cast out of the world and shut up somewhere in the dark air1 and is the ,manichaan hell1 presided over by the king of the demons4 ,if a soul1 while in the body1 mortify the flesh1 observe a severe ascetic moral discipline1 fix its thoughts1 affections1 and prayers on ,god and its native home1 it will on leaving the body return to the celestial light4 ,but if it neglect these duties and become more deeply entangled in the toils of depraved matter1 it is cast into the awful fire of hell1 where the cleansing flames of torture partially purify it2 and then it is born again and put on a new trial4 ,if after ten successive births twice in each of five different forms the soul be still unreclaimed1 then it is permanently remanded to the furnace of hell4 ,at last1 when all the celestial souls seized by the princes of darkness have returned to ,god1 save those just mentioned1 this world will be burned4 ,then the children #bg ,irenaus1 ,adv4 ,herres41 lib4 i4 cap4 #bb4 #bh ,account of the ,gnostic ,sects1 in ,moshelm's ,comm41 ,,ii4 ,century1 sect4 #fe4 #bi ,lardner1 ,hist4 of ,heretics1 ch4 xviii4 sect4 #i4 #cj ,baur1 ,das ,manichaische ,religionssystem4 of ,god will lead a life of everlasting blessedness with him in their native land of light2 the prince of evil1 with his fiends1 will exist wretchedly in their original realm of darkness4 ,then all those souls whose salvation is hopeless shall be drawn out of hell and be placed as a cordon of watchmen and a phalanx of soldiers entirely around the world of darkness1 to guard its frontiers forever and to see that its miserable inhabitants never again come forth to invade the kingdom of light4#ca ,the ,christian after ,christ's own pattern1 trusting that when the soul left the body it would find a home in some other realm of ,god's universe where its experience would be according to its deserts1 capacity1 and fittedness1 sought to do the ,father's will in the present1 and for the future committed himself in faith and love to the ,father's disposal4 ,the apostolic ,christian1 conceiving that ,christ would soon return to raise the dead and reward his own1 eagerly looked for the arrival of that day1 and strove that he might be among the saints who1 delivered or exempt from the ,hadean imprisonment1 should reign with the triumphant ,messiah on earth and accompany him back to heaven4 ,the patristic ,christian1 looking forward to the divided under world where all the dead must spend the interval from their decease to the general resurrection1 shuddered at the thought of ,gehenna1 and wrestled and prayed that his tarrying might be in ,paradise until ,christ should summon his chosen ones1 justified from the great tribunal1 to the ,father's presence4 ,the ,manichaan ,christian1 believing the soul to be imprisoned in matter by demons who fought against ,god in a previous life1 struggled1 by fasting1 thought1 prayer1 and penance1 to rescue the spirit from its fleshly entanglements1 from all worldly snares and illusions1 that it might be freed from the necessity of any further abode in a material body1 and1 on the dissolution of its present tabernacle1 might soar to its native light in the blissful pleroma of eternal being4 #ca ,mosheim1 ,comm41 ,,iii4 ,century1 sects4 #dd-eb4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,mediaval ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,the period of time covered by the present chapter reaches from the close of the tenth century to the middle of the sixteenth1 from the first full establishment of the ,roman ,catholic theology and the last general expectation of the immediate end of the world to the commencing decline of mediaval faith and the successful inauguration of the ,protestant ,reformation4 ,the principal mental characteristic of that age1 especially in regard to the subject of the future life1 was fear4 ,never1 says ,michelet1 can we know in what terrors the ,middle ,age lived4 ,there was all abroad a living fear of men1 fear of the ,state1 fear of the ,church1 fear of ,god1 fear of the devil1 fear of hell1 fear of death4 ,preaching consisted very much in the invitation1 ,submit to the guidance of the ,church while you live1 enforced by the threat1 or you shall go to hell when you die4 ,christianity was practically reduced to some cruel metaphysical dogmas1 a mechanical device for rescuing the devil's captives from him1 and a system of ritual magic in the hands of a priesthood who wielded an authority of supernatural terrors over a credulous and shuddering laity4 ,it is true that the genuine spirit and contents of ,christianity were never wholly suppressed4 ,the love of ,god1 the blessed mediation of the benignant ,jesus1 the lowly delights of the ,beatitudes1 the redeeming assurance of pardon1 the consoling1 triumphant expectation of heaven1 were never utterly banished even from the believers of the ,dark ,age4 ,undoubtedly many a guilty but repentant soul found forgiveness and rest1 many a meek and spotless breast was filled with pious rapture1 many a dying disciple was comforted and inspired1 by the good tidings proclaimed from priestly lips even then4 ,no doubt the sacred awe and guarded peace surrounding their precincts1 the divine lessons inculcated within their walls1 the pathetic prayers breathed before their altars1 the traditions of saintly men and women who had drawn angelic visitants down to their cells and had risen long ago to be angels themselves1 the strains of unearthly melody bearing the hearts of the kneeling crowd into eternity1 no doubt these often made cathedral and convent seem islands of sanctity amidst the wild1 roaring1 godless sea of the world4 ,still1 the chief general feeling of the time in relation to the future life was unquestionably fear springing from belief1 the wedlock of superstitious faith and horror4 ,during the six centuries now under review the ,roman ,catholic ,church and theology were the only ,christianity publicly recognised4 ,the heretics were few and powerless1 and the papal system had full sway4 ,since the early part of the period specified1 the working theology of the ,roman ,church has undergone but few1 and1 as pertaining to our subject1 unimportant1 changes or developments4 ,previous to that time her doctrinal scheme was inchoate1 gradually assimilating foreign elements and developing itself step by step4 ,the principal changes now concerning us to notice in the passage from patristic eschatology as deducible1 for instance1 from the works of ,chrysostom1 or as seen in the ,apostles' ,creed to mediaval eschatology as displayed in the ,summa of ,thomas ,aquinas or in the ,catechism of ,trent are these4 ,the supposititious details of the under world have been definitely arranged in greater subdivision2 heaven has been opened for the regular admission of certain souls2 the loose notions about purgatory have been completed and consolidated2 and the whole combined scheme has been organized as a working instrument of ecclesiastical power and profit4 ,these changes seem to have been wrought out1 first1 by continual assimilations of ,christianity to paganism1#a both in doctrine and ceremony1 to win over the heathen2 and1 secondly1 by modifications and growths to meet the exigencies of doctrinal consistency and practical efficiency1 exigencies repeatedly arising from philosophical discussion and political opposition4 ,the degree in which papal ,christianity was conformed to the prejudices and customs of the heathen believers1 whose allegiance was sought1 is astonishing4 ,it extended to hundreds of particulars1 from the most fundamental principles of theological speculation to the most trivial details of ritual service4 ,we shall mention only a few instances of this kind immediately belonging to the subject we are treating4 ,in the first place1 the hierophant in the pagan ,mysteries1 and the initiatory rites1 were the prototypes of the ,roman ,catholic bishop and the ceremonies under his direction4#b ,christian baptism was made to be the same as the pagan initiation3 both were supposed to cleanse from sin and to secure for their subject a better fate in the future life3 they were both1 therefore1 sometimes delayed until just before death4#c ,the custom of initiating children into the ,mysteries was also common1 as infant baptism became4#d ,when the public treasury was low1 the magistrates sometimes raised a fund by recourse to the initiating fees of the ,mysteries1 as the ,christian popes afterwards collected money from the sale of pardons4 ,in the second place1 the ,roman ,catholic canonization was the same as the pagan apotheosis4 ,among the ,gentiles1 the mass of mankind were supposed to descend to ,hades at death2 but a few favored ones were raised to the sky1 deified1 and a sort of worship paid to them4 ,so the ,roman ,church taught that nearly all souls passed to the subterranean abodes1 but that martyrs and saints were admitted to heaven and might lawfully be prayed to4#e ,thirdly1 the heathen under world was subdivided into several regions1 wherein different persons were disposed according to their deserts4 ,the worst criminals were in the everlasting penal fire of ,tartarus2 the best heroes and sages were in the calm meadows of ,elysium2 the hapless children were detained in the dusky borders outside the grim realm of torture2 and there was a purgatorial place where those not too guilty were cleansed from their stains4 ,in like manner1 the ,romanist theologians divided the under world into four parts3 hell for the final abode of the stubbornly wicked2 one limbo for the painless1 contented tarrying of the good patriarchs who died before the advent of ,christ had made salvation possible1 and another limbo for the sad and pallid resting place of those children who died unbaptized2 purgatory1 in which expiation is offered in agony for sins committed on earth and unatoned for4#f #a ,middleton1 ,letter from ,rome1 showing an exact conformity between ,popery and ,paganism4 #b ,lobeck1 ,aglaophamus1 lib4 i4 sect4 #f4 ,mosheim's ,comm41 ch4 i4 sect4 #ac4 #c ,warburton1 ,div4 ,leg41 book ii4 sect4 #d4 #d ,terence1 ,phormio1 act i scene #a4 #e ,council of ,trent1 sess4 vi4 can4 xxx4 ,sess4 xxv43 ,decree on ,invocation of ,saints4 #f ,see ,milman1 ,hist4 ,latin ,christianity1 book xiv4 ch4 ii4 ,before proceeding further1 we must trace the prevalence and progress of the doctrine of purgatory a little as it was known before its embodiment in mediaval mythology1 and then as it was embodied there4 ,the fundamental doctrine of the ,hindu hell was that a certain amount of suffering undergone there would expiate a certain amount of guilt incurred here4 ,when the disembodied soul had endured a sufficient quantity of retributive and purifying pain1 it was loosed1 and sent on earth in a new body4 ,it was likewise a ,hindu belief that the souls of deceased parents might be assisted out of this purgatorial woe by the prayers and offerings of their surviving children4#g ,the same doctrine was held by the ,persians4 ,they believed souls could be released from purgatory by the prayers1 sacrifices1 and good deeds of righteous surviving descendants and friends4 ,zoroaster said he could1 by prayer1 send any one he chose to heaven or to hell4 #h ,such representations are found obscurely in the ,vendidad and more fully in the ,bundehesh4 ,the ,persian doctrine that the living had power to affect the condition of the dead is further indicated in the fact that1 from a belief that married persons were peculiarly happy in the future state1 they often hired persons to be espoused to such of their relatives as had died in celibacy4#i ,the doctrine of purgatory was known and accepted among the ,jews too4 ,in the ,second ,book of ,maccabees we read the following account3 ,judas sent two thousand pieces of silver to ,jerusalem to defray the expense of a sin offering to be offered for the sins of those who were slain1 doing therein very well and honestly1 in that he was mindful of the resurrection4 ,for if he had not hoped that they who were slain should rise again1 it had been superfluous and vain to pray for the dead4 ,whereupon he made an atonement for the dead1 that they might be delivered from sin4#aj ,the ,rabbins taught that children by sin offerings could help their parents out of their misery in the infernal world4#aa ,they taught1 furthermore1 that all souls except holy ones1 like those of ,rabbi ,akiba and his disciples1 must lave themselves in the fire river of ,gehenna2 that therein they shall be like salamanders2 that the just shall soon be cleansed in the fire river1 but the wicked shall be lastingly burned4#ab ,again1 we find this doctrine prevailing among the ,romans4 ,in the great ,forum was a stone called ,lapis ,manalis1 described by ,festus1 which was supposed to cover the entrance to hell4 ,this was solemnly lifted three times a year1 in order to let those souls flow up whose sins had been purged away by their tortures or had been remitted in consideration of the offerings and services paid for them by the living4 ,virgil describes how souls are purified by the action of wind1 water1 and fire4#ac ,the feast day of purgatory observed by papal ,rome corresponds to the ,lemuria celebrated by pagan ,rome1 and rests on the same doctrinal basis4 ,in the ,catholic countries of ,europe at the present time1 on ,all ,saints' ,day1 festoons of sweet smelling flowers are hung on the tomb stones1 and the people kneeling there repeat the prayer prescribed for releasing the souls of their relatives and friends from the plagues of purgatory4 ,there is a notable coincidence between the ,buddhist #g ,see references to ,sraddha in index to ,vishnu ,purana4 #h ,atkinson's trans4 of the ,shah ,nameh1 p4 #chf4 #i ,richardson1 ,dissertation on the ,language1 ,literature1 and ,manners of the ,eastern ,nations1 p4 #cdg4 #aj ,cap4 xii4 #db-de4 #aa ,eisenmenger1 ,entdecktes ,judenthum1 th4 ii4 kap4 vi4 s4 #ceg4 #ab ,kabbala ,denudata1 tom ii4 pars4 i4 pp4 #ajh1 #aji1 #aac4 #ac ,aneid1 lib4 vi4 #a4 #gci4 and the ,romanist usages4 ,throughout the ,chinese ,empire1 during the seventh moon of every year1 prayers are offered up accompanied by illuminations and other rites for the release of souls in purgatory4 ,at these times the ,buddhist priests hang up large pictures1 showing forth the frightful scenes in the other world1 to induce the people to pay them money for prayers in behalf of their suffering relatives and friends in purgatory4#ad ,traces of belief in a purgatory early appear among the ,christians4 ,many of the gravest ,fathers of the first five centuries naturally conceived and taught1 as is indeed intrinsically reasonable1 that after death some souls will be punished for their sins until they are cleansed1 and then will be released from pain4 ,the ,manichaans imagined that all souls1 before returning to their native heaven1 must be borne first to the moon1 where with good waters they would be washed pure from outward filth1 and then to the sun1 where they would be purged by good fires from every inward stain4#ae ,after these lunar and solar lustrations1 they were fit for the eternal world of light4 ,but the conception of purgatory as it was held by the early ,christians1 whether orthodox ,fathers or heretical sects1 was merely the just and necessary result of applying to the subject of future punishment the two ethical ideas that punishment should partake of degrees proportioned to guilt1 and that it should be restorative4 ,jeremy ,taylor conclusively argues that the prayers for the dead used by the early ,christians do not imply any belief in the ,papal purgatory4#af ,the severity and duration of the sufferings of the dead were not supposed to be in the power of the living1 either their relatives or the clergy1 but to depend on the moral and physical facts of the case according to justice and necessity1 qualified only by the mercy of ,god4 ,pope ,gregory the ,great1 in the sixth century1 either borrowing some of the more objectionable features of the purgatory doctrine previously held by the heathen1 or else devising the same things himself from a perception of the striking adaptedness of such notions to secure an enviable power to the ,church1 constructed1 established1 and gave working efficiency to the dogmatic scheme of purgatory ever since firmly defended by the papal adherents as an integral part of the ,roman ,catholic system4#ag ,the doctrine as matured and promulgated by ,gregory1 giving to the representatives of the ,church an almost unlimited power over purgatory1 rapidly grew into favor with the clergy and sank with general conviction into the hopes and fears of the laity4 ,venerable ,bede1 in the eighth century1 gives a long account of the fully developed doctrine concerning purgatory1 hell1 paradise1 and heaven4 ,it is narrated in the form of a vision seen by ,drithelm1 who1 in a trance1 visits the regions which1 on his return1 he describes4 ,the whole thing is gross1 literal1 horrible1 closely resembling several well known descriptions given under similar circumstances and preserved in ancient heathen writers4#ah ,the ,church1 seeing how admirably this instrument was calculated to promote her interest and deepen her power1 left hardly any means untried to enlarge its sweep and intensify its operation4 ,accordingly1 from the ninth to the sixteenth century1 no doctrine was so central1 prominent1 and effective in the common teaching and #ad ,asiatic ,journal1 #ahdj1 p4 #baj1 note4 #ae ,mosheim1 ,comm41 ,,iii4 ,century1 sect4 #di1 note #c4 #af ,dissuasive from ,popery1 part ii4 book ii4 sect4 #b4 #ag ,edgar1 ,variations of ,popery1 ch4 xvi4 #ah ,hist4 ,ecc41 lib4 v4 cap4 xii4 ,see also lib4 iii4 cap4 xix4 practice of the ,church1 no fear was so widely spread and vividly felt in the bosom of ,christendom1 as the doctrine and the fear of purgatory4 ,the ,romanist theory of man's condition in the future life is this1 in brief4 ,by the sin of ,adam1 heaven was closed against him and all his posterity1 and the devil acquired a right to shut up their disembodied souls in the under world4 ,in consequence of the original sin transmitted from ,adam1 every human being1 besides suffering the other woes flowing from sin1 was helplessly doomed to the under world after death4 ,in addition to this penalty1 each one must also answer for his own personal sins4 ,christ died to deliver mankind from sin1 discharge the punishment due them1 and rescue them from the tyranny of the devil4 ,he descended into the under world1 subdued the devil1 despoiled the depths1 rescued the ,fathers and just souls1 and opened heaven4#ai ,until he rose1 heaven was shut against every child of ,adam1 as it still is to those who die indebted4 ,the price paid by the ,son of ,god far exceeded our debts4 ,the surplus balance of merits1 together with the merits accruing from the supererogatory good works of the saints and from the ,divine sacrifice continually offered anew by the sacrament of the mass1 constituted a reserved treasure upon which the ,church was authorized to draw in behalf of any one she chose to favor4 ,the localities of the future life were these3#bj ,limbus ,patrum1 or ,abraham's ,bosom1 a place of peace and waiting1 where the good went who died before ,christ2 ,limbus ,infantum1 a mild1 palliated hell1 where the children go who1 since ,christ1 have died unbaptized2 ,purgatory1 where all sinners suffer until they are purified1 or are redeemed by the ,church1 or until the last day2 ,hell1 or ,gehenna1 whither the hopelessly wicked have always been condemned2 and ,heaven1 whither the spotlessly good have been admitted since the ascension of ,jesus4 ,at the day of judgment the few human souls who have reached ,paradise1 together with the multitudes that crowd the regions of ,gehenna1 ,purgatory1 and ,limbo1 will reassume their bodies3 the intermediate states will then be destroyed1 and when their final sentence is pronounced all will depart forever1 the acquitted into heaven1 the condemned into hell4 ,in the mean time1 the poor victims of purgatory1 by the prayers of the living for them1 by the transfer of good works to their account1 above all1 by the celebration of masses in their behalf1 may be relieved1 rescued1 translated to paradise4 ,the words breathed by the spirit of the murdered ,king of ,denmark in the ears of the horror stricken ,hamlet paint the popular belief of that age in regard to the grisly realm where guilty souls were plied with horrors whereof1 but that they were forbidden3 ,to tell the secrets of their prison house1 ,they could a tale unfold whose lightest word ,would harrow up thy soul1 freeze thy young blood1 ,make thy two eyes1 like stars1 start from their spheres1 ,thy knotted and combined locks to part1 ,and each particular hair to stand on end ,like quills upon the fretful porcupine4 #ai ,catechism of the ,council of ,trent4 #bj ,thomas ,aquinas1 ,summa ,theologia1 pars ,suppl4 ,quast4 #fi4 ,a few specimens of the stories embodying the ideas and superstitions current in the ,middle ,age may better illustrate the characteristic belief of the time than much abstract description4 ,an unquestioning faith in the personality1 visibility1 and extensive agency of the devil was almost universal4 ,ascetics1 saints1 bishops1 peasants1 philosophers1 kings1 ,gregory the ,great1 ,martin ,luther1 all testified that they had often seen him4 ,the mediaval conception of the devil was sometimes comical1 sometimes awful4 ,grimm says1 ,he was ,jewish1 heathenish1 ,christian1 idolatrous1 elfish1 titanic1 spectral1 all at once4 ,he was a soul snatching wolf1 a hell hound1 a whirlwind hammer2 now an infernal parody of ,god with a mother who mimics the ,virgin ,mary1 and now the impersonated soul of evil4#ba ,the well known story of ,faust and the ,devil1 which in so many forms spread through ,christendom1 is so deeply significant of the faith and life of the age in which it arose that a volume would be required to unfold all its import4 ,there was an old tradition that the students of necromancy or the black art1 on reaching a certain pitch of proficiency1 were obliged to run through a subterranean hall1 where the devil literally caught the hindmost unless he sped so swiftly that the arch enemy could only seize his shadow1 and in that case1 a veritable ,peter ,schlemihl1 he never cast a shadow afterwards6 ,a man stood by his furnace one day casting eyes for buttons4 ,the devil came up and asked what he was doing4 ,casting eyes1 replied the man4 ,can you cast a pair for me8 quoth the devil4 ,that ,i can1 says the man3 will you have them large or small8 ,oh1 very large1 answered the devil4 ,he then ties the fiend on a bench and pours the molten lead into his eyes4 ,up jumps the devil1 with the bench on his back1 flees howling1 and has never been seen since6 ,there was also in wide circulation a wild legend to the effect that a man made a compact with the devil on the condition that he should secure a new victim for hell once in a century4 ,as long as he did this he should enjoy life1 riches1 power1 and a limited ubiquity2 but failing a fresh victim at the end of each hundred years his own soul should be the forfeit4 ,he lived four or five centuries1 and then1 in spite of his most desperate efforts1 was disappointed of his expected victim on the last night of the century2 and when the clock struck twelve the devil burst into his castle on a black steed and bore him off in a storm of lightning amidst the crash of thunders and the shrieks of fiends4 ,st4 ,britius once during mass saw the devil in church taking account of the sins the congregation were committing4 ,he covered the parchment all over1 and1 afraid of forgetting some of the offences1 seized the scroll in his teeth and claws to stretch it out4 ,it snapped1 and his head was smartly bumped against the wall4 ,st4 ,britius laughed aloud4 ,the officiating priest rebuked him1 but1 on being told what had happened1 improved the accident for the edification of his hearers4#bb ,on the bursting of a certain glacier on the ,alps1 it is said the devil was seen swimming down the ,rhone1 a drawn sword in one hand1 a golden ball in the other3 opposite the town of ,martigny1 he cried1 ,rise1 and instantly the obedient river swelled above its banks and destroyed the town4 ,ignes fatui1 hovering about marshes and misty places1 were thought to be the spirits of unbaptized children endeavoring to guide travellers to the nearest water4 ,a kindred fancy #ba ,deutsche ,mythologie1 cap4 xxxiii43 ,teufel4 #bb ,quarterly ,review1 ,jan4 #ahbj3 ,pop4 ,myth4 of the ,middle ,ages4 also heard a spectral pack1 called yell hounds1 afterwards corrupted to hell hounds1 composed of the souls of unbaptized children1 which could not rest1 but roamed and howled through the woods all night4#bc ,a touching popular myth said1 the robin's breast is so red because it flies into hell with drops of water in its bill to relieve the children there1 and gets scorched4 ,in #aaga1 ,silo1 a philosopher1 implored a dying pupil of his to come back and reveal his state in the other world4 ,a few days after his death the scholar appeared in a cowl of flames covered with logical propositions4 ,he told ,silo that he was from purgatory1 that the cowl weighed on him worse than a tower1 and said he was doomed to wear it for the pride he took in sophisms4 ,as he thus spoke he let fall a drop of sweat on his master's hand1 piercing it through4 ,the next day ,silo said to his scholars1 ,i leave croaking to frogs1 cawing to crows1 and vain things to the vain1 and hie me to the logic which fears not death4 ,linquo coax ranis1 cras corvis1 vanaque vanis1 ,ad logicen pergo qua mortis non timet ergo4 #bd ,in the long1 quaint poem1 ,vision of ,william concerning ,piers ,ploughman1 written probably by ,robert ,langland about the year #acfb1 there are many things illustrative of our subject4 ,i1 ,trojanus1 a true knight1 after death was condemned to hell for dying unbaptized4 ,but1 on account of my mercy and truth in administering the laws1 the pope wished me to be saved2 and ,god mercifully heard him and saved me without the help of masses4#be ,ever since the fall of ,adam1 ,age has shaken the ,tree of ,human ,life1 and the devil has gathered the fruit into hell4#bf ,the author gives a most spirited account of ,christ's descent into the under world after his death1 his battle with the devils there1 his triumph over them1 his rescue of ,adam1 and other particulars4#bg ,in this poem1 as in nearly all the extant productions of that period1 there are copious evidences of the extent and power of the popular faith in the devil and in purgatory1 and in their close connection with the present life1 a faith nourishingly embodied in thousands of singular tales4 ,thomas ,wright has collected many of these in his antiquarian works4 ,he relates an amusing incident that once befell a minstrel who had been borne into hell by a devil4 ,the devils went forth in a troop to ensnare souls on earth4 ,lucifer left the minstrel in charge of the infernal regions1 promising1 if he let no souls escape1 to treat him on the return with a fat monk roasted1 or a usurer dressed with hot sauce4 ,but while the fiends were away ,st4 ,peter came1 in disguise1 and allured the minstrel to play at dice1 and to stake the souls which were in torture under his care4 ,peter won1 and carried them off in triumph4 ,the devils1 coming back and finding the fires all out and hell empty1 kicked the hapless minstrel out1 and ,lucifer swore a big oath that no minstrel should ever darken the door of hell again6 ,the mediaval belief in a future life was practically concentrated1 for the most part1 around the ideas of ,satan1 purgatory1 the last judgment1 hell4 ,the faith in ,christ1 ,god1 #bc ,allies1 ,antiquities of ,worcestershire1 #b;d ed4 p4 #bef4 #bd ,michelet1 ,hist4 de ,france1 livre iv4 chap4 ix4 #be ,vision of ,dowell1 part iii4 #bf ,vision of ,dobet1 part ii4 #bg ,ibid41 part iv4 heaven1 was much rarer and less influential4 ,neander says1 ,the inmost distinction of mediaval experience was an awful sense of another life and an invisible world4 ,a most piteous illustration of the conjoined faith and fear of that age is furnished by an old dialogue between the ,soul and the ,body recently edited by ,halliwell1 an expression of humble trust and crouching horror irresistibly pathetic in its simplicity4#bh ,a flood of revealing light is given as to the energy with which the doctrine of purgatory impressed itself on the popular mind1 by the two facts1 first1 that the ,council of ,auxerre1 in #aegh1 prohibited the administration of the eucharist to the dead2 and1 secondly1 that in the eleventh and twelfth centuries crosses of absolution that is1 crosses cut out of sheet lead1 with the formula of absolution engraved on them were quite commonly buried with the dead4#bi ,the eager sincerity of the mediaval belief in another life is attested1 too1 by the correspondence of the representations of the dead in their legends to the appearance1 disposition1 and pursuits they had in life4 ,no oblivious draught1 no pure spiritualization1 had freed the departed souls from earthly bonds and associations4 ,light pretexts drew them back to their wonted haunts4 ,a buried treasure allowed them no rest till they had led some one to raise it4 ,an unfinished task1 an uncancelled obligation1 forced them again to the upper world4 ,in ruined castles the ghosts of knights1 in their accustomed habiliments1 held tournaments and carousals4 ,the priest read mass2 the hunter pursued his game2 the spectre robber fell on the benighted traveller4#cj ,it is hard for us now to reproduce1 even in imagination1 the fervid and frightful earnestness of the popular faith of the ,middle ,age in the ramifying agency of the devil and in the horrors of purgatory4 ,we will try to do it1 in some degree1 by a series of illustrations aiming to show at once how prevalent such a belief and fear were1 and how they became so prevalent4 ,first1 we may specify the teaching of the ,church whose authority in spiritual concerns bore almost unquestioned sway over the minds of more than eighteen generations4 ,by the logical subtleties of her scholastic theologians1 by the persuasive eloquence of her popular preachers1 by the frantic ravings of her fanatic devotees1 by the parading proclamation of her innumerable pretended miracles1 by the imposing ceremonies of her dramatic ritual1 almost visibly opening heaven and hell to the over awed congregation1 by her wonder working use of the relics of martyrs and saints to exorcise demons from the possessed and to heal the sick1 and by her anathemas against all who were supposed to be hostile to her formulas1 she infused the ideas of her doctrinal system into the intellect1 heart1 and fancy of the common people1 and nourished the collateral horrors1 until every wave of her wand convulsed the world4 ,in a pastoral letter addressed to the ,carlovingian prince ,louis1 the grandson of ,charlemagne1 a letter probably composed by the famous ,hincmar1 bearing date #heh1 and signed by the ,bishops of ,rheims and ,rouen1 a ,gallic synod authoritatively declared that ,charles ,martel was damned2 that on the opening of his tomb the spectators were affrighted by a smell of fire and the aspect of a horrid dragon1 and that a saint of the times was indulged with a pleasant vision of the soul and body of this great hero burning to all eternity in the abyss of hell4 #bh ,early ,english ,miscellanies1 ,no4 #b4 #bi ,london ,antiquaries' ,archaologis1 vol4 xxxv4 art4 #bb4 #cj ,thorpe1 ,northern ,mythology1 vol4 i41 appendix4 ,a tremendous impulse1 vivifying and emphasizing the eschatological notions of the time1 an impulse whose effects did not cease when it died1 was imparted by that frightful epidemic expectation of the impending end of the world which wellnigh universally prevailed in ,christendom about the year #ajjj4 ,many of the charters given at that time commence with the words1 ,as the world is now drawing to a close4 #ca ,this expectation drew additional strength from the unutterable sufferings famine1 oppression1 pestilence1 war1 superstition then weighing on the people4 ,the idea of the end of the world1 we quote from ,michelet1 sad as that world was1 was at once the hope and the terror of the ,middle ,age4 ,look at those antique statues of the tenth and eleventh centuries1 mute1 meager1 their pinched and stiffened lineaments grinning with a look of living suffering allied to the repulsiveness of death4 ,see how they implore1 with clasped hands1 that desired yet dreaded moment when the resurrection shall redeem them from their unspeakable sorrows and raise them from nothingness into existence and from the grave to ,god4 ,furthermore1 this superstitious character of the mediaval belief in the future life acquired breadth and intensity from the profound general ignorance and trembling credulousness of that whole period on all subjects4 ,it was an age of marvels1 romances1 fears1 when every landscape of life wore a strange hue1 as if seen through the sombre medium of a stained casement4 ,while congregations knelt in awe beneath the lifted ,host1 and the image of the dying ,savior stretched on the rood glimmered through clouds of incense1 perhaps an army of ,flagellants would march by the cathedral1 shouting1 ,the end of the world is at hand6 filling the streets with the echoes of their torture as they lashed their naked backs with knotted cords wet with blood2 and no soul but must shudder with the infection of horror as the dreadful notes of the ,dies ,iioe went sounding through the air4 ,the narratives of the desert ,fathers1 the miracles wrought in convent cells1 the visions of pillar saints1 the thrilling accompaniments of the ,crusades1 and other kindred influences1 made the world a perpetual mirage4 ,the belching of a volcano was the vomit of uneasy hell4 ,the devil stood before every tempted man1 ,ghosts walked in every nightly dell4 ,ghastly armies were seen contending where the aurora borealis hung out its bloody banners4 ,the ,huns under ,attila1 ravaging ,southern ,europe1 were thought to be literal demons who had made an irruption from the pit4 ,the metaphysician was in peril of the stake as a heretic1 the natural philosopher as a magician4 ,a belief in witchcraft and a trust in ordeals were universal1 even from ,pope ,eugenius1 who introduced the trial by cold water1 and ,king ,james1 who wrote volumes on magic1 to the humblest monk who shuddered when passing the church crypt1 and the simplest peasant who quaked in his homeward path at seeing a will o' the wisp4 ,denounced by the preacher and consigned to the flames by the judge1 the wizard received secret service money from the ,cabinet to induce him to destroy the hostile armament as it sailed before the wind4 ,as a vivid writer has well said1 ,a gloomy mist of credulity enwrapped the cathedral and the hall of justice1 the cottage and the throne4 ,in the dank shadows of the universal ignorance a thousand superstitions1 like foul animals of night1 were propagated and nourished4 #ca ,hallam1 ,middle ,ages1 ch4 ix4 ,the beliefs and excitements of the mediaval period partook of a sort of epidemic character1 diffusing and working like a contagion4#cb ,there were numberless throngs of pilgrims to famous shrines1 immense crowds about the localities of popular legends1 relics1 or special grace4 ,in the magnetic sphere of such a fervid and credulous multitude1 filled with the kindling interaction of enthusiasm1 of course prodigies would abound1 fables would flourish1 and faith would be doubly generated and fortified4 ,in commemoration of a miraculous act of virtue performed by ,st4 ,francis1 the pope offered to all who should enter the church at ,assisi between the eve of the #ast and the eve of the #b;d of ,august each year that being the anniversary of the saint's achievement a free pardon for all the sins committed by them since their baptism4 ,more than sixty thousand pilgrims sometimes flocked thither on that day4 ,every year some were crushed to death in the suffocating pressure at the entrance of the church4 ,nearly two thousand friars walked in procession2 and for a series of years the pilgrimage to ,portiuncula might have vied with that to the temple of ,juggernaut4#cc ,nothing tends more to strengthen any given belief than to see it everywhere carried into practice and to act in accordance with it4 ,thus was it with the mediaval doctrine of the future life4 ,its applications and results were constantly and universally thrust into notice by the sale of indulgences and the launching of excommunications4 ,early in the ninth century1 ,charlemagne complained that the bishops and abbots forced property from foolish people by promises and threats3 ,suadendo de coelestis regni beatitudine1 comminando de oeterno supplicio inferni4#cd ,the rival mendicant orders1 the ,franciscans and the ,dominicans1 acquired great riches and power by the traffic in indulgences4 ,they even had the impudence to affirm that the members of their orders were privileged above all other men in the next world4 ,milton alludes to those who credited these monstrous assumptions3 ,and they who1 to be sure of ,paradise1 ,dying1 put on the weeds of ,dominic1 ,or in ,franciscan think to pass disguised4 ,the ,council of ,basle censured the claim of the ,franciscan monks that their founder annually descended to purgatory and led thence to heaven the souls of all those who had belonged to his order4 ,the ,carmelites also asserted that the ,virgin ,mary appeared to ,simon ,stockius1 the general of their order1 and gave him a solemn promise that the souls of such as left the world with the ,carmelite scapulary upon their shoulders should be infallibly preserved from eternal damnation4 ,mosheim says that ,pope ,benedict ,,xiv4 was an open defender of this ridiculous fiction4#ce ,if any one would appreciate the full mediaval doctrine of the future life1 whether with respect to the hair drawn scholastic metaphysics by which it was defended1 or with respect to the concrete forms in which the popular apprehension held it1 let him read the ,divina ,commedia of ,dante2 for it is all there4 ,whoso with adequate insight and sympathy peruses #cb ,hecker1 ,epidemics of the ,middle ,ages4 #cc ,quarterly ,review1 ,july1 #ahai3 article on ,monachism4 #cd ,perry1 ,history of the ,franks1 p4 #dfg4 #ce ,eccl4 ,hist41 ,,xiii4 ,century1 part ii4 ch4 #b1 sect4 #bi4 the pages of the immortal ,florentine at whom the people pointed as he walked the streets1 and said1 ,there goes the man who has been in hell will not fail to perceive with what a profound sincerity the popular breast shuddered responsive to ecclesiastical threats and purgatorial woes4 ,the tremendous moral power of this solitary work lies in the fact that it is a series of terrific and fascinating tableaux1 embodying the idea of inflexible poetic justice impartially administered upon king and varlet1 pope and beggar1 oppressor and victim1 projected amidst the unalterable necessities of eternity1 and moving athwart the lurid abyss and the azure cope with an intense distinctness that sears the gazer's eyeballs4 ,the ,divina ,commedia1 with a wonderful truth1 also reflects the feeling of the age when it was written in this respect1 that there is a grappling force of attraction1 a compelling realism1 about its ,purgatory and ,hell which are to be sought in vain in the delineations of its ,paradise4 ,the mediaval belief in a future life had for its central thought the day of judgment1 for its foremost emotion terror4#cf ,the roots of this faith were unquestionably fertilized1 and the development of this fear quickened1 to a very great extent1 by deliberate and systematic delusions4 ,one of the most celebrated of these organized frauds was the gigantic one perpetrated under the auspices of the ,dominican monks at ,berne in #aeji1 the chief actors in which were unmasked and executed4 ,bishop ,burnet has given an extremely interesting account of this affair in his volume of travels4 ,suffice it to say1 the monks appeared at midnight in the cells of various persons1 now impersonating devils1 in horrid attire1 breathing flames and brimstone1 now claiming to be the souls of certain sufferers escaped from purgatory1 and again pretending to be celebrated saints1 with the ,virgin ,mary at their head4 ,by the aid of mechanical and chemical arrangements1 they wrought miracles1 and played on the terror and credulity of the spectators in a frightful manner4#cg ,there is every reason to suppose that such deceptions miracles in which secret speaking tubes1 asbestos1 and phosphorus were indispensable#ch were most frequent in those ages1 and were as effective as the actors were unscrupulous and the dupes unsuspicious4 ,here is revealed one of the foremost of the causes which made the belief of the ,dark ,age in the numerous appearances of ghosts and devils so common and so intense that it gave currency to the notion that the swarming spirits of purgatory were disembogued from dusk till dawn4 ,so the ,danish monarch1 revisiting the pale glimpses of the moon1 says to ,hamlet1 ,i am thy father's spirit1 ,doom'd for a certain time to walk the night1 ,and for the day confined to fast in fires1 ,till the foul crimes done in my days of nature ,are burnt and purged away4 #cf ,if any one would see in how many forms the faith in hell and in the devil appeared1 let him look over the pages of the ,dictionnaire ,infernal1 by ,j4 ,collin de ,plancy4 #cg ,maclaine's trans1 of ,mosheim's ,eccl4 ,hist41 vol4 ii4 p4 #aj1 note4 #ch ,manufactures of the ,ancients1 pub4 by ,harper and ,brothers1 #ahde1 part iv4 ch4 #c4 ,when the shadows began to fall thick behind the sunken sun1 these poor creatures were thought to spring from their beds of torture1 to wander amidst the scenes of their sins or to haunt the living2 but at the earliest scent of morn1 the first note of the cock1 they must hie to their fire again4 ,midnight was the high noon of ghostly and demoniac revelry on the earth4 ,as the hour fell with brazen clang from the tower1 the belated traveller1 afraid of the rustle of his own dress1 the echo of his own footfall1 the wavering of his own shadow1 afraid of his own thoughts1 would breathe the suppressed invocation1 ,angels and ministers of grace defend us6 as the idea crept curdling over his brain and through his veins1 ,it is the very witching time of night1 ,when churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out ,contagion to this world4 ,working in alliance with the foregoing forces of superstition was the powerful influence of the various forms of insanity which remarkably abounded in the ,middle ,age4 ,the insane person1 it was believed1 was possessed by a demon4 ,his ravings1 his narratives1 were eagerly credited2 and they were usually full of infernal visions1 diabolical interviews1 encounters with apparitions1 and every thing that would naturally arise in a deranged and preternaturally sensitive mind from the chief conceptions then current concerning the invisible world4#ci ,the principal works of art exposed to the people were such as served to impress upon their imaginations the ,church doctrine of the future life in all its fearfulness1 with its vigorous dramatic points4 ,in the cathedral at ,antwerp there is a representation of hell carved in wood1 whose marvellous elaborateness astonishes1 and whose painful expressiveness oppresses1 every beholder4 ,with what excruciating emotions the pious crowds must have contemplated the harrowingly vivid paintings of the ,inferno1 by ,orcagna1 still to be seen in the ,campo ,santo of ,pisa6 ,in the cathedral at ,canterbury there was a window on which was painted a detailed picture of ,christ vanquishing the devils in their own domain2 but we believe it has been removed4 ,however1 the visitor still sees on the fine east window of ,york ,cathedral the final doom of the wicked1 hell being painted as an enormous mouth2 also in the west front of ,lincoln ,cathedral an ancient bas relief representing hell as a monstrous mouth vomiting flame and serpents1 with two human beings walking into it4 ,the minster at ,freyburg has a grotesque bas relief over its main portal1 representing the ,judgment4 ,st4 ,nicholas stands in the centre1 and the ,savior is seated above him4 ,on the left1 an angel weighs mankind in a huge pair of scales1 and a couple of malicious imps try to make the human scale kick the beam4 ,underneath1 ,st4 ,peter is ushering the good into ,paradise4 ,on the right is shown a devil1 with a pig's head1 dragging after him a throng of the wicked4 ,he also has a basket on his back filled with figures whom he is in the act of flinging into a reeking caldron stirred by several imps4 ,hell is typified1 on one side1 by the jaws of a monster crammed to the teeth with reprobates1 and ,satan is seen sitting on his throne above them4 ,a recent traveller writes from #ci ,de ,boismont1 ,rational ,hist4 of ,hallucivatious1 ch4 xiv4 ,naples1 ,the favorite device on the church walls here is a vermilion picture of a male and a female soul1 respectively up to the waist the waist of a soul6 in fire1 with an angel over each watering them from a water pot4 ,this is meant to get money from the compassionate to pay for the saying of masses in behalf of souls in purgatory4 ,ruskin has described some of the church paintings of the ,last ,judgment by the old masters as possessing a power even now sufficient to stir every sensibility to its depths4 ,such works1 gazed on day after day1 while multitudes were kneeling beneath in the shadowy aisles1 and clouds of incense were floating above1 and the organ was pealing and the choir chanting in full accord1 must produce lasting effects on the imagination1 and thus contribute in return to the faith and fear which inspired them4 ,villani as also ,sismondi gives a description of a horrible representation of hell shown at ,florence in #acjd by the inhabitants of ,san ,priano1 on the river ,arno4 ,the glare of flames1 the shrieks of men disguised as devils1 scenes of infernal torture1 filled the night4 ,unfortunately1 the scaffolding broke beneath the crowd1 and many spectators were burned or drowned1 and that which began as an entertaining spectacle ended as a direful reality4 ,the whole affair is a forcible illustration of the literality with which the popular mind and faith apprehended the notion of the infernal world4 ,another means by which the views we have been considering were both expressed and recommended to the senses and belief of the people was those miracle plays that formed one of the most peculiar features of the ,middle ,age4 ,these plays1 founded on1 and meant to illustrate1 ,scripture narratives and theological doctrines1 were at first enacted by the priests in the churches1 afterwards by the various trading companies or guilds of mechanics4 ,in #abaj1 ,pope ,gregory forbade the clergy to take any part in the plays in churches or in the mummings at festivals4 ,a similar prohibition was published by the ,council of ,treves1 in #abbg4 ,the ,bishop of ,worms1 in #acaf1 issued a proclamation against the abuses which had crept into the festivities of ,easter1 and gives a long and curious description of them4#dj ,there were two popular festivals1 of which ,michelet gives a full and amusing description1 one called the ,fete of the ,tipsy ,priests1 when they elected a ,bishop of ,unreason1 offered him incense of burned leather1 sang obscene songs in the choir1 and turned the altar into a dice table2 the other called the ,fete of the ,cuckolds1 when the laymen crowned each other with leaves1 the priests wore their surplices wrong side out and threw bran in each others' eyes1 and the bell ringers pelted each other with biscuits4 ,there is a religious play by ,calderon1 entitled ,the ,divine ,orpheus1 in which the entire ,church scheme of man's fall the devil's empire1 ,christ's descent there1 and the victorious sequel is embodied in a most effective manner4 ,in the priestly theology and in the popular heart of those times there was no other single particular one tenth part so prominent and vivid as that of ,christ's entrance after his death into hell to rescue the old saints and break down ,satan's power4#da #dj ,early ,mysteries and ,latin ,poems of the ,,xii4 and ,,xiii4 ,centuries1 edited by ,thomas ,wright4 ,see the eloquent sermon on this subject preached by ,luis de ,granada in the sixteenth century4 ,ticknor's ,hist4 ,spanish ,lit41 vol4 iii4 pp4 #abc-abg4 ,peter ,lombard says1 ,what did the ,redeemer do to the despot who had us in his bonds8 ,he offered him the cross as a mouse trap1 and put his blood on it as bait4 #db ,about that scene there was an incomparable fascination for every believer4 ,christ laid aside his ,godhead and died4 ,the devil thought he had secured a new victim1 and humanity swooned in grief and despair4 ,but1 lo6 the ,crucified1 descending to the inexorable dungeons1 puts on all his ,divinity1 and suddenly ,the captive world awakt1 and founde ,the pris'ner loose1 the jailer bounde6 #dc ,a large proportion of the miracle plays1 or ,mysteries1 turned on this event4 ,in the ,mystery of the ,resurrection of ,christ occurs the following couplet3 ,this day the angelic ,king has risen1 ,leading the pious from their prison4 #dd ,the title of one of the principal plays in the ,towneley ,mysteries is ,extractio ,animarum ab ,inferno4 ,it describes ,christ descending to the gates of hell to claim his own4 ,adam sees afar the gleam of his coming1 and with his companions begins to sing for joy4 ,the infernal porter shouts to the other demons1 in alarm1 ,since first that hell was made and ,i was put therein1 ,such sorrow never ere ,i had1 nor heard ,i such a din4 ,my heart begins to start2 my wit it waxes thin2 ,i am afraid we can't rejoice1 these souls must from us go4 ,ho1 ,beelzebub6 bind these boys3 such noise was never heard in hell4 ,satan vows he will dash ,beelzebub's brains out for frightening him so4 ,meanwhile1 ,christ draws near1 and says1 ,lift up your gates1 ye princes1 and be ye lifted up1 ye everlasting doors1 and the ,king of glory shall come in4 ,the portals fly asunder4 ,satan shouts up to his friends1 ,dyng the dastard down2 but ,beelzebub replies1 ,that is easily said4 ,jesus and the devil soon meet1 face to face4 ,a long colloquy ensues1 in the course of which the latter tells the former that he knew his ,father well by sight6 ,at last ,jesus frees ,adam1 ,eve1 the prophets1 and others1 and ascends1 leaving the devil in the lowest pit1 resolving that hell shall soon be fuller than before2 for he will walk east and he will walk west1 and he will seduce thousands from their allegiance4 ,another play1 similar to the foregoing1 but much more extensively known and acted1 was called the ,harrowing of ,hell4 ,christ and ,satan appear on the stage and argue in the most approved scholastic style for the right of possession in the human race4 ,satan says1 ,whoever purchases any thing1 ,it belongs to him and to his children4 ,adam1 hungry1 came to me2 #db ,sententia1 lib4 iii4 distinctio #ai4 #dc ,hone1 ,ancient ,mysteries4 #dd ,resurrexit hodie ,rex angelorum ,ducitur de tenebris turba piorum4 ,i made him do me homage3 ,for an apple1 which ,i gave him1 ,he and all his race belong to me4 ,but ,christ instantly puts a different aspect on the argument1 by replying1 ,satan6 it was mine1 ,the apple thou gavest him4 ,the apple and the apple tree ,both were made by me4 ,as he was purchased with my goods1 ,with reason will ,i have him4 #de ,in a religious ,mystery exhibited at ,lisbon as late as the close of the eighteenth century1 the following scene occurs4 ,cain kicks his brother ,abel badly and kills him4 ,a figure like a ,chinese mandarin1 seated in a chair1 condemns ,cain and is drawn up into the clouds4 ,the mouth of hell then appears1 like the jaws of a great dragon3 amid smoke and lightning it casts up three devils1 one of them having a wooden leg4 ,these take a dance around ,cain1 and are very jocose1 one of them inviting him to hell to take a cup of brimstone coffee1 and another asking him to make up a party at whist4 ,cain snarls1 and they tumble him and themselves headlong into the squib vomiting mouth4 ,various books of accounts kept by the trading companies who celebrated these ,mysteries of the expenses incurred have been published1 and are exceedingly amusing4 ,item3 payd for kepyng of fyer at hellmothe1 four pence4 ,for a new hoke to hang ,judas1 six pence4 ,item3 payd for mendyng and payntyng hellmouthe1 two pence4 ,girdle for ,god1 nine pence4 ,axe for ,pilatte's son1 one shilling4 ,a staff for the demon1 one penny4 ,god's coat of white leather1 three shillings4 ,the stage usually consisted of three platforms4 ,on the highest sat ,god1 surrounded by his angels4 ,on the next were the saints in ,paradise1 the intermediate state of the good after death4 ,on the third were mere men yet living in the world4 ,on one side of the lowest stage1 in the rear1 was a fearful cave or yawning mouth filled with smoke and flames1 and denoting hell4 ,from this ever and anon would issue the howls and shrieks of the damned4 ,amidst hideous yellings1 devils would rush forth and caper about and snatch hapless souls into this pit to their doom4#df ,the actors1 in their mock rage1 sometimes leaped from the pageant into the midst of the laughing1 screaming1 trembling crowd4 ,the dramatis personoe included many queer characters1 such as a ,worm of ,conscience1 ,deadman1 7representing a soul delivered from hell at the descent of ,christ17 numerous ,damned ,souls1 dressed in flame colored garments1 ,theft1 ,lying1 ,gluttony4 ,but the devil himself was the favorite character2 and often1 when his personified vices jumped on him and pinched and cudgelled him till he roared1 the mirth of the honest audience knew no bounds4 ,for there were in the ,middle ,age two sides to the popular idea of the devil and of all appertaining to him4 ,he was a soul harrowing bugbear or a rib shaking jest according to the hour and one's #de ,halliwell's edition of the ,harrowing of ,hell1 p4 #ah4 #df ,sharp1 ,essay on the ,dramatic ,mysteries1 p4 #bd4 humor4 ,rabelais's ,pantagruel is filled with irresistible burlesques of the doctrine of purgatory4 ,the ludicrous side of this subject may be seen by reading ,tarlton's ,jests and his ,newes out of ,purgatorie4 #dg ,glimpses of it are also to be caught through many of the humorous passages in ,shakspeare4 ,dromio says of an excessively fat and greasy kitchen wench1 ,if she lives till doomsday she'll burn a week longer than the whole world6 ,and ,falstaff1 cracking a kindred joke on ,bardolph's carbuncled nose1 avows his opinion that it will serve as a flaming beacon to light lost souls the way to purgatory6 ,again1 seeing a flea on the same flaming proboscis1 the doughty knight affirmed it was a black soul burning in hell fire4 ,in this element of mediaval life1 this feature of mediaval literature1 a terrible belief lay under the gay raillery4 ,here is betrayed1 on a wide scale1 that natural reaction of the faculties from excessive oppression to sportive wit1 from deep repugnance to superficial jesting1 which has often been pointed out by philosophical observers as a striking fact in the psychological history of man4 ,one more active and mighty cause of the dreadful faith and fear with which the ,middle ,age contemplated the future life was the innumerable and frightful woes1 crimes1 tyrannies1 instruments of torture1 engines of persecution1 insane superstitions1 which then existed1 making its actual life a hell4 ,the wretchedness and cruelty of the present world were enough to generate frightful beliefs and cast appalling shadows over the future4 ,if the earth was full of devils and phantoms1 surely hell must swarm worse with them4 ,the ,inquisition sat shrouded and enthroned in supernatural obscurity of cunning and awfulness of power1 and thrust its invisible daggers everywhere4 ,the facts men knew here around them gave credibility to the imagery in which the hereafter was depicted4 ,the flaming stakes of an ,auto da ,fe around which the victims of ecclesiastical hatred writhed were but faint emblems of what awaited their souls in the realm of demons whereto the tender mercies of the ,church consigned them4 ,indeed1 the fate of myriads of heretics and traitors could not fail to project the lurid vision of hell with all its paraphernalia into the imaginations of the people of the ,dark ,age4 ,the glowing lava of purgatory heated the soil they trod1 and a smell of its sulphur surcharged the air4 ,a stupendous revelation of terror1 bearing whole volumes of direful meaning1 is given in the single fact that it was a common belief of that period that the holy ,inquisitors would sit with ,christ in the judgment at the last day4#dh ,if king or noble took offence at some uneasy retainer or bold serf1 he ordered him to be secretly buried in the cell of some secluded fortress1 and he was never heard of more4 ,so1 if pope or priest hated or feared some stubborn thinker1 he straightway1 ,would banish him to wear a burning chain ,in the great dungeons of the unforgiven1 ,beneath the space deep castle walls of heaven4 ,it was an age of cruelty1 never to be restored1 when the world was boiling in tempest and men rode on the crests of fear4 #dg ,recently edited by ,halliwell and published by the ,shakspeare ,society4 #dh ,hagenbach1 ,dogmengeschichte1 sect4 #bje4 ,researches made within the last century among the remains of famous mediaval edifices1 both ecclesiastic and state1 have brought to light the dismal records of forgotten horrors4 ,in many a royal palace1 priestly building1 and baronial castle1 there were secret chambers full of infernal machinery contrived for inflicting tortures1 and under them concealed trap doors opening into rayless dungeons with no outlet and whose floors were covered with the mouldering bones of unfortunate wretches who had mysteriously disappeared long ago and tracelessly perished there4 ,sometimes these trap doors were directly above profound pits of water1 in which the victim would drown as he dropped from the mangling hooks1 racks1 and pincers of the torture chamber4 ,there were horrible rumors current in the ,middle ,age of a machine called the ,virgin1 used for putting men to death2 but little was known about it1 and it was generally supposed to be a fable1 until1 some years ago one of the identical machines was discovered in an old ,austrian castle4 ,it was a tall wooden woman1 with a painted face1 which the victim was ordered to kiss4 ,as he approached to offer the salute1 he trod on a spring1 causing the machine to fly open1 stretch out a pair of iron arms1 and draw him to its breast covered with a hundred sharp spikes1 which pierced him to death4#di ,ignorance and alarm1 in a suffering and benighted age1 surrounded by sounds of superstition and sights of cruelty1 must needs breed and foster a horrid faith in regard to the invisible world4 ,accordingly1 the common doctrine of the future life prevailing in ,christendom from the ninth century till the sixteenth was as we have portrayed it4 ,of course there are exceptions to be admitted and qualifications to be made2 but1 upon the whole1 the picture is faithful4 ,fortunately1 intellect and soul could not slumber forever1 nor the mediaval nightmares always keep their torturing seat on the bosom of humanity4 ,noble men arose to vindicate the rights of reason and the divinity of conscience4 ,the world was circumnavigated1 and its revolution around the sun was demonstrated4 ,a thousand truths were discovered1 a thousand inventions introduced4 ,papacy tottered1 its prestige waned1 its infallibility sunk4 ,the light of knowledge shone1 the simplicity of nature was seen1 and the benignity of ,god was surmised4 ,thought1 throwing off many restrictions and accumulating much material1 began to grow free1 and began to grow wise4 ,and so1 before the calm1 steady gaze of enlightened and cheerful reason1 the live and crawling smoke of hell1 which had so long enwreathed the mind of the time with its pendent and breathing horrors1 gradually broke up and dissolved1 ,like a great superstitious snake1 uncurled ,from the pale temples of the awakening world4 #di ,the ,kiss of the ,virgin1 in the ,archaologia published by the ,antiquaries of ,london1 vol4 xxviii4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,modern ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,the folly and paganism of some of the ,church dogmas1 the rapacious haughtiness of its spirit1 the tyranny of its rule1 and the immoral character of many of its practices1 had often awakened the indignant protests and the determined opposition of men of enlightened minds1 vigorous consciences1 and generous hearts1 both in its bosom and out of it4 ,many such men1 vainly struggling to purify the ,church from its iniquitous errors or to relieve mankind from its outrageous burdens1 had been silenced and crushed by its relentless might4 ,arnold1 ,wickliffe1 ,wessel1 ,savonarola1 and a host of others1 are to be gratefully remembered forever as the heroic though unsuccessful forerunners of the mighty monk of ,wittenberg4#a ,the corruption of the mediaval ,church grew worse1 and became so great as to stir a very extensive disgust and revulsion4 ,wholesale pardons for all their sins were granted indiscriminately to those who accepted the terms of the papal officials2 while every independent thinker1 however evangelical his faith and exemplary his character1 was hopelessly doomed to hell4 ,especially were these pardons given to pilgrims and to the ,crusaders4 ,bernard of ,clairvaux1 exhorting the people to undertake a new ,crusade1 tells them that ,god condescends to invite into his service murderers1 robbers1 adulterers1 perjurers1 and those sunk in other crimes2 and whosoever falls in this cause shall secure pardon for the sins which he has never confessed with contrite heart4#b ,at the opening of ,piers the ,ploughman's ,crede a person is introduced saying1 ,i saw a company of pilgrims on their way to ,rome1 who came home with leave to lie all the rest of their lives6 ,nash1 in his ,lenten ,stuff1 speaks of a proclamation which caused three hundred thousand people to roam to ,rome for purgatorie pills4 ,ecclesiasticism devoured ethics4 ,allegiance to morality was lowered into devotion to a ritual4 ,the sale of indulgences at length became too impudent and blasphemous to be any longer endured1 when ,john ,tetzel1 a ,dominican monk1 travelled over ,europe1 and1 setting up his auction block in the churches1 offered for sale those famous indulgences of ,leo ,x4 which promised1 to every one rich enough to pay the requisite price1 remission of all sins1 however enormous1 and whether past1 present1 or future6#c ,this brazen but authorized charlatan boasted that he had saved more souls from hell by the sale of indulgences than ,st4 ,peter had converted to ,christianity by his preaching4 ,he also said that even if any one had ravished the ,mother of ,god he could sell him a pardon for it6 ,the soul of ,martin ,luther took fire4 ,the consequence to which a hundred combining causes contributed was the ,protestant ,reformation4 ,this great movement produced1 in relation to our subject1 three important results4 ,it noticeably modified the practice and the popular preaching of the ,roman ,catholic ,church4 #a ,ullmann1 ,reformatoren vor der ,reformation4 #b ,epist4 ,,ccclxiii4 ad ,orientalis ,francia ,clerum et ,populum4 #c ,d',aubigne1 ,hist4 ,reformation1 book iii4 ,the dogmas of the ,romanist theology remained as they were before4 ,but a marked change took place in the public conduct of the papal functionaries4 ,morality was made more prominent1 and mere ritualism less obtrusive4 ,comparatively speaking1 an emphasis was taken from ecclesiastic confession and indulgence1 and laid upon ethical obedience and piety4 ,the ,council of ,trent1 held at this time1 says1 in its decree concerning indulgences1 ,in granting indulgences1 the ,church desires that moderation be observed1 lest1 by excessive facility1 ecclesiastical discipline be enervated4 ,imposture became more cautious1 threats less frequent and less terrible2 the teeth of persecution were somewhat blunted2 miracles grew rarer2 the insufferable glare of purgatory and hell faded1 and the open traffic in forgiveness of sins1 or the compounding for deficiencies1 diminished4 ,but among the more ignorant papal multitudes the mediaval superstition holds its place still in all its virulence and grossness4 ,heaven and hell are as much a part of the ,italian's geography as the ,adriatic and the ,apennines2 the ,queen of ,heaven looks on the streets as clear as the morning star2 and the souls in purgatory are more readily present to conception than the political prisoners immured in the dungeons of ,venice4 ,a second consequence of the ,reformation is seen in the numerous dissenting sects to which its issues gave rise4 ,the chief peculiarities of the ,protestant doctrines of the future life are embodied in the four leading denominations commonly known as ,lutheran1 ,calvinistic1 ,unitarian1 and ,universalist4 ,each of these includes a number of subordinate parties bearing distinctive names1 7such as ,arminian1 ,presbyterian1 ,methodist1 ,baptist1 ,restorationist1 and many others27 but these minor differences are too trivial to deserve distinctive characterization here4 ,the ,lutheran formula is that1 through the sacrifice of ,christ1 salvation is offered to all who will accept it by a sincere faith4 ,some will comply with these terms and secure heaven2 others will not1 and so will be lost forever4 ,luther's views were not firmly defined and consistent throughout his career2 they were often obscure1 and they fluctuated much4 ,it is true he always insisted that there was no salvation without faith1 and that all who had faith should be saved4 ,but1 while he generally seems to believe in the current doctrine of eternal damnation1 he sometimes appears to encourage the hope that all will finally be saved4 ,in a remarkable letter to ,hansen von ,rechenberg1 dated #aebb1 he says1 in effect1 ,whoso hath faith in ,christ shall be saved4 ,god forbid that ,i should limit the time for acquiring this faith to the present life6 ,in the depths of the ,divine mercy1 there may be opportunity to win it in the future state4 ,the ,calvinistic formula is that heaven is attainable only for those whom the arbitrary predestination of ,god has elected2 all others are irretrievably damned4 ,calvin was the first ,christian theologian who succeeded in giving the fearful doctrine of unconditional election and reprobation a lodgment in the popular breast4 ,the ,roman ,catholic ,church had earnestly repudiated it4 ,gotteschalk was condemned and died in prison for advocating it1 in the ninth century4 ,but ,calvin's character enabled him to believe it1 and his talents and position gave great weight to his advocacy of it1 and it has since been widely received4 ,catholicism1 ,lutheranism1 ,calvinism1 all agreed in the general proposition that by sin physical death came into the world1 heaven was shut against man1 and all men utterly lost4 ,they differed only in some unessential details concerning the condition of that lost state4 ,they also agreed in the general proposition that ,christ came1 by his incarnation1 death1 descent to hell1 resurrection1 and ascension1 to redeem men from their lost state4 ,they only differed in regard to the precise grounds and extent of that redemption4 ,the ,catholic said1 ,christ's atonement wiped off the whole score of original sin1 and thus enabled man to win heaven by moral fidelity and the help of the ,church4 ,the ,lutheran said1 ,christ's atonement made all the sins of those who have faith1 pardonable2 and all may have faith4 ,the ,calvinist said1 ,god foresaw that man would fall and incur damnation1 and he decreed that a few should be snatched as brands from the burning1 while the mass should be left to eternal torture2 and ,christ's atonement purchased the predestined salvation of the chosen few4 ,furthermore1 ,lutherans and ,calvinists1 in all their varieties1 agree with the ,romanist in asserting that ,christ shall come again1 the dead be raised bodily1 a universal judgment be held1 and that then the condemned shall sink into the everlasting fire of hell1 and the accepted rise into the endless bliss of heaven4 ,the ,socinian doctrine relative to the future fate of man differed from the foregoing in the following particulars4 ,first1 it limited the redeeming mission of ,christ to the enlightening influences of the truths which he proclaimed with ,divine authority1 the moral power of his perfect example1 and the touching motives exhibited in his death4 ,secondly1 it asserted a natural ability in every man to live a life conformed to right reason and sound morality1 and promised heaven to all who did this in obedience to the instructions and after the pattern of ,christ4 ,thirdly1 it declared that the wicked1 after suffering excruciating agonies1 would be annihilated4 ,respecting the second coming of ,christ1 a physical resurrection of the dead1 and a day of judgment1 the ,socinians believed with the other sects4#d ,their doctrine scarcely corresponds with that of the present ,unitarians in any thing4 ,the dissent of the ,unitarian from the popular theology is much more fundamental1 detailed1 and consistent than that of the ,socinian was1 and approaches much closer to the ,rationalism of the present day4 ,the ,universalist formula every soul created by ,god shall sooner or later be saved from sin and woe and inherit everlasting happiness has been publicly defended in every age of the ,christian ,church4#e ,it was first publicly condemned as a heresy at the very close of the fourth century4 ,it ranks among its defenders the names of ,clement of ,alexandria1 ,origen1 ,gregory of ,nazianzus1 ,gregory of ,nyssa1 and several other prominent ,fathers4 ,universalism has been held in four forms1 on four grounds4 ,first1 it has been supposed that ,christ died for all1 and that1 by the infinite efficacy of his redeeming merits1 all sins shall be cancelled and every soul be saved4 ,this was the scheme of those early ,universalist ,christians whom ,epiphanius condemns as heretics2 also of a few in more modern times4 ,secondly1 it has been thought that each person would be punished in the future state according to the deeds done in the body1 each sin be expiated by a proportionate amount of suffering1 the retribution of some souls being severe and long1 that of others light and brief2 but1 every penalty being at #d ,flugge gives a full exposition of these points with references to the authorities4 ,lehre vom ,zustande1 u4 s4 f41 abth4 ii4 ss4 #bdc-bfj4 #e ,dietelmaier1 ,commenti ,fanatici non-,,ascii characters omitted ,hist4 ,antiquar4 length exhausted1 the last victim would be restored4 ,this was the notion of ,origen1 the basis of the doctrine of purgatory1 and the view of most of the ,restorationists4 ,thirdly1 it has been imagined that1 by the good pleasure and fixed laws of ,god1 all men are destined to an impartial1 absolute1 and instant salvation beyond the grave3 all sins are justly punished1 all moral distinctions equitably compensated1 in this life2 in the future an equal glory awaits all men1 by the gracious and eternal election of ,god1 as revealed to us in the benignant mission of ,christ4 ,this is the peculiar conception distinguishing some members of the denomination now known as ,universalists4 ,finally1 it has been believed that the freedom and probation granted here extend into the life to come2 that the aim of all future punishment will be remedial1 beneficent1 not revengeful2 that stronger motives will be applied for producing repentance1 and grander attractions to holiness be felt2 and that thus1 at some time or other1 even the most sunken and hardened souls will be regenerated and raised up to heaven in the image of ,god4 ,almost all ,universalists1 most ,unitarians1 and large number of individual ,christians outwardly affiliated with other denominations1 now accept and cherish this theory4 ,one important variation from the doctrine of the dominant sects1 in connection with the present subject1 is worthy of special notice4 ,we refer to the celebrated controversy waged in ,england1 in the first part of the eighteenth century1 in regard to the intermediate state of the dead4 ,the famous ,dr4 ,coward and a few supporters labored1 with much zeal1 skill1 and show of learning1 to prove the natural mortality of the soul4 ,they asserted this to be both a philosophical truth proved by scientific facts and a ,christian doctrine declared in ,scripture and taught by the ,fathers4 ,they argued that the soul is not an independent entity1 but is merely the life of the body4 ,proceeding thus far on the principles of a materialistic science1 they professed to complete their theory from ,scripture1 without doing violence to any doctrine of the acknowledged religion4#f ,the finished scheme was this4 ,man was naturally mortal2 but1 by the pleasure and will of ,god1 he would have been immortally preserved alive had he not sinned4 ,death is the consequence of sin1 and man utterly perishes in the grave4 ,but ,god will restore the dead1 through ,christ1 at the day of the general resurrection which he has foretold in the gospel4#g ,some of the writers in this copious controversy maintained that previous to the advent of ,christ death was eternal annihilation to all except a few who enjoyed an inspired anticipatory faith in him1 but that all who died after his coming would be restored in the resurrection1 the faithful to be advanced to heaven1 the wicked to be the victims of unending torture4#h ,clarke and ,baxter both wrote with extreme ability in support of the natural immortality and separate existence of the soul4 ,on the other hand1 the learned ,henry ,dodwell cited1 from the lore of three thousand years1 a plausible body of authorities to show that the soul is in itself but a mortal breath4 ,he also contended1 by a singular perversion of figurative phrases from the ,new ,testament and from some of the ,fathers1 that1 #f ,coward1 ,search after ,souls4 #g ,hallet1 ,no ,resurrection1 no ,future ,state4 #h ,coward1 ,defence of the ,search after ,souls4 ,dodwell1 ,epistolary ,discourse4 ,peckard1 ,observations4 ,fleming1 ,survey of the ,search after ,souls4 ,law1 ,state of ,separate ,spirits4 ,layton1 ,treatise of ,departed ,souls4 in counteraction of man's natural mortality1 all who undergo baptism at the hands of the ordained ministers of the ,church of ,england the only true priesthood in apostolic succession thereby receive an immortalizing spirit brought into the world by ,christ and committed to his successors4 ,this immortalizing spirit conveyed by baptism would secure their resurrection at the last day4 ,those destitute of this spirit would never awake from the oblivious sleep of death1 unless as he maintained will actually be the case with a large part of the dead they are arbitrarily immortalized by the pleasure of ,god1 in order to suffer eternal misery in hell6 ,absurd and shocking as this fancy was1 it obtained quite a number of converts1 and made no slight impression at the time4 ,one of the writers in this controversy asserted that ,luther himself had been a believer in the death or sleep of the soul until the day of judgment4#i ,certain it is that such a belief had at one period a considerable prevalence4 ,its advocates were called ,psychopannychians4 ,calvin wrote a vehement assault on them4 ,the opinion has sunk into general disrepute and neglect1 and it would be hard to find many avowed disciples of it4 ,the nearly universal sentiment of ,christendom would now exclaim1 in the quaint words of ,henry ,more1 ,what6 has old ,adam snorted all this time ,under some senselesse clod1 with sleep ydead8 #aj ,john ,asgill printed1 in the year #agjj1 a tract called ,an argument to prove that by the new covenant man may be translated into eternal life without tasting death4 ,he argues that the law of death was a consequence of ,adam's sin and was annulled by ,christ's sacrifice4 ,since that time men have died only because of an obstinate habit of dying formed for many generations4 ,for his part1 he has the independence and resolution to withstand the universal pusillanimity and to refuse to die4 ,he has discovered an engine in ,divinity to convey man from earth to heaven4 ,he will play a trump on death and show himself a match for the devil6 ,while treating of the various ,protestant views of the future life1 it would be a glaring defect to overlook the remarkable doctrine on that subject published by ,emanuel ,swedenborg and now held by the intelligent1 growing body of believers called after his name4 ,it would be impossible to exhibit this system adequately in its scientific bases and its complicated details without occupying more space than can be afforded here4 ,nor is this necessary1 now that his own works have been translated and are easily accessible everywhere4 ,his ,heaven and ,hell1 ,heavenly ,arcana1 ,doctrine of ,influx1 and ,true ,christian #i ,blackburne1 ,view of the ,controversy ,concerning an ,intermediate ,state3 appendix4 ,it is probable that the great ,reformer's opinion on this point was not always the same4 ,for he says1 distinctly1 ,the first man who died1 when he awakes at the last day1 will think he has been asleep but an hour ,beste1 ,dr4 ,m4 ,luther's ,glaubenslehre1 cap4 iv43 ,die ,lehre von den ,letzen ,dingen4 ,yet4 ,j4 ,s4 ,muller seems conclusively to prove the truth of the proposition which forms the title of his book1 ,dass ,luther die ,lehre vom ,seelenschlafe nie geglaubt habe4 #aj ,the controversy concerning the natural immortality of the soul has within a few years raged afresh4 ,the principal combatants were ,dobney1 ,storrs1 ,white1 ,morris1 and ,hinton4 ,see ,athanasia1 by ,j4 ,h4 ,hinton1 ,london1 #ahdi4 ,religion1 contain manifold statements and abundant illustrations of every thing important bearing on his views of the theme before us4 ,we shall merely attempt to present a brief synopsis of the essential principles1 accompanied by two or three suggestions of criticism4 ,swedenborg conceives man to be an organized receptacle of truth and love from ,god4 ,he is an imperishable spiritual body placed for a season of probation in a perishable material body4 ,every moment receiving the essence of his being afresh from ,god1 and returning it through the fruition of its uses devoutly rendered in conscious obedience and joyous worship1 he is at once a subject of personal1 and a medium of the ,divine1 happiness4 ,the will is the power of man's life1 and the understanding is its form4 ,when the will is disinterested love and the understanding is celestial truth1 then man fulfils the end of his being1 and his home is heaven2 he is a spirit frame into which the goodness of ,god perpetually flows1 is humbly acknowledged1 gratefully enjoyed1 and piously returned4 ,but when his will is hatred or selfishness and his understanding is falsehood or evil1 then his powers are abused1 his destiny inverted1 and his fate hell4 ,while in the body in this world he is placed in freedom1 on probation1 between these two alternatives4 ,the ,swedenborgian universe is divided into four orders of abodes4 ,in the highest or celestial world are the heavens of the angels4 ,in the lowest or infernal world are the hells of the demons4 ,in the intermediate or spiritual world are the earths inhabited by men1 and surrounded by the transition state through which souls1 escaping from their bodies1 after a while soar to heaven or sink to hell1 according to their fitness and attraction4 ,in this life man is free1 because he is an energy in equilibrium between the influences of heaven and hell4 ,the middle state surrounding man is full of spirits1 some good and some bad4 ,every man is accompanied by swarms of both sorts of spirits1 striving to make him like themselves4 ,now1 there are two kinds of influx into man4 ,mediate influx is when the spirits in the middle state flow into man's thoughts and affections4 ,the good spirits are in communication with heaven1 and they carry what is good and true2 the evil spirits are in communication with hell1 and they carry what is evil and false4 ,between these opposed and reacting agencies man is in an equilibrium whose essence is freedom4 ,deciding for himself1 if he turns with embracing welcome to the good spirits1 he is thereby placed and lives in conjunction with heaven2 but if he turns1 on the contrary1 with predominant love to the bad spirits1 he is placed in conjunction with hell and draws his life thence4 ,from heaven1 therefore1 through the good spirits1 all the elements of saving goodness flow sweetly down and are appropriated by the freedom of the good man2 while from hell1 through the bad spirits1 all the elements of damning evil flow foully up and are appropriated by the freedom of the bad man4 ,the other kind of influx is called immediate4 ,this is when the ,lord himself1 the pure substance of truth and good1 flows into every organ and faculty of man4 ,this influx is perpetual1 but is received as truth and good only by the true and good4 ,it is rejected1 suffocated1 or perverted by those who are in love with falsities and evils4 ,so the light of the sun produces colors varying with the substances it falls on1 and water takes forms corresponding to the vessels it is poured into4 ,the whole invisible world heaven1 hell1 and the middle state is peopled solely from the different families of the human race occupying the numerous material globes of the universe4 ,the good1 on leaving the fleshly body1 are angels1 the bad1 demons4 ,there is no angel nor demon who was created such at first4 ,satan is not a personality1 but is a figurative term standing for the whole complex of hell4 ,in the invisible world1 time and space in one sense cease to be2 in another sense they remain unchanged4 ,they virtually cease because all our present measures of them are annihilated2#aa they virtually remain because exact correspondences to them are left4 ,to spirits1 time is no longer measured by the revolution of planets1 but by the succession of inward states2 space is measured not by way marks and the traversing of distances1 but by inward similitudes and dissimilitudes4 ,those who are unlike are sundered by gulfs of difference4 ,those who are alike are together in their interiors4 ,thought and love1 forgetfulness and hate1 are not hampered by temporal and spatial boundaries4 ,spiritual forces and beings spurn material impediments1 and are united or separate1 reciprocally visible or invisible1 mutually conscious or unconscious1 according to their own laws of kindred or alien adaptedness4 ,the soul the true man is its own organized and deathless body1 and when it leaves its earthly house of flesh it knows the only resurrection1 and the cast off frame returns to the dust forever4 ,swedenborg repeatedly affirms with emphasis that no one is born for hell1 but that all are born for heaven1 and that when any one comes into hell it is from his own free fault4 ,he asserts that every infant1 wheresoever born1 whether within the ,church or out of it1 whether of pious parents or of impious1 when he dies is received by the ,lord1 and educated in heaven1 and becomes an angel4 ,a central principle of which he never loses sight is that a life of charity1 which consists in acting sincerely and justly in every function1 in every engagement1 and in every work1 from a heavenly motive1 according to the ,divine laws1 is possible to every one1 and infallibly leads to heaven4 ,it does not matter whether the person leading such a life be a ,christian or a ,gentile4 ,the only essential is that his ruling motive be divine and his life be in truth and good4 ,the ,swedenborgian doctrine concerning ,christ and his mission is that he was the infinite ,god incarnate1 not incarnate for the purpose of expiating human sin and purchasing a ransom for the lost by vicarious sufferings1 but for the sake of suppressing the rampant power of the hells1 weakening the influx of the infernal spirits1 setting an example to men1 and revealing many important truths4 ,the advantage of the ,christian over the pagan is that the former is enlightened by the celestial knowledge contained in the ,bible1 and animated by the affecting motives presented in the drama of the ,divine incarnation4 ,there is no probation after this life4 ,just as one is on leaving the earth he goes into the spiritual world4 ,there his #aa ,philo the ,jew says1 7vol4 i4 p4 #bgg1 ed4 ,mangey17 ,god is the ,father of the world3 the world is the father of time1 begetting it by its own motion3 time1 therefore1 holds the place of grandchild to ,god4 ,but the world is only one measure of time2 another1 and a more important one1 is the inward succession of the spirit's states of consciousness4 ,between ,philo and ,swedenborg1 it may be remarked here1 there are many remarkable correspondences both of thought and language4 ,for example1 ,philo says1 7vol4 i4 p4 #did17 ,man is a small kosmos1 the kosmos is a grand man4 ruling affection determines his destiny1 and that affection can never be extirpated or changed to all eternity4 ,after death1 evil life cannot in any manner or degree be altered to good life1 nor infernal love be transmuted to angelic love1 inasmuch as every spirit from head to foot is in quality such as his love is1 and thence such as his life is1 so that to transmute this life into the opposite is altogether to destroy the spirit4 ,it were easier1 says ,swedenborg1 to change a night bird into a dove1 an owl into a bird of paradise1 than to change a subject of hell into a subject of heaven after the line of death has been crossed4 ,but why the crossing of that line should make such an infinite difference he does not explain2 nor does he prove it as a fact4 ,the moral reason and charitable heart of ,swedenborg vehemently revolted from the ,calvinistic doctrines of predestination and vicarious atonement1 and the group of thoughts that cluster around them4 ,he always protests against these dogmas1 refutes them with varied power and consistency2 and the leading principles of his own system are creditable to human nature1 and attribute no unworthiness to the character of ,god4 ,a debt of eternal gratitude is due to ,swedenborg that his influence1 certainly destined to be powerful and lasting1 is so clearly calculated to advance the interests at once of philosophic intelligence1 social affection1 and true piety4 ,the superiorities of his view of the future life over those which it seeks to supplant are weighty and numerous4 ,the following may be reckoned among the most prominent4 ,first1 without predicating of ,god any aggravated severity or casting the faintest shadow on his benevolence1 it gives us the most appalling realization of the horribleness of sin and of its consequences4 ,god is commonly represented in effect1 at least as flaming with anger against sinners1 and forcibly flinging them into the unappeasable fury of ,tophet1 where his infinite vengeance may forever satiate itself on them4 ,but1 ,swedenborg says1 ,god is incapable of hatred or wrath3 he casts no one into hell2 but the wicked go where they belong by their own election1 from the inherent fitness and preference of their ruling love4 ,the evil man desires to be in hell because there he finds his food1 employment1 and home2 in heaven he would suffer unutterable agonies from every circumstance4 ,the wicked go into hell by the necessary and benignant love of ,god1 not by his indignation2 and their retributions are in their own characters1 not in their prison house4 ,this does not flout and trample all magnanimity1 nor shock the heart of piety2 and yet1 showing us men compelled to prefer wallowing in the filth and iniquities of hell1 clinging to the very evils whose pangs transfix them1 it gives us the direst of all the impressions of sin1 and beneath the lowest deep of the popular hell opens to our shuddering conceptions a deep of loathsomeness immeasurably lower still4 ,secondly1 the ,swedenborgian doctrine of the conditions of salvation or reprobation1 when compared with the popular doctrine1 is marked by striking depth of insight1 justice1 and liberality4 ,every man is free4 ,every man has power to receive the influx of truth and good from the ,lord and convert it to its blessed and saving uses1 piety towards ,god1 good will towards the neighbor1 and all kinds of right works4 ,who does this1 no matter in what land or age he lives1 becomes an heir of heaven4 ,who perverts those ,divine gifts to selfishness and unrighteous deeds becomes a subject of hell4 ,no mere opinion1 no mere profession1 no mere ritual services1 no mere external obedience1 not all these things together1 can save a man1 nor their absence condemn him2 but the controlling motive of his life1 the central and ruling love which constitutes the substance of his being1 this decides every man's doom4 ,the view is simple1 reasonable1 just1 necessary4 ,and so is the doctrine of degrees accompanying it2 namely1 that there are in heaven different grades and qualities of exaltation and delight1 and in hell of degradation and woe1 for different men according to their capacities and deserts4 ,a profoundly ethical character pervades the scheme1 and the great stamp of law is over it all4 ,thirdly1 a manifest advantage of ,swedenborg's doctrine over the popular doctrine is the intimate connection it establishes between the present and the future1 the visible and the invisible1 ,god and man4 ,heaven and hell are not distant localities1 entrance into which is to be won or avoided by moral artifices or sacramental subterfuges1 but they are states of being depending on personal goodness or evil4 ,god is not throned at the heart or on the apex of the universe1 where at some remote epoch we hope to go and see him1 but he is the ,life feeding our lives freshly every instant4 ,the spiritual world1 with all its hosts1 sustains and arches1 fills and envelops us4 ,death is the dropping of the outer body1 the lifting of an opaque veil1 and we are among the spirits1 unchanged1 as we were before4 ,judgment is not a tribunal dawning on the close of the world's weary centuries1 but the momentary assimilation of a celestial or an infernal love leading to states and acts1 rewards and retributions1 corresponding4 ,before this view the dead universe becomes a live transparency overwritten with the will1 tremulous with the breath1 and irradiate with the illumination of ,god4 ,we cannot but regret that the ,swedenborgian view of the future life should be burdened and darkened with the terrible error of the dogma of eternal damnation1 spreading over the state of all the subjects of the hells the pall of immitigable hopelessness1 denying that they can ever make the slightest ameliorating progress4 ,we have never been able to see force enough in any of the arguments or assertions advanced in support of this tremendous horror to warrant the least hesitation in rejecting it4 ,for ourselves1 we must regard it as incredible1 and think that ,god cannot permit it4 ,instruction1 reformation1 progress1 are the final aims of punishment4 ,aspiration is the concomitant of consciousness1 and the authentic voice of ,god4 ,surely1 sooner or later1 in the boonful eternities of being1 every creature capable of intelligence1 allied to the moral law1 drawing life from the ,infinite1 must begin to travel the ascending path of virtue and blessedness1 and never retrograde again4 ,neither can we admit in general the claim made by ,swedenborg and by his disciples that the way in which he arrived at his system of theology elevates it to the rank of a ,divine revelation4 ,it is asserted that ,god opened his interior vision1 so that he saw what had hitherto been concealed from the eyes of men in the flesh1 namely1 the inhabitants1 laws1 contents1 and experiences of the spiritual world1 and thus that his statements are not speculations or arguments1 but records of unerring knowledge1 his descriptions not fanciful pictures of the imagination1 but literal transcripts of the truth he saw4 ,this1 in view of the great range of known experience1 is not intrinsically probable1 and we have seen no proof of it4 ,judging from what we know of psychological and religious history1 it is far more likely that a man should confound his intangible reveries with solid fact than that he should be inspired by ,god to reveal a world of mysterious truths4 ,furthermore1 while we are impressed with the reasonableness1 probability1 and consistency of most of the general principles of ,swedenborg's exposition of the future life1 we cannot but shrink from many of the details and forms in which he carries them out4 ,notwithstanding the earnest avowals of able disciples of his school that all his details are strictly necessitated by his premises1 and that all his premises are laws of truth1 we are compelled to regard a great many of his assertions as purely arbitrary and a great many of his descriptions as purely fanciful4 ,but1 denying that his scheme of eschatology is a scientific representation of the reality1 and looking at it as a poetic structure reared by co working knowledge and imagination on the ground of reason1 nature1 and morality1 whose foundation walls1 columns1 and grand outlines are truth1 while many of its details1 ornaments1 and images are fancy1 it must be acknowledged to be one of the most wonderful examples of creative power extant in the literature of the world4 ,no one who has mastered it with appreciative mind will question this4 ,there are1 expressed and latent1 in the totality of ,swedenborg's accounts of hell and heaven1 more variety of imagery1 power of moral truth and appeal1 exhibition of dramatic justice1 transcendent delights of holiness and love1 curdling terrors of evil and woe1 strength of philosophical grasp1 and sublimity of emblematic conception1 than are to be found in ,dante's earth renowned poem4 ,we say this of the substance of his ideas1 not of the shape and clothing in which they are represented4 ,swedenborg was no poet in language and form1 only in conception4 ,take this picture4 ,in the topmost height of the celestial world the ,lord appears as a sun1 and all the infinite multitudes of angels1 swarming up through the innumerable heavens1 wherever they are1 continually turn their faces towards him in love and joy4 ,but at the bottom of the infernal world is a vast ball of blackness1 towards which all the hosts of demons1 crowding down through the successive hells1 forever turn their eager faces away from ,god4 ,or consider this4 ,every thing consists of a great number of perfect leasts like itself3 every heart is an aggregation of little hearts1 every lung an aggregation of little lungs1 every eye an aggregation of little eyes4 ,following out the principle1 every society in the spiritual world is a group of spirits arranged in the form of a man1 every heaven is a gigantic man composed of an immense number of individuals1 and all the heavens together constitute one ,grand ,man1 a countless number of the most intelligent angels forming the head1 a stupendous organization of the most affectionate making the heart1 the most humble going to the feet1 the most useful attracted to the hands1 and so on through every part4 ,with exceptions1 then1 we regard ,swedenborg's doctrine of the future life as a free poetic presentment1 not as a severe scientific statement1 of views true in moral principle1 not of facts real in literal detail4 ,his imagination and sentiment are mathematical and ethical instead of asthetic and passionate4 ,milk seems to run in his veins instead of blood1 but he is of truthfulness and charity all compact4 ,we think it most probable that the secret of his supposed inspiration was the abnormal frequent or chronic turning of his mind into what is called the ecstatic or clairvoyant state4 ,this condition being spontaneously induced1 while he yet1 in some unexplained manner1 retained conscious possession and control of his usual faculties1 he treated his subjective conceptions as objective realities1 believed his interior contemplations were accurate visions of facts1 and took the strange procession of systematic reveries through his teeming brain for a scenic revelation of the exhaustive mysteries of heaven and hell4 ,each wondrous guess beheld the truth it sought1 ,and inspiration flash'd from what was thought4 ,this hypothesis1 taken in conjunction with the comprehensiveness of his mind1 the vastness of his learning1 the integral correctness of his conscience1 and his disciplined habits of thought1 will go far towards explaining the unparalleled phenomenon of his theological works2 and1 though it leaves many things unaccounted for1 it seems to us more credible than any other which has yet been suggested4 ,the last of the three prominent phenomena which as before said followed the ,protestant ,reformation was rationalism1 an attempt to try all religious questions at the tribunal of reason and by the tests of conscience4 ,the great movement led by ,luther was but one element in a numerous train of influences and events all yielding their different contributions to that resolute rationalistic tendency which afterwards broke out so powerfully in ,england1 ,france1 and ,germany1 and1 spreading thence into every country in ,christendom1 has been1 in secret and in public1 with slow1 sure steps1 irresistibly advancing ever since4 ,in the history of scholasticism there were three distinct epochs4 ,the first period was characterized by the servile submission and conformity of philosophy to the theology dictated by the ,church4 ,the second period was marked by the formal alliance and attempted reconciliation of philosophy and theology4 ,the third period saw an ever increasing jealousy and separation between the philosophers and the theologians4#ab ,many an adventurous thinker pushed his speculations beyond the limits of the established theology1 and deliberately dissented from the orthodox standards in his conclusions4 ,perhaps ,abelard1 who openly strove to put all the ,church dogmas in forms acceptable to philosophy1 and who did not hesitate to reject in many instances what seemed to him unreasonable1 deserves to be called the father of rationalism4 ,the works of ,des ,cartes1 ,leibnitz1 ,wolf1 ,kant's ,religion within the ,bounds of ,pure ,reason1 together with the influence and the writings of many other eminent philosophers1 gradually gave momentum to the impulse and popularity to the habits of free thought and criticism even in the realm of theology4 ,the dogmatic scheme of the dominant ,church was firmly seized1 many errors shaken out to the light and exposed1 and many long received opinions questioned and flung into doubt4#ac ,the authenticity of many of the popular doctrines regarding the future life could not fail to be denied as soon as it was attempted as was extensively done about the middle of the eighteenth century to demonstrate them by mathematical methods1 with all the array of axioms1 theorems1 lemmas1 doubts1 and solutions4 ,flugge has historically illustrated the employment of this method at considerable length4#ad #ab ,cousin1 ,hist4 ,mod4 ,phil41 lect4 ix4 #ac ,staudlin1 ,geschichte des ,rationalismus4 ,saintes1 ,histoire ,critique du ,rationalisme en ,allemagne1 ,eng4 trans4 by ,dr4 ,beard4 #ad ,geschichte des ,glaubens an ,unsterblichkeit1 u4 s4 f41 th4 iii4 abth4 ii4 ss4 #bha-bhi4 ,the essence of rationalism is the affirmation that neither the ,fathers1 nor the ,church1 nor the ,scriptures1 nor all of them together1 can rightfully establish any proposition opposed to the logic of sound philosophy1 the principles of reason1 and the evident truth of nature4 ,around this thesis the battle has been fought and the victory won2 and it will stand with spreading favor as long as there are unenslaved and cultivated minds in the world4 ,this position is1 in logical necessity1 and as a general thing in fact1 that of the large though loosely cohering body of believers known as ,liberal ,christians2 and it is tacitly held by still larger and ever growing numbers nominally connected with sects that officially eschew it with horror4 ,the result of the studies and discussions associated with this principle1 so far as it relates to the subject before us1 has been the rejection of the following popular doctrines3 the plenary inspiration of the ,scriptures as an ultimate authority in matters of belief2 unconditional predestination2 the satisfaction theory of the vicarious atonement2 the visible second coming of ,christ1 in person1 to burn up the world and to hold a general judgment2 the intermediate state of souls2 the resurrection of the body2 a local hell of material fire in the bowels of the earth2 the eternal damnation of the wicked4 ,these old dogmas1#ae scarcely changed1 still remain in the stereotyped creeds of all the prominent denominations2 but they slumber there to an astonishing extent unrealized1 unnoticed1 unthought of1 by the great multitude of common believers1 while every consciously rational investigator vehemently repudiates them4 ,to every candid mind that has really studied their nature and proofs their absurdity is now transparent on all the grounds alike of history1 metaphysics1 morals1 and science4 ,the changes of the popular ,christian belief in regard to three salient points have been especially striking4 ,first1 respecting the immediate fate of the dead1 an intermediate state4 ,the predominant ,jewish doctrine was that all souls went indiscriminately into a sombre under world1 where they awaited a resurrection4 ,the earliest ,christian view prevalent was the same1 with the exception that it divided that place of departed spirits into two parts1 a painful for the bad1 a pleasant for the good4 ,the next opinion that prevailed the ,roman ,catholic was the same as the foregoing1 with two exceptions3 it established a purgatory in addition to the previous paradise and hell1 and it opened heaven itself for the immediate entrance of a few spotless souls4 ,pope ,john ,,xxii41 as ,gieseler shows1 was accused of heresy by the theological doctors of ,paris because he declared that no soul could enter heaven and enjoy the beatific vision until after the resurrection4 ,pope ,benedict ,,xii4 drew up a list of one hundred and seventeen heretical opinions held by the ,armenian ,christians4 ,one of these notions was that the souls of all deceased adults wander in the air until the ,day of ,judgment1 neither hell1 paradise1 nor heaven being open to them until after that day4 ,thomas ,aquinas says1 ,each soul at death immediately flies to its appointed place1 whether in hell or in heaven1 being without the body until the resurrection1 with it afterwards4#af ,then came the #ae ,they are defended in all their literal grossness in the two following works1 both recent publications4 ,the ,world to ,come2 by the ,rev4 ,james ,cochrane4 ,der ,tod1 das ,todtenreich1 und der ,zustand der abgeschiedenen ,seelen2 von ,p4 ,a4 ,maywahlen4 #af ,summa iii4 in ,suppl4 #fi4 #b4 dogma of the orthodox ,protestants1 slightly varying in the different sects1 but generally agreeing that at death all redeemed souls pass instantly to heaven and all unredeemed souls to hell4#ag ,the principal variation from this among believers within the ,protestant fellowship has been the notion that the souls of all men die or sleep with the body until the ,day of ,judgment1 a notion which peeps out here and there in superstitious spots along the pages of ecclesiastical history1 and which has found now and then an advocate during the last century and a half4 ,the ,council of ,elvin1 in ,spain1 forbade the lighting of tapers in churchyards1 lest it should disturb the souls of the deceased buried there4 ,at this day1 in prayers and addresses at funerals1 no phrases are more common than those alluding to death as a sleep1 and implying that the departed one is to slumber peacefully in his grave until the resurrection4 ,and yet1 at the same time1 by the same persons contrary ideas are frequently expressed4 ,the truth is1 the subject1 owing to the contradictions between their creed and their reason1 is left by most persons in hopeless confusion and uncertainty4 ,they have no determinately reconciled and conscious views of their own4 ,rationalism sweeps away all the foregoing incongruous medley at once1 denying that we know any thing about the precise localities of heaven and hell1 or the destined order of events in the hidden future of separate souls2 affirming that all we should dare to say is simply that the souls whether of good or of bad men1 on leaving the body1 go at once into a spiritual state of being1 where they will live immortally1 as ,god decrees1 never returning to be reinvested with the vanished charnel houses of clay they once inhabited4 ,secondly1 the thought that ,christ after his death descended into the under world to ransom mankind1 or a part of mankind1 from the doom there1 is in the foundation of the apostolic theology4 ,it was a central element in the belief of the ,fathers1 and of the ,church for fourteen hundred years4 ,none of the prominent ,protestant reformers thought of denying it4 ,calvin lays great stress on it4#ah ,apinus and others1 at ,hamburg1 maintained that ,christ's descent was a part of his humiliation1 and that in it he suffered unutterable pains for us4 ,on the other hand1 ,melancthon and the ,wittenbergers held that the descent was a part of ,christ's triumph1 since by it he won a glorious victory over the powers of hell4#ai ,but gradually the importance and the redeeming effects attached to ,christ's descent into hell were transferred to his death on the cross4 ,slowly the primitive dogma dwindled away1 and finally sunk out of sight1 through an ever encroaching disbelief in the physical conditions on which it rested and in the pictorial environments by which it was recommended4 ,and now it is scarcely ever heard of1 save when brought out from old scholastic tomes by some theological delver4 ,baumgarten ,crusius has learnedly illustrated the important place long held by this notion1 and well shown its gradual retreat into the unnoticed background4#bj #ag ,confession of ,faith of the ,church of ,scotland1 ch4 xxxii4 ,calvin1 ,institutes1 lib4 iii4 cap4 xxv42 and his ,psychopannychia4 ,quenstedt also affirms it4 ,likewise the ,confession of ,faith of the ,westminster ,divines1 art4 xxxii41 says1 ,souls neither die nor sleep1 but go immediately to heaven or hell4 #ah ,institutes1 lib4 ii4 cap4 #af1 sects4 #af1 #ai4 #ai ,ledderhose1 ,life of ,melancthon1 ,eng4 trans4 by ,krotel1 ch4 xxx4 #bj ,compendium der ,christliche ,dogmengeschichte1 thl4 ii4 sects4 #ajj-aji4 ,the other particular doctrine which we said had undergone remarkable change is in regard to the number of the saved4 ,a blessed improvement has come over the popular ,christian feeling and teaching in respect to this momentous subject4 ,the ,jews excluded from salvation all but their own strict ritualists4 ,the apostles1 it is true1 excluded none but the stubbornly wicked4 ,but the majority of the ,fathers virtually allowed the possibility of salvation to few indeed4 ,chrysostom doubted if out of the hundred thousand souls constituting the ,christian population of ,antioch in his day one hundred would be saved6 #ba ,and when we read1 with shuddering soul1 the calculations of ,cornelius a ,lapide1 or the celebrated sermon of ,massillon on the ,small ,number of the ,saved1 we are compelled to confess that they fairly represent the almost universal sentiment and conviction of ,christendom for more than seventeen hundred years4 ,a quarto volume published in ,london in #afhj1 by ,du ,moulin1 called ,moral ,reflections upon the ,number of the ,elect1 affirmed that not one in a million1 from ,adam down to our times1 shall be saved4 ,a flaming execration blasted the whole heathen world1 #bb and a metaphysical quibble doomed ninety nine of every hundred in ,christian lands4 ,collect the whole relevant theological literature of the ,christian ages1 from the birth of ,tertullian to the death of ,jonathan ,edwards1 strike the average pitch of its doctrinal temper1 and you will get this result3 that in the field of human souls ,satan is the harvester1 ,god the gleaner2 hell receives the whole vintage in its wine press of damnation1 heaven obtains only a few straggling clusters plucked for salvation4 ,the crowded wains roll staggering into the iron doorways of ,satan's fire and brimstone barns2 the redeemed vestiges of the world crop of men are easily borne to heaven in the arms of a few weeping angels4 ,how different is the prevailing tone of preaching and belief now6 ,what a cheerful ascent of views from the mournful passage of the dead over the river of oblivion fancied by the ,greeks1 or the excruciating passage of the river of fire painted by the ,catholics1 to the happy passage of the river of balm1 healing every weary bruise and sorrow1 promised by the ,universalists6 ,it is true1 the old harsh exclusiveness is still organically imbedded in the established creeds1 all of which deny the possibility of salvation beyond the little circle who vitally appropriate the vicarious atonement of ,christ2 but then this is1 for the most part1 a dead letter in the creeds4 ,in the hearts and in the candid confessions of all but one in a thousand it is discredited and sincerely repelled as an abomination to human nature1 a reflection against ,god1 an outrage upon the substance of ethics4 ,remorseless bigots may gloat and exult over the thought that those who reject their dogmas shall be thrust into the roaring fire gorges of hell2 but a better spirit is the spirit of the age we live in2 and1 doubtless1 a vast majority of the men we daily meet really believe that all who try to the best of their ability1 according to their light and circumstances1 to do what is right1 in the love of ,god and man1 shall be saved4 ,in that moving scene of the great dramatist where the burial of the innocent and hapless ,ophelia is represented1 and ,lacrtes vainly seeks to win from the ,church official #ba ,in ,acta ,apostolorum1 homil4 xxiv4 #bb ,gotze1 ,ueber die ,neue ,meinung von der ,seligkeit der angeblich guten und redlichen ,seelen unter ,juden1 ,heiden1 und ,turken durch ,christum1 ohne dass sie an ihn glauben4 the full funeral rites of religion over her grave1 the priest may stand for the false and cruel ritual spirit1 the brother for the just and native sentiment of the human heart4 ,says the priest1 ,we should profane the service of the dead ,to sing a requiem and such rest to her ,as to peace parted souls4 ,and ,laertes replies1 ,lay her in the earth2 ,and from her fair and unpolluted flesh ,shall violets spring4 ,i tell thee1 churlish priest1 ,a ministering angel shall my sister be ,when thou liest howling4 ,indeed1 who that has a heart in his bosom would not be ashamed not to sympathize with the gentle hearted ,burns when he expresses even to the devil himself the quaint and kindly wish1 ,oh wad ye tak' a thought and mend6 ,the creeds and the priests1 in congenial alliance with many evil things1 may strive to counteract this progressive self emancipation from cruel falsehoods and superstitions1 but in vain4 ,the terms of salvation are seen lying in the righteous will of a gracious ,god1 not in the heartless caprice of a priesthood nor in the iron gripe of a set of dogmas4 ,the old priestly monopoly over the way to heaven has been taken off in the knowledge of the enlightened present1 and1 for all who have unfettered feet to walk with1 the passage to ,god is now across a free bridge4 ,the ancient exactors may still sit in their toll house creeds and confessionals2 but their authority is gone1 and the virtuous traveller1 stepping from the ground of time upon the planks that lead over into eternity1 smiles as he passes scot free by their former taxing terrors4 ,the reign of sacramentalists and dogmatists rapidly declines4 ,reason1 common sentiment1 the liberal air1 the best and strongest tendencies of the people1 are against them to day1 and will be more against them in every coming day4 ,every successive explosion of the ,second ,adventist fanaticism will leave less of that element behind4 ,its rage in ,america1 under the auspices of ,miller1 in the nineteenth century1 was tame and feeble when compared with the terror awakened in ,europe in the fifteenth century by ,stofler's prediction of an approaching comet4#bc ,every new discovery of the harmonies of science1 and of the perfections of nature1 and of the developments of the linear logic of ,god consistently unfolding in implicated sequences of peaceful order unperturbed by shocks of failure and epochs of remedy1 will increase and popularize an intelligent faith in the original ordination and the intended permanence of the present constitution of things4 ,finally men will cease to be looking up to see the blue dome cleave open for the descent of angelic squadrons headed by the majestic ,son of ,god1 the angry breath of his mouth consuming the world1 cease to #bc ,bayle1 ,historical ,dictionary1 art4 ,stofler1 note ,b4 expect salvation by any other method than that of earnest and devout truthfulness1 love1 good works1 and pious submissiveness to ,god1 cease to fancy that their souls1 after waiting through the long sleep or separation of death1 will return and take on their old bodies again4 ,recognizing the ,divine plan for training souls in this lower and transient state for a higher and immortal state1 they will endeavor1 in natural piety and mutual love1 while they live1 to exhaust the genuine uses of the world that now is1 and thus prepare themselves to enter with happiest auspices1 when they die1 the world prepared for them beyond these mortal shores4 ,these cheerful prophecies must be verified in the natural course of things4 ,the rapid spread of the doctrine of a future life taught by the ,spirit rappers is a remarkable revelation of the great extent to which the minds of the common people have at last become free from the long domination of the ecclesiastical dogmas on that subject4 ,the leading representatives of the ,spiritualists affirm1 with much unanimity1 the most comforting conclusions as to the condition of the departed4 ,they exclude all wrath and favoritism from the disposition of the ,deity4 ,they have little in fact1 they often have nothing whatever to say of hell4 ,they emphatically repudiate the ordinarily taught terms of salvation1 and deny the doctrine of hopeless reprobation4 ,all death is beautiful and progressive4 ,every form and thing is constantly growing lovelier and every sphere purer4 ,the abode of each soul in the future state is determined1 not by decrees or dogmas or forms of any kind1 but by qualities of character1 degrees of love1 purity1 and wisdom4 ,there are seven ascending spheres1 each more abounding than the one below it in beauties1 glories1 and happiness4 ,the first sphere is the natural2 the second1 the spiritual2 the third1 the celestial2 the fourth1 the supernatural2 the fifth1 the superspiritual2 the sixth1 the supercelestial2 the seventh1 the ,infinite ,vortex of ,love and ,wisdom4#bd ,whatever be thought of the pretensions of this doctrine to be a ,divine revelation1 whatever be thought of its various psychological1 cosmological1 and theological characteristics1 its ethics are those of natural reason4 ,it is wholly irreconcilable with the popular ecclesiastical system of doctrines4 ,its epidemic diffusion until now burdened as it is with such nauseating accompaniments of crudity and absurdity1 it reckons its adherents by millions is a tremendous evidence of the looseness with which the old1 cruel dogmas sit on the minds of the masses of the people1 and of their eager readiness to welcome more humane views4 ,in science the erroneous doctrines of the ,middle ,age are now generally discarded4 ,the mention of them but provokes a smile or awakens surprise4 ,yet1 as compared with the historic annals of our race1 it is but recently that the true order of the solar system has been unveiled1 the weight of the air discovered1 the circulation of the blood made known1 the phenomena of insanity intelligently studied1 the results of physiological chemistry brought to light1 the symmetric domain and sway of calculable law pushed far out in every direction of nature and experience4 ,it used to be supposed that digestion was effected by means of a mechanical power equal to many tons4 ,borelli asserted that the muscular force of the heart was one hundred and eighty thousand pounds4 ,these absurd estimates only disappeared when the #bd ,andrew ,jackson ,davis1 ,nature's ,divine ,revelations1 sects4 #aib #bjc4 properties of the gastric juice were discerned4 ,the method in which we distinguish the forms and distances of objects was not understood until ,berkeley published his ,new ,theory of ,vision4 ,few persons are aware of the opposition of bigotry1 stolidity1 and authority against which the brilliant advances of scientific discovery and mechanical invention and social improvement have been forced to contend1 and in despite of which they have slowly won their way4 ,excommunications1 dungeons1 fires1 sneers1 polite persecution1 bitter neglect1 tell the story1 from the time the ,athenians banned ,anaxagoras for calling the sun a mass of fire1 to the day an ,english mob burned the warehouses of ,arkwright because he had invented the spinning jenny4 ,but1 despite all the hostile energies of establishment1 prejudice1 and scorn1 the earnest votaries of philosophical truth have studied and toiled with ever accumulating victories1 until now a hundred sciences are ripe with emancipating fruits and perfect freedom to be taught4 ,railroads gird the lands with ribs of trade1 telegraphs thread the airs with electric tidings of events1 and steamships crease the seas with channels of foam and fire4 ,there is no longer danger of any one being put to death1 or even being excluded from the best society1 for saying that the earth moves4 ,an eclipse cannot be regarded as the frown of ,god when it is regularly foretold with certainty4 ,the measurement of the atmosphere exterminated the wiseacre proverb1 ,nature abhors a vacuum1 by the burlesque addition1 but only for the first thirty two feet4 ,the madman cannot be looked on as divinely inspired1 his words to be caught as oracles1 or as possessed by a devil1 to be chained and scourged1 since ,pinel's great work has brought insanity within the range of organic disease4 ,when ,franklin's kite drew electricity from the cloud to his knuckle1 the superstitious theory of thunder died a natural death4 ,the vast progress effected in all departments of physical science during the last four centuries has not been made in any kindred degree in the prevailing theology4 ,most of the harsh1 unreasonable tenets of the elaborately morbid and distorted mediaval theologyare still retained in the creeds of the great majority of ,christendom4 ,the causes of this difference are plain4 ,the establishment of newly discovered truths in material science being less intimately connected with the prerogatives of the ruling classes1 less clearly hostile to the permanence of their power1 they have not offered so pertinacious an opposition to progress in this province3 they have yielded a much larger freedom to physicists than to moralists1 to discoverers of mathematical1 chemical1 and mechanical law than to reformers of political and religious thought4 ,livy tells us that1 in the five hundred and seventy third year of ,rome1 some concealed books of ,numa were found1 which1 on examination by the priests1 being thought injurious to the established religion1 were ordered to be burned4#be ,the charge was not that they were ungenuine1 nor that their contents were false2 but they were dangerous4 ,in the second century1 an imperial decree forbade the reading of the ,sibylline ,oracles1 because they contained prophecies of ,christ and doctrines of ,christianity4 ,by an act of the ,english ,parliament1 in the middle of the seventeenth century1 every copy of the ,racovian ,catechism 7an exposition of the ,socinian doctrine7 that could be obtained was burned in the streets4 #be ,lib4 xl4 cap4 xxix4 ,the ,index ,expurgatorius for ,catholic countries is still freshly filled every year4 ,and in ,protestant countries a more subtle and a more effectual influence prevents1 on the part of the majority1 the candid perusal of all theological discussions which are not pitched in the orthodox key4 ,certain dogmas are the absorbed thought of the sects which defend them3 no fresh and independent thinking is to be expected on those subjects1 no matter how purely fictitious these secretions of the brain of the denomination or of some ancient leader may be1 no matter how glaringly out of keeping with the intelligence and liberty which reign in other realms of faith and feeling4 ,there is nowhere else in the world a tyranny so pervasive and despotic as that which rules in the department of theological opinion4 ,the prevalent slothful and slavish surrender of the grand privileges and duties of individual thought1 independent personal conviction and action in religious matters1 is at once astonishing1 pernicious1 and disgraceful4 ,the effect of entrenched tradition1 priestly directors1 a bigoted1 overawing1 and persecuting sectarianism1 is nowhere else a hundredth part so powerful or so extensive4 ,in addition to the bitter determination by interested persons to suppress reforming investigations of the doctrines which hold their private prejudices in supremacy1 and to the tremendous social prestige of old establishment1 another cause has been active to keep theology stationary while science has been making such rapid conquests4 ,science deals with tangible quantities1 theology with abstract qualities4 ,the cultivation of the former yields visible practical results of material comfort2 the cultivation of the latter yields only inward spiritual results of mental welfare4 ,accordingly1 science has a thousand resolute votaries where theology has one unshackled disciple4 ,at this moment1 a countless multitude1 furnished with complex apparatus1 are ransacking every nook of nature1 and plucking trophies1 and the world with honoring attention reads their reports4 ,but how few with competent preparation and equipment1 with fearless consecration to truth1 unhampered1 with fresh free vigor1 are scrutinizing the problems of theology1 enthusiastically bent upon refuting errors and proving verities6 ,and what reception do the conclusions of those few meet at the hands of the public8 ,surely not prompt recognition1 frank criticism1 and grateful acknowledgment or courteous refutation4 ,no2 but studied exclusion from notice1 or sophistical evasions and insulting vituperation4 ,what a striking and painful contrast is afforded by the generous encouragement given to the students of science by the annual bestowment of rewards by the scientific societies such as the ,cuvier ,prize1 the ,royal ,medal1 the ,rumford ,medal and the jealous contempt and assaults visited by the sectarian authorities upon those earnest students of theology who venture to propose any innovating improvement6 ,suppose there were annually awarded an ,aquinas ,prize1 a ,fenelon ,medal1 a ,calvin ,medal1 a ,luther ,medal1 a ,channing ,medal1 not to the one who should present the most ingenious defence of any peculiar tenet of one of those masters1 but to him who should offer the most valuable fresh contribution to theological truth6 ,what should we think if the ,french ,institute offered a gold medal every year to the astronomer who presented the ablest essay in support of the ,ptolemaic system1 or if the ,royal ,society voted a diploma for the best method of casting nativities8 ,such is the course pursued in regard to dogmatic theology4 ,the consequence has been that while elsewhere the ultimate standard by which to try a doctrine is1 ,what do the most competent judges say8 ,what does unprejudiced reason dictate8 ,what does the great harmony of truth require8 in theology it is1 ,what do the committed priests say8 ,how does it comport with the old traditions8 ,we read in the ,hak ul ,yakeen that the envoy of ,herk1 ,emperor of ,rum1 once said to the prophet1 ,you summon people to a ,paradise whose extent includes heaven and earth3 where1 then1 is hell8 ,mohammed replied1 ,when day comes1 where is night8 ,that is to say1 according to the traditionary glosses1 as day and night are opposite1 so ,paradise is at the zenith and hell at the nadir4 ,yes2 but if ,paradise be above the heavens1 and hell below the seventh earth1 then how can ,sirat be extended over hell for people to pass to ,paradise8 ,we reply1 say the authors of the ,hak ul ,yakeen1 that speculation on this subject is not necessary1 nor to be regarded4 ,implicit faith in what the prophets have revealed must be had2 and explanatory surmises1 which are the occasion of ,satanic doubts1 must not be indulged4#bf ,certainly this exclusion of reason cannot always be suffered4 ,it is fast giving way already4 ,and it is inevitable that1 when reason secures its right and bears its rightful fruits in moral subjects as it now does in physical subjects1 the mediaval theology must be rejected as mediaval science has been4 ,it is the common doctrine of the ,church that ,christ now sits in heaven in a human body of flesh and blood4 ,calvin separated the ,divine nature of ,christ from this human body2 but ,luther made the two natures inseparable and attributed ubiquity to the body in which they reside1 thus asserting the omnipresence of a material human body1 a bulk of a hundred and fifty pounds' weight more or less4 ,he furiously assailed ,zwingle's objection to this monstrous nonsense1 as a devil's mask and grandchild of that old witch1 mistress ,reason4 #bg ,the ,roman ,church teaches1 and her adherents devoutly believe1 that the house of the ,virgin ,mary was conveyed on the wings of angels from ,nazareth to the eastern slope of the ,apennines above the ,adriatic ,gulf4#bh ,the ,english ,church1 consistently interpreted1 teaches that there is no salvation without baptism by priests in the line of apostolic succession4 ,these are but ordinary specimens of teachings still humbly received by the mass of ,christians4 ,the common distrust with which the natural operations of reason are regarded in the ,church1 the extreme reluctance to accept the conclusions of mere reason1 seem to us discreditable to the theological leaders who represent the current creeds of the approved sects4 ,many an influential theologian could learn invaluable lessons from the great guides in the realm of science4 ,the folly which acute learned wise men will be guilty of the moment they turn to theological subjects1 where they do not allow reason to act1 is both ludicrous and melancholy4 ,the victim of lycanthropy used to be burned alive2 he is now placed under the careful treatment of skilful and humane physicians4 ,but the heretic or infidel is still thought to be inspired by the devil1 a fit subject for discipline here and hell hereafter4 ,the light shed abroad by the rising spirit of rational investigation must gradually dispel the delusions which lurk in the vales of theology1 as it already has dispelled those that formerly haunted the hills of science4 ,the spectres which have so long terrified a childish world will successively vanish #bf ,merrick1 ,hyat ul ,kuloob1 note #gd4 #bg ,hagenbach1 ,dogmengeschichte1 sect4 #bfe1 note #b4 #bh ,christian ,remembrancer1 ,april1 #ahee4 ,a full and able history of the ,holy ,house of ,loretto4 from the path of man as advancing reason1 in the name of the ,god of truth1 utters its imperial ,avaunt6 ,henry ,more wrote a book on the ,immortality of the ,soul1 printed in ,london in #afei1 just two hundred years ago4 ,it is full of beauty1 acumen1 and power4 ,he was one of the first men of the time4 ,yet he seriously elaborates an argument like this3 ,the scum and spots that lie on the sun are as great an ,argument that there is no ,divinity in him as the dung of ,owls and ,sparrows that is found on the faces and shoulders of ,idols in ,temples are clear evidences that they are no true ,deities4#bi ,he also in good faith tells a story like this3 ,that a ,woman with child1 seeing a ,butcher divide a ,swine's head with a ,cleaver1 brought forth her ,child with its face cloven in the upper jaw1 the palate1 and upper lip to the very nose4#cj ,the progress marked by the contrast of the scientific spirit of the present time with the ravenous credulity of even two centuries back must continue and spread into every province4 ,some may vilify it2 but in vain4 ,some may sophisticate against it2 but in vain4 ,some may invoke authority and social persecution to stop it2 but in vain4 ,some may appeal to the prejudices and fears of the timid2 but in vain4 ,some may close their own eyes1 and hold their hands before their neighbors' eyes1 and attempt to shut out the light2 but in vain4 ,it will go on4 ,it is the interest of the world that it should go on4 ,it is the manly and the religious course to help this progress with prudence and reverence4 ,truth is the will of ,god1 the way he has made things to be and to act1 the way he wishes free beings to exist and to act4 ,he has ordained the gradual discovery of truth4 ,and despite the struggles of selfish tyranny1 and the complacence of luxurious ease1 and the terror of ignorant cowardice1 truth will be more and more brought to universal acceptance4 ,some men have fancied their bodies composed of butter or of glass2 but when compelled to move out into the sunlight or the crowd they did not melt nor break4#ca ,esquirol had a patient who did not dare to bend her thumb1 lest the world should come to an end4 ,when forced to bend it1 she was surprised that the crack of doom did not follow4 ,the mechanico theatrical character of the popular theology is enough to reveal its origin and its fundamental falsity4 ,the difference between its lurid and phantasmal details and the calm eternal verities in the divinely constituted order of nature is as great as the difference between those stars which one sees in consequence of a blow on the forehead and those he sees by turning his gaze to the nightly sky4 ,to every competent thinker1 the bare appreciation of such a passage as that which closes ,chateaubriand's chapter on the ,last ,judgment1 with the huge bathos of its incongruous mixture of sublime and absurd1 is its sufficient refutation3 ,the globe trembles on its axis2 the moon is covered with a bloody veil2 the threatening stars hang half detached from the vault of heaven1 and the agony of the world commences4 ,now resounds the trump of the angel4 ,the sepulchres burst3 the human race issues all at once1 and fills the ,valley of ,jehoshaphat6 ,the ,son of ,man appears in the clouds2 the powers of hell ascend from the infernal depths2 the goats are separated from the sheep2 the wicked are plunged into the gulf2 the just ascend to heaven2 ,god returns to his repose1 #bi ,preface1 p4 #aj4 #cj ,ibid4 p4 #cib4 #ca ,bucknill and ,tuke1 ,psychological ,medicine1 ch4 ix4 and the reign of eternity begins4#cb ,nothing saves this whole scheme of doctrine from instant rejection except neglect of thought1 or incompetence of thought1 on the part of those who contemplate it4 ,the peculiar dogmas of the exclusive sects are the products of mental and social disease1 psychological growths in pathological moulds4 ,the naked shapes of beautiful women floating around ,st4 ,anthony in full display of their maddening charms are interpreted by the ,romanist ,church as a visible work of the devil4 ,an intelligent physician accounts for them by the laws of physiology1 the morbid action of morbid nerves4 ,there is no doubt whatever as to which of these explanations is correct4 ,the absolute prevalence of that explanation is merely a question of time4 ,meanwhile1 it is the part of every wise and devout man1 without bigotry1 without hatred for any1 with strict fidelity to his own convictions1 with entire tolerance and kindness for all who differ from him1 sacredly to seek after verity himself and earnestly to endeavor to impart it to others4 ,to such men forms of opinion1 instead of being prisons1 fetters1 and barriers1 will be but as tents of a night while they march through life1 the burning and cloudy column of inquiry their guide1 the eternal temple of truth their goal4 ,the actual relation1 the becoming attitude1 the appropriate feeling1 of man towards the future state1 the concealed segment of his destiny1 are impressively shown in the dying scene of one of the wisest and most gifted of men1 one of the fittest representatives of the modern mind4 ,in a good old age1 on a pleasant spring day1 with a vast expanse of experience behind him1 with an immensity of hope before him1 he lay calmly expiring4 ,more light6 he cried1 with departing breath2 and ,death1 solemn warder of eternity1 led him1 blinded1 before the immemorial veil of awe and secrets4 ,it uprolled as the flesh bandage fell from his spirit1 and he walked at large1 triumphant or appalled1 amidst the unimagined revelations of ,god4 ,and now1 recalling the varied studies we have passed through1 and seeking for the conclusion or root of the matter1 what shall we say8 ,this much we will say4 ,first1 the fearless ,christian1 fully acquainted with the results of a criticism unsparing as the requisitions of truth and candor1 can scarcely1 with intelligent honesty1 do more than place his hand on the beating of his heart1 and fix his eye on the riven tomb of ,jesus1 and exclaim1 ,feeling here the inspired promise of immortality1 and seeing there the sign of ,god's authentic seal1 ,i gratefully believe that ,christ has risen1 and that my soul is deathless6 ,secondly1 the trusting philosopher1 fairly weighing the history of the world's belief in a future life1 and the evidences on which it rests1 can scarcely1 with justifying warrant1 do less than lay his hand on his body1 and turn his gaze aloft1 and exclaim1 ,though death shatters this shell1 the soul may survive1 and ,i confidently hope to live forever4 ,meanwhile1 the believer and the speculator1 combining to form a ,christian philosophy wherein doubt and faith1 thought and freedom1 reason and sentiment1 nature and revelation1 all embrace1 even as the truth of things and the experience of life demand1 may both adopt for their own the expression wrought for himself by a pure and fervent poet in these freighted lines of pathetic beauty3 #cb ,genius of ,christianity1 part ii4 book vi4 ch4 vii4 ,i gather up the scattered rays ,of wisdom in the early days1 ,faint gleams and broken1 like the light ,of meteors in a ,northern night1 ,betraying to the darkling earth ,the unseen sun which gave them birth2 ,i listen to the sibyl's chant1 ,the voice of priest and hierophant2 ,i know what ,indian ,kreeshna saith1 ,and what of life and what of death ,the demon taught to ,socrates1 ,and what1 beneath his garden trees ,slow pacing1 with a dream like tread1 ,the solemn thoughted ,plato said2 ,nor ,lack ,i tokens1 great or small1 ,of ,god's clear light in each and all1 ,while holding with more dear regard ,than scroll of heathen seer and bard ,the starry pages1 promise lit1 ,with ,christ's evangel overwrit1 ,thy miracle of life and death1 ,o ,holy ,one of ,nazareth6 #cc #cc ,whittier1 ,questions of ,life4 ,,part ,,fifth4 ,,historical ,,and ,,critical ,,dissertations ,,concerning ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life ,,in ,,the ,,ancient ,,mysteries4 ,,the power of the old religions was for centuries concentrated in the ,mysteries4 ,these were recondite institutions1 sometimes wielded by the state1 sometimes by a priesthood1 sometimes by a ramifying private society4 ,none could be admitted into them save with the permission of the hierarchs1 by rites of initiation1 and under solemn seals of secrecy4 ,these mysterious institutions1 charged with strange attractions1 shrouded in awful wonder1 were numerous1 and1 agreeing in some of their fundamental features1 were spread nearly all over the world4 ,the writings of the ancients abound with references to them1 mostly eulogistic4 ,the mighty part played by these veiled bodies in the life of the periods when they flourished1 the pregnant hints and alluring obscurities amid which they stand in relation to the learning of modern times1 have repeatedly obtained wide attention1 elicited opposite opinions1 provoked fierce debates1 and led different inquirers to various conclusions as to their true origin1 character1 scope1 meaning1 and results4 ,one of the principal points in discussion by scholars concerning the ,mysteries has been whether they inculcated an esoteric doctrine of philosophy1 opposed to the popular religion4 ,some writers have maintained that in their symbols and rites was contained a pure system of monotheistic ethics and religion4 ,our own opinion is that in some of these institutions1 at one period1 higher theological views and scientific speculations were unfolded1 but in others never4 ,still1 it is extremely difficult to prove any thing on this part of the general subject3 there is much that is plausible to be said on both sides of the question4 ,another query to be noticed in passing is in regard to the degree of exclusiveness and concealment really attached to the form of initiation4 ,lobeck1 in his celebrated work1 ,aglaophamus1 borne away by a theory1 assumes the extravagant position that the ,eleusinian ,mysteries were almost freely open to all4#a ,his error seems to lie in not distinguishing sufficiently between the ,lesser and the ,greater ,mysteries1 and in not separating the noisy shows of the public festal days from the initiatory and explanatory rites of personal admission within the mystic pale4 ,the notorious #a ,lib4 i4 sects4 #d1 #e4 facts that strict inquiry was made into the character and fitness of the applicant before his admission1 and that many were openly rejected1 that instant death was inflicted on all who intruded unprepared within the sacred circuits1 and that death was the penalty of divulging what happened during the celebrations1 all are inconsistent with the notion of ,lobeck1 and prove that the ,mysteries were hedged about with dread4 ,aschylus narrowly escaped being torn in pieces upon the stage by the people on suspicion that in his play he had given a hint of something in the ,mysteries4 ,he delivered himself by appealing to the ,areopagus1 and proving that he had never been initiated4 ,andocides also1 a ,greek orator who lived about four hundred years before ,christ1 was somewhat similarly accused1 and only escaped by a strenuous defence of himself in an oration1 still extant1 entitled ,concerning the ,mysteries4 ,a third preliminary matter is as to the moral character of the services performed by these companies4 ,some held that their characteristics were divinely pure1 intellectual1 exalting2 others that in abandoned pleasures they were fouler than the ,stygian pit4 ,the ,church ,fathers1 ,clement1 ,irenaus1 ,tertullian1 and the rest1 influenced by a mixture of prejudice1 hatred1 and horror1 against every thing connected with paganism1 declared1 in round terms1 that the ,mysteries were unmitigated sinks of iniquity and shame1 lust1 murder1 and all promiscuous deviltry4 ,without pausing to except or qualify1 or to be thoroughly informed and just1 they included the ancient stern generations and their own degraded contemporaries1 the vile rites of the ,corinthian ,aphrodite and the solemn service of ,demeter1 the furious revels of the ,bacchanalians and the harmonious mental worship of ,apollo1 all in one indiscriminate charge of insane beastliness and idolatry4 ,their view of the ,mysteries has been most circulated among the moderns by ,leland's learned but bigoted work on the ,use and ,necessity of a ,divine ,revelation4 ,he would have us regard each one as a vortex of atheistic sensuality and crime4 ,there should be discrimination4 ,the facts are undoubtedly these1 as we might abundantly demonstrate were it in the province of the present essay4 ,the original ,mysteries1 the authoritative institutions co ordinated with the state or administered by the poets and philosophers1 were pure3 their purpose was to purify the lives and characters of their disciples4 ,their means were a complicated apparatus of sensible and symbolic revelations and instructions admirably calculated to impress the most salutary moral and religious lessons4 ,in the first place1 is it credible that the state would fling its auspices over societies whose function was to organize lawlessness and debauchery1 to make a business of vice and filth8 ,among the laws of ,solon is a regulation decreeing that the ,senate shall convene in the ,eleusinian temple1 the day after the festival1 to inquire whether every thing had been done with reverence and propriety4 ,secondly1 if such was the character of these secrets1 why was inquisition always made into the moral habits of the candidate1 that he might be refused admittance if they were bad8 ,this inquiry was severe1 and the decision unrelenting4 ,alcibiades was rejected1 as we learn from ,plutarch's life of him1 on account of his dissoluteness and insubordination in the city4 ,nero dared not attend the ,eleusinian ,mysteries1 because to the murder of his mother he had joined the slaughter of his paternal aunt4#b ,all accepted candidates were scrupulously purified in thought and body1 and clad in white robes1 for nine days previous to their reception4 ,thirdly1 it is intrinsically absurd to suppose that an institution of gross immorality and cruelty could have flourished in the most polite and refined ,greek nation1 as the ,eleusinian ,mysteries did for over eighteen hundred years1 ranking among its members a vast majority of both sexes1 of all classes1 of all ages1 and constantly celebrating its rites before immense audiences of them all4 ,finally1 a host of men like ,plato1 ,sophocles1 ,cimon1 ,lycurgus1 ,cicero1 were members of these bodies1 partook in their transactions1 and have left on record eulogies of them and of their influence4 ,the concurrent testimony of antiquity is that in the ,great ,mysteries the desires were chastened1 the heart purified1 the mind calmed1 the soul inspired1 all the virtues of morality and hopes of religion taught and enforced with sublime solemnities4 ,there is no just ground for suspecting this to be false4 ,but there remains something more and different to be said also4 ,while the authorized ,mysteries were what we have asserted1 there did afterwards arise spurious ,mysteries1 in names1 forms1 and pretensions partially resembling the genuine ones1 under the control of the most unprincipled persons1 and in which unquestionably the excesses of unbelief1 drunkenness1 and prostitution held riot4 ,these depraved societies were foreign grafts from the sensual pantheism ever nourished in the voluptuous climes of the remote ,east4 ,they established themselves late in ,greece1 but were developed at ,rome in such unbridled enormities as compelled the ,senate to suppress them4 ,livy gives a detailed and vivid account of the whole affair in his history4#c ,but the gladiators1 scoundrels1 rakes1 bawds1 who swarmed in these stews of rotting ,rome1 are hardly to be confounded with the noble men and matrons of the earlier time who openly joined in the pure ,mysteries with the approving example of the holiest bards1 the gravest statesmen1 and the profoundest sages1 men like ,pindar1 ,pericles1 and ,pythagoras4 ,ample facilities are afforded in the numerous works to which we shall refer for unmasking the different organizations that travelled over the earth in the guise of the ,mysteries1 and of seeing what deceptive arts were practised in some1 what superhuman terrors paraded in others1 what horrible cruelties perpetrated in others1 what leading objects sought in each4 ,the ,mysteries have many bearings on several distinct subjects2 but in those aspects we have not space here to examine them4 ,we purpose to consider them solely in their relation to the doctrine of a future life4 ,we are convinced that the very heart of their secret1 the essence of their meaning in their origin and their end1 was no other than the doctrine of an immortality succeeding a death4 ,gessner published a book at ,gottingen1 so long ago as the year #agee1 maintaining this very assertion4 ,his work1 which is quite scarce now1 bears the title ,dogma de perenni ,animoruin ,natura per ,sacra pracipue ,eleusinia ,propagata4 ,the consenting testimony of more than forty of the most authoritative ancient writers comes down to us in their surviving works to the effect that those who were admitted into the ,mysteries were thereby purified1 led to holy lives1 joined in communion with the gods1 and #b ,suetonius1 ,vita ,neronis1 cap4 xxxiv4 #c ,lib4 xxxix4 cap4 viii xvi4 assured of a better fate than otherwise could be expected in the future state4 ,two or three specimens from these witnesses will suffice4 ,aristophanes1 in the second act of the ,frogs1 describes an elysium of the initiates after death1 where he says they bound in sportive dances on rose enamelled meadows2 for the light is cheerful only to those who have been initiated4#d ,pausanias describes the uninitiated as being compelled in ,hades to carry water in buckets bored full of holes4#e ,isocrates says1 in his ,panegyric1 ,demeter1 the goddess of the ,eleusinian ,mysteries1 fortifies those who have been initiated against the fear of death1 and teaches them to have sweet hopes concerning eternity4 ,the old ,orphic verses cited by ,thomas ,taylor in his ,treatise on the ,mysteries run thus3 ,the soul that uninitiated dies ,plunged in the blackest mire in ,hades lies4 #f ,the same statement is likewise found in ,plato1 who1 in another place1 also explicitly declares that a doctrine of future retribution was taught in the ,mysteries and believed by the serious4#g ,cicero says1 ,initiation makes us both live more honorably and die with better hopes4 #h ,in seasons of imminent danger as in a shipwreck it was customary for a man to ask his companion1 ,hast thou been initiated8 ,the implication is that initiation removed fear of death by promising a happy life to follow4#i ,a fragment preserved from a very ancient author is plain on this subject4 ,the soul is affected in death just as it is in the initiation into the great ,mysteries3 thing answers to thing4 ,at first it passes through darkness1 horrors1 and toils4 ,then are disclosed a wondrous light1 pure places1 flowery meads1 replete with mystic sounds1 dances1 and sacred doctrines1 and holy visions4 ,then1 perfectly enlightened1 they are free3 crowned1 they walk about worshipping the gods and conversing with good men4#aj ,the principal part of the hymn to ,ceres1 attributed to ,homer1 is occupied with a narrative of her labors to endow the young ,demophoon1 mortal child of ,metaneira1 with immortality4 ,now1 ,ceres was the goddess of the ,mysteries2 and the last part of this very hymn recounts how ,persephone was snatched from the light of life into ,hades and restored again4 ,thus we see that the implications of the indirect evidence1 the leanings and guidings of all the incidental clews now left us to the real aim and purport of the ,mysteries1 combine to assure us that their chief teaching was a doctrine of a future life in which there should be rewards and punishments4 ,all this we shall more fully establish1 both by direct proofs and by collateral supports4 ,it is a well known fact1 intimately connected with the different religions of ,greece and ,asia ,minor1 that during the time of harvest in the autumn1 and again at the season of sowing in the spring1 the shepherds1 the vintagers1 and the people in general1 were accustomed to observe certain sacred festivals1 the autumnal sad1 the vernal joyous4 ,these undoubtedly grew out of the deep sympathy between man and nature over the decay and disappearance1 the revival and return1 of vegetation4 ,when the hot season had withered the verdure of the #d ,scene iii4 #e ,lib4 x4 cap4 xxxi4 #f ,phadon1 sect4 xxxviii4 #g ,leg41 lib4 ix4 cap4 x4 #h ,de ,leg41 lib4 ii4 cap4 xiv4 #i ,st4 ,john1 ,hellenes1 ch4 xi4 #aj ,sentences of ,stobaus1 ,sermo ,,cxix4 fields1 plaintive songs were sung1 their wild melancholy notes and snatches borne abroad by the breeze and their echoes dying at last in the distance4 ,in every instance1 these mournful strains were the annual lamentation of the people over the death of some mythical boy of extraordinary beauty and promise1 who1 in the flower of youth1 was suddenly drowned1 or torn in pieces by wild beasts1 ,some ,hyacinthine boy1 for whom ,morn well might break and ,april bloom4 ,among the ,argives it was ,linus4 ,with the ,arcadians it was ,scephrus4 ,in ,phrygia it was ,lityerses4 ,on the shore of the ,black ,sea it was ,bormus4 ,in the country of the ,bithynians it was ,hylas4 ,at ,pelusium it was ,maneros4 ,and in ,syria it was ,adonis4 ,the untimely death of these beautiful boys1 carried off in their morning of life1 was yearly bewailed1 their names re echoing over the plains1 the fountains1 and among the hills4 ,it is obvious that these cannot have been real persons whose death excited a sympathy so general1 so recurrent4 ,the real object of lamentation1 says ,muller1 was the tender beauty of spring destroyed by the raging heat1 and other similar phenomena1 which the imagination of those early times invested with a personal form4#aa ,all this was woven into the ,mysteries1 whose great legend and drama were that every autumn ,persephone was carried down to the dark realm of the ,king of ,shadows1 but that she was to return each spring to her mother's arms4 ,thus were described the withdrawal and reappearance of vegetable life in the alternations of the seasons4 ,but these changes of nature typified the changes in the human lot2 else ,persephone would have been merely a symbol of the buried grain and would not have become the ,queen of the ,dead4#ab ,her return to the world of light1 by natural analogy1 denoted a new birth to men4 ,accordingly1 all the testimony of antiquity concurs in saying that these ,mysteries inspired the most animating hopes with regard to the condition of the soul after death4#ac ,that the fate of man should by imagination and sentiment have been so connected with the phenomena of nature in myths and symbols embodied in pathetic religious ceremonies was a spontaneous product4 ,for how ,her fresh benignant look ,nature changes at that lorn season when1 ,with tresses drooping o'er her sable stole1 ,she yearly mourns the mortal doom of man1 ,her noblest work6 ,so ,israel's virgins erst ,with annual moan upon the mountains wept ,their fairest gone6 ,and soon again the birds begin to warble1 the leaves and blossoms put forth1 and all is new life once more4 ,in every age the gentle heart and meditative mind have been impressed by the mournful correspondence and the animating prophecy4 #aa ,history of the ,literature of ,ancient ,greece1 ch4 iii4 sects4 #b #c4 #ab ,for the connection of the ,eleusinian goddesses with agriculture1 the seasons1 the under world1 death1 resurrection1 etc41 see ,demeter and ,persephone1 von ,dr4 ,ludwig ,preller1 kap4 i4 sects4 #i #aa4 #ac ,muller1 ,hist4 ,gr4 ,lit41 ch4 xvi4 sect4 #b4 ,but not only was the changing recurrence of dreary winter and gladsome summer joined by affecting analogies with the human doom of death and hope of another life4 ,the phenomena of the skies1 the impressive succession of day and night1 also were early seized upon and made to blend their shadows and lights1 by means of imaginative suggestions1 into an image of the decease and resurrection of man4 ,among the ,mystical ,hymns of ,orpheus1 so called1 there is a hymn to ,adonis1 in which that personage is identified with the sun alternately sinking to ,tartarus and soaring to heaven4 ,it was customary with the ancients to speak of the setting of a constellation as its death1 its reascension in the horizon being its return to life4#ad ,the black abysm under the earth was the realm of the dead4 ,the bright expanse above the earth was the realm of the living4 ,while the daily sun rises royally through the latter1 all things rejoice in the warmth and splendor of his smile4 ,when he sinks nightly1 shorn of his ambrosial beams1 into the former1 sky and earth wrap themselves in mourning for their departed monarch1 the dead god of light muffled in his bier and borne along the darkening heavens to his burial4 ,how naturally the phenomena of human fate would be symbolically interwoven with all this6 ,especially alike are the exuberant joy and activity of full life and of day1 the melancholy stillness and sad repose of midnight and of death4 ,the sun insists on gladness2 but at night1 ,when he is gone1 poor ,nature loves to weep4 ,through her yearly and her diurnal round alike1 therefore1 does mother ,nature sympathize with man1 and picture forth his fate1 in type of autumnal decay1 and wintry darkness1 and night buried seed1 in sign of vernal bud1 and summer light1 and day bursting fruit4 ,these facts and phenomena of nature and man1 together with explanatory theories to which they gave rise1 were1 by the peculiar imaginative processes so powerfully operative among the earliest nations1 personified in mythic beings and set forth as literal history4 ,their doctrine was inculcated as truth once historically exemplified by some traditional personage4 ,it was dramatically impersonated and enacted in the process of initiation into the ,mysteries4 ,a striking instance of this kind of theatrical representation is afforded by the celebration1 every eight years1 of the mythus of ,apollo's fight with the ,pythian dragon1 his flight and expiatory service to ,admetus1 the subterranean king of the dead4 ,in mimic order1 a boy slew a monster at ,delphi1 ran along the road to ,tempe1 represented on the way the bondage of the god in ,hades1 and returned1 purified1 bringing a branch of laurel from the sacred valley4#ae ,the doctrine of a future life connected with the legend of some hero who had died1 descended into the under world1 and again risen to life1 this doctrine1 dramatically represented in the personal experience of the initiate1 was the heart of every one of the secret religious societies of antiquity4 ,here rests the secret1 here the keys1 ,of the old death bolted ,mysteries4 #ad ,leitch's ,eng4 trans4 of ,k4 ,o4 ,muller's ,introduction to a ,scientific ,system of ,mythology1 ,appendix1 pp4 #cci-cdb4 #ae ,muller1 ,introduction to ,mythology1 pp4 #ig and #bda4 ,also his ,dorian1 lib4 ii4 cap4 vii4 sect4 #h4 ,perhaps this great system of esoteric rites and instructions grew up naturally1 little by little4 ,perhaps it was constructed at once1 either as poetry1 by a company of poets1 or as a theology1 by a society of priests1 or as a fair method of moral and religious teaching1 by a company of philosophers4 ,or perhaps it was gradually formed by a mixture of all these means and motives4 ,many have regarded it as the bedimmed relic of a brilliant primeval revelation4 ,this question of the origination1 the first causes and purposes1 of the ,mysteries is now sunk in hopeless obscurity1 even were it of any importance to be known4 ,one thing we know1 namely1 that at an early age these societies formed organizations of formidable extent and power1 and were vitally connected with the prevailing religions of the principal nations of the earth4 ,in ,egypt the legend of initiation was this4#af ,typhon1 a wicked1 destroying personage1 once formed a conspiracy against his brother1 the good king ,osiris4 ,having prepared a costly chest1 inlaid with gold1 he offered to give it to any one whose body would fit it4 ,osiris unsuspiciously lay down in it4 ,typhon instantly fastened the cover and threw the fatal chest into the river4 ,this was called the loss or burial of ,osiris1 and was annually celebrated with all sorts of melancholy rites4 ,but the winds and waves drove the funereal vessel ashore1 where ,isis1 the inconsolable wife of ,osiris1 wandering in search of her husband's remains1 at last found it1 and restored the corpse to life4 ,this part of the drama was called the discovery or resurrection of ,osiris1 and was also enacted yearly1 but with every manifestation of excessive joy4 ,in the losing of ,osiris1 and then in the finding him again1 ,augustine writes1 first their lamentation1 then their extravagant delight1 are a mere play and fiction2 yet the fond people1 though they neither lose nor find any thing1 weep and rejoice truly4#ag ,plutarch speaks of the death1 regeneration1 and resurrection of ,osiris represented in the great religious festivals of ,egypt4 ,he explains the rites in commemoration of ,typhon's murder of ,osiris as symbols referring to four things1 the subsidence of the ,nile into his channel1 the cessation of the delicious ,etesian winds before the hot blasts of the ,south1 the encroachment of the lengthening night on the shortening day1 the disappearance of the bloom of summer before the barrenness of winter4#ah ,but the real interest and power of the whole subject probably lay in the direct relation of all these phenomena1 traditions1 and ceremonies to the doctrine of death and a future life for man4 ,in the ,mithraic ,mysteries of ,persia1 the legend1 ritual1 and doctrine were virtually the same as the foregoing4 ,they are credulously said to have been established by ,zoroaster himself1 who fitted up a vast grotto in the mountains of ,bokhara1 where thousands thronged to be initiated by him4#ai ,this ,mithraic cave was an emblem of the universe1 its roof painted with the constellations of the zodiac1 its depths full of the black and fiery terrors of grisly hell1 its summit illuminated with the blue and starry splendors of heaven1 its passages lined with dangers and instructions1 now quaking with infernal shrieks1 now breathing celestial music4 ,in the ,persian ,mysteries1 the initiate1 in dramatic show1 died1 was laid in a coffin1 and #af ,wilkinson1 ,egyptian ,antiquities1 series i4 vol4 i4 ch4 #c4 #ag ,de ,civitate ,dei1 lib4 vi4 cap4 #aj4 #ah ,de ,is4 et ,osir4 #ai ,porphyry1 ,de ,antro ,nympharum4 ,tertullian1 ,prescript4 ad ,her41 cap4 xl41 where he refers the mimic death and resurrection in the ,mithraic ,mysteries to the teaching of ,satan4 afterwards rose unto a new life1 all of which was a type of the natural fate of man4#bj ,the descent of the soul from heaven and its return thither were denoted by a torch borne alternately reversed and upright1 and by the descriptions of the passage of spirits1 in the round of the metempsychosis1 through the planetary gates of the zodiac4 ,the sun and moon and the morning and evening star were depicted in brilliant gold or blackly muffled1 according to their journeying in the upper or in the lower hemisphere4#ba ,the hero of the ,syrian ,mysteries was ,adonis or ,thammuz1 the beautiful favorite of ,aphrodite1 untimely slain by a wild boar4 ,his death was sadly1 his resurrection joyously1 celebrated every year at ,byblus with great pomp and universal interest4 ,the festival lasted two days4 ,on the first1 all things were clad in mourning1 sorrow was depicted in every face1 and wails and weeping resounded4 ,coffins were exposed at every door and borne in numerous processions4 ,frail stalks of young corn and flowers were thrown into the river to perish1 as types of the premature death of blooming ,adonis1 cut off like a plant in the bud of his age4#bb ,the second day the whole aspect of things was changed1 and the greatest exultation prevailed1 because it was said ,adonis had returned from the dead4#bc ,venus1 having found him dead1 deposited his body on a bed of lettuce and mourned bitterly over him4 ,from his blood sprang the adonium1 from her tears the anemone4#bd ,the ,jews were captivated by the religious rites connected with this touching myth1 and even enacted them in the gates of their holy temple4 ,ezekiel says1 ,behold1 at the gate of the ,lord's house which was towards the north the direction of night and winter there sat women weeping for ,tammuz4 ,it was said that ,aphrodite prevailed on ,persephone to let ,adonis dwell one half the year with her on earth1 and only the rest among the shades1 a plain reference to vegetable life in summer and winter4#be ,lucian1 in his little treatise on the ,syrian ,goddess1 says that the river ,adonis1 rising out of ,mount ,libanus1 at certain seasons flows red in its channel3 some say it is miraculously stained by the blood of the fresh wounded youth2 others say that the spring rains1 washing in a red ore from the soil of the country1 discolor the stream4 ,dupuis remarks that this redness was probably an artifice of the priests4#bf ,milton's beautiful allusion to this fable is familiar to most persons4 ,next came he ,whose annual wound in ,lebanon allured ,the ,syrian damsels to lament his fate ,in amorous ditties all a summer's day1 ,while smooth ,adonis from his native rock ,ran purple to the sea with ,thammuz' blood4 #bj ,julius ,firmicus1 ,de ,errore ,prof4 ,relig4 #ba ,mithraica1 ,memoire ,academique sur le ,culte ,solaire de ,mithra1 par ,joseph de ,hammer1 pp3 #ff-fh1 #abe-abg4 ,tertullian1 ,prescript4 ad ,her41 cap4 xl4 ,porphyry1 ,de ,abstinentia1 lib4 iv4 sect4 #af4 ,hyde4 ,hist4 ,vet4 ,pers4 ,relig41 p4 #bed4 #bb ,hist4 du ,culte d',adonis1 ,mem4 ,acad4 des ,inscript41 vol4 iv4 p4 #acf4 #bc ,theocritus1 ,idyl ,,xv4 #bd ,bion1 ,epitaph ,adon41 l4 #ff4 #be ,see references in ,anthon's ,class4 ,dict41 art4 ,adonis4 #bf ,dupuis1 ,orig4 de ,cultes1 vol4 iv4 p4 #aba1 ed4 #ahbb4 ,there is no end to the discussions concerning the secret purport of this fascinating story4 ,but1 after all is said1 it seems to us that there are in it essentially two significations1 one relating to the phenomena of the sun and the earth1 the other to the mutual changes of nature and the fate of humanity4 ,aphrodite bewailing ,adonis is surviving ,nature mourning for departed ,man4 ,in ,india the story was told of ,mahadeva searching for his lost consort ,sita1 and1 after discovering her lifeless form1 bearing it around the world with dismal lamentations4 ,sometimes it was the death of ,camadeva1 the ,hindu ,cupid1 that was mourned with solemn dirges4#bg ,he1 like ,osiris1 was slain1 enclosed in a chest1 and committed to the waves4 ,he was afterwards recovered and resuscitated4 ,each initiate passed through the emblematic ceremonies corresponding to the points of this pretended history4 ,the ,phrygians associated the same great doctrine with the persons of ,atys and ,cybele4 ,atys was a lovely shepherd youth passionately loved by the mother of the gods4#bh ,he suddenly died2 and she1 in frantic grief1 wandered over the earth in search of him1 teaching the people where she went the arts of agriculture4 ,he was at length restored to her4 ,annually the whole drama was performed by the assembled nation with sobs of woe succeeded by ecstasies of joy4#bi ,similar to this1 in the essential features1 was the ,eleusinian myth4 ,aidoneus snatched the maiden ,kore down to his gloomy empire4 ,her mother1 ,demeter1 set off in search of her1 scattering the blessings of agriculture1 and finally discovered her1 and obtained the promise of her society for half of every year4 ,these adventures were dramatized and explained in the mysteries which she1 according to tradition1 instituted at ,eleusis4 ,the form of the legend was somewhat differently incorporated with the ,bacchic ,mysteries4 ,it was elaborately wrought up by the ,orphic poets4 ,the distinctive name they gave to ,bacchus or ,dionysus was ,zagreus4 ,he was the son of ,zeus1 and was chosen by him to sit on the throne of heaven4 ,zeus gave him ,apollo and the ,curetes as guards2 but the brutal ,titans1 instigated by jealous ,hera1 disguised themselves and fell on the unfortunate youth while his attention was fixed on a splendid mirror1 and1 after a fearful conflict1 overcame him and tore him into seven pieces4 ,pallas1 however1 saved his palpitating heart1 and ,zeus swallowed it4 ,zagreus was then begotten again4#cj ,he was destined to restore the golden age4 ,his devotees looked to him for the liberation of their souls through the purifying rites of his ,mysteries4 ,the initiation shadowed out an esoteric doctrine of death and a future life1 in the mock murder and new birth of the aspirant1 who impersonated ,zagreus4#ca ,the ,northmen constructed the same drama of death around the young ,balder1 their god of gentleness and beauty4 ,this legend1 as ,dr4 ,oliver has shown1 constituted the secret of the ,gothic ,mysteries4#cb ,obscure and dread prophecies having crept among the gods that the death of the beloved ,balder was at hand1 portending universal ruin1 a consultation was held to devise means for averting the calamity4 ,at the suggestion of ,balder's mother1 ,freya1 the ,scandinavian ,venus1 an oath that they would not be instrumental in causing his death was #bg ,asiatic ,researches1 vol4 iii4 p4 #ahg4 #bh ,see article ,atys in ,smith's ,class4 ,dict4 with references4 #bi ,lucretius1 ,de ,rerum ,natura1 lib4 ii4 #aa4 #fje-fee4 #cj ,muller1 ,hist4 ,greek ,lit41 ch4 xvi4 #ca ,lobeck1 ,aglaophamus1 lib4 iii4 cap4 #e1 sect4 #ac4 #cb ,history of ,initiation1 ,lect4 ,x4 exacted from all things in nature except the mistletoe1 which1 on account of its frailty and insignificance1 was scornfully neglected4 ,asa ,loke1 the evil principle of the ,norse faith1 taking advantage of this fatal exception1 had a spear made of mistletoe1 and with it armed ,hodur1 a strong but blind god4 ,freya1 rejoicing in fancied security1 to convince ,balder of his charmed exemption from wounds1 persuaded him to be the mark for the weapons of the gods4 ,but1 alas6 when ,hodur tilted at him1 the devoted victim was transpierced and fell lifeless to the ground4 ,darkness settled over the world1 and bitter was the grief of men and gods over the innocent and lovely ,balder4 ,a deputation imploring his release was sent to the queen of the dead4 ,hela so far relented as to promise his liberation to the upper world on condition that every thing on earth wept for him4 ,straightway there was a universal mourning4 ,men1 beasts1 trees1 metals1 stones1 wept4 ,but an old withered giantess ,asa ,loke in disguise shed no tears2 and so ,hela kept her beauteous and lamented prey4 ,but he is to rise again to eternal life and joy when the twilight of the gods has passed4#cc ,this entire fable has been explained by the commentators1 in all its details1 as a poetic embodiment of the natural phenomena of the seasons4 ,but it is not improbable that1 in addition1 it bore a profound doctrinal reference to the fate of man which was interpreted to the initiates4 ,a great deal has been written concerning the ceremonies and meaning of the celebrated ,celtic ,mysteries established so long at ,samothrace1 and under the administration of the ,druids throughout ancient ,gaul and ,britain4 ,the aspirant was led through a series of scenic representations1 without the aid of words1 mystically shadowing forth in symbolic forms the doctrine of the transmigration of souls4 ,he assumed successively the shapes of a rabbit1 a hen1 a grain of wheat1 a horse1 a tree1 and so on through a wide range of metamorphoses enacted by the aid of secret dramatic machinery4 ,he died1 was buried1 was born anew1 rising from his dark confinement to life again4 ,the hierophant enclosed him in a little boat and set him adrift1 pointing him to a distant rock1 which he calls the harbor of life4 ,across the black and stormy waters he strives to gain the beaconing refuge4 ,in these scenes and rites a recondite doctrine of the physical and moral relations and destiny of man was shrouded1 to be unveiled by degrees to their docile disciples by the ,druidic mystagogues4#cd ,it may appear strange that there should be in connection with so many of the old religions of the earth these arcana only to be approached by secret initiation at the hands of hierophants4 ,but it will seem natural when we remember that those religions were in the exclusive keeping of priesthoods1 which1 organized with wondrous cunning and perpetuated through ages1 absorbed the science1 art1 and philosophy of the world1 and1 concealing their wisdom in the mystic signs of an esoteric language1 wielded the mighty enginery of superstition over the people at will4 ,the scenes and instructions through which the priests led the unenlightened candidate were the hiding of their power4 ,thus1 wherever was a priesthood we should expect to find mysteries and initiations4 ,historic fact justifies the #cc ,pigott1 ,manual of ,scandinavian ,mythology1 pp4 #bhh-cjj4 #cd ,davies1 ,mythology and ,rites of the ,british ,druids1 pp4 #bjg-beg2 #cij-cib2 #dbj1 #eee1 #egb4 ,the accuracy of many of ,davies's translations has been called in question4 ,his statements1 even on the matters affirmed above1 must be received with some reservation of faith4 supposition2 learning unveils the obscure places of antiquity1 and shows us the templed or cavernous rites of the religious world1 from ,hindostan to ,gaul1 from ,egypt to ,norway1 from ,athens to ,mexico4 ,and this brings us to the ,mysteries of ,vitzliputzli1 established in ,south ,america4 ,dr4 ,oliver1 in the twelfth lecture of his ,history of ,initiation1 gathering his materials from various sources1 gives a terrific account of the dramatic ritual here employed4 ,the walls1 floor1 images1 were smeared and caked with human blood4 ,fresh slaughters of victims were perpetrated at frequent intervals4 ,the candidate descended to the grim caverns excavated under the foundations of the temple4 ,this course was denominated the path of the dead4 ,phantoms flitted before him1 shrieks appalled him1 pitfalls and sacrificial knives threatened him4 ,at last1 after many frightful adventures1 the aspirant arrived at a narrow stone fissure terminating the range of caverns1 through which he was thrust1 and was received in the open air1 as a person born again1 and welcomed with frantic shouts by the multitudes who had been waiting for him without during the process of his initiation4 ,even among the savage tribes of ,north ,america striking traces have been found of an initiation into a secret society by a mystic death and resurrection4 ,captain ,jonathan ,carver1 who spent the winter of #aggf with the ,naudowessie ,indians1 was an eye witness of the admission of a young brave into a body which they entitled ,wakou ,kitchewah1 or ,friendly ,society of the ,spirit4 ,this singular initiation1 he says1 took place within a railed enclosure in the centre of the camp at the time of the new moon4 ,first came the chiefs1 clad in trailing furs4 ,then came the members of the society1 dressed and painted in the gayest manner4 ,when all were seated1 one of the principal chiefs arose1 and1 leading the young man forward1 informed the meeting of his desire to be admitted into their circle4 ,no objection being offered1 the various preliminary arrangements were made2 after which the director began to speak to the kneeling candidate1 telling him that he was about to receive a communication of the spirit4 ,this spirit would instantly strike him dead2 but he was told not to be terrified1 because he should immediately be restored to life again1 and this experience was a necessary introduction to the advantages of the community he was on the point of entering4 ,then violent agitation distorted the face and convulsed the frame of the old chief4 ,he threw something looking like a small bean at the young man4 ,it entered his mouth1 and he fell lifeless as suddenly as if he had been shot4 ,several assistants received him1 rubbed his limbs1 beat his back1 stripped him of his garments and put a new dress on him1 and finally presented him to the society in full consciousness as a member4#cf ,all the ,mysteries were funereal4 ,this is the most striking single phenomenon connected with them4 ,they invariably began in darkness with groans and tears1 but as invariably ended in festive triumph with shouts and smiles4 ,in them all were a symbolic death1 a mournful entombment1 and a glad resurrection4 ,we know this from the abundant direct testimony of unimpeachable ancient writers1 and also from their indirect descriptions of the ceremonies and allusions to them4 ,for example1 ,apuleius says1 ,the delivery of the ,mysteries is celebrated as a thing resembling a voluntary death3 the initiate1 being1 after a manner1 born #cf ,travels in the ,interior of ,north ,america1 ch4 vii4 again1 is restored to a new life4 #cf ,indeed1 all who describe the course of initiation agree in declaring that the aspirant was buried for a time within some narrow space1 a typical coffin or grave4 ,this testimony is confirmed by the evidence of the ruins of the chief temples and sacred places of the pagan world4 ,these abound with spacious caverns1 labyrinthine passages1 and curious recesses2 and in connection with them is always found some excavation evidently fitted to enclose a human form4 ,such hollow beds1 covered with flat stones easily removed1 are still to be seen amidst the ,druidic remains of ,britain and ,gaul1 as well as in nearly every spot where tradition has located the celebration of the ,mysteries1 in ,greece1 ,india1 ,persia1 ,egypt4#cg ,it becomes a most interesting question whence these symbols and rites had their origin1 and what they were really meant to shadow forth4 ,bryant1 ,davies1 ,faber1 ,oliver1 and several other well known mythologists1 have labored1 with no slight learning and ingenuity1 to show that all these ceremonies sprang from traditions of the ,deluge and of ,noah's adventures at that time4 ,the mystic death1 burial1 and resurrection of the initiate1 they say1 are a representation of the entrance of the patriarch into the ark1 his dark and lonesome sojourn in it1 and his final departure out of it4 ,the melancholy wailings with which the ,mysteries invariably began1 typified the mourning of the patriarchal family over their confinement within the gloomy and sepulchral ark2 the triumphant rejoicings with which the initiations always ended1 referred to the glad exit of the patriarchal family from their floating prison into the blooming world4 ,the advocates of this theory have laboriously collected all the materials that favor it1 and skilfully striven by their means to elucidate the whole subject of ancient paganism1 especially of the ,mysteries4 ,but1 after reading all that they have written1 and considering it in the light of impartial researches1 one is constrained to say that they have by no means made out their case4 ,it is somewhat doubtful if there be any ground whatever for believing that traditions concerning ,noah's deluge and the ark1 and his doings in connection with them1 in any way entered into the public doctrines and forms1 or into the secret initiations1 of the heathen religions4 ,at all events1 there can be no doubt that the ,arkite theorists have exaggerated the importance and extent of these views beyond all tolerable bounds1 and even to absurdity4 ,but our business with them now is only so far as they relate to the ,mysteries4 ,our own conviction is that the real meaning of the rites in the ,mysteries was based upon the affecting phenomena of human life and death and the hope of another life4 ,we hold the ,arkite theory to be arbitrary in general1 unsupported by proofs1 and inconsistent in detail1 unable to meet the points presented4 ,in the first place1 a fundamental part of the ancient belief was that below the surface of the earth was a vast1 sombre under world1 the destination of the ghosts of men1 the ,greek ,hades1 the ,roman ,orcus1 the ,gothic ,hell4 ,a part of the service of initiation was a symbolic descent into this realm4 ,apuleius1 describing his initiation1 says1 ,i approached to the confines #cf ,golden ,ass1 ,eng4 trans41 by ,thomas ,taylor1 p4 #bhj4 #cg ,copious instances are given in ,oliver's ,history of ,initiation1 in ,faber's ,origin of ,pagan ,idolatry1 and in ,maurice's ,indian ,antiquities4 of death and trod on the threshold of ,proserpine4 #ch ,orpheus1 to whom the introduction of the ,mysteries into ,greece from the ,east was ascribed1 wrote a poem1 now lost1 called the ,descent into ,hades4 ,such a descent was attributed to ,hercules1 ,theseus1 ,rhampsinitus1 and many others4#ci ,it is painted in detail by ,homer in the adventure of his hero ,ulysses1 also by ,virgil much more minutely through the journey of ,aneas4 ,warburton labors with great learning and plausibility1 and1 as it seems to us1 with irresistible cogency1 to show that these descents are no more nor less than exoteric accounts of what was dramatically enacted in the esoteric recesses of the ,mysteries4#dj ,any person must be invincibly prejudiced who can doubt that the ,greek ,hades meant a capacious subterranean world of shades4 ,now1 to assert1 as ,bryant and his disciples do1#da that ,hades means the interior of ,noah's ark1 or the abyss of waters on which the ark floated1 as a coffin bearing the relics of dead ,nature1 is a purely arbitrary step taken from undue attachment to a mere theory4 ,hades means the under world of the dead1 and not the interior of ,noah's ark4 ,indeed1 in the second place1 ,faber admits that in the ,mysteries the ark itself was supposed to be in ,hades1 the vast central abyss of the earth4 ,but such was not the location of ,noah's vessel and voyage4 ,they were on the face of the flood1 above the tops of the mountains4 ,it is beyond comparison the most reasonable supposition in itself1 and the one best supported by historic facts1 that the representations of a mystic burial and voyage in a ship or boat shown in the ancient religions were symbolic rites drawn from imagination and theory as applied to the impressive phenomena of nature and the lot of man4 ,the ,egyptians and some other early nations1 we know1 figured the starry worlds in the sky as ships sailing over a celestial sea4 ,the earth itself was sometimes emblematized in the same way4 ,then1 too1 there was the sepulchral barge in which the ,egyptian corpses were borne over the ,acherusian lake to be entombed4 ,also the dark blue punt in which ,charon ferried souls across the river of death4 ,in these surely there was no reference to ,noah's ark4 ,it seems altogether likely that what ,bryant and his coadjutors have constructed into the ,arkite system of interpretation was really but an emblematic showing forth of a natural doctrine of human life and death and future fate4 ,a wavering boat floating on the deep might1 with striking fitness1 typify the frail condition of humanity in life1 as when ,hercules is depicted sailing over the ocean in a golden cup2 and that boat1 safely riding the flood1 might also represent the cheerful faith of the initiate in a future life1 bearing him fearlessly through all dangers and through death to the welcoming society of ,elysium1 as when ,danae and her babe1 tossed over the tempestuous sea in a fragile chest1 were securely wafted to the sheltering shore of ,seriphus4 ,no emblem of our human state and lot1 with their mysteries1 perils1 threats1 and promises1 could be either more natural or more impressive than that of a vessel launched on the deep4 ,the dying ,socrates said that he should trust his soul on the hope of a future life as upon a raft1 and launch away into the unknown4 ,thus the imagination broods over and explores the shows and secrets1 presageful warnings and alluring #ch ,golden ,ass1 ,taylor's trans41 p4 #bhc4 #ci ,herodotus1 lib4 il4 cap4 cxxii4 #dj ,divine ,legation of ,moses1 book ii4 sect4 iv4 #da ,faber1 ,mysteries of the ,cabiri1 ch4 v43 ,on the ,connection of the ,fabulous ,hades with the ,mysteries4 invitations1 storms and calms1 island homes and unknown havens1 of the dim seas of nature and of man1 of time and of eternity4#db ,thirdly1 the defenders of the ,arkite theory are driven into gross inconsistencies with themselves by the falsity of their views4 ,the dilaceration of ,zagreus into fragments1 the mangling of ,osiris and scattering of his limbs abroad1 they say1 refer to the throwing open of the ark and the going forth of the inmates to populate the earth4 ,they usually make ,osiris1 ,zagreus1 ,adonis1 and the other heroes of the legends enacted in the ,mysteries1 representatives of the diluvian patriarch himself2 but here1 with no reason whatever save the exigencies of their theory1 they make these mythic personages representatives of the ark1 a view which is utterly unfounded and glaringly wanting in analogy4 ,when ,zagreus is torn in pieces1 his heart is preserved alive by ,zeus and born again into the world within a human form4 ,after the body of ,osiris had been strewn piecemeal1 the fragments were fondly gathered by ,isis1 and he was restored to life4 ,there is no plausible correspondence between these cases and the sending out from the ark of the patriarchal family to repeople the world4 ,their real purpose would seem plainly to be to symbolize the thought that1 however the body of man crumbles in pieces1 there is life for him still1 he does not hopelessly die4 ,they likewise say that the egg which was consecrated in the ,mysteries1 at the beginning of the rites1 was intended as an emblem of the ark resting on the abyss of waters1 and that its latent hatching was meant to suggest the opening of the ark to let the imprisoned patriarch forth4 ,this hypothesis has no proof1 and is needless4 ,it is much more plausible to suppose that the egg was meant as a symbol of a new life about to burst upon the candidate1 a symbol of his resurrection from the mystic tomb wherein he was buried during one stage of initiation2 for we know that the initiation was often regarded as the commencement of a fresh life1 as a new birth4 ,apuleius says1 ,i celebrated the most joyful day of my initiation as my natal day4 ,faber argues1 from the very close similarity of all the differently named ,mysteries1 that they were all ,arkite1 all derived from one mass of traditions reaching from ,noah and embodying his history4#dc ,the asserted fact of general resemblance among the instituted ,mysteries is unquestionable2 but the inference above drawn from it is unwarrantable1 even if no better explanation could be offered4 ,but there is another explanation ready1 more natural in conception1 more consistent in detail1 and better sustained by evidence4 ,the various ,mysteries celebrated in the ancient nations were so much alike not because they were all founded on one world wide tradition about the ,noachian deluge1 but because they all grew out of the great common facts of human destiny in connection with natural phenomena4 ,the ,mysteries were funereal and festive1 began in sorrow and ended in joy1 not because they represented first ,noah's sad entrance into the ark and then his glad exit from it1 but because they began with showing the initiate that he must die1 and ended with showing him that he should live again in a happier state4 ,even the most prejudiced advocates of the ,arkite theory #db ,procopius1 in his ,history of the ,gothic ,war1 mentions a curious popular ,british superstition concerning the ferriage of souls among the neighboring islands at midnight4 ,see ,grimm's ,deutsche ,mythologie1 kap4 xxvi4 zweite ausgabe4 #dc ,mysteries of the ,cabiri1 ch4 #aj3 ,comparison of the ,various ,mysteries4 are forced to admit1 on the explicit testimony of the ancients1 that the initiates passed from the darkness and horrors of ,tartarus to the bliss and splendors of ,elysium by a dramatic resurrection from burial in the black caverns of probation to admission within the illuminated hall or dome of perfection4#dd ,that the idea of death and of another life runs through all the ,mysteries as their cardinal tenet is well shown in connection with the rites of the celebrated ,cave of ,trophonius at ,lebadea in ,boeotia4 ,whoso sought this oracle must descend head foremost over an inclined plane1 bearing a honey cake in his hand4 ,aristophanes speaks of this descent with a shudder of fear4#de ,the adventurer was suddenly bereft of his senses1 and after a while returned to the upper air4 ,what he could then remember composed the ,divine revelation which had been communicated to him in his unnatural state below4 ,plutarch has given a full account of this experience from one ,timarchus1 who had himself passed through it4#df ,the substance of it is this4 ,when ,timarchus reached the bottom of the cave1 his soul passed from his body1 visited the under world of the departed1 saw the sphere of generation where souls were reborn into the upper world1 received some explanation of all these things3 then1 returning into the body1 he was taken up out of the cave4 ,here is no allusion to any traditions of the ,deluge or the ark2 but the great purpose is evidently a doctrine of the destiny of man after death4 ,before the eyes and upon the heart of all mankind in every age has passed in common vision the revolution of the seasons1 with its beautiful and sombre changes1 phenomena having a power of suggestion irresistible to stir some of the most profound sentiments of the human breast4 ,the day rolls overhead full of light and life and activity2 then the night settles upon the scene with silent gloom and repose4 ,so man runs his busy round of toil and pleasure through the day of existence2 then1 fading1 following the sinking sun1 he goes down in death's night to the pallid populations of shade4 ,again3 the fruitful bloom of summer is succeeded by the bleak nakedness of winter4 ,so the streams of enterprise and joy that flowed full and free along their banks in maturity1 overhung by blossoming trees1 are shrivelled and frozen in the channels of age1 and above their sepulchral beds the leafless branches creak in answer to the shrieks of the funereal blast4 ,the flush of childish gayety1 the bloom of youthful promise1 when a new comer is growing up sporting about the hearth of home1 are like the approach of the maiden and starry ,spring1 ,who comes sublime1 as when1 from ,pluto free1 ,came1 through the flash of ,zeus1 ,persephone4 ,and then draw hastily on the long1 lamenting autumnal days1 when ,above man's grave the sad winds wail and rain drops fall1 ,and ,nature sheds her leaves in yearly funeral4 #dd ,faber1 ,mysteries of the ,cabiri1 ch4 #aj1 pp4 #cca-cef4 ,dion ,chrysostom describes this scene3 ,oration ,,xii4 #de ,the ,clouds1 #a4 #ejg4 #df ,essay on the ,demon of ,socrates4 ,see also ,pansanias1 lib4 ix4 cap4 xxxix4 ,the flowers are gone1 the birds are gone1 the gentle breezes are gone2 and man too must go1 go mingle with the pale people of dreams4 ,but not wholly and forever shall he die4 ,the sun soars into new day from the embrace of night2 summer restored hastens on the heels of retreating winter2 vegetation but retires and surely returns1 and the familiar song of the birds shall sweeten the renewing woods afresh for a million springs4 ,apollo weeping over the beauteous and darling boy1 his slain and drooped ,hyacinthus1 is the sun shorn of his fierce beams and mourning over the annual wintry desolation3 it is also ,nature bewailing the remediless loss of man1 her favorite companion4 ,it was these general analogies and suggestions1 striking the imagination1 affecting the heart1 enlisting the reason1 wrought out1 personified1 and dramatized by poets1 taken up with a mass of other associated matter by priestly societies and organized in a scheme of legendary doctrine and an imposing ritual1 that constituted the basis and the central meaning of the old ,mysteries2 and not a vapid tradition about ,noah and his ark4 ,the aim of these institutions as they were wielded was threefold2 and in each particular they exerted tremendous power4 ,the first object was to stretch over the wicked the restraining influence of a doctrine of future punishment1 to fill them with a fearful looking for judgment in the invisible world4 ,and a considerable proportion of this kind of fear among the ancients is to be traced to the secret influence of the ,mysteries1 the revelations and terrors there applied4 ,the second desire was to encourage the good and obedient with inspiring hopes of a happy fate and glorious rewards beyond the grave4 ,plutarch writes to his wife1 7near the close of his letter of consolation to her17 ,some say the soul will be entirely insensible after death2 but you are too well acquainted with the doctrines delivered in the ,mysteries of ,bacchus1 and with the symbols of our fraternity1 to harbor such an error4 ,the third purpose was1 by the wonders and splendors1 the secret awe1 the mysterious authority and venerable sanctions1 thrown around the society and its ceremonies1 to establish its doctrines in the reverential acceptance of the people1 and thus to increase the power of the priesthood and the state4 ,to compass these ends1 the hidden science1 the public force1 the vague superstition1 the treasured wealth1 and all the varied resources available by the ancient world1 were marshalled and brought to bear in the ,mysteries4 ,by chemical and mechanical secrets then in their exclusive possession1 the mystagogues worked miracles before the astonished novices4#dg ,they had the powers of electricity1 gunpowder1 hydrostatic pressure1 at their command4#dh ,their rites were carried out on the most magnificent scale4 ,the temple at ,eleusis could hold thirty thousand persons4 ,imagine what effect might be produced1 under such imposing and prepared circumstances1 on an ignorant multitude1 by a set of men holding all the scientific secrets and mechanical inventions till then discovered1 illumination flashing after darkness successively before their smitten eyes1 the floors seeming to heave and the walls to crack1 thunders bellowing through the mighty dome2 now yawning revealed beneath them the ghostly chimera of ,tartarus1 with all the shrieking and horrid scenery gathered there2 now #dg ,anthon's ,class4 ,dict41 art4 ,elicius4 #dh ,salverte1 ,des ,sciences ,occultes1 ou ,essai sur la ,magie4 ,see also editor's introduction to ,thomson's ,eng4 trans4 of ,salverte's work4 the mild beauties of ,elysium dawning on their ravished vision1 amid strains of celestial music1 through fading clouds of glory1 while nymphs1 heroes1 and gods walked apparent4 ,clement of ,alexandria tells us that one feature of the initiation was a display of the grisly secrets of ,hades4#di ,apuleius1 in his account of his own initiation1 says1 ,at midnight ,i saw the sun shining with a resplendent light2 and ,i manifestly drew near to the lower and to the upper gods and adored them in immediate presence4 #ej ,lobeck says that1 on the lifting of the veil exposing the adytum to the gaze of the initiates1 apparitions of the gods appeared to them4#ea ,christie1 in his little work on the ,greek ,mysteries1 says that the doctrines of the ,eleusinian shows were explained by means of transparent scenes1 many of which were faithfully copied upon the painted ,greek vases2 and these vase accordingly1 were deposited in tombs to evidence the faith of the deceased in a future life4 ,the foregoing conceptions may be illustrated by the dramatic representations1 scenic shadows behind transparent curtains1 in ,java1 alluded to by ,sir ,stamford ,raffles4#eb ,it is remarkable how far the ,mysteries spread over the earth1 and what popularity they attained4 ,they penetrated into almost every nation under the sun4 ,they admitted1 in some degree1 nearly the whole people4 ,herodotus informs us that there were collected in ,egypt1 at one celebration1 seven hundred thousand men and women1 besides children4#ec ,the greatest warriors and kings ,philip1 ,alexander1 ,sulla1 ,antony esteemed it an honor to be welcomed within the mystic pale4 ,men1 says ,cicero1 came from the most distant shores to be initiated at ,eleusis4 ,sophocles declares1 as quoted by ,warburton1 ,true life is to be found only among the initiates3 all other places are full of evil4 ,at the rise of the ,christian religion1 all the life and power left in the national religion of ,greece and ,rome were in the ,mysteries4 ,accordingly1 here was the most formidable foe of the new faith4 ,standing in its old entrenchments1 with all its popular prestige around it1 it fought with desperate determination for every inch it was successively forced to yield4 ,the brilliant effort of ,julian to roll back the tide of ,christianity and restore the pagan religion to more than its pristine splendor an effort beneath which the scales of the world's fortunes poised1 tremulous1 for a while was chiefly an endeavor to revive and enlarge the ,mysteries4 ,such was the attachment of the people to these old rites even in the middle of the fourth century of the ,christian era1 that a murderous riot broke out at ,alexandria1 in which ,bishop ,george and others were slain1 on occasion of the profanation by ,christians of a secret adytum in which the ,mysteries of ,mithra were celebrated4#ed ,and when1 a little later1 the ,emperor ,valentinian had determined to suppress all nocturnal rites1 he was induced to withdraw his resolution by ,pretextatus1 proconsul in ,greece1 a man endowed with every virtue1 who represented to him that the #di ,stromata1 lib4 iii41 cited by a writer on the ,mysteries in ,blackwood1 ,feb4 #ahec1 pp4 #bja-bjc4 #ej ,taylor's trans4 of ,golden ,ass1 p4 #bhc4 ,in a note to p4 #bge of this work1 the translator describes 7with a citation of his authorities7 the breathing resemblances of the gods used in the ,mysteries1 statues fabricated by the telesta1 so as to be illuminated and to appear animated4 #ea ,aglaophamus1 lib4 i4 sect4 #g4 #eb ,discourse to the ,lit4 and ,sci4 ,soc4 of ,java1 #ahae1 pub4 in ,valpy's ,pamphleteer1 ,no4 #ae4 #ec ,lib4 ii4 cap4 ix4 #ed ,socrates1 ,ecc4 ,inst41 lib4 iii4 cap4 #b4 ,greeks would consider life insupportable if they were forbidden to celebrate those most sacred ,mysteries which bind together the human race4#ee ,upon the whole1 we cannot fail to see that the ,mysteries must have exerted a most extensive and profound influence alike in fostering the good hopes of human nature touching a life to come1 and in giving credit and diffusion to the popular fables of the poets concerning the details of the future state4 ,much of that belief which seems to us so absurd we can easily suppose they sincerely embraced1 when we recollect what they thought they had seen under supernatural auspices in their initiations4 ,in the ,greek and ,roman faith there was gradually developed in connection chiefly with the ,mysteries1 as we believe an aristocratic doctrine which allotted to a select class of souls an abode in the sky as their distinguished destination after death1 while the common multitude were still sentenced to the shadow region below the grave4 ,as ,virgil writes1 ,the descent to ,avernus is easy4 ,the gate of dark ,dis is open day and night4 ,but to rise into the upper world is most arduous4 ,only the few heroes whom favoring ,jove loves or shining virtue exalts thither can effect it4 #ef ,numerous scattered1 significant traces of a belief in this change of the destination of some souls from the pit of ,hades to the hall of heaven are to be found in the classic authors4 ,virgil1 celebrating the death of some person under the fictitious name of ,daphnis1 exclaims1 ,robed in white1 he admires the strange court of heaven1 and sees the clouds and the stars beneath his feet4 ,he is a god now4 #eg ,porphyry ascribes to ,pythagoras the declaration that the souls of departed men are gathered in the zodiac4#eh ,plato earnestly describes a region of brightness and unfading realities above this lower world1 among the stars1 where the gods live1 and whither1 he says1 the virtuous and wise may ascend1 while the corrupt and ignorant must sink into the ,tartarean realm4#ei ,a similar conception of the attainableness of heaven seems to be suggested in the old popular myths1 first1 of ,hercules coming back in triumph from his visit to ,pluto's seat1 and1 on dying1 rising to the assembly of immortals and taking his equal place among them2 secondly1 of ,dionysus going into the under world1 rescuing his mother1 the hapless ,semele1 and soaring with her to heaven1 where she henceforth resides1 a peeress of the eldest goddesses4 ,cicero expresses the same thought when he affirms that a life of justice and piety is the path to heaven1 where patriots1 exemplary souls1 released from their bodies1 enjoy endless happiness amidst the brilliant orbs of the galaxy4 #fj ,the same author also speaks of certain philosophers who flourished before his time1 whose opinions encouraged the belief that souls departing from bodies would arrive at heaven as their proper dwelling place4 #fa ,he afterwards stigmatizes the notion that the life succeeding death is subterranean as an error1#fb and in his own name addresses his auditor thus3 ,i see you gazing upward and wishing to migrate into heaven4 #fc ,it was the common belief of the ,romans for ages that ,romulus was taken up into heaven1 where he would remain forever1 claiming ,divine honors4#fd ,the ,emperor ,julian says1 in his ,letter on the #ee ,essay on ,mysteries1 by ,m4 ,ouvaroff1 ,eng4 trans4 by ,j4 ,d4 ,price1 p4 #ee4 #ef ,aneid1 lib4 vi4 #aa4 #abe-acj4 #eg ,ecl4 v4 #aa4 #eg1 #eh1 #fd4 #eh ,de ,antro ,nympharum4 #ei ,phado sects4 #acf-ach4 #fj ,soma4 ,scipionis4 #fa ,tusc4 ,quast41 lib4 i4 cap4 xi4 #fb ,ibid4 cap4 xvi4 #fc ,ibid4 cap4 xxxiv4 #fd ,ennius1 e4 g41 sings1 ,romulus in coelo cum diis agit avum ,duties of a ,priest1 ,god will raise from darkness and ,tartarus the souls of all of us who worship him sincerely3 to the pious1 instead of ,tartarus he promises ,olympus4 ,it is lawful1 writes ,plato1 only for the true lover of wisdom to pass into the rank of gods4 #fe ,the privilege here confined to philosophers we believe was promised to the initiates in the ,mysteries1 as the special prerogative secured to them by their initiation4 ,to pass into the rank of the gods is a phrase which1 as here employed1 means to ascend into heaven and have a seat with the immortals1 instead of being banished1 with the souls of common mortals1 to the under world4 ,in early times the ,greek worship was most earnestly directed to that set of deities who resided at the gloomy centre of the earth1 and who were called the chthonian gods4#ff ,the hope of immortality first sprung up and was nourished in connection with this worship4 ,but in the progress of time and culture the supernal circle of divinities who kept state on bright ,olympus acquired a greater share of attention1 and at last received a degree of worship far surpassing that paid to their swarthy compeers below4 ,the adoration of these bright beings1 with a growing trust in their benignity1 the fables of the poets telling how they had sometimes elevated human favorites to their presence1 for instance1 receiving a ,ganymede to the joys of their sublime society1 the encouraging thoughts of the more religious and cheerful of the philosophers1 these facts1 together with a natural shrinking from the dismal gloom of the life of shades around the ,styx1 and a native longing for admission to the serene pleasures of the unfading life led by the radiant lords of heaven1 in conjunction1 perhaps1 with still other causes1 effected an improvement of the old faith1 altering and brightening it1 little by little1 until the hope came in many quarters to be entertained that the faithful soul would after death rise into the assemblage and splendor of the celestial gods4 ,the ,emperor ,julian1 at the close of his seventh ,oration1 represents the gods of ,olympus addressing him in this strain3 ,remember that your soul is immortal1 and that if you follow us you will be a god and with us will behold our ,father4 ,several learned writers have strenuously labored to prove that the ground secret of the ,mysteries1 the grand thing revealed in them1 was the doctrine of apotheosis1 shaking the established theology by unmasking the historic fact that all the gods were merely deified men4 ,we believe the real significance of the various collective testimony1 hints1 and inferences by which these writers have been brought to such a conclusion is this2 the genuine point of the ,mysteries lay not in teaching that the gods were once men1 but in the idea that men may become gods4 ,to teach that ,zeus1 the universal ,father1 causing the creation to tremble at the motion of his brow1 was formerly an obscure king of ,crete1 whose tomb was yet visible in that island1 would have been utterly absurd4 ,but to assert that the soul of man1 the free1 intelligent image of the gods1 on leaving the body1 would ascend to live eternally in the kingdom of its ,divine prototypes1 would have been a brilliant step of progress in harmony both with reason and the heart4 ,such was probably the fact4 ,observe the following citation from ,plutarch3 ,there is no occasion against nature to send the bodies of good men to heaven2 but we are to conclude that virtuous souls1 by nature and the ,divine justice1 rise from men to heroes1 from heroes to genii2 and if1 as in the ,mysteries1 they are #fe ,phado1 sect4 lxxi4 #ff ,muller1 ,mist4 ,greek ,lit41 cap4 ii4 sect4 #e2 cap4 xvi4 sect4 #b4 purified1 shaking off the remains of mortality and the power of the passions1 they then attain the highest happiness1 and ascend from genii to gods1 not by the vote of the people1 but by the just and established order of nature4 #fg ,the reference in the last clause is to the decrees of the ,senate whereby apotheosis was conferred on various persons1 placing them among the gods4 ,this ceremony has often been made to appear unnecessarily ridiculous1 through a perversion of its actual meaning4 ,when the ancients applied the term god to a human soul departed from the body1 it was not used as the moderns prevailingly employ that word4 ,it expressed a great deal less with them than with us4 ,it merely meant to affirm similarity of essence1 qualities1 and residence1 but by no means equal dignity and power of attributes between the one and the others4 ,it meant that the soul had gone to the heavenly habitation of the gods and was thenceforth a participant in the heavenly life4#fh ,heraclitus was accustomed to say1 ,men are mortal gods2 gods are immortal men4 ,macrobius says1 ,the soul is not only immortal1 but a god4 #fi ,and ,cicero declares1 ,the soul of man is a ,divine thing1 as ,euripides dares to say1 a god4 #gj ,milton uses language precisely parallel1 speaking of those who are unmindful of the crown true ,virtue gives her servants1 after their mortal change1 among the enthroned gods on sainted seats4 ,theophilus1 ,bishop of ,antioch in the second century1 says that to become a god means to ascend into heaven4 #ga ,the ,roman ,catholic ceremony of beatification and canonization of saints1 offering them incense and prayers thereafter1 means exactly what was meant by the ancient apotheosis1 namely1 that while the multitudes of the dead abide below1 in the intermediate state1 these favored souls have been advanced into heaven4 ,the papal functionaries borrowed this rite1 with most of its details1 from their immediate pagan predecessors1 who themselves probably adopted it from the ,east1 whence the ,mysteries came4 ,it is well known that the ,brahmans and ,buddhists believed1 centuries before the ,christian era1 in the contrasted fate of good men after death to enjoy the successive heavens above the clouds1 and of bad men to suffer the successive hells beneath the earth4 ,a knowledge of this attractive ,oriental doctrine may have united with the advance of their own speculations to win the partial acceptance obtained among the ,greeks and ,romans for the faith which broke the universal doom to ,hades and opened heaven to their hopeful aspirations4 ,in a tragedy of ,euripides the following passage occurs1 addressed to the bereaved ,admetus3 ,let not the tomb of thy wife be looked on as the mound of the ordinary dead4 ,some wayfarer1 as he treads the sloping road1 shall say1 ',this woman once died for her husband2 but now she is a saint in heaven4' #gb ,when the meaning of the cheerful promises given to the initiates of a more favored fate in the future life than awaited others namely1 as we think1 that their spirits on leaving the body should scale ,olympus instead of plunging to ,tartarus had been concealed within the #fg ,lives1 ,romulus1 sect4 xxviii4 #fh ,see a valuable discussion of the ancient use of the terms theos and deus in note ,d vol4 iii4 of ,norton's ,genuineness of the ,gospels4 #fi ,somn4 ,scip41 lib4 ii4 cap4 #ab4 #gj ,tusc4 ,quest41 lib4 i4 cap4 #bf4 #ga ,we omit several other authorities1 as the reader would probably deem any further evidence superfluous4 #gb ,alcestis1 ll4 #ajae-ajbe1 ed4 ,glasg4 ,mysteries for a long time1 it at length broke into public view in the national apotheosis of ancient heroes1 kings1 and renowned worthies1 the instances of which became so numerous that ,cicero cries1 ,is not nearly all heaven peopled with the human race8 #gc ,over the heads of the devout heathen1 as they gazed up through the clear night air1 twinkled the beams of innumerable stars1 each chosen to designate the cerulean seat where some soul was rejoicing with the gods in heaven over the glorious issue of the toils and sufferings in which he once painfully trod this earthly scene4 ,herodian1 a ,greek historian of some of the ,roman emperors1 has left a detailed account of the rite of apotheosis4#gd ,an image of the person to be deified was made in wax1 looking all sick and pale1 laid in state on a lofty bed of ivory covered with cloth of gold1 surrounded on one side by choirs of noble lords1 on the other side by their ladies stripped of their jewels and clad in mourning1 visited often for several days by a physician1 who still reports his patient worse1 and finally announces his decease4 ,then the ,senators and haughtiest patricians bear the couch through the via sacra to the ,forum4 ,bands of noble boys and of proud women ranged opposite each other chant hymns and lauds over the dead in solemn melody4 ,the bier is next borne to the ,campus ,martius1 where it is placed upon a high wooden altar1 a large1 thin structure with a tower like a lighthouse4 ,heaps of fragrant gums1 herbs1 fruits1 and spices are poured out and piled upon it4 ,then the ,roman knights1 mounted on horseback1 prance before it in beautiful bravery1 wheeling to and fro in the dizzy measures of the ,pyrrhic dance4 ,also1 in a stately manner1 purple clothed charioteers1 wearing masks which picture forth the features of the most famous worthies of other days to the reverential recognition of the silent hosts assembled1 ride around the form of their descendant4 ,suddenly a torch is set to the pile1 and it is wrapped in flames4 ,from the turret1 amidst the aromatic fumes1 an eagle is let loose4 ,phoenix like symbol of the departed soul1 he soars into the sky1 and the seven hilled city throbs with pride1 reverberating the shouts of her people4 ,thus into the residence of the gods ,sic itur ad astra was borne the divinely favored mortal2 ,and thus we see how man's prophetic creeds ,made gods of men when godlike were their deeds4 ,for it was only in times of degradation and by a violent perversion that the honor was allowed to the unworthy2 and even in such cases it was usually nullified as soon as the people recovered their senses and their freedom4 ,there is extant among the works of ,seneca a little treatise called ,apocolocuntosis1 that is1 pumpkinification1 or the metamorphosis into a gourd1 a sharp satire levelled against the apotheosis of the ,emperor ,claudius4 ,the deification of mortals among the ancients has long been laughed at4 ,when the great ,macedonian monarch applied for a decree for his apotheosis while he was yet alive1 the ,lacedemonian ,senate1 with bitter sarcasm1 voted1 ,if ,alexander desires to be a god1 let him be a god4 ,the doctrine is often referred to among us in terms of mockery4 ,but this is principally because it is not understood4 ,it simply signifies the ascent of the soul after death into the ,olympian halls instead of descending into the ,acheronian gulfs4 ,and whether we #gc ,tusc4 ,quast41 lib4 i4 cap4 #ab4 #gd ,lib4 iv4 consider the symbolic justice and beauty of the conception as a poetic image applied to the deathless heroes of humanity ensphered above us forever in historic fame and natural worship1 or regard its comparative probability as the literal location of the residence of departed spirits1 it must recommend itself to us as a decided improvement on the ideas previously prevalent1 and as a sort of anticipation1 in part1 of that bright faith in a heavenly home for faithfuls souls1 afterwards established in the world by ,him of whom it was written1 ,no man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven1 even the ,son of ,man1 who is now in heaven4 ,indeed1 so forcible and close is the correspondence between the course of the aspirant in his initiation dramatically dying1 descending into ,hades1 rising again to life1 and ascending into heaven with the apostolic presentation of the redemptive career of ,christ1 our great ,forerunner1 that some writers ,nork1 for instance have suggested that the latter was but the exoteric publication to all the world of what in the former was esoterically taught to the initiates alone4 ,there was a striking naturalness1 a profound propriety1 in the obscurities of secrecy and awe with which the ancient ,mysteries shrouded from a rash curiosity their instructions concerning the future life and only unfolded them by careful degrees to the prepared candidate4 ,it is so with the reality itself in the nature of things4 ,it is the great mystery of mysteries1 darkly hinted in types1 faintly gleaming in analogies1 softly whispered in hopes1 passionately asked in desires1 patiently confirmed in arguments1 suddenly blazed and thundered in revelation4 ,man from the very beginning of his race on earth has been thickly encompassed by mysteries1 hung around by the muffling curtains of ignorance and superstition4 ,through one after another of these he has forced his way and gazed on their successive secrets laid bare4 ,once the ,ocean was an alluring and terrible mystery1 weltering before him with its endless wash of waves1 into which the weary sun1 in the west1 plunged at evening1 and out of which1 in the east1 it bounded refreshed in the morning4 ,but the daring prows of his ships1 guided by pioneering thought and skill1 passed its islands and touched its ultimate shores4 ,once the ,polar ,circle was a frightful and frozen mystery1 enthroned on mountains of eternal ice and wearing upon its snowy brow the flaming crown of the aurora borealis4 ,but his hardy navigators1 inspired by enterprise and philanthropy1 armed with science1 and supplied by art1 have driven the awful phantom back1 league by league1 until but a small expanse of its wonders remains untracked by his steps4 ,once the crowded ,sky was a boundless mystery1 a maze of motions1 a field where ghastly comets played their antics and shook down terrors on the nations4 ,but the theories of his reason1 based on the gigantic grasp of his calculus and aided by the instruments of his invention1 have solved perplexity after perplexity1 blended discords into harmony1 and shown to his delighted vision the calm perfection of the stellar system4 ,so1 too1 in the moral world he has lifted the shrouds from many a dark problem1 and extended the empire of light and love far out over the ancient realm of darkness and terror4 ,but the secret of ,death1 the mystery of the ,future1 remains yet1 as of old1 unfathomed and inscrutable to his inquiries4 ,still1 as of old1 he kneels before that unlifted veil and beseeches the oracles for a response to faith4 ,the ancient ,mysteries in their principal ceremony but copied the ordination and followed the overawing spirit of ,nature herself4 ,the religious reserve and awe about the entrance into the adytum of their traditions were like those about the entrance into the invisible scenes beyond the veils of time and mortality4 ,their initiation was but a miniature symbol of the great initiation through which1 and that upon impartial terms1 every mortal1 from ,king ,solomon to the idiot pauper1 must sooner or later pass to immortality4 ,when a fit applicant1 after the preliminary probation1 kneels with fainting sense and pallid brow before the veil of the unutterable ,unknown1 and the last pulsations of his heart tap at the door of eternity1 and he reverentially asks admission to partake in the secrets shrouded from profane vision1 the infinite ,hierophant directs the call to be answered by ,death1 the speechless and solemn steward of the celestial ,mysteries4 ,he comes1 pushes the curtain aside1 leads the awe struck initiate in1 takes the blinding bandage of the body from his soul2 and straightway the trembling neophyte receives light in the midst of that innumerable ,fraternity of ,immortals over whom the ,supreme ,author of the ,universe presides4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,metempsychosis2 ,,or1 ,,transmigration ,,of ,,souls4 ,,no other doctrine has exerted so extensive1 controlling1 and permanent an influence upon mankind as that of the metempsychosis1 the notion that when the soul leaves the body it is born anew in another body1 its rank1 character1 circumstances1 and experience in each successive existence depending on its qualities1 deeds1 and attainments in its preceding lives4 ,such a theory1 well matured1 bore unresisted sway through the great ,eastern world1 long before ,moses slept in his little ark of bulrushes on the shore of the ,egyptian river2 ,alexander the ,great gazed with amazement on the self immolation by fire to which it inspired the ,gymnosophists2 ,casar found its tenets propagated among the ,gauls beyond the ,rubicon2 and at this hour it reigns despotic1 as the learned and travelled ,professor of ,sanscrit at ,oxford tells us1 without any sign of decrepitude or decay1 over the ,burman1 ,chinese1 ,tartar1 ,tibetan1 and ,indian nations1 including at least six hundred and fifty millions of mankind4#a ,there is abundant evidence to prove that this scheme of thought prevailed at a very early period among the ,egyptians1 all classes and sects of the ,hindus1 the ,persian disciples of the ,magi1 and the ,druids1 and1 in a later age1 among the ,greeks and ,romans as represented by ,musaus1 ,pythagoras1 ,plato1 ,plotinus1 ,macrobius1 ,ovid1 and many others4 ,it was generally adopted by the ,jews from the time of the ,babylonian captivity4 ,traces of it have been discovered among the ancient ,scythians1 the ,african tribes1 some of the ,pacific ,islanders1 and various aboriginal nations both of ,north and of ,south ,america4 ,charlevoix says some tribes of ,canadian ,indians believed in a transmigration of souls2 but1 with a curious mixture of fancy and reflection1 they limited it to the souls of little children1 who1 being balked of this life in its beginning1 they thought would try it again4 ,their bodies1 accordingly1 were buried at the sides of roads1 that their spirits might pass into pregnant women travelling by4 ,a belief in the metempsychosis limited in the same way to the souls of children also prevailed among the ,mexicans4#b ,the ,maricopas1 by the ,gila1 believe when they die they shall transmigrate into birds1 beasts1 and reptiles1 and shall return to the banks of the ,colorado1 whence they were driven by the ,yumas4 ,they will live there in caves and woods1 as wolves1 rats1 and snakes2 so will their enemies the ,yumas2 and they will fight together4#c ,on the western border of the ,united ,states1 only three or four years ago1 two ,indians having been sentenced to be hung for murder1 the chiefs of their tribe came in and begged that they might be shot or burned instead1 as they looked upon hanging with the utmost horror1 believing that the spirit of a person who is thus strangled to death goes into the next world in a foul manner1 and that it assumes a beastly form4 ,the ,sandwich ,islanders sometimes threw their dead into the sea to be devoured by sharks1 supposing their souls would animate these monsters and cause them #a ,wilson1 ,two ,lectures on the ,religious ,opinions of the ,hindus1 p4 #fd4 #b ,kingsborough1 ,antiquities of ,mexico1 vol4 viii4 p4 #bbj4 #c ,bartlett1 ,personal ,narrative of ,explorations in ,texas1 ,new ,mexico1 c41 ch4 xxx4 to spare the living whom accident should throw within their reach4#d ,similar superstitions1 but more elaborately developed1 are rife among many tribes of ,african negroes4#e ,it was inculcated in the early ,christian centuries by the ,gnostics and the ,manichaans2 also by ,origen and several other influential ,fathers4 ,in the ,middle ,ages the sect of the ,cathari1 the ,bogomiles1 the famous scholastics ,scotus ,erigena and ,bonaventura1 as well as numerous less distinguished authors1 advocated it4 ,and in modern times it has been earnestly received by ,lessing and ,fourier1 and is not without its open defenders to day1 as we can attest from our own knowledge1 even in the prosaic and enlightened circles of ,european and ,american society4 ,there have been two methods of explaining the origin of the dogma of transmigration4 ,first1 it has been regarded as a retribution1 the sequel to sin in a pre existent state3 ,all that flesh doth cover1 ,souls of source sublime1 ,are but slaves sold over ,to the ,master ,time ,to work out their ransom ,for the ancient crime4 ,with the ancient ,egyptians the doctrine was developed in connection with the conception of a revolt and battle among the gods in some dim and disastrous epoch of the past eternity1 when the defeated deities were thrust out of heaven and shut up in fleshly prison bodies4 ,so man is a fallen spirit1 heaven his fatherland1 this life a penance1 sometimes necessarily repeated in order to be effectual4#f ,the pre existence of the soul1 whether taught by ,pythagoras1 sung by ,empedocles1 dreamed by ,fludd1 or contended for by ,beecher1 is the principal foundation of the belief in the metempsychosis4 ,but1 secondly1 the transmigration of souls has been considered as the means of their progressive ascent4 ,the soul begins its conscious course at the bottom of the scale of being1 and1 gradually rising through birth after birth1 climbs along a discriminated series of improvements in endless aspiration4 ,here the scientific adaptation and moral intent are thought to lead only upwards1 insect travelling to man1 man soaring to ,god2 but by sin the natural order and working of means are inverted1 and the series of births lead downward1 until expiation and merit restore the primal adjustment and direction4 ,the idea of a metempsychosis1 or soul wandering1 as the ,germans call it1 has been broached in various forms widely differing in the extent of their application4 ,among the ,jews the writings of ,philo1 the ,talmud1 and other documents1 are full of it4 ,they seem1 for the most part1 to have confined the mortal residence of souls to human bodies4 ,they say that ,god created all souls on the first day1 the only day in which he made aught out of nothing2 and they imply1 in their doctrine of the revolution of souls1 that these are born over and over1 and will continue wandering thus until the ,messiah comes and the resurrection occurs4 ,the #d ,jarves1 ,hist4 ,sandwich ,islands1 p4 #hb4 #e ,wilson1 ,western ,africa1 p4 #baj4 #f ,dr4 ,roth1 ,agyptische ,glaubenslehre4 ,rabbins distinguish two kinds of metempsychosis2 namely1 ,gilgul1 which is a series of single transmigrations1 each lasting till death2 and ,ibbur1 which is where one soul occupies several bodies1 changing its residence at pleasure1 or where several souls occupy one body4#g ,the latter kind is illustrated by examples of demoniacal possession in the ,new ,testament4 ,the demons were supposed to be the souls of deceased wicked men4 ,sometimes they are represented as solitary and flitting from one victim to another2 sometimes they swarm together in the same person1 as seven were at once cast out of ,mary ,magdalene4 ,more frequently1 however1 the range of the soul's travels in its repeated births has been so extended as to include all animal bodies1 beasts1 birds1 fishes1 reptiles1 insects4 ,in this extent the doctrine was held by the ,pythagoreans and ,platonists1 and in fact by a majority of its believers4 ,shakspeare's wit is not without historical warrant when he makes the clown say to ,malvolio1 ,thou shalt fear to kill a woodcock1 lest thou dispossess the soul of thy grandam4 ,many the ,manichaans1 for instance taught that human souls transmigrated not only through the lowest animal bodies but even through all forms of vegetable life4 ,souls inhabit ears of corn1 figs1 shrubs4 ,whoso plucks the fruit or the leaves from trees1 or pulls up plants or herbs1 is guilty of homicide1 say they2 for in each case he expels a soul from its body4 #h ,and some have even gone so far as to believe that the soul1 by a course of ignorance1 cruelty1 and uncleanness pursued through many lives1 will at length arrive at an inanimate body1 and be doomed to exist for unutterable ages as a stone or as a particle of dust4 ,the adherents of this hypothesis regard the whole world as a deposition of materialized souls4 ,at every step they tread on hosts of degraded souls1 destined yet1 though now by sin sunk thus low1 to find their way back as redeemed and blessed spirits to the bosom of the ,godhead4 ,upon the whole1 the metempsychosis may be understood1 as to its inmost meaning and its final issue1 to be either a ,development1 a ,revolution1 or a ,retribution1 a ,divine system of development eternally leading creatures in a graduated ascension from the base towards the apex of the creation1 a perpetual cycle in the order of nature fixedly recurring by the necessities of a physical fate unalterable1 unavoidable1 eternal1 a scheme of punishment and reward exactly fitted to the exigencies of every case1 presided over by a moral ,nemesis1 and issuing at last in the emancipation of every purified soul into infinite bliss1 when1 by the upward gravitation of spirit1 they shall all have been strained through the successively finer growing filters of the worlds1 from the coarse grained foundation of matter to the lower shore of the ,divine essence4 ,in seeking to account for the extent and the tenacious grasp of this antique and stupendous belief1 in looking about for the various suggestions or confirmations of such a dogma1 we would call attention to several considerations1 each claiming some degree of importance4 ,first1 among the earliest notions of a reflecting man is that of the separate existence of the soul after the dissolution of the body4 ,he instinctively distinguishes the #g ,basnage1 ,hist4 ,jews1 lib4 iv4 cap4 xxx43 ,schroder1 ,judenthum1 buch ii4 kap4 iii4 ,eisenmenger1 ,entdecktes ,judenthum4 th4 ii4 kap4 i4 #h ,augustine1 ,de ,morlb4 ,manicha41 lib4 ii4 cap4 xvii43 ,de ,hares44 cap4 xlvi43 ,contra ,faustum1 lib4 xvi4 cap4 xxviii4 thinking substance he is from the material vestment he wears4 ,conscious of an unchanged personal identity beneath the changes and decays everywhere visible around him1 he naturally imagines that ,as billows on the undulating main1 ,that swelling fall and falling swell again1 ,so on the tide of time inconstant roll ,the dying body and the deathless soul4 ,to one thus meditating1 and desiring1 as he surely would1 to perceive or devise some explanation of the soul's posthumous fortunes1 the idea could hardly fail to occur that the destiny of the soul might be to undergo a renewed birth1 or a series of births in new bodies4 ,such a conception1 appearing in a rude state of culture1 before the lines between science1 religion1 and poetry had been sharply drawn1 recommending itself alike by its simplicity and by its adaptedness to gratify curiosity and speculation in the formation of a thousand quaint and engaging hypotheses1 would seem plausible1 would be highly attractive1 would very easily secure acceptance as a true doctrine4 ,secondly1 the strange resemblances and sympathies between men and animals would often powerfully suggest to a contemplative observer the doctrine of the transmigration of souls4#i ,looking over those volumes of singular caricatures wherein certain artists have made all the most distinctive physiognomies of men and beasts mutually to approximate and mingle1 one cannot avoid the fancy that the bodies of brutes are the masks of degraded men4 ,notice an ox reclining in the shade of a tree1 patiently ruminating as if sadly conscious of many things and helplessly bound in some obscure penance1 a mute world of dreamy experiences1 a sombre mystery3 how easy to imagine him an enchanted and transformed man6 ,see how certain animals are allied in their prominent traits to humanity1 the stricken deer1 weeping big1 piteous tears1 the fawning affection and noble fidelity of the dog1 the architectural skill of the beaver1 the wise aspect of the owl1 the sweet plaint of the nightingale1 the shrieks of some fierce beasts1 and the howls of others startlingly like the cries of children and the moans of pain1 the sparkling orbs and tortuous stealthiness of the snake2 and the hints at metempsychosis are obvious4 ,standing face to face with a tiger1 an anaconda1 a wild cat1 a monkey1 a gazelle1 a parrot1 a dove1 we alternately shudder with horror and yearn with sympathy1 now expecting to see the latent devils throw off their disguise and start forth in their own demoniac figures1 now waiting for the metamorphosing charm to be reversed1 and for the enchanted children of humanity to stand erect1 restored to their former shapes4 ,pervading all the grades and forms of distinct animal life there seems to be a rudimentary unity4 ,the fundamental elements and primordial germs of consciousness1 intellect1 will1 passion1 appear the same1 and the different classes of being seem capable of passing into one another by improvement or deterioration4 ,spontaneously1 then1 might a primitive observer1 unhampered by prejudices1 think that the soul of man on leaving its present body would find or construct another according to its chief intrinsic qualities and #i ,scholz1 ,beweis1 dass es eine ,seelenwanderung bei den ,thieren giebt4 forces1 whether those were a leonine magnanimity of courage1 a vulpine subtlety of cunning1 or a pavonine strut of vanity4 ,the spirit1 freed from its fallen cell1 ,fills with fresh energy another form1 ,and towers an elephant1 or glides a worm1 ,swims as an eagle in the eye of noon1 ,or wails1 a screech owl1 to the deaf1 cold moon1 ,or haunts the brakes where serpents hiss and glare1 ,or hums1 a glittering insect1 in the air4 ,the hypothesis is equally forced on our thoughts by regarding the human attributes of some brutes and the brutal attributes of some men4 ,thus ,gratiano1 enraged at the obstinate malignity of ,shylock1 cries to the hyena hearted ,jew1 ,thou almost mak'st me waver in my faith1 ,to hold opinion1 with ,pythagoras1 ,that souls of animals infuse themselves ,into the trunks of men3 thy currish spirit ,govern'd a wolf1 who1 hang'd for human slaughter1 ,even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet1 ,and1 whilst thou lay'st in thine unhallow'd dam1 ,infused itself in thee2 for thy desires ,are wolfish1 bloody1 starved1 and ravenous4 ,thirdly1 there is a figurative metempsychosis1 which may sometimes the history of mythology abounds in examples of the same sort of thing have been turned from an abstract metaphor into a concrete belief1 or from a fanciful supposition have hardened into a received fact4 ,there is a poetic animation of objects whereby the imaginative person puts himself into other persons1 into trees1 clouds1 whirlwinds1 or what not1 and works them for the time in ideal realization4 ,the same result is put in speech sometimes as humorous play3 for example1 a celebrated ,english author says1 ,nature meant me for a salamander1 and that is the reason ,i have always been discontented as a man3 ,i shall be a salamander in the next world6 ,such imagery stated to a mind of a literal order solidifies into a meaning of prosaic fact4 ,it is a common mode of speech to say of an enthusiastic disciple that the spirit of his master possesses him4 ,a receptive student enters into the soul of ,plato1 or is full of ,goethe4 ,we say that ,apelles lived again in ,titian4 ,augustine reappeared in ,calvin1 and ,pelagius in ,arminius1 to fight over the old battle of election and freedom4 ,luther rose in ,ronge4 ,take these figures literally1 construct what they imply into a dogma1 and the product is the transmigration of souls4 ,the result thus arrived at finds effective support in the striking physical resemblance1 spiritual likeness1 and similarity of mission frequently seen between persons in one age and those in a former age4 ,columbus was the modern ,jason sailing after the ,golden ,fleece of a ,new ,world4 ,glancing along the portrait gallery of some ancient family1 one is sometimes startled to observe a face1 extinct for several generations1 suddenly confronting him again with all its features in some distant descendant4 ,a peculiarity of conformation1 a remarkable trait of character1 suppressed for a century1 all at once starts into vivid prominence in a remote branch of the lineage1 and men say1 pointing back to the ancestor1 ,he has revived once more4 ,seeing ,elisha do the same things that his departed master had done before him1 the people exclaimed1 ,the spirit of ,elijah is upon him4 ,beholding in ,john the ,baptist one going before him in the spirit of that expected prophet1 ,jesus said1 ,if ye are able to receive it1 this is he4 ,some of the later ,rabbins assert many entertaining things concerning the repeated births of the most distinguished personages in their national history4 ,abel was born again in ,seth2 ,cain1 in that ,egyptian whom ,moses slew2 ,abiram1 in ,ahithophel2 and ,adam1 having already reappeared once in ,david1 will live again in the ,messiah4 ,the performance by an eminent man of some great labor which had been done in an earlier age in like manner by a kindred spirit evokes in the imagination an apparition of the return of the dead to repeat his old work4 ,fourthly1 there are certain familiar psychological experiences which serve to suggest and to support the theory of transmigration1 and which are themselves in return explained by such a surmise4 ,thinking upon some unwonted subject1 often a dim impression arises in the mind1 fastens upon us1 and we cannot help feeling1 that somewhere1 long ago1 we have had these reflections before4 ,learning a fact1 meeting a face1 for the first time1 we are puzzled with an obscure assurance that it is not the first time4 ,travelling in foreign lands1 we are ever and anon haunted by a sense of familiarity with the views1 urging us to conclude that surely we have more than once trodden those fields and gazed on those scenes2 and from hoary mountain1 trickling rill1 and vesper bell1 meanwhile1 mystic tones of strange memorial music seem to sigh1 in remembered accents1 through the soul's plaintive echoing halls1 ',twas auld lang syne1 my dear1 ',twas auld lang syne4 ,plato's doctrine of reminiscence here finds its basis4 ,we have lived before1 perchance many times1 and through the clouds of sense and imagination now and then float the veiled visions of things that were4 ,efforts of thought reveal the half effaced inscriptions and pictures on the tablets of memory4 ,snatches of dialogues once held are recalled1 faint recollections of old friendships return1 and fragments of landscapes beheld and deeds performed long ago pass in weird procession before the mind's half opened eye4 ,we know a professional gentleman of unimpeachable veracity1 of distinguished talents and attainments1 who is a firm believer in his own existence on the earth previously to his present life4 ,he testifies that on innumerable occasions he has experienced remembrances of events and recognitions of places1 accompanied by a flash of irresistible conviction that he had known them in a former state4 ,nearly every one has felt instances of this1 more or less numerous and vivid4 ,the doctrine at which such things hint that ,not in entire forgetfulness1 ,and not in utter nakedness1 but trailing vague traces and enigmas from a bygone history1 do we come yields the secret of many a mood and dream1 the spell of inexplicable hours1 the key and clew to baffling labyrinths of mystery4 ,the belief in the doctrine of the metempsychosis1 among a fanciful people and in an unscientific age1 need be no wonder to any cultivated man acquainted with the marvels of experience and aware that every one may say1 ,full oft my feelings make me start1 ,like footprints on some desert shore1 ,as if the chambers of my heart ,had heard their shadowy step before4 ,fifthly1 the theory of the transmigration of souls is marvellously adapted to explain the seeming chaos of moral inequality1 injustice1 and manifold evil presented in the world of human life4 ,no other conceivable view so admirably accounts for the heterogeneousness of our present existence1 refutes the charge of a groundless favoritism urged against ,providence1 and completely justifies the ways of ,god to man4 ,the loss of remembrance between the states is no valid objection to the theory2 because such a loss is the necessary condition of a fresh and fair probation4 ,besides1 there is a parallel fact of deep significance in our unquestionable experience2 ,for is not our first year forgot8 ,the haunts of memory echo not4 ,once admit the theory to be true1 and all difficulties in regard to moral justice vanish4 ,if a man be born blind1 deaf1 a cripple1 a slave1 an idiot1 it is because in a previous life he abused his privileges and heaped on his soul a load of guilt which he is now expiating4 ,if a sudden calamity overwhelm a good man with unmerited ruin and anguish1 it is the penalty of some crime committed in a state of responsible being beyond the confines of his present memory4 ,does a surprising piece of good fortune accrue to any one1 splendid riches1 a commanding position1 a peerless friendship8 ,it is the reward of virtuous deeds done in an earlier life4 ,every flower blighted or diseased1 every shrub gnarled1 awry1 and blasted1 every brute ugly and maimed1 every man deformed1 wretched1 or despised1 is reaping in these hard conditions of being1 as contrasted with the fate of the favored and perfect specimens of the kind1 the fruit of sin in a foregone existence4 ,when the ,hindu looks on a man beautiful1 learned1 noble1 fortunate1 and happy1 he exclaims1 ,how wise and good must this man have been in his former lives6 ,in his philosophy1 or religion1 the proof of the necessary consequences of virtue and vice is deduced from the metempsychosis1 every particular of the outward man being a result of some corresponding quality of his soul1 and every event of his experience depending as effect on his previous merit as cause4#aj ,thus the principal physical and moral phenomena of life are strikingly explained2 and1 as we gaze around the world1 its material conditions and spiritual elements combine in one vast scheme of unrivalled order1 and the total experience of humanity forms a magnificent picture of perfect poetic justice4 ,we may easily account for the rise and spread of a theory whose sole difficulty is a lack of positive proof1 but whose applications are so consistent and fascinating alike to imagination and to conscience4 ,hierocles said1 and distinguished philosophers both before and since have said1 ,without the doctrine of metempsychosis it is not possible to justify the ways of ,providence4 #aj ,colebrooke1 ,essays1 vol4 i4 p4 #bhf4 ,finally1 this doctrine1 having been suggested by the various foregoing considerations1 and having been developed into a practical system of conceptions and motives by certain leading thinkers1 was adopted by the principal philosophers and priesthoods of antiquity1 and taught to the common people with authority4 ,the popular beliefs of four thousand years ago depended for their prevalence1 not so much on cogent arguments or intrinsic probability1 as upon the sanctions thrown around them by renowned teachers1 priests1 and mystagogues4 ,now1 the doctrine of the transmigration of souls was inculcated by the ancient teachers1 not as a mere hypothesis resting on loose surmises1 but as an unquestionable fact supported by the experimental knowledge of many individuals and by infallible revelation from ,god4 ,the sacred books of the ,hindus abound in detailed histories of transmigrations4 ,kapila is said to have written out the ,vedas from his remembrance of them in a former state of being4 ,the ,vishnu ,purana gives some very entertaining examples of the retention of memory through several successive lives4#aa ,pythagoras pretended to recollect his adventures in previous lives2 and on one occasion1 as we read in ,ovid1 going into the temple of ,juno1 he recognised the shield he had worn as ,euphorbus at the siege of ,troy4 ,diogenes ,laertius also relates of him1 that one day meeting a man who was cruelly beating a dog1 the ,samian sage instantly detected in the piteous howls of the poor beast the cries of a dear friend of his long since deceased1 and earnestly and successfully interceded for his rescue4 ,in the life of ,apollonius of ,tyana by ,philostratus1 numerous extraordinary instances are told of his recognitions of persons he had known in preceding lives4 ,such examples as these exactly met the weakest point in the metempsychosis theory1 and must have had vast influence in fostering the common faith4 ,plotinus said1 ,body is the true river of ,lethe2 for souls plunged in it forget all4 ,pierre ,leroux1 an enthusiastic living defender of the idea of repeated births1 attempts to reply to the objection drawn from the absence of memory2 but his reply is an appeal rather to authority and fancy than to reason1 and leaves the doubts unsolved4#ab ,his supposition is that in each spirit life we remember all the bygone lives1 both spiritual and earthly1 but in each earth life we forget all that has gone before2 just as1 here1 every night we lose in sleep all memory of the past1 but recover it each day again as we awake4 ,throughout the ,east this general doctrine is no mere superstition of the masses of ignorant people3 it is the main principle of all ,hindu metaphysics1 the foundation of all their philosophy1 and inwrought with the intellectual texture of their inspired books4 ,it is upheld by the venerable authority of ages1 by an intense general conviction of it1 and by multitudes of subtle conceits and apparent arguments4 ,it was also impressed upon the initiates in the old ,mysteries1 by being there dramatically shadowed forth through masks1 and quaint symbolic ceremonies enacted at the time of initiation4#ac ,this1 then1 is what we must say of the ancient and widely spread doctrine of transmigration4 ,as a suggestion or theory naturally arising from empirical observation and confirmed by a variety of phenomena1 it is plausible1 attractive1 and1 in some stages of #aa ,professor ,wilson's translation1 p4 #cdc4 #ab ,de l',humanite1 livre v4 chap4 xlii4 #ac ,porphyry1 ,de ,abstinentis1 lib4 iv4 sect4 #af4 ,davies1 ,rites of the ,druids4 knowledge1 not only easy to be believed1 but hard to be resisted4 ,as an ethical scheme clearing up on principles of poetic justice the most perplexed and awful problems in the world1 it throws streams of light through the abysses of evil1 gives dramatic solution to many a puzzle1 and1 abstractly considered1 charms the understanding and the conscience4 ,as a philosophical dogma answering to some strange1 vague passages in human nature and experience1 it echoes with dreamy sweetness through the deep mystic chambers of our being4 ,as the undisputed creed which has inspired and spell bound hundreds of millions of our race for perhaps over a hundred and fifty generations1 it commands deference and deserves study4 ,but1 viewing it as a thesis in the light of to day1 challenging intelligent scrutiny and sober belief1 we scarcely need to say that1 based on shadows and on arbitrary interpretations of superficial appearances1 built of reveries and occult experiences1 fortified by unreliable inferences1 destitute of any substantial evidence1 it is unable to face the severity of science4 ,a real investigation of its validity by the modern methods dissipates it as the sun scatters fog4 ,first1 the mutual correspondences between men and animals are explained by the fact that they are all living beings are the products of the same ,god and the same nature1 and built according to one plan4 ,they thus partake1 in different degrees and on different planes1 of many of the same elements and characteristics4 ,lucretius1 with his usual mixture of acuteness and sophistry1 objects to the doctrine that1 if it were true1 when the soul of a lion passed into the body of a stag1 or the soul of a man into the body of a horse1 we should see a stag with the courage of a lion1 a horse with the intelligence of a man4 ,but of course the manifestations of soul depend on the organs of manifestation4 ,secondly1 the singular psychological experiences referred to are explicable so far as we can expect with our present limited data and powers to solve the dense mysteries of the soul by various considerations not involving the doctrine in question4 ,herder has shown this with no little acumen in three ,dialogues on the ,metempsychosis1 beautifully translated by the ,rev4 ,dr4 ,hedge in his ,prose ,writers of ,germany4 ,the sense of pre existence the confused idea that these occurrences have thus happened to us before which is so often and strongly felt1 is explicable partly by the supposition of some sudden and obscure mixture of associations1 some discordant stroke on the keys of recollection1 jumbling together echoes of bygone scenes1 snatches of unremembered dreams1 and other hints and colors in a weird and uncommanded manner4 ,the phenomenon is accounted for still more decisively by ,dr4 ,wigand's theory of the ,duality of the ,mind4 ,the mental organs are double1 one on each side of the brain4 ,they usually act with perfect simultaneity4 ,when one gets a slight start of the other1 as the thought reaches the slow side a bewildered sense of a previous apprehension of it arises in the soul4 ,and then1 the fact that the supposition of a great system of adjusting transmigrations justifies the ways of ,providence is no proof that the supposition is a true one4 ,the difficulty is1 that there is no evidence of the objective truth of the assumption1 however well the theory applies2 and the justice and goodness of ,god may as well be defended on the ground of a single life here and a discriminating retribution hereafter1 as on the ground of an unlimited series of earthly births4 ,the doctrine evidently possesses two points of moral truth and power1 and1 if not tenable as strict science1 is yet instructive as symbolic poetry4 ,first1 it embodies1 in concrete shapes the most vivid and unmistakable1 the fact that beastly and demoniac qualities of character lead men down towards the brutes and fiends4 ,rage makes man a tiger2 low cunning1 a fox2 coarseness and ferocity1 a bear2 selfish envy and malice1 a devil4 ,on the contrary1 the attainment of better degrees of intellectual and ethical qualities elevates man towards the angelic and the ,divine4 ,there are three kinds of lives1 corresponding to the three kinds of metempsychosis1 ascending1 circular1 descending3 the aspiring life of progress in wisdom and goodness2 the monotonous life of routine in mechanical habits and indifference2 the deteriorating life of abandonment in ignorance and vice4 ,timaus the ,locrian1 and some other ancient ,pythagoreans1 gave the whole doctrine a purely symbolic meaning4 ,secondly1 the theory of transmigrating souls typifies the truth that1 however it may fare with persons now1 however ill their fortunes may seem to accord with their deserts here1 justice reigns irresistibly in the universe1 and sooner or later every soul shall be strictly compensated for every tittle of its merits in good or evil4 ,there is no escaping the chain of acts and consequences4 ,this entire scheme of thought has always allured the ,mystics to adopt it4 ,in every age1 from ,indian ,vyasa to ,teutonic ,boehme1 we find them contending for it4 ,boehme held that all material existence was composed by ,king ,satan out of the physical substance of his fallen followers4 ,the conception of the metempsychosis is strikingly fitted for the purposes of humor1 satire1 and ethical hortation2 and literature abounds with such applications of it4 ,in ,plutarch's account of what ,thespesius saw when his soul was ravished away into hell for a time1 we are told that he saw the soul of ,nero dreadfully tortured1 transfixed with iron nails4 ,the workmen forged it into the form of a viper2 when a voice was heard out of an exceeding light ordering it to be transfigured into a milder being2 and they made it one of those creatures that sing and croak in the sides of ponds and marshes4#ad ,when ,rosalind finds the verses with which her enamored ,orlando had hung the trees1 she exclaimed1 ,i was never so berhymed since ,pythagoras' time1 that ,i was an ,irish rat1 which ,i can hardly remember4 ,one of the earliest popular introductions of this ,oriental figment to the ,english public was by ,addison1 whose ,will ,honeycomb tells an amusing story of his friend1 ,jack ,freelove1 how that1 finding his mistress's pet monkey alone one day1 he wrote an autobiography of his monkeyship's surprising adventures in the course of his many transmigrations4 ,leaving this precious document in the monkey's hands1 his mistress found it on her return1 and was vastly bewildered by its pathetic and laughable contents4#ae ,the fifth number of the ,adventurer gives a very entertaining account of the ,transmigrations of a ,flea4 ,there is also a poem on this subject by ,dr4 ,donne1 full of strength and wit4 ,it traces a soul through ten or twelve births1 giving the salient points of its history in each4 ,first1 the soul animates the apple our hapless mother ,eve ate1 bringing death into the world and all our woe4 ,then it appeared #ad ,sera ,numinis ,vindicta3 near the close4 #ae ,spectator1 ,no4 #cdc4 successively as a mandrake1 a cock1 a herring1 a whale1 ,who spouted rivers up as if he meant o join our seas with seas above the firmament4 ,next1 as a mouse1 it crept up an elephant's sinewy proboscis to the soul's bedchamber1 the brain1 and1 gnawing the life cords there1 died1 crushed in the ruins of the gigantic beast4 ,afterwards it became a wolf1 a dog1 an ape1 and finally a woman1 where the quaint tale closes4 ,fielding is the author of a racy literary performance called ,a ,journey from this ,world to the ,next4 ,the ,emperor ,julian is depicted in it1 recounting in ,elysium the adventures he had passed through1 living successively in the character of a slave1 a ,jew1 a general1 an heir1 a carpenter1 a beau1 a monk1 a fiddler1 a wise man1 a king1 a fool1 a beggar1 a prince1 a statesman1 a soldier1 a tailor1 an alderman1 a poet1 a knight1 a dancing master1 and a bishop4 ,whoever would see how vividly1 with what an honest and vigorous verisimilitude1 the doctrine can be embodied1 should read ,the ,modern ,pythagorean1 by ,dr4 ,macnish4 ,but perhaps the most humorous passage of this sort is the following description from a remarkable writer of the present day3 ,in the mean while all the shore rang with the trump of bull frogs1 the sturdy spirits of ancient wine bibbers and wassailers1 still unrepentant1 trying to sing a catch in their ,stygian lake2 who would fain keep up the hilarious rules of their old festal tables1 though their voices have waxed hoarse and solemnly grave1 mocking at mirth1 and the wine has lost its flavor4 ,the most aldermanic1 with his chin upon a heart leaf1 which serves for a napkin to his drooling chaps1 under this northern shore quaffs a deep draught of the once scorned water1 and passes round the cup with the ejaculation tr r r oonk1 tr r r oonk6 and straightway comes over the water from some distant cove the same password repeated1 where the next in seniority and girth has gulped down to his mark2 and when this observance has made the circuit of the shores1 then ejaculates the master of ceremonies1 with satisfaction1 tr r r conk6 and each in his turn1 down to the flabbiest paunched1 repeats the same1 that there be no mistake2 and then the bowl goes round again and again1 until the sun disperses the morning mist1 and only the patriarch is not under the pond1 but vainly bellowing troonk from time to time1 and pausing for a reply4 #af ,the doctrine of the metempsychosis1 which was the priest's threat against sin1 was the poet's interpretation of life4 ,the former gave by it a terrible emphasis to the moral law2 the latter imparted by it an unequalled tenderness of interest to the contemplation of the world4 ,to the believer in it in its fullest development1 the mountains piled towering to the sky and the plains stretching into trackless distance were the conscious dust of souls2 the ocean1 heaving in tempest or sleeping in moonlight1 was a sea of spirits1 every drop once a man4 ,each animated form that caught his attention might be the dwelling of some ancestor1 or of some once cherished companion of his own4 ,hence the ,hindu's so sensitive kindness towards animals3 #af ,thoreau1 ,walden1 or ,life in the ,woods1 p4 #acg4 ,crush not the feeble1 inoffensive worm3 ,thy sister's spirit wears that humble form4 ,why should thy cruel arrow smite yon bird8 ,in him thy brother's plaintive song is beard4 ,let not thine anger on thy dog descend3 ,that faithful animal was once thy friend4 ,there is a strange grandeur1 an affecting mystery1 in the view of the creation from the stand point of the metempsychosis4 ,it is an awful dream palace all aswarm with falling and climbing creatures clothed in ever shifting disguises4 ,the races and changes of being constitute a boundless masquerade of souls1 whose bodies are vizards and whose fortunes poetic retribution4 ,the motive furnished by the doctrine to self denial and toil has a peerless sublimity4 ,in our ,western world1 the hope of acquiring large possessions1 or of attaining an exalted office1 often stimulates men to heroic efforts of labor and endurance4 ,what1 then1 should we not expect from the application to the imaginative minds of the ,eastern world of a motive which1 transcending all set limits1 offers unheard of prizes1 to be plucked in life after life1 and at the end unveils1 for the occupancy of the patient aspirant1 the ,throne of ,immensity8 ,no wonder that1 under the propulsion of a motive so exhaustless1 a motive not remote nor abstract1 but concrete1 and organized in indissoluble connection with the visible chain of eternal causes and effects1 no wonder we see such tremendous exhibitions of superstition1 voluntary sufferings1 superhuman deeds4 ,here is the secret fountain of that irresistible force which enables the devotee to measure journeys of a thousand miles by prostrations of his body1 to hold up his arm until it withers and remains immovably erect as a stick1 or to swing himself by red hot hooks through his flesh4 ,the poorest wretch of a soul that has wandered down to the lowest grade of animate existence can turn his resolute and longing gaze up the resplendent ranks of being1 and1 conscious of the god head's germ within1 feel that1 though now unspeakably sunken1 he shall one day spurn every vile integument and vault into seats of heavenly dominion4 ,crawling as an almost invisible bug in a heap of carrion1 he can still think within himself1 holding fast to the law of righteousness and love1 ,this is the infinite ladder of redemption1 over whose rounds of purity1 penance1 charity1 and contemplation ,i may ascend1 through births innumerable1 till ,i reach a height of wisdom1 power1 and bliss that will cast into utter contempt the combined glory of countless millions of worlds1 ay1 till ,i sit enthroned above the topmost summit of the universe as omnipotent ,buddha4 #ag #ag ,those who wish to pursue the subject further will find the following references useful3 ,hardy1 ,manual of ,buddhism1 ch4 v4 ,upham1 ,history of ,buddhism1 ch4 iii4 ,beausobre1 ,histoire du ,manicheisme1 livre vi4 ch4 iv4 ,helmont1 ,de ,revolution ,animarum4 ,richter1 ,das ,christenthum und die ,kitesten ,religionen des ,orients1 sects4 #ed-fe4 ,sinner1 ,essai sur les ,dogmes de la ,metempsychose et du ,purgatoire4 ,conz1 ,schicksale der ,seelenwanderungshypothese unter verschiedenen ,volkern und in verschiedenen ,zeiten4 ,dubois1 ,people of ,india1 part iii4 ch4 vii4 ,werner1 ,commentatio ,psychologica contra ,metempsychosin4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,resurrection ,,of ,,the ,,flesh4 ,a ,,doctrine widely prevalent asserts that1 at the termination of this probationary epoch1 ,christ will appear with an army of angels in the clouds of heaven1 descend1 and set up his tribunal on the earth4 ,the light of his advancing countenance will be the long waited ,aurora of the ,grave4 ,all the souls of men will be summoned from their tarrying places1 whether in heaven1 or hell1 or purgatory1 or the sepulchre2 the fleshly tabernacles they formerly inhabited will be re created1 a strong necromancy making the rooty and grave floored earth give up its dust of ruined humanity1 and moulding it to the identical shapes it formerly composed2 each soul will enter its familiar old house in company with which its sins were once committed2 the books will be opened and judgment will be passed2 then the accepted will be removed to heaven1 and the rejected to hell1 both to remain clothed with those same material bodies forever1 the former in celestial bliss1 the latter in infernal torture4 ,in the present dissertation we propose to exhibit the sources1 trace the developments1 explain the variations1 and discuss the merits1 of this doctrine4 ,the first appearance of this notion of a bodily restoration which occurs in the history of opinions is among the ancient ,hindus4 ,with them it appears as a part of a vast conception1 embracing the whole universe in an endless series of total growths1 decays1 and exact restorations4 ,in the beginning the ,supreme ,being is one and alone4 ,he thinks to himself1 ,i will become many4 ,straightway the multiform creation germinates forth1 and all beings live4 ,then for an inconceivable period a length of time commensurate with the existence of ,brahma1 the ,demiurgus the successive generations flourish and sink4 ,at the end of this period all forms of matter1 all creatures1 sages1 and gods1 fall back into the ,universal ,source whence they arose4 ,again the ,supreme ,being is one and alone4 ,after an interval the same causes produce the same effects1 and all things recur exactly as they were before4#a ,we find this theory sung by some of the ,oriental poets3 ,every external form of things1 and every object which disappear'd1 ,remains stored up in the storehouse of fate3 ,when the system of the heavens returns to its former order1 ,god1 the ,all ,just1 will bring them forth from the veil of mystery4 #b ,the same general conception1 in a modified form1 was held by the ,stoics of later ,greece1 who doubtless borrowed it from the ,east1 and who carried it out in greater detail4 ,god is an artistic fire1 out of which the cosmopoeia issues4 ,this fire proceeds in a certain fixed course1 in obedience to a fixed law1 passing through certain intermediate gradations and established periods1 until it ultimately returns into itself and closes with a universal conflagration4 ,it is to this catastrophe that reference is made in the following passage of ,epictetus3 ,some say that when ,zeus is left alone at the time of the conflagration1 he is solitary1 and bewails himself #a ,wilson1 ,lectures on the ,hindus1 pp4 #ec-ef4 #b ,the ,dabistan1 vol4 iii4 p4 #afi4 that he has no company4#c ,the ,stoics supposed each succeeding formation to be perfectly like the preceding4 ,every particular that happens now has happened exactly so a thousand times before1 and will happen a thousand times again4 ,this view they connected with astronomical calculations1 making the burning and re creating of the world coincide with the same position of the stars as that at which it previously occurred4#d ,this they called the restoration of all things4 ,the idea of these enormous revolving identical epochs ,day of ,brahm1 ,cycle of the ,stoics1 or ,great ,year of ,plato is a physical fatalism1 effecting a universal resurrection of the past1 by reproducing it over and over forever4 ,humboldt seems more than inclined to adopt the same thought4 ,in submitting1 he says1 physical phenomena and historical events to the exercise of the reflective faculty1 and in ascending to their causes by reasoning1 we become more and more penetrated by that ancient belief1 that the forces inherent in matter1 and those regulating the moral world1 exert their action under the presence of a primordial necessity and according to movements periodically renewed4 ,the wise man of old said1 ,the thing that hath been1 it is that which shall be2 and that which is done is that which shall be done1 and there is no new thing under the sun4 ,the conception of the destinies of the universe as a circle returning forever into itself is an artifice on which the thinking mind early seizes1 to evade the problem that is too mighty for its feeble powers4 ,it concludes that the final aim of ,nature is but the infinite perfecting of her material in infinite transformations ever repeating the same old series4 ,we cannot comprehend and master satisfactorily the eternal duration of one visible order1 the incessant rolling on of races and stars3 ,and doth creation's tide forever flow1 ,nor ebb with like destruction8 ,world on world ,are they forever heaping up1 and still ,the mighty measure never1 never full8 ,and so1 when the contemplation of the staggering infinity threatens to crush the brain1 we turn away and find relief in the view of a periodical revolution1 wherein all comes to an end from time to time and takes a fresh start4 ,it would be wiser for us simply to resign the problem as too great4 ,for the conception to which we have recourse is evidently a mere conceit of imagination1 without scientific basis or philosophical confirmation4 ,the doctrine of a bodily resurrection1 resting on a wholly different ground1 again emerges upon our attention in the ,zoroastrian faith of ,persia4 ,the good ,ormuzd created men to be pure and happy and to pass to a heavenly immortality4 ,the evil ,ahriman insinuated his corruptions among them1 broke their primal destiny1 and brought death upon them1 dooming their material frames to loathsome dissolution1 their unclothed spirits to a painful abode in hell4 ,meanwhile1 the war between the ,light ,god and the ,gloom ,fiend rages fluctuatingly4 ,but at last the ,good ,one shall prevail1 and the ,bad ,one sink in discomfiture1 and all evil deeds be neutralized1 and the benignant arrangements decreed at first be restored4 ,then all #c ,epictetus1 lib4 iii4 cap4 #ac4 ,sonntag1 ,de ,palingenesia ,stoicorum4 #d ,ritter's ,hist4 of ,an4 ,phil41 lib4 xi4 cap4 #d4 souls shall be redeemed from hell and their bodies be rebuilt from their scattered atoms and clothed upon them again4#e ,this resurrection is not the consequence of any fixed laws or fate1 nor is it an arbitrary miracle4 ,it is simply the restoration by ,ormuzd of the original intention which ,ahriman had temporarily marred and defeated4 ,this is the great bodily resurrection1 as it is still understood and looked for by the ,parsees4 ,the whole system of views out of which it springs1 and with which it is interwrought1 is a fanciful mythology1 based on gratuitous assumptions1 or at most on a crude glance at mere appearances4 ,the hypothesis that the creation is the scene of a drawn battle between two hostile beings1 a ,deity and a ,devil1 can face neither the scrutiny of science1 nor the test of morals1 nor the logic of reason2 and it has long since been driven from the arena of earnest thought4 ,on this theory it follows that death is a violent curse and discord1 maliciously forced in afterwards to deform and spoil the beauty and melody of a perfect original creation4 ,now1 as ,bretschneider well says1 the belief that death is an evil1 a punishment for sin1 can arise only in a dualistic system4 ,it is unreasonable to suppose that the ,infinite ,god would deliberately lay a plan and allow it to be thwarted and ruined by a demon4 ,and it is unscientific to imagine that death is an accident1 or an after result foisted into the system of the world4 ,death that is1 a succession of generations is surely an essential part of the very constitution of nature1 plainly stamped on all those medals of the creation which bear the features of their respective ages and which are laid up in the archives of geological epochs4 ,successive growth and decay is a central part of ,god's original plan1 as appears from the very structure of living bodies and the whole order of the globe4 ,death1 therefore1 which furthermore actually reigned on earth unknown ages before the existence of man1 could not have been a fortuitous after clap of human sin4 ,and so the foregoing theory of a general resurrection as the restoration of ,god's broken plan to its completeness falls to the ground4 ,the ,jews1 in the course of their frequent and long continued intercourse with the ,persians1 did not fail to be much impressed with the vivid melodramatic outlines of the ,zoroastrian doctrine of the resurrection4 ,they finally adopted it themselves1 and joined it1 with such modifications as it naturally underwent from the union1 with the great dogmas of their own faith4 ,a few faint references to it are found in the ,old ,testament4 ,some explicit declarations and boasts of it are in the ,apocrypha4 ,in the ,targums1 the ,talmud1 and the associated sources1 abundant statements of it in copious forms are preserved4 ,the ,jews rested their doctrine of the resurrection on the same general ground as the ,persians did1 from whom they borrowed it4 ,man was meant to be immortal1 either on earth or in heaven2 but ,satan seduced him to sin1 and thus wrested from him his privilege of immortality1 made him die and descend into a dark nether realm which was to be filled with the disembodied souls of his descendants4 ,the resurrection was to annul all this and restore men to their original footing4 ,we need not labor any disproof of the truth or authority of this doctrine as the ,pharisees held it1 because1 admitting that they had the record of a revelation from ,god1 this doctrine was not a part of it4 ,it is only to be found in their canonic scriptures by way of vague and hasty allusion1 and is historically traceable to its derivation from the pagan oracles of ,persia4 #e ,frazer1 ,history of ,persia1 chap4 iv4 ,baur1 ,symbolik und ,mythologice thl4 ii4 absch4 ii4 cap4 ss4 #cid-djd4 ,of course it is possible that the doctrine of the resurrection1 as the ,hebrews held it1 was developed by themselves1 from imaginative contemplations on the phenomena of burials and graves2 spectres seen in dreams2 conceptions of the dead as shadowy shapes in the under world2 ideas of ,god as the deliverer of living men from the open gates of the under world when they experienced narrow escapes from destruction2 vast and fanatical national hopes4 ,before advancing another step1 it is necessary only to premise that some of the ,jews appear to have expected that the souls on rising from the under world would be clothed with new1 spiritualized1 incorruptible bodies1 others plainly expected that the identical bodies they formerly wore would be literally restored4 ,now1 when ,christianity1 after the death of its ,founder1 arose and spread1 it was in the guise of a new and progressive ,jewish sect4 ,its apostles and its converts for the first hundred years were ,christian ,jews4 ,christianity ran its career through the apostolic age virtually as a more liberal ,jewish sect4 ,most natural was it1 then1 that infant ,christianity should retain all the salient dogmas of ,judaism1 except those of exclusive nationality and bigoted formalism in the throwing off of which the mission of ,christianity partly consisted4 ,among these ,jewish dogmas retained by early ,christianity was that of the bodily resurrection4 ,in the ,new ,testament itself there are seeming references to this doctrine4 ,we shall soon recur to these4 ,the phrase resurrection of the body does not occur in the ,scriptures4 ,neither is it found in any public creed whatever among ,christians until the fourth century4#f ,but these admissions by no means prove that the doctrine was not believed from the earliest days of ,christianity4 ,the fact is1 it was the same with this doctrine as with the doctrine of the descent of ,christ into ,hades3 it was not for a long time called in question at all4 ,it was not defined1 discriminated1 lifted up on the symbols of the ,church1 because that was not called for4 ,as soon as the doctrine came into dispute1 it was vehemently and all but unanimously affirmed1 and found an emphatic place in every creed4 ,whenever the doctrine of a bodily resurrection has been denied1 that denial has been instantly stigmatized as heresy and schism1 even from the days of ,hymeneus and ,philetas1 who concerning the truth erred1 saying that the resurrection was past already4 ,the uniform orthodox doctrine of the ,christian ,church has always been that in the last day the identical fleshly bodies formerly inhabited by men shall be raised from the earth1 sea1 and air1 and given to them again to be everlastingly assumed4 ,the scattered exceptions to the believers in this doctrine have been few1 and have ever been styled heretics by their contemporaries4 ,any one who will glance over the writings of the ,fathers with reference to this subject will find the foregoing statements amply confirmed4#g ,justin ,martyr wrote a treatise on the resurrection1 a fragment of which is still extant4 ,athenagoras has left us an extremely elaborate and able discussion of the whole doctrine1 in a separate work4 ,tertullian is author of a famous book on the subject1 entitled ,concerning the ,resurrection of the ,flesh1 in which he says1 ,the teeth are providentially made eternal to serve as the seeds of the #f ,dr4 ,sykes1 ,inquiry when the ,article of the ,resurrection of the ,body or ,flesh was first introduced into the ,public ,creeds4 #g ,mosheim1 ,de ,resurrectione ,mortuorum4 resurrection4 ,chrysostom has written fully upon it in two of his eloquent homilies4 ,all these1 in company indeed with the common body of their contemporaries1 unequivocally teach a carnal resurrection with the grossest details4 ,augustine says1 ,every man's body1 howsoever dispersed here1 shall be restored perfect in the resurrection4 ,every body shall be complete in quantity and quality4 ,as many hairs as have been shaved off1 or nails cut1 shall not return in such enormous quantities to deform their original places2 but neither shall they perish3 they shall return into the body into that substance from which they grew4 #h ,as if that would not cause any deformity6 #i ,some of the later ,origenists held that the resurrection bodies would be in the shape of a ball1 the mere heads of cherubs6 #aj ,in the seventh century ,mohammed flourished4 ,his doctrinal system1 it is well known1 was drawn indiscriminately from many sources1 and mixed with additions and colors of his own4 ,finding the dogma of a general bodily resurrection already prevailing among the ,parsees1 the ,jews1 and the ,christians1 and perceiving1 too1 how well adapted for purposes of vivid representation and practical effect it was1 or perhaps believing it himself1 the ,arabian prophet ingrafted this article into the creed of his followers4 ,it has ever been with them1 and is still1 a foremost and controlling article of faith1 an article for the most part held in its literal sense1 although there is a powerful sect which spiritualizes the whole conception1 turning all its details into allegories and images4 ,but this view is not the original nor the orthodox view4 ,the subject of the resurrection was a prominent theme in the theology of the ,middle ,age4 ,only here and there a dissenting voice was raised against the doctrine in its strict physical form4 ,the great body of the ,scholastics stood stanchly by it4 ,in defence and support of the ,church thesis they brought all the quirks and quiddities of their subtle dialectics4 ,as we take down their ponderous tomes from their neglected shelves1 and turn over the dusty1 faded old leaves1 we find chapter after chapter in many a formidable folio occupied with grave discussions1 carried on in acute logical terminology1 of questions like these3 ,will the resurrection be natural or miraculous8 ,will each one's hairs and nails all be restored to him in the resurrection8 ,when bodies are raised1 will each soul spontaneously know its own and enter it8 or will the power of ,god distribute them as they belong8 ,will the deformities and scars of our present bodies be retained in the resurrection8 ,will all rise of the same age8 ,will all have one size and one sex8 #aa ,and so on with hundreds of kindred questions4 ,for instance1 ,thomas ,aquinas contended that no other substance would rise from the grave except that which belonged to the individual in the moment of death4#ab ,what dire prospects this proposition must conjure up before many minds6 ,if one chance to grow prodigiously obese before death1 he must lug that enormous corporeity wearily about forever2 but if he happen to die when wasted1 he must then flit through eternity as thin as a lath4 #h ,de ,civ4 ,dei1 lib4 xxii4 cap4 #ai1 #bj4 #i ,see the strange speculations of ,opitz in his work ,de ,statura et ,atate ,resurgentium4 #aj ,redepenning1 ,origenes1 b4 ii4 s4 #dfc4 #aa ,summa ,theologia1 ,thoma ,aquinatis1 tertia pars1 ,supplementum1 ,quastiones #gi-hg4 #ab ,hagenbuch1 ,dogmengeschichte1 sect4 #bjd4 ,those who have had the misfortune to be amputated of legs or arms must appear on the resurrection stage without those very convenient appendages4 ,there will still be need of hospitals for the battered veterans of ,chelsea and ,greenwich1 mutilated heroes1 pensioned relics of deck and field4 ,then in the resurrection the renowned ,mynheer von ,clam1 ,richest merchant in ,rotterdam1 will again have occasion for the services of the patent cork leg manufacturer1 though it is hardly to be presumed he will accept another unrestrainable one like that which led him so fearful a race through the poet's verses4 ,the ,manichaans denied a bodily resurrection4 ,in this all the sects theologically allied to them1 who have appeared in ecclesiastical history1 for instance1 the ,cathari1 have agreed4 ,there have also been a few individual ,christian teachers in every century who have assailed the doctrine4 ,but1 as already declared1 it has uniformly been the firm doctrine of the ,church and of all who acknowledged her authority4 ,the old dogma still remains in the creeds of the recognised ,churches1 ,papal1 ,greek1 and ,protestant4 ,it has been terribly shattered by the attacks of reason and of progressive science4 ,it lingers in the minds of most people only as a dead letter4 ,but all the earnest conservative theologians yet cling to it in its unmitigated grossness1 with unrelaxing severity4 ,we hear it in practical discourses from the pulpit1 and read it in doctrinal treatises1 as offensively proclaimed now as ever4 ,indeed1 it is an essential part of the compact system of the ruling theology1 and cannot be taken out without loosening the whole dogmatic fabric into fragments4 ,thus writes to day a distinguished ,american divine1 ,dr4 ,spring3 ,whether buried in the earth1 or floating in the sea1 or consumed by the flames1 or enriching the battle field1 or evaporate in the atmosphere1 all1 from ,adam to the latest born1 shall wend their way to the great arena of the judgment4 ,every perished bone and every secret particle of dust shall obey the summons and come forth4 ,if one could then look upon the earth1 he would see it as one mighty excavated globe1 and wonder how such countless generations could have found a dwelling beneath its surface4 #ac ,this is the way the recognised authorities in theology still talk4 ,to venture any other opinion is a heresy all over ,christendom at this hour4 ,we will next bring forward and criticize the arguments for and against the doctrine before us4 ,it is contended that the doctrine is demonstrated in the example of ,christ's own resurrection4 ,the resurrection of the flesh was formerly regarded as incredible1 says ,augustine2 but now we see the whole world believing that ,christ's earthly body was borne into heaven4 #ad ,it is the faith of the ,church that ,christ rose into heaven with his body of flesh and blood1 and wears it there now1 and will forever4 ,had he been there in body before1 it would have been no such wonder that he should have returned with it2 but that the flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone should be seated at the right hand of ,god is worthy of the greatest admiration4 #ae ,that is to say1 ,christ was from eternity ,god1 the ,infinite ,spirit1 in #ac ,the ,glory of ,christ1 vol4 ii4 p4 #bcg4 #ad ,de ,civ4 ,dei1 lib4 xxii4 cap4 #e4 #ae ,pearson on the ,creed1 #abth ed41 pp4 #bgb-bge4 heaven2 he came to earth and lived in a human body2 on returning to heaven1 instead of resuming his proper form1 he bears with him1 and will eternally retain1 the body of flesh he had worn on earth6 ,paul says1 ,flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of ,god4 ,the ,church1 hastily following the senses1 led by a carnal1 illogical philosophy1 has deeply misinterpreted and violently abused the significance of ,christ's ascension4 ,the drama of his resurrection1 with all its connected parts1 was not meant throughout as a strict representation of our destiny4 ,it was a seal upon his commission and teachings1 not an exemplification of what should happen to others4 ,it was outwardly a miracle1 not a type1 an exceptional instance of super natural power1 not a significant exhibition of the regular course of things4 ,the same logic which says1 ,christ rose and ascended with his fleshly body3 therefore we shall1 must also say1 ,christ rose visibly on the third day3 therefore we shall4 ,christ's resurrection was a miracle2 and therefore we cannot reason from it to ourselves4 ,the common conception of a miracle is that it is the suspension1 not the manifestation1 of ordinary laws4 ,we have just as much logical right to say that the physical appearance in ,christ's resurrection was merely an accommodation to the senses of the witnesses1 and that on his ascension the body was annihilated1 and only his soul entered heaven1 as we have to surmise that the theory embodied in the common belief is true4 ,the record is according to mere sensible appearances4 ,the reality is beyond our knowledge4 ,the record gives no explanation4 ,it is wiser in this dilemma to follow the light of reason than to follow the blind spirit of tradition4 ,the point in our reasoning is this4 ,if ,christ1 on rising from the world of the dead1 assumed again his former body1 he assumed it by a miracle1 and for some special purpose of revealing himself to his disciples and of finishing his earthly work2 and it does not follow either that he bore that body into heaven1 or that any others will ever1 even temporarily1 reassume their cast off forms4 ,the ,christian ,scriptures do not in a single passage teach the popular doctrine of the resurrection of the body4 ,every text in the ,new ,testament finds its full and satisfactory explanation without implying that dogma at all4 ,in the first place1 it is undeniably implied throughout the ,new ,testament that the soul does not perish with the body4 ,it also appears1 in the next place1 from numerous explicit passages1 that the ,new ,testament authors1 in common with their countrymen1 supposed the souls of the departed to be gathered and tarrying in what the ,church calls the intermediate state1 the obscure under world4 ,in this subterranean realm they were imagined to be awaiting the advent of the ,messiah to release them4 ,now1 we submit that every requirement of the doctrine of the resurrection as it is stated or hinted in the ,new ,testament is fully met by the simple ascension of this congregation of souls from the vaults of ,sheol to the light of the upper earth1 there to be judged1 and then some to be sent up to heaven1 some sent back to their prison4 ,for1 let it be carefully observed1 there is not one text in the ,new ,testament1 as before stated1 which speaks of the resurrection of the body or of the flesh4 ,the expression is simply the resurrection of the dead1 or of them that slept4 ,if by the dead was meant the bodies1 why are we not told so8 ,locke1 in the ,third ,letter of his controversy with the ,bishop of ,worcester on this subject1 very pointedly shows the absurdity of a literal interpretation of the words ,all that are in their graves shall hear my voice and shall come forth4 ,nothing can come out of the grave except what is in it4 ,and there are no souls in the grave3 they are in the separate state4 ,and there are no bodies in millions of graves3 they long ago1 even to the last grain of dust1 entered into the circulations of the material system4 ,coming forth from their graves unto the resurrection either denotes the rising of souls from the under world1 or else its meaning is something incredible4 ,at all events1 nothing is said about any resurrection of the body3 that is a matter of arbitrary inference4 ,the angels are not thought to have material bodies2 and ,christ declares1 ,in the resurrection ye shall neither marry nor be given in marriage1 but shall be as the angels of heaven4 ,it seems clear to us that the author of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews also looked for no restoration of the fleshly body2 for he not only studiously omits even the faintest allusion to any such notion1 but positively describes the spirits of just men made perfect in the heavenly ,jerusalem1 with an innumerable company of angels1 and with the general assembly and church of the first born4 ,the ,jews and early ,christians who believed in a bodily resurrection did not suppose the departed could enter heaven until after that great consummation4 ,the most cogent proof that the ,new ,testament does not teach the resurrection of the same body that is buried in the grave is furnished by the celebrated passage in ,paul's ,epistle to the ,corinthians4 ,the apostle's premises1 reasoning1 and conclusion are as follows3 ,christ is risen from the dead1 become the first fruits of them that slept4 ,that is to say1 all who have died1 except ,christ1 are still tarrying in the great receptacle of souls under the earth4 ,as the first fruits go before the harvest1 so the solitary risen ,christ is the forerunner to the general resurrection to follow4 ,but some one will say1 ,how are the dead raised up8 and with what body do they come8 ,mark the apostle's reply1 and it will appear inexplicable how any one can consider him as arguing for the resurrection of the identical body that was laid in the grave1 particle for particle4 ,thou fool6 that which thou sowest1 thou sowest not that body that shall be1 but naked grain1 and ,god giveth it a body as it hath pleased him4 ,there are celestial bodies1 and terrestrial bodies2 there is a natural body1 and there is a spiritual body2 the first man is of the earth1 earthy2 the second man is the ,lord from heaven2 flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of ,god2 we shall all be changed1 and bear the image of the heavenly1 as we have borne the image of the earthy4 ,the analogy which has been so strangely perverted by most commentators is used by ,paul thus4 ,the germ which was to spring up to a new life1 clothed with a new body1 was not any part of the fleshly body buried in the grave1 but was the soul itself1 once contained in the old body1 but released from its hull in the grave and preserved in the under world until ,christ shall call it forth to be invested with a glorious1 powerful1 spiritual1 incorruptible body4 ,when a grain of wheat is sown1 that is not the body that shall be2 but the mysterious principle of life1 latent in the germ of the seed1 springs up and puts on its body fashioned appropriately for it4 ,so1 according to ,paul's conception1 when a man is buried1 the material corpse is not the resurrection body that shall be2 but the living soul which occupied it is the germ that shall put on a new body of immortality when the spring tide of ,christ's coming draws the buried treasures of ,hades up to the light of heaven4 ,a species of proof which has been much used by the advocates of the dogma of a bodily resurrection is the argument from analogy4 ,the intimate connection of human feeling and fancy with the changing phenomena of ,nature's seasons would naturally suggest to a pensive mind the idea1 ,why1 since she has her annual resurrection1 may not humanity some time have one8 ,and what first arose as a poetic conceit or stray thought1 and was expressed in glowing metaphors1 might by an easy process pass abroad and harden into a prosaic proposition or dogmatic formula4 ,o soul of the spring time1 now let us behold ,the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre roll'd1 ,and ,nature rise up from her death's damp mould2 ,let our faith1 which in darkness and coldness has lain1 ,revive with the warmth and the brightness again1 ,and in blooming of flower and budding of tree ,the symbols and types of our destiny see4 ,standing by the graves of our loved and lost ones1 our inmost souls yearn over the very dust in which their hallowed forms repose4 ,we feel that they must come back1 we must be restored to each other as we were before4 ,listening to the returned birds whose warble fills the woods once more1 gazing around on the verdant and flowery forms of renewed life that clothe the landscape over again1 we eagerly snatch at every apparent emblem or prophetic analogy that answers to our fond imagination and desiring dream4 ,sentiment and fancy1 especially when stimulated by love and grief1 and roving in the realms of reverie1 free from the cold guidance and sharp check of literal fact and severe logic1 are poor analysts1 and then we easily confuse things distinct and wander to conclusions philosophy will not warrant4 ,before building a dogmatic doctrine on analogies1 we must study those analogies with careful discrimination1 must see what they really are1 and to what they really lead4 ,there is often an immense difference between the first appearance to a hasty observer and the final reality to a profound student4 ,let us1 then1 scrutinize a little more closely those seeming analogies which1 to borrow a happy expression from ,flugge1 have made ,resurrection a younger sister of ,immortality4 ,nature1 the old1 eternal snake1 comes out afresh every year in a new shining skin4 ,what then8 ,of course this emblem is no proof of any doctrine concerning the fate of man4 ,but1 waiving that1 what would the legitimate correspondence to it be for man8 ,why1 that humanity should exhibit the fresh specimens of her living handiwork in every new generation4 ,and that is done4 ,nature does not reproduce before us each spring the very flowers that perished the previous winter3 she makes new ones like them4 ,it is not a resurrection of the old3 it is a growth of the new4 ,the passage of the worm from its slug to its chrysalis state is surely no symbol of a bodily resurrection1 but rather of a bodily emancipation1 not resuming a deserted dead body1 but assuming a new live one4 ,does the butterfly ever come back to put on the exuvia that have perished in the ground8 ,the law of all life is progress1 not return1 ascent through future developments1 not descent through the stages already traversed4 ,the herb is born anew out of a seed1 ,not raised out of a bony skeleton4 ,what tree is man the seed of8 ,of a soul4 ,sir ,thomas ,browne1 after others1 argues for the restoration of man's body from the grave1 from the fancied analogy of the palingenesis or resurrection of vegetables which the magicians of the antique ,east and the mystic chemists of the ,middle ,age boasted of effecting4 ,he having asserted in his ,religion of a ,physician that experience can from the ashes of a plant revive the plant1 and from its cinders recall it into its stalk and leaves again1 ,dr4 ,henry ,power wrote beseeching an experimental eviction of so high and noble a piece of chemistry1 the reindividuality of an incinerated plant4 ,we are not informed that ,sir ,thomas ever granted him the sight4 ,of this beautiful error1 this exquisite superstition1 which undoubtedly arose from the crystallizations of certain salts in arborescent forms which suddenly surprised the early alchemists in some of their experiments1 we have the following account in ,disraeli's ,curiosities of ,literature3 ,the semina of resurrection are concealed in extinct bodies1 as in the blood of man4 ,the ashes of roses will again revive into roses1 though smaller and paler than if they had been planted unsubstantial and unodoriferous1 they are not roses which grew on rose trees1 but their delicate apparitions2 and1 like apparitions1 they are seen but for a moment4 ,this magical phoenix lies thus concealed in its cold ashes till the presence of a certain chemical heat produces its resurrection4 ,any refutation of this now would be considered childish4 ,upon the whole1 then1 while recurrent spring1 bringing in the great ,easter of the year1 typifies to us indeed abundantly the development of new life1 the growth of new bodies out of the old and decayed1 but nowhere hints at the gathering up and wearing again of the dusty sloughs and rotted foliage of the past1 let men cease to talk of there being any natural analogies to the ecclesiastical dogma of the resurrection of the flesh4 ,the teaching of nature finds a truer utterance in the words of ,aschylus3 ,there is no resurrection for him who is once dead4 #af ,the next argument is that based on considerations of reason and of ethics4 ,the supporters of the doctrine of the resurrection of the body have often disingenuously evaded the burden of proof thrown upon them by retreating beneath loud assertions of ,god's power4 ,from the earliest dawn of the hypothesis to the present time1 every perplexity arising from it1 every objection brought against it1 every absurdity shown to be involved in it1 has been met and confidently rebutted with declarations of ,god's abundant power to effect a physical resurrection1 or to do any thing else he pleases1 however impossible it may appear to us4 ,now1 it is true the power of ,god is competent to innumerable things utterly beyond our skill1 knowledge1 or conception4 ,nevertheless1 there is a province within which our reason can judge of probabilities1 and can1 if not absolutely grasp infallible truth1 at least reach satisfactory convictions4 ,god is able to restore the vast coal deposits of the earth1 and the ashes of all the fuel ever burned1 to their original condition when they covered the world with #af ,eumenides1 #a4 #fdh1 ,oxford edition4 dense forests of ferns2 but we have no reason to believe he will do it4 ,the truth or falsity of the popular theory of the resurrection is not a question of ,god's power2 it is simply a question of ,god's will4 ,a ,jewish ,rabbin relates the following conversation1 as exultingly as if the quibbling evasion on which it turns positively settled the question itself1 which in fact it does not approach4 ,a ,sadducee says1 ,the resurrection of the dead is a fable3 the dry1 scattered dust cannot live again4 ,a by standing ,pharisee makes this reply3 ,there were in a city two artists3 one made vases of water1 the other made them of clay3 which was the more wondrous artist8 ,the ,sadducee answered1 ,the former4 ,the ,pharisee rejoins1 ,cannot ,god1 then1 who formed man of water1 7gutta seminis humida17 much more re form him of clay8 ,such a method of reasoning is an irrelevant impertinence4 ,god can call ,nebuchadnezzar from his long rest1 and seat him on his old throne again to morrow4 ,what an absurdity to infer that therefore he will do it6 ,god can give us wings upon our bodies1 and enable us to fly on an exploring trip among the planets4 ,will he do it8 ,the question1 we repeat1 is not whether ,god has the power to raise our dead bodies1 but whether he has the will4 ,to that question since1 as we have already seen1 he has sent us no miraculous revelation replying to it we can only find an answer by tracing the indications of his intentions contained in reason1 morals1 and nature4 ,one of the foremost arguments urged by the ,fathers for the resurrection was its supposed necessity for a just and complete judgment4 ,the body was involved and instrumental in all the sins of the man3 it must therefore bear part in his punishment4 ,the ,rabbins tell this allegory3 ,in the day of judgment the body will say1 ,the soul alone is to blame3 since it left me1 ,i have lain like a stone in the grave4 ,the soul will retort1 ,the body alone is sinful3 since released from it1 ,i fly through the air like a bird4 ,the ,judge will interpose with this myth3 ,a king once had a beautiful garden full of early fruits4 ,a lame man and a blind man were in it4 ,said the lame man to the blind man1 ,let me mount upon your shoulders and pluck the fruit1 and we will divide it4 ,the king accused them of theft2 but they severally replied1 the lame man1 ,how could ,i reach it8 the blind man1 ,how could ,i see it8 ,the king ordered the lame man to be placed upon the back of the blind man1 and in this position had them both scourged4 ,so ,god in the day of judgment will replace the soul in the body1 and hurl them both into hell together4 ,there is a queer tradition among the ,mohammedans implying1 singularly enough1 the same general thought4 ,the ,prophet's uncle1 ,hamzah1 having been slain by ,hind1 daughter of ,atabah1 the cursed woman cut out his liver and gnawed it with fiendish joy2 but1 lest any of it should become incorporated with her system and go to hell1 the ,most ,high made it as hard as a stone2 and when she threw it on the ground1 an angel restored it to its original nature and place in the body of the martyred hero1 that lion of ,god4 ,the ,roman ,catholic ,church endorses the representation that the body must be raised to be punished4 ,in the ,catechism of the ,council of ,trent1 which is an authoritative exposition of ,romanist theology1 we read that the identical body shall be restored1 though without deformities or superfluities2 restored that as it was a partner in the man's deeds1 so it may be a partner in his punishments4 ,the same ,catechism also gives in this connection the reason why a general judgment is necessary after each individual has been judged at his death1 namely1 this3 that they may be punished for the evil which has resulted in the world since they died from the evil they did in the world while they lived6 ,is it not astonishing how these theologians find out so much8 ,a living ,presbyterian divine of note says1 ,the bodies of the damned in the resurrection shall be fit dwellings for their vile minds4 ,with all those fearful and horrid expressions which every base and malignant passion wakes up in the human countenance stamped upon it for eternity and burned in by the flaming fury of their own terrific wickedness1 they will be condemned to look upon their own deformity and to feel their fitting doom4 ,it is therefore urged that the body must be raised to suffer the just penalty of the sins man committed while occupying it4 ,is it not an absurdity to affirm that nerves and blood1 flesh and bones1 are responsible1 guilty1 must be punished8 ,tucker1 in his ,light of ,nature ,pursued1 says1 ,the vulgar notion of a resurrection in the same form and substance we carry about at present1 because the body being partaker in the deed ought to share in the reward1 as well requires a resurrection of the sword a man murders with1 or the bank note he gives to charitable uses4 ,we suppose an intelligent personality1 a free will1 indispensable to responsibleness and alone amenable to retributions4 ,besides1 if the body must be raised to undergo chastisement for the offences done in it and by means of it1 this insurmountable difficulty by the same logic confronts us4 ,the material of our bodies is in a constant change1 the particles becoming totally transferred every few years4 ,now1 when a man is punished after the general judgment for a certain crime1 he must be in the very body he occupied when that crime was perpetrated4 ,since he was a sinner all his days1 his resurrection body must comprise all the matter that ever formed a part of his corporeity1 and each sinner may hereafter be as huge as the writhing ,titan1 ,tityus1 whose body1 it was fabled1 covered nine acres4 ,god is able to preserve the integral soul in being1 and to punish it according to justice1 without clothing it in flesh4 ,this fact by itself utterly vacates and makes gratuitous the hypothesis of a physical resurrection from punitive considerations1 an hypothesis which is also refuted by the truth contained in ,locke's remark to ,stillingfleet1 that the soul hath no greater congruity with the particles of matter which were once united to it1 but are so no longer1 than it hath with any other particles of matter4 ,when the soul leaves the body1 it would seem to have done with that stage of its existence1 and to enter upon another and higher one1 leaving the dust to mix with dust forever4 ,the body wants not the soul again2 for it is a senseless clod and wants nothing4 ,the soul wants not its old body again3 it prefers to have the freedom of the universe1 a spirit4 ,philip the ,solitary wrote1 in the twelfth century1 a book called ,dioptra1 presenting the controversy between the soul and the body very quaintly and at length4 ,the same thing was done by ,henry ,nicholson in a ,conference between the ,soul and ,body concerning the ,present and ,future ,state4 ,william ,crashaw1 an old ,english poet1 translated from the ,latin a poem entitled ,the ,complaint3 a ,dialogue between the ,body and the ,soul of a ,damned ,man4#ag ,but any one who will peruse with intelligent heed the works that have been written on this whole subject must be amazed to see how exclusively the doctrine which we are opposing has rested on pure grounds of tradition and fancy1 alike destitute of authority and reason4 ,some authors have indeed attempted to support the doctrine with arguments3 for #ag ,also see ,dialogue inter ,corpus et ,animam1 p4 #ie of ,latin ,poems attributed to ,walter ,mapes4 instance1 there are two ,german works1 one by ,bertram1 one by ,pflug1 entitled ,the ,resurrection of the ,dead on ,grounds of ,reason1 in which recourse is had to every possible expedient to make out a case1 not even neglecting the factitious assistance of ,leibnitz's scheme of ,pre established ,harmony4 ,but it may be deliberately affirmed that not one of their arguments is worthy of respect4 ,apparently1 they do not seek to reach truth1 but to bolster up a foregone conclusion held merely from motives of tradition4 ,the ,jews had a favorite tradition1 developed by their ,rabbins in many passages1 that there was one small1 almond shaped bone1 7supposed now to have been the bone called by anatomists the os coccygis17 which was indestructible1 and would form the nucleus around which the rest of the body would gather at the time of the resurrection4 ,this bone1 named ,luz1 was miraculously preserved from demolition or decay4 ,pound it furiously on anvils with heavy hammers of steel1 burn it for ages in the fiercest furnaces1 soak it for centuries in the strongest solvents1 all in vain3 its magic structure still remained4 ,so the ,talmud tells4 ,even as there is a round dry grain ,in a plant's skeleton1 which1 being buried1 ,can raise the herb's green body up again2 ,so is there such in man1 a seed shaped bone1 ,aldabaron1 call'd by the ,hebrews ,luz1 ,which1 being laid into the ground1 will bear1 ,after three thousand years1 the grass of flesh1 ,the bloody1 soul possessed weed called man4 ,the ,jews did not1 as these singular lines represent1 suppose this bone was a germ which after long burial would fructify by a natural process and bear a perfect body3 they regarded it only as a nucleus around which the ,messiah would by a miracle compel the decomposed flesh to return as in its pristine life4 ,all that the ,jews say of ,luz the ,mohammedans repeat of the bone ,al ,ajib4 ,this conceit of superstition has been developed by a ,christian author of considerable reputation into a theory of a natural resurrection4 ,the work of ,mr4 ,samuel ,drew on the ,identity and ,general ,resurrection of the ,human ,body has been quite a standard work on the subject of which it treats4 ,mr4 ,drew believes there is a germ in the body which slowly ripens and prepares the resurrection body in the grave4 ,as a seed must be buried for a season in order to spring up in perfect life1 so must the human body be buried till the day of judgment4 ,during this period it is not idle1 but is busily getting ready for its consummation4 ,he says1 ,there are four distinct stages through which those parts constituting the identity of the body must necessarily pass in order to their attainment of complete perfection beyond the grave4 ,the first of these stages is that of its elementary principles2 the second is that of an embryo in the womb2 the third is that of its union with an immaterial spirit1 and with the fluctuating portions of flesh and blood in our present state2 and the fourth stage is that of its residence in the grave4 ,all these stages are undoubtedly necessary to the full perfection of the body3 they are alembics through which its parts must necessarily move to attain that vigor which shall continue forever4#ah ,to state this figment is enough4 ,it would be folly to attempt any refutation of a fancy so obviously a pure contrivance to fortify a preconceived opinion1 a fancy1 too1 so preposterous1 so utterly without countenance1 either from experience1 observation1 science1 reason1 or ,scripture4 ,the egg of man's divinity is not laid in the nest of the grave4 ,another motive for believing the resurrection of the body has been created by the exigencies of a materialistic philosophy4 ,there was in the early ,church an ,arabian sect of heretics who were reclaimed from their errors by the powerful reasonings and eloquence of ,origen4#ai ,their heresy consisted in maintaining that the soul dies with the body being indeed only its vital breath and will be restored with it at the last day4 ,in the course of the ,christian centuries there have arisen occasionally a few defenders of this opinion4 ,priestley1 as is well known1 was an earnest supporter of it4 ,let us scan the ground on which he held this belief4 ,in the first place1 he firmly believed that the fact of an eternal life to come had been supernaturally revealed to men by ,god through ,christ4 ,secondly1 as a philosopher he was intensely a materialist1 holding with unwavering conviction to the conclusion that life1 mind1 or soul1 was a concomitant or result of our physical organism1 and wholly incapable of being without it4 ,death to him was the total destruction of man for the time4 ,there was therefore plainly no alternative for him but either to abandon one of his fundamental convictions as a ,christian and a philosopher1 or else to accept the doctrine of a future resurrection of the body into an immortal life4 ,he chose the latter1 and zealously taught always that death is an annihilation lasting till the day of judgment1 when all are to be summoned from their graves4 ,to this whole course of thought there are several replies to be made4 ,in the first place1 we submit that the philosophy of materialism is false3 standing in the province of science and reason1 it may be affirmed that the soul is not dependent for its existence on the body1 but will survive it4 ,we will not argue this point1 but merely state it4 ,secondly1 it is certain that the doctrine which makes soul perish with body finds no countenance in the ,new ,testament4 ,it is inconsistent with the belief in angelic spirits1 in demoniac possessions1 in ,christ's descent as a spirit to preach to the spirits of departed men imprisoned in the under world1 and with other conceptions underlying the ,gospels and the ,epistles4 ,but1 thirdly1 admitting it to be true1 then1 we affirm1 the legitimate deduction from all the arrayed facts of science and all the presumptive evidence of appearances is not that a future resurrection will restore the dead man to life1 but that all is over with him1 he has hopelessly perished forever4 ,when the breath ceases1 if nothing survives1 if the total man is blotted out1 then we challenge the production of a shadow of proof that he will ever live again4 ,the seeming injustice and blank awfulness of the fate may make one turn for relief to the hypothesis of a future arbitrary miraculous resurrection2 but that is an artificial expedient1 without a shadow of justification4 ,once admit that the body is all1 its dissolution a total death1 and you are gone forever4 ,one intuition of the spirit1 seizing the conscious supports of eternal ideas1 casts contempt on ,the doubtful prospects of our painted dust1 #ah ,drew on ,resurrection1 ch4 vi4 sect4 vii4 pp4 #cbf-ccb4 #ai ,eusebius1 ,eccl4 ,hist4 lib4 vi4 cap4 xxxvii4 and outvalues all the gross hopes of materialism4 ,between nonentity and being yawns the untraversable gulf of infinity4 ,no3 the body of flesh falls1 turns to dust and air2 the soul1 emancipated1 rejoices1 and soars heavenwards1 and is its own incorruptible frame1 mocking at death1 a celestial house1 whose maker and builder is ,god4 ,finally1 there remain to be weighed the bearings of the argument from chemical and physiological science on the resurrection4 ,here is the chief stumbling block in the way of the popular doctrine4 ,the scientific absurdities connected with that doctrine have been marshalled against it by ,celsus1 the ,platonist philosopher1 by ,avicenna1 the ,arabian physician1 and by hundreds more1 and have never been answered1 and cannot be answered4 ,as long as man lives1 his bodily substance is incessantly changing2 the processes of secretion and absorption are rapidly going forward4 ,every few years he is1 as to material1 a totally new man4 ,dying at the age of seventy1 he has had at least ten different bodies4 ,he is one identical soul1 but has lived in ten separate houses4 ,with which shall he be raised8 with the first8 or the fifth8 or the last8 or with all8 ,but1 further1 the body after death decays1 enters into combination with water1 air1 earth1 gas1 vegetables1 animals1 other human bodies4 ,in this way the same matter comes to have belonged to a thousand persons4 ,in the resurrection1 whose shall it be8 ,we reply1 nearly in the language of ,christ to the ,sadducees1 ,ye do err1 not knowing the ,scriptures1 nor the will of ,god3 in the resurrection they have not bodies of earthly flesh1 but are spirits1 as the angels of ,god4 ,the argument against the common theory of a material resurrection1 on account of numerous claimants for the same substance1 has of late derived a greatly increased force from the brilliant discoveries in chemistry4 ,it is now found that only a small number of substances ever enter into the composition of animal bodies4#bj ,the food of man consists of nitrogenized and non nitrogenized substances4 ,the latter are the elements of respiration2 the former alone compose the plastic elements of nutrition1 and they are few in number and comparatively limited in extent4 ,all life depends on a relatively small quantity of matter4 ,over and over again1 as the modeller fashions his clay1 are plant and animal formed out of the same material4 ,the particles that composed ,adam's frame may before the end of the world have run the circuit of ten thousand bodies of his descendants3 ',twas mine1 'tis his1 and has been slave to thousands4 ,to proclaim the resurrection of the flesh as is usually done1 seems a flat contradiction of clear knowledge4#ba ,a late writer on this subject1 ,dr4 ,hitchcock1 evades the insuperable difficulty by saying1 ,it is not necessary that the resurrection body should contain a single particle of the body laid in the grave1 if it only contain particles of the same kind1 united in the same proportion1 and the compound be made to assume the same form and structure as the natural body4 #bb ,then two men who look exactly alike may in the resurrection exchange bodies without any harm6 ,here the theory of punishment clashes4 ,does not the esteemed author see that this would not be a resurrection of the old bodies1 but a creation of new ones #bj ,liebig1 ,animal ,chemistry1 sect4 xix4 #ba ,the ,circulation of ,matter1 ,blackwood's ,magazine1 ,may1 #ahec4 #bb ,the ,resurrection of ,spring1 p4 #bf4 just like them8 ,and is not this a desertion of the orthodox doctrine of the ,church8 ,if he varies so far from the established formularies out of a regard for philosophy1 he may as well be consistent and give up the physical doctrine wholly1 because it rests solely on the tradition which he leaves and is every whit irreconcilable with philosophy4 ,this device is as wilful an attempt to escape the scientific difficulty as that employed by ,candlish to avoid the scriptural difficulty put in the way of the doctrine by the apostolic words ,flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of ,god4 ,the eminent ,scottish divine affirms that flesh and bones that is1 these present bodies made incorruptible can inherit the kingdom of ,god2 although flesh and blood that is1 these present bodies subject to decay cannot4#bc ,it is surely hard to believe that the ,new ,testament writers had such a distinction in their minds4 ,it is but a forlorn resource conjured up to meet a desperate exigency4 ,at the appearing of ,christ in glory1 ,when the ,day of ,fire shall have dawn'd1 and sent ,its deadly breath into the firmament1 as it is supposed1 the great earth cemetery will burst open and its innumerable millions swarm forth before him4 ,unto the tremendous act of habeas corpus1 then proclaimed1 every grave will yield its prisoner4 ,ever since the ascension of ,jesus his mistaken followers have been anxiously expecting that awful advent of his person and his power in the clouds2 but in vain4 ,all things remain as they were3 where is the promise of his appearing8 ,as the lookers out hitherto have been disappointed1 so they ever will be4 ,say not1 ,lo here6 or1 ,lo there6 for1 behold1 he is within you4 ,the reason why this carnal error1 ,jewish conceit1 retains a hold1 is that men accept it without any honest scrutiny of its foundations or any earnest thought of their own about it4 ,they passively receive the tradition4 ,they do not realize the immensity of the thing1 nor the ludicrousness of its details4 ,to their imaginations the awful blast of the trumpet calling the world to judgment1 seems no more1 as ,feuerbach says1 than a tone from the tin horn of a postillion1 who1 at the post station of the ,future1 orders fresh horses for the ,curriculum ,vita6 ,president ,hitchcock tells us that1 when the last trumpet sounds1 the whole surface of the earth will become instinct with life1 from the charnels of battle fields alone more than a thousand millions of human beings starting forth and crowding upwards to the judgment seat4 ,on the resurrection morning1 at the first tip of light over acres of opening monument and heaving turf1 ,each member jogs the other1 ,and whispers1 ,live you1 brother8 ,and how will it be with us then8 ,will ,daniel ,lambert1 the mammoth of men1 appear weighing half a ton8 ,will the ,siamese twins then be again joined by the living ligament of their congenital band8 ,shall infants be not raised in the smallness of body in which they died1 but increase by the wondrous and most swift work of ,god8 #bd #bc ,candlish1 ,life in a ,risen ,savior3 ,discourse ,,xv4 #bd ,augustine1 ,de ,civ4 ,dei1 lib4 xxii4 cap4 xiv4 ,young sings1 ,now charnels rattle2 scatter'd limbs1 and all ,the various bones1 obsequious to the call1 ,self moved1 advance2 the neck perhaps to meet ,the distant head2 the distant head the feet4 ,dreadful to view6 see1 through the dusky sky ,fragments of bodies in confusion fly1 ,to distant regions journeying1 there to claim ,deserted members and complete the frame4 ,the glaring melodramatic character1 the startling mechanico theatrical effects1 of this whole doctrine1 are in perfect keeping with the raw imagination of the childhood of the human mind1 but in profound opposition to the working philosophy of nature and the sublime simplicity of ,god4 ,many persons have never distinctly defined their views upon the subject before us4 ,in the minds even of many preachers and writers1 several different and irreconcilable theories would seem to exist together in confused mixture4 ,now they speak as if the soul were sleeping with the body in the grave2 again they appear to imply that it is detained in an intermediate state2 and a moment afterwards they say it has already entered upon its final reward or doom4 ,jocelyn relates1 in his ,life of ,st4 ,patrick1 that as the saint one day was passing the graves of two men recently buried1 observing that one of the graves had a cross over it1 he stopped his chariot and asked the dead man below of what religion he had been4 ,the reply was1 ',a pagan4' ',then why was this cross put over you8' inquired ,st4 ,patrick4 ,the dead man answered1 ',he who is buried near me is a ,christian2 and one of your faith1 coming hither1 placed the cross at my head4' ,the saint stepped out of his chariot1 rectified the mistake1 and went his way4 ,calvin1 in the famous treatise designated ,psychopannychia1 which he levelled against those who taught the sleep of souls until the day of judgment1 maintained that the souls of the elect go immediately to heaven1 the souls of the reprobate to hell4 ,here they tarry in bliss and bale until the resurrection2 then1 coming to the earth1 they assume their bodies and return to their respective places4 ,but if the souls live so long in heaven and hell without their flesh1 why need they ever resume it8 ,the cumbrous machinery of the scheme seems superfluous and unmeaning4 ,as a still further specimen of the arbitrary thinking the unscientific and unphilosophical thinking carried into this department of thought by most who have cultivated it1 reference may be made to ,bishop ,burnet's work ,de ,statu ,mortuorum et ,resurgentium1 which teaches that at the first resurrection the bodies of the risen will be the same as the present1 but at the second resurrection1 after the millennium1 from the rudiments of the present body a new spiritual body will be developed4 ,the true idea of man's future destiny appears to be that no resurrection of the flesh is needed1 because the real man never dies1 but lives continuously forever4 ,there are two reasonable ways of conceiving what the vehicle of his life is when he leaves his present frame4 ,it may be that within his material system lurks an exquisite spiritual organization1 invisibly pervading it and constituting its vital power4 ,this ethereal structure is disengaged at last from its gross envelope1 and1 unfettered1 soars to the ,divine realms of ether and light4 ,this theory of an inner body is elaborately wrought out and sustained in ,bonnet's ,palingenesie ,philosophique4 ,or it may be that there is in each one a primal germ1 a deathless monad1 which is the organic identity of man1 root of his inmost stable being1 triumphant1 unchanging ruler of his flowing1 perishable organism4 ,this spirit germ1 born into the present life1 assimilates and holds the present body around it1 out of the materials of this world2 born into the future life1 it will assimilate and hold around it a different body1 out of the materials of the future world4#be ,thus there are bodies terrestrial and bodies celestial3 the glory of the terrestrial is one1 fitted to this scene of things2 the glory of the celestial is another1 fitted to the scene of things hereafter to dawn4 ,each spirit will be clothed from the material furnished by the world in which it resides4 ,not forever shall we bear about this slow load of weary clay1 this corruptible mass1 heir to a thousand ills4 ,our body shall rather be such ,if lightning were the gross corporeal frame ,of some angelic essence1 whose bright thoughts ,as far surpass'd in keen rapidity ,the lagging action of his limbs as doth ,man's mind his clay2 with like excess of speed ,to animated thought of lightning flies ,that spirit body o'er life's deeps divine1 ,far past the golden isles of memory4 ,what man knows constitutes his present world4 ,all beyond that constitutes another world4 ,he can imagine two modes in which his desire for a life after death may be gratified1 a removal into the ,unknown ,world1 or a return into the ,known ,world4 ,with the latter supposition the restoration of the flesh is involved4 ,upon the whole1 our conclusion is1 that in the original plan of the world it was fixed that man should not live here forever1 but that the essence of his life should escape from the flesh and depart to some other sphere of being1 there either to fashion itself a new form1 or to remain disembodied4 ,if those who hold the common doctrine of a carnal resurrection should carry it out with philosophical consistency1 by extending the scheme it involves to all existing planetary races as well as to their own1 should they cause that process of imagination which produced this doctrine to go on to its legitimate completion1 they would see in the final consummation the sundered earths approach each other1 and firmaments conglobe1 till at last the whole universe concentred in one orb4 ,on the surface of that world all the risen races of being would be distributed1 the inhabitants of a present solar system making a nation1 the sum of gigantic nationalities constituting one prodigious1 death exempted empire1 its solitary sovereign ,,god4 ,but this is pure poetry1 and not science nor philosophy4 #be ,lange on the ,resurrection of the ,body1 ,studien und ,kritiken1 #ahcf4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,doctrine ,,of ,,future ,,punishment2 ,,or1 ,,critical ,,history ,,of ,,the ,,idea ,,of ,a ,,hell4 ,a ,,hell of fire and brimstone has been1 perhaps still is1 the most terrible of the superstitions of the world4 ,we propose to give a historic sketch of the popular representations on this subject1 trace them to their origin1 and discuss the merits of the question itself4 ,to follow the doctrine through all its variations1 illustrating the practical and controversial writings upon it1 would require a large volume2 but1 by a judicious arrangement1 all that is necessary to a fair understanding of the subject1 or really interesting1 may be presented within the compass of an essay4 ,any one who should read the literature of this subject would be astonished at the almost universal prevalence of the doctrine and at the immense diversity of appalling descriptions of it1 and would ask1 ,whence arises all this8 ,how have these horrors obtained such a seated hold in the world8 ,in the first place1 it is to be replied1 as soon as reason is in fair possession of the idea of a continued individual existence beyond the grave1 the moral sense1 discriminating the deeds1 tempers1 and characters of men1 would teach that there must be different allotments and experiences for them after death4 ,it is not right1 say reason and conscience1 for the coward1 the idler1 fool1 knave1 sot1 murderer1 to enter into the same realm and have the same bliss with heroes1 sages1 and saints2 neither are they able to do it4 ,the spontaneous thought and sentiment of humanity would declare1 if the soul survives the body1 passing into the invisible world1 its fortunes there must depend somewhat upon its fitness and deserts1 its contained treasures and acquired habits4 ,reason1 judging the facts of observation according to the principles of ethics and the working of experienced spiritual laws1 at once decides that there is a difference hereafter between the fate of the good heart and the bad one1 the great soul and the mean one3 in a word1 there is1 in some sense or other1 a heaven and a hell4 ,again3 the same belief would be necessitated by the conception1 so deeply entertained by the primitive people of the earth1 of overruling and inspecting gods4 ,they supposed these gods to be in a great degree like themselves1 partial1 fickle1 jealous1 revengeful4 ,such beings1 of course1 would caress their favorites and torture their offenders4 ,the calamities and blessings of this life were regarded as tokens1 revengeful or loving1 of the ruling deities1 now pleased1 now enraged4 ,and when their votaries or victims had passed into the eternal state1 how natural to suppose them still favored or cursed by the passionate wills of these irresponsible gods6 ,plainly enough1 they who believe in gods that launch thunderbolts and upheave the sea in their rage and take vengeance for an insult by sending forth a pestilence1 must also believe in a hell where ,ixion may be affixed to the wheel and ,tantalus be tortured with maddening mockeries4 ,these two conceptions of discriminating justice and of vengeful gods both lead to the theoretic construction of a hell1 and to the growth of doctrines and parables about it1 though in a different sort1 the former illustrating a pervasive law which distributes men according to their deserts1 the latter speaking of beings with human passions1 who inflict outward arbitrary penalties according to their pleasure4 ,thirdly1 when the general idea of a hell has once obtained lodgment1 it is rapidly nourished1 developed1 and ornamented1 carried out into particulars by poets1 rhetoricians1 and popular teachers1 whose fancies are stimulated and whose figurative views and pictures act and react both upon the sources and the products of faith4 ,representations based only on moral facts1 emblems addressing the imagination1 after a while are received in a literal sense1 become physically located and clothed with the power of horror4 ,a ,hindu poet says1 ,the ungrateful shall remain in hell as long as the sun hangs in heaven4 ,an old ,jewish ,rabbi says that after the general judgment ,god shall lead all the blessed through hell and all the damned through paradise1 and show to each one the place that was prepared for him in each region1 so that they shall not be able to say1 ',we are not to be blamed or praised2 for our doom was unalterably fixed beforehand4' ,such utterances are originally moral symbols1 not dogmatic assertions2 and yet in a rude age they very easily pass into the popular mind as declaring facts literally to be believed4 ,a ,talmudic writer says1 ,there are in hell seven abodes1 in each abode seven thousand caverns1 in each cavern seven thousand clefts1 in each cleft seven thousand scorpions2 each scorpion has seven limbs1 and on each limb are seven thousand barrels of gall4 ,there are also in hell seven rivers of rankest poison1 so deadly that if one touches it he bursts4 ,hesiod1 ,homer1 ,virgil1 have given minute descriptions of hell and its agonies1 descriptions which have unquestionably had a tremendous influence in cherishing and fashioning the world's faith in that awful empire4 ,the poems of ,dante1 ,milton1 and ,pollok revel in the most vivid and terrific pictures of the infernal kingdom and its imagined horrors2 and the popular doctrine of future punishment in ,christendom is far more closely conformed to their revelations than to the declarations of the ,new ,testament4 ,the ,english poet's ,paradise ,lost has undoubtedly exerted an influence on the popular faith comparable with that of the ,genevan theologian's ,institutes of the ,christian ,religion4 ,there is a horrid fiction1 widely believed once by the ,jewish ,rabbins and by the ,mohammedans1 that two gigantic fiends called the ,searchers1 as soon as a deceased person is buried1 make him sit up in the grave1 examine the moral condition of his soul1 and1 if he is very guilty1 beat in his temples with heavy iron maces4 ,it is obvious to observe that such conceptions are purely arbitrary1 the work of fancy1 not based on any intrinsic fitness or probability2 but they are received because unthinking ignorance and hungry superstition will greedily believe any thing they hear4 ,joseph ,trapp1 an ,english clergyman1 in a long poem thus sets forth the scene of damnation3 ,doom'd to live death and never to expire1 ,in floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire ,the damn'd shall groan1 fire of all kinds and forms1 ,in rain and hail1 in hurricanes and storms1 ,liquid and solid1 livid1 red1 and pale1 ,a flaming mountain here1 and there a flaming vale2 ,the liquid fire makes seas1 the solid1 shores2 ,arch'd o'er with flames1 the horrid concave roars4 ,in bubbling eddies rolls the fiery tide1 ,and sulphurous surges on each other ride4 ,the hollow winding vaults1 and dens1 and caves1 ,bellow like furnaces with flaming waves4 ,pillars of flame in spiral volumes rise1 ,like fiery snakes1 and lick the infernal skies4 ,sulphur1 the eternal fuel1 unconsumed1 ,vomits redounding smoke1 thick1 unillumed4 ,but all other paintings of the fear and anguish of hell are vapid and pale before the preternatural frightfulness of those given at unmerciful length and in sickening specialty in some of the ,hindu and ,persian sacred books4#a ,here worlds of nauseating disgusts1 of loathsome agonies1 of intolerable terrors1 pass before us4 ,some are hung up by their tongues1 or by their eyes1 and slowly devoured by fiery vermin2 some scourged with whips of serpents whose poisonous fangs lacerate their flesh at every blow2 some forced to swallow bowls of gore1 hair1 and corruption1 freshly filled as fast as drained2 some packed immovably in red hot iron chests and laid in raging furnaces for unutterable millions of ages4 ,one who is familiar with the imagery of the ,buddhist hells will think the pencils of ,dante and ,pollok1 of ,jeremy ,taylor and ,jonathan ,edwards1 were dipped in water4 ,there is just as much ground for believing the accounts of the former to be true as there is for crediting those of the latter3 the two are fundamentally the same1 and the pagan had earlier possession of the field4 ,furthermore1 in the early ages1 and among people where castes were prominent1 when the learning1 culture1 and power were confined to one class at the expense of others1 it is unquestionable that copious and fearful descriptions of the future state were spread abroad by those who were interested in establishing such a dogma4 ,the haughtiness and selfishness of the hierarchic spirit1 the exclusiveness1 cruelty1 and cunning tyranny of many of the ancient priesthoods1 are well known4 ,despising1 hating1 and fearing the people1 whom they held in abject spiritual bondage1 they sought to devise1 diffuse1 and organize such opinions as would concentrate power in their own hands and rivet their authority4 ,accordingly1 in the lower immensity they painted and shadowed forth the lurid and dusky image of hell1 gathering around it all that was most abominated and awful4 ,then they set up certain fanciful conditions1 without the strict observance of which no one could avoid damnation4 ,the animus of a priesthood in the structure of this doctrine is shown by the glaring fact that in the old religions the woes of hell were denounced not so much upon bad men who committed crimes out of a wicked heart1 as upon careless men who neglected priestly guidance and violated the ritual4 ,the omission of a prayer or an ablution1 the neglect of baptism or confession1 a slight thrown upon a priest1 a mental conception differing from the decree of the ,church1 would condemn a man far more surely and deeply into the ,egyptian1 ,hindu1 ,persian1 ,pharisaic1 ,papal1 or ,calvinistic hell than any amount of moral culpability according to the standard of natural ethics4 #a ,see ,pope's translation of the ,viraf ,nameh4 ,also the ,dabistan1 vol4 i4 pp4 #bie-cjd1 of the translation by ,shea and ,troyer2 and ,coleman's ,mythology of the ,hindus1 chapter on the hells4 ,the popular hells have ever been built on hierarchic selfishness1 dogmatic pride1 and personal cruelty1 and have been walled around with arbitrary and traditional rituals4 ,through the breaches made in these rituals by neglect1 souls have been plunged in4 ,the ,parsee priest describes a woman in hell beaten with stone clubs by two demons twelve miles in size1 and compelled to continue eating a basin of putridity1 because once some of her hair1 as she combed it1 fell into the sacred fire4 ,the ,brahmanic priest tells of a man who1 for neglecting to meditate on the mystic monosyllable ,om before praying1 was thrown down in hell on an iron floor and cleaved with an axe1 then stirred in a caldron of molten lead till covered all over with the sweated foam of torture like a grain of rice in an oven1 and then fastened1 with head downwards and feet upwards1 to a chariot of fire and urged onwards with a red hot goad4 ,the ,papal priest declares that the schismatic1 though the kindest and justest man1 at death drops hopelessly into hell1 while the devotee1 though scandalously corrupt in heart and life1 who confesses and receives extreme unction1 treads the primrose path to paradise4 ,the ,episcopalian priest dooms the dissenter to everlasting woe in spite of every virtue1 because he has not known sacramental baptism in the apostolic line4 ,the ,arminian priest turns the rationalist over to the penal fires of eternity1 because he is in mental error as to the explanation of the ,trinity and the ,atonement4 ,in every age it has been the priestly spirit1 acting on ritual considerations1 that has deepened the foundations1 enlarged the borders1 and apportioned the victims1 of hell4 ,the perversions and excesses of the doctrine have grown out of cruel ambition and cunning on one side1 and been received by docile ignorance and superstition on the other1 and been mutually fed by traditions and fables between4 ,the excessive vanity and theocratic pride of the ,jews led them to exclude all the ,gentiles1 whom they stigmatized as uncircumcised dogs1 from the ,jewish salvation4 ,the same spirit1 aggravated if possible1 passed lineally into ,christendom1 causing the ,orthodox ,church to exclude all the heathen1 all heretics1 and the unbaptized1 from the ,christian salvation4 ,a fifth explanation of the wholesale severity and multiplied details of horror1 which came to be incorporated with the doctrine of hell1 is to be found in the gloomy theories of certain philosophers whose relentless speculations were tinged and moulded by their own recluse misanthropy and the prevailing superstitions of their time4 ,out of the old asceticism of the ,east the false spiritualism which regarded matter as the source of evil and this life as a penance arose the dogma of metempsychosis4 ,the consequence of this theory1 rigidly carried out1 created a descending congeries of hells1 reaching from centre to nadir1 in correspondence to an ascending congeries of heavens1 reaching from centre to zenith4 ,out of the myth of the ,fall sprang the dogma of total depravity1 dooming our whole race to hell forever1 except those saved by the subsequent artifice of the atonement4 ,theories conjured up and elaborated by fanciful and bloodless metaphysicians1 in an age when the milk of public human kindness was thinned1 soured1 poisoned1 by narrow and tyrannical prejudices1 might easily legitimate and establish any conclusions1 however unreasonable and monstrous4 ,the history of philosophy is the broad demonstration of this4 ,the ,church philosophers1 7with exceptions1 of course17 receiving the traditions of the common faith1 partaking in the superstitions of their age1 banished from the bosoms of men by their monastic position1 and inflamed with hierarchic pride1 with but a faint connection or intercourse between conscience and intellect or between heart and fancy1 strove to spin out theories which would explain and justify the orthodox dogmas4 ,working with metaphysical tools of abstract reason1 not with the practical faculties of life1 dealing with the fanciful materials of priestly tradition1 not with the solid facts of ethical observation1 they would naturally be troubled with but few qualms and make but few reservations1 however overwhelming the results of horror at which they might arrive4 ,habituated for years to hair drawn analyses and superstitious broodings upon the subject1 overshadowed by the supernatural hierarchy in which they lived1 surrounded by a thick night of ignorance1 persecution1 and slaughter1 it was no wonder they could believe the system they preached1 although in reality it was only a traditional abstraction metaphysically wrought up and vivified by themselves4 ,being thus wrought out and animated by them1 who were the sole depositaries of learning and the undisputed lords of thought1 the mass of the people1 lying abjectly in the fetters of authority1 could not help accepting it4 ,ample illustrations of these assertions will occur to all who are familiar with the theological schemes and the dialectic subtleties of the early ,church ,fathers and of the later ,church ,scholastics4 ,finally1 by the combined power1 first1 of natural conscience affirming a future distinction between the good and the bad2 secondly1 of imperfect conceptions of ,god as a passionate avenger2 thirdly1 of the licentious fancies of poets drawing awful imaginative pictures of future woe2 fourthly1 of the cruel spirit and the ambitious plans of selfish priesthoods2 and fifthly1 of the harsh and relentless theories of conforming metaphysicians1 the doctrine of hell1 as a located place of manifold terrific physical tortures drawing in vast majorities of the human race1 became established in the ruling creeds and enthroned as an orthodox dogma4 ,in some heathen nations the descriptions of the poets1 in others the accounts of the priestly books1 were held to be inspired revelations4 ,to call them in question was blasphemous4 ,in ,christendom the scriptural representations of the subject1 which were general moral adaptations1 incidentally made1 of representations already existing1 obtained a literal interpretation1 had the stamp of infallibility put on them and immense perverted additions joined to them4 ,thus everywhere the dogma became associated with the established authority4 ,to deny it was heresy4 ,heretics were excommunicated1 loaded with pains and penalties1 and1 for many centuries1 often put to death with excruciating tortures4 ,from that moment the doctrine was taken out of the province of natural reason1 out of the realm of ethical truth4 ,the absurdities1 wrongs1 and barbarities deducible from it were a part and parcel of it1 and not to be considered as any objection to it4 ,no free thought and honest criticism were allowed4 ,because taught by authority1 it must be submissively taken for granted4 ,henceforth we are not to wonder at the revolting inhumanity of spirit and horribleness of gloating hatred shown in connection with the doctrine2 for it was not the independent thought and proper moral spirit of individuals1 but the petrified dogma and irresponsible corporate spirit of that towering hierarchy1 the ,church4 ,the ,church set forth certain conditional offers of salvation4 ,when those offers were spurned or neglected1 the ,church felt personally insulted and aggrieved4 ,her servants hurled on the hated heretics and heathen the denunciations of bigotry and the threats of rage4 ,rugged old ,tertullian1 in whose torrid veins the fire of his ,african deserts seems infused1 revels with infernal glee over the contemplation of the sure damnation of the heathen4 ,at that greatest of all spectacles1 the last and eternal judgment1 he says1 how shall ,i admire1 how laugh1 how rejoice1 how exult1 when ,i behold so many proud monarchs groaning in the lowest abyss of darkness2 so many magistrates liquefying in fiercer flames than they ever kindled against the ,christians2 so many sage philosophers blushing in red hot fires with their deluded pupils2 so many tragedians more tuneful in the expression of their own sufferings2 so many dancers tripping more nimbly from anguish than ever before from applause4#b ,hundreds of the most accredited ,christian writers have shown the same fiendish spirit4 ,drexel the ,jesuit1 preaching of ,dives1 exclaims1 ,instead of a lofty bed of down on which he was wont to repose himself1 he now lies frying in the flames2 his sparkling wine and delicious dainties are taken from him2 he is burnt up with thirst1 and has nothing for his food but smoke and sulphur4 ,jeremy ,taylor#c says1 in that discourse on the ,pains of ,hell where he has lavished all the stores of his matchless learning and all the wealth of his gorgeous imagination in multiplying and adorning the paraphernalia of torture with infinite accompaniments of unendurable pangs and insufferable abominations1 ,we are amazed at the inhumanity of ,phalaris1 who roasted men in his brazen bull3 this was joy in respect of that fire of hell which penetrates the very entrails without consuming them2 husbands shall see their wives1 parents shall see their children1 tormented before their eyes2 the bodies of the damned shall be crowded together in hell like grapes in a wine press1 which press one another till they burst2 every distinct sense and organ shall be assailed with its own appropriate and most exquisite sufferings4 ,christopher ,love belying his name says of the damned1 ,their cursings are their hymns1 howlings their tunes1 and blasphemies their ditties4 ,calvin writes1 ,forever harassed with a dreadful tempest1 they shall feel themselves torn asunder by an angry ,god1 and transfixed and penetrated by mortal stings1 terrified by the thunderbolts of ,god1 and broken by the weight of his hand1 so that to sink into any gulfs would be more tolerable than to stand for a moment in these terrors4 ,a living divine1 ,dr4 ,gardiner ,spring1 declares1 ,when the omnipotent and angry ,god1 who has access to all the avenues of distress in the corporeal frame and all the inlets to agony in the intellectual constitution1 undertakes to punish1 he will convince the universe that he does not gird himself for the work of retribution in vain2 it will be a glorious deed when ,he who hung on ,calvary shall cast those who have trodden his blood under their feet1 into the furnace of fire1 where there shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth4 ,thousands of passages like these1 and even worse1 might easily be collected from ,christian authors1 dating their utterance from the days of ,st4 ,irenaus1 ,bishop of ,lyons1 who flamed against the heretics1 to the days of ,nehemiah ,adams1 ,congregational preacher of ,boston1 who says1 ,it is to be feared the forty two children that mocked ,elisha are now in hell4 #d ,there is an unmerciful animus in them1 a vindictiveness of thought and feeling1 far oh1 how far6 removed from the meek and loving #b ,de ,spectaculis1 cap4 xxx41 ,gibbon's trans4 #c ,contemplations of the ,state of ,man1 ch4 #f #h4 #d ,friends of ,christ1 p4 #adi4 soul of ,jesus1 who wept over ,jerusalem1 and loved the unevangelical young lawyer who was not far from the kingdom of heaven1 and yearned towards the penitent ,peter1 and from the tenderness of his immaculate purity said to the adulteress1 ,neither do ,i condemn thee3 go1 and sin no more4 ,there are some sectarians in whom the arbitrary narrowness1 fierceness1 and rigidity of their received creeds have so demoralized and hardened conscience and sensibility in their native healthy directions1 and artificially inflamed them in diseased channels1 that we verily believe1 if the decision of the eternal destiny of the human race were placed in their hands1 they would with scarcely a twinge of pain perhaps some of them even with a horrid satisfaction and triumph doom all except their own dogmatic coterie to hell4 ,they are bound to do so4 ,they profess to know infallibly that ,god will do so3 if1 therefore1 the case being in their arbitration1 they would decide differently1 they thereby impeach the action of ,god1 confess his decrees irreconcilable with reason and justice1 and set up their own goodness as superior to his4 ,burnet has preserved the plea of ,bloody ,mary1 which was in these words3 ,as the souls of heretics are hereafter to be eternally burning in hell1 there can be nothing more proper than for me to imitate the ,divine vengeance by burning them on earth4 ,thanks be to the infinite ,father that our fate is in his hands1 and not in the hands of men who are bigots1 ,those pseudo ,privy ,councillors of ,god1 ,who write down judgments with a pen hard nibb'd3 ,ushers of ,beelzebub's black rod1 ,commending sinners1 not to ice thick ribb'd1 ,but endless flames to scorch them up like flax1 ,yet sure of heaven themselves1 as if they'd cribb'd ,the impression of ,st4 ,peter's keys in wax6 ,it may be thought that this doctrine and its awful concomitants1 though once promulgated1 are now nearly obsolete4 ,it is true that1 in thinking minds and generous hearts1 they are getting to be repudiated4 ,but by no means is it so in the recognised formularies of the established ,churches and in the teachings of the popular clergy4 ,all through the ,gentile world1 wherever there is a prevailing religion1 the threats and horrors of a fearful doctrine of hell are still brandished over the trembling or careless multitudes4 ,in ,christendom1 the authoritative announcement of the ,roman and ,greek ,churches1 and the public creeds confessed by every communicant of all the denominations1 save two or three which are comparatively insignificant in numbers1 show that the doctrine is yet held without mitigation4 ,the ,bishop of ,toronto1 only a year or two ago1 published the authoritative declaration that every child of humanity1 except the ,virgin ,mary1 is from the first moment of conception a child of wrath1 hated by the blessed ,trinity1 belonging to ,satan1 and doomed to hell6 ,indeed1 the doctrine1 in its whole naked and frightful extent1 is necessarily1 in strict logic1 an integral part of the great system of the popular ,christianity1 that is1 ,christianity as falsely interpreted1 paganized1 and scholasticized4 ,for if by the sin of ,adam the entire race were totally depraved and condemned to a hopeless hell1 and only those can be saved who personally appropriate by a realizing faith the benefits of the subsequent artifice carried out in the atoning blood of the incarnate ,god1 certainly the extremist advocate of the doctrine concerning hell has not exceeded the truth1 and cannot exceed it4 ,all the necessities of logic rebuke the tame hearted theologians1 and great ,augustine's1 great ,calvin's1 ghost walks unapproached among them1 crying out that they are slow and inefficient in describing the enormous sweep of the inherited penalty6 ,many persons who have not taken pains to examine the subject suppose that the horrifying descriptions given by ,christian authors of the state and sufferings of the lost were not intended to be literally received1 but were meant as figures of speech1 highly wrought metaphors calculated to alarm and impress with physical emblems corresponding only to moral and spiritual realities4 ,the progress of thought and refinement has made it natural that recourse should often be had to such an explanation2 but unquestionably it is a mistake4 ,the annals of theology1 both dogmatic and homiletic1 from the time of the earliest ,fathers till now1 abound in detailed accounts of the future punishment of the wicked1 whereof the context1 the train of thought1 and all the intrinsic characteristics of style and coherence1 do not leave a shadow of doubt that they were written as faithful1 though inadequate1 accounts of facts4 ,the ,church1 the immense bulk of ,christendom1 has in theory always regarded hell and its dire concomitants as material facts1 and not as merely spiritual experiences4 ,tertullian says1 ,the damned burn eternally without consuming1 as the volcanoes1 which are vents from the stored subterranean fire of hell1 burn forever without wasting4 #e ,cyprian declares that the wretched bodies of the condemned shall simmer and blaze in those living fires4 ,augustine argues at great length and with ingenious varieties of reasoning to show how the material bodies of the damned may withstand annihilation in everlasting fire4#f ,similar assertions1 which cannot be figuratively explained1 are made by ,irenaus1 ,jerome1 ,athanasius1 ,thomas ,aquinas1 ,bonaventura1 ,gerson1 ,bernard1 and indeed by almost all the ,christian writers4 ,origen1 who was a ,platonist1 and a heretic on many points1 was severely condemned for saying that the fire of hell was inward and of the conscience1 rather than outward and of the body4 ,for the strict materiality of the fire of hell we might adduce volumes of authorities from nearly every province of the ,church4 ,dr4 ,barrow asserts that our bodies will be afflicted continually by a sulphurous flame1 piercing the inmost sinews4 ,john ,whitaker thinks the bodies of the damned will be all salted with fire1 so tempered and prepared as to burn the more fiercely and yet never consume4 ,jeremy ,taylor teaches that this temporal fire is but a painted fire in respect of that penetrating and real fire in hell4 ,jonathan ,edwards soberly and believingly writes thus3 ,the world will probably be converted into a great lake or liquid globe of fire1 a vast ocean of fire1 in which the wicked shall be overwhelmed1 which will always be in tempest1 in which they shall be tost to and fro1 having no rest day or night1 vast waves or billows of fire continually rolling over their heads1 of which they shall forever be full of a quick sense within and without3 their heads1 their eyes1 their tongues1 their hands1 their feet1 their loins1 and their vitals shall forever be full of a glowing1 melting fire1 fierce enough to melt the very rocks and elements2 and also they shall eternally be full of the most quick and lively sense #e ,apol4 cap4 #dg-dh4 #f ,de ,civ4 ,dei1 lib4 xxi4 cap4 #b #d4 to feel the torments2 not for one minute1 nor for one day1 nor for one age1 nor for two ages1 nor for a hundred ages1 nor for ten thousands of millions of ages one after another1 but for ever and ever1 without any end at all1 and never1 never be delivered4 #g ,calvin says1 ,iterum quaro1 unde factum est1 ut tot gentes una cum liberis eorum infantibus aterna morti involveret lapsus ,ada absque remedio1 nisi quia ,deo ita visum est8 ,decretum horribile fateor4 #h ,outraged humanity before the contemplation cries1 ,o ,god1 horror hath overwhelmed me1 for thou art represented as an omnipotent ,fiend4 ,it is not the ,father of ,christ1 but his ,antagonist1 whose face glares down over such a scene as that6 ,the above diabolical passage at the recital of which from the pulpit1 ,edwards's biographers tell us1 whole congregations shuddered and simultaneously rose to their feet1 smiting their breasts1 weeping and groaning is not the arbitrary exaggeration of an individual1 but a fair representation of the actual tenets and vividly held faith of the ,puritans4 ,it is also1 in all its uncompromising literality1 a direct and inevitable part of the system of doctrine which1 with insignificant exceptions1 professedly prevails throughout ,christendom at this hour4 ,we know most persons will hesitate at this statement2 but let them look at the logic of the case in the light of its history1 and they must admit the correctness of the assertion4 ,weigh the following propositions1 the accuracy of which no one1 we suppose1 will question1 and it will appear at once that there is no possibility of avoiding the conclusion4 ,first1 it is the established doctrine of ,christendom that no one can be saved without a supernatural regeneration1 or sincere faith in the vicarious atonement1 or valid reception of sacramental grace at the hands of a priest1 conditions which it is not possible that one in a hundred thousand of the whole human race has fulfilled4 ,secondly1 it is the established doctrine of ,christendom that there will be a general day of judgment1 when all men will be raised in the same bodies which they originally occupied on earth1 when ,christ and his angels will visibly descend from heaven1 separate the elect from the reprobate1 summon the sheep to the blissful pastures on the right hand1 but ,proclaim ,the flocks of goats to folds of flame4 ,the world is to be burnt up1 and the damned1 restored to their bodies1 are to be driven into the everlasting fire prepared for them4 ,the resurrection of the body1 still held in all ,christendom1 taken in connection with the rest of the associated scheme1 necessitates the belief in the materiality of the torments of hell4 ,that eminent living divine1 ,dr4 ,gardiner ,spring1 says1 ,the souls of all who have died in their sins are in hell2 and there their bodies too will be after the resurrection4 #i ,mr4 ,spurgeon also1 in his graphic and fearful sermon on the ,resurrection of the ,dead1 uses the following language3 ,when thou diest1 thy soul will be tormented alone2 that will be a hell for it3 but at the day of judgment thy body will join thy soul1 and then thou wilt have twin hells1 thy soul sweating drops of blood1 and thy body suffused with agony4 ,in fire exactly like that which we have on earth thy body will lie1 #g ,edwards's ,works1 vol4 viii4 p4 #aff4 #h ,instit41 lib4 iii4 cap4 xxiii4 sect4 #g4 #i ,the ,glory of ,christ1 vol4 ii4 p4 #beh4 asbestos like1 forever unconsumed1 all thy veins roads for the feet of pain to travel on1 every nerve a string on which the devil shall forever play his diabolical tune of ,hell's ,unutterable ,lament6 ,and1 if this doctrine be true1 no ingenuity1 however fertile in expedients and however fiendish in cruelty1 can possibly devise emblems and paint pictures half terrific enough to present in imagination and equal in moral impression what the reality will be to the sufferers4 ,it is easy to speak or hear the word hell2 but to analyze its significance and realize it in a sensitive fancy is difficult2 and whenever it is done the fruit is madness1 as the bedlams of the world are shrieking in testimony at this instant4 ,the ,revivalist preachers1 so far from exaggerating the frightful contents latent in the prevalent dogma concerning hell1 have never been able and no man is able to do any thing like justice to its legitimate deductions4 ,edwards is right in declaring1 ,after we have said our utmost and thought our utmost1 all that we have said and thought is but a faint shadow of the reality4 ,think of yourselves1 seized1 just as you are now1 and flung into the roaring1 glowing furnace of eternity2 think of such torture for an instant1 multiply it by infinity1 and then say if any words can convey the proper force of impression4 ,it is true these intolerable details are merely latent and unappreciated by the multitude of believers2 and when one1 roused to fanaticism by earnest contemplation of his creed1 dares to proclaim its logical consequences and to exhort men accordingly1 they shrink1 and charge him with excess4 ,but they should beware ere they repudiate the literal horrors of the historic orthodox doctrine for any figurative and moral views accommodated to the advanced reason and refinement of the times1 beware how such an abandonment of a part of their system affects the rest4 ,give up the material fire1 and you lose the bodily resurrection4 ,renounce the bodily resurrection1 and away goes the visible coming of ,christ to a general judgment4 ,abandon the general judgment1 and the climacteric completion of the ,church scheme of redemption is wanting4 ,mar the wholeness of the redemption plan1 and farewell to the incarnation and vicarious atonement4 ,neglect the vicarious atonement1 and down crumbles the hollow and broken shell of the popular theology helplessly into its grave4 ,the old literal doctrine of a material hell1 however awful its idea1 as it has been set forth in flaming views and threats by all the accredited representatives of the ,church1 must be uncompromisingly clung to1 else the whole popular system of theology will be mutilated1 shattered1 and lost from sight4 ,the theological leaders understand this perfectly well1 and for the most part they act accordingly4 ,we have now under our hand numerous extracts1 from writings published within the last five years by highly influential dignitaries in the different denominations1 which for frightfulness of outline and coloring1 and for unshrinking assertions of literality1 will compare with those already quoted4 ,especially read the following description of this kind from ,john ,henry ,newman3 ,oh1 terrible moment for the soul1 when it suddenly finds itself at the judgment seat of ,christ1 when the ,judge speaks and consigns it to the jailers till it shall pay the endless debt which lies against it6 ',impossible6 ,i a lost soul8 ,i separated from hope and from peace forever8 ,it is not ,i of whom the ,judge so spake6 ,there is a mistake somewhere2 ,christ1 ,savior1 hold thy hand3 one minute to explain it6 ,my name is ,demas3 ,i am but ,demas1 not ,judas1 or ,nicholas1 or ,alexander1 or ,philetus1 or ,diotrephes4 ,what6 eternal pain for me8 ,impossible6 it shall not be6' ,and the poor soul struggles and wrestles in the grasp of the mighty demon which has hold of it1 and whose every touch is torment4 ',oh1 atrocious6' it shrieks1 in agony1 and in anger too1 as if the very keenness of the infliction were a proof of its injustice4 ',a second6 and a third6 ,i can bear no more6 ,stop1 horrible fiend6 give over3 ,i am a man1 and not such as thou6 ,i am not food for thee1 or sport for thee6 ,i have been taught religion2 ,i have had a conscience2 ,i have a cultivated mind2 ,i am well versed in science and art2 ,i am a philosopher1 or a poet1 or a shrewd observer of men1 or a hero1 or a statesman1 or an orator1 or a man of wit and humor4 ,nay1 ,i have received the grace of the ,redeemer2 ,i have attended the sacraments for years2 ,i have been a ,catholic from a child2 ,i died in communion with the ,church3 nothing1 nothing which ,i have ever been1 which ,i have ever seen1 bears any resemblance to thee1 and to the flame and stench which exhale from thee3 so ,i defy thee1 and abjure thee1 ,o enemy of man6' ,alas6 poor soul6 and1 whilst it thus fights with that destiny which it has brought upon itself and those companions whom it has chosen1 the man's name perhaps is solemnly chanted forth1 and his memory decently cherished1 among his friends on earth4 ,men talk of him from time to time2 they appeal to his authority2 they quote his words2 perhaps they even raise a monument to his name1 or write his history4 ',so comprehensive a mind6 such a power of throwing light on a perplexed subject and bringing conflicting ideas or facts into harmony6' ',such a speech it was that he made on such and such an occasion3 ,i happened to be present1 and never shall forget it2' or1 ',a great personage1 whom some of us knew2' or1 ',it was a rule with a very worthy and excellent friend of mine1 now no more2' or1 ',never was his equal in society1 so just in his remarks1 so lively1 so versatile1 so unobtrusive2' or1 ',so great a benefactor to his country and to his kind2' or1 ',his philosophy so profound4' ',oh1 vanity6 vanity of vanities6 all is vanity6 ,what profiteth it8 ,what profiteth it8 ,his soul is in hell1 ,o ye children of men6 ,while thus ye speak1 his soul is in the beginning of those torments in which his body will soon have part1 and which will never die6 #aj ,some theologians do not hesitate1 even now1 to say that in hell the bodies of the damned shall be nealed1 as we speak of glass1 so as to endure the fire without being annihilated thereby4 ,made of the nature of salamanders1 they shall be immortal kept to feel immortal fire4 ,well may we take up the words of the ,psalmist and cry out of the bottomless depths of disgust and anguish1 ,i am overwhelmed with horror6 ,holding this abhorrent mass of representations1 so grossly carnal and fearful1 up in the free light of to day1 it cannot stand the test of honest and resolute inquiry4 ,it exists only by timid1 unthinking sufferance4 ,it is kept alive1 among the superstitious vestiges of the outworn and out grown past1 only by the power of tradition1 authority1 and custom4 ,in refutation of it we shall not present here a prolonged detail of learned researches and logical processes2 for that would be useless to those who are enslaved to the foregone conclusions of a creed and possessed by invulnerable prejudices1 while those who are thoughtful and candid can make #aj ,sermon on ,neglect of ,divine ,calls and warnings4 such investigations themselves4 ,we shall merely state1 in a few clear and brief propositions1 the results in which we suppose all free and enlightened minds who have adequately studied the subject now agree1 leaving the reader to weigh these propositions for himself1 with such further examination as inclination and opportunity may cause him to bestow upon the matter4 ,we reject the common belief of ,christians in a hell which is a local prison of fire where the wicked are to be tortured by material instruments1 on the following grounds1 appealing to ,god for the reverential sincerity of our convictions1 and appealing to reason for their truth4 ,first1 the supposition that hell is an enormous region in the hollow of the earth is a remnant of ancient ignorance1 a fancy of poets who magnified the grave into ,hades1 a thought of geographers who supposed the earth to be flat and surrounded by a brazen expanse bright above and black beneath4 ,secondly1 the soul1 on leaving the body1 is a spiritual substance1 if it be any substance at all1 eluding our senses and all the instruments of science4 ,therefore1 in the nature of things1 it cannot be chained in a dungeon1 nor be cognizant of suffering from material fire or other physical infliction1 but its woes must be moral and inward2 and the figment that its former fleshly body is to be restored to it is utterly incredible1 being an absurdity in science1 and not affirmed1 as we believe1 in ,scripture4 ,thirdly1 the imagery of a subterranean hell of fire1 brimstone1 and undying worms1 as used in the ,scriptures of the ,new ,testament1 is the same as that drawn from heathen sources with modifications and employed by the ,pharisees before the time of ,christ and his disciples2 and we must therefore1 since neither ,persians nor ,pharisees were inspired1 either suppose that this imagery was adopted by the apostles figuratively to convey moral truths1 or else that they were left1 in common with their countrymen1 at least partially under the dominion of the errors of their time4 ,thus in every alternative we deny that the interior of the earth is1 or ever will be1 an abode of souls1 full of fire1 a hell in which the damned are to be confined and physically tormented4 ,the elements of the popular doctrine of future punishment which we thus reject are the falsities contributed by superstition and the priestly spirit4 ,the truths remaining in the doctrine1 furnished by conscience1 reason1 and ,scripture1 we will next exhibit1 in order not to dismiss this head1 on the nature of future punishment1 with negations4 ,what is the real character of the retributions in the future state8 ,we do not think they are necessarily connected with any peculiar locality or essentially dependent on any external circumstances4 ,as ,milton says1 when speaking of the best theologians1 ,to banish forever into a local hell1 whether in the air1 or in the centre1 or in that uttermost and bottomless gulf of chaos deeper from holy bliss than the world's diameter multiplied1 they thought not a punishment so proper and proportionate for ,god to inflict as to punish sin with sin4 ,god does not arbitrarily stretch forth his arm1 like an enraged and vindictive man1 and take direct vengeance on offenders2 but by his immutable laws1 permeating all beings and governing all worlds1 evil is1 and brings1 its own punishment4 ,the intrinsic substances and forces of character and their organized correlations with the realities of eternity1 the ruling principles1 habits1 and love of the soul1 as they stand affected towards the world to which they go1 these are the conditions on which experience depends1 herein is the hiding of retribution4 ,each one1 as ,origen says1 kindles the flame of his own appropriate fire4 ,superior spirits must look on a corrupted human soul with a sorrow similar1 though infinitely profounder1 to that with which the lapidary contemplates a splendid pearl with a dark flaw in its centre4 ,the ,koran says1 ,men sleep while they live1 and when they die they wake4 ,the sudden infliction of pain in the future state comes from the sudden unveiling of secrets1 quickening of the moral consciousness1 and exposure of the naked soul's fitnesses to the spiritual correspondences of its deserts4 ,it is said1 ,death does ,away disguise3 souls see each other clear1 ,at one glance1 as two drops of rain in air ,might look into each other had they life4 ,the quality of the soul's character decides the elements of the soul's life2 and1 as this becomes known on crossing the death drawn line of futurity1 conscious retribution then arises in the guilty4 ,this is a retribution which is reasonable1 moral1 unavoidable1 before which we may well pause and tremble4 ,the great moral of it is that we should not so much dread being thrust into an eternal hell as we should fear carrying a hell with us when we go into eternity4 ,it is not so bad to be in hell as to be forced truly to say1 ,which way ,i fly is hell2 myself am hell4 ,if these general ideas are correct1 it follows even as all common sense and reflection affirm that every real preparation for death and for what is to succeed must be an ingrained characteristic1 and cannot consist in a mere opinion1 mood1 or act4 ,here we strike at one of the shallowest errors1 one of the most extensive and rooted superstitions1 of the world4 ,throughout the immense kingdoms of the ,east1 where the ,brahmanic and ,buddhist religions hold sway over six hundred millions of men1 the notion of yadasanna that is1 the merit instantaneously obtained when at the point of death fully prevails4 ,they suppose that in that moment1 regardless of their former lives and of their present characters1 by bringing the mind and the heart into certain momentary states of thought and feeling1 and meditating on certain objects or repeating certain sacred words1 they can suddenly obtain exemption from punishment in their next life4#aa ,the notion likewise obtains almost universally among ,christians1 incredible as it may seem4 ,with the ,romanists1 who are three fourths of the ,christian world1 it is a most prominent doctrine1 everywhere vehemently proclaimed and acted on3 that is the meaning of the sacrament of extreme unction1 whereby1 on submission to the ,church and confession to a priest1 the venal sins of the dying man are forgiven1 purgatory avoided or lessened1 and heaven made sure4 ,the ghost of the ,king of ,denmark complains most of the unwarned suddenness of his murder1 not of the murder itself1 but of its suddenness1 which left him no opportunity to save his soul3 ,sleeping1 was ,i by a brother's hand ,cut off even in the blossoms of my sin1 #aa ,hardy1 ,manual of ,buddhism1 p4 #dhi4 ,unhousel'd1 disappointed1 unanel'd2 ,no reckoning made1 but sent to my account ,with all my imperfections on my head4 ,hamlet1 urged by supernatural solicitings to vengeance1 finds his murderous uncle on his knees at prayer4 ,stealing behind him with drawn sword1 he is about to strike the fatal blow1 when the thought occurs to him that the guilty man1 if killed when at his devotions1 would surely go to heaven2 and so he refrains until a different opportunity4 ,for to send to heaven the villain who had slain his father1 ,that would be hire and salary1 not revenge4 ,he took my father grossly full of bread1 ,with all his crimes broad blown1 as flush as ,may2 ,and how his audit stands who knows save ,heaven8 ,but1 in our circumstance and course of thought1 ',tie heavy with him4 ,and am ,i then revenged ,to take him in the purging of his soul1 ,when he is fit and season'd for his passage8 ,no2 but when he is drunk1 asleep1 enraged1 ,or in the incestuous pleasures of his bed1 ,at gaming1 swearing1 or about some act ,that has no relish of salvation in't3 ,then trip him1 that his heels may kick at heaven1 ,and that his soul may be as damn'd and black ,as hell1 whereto it goes4 ,this1 though poetry1 is a fair representation of the mediaval faith held by all ,christendom in sober prose4 ,the same train of thought latently underlies the feelings of most ,protestants too1 though it is true any one would now shrink from expressing it with such frankness and horrible gusto4 ,but what else means the minute morbid anatomy of death beds1 the prurient curiosity to know how the dying one bore himself in the solemn passage8 ,how commonly1 if one dies without physical anguish1 and with the artificial exultations of a fanatic1 rejoiceful auguries are drawn6 if he dies in physical suffering1 and with apparent regret1 a gloomy verdict is rendered6 ,it is superstition1 absurdity1 and injustice1 all4 ,not the accidental physical conditions1 not the transient emotions1 with which one passes from the earth1 can decide his fate1 but the real good or evil of his soul1 the genuine fitness or unfitness of his soul1 his soul's inherent merits of bliss or bale4 ,there is no time nor power in the instant of death1 by any magical legerdemain1 to turn away the impending retributions of wickedness and guilt4 ,what is right1 within the conditions of ,infinite wisdom and goodness1 will be done in spite of all traditional juggles and spasmodic spiritual attitudinizations4 ,what can it avail that a most vile and hardened wretch1 when dying1 convulsed with fright and possessed with superstition1 compels1 or strives to compel1 a certain sentiment into his soul1 conjures1 or tries to conjure1 his mind into the relation of belief towards a certain ancient and abstract dogma8 ,yet ,i've seen men who meant not ill1 ,compelling doctrine out of death1 ,with hell and heaven acutely poised ,upon the turning of a breath4 ,cruelly racking the soul with useless probes of theological questions and statements1 they stand by the dying to catch the words of his last breath1 and1 in perfect consistence with their faith1 they pronounce sentence accordingly4 ,if1 as the pallid lips faintly close1 they hear the magic words1 ,i put my trust in the atoning blood of ,christ1 up goes the soul to heaven4 ,if they hear the less stereotyped words1 ,i have tried to do as well as ,i could3 ,i hope ,god will be merciful towards me and receive me1 down goes the soul to hell4 ,strange and cruel superstition1 that imagines ,god to act towards men only according to the evanescent temper and technical phrase with which they leave the world6 ,the most popular ,english preacher of the present day1 the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,spurgeon1 after referring to the fable that those before whom ,perseus held the head of ,medusa were turned into stone in the very act and posture of the moment when they saw it1 says1 ,death is such a power4 ,what ,i am when death is held before me1 that ,i must be forever4 ,when my spirit goes1 if ,god finds me hymning his praise1 ,i shall hymn it in heaven3 doth he find me breathing out oaths1 ,i shall follow up those oaths in hell4 ,as ,i die1 so shall ,i live eternally6 #ab ,no3 the true preparation for death and the invisible realm of souls is not the eager adoption of an opinion1 the hurried assumption of a mood1 or the frightened performance of an outward act3 it is the patient culture of the mind with truth1 the pious purification of the heart with disinterested love1 the consecrated training of the life in holiness1 the growth of the soul in habits of righteousness1 faith1 and charity1 the organization of divine principles into character4 ,every real preparation of the soul for death must be a characteristic rightly related to the immortal realities to which death is the introduction of the soul4 ,an evil soul is not thrust into a physical and fiery hell1 fenced in and roofed over from the universal common2 but it is revealed to itself1 and consciously enters on retributive relations4 ,in the spiritual world1 whither all go at death1 we suppose that like perceives like1 and thus are they saved or damned1 having1 by the natural attraction and elective seeing of their virtues or vices1 the beatific vision of ,god1 or the horrid vision of iniquity and terror4 ,it cannot be supposed that ,god is a bounded shape so vast as to fill the entire circuits of the creation4 ,spirit transcends the categories of body1 and it is absurd to apply the language of finite things to the illimitable ,one1 except symbolically4 ,when we die1 we do not sink or soar to the realm of spirits1 but are in it1 at once1 everywhere2 and the resulting experience will depend on the prevailing elements of our moral being4 ,if we are bad1 our badness is our banishment from ,god2 if we are good1 our goodness is our union with ,god4 ,in every world the true nature and law of retribution lie in the recoil of conduct on character1 and the assimilated results ensuing4 ,take a soul that is saturated with the rottenness of depravity into the core of heaven1 and it is in the heart of hell still4 ,take a soul that is compacted of divine #ab ,sermons1 #c;d ,series4 ,sermon ,,xiv41 ,thoughts on the ,last ,battle4 realities to the very bottom of hell1 and heaven is with it there4 ,we are treading on eternity1 and infinitude is all around us4 ,now1 as well as hereafter1 to us1 the universe is action1 the soul is reaction1 experience is the resultant4 ,death but unveils the facts4 ,pass that great crisis1 in the passage becoming conscious of universal realities and of individual relations to them1 and the ,father will say to the discordant soul1 ,alienated one1 incapable of my embrace1 change and come to me2 to the harmonious soul1 ,son1 thou art ever with me1 and all that ,i have is thine4 ,having thus considered the question as to the nature of future punishments1 it now remains to discuss the question concerning their duration4 ,the fact of a just and varied punishment for souls we firmly believe in4 ,the particulars of it in the future1 or the degrees of its continuance1 we think1 are concealed from the present knowledge of man4 ,these details we do not profess to be able to settle much about4 ,we have but three general convictions on the subject4 ,first1 that these punishments will be experienced in accordance with those righteous and inmost laws which indestructibly express the mind of ,god and rule the universe1 and will not be vindictively inflicted through arbitrary external penalties4 ,secondly1 that they will be accurately tempered to the just deserts and qualifications of the individual sufferers4 ,and thirdly1 that they will be alleviated1 remedial1 and limited1 not unmitigated1 hopeless1 and endless4 ,upon the first of these thoughts perhaps enough has already been said1 and the second and third may be discussed together4 ,our business1 therefore1 in the remainder of this dissertation1 is to disprove1 if truth in the hands of reason and conscience will enable us to disprove1 the popular dogma which asserts that the state of the condemned departed is a state of complete damnation absolutely eternal4 ,against that form of representing future punishment which makes it unlimited by conceiving the destiny of the soul to be an eternal progress1 in which their initiative steps of good or evil in this life place different souls under advantages or disadvantages never relatively to be lost1 we have nothing to object4 ,it is reasonable1 in unison with natural law1 and not frightful4#ac ,but we are to deal1 if we fairly can1 a refutation against the doctrine of an intense endless misery for the wicked1 as that doctrine is prevailingly taught and received4 ,the advocates of eternal damnation primarily plant themselves upon the ,christian ,scriptures1 and say that there the voice of an infallible inspiration from heaven asserts it4 ,first of all1 let us examine this ground1 and see if they do not stand there only upon erroneous premises sustained by prejudices4 ,in the beginning1 then1 we submit to candid minds that1 if the literal eternity of future torment be proclaimed in the ,new ,testament1 it is not a part of the revelation contained in that volume2 it is not a truth revealed by inspiration2 and that we maintain for this reason4 ,the same representations of the everlasting duration of future punishment in hell1 the same expressions for an unlimited duration1 which occur in the ,new ,testament1 were previously employed by the ,hindus1 ,greeks1 and ,pharisees1 who were not inspired1 but must have drawn the doctrine from fallible sources4 ,now1 to say the least1 it is as reasonable to suppose that these expressions1 when found in the ,new ,testament1 were #ac ,lessing1 ,ueber ,leibnitz von den ,ewigen ,strafen4 employed by the ,saviour and the evangelists in conformity with the prevailing thought and customary phraseology of their time1 as to conclude that they were derived from an unerring inspiration4 ,the former is a natural and reasonable inference2 the latter is a gratuitous hypothesis for which we have never heard of any evidence4 ,if its advocates will honestly attempt really to prove it1 we are convinced they will be forced to renounce it4 ,the only way they continue to hold it is by taking it for granted4 ,if1 therefore1 the strict eternity of future woe be declared in the ,new ,testament1 we regard it not as a part of the inspired utterance of ,jesus1 but as an error which crept in among others from the surrounding notions of a benighted pagan age4 ,but1 in the next place1 we do not admit by any means that the literal eternity of future damnation is taught in the ,scriptures4 ,on the contrary1 we deny such an assertion1 for several reasons4 ,first1 we argue from the usage of language before the ,new ,testament was written4 ,the ,egyptians1 ,hindus1 ,greeks1 often make most emphatic use of phrases declaring the eternal sufferings of the wicked in hell2 but they must have meant by eternal only a very long time1 because a fundamental portion of the great system of thought on which their religions rested was the idea of recurring epochs1 sundered by immense periods statedly arriving1 when all things were restored1 the hells and heavens vanished away1 and ,god was all in all4 ,if the representations of the eternal punishment of the wicked1 made before the ,new ,testament was written1 were not significant1 with metaphysical severity1 of an eternity of duration1 but only1 with popular looseness1 of an extremely long period1 the same may be true of the similar expressions found in that record4 ,secondly1 we argue from the usage of language in and after the ,new ,testament age4 ,the critics have collected1 as any one desirous may easily find1 and as every theological scholar well knows1 scores of instances from the writings of authors contemporary with ,christ and his apostles1 and succeeding them1 where the ,greek word for eternal is used popularly1 not strictly1 in a rhetorical1 not in a philosophical1 sense1 not denoting a duration literally endless1 but one very prolonged4 ,in all ,greek literature the word is undoubtedly used in a careless and qualified sense at least a hundred times where it is used once with its close etymological force4 ,and the same is true of the corresponding ,hebrew term4 ,the writer of the ,testaments of the ,twelve ,patriarchs1 at the close of every chapter1 describing the respective patriarch's death1 says1 he slept the eternal sleep1 though by eternal he can only mean a duration reaching to the time of the resurrection1 as plainly appears from the context4 ,iamblichus speaks of an eternal eternity of eternities4#ad ,origen1 and ,gregory of ,nyssa1 and others1 the fact of whose belief in final universal salvation no one pretends to deny1 do not hesitate with earnestness and frequency to affirm the eternal punishment of the wicked in hell4 ,now1 if the contemporaries of the evangelists1 and their successors1 often used the word eternal popularly1 in a figurative1 limited sense1 then it may be so employed when it occurs in the ,new ,testament in connection with the future pains of the bad4 ,thirdly1 we argue from the phraseology and other peculiarities of the representation of the future woe of the condemned1 given in the ,new ,testament itself1 that its authors #ad ,de ,mysteriis ,egyptiorum1 cap4 viii4 sect4 #aj4 did not consciously intend to proclaim the rigid endlessness of that woe4#ae ,these shall go away into everlasting punishment4 ,since the word everlasting was often used simply to denote a long period1 what right has any one to declare that here it must mean an absolutely unending duration8 ,how does any one know that the mind of ,jesus dialectically grasped the metaphysical notion of eternity and deliberately intended to express it8 ,certainly the intrinsic probabilities are all the other way4 ,such a conclusion is hardly compatible with the highly tropical style of speech employed throughout the discourse4 ,besides1 had he wished to convey the overwhelming idea that the doom of the guilty would be strictly irremediable1 their anguish literally infinite1 would he not have taken pains to say so in definite1 guarded1 explained1 unmistakable terms8 ,he might easily1 by a precise prosaic utterance1 by explanatory circumlocutions1 have placed that thought beyond possibility of mistake4 ,fourthly1 we have an intense conviction not only that the leaving of such a doctrine by the ,savior in impenetrable obscurity and uncertainty is irreconcilable with the supposition of his deliberately holding it in his belief1 but also that a belief in the doctrine itself is utterly irreconcilable with the very essentials of his teachings and spirit1 his inmost convictions and life4 ,he taught the infinite and unchangeable goodness of ,god3 confront the doctrine of endless misery with the parable of the prodigal son4 ,he taught the doctrine of unconquerable forgiveness1 without apparent qualification3 bring together the doctrine of never relenting punishment and his petition on the cross1 ,father1 forgive them4 ,he taught that at the great judgment heaven or hell would be allotted to men according to their lives2 and the notion of endless torment does not rest on the demerit of sinful deeds1 which is the standard of judgment that he holds up1 but on conceptions concerning a totally depraved nature1 a ,god inflamed with wrath1 a vicarious atonement rejected1 or some other ethnic tradition or ritual consideration equally foreign to his mind and hostile to his heart4 ,fifthly1 if we reason on the popular belief that the letter of ,scripture teaches only unerring truth1 we have the strongest argument of all against the eternal hopelessness of future punishment4 ,the doctrine of ,christ's descent to hell underlies the ,new ,testament4 ,we are told that after his death he went and preached to the spirits in prison4 ,and again we read that the gospel was preached also to them that are dead4 ,this ,new ,testament idea was unquestionably a vital and important feature in the apostolic and in the early ,christian belief4 ,it necessarily implies that there is probation1 and that there may be salvation1 after death4 ,it is fatal to the horrid dogma which commands all who enter hell to abandon every gleam of hope1 utterly and forever4 ,the symbolic force of the doctrine of ,christ's descent and preaching in hell is this1 as ,guder says in his ,appearance of ,christ among the ,dead1 that the deepest and most horrible depth of damnation is not too deep and horrible for the pitying love which wishes to save the lost3 even into the veriest depth of hell reaches down the love of ,god1 and his beatific call sounds to the most distant distances4 ,there is no outermost darkness to which his heavenly and all conquering light cannot shine4 ,the book which teaches that ,christ went even into hell itself1 to seek and to save that which was lost1 #ae ,corrodi1 ,ueber die ,ewigkeit der ,hollenetrafen4 ,in den ,beitragen zur ,beforderung des ,vernunft4 ,denk4 n4 s4 w4 heft vii4 ss4 #da-gb4 does not teach that from the instant of death the fate of the wicked is irredeemably fixed4 ,upon the whole1 then1 we reach the clear conclusion that the ,christian ,scriptures do not really declare the hopeless eternity of future punishment4#af ,they speak popularly1 not scientifically1 speak in metaphors which cannot be analyzed and reduced to metaphysical precision4 ,the subject is left with fearful warnings in an impressive obscurity4 ,there we must either leave it1 in awe and faith1 undecided2 or1 if not content to do that1 we must examine and decide it on other grounds than those of traditional authority1 and with other instruments than those of textual interpretation4 ,let us next sift and weigh the arguments from reason by which the dogma of the eternity of future misery is respectively defended and assailed4 ,the advocates of it have sought to support it by four positions1 which are such entire assumptions that only a word will be requisite to expose each of them to logical rejection4 ,first1 it is said that sin is infinite and deserves an infinite penalty because it is an outrage against an infinite being4#ag ,a more absurd perversion of logic than this1 a more glaring violation of common sense1 was never perpetrated4 ,it directly reverses the facts and subverts the legitimate inference4 ,is the sin measured by the dignity of the lawgiver1 or by the responsibility of the law breaker8 ,does justice heed the wrath of the offended1 or the guilt of the offender8 ,as well say that the eye of man is infinite because it looks out into infinite space1 as affirm that his sin is infinite because committed against an infinite ,god4 ,that man is finite1 and all his acts finite1 and consequently not in justice to be punished infinitely1 is a plain statement of fact which compels assent4 ,all else is empty quibbling1 scholastic jugglery4 ,the ridiculousness of the argument is amusingly apparent as presented thus in an old ,miracle ,play1 wherein ,justice is made to tell ,mercy ,that man1 havinge offended ,god who is endlesse1 ,his endlesse punchement therefore may nevyr seese4 ,the second device brought forward to sustain the doctrine in question is more ingenious1 but equally arbitrary4 ,it is based on the foreknowledge of ,god4 ,he foresaw that the wicked1 if allowed to live on earth immortally in freedom1 would go on forever in a course of constant sin4 ,they were therefore constructively guilty of all the sin which they would have committed2 but he saved the world the ravages of their actual crimes by hurling them into hell beneath the endless penalty of their latent infinite guilt4 ,in reply to those who argue thus1 it is obvious to ask1 whence did they learn all this8 ,there is no such scheme drawn up or hinted in ,scripture2 and surely it is not within the possible discoveries of reason4 ,plainly1 it is not a known premise legitimating a result1 not a sound argument proving a conclusion3 it is merely a conceit1 devised to explain and fortify a theory already embraced from other considerations4 ,it is an imaginative hypothesis without confirmation4 #af ,bretschneider1 in his ,systematische ,entwickelung aller in der ,dogmatik vorkommenden ,begriffe1 gives the literature of this subject in a list of thirty six distinct works4 ,sect4 #aci1 ,ewig keit der ,hollenstrafen4 #ag ,thomas ,aquinas1 ,summa1 pars iii4 suppl4 qu4 #ii1 art4 #a4 ,thirdly1 it has been said that future punishment will be endless because sin will be so4 ,the evil soul1 growing ever more evil1 getting its habits of vice and passions of iniquity more deeply infixed1 and surrounded in the infernal realm with all the incentives to wickedness1 will become confirmed in depravity beyond all power of cure1 and1 sinning forever1 be necessarily damned and tortured forever4 ,the same objection holds to this argument as to the former4 ,its premises are daring assumptions beyond the province of our knowledge4 ,they are assumptions1 too1 contrary to analogy1 probability1 the highest laws of humanity1 and the goodness of ,god4 ,without freedom of will there cannot be sin2 and those who retain moral freedom may reform1 cease to do evil and learn to do good4 ,there are invitations and opportunities to change from evil to good here3 why not hereafter8 ,the will is free now3 what shall suddenly paralyze or annihilate that freedom when the soul leaves the body8 ,why may not such amazing revelations be made1 such regenerating motives be brought to bear1 in the spiritual world1 as will soften the hardest1 convince the stubbornest1 and1 sooner or later1 transform and redeem the worst8 ,it is true the law of sinful habit is dark and fearful2 but it is frequently neutralized4 ,the argument as the support of a positive dogma is void because itself only hypothetical4 ,some have tried to prove eternal condemnation by an assumed necessity of moral gravitation4 ,there is a great deal of loose and hasty talk afloat about the law of affinities distributing souls hereafter in fitted companies4 ,similar characters will spontaneously come together4 ,the same qualities and grades of sympathy will coalesce1 the unlike will fly apart4 ,and so all future existence will be arranged in circles of dead equality on stagnant levels of everlasting hopelessness of change4 ,the law of spiritual attraction is no such force as that1 produces no such results4 ,it is broken up by contrasts1 changes1 multiplicity of other interacting forces4 ,we are not only drawn by affinity to those like ourselves1 but often still more powerfully1 with rebuking and redeeming effect1 to those above us that we may become like them1 to those beneath us that we may pity and help them4 ,the law of affinity is not in moral beings a simple force necessitating an endless uniformity of state1 but a complex of forces1 sometimes mingling the unlike by stimulants of wedded similarity and contrast to bless and advance all1 now punishing1 now rewarding1 but ever finally intended to redeem4 ,reasoning by sound analogy1 the heavens and hells of the future state are not monotonous circles each filled with mutually reflecting personalities1 but one fenceless spiritual world of distinctive1 ever varying degrees1 sympathetic and contrasted life1 circulating freshness1 variety of attractions and repulsions1 divine advancement4 ,finally1 it is maintained by many that endless misery is the fate of the reprobate because such is the sovereign pleasure of ,god4 ,this is no argument1 but a desperate assertion4 ,it virtually confesses that the doctrine cannot be defended by reason1 but is to be thrown into the province of wilful faith4 ,a host of gloomy theologians have taken this ground as the forlorn hope of their belief4 ,the damned are eternally lost because that is the arbitrary decree of ,god4 ,those who thus abandon reason for dogmatic authority and trample on logic with mere reiterated assertion can only be met with the flat denial1 such is not the arbitrary pleasure of ,god4 ,then1 as far as argument is concerned1 the controversy ends where it began4 ,these four hypotheses include all the attempted justifications of the doctrine of eternal misery that we have ever seen offered from the stand point of independent thought4 ,we submit that1 considered as proofs1 they are utterly sophistical4 ,there are three great arguments in refutation of the endlessness of future punishment1 as that doctrine is commonly held4 ,the first argument is ethical1 drawn from the laws of right2 the second is theological1 drawn from the attributes of ,god2 the third is experimental1 drawn from the principles of human nature4 ,we shall subdivide these and consider them successively4 ,in the first place1 we maintain that the popular doctrine of eternal punishment is unjust1 because it overlooks the differences in the sins of men1 launching on all whom it embraces one infinite penalty of undiscriminating damnation4 ,the consistent advocates of the doctrine1 the boldest creeds1 unflinchingly avow this1 and defend it by the plea that every sin1 however trivial1 is equally an offence against the law of the infinite ,god with the most terrible crime1 and equally merits an infinite punishment4 ,thus1 by a metaphysical quibble1 the very basis of morals is overturned1 and the child guilty of an equivocation through fear is put on a level with the pirate guilty of robbery and murder through cold blooded avarice and hate4 ,in a hell where all are plunged in physical fire for eternity there are no degrees of retribution1 though the degrees of evil and demerit are as numerous and various as the individuals4 ,the ,scriptures say1 ,every man shall receive according to the deeds done in the body3 some shall be beaten with many stripes1 others with few stripes4 ,the first principle of justice exact discrimination of judgment according to deeds and character is monstrously violated and all differences blotted out by the common dogma of hell4 ,a better thought is shown in the old ,persian legend which tells that ,god once permitted ,zoroaster to accompany him on a visit to hell4 ,the prophet saw many in grievous torments4 ,among the rest1 he saw one who was deprived of his right foot4 ,asking the meaning of this1 ,god replied1 ,yonder sufferer was a king who in his whole life did but one kind action4 ,passing once near a dromedary which1 tied up in a state of starvation1 was vainly striving to reach some provender placed just beyond its utmost effort1 the king with his right foot compassionately kicked the fodder within the poor beast's reach4 ,that foot ,i placed in heaven3 the rest of him is here4 #ah ,again3 there is the grossest injustice in the first assumption or fundamental ground on which the theory we are opposing rests4 ,that theory does not teach that men are actually damned eternally on account of their own personal sins1 but on account of original sin3 the eternal tortures of hell are the transmitted penalty hurled on all the descendants of ,adam1 save those who in some way avoid it1 in consequence of his primal transgression4 ,language cannot characterize with too much severity1 as it seems to us1 the injustice1 the immorality1 involved in this scheme4 ,the belief in a sin1 called original1 entailed by one act of one person upon a whole immortal race of countless millions1 dooming vast majorities of them helplessly to a hopeless torture prison1 can rest only on a sleep of reason and a delirium of #ah ,wilson's ed4 of ,mill's ,hist4 of ,british ,india1 vol4 i4 p4 #dbi1 note4 conscience4 ,such a sin is no sin at all2 and any penalty inflicted on it would not be the necessary severity of a holy ,god1 but a species of gratuitous vengeance4 ,for sin1 by the very essence of ethics1 is the free1 intelligent1 wilful violation of a law known to be right2 and every punishment1 in order to be just1 must be the suffering deserved by the intentional fault1 the personal evil1 of the culprit himself4 ,the doctrine before us reverses all this1 and sends untold myriads to hell forever for no other sin than that of simply having been born children of humanity4 ,born totally depraved1 hateful to ,god1 helpless through an irresistible proclivity to sin and an ineradicable aversion to evangelical truth1 and asked to save themselves1 asked by a mockery like that of fettering men hand and foot1 clothing them in leaden straitjackets1 and then flinging them overboard1 telling them not to drown6 ,what justice1 what justice1 is here in this8 ,thirdly1 the profound injustice of this doctrine is seen in its making the alternative of so unutterably awful a doom hinge upon such trivial particulars and upon merely fortuitous circumstances4 ,one is born of pious1 orthodox parents1 another of heretics or infidels3 with no difference of merit due to them1 one goes to heaven1 the other goes to hell4 ,one happens to form a friendship with an evangelical believer1 another is influenced by a rationalist companion3 the same fearful diversity of fate ensues4 ,one is converted by a single sermon3 if he had been ill that day1 or had been detained from church by any other cause1 his fated bed would have been made in hell1 heaven closed against him forever4 ,one says1 ,i believe in the ,trinity of ,god1 in the ,deity of ,christ2 and1 dying1 he goes to heaven4 ,another says1 ,i believe in the ,unity of ,god and in the humanity of ,christ3 he1 dying1 goes to hell4 ,of two children snatched away by disease when twenty four hours old1 one has been baptized1 the other not3 the angels of heaven welcome that1 the demons of hell clutch this4 ,the doctrine of infant damnation1 intolerably painful as it is1 has been proclaimed thousands of times by authoritative teachers and by large parties in the ,church1 and is a logical sequence from the popular theology4 ,it is not a great many years since people heard1 it is said1 the celebrated statement that hell is paved with the skulls of infants not a span long6 ,think of the everlasting bliss or misery of a helpless infant depending on the petty accident of whether it was baptized or not6 ,there are hypothetical cases like the following3 ,if one man had died a year earlier1 when he was a saint1 he would not have fallen from grace1 and renounced his faith1 and rolled in crimes1 and sunk to hell4 ,if another had lived a year later1 he would have been smitten with conviction1 and would have repented1 and made his peace1 and gone to heaven4 ,to the everlasting loss of each1 an eternity of bliss against an eternity of woe hung fatally poised on the time appointed for him to die4 ,oh how the bigoted pride1 the exclusive dogmatism of self styled saints1 self flatterers equally satisfied of their own election and of the rejection of almost everybody else1 ought to sink and fade when they reflect on the slight chances1 mere chances of time and place1 by which the infinite contingency has been1 or is to be1 decided6 ,they should heed the impregnable good sense and logic conveyed in the humane hearted poet's satirical humor when he advises such persons to ,consider well1 before1 like ,hurlothrumbo1 ,they aim their clubs at any creed on earth1 ,that by the simple accident of birth ,they might have been high priests to ,mumbo ,jumbo4 ,it is evidently but the rankest mockery of justice to suspend an infinite woe upon an accident out of the power of the party concerned4 ,still further3 there is a tremendous injustice even in that form of the doctrine of endless punishment1 the most favorable of all1 which says that no one is absolutely foreordained to hell1 but that all are free1 and that life is a fixed season of probation wherein the means of salvation are offered to all1 and if they neglect or spurn them the fault is their own1 and eternal pain their merited portion4 ,the perfectly apparent inconsistency of this theory with known facts is fatal to it1 since out of every generation there are millions on millions of infants1 idiots1 maniacs1 heathen1 within whose hearing or power the means of salvation by a personal appropriation of the atoning merit of ,christ's blood were never brought2 so that life to them is no scene of ,christian probation4 ,but1 waiving that1 the probation is not a fair one to anybody4 ,if the indescribable horror of an eternal damnation be the consequence that follows a certain course while we are on trial in this life1 then a knowledge of that fact in all its bearings ought to be given us1 clear1 explicit1 beyond any possibility of mistake or doubt4 ,otherwise the probation is not fair4 ,to place men in the world1 as millions are constantly placed1 beset by allurements of every sort within and without1 led astray by false teachings and evil examples1 exposed in ignorance1 bewildered with uncertainties of conflicting doubts and surmises1 either never hearing of the way of salvation at all1 or hearing of it only in terms that seem absurd in themselves and unaccompanied by sufficient1 if by any1 proof1 and then1 if under these fearful hazards they waver from strict purity of heart1 rectitude of conduct1 or orthodoxy of belief1 to condemn them to a world of everlasting agony1 would be the very climax of cruelty1 with no touch of mercy or color of right4 ,beneath such a rule the universe should be shrouded in the blackness of despair1 and ,god be thought of with a convulsive shudder4 ,such a probation would be only like that on which the ,inquisitors put their victims who were studiously kept ignorant in their dungeons1 waiting for the rack and the flame to be made ready4 ,few persons will deny that1 as the facts now are1 a good1 intelligent1 candid man may doubt the reality of an endless punishment awaiting men in hell4 ,but if the doctrine be true1 and he is on probation under it1 is it fair that he should be left honestly in ignorance or doubt about it8 ,no3 if it be true1 it ought to be burned into his brain and crushed into his soul with such terrific vividness and abiding constancy of impression as would deter him ever from the wrong path1 keep him in the right4 ,a distinguished writer has represented a condemned delinquent1 suffering on1 and still interminably on1 in hell1 thus complaining of the unfairness of his probation3 ,oh1 had it been possible for me to conceive even the most diminutive part of the weight and horror of this doom1 ,i should have shrunk from every temptation to sin1 with the most violent recoil4#ai #ai ,john ,foster1 ,letter on the ,eternity of ,future ,punishments4 ,if an endless hell is to be the lot of the sinner1 he ought to have an infallible certainty of it1 with all possible helps and incentives to avoid it4 ,such is not the case2 and therefore1 since ,god is just and generous1 the doctrine is not true4 ,finally1 the injustice of the dogma of everlasting punishment is most emphatically shown by the fact that there is no sort of correspondence or possible proportion between the offence and the penalty1 between the moment of sinning life and the eternity of suffering death4 ,if a child were told to hold its breath thirty seconds1 and1 failing to do it1 should be confined in a dark solitary dungeon for seventy years amidst loathsome horrors and speechless afflictions1 and be frightfully scourged six times a day for that entire period1 there would be just proportion nay1 an inexpressibly merciful proportion between the offence and the punishment1 in comparison with that which1 being an absolutely infinite disproportion1 does not really admit of any comparison1 the sentence to an eternal abode in hell as a penalty for the worst kind and the greatest amount of crime a man could possibly crowd into a life of a thousand years4 ,think1 then1 of passing such a sentence on one who has struggled hard against temptation1 and yielded but rarely1 and suffered much1 and striven to do as well as he could1 and borne up courageously1 with generous resolves and affections1 and died commending his soul to ,god in hope4 ,fearfully fleet is this life1 says one1 and yet in it eternal life is lost or won3 profoundly wretched is this life1 yet in it eternal bliss is lost or won4 ,weigh the words adequately1 and say how improbable is the thought1 and how terribly unjust4 ,perhaps there have already lived upon this earth1 and died1 and passed into the invisible world1 two hundred thousand millions of men1 the everlasting doom of every one of whom1 it is imagined1 was fixed unalterably during the momentary period of his mortal transit from cradle to grave4 ,in respect of eternity1 six thousand years and this duration must be reduced to threescore years and ten1 since that is all that each generation enjoyed is the same as one hour4 ,suppose1 now1 that all these two hundred thousand millions of men were called into being at once2 that they were placed on probation for one hour2 that the result of their choice and action in that hour was to decide their irrevocable fate1 actually forever1 to ecstatic bliss or to ecstatic woe2 that during that hour they were left1 as far as clear and stable conviction goes1 in utter ignorance and uncertainty as to the great realities of their condition1 courted by opposing theories and modes of action2 and that1 when the clock of time knelled the close of that awful1 that most evanescent hour1 the roaring gulf of torture yawned1 and its jaws of flame and blackness closed over ninety nine hundredths of them for eternity6 ,that is a fair picture of the popular doctrine of temporal probation and eternal punishment1 when examined in the light of the facts of human life4 ,of course1 no man at this day1 who is in his senses and thinks honestly upon the subject1 can credit such a doctrine1 unless indeed he believes that a lawless fiend sits on the throne of the universe and guides the helm of destiny4 ,and lives there a man of unperverted soul who would not decidedly prefer to have no ,god rather than to have such a one8 ,ay1 ,rather than so1 come ,,fate into the list ,and champion us to the utterance4 ,let us be atheists1 and bow to mortal ,chance1 believe there is no pilot at all at the rudder of ,creation's vessel1 no channel before the prow1 but the roaring breakers of despair to right and left1 and the granite bluff of annihilation full in front6 ,in the next place1 then1 we argue against the doctrine of eternal damnation that it is incompatible with any worthy idea of the character of ,god4 ,god is love2 and love cannot consent to the useless torture of millions of helpless souls for eternity4 ,the gross contradiction of the common doctrine of hell to the spirit of love is so obvious that its advocates1 unable to deny or conceal it1 have often positively proclaimed it1 avowing that1 in respect to the wicked1 ,god is changed into a consuming fire full of hatred and vengeance4 ,but that is unmitigated blasphemy4 ,god is unchangeable1 his very nature being disinterested1 immutable goodness4 ,the sufferings of the wicked are of their own preparation4 ,if a pestilential exhalation is drawn from some decaying substance1 it is not the fault of any alteration in the sunlight4 ,but a ,christian writer assures us that when the damned are packed like brick in a kiln1 so bound that they cannot move a limb nor even an eyelid1 ,god shall blow the fires of hell through them for ever and ever4 ,and another writer says1 ,all in ,god is turned into fury3 in hell he draws out into the field all his forces1 all his attributes1 whereof wrath is the leader and general4#bj ,such representations may be left without a comment4 ,every enlightened mind will instantly reject with horror the doctrine which necessitates a conception of ,god like that here pictured forth4 ,god is a being of infinite forgiveness and magnanimity4 ,to the wandering sinner1 even while a great way off1 his arms are open1 and his inviting voice1 penetrating the farthest abysses1 says1 ,return4 ,his sun shines and his rain falls on the fields of the unjust and unthankful4 ,what is it1 the instant mortals pass the line of death1 that shall transform this ,divinity of yearning pity and beneficence into a devil of relentless hate and cruelty8 ,it cannot be4 ,we shall find him dealing towards us in eternity as he does here4 ,an eminent theologian says1 ,if mortal men kill the body temporally in their anger1 it is like the immortal ,god to damn the soul eternally in his4 ,god holds sinners in his hands over the mouth of hell as so many spiders2 and he is dreadfully provoked1 and he not only hates them1 but holds them in utmost contempt1 and he will trample them beneath his feet with inexpressible fierceness1 he will crush their blood out1 and will make it fly so that it will sprinkle his garments and stain all his raiment4#ba ,oh1 ravings and blasphemies of theological bigotry1 blinded with old creeds1 inflamed with sectarian hate1 soaked in the gall of bitterness1 encompassed by absurd delusions1 you know not what you say6 ,a daring writer of modern times observes that ,god can never say from the last tribunal1 in any other than a limited and metaphorical sense1 ,depart from me1 ye cursed1 into everlasting fire1 because that would not be doing as he would be done by4 ,saving the appearance of irreverence1 we maintain his assertion to be just1 based on impregnable morality4 ,a recent religious poet describes ,jesus1 on descending into hell after his crucifixion1 #bj ,for these and several other quotations we are indebted to the ,rev4 ,t4 ,j4 ,sawyer's work1 entitled ,endless ,punishment3 its ,origin and ,grounds ,examined4 #ba ,edwards's works1 vol4 vii4 p4 #dii4 meeting ,judas1 and when he saw his pangs and heard his stifled sobs1 ,pitying1 ,messiah gazed1 and had forgiven1 ,but ,justice her eternal bar opposed4 #bb ,the instinctive sentiment is worthy of ,jesus1 but the deliberate thought is worthy of ,calvin4 ,why is it so calmly assumed that ,god cannot pardon1 and that therefore sinners must be given over to endless pains8 ,by what proofs is so tremendous a conclusion supported8 ,is it not a gratuitous fiction of theologians8 ,the exemplification of ,god's character and conduct given in the spirit1 teachings1 and deeds of ,christ is full of a free mercy1 an eager charity that rushes forward to forgive and embrace the sinful and wretched wanderers4 ,he is a very different being whom the evangelist represents saying of ,jesus1 ,this is my beloved ,son1 in whom ,i am well pleased1 from ,him whom ,professor ,park describes drawing his sword on ,calvary and smiting down his ,son6 ,why may not pardon from unpurchased grace be vouchsafed as well after death as before8 ,what moral conditions alter the case then8 ,ah6 it is only the metaphysical theories of the theologians that have altered the case in their fancies and made it necessary for them to limit probation4 ,the attributes of ,god are laws1 his modes of action are the essentialities of his being1 the same in all the worlds of boundless extension and all the ages of endless duration4 ,how far some of the theologians have perverted the simplicity of the gospel1 or rather how utterly they have strayed from it1 may be seen when we remember that ,christ said concerning little children1 ,of such is the kingdom of heaven1 and then compare with this declaration such a statement as this3 ,reprobate infants are vipers of vengeance which ,jehovah will hold over hell in the tongs of his wrath1 till they writhe up and cast their venom in his face4 ,we deliberately assert that no depraved1 insane1 pagan imagination ever conceived of a fiend malignant and horrible enough to be worthily compared with this ,christian conception of ,god4 ,edwards repeatedly says1 in his two sermons on the ,punishment of the ,wicked and ,sinners in the ,hands of an ,angry ,god1 ,you cannot stand an instant before an infuriated tiger even3 what1 then1 will you do when ,god rushes against you in all his wrath8 ,is this ,christ's ,father8 ,the ,god we worship is the ,father of lights1 with whom there is neither variableness nor shadow of turning1 from whom cometh down every good and every perfect gift4 ,it is the ,being referred to by the ,savior when he said1 in exultant trust and love1 ,i am not alone2 for the ,father is with me4 ,it is the infinite ,one to whom the ,psalmist says1 ,though ,i make my bed in hell1 behold1 thou art there4 ,if ,god is in hell1 there must be mercy and hope there1 some gleams of alleviation and promise there1 surely2 even as the ,lutheran creed says that early on ,easter morning1 before his resurrection1 ,christ showed himself to the damned in hell4 ,if ,god is in hell1 certainly it must be to soothe1 to save4 ,oh1 no1 says the popular theologian4 ,let us quote his words4 ,why is ,god here8 ,to keep the tortures of the damned freshly plied1 and to see that no one ever escapes6 ,can the climax of horror and #bb ,lord1 ,christ in ,hades4 blasphemy any further go8 ,how much more reasonable1 more moral and ,christ like1 to say1 with one of the best authors of our time1 ,what hell may be ,i know not3 this ,i know3 ,i cannot lose the presence of the ,lord3 ,one arm humility takes hold upon ,his dear ,humanity2 the other love ,clasps his ,divinity3 so1 where ,i go ,he goes2 and better fire wall'd ,hell with him ,than golden gated ,paradise without4 ,the irreconcilableness of the common doctrine of endless misery with any worthy idea of ,god is made clear by a process of reasoning whose premises are as undeniable as its logic is irrefragable and its conclusion consolatory4 ,god is infinite justice and goodness4 ,his purpose in the creation1 therefore1 must be the diffusion and triumph of holiness and blessedness4 ,god is infinite wisdom and power4 ,his design1 therefore1 must be fulfilled4 ,nothing can avail to thwart the ultimate realization of all his intentions4 ,the rule of his omnipotent love pervades infinitude and eternity as a shining leash of law whereby he holds every child of his creation in ultimate connection with his throne1 and will sooner or later bring even the worst soul to a returning curve from the career of its wildest orbit4 ,in the realm and under the reign of a paternal and omnipotent ,god every being must be salvable4 ,remorse itself is a recoil which may fling the penitent into the lap of forgiving love4 ,any different thought appears narrow1 cruel1 heathen4 ,the blackest fiend that glooms the midnight air of hell1 bleached through the merciful purgation of sorrow and loyalty1 may become a white angel and be drawn into heaven4 ,lavater writes of himself1 and the same is true of many a good man1 ,i embraced in my heart all that is called man1 past1 present1 and future times and nations1 the dead1 the damned1 even ,satan4 ,i presented them all to ,god with the warmest wishes that he would have mercy upon all4 ,this is the true spirit of a good man4 ,and is man better than his ,maker8 ,we will answer that question1 and leave this head of the discussion1 by presenting an ,oriental apologue4 ,god once sat on his inconceivable throne1 and far around him1 rank after rank1 angels and archangels1 seraphim and cherubim1 resting on their silver wings and lifting their dazzling brows1 rose and swelled1 with the splendors of an illimitable sea of immortal beings1 gleaming and fluctuating to the remotest borders of the universe4 ,the anthem of their praise shook the pillars of the creation1 and filled the vault of heaven with a pulsing flood of harmony4 ,when1 as they closed their hymn1 stole up1 faint heard1 as from some most distant region of all space1 in dim accents humbly rising1 a responsive ,amen4 ,god asked ,gabriel1 ,whence comes that ,amen8 ,the hierarchic peer replied1 ,it rises from the damned in hell4 ,god took1 from where it hung above his seat1 the key that unlocks the forty thousand doors of hell1 and1 giving it to ,gabriel1 bade him go release them4 ,on wings of light sped the enraptured messenger1 rescued the millions of the lost1 and1 just as they were1 covered all over with the traces of their sin1 filth1 and woe1 brought them straight up into the midst of heaven4 ,instantly they were transformed1 clothed in robes of glory1 and placed next to the throne2 and henceforth1 for evermore1 the dearest strain to ,god's ear1 of all the celestial music1 was that borne by the choir his grace had ransomed from hell4 ,and1 because there is no envy or other selfishness in heaven1 this promotion sent but new thrills of delight and gratitude through the heights and depths of angelic life4 ,we come now to the last class of reasons for disbelieving the dogma of eternal damnation1 namely1 those furnished by the principles of human nature and the truths of human experience4 ,the doctrine1 as we think can be clearly shown1 is literally incredible to the human mind and literally intolerable to the human heart4 ,in the first place1 it is1 viewed in the abstract1 absolutely incredible because it is inconceivable3 no man can possibly grasp and appreciate the idea4 ,the nearest approximation to it ever made perhaps is in ,de ,quincey's gorgeous elaboration of the famous ,hindu myth of an enormous rock finally worn away by the brushing of a gauze veil2 and that is really no approximation at all1 since an incommensurable chasm always separates the finite and the infinite4 ,john ,foster says1 ,it is infinitely beyond the highest archangel's faculty to apprehend a thousandth part of the horror of the doom to eternal damnation4 ,the ,buddhists1 who believe that the severest sentence passed on the worst sinner will be brought to an end and his redemption be attained1 use the following illustration of the staggering periods that will first elapse4 ,a small yoke is thrown into the ocean and borne about in every direction by the various winds4 ,once in a hundred thousand years a blind tortoise rises to the surface of the water4 ,will the time ever come when that tortoise shall so rise up that its neck shall enter the hole of the yoke8 ,it may1 but the time required cannot be told2 and it is equally difficult for the unwise man1 who has entered one of the great hells1 to obtain deliverance4 ,there is a remarkable specimen of the attempt to set forth the idea of endless misery1 by ,suso1 a mystic preacher who flourished several centuries ago4 ,it runs thus4 ,o eternity1 what art thou8 ,oh1 end without end6 ,o father1 and mother1 and all whom we love6 ,may ,god be merciful unto you for evermore6 for we shall see you no more to love you2 we must be separated forever6 ,o separation1 everlasting separation1 how painful art thou6 ,oh1 the wringing of hands6 ,oh1 sighing1 weeping1 and sobbing1 unceasing howling and lamenting1 and yet never to be pardoned6 ,give us a millstone1 says the damned1 as large as the whole earth1 and so wide in circumference as to touch the sky all around1 and let a little bird come in a hundred thousand years1 and pick off a small particle of the stone1 not larger than the tenth part of a grain of millet1 and after another hundred thousand years let him come again1 so that in ten hundred thousand years he would pick off as much as a grain of millet1 we wretched sinners would desire nothing but that thus the stone might have an end1 and thus our pains also2 yet even that cannot be4#bc ,but1 after all the struggles of reason and all the illustrations of laboring imagination1 the meaning of the phrase eternal suffering in hell remains remote1 dim1 unrealized1 an abstraction in words4 ,if we could adequately apprehend it1 if its full significance should burst upon us1 as sometimes in fearful dreams the spaceless1 timeless1 phantasmal1 reeling sense of #bc ,hagenbach1 ,dogmengeschichte1 sect4 #baj4 the infinite seems to be threatening to break into the brain1 an annihilating shudder would seize and destroy the soul4 ,we say1 therefore1 that the doctrine of the eternity of future punishment is not believed as an intellectually conceived truth1 because that is a metaphysical impossibility4 ,but more3 we affirm1 in spite of the general belief in it publicly professed1 that it is actually held by hardly any one as a practical vivid belief even within the limits wherein1 as an intellectual conception1 it is possible4 ,when intellect and imagination do not fail1 heart and conscience do1 with sickened faintness and convulsive protest4 ,in his direful poem on the ,last ,day1 ,young makes one of the condemned vainly beg of ,god to grant ,this one1 this slender1 almost no1 request3 ,when ,i have wept a thousand lives away1 ,when torment is grown weary of its prey1 ,when ,i have raved of anguish'd years in fire ,ten thousand thousands1 let me then expire4 ,such a thought1 when confronted with any generous holy sentiment or with any worthy conception of the ,divine character1 is practically incredible4 ,the men all around us in whose ,church creed such a doctrine is written down do not truly believe it4 ,they delude themselves1 as ,martineau well says1 with the mere fancy and image of a belief4 ,the death of a friend who departs from life in heresy affects them in the same way as the loss of another whose creed was unimpeachable3 while the theoretic difference is infinite1 the practical is virtually nothing4 ,who that had a child1 parent1 wife1 brother1 or other precious friend1 condemned to be roasted to death by a slow fire1 would not be frantic with agony8 ,but there are in the world literally millions on millions1 some of whose nearest and dearest ones have died under circumstances which1 by their professed creeds1 can leave no doubt that they must roast in the fires of hell in an anguish unutterably fiercer1 and for eternity1 and yet they go about as smilingly1 engage in the battle for money1 in the race for fame1 in all the vain shows and frivolous pleasures of life1 as eagerly and as gayly as others4 ,how often do we see the literal truth of this exemplified6 ,it is clear they do not believe in the dogma to whose technical terms they formally subscribe4 ,a small proportion of its professors do undeniably believe the doctrine so far as it can be sanely believed2 and accordingly the world is to them robed in a sable shroud1 and life is an awful mockery1 under a flashing surface of sports concealing a bottomless pit of horror4 ,every observing person has probably known some few in his life who1 in a degree1 really believed the common notions concerning hell1 and out of whom1 consequently1 all geniality1 all bounding impulses1 all magnanimous generosities1 were crushed1 and their countenances wore the perpetual livery of mourning1 despair1 and misanthropy4 ,we will quote the confessions of two persons who may stand as representatives of the class of sincere believers in the doctrine4 ,the first is a celebrated ,french preacher of a century and a half ago1 the other a very eminent ,american divine of the present day4 ,saurin says1 in his great sermon on ,hell1 ,i sink under the weight of this subject1 and ,i find in the thought a mortal poison which diffuseth itself into every period of my life1 rendering society tiresome1 nourishment insipid1 pleasure disgustful1 and life itself a cruel bitter4 ,albert ,barnes writes1 ,in the distress and anguish of my own spirit1 ,i confess ,i see not one ray to disclose to me the reason why man should suffer to all eternity4 ,i have never seen a particle of light thrown on these subjects that has given a moment's ease to my tortured mind4 ,it is all dark dark dark to my soul2 and ,i cannot disguise it4 ,such a state of mind is the legitimate result of an endeavor sincerely to grasp and hold the popularly professed belief4 ,so often as that endeavor reaches a certain degree of success1 and the idea of an eternal hell is reduced from its vagueness to an embraced conception1 the over fraught heart gives way1 the brain1 stretched on too high a tension1 reels1 madness sets in1 and one more case is added to that list of maniacs from religious causes which1 according to the yearly reports of insane asylums1 forms so large a class4 ,imagine what a vast and sudden change would come over the spirit and conduct of society if nineteen twentieths of ,christendom believed that at the end of a week a horrible influx of demons1 from some insurgent region1 would rush into our world and put a great majority of our race to death in excruciating tortures6 ,but the doctrine of future punishment professed by nineteen twentieths of ,christendom is1 if true1 an evil incomparably worse than that1 though every element of its dreadfulness were multiplied by millions beyond the power of numeration2 and yet all goes on as quietly1 the most of these fancied believers live as chirpingly1 as if heaven were sure for everybody6 ,of course in their hearts they do not believe the terrific formula which drops so glibly from their tongues4 ,again3 it is a fatal objection to the doctrine in question that if it be true it must destroy the happiness of the saved and fill all heaven with sympathetic woe4 ,jesus teaches that there is joy in heaven over every sinner that repenteth4 ,by a moral necessity1 then1 there is sorrow in heaven over the wretched1 lost soul4 ,that sorrow1 indeed1 may be alleviated1 if not wholly quenched1 by the knowledge that every retributive pang is remedial1 and that ,god's glorious design will one day be fully crowned in the redemption of the last prodigal4 ,but what shall solace or end it if they know that hell's borders are to be enlarged and to rage with avenging misery forever8 ,the good cannot be happy in heaven if they are to see the ascending smoke and hear the resounding shrieks of a hell full of their brethren1 the children of a common humanity1 among whom are many of their own nearest relatives and dearest friends4 ,true1 a long list of ,christian writers may be cited as maintaining that this is to be a principal element in the felicity of the redeemed1 gloating over the tortures of the damned1 singing the song of praise with redoubled emphasis as they see their parents1 their children1 their former bosom companions1 writhing and howling in the fell extremities of torture4 ,thomas ,aquinas says1 ,that the saints may enjoy their beatitude and the grace of ,god more richly1 a perfect sight of the punishment of the damned is granted to them4#bd ,especially did the ,puritans seem to revel in this idea1 that the joys of the blessed were to be deepened and sharpened by constant contrast with the sufferings of the damned4 ,one of them thus expresses the delectable thought3 ,the sight of hell torments will exalt the happiness of the saints forever1 as a sense of the opposite misery always increases the relish of any pleasure4 #bd ,summa1 pars iii41 ,suppl4 ,qu4 #ic1 art4 i4 ,but perhaps ,hopkins caps the climax of the diabolical pyramid of these representations1 saying of the wicked1 ,the smoke of their torment shall ascend up in the sight of the blessed for ever and ever1 and serve1 as a most clear glass always before their eyes1 to give them a bright and most affecting view4 ,this display of the ,divine character will be most entertaining to all who love ,god1 will give them the highest and most ineffable pleasure4 ,should the fire of this eternal punishment cease1 it would in a great measure obscure the light of heaven and put an end to a great part of the happiness and glory of the blessed4#be ,that is to say1 in plain terms1 the saints1 on entering their final state of bliss in heaven1 are converted into a set of unmitigated fiends1 out sataning ,satan1 finding their chief delight in forever comparing their own enjoyments with the pangs of the damned1 extracting morsels of surpassing relish from every convulsion or shriek of anguish they see or hear4 ,it is all an exquisite piece of gratuitous horror arbitrarily devised to meet a logical exigency of the theory its contrivers held4 ,when charged that the knowledge of the infinite woe of their friends in hell must greatly affect the saints1 the stern old theologians1 unwilling to recede an inch from their dogmas1 had the amazing hardihood to declare that1 so far from it1 on the contrary their wills would so blend with ,god's that the contemplation of this suffering would be a source of ecstasy to them4 ,it is doubly a blank assumption of the most daring character1 first assuming1 by an unparalleled blasphemy1 that ,god himself will take delight in the pangs of his creatures1 and secondly assuming1 by a violation of the laws of human nature and of every principle of morals1 that the elect will do so too4 ,in this world a man actuated by such a spirit would be styled a devil4 ,on entering heaven1 what magic shall work such a demoniacal change in him8 ,there is not a word1 direct or indirect1 in the ,scriptures to warrant the dreadful notion2 nor is there any reasonable explanation or moral justification of it given by any of its advocates1 or indeed conceivable4 ,the monstrous hypothesis cannot be true4 ,under the omnipotent1 benignant government of a paternal ,god1 each change of character in his chosen children1 as they advance1 must be for the better1 not for the worse4 ,we once heard a father say1 running his fingers the while among the golden curls of his child's hair1 ,if ,i were in heaven1 and saw my little daughter in hell1 should not ,i be rushing down there after her8 ,there spoke the voice of human nature2 and that love cannot be turned to hatred in heaven1 but must grow purer and intenser there4 ,the doctrine which makes the saints pleased with contemplating the woes of the damned1 and even draw much of their happiness from the contrast1 is the deification of the absolute selfishness of a demon4 ,human nature1 even when left to its uncultured instincts1 is bound to far other and nobler things4 ,radbod1 one of the old ,scandinavian kings1 after long resistance1 finally consented to be baptized4 ,after he had put one foot into the water1 he asked the priest if he should meet his forefathers in heaven4 ,learning that they1 being unbaptized pagans1 were victims of endless misery1 he drew his foot back1 and refused the rite1 choosing to be with his brave ancestors in hell rather than to be in heaven with the ,christian priests4 ,and1 speaking from the stand point of the highest refinement of feeling and virtue1 who that has a heart in his #be ,park1 ,memoir of ,hopkins1 pp4 #bja1 #bjb4 bosom would not say1 ,heaven can be no heaven to me1 if ,i am to look down on the quenchless agonies of all ,i have loved here6 ,is it not strictly true that the thought that even one should have endless woe ,would cast a shadow on the throne of ,god ,and darken heaven8 ,if a monarch1 possessing unlimited power over all the earth1 had condemned one man to be stretched on a rack and be freshly plied with incessant tortures for a period of fifty years1 and if everybody on earth could hear his terrible shrieks by day and night1 though they were themselves all1 with this sole exception1 blessed with perfect happiness1 would not the whole human race1 from ,spitzbergen to ,japan1 from ,rio ,janeiro to ,liberia1 rise in a body and go to implore the king's clemency for the solitary victim8 ,so1 if hell had but one tenant doomed to eternal anguish1 a petition reaching from ,sirius to ,alcyone1 signed by the universe of moral beings1 borne by a convoy of angels representing every star in space1 would be laid and unrolled at the foot of ,god's throne1 and ,he would read thereon this prayer3 ,,forgive ,,him1 ,,and ,,release ,,him1 ,,we ,,beseech ,,thee1 ,o ,,god4 ,and can it be that every soul in the universe is better than the ,maker and ,father of the universe8 ,the popular doctrine of eternal torment threatening nearly all our race is refuted likewise by the impossibility of any general observance of the obligations morally and logically consequent from it4 ,in the first place1 as the world is constituted1 and as life goes on1 the great majority of men are upon the whole happy1 evidently were meant to be happy4 ,but every believer of the doctrine in debate is bound to be unutterably wretched4 ,if he has any gleam of generous sentiment or touch of philanthropy in his bosom1 if he is not a frozen petrifaction of selfishness or an incarnate devil1 how can he look on his family1 friends1 neighbors1 fellow citizens1 fellow beings1 in the light of his faith seeing them quivering over the dizzy verge of a blind probation and momentarily dropping into the lake of fire and brimstone that burns forever1 how can he do this without being ceaselessly stung with wretchedness and crushed with horror by the perception8 ,for a man who appreciatingly believes that hell is directly under our meadows1 streets1 and homes1 and that nine tenths of the dead are in it1 and that nine tenths of the living soon will be1 for such a man to be happy and jocose is as horrible as it would be for a man1 occupying the second story of a house1 to light it up brilliantly with gas1 and make merry with his friends1 eating tidbits1 sipping wine1 and tripping it on the light fantastic toe to the strains of gay music1 while1 immediately under him1 men1 women1 and children1 including his own parents and his own children1 were stretched on racks1 torn with pincers1 lacerated with surgical instruments1 cauterized1 lashed with whips of fire1 their half suppressed shrieks and groans audibly rising through the floor6 ,secondly1 if the doctrine be true1 then all unnecessary worldly enterprises1 labors1 and studies should at once cease4 ,one moment on earth1 and then1 accordingly as we spend that moment1 an eternity in heaven or in hell3 in heaven1 if we succeed in placating ,god by a sound belief and ritual proprieties2 in hell1 if we are led astray by philosophy1 nature1 and the attractions of life6 ,on these suppositions1 what time have we for any thing but reciting our creed1 meditating on the atonement1 and seeking to secure an interest for ourselves with ,god by flouting at our carnal reason1 praying in church1 and groaning1 ,lord1 ,lord1 have mercy on us miserable sinners8 ,what folly1 what mockery1 to be searching into the motions of the stars1 and the occult forces of matter1 and the other beautiful mysteries of science6 ,there will be no astronomy in hell1 save vain speculations as to the distance between the nadir of the damned and the zenith of the saved2 no chemistry in hell1 save the experiments of infinite wrath in distilling new torture poisons in the alembics of memory and depositing fresh despair sediments in the crucibles of hope4 ,if ,calvin's doctrine be true1 let no book be printed1 save the ,westminster ,catechism2 no calculation be ciphered1 save how to solve the problem of damnation2 no picture be painted1 save pictures of hell2 no school be supported1 save schools of theology2 no business be pursued1 save the business of salvation4 ,what have men who are in imminent peril1 who are in truth almost infallibly sure1 of being eternally damned the next instant1 what have they to do with science1 literature1 art1 social ambition1 or commerce8 ,away with them all6 ,lures of the devil to snare souls are they6 ,the world reflecting from every corner the lurid glare of hell1 who can do any thing else but shudder and pray8 ,who could spare any attention for the vicissitudes of cotton and the price of shares1 for the merits of the last opera and the bets upon the next election1 if the actors in these things were really swinging in his eye over such a verge as he affects to see8 ,thirdly1 those who believe the popular theory on this subject are bound to live in cheap huts1 on bread and water1 that they may devote to the sending of missionaries among the heathen every cent of money they can get beyond that required for the bare necessities of life4 ,if our neighbor were perishing of hunger at our door1 it would be our duty to share with him even to the last crust we had4 ,how much more1 then1 seeing millions of our poor helpless brethren sinking ignorantly into the eternal fires of hell1 are we bound to spare no possible effort until the conditions of salvation are brought within the reach of every one6 ,an ,american missionary to ,china said1 in a public address after his return1 ,fifty thousand a day go down to the fire that is not quenched4 ,six hundred millions more are going the same road4 ,should you not think at least once a day of the fifty thousand who that day sink to the doom of the lost8 ,the ,american ,board of ,commissioners of ,foreign ,missions say1 ,to send the gospel to the heathen is a work of great exigency4 ,within the last thirty years a whole generation of five hundred millions have gone down to eternal death4 ,again3 the same ,board say1 in their tract entitled ,the ,grand ,motive to ,missionary ,effort1 ,the heathen are involved in the ruins of the apostasy1 and are expressly doomed to perdition4 ,six hundred millions of deathless souls on the brink of hell6 ,what a spectacle6 ,how a man who thinks the heathen are thus sinking to hell by wholesale through ignorance of the gospel can live in a costly house1 crowded with luxuries and splendors1 spending every week more money on his miserable body than he gives in his whole life to save the priceless souls for which he says ,christ died1 is a problem admitting but two solutions4 ,either his professed faith is an unreality to him1 or else he is as selfish as a demon and as hard hearted as the nether millstone4 ,if he really believed the doctrine1 and had a human heart1 he must feel it to be his duty to deny himself every indulgence and give his whole fortune and earnings to the missionary fund4 ,and when he had given all else1 he ought to give himself1 and go to pagan lands1 proclaiming the means of grace until his last breath4 ,if he does not that1 he is inexcusable4 ,should he attempt to clear himself of this obligation by adopting the theory of predestination1 which asserts that all men were unconditionally elected from eternity1 some to heaven1 others to hell1 so that no effort can change their fate1 logical consistency reduces him to an alternative more intolerable in the eyes of conscience and common sense than the other was4 ,for by this theory the gates of freedom and duty are hoisted1 and the dark flood of antinomian consequences rushes in4 ,all things are fated4 ,let men yield to every impulse and wish4 ,the result is fixed4 ,we have nothing to do4 ,good or evil1 virtue or crime1 alter nothing4 ,fourthly1 if the common doctrine of eternal damnation be true1 then surely no more children should be brought into the world3 it is a duty to let the race die out and cease4 ,he who begets a child1 forcing him to run the fearful risk of human existence1 with every probability of being doomed to hell at the close of earth1 commits a crime before whose endless consequences of horror the guilt of fifty thousand deliberate murders would be as nothing4 ,for1 be it remembered1 an eternity in hell is an infinite evil2 and therefore the crime of thrusting such a fate on a single child1 with the unasked gift of being1 is a crime admitting of no just comparison4 ,rather than populate an everlasting hell with human vipers and worms1 a hell whose fires1 alive and wriggling with ghastly shapes of iniquity and anguish1 shall swell with a vast accession of fresh recruits from every generation1 rather than this1 let the sacred lights on the marriage altar go out1 no more bounding forms of childhood be seen in cottage or hall1 the race grow old1 thin out1 and utterly perish1 all happy villages be overgrown1 all regal cities crumble down1 and this world roll among the silent stars henceforth a globe of blasted deserts and rank wildernesses1 resonant only with the shrieks of the wind1 the yells of wild beasts1 and the thunder's crash4 ,fifthly1 there is one more conclusion of moral duty deducible from the prevalent theory of infinite torment4 ,it is this4 ,god ought not to have permitted ,adam to have any children4 ,let us not seem presumptuous and irreverent in speaking thus4 ,we are merely reasoning on the popular theory of the theologians1 not on any supposition of our own or on any truth2 and by showing the absurdity and blasphemy of the moral consequences and duties flowing from that theory1 the absurdity1 blasphemy1 and incredibility of the theory itself appear4 ,we are not responsible for the irreverence1 but they are responsible for it who charge ,god with the iniquity which we repel from his name4 ,if the sin of ,adam must entail total depravity and an infinite penalty of suffering on all his posterity1 who were then certainly innocent because not in existence1 then1 we ask1 why did not ,god cause the race to stop with ,adam1 and so save all the needless and cruel woe that would otherwise surely be visited on the lengthening line of generations8 ,or1 to go still further back1 why did he not1 foreseeing ,adam's fall1 refrain from creating even him8 ,there was no necessity laid on ,god of creating ,adam4 ,no positive evil would have been done by omitting to create him4 ,an infinite evil1 multiplied by the total number of the lost1 was done by creating him4 ,why1 then1 was he not left in peaceful nonentity8 ,on the ,augustinian theory we see no way of escaping this awful dilemma4 ,who can answer the question which rises to heaven from the abyss of the damned8 ,father of mercies1 why from silent earth ,didst thou awake and curse me into birth1 ,push into being a reverse of thee1 ,and animate a clod with misery8 ,satan is a sort of sublime ,guy ,fawkes1 lurking in the infernal cellar1 preparing the train of that stupendous ,gunpowder ,plot by which he hopes1 on the day of judgment1 to blow up the world parliament of unbelievers with a general petard of damnation4 ,will the ,king connive at this nefarious prowler and permit him to carry out his design8 ,the doctrine of eternal damnation1 as it has prevailed in the ,christian ,church1 appears to the natural man so unreasonable1 immoral1 and harrowingly frightful1 when earnestly contemplated1 that there have always been some who have shrunk from its representations and sought to escape its conclusions4 ,many of its strongest advocates in every age have avowed it to be a fearful mystery1 resting on the inscrutable sovereignty of ,god1 and beyond the power of man's faculties to explain and justify4 ,the dogma has been eluded in two ways4 ,some have believed in the annihilation of the wicked after they should have undergone just punishment proportioned to their sins4 ,this supposition has had a considerable number of advocates4 ,it was maintained1 among others1 by ,arnobius1 at the close of the third century1 by the ,socini1 by ,dr4 ,hammond1 and by some of the ,new ,england divines4#bf ,all that need be said in opposition to it is that it is an arbitrary device to avoid the intolerable horror of the doctrine of endless misery1 unsupported by proof1 extremely unsatisfactory in many of its bearings1 and really not needed to achieve the consummation desired4 ,others have more wisely maintained that all will finally be saved3 however severely and long they may justly suffer1 they will at last all be mercifully redeemed by ,god and admitted to the common heaven4 ,defenders of the doctrine of ultimate universal salvation have appeared from the beginning of ,christian history4#bg ,during the last century and a half their numbers have rapidly increased4#bh ,a dignified and influential class of theologians1 represented by such names as ,tillotson4 ,bahrdt1 and ,less1 say that the threats of eternal punishment1 in the ,scriptures1 are exaggerations to deter men from sin1 and that ,god will not really execute them1 but will mercifully abate and limit them4#bi ,another class of theologians1 much more free1 consistent1 and numerous1 base their reception of the doctrine of final restoration on figurative explanations of the scriptural language seemingly opposed to it1 and on arguments drawn from the character of ,god1 from reason1 and from morals4 ,this view of the subject is spreading fast4 ,all independent1 genial1 and cultivated thought naturally leads to it4 ,the central principles of the gospel necessitate it4 ,the spirit of the age cries for it4 ,before it the old antagonistic dogma must fall and perish from respect4 ,dr4 ,spring says1 in reference to the hopeless condemnation of the wicked to hell1 ,it puts in requisition all our confidence #bf ,this theory bas been resuscitated and advocated within a few years by quite a number of writers1 among whom may be specified the ,rev4 ,c4 ,f4 ,hudson1 author of ,debt and ,grace1 a learned1 earnest1 and able work1 pervaded by an admirable spirit4 #bg ,ballou1 ,ancient ,history of ,universalism4 #bh ,whittemore1 ,modern ,history of ,universalism4 #bi ,knapp1 ,christian ,theology1 ,woods's translation1 sect4 #aeh4 in ,god to justify this procedure of his government4#cj ,a few devout and powerful minds have sought to avoid the gross horrors and unreasonableness of the usual view of this subject1 by changing the mechanical and arithmetical values of the terms for spiritual and religious values4 ,they give the word eternity a qualitative instead of a quantitative meaning4 ,the everlasting woe of the damned consists not in mechanical inflictions of torture and numerical increments of duration1 but in spiritual discord1 alienation from ,god1 a wretched state of being1 with which times and spaces have nothing to do4#ca ,how much better were it for the advocates of the popular theory1 instead of forcing their moral nature to bear up against the awful perplexities and misgivings as to the justice and goodness of ,god necessarily raised in them whenever they really face the dark problems of their system of faith1#cb resolutely to ask whether there are any such problems in the actual government of ,god1 or anywhere else1 except in their own ,bodies of ,divinity6 ,it is an extremely unfortunate and discreditable evasion of responsibility when any man1 especially when a teacher1 takes for granted the received formularies handed down to him1 and1 instead of honestly analyzing their genuine significance and probing their foundations to see if they be good and true1 spends his genius in contriving excuses and supports for them4 ,it is the very worst policy at this day to strive to fasten the dogma of eternal misery to the ,new ,testament4 ,if both must be taken or rejected together1 an alternative which we emphatically deny1 what sincere and earnest thinker now1 whose will is unterrifiedly consecrated to truth1 can be expected to hesitate long8 ,the doctrine is sustained in repute at present principally for two reasons4 ,first1 because it has been transmitted to us from the ,church of the past as the established and authoritative doctrine4 ,it is yet technically current and popular because it has been so3 that is1 it retains its place simply by right of possession4 ,the question ought to be sincerely and universally raised whether it is true or false4 ,then it will swiftly lose its prestige and disappear4 ,secondly1 it is upheld and patronized by many as a useful instrument for frightening the people and through their fears deterring them from sin4 ,we have ourselves heard clergymen of high reputation say that it would never do to admit1 before the people1 that there is any chance whatever of penitence and salvation beyond the grave1 because they would be sure to abuse the hope as a sort of permission to indulge and continue in sin4 ,thus to ignore the only solemn and worthy standard of judging an abstract doctrine1 namely1 ,is it a truth or a falsehood8 and put it solely on grounds of working expediency1 is disgraceful1 contemptible1 criminal4 ,watts exposes with well merited rebuke a gross instance of pious frail in ,burnet1 who advised preachers to teach the eternity of future punishment whether they believed it or not4#cc ,it is by such a course that error and superstition reign1 that truckling conformity1 intellectual disloyalty1 moral indifference1 vice1 and infidelity1 abound4 ,it is practical atheism1 debauchery of conscience1 and genuine spiritual #cj ,glory of ,christ1 vol4 ii4 p4 #bfh4 #ca ,lange1 ,positive ,dogmatik1 sect4 #aca3 ,die ,aeonen der ,verdammten4 ,maurice1 ,theological ,essays3 ,future ,punishment4 #cb ,see ,beecher's ,conflict of ,ages1 b4 ii4 ch4 #d1 #ac4 #cc ,world to ,come1 ,disc4 ,,xiii4 death4 ,besides1 the course we are characterizing is actually as inexpedient in practice as it is wrong in theory4 ,experience and observation show it to be as pernicious in its result as it is immoral in its origin4 ,is a threat efficacious over men in proportion to its intrinsic terror1 or in proportion as it is personally felt and feared by them8 ,do the menacing penalties of a sin deter a man from it in proportion to their awfulness1 or in proportion to his belief in their reality and unavoidableness8 ,eternal misery would be a threat of infinite frightfulness1 if it were realized and believed4 ,but it is incredible4 ,some reject it with indignation and an impetuous recoil that sends them much too far towards antinomianism4 ,others let it float in the spectral background of imagination1 the faint reflection of a disagreeable and fading dream4 ,to all it is an unreality4 ,an earnest belief in a sure retribution exactly limited to desert must be far more effective4 ,if an individual had a profound conviction that for every sin he committed he must suffer a million centuries of inexpressible anguish1 realizing that thought1 would he commit a sin8 ,if he cannot appreciate that enormous penalty1 much less can he the infinite one1 which is far more likely to shade off and blur out into a vague and remote nothing4 ,truth is an expression of ,god's will1 which we are bound exclusively to accept and employ regardless of consequences4 ,when we do that1 ,god1 the author of truth1 is himself solely responsible for the consequences4 ,but when1 thinking we can devise something that will work better1 we use some theory of our own1 we are responsible for the consequences4 ,let every one beware how he ventures to assume that dread responsibility4 ,it is surely folly as well as sin4 ,for nothing can work so well as truth1 the simple1 calm1 living truth1 which is a chime in the infinite harmony of morals and things4 ,it is only the morbid melodramatic tastes and incompetencies of an unfinished culture that make men think otherwise4 ,the magnificent poetry of the day of judgment an audience of five hundred thousand millions gathered in one throng as the ,judge rises to pronounce the last oration over a dissolving universe takes possession of the fancy1 and people conceive it so vividly1 and are so moved by it1 that they think they see it to be true4 ,grant for a moment the truth of the conception of hell as a physical world of fiery torture full of the damned4 ,suppose the scene of probation over1 hell filled with its prisoners shut up1 banished and buried in the blackest deeps of space4 ,can it be left there forever8 ,can it be that the roar of its furnace shall rage on1 and the wail of the execrable anguish ascend1 eternally8 ,endeavor to realize in some faint degree what these questions mean1 and then answer4 ,if anybody can find it in his heart or in his head to say yes1 and can gloat over the idea1 and wish to have it continually brandished in terrorem over the heads of the people1 one feels impelled to declare that he of all men the most needs to be converted to the ,christian spirit4 ,an unmitigated hell of depravity1 pain1 and horror1 would be ,satan's victory and ,god's defeat2 for the very wish of a ,satanic being must be for the everlasting prevalence of sin and wretchedness4 ,as above the weltering hosts of the lost1 each dreadful second1 the iron clock of hell ticked the thunder word eternity1 how would the devil on his sulphurous dais shout in triumph6 ,but if such a world of fire1 crowded with the writhing damned1 ever existed at all1 could it exist forever8 ,could the saved be happy and passive in heaven when the muffled shrieks of their brethren1 faint from the distance1 fell on their ears8 ,in tones of love and pity that would melt the very mountains1 they would plead with ,god to pardon and free the lost4 ,many a mourning lover would realize the fable of the ,thracian poet who wandered into ,hades searching for his ,eurydice2 many a heroic son would emulate the legend of the ,grecian god who burst through the iron walls of ,tartarus and rescued his mother1 the unfortunate ,semele1 and led her in triumph up to heaven4 ,could the angels be contented when they contemplated the far off lurid orb and knew the agonies that fed its conscious conflagration8 ,their gentle bosoms would be racked with commiserating pangs1 they would fly down and hover around that anguished world1 to moisten its parched tongues with the dropping of their sympathetic tears and to cool its burning brows with the fanning of their wings4 ,could ,christ be satisfied8 he who once was rich but for our sakes became poor8 he whose loving soul breathed itself forth in the tender words1 ,come unto me1 all ye that labor and are heavy laden1 and ,i will give you rest8 he who poured his blood on ,judea's awful summit1 be satisfied8 ,not until he had tried the efficacy of ten thousand fresh crucifixions1 on as many new ,calvaries1 would he rest4 ,could ,god suffer it8 ,god6 with the full rivers of superfluous bliss rolling around thy throne1 couldst thou look down and hear thy creatures calling thee ,father1 and see them plunging in a sea of fire eternally eternally eternally and never speak the pardoning word8 ,it would not be like thee1 it would be like thine adversary to do that4 ,not so wouldst thou do4 ,but if ,satan had millions of prodigals1 snatched from the fold of thy family1 shut up and tortured in hell1 paternal yearnings after them would fill thy heart4 ,love's smiles would light the dread abyss where they groan4 ,pity's tears would fall over it1 shattered by the radiance into rainbows4 ,and through that illumination ,,thou wouldst descend1 marching beneath the arch of its triumphal glories to the rescue of thy children6 ,therefore we rest in hope1 knowing that ,thou wilt not leave our souls in hell4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the ,,five ,,theoretic ,,modes ,,of ,,salvation4 ,,the conceptions and fore feelings of immortality which men have entertained have generally been accompanied by a sense of uncertainty in regard to the nature of that inheritance1 by a perception of contingent conditions1 yielding a twofold fate of bliss and woe1 poised on the perilous hinge of circumstance or freedom4 ,almost as often and profoundly1 indeed1 as man has thought that he should live hereafter1 that idea has been followed by the belief that if1 on the one hand1 salvation gleamed for him in the possible sky1 on the other hand perdition yawned for him in the probable abyss4 ,heaven and ,hell are the light side and shade side of the doctrine of a future life4 ,few questions are more interesting1 as none can be more important1 than that inquiry which is about the salvation of the soul4 ,the inherent reach of this inquiry1 and the extent of its philosophical and literary history1 are great4 ,but1 by arranging under certain heads the various principal schemes of salvation which ,christian teachers have from time to time presented for popular acceptance1 and passing them before the mind in order and in mutual lights1 we can very much narrow the space required to exhibit and discuss them4 ,when the word salvation occurs in the following investigation1 it means unless something different be shown by the context the removal of the soul's doom to misery beyond the grave1 and the securing of its future blessedness4 ,heaven and hell are terms employed with wide latitude and fluctuating boundaries of literal and figurative meaning2 but their essential force is simply a future life of wretchedness1 a future life of joy2 and salvation1 in its prevailing theological sense1 is the avoidance of that and the gaining of this4 ,we shall not attempt to present the different theories of redemption in their historical order of development1 or to give an exhaustive account of their diversified prevalence1 but shall arrange them with reference to the most perspicuous exhibition of their logical contents and practical bearings4 ,the first scheme of ,christian salvation to be noticed is the one by which it is represented that the interference and suffering of ,christ1 in itself1 unconditionally saved all souls and emptied hell forever4 ,this theory arose in the minds of those who received it as the natural and consistent completion of the view they held concerning the nature and consequences of the fall of ,adam1 the cause and extent of the lost state of man4 ,adam1 as the federal head of humanity1 represented and acted for his whole race3 the responsibility of his decision rested1 the consequences of his conduct would legitimately descend1 it was thought1 upon all mankind4 ,if he had kept himself obedient through that easy yet tremendous probation in ,eden1 he and all his children would have lived on earth eternally in perfect bliss4 ,but1 violating the commandment of ,god1 the burden of sin1 with its terrible penalty1 fell on him and his posterity4 ,every human being was henceforth to be alien from the love of goodness and from the favor of ,god1 hopelessly condemned to death and the pains of hell4 ,the sin of ,adam1 it was believed1 thoroughly corrupted the nature of man1 and incapacitated him from all successful efforts to save his soul from its awful doom4 ,the infinite majesty of ,god's will1 the law of the universe1 had been insulted by disobedience4 ,the only just retribution was the suffering of an endless death4 ,the adamantine sanctities of ,god's government made forgiveness impossible4 ,thus all men were lost1 to be the prey of blackness1 and fire1 and the undying worm1 through the remediless ages of eternity4 ,just then ,god had pity on the souls he had made1 and himself came to the rescue4 ,in the person of ,christ1 he came into the world as a man1 and freely took upon himself the infinite debt of man's sins1 by his death on the cross expiated all offences1 satisfied the claims of offended justice1 vindicated the inexpressible sacredness of the law1 and1 at the same time1 opened a way by which a full and free reconciliation was extended to all4 ,when the blood of ,jesus flowed over the cross1 it purchased the ransom of every sinner4 ,as ,jerome says1 it quenched the flaming sword at the entrance of ,paradise4 ,the weary multitude of captives rose from their bed1 shook off the fetters and stains of the pit1 and made the cope of heaven snowy with their white winged ascent4 ,the prison house of the devil and his angels should be used no more to confine the guilty souls of men4#a ,their guilt was all washed away in the blood of the ,lamb4 ,their spirits1 without exception1 should follow to the right hand of the ,father1 in the way marked out by the ascending ,redeemer4 ,this is the first form of ,universalism1 the form in which it was held by several of the ,fathers in the earlier ages of the ,church1 and by the pioneers of that doctrine in modern times4 ,cyril of ,jerusalem says1 ,christ went into the under world alone1 but came out with many4 #b ,cyril of ,alexandria says that when ,christ ascended from the under world he emptied it1 and left the devil there utterly alone4 #c ,the opinion that the whole population of ,hades was released1 is found in the lists of ancient heresies4#d ,it was advanced by ,clement1 an ,irish priest1 antagonist of ,boniface the famous ,archbishop of ,mentz1 in the middle of the eighth century4 ,he was deposed by the ,council of ,soissons1 and afterwards anathematized by ,pope ,zachary4 ,gregory the ,great also refers in one of his letters with extreme severity to two ecclesiastics1 contemporaries of his own1 who held the same belief4 ,indeed1 this conclusion is a necessary result of a consistent development of the creed of the ,orthodox ,church1 so called4 ,by the sin of one1 even ,adam1 through the working of absolute justice1 hell became the portion of all1 irrespective of any fault or virtue of theirs2 so1 by the voluntary sacrifice1 the infinite atonement1 of one1 even ,christ1 through the unspeakable mercy of ,god1 salvation was effected for all1 irrespective of any virtue or fault of theirs4 ,one member of the scheme is the exact counterpoise of the other2 one doctrine cries out for and necessitates the other4 ,those who accept the commonly received dogmas of original sin1 total depravity1 and universal condemnation entailed upon all men in lineal descent from ,adam1 and the dogmas of the ,trinity1 the ,incarnation1 and the ,vicarious ,atonement1 are bound1 by all the constructions of logic1 to accept the scheme of salvation just set forth1 namely1 that the death of ,christ secured the deliverance of all unconditionally4 ,we do not believe that doctrine1 only because we do not believe the other associated doctrines out of which it springs and of whose system it is the complement4 #a ,doederlein1 ,de ,redemptione a ,potestate ,diaboli4 ,in ,opuse4 ,theolog4 #b ,catechesis xis4 #i4 #c ,de ,festis ,paschalibus1 homilia vii4 #d ,augustine1 ,de ,haresibus1 lxxix4 ,the reasons why we do not believe that our race fell into helpless depravity and ruin in the sin of the first man are1 in essence1 briefly these3 ,first1 we have never been able to perceive any proof whatever of the truth of that dogma2 and certainly the onus probandi rests on the side of such an assumption4 ,it arose partially from a misinterpretation of the language of the ,bible2 and so far as it has a basis in ,scripture1 we are compelled by force of evidence to regard it as a ,jewish adoption of a pagan error without authority4 ,secondly1 this doctrinal system seems to us equally irreconcilable with history and with ethics3 it seems to trample on the surest convictions of reason and conscience1 and spurn the clearest principles of nature and religion1 to blacken and load the heart and doom of man with a mountain of gratuitous horror1 and shroud the face and throne of ,god in a pall of wilful barbarity4 ,how can men be guilty of a sin committed thousands of years before they were born1 and deserve to be sent to hopeless hell for it8 ,what justice is there in putting on one sinless head the demerits of a world of reprobates1 and then letting the criminal go free because the innocent has suffered8 ,a third objection to this whole view an objection which1 if sustained1 will utterly annihilate it is this3 ,it is quite possible that1 momentous as is the part he has played in theology1 the ,biblical ,adam is not at all a historical personage1 but only a significant figment of poetry4 ,the common belief of the most authoritative men of science1 that the human race has existed on this earth for a vastly longer period than the ,hebrew statement affirms1 may yet be completely established4 ,it may also yet be acknowledged that each distinct race of men had its own ,adam4#e ,then the dogmatic theology1 based on the fall of our entire race into perdition in its primary representative1 will1 of course1 crumble4 ,the second doctrine of ,christian salvation is a modification and limitation of the previous one4 ,this theory1 like the former1 presupposes that a burden of original sin and natural depravity transmitted from the first man had doomed1 and1 unless prevented in some supernatural manner1 would forever press1 all souls down to the realms of ruin and woe2 also that an infinite graciousness in the bosom of the ,godhead led ,christ to offer himself as an expiation for the sins1 an atoning substitute for the condemnation1 of men4 ,but1 according to the present view1 this interference of ,christ did not by itself save the lost3 it only removed the otherwise insuperable bar to forgiveness1 and presented to a chosen portion of mankind the means of experiencing a condition upon the realization of which1 in each individual case1 the certainty of salvation depends4 ,that condition is a mysterious conversion1 stirring the depths of the soul through an inspired faith in personal election by the unchanging decree of ,god4 ,the difference1 then1 in a word1 between the two methods of salvation thus far explained1 is this3 ,while both assume that mankind are doomed to death and hell in consequence of the sin of ,adam1 the one asserts that the interference of ,christ of itself saved all souls1 the other asserts that that interference cannot save any soul except those whom ,god1 of his sovereign pleasure1 had from eternity arbitrarily elected4#f ,this scheme grew directly out of the dogma of fatalism1 which sinks human freedom in ,divine predestination4 ,god having solely of his #e ,burdach1 ,carus1 ,oken1 ,bayrhoffer1 ,agassiz4 ,see ,bunsen1 ,christianity and ,mankind1 vol4 iv4 p4 #bh2 ,mott and ,gliddon1 ,types of ,mankind1 p4 #cch4 #f ,confession of ,faith of ,westminster ,divines1 ch4 iii4 sect4 #c4 own will foreordained that a certain number of mankind should be saved1 ,christ died in order to pay the penalty of their sins and render it possible for them to be forgiven and taken into heaven without violating the awful bond of justice4 ,the benefits of the atonement1 therefore1 are limited to the elect4 ,nor is this to be regarded as an act of severity2 on the contrary1 it is an act of unspeakable benevolence4 ,for by the sin of ,adam the whole race of men1 without exception1 were hateful to ,god1 and justly sentenced to eternal damnation4 ,when1 consequently1 he devised a plan of redemption by which he could himself bear the guilt1 and suffer the agony1 and pay the debt of a few1 and thus ransom them from their doom1 the reprobates who were left had no right to complain1 but the chosen were a monument of disinterested love1 because all alike deserved the endless tortures of hell4 ,according to this conception1 all men being by their ancestral act and inherited nature irretrievably lost1 ,god's arbitrary pleasure was the cause1 ,christ's voluntary death was the means1 by which a certain number were to be saved4 ,what individuals should compose this portion of the race1 was determined from eternity beyond all contingencies4 ,the effect of faith and conversion1 and of the new birth1 is not to save the soul1 but simply to convince the soul that it is saved4 ,that is to say1 a regenerating belief and love is not the efficient cause1 it is merely the revealed assurance1 of salvation1 proving to the soul that feels it1 by the testimony of the ,holy ,spirit1 that it is of the chosen number4 ,the preaching of the gospel is to be extended everywhere1 not for the purpose of saving those who would otherwise be lost1 but because its presentation will awaken in the elect1 and in them alone1 that responsive experience which will reveal their election to them1 and make them sure of it1 already foretasting it2 though it is thought that no one can be saved who is ignorant of the gospel3 it is mysteriously ordered that the terms of the covenant shall be preached to all the elect4 ,there are correlated complexities1 miracles1 absurdities1 in wrought with the whole theory1 inseparable from it4 ,the violence it does to nature1 to thought1 to love1 to morals1 its arbitrariness1 its mechanical form1 the wrenching exegesis by which alone it can be forced from the ,bible1#g its glaring partiality and eternal cruelty1 are its sufficient refutation and condemnation4 ,if the death of ,christ has such wondrous saving efficacy1 and nothing else has1 what keeps him from dying again to convince the unbelieving and to save the lost8 ,what man is there who1 if he knew that1 after thirty years of suffering terminated by a fearful death1 he should rise again into boundless bliss and glory while rapt infinitude rung with the paans of an applauding universe1 and that by means of his humiliation he could redeem countless millions from eternal torture1 would not with a joyous spring undertake the task8 ,and is a common man better than ,christ8 ,the third general plan of ,christian salvation which we are to consider differs from the foregoing one in several essential particulars4 ,it affirms the free will of man in opposition to a fatal predestination4 ,it declares that the atonement is sufficient to redeem not only a portion of our race1 but all who will put themselves in right spiritual relations with it4 ,in a word1 while it admits that some will actually be lost forever1 it asserts that no one is doomed #g ,schweizer1 ,die ,lehre des ,apostels ,paulus vom erlosenden ,tode ,christi4 ,theologische ,studien und ,kritiken1 ,jahrg4 #aheh1 heft #c4 to be lost1 but that the offer of pardon is made to every soul1 and that every one has power to accept or reject it4 ,the sacrifice of the incarnate ,deity vindicated the majesty of the law1 appeased the wrath of ,god1 and purchased his saving favor towards all who1 by a sound and earnest faith1 seize the proffered justification1 throw off all reliance on their own works1 and present themselves before the throne of mercy clothed in the righteousness and sprinkled with the blood of ,christ4 ,here the appropriation of the merits of ,christ1 through an orthodox and vivifying faith1 is the real cause as well as the experimental assurance of salvation4 ,this is free to all4 ,as the brazen serpent was hoisted in the wilderness1 and the scorpion bitten ,israelites invited to look on it and be healed1 so the crucified ,god is lifted up1 and all men1 everywhere1 are urged to kneel before him1 accept his atonement1 and thus enable his righteousness to be imputed to them1 and their souls to be saved4 ,the vital condition of salvation is an appropriating faith in the vicarious atonement4 ,without this no one can be saved4 ,thus with one word and a single breath whole nations and races are whiffed into hell4 ,all that the good hearted ,luther could venture to say of ,cicero1 whom he deeply admired and loved1 was the kind ejaculation1 ,i hope ,god will be merciful to him6 ,to those who appreciate it with hostility1 and look on all things in its light1 the thought that there can be no salvation except by belief in the expiatory death of ,christ1 hopelessly dooming all the heathen1#h and all infant children1 unless baptized in a proxy faith1#i builds an altar of blood among the stars and makes the universe reek with horror4 ,other crimes1 though stained through with midnight dyes and heaped up to the brim of outrageous guilt1 may be freely forgiven to him who comes heartily to credit the vicarious death of the ,savior2 but he who does not trust in that1 though virtuous as man can be1 must depart into the unappeasable fires4 ,why this unintelligible crime of not seeing the atonement happens to be the only sin for which there is no atonement1 it is impossible to say4 ,though this view of the method1 extent1 and conditions of redemption is less revolting and incredible than the other1 still1 it does not seem to us that any person whose mental and moral nature is unprejudiced1 healthy1 and enlightened1 and who will patiently study the subject1 can possibly accept either of them4 ,the leading assumed doctrines common to them1 out of which they severally spring1 and on which they both rest1 are not only unsupported by adequate proofs1 but really have no evidence at all1 and are absurd in themselves1 confounding the broadest distinctions in morals1 and subverting the best established principles of natural religion4#aj ,the fourth scheme of ,christian salvation is that which predicates the power of insuring souls from hell solely of the ,church4 ,this is the sacramental theory4 ,it is assumed that1 in the state of nature subsequent to the transgression and fall of ,adam1 all men are alienated from ,god1 and by the universal original sin universally exposed to damnation1 indeed1 the helpless victims of eternal misery4 ,in the fulness of time1 ,christ appeared1 and offered himself to suffer in their stead to secure their deliverance4 ,his death cancelled the whole sum of #h ,bretschneider1 ,entwickelung der ,dogmatik1 sect4 #aab1 ,nos4 #cg #ej4 #i ,so affirmed by the ,council of ,carthage1 ,canon ,,ii4 #aj ,the violence done to moral reason by these views is powerfully exposed in ,bushnell's ,discourse on the ,atonement3 ,god in ,christ1 pp4 #aic-bjb4 original sin1 and only that1 thus taking away the absolute impossibility of salvation1 and leaving every man in the world free to stand or fall1 incur hell or win heaven1 by his personal merits4 ,from that time any person who lived a perfectly holy life which no man could find practically possible thereby secured eternal blessedness2 but the moment he fell into a single sin1 however trivial1 he sealed his condemnation3 ,christ's sacrifice1 as was just said1 merely removed the transmitted burden of original sin from all mankind1 but made no provision for their personal sins1 so that practically1 all men being voluntary as well as hereditary sinners1 their condition was as bad as before3 they were surely lost4 ,to meet this state of the case1 the ,church1 whose priests1 it is claimed1 are the representatives of ,christ1 and whose head is the vicegerent of ,god on earth1 was empowered by the celebration of the mass to re enact1 as often as it pleased1 the tragedy of the crucifixion4 ,in this service ,christ is supposed literally to be put to death afresh1 and the merit of his substitutional sufferings is supposed to be placed to the account of the ,church4#aa ,as ,sir ,henry ,wotton says1 ,one rosy drop from ,jesus' heart ,was worlds of seas to quench ,god's ire4 ,in one of the ,decretals of ,clement ,,vi41 called ,extravagants1 it is asserted that one drop of ,christ's blood una guttula sanguinis being sufficient to redeem the whole human race1 the remaining quantity which was shed in the garden and on the cross was left as a legacy to the ,church1 to be a treasure whence indulgences were to be drawn and administered by the ,roman pontiffs4 ,furthermore1 saints and martyrs1 by their constant self denial1 voluntary sufferings1 penances1 and prayers1 like ,christ1 do more good works than are necessary for their own salvation2 and the balance of merit the works of supererogation is likewise accredited to the ,church4 ,in this way a great reserved fund of merits is placed at the disposal of the priests4 ,at their pleasure they can draw upon this vicarious treasure and substitute it in place of the deserved penalties of the guilty1 and thus absolve them and effect the salvation of their souls4 ,all this dread machinery is in the sole power of the ,church4 ,outside of her pale1 heretics1 heathen1 all alike1 are unalterably doomed to hell4 ,but whoso will acknowledge her authority1 confess his sins1 receive the sacrament of baptism1 partake of the eucharist1 obey the priests1 shall be infallibly saved4 ,the ,church declares that those who neglect to submit to her power and observe her rites are lost1 by excommunicating such every year just before ,easter1 thereby typifying that they shall have no part in the resurrection and ascension4 ,the scheme of salvation just exhibited we reject as alike unwarranted by the ,scriptures1 absurd to reason1 absurd to conscience1 fraught with evil practices1 and traceable in history through the gradual and corrupt growths of the dogmatic policy of an interested body4 ,there is not one text in the ,bible which affords real argument1 credit1 or countenance to the haughty pretensions of a ,church to retain or absolve guilt1 to have the exclusive control of the tangible keys of heaven and hell4 ,it is incredible to a free and intelligent mind that the opposing fates forever of hundreds of millions of men should turn on a mere accident of time #aa ,thomas ,aquinas1 ,summa1 ,suppl4 pars iii4 qu4 #be1 art4 #a4 and place1 or at best on the moral contingence of their acknowledging or denying the doubtful authority of a tyrannical hierarchy1 a mere matter of form and profession1 independent of their lives and characters1 and of no spiritual worth at all4 ,one is here reminded of a passage in ,plutarch's ,essay ,how a ,young ,man ought to hear ,poems4 ,the lines in ,sophocles which declare that the initiates in the ,mysteries shall be happy in the future life1 but that all others shall be wretched1 having been read to ,diogenes1 he exclaimed1 ,what6 ,shall the condition of ,pantacion1 the notorious robber1 be better after death than that of ,epaminondas1 merely because he was initiated in the ,mysteries8 ,it is also a shocking violence to common sense1 and to all proper appreciation of spiritual realities1 to imagine the gross mechanical transference of blame and merit mutually between the bad and the good1 as if moral qualities were not personal1 but might be shifted about at will by pecuniary considerations1 as the accounts in the debt and credit columns of a ledger4 ,the theoretic falsities of such a scheme are as numerous and evident as its practical abuses have been enormous and notorious4 ,how ridiculous this ritual fetch to snatch souls from perdition appears as stated by ,julian against ,augustine6 ,god and the devil1 then1 have entered into a covenant1 that what is born the devil shall have1 and what is baptized ,god shall have6#ab ,we hesitate not to stake the argument on one question4 ,if there be no salvation save by believing and accepting the sacraments with the authority of the ,romanist or the ,episcopalian ,church1 then less than one in a hundred thousand of the world's population thus far can be saved4 ,death steadily showers into hell1 age after age1 an overwhelming proportion of the souls of all mankind1 a rain storm of agonized drops of immortality to feed and freshen the quenchless fires of damnation4 ,who can believe it1 knowing what it is that he believes8 ,we advance next to a system of ,christian salvation as remarkable for its simplicity1 boldness1 and instinctive benevolence as those we have previously examined are for complexity1 unnaturalness1 and severity4 ,the theory referred to promises the natural and inevitable salvation of every created soul4 ,it bases itself on two positions1 the denial that men are ever lost1 except partially and temporarily1 and the exhibition of the irresistible power1 perfect wisdom1 and infinite goodness of ,god4 ,the advocates of this doctrine point first to observation and experience1 and declare that no person is totally reprobate1 that every one is salvable2 those most corrupt and abandoned to wickedness1 unbelief1 and hardness1 have yet a spark that may be kindled1 a fount that may be made to gush1 unto the illumination and purification of the whole being4 ,a stray word1 an unknown influence1 a breath of the ,spirit1 is continually effecting such changes1 such salvations4 ,true1 there are many fettered by vices1 torn by sins1 ploughed by the caustic shares of remorse1 lost to peaceful freedom1 lost to spiritual joys1 lost to the sweet1 calm raptures of religious belief and love1 and1 in that sense1 plunged in damnation4 ,but this1 they say1 is the only hell there is4 ,at the longest1 it can endure but for the night of this life3 deliverance and blessedness come with the morning dawn of a better world4 ,exact retributions are awarded to all iniquity here2 so #ab ,julian1 lib4 vi4 ix4 that at the termination of the present state there is nothing to prevent the flowing of an equal bliss impartially over all4 ,the substantive faculties and forces of the soul are always good and right3 only their action is perverted to evil4#ac ,this perversion will cease with the accidents of the present state2 and thus death is the door to salvation4 ,god's desires and intentions for his creatures1 again they argue1 must be purely gracious and blessed2 for ,nature1 the ,bible1 and the ,soul blend their ultimate teachings in one affirmation that he is ,love4 ,being omnipotent and of perfect wisdom1 nothing can withstand his decrees or thwart his plans4 ,his purpose1 of course1 must be fulfilled4 ,there is every thing to prove1 and nothing1 rightly understood1 to disprove1 that that purpose is the eternal blessedness of all his intelligent offspring after death4 ,therefore1 they think they are justified in concluding1 the laws of nature1 ,god's regular habits and course of government1 the normal arrangement and process of things1 will of themselves work out the inevitable salvation of all mankind4 ,after the uproar and darkness1 the peril and fear1 of a tempestuous night1 the all embracing smile of daylight gradually spreads over the world1 and the turmoil silently subsides1 and the scene sleeps4 ,so after the sins and miseries1 the condemnation and hell1 of this state of existence1 shall succeed the redemption1 the holiness and happy peace1 of heaven1 into which all pass by the order of nature1 the original and undisturbed arrangement of the creative ,father4 ,this view is advanced by some on grounds both of revelation and reason4 ,it is the doctrine of those ,beghards who taught that there is neither hell nor purgatory2 that no one is damned1 neither ,jew nor ,saracen1 because on the death of the body the soul returns to ,god4#ad ,but the proper doctrine of the ,universalist denomination is founded directly on ,scripture1 and seems now to be simply the absolute certainty of final salvation for all4 ,balfour held that ,christ1 in obedience to the will of ,god1 secures eternal life for all men in the most literal manner1 by causing the resurrection of the dead from their otherwise endless sleep in the grave1 a doctrine nearly or quite fossil now4#ae ,it will be noticed that by this view salvation is an unlimited necessity1 not a contingency1 a boon thrown to all1 and which no one has power to reject3 ,the road to heaven is broader than the world1 ,and deeper than the kingdoms of the dead2 ,and up its ample paths the nations tread ,with all their banners furl'd4 ,this theory contains elements1 it seems to us1 both of truth and falsehood4 ,it casts off gross mistakes1 announces some fundamental realities1 overlooks1 perverts1 exaggerates1 some essential facts in the case4 ,there is so much in it that is grateful and beautiful that we cannot wonder at its reception where the tender instincts of the heart are stronger than the stern decisions of the conscience1 where the kindly sentiments usurp the province of the critical reason and sit in judgment upon evidence for the construction of a dogmatic creed4 ,we #ac ,universalist ,quarterly ,review1 vol4 x4 art4 xvi43 ,character and its ,predicates4 #ad ,hagenbach1 ,dogmengeschichte1 sect4 #bji1 note #ad4 #ae ,see ,ballou1 ,examination of the ,doctrine of ,future ,punishment1 pp4 #aeb-aeg4 ,williamson1 ,exposition of ,universalism1 ,sermon ,,xl3 ,nature of ,salvation4 ,cobb1 ,compend4 of ,divinity1 ch4 ix4 sect4 #c4 cannot accept it as a whole1 cannot admit its great unqualified conclusion1 not only because there is no direct evidence for it1 but because there are many potent presumptions against it4 ,it is not built upon the facts of our consciousness and present experience1 but is resolutely constructed in defiance of them by an arbitrary process of assumption and inference2 for since ,god's perfections are as absolute now as they ever can be1 and he now permits sin and misery1 there is no impossibility that they will be permitted for a season hereafter4 ,if they are necessary now1 they may be necessary hereafter4 ,an experience of salvation by all1 regardless of what they do or what they leave undone1 would also defeat what we have always considered the chief final cause of man1 namely1 the self determined resistance of ,evil and choice of ,good1 the free formation of virtuous character4 ,the plan of a necessary and indiscriminate redemption likewise breaks the evident continuity of life1 ignores the lineal causative power of experience1 whereby each moment partially produces and moulds the next1 destroys the probationary nature of our lot1 and palsies the strength of moral motive4 ,it is furthermore the height of injustice1 awarding to all men the same condition1 remorselessly swallowing up their infinite differences1 making sin and virtue1 sloth and toil1 exactly alike in the end4 ,whose earnestly embraces the theory1 and meditates much upon it1 and reasons closely1 will be likely to become an ,antinomian4 ,it overlooks the loud1 omnipresent hints which tell us that the present state is incomplete and dependent1 the part of a great whole1 the visible segment of a circle whose complement overarches the invisible world to come1 where future correspondences and fulnesses will satisfy and complete present claims and deficiencies4 ,we reject this scheme1 as to its distinctive feature1 for all those reasons which lead us to accept that final view to which we now turn4 ,the theory of ,christian redemption which seems to us correct1 represents the good and evil forces of personal character1 harmonious or discordant with the mind of ,god1 as the conditions of salvation or of reprobation4 ,swedenborg1 who teaches that man in the future state is the son of his own deeds in the present state1 says he once saw ,melancthon in hell1 writing1 ,faith alone saves1 the words fading out as fast as written1 because expressive of a falsehood6 ,it is not belief1 but love1 that dominates the soul1 not a mental act1 but a spiritual substance4 ,according as the realities of the soul are what they should be1 just and pure1 or what they should not be1 perverted and corrupt1 and according as the realities of the soul are in right relations with truth1 beauty1 goodness1 or in vitiated relations with them1 so1 and to that extent1 is the soul saved or lost4 ,this is not a matter of arbitrary determination on one hand2 and of helpless submission on the other3 it is a matter of ,divine permission on one hand1 and of free1 though sometimes unintelligent and mistaken1 choice on the other4 ,the only perdition is to be out of tune with the right constitution and exercise of things and rules4 ,that1 of itself1 makes a man the victim of guilt and wretchedness4 ,the only salvation is the restoration of the balance and normal efficiency of the faculties1 the restoration of their harmony with the moral law1 the recommencement of their action in unison with the will of ,god4 ,when a soul1 through its exposure and freedom1 becomes and experiences what ,god did not intend and is not pleased with1 what his creative and executive arrangements are not purposely ordered for1 it is1 for the time1 and so far forth1 lost4 ,it is saved1 when knowledge of truth illuminates the mind1 love of goodness warms the heart1 energy1 purity1 and aspiration fill and animate the whole being4 ,then1 having realized in its experience the purposes of ,christ's mission1 the original aims of its existence1 it rejoices in the favor of ,god4 ,in the harmonious fruition of its internal efficiencies and external relations1 all things work together for good unto it1 and it basks in the beams of the sun of immortality4 ,perdition and hell are the condemnation and misery instantaneously deposited in experience whenever and wherever a perverted and corrupt soul touches its relations with the universe4 ,the meeting of its consciousness with the alienated mournful faces of things1 with the hostile retributive forces of things1 produces unrest and suffering with the same natural necessity that the meeting of certain chemical substances deposits poison and bitterness4 ,perdition being the degradation and wretchedness of the soul through ingrained falsehood1 vice1 impurity1 and hardness1 salvation is the casting out of these evils1 and the replacing them with truth1 righteousness1 a holy and sensitive life4 ,to ransom from hell and translate to heaven is not1 then1 so much to deliver from a local dungeon of gnawing fires and worms1 and bear to a local paradise of luxuries1 as it is to heal diseases and restore health4 ,hell is a wrong1 diseased condition of the soul1 its indwelling wretchedness and retribution1 wherever it may be1 as when the light of day tortures a sick eye4 ,heaven is a right1 healthy condition of the soul1 its indwelling integrity and concord1 in whatever realms it may reside1 as when the sunshine bathes the healthy orb of vision with delight4 ,salvation is nothing more nor less than the harmonious blessedness of the soul by the fruition of all its right powers and relations4 ,remove a man who is writhing in the agonies of some physical disease1 from his desolate hut on the bleak mountain side to a gorgeous palace in a delicious tropical clime4 ,he is just as badly off as before4 ,he is still1 so to speak1 in hell1 wherever he may be in location4 ,cure his sickness1 and then he is1 so to speak1 saved1 in heaven4 ,it is so with the soul4 ,the conditions of salvation and reprobation are not arbitrary1 mechanical1 fickle1 but are the interior and unalterable laws of the soul and of the universe4 ,every devil1 ,sir ,thomas ,browne says1 holds enough of torture in his own ubi1 and needs not the torture of circumference to afflict him4 ,if there are1 as there may be1 two entirely separate regions in space1 whose respective boundaries enclose hell and heaven1 banishment into the one1 or admission into the other1 evidently is not what constitutes the essence of perdition or of salvation1 is not the all important consideration2 but the characteristic condition of the soul1 which produces its experience and decides its destination1 that is the essential thing4 ,the mild fanning of a zephyr in a summer evening is intolerable to a person in the convulsions of the ague1 but most welcome and delightful to others4 ,so to a wicked soul all objects1 operations1 and influences of the moral creation become hostile and retributive1 making a hell of the whole universe4 ,purify the soul1 restore it to a correct condition1 and every thing is transfigured3 the universal hell becomes universal heaven4 ,we may gather up in a few propositions the leading principles of this theory of salvation4 ,first1 ,perdition is not an experience to which souls are helplessly born1 not a sentence inflicted on them by an arbitrary decree1 but is a result wrought out by free agency1 in conformity to the unalterable laws of the spiritual world4 ,secondly1 heaven and hell are not essentially particular localities into which spirits are thrust1 nor states of consciousness produced by outward circumstances1 but are an outward reflection from1 and a reciprocal action upon1 internal character4 ,thirdly1 condemnation1 or justification1 is not absolute and complete1 equalizing all on each side of a given line1 but is a thing of degrees1 not exactly the same in any two individuals1 or in the same person at all times4 ,fourthly1 we have no reason to suppose that probation closes with the closing of the present life2 but every relevant consideration leads us to conclude that the same great constitution of laws pervades all worlds and reigns throughout eternity1 so that the fate of souls is not unchangeably fixed at death4 ,no analogy indicates that after death all will be thoroughly different from what it is before death4 ,rather do all analogies argue that the hell and heaven of the future will be the aggravation1 or mitigation1 or continuation1 of the perdition and salvation of the present4 ,it is altogether a sentence of exact right according to character1 a matter of personal achievement depending upon freedom1 an experience of inward elements and states1 a thing of degrees1 and a subject of continued probation4 ,the condition of the heathen nations in reference to salvation is satisfactory only in the light of the foregoing theory4 ,if a person is what ,god wishes1 as shown by his revealed will in the model of ,christ1 pure1 loving1 devout1 wise1 and earnest1 he is saved1 whether he ever heard of ,christ or not4 ,are ,plato and ,aristides1 ,cato and ,antoninus1 to be damned1 while ,pope ,alexander ,,vi4 and ,king ,philip ,,ii are saved1 because those glorious characters merely lived at the then height of attainable excellence1 but these fanatic scoundrels made a technical profession of ,christianity8 ,the ,athanasian creed asserts that whoever doth not fully believe its dogmas shall without doubt perish everlastingly4 ,and the eighteenth article in the creed of the ,church of ,england declares them accursed who presume to say that any man can be saved by diligently framing his life according to the law or sect which he professeth1 and the light of nature4#af ,another particular in which the present view of salvation is satisfactory1 in opposition to the other theories1 is in leaving the personal nature of sin clear1 the realm of personal responsibility unconfused4 ,why should a system of thought be set up and adhered to in religion that would be instantly and universally scouted at if applied to any other subject8 #ag ,no one dreams that the sin of an unexercised intellect1 of gross ignorance1 can be pardoned only through faith in the sacrifice of some incarnation of the ,perfect ,reason4 ,no one expects to be told that the violation of the bodily laws can be forgiven by the ,infinite ,creator only on the ground that some perfect physician honors them by obedience and death4 ,it is by opening the mind to ,god's published truth1 and by conformity to the discovered philosophical #af ,arnauld1 ,emes1 ,goeze1 and others1 have written volumes to prove the indiscriminate damnation of the heathen4 ,on the contrary1 ,muller1 in his ,diss4 de ,paganorum poet ,mortem ,conditione1 and ,marmontel1 in his ,belisaire1 take a more favorable view of the fate of the ethnic world4 ,the best work on the subject a work of great geniality and ability is ,eberhard's ,neue ,apologie des ,socrates4 ,also see ,knapp's ,christian ,theology1 sect4 lxxxviii4 #ag ,martineau1 ,studies of ,christianity1 pp4 #aec-agf3 ,mediatorial ,religion4 ,ibid4 pp4 #dfh-dgg3 ,sin ,what it is1 ,what it is not4 order1 or the reception of the adopted remedy1 that the mind and the frame experience new life4 ,and our souls are redeemed1 not by any expiation on account of which penalties are lifted1 but by reception of spiritual truth and consecration of will1 which push away penalties by wholesome life4 #ah ,the awful inviolability of justice is shown by the eternal course of ,god's laws bringing the exactly deserved penalty upon every soul that sinneth4 ,whoever breaks a ,divine decree puts all sacred things in antagonism to him1 and the precise punishment of his offences not the worth of worlds nor the blood of angels can avert4 ,the boundless mercy of ,god1 his atoning love1 is shown by the absence of all vindictiveness from his judgments1 their restorative aim and tendency4 ,whenever the sinner repents1 reforms1 puts himself in a right attitude1 ,god is waiting to pardon and bless him1 the sun shines and the happy heart is glad as at first1 the cloudy screen of sin and fear and retributive alienation being removed4 ,this view1 when appreciated1 affords as impressive a sanction to law1 and as affecting an exhibition of love1 as are theoretically ascribed to the doctrine of vicarious expiation4 ,the infinite sanctity of justice and the fathomless love of ,god are certainly much more plainly and satisfactorily shown by the righteous nature and beneficent operation of the law1 than by its terrible severity and arbitrary subversion4 ,according to the present view1 the relation of ,christ to human redemption is as simple and rational as it is divinely appointed and perfectly fulfilled4 ,accredited with miraculous seals1 presenting the most pathetic and inspiring motives1 he reveals the truths and exemplifies the virtues which1 when adopted1 regenerate the springs of faith and character1 rectify the lines of conduct1 and change men from sinful and wretched to saintly and blessed4 ,he stirs the stagnant soul1 that man may replunge into his native self1 and rise redeemed4 ,for the more distinct comprehension and remembrance of the schemes of ,christian salvation we have been considering1 it may be well to recapitulate them4 ,the first theory is this3 ,when1 by the fall of ,adam1 all men were utterly lost and doomed to hell forever1 the vicarious sufferings of ,christ cancelled sin1 and unconditionally purchased and saved all4 ,this was the original development of ,universalism4 ,it sprang consistently from ,augustinian grounds4 ,it was taught by a party in the ,church of the first centuries1 was afterwards repeatedly condemned as a heresy by popes and by councils1 and was revived by ,kelly1 ,murray1 and others4 ,we are not aware that it now has any avowed disciples4 ,the second conception is1 in substance1 that ,god1 foreseeing from eternity the fall of ,adam and the consequent damnation of his posterity1 arbitrarily elected a portion of them to salvation1 leaving the rest to their fate2 and the vicarious sufferings of ,christ were the only possible means of carrying that decree into effect4 ,this is the ,augustinian and ,calvinistic theology1 and has had a very extensive prevalence among ,christians4 ,many church creeds still embody the doctrine2 but in its original1 uncompromising form it is rapidly fading from belief4 ,even now few persons can be found to profess it without essential modifications1 so #ah ,t4 ,s4 ,king1 ,endless ,punishment ,unchristian and ,unreasonable1 p4 #fe4 qualifying it as to destroy its identity4 ,the third plan of delivering souls from the doom supposed to rest on them attributes to the vicarious sufferings of ,christ a conditional efficacy1 depending upon personal faith4 ,every one who will heartily believe in the substitutional death of ,christ1 and trust in his atoning merits1 shall thereby be saved4 ,this was the system of ,pelagius1 ,arminius1 ,luther4 ,it prevails now in the so called ,evangelical ,churches more generally than any other system4 ,the fourth received method of salvation1 assuming the same premises which the three foregoing schemes assume1 namely1 that through the fall all men are eternally sentenced to hell1 declares that1 by ,christ's vicarious sufferings1 power is given to the ,church1 a priestly hierarchy1 to save such as confess her authority and observe her rites4 ,all others must continue lost4#ai ,this theory early began to be constructed and broached by the ,fathers4 ,it is held by the ,roman ,catholic ,church1 and by all the consistent portion of the ,episcopalian4 ,a part of the ,baptist denomination also through their popular preachers1 if not in their recognised symbols assert the indispensableness of ritual baptism to salvation4 ,the fifth view of the problem is that no soul is lost or doomed except so far as it is personally1 voluntarily depraved and sinful4 ,and even to that extent1 and in that sense1 it can be called lost only in the present life4 ,after death every soul is freed from evil1 and ushered at once into heaven4 ,this is the distinctive doctrine of the ultra ,universalists4 ,it is disappearing from among its recent advocates4 ,as a body they have already exchanged its arbitrary conceptions of death and glory for the more rational conclusions of the ,restorationists4 #bj ,the sixth and final scheme of ,christian salvation teaches that1 by the immutable laws which the ,creator has established in and over his works and creatures1 a free soul may choose good or evil1 truth or falsehood1 love or hate1 beneficence or iniquity4 ,just so far and just so long as it partakes of the former it is saved2 as it partakes of the latter it is lost1 that is1 alienates the favor of ,god1 forfeits so much of the benefits of creation and of the blessings of being4 ,the conditions and means of repentance1 reformation1 regeneration1 are always within its power1 the future state being but the unencumbered1 more favorable experience of the spiritual elements of the present1 under the same ,divine constitution and laws4 ,this is the common belief of ,unitarians and ,universalists1 the latter alone teaching it as a sure doctrine of ,revelation4 ,salvation by purchase1 by the redeeming blood of ,christ2 salvation by election1 by the independent decree of ,god1 sealed by the blood of ,christ2 salvation by faith1 by an appropriating faith in the blood of ,christ2 salvation by the ,church1 by the sacraments made efficacious to that end by the blood of ,christ2 salvation by nature1 by the irresistible working of the natural order of things1 declared by the teachings of ,christ2 salvation by a resurrection from the dead1 miraculously effected by the delegated power of ,christ2 salvation by character1 by conformity of character to the spiritual laws of the universe1 to the nature and will of ,god1 revealed1 urged1 exemplified1 by the whole mission of ,christ2 these are the different theories #ai ,adams1 ,mercy to ,babes4 7,a plea for the baptism of infants1 that they may not be damned47 #bj ,adin ,ballou1 ,universalism and ,restorationism ,moral ,contraries1 #ahcg4 proposed for the acceptance of ,christians4 ,outside of ,christendom we discern1 received and operative in various forms1 all the theoretic modes of salvation acknowledged within it1 and some others in addition4 ,the creed and practice of the ,mohammedans afford a more unflinching embodiment of the conception of salvation by election than is furnished anywhere else4 ,islam denotes ,fate4 ,all is predestinated and follows on in inevitable sequence4 ,no modifying influence is possible4 ,can a breath move ,mount ,kaf8 ,the chosen of ,allah shall believe2 the rejected of ,allah shall deny4 ,every believer's bower is blooming for him in ,paradise2 every unbeliever's bed is burning for him in hell4 ,and nothing whatever can avail to change the persons or the total number elected for each4 ,there is one theory of salvation scarcely heard of in the ,west1 but extensively held in the ,east4 ,the ,brahmanic as well as the ,buddhist thinker relies on obtaining salvation by knowledge4 ,life in a continual succession of different bodies is his perdition4 ,his salvation is to be freed from the vortex of births and deaths1 the fret and storm of finite existence4 ,neither goodness nor piety can ever release him4 ,knowledge alone can do it3 an unsullied intellectual vision and a free intellectual grasp of truth and love alone can rescue him from the turbid sea of forms and struggles4 ,as a lump of salt is of uniform taste within and without1 so the soul is nothing but intelligence4#ba ,if the soul be an entire mass of intelligence1 a current of ideas1 its real salvation depends on its becoming pure and eternal truth without mixture of falsehood or of emotional disturbance4 ,he must free himself from virtues as well as from sins2 for the confinement of fetters is the same whether the chain be of gold or of iron4#bb ,accordingly1 the ,hindu1 to secure emancipation1 planes down the mountainous thoughts and passions of his soul to a desert level of indifferent insight4 ,and when1 in direct personal knowledge1 free from joy and sorrow1 free from good and ill1 he gazes into the limitless abyss of ,divine truth1 then he is sure of the bosom of ,brahm1 the door of ,nirwana4 ,then the wheel of the ,brahmanic ,ixion ceases revolving1 and the ,buddhist ,ahasuerus flings away his staff2 for salvation is attained4 ,the conception of salvation by ritual works based on faith either faith in ,deity or in some redemptive agency is exhibited all over the world4 ,hani1 a ,hindu devotee1 dwelt in a thicket1 and repeated the name of ,krishna a hundred thousand times each day1 #bc and thus saved his soul4 ,the saintly ,muni ,shukadev said1 as is written in the most popular religious authority of ,india1 ,who even ignorantly sing the praises of ,krishna undoubtedly obtain final beatitude2 just as1 if one ignorant of the properties of nectar should drink it1 he would still become immortal4 ,whoever worships ,hari1 with whatever disposition of mind1 obtains beatitude4#bd ,the repetition of the names of ,vishnu purifies from all sins1 even when invoked by an evil minded person1 as fire burns even him who approaches it unwillingly4#be ,nothing is more common in the sacred writings of the ,hindus than the promise that whoever reads or hears this narrative with a devout mind shall receive final beatitude4 ,millions on millions of these docile and abject devotees undoubtingly expect salvation by such merely ritual #ba ,colebrooke1 ,essays1 vol4 i4 p4 #cei4 #bb ,ibid4 p4 #cfc4 #bc ,asiatic ,researches1 vol4 xvi4 p4 #aae4 #bd ,eastwick1 ,prem ,sagar1 p4 #ef4 #be ,vishnu ,parans1 p4 #baj1 note #ac4 observances4 ,one cries ,lord6 ,lord6 ,another thumbs a book1 as if it were an omnipotent amulet4 ,another meditates on some mystic theme1 as if musing were a resistless spell of silent exorcism and invocation4 ,another pierces himself with red hot irons1 as if voluntary pain endured now could accumulate merit for him and buy off future inflictions4 ,it is surprising to what an extent men's efforts for salvation seem underlaid by conceptions of propitiation1 the placation of a hatred1 the awakening of a love1 in the objects of their worship4 ,in all these cases salvation is sought indirectly through works1 though not particularly good works4 ,the savage makes an offering1 mutters a prayer1 or fiercely wounds his body1 before the hideous idol of his choice4 ,the fakir1 swung upon sharp hooks1 revolves slowly round a fire4 ,the monk wears a hair shirt1 and flagellates himself until blood trickles across the floor of his cell4 ,the ,portuguese sailor in a storm takes a leaden saint from his bosom and kneels before it for safety4 ,the offending ,bushman crawls in the dust and shudders as he seeks to avert the fury of the fetich which he has carved and set in a tree4 ,the wounded brigand in the ,apennines1 with unnumbered robberies and murders on his soul1 finds perfect ease to his conscience as his glazing eye falls on a carefully treasured picture of the ,virgin1 and he expires in a triumph of faith1 saying1 ,sweet ,mother of ,god1 intercede for me4 ,the ,calvinistic convert1 about to be executed for his fearful crimes1 kneels at the foot of the gallows1 and exclaims1 as in a recent well known instance1 ,i hold the blood of ,christ between my soul and the flaming face of ,god1 and die happy1 assured that ,i am going to heaven4 ,it is all a terrible delusion1 arising from perverted sentiment and degraded thought4 ,of the five theoretical modes of salvation taught in the world1 ,election1 ,faith1 ,works1 ,knowledge1 ,harmony1 one alone is real and divine1 although it contains principles taken from all the rest and blended with its own4 ,there is no salvation by foregone election2 for that would dethrone the moral laws and deify caprice4 ,there is no salvation by dogmatic faith2 because faith is not a matter of will1 but of evidence1 not within man's own power1 and a thousand varieties of faith are necessitated among men4 ,there is no salvation by determinate works2 for works are measurable quantities1 whose rewards and punishments are meted and finally spent1 but salvation is qualitative and infinite4 ,there is no salvation by intellectual knowledge2 for knowledge is sight1 not being1 an accident1 not an essence1 an attribute of one faculty1 not a right state and ruling force in all4 ,the true salvation is by harmony2 for harmony of all the forces of the soul with themselves and with all related forces beyond1 harmony of the individual will with the ,divine will1 harmony of personal action with the universal activity1 what other negation of perdition is possible8 what other definition and affirmation of salvation conceivable8 ,by the ,creator's fiat1 man is first elected to be4 ,by the guiding stimulus of faith1 he is next animated to spiritual exertion4 ,by the performance of good works1 he then brings his moral nature into beautiful form and attitude4 ,by knowledge of truth1 he furthermore sees how to direct1 govern1 and attune himself4 ,and finally1 by the accomplishment of all this in the organized harmony of a wise and holy soul1 there results that state of being whose passive conditions constitute salvation1 and whose active experience is eternal life4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,recognition ,,of ,,friends ,,in ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,of all the sorrows incident to human life1 none is so penetrating to gentle hearts as that which fills them with aching regrets1 and1 for a time1 writes hollowness and vanity on their dearest treasures1 when death robs them of those they love4 ,and so1 of all the questions that haunt the soul1 wringing its faculties for a solution1 beseeching the oracles of the universe for a response1 none can have a more intense interest than gathers about the irrepressible inquiry1 ,shall we ever meet again1 and know1 the friends we have lost8 somewhere in the ample creation and in the boundless ages1 join1 with the old familiar love1 our long parted1 fondly cherished1 never forgotten dead8 ,the grief of bereavement and the desire of reunion are experienced in an endless diversity of degrees by different persons1 according as they are careless1 hard1 and sense bound1 or thoughtful1 sympathizing1 and imaginative2 undisciplined by the mysteries and afflictions of our mortal destiny1 or profoundly tried by the disappointments and prophecies of time and fate2 and as they are shadowed by the gloom of despair1 or cheered by the radiance of belief4 ,but to all who feel1 even the least1 the uncertain but deep monitions of the silent pall1 the sad procession1 and the burial mound1 the impressive problem must occur1 with frequency and power1 ,does the grave sunder us and the objects of our affection forever8 or1 across that dark gulf1 shall we be united again in purer bonds8 ,outside of the atheistic dissolution and the pantheistic absorption1 it is supposable that1 surviving the blow of death1 our spirits may return to ,god and run their endless course in divine solitude4 ,on the other hand1 it is supposable that1 possessed with all the memories of this probationary state1 blessed by the companionship of our earthly friends1 we may aspire together along the interminable gradations of the world to come4 ,if the former supposition be true1 and the farewell of the dying is the announcement of an irrevocable separation1 then the tears we shed over the shrouded clay1 once so prized1 should be distillations from ,lethe's flood1 to make us forget all4 ,but if the latter be true1 then our deadly seeming losses are as the partings of travellers at night to meet in the morning2 and1 as friend after friend retires1 we should sigh to each departing spirit a kind adieu till we meet again1 and let pleasing memories of them linger to mingle in the sacred day dreams of remaining life4 ,evidently it is of much importance to a man which of these views he shall take2 for each exerts a distinctive influence in regard to his peace of mind1 his moral strength1 and his religious character4 ,on one who believes that hereafter1 beyond all the partings in this land of tombs1 he shall never meet the dear companions who now bless his lot1 the death of friends must fall1 if he be a person of strong sensibilities1 as a staggering blow1 awakening an agony of sorrow1 taking from the sky and the earth a glory nothing can ever replace1 and leaving in his heart a wretched void nothing can ever fill4 ,henceforth he will be deprived mostly for all felt connection between them is hopelessly sundered of the good influences they exerted on him when present3 he must try1 by all expedients1 to forget them2 think no more of their virtues1 their welcome voices and kindly deeds2 wipe from the tablets of his soul all fond records of their united happy days2 look not to the future1 let the past be as though it had never been1 and absorb his thoughts and feelings in the turmoil of the present4 ,this is his only course2 and even then1 if true to the holiest instincts of his soul1 he will find the fatal separation has lessened his being and impoverished his life1 ,for this losing is true dying2 ,this is lordly man's down lying1 ,this his slow but sure reclining1 ,star by star his world resigning4 ,but to him who earnestly expects soon to be restored under fairer auspices and in a deathless world to those from whom he parted as he laid their crumbling bodies in the earth1 the death of friends will come as a message from the ,great ,father1 a message solemn yet kind1 laden indeed with natural sadness yet brightened by sure promise and followed by heavenly compensations4 ,if his tears flow1 they flow not in scalding bitterness from the ,marah fountain of despair1 but in chastened joy from the smitten rock of faith4 ,so far from endeavoring to forget the departed1 he will cling to their memories with redoubled tenderness1 as a sacred trust and a redeeming power4 ,they will be more precious to him than ever1 stronger to purify and animate4 ,their saintly examples will attract him as never before1 and their celestial voices plead from on high to win him to virtue and to heaven4 ,the constant thought of seeing them once more1 and wafting in their arms through the enchanted spaces of ,paradise1 will wield a sanctifying force over his spirit4 ,they will make the invisible sphere a peopled reality to him1 and draw him to ,god by the diffused bonds of a spiritual acquaintance and an eternal love4 ,since the result in which a man rests on this subject1 believing or disbelieving that he shall recognise his beloved ones the other side of the grave1 exerts a deep influence on him1 in one case disheartening1 in the other uplifting1 it is incumbent on us to investigate the subject1 try to get at the truth1 clear it up1 and appreciate it as well as we can4 ,it is a theme to interest us all4 ,who has not endeared relatives1 choice friends1 freshly or long ago removed from this earth into the unknown clime8 ,in a little while1 as the ravaging reaper sweeps on his way1 who will not have still more there1 or be there himself8 ,whether old acquaintance shall be all forgot or be well remembered there1 is an inquiry which must profoundly interest all who have hearts to love their companions1 and minds to perceive the creeping shadows of mystery drawing over us as we approach the sure destiny of age and the dim confines of the world4 ,it is a theme1 far removed from noisy strifes and vain shows1 penetrating that mysterious essence of affection and thought which we are4 ,the thing of first importance is not the conclusion we reach1 but the spirit in which we seek and hold it4 ,the ,christian says to his friend1 ,our souls will be united in yonder heaven4 ,danton1 with a horrible travesty1 said to his comrades on the scaffold1 ,our heads will meet in that sack4 ,before engaging directly in the discussion1 it will be interesting to notice1 for an instant1 the verdict which history1 in the spontaneous suppositions and rude speculations of ancient peoples1 pronounces on this subject4#a ,among their various opinions about the state after death1 it is a prominent circumstance that they generally agree in conceiving it as a social state in which personal likenesses and memories are retained1 fellow countrymen are grouped together1 and friends united4 ,this is minutely true of those nations with the details of whose faith we are acquainted1 and is implied in the general belief of all others1 except those who expected the individual spirit to be absorbed in the soul of the universe4 ,homer shows ,ulysses and ,virgil in like manner shows ,aneas upon his entrance into the other world mutually recognising his old comrades and recognised by them4 ,the two heroes whose inseparable friendship on earth was proverbial are still together in ,elysium3 ,then1 side by side1 along the dreary coast ,advanced ,achilles' and ,patroclus' ghost1 ,a friendly pair4 ,in this representation that there was a full recognition of acquaintances1 all the accounts of the other world given in ,greek and ,roman literature harmonize4 ,the same is true of the accounts contained in the literature of the ancient ,hebrews4 ,in the ,book of ,genesis1 when ,jacob hears of the death of his favorite child1 he exclaims1 ,i shall go down to my son ,joseph in the under world1 mourning4 ,when the witch of ,endor raised the ghost of ,samuel1 ,saul knew him by the description she gave of him as he rose4 ,the monarch shades in the under world are pictured by ,isaiah as recognising the shade of the king of ,babylon and rising from their sombre thrones to greet him with mockery4 ,ezekiel shows us each people of the heathen nations in the under world in a company by themselves4 ,when ,david's child died1 the king sorrowfully exclaimed1 ,he will not return to me2 but ,i shall go to him4 ,all these passages are based on the conception of a gloomy subterranean abode where the ghosts of the dead are reunited after their separation at death on earth4 ,an old commentator on the ,koran says a ,mohammedan priest was once asked how the blessed in paradise could be happy when missing some near relative or dear friend whom they were thus forced to suppose in hell4 ,he replied1 ,god will either cause believers to forget such persons or else to rest in expectation of their coming4 ,the anecdote shows affectingly that the same yearning heart and curiosity are possessed by ,moslem and ,christian4 ,a still more impressive case in point is furnished by a picture in a ,buddhist temple in ,china4 ,the painting represents the story of the priest ,lo ,puh1 who1 on passing into paradise at death1 saw his mother1 ,yin ,te1 in hell4 ,he instantly descended into the infernal court1 ,tsin ,kwang ,wang1 where she was suffering1 and1 by his valor1 virtues1 and intercessions1 rescued her4 ,the picture vividly portraying the whole story may be seen and studied at the present time by ,christian missionaries who enter that temple of the benevolent ,buddha4#b ,from the faith of many other nations illustrations might be brought of the same fact1 that the great common instinct which has led men to believe in a future life has at the same time caused them to believe that in that life there would be a union and recognition of friends4 ,let this far reaching historical fact be taken at its just value1 #a ,alexius1 ,tod and ,wiedersehen4 ,eine ,gedankenfolge der besten ,schriftsteller aller ,zeiten und ,volker4 #b ,asiatic ,journal1 #ahdj1 p4 #baa4 while we proceed to the labor in hand4 ,the fact referred to is of some value1 because1 being an expression of the heart of man as ,god made it1 it is an indication of his will1 a prophecy4 ,there are three ways of trying the problem of future recognition4 ,the cool1 skeptical class of persons will examine the present related facts of the case2 argue from what they now know2 test the question by induction and inference4 ,let us see to what results they will thus be led4 ,in the first place1 we learn upon reflection that we now distinguish each other by the outward form1 physical proportion1 and combination of looks1 tones of voice1 and other the like particulars4 ,every one has his individuality in these respects1 by which he is separable from others4 ,it may be hastily inferred1 then1 that if we are to know our friends hereafter it will be through the retention or the recovery of their sensible peculiarities4 ,accordingly1 many believe the soul to be a perfect reflection or immaterial fac simile of the body1 the exact correspondence in shadowy outline of its gross tabernacle1 and consequently at once recognizable in the disembodied state4 ,the literature of ,christendom we may almost say of the world teems with exemplifications of this idea4 ,others1 arguing from the same acknowledged premises1 conclude that future recognition will be secured by the resurrection of the material body as it was in all its perfection1 in renovated and unfading prime4 ,but1 leaving out of view the inherent absurdity of the doctrine of a physical resurrection1 there is a fatal difficulty in the way of both these supposititious modes of mutual knowledge in another world4 ,it is this4 ,the outward form1 features1 and expression sometimes alter so thoroughly that it is impossible for us to recognise our once most intimate companions4 ,cases are not rare of this kind4 ,let one pass in absence from childhood to maturity1 and who that had not seen him in the mean time could tell that it was he8 ,the trouble arising thence is finely illustrated by ,shakspeare in the motherly solicitude of ,constance1 who1 on learning that her young son has been imprisoned by his uncle1 ,king ,john1 and will probably be kept until he pines to death1 cries in anguish to her confessor1 ,father cardinal1 ,i have heard you say ,that we shall see and know our friends in heaven3 ,if that be true1 ,i shall see my boy again2 ,for1 since the birth of ,cain1 the first male child1 ,to him that did but yesterday suspire1 ,there was not such a gracious creature born4 ,but now will canker sorrow eat my bud ,and chase the native beauty from his cheek1 ,and he will look as hollow as a ghost1 ,as dim and meagre as an ague's fit2 ,and so he'll die2 and1 rising so again1 ,when ,i shall meet him in the court of heaven ,i shall not know him3 therefore never1 never ,must ,i behold my pretty ,arthur more4 ,owing to the changes of all sorts which take place in the body1 future recognition cannot safely depend upon that or upon any resemblance of the spirit to it4 ,besides1 not the faintest proof can be adduced of any such perceptible correspondence subsisting between them4 ,turning again to the facts of experience1 we find that it is not alone1 nor indeed chiefly1 by their visible forms and features that we know our chosen ones4 ,we also1 and far more truly1 know them by the traits of their characters1 the elements of their lives1 the effluence of their spirits1 the magic atmosphere which surrounds them1 the electric thrill and communication which vivify and conjoin our souls4 ,and even in the exterior1 that which most reveals and distinguishes each is not the shape1 but the expression1 the lights and shades1 reflected out from the immortal spirit shrined within4 ,we know each other really by the mysterious motions of our souls4 ,and all these things endure and act uninterrupted though the fleshly frame alter a thousand times or dissolve in its native dust4 ,the knowledge of a friend1 then1 being independent of the body1 spirits may be recognised in the future state by the associations mutually surrounding them1 the feelings connecting them4 ,amidst all the innumerable thronging multitudes1 through all the immeasurable intervening heights and depths1 of the immaterial world1 remembered and desired companions may be selected and united by inward laws that act with the ease and precision of chemical affinities4 ,we may therefore recognise each other by the feelings which now connect us1 and which shall spontaneously kindle and interchange when we meet in heaven1 as the signs of our former communion4 ,it needs but little thought to perceive that by this view future recognition is conditional1 being made to depend on the permanence of our sympathies3 there must be the same mutual relations1 affinities1 fitness to awaken the same emotions upon approaching each other's sphere1 or we shall neither know nor be known4 ,but in fact our sympathies and aversions change as much as our outward appearance does4 ,the vices and virtues1 loves and hatreds1 of our hearts alter1 the peculiar characteristics of our souls undergo as great a transformation1 sometimes1 as thorough a revolution1 as the body does in the interval between childhood and manhood4 ,these changes going on in our associates frequently change our feelings towards them1 heightening or diminishing our affection1 creating a new interest1 destroying an old one1 now making enemies lovers1 and now thoroughly alienating very friends4 ,such fundamental alterations of character may occur in us1 or in our friend1 before we meet in the unseen state1 that we shall no more recognise each other's spirits than we should know each other on earth after a separation in which our bodily appearances and voices had been entirely changed4 ,these considerations would induce us to think that recognition hereafter is not sure1 but turns on the condition that we preserve a remembrance1 desire1 and adaptedness for one another4 ,if now the critical inquirer shall say there is no evidence1 and it is incredible1 that the body will be restored to a future life1 or that the soul has any resemblance to the body by which it may be identified1 furthermore1 if he shall maintain that the doctrine of the revelation and recognition of the souls of friends in another life by an instinctive feeling1 a mysterious attraction and response1 is fanciful1 an overdrawn conclusion of the imagination1 not warranted by a stern induction of the average realities of the subject1 and if he shall then ask1 how are we to distinguish our former acquaintances among the hosts of heaven8 there is one more fact of experience which meets the case and answers his demand4 ,when long absence and great exposures have wiped off all the marks by which old companions knew each other1 it has frequently happened that they have met and conversed with indifference1 each being ignorant of whom the other was2 and so it has continued until1 by some indirect means1 some accidental allusion1 or the agency of a third person1 they have been suddenly revealed4 ,then1 with throbbing hearts1 in tears and rapture1 they have rushed into each other's arms1 with an instantaneous recurrence of their early friendship in all its original warmth1 fulness1 and flooding associations4 ,many such instances are related in books of romance with strict truth to the actual occurrences of life4 ,several instances of it are authenticated in the early history of ,america1 when children1 torn from their homes by the ,indians1 were recovered by their parents after twenty or thirty years had elapsed and they were identified by circumstantial evidence4 ,let any parent ask his heart1 any true friend ask his heart1 if1 discovering by some foreign means the object of his love1 he would not embrace him with just as ardent a gratitude and devotion as though there were no outward change and they had known one another at sight4 ,so1 in the life beyond the grave1 if we are not able to recognise our earthly companions directly1 either by spiritual sight or by intuitive feeling1 we may obtain knowledge of each other indirectly by comparison of common recollections1 or by the mediation of angels1 or by some other ,divine arrangement especially prepared for that purpose4 ,and therefore1 whether in heaven we look or feel as we do here or not1 whether there be any provision in our present constitution for future recognition or not1 is of no consequence4 ,in a thousand ways the defect can be remedied1 if such be the will of ,god4 ,and that such is his will every relevant fact and consideration would seem to prove4 ,it is a consistent and seemingly requisite continuation and completion of that great scheme of which this life is a part4 ,it is an apparently essential element and fulfilment of the wonderful apparatus of retribution1 reward1 and discipline1 intended to educate us as members of ,god's eternal family4 ,because from the little which we now understand we cannot infer with plainness and certainty the precise means and method by which we can discriminate our friends in heaven need be no obstacle to believing the fact itself2 for there are millions of undoubted truths whose conditions and ways of operation we can nowise fathom4 ,upon the whole1 then1 we conclude that we cannot by our mere understandings decide with certainty the question concerning future recognition2 but we are justified in trusting to the accuracy of that doctrine1 since it rests safely with the free pleasure of ,god1 who is both infinitely able and disposed to do what is best1 and we cannot help believing that it is best for us to be with and love hereafter those whom we are with and love here4#c ,there is a way of dealing with the general subject before us wholly different from the course thus far pursued4 ,ceasing to act the philosopher1 laying aside all arguments and theories1 all dry speculations1 we may come as simple believers to the ,christian ,scriptures and investigate their teachings to accept whatever they pronounce as the word of ,god's truth4 ,let us see to what results we shall thus be led4 ,searching the ,new ,testament to learn its doctrine #c ,munch1 ,werden wir uns wiedersehen nach dem ,tode4 ,this work1 based on the ,kantian philosophy1 denies future recognition4 ,there is an able reply to it by ,vogel1 ,ueber die ,hoffnung des ,wiedersehens4 in regard to reunion in a future state1 we are very soon struck with surprise at the mysterious reserve1 so characteristic of its pages1 on this entire theme4 ,instead of a full and minute revelation blazing along the track of the gospel pens1 a few fragmentary intimations1 incidental hints1 scattered here and there1 are the substance of all that it expressly says4 ,but though little is directly declared1 yet much is plainly implied3 especially the one great inference with which we are now concerned may be unequivocally and repeatedly drawn4 ,in the parable of the ,rich ,man and the ,beggar the ,savior pictures forth the recognition of their souls in the disembodied state4 ,dives also is described as recollecting with intense interest1 with the most anxious sympathy1 his endangered brethren on earth4 ,although this occurs in a parable1 yet it is likely that so prominent and vital a feature of it would be moulded1 as to its essential significance1 in accordance with what the author intended should be received as truth4 ,jesus also speaks of many who should come from the east and the west and sit down with ,abraham and ,isaac and ,jacob in the kingdom of heaven2 from which it would appear that the patriarchs are together in fellowship and that the righteous of after times were to be received with them in mutual acquaintance4 ,on the ,mount of ,transfiguration the witnessing disciples saw ,moses and ,elias together with ,jesus1 and recognised them1 probably from their resemblance to traditional descriptions of them4 ,jesus always represented the future state as a society4 ,he said to his followers1 ,i go to prepare a place for you1 that where ,i am there ye may be also2 and he prayed to his ,father that his disciples might be with him where he was going4 ,at another time he declared of little children1 ,their angels always behold the face of my ,father in heaven3 he also taught that there is joy in heaven over every sinner that repenteth2 passages that presuppose such a community of faculties1 sympathies1 in heaven and earth1 in angels and men1 as certainly implies the doctrine of continued knowledge and fellowship4 ,when heaven was opened before the dying ,stephen1 he saw and instantly knew his ,divine ,master1 the ,lord ,jesus1 and called to him to welcome his ascending spirit4 ,paul writes to the ,thessalonians that he would not have them sorrow concerning the dead as those who have no hope1 assuring them that when ,christ reappears they shall all be united again4 ,in the ,apocalypse1 ,john saw1 in a vision1 the souls of the martyrs1 who had died for the faith of the gospel1 together1 under the altar4 ,from community of suffering and a common abode together in heaven we may safely infer their recognition of each other4 ,the ,gospels declare that ,christ after his death remembered his disciples and came back to them to assure them that they should rejoin him on high2 and the apostles assert that we are to be with ,christ and to be like him in the future state4 ,it follows from the admission of these declarations that we shall remember our friends and be united with them in conscious knowledge4 ,few1 and brief1 and vague as the utterances of the ,scriptures are in relation to this theme1 they necessarily involve all the results of an avowed doctrine4 ,they undeniably involve the supposition that in the other life we shall be conscious personalities as here1 retaining our memories and constituting a society4 ,from these implications the fact of the future recognition of friends irresistibly results1 unless there be some special interference to prevent it2 and such an interposition there is no hint of and can be no reason for fearing4 ,such is really all that we can learn from the ,scriptures on the subject of our inquiry4#d ,its indirectness and brevity would convince us that ,god did not intend to betray to us in clear light the secrets of the shrouded future1 that for some reason it is best that his teaching should be so reserved1 and leave us to the haunting wonder1 the anxious surmise1 the appalling mystery1 the alluring possibilities1 that now meet our gaze on the unmoving veil of death4 ,god intends we shall trust in him without knowledge1 and by faith1 not by sight1 pursue his guidance into the silent and unknown land4 ,therefore1 after analyzing the relevant facts of present experience and inferring what we can from them1 and after studying the ,scriptures and finding what they say1 there is yet another method of considering the problem of recognition in the future state4 ,that is without caring for critical discussion1 without deferring to extraneous authority1 we may follow the gravitating force of instinct1 imagination1 and moral reason4 ,we are made to love and depend on each other4 ,the longer1 the more profoundly1 we know and admire the good1 the more our being becomes intertwined with theirs1 so much the more intensely we desire to be with them always1 and so much the more awful is the agony of separation4 ,this1 what is it but great ,nature's testimony1 ,god's silent avowal1 that we are to meet in eternity8 ,can the fearful anguish of bereavement be gratuitous8 can the yearning prophecies of the smitten heart be all false8 ,belief in reunion hereafter is spontaneously adopted by humanity4 ,we therefore esteem it divinely ordered or true4 ,without that soothing and sustaining trust1 the unrelieved1 intolerable wretchedness in many cases would burst through the fortress of the mind1 hurl reason from its throne1 and tear the royal affections and their attendants in the trampled dust of madness4 ,many a rarely gifted soul1 unknown in his nameless privacy of life1 has been so conjoined with a worthy peer1 through precious bonds of unutterable sympathy1 that1 rather than be left behind1 the divided half of such a friendship as had mastered time1 he has prayed that they1 dying at once1 might1 involved together1 hover across the dolorous strait to the other shore1 and ,arrive at last the blessed goal ,where ,he that died in ,holy ,land ,might reach them out the shining hand ,and take them as a single soul4 ,denied that inmost wish1 the rest of his widowed life below has been one melancholy strain of ,in ,memoriam4 ,many a faithful and noble mourner1 whose garnered love and hope have been blighted for this world1 would tell you that1 without meeting his lost ones there1 heaven itself would be no heaven to him4 ,in such a state of soul we must expect to know again in an unfading clime the cherished dead4 ,that belief is of ,divine inspiration1 an arrangement to heal the deadly wounds of sorrow4 ,it is madness not to think it a verity4 ,who believes1 as he shall float through the ambrosial airs of heaven1 he could touch1 in passing1 the radiant robes of his chosen friends without a thrill of recognition1 the prelude to a blissful and immortal communion8 ,is there not truth in the poet's picture of the meeting of child and parent in heaven8 #d ,harbaugh1 ,the ,heavenly ,recognition4 ,gisborne1 ,recollections of ,friends in the ,world to ,come4 ,muston1 ,perpetuation of ,christian ,friendship4 ,it was not1 mother1 that ,i knew thy face3 ,the luminous eclipse that is on it now1 ,though it was fair on earth1 would have made it strange ,even to one who knew as well as he loved thee2 ,but my heart cried out in me1 ,mother6 ,think of the unfathomable yearnings1 the infinite ecstasies of desire and faith from age to age swelling in the very heart of the world1 all set on the one hope of future union1 and who then can believe that ,god will coldly blast them all8 ,they are innocent1 they are holy1 they are meritorious1 they are unspeakably dear4 ,we would not destroy them2 and ,god will not4 ,man's life is the true fable of that beautiful youth1 ,narcissus1 who had a twin sister of remarkable loveliness1 strongly resembling himself1 and to whom he was most tenderly attached4 ,she dies young4 ,he frequents fountains to gaze upon his own image reflected in the waters1 it seeming to him the likeness of her he has lost4 ,he is in pity transformed into a flower on the border of a stream1 where1 bending on his fragile stem1 he seeks his image in the waters murmuring by1 until he fades and dies4 ,has not ,god1 the all loving ,author who composed the sweet poem of ,man and ,nature1 written at the close a reconciling ,elysium wherein these pure lovers1 the fond ,narcissus and his echo mate1 shall wander in perennial bliss1 their embracing forms mirrored in unruffled fountains8 ,looking now for the conclusion of the whole matter1 we find that it lies in three different aspects1 both of inquiring thought and of practical morality1 according to the lights and modes in which three different classes of minds approach it4 ,to the consistent metaphysician1 reasoning rigidly on grounds of science and philosophy1 every thing pertaining to the methods and circumstances of the future life is an affair of entire uncertainty and hypothesis4#e ,if in the future state the soul retains its individuality as an identical force1 form1 life1 and memory1 and if associates in the present state are brought together1 it is probable that old friends will recognise each other4 ,but if they are oblivious of the past1 if they are incommunicably separated in space or state1 if one progresses so much farther that the other can never overtake him1 if the personal soul blends its individual consciousness with the unitary consciousness of the ,over ,soul1 if it commences a new career from a fresh psychical germ1 then1 by the terms1 there will be no mutual recognition4 ,in that case his comfort and his duty are to know that the anguish and longing he now feels will cease then2 to trust in the benignity of the ,infinite ,wisdom1 who knows best what to appoint for his creatures2 and to submit with harmonizing resignation to the unalterable decree1 offering his private wish a voluntary sacrifice on the altar of natural piety4 ,that he shall know his friends hereafter is not impossible1 not improbable2 neither is it certain4 ,he may desire it1 expect it1 but not with speculative pride dogmatically affirm it1 nor with insisting egotism presumptuously demand it4 #e ,gravell1 ,das ,wiedersehen nach dem ,tode4 ,wie es nur sein konne4 ,to the uncritical ,christian the recognising reunion of friends in heaven is an unshaken assurance4#f ,there is nothing to disturb his implicit reception of the plain teaching of ,scripture4 ,the legitimate exhortations of his faith are these4 ,mourn not too bitterly nor too long over your absent dead2 for you shall meet them in an immortal clime4 ,as the last hour comes for your dearest ones or for yourself1 be of good cheer2 for an imperishable joy is yours4 ,you3 ,cannot lose the hope that many a year ,hath shone on a gleaming way1 ,when the walls of life are closing round ,and the sky grows sombre gray4 ,put not away the intruding thoughts of the departed1 but let them often recur4 ,the dead are constant4 ,you know not how much they may think of you1 how near they may be to you4 ,will you pass to meet them not having thought of them for years1 having perhaps forgotten them8 ,let your mind have its nightly firmament of religious communion1 beneath which white and sable memories shall walk1 and the sphered spirits of your risen friends1 like stars1 shed down their holy rays to soothe your feverish cares and hush every murmuring doubt to rest4 ,from the dumb heavings of your loving and trustful heart1 sometimes exclaim1 ,parents who nurtured and watched over me with unwearied affection1 ,i would remember you oft1 and love you well1 and so live that one day ,i may meet you at the right hand of ,god4 ,early friends1 so close and dear once1 who in the light of young romance trod with me life's morning hills1 neither your familiar faces nor your sweet communion are forgotten by me3 ,i fondly think of you1 and aspire towards you1 and pray for a purer soul1 that ,i may mount to your celestial circle at last2 ,for many a tear these eyes must weep1 ,and many a sin must be forgiven1 ,ere these pale lids shall sink to sleep1 ,ere you and ,i shall meet in heaven4 ,blessed ,jesus1 elder ,brother of our race1 who sittest now by thy ,father's throne1 or pacest along the crystal coast as a leader1 chief among ten thousand1 whose condescending brow the bloody thorns no longer press1 but the dazzling crown of thy ,divinity encircles1 oh1 remember us1 poor erring pilgrims after thine earthly steps2 pity us1 help us1 and after death bring us to thy home4 ,to the sympathetic poet1 the man of sentiment and meditation1 who views the question from the position of the heart1 in the glory and vistas of the imagination1 but with all the known facts and relations of the subject lying bare under his sight1 the uniting restoration1 in another sphere1 of earth's broken ties and parted friends1 is an unappeasable craving of the soul1 in harmony with the moral law1 powerfully prophesied to his experience from all quarters1 and seemingly confirmed to his hopes by every promise of ,god and nature4#g #f ,grafe1 ,biblische ,beitrage zu der ,frage1 ,werden wir uns wiedersehen nach dem ,tode4 #g ,engel1 ,wir werden uns wiedersehen4 ,halst1 ,beleuchtung der ,hauptgrunde fur den ,glauben an ,erinnerung und ,wiedersehen nach dem ,tode4 ,streicher1 ,neue ,beitrage zur ,kritik des ,glaubens an ,ruckerinnerung nach dem ,tode4 ,received as a truth1 it is a well of inexhaustible comfort1 making experience a green oasis where it overflows4 ,the denial of it as a proven falsehood is a withering blast of dust blowing on the friendly caravan of sojourners in the desert of life4 ,if existence is the enjoyment of a largess of social love1 and death is to have a solitary hand snatch it all away forever1 how dismal is the prospect to the poor heart that loves and clings1 loses and despairs1 and can only falter hopelessly on6 ,it cannot be so4 ,love is the true prophet4 ,heaven will restore the treasures earth has lost4 ,the mourner by the grave6 ,eve convulsed over the form of ,abel6 ,jesus weeping where ,lazarus lay6 ,america embracing the urn of ,washington6 ,the ,genius of ,humanity at the ,tomb of the ,past6 ,it is the most pathetic spectacle of the world4 ,as in the old myth the pelican1 hovering over her dead broodlets1 pierced her own breast in agony and fluttered there until by the fanning of her wings above them and the dropping of her warm blood on them they were brought to life again1 so the great ,mother of men seems in history to brood over the ashes of departed ages1 dropping the tears of her grief and faith into the future to restore her deceased children to life and draw them together within her embrace4 ,and that sublime ,rachel will not easily be comforted except when her thoughts1 migrating whither her offspring have gone1 seem to find them happy in some happy heaven4 ,the poet1 lover of his race1 who cannot trust his happier instinct1 but perforce believes that beyond the sepulchral line of mortality he shall know no more of his friends1 may find1 as helps to a willing acquiescence in what is fated1 either one of two possible contemplations4#h ,he may sadly lay upon his heart the stifling solace1 ,there will be no baffled wants nor unhappiness1 but all will be over when hic jacet is sculptured on the headstone of my grave4 ,or1 with measureless rebound of faith1 he may crowd the capacity of his soul with the mysterious presentiment1 ,in the unchangeable fulness of an infinite bliss1 all specialties will be merged and forgotten1 and ,i shall be one of those to whom the wearisome disease of remembered sorrow and anticipated joy is an alien thing4 #h ,wieland's ,euthanasia expresses disbelief in the preservation of personality and consciousness after death4 ,the same ground had been taken in the work published anonymously at ,halle in #agge1 ,plato and ,leibnitz jenseits des ,styx4 ,see1 on the other side of the question1 ,wohlfahrt1 ,tempel der ,unsterblichkeit1 oder neue ,anthologie der wichtigsten ,ausspruche1 besonders neuerer ,weisen uber ,wiedersehen u4 s4 w4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,local ,,fate ,,of ,,man ,,in ,,the ,,astronomic ,,universe4 ,,according to the imagining of some speculative geologists1 perhaps this earth first floated in the abyss as a volume of vapor1 wreathing its enormous folds of mist in fantastic shapes as it was borne along on the idle breath of law4 ,ages swept by1 until this stupendous fog ball was condensed into an ocean of fire1 whose billows heaved their lurid bosoms and reared their ashy crests without a check1 while their burning spray illuminated its track around the sable vault4 ,during periods which stagger computation1 this molten world was gradually cooled down2 constant rivers wrung from the densely swathing vapor poured over the heated mass and at last submerged its crust in an immense sea4 ,then1 for unknown centuries1 fire1 water1 and wind waged a ,titanic war1 that imagination shudders to think of1 jets of flame licking the stars1 massive battlements and columns of fire piled to terrific heights1 now the basin of the sea suddenly turned into a glowing caldron and the atmosphere saturated with steam1 again explosions hurling mountains far into space and tearing the earth open in ghastly rents to its very heart4 ,at length the fire was partially subdued1 the peaceful deep glassed the sky in its bosom or rippled to the whispers of the breeze1 and from amidst the fertile slime and mould of its sheltered floor began to sprout the first traces of organic life1 the germs of a rude species of marine vegetation4 ,thousands of years rolled on4 ,the world ocean subsided1 the peaks of mountains1 the breasts of islands1 mighty continents1 emerged1 and slowly1 after many tedious processes of preparation1 a gigantic growth of grass1 every blade as large as our vastest oak1 shot from the soil1 and the incalculable epoch of ferns commenced1 whose tremendous harvest clothed the whole land with a deep carpet of living verdure4 ,while unnumbered growths of this vegetation were successively maturing1 falling1 and hardening into the dark layers of inexhaustible coal beds1 the world1 one waving wilderness of solemn ferns1 swept in its orbit1 voiceless and silent1 without a single bird or insect of any kind in all its magnificent green solitudes1 the air everywhere being heavily surcharged with gases of the deadliest poison4 ,again innumerable ages passed1 and the era of mere botanic growths reaching its limit1 the lowest forms of animal life moved in the waters1 the earliest creatures being certain marine reptiles1 worms1 and bugs of the sea4 ,then followed various untimed periods1 during which animal life rose by degrees from mollusk and jellyfish1 by plesiosaurus and pterodactyl1 horrible monsters1 hundreds of feet in length1 whose tramp crashed through the woods1 or whose flight loaded the groaning air1 to the dolphin and the whale in the sea1 the horse and the lion on the land1 and the eagle1 the nightingale1 and the bird of paradise in the air4 ,finally1 when millions of aons had worn away1 the creative process culminated in ,humanity1 the crown and perfection of all2 for ,god said1 ,let us make man in our own image2 and straightway ,adam1 with upright form1 kingly eye1 and reason throned upon his brow1 stood on the summit of the world and gave names to all the races of creatures beneath4#a ,at this stage two important questions arise4 ,the first is1 whether man is the final type of being intended in the ,divine plan for this world1 or whether he too is destined in his turn to be superseded by a higher race1 endowed with form1 faculties1 and attributes transcending our conceptions1 even as our own transcended the ideas of the previous orders of existence4 ,undoubtedly1 had the ichthyosaurus1 ploughing through the deep and making it boil like a pot1 or one of those mammoth creatures of the antediluvian age who browsed half a dozen trees for breakfast1 crunched a couple of oxen for luncheon and a whole flock of sheep for his dinner1 been consulted on a similar problem1 he would have replied1 without hesitation1 ,i exhaust the uses of the world4 ,what animal can there be superior to me8 beyond a question1 my race shall possess the earth forever6 ,the mastodon could not know any uses of nature except those he was fitted to experience1 nor imagine a being with the form and prerogatives of man4 ,therefore he would not believe that the mastodon race would ever be displaced by the human4 ,we labor under the same disqualification for judgment4 ,there may be in the system of nature around us adaptations1 gifts1 glories1 as much higher than any we enjoy as our noblest powers and privileges are in advance of those of the tiger or the lark4 ,it is a remarkable fact that the mature states of the antediluvian races correspond with the foetal states of the present races1 and that the foetal states of embryonic man are counterparts of the mature states of the lower races now contemporaneous with him4 ,this great discovery of modern science1 though perhaps destitute of logical value1 suggests to the imagination the thought that man may be but the foetal state of a higher being1 a regent temporarily presiding here until the birth and inauguration of the true king of the world1 and destined himself to be born from the womb of this world into the free light and air of the spirit kingdom6 ,the resources of ,god are inexhaustible2 and in the evolution of his prearranged ages it may be that there will arise upon the earth a race of beings of unforetold majesty1 who shall disinter the remnant bones and ponder the wrecked monuments of forgotten man as we do those of the disgusting reptiles of the ,saurian epoch4 ,but this is a mere conceit of possibility2 and1 so far as the data for forming an opinion are in our hands1 it is altogether incredible4 ,so far as appears1 the adaptation between man and the earth is exhaustive4 ,he is able to subdue all her forces1 reign over all her provinces1 enjoy all her delights1 and gather into his consciousness all her prophecies4 ,and our practical conviction is absolute that the race of men is the climax of being destined for this earth1 and that they will occupy its hospitable bosom forever with their toils and their homes1 their sports and their graves4#b ,the other question is this3 ,was the subjection of the human race to physical death a part of the ,creator's original plan1 or the retributive result of a subsequent dislocation of that plan by sin8 a part of the great harmony of nature1 or a discord marring the happy destiny #a ,harris1 ,the ,pre ,adamite ,earth4 #b ,agassiz says no higher creature than man is to be expected on earth1 because the capacities of the earthly plan of organic creation are completed and exhausted with him4 ,introduction to ,study of ,natural ,history1 p4 #eg4 of man8 ,approaching this problem on grounds of science and reason alone1 there can be no hesitation as to the reply4 ,there are but two considerations really bearing upon the point and throwing light upon it2 and they both force us to the same conclusion4 ,first1 it is a fact admitting no denial that death was the predetermined natural fate of the successive generations of the races that preceded man4 ,now1 what conceivable reason is there for supposing that man1 constructed from the same elements1 living under the same organic laws1 was exempt from the same doom8 ,there is not in the whole realm of science a single hint to that effect4 ,secondly1 the reproductive element an essential feature in the human constitution1 leading our kind to multiply and replenish the earth is a demonstration that the office of death entered into ,god's original plan of the world4 ,for otherwise the earth at this moment could not hold a tithe of the inhabitants that would be demanding room4 ,when ,god had permitted this world to roll in space for awful ages1 a lifeless globe of gas1 fire1 water1 earth1 and then let it be occupied for incommensurable epochs more by snails1 vermin1 and iguanodons1 would he wind up the whole scene and destroy it when the race of man1 crowning glory of all1 had only flourished for a petty two thousand years8 ,it is not credible4 ,and yet it must have been so unless it was decreed that the successive generations should pass away and thus leave space for1 the new comers4 ,we conclude1 then1 that it is the will of ,god and was in the beginning that the human race shall possess the earth through all the unknown periods of the future1 the parents continually passing off the stage in death as the children rise upon it to maturity4 ,we cannot discern any authority in those old traditions which foretell the impending destruction of the world4 ,on what grounds are we to believe them8 ,the great system of things is a stable harmony4 ,there is no wear or tear in the perfect machinery of the creation1 rolling noiseless in its blue bearings of ether4 ,it seems1 comparatively speaking1 to have just begun4 ,its oscillations are self adjusted1 and science prophesies for humanity an illimitable career on this earthly theatre4 ,the swift melting of the elements and restoration of chaos is a mere heathen whim or a poetic figment4 ,it is the bards who sing1 ,the earth shall shortly die4 ,her grave is dug4 ,i see the worlds1 night clad1 all gathering ,in long and dark procession4 ,and the stars1 ,which stand as thick as glittering dewdrops on ,the fields of heaven1 shall pass in blazing mist4 ,such pictures are delusion winning the imagination1 not truth commanding the reason4 ,in spite of all the ,cassandra screams of the priesthood1 vaticinating universal ruin1 the young old earth1 fresh every spring1 shall remain under ,god's preserving providence1 and humanity's inexhaustible generations renewedly reign over its kingdoms1 forever4 ,plotinus said1 ,if ,god repents having made the world1 why does he defer its destruction8 ,if he does not yet repent1 he never will1 as being now accustomed to it1 and becoming through time more friendly to it4 #c ,lucan says1 ,our bones and the stars shall be mingled on one funeral pyre4 ,communis mundo superest rogus1 ossibus astra ,misturus4 ,but to receive such a good piece of poetry as veritable prevision is surely a puerile error which a mature mind in the nineteenth century should be ashamed to commit4 ,the most recently broached theory of the end of the world is that developed from some remarkable speculations as to the composition and distribution of force4 ,the view is briefly this4 ,all force is derived from heat4 ,all heat is derived from the sun4#d ,the mechanical value of a cubic mile of sunlight at the surface of the earth is one horse power for a third of a minute2 at the sun it is fifteen thousand horse power for a minute4 ,now1 it is calculated that enough heat is radiated from the sun to require for its production the annual consumption of the whole surface of the sun to the depth of from ten to twenty miles4 ,of course1 ultimately the fuel will be all expended2 then the forces of the system will expire1 and the creation will die4#e ,this brilliant and sublime theorem assumes1 first1 that the heat of the sun arises from consumption of matter1 which may not be true2 secondly1 that it is not a self replenishing process1 as it certainly may be4 ,some have even surmised that the zodiacal light is an illuminated tornado of stones showering into the sun to feed its tremendous conflagration4 ,the whole scheme is a fine toy1 but a very faint terror4 ,even if it be true1 then we are to perish at last from lack of fire1 and not1 as commonly feared1 from its abundance6 ,the belief of mankind that a soul or ghost survives the body has been so nearly universal as to appear like the spontaneous result of an instinct4 ,we propose to trace the history of opinions concerning the physical destination of this disembodied spirit1 its connection with localities1 to give the historical topography of the future life4 ,the earliest conception of the abode of the dead was probably that of the ,hebrew ,sheol or the ,greek ,hades1 namely1 the idea born from the silence1 depth1 and gloom of the grave of a stupendous subterranean cavern full of the drowsy race of shades1 the indiscriminate habitation of all who leave the land of the living4 ,gradually the thought arose and won acceptance that the favorites of ,deity1 peerless heroes and sages1 might be exempt from this dismal fate1 and migrate at death to some delightful clime beyond some far shore1 there1 amidst unalloyed pleasures1 to spend immortal days4 ,this region was naturally located on the surface of the earth1 where the cheerful sun could shine and the fresh breezes blow1 yet in some untrodden distance1 where the gauntlet of fact had not smitten the sceptre of fable4 ,the paltry portion of this earth familiar to the ancients was surrounded by an unexplored region1 which their fancy1 stimulated by the legends of the poets1 peopled with mythological kingdoms1 the rainbow bowers and cloudy synods of ,olympus1 from whose glittering peak the ,thunderer threw his bolts over the south2 the ,golden ,garden of the #c ,ennead ii4 lib4 ix43 ,contra ,gnosticos1 cap4 #d4 #d ,helmholtz1 ,edinburgh ,phil4 ,msg41 series iv4 vol4 xi43 ,interaction of ,natural ,forces4 #e ,thomson1 ,ibid4 ,dec4 #ahed3 ,mechanical ,energies of the ,solar ,system4 ,hesperides1 whose dragons lay on guard in the remote west2 the divine cities of ,meru1 whose encircling towers pierced the eastern sky2 the ,banquet ,halls of ,ethiopia1 gleaming through the fiery desert2 the fragrant ,islands of ,immortality1 musical and luring in the central ocean2 the happy land of the ,hyperboreans1 beyond the snowy summits of northern ,caucasus3 ,how pleasant were the wild beliefs ,that dwelt in legends old6 ,alas6 to our posterity ,will no such tales be told4 ,we know too much3 scroll after scroll ,weighs down our weary shelves3 ,our only point of ignorance ,is centred in ourselves4 ,there was a belief among the ,persians that ,kaf1 a mountain two thousand miles high1 formed a rim to the flat world and prevented travellers from ever falling off4#f ,the fact that the earth is a globe inhabited on all sides is a comparatively recent piece of knowledge4 ,so late as in the eighth century ,pope ,zachary accused ,virgilius1 an ,irish mathematician and monk1 of heresy for believing in the existence of antipodes4#g ,st4 ,boniface wrote to the ,pope against ,virgilius2 and ,zachary ordered a council to be held to expel him from the ,church1 for professing1 against ,god and his own soul1 so perverse and wicked a doctrine4 ,to the ancients all beyond the region they had traversed was an unknown land1 clothed in darkness1 crowded with mystery and allurement4 ,across the weltering wastes of brine1 in a halcyon sea1 the ,hindu placed the ,white ,isle1 the dwelling of translated and immortalized men4#h ,under the attraction of a mystic curiosity1 well might the old1 wearied ,ulysses say1 ,come1 my friends1 ',tis not too late to seek a newer world4 ,push off1 and1 sitting well in order1 smite ,the sounding furrows2 for my purpose holds ,to sail beyond the sunset1 and the baths ,of all the western stars1 until ,i die4 ,it may be that the gulfs will wash us down3 ,it may be we shall touch the ,happy ,isles1 ,and see the great ,achilles1 whom we knew4 ,decius ,brutus and his army1 as ,florus relates1 reaching the coast of ,portugal1 where1 for the first time1 they saw the sun setting in the blood tinged ocean1 turned back their standards with horror as they beheld the huge corpse of ruddy gold let down into the deep4 ,the ,phoenician traders brought intelligence to ,greece of a people1 the ,cimmerians1 who dwelt on the borders of ,hades in the umbered realms of perpetual night4 ,to the dying ,roman1 on the farthest verge of the known horizon hovered a vision of ,elysian ,fields4 ,and the ,american #f ,adventures of ,hatim ,tai1 p4 #cf1 note4 #g ,whewell1 ,hist4 ,inductive ,sciences1 vol4 i4 book iv4 ch4 i4 sect4 #g4 #h ,wilford1 ,essays on the ,sacred ,isles1 ,in ,asiatic ,researches1 vols4 viii4 xi4 ,indian1 sinking in battle or the chase1 caught glimpses of happier ,hunting ,grounds1 whose woods trooped with game1 and where the arrows of the braves never missed1 and there was no winter4 ,there was a pretty myth received among some of the ancient ,britons1 locating their paradise in a spot surrounded by tempests1 far in the ,western ,ocean1 and named ,flath ,innis1 or ,noble ,island4#i ,the following legend is illustrative4 ,an old man sat thoughtful on a rock beside the sea4 ,a cloud1 under whose squally skirts the waters foamed1 rushed down2 and from its dark womb issued a boat1 with white sails bent to the wind1 and hung round with moving oars4 ,destitute of mariners1 itself seemed to live and move4 ,a voice said1 ,arise1 behold the boat of heroes3 embark1 and see the ,green ,isle of those who have passed away6 ,seven days and seven nights he voyaged1 when a thousand tongues called out1 ,the ,isle6 the ,isle6 ,the black billows opened before him1 and the calm land of the departed rushed in light on his eyes4 ,we are reminded by this of what ,procopius says concerning the conveyal of the soul of the barbarian to his paradise4 ,at midnight there is a knocking at the door1 and indistinct voices call him to come4 ,mysteriously impelled1 he goes to the sea coast1 and there finds a frail1 empty wherry awaiting him4 ,he embarks1 and a spirit crew row him to his destination4#aj ,he finds with ghosts ,his boat deep freighted1 sinking to the edge ,of the dark flood1 and voices hears1 yet sees ,no substance2 but1 arrived where once again ,his skiff floats free1 hears friends to friends ,give lamentable welcome4 ,the unseen ,shore faint resounds1 and all the mystic air ,breathes forth the names of parent1 brother1 wife4 ,during that period of poetic credulity while the face of the earth remained to a great extent concealed from knowledge1 wherever the ,hebrew ,scriptures were known went the cherished traditions of the ,garden of ,eden from which our first parents were driven for their sin4 ,speculation naturally strove to settle the locality of this lost paradise4 ,sometimes it was situated in the mysterious bosom of ,india2 sometimes in the flowery vales of ,georgia1 where roses and spices perfumed the gales2 sometimes in the guarded recesses of ,mesopotamia4 ,now it was the ,grand ,oasis in the ,arabian desert1 flashing on the wilted pilgrim1 over the blasted and blazing wastes1 with the verdure of palms1 the play of waters1 the smell and flavor of perennial fruits4 ,again it was at the equator1 where the torrid zone stretched around it as a fiery sword waving every way so that no mortal could enter4 ,in the ,imago ,mundi1 a ,latin treatise on cosmography written early in the twelfth century1 we read1 ,paradise is the extreme eastern part of ,asia1 and is made inaccessible by a wall of fire surrounding it and rising unto heaven4 ,at a later time the ,canaries were thought to be the ancient ,elysium1 and were accordingly named the ,fortunate ,isles4 ,indeed1 among the motives that animated #i ,macpherson1 ,introduction to the ,history of ,great ,britain and ,ireland1 pp4 #ahj-ahf4 #aj ,procopius1 ,gothica1 lib4 iv4 ,columbus on his adventurous voyage no inferior place must be assigned to the hope of finding the primeval seat of ,paradise4#aa ,the curious traveller1 exploring these visionary spots one by one1 found them lying in the light of common day no nearer heaven than his own natal home2 and at last all faith in them died out when the whole surface of the globe had been surveyed1 no nook left wherein romance and superstition might any longer play at hide and seek4 ,continuing our search after the local abode of the departed1 we now leave the surface of the earth and descend beneath it4 ,the first haunted region we reach is the realm of the ,fairies1 which1 as every one acquainted with the magic lore of old ,germany or ,england knows1 was situated just under the external ground1 and was clothed with every charm poets could imagine or the heart dream4 ,there was supposed to be an entrance to this enchanted domain at the ,peak ,cavern in ,derbyshire1 and at several other places4 ,sir ,walter ,scott has collected some of the best legends illustrative of this belief in his ,history of ,demonology4 ,sir ,gawaine1 a famous knight of the ,round ,table1 was once admitted to dine1 above ground1 in the edge of the forest1 with the ,king of the ,fairies3 ,the banquet o'er1 the royal ,fay1 intent ,to do all honor to ,king ,arthur's knight1 ,smote with his rod the bank on which they leant1 ,and ,fairy land flash'd glorious on the sight2 ,flash'd1 through a silvery1 soft1 translucent mist1 ,the opal shafts and domes of amethyst2 ,flash'd founts in shells of pearl1 which crystal walls ,and phosphor lights of myriad hues redouble4 ,there1 in the blissful subterranean halls1 ,when morning wakes the world of human trouble ,glide the gay race2 each sound our discord knows1 ,faint heard above1 but lulls them to repose4 ,to this empire of moonlit swards and elfin dances1 of jewelled banks1 lapsing streams1 and enchanting visions1 it was thought a few favored mortals might now and then find their way4 ,but this was never an earnest general faith4 ,it was a poetic superstition that hovered over fanciful brains1 a legendary dream that pleased credulous hearts2 and1 with the other romance of the early world1 it has vanished quite away4 ,the popular belief of ,jews1 ,greeks1 ,etruscans1 ,romans1 ,germans1 and afterwards of ,christians1 was that there was an immense world of the dead deep beneath the earth1 subdivided into several subordinate regions4 ,the ,greenlanders believed in a separated heaven and hell1 both located far below the ,polar ,ocean4 ,according to the old classic descriptions of the under world1 what a scene of colossal gloom it is6 ,its atmosphere murmurs with a breath of plaintive sighs4 ,its population1 impalpable ghosts timidly flitting at every motion1 #aa ,irving1 ,life of ,columbus3 ,appendix on the ,situation of the ,terrestrial ,paradise4 ,by far the most valuable book ever published on this subject is that of ,schulthess1 ,das ,paradies1 das irdische und uberirdische historische1 mythische und mystische1 nebst einer kritischen ,revision der allgemelnen biblischen ,geographie4 crowd the sombre landscapes in numbers surpassing imagination4 ,there ,cocytus creeps to the seat of doom1 his waves emitting doleful wails4 ,styx1 nine times enfolding the whole abode1 drags his black and sluggish length around4 ,charon1 the slovenly old ferryman1 plies his noiseless boat to and fro laden with shadowy passengers4 ,far away in the centre grim ,pluto sits on his ebony throne and surveys the sad subjects of his dreadful domain4 ,by his side sits his stolen and shrinking bride1 ,proserpine1 her glimmering brows encircled with a wreath of poppies4 ,above the subterranean monarch's head a sable rainbow spans the infernal firmament2 and when1 with lifted hand1 he announces his decrees1 the applause given by the twilight populace of ,hades is a rustle of sighs1 a vapor of tears1 and a shudder of submission4 ,the belief in this dolorous kingdom was early modified by the reception of two other adjacent realms1 one of reward1 one of torture2 even as ,goethe says1 in allusion to the current ,christian doctrine1 ,hell was originally but one apartment3 limbo and purgatory were afterwards added as wings4 ,passing through ,hades1 and turning in one direction1 the spirit traveller would arrive at ,elysium or ,abraham's bosom3 ,to paradise the gloomy passage winds ,through regions drear and dismal1 and through pain1 ,emerging soon in beatific blaze ,of light4 ,there the blessed ones found respite and peaceful joys in flowery fields1 pure breezes1 social fellowship1 and the similitudes of their earthly pursuits4 ,in this placid clime1 lighted by its own constellations1 favored souls roamed or reposed in a sort of ineffectual happiness4 ,according to the pagans1 here were such heroes as ,achilles1 such sages as ,socrates1 to remain forever1 or until the end of the world4 ,and here1 according to the ,christians1 the departed patriarchs and saints were tarrying expectant of ,christ's arrival to ransom them4 ,dante thus describes that great event3 ,then he1 who well my covert meaning knew1 ,answer'd1 ,herein ,i had not long been bound1 ,when an ,all puissant ,one ,i saw march through1 ,with victory's radiant sign triumphal crown'd4 ,he led from us our ,father ,adam's shade1 ,abel and ,noah1 whom ,god loved the most1 ,lawgiving ,moses1 him who best obey'd1 ,abraam the patriarch1 royal ,david's ghost2 ,israel1 his father1 and his sons1 and her ,whom ,israel served for1 faithfully and long1 ,rachel1 with more1 to bliss did ,he transfer3 ,no souls were saved before this chosen throng4 #ab ,at the opposite extremity of ,hades was supposed to be an opening that led down into ,tartarus1 a place made underneath all things1 so low and horrible that hell is its heaven4 ,here the old earth giants1 the looming ,titans1 lay1 bound1 transfixed with thunderbolts1 their #ab ,parsons's trans4 ,dell' ,inferno1 canto iv4 ii4 #ee-fc4 mountainous shapes half buried in rocks1 encrusting lava1 and ashes4 ,rivers of fire seam the darkness1 whose borders are braided with sentinel furies4 ,on every hand the worst criminals1 perjurers1 blasphemers1 ingrates1 groan beneath the pitiless punishments inflicted on them without escape4 ,any realization of the terrific scenery of this whole realm would curdle the blood4#ac ,there were fabled entrances to the dread under world at ,acherusia1 in ,bithynia1 at ,avernus1 in ,campania1 where ,ulysses evoked the dead and traversed the grisly abodes1 through the ,sibyl's cave at ,cuma1 at ,hermione1 in ,argolis1 where the people thought the passage below so near and easy that they neglected to give the dying an obolus to pay ferriage to ,charon1 at ,tanarus1 the southern most point of ,peloponnesus1 where ,herakles went down and dragged the three headed dog up into day1 at the cave of ,trophonius1 in ,lebadea1 and at several other places4 ,similar conceptions have been embodied in the ecclesiastical doctrine which has generally prevailed in ,christendom4 ,locating the scene in the hollow of the earth1 thus has it been described by ,milton1 ,a dungeon horrible on all sides round ,as one great furnace flamed2 yet from those flames ,no light1 but rather darkness visible1 ,served only to discover sights of woe1 ,regions of anguish1 doleful shades1 where peace ,nor hope can come1 but torture without end ,still urges1 and a fiery deluge fed ,with ever burning sulphur unconsumed2 wherein1 confined by adamantine walls1 the fallen angels and all the damned welter overwhelmed with floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire4 ,shapes once celestially fair and proud1 but now scarred from battle and darkened by sin into faded forms of haggard splendor1 support their uneasy steps over the burning marl4 ,everywhere shrieks and moans resound1 and the dusky vault of pandemonium is lighted by a blue glare cast pale and dreadful from the tossings of the flaming lake4 ,this was hell1 where the wicked must shrink and howl forever4 ,etna1 ,vesuvius1 ,stromboli1 ,hecla1 were believed to be vent holes from this bottomless and living pit of fire4 ,the famous traveller1 ,sir ,john ,maundeville1 asserted that he found a descent into hell in a perilous vale in the dominions of ,prester ,john4 ,many a cavern in ,england still bears the name of ,hell hole4 ,in a dialogue between a clerk and a master1 preserved in an old ,saxon catechism1 the following question and reply occur3 ,why is the sun so red when she sets8 ,because she looks down upon hell4 ,antonius ,rusca1 a learned professor at ,milan1 in the year #afba1 published a huge quarto in five books1 giving a detailed topographical account of the interior of the earth1 hell1 purgatory1 and limbo4#ad ,there is a lake in the south of ,ireland in which is an island containing a cavern said to open down into hell4 ,this cave #ac ,descriptions of the sufferings of hell1 according to the popular notions at different periods1 are given in the work published at ,weimar in #ahag1 ,das ,rad der ewigen ,hollenqual4 ,in den ,curiositaten der physisch literarisch artistisch historischen ,vor und ,mitwelt1 band vi4 st4 #b4 #ad ,de ,inferno et ,statn ,damonum ante ,mundi ,exitium4 is called ,st4 ,patrick's ,purgatory1 and the pretence obtained quite general credit for upwards of five centuries4 ,crowds of pilgrims visited the place4 ,some who had the hardihood to venture in were severely pinched1 beaten1 and burned1 by the priests within1 disguised as devils1 and were almost frightened out of their wits by the diabolical scenes they saw where ,forth from the depths of flame that singed the gloom ,despairing wails and piercing shrieks were heard4 ,several popes openly preached in behalf of this gross imposition2 and the ,church virtually authorized it by receiving the large revenues accruing from it1 until at last outraged common sense demanded its repudiation and suppression4#ae ,few persons now1 as they walk the streets and fields1 are much disturbed by the thought that1 not far below1 the vivid lake of fire and brimstone1 greedily roaring for new food1 heaves its tortured surges convulsed and featured with souls4 ,few persons now shudder at a volcanic eruption as a premonishing message freshly belched from hell4#af ,in fact1 the old belief in a local physical hell within the earth has almost gone from the public mind of to day4 ,it arose from pagan myths and figures of speech based on ignorant observation and arbitrary fancy1 and with the growth of science and the enlightenment of reason it has very extensively fallen and faded away4 ,no honest and intelligent inquirer into the matter can find the slightest valid support for such a notion4 ,it is now a mere tradition1 upheld by groundless authority4 ,and yet the dim shadow of that great idea of a subterranean hell which once burned so fierce and lurid in the brain of ,christendom still vaguely haunts the modern world4 ,the dogma still lies in the prevalent creeds1 and is occasionally dragged out and brandished by fanatic preachers4 ,the transmitted literature and influences of the past are so full of it that it cannot immediately cease4 ,accordingly1 while the common understanding no longer grasps it as a definite verity1 it lingers in the popular fancy as a half credible image4 ,the painful attempts made now and then by some antiquated or fanatical clergyman to compel attention to it and belief in it as a tangible fact of science1 as well as an unquestionable revelation of ,scripture1 scarcely win a passing notice1 but provoke a significant smile4 ,father ,passaglia1 an eminent ,jesuit theologian1 in #ahef published in ,italy a work on the ,literality of ,hell ,fire and the ,eternity of the ,punishments of the ,damned4 ,he says1 ,in this world fire burns by chemical operations2 but in hell it burns by the breath of the ,lord6 ,the learned and venerable ,faber1 a voluminous author and distinguished ,english divine1 published in the year #ahea a large octavo entitled ,the ,many ,mansions in the ,house of the ,father1 discussing with elaborate detail the question as to the locality of the scenes awaiting souls after death4 ,his grand conclusion the unreasonableness of which will be apparent without comment is as follows3 ,the saints having first risen with ,christ into the highest regions of the air1 out of reach of the dreadful heat1 the tremendous flood of fire hitherto detained inside the earth will be let loose1 and an awful conflagration rage till the whole material globe is dissipated into sublimated particles4 ,then the world will be formed anew1 in three parts4 ,first1 there will be #ae ,wright1 ,st4 ,patrick's ,purgatory3 an ,essay on the ,legends of ,paradise1 ,hell1 and ,purgatory1 current during the ,middle ,ages4 #af ,patuzzi1 ,de ,sede inferni in ,terris quarenda4 a solid central sphere of fire the flaming nucleus of ,gehenna two thousand miles in diameter4 ,secondly1 there shall roll around this central ball on all sides an ignited ocean of liquid fire two thousand miles in depth1 the peculiar residence of the wicked1 the sulphurous lake spoken of in the ,apocalypse4 ,thirdly1 around this infernal sea a vast spherical arch will hang1 a thousand miles thick1 a massive and unbroken shell1 through which there are no spiracles1 and whose external surface1 beautiful beyond conception1 becomes the heaven of the redeemed1 where ,christ himself1 perfect man as well as perfect ,god1 fixes his residence and establishes the local sovereignty of the ,universal ,archangel4 #ag ,a comfortable thought it must be for the saints1 as they roam the flowery fields1 basking in immortal bliss1 to remember that under the crust they tread1 a soundless sea of fire is forever plunging on its circular course1 all its crimson waves packed with the agonized faces of the damned as thick as drops6 ,the whole scheme is without real foundation4 ,science laughs at such a theory4 ,its scriptural supports are either ethnic figments or rhetorical tropes4 ,reason1 recollecting the immateriality of the soul1 dissipates the ghastly dream beyond the possibility of restoration to belief4 ,following the historic locations of the abode of departed souls1 we next ascend from the interior of the earth1 and above the surface of the earth1 into the air and the lofty realms of ether4 ,the ancient ,caledonians fixed the site of their spirit world in the clouds4 ,their bards have presented this conception in manifold forms and with the most picturesque details4 ,in tempests the ghosts of their famous warriors ride on the thunderbolts1 looking on the earth with eyes of fire1 and hurling lances of lightning4 ,they float over the summits of the hills or along the valleys in wreaths of mist1 on vapory steeds1 waving their shadowy arms in the moonlight1 the stars dimly glimmering through their visionary shapes4 ,the ,laplanders also placed their heaven in the upper air1 where the ,northern ,lights play4 ,they regarded the auroral streamers as the sport of departed spirits in the happy region to which they had risen4 ,such ideas1 clad in the familiar imagery furnished by their own climes1 would naturally be suggested to the ignorant fancy1 and easily commended to the credulous thoughts1 of the ,celts and ,finns4 ,explanation and refutation are alike unnecessary4 ,plutarch describes a theory held by some of the ancients locating hell in the air1 elysium in the moon4#ah ,after death all souls are compelled to spend a period in the region between the earth and the moon1 the wicked in severe tortures and for a longer time1 the good in a mild discipline soon purging away all their stains and fitting them for the lunar paradise4 ,after tarrying a season there1 they were either born again upon the earth1 or transported to the divine realm of the sun4 ,macrobius1 too1 says1 ,the ,platonists reckon as the infernal #ag ,part iv4 chap4 ix4 p4 #dag4 ,dr4 ,cumming 7,the ,end1 ,lect4 ,x47 teaches the doctrine of the literal resurrection of the flesh1 and the subsequent residence of the redeemed on this globe as their eternal heaven under the immediate rule of ,christ4 ,quite a full detail of the historic and present belief in this scheme may be found in the recent work of its earnest advocate1 ,d4 ,t4 ,taylor1 ,the ,voice of the ,church on the ,coming of the ,redeemer1 or a ,history of the ,doctrine of the ,reign of ,christ on ,earth4 #ah ,in his ,essay on the ,face in the ,orb of the ,moon4 region the whole space between the earth and the moon4#ai ,he also adds1 ,the tropical signs ,cancer and ,capricorn are called the gates of the sun1 because there he meets the solstice and can go no farther4 ,cancer is the gate of men1 because by it is the descent to the lower regions2 ,capricorn is the gate of gods1 because by it is a return for souls to the rank of gods in the seat of their proper immortality4 #bj ,the ,manicheans taught that souls were borne to the moon on leaving their bodies1 and there washed from their sins in water1 then taken to the sun and further cleansed in fire4 ,they described the moon and sun as two splendid ships prepared for transferring souls to their native country1 the world of perfect light in the heights of the creation4#ba ,the ancient ,hebrews thought the sky a solid firmament overarching the earth1 and supporting a sea of inexhaustible waters1 beyond which ,god and his angels dwelt in monopolized splendor4 ,eliphaz the ,temanite says1 ,is not ,god in the height of heaven8 ,and behold the stars1 how high they are2 but he walketh upon the arch of heaven6 ,and ,job says1 ,he covereth the face of his throne1 and spreadeth his clouds under it4 ,he hath drawn a circular bound upon the waters to the confines of light and darkness4 ,from the dazzling realm above this supernal ocean all men were supposed1 until after the resurrection of ,christ1 to be excluded4 ,but from that time the belief gradually spread in ,christendom that a way was open for faithful souls to ascend thither4 ,ephraim the ,syrian1#bb and ,ambrose1 located paradise in the outermost ,east on the highest summit of the earth1 stretching into the serene heights of the sky4 ,the ancients often conceived the universe to form one solid whole1 whose different provinces were accessible from each other to gods and angels by means of bridges and golden staircases4 ,hence the innumerable paradisal legends associated with the mythic mountains of antiquity1 such as ,elborz1 ,olympus1 ,meru1 and ,kaf4 ,among the strange legends of the ,middle ,age1 ,gervase of ,tilbury preserves the following one1 illustrative of this belief in a sea over the sky3 ,one ,sunday the people of an ,english village were coming out of church1 a dark1 gloomy day1 when they saw the anchor of a ship hooked to one of the tombstones1 the cable1 tightly stretched1 hanging down the air4 ,presently they saw a sailor sliding down the rope to unfix the anchor4 ,when he had just loosened it the villagers seized hold of him2 and1 while in their hands1 he quickly died1 as though he had been drowned6 ,there is also a famous legend called ,st4 ,brandon's ,voyage4 ,the worthy saint set sail from the coast of ,ireland1 and held on his way till he arrived at the moon1 which he found to be the location of hell4 ,here he saw ,judas ,iscariot in execrable tortures1 regularly respited1 however1 every week from ,saturday eve till ,sunday eve6 ,the thought so entirely in accordance with the first impression made by the phenomenon of the night sky on the ignorant senses and imagination that the stars are set in a firm revolving dome1 has widely prevailed2 and the thought that heaven lies beyond that solid arch1 in the unknown space is a popular notion lingering still4 ,the scriptural image declaring that the convulsions of the last day will shake the stars from their sockets in the #ai ,in ,somnium ,scipionis1 lib4 i4 cap4 xi4 #bj ,ibid4 cap4 xii4 #ba ,augustine1 ,de ,natura ,boni1 cap4 xliv4 #bb ,de ,paradiso ,eden1 ,sermo ,i4 heavenly floor1 as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind1 although so obviously a figure of speech1 has been very generally credited as the description of a literal fact yet to occur4 ,and how many thousands of pious ,christians have felt1 with the sainted ,doddridge1 ,ye stars are but the shining dust ,of my ,divine abode1 ,the pavement of those heavenly courts ,where ,i shall see my ,god6 ,the universal diffusion in civilized nations of the knowledge that the visible sky is no substantial expanse1 but only an illimitable void of space hung with successive worlds1 has by no means banished the belief1 originally based on the opposite error1 in a physical heaven definitely located far overhead1 the destination of all ransomed souls4 ,this is undoubtedly the most common idea at the present time4 ,an ,english clergyman once wrote a book1 afterwards translated into ,german1 to teach that the sun is hell1 and that the black spots often noticed on the disk of that orb are gatherings of damned souls4#bc ,isaac ,taylor1 on the contrary1 contends with no little force and ingenuity that the sun may be the heaven of our planetary system1 a globe of immortal blessedness and glory4#bd ,the celebrated ,dr4 ,whiston was convinced that the great comet which appeared in his day was hell4 ,he imagined it remarkably fitted for that purpose by its fiery vapor1 and its alternate plunges1 now into the frozen extremity of space1 now into the scorching breath of the sun4 ,tupper fastens the stigma of being the infernal prison house on the moon1 in this style3 ,i know thee well1 ,o ,moon1 thou cavern'd realm1 ,sad satellite1 thou giant ash of death1 ,blot on ,god's firmament1 pale home of crime1 ,scarr'd prison house of sin1 where damned souls ,feed upon punishment3 ,oh1 thought sublime1 ,that amid night's black deeds1 when evil prowls ,through the broad world1 thou1 watching sinners well1 ,glarest o'er all1 the wakeful eye of ,hell6 ,bailey's conception is the darker birth of a deeper feeling3 ,there is a blind world1 yet unlit by ,god1 ,rolling around the extremest edge of light1 ,where all things are disaster and decay3 ,that black and outcast orb is ,satan's home ,that dusky world man's science counteth not ,upon the brightest sky4 ,he never knows ,how near it comes to him2 but1 swathed in clouds1 ,as though in plumed and palled state1 it steals1 ,hearse like and thief like1 round the universe1 ,forever rolling1 and returning not1 #bc ,swinden1 ,on the ,nature and ,location of ,hell4 #bd ,physical ,theory of ,another ,life1 chap4 xvi4 ,robbing all worlds of many an angel soul1 ,with its light hidden in its breast1 which burns ,with all concentrate and superfluent woe4 ,in the average faith of individuals to day1 heaven and hell exist as separate places located somewhere in the universe2 but the notions as to the precise regions in which they lie are most vague and ineffectual when compared with what they formerly were4 ,the ,scandinavian kosmos contained nine worlds1 arranged in the following order3 ,gimle1 a golden region at the top of the universe1 the eternal residence of ,allfather and his chosen ones2 next below that1 ,muspel1 the realm of the genii of fire2 ,asgard1 the abode of the gods in the starry firmament2 ,vindheim1 the home of the air spirits2 ,manheim1 the earth1 or middle realm2 ,jotunheim1 the world of the giants1 outside the sea surrounding the earth2 ,elfheim1 the world of the black demons and dwarfs1 just under the earth's surface2 ,helheim1 the domain of the goddess of death1 deep within the earth's bosom2 and finally1 ,niflheim1 the lowest kingdom of horror and pain1 at the very bottom of the creation4 ,the ,buddhist kosmos1 in the simplest form1 as some of them conceived it1 was composed of a series of concentric spheres each separated from the next by a space1 and successively overarching and under arching each other with circular layers of brightness above and blackness beneath2 each starry hollow overhead being a heaven inhabited by gods and blessed souls1 each lurid hollow underfoot being a hell filled with demons and wicked souls in penance4 ,the ,arabian kosmos1 beginning with the earth1 ascended to a world of water above the firmament1 next to a world of air1 then to a world of fire1 followed in rising order by an emerald heaven with angels in the form of birds1 a heaven of precious stones with angels as eagles1 a hyacinth heaven with angels as vultures1 a silver heaven with angels as horses1 a golden and a pearl heaven each peopled with angel girls1 a crystal heaven with angel men1 then two heavens full of angels1 and finally a great sea without bound1 each sphere being presided over by a chief ruler1 the names of all of whom were familiar to the learned ,arabs4 ,the ,syrian kosmos corresponded closely to the foregoing4 ,it soared up the mounting steps of earth1 water1 air1 fire1 and innumerable choruses successively of ,angels1 ,archangels1 ,principalities1 ,powers1 ,virtues1 ,dominations1 ,thrones1 ,cherubim and ,seraphim1 unto the ,expanse whence ,lucifer fell2 afterwards to a boundless ,ocean2 and lastly to a magnificent ,crown of ,light filling the uppermost space of all4#be ,it is hard for us to imagine the aspects of the universe to the ancients and the impressions it produced in them1 all seemed so different then1 in the dimness of crude observation1 from the present appearance in the light of astronomic science4 ,anaximander held that the earth was of cylindrical form1 suspended in the middle of the universe and surrounded by envelopes of water1 air1 and fire1 as by the coats of an onion1 but that the exterior stratum was broken up and collected into masses1 and thus originated the sun1 moon1 and stars1 which are carried around by the three spheres in which they are fixed4#bf ,many of the ,oriental nations believed the planets to be animated beings1 conscious divinities1 freely marching around their high realms1 keeping watch and ward over the creation1 smiling their favorites on to happy fortune1 #be ,dupuis1 ,l',origine de tous les ,cultes1 ,planche ,no4 #ba4 #bf ,arist4 de ,coel4 ii4 #ac4 fixing their baleful eyes and shedding disastrous eclipse on falling nations and on kingly lines about to sink forever4 ,this belief was cherished among the later ,greek philosophers and ,roman priests1 and was vividly held by such men as ,philo1 ,origen1 and even ,kepler4 ,it is here that we are to look for the birth of astrology1 that solemn lore1 linking the petty fates of men with the starry conjunctions1 which once sank so deeply into the mind of the world1 but is now wellnigh forgotten3 ,no more of that1 ye planetary lights6 ,your aspects1 dignities1 ascendancies1 ,your partite quartiles1 and your plastic trines1 ,and all your heavenly houses and effects1 ,shall meet no more devout expounders here4 ,the joy of ,jupiter1 ,the exaltation of the ,dragon's head1 ,the sun's triplicity and glorious ,day house on high1 the moon's dim detriment1 ,and all the starry inclusions of all signs1 ,shall rise1 and rule1 and pass1 and no one know ,that there are spirit rulers of all worlds1 ,which fraternize with earth1 and1 though unknown1 ,hold in the shining voices of the stars ,communion on high and everywhere4 ,the belief that the stars were living beings1 combining with the fancy of an unscientific time1 gave rise to the stellar apotheosis of heroes and legendary names1 and was the source of those numerous asterisms1 out lined groups of stars1 which still bedeck the skies and form the landmarks of celestial topography4 ,it was these and kindred influences that wrought together ,to make the firmament bristle with shapes ,of intermittent motion1 aspect vague1 ,and mystic bearings1 which o'ercreep the earth1 ,keeping slow time with horrors in the blood2 the ,gorgon's petrific ,head1 the ,bear's frightful form1 ,berenice's streaming ,hair1 the curdling length of ,ophiuchus1 and the ,hydra's horrid shape4 ,the poetic eye of old religion saw gods in the planets walking their serene blue paths1 ,osiris1 ,bel1 ,odin1 ,mithras1 ,brahm1 ,zeus1 ,who gave their names to stars which still roam round ,the skies all worshipless1 even from climes ,where their own altars once topp'd every hill4 ,by selected constellations the choicest legends of the antique world are preserved in silent enactment4 ,on the heavenly sea the ,argonautss keep nightly sail towards the ,golden ,fleece4 ,there ,herakles gripes the hydra's heads and sways his irresistible club2 ,arion with his harp rides the docile ,dolphin2 the ,centaur's right hand clutches the ,wolf2 the ,hare flees from the raging eye and inaudible bark of the ,dog2 and space crawls with the horrors of the ,scorpion4 ,in consequence of the earth's revolution in its orbit1 the sun appears at different seasons to rise in connection with different groups of stars4 ,it seems as if the sun made an annual journey around the ecliptic4 ,this circuit was divided into twelve parts corresponding to the months1 and each marked by a distinct constellation4 ,there was a singular agreement in regard to these solar houses1 residences of the gods1 or signs of the zodiac1 among the leading nations of the earth1 the ,persians1 ,chaldeans1 ,hebrews1 ,syrians1 ,hindus1 ,chinese1 ,arabians1 ,japanese1 ,siamese1 ,goths1 ,javanese1 ,mexicans1 ,peruvians1 and ,scandinavians4 #bg ,among the various explanations of the origin of these artificial signs1 we will notice only the one attributed by ,volney to the ,egyptians4 ,the constellations in which the sun successively appeared from month to month were named thus3 at the time of the overflow of the ,nile1 the stars of inundation1 7,aquarius27 at the time of ploughing1 stars of the ox1 7,taurus27 when lions1 driven forth by thirst1 appeared on the banks of the ,nile1 stars of the lion1 7,leo27 at the time of reaping1 stars of the sheaf1 7,virgo27 stars of the lamb and two kids1 7,aries17 when these animals were born2 stars of the crab1 7,cancer17 when the sun1 touching the tropic1 returned backwards2 stars of the wild goat1 7,capricorn17 when the sun reached the highest point in his yearly track2 stars of the balance1 7,libra17 when days and nights were in equilibrium2 stars of the scorpion1 7,scorpio17 when periodical simooms burned like the venom of a scorpion2 and so on of the rest4#bh ,the progress of astronomical science from the wild time when men thought the stars were mere spangles stuck in a solid expanse not far off1 to the vigorous age when ,ptolemy's mathematics spanned the scope of the sky2 from the first reverent observations of the ,chaldean shepherds watching the constellations as gods1 to the magnificent reasonings of ,copernicus dashing down the innumerable crystalline spheres1 cycle on epicycle1 orb on orb1 with which crude theorizers had crowded the stellar spaces2 from the uncurbed poetry of ,hyginus writing the floor of heaven over with romantic myths in planetary words1 to the more wondrous truth of ,le ,verrier measuring the steps from nimble ,mercury flitting moth like in the beard of the sun to dull ,neptune sagging in his cold course twenty six hundred million miles away2 from the half inch orb of ,hipparchus's naked eye1 to the six feet speculum of ,rosse's awful tube2 from the primeval belief in one world studded around with skyey torch lights1 to the modern conviction of octillions of inhabited worlds all governed by one law constitutes the most astonishing chapter in the history of the human mind4 ,every step of this incredible progress has had its effect in modifying the conceptions of man's position and importance in nature and of the connection of his future fate with localities4 ,of old1 the entire creation was thought to lie pretty much within the comprehension of man's unaided senses1 and man himself was supposed to be the chief if not the sole object of ,divine providence4 ,the deities often came down in incarnations and mingled with their favorites and rescued the earth from evils4 ,every thing was anthropomorphized4 ,man's relative magnitude and power were believed to be such that he fancied during an eclipse that1 by screams1 the crashing of gongs1 and magic rites1 he could scare away the monsters #bg ,pigott1 ,scandinavian ,mythology1 chap4 i4 p4 #ca4 #bh ,volney1 ,ruins1 chap4 xxii4 sect4 #c4 ,maurice1 ,hist4 ,hindostan1 vol4 i4 pp4 #ade-adg4 who were swallowing the sun or the moon4 ,meteors shooting through the evening air the ,arabs believed were fallen angels trying to get back into heaven but hurled from the crystal battlements by the flaming lances of the guardian watchers4 ,then the gazer saw ,the top of heaven full of fiery shapes1 ,of burning cressets4 ,now the student contemplates an abyss swarming with orbs each out weighing millions of our earth4 ,then they read their nativities in the planets and felt how great must be the state overwatched by such resplendent servitors4 ,now ,they seek communion with the stars that they may know ,how petty is this ball on which they come and go4 ,then the hugest view of the extent of the universal sphere was that an iron mass would require nine days and nights to plunge from its ,olympian height to its ,tartarean depth4 ,now we are told by the masters of science that there are stars so distant that it would take their light1 travelling at a rate of nearly twelve million miles a minute1 thirty million years to reach us4 ,the telescope has multiplied the size of the creation by hundreds of millions1 and the grandest conception of the stellar universe possible to the most capacious human mind probably bears no larger proportion to the fact than an orrery does to the solar system4 ,our earth is a hundred million miles from the sun1 whose diameter is so monstrous that a hundred such orbs strung in a straight line would occupy the whole distance4 ,the sun1 with all his attendant planets and moons1 is sweeping around his own centre supposed by some to be ,alcyone at the rate of four hundred thousand miles a day2 and it will take him eighteen million years to complete one revolution4 ,our firmamental cluster contains1 it has been calculated1 in round numbers about twenty million stars4 ,there are many thousands of such nebula visible1 some of them capable of packing away in their awful bosoms hundreds of thousands of our galaxies4 ,measure off the abysmal space into seven hundred thousand stages each a hundred million miles wide1 and you reach the nearest fixed stars1 for instance1 the constellation of the ,lyre4 ,multiply that inconceivable distance by hundreds of thousands1 and still you will discern enormous sand banks of stars obscurely glittering on the farthest verge of telescopic vision4 ,and even all this is but a little corner of the whole4 ,coleridge once said1 ,to some infinitely superior ,being1 the whole universe may be as one plain1 the distance between planet and planet being only as the pores in a grain of sand1 and the spaces between system and system no greater than the intervals between one grain and the grain adjacent4 ,one of the vastest thoughts yet conceived by any mortal mind is that of turning the universe from a mechanical to a chemical problem1 as illustrated by ,prof4 ,lovering4#bi ,assuming the acknowledged truths in physics1 that the ultimate particles of matter never actually touch each other1 and that water in evaporating expands into eighteen hundred times its previous volume1 he demonstrates that the porosity of our solar system is no greater than that of steam4 ,the porosity of granite or gold may be equal to that of steam1 #bi ,cambridge ,miscellany1 #ahdb4 the greater density being a stronger energy in the central forces4 ,and the conclusion is scientifically reached that the vast interval between the sun and ,herschel is an enormous pore1 while the invisible distance that separates the most closely nestled atoms is a planetary space1 a stupendous gulf when compared with the little spheres between which it flows4 ,thus we may think of the entire universe as a living organism1 like a ripening orange1 its component atoms worlds1 the sidereal movements its vital circulation4 ,surely1 when a man looks up from his familiar fields and household roof to such incommensurable objects as scientific imagination reveals in the sparkling sword handle of ,perseus and the hazy girdle of ,andromeda1 overpowering humility will fill his breast1 an unutterable solemnity will fall on him as from the very presence chamber of the ,highest4 ,and will he not1 when he contemplates the dust like shoals of stars1 the shining films of firmaments1 that retreat and hover through all the boundless heights1 the ,nubecula nebula1 looking like a bunch of ribbons disposed in a true love's knot1 that most awful nebula whirled into the shape and bearing the name of the ,dumb ,bell1 the ,crab nebula1 hanging over the infinitely remote space1 a sprawling terror1 every point holding millions of worlds1 thinking of these all transcendent wonders1 and then remembering his own inexpressible littleness1 how that the visible existence of his whole race does not occupy a single tick of the great ,sidereal ,clock1 will he not sink under helpless misgivings1 will he not utterly despair of immortal notice and support from the ,king of all this8 ,in a word1 how does the solemn greatness of man1 the supposed eternal destiny of man1 stand affected by the modern knowledge of the vastness of creation8 ,regarding the immensities receding over him in unfathomable abysses bursting with dust heaps of suns1 must not man be dwarfed into unmitigated contempt1 his life and character rendered absolutely insignificant1 the utmost span of his fortunes seeming but as the hum and glitter of an ephemeron in a moment's sunshine8 ,doubtless many a one has at times felt the stupendous truths of astronomy thus palsying him with a crushing sense of his own nothingness and burying him in fatalistic despair4 ,standing at night1 alone1 beneath the august dome studded from of old with its ever blazing lights1 he gazes up and sees the innumerable armies of heaven marshalled forth above him in the order and silence of their primeval pomp4 ,peacefully and forever they shine there4 ,in nebula separated from nebula by trillions of leagues1 plane beyond plane1 they stretch and glitter to the feet of ,god4 ,falling on his knees1 he clasps his hands in speechless adoration1 but feels1 with an intolerable ache of the heart1 that in this infinitude such an one as he can be of no consequence whatever4 ,he waits passively for the resistless round of fate to bear him away1 ah1 whither8 ,conscious that he dwells but as an atom of dust on the outskirts of a galaxy of inconceivable glory moving through eternity in the arms of law1 he becomes1 in his own estimation1 an insensible dot lost in the uncontainable wilderness of firmamental systems4 ,but this conclusion of despair is a mistake as sophistical as it is injurious1 as baseless in reality as it is natural in seeming4 ,its antidote and corrective are found in a more penetrative thought and juster understanding of the subject1 which will preserve the greatness and the immortal destiny of man unharmed despite the frowning vastitudes of creation4 ,this will appear from fairly weighing the following considerations4 ,in the first place1 the immensity of the material universe is an element entirely foreign to the problem of human fate4 ,when seeking to solve the question of human destiny1 we are to study the facts and prophecies of human nature1 and to conclude accordingly4 ,it is a perversion of reason to bring from far an induction of nebular magnitudes to crush with their brute weight the plain indications of the spirit of humanity4 ,what though the number of telescopic worlds were raised to the ten thousandth power1 and each orb were as large as all of them combined would now be8 what difference would that make in the facts of human nature and destiny8 ,it is from the experience going on in man's breast1 and not from the firmaments rolling above his head1 that his importance and his final cause are to be inferred4 ,the human mind1 heart1 and conscience1 thought1 love1 faith1 and piety1 remain the same in their intrinsic rank and capacities whether the universe be as small as it appeared to the eyes of ,abraham or as large as it seems in the cosmical theory of ,humboldt4 ,thus the spiritual position of man really remains precisely what it was before the telescope smote the veils of distance and bared the outer courts of being4 ,secondly1 if we do bring in the irrelevant realms of science to the examination of our princely pretensions1 it is but fair to look in both directions4 ,and then what we lose above we gain below4 ,the revelations of the microscope balance those of the telescope4 ,the animalcula magnify man as much as the nebulsa belittle him4 ,we cannot help believing that ,he who frames and provides for those infinitesimal animals quadrillions of whom might inhabit a drop of water or a leaf and have ample room and verge enough1 and whose vital and muscular organization is as complicated and perfect as that of an elephant1 will much more take care of man1 no matter how numerous the constellations are4 ,let us see how far scientific vision can look beneath ourselves as the question is answered by a few well known facts4 ,in each drop of human blood there are three million vitalized corpuscular disks4 ,considering all the drops made up in this way1 man is a kosmos1 his veins galaxies through whose circuits these red clustering planets perform their revolutions4 ,how small the exhaling atoms of a grain of musk must be1 since it will perfume every breath of air blowing through a hall for a quarter of a century1 and then not be perceptibly diminished4 ,an ounce of gold may be reduced into four hundred and thirty two billion parts1 each microscopically visible4#cj ,there is a deposit of slate in ,bohemia covering forty square miles to the depth of eight feet1 each cubic inch of which ,ehrenberg found by microscopic measurement to contain forty one thousand million infusorial animals4 ,sir ,david ,brewster says1 ,a cubic inch of the ,bilin polieschiefer slate contains above one billion seven hundred and fifty thousand millions of distinct individuals of ,galionella ferruginea4#ca ,it is a fact that the size of one of these insects as compared with the bulk of a man is virtually as small as that of a man compared with the whole scheme of modern astronomy4 ,thus1 if the problem of our immortal consequence is prejudicially vitiated by contemplating the immense extremity of vision1 it is rectified by gazing on the opposite extremity4 ,if man justly scrutinized1 without comparisons1 is fitted for and worthy of eternity1 #cj ,lardner1 ,hand ,book of ,natural ,philosophy1 book i4 chap4 v4#ca ,more ,worlds than ,one1 ch4 viii4 note #c4 no foreign facts1 however magnificent or minute1 should alter our judgment from the premises4 ,thirdly1 is it not evident that man's greatness keeps even pace along the scale of magnitude with the widening creation1 since it is his mind that sees and comprehends how wondrous the dimensions of the universe are8 ,the number of stars and the limits of space are not more astounding than it is that he should be capable of knowing such things1 enumerating and staking them off4 ,when man has measured the distance and weighed the bulk of ,sirius1 it is more appropriate to kneel in amazement before the inscrutable mystery of his genius1 the irrepressible soaring of his soul1 than to sink in despair under the swinging of those lumps of dirt in their unapproachable spheres because they are so gigantic6 ,the appearance of the creation to man is not vaster than his perception of it4 ,they are exactly correlated by the very terms of the statement4 ,as the astronomic world expands1 the astronomer's mind dilates and must be as large as it in order to contain it in thought4 ,what we lose in relative importance from the enlargement of the boundaries of the universe we gain from the new revelation of our capacities that is made through these transcendent achievements of our science4 ,that we are favorites of the ,creator and destined for immortal glories is therefore logically and morally just as credible after looking through ,herschel's forty feet reflector and reading ,la ,place's ,mecanique ,celeste as it would be were this planet1 suspended in a hollow dome1 the entirety of material being4 ,furthermore1 we can reason only from the data we have2 and1 doing that1 we should conclude1 from the intrinsic and incomparable superiority of spirit to matter1 that man and his kindred scattered in families over all the orbs of space were the especial objects of the infinite ,author's care4 ,they are fitted by their filial attributes to commune with ,him in praise and love4 ,they know the prodigious and marvellous works of mechanical nature2 mechanical nature knows nothing4 ,man can return his ,maker's blessing in voluntary obedience and thanks2 matter is inanimate clay for the ,potter's moulding4 ,turning from the gleaming wildernesses of star land to the intellect and heart1 appreciating the infinite problems and hopes with which they deal and aspire1 we feel the truth expressed by ,wordsworth in his tremendous lines3 ,i must1 aloft ascending1 breathe in worlds ,to which the heaven of heavens is but a veil4 ,not chaos1 darkest pit of ,erebus1 ,nor aught of blinder vacancy1 scoop'd out ,by help of dreams1 can breed such fear and awe ,as fall upon us often when we look ,into our minds1 into the mind of man4 ,is not one noble thought of truth1 one holy emotion of love1 one divine impulse of devotion1 better than a whole planet of mud1 a whole solar system of gas and dust8 ,who would not rather be the soul that gauges the deeps1 groups the laws1 foretells the movements1 of the universe1 writing down in a brief mathematical formula a complete horoscope of the heavens as they will appear on any given night thousands of years hence1 than to be all that array of swooping systems8 ,to think the world is to be superior to the world4 ,that which appreciates is akin to that which makes2 and so we are the ,creator's children1 and these crowding nebula1 packed with orbs as thick as the ocean beach with sands1 are the many mansions of the ,house fitted up for ,his abode and ours4 ,an only prince would be of more consideration than a palace1 although its foundation pressed the shoulders of ,serpentarius1 its turret touched the brow of ,orion1 and its wings reached from the ,great ,bear to the ,phoenix4 ,so a mind is of more importance than the material creation1 and the moral condition of a man is of greater moment than the aspect of stellar firmaments4 ,another illustration of the truth we are considering is to be drawn from the idealist theory1 to which so many of the ablest thinkers of the world have given their devoted adhesion1 that matter is merely phenomenal1 no substantial entity1 but a transient show preserved in appearance for some ulterior cause1 and finally1 at the withdrawal or suspension of ,god's volition1 to return into annihilating invisibility as swiftly as a flash of lightning4 ,the solid seeming firmaments are but an exertion of ,divine force projected into vision to serve for a season as a theatre for the training of spirits4 ,when that process is complete1 in the twinkling of an eye the phantasmal exhibition of matter will disappear1 leaving only the ideal realm of indestructible things1 souls with their inward treasures remaining in their native sphere of the infinite1 while the outward universe ,doth vanish like a ghost before the sun4 ,the same practical result may also be reached by a different path1 may be attained by the road of physics as well as by that of transcendental metaphysics4 ,for ,newton has given in his ,principia a geometrical demonstration of the infinite compressibility of matter4 ,all the worlds1 therefore1 that cluster in yon swelling vault can be condensed into a single globe of the size of a walnut2 and then1 on that petty lump of apparent substance1 the enfranchised soul might trample in an exultation of magnanimous scorn upon the whole universe of earths1 and soar through its own unlimited dominion1 ,monarch of ,immortality1 the snatched glory of shrunken firmaments flashing from its deathless wings4 ,finally1 a proper comprehension of the idea of ,god will neutralize the skepticism and despondency sometimes stealthily nourished or crushingly impressed by contemplations of the immensity of nature4 ,if one1 from regarding the cold and relentless mechanism of the surrounding system1 tremble for fear of there being no kind ,overruler1 let him gaze on the warm beauty that flushes the countenance of day1 the mystic meditativeness that hangs on the pensive and starry brow of night1 let him follow the commanding instincts of his own heart1 and he will find himself clinging in irresistible faith and filial love to the thought of an infinite ,father4 ,if still the atheistic sentiment obtrudes upon him and oppresses him1 let him observe how every spot of immensity whereon the eye of science has fallen is crowded with unnumbered amazing examples of design1 love1 beneficence1 and he will perceive that the irrefragable lines of argument drawn through the boundless spaces of creation light up the stupendous contour of ,god and show the expression of his features to be love4 ,it seems as though any man acquainted with the truths and magnitudes of astronomy1 who1 after seeing the star strewn abysses1 would look in his mirror and ask if the image reflected there is that of the greatest being in the universe1 would need nothing further to convince him that a ,god1 the ,creator1 ,preserver1 ,sovereign1 lives4 ,and then1 if1 mistakenly judging from his own limitations1 he thinks that the particular care of all the accumulated galaxies of worlds1 every world perhaps teeming with countless millions of conscious creatures1 would transcend the possibilities even of ,god1 a moment's reflection will dissolve that sophistry in the truth that ,god is infinite1 and that to his infinite attributes globule and globe are alike1 the oversight of the whole and of each part a matter of instantaneous and equal ease4 ,still further3 if this abstract truth be insufficient to support faith and bestow peace1 what will he say to the visible fact that all the races of beings1 and all the clusters of worlds1 from the motes in a sunbeam to the orbs of the remotest firmament1 are now taken care of by ,divine ,providence8 ,god now keeps them all in being and order1 unconfused by their multiplicity1 unoppressed by their magnitude1 and not for an instant forgetting or neglecting either the mightiest or the least4 ,morbidly suspicious1 perversely incredulous1 must be the mind that denies1 since it is so now in this state1 that it may be so as well in the other state and forever6 ,grasping the conception of one ,god1 who creates1 rules1 and loves all1 man may unpresumptuously feel himself to be a child of the ,infinite and a safe heir of immortality4 ,looking within and without1 and soaring in fancy amidst the blue and starry altitudes interspersed with blazing suns and nebulous oceans1 he may cry1 from a sober estimate of all the experimental and phenomenal facts within his reach1 ,even here ,i feel1 ,among these mighty things1 that as ,i am ,i am akin to ,god2 that ,i am part ,of the use universal1 and can grasp ,some portion of that reason in the which ,the whole is ruled and founded2 that ,i have ,a spirit nobler in its cause and end1 ,lovelier in order1 greater in its powers1 ,than all these bright and swift immensities4 ,perhaps the force of these arguments may be better condensed and expressed by help of an individual illustration4 ,while the pen is forming these words1 the announcement of the death of ,dr4 ,kane saddens the world4 ,alas that the gallant heart no longer beats1 the story of whose noble generosity and indomitable prowess has just thrilled the dull nations of men of meaner mould6 ,who even though standing before a telescope under the full architecture of the heavens can believe that that maiden soul of heroism and devotion is now but an extinguished spark1 that the love1 honor1 intelligence1 self sacrificing consecration which enswathed him as with a saintly halo have all gone out8 ,turning from that pale form1 stretched on the couch of death in fatal ,cuba1 through the receding gulfs of space where incomputable systems of worlds are wheeling on their eternal courses1 and then looking back again from the noiseless glitter and awful bulk of the creation1 do you despair of the immortal consequence of the poor sufferer whose fleshly moorings to existence are successively loosening at every gasp8 ,ah1 remember that ,matter and the ,soul are not alone6 ,far above that clay bound1 struggling soul1 and far above those measureless1 firmamental masses1 is ,god1 the ,maker of them both1 and the ,lover of his child4 ,glancing in ,his omniscience down upon that human death couch1 around which affectionate prayers are floating from every part of the earth1 and from whose pallid occupant confiding sighs are rising to ,his ear1 ,he sees the unutterable mysteries of yearning thought1 emotion1 and power1 which are the hidden being of man1 and which so ally the filial spirit to the parent ,divinity4 ,as beneath ,his gaze the faithful soul of ,elisha ,kane slowly extricating itself from its overwrought tabernacle1 and also extricating itself from the holy network of heart strings which sixty millions of men speaking one speech have flung around him1 if haply so they might retain him to earth to take their love and waiting honors rises into the invisible1 seeking to return1 bearing its virgin purity with it1 to the bosom of ,god1 will ,he overlook it1 or carelessly spurn it into night1 because the banks of stars are piled up so thick and high that they absorb ,his regards8 ,my soul1 come not thou into the counsels of them that think so6 ,it should not be believed though astronomy were a thousand times astronomy4 ,but it shall rather be thought that1 ere now1 the brave ,american has discovered the ,mariner whom he sought1 though sailing on far other seas1 where there is no destroying winter and no need of rescue4 ,in association with the measureless spaces and countless worlds brought to light by astronomic science naturally arises the question whether the other worlds are1 like our earth1 peopled with responsible intelligences4 ,in ancient times the stars were not generally thought to be worlds1 but to be persons1 genii or gods4 ,at the dawn of creation the morning stars sang together2 that is1 the sons of ,god shouted for joy4 ,the stars were the living army of ,jehovah of hosts4 ,at the time when the theological dogmas now prevalent were first conceived1 the greatness and glory of the universe were supposed to centre on this globe4 ,the fortunes of man wellnigh absorbed1 it was imagined1 the interest of angels and of ,god4 ,the whole creation was esteemed a temporary theatre for the enactment of the sublime drama of the fall and redemption of man4 ,the entire heavens with all their host were thought to revolve in satellite dependence around this stationary and regal planet4 ,for ,god to hold long1 anxious1 repeated councils to devise means to save us1 was not deemed out of keeping with the relative dignity of the earth and the human race4 ,but at length the progress of discovery put a different aspect on the physical conditions of the problem4 ,the philosopher began to survey man's habitation and history1 and to estimate man's comparative rank and destiny1 not from the stand point of a solitary planet dating back only a few thousand years1 but in the light of millions of centuries of duration and from a position among millions of crowded firmaments whence our sun appears as a dim and motionless star4 ,this new vision of science required a new construction of theology4 ,the petty and monstrous notions of the ignorant superstition of the early age needed rectification4 ,in the minds of the wise and devout few this was effected2 but with the great majority the two sets of ideas existed side by side in unreconciled confusion and contradiction1 as they even continue to do unto this day4 ,when it came to be believed that the universe teemed with suns1 moons1 and planets1 composed of material substances1 subject to day and night1 and various other laws and changes1 like our own abode1 it was natural to infer that these innumerable worlds were also inhabited by rational creatures akin to ourselves and capable of worshipping ,god4 ,numerous considerations1 possessing more or less weight1 were brought forward to confirm such a conclusion4 ,the most striking presentation ever made of the argument1 perhaps1 is that in ,oersted's essay on the ,universe as a ,single ,intellectual ,realm4 ,it became the popular faith1 and is undoubtedly more so now than ever before4 ,towards the end of the seventeenth century a work was published in explicit support of this faith by ,fontenelle4 ,it was entitled ,conversations on the ,plurality of ,worlds1 and had marked success1 running through many editions4 ,a few years later1 ,huygens wrote a book1 called ,cosmotheoros1 in maintenance of the same thesis4 ,the more this doctrine obtained root and life in the convictions of men1 the more strongly its irreconcilableness with the ordinary theology must have made itself felt by fearless and competent thinkers4 ,could a quadrillion firmaments loaded with stars1 each inhabited by its own race of free intelligences1 all be burned up and destroyed in the ,day of ,judgment provoked on this petty grain of dust by the sin of ,adam8 #cb ,were the stars mere sparks and spangles stuck in heaven for us to see by1 it would be no shock to our reason to suppose that they might be extinguished with our extinction2 but1 grasping the truths of astronomy as they now lie in the brain of a master in science1 we can no longer think of ,god expelling our race from the joys of being and then quenching the splendors of his hall as an innkeeper blows out the lights when the dance is at an end4 ,god rules and over rules all1 and serenely works out his irresistible ends1 incapable of wrath or defeat4 ,would it be more incongruous for ,him to be angry with an ant hill and come down to trample it1 than to be so with the earth and appear in vindictive fire to annihilate it8 ,from time to time1 in the interests of the antiquated ideas1 doubts have been raised as to the validity of the doctrine of stellar worlds stocked with intellectual families4#cc ,hegel1 either imbued with that ,gnostic contempt and hatred for matter which described the earth as a dirt ball for the extrication of light spirits1 or from an obscure impulse of pantheistic thought1 sullies the stars with every demeaning phrase1 even stigmatizing them as pimples of light4 ,michelet1 a disciple of ,hegel1 followed his example1 and1 in a work published in #ahdj1 strove vigorously to aggrandize the earth and man at the expense of the accepted teachings of astronomy4#cd ,with argument and ridicule1 wit and reason1 he endeavored to make it out that the stars are no better than gleaming patches of vapor4 ,we are the exclusive autocrats of all immensity4 ,whewell has followed up this species of thought with quite remarkable adroitness1 force1 and brilliance4#ce ,whether his motive in this undertaking is purely scientific and artistic1 or whether he is impelled by a fancied religious animus1 having been bitten by some theological fear which has given him the astrophobia1 does not clearly appear4 #cb ,as specimens of the large number of treatises which have been published asserting the destruction of the whole creation in the ,day of ,judgment1 the following may be consulted4 ,osiander1 ,de ,consummatione ,saculi ,dissertationum ,pentus4 ,lund1 ,de ,excidio ,universi ,totali et ,substantiali4 ,frisch1 ,die ,welt im ,feuer1 oder das wahre ,vergehen und ,ende der ,welt durch den letzen ,sundenbrand4 ,for a century past the opinion has been gaining favor that the great catastrophe will be confined to our earth1 and that even this is not to be annihilated1 but to be transformed1 purged1 and beautified by the crisis4 ,see1 e4 g41 ,brumhey1 ,ueber die endliche ,umwandlung der ,erde durch ,feuer4 #cc ,kurtz1 ,bibel and ,astronomie4 ,simonton's ,eng4 trans41 ch4 vi4 sect4 #ad3 ,incarnation of ,god4 #cd ,vorlesungen uber die ewige ,personlichkeit des ,geistes4 #ce ,of a ,plurality of ,worlds3 ,an ,essay4 ,brewster has replied to ,whewell's disturbing essay in a volume which more commands our sympathies and carries our reason1 but is less sustained in force and less close in logic4#cf ,powell has still more recently published a very valuable treatise on the subject2#cg and with this work the discussion rests thus far1 leaving1 as we believe1 the popular faith in an astronomic universe of inhabited worlds unshaken1 however fatal the legitimate implications of that faith may be to other doctrines simultaneously held4#ch ,it is curious to observe the shifting positions taken up by skepticism in science1 now1 with powerful recoil from the narrow bigotries of theology1 eagerly embracing the sublimest dreams of astronomic speculation1 and now inclining to the faith that the remoter stars are but brilliant globules trickling from the poles of some terrible battery in the godless heights of space4 ,but if there be any thing sure in science at all1 it is that the material creation is inconceivably vast1 including innumerable systems1 and all governed by invariable laws4 ,but let us return from this episode4 ,the foregoing sixfold argument1 preserving us from the remorseless grasp of annihilation1 leaves to us unchanged the problem of the relations which shall be sustained by the disembodied soul to time and space1 the question as to the locality of the spirit world1 the scene of our future life4 ,sheol1 ,hades1 ,tartarus1 ,valhalla with its mead brimmed horns1 ,blessed ,isles1 ,elysium1 supernal ,olympus1 firmamental ,heaven1 paradisal ,eden1 definite sites of celestial ,worlds for departed souls1 the ,chaldee's golden orbs1 the ,sanscrit ,meru1 the ,indian ,hunting ,ground1 the ,moslem's love bowers1 and wine rivers1 and gem palaces thronged with dark eyed houris1 these notions1 and all similar ones1 of material residences for spirits1 located and bounded1 we must dismiss as dreams and cheats of the childish world's unripe fancy4 ,there is no evidence for any thing of that coarse1 crude sort4 ,the fictitious theological ,heaven is a deposit of imagination on the azure ground of infinity1 like a bird's nest on ,himalaya4 ,what1 then1 shall we say8 ,why1 in the first place1 that1 while there are reasons enough and room enough for an undisheartened faith in the grand fact of human immortality1 it is beyond our present powers to establish any detailed conclusions in regard to its locality or its scenery4 ,but surely1 in the second place1 we should say that it becomes us1 when reflecting on the scenes to be opened to us at death1 to rise to a more ideal and sublime view than any of those tangible figments which were the products of untrained sensual imagination and gross materialistic theory4 ,when the fleshly prison walls of the mind fall1 its first inheritance is a stupendous freedom4 ,the narrow limits that caged it here are gone1 and it lives in an ethereal sphere with no impeding bounds4 ,leaving its natal threshold of earth and the lazar house of time1 its home is immensity1 and its lease is eternity4 ,even in our present state1 to a true #cf ,more ,worlds than ,one the ,creed of the ,philosopher and the ,hope of the ,christian4 #cg ,essay on the ,unity or ,plurality of ,worlds4 ,see1 furthermore1 in ,westminster ,review1 ,july1 #aheh1 ,recent ,astronomy and the ,nebular ,hypothesis4 #ch ,volger1 ,erde and ,ewigkeit4 7,natural ,history of the ,earth as a ,periodical ,process of ,development in ,opposition to the ,unnatural ,geology of ,revolutions and ,catastrophes47 ,treise1 ,dag ,endlose der grossen und der kleinen materiellen ,welt4 thinker there is no ascent or descent or terminating wall in space1 but equal motion illimitably in all directions2 and no absolute standard of duration1 only a relative and variable one from the insect of an hour1 to man1 to an archangel1 to that incomprehensible ,being whose shortest moments are too vast to be noted by the awful nebula of the ,hour ,glass1 although its rushing sands are systems of worlds4 ,the soul emerges from earthly bondage emancipated into eternity1 while ,the ages sweep around him with their wings1 ,like anger'd eagles cheated of their prey4 ,we have now sufficient premonitions and examples of this wondrous enlargement to base a rational belief on4 ,what hems us in when we think1 feel1 and imagine8 ,and what is the heaven that shall dawn for us beyond the veil of death's domain but the realm of ,thought1 the sphere of the spirit's unhampered powers8 ,there are often vouchsafed to us here hours of outsoaring emotion and conception which make the enclosures in which the astronomer loiters seem narrow4 ,his skies are shoal1 and imagination1 like a thirsty traveller1 pants to be through their desert4 ,the roving mind impatiently bursts the fetters of astronomical orbits1 like cobwebs in a corner of its universe1 and launches itself to where distance fails to follow1 and law1 such as science has discovered1 grows weak and weary4 ,there are moods of spiritual expansion and infinite longing that illustrate the train of thought so well expressed in the following lines3 ,even as the dupe in tales ,arabian ,dipp'd but his brow beneath the beaker's brim1 ,and in that instant all the life of man ,from youth to age roll'd its slow years on him1 ,and1 while the foot stood motionless1 the soul ,swept with deliberate wing from pole to pole2 ,so when the man the ,grave's still portal passes1 ,closed on the substances or cheats of earth1 ,the ,immaterial1 for the things earth glasses1 ,shapes a new vision from the matter's dearth3 ,before the soul that sees not with our eyes ,the undefined ,immeasurable lies4 #ci ,then we realize that the spiritual world does not form some now unseen and distant region of the visible creation1 but that the astronomic universe is a speck lying in the invisible bosom of the spiritual world4 ,space is an attribute of ,god in which all matter is laid1 and other attributes he may have which are the home of mind and soul4 ,we suppose the difference between the present embodied and the future disembodied state to be so vast that the conditions of the latter cannot be intelligibly illustrated by the analogies of the former4 ,it is not to be expected that the human soul will ever be absolutely independent of time and space1 literally transcending them1 but only relatively so as compared with its earthly predicament4 #ci ,bulwer1 ,king ,arthur1 book xi4 ,for1 as an able thinker and writer a philosopher of the ,swedenborgian school1 too has said1 ,the conception of a mind absolutely sundered from all connection with space is a mere pretence which words necessarily repudiate4 ,the soul on the hypothesis that there is a soul is now in the body4 ,evidently1 on leaving the body1 it must either be nowhere1 and that is annihilation1 which the vehement totality of our thought denies2 or everywhere1 and that implies infinity1 the loss of finite being in boundless ,deity1 a conclusion which we know of nothing to warrant2 or somewhere1 and that predicates a surviving individuality related to surrounding externals1 which is the prophesied and satisfactory result in which we rest in faith1 humbly confessing our ignorance as to all the minutia4 ,it does not necessarily follow from this view1 however1 that the soul is limited to a fixed region in space4 ,it may have the freedom of the universe4 ,more wonders1 and sublimer than mortal fancies have ever suspected1 are waiting to be revealed when we die3 ,for this life is but being's first faint ray1 ,and heaven on heaven make up ,god's dazzling day4 ,we are here living unconsciously engirt by another universe than the senses can apprehend1 thinly veiled1 but real1 and waiting for us with hospitable invitation4 ,what are those dream like and inscrutable thoughts which start up in moments of stillness1 apparently as from the deeps1 like the movement of the leaves during a silent night1 in prognostic of the breeze that has yet scarce come1 if not the rustlings of schemes and orders of existence near though unseen8 ,perchance the range of the abode and destiny of the soul after death is all immensity4 ,the interstellar spaces1 which we usually fancy are barren deserts where nonentity reigns1 may really be the immortal kingdom colonized by the spirits who since the beginning of the creation have sailed from the mortal shores of all planets4 ,they may be the crowded aisles of the universal temple trod by bright throngs of worshipping angels4 ,the soul's home1 the heaven of ,god1 may be suffused throughout the material universe1 ignoring the existence of physical globes and galaxies4 ,so light and electricity pervade some solid bodies1 as if for them there were no solidity4 ,so1 doubtless1 there are millions of realities around us utterly eluding our finest senses4 ,a fact1 ,emerson says1 is the last issue of spirit1 and not its entire extent4 ,the visible creation is the terminus of the invisible world1 and not the totality of the universe4 ,there are gradations of matter and being1 from the rock to the flower1 from the vegetable to man4 ,is it most probable that the scale breaks abruptly there1 or that other ranks of spiritual existence successively rise peopling the seeming abysses unto the very confines of ,god8 ,can every leaf a teeming world contain1 ,can every globule gird a countless race1 ,yet one death slumber in its dreamless reign ,clasp all the illumed magnificence of space8 ,life crowd a grain1 from air's vast realms effaced8 ,the leaf a world1 the firmament a waste8 ,an honest historical criticism forces us1 however reluctantly1 to loose our hold from the various supposed localities of the soul's destination1 which have pleased the fancies and won the assent of mankind in earlier times4 ,but it cannot touch the simple and cardinal fact of an immortal life for man4 ,it merely forces us to acknowledge that while the fact stands clear and authoritative to instinct1 reason1 and faith1 yet the how1 and the where1 and all such problems1 are wrapped in unfathomable mystery4 ,we are to obey and hope1 not dissect and dogmatize4 ,however the fantastic dreams of the imagination and the subtle speculations of the intellect may shift from time to time1 and be routed and vanish1 the deep yearning of the heart remains the same1 the divine polarity of the reason changes not1 and men will never cease fondly to believe that although they cannot tell where heaven is1 yet surely there is a heaven reserved for them somewhere within the sheltering embrace of ,god's infinite providence4 ,we may not say of that kingdom1 ,lo1 here6 or ,lo1 there6 but it is wherever ,god's approving presence extends3 and is that not wherever the pure in heart are found8 #dj ,let every elysian clime the breezes blow over1 every magic isle the waves murmur round1 every subterranean retreat fancy has devised1 every cerulean region the moon visits1 every planet that hangs afar on the neck of night1 be disenchanted of their imaginary charms1 and brought1 by the advance of discovery1 within the relentless light of familiarity1 for the common gaze of fleshly eyes and tread of vulgar feet1 still the prophetic ,,mind would not be robbed of its belief in immortality2 still the unquenchable instincts of the ,,heart would retain1 uninjured1 the great expectation of ,,another ,,world1 although no traveller returns from its voiceless bourne to tell in what local direction it lies1 no voyager comes back from its mystic port to describe its latitude and longitude on the chartless infinite of space4 ,turn we now from the lateral distribution of notions as to a future life1 to their lineal development4 ,we have seen that the development of belief as to the locality of our future destination has been a chase of places1 over the earth1 under the earth1 through the sky1 as fast as the unknown was brought within the known1 until it has stopped at the verge of the unknowable4 ,there we stand1 confessing our inability to fix the scene4 ,the doctrine of the conditions and contents of the future life has followed the same course as that of its locality4 ,in the first stage of belief the future life consists of the gross conditions and materials of the known present reflected1 under the impulse of the senses1 into the unknown future4 ,this style of faith prevailed for a vast period1 and is not yet obsolete4 ,when the ,king of ,dahomey has done a great feat1 he kills a man to carry the tidings to the ghost of his royal father4 ,when he dies himself1 a host are killed1 that he may enter ,deadland with a becoming cortege4 ,his wives also are slain1 or commit suicide1 that they may rejoin him4 ,the second stage of belief is reached when1 under the ethical impulse1 only certain refined elements of the present1 discriminated portions of the products of reason1 imagination and sentiment1 are reflected into the future1 and accepted as the facts of the life there4 ,critical processes1 applied to thought and faith1 cause the rejection of much that was received4 ,that alone which answers to our wants1 and has coherence1 continues to be held #dj ,chalmers1 ,sermon1 ,heaven a ,character and not a ,locality4 as truth4 ,an example is afforded by ,augustine in his essay1 ,de ,libero ,arbitrio4 ,he argues that the wicked are kept in being on the out skirts of the material universe2 partly wretched1 partly happy2 too bad for heaven1 too good for annihilation2 incapable of attaining the summit of their beatified destiny4 ,not the crude reflection of the present state1 but a criticized and purged portion of the results of speculation on it1 is thrown forward1 and composes the doctrine of the future life4 ,this is the condition of faith in which civilized mankind1 for the most part1 now are4 ,the third stage of development is that wherein the thinker perceives that it is illegitimate to reflect into the future any of the realities or relations of the present1 and then to regard them as the truths of the experience which awaits him after death4 ,his experience here is the resultant of his faculties as related to the universe4 ,destroy his organization1 and what follows8 ,one will say1 ,nonentity4 ,another1 more wise and modest1 will say1 ,something necessarily unknown as yet4 ,we have no better right to project into the ideal space of futurity the ingredients of our thoughts than we have to project there the objects of our senses4 ,bunsen1 whose thought and scholarship included pretty much all the knowledge of mankind1 represents this stage of faith4 ,he stands on the religious side of the movement of ,science1 believing in immortality without defining it4 ,comte stands on the positivist side1 blankly denying all objective immortality4 ,these two represent the results in which1 advancing from its opposite sides1 the logical development of the doctrine of a future life ends4 ,with ,comte1 atheistic dogmatism crushing every eternal hope2 with ,bunsen1 ,christian faith pointing the child to an eternal home in the ,father4 ,for all but fetichistic minds the only choice lies between these two4 ,the organic evolution of the doctrine of a life to come is1 therefore1 a process of faith beginning with the crude transference of the elements of the present into the future1 continuing with refined modifications of that transference1 ending with an entire cessation of it as inapplicable and incompetent4 ,having examined all the historic1 experimental1 and scientific data within our reach1 we pause on the edge of the ,,part which we know1 and wait1 with serene trust1 though with bowed head and silent lip1 before the ,,unknowable ,,whole4 ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,critical ,,history ,,of ,,disbelief ,,in ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,if the first men were conscious spirits who1 at the command of ,god1 dropped from the skies into organic forms of matter1 or who were created here on an exalted plane of insight and communion far above any thing now experienced by us1 then the destination of man to a life after death may originally have been a fact of direct knowledge1 universally seen and grasped without any obscuring peradventure4 ,from that state it gradually declined into dubious dimness as successive generations grew sinful1 sensual1 hardened1 immersed and bound in affairs of passion and earth4 ,it became remoter1 assumed a questionable aspect1 gave rise to discussions and doubts1 and here and there to positive disbelief and open denial4 ,thus1 beginning as a clear reality within the vision of all1 it sank into a matter of uncertain debate among individuals4 ,but if the first men were called up into being from the earth1 by the creative energy of ,god1 as the distinct climax of the other species1 then the early generations of our race1 during the long ages of their wild and slowly ameliorating state1 were totally ignorant of any conscious sequel to the fate seemingly closed in death4 ,they were too animal and rude yet to conceive a spiritual existence outside of the flesh and the earth4 ,among the accumulating trophies of their progressive intellectual conquests hung up by mankind in the historic hall of experience1 this marvellous achievement is one of the sublimest4 ,what a day was that for all humanity forever after1 when for the first time1 on some climbing brain1 dawned from the great ,sun of the spirit world the idea of a personal immortality6 ,it was announced4 ,it dawned separately wherever there were prepared persons4 ,it spread from soul to soul1 and became the common faith of the world4 ,still1 among every people there were pertinacious individuals1 who swore not by the judge and went not with the multitude1 persons of less credulous hearts and more skeptical faculties1 who demurred at the great doctrine1 challenged it in many particulars1 gainsaid it on various grounds1 disbelieved it from different motives1 and fought it with numerous weapons4 ,whichever of the foregoing suppositions be adopted1 that the doctrine of a future life subsided from universal acceptance into party contention1 or that it arose at length from personal perception and authority into common credit1 the fact remains equally prominent and interesting that throughout the traceable history of human opinion there is a line of dissenters who have thought death the finality of man1 and the next world an illusion4 ,the history of this special department of thought opens a wide and fertile subject4 ,to gain a comprehensive survey of its boundaries and a compact epitome of its contents1 it will be well to consider it in these two lights and divisions1 all the time trying to see1 step by step1 what justice1 and what injustice1 is done3 first1 the dominant motive forces animating the disbelievers2 secondly1 the methods and materials they have employed4 ,at first thought it would appear difficult to tell what impulses could move persons to undertake1 as many constantly have undertaken1 a crusade against a faith so dear to man1 so ennobling to his nature4 ,peruse the pages of philosophical history with careful reflection1 and the mystery is scattered1 and various groups of disbelievers stand revealed1 with earnest voices and gestures assailing the doctrine of a future life4#a ,one company1 having their representatives in every age1 reject it as a protest in behalf of the right of private judgment against the tyranny of authority4 ,the doctrine has been inculcated by priesthoods1 embodied in sacred books1 and wrought into the organic social life of states2 and acceptance of it has been commanded as a duty1 and expected as a decent and respectable thing4 ,to deny it has required courage1 implied independent opinions1 and conferred singularity4 ,to cast off the yoke of tradition1 undermine the basis of power supporting a galling religious tyranny1 and be marked as a rebellious freethinker in a generation of slavish conformists1 this motive could scarcely fail to exhibit results4 ,some of the radical revolutionists of the present time say that the doctrine of the divine right of kings and the infallible authority of the priesthood is the living core of the power of tyranny in the world4 ,they therefore deny ,god and futurity in order to overthrow their oppressors1 who reign over them and prey upon them in the name of ,god and the pretended interests of a future life4#b ,the true way to secure the real desideratum corruptly indicated in this movement is not by denying the reality of a future life1 but by removing the adjustment of its conditions and the administration of its rewards and penalties out of the hands of every clique of priests and rulers4 ,a righteously and benignly ordered immortality1 based in truth and adjudicated by the sole sovereignty of ,god1 is no engine of oppression1 though a doctrine of heaven and hell irresponsibly managed by an ,orphic association1 the guardians of a ,delphic tripod1 the owners of a secret confessional1 or the interpreters of an exclusive creed1 may be4 ,in a matter of such grave importance1 that searching and decisive discrimination1 so rare when the passions get enlisted1 is especially needed4 ,because a doctrine is abused by selfish tyrants is no reason for supposing the doctrine itself either false or injurious4 ,no little injury has been done to the common faith in a future life1 great disbelief has been provoked unwittingly1 by writers who have sought to magnify the importance of revealed religion at the expense of natural religion4 ,many such persons have labored to show that all the scientific1 philosophical1 and moral arguments for immortality are worthless1 the teachings and resurrection of ,christ1 the revealed word of ,god1 alone possessing any validity to establish that great truth4 ,an accomplished author says1 in a recent work1 ,the immortality of the soul cannot be proved without the aid of revelation4 #c ,bishop ,courtenay published1 a few years since1 a most deliberate and unrelenting attack upon the arguments for the deathlessness of the soul1 seeking with persevering remorselessness to demolish every one of them1 and to prove that man totally perishes1 but will be restored to life at the second coming of ,christ4#d ,there can scarcely be a question that such statements usually awaken and confirm a deep skepticism as to a future life1 instead of enhancing a grateful estimate of the gospel4 #a ,j4 ,a4 ,luther1 ,recensetur numerus eorum1 qui immortalitatem inficiati sunt4 #b ,schmidt1 ,geschichte der ,deutschen ,literatur im neunzehnten ,jahrhundert1 band iii4 kap4 iv43 ,der philosophische ,radicalismus4 #c ,bowen1 ,metaphysical and ,ethical ,science1 part ii4 ch4 ix4 ,the ,future ,states3 ,their ,evidences and ,nature considered on ,principles ,physical1 ,moral1 and ,scriptural1 with the ,design of ,showing the ,value of the ,gospel ,revelation4 ,if man is once annihilated1 it is hardly credible that he will be identically restored4 ,such a stupendous and arbitrary miracle clashes with the continuity of the universe1 and staggers rather than steadies faith4 ,we should beg such volunteers however sincere and good their intentions to withhold the impoverishing gift of their service4 ,and when kindred reasonings are advanced by such men as the unbelieving ,hume1 we feel tempted to say1 in the language of a distinguished divine speaking on this very point1 ,ah1 gentlemen1 we understand you3 you belong to the sappers and miners in the army of the aliens6 ,another party of disbelievers have repudiated the whole conception of a future state as a protest against the nonsense and cruelty associated with it in the prevailing superstitions and dogmatisms of their time4 ,from the beginning of history in most nations1 the details of another existence and its conditions have been furnished to the eager credulity of the people by the lawless fancies of poets1 the fine spinning brains of metaphysicians1 and the cold blooded calculations or hot headed zeal of sectarian leaders4 ,of course a mass of absurdities would grow up around the central germ and a multitude of horrors sprout forth4 ,while the common throng would unquestioningly receive all these ridiculous and revolting particulars1 they could not but provoke doubt1 satire1 flat rejection1 from the bolder and keener wits4 ,so we find it was in ,greece4 ,the fables about the under world the ferriage over the ,styx1 poor ,tantalus so torturingly mocked1 the daughters of ,danaus drawing water in sieves all were accredited by the general crowd on one extreme4#e ,on the other extreme the whole scheme1 root and branch1 was flung away with scorn4 ,the following epitaph on an unbeliever is attributed to ,callimachus4 ,o ,charidas1 what are the things below8 ,vast darkness4 ,and what the returns to earth8 ,a falsehood4 ,and ,pluto8 ,a fable4 ,we have perished3 this is my true speech to you2 but1 if you want the flattering style1 the ,pellaan's great ox is in the shades4#f ,meanwhile1 a few judicious mediators1 neither swallowing the whole gross draught at a gulp1 nor throwing the whole away with utter disgust1 drank through the strainer of a discriminative interpretation4 ,because caprice1 hatred1 and favoritism are embalmed in some perverse doctrine of future punishment is no defensible reason for denying a righteous retribution4 ,because heaven has been located on a hill top1 and its sublime denizens made to eat ambrosia and sometimes to fall out among themselves1 is no adequate reason for rejecting the idea of a heavenly life4 ,puerilities of fancy and monstrosities of passion arbitrarily connected with principles claiming to be eternal truths should be carefully separated1 and not the whole be despised and trodden on together4 ,from lack of this analysis and discrimination1 in the presence of abnormal excrescences and offensive secretions dislike and disbelief have often flourished where1 if judicial thought and conscience had cut off the imposed deformities #e ,plutarch1 ,de ,superstition4 ,the reality of the popular credulity and terror in later ,rome clearly appears from the fact that ,marcus ,aurelius had a law passed condemning to banishment those who do any thing through which men's excitable minds are alarmed by a superstitious fear of the ,deity4 ,nero1 after murdering his mother1 haunted by her ghost and tortured by the ,furies1 attempted by magical rites to bring up her shade from below1 and soften her vindictive wrath ,suetonius1 ,vita ,neronis1 cap4 xxxiv4 #f ,epigram4 ,,xiv4 and dispelled the discoloring vengeance1 faith and love would have been confirmed in contemplating the pure and harmonious form of doctrine left exposed in the beauty of benignant truth4 ,the aim ostensibly proposed by ,lucretius1 in his elaborate and masterly exposition of the ,epicurean philosophy1 is to free men from their absurd belief in childish legends and their painful fears of death and hell4 ,as far as merely this purpose is concerned1 he might have accomplished it as effectually1 perhaps1 and more directly1 by exposing the adventitious errors without assailing the great doctrine around which they had been gathered4 ,bion the ,borysthenite is reported by ,diogenes ,laertius to have said1 with a sharp humor1 that the souls below would be more punished by carrying water in whole buckets than in such as had been bored6 ,a soul may pass into the unseen state though there be no ,plutonian wherry1 suffer woe though there be no river ,pyriphlegethon1 enjoy bliss though there be no cup of nectar borne by ,hebe4 ,but to fly to rash extremes and build positive conclusions on mere ignorance has always been natural to man1 not only as a believer1 but also as an iconoclastic denier4 ,a third set of disbelievers in a future life consists of those who advocate the emancipation of the flesh and assert the sufficiency of this life when fully enjoyed4 ,they attack the dogma of immortality as the essential germ of asceticism1 and abjure it as a protest against that superstitious distrust and gloom which put a ban on the pleasures of the world4 ,these are the earthlings who would fain displace the stern law of self denial with the bland permission of self indulgence1 rehabilitate the senses1 feed every appetite full1 and1 when satiated of the banquet of existence1 fall asleep under the table of the earth4 ,the countenance of ,duty1 severe daughter of ,god1 looks commands upon them to turn from dallying ease and luxury1 to sacrifice the meaner inclinations1 to gird themselves for an arduous race through difficulties1 to labor and aspire evermore towards the highest and the best4 ,they prefer to install in her stead ,aphrodite crowned with ,paphian roses1 her eyes aglow with the light of misleading stars1 her charms bewitching them with fatal enchantments and melting them in softest joys4 ,the pale face of ,death1 with mournful eyes1 lurks at the bottom of every winecup and looks out from behind every garland2 therefore brim the purple beaker higher and hide the unwelcome intruder under more flowers4 ,we are a cunning mixture of sense and dust1 and life is a fair but swift opportunity4 ,make haste to get the utmost pleasure out of it ere it has gone1 scorning every pretended bond by which sour ascetics would restrain you and turn your days into penitential scourges4 ,this gospel of the senses had a swarm of apostles in the last century in ,france1 when the chief gates of the cemetery in ,paris bore the inscription1 ,death is an eternal sleep4 ,it has had more in ,germany in this century2 and voices of enervating music are not wanting in our own literature to swell its siren chorus4#g ,perhaps the greatest prophet it has had was ,heine1 whose pages reek with a fragrance of pleasure through which sighs1 like a fading wail from the solitary string of a deserted harp struck by a lonesome breeze1 the perpetual refrain of death6 death6 death6 ,his motto seems to be1 ,quick6 let me #g ,pierer1 ,universal ,lexikon1 dritte ,auflage1 ,deutsche ,literatur1 sect4 #db4 ,schmidt1 ,geschichte der ,deutschen ,literatur im neuntzehnten ,jahrhundert1 band iii3 kap4 i43 ,das junge ,deutschland4 enjoy what there is2 for ,i must die4 ,oh1 the gusty relish of life6 ,oh1 the speechless mystery1 the infinite reality1 of death6 ,he says himself1 comparing the degradation of his later experience with the soaring enthusiasm of his youth1 ,it is as if a star had fallen from heaven upon a hillock of muck1 and swine were gnawing at it6 ,these men think that the doctrine of a future life1 like a great magnet1 has drawn the needle of human activity out of its true direction2 that the dominant tendency of the present age is1 and of right ought to be1 towards the attainment of material well being1 in a total forgetfulness to lay up treasures in heaven4 ,the end is enjoyment2 the obstacle1 asceticism2 the means to secure the end1 the destruction of faith in immortality1 so that man1 having nothing left but this world1 will set himself to improve and enjoy it4 ,the monkish severity of a morbid and erroneous theology1 darkening the present and prescribing pain in it to brighten the future and increase its pleasures1 legitimates an earnest reaction4 ,but that reaction should be wise1 measured by truth4 ,it should rectify1 not demolish1 the prevailing faith4 ,for the desired end is most likely to be reached by perceiving1 not that all terminates in the grave1 but that the greatest enjoyment flows from a self controlling devotedness to noble ends1 that the claims of another life are in perfect unison with the interests of this life1 that the lawful fruition of every function of human nature1 each lower faculty being subordinated to each higher one1 and the highest always reigning1 at once yields the most immediate pleasure and makes the completest preparation for the hereafter4 ,in the absence of the all irradiating sun of immortality1 these disbelievers1 exulting over the pale taper of sensual pleasure1 remind us of a parcel of apes gathered around a cold glow worm and rejoicing that they have found a fire in the damp1 chilly night4 ,besides the freethinkers1 who will not yield to authority1 but insist upon standing apart from the crowd1 and the satirists1 who level their shafts undiscriminatingly against what they perceive associated with absurdity1 and the worldlings1 who prefer the pleasures of time to the imaginarily contrasted goods of eternity1 there is a fourth class of men who oppose the doctrine of a personal immortality as a protest against the burdensome miseries of individuality4 ,the ,gipseys exclaimed to ,borrow1 ,what6 is it not enough to have borne the wretchedness of this life1 that we must also endure another8 #h ,a feeling of the necessary limitations and suffering exposures of a finite form of being has for untold ages harassed the great nations of the ,east with painful unrest and wondrous longing4 ,pantheistic absorption to lose all imprisoning bounds1 and blend in that ecstatic flood of ,deity which1 forever full1 never ebbs on any coast has been equally the metaphysical speculation1 the imaginative dream1 and the passionate desire1 of the ,hindu mind4 ,it is the basis and motive of the most extensive disbelief of individual immortality the world has known4 ,the violence of fruition in these foul puddles of flesh and blood presently glutteth with satiety1 and the mortal circuits of earth and time are a round of griefs and pangs from which they would escape into the impersonal ,godhead4 ,sheerly against this lofty strain of poetic souls is that grovelling life of ignorance which1 dominated by selfish instincts1 crawling on brutish grounds1 #h ,the ,zincali1 part ii4 ch4 i4 cannot awaken the creative force of spiritual wants slumbering within1 nor lift its head high enough out of the dust to see the stars of a deathless destiny2 and a fifth group of disbelievers deny immortality because their degraded experience does not prophesy it4 ,many a man might say1 with ,autolycus1 ,for the life to come1 ,i sleep out the thought of it4 ,a mind holy and loving1 communing with ,god and an ideal world1 lighted up as a spar grot with pure feelings and divine truths1 is mirrored full of incorporeal shapes of angels1 and aware of their immaterial disentanglement and eternity4 ,a brain surcharged with fires of hatred1 drowsed with filthy drugs1 and drenched with drunkenness1 will teem1 on the contrary1 with vermin writhing in the meshes of decaying matter4 ,cleaving to evanescent things1 men feel that they are passing away like leaves on waves2 filled with convictions rooted and breathing in eternity1 they feel that they shall abide in serene survival1 like stars above tempests4 ,turn from every obscene sight1 curb every base propensity1 obey every heavenly vision by assimilation of immortal things1 sacred self denials and toils1 disinterested sympathies and hopes1 accumulate divine treasures and kindle the mounting flame of a divine life1 and at the same time consciousness will crave and faith behold an illimitable destiny4 ,experiences worthy of being eternal generate faith in their own eternity4 ,but the ignorant and selfish sensualist1 whose total experience is of the earth earthy1 who has no realization of pure truth1 goodness1 beauty1 is incapable of sincere faith in immortal life4 ,the dormancy of his higher powers excludes the necessary conditions of such a faith4 ,his ignoble bodily life does not furnish the conscious basis and prophecy of a glorious spiritual life1 but shudderingly proclaims the cessation of all his experience with the destruction of his senses4 ,the termination of all the functions he knows1 what else can it be but his virtual annihilation8 ,when to the privative degradations of an uncultivated and earthy experience1 naturally accompanied by a passive unbelief in immortality1 are added the positive coarseness and guilt of a thick insensibility and a wicked life1 aggressive disbelief is quite likely to arise1 the essay of an uneasy conscience to slay what it feels would be a foe1 and strangle the worm that never dies4 ,the denial springing from such sources is refuted when it is explained4 ,its motive should never by any man be yielded to1 much less be willingly nourished4 ,it should be resisted by a devout culture courting the smiles of ,god1 by rising into the loftier airs of meditation and duty1 by imaginative sentiment and practical philanthropy1 until the eternal instinct1 long smothered under sluggish loads of sense and sin1 reached by a soliciting warmth from heaven1 stirs with demonstrating vitality4 ,the last and largest assemblage of dissenters from the prevailing opinion on this subject comprises those who utter their disbelief in a future existence out of simple loyalty to seeming truth1 as a protest against what they think a false doctrine1 and against the sophistical and defective arguments by which it has been propped4 ,it may be granted that the five previously named classes are equally sincere in their convictions1 honest assailants of error and adherents of truth2 but they are actuated by animating motives of a various moral character4 ,in the present case1 the ruling motive is purely a determination1 as ,buchner says1 to stand by the facts and to establish the correct doctrine4 ,the directest and clearest way of giving a descriptive account of the active philosophical history of this class of disbelievers will be to follow on the lines of their tracks with statements and criticisms of their procedures4#i ,disbelief in the doctrine of a future life for man has planted itself upon bold affirmation1 and fortified itself with arguments which may most conveniently be considered under five distinct heads4 ,first is the sensational ,argument from ,appearance4 ,in death the visible functions cease1 the organism dissolves1 the mind disappears2 there is apparently a total scattering and end of the individual4 ,that these phenomena should suggest the thought of annihilation is inevitable2 to suppose that they prove the fact is absurd4 ,it is an arrant begging of the question2 for the very problem is1 ,does not an invisible spiritual entity survive the visible material disintegration8 ,among the unsound and superstitious attempts to prove the fact of a future life is that founded on narratives of ghosts1 appearances and visions of the dead4 ,dr4 ,tafel published at ,tubingen in #ahec a volume aiming to demonstrate the immortality and personal identity of the soul by citation of ninety cases of supernatural appearances1 extending from the history of the ghost whose address to ,curtius ,rufus is recorded by ,tacitus1 to the wonderful story told by ,renatus ,luderitz in #ahcg4 ,such efforts are worse than vain4 ,their data are so explicable in many cases1 and so inconclusive in all1 that they quite naturally provoke deeper disbelief and produce telling retorts4 ,while here and there a credulous person is convinced of a future life by the asserted appearance of a spirit1 the well informed psychologist refers the argument to the laws of insanity and illusions1 and the skeptic adds as a finality his belief that there is no future life1 because no ghost has ever come back to reveal and certify it4 ,the argument on both sides is equally futile1 and removed from the true requisitions of the problem4 ,to the philosophical thinker a mere appearance is scarcely a presumption in favor of a conclusion in accordance with it4 ,science and experience are full of examples exposing the nullity or the falsity of appearances4 ,the sun seems to move around the earth2 but truth contradicts it4 ,we seem to discern distances and the forms of bodies by direct sight2 but the truth is we see nothing but shades and colors3 all beyond is inference based on acquired experience4 ,the first darkness would seem to the trembling contemplator absolutely to blot out the universe2 but in truth it only prevented him from seeing it4 ,the first thorough unconscious sleep would seem to be the hopeless destruction of the soul in its perfect oblivion4 ,death is forever for the first time1 shrouded in the misleading obscurities of an unknown novelty4 ,appearances are often deceitful1 yielding obvious clews only to mistakes and falsehoods4 ,they are always superficial1 furnishing no reliable evidence of the reality4 ,who could have thought such darkness lay conceal'd ,within thy beams1 ,o ,sun6 ,or who could find1 ,whilst fly and leaf and insect stood reveal'd1 ,that to such countless orbs thou mad'st us blind8 ,why then do we shun death with anxious strife8 ,if light can thus deceive1 wherefore not life8 #i ,spazier1 ,antiphadon1 oder ,prufung einiger ,hauptbeweise fur die ,einfachheit und ,unsterblichkeit der menschlichen ,seele4 ,when the body dies1 the mind is no longer manifested through it4 ,that is all we immediately know by perception4 ,the inference that the mind has therefore ceased to be at all1 is a mere supposition4 ,it may still live and act1 independently of the body4 ,an outside phenomenon can prove nothing here4 ,we must by some psychological probe pierce to the core of the being and discern1 as there concealed1 the central interpretation of truth1 or else1 in want of this1 turn from these surface shadows and seek the solution in some other province4 ,millions of appearances being opposed to the truth or inadequate to hint it1 we must never implicitly trust their suggestions4 ,what microscope can reveal the organic life in a kernel of corn1 and show that through the decay of that kernel a stalk will spring up and bear a thousand kernels more8 ,but if a new mental life emerges from the dying form of man1 it lies in a spiritual realm whereinto we have no instruments to gaze4 ,every existent thing has its metes and limits4 ,in fact1 the only final weapon and fort of a thing is its environing limitation4 ,it goes into nothing if that be taken down1 the atheist says2 into infinity1 the mystic says4 ,the mistake and difficulty lie in discerning what the last wall around the essence is4 ,the universe is the body of our body4 ,the boundary of our life is boundless life4 ,schlegel has somewhere asked the question1 ,is life in us1 or are we in life8 ,because man appears to be wholly extinguished in death1 we have no right whatever in reason to conclude that he really is so4 ,the star which seemed to set in the western grave of aged and benighted time1 we1 soon coming round east to the true spirit sky1 may discern bright in the morning forehead of eternity4 ,there can be no safe reasoning from the outmost husk and phenomenon of a thing to its inmost essence and result4 ,and1 in spite of any possible amount of appearance1 man himself may pass distinct and whole into another sphere of being when his flesh falls to dust4 ,that science should search in vain with her finest glasses to discern a royal occupant reigning in the purple chambered palace of the heart1 or to trace any such mysterious tenant departing in sudden horror from the crushed and bleeding house of life1 belongs to the necessary conditions of the subject2 for spirit can only be spiritually discerned4 ,as well might you seek to smell a color1 or taste a sound1 tie a knot of water1 or braid a cord of wind4 ,next comes the abstract ,argument from ,speculative ,philosophy4 ,under this head are to be included all those theories which deny the soul to be a spiritual entity1 but reduce it to an atomic arrangement1 or a dependent attribute1 or a process of action4 ,heracleitus held that the soul was fire3 of course1 when the fuel was exhausted the fire would go out4 ,thales taught that it was water3 this might all evaporate away4 ,anaximenes affirmed that it was air1 of which all things were formed by rarefaction and condensation3 on such a supposition it could have no permanent personal identity4 ,critias said it was blood3 this might degenerate and lose its nature1 or be poured out on the ground4 ,leucippus maintained that it was a peculiar concourse of atoms3 as these came together1 so they might fly apart and there be an end of what they formed4 ,the followers of ,aristotle asserted that it was a fifth unknown substance1 with properties of its own1 unlike those of fire1 air1 water1 and earth4 ,this might be mortal or immortal3 there was nothing decisive in the conception or the defining terms to prove which it was4 ,accordingly1 the ,peripatetic school has always been divided on the question of the immortality of the soul1 from the time of its founder's immediate disciples to this day4 ,it cannot be clearly shown what the mighty ,stagyrite's own opinion really was4 ,speculative conceptions as to the nature of the soul like the foregoing1 when advanced as arguments to establish its proper mortality1 are destitute of force1 because they are gratuitous assumptions4 ,they are not generalizations based on careful induction of facts2 they are only arbitrary hypotheses4 ,furthermore1 they are inconsistent both with the facts and phenomena of experience4 ,mind cannot fairly be brought into the category of the material elements2 for it has properties and performs functions emphatically distinguishing it from every thing else1 placing it in a rank by itself1 with exclusive predicates of its own4 ,can fire think8 ,can water will8 ,can air feel8 ,can blood see8 ,can a mathematical number tell the difference between good and evil8 ,can earth be jealous of a rival and loyal to a duty8 ,can a ganglion solve a problem in ,euclid or understand the ,theodicee of ,leibnitz8 ,it is absurd to confound things so distinct4 ,mind is mind1 and matter is matter2 and though we are now consciously acquainted with them only in their correlation1 yet there is as much reason for supposing that the former survives the close of that correlation as for supposing that the latter does4 ,true1 we perceive the material remaining and do not perceive the spirit4 ,yes2 but the differentiation of the two is exactly this1 that one is appreciable by the senses1 while the other transcends and baffles them4 ,it is absolutely inconceivable in imagination1 wholly incredible to reason1 intrinsically nonsensical every way1 that a shifting concourse of atoms1 a plastic arrangement of particles1 a regular succession of galvanic shocks1 a continuous series of nervous currents1 or any thing of the sort1 should constitute the reality of a human soul1 the process of a human life1 the accumulated treasures of a human experience1 all preserved at command and traversed by the moral lines of personal identity4 ,the things lie in different spheres and are full of incommunicable contrasts4 ,however numerously and intimately correlated the physical and psychical constituents of man are1 yet1 so far as we can know any thing about them1 they are steeply opposed to each other both in essence and function4 ,otherwise consciousness is mendacious and language is unmeaning4 ,a recent able author speaks of that congeries of organs whose union forms the brain and whose action constitutes the mind4 #aj ,the mind1 then1 is an action6 ,can an action love and hate1 choose and resolve1 rejoice and grieve1 remember1 repent1 and pray8 ,is not an agent necessary for an action8 ,all such speculative conceptions as to the nature of soul as make it purely phenomenal are to be offset1 if they can be1 by the view which exhibits the personal ego or conscious selfhood of the soul1 not as an empty spot in which a swarm of relations centre as their goal point1 but as an indestructible monad1 the innermost and substantial essence and cause of the organization1 the self apprehending and unchangeable axis of all thinking and acting4 ,some of the most free1 acute1 learned1 wise1 and powerful thinkers of the world have been champions of this doctrine2 especially among the moderns may be named ,leibnitz1 ,herbart1 ,goethe1 and ,hartenstein4 ,jacobi most earnestly maintained it both against ,mendelssohn and against ,fichte4 #aj ,bucknill and ,tuke1 ,psychological ,medicine1 p4 #cga4 ,that the mind is a substantial entity1 and therefore may be conceived as immortal1 that it is not a mere functional operation accompanying the organic life1 a phantom procession of conscious states filing off on the stage of the cerebrum in a dead march of mere effects1 that it is not1 as old ,aristoxenus dreamed1 merely a harmony resulting from the form and nature of the body in the same way that a tune springs from the consenting motions of a musical instrument1 seems to be shown by facts of which we have direct knowledge in consciousness4 ,we think that the mind is an independent force1 dealing with intellectual products1 weighing opposing motives1 estimating moral qualities1 resisting some tendencies1 strengthening others1 forming resolves1 deciding upon its own course of action and carrying out its chosen designs accordingly4 ,if the soul were a mere process1 it could not pause in mid career1 select from the mass of possible considerations those adapted to suppress a base passion or to kindle a generous sentiment1 deliberately balance rival solicitations1 and1 when fully satisfied1 proceed4 ,yet all this it is constantly doing4 ,so1 if the soul were but a harmony1 it would give no sounds contrary to the affections of the lyre it comes from4 ,but actually it resists the parts of the instrument from which they say it subsists1 exercising dominion over them1 punishing some1 persuading others1 and ruling the desires1 angers1 and fears1 as if itself of a different nature4#aa ,until an organ is seen to blow its own bellows1 mend its shattered keys1 move its pedals1 and play1 with no foreign aid1 ,i know that my ,redeemer liveth1 or a violin tunes up its discordant strings and wields its bow in a spontaneous performance of the ,carnival1 showing us every ,cremona as its own ,paganini1 we may1 despite the conceits of speculative disbelief1 hold that the mind is a dynamic personal entity4 ,that thought is the very latch string of a new world's wicket4 ,thirdly1 we have the fanciful ,argument from ,analogy4 ,the keen champions of disbelief1 with their athletic agility of dialectics1 have made terrible havoc among the troops of poetic arguments from resemblance1 drawn up to sustain the doctrine of immortality4 ,they have exposed the feebleness of the argument for our immortality from the wonderful workmanship and costliness of human nature1 on the ground that what requires the most pains and displays the most skill and genius in its production is the most lovingly preserved4 ,for ,god organizes the mind of a man just as easily as he constructs the geometry of a diamond4 ,his omnipotent attributes are no more enlisted in the creation of the intelligence of an elephant or the gratitude of a soul than they are in the fabrication of the wing of a gnat or the fragrance of a flower4 ,infinite wisdom and power are equally implied in each and in all4 ,they have shown the gross defectiveness of the comparison of the butterfly and psyche4 ,the butterfly1 lying in the caterpillar neatly folded up like a flower in the bud1 in due time comes forth4 ,it is a material development1 open to the senses1 a common demonstration tosensible experience4 ,the disengagement of a spirit from a fleshly encasement1 on the other hand1 is a pure hypothesis wholly removed from sensible apprehension4 ,there is no parallel in the cases4 ,so the ridiculousness has been made evident of ,plato's famous analogical argument that by a general law of nature all things are produced contraries from contraries2 warmth dies into the #aa ,plato1 ,phado1 #ih4 life of cold1 and lives out of the death of cold2 night is born from the death of day1 and day is born from the death of night2 and thus everywhere death springs from life1 and life from death4#ab ,the whole comparison1 considered as evidence of human immortality1 is baseless and full of astonishing sophistry4 ,when one hemisphere of the earth is turned away from the sun1 it is night there2 when it is turned towards the sun1 it is day again4 ,to this state of facts this revolving succession there is obviously no parallelism whatever in the two phenomenal phases of man1 life and death1 whereof one finishes its course and then the other seems fixed forever4 ,in like manner1 when ,jeremy ,taylor1#ac after the example of many others1 especially of old ,licetus1 argues soberly1 as he does in a letter to ,evelyn1 for the immortality of the soul from the analogy of lamps burning in tombs for centuries with no waste of matter1 there is no apposite and valid similarity1 even if the instances were not a childish fable4 ,an equally baseless argument for the existence of an independent spiritual body within the material body1 to be extricated from the flesh at death and to survive in the same form and dimensions1 we recollect having seen in a work by a ,swedenborgian author4#ad ,he reasons that when a person who has suffered amputation feels the lost limb as vividly as ever before1 the phenomenon is palpable proof of a spirit limb remaining while the fleshly one is gone6 ,of course1 the simple physiological explanation is that the mind instinctively refers the sensations brought in by the severed nerves to the points where1 by inveterate custom1 it has hitherto learned to trace their origination4 ,the report being the same1 it is naturally attributed to the same source4 ,but those skeptics who have mercilessly exposed these fallacious arguments from analogy have themselves reasoned in the same way as fallaciously and as often4 ,when individual life leaves the physical man1 say they1 cosmical life immediately enters the corpse and restores it to the general stock of nature2 so when personal consciousness deserts the psychical man1 the universal spirit resumes the dissolving soul4 ,when certain conditions meet1 a human soul is formed1 a gyrating current of thought1 or a vortex of force3 soon some accident or a spent impulse breaks the eddy1 and the individual subsides like a whirl in the air or a water spout in the sea4 ,when the spirit fuel of life is exhausted1 man goes out as an extinguished candle4 ,he ceases like a tone from a broken harp string4 ,all these analogies are vitiated by radical unlikeness between the things compared4 ,as arguments they are perfectly worthless1 being spoiled by essential differences in the cases4 ,wherein there is a similarity it falls short of the vital point4 ,there is no justice in the conception of man as a momentary gyre of individual consciousness drawn from the universal sea by a sun burst of the ,spirit4 ,he is a self ruling intelligence1 using a dependent organism for his own ends1 comprehending his own destiny1 successively developing its conditions and acquiring the materials for occupying and improving them1 with a prevision of eternity4 ,a flower may just as well perish as live1 a musical sound cease as continue1 a lamp be put out as burn on3 they know not the difference4 ,not so with the soul of man4 ,we here overpass a discrete degree and enter upon a subject #ab ,crawford1 ,on the ,phadon of ,plato4 #ac ,heber's ,life and ,works of ,jeremy ,taylor1 vol4 i4 p4 #fi4 #ad ,dee ,guays1 ,true ,system of ,religious ,philosophy1 ,letter ,v4 within another circle of categories4 ,let the rash reasoner who madly tries conclusions on a matter of such infinite pith and moment1 with data so inapt and poor1 pause in sacred horror before1 having first ,put out the light1 he then puts out ,,the ,,light6 ,there are peculiarities in the soul removing it out of the range of physical combinations and making a distinct destiny fairly predicable of it4 ,when we reflect on the nature of a self contained will1 intelligent of immaterial verities and perhaps transcendent of space and time1 how burlesque is the terror of the ancient corpuscular theorists lest the feebly cohering soul1 on leaving the body1 especially if death happened during a storm1 would be blown in pieces all abroad6 ,socrates1 in the ,phado1 has a hearty laugh over this2 but ,lucretius seriously urges it4#ae ,the answer to the skeptical reasoning from analogy is double4 ,first1 the lines of partial correspondence which visibly terminate within our tangible reach can teach nothing as to the termination of other lines which lead out of sight and disappear in a spiritual region4 ,an organized material form for instance1 a tree is fatally limited3 else it would finally fill and exhaust the earth4 ,but no such limiting necessity can be predicated of mind4 ,secondly1 as far as there is genuine analogy1 its implications are much stronger in favor of immortality than against it4 ,matter1 whose essence is materiality1 survives all apprehensible changes2 spirit1 whose essence is spirituality1 should do the same4 ,another attack on the doctrine of a future life is masked in the negative ,argument from ,ignorance4 ,we do not know how we shall live again2 we are unable to construct the conditions and explain the details of a spiritual state of existence2 and therefore1 it is said1 we should of right conclude that there is no such thing4 ,the proposition is not usually stated so blankly2 but it really amounts to that4 ,the ,epicureans say1 as a tree cannot exist in the sky1 nor clouds in the ocean1 nor fishes in the meadow1 nor water in stone1 thus the mind cannot exist apart from the nerves and the blood4 ,this style of reasoning is a bold begging of the question4 ,our present experience is vacant of any specific knowledge of the conditions1 methods1 and contents of a life it has not yet experienced3 therefore there is no such life4 ,innumerable millions of facts beyond our present knowledge unquestionably exist4 ,it is not in any way difficult to conceive that innumerable millions of experiences and problems now defying and eluding our utmost powers may hereafter fall within our comprehension and be easily solved4 ,will you accept the horizon of your mind as the limit of the universe8 ,in the present1 experience must be confined within its own boundaries by the necessity of the case4 ,if an embryo were endowed with a developed reasoning consciousness1 it could not construct any intelligible theory of the world and life into which it was destined soon to emerge4 ,but it would surely be bad logic to infer1 because the embryo could not1 from want of materials within its experience1 ascertain the how1 the when1 the where1 and the what1 of the life awaiting it1 that there was no other life reserved for it4 ,an acorn buried and sprouting in the dark mould1 if endowed with intelligent consciousness1 could not know any definite particulars of its maturer life yet to be in the upper light and air1 with cattle in its shade and #ae ,lib4 iii4 ll4 #ejc-ejh4 singing birds in its branches4 ,ignorance is not a ground of argument1 only of modest suspense4 ,we can only reason from what we know4 ,and the wondrous mysteries or natural miracles with which science abounds1 myriads of truths transcending all fictions1 melt and remove from the path of faith every supposed difficulty4 ,any quantity of facts have been scientifically established as real which are intrinsically far more strange and baffling to belief than the assertion of our immortality is4 ,indeed1 there is no more mystery in the mind living forever in the future than in its having been kept out of life through a past eternity4 ,the authentic wonder is the fact of the transition having been made from the one to the other2 and it is far more incredible that1 from not having been1 we are1 than that1 from actual being1 we shall continue to be4 #af ,the unbounded possibilities of life suggested by science and open to imagination furnish sufficient reply to the objection that we cannot conceive the precise causes and modes of a future state4 ,had one little partitular been different in the structure of the eye1 or in the radiation and media of light1 we should never have seen the stars6 ,we should have supposed this globe the whole of creation4 ,so some slightest integument or hindering condition may now be hiding from us the sublime reality and arrangements of immortality which in death's disenveloping hour are to burst into our vision as the stellar hemisphere through the night4 ,shut up now to one form of being and one method of experience1 how can we expect an exhaustive knowledge of other and future forms and methods of being and experience8 ,it is a contradiction to ask it4 ,but the soul is warranted in having faith1 like a buried mustard seed which shall yet mount into its future life4 ,a sevenfold denser mystery and a seven times narrower ignorance would bring no real argument against the survival of the soul4 ,for in an omnipotent infinitude of possibilities one line of ignorance cannot exhaust the avenues and capacities of being4 ,escaping the flesh1 we may soar into heaven ,upon ethereal wings1 whose way ,lies through an element so fraught ,with living ,mind that1 as they play1 ,their every movement is a thought4 ,ignorance of the scientific method avails nothing against moral proofs of the fact4 ,the physiologist studying the coats of the stomach1 the anatomist dissecting the convolutions of the brain1 could never tell that man is capable of sentiment1 faith1 and logic4 ,no stethoscope can discern the sound of an expectation1 and no scalpel can lay bare a dream2 yet there are expectations and dreams4 ,no metaphysical glass can detect1 no prognosis foresee1 the death of the soul with the dissolution of its organs3 on empirical grounds1 the assertion of it is therefore unwarranted4 ,but though no amount of obscurity enveloping the subject1 no extent of ignorance disabling us now to grasp the secret1 is a legitimate basis of disbelief1 yet actually1 there can be no doubt1 in multitudes of instances1 the effectual cause of disbelief in immortality is the impossibility of vividly conceiving its conditions and scenery2 for1 as one of the subtlest of thinkers has remarked1 however far faith may go beyond experience1 it #af ,martineau1 ,sermon on ,immortality1 in ,endeavors after the ,christian ,life4 must always be chained down by it at a distance4 ,but if there are good grounds for anticipating another life1 then man should confide in it1 no matter how incompetent he is to construct its theatre and foresee its career4 ,a hundred years ago1 one might have scouted the statement that the most fearful surgical operations would be performed without inflicting pain1 because it was impossible to see how it could be done4 ,or if a person had been informed that two men1 one in ,europe and one in ,america1 should converse in lightning athwart the bed of the ,atlantic1 he might have rejected it as an absurdity1 because he could not conceive the mode4 ,if destined to a future life1 all we could reasonably expect to know of it now would be through hinting germs and mystic presentiments of it4 ,and there we do experience to the fullest extent3 their ceaseless prophecies are everywhere with us1 ,blank misgivings of a creature ,moving about in worlds not realized4 ,the last weapon of disbelief in a future life is the ,scientific ,argument from ,materialism4 ,lucretius says1 ,there is nothing in the universe but bodies and the properties of bodies4 ,this is a characteristic example of the method of the materialists3 to assume1 as an unquestionable postulate1 the very point in debate1 and that1 too1 in defiance of the intelligent instincts of consciousness which compel every unsophisticated person to acknowledge the simultaneous existence of mind and matter as two correlated yet distinct realities4 ,the better statement would be1 ,there is nothing in the universe but forces and the relations of forces4 ,for1 while we know ourselves in immediate self consciousness1 as personal intelligences perceiving1 willing1 and acting1 all we know of an outward world is the effects produced on us by its forces4 ,certainly the powers of the universe can never be lost from the universe4 ,therefore if our souls are1 as consciousness declares1 causes1 and not mere phenomena1 they are immortal4 ,to ignore either factor in the problem of life1 the material substratum or the dynamic agent1 is mere narrowness and blindness4 ,but the unbelieving naturalist argues that the total man is a product of organization1 and therefore that with the dissolution of the living combination of organs all is over4 ,matter is the marriage bed and grave of soul4 ,priestley says1 ,the principle of thought no more belongs to substance distinct from body than the principle of sound belongs to substance distinct from bell4 ,there is no relevancy in the comparison1 because the things are wholly unlike4 ,thought is not1 as ,hartley's theory avowed it was1 a vibration of a cerebral nerve1 as sound is a vibration of a sonorous body2 for how could these vibrations be accumulated in memory as our mental experiences are8 ,when a material vibration ends1 it has gone forever2 but thoughts are stored up and preserved4 ,a hypothetical simile1 like that just cited from ,priestley1 is not a cogent argument4 ,it is false science thus to limit the modes of being to what lies within our present empirical knowledge4 ,is it not pure presumptuousness to affirm that the creative power of ,almighty ,god is shut up so that intelligent creatures can only exist in forms of flesh8 ,when a recent materialist makes the assertion1 ,the thinking man is the sum of his senses1 it is manifest that he goes beyond the data1 assuming what should be proved1 and confounding the instruments and material with the workman4 ,it is as if one should say1 ,a working cotton manufactory is the sum of its machines1 excluding the persons by whose guiding oversight all is done4 ,plainly1 it may be granted that all which man knows is brought in through the door of the senses1 without allowing the same of all that man is4 ,we have no warrant for pronouncing the identical coextensiveness of what man learns to know and what he is created to be4 ,the very proposition1 man knows something1 presupposes three things1 a subject1 an act1 and an object4 ,whether the three exist and perish together or not is matter for discussion1 and not fairly to be settled by forcibly lumping the heterogeneous three into homogeneous unity4 ,in the present state of science it must be confessed that all kinds of physical force whether mechanical1 chemical1 vital1 or nervous are drawn more or less directly from the sun1 the material reservoir of power for our solar system4 ,this must be admitted1 although some recent materialists have pushed the doctrine so far that they may be called the ,parsees of the ,west4 ,whenever the proper conditions for an animate being are furnished1 a force derived from the sun lifts matter from its stable equilibrium to the level of organic existence4 ,in due season1 from its wavering life struggle there1 it decays back to the deep rest of insensate earth4#ag ,this is a truth throughout the organic realm1 from the bulb of a sea weed to the brain of a ,casar4 ,so much cannot be denied4 ,every organism constantly receives from the universe food and force1 and as constantly restores in other forms the material and dynamical equivalents of what it receives1 and finally itself goes to the sources whence it came4 ,but the affirmation of this for all within the physical realm is not the admission of it for what subsists in an immeasurably higher rank and totally different realm4 ,entering the psychical sphere1 where we deal with a new1 distinct order of realities1 not impenetrability1 weight1 extension1 but thought1 affection1 will1 why may not this province contain eternities1 even though the other holds only mortalities8 ,it is a question to be examined on its own grounds1 not to be put aside with a foregone conclusion4 ,in nature the cause endures under all evanescent changes1 and survives all phenomenal beginnings and endings3 so in spirit the causal personality1 if there be one1 may outlast all the shifting currents of the outward phenomena in endless persistence4 ,of course1 the manifestation of the mind through the senses must cease when the senses no longer remain4 ,the essence of the controversy1 then1 is exactly this3 ,is the mind an entity8 or is it a collection of functions8 ,if the soul be a substantial force1 it is immortal4 ,if it be a phenomenal resultant1 it ceases at death4 ,a reductio ad absurdum immediately occurs4 ,if the psychical totality of man consists of states of feeling1 modes of volition1 and powers of thought1 not necessitating any spiritual entity in which they inhere1 then1 by parity of reasoning1 the physical totality of man consists of states of nutrition1 modes of absorption1 and powers of change1 implying no body in which these processes are effectuated6 ,qualities cannot exist without a subject3 and just as physical attributes involve a body1 spiritual attributes involve a mind4 ,and1 if a mental entity be admitted1 its death or cessation with that of its outer dress or case is not a fair inference1 but needs appropriate evidence4 ,the soul of a man has been defined as the sum of his ideas1 an idea being a state of the consciousness4 ,but the essence of mind must be the common ground and element of all #ag ,moleschott1 ,licht and ,leben4 different states of consciousness4 ,what is that common ground and element but the presence of a percipient volitional force1 whether manifested or unmanifested1 still there8 ,that is the germinal core of our mental being1 integrating and holding in continuous identity all the phenomenal fluctuations of consciousness4 ,it is clear that any other representation seems inconsistent with the most central and vivid facts of our knowledge4 ,in illustration of this1 let us see how every materialistic exposition omits utterly1 or fails to account for1 the most essential element1 the solitary and crowning peculiarity1 of the case4 ,for example1 it is said that thought or consciousness is a phenomenal process of changes sustained in the brain by a correlation of forces1 just as the rainbow appears1 but has no ontological subsistence of its own3 the continuous spectrum hangs steady on the ceaselessly renewed substratum of the moving mist rack and the falling rain4 ,but the comparison is absolutely inapplicable1 because the deepest ground principle of the mind is wanting in the rainbow1 namely1 conscious and continuous identity holding in each present moment all the changes of the past moments4 ,if the rainbow were gifted with consciousness1 it could not preserve its personal identity1 but merely its phenomenal identity1 for any two successive moments1 since its whole being would consist of an untied succession of states4 ,traversing the body from its extreme tissues to the gray vesicular substance composing the spinal cord and covering the surface and convolutions of the brain1 are two sets of white1 fibrous nerves4 ,one set1 the afferents1 bring in sensation1 all kinds of tidings1 from the out world of matter4 ,the other set1 the efferents1 carry out volition1 all kinds of decrees1 from the in world of mind4 ,without an afferent nerve no influence of the world can reach the mind2 and without an efferent nerve no conclusion of the mind can reach the world4 ,as we are now constituted1 this machinery is necessary for the intercommunication of the mind and the material universe4 ,but if there be something in the case besides live machinery and crossing telegrams1 if there be a monarch mind inaccessible to the vulgar crowd of things and only conversing with them through the internuncial nerves1 that spirit entity may itself be capable of existing forever in an ideal universe and of communing there face to face with its own kingly lineage and brood4 ,and we maintain that the account of the phenomena is grossly defective1 and that the phenomena themselves are palpably inexplicable1 except upon the supposition of such an entity1 which uses the organism but is not the organism itself nor a function of it4 ,ideas1 one materialist teaches1 are transformed sensations4 ,yes2 but that does not supersede a transforming mind4 ,there must be a force to produce the transformations4 ,the phenomena of mind1 says another1 consist in a succession of states of consciousness4 ,yes2 but what is it that presides over1 takes up1 and preserves this succession8 ,the phenomena of the mind are not the mind itself4 ,the actions of the mind are the functions of the cerebrum1 adds a third4 ,yes2 but the inquiry is1 what is the mind itself8 not1 what are its acts8 ,the admission of the gray nerve cells of the brain1 as the material substratum through which sensations are received and volitions returned1 does not exclude the necessity of a dynamical cause for the metamorphosing phenomenon4 ,that cause must be free and intelligent1 because the products of its action1 as well as its accompanying consciousness1 are marked by freedom and intelligence4 ,for example1 when a cylindrical and fibrous porter deposits his sensitive burden in the vesicular and cineritious substance1 something examines it1 tests its import1 reflects on what shall be done1 forms an intelligent resolution1 and commands another porter to bear the dynamic load forth4 ,the reflective and determining something that does this is the mind4 ,thus1 by the fact of an indissoluble dynamic will1 is the broad lineal experience of man grasped and kept from dissipating into crumbled psychical states1 as when the dead kings of ancient ,india were burned their corpses were wrapped in asbestos shrouds to hold the ashes together4 ,the flame of a burnt out candle twinkling in the socket is not numerically the same with that which appeared when it was first lighted2 nor is a river at any two periods numerically the same4 ,different particles constantly feed an ever renewed flame or stream1 just like the former but never the same4 ,a totally new element appears when we contemplate mind4 ,here1 although the whole molecular substance of the visible organism is in perpetual flux1 the same conscious personality persists through all1 growing ever richer in an accumulating possession of past experiences still held in living command4 ,the ,arethusa of identity threads the blending states of consciousness1 and1 passing the ocean bed of death1 may emerge in some morning fount of immortality4 ,a photographic image impressed on suitable paper and then obliterated is restored by exposure to the fumes of mercury4 ,but if an indefinite number of impressions were superimposed on the same paper1 could the fumes of mercury restore any one called for at random8 ,yet man's memory is a plate with a hundred millions of impressions all cleanly preserved1 and he can at will select and evoke the one he wants4 ,no conceivable relationship of materialistic forces can account for the facts of this miraculous daguerreotype plate of experience1 and the power of the mind to call out into solitary conspicuousness a desired picture which has forty nine million nine hundred and ninety nine thousand nine hundred and ninety nine latent pictures lying above it1 and fifty millions below it4 ,it has been said that the impressions on the brain1 whether perceptions or intellections1 are fixed and retained through the exactness of assimilation4 ,as the mind took cognizance of the change made by the first impression of an object acting on the brain through the sense organs1 so afterwards it recognises the likeness of that change in the parts inserted by the nutritive process4#ah ,this passage implies that the mind is an agent1 not a phenomenon2 and it describes some of the machinery with which the mind works1 not the essence of the mind itself4 ,its doctrine does not destroy nor explain the presiding and elective power which interprets these assimilated and preserved changes1 choosing out such of them as it pleases1 that unavoided and incomprehensible power1 the hiding place of volition and eternity1 whose startling call has often been known1 in some dread crisis1 to effect an instantaneous restoration of the entire bygone life1 making all past events troop through the memory1 a swiftly awful cavalcade marching along the fibrous pavement of the brain1 while each terrified thought rushes to its ashy window to behold4 ,we here leave the material realm behind and enter a spiritual province where other predicates and laws hold1 and where1 delivered over to a night of pure light1 in which no unpurged sight is sharp enough to penetrate the mysterious essence that sprouteth into different persons1 we kneel in most pious awe1 and cry1 with ,sir #ah ,paget4 ,surgical ,pathology1 ,lecture ,,ii4 ,thomas ,browne1 ,there is surely a piece of divinity in us1 something that was before the elements and owes no homage unto the sun6 ,the fatal and invariable mistake of materialism is that it confounds means and steps with causes1 processes with sources1 organs with ends1 predicates with subject4#ai ,alexander ,bain denies that there is any cerebral closet or receptacle of sensation and imagery where impressions are stored to be reproduced at pleasure4 ,he says1 the revival of a past impression1 instead of being an evocation of it from an inner chamber1 is a setting on anew of the current which originally produced it1 now to produce it again4#bj ,but this theory does not alter the fact that all past impressions are remembered and can be revived at will by an internal efficiency4 ,the miracle1 and the necessity of an unchanging conscious entity to explain it1 are implied just as they were on the old theory4 ,the organs of sense1 ,sir ,isaac ,newton writes1 are not for enabling the soul to perceive the species of things in its sensorium1 but for conveying them there4 #ba ,now1 as we cannot suppose that ,god has a brain or needs any material organs1 but rather that all infinitude is his ,sensorium1 so spirits may perceive spiritual realities without any mediating organism4 ,our physical experience in the present is no limit to the spiritual possibilities of the future4 ,the materialistic argument against immortality fails1 because it excludes essential facts4 ,as anterior to our experience in the present state there was a power to organize experiences and to become what we are1 so none of the superficial reasonings of a mere earth science can show that there is not now a power to organize experiences in a future state and to become what our faith anticipates we shall be4 ,and this suggests to speculative curiosity the query1 ,shall we commence our future life1 a psychical cell1 as we commenced our present life1 a physical cell8 ,it will be well1 perhaps1 to reply next to some of the aggressive sophistries of disbelief4 ,the following lines by ,dr4 ,beddoes are striking1 but1 considered as a symbol of life1 seem almost wilfully defective3 ,the body is but an engine ,which draws a mighty stream of spiritual power ,out of the world's own soul1 and makes it play ,a while in visible motion4 ,man is that miraculous engine which includes not only all the needful machinery1 but also fuel1 fire1 steam1 and speed1 and then1 in climacteric addition to these1 an engineer6 ,does the engineer die when the fire goes out and the locomotive stops8 ,when the engine madly plunges off the embankment or bridge of life1 does the engineer perish in the ruin1 or nimbly leap off and immortally escape8 ,the theory of despair has no greater plausibility than that of faith4 ,feuerbach teaches that the memento mori of reason meets us everywhere in the spiritual ,god's acre of literature4 ,a book is a grave1 which buries not the dead remains1 but the quick #ai ,frauenstadt1 ,per ,materialismus1 seine ,wahrheit und sein ,irrthum1 s4 #afi4 #bj ,the ,senses and the ,intellect1 p4 #fa4 #ba ,brodie1 ,psychological ,inquiries1 p4 #da1 #c;d edition4 man1 not his corpse1 but his soul4 ,and so we live on the psychical deposits of our ancestry4 ,our souls consist of that material which once constituted other souls1 as our bodies consist of the material which once constituted other bodies4 ,a thought1 it is to be replied1 is never excreted from the mind and left behind4 ,only its existence is indicated by symbols1 while itself is added to the eternal stock of the deathless mind4 ,a thought is a spiritual product in the mind from an affection of the cerebral substance4 ,a sentence is a symbol of a thought adapted to create in the contemplator just such a cerebral affection as that from which it sprang1 and to deposit in his mind just such a spiritual product as that which it now denotes4 ,thus are we stimulated and instructed by the transmitted symbols of our ancestors' experiences1 but not literally nourished by assimilation of their very psychical substance1 as this remorseless prophet of death's ghastly idealism would have us believe4 ,still1 in whatever aspect we regard it1 one cannot but shudder before that terrible cineritious substance whose dynamic inhabitants are generated in the meeting of matter's messages with mind's forces1 and sent forth in emblems to shake the souls of millions1 revolutionize empires1 and refashion the world4 ,strauss employs an ingenious argument against the belief in a future life1 an argument as harmless in reality as it is novel and formidable in appearance4 ,whether the nerve spirit be considered as a dependent product1 or as the producing principle of the organism1 it ends at death3 for1 in the former case1 it can no longer be produced when the organism perishes2 in the latter case1 that it ceases to sustain the organism is a proof that it has itself decayed4#bb ,in this specious bit of special pleading1 unwarranted postulates are assumed and much confusion of thought is displayed4 ,it is covertly taken for granted that every thing seen in a given phenomenon is either product or producer2 but something may be an accompanying part1 involved in the conditions of the phenomenon1 yet not in any way essentially dependent on it1 and in fact surviving it4 ,what does ,strauss mean by the nerve spirit8 ,is there no mind behind it and above it1 making use of it as a servant8 ,our present life is the result of an actual and regulated harmony of forces4 ,surely that harmony may end without implying the decay of any of its initial components1 without implying the destruction of the central constituent of its intelligence4 ,it is illegitimate logic1 passing from pure ignorance to positive affirmation2 a saltation of sophistry from a negative premise of blindness to all behind the organic life1 to a dogmatic conclusion of denial that there is any thing behind the organic life4 ,a subtle and vigorous disbeliever has said1 ,the belief in immortality is not a correct expression of human nature1 but rests solely on a misunderstanding of it4 ,the real opinion of human nature is expressed in the universal sorrow and wailing over death4 ,it is obvious to answer that both these expressions are true utterances of human nature4 ,it grieves over the sadness of parting1 the appalling change and decay1 the close locked mystery of the unseen state4 ,it rejoices in the solace and cheer of a sublime hope springing out of the manifold powerful promises within and without4 ,instead of contemning the idea of a heavenly futurity as an idle dream image of human longing1 it were both devouter and more reasonable1 from #bb ,charakteristiken und ,kritiken1 s4 #cid4 that very causal basis of it1 to revere it and confide in it as divinely pledged4 ,all the thwarted powers and preparations and affections1 too grand1 too fine1 too sacred1 to meet their fit fulfilment here1 are a claim for some holier and vaster sphere1 a prophecy of a more exalted and serene existence1 elsewhere4 ,the unsatisfied and longing soul has created the doctrine of a future life1 has it8 ,very good4 ,if the soul has builded a house in heaven1 flown up and made a nest in the breezy boughs of immortality1 that house must have tenants1 that nest must be occupied4 ,the divinely implanted instincts do not provide and build for naught4 ,certain considerations based on the resemblances of men and beasts1 their asserted community of origin and fundamental unity of nature1 have had great influence in leading to the denial of the immortality of the human soul4 ,it is taken for granted that animals are totally mortal2 and then1 from the apparent correspondences of phenomena and fate between them and us1 the inference is drawn that the cases are parallel throughout1 and that our destiny1 too1 is annihilation4 ,the course of thought on this subject has been extremely curious1 illustrating1 on the one hand1 that where our egotism begins1 there the laws of logic break1 and1 on the other hand1 that often when fancy gets scent of a theory the voice and lash of reason are futile to restrain it until the theory is run into the ground4 ,des ,cartes1 and after him ,malebranche and a few other writers1 gave no slight currency to the notion that brutes are mere machines1 moved by prearranged influences and utterly destitute of intelligence1 will1 or consciousness4 ,this scheme gave rise to many controversies1 but has now passed into complete neglect4#bc ,of late years the tendency has been to assimilate instead of separating man and beast4 ,touching the outer sphere1 we have ,oken's homologies of the cranial vertebra4 ,in regard to the inner sphere1 we have a score of treatises1 like ,vogt's ,pictures from ,brute ,life1 affirming that there is no qualitative1 but merely a quantitative1 distinction between the human soul and the brute soul4#bd ,over this point the conflict is still thick and hot4 ,but1 however much of truth there may be in the doctrine of the ground identity of the soul of a man and the soul of a dog1 the conclusion that man therefore perishes is a pure piece of sophistry4 ,such a monstrous assassination of the souls of the human race with the jaw bone of an ass may be legitimately avoided in either of two ways4 ,it is as fair to argue the immortality of animals from their likeness to us1 as our annihilation from our likeness to them4 ,the psychological realm has been as much deepened in them by the researches of modern science as the physiological domain has been widened in us4 ,as ,agassiz says1 we must not lose sight of the mental individuality of animals in an exclusive attention to the bodily side of their nature4#be ,a multitude of able thinkers have held the faith that animals have immaterial and deathless souls4 ,rightly considered1 there is nothing in such a #bc ,darmanson1 ,la bete transformee en machine4 ,ditton1 ,appendix to ,discourse on ,resurrection of ,christ1 showing that brutes are not mere machines1 but have immortal souls4 ,orphal1 ,sind die ,thiere blos sinnliche ,geschopfe8 ,thomasius1 ,de ,anima ,brutorum1 quo asseritur1 eam non esse ,materialem1 contra ,cartesianam ,opinionem4 ,winkler1 ,philosophische ,untersuchungen von dem ,seyn and ,wesen der ,seelen der ,thiere1 von einzelnen ,liebhabern der ,weltweisheit4 #bd ,buchner1 ,kraft und ,stoff1 kap4 #ai3 ,die ,thierseele4 #be ,essay on ,classification1 p4 #fd4 doctrine which a keen reasoner may not credit and a person of the most refined feelings find pleasure in embracing4 ,in their serene catholicity and divine sympathy1 science and religion exclude pride and contempt4 ,but admitting that there is no surviving psychical entity in the brute1 that is in no way a clear postulate for proving that the same fact holds of man4 ,the lower endowments and provinces of man's nature and experience may correspond ever so closely with the being and life of brutes whose existence absolutely ceases at death1 and yet he may be immortal4 ,the higher range of his spiritual faculties may elevate him into a realm of universal and eternal principles1 extricating his soul from the meshes of decay4 ,he may come into contact with a sphere of truths1 grasp and rise into a region of realities1 conferring the prerogative of deathlessness1 not to be reached by natures gifted in a much lower degree1 although of the same kind4 ,such a distinction is made between men themselves by ,spinoza4#bf ,his doctrine of immortality depicts the stupendous boon as contingent1 to be acquired by observance of conditions4 ,if the ideas of the soul represent perishable objects1 it is itself mortal2 if imperishable1 it is immortal4 ,now1 brutes1 it is probable1 never rise to the apprehension of pure and eternal truths2 but men do4 ,it was a mean prejudice1 founded on selfish ignorance and pride1 which first assumed the total destruction of brutes in death1 and afterwards1 by the grovelling range of considerations in which it fastened and the reaction it naturally provoked1 involved man and all his imperial hopes in the same fate4 ,a firm logical discrimination disentangles the human mind from this beastly snarl4#bg ,the difference in data warrants a difference in result4 ,the argument for the immortality of brutes and that for the immortality of men are1 in some respects1 parallel lines1 but they are not coextensive4 ,beginning together1 the latter far outreaches the former4 ,man1 like the animals1 eats1 drinks1 sleeps1 builds2 unlike them1 he adorns an ideal world of the eternal future1 lays up treasures in its heavenly kingdom1 and waits to migrate into it4 ,there are two distinct methods of escaping the fatal inference of disbelief usually drawn by materialists4 ,first1 by the denial of their philosophical postulates1 by the predication of immaterial substance1 affirming the soul to be a spaceless point1 its life an indivisible moment4 ,the reasonings in behalf of this conception have been manifold1 and cogent enough to convince a multitude of accomplished and vigorous thinkers4#bh ,in ,herbart's system the soul is an immaterial monad1 or real1 capable of the permanent formation of states in its interior4 ,its life consists of a quenchless series of self preservations4 ,these reals1 with their relations and aggregations1 constitute at once the varying phenomena and the causal substrata of the universe4 ,mamertius ,claudianus1 a philosophical priest of ,southern ,gaul in the fifth century1 wrote a treatise ,on the ,nature of the ,soul4 ,he says1 ,when the soul wills1 it is all will2 when it recollects or feels1 it is all recollection or feeling4 ,now1 will1 recollection1 and feeling1 are not bodies4 ,therefore the soul is incorporeal4 ,this makes the conscious man an #bf ,jouffroy1 ,introduction to ,ethics3 ,channing's trans41 vol4 ii4 pp4 #ahi-aia4 #bg ,schaller1 ,leib und ,seele1 kap4 #ac3 ,der ,psychische ,unterschied des ,menschen vom ,thiere4 #bh ,crombie1 ,natural ,theology1 vol4 ii43 ,essay on the ,immortality of the ,soul4 ,brougham1 ,discourse of ,nat4 ,theol41 sect4 #e4 imperishable substantial activity4 ,an old ,english writer1 with quaint eloquence1 declares1 ,there is a proportion between an atom and the universe1 because both are quantitative4 ,all this excesse vanisheth into nothing as soon as the lowest substance shineth out of that orbe where they reside that scorn divisibility4 ,from this brief statement of the position of the immaterialists1 without arguing it1 we pass to note1 in the second place1 that nearly all the postulates ordinarily claimed by the materialist may be granted without by any means proving the justice of their disbelief of a future life4#bi ,admit that there can be no sensation without a nerve1 no thought without a brain1 no phenomenal manifestation without an organ4 ,such an admission legitimates the conclusion1 on empirical grounds1 that our present mode of life must cease with the dissolution of our organism4 ,it does not even empirically prove that we may not survive in some other mode of being1 passing perhaps to an inconceivably higher stage and more blessed kind of life4 ,after the entire disintegration of our material organs1 we may1 by some now unknown means1 possess in a refined form the equivalents of what those organs gave us4 ,there may be1 interfused throughout the gross mortal body1 an immortal body of exquisitely delicate structure invisibly extricating itself from the carious ruins at death4 ,plattner develops and defends this hypothesis with plausible skill and power4#cj ,the ,hindus conceived the soul to be concealed within several successive sheaths1 the innermost of which accompanied it through all its transmigrations4#ca ,the subtile person extends to a small distance over the skull1 like the flame of a lamp above its wick4 #cb ,the later ,pythagoreans and ,platonists seem to have believed that the same numerical ethereal body with which the soul was at first created adhered to it inseparably during all its descents into grosser bodies1 a lucid and wingy vehicle1 which1 purged by diet and catharms1 ascends again1 bearing the soul to its native seat4#cc ,the doctrine of ,swedenborg asserts man to be interiorly an organized form pervading the physical body1 an eternal receptacle of life from ,god4 ,in his terminology1 constant influx of life supersedes the popular idea of a self contained spiritual existence4 ,but this influx is conditioned by its receiving organ1 the undecaying inner body4#cd ,however boldly it may be assailed and rejected as a baseless theory1 no materialistic logic can disprove the existence of an ethereal form contained in1 animating1 and surviving1 the visible organism4 ,it is a possibility2 although1 even if it be a fact1 science1 by the very conditions of the case1 can never unveil or demonstrate it4 ,when subjected to a certain mode of thought developed recently by ,faraday1 ,drossbach1 and others1 materialism itself brightens and dissolves into a species of idealism1 the universe becomes a glittering congeries of indestructible points of power1 and the immortality of the soul is established as a mathematical certainty4#ce ,all bodies1 all entities1 are but forms of ,this has been ably shown by ,spiers in his treatise1 ,ueber das korperliche ,bedingtsein der ,seelenthatigkeiten4 #cj ,spes immortalitatis animorum per rationes physiologicas confirmata4 #ca ,dabistan1 vol4 ii4 p4 #agg4 #cb ,colebrooke1 ,essays1 vol4 i4 p4 #bdf4 #cc ,cudworth1 ,int4 ,sys41 vol4 ii4 pp4 #bah-bcj1 ,am4 ed4 #cd ,on the ,intercourse between the ,soul and the ,body1 sect4 #i4 #ce ,lott1 ,herbarti de animi immortalitate doctrina4 force4#cf ,gravity1 cohesion1 bitterness1 thought1 love1 recollection1 are manifestations of force peculiarly conditioned4 ,our perceptions are a series of states of consciousness4 ,an attribute or property of a thing is an exercise of force or mode of activity producing a certain state of consciousness in us4 ,the sum of its attributes or properties constitutes the totality of the thing1 and is not adventitiously laid upon the thing3 you can separate the parts of a thing2 but you cannot take away its forces from any part1 because they are its essence4 ,matter is not a limitation or neutralization1 but a state and expression1 of force4 ,force itself is not multiplex1 but one1 all qualities and directions of it lying potentially in each entity1 the kinds and amounts which shall be actually manifested depending in each case on the conditions environing it4 ,all matter1 all being1 therefore1 consists of ultimate atoms or monads1 each one of which is an inseparable solidarity of activities4 ,the universe is an eternal society of eternal force individuals1 all of which are capable of constant changes in groupings1 aggregations1 developments1 relations1 but absolutely incapable of annihilation4 ,every atom possesses potential reason1 and comes to self apprehension whenever the appropriate conditions meet4 ,all differences originate from conditions and exist not in essentialities4 ,according to this theory1 the eternity of the soul is sure1 but that eternity must be an endless series of mutual transitions between consciousness and unconsciousness1 life and death4#cg ,since all cannot be men at once1 they must take their turns4 ,carus says1 a soul enclosing in itself an independent consciousness is inconceivable4 ,when the organism by which consciousness is conditioned and revealed is destroyed in death1 consciousness disappears as certainly as the gleaming height of a dome falls in when its foundation is removed4 ,and ,drossbach adds1 death is the shade side of life4 ,without shade1 light would not be perceptible1 nor life without death2 for only contrast leads to knowledge4 ,the consciousness of life is realized by interchange with the unconsciousness of death4 ,mortality is the inevitable attribute of a self conscious being4 ,the immortality of such a being can be nothing else than an everlasting mortality4 ,in this restless alternation between the opposite states of life and death1 being holds continuous endurance1 but consciousness is successively extinguished and revived1 while memory is each time hopelessly lost4 ,widenmann holds that the periods of death are momentary1 the soul being at once born again1 retaining no vestiges of its past4#ch ,drossbach1 on the contrary1 believes that memory is an indefeasible quality of the soul atom1 the reason why we do not remember previous lives being that the present is our first experiment4 ,when all atoms destined to become men have once run the human career1 the earliest ones will begin to reappear with full memory of their preceding course4 ,it matters not how long it requires for one circuit of the whole series of souls2 for the infinite future is before us1 and1 as we are unconscious in death1 the lapse of ages is nothing4 ,we lie down to sleep1 and instantly rise up to a new life4 #cf ,hickok1 ,rational ,cosmology1 ch4 ii4 sect4 #a3 ,matter is force4 #cg ,drossbach1 ,die personliche ,unsterblichkeit als ,folge der atomistischen ,verfaasung der ,natur1 abschn4 iv4 kap4 ii4 sect4 #e1 #f4 #ch ,gedanken uber die ,unsterblichkeit als ,wiederholung des ,erdenlebens4 ,death gives to life all its relish1 as hunger is the true sauce of food4 ,death first makes us precious and dear to ourselves4 ,since it lies in the nature of change that no condition is endless1 but morning ever follows night1 death cannot be endless4 ,be unconcerned2 thy being shall as little be lost as the grain of dust at thy foot6 ,because in death thou dost not know that thou art1 therefore fearest thou that thou shalt be no more8 ,o pusillanimous6 the great events of nature are too vast for thy weak heart4 ,a whole eternity thou hast not been conscious that thou art1 and yet thou hast become conscious of it4 ,every night thou losest thy consciousness1 yet art thou conscious again1 and shalt be4 ,the loss of consciousness is not necessarily the loss of self4 ,the knowledge of my being is not my being itself1 but a peculiar force thereof1 which1 entering into reciprocal action with other forces1 is subject to change4 ,it is its essence to act1 and thus to change1 yet without surrendering its essence4 ,goethe's words may be applied to the soul3 ',it is2 therefore eternally it is4' ,not in cold motionlessness consists eternal life1 but in eternal movement1 in eternal alteration1 in incessant change4 ,these are warranties that no state endures forever1 not even the unconscious1 death4 #ci ,in this unfolding of the theory there are many arbitrary and fanciful conceptions which may easily be dispensed with4 ,the interspersion of the bright life of the human monads with blank epochs of oblivious darkness1 and the confinement of their destiny to an endless repetition of their life course on this globe1 are not necessary4 ,in the will of ,god the free range of the boundless universe may lie open to them and an incessant career in forever novel circumstances await them4 ,it is also conceivable that human souls1 leading still recurrent lives on earth with total forgetfulness1 may at last acquire sufficient power1 in some happy concurrence or sublime exigency1 to summon back and retain all their foregone states4 ,but1 leaving aside all such incidental speculations1 the chief interest of the dynamic atomistic or monad theory1 as affording a solid basis for immortality1 is in relation to the arrogance of a shallow and conceited materialism4 ,says the materialist1 ,show me a spirit1 and ,i will believe in your heaven4 ,replies the idealist1 ,show me your matter1 however small a piece1 and ,i will yield to your argument4 ,spirit is no phenomenon to be shown1 and matter is an inference from thought3 thus the counter statements of physical science and ideal philosophy fairly offset each other1 and throw their respective advocates back upon the natural ground of unsophisticated faith and observation4 ,standing there unperverted1 man has an invincible reliance on the veracity of his faculties and the normal reports of nature4 ,through immediate apprehension of his own conscious will and the posited experience of his senses1 he has knowledge both of causal forms of being1 or free productive force1 and of resultant processes and phenomena4 ,and surely sound logic teaches that the latter may alter or disappear without implying the annihilation of the former4 ,if all material substance1 so called1 were destroyed1 not only would space remain as an infinite indivisible unity1 but the equivalents #ci ,drossbach1 ,die individuelle ,unsterblichkeit vom monadistisch metaphysischen ,standpunkte betrachtet4 of what had been destroyed must remain in some form or other4 ,who shall say that these equivalents would not be intelligent points of power1 capable of organizing aggregate bodies and of reconstituting the universe in the will of ,god1 or of forming from period to period1 in endless succession1 new kinds of universes1 each abounding in hitherto unimagined modes of life and degrees of bliss8 ,to our present faculties1 with only our present opportunities and data1 the final problem of being is insoluble4 ,we resolve the properties of matter into methods of activity1 manifestations of force4 ,but there1 covered with alluring awe1 a wall of impenetrable mystery confronts us with its baffling ,thus far1 and no farther1 shall thine explicating gaze read the secrets of destiny4 ,we cannot tell what force is4 ,we can conceive neither its genesis nor its extinction4 ,over that obscure environment1 into the immense empire of possibilities1 we must bravely fling the treasures of our love and the colors of our hope1 and with a divine impulse in the moment of death leap after1 trusting not to sink as nothing into the abyss of nowhere1 but1 landing safe in some elysium better than we know1 to find ourselves still in ,god4 ,in dealing with moral problems in the realm of the higher reason1 intuitions1 mysterious hints1 prophetic feelings1 instinctive apprehensions of fitness and harmony1 may be of more convincing validity than all the formal arguments logic can build4#dj ,sentiment1 ,ancillon says1 as quoted by ,lewes1 goes further than knowledge3 beyond demonstrative proofs there is natural evidence2 beyond analysis1 inspiration2 beyond words1 ideas2 beyond ideas1 emotions2 and the sense of the infinite is a primitive fact of the soul4 ,in transcendental mathematics1 problems otherwise unapproachable are solved by operating with emblems of the relations of purely imaginary quantities to the facts of the problems4 ,the process is sound and the result valid1 notwithstanding the hypothetical and imaginary character of the aids in reaching it4 ,when for mastering the dim momentous problems of our destiny the given quantities and relations of science are inadequate1 the helpful supposititious conditions furnished by faith may equally lead over their airy ways to conclusions of eternal truth4 ,the disbelievers of a future life have in their investigations applied methods not justly applicable to the subject1 and demanded a species of proof impossible for the subject to yield3 as if one should use his ear to listen to the symmetries of beauty1 and his eye to gaze upon the undulations of music4 ,it is therefore that the terribly logical onslaughts of ,feuerbach are harmless upon most persons4 ,the glittering scimetar of this ,saracenic metaphysician flashes swift and sharp1 but he fights the air with weapons of air4 ,no blood flows from the severed emptiness of space2 no clash of the blows is heard any more than bell strokes would be heard in an exhausted receiver4 ,one may justifiably accept propositions which strict science cannot establish and believe in the existence of a thing which science cannot reveal1 as ,jacobi has abundantly shown#da and as ,wagner has with less ability tried to illustrate4#db ,the utmost possible achievement of a negative criticism is to show the invalidity of the physiological1 #dj ,abel1 ,disquisitio omnium tam pro immortalitate quam pro mortalitate argumentandi generum4 #da ,von den goutlichen ,dingen and ibrer ,offenbarung4 ,wissen und ,glauben mit besonderer ,beziehung zur ,zukunft der ,seelen3 ,fortsetzung der ,betrachtungen uber ,menschenschopfung und ,seelensubstanz4 analogical1 and metaphysical arguments to furnish positive proof of a future life for us4 ,but this negation fully admitted is no evidence of our total mortality4 ,science is impotent to give any proof reaching to such a conclusion4 ,however badly the archery of the sharp eyed and strong armed critics of disbelief has riddled the outer works of ordinary argument1 it has not slain the garrison4 ,scientific criticism therefore leaves us at this point3 there may be an immortal soul in us4 ,then the question whether there actually is an immortal soul in us1 rests entirely on moral facts and considerations4 ,allowing their native force to these moral facts and considerations1 the healthy ethical thinker1 recognising in himself an innermost self conscious ego which knows itself persistent and identical amidst the multiplex vicissitude of transient conditions1 lies down to die expecting immediately to continue his being's journey elsewhere1 in some other guise4 ,leaving out of view these moral facts and considerations1 the materialistic naturalist thinker1 recognising his consciousness as only a phantom procession of states across the cerebral stage hung in ashy livery and afloat on blood1 lies down to expire expecting immediately to be turned into nobody forever4 ,misinterpreting and undervaluing these moral facts and considerations1 the anchorless speculative thinker1 recognising his organism as an eye through which the ,world ,spirit beholds itself1 or a momentary pulse in which the ,all feels itself1 his consciousness as a part of the infinite ,thought1 lies down on his death couch expecting immediately to be turned into everybody1 eternity1 instead of greeting him with an individual kiss1 wrapping him in a monistic embrace4 ,the broad drift of human conviction leads to the first conclusion1 a persistent personality4 ,the greatest philosophers1 from ,plato to ,pascal1 deny the second view1 a blotting extinction of the soul1 declaring it false in science and incredible in presentation4 ,the third theory a pantheistic absorption the irresistible common sense of mankind repudiates as a morbid dream4 ,man naturally believes himself immortal but not infinite4 ,monism is a doctrine utterly foreign to undiseased thinking4 ,although it be a ,fichte1 a ,schelling1 or a ,hegel1 who says that the soul is a circumscribed yet omnipotent ego1 which first radiates the universe1 and afterwards beholds it in the mirror of itself1 and at length breaks into dead universality1 the conception is1 to the average apprehension of humanity1 as overweening a piece of wild fancy as ever rose in a madman's reveries4#dc ,the ordinary contemplator of the phenomena of the world and the sequel of human life from the materialistic point of view feels disgust and terror at the prospect4 ,the scene seems to him degrading and the fate fearful4 ,the loathing and dismay vulgarly experienced thus1 it is true1 arise from an exaggerated misapprehension of the basis and meaning of the facts3 rightly appreciated1 all is rulingly alive1 aspirant1 beautiful1 and benignant4 ,the ceaseless transformations filling the heights and depths of the creation are pervaded with joy and #db ,a full discussion of the pantheistic doctrine of immortality will be found in the following works4 ,richmann1 ,gemsinfassl4 ,darstellung und ,wurdigung aller gehaltreichen ,beweisarten fur ,gott und fur ,unsterblichkeit der ,seele4 ,unius1 ,unsterblichkeit4 ,blanche1 ,philosophische ,unsterblichkeitlehre4 #dc ,weisse1 ,die philosophische ,geheimlehre von der ,unsterblichkeit des menschlichen ,individuums4 ,goschel1 ,von den ,beweisen fur die ,unsterblichkeit der menschlichen ,seele im ,lichte der speculativen ,philosophie4 ,morell1 ,historical and ,critical ,view of the ,speculative ,philosophy of ,europe in the #aith ,century1 part ii4 ch4 v4 sect4 #b3 ,the ,german ,school of the #aith ,century4 ,buchanan1 ,modern ,atheism4 clothed with a noble poetry4 ,there is no real death3 what seems so is but a return or falling home of the fundamental phenomenon to the phenomenal foundation1 a dissolution through which nature seeks her ground and strives to renew herself in her principles4 ,still1 in spite of this more profound and genial interpretation of the shifting metamorphoses of nature1 the fear of there being no conscious future life for man produces1 when first entertained1 a horrid constriction around the heart1 felt like the ice cold coils of a serpent4 ,the thought of tumbling hopelessly into ,the blind cave of eternal night naturally oppresses the heart of man with sadness and with alarm4 ,to escape the unhappiness thus inflicted1 recourse has been had to expedients4 ,four artificial substitutes for immortality have been devised4 ,fondly fixing attention upon these1 men have tried to find comfort and to absorb their thoughts from the dreaded spectre and the long oblivion4 ,the first is the sentimental phantasm of posthumous fame4 ,the ,latin bard1 ancient ,ennius1 sings1 ,nemo me lacrymis decoret1 nec funera fletu ,faxit4 ,cur8 volito vivu' per ora virum4 #dd ,shakspeare likewise often expresses the same thought3 ,when all the breathers of this world are dead1 ,you still shall live 7such virtue hath my pen7 ,where breath most breathes1 even in the mouths of men4 ,and again in similar strain3 ,my love looks fresh1 and ,death to me subscribes1 ,since1 spite of him1 ,i'll live in this poor rhyme1 ,while he insults o'er dull and speechless tribes4 ,napoleon is reported to have said1 ,my soul will pass into history and the deathless memories of mankind2 and thus in glory shall ,i be immortal4 ,this characteristically ,french notion forms the essence of ,comte's positivist doctrine of a future life4 ,those deemed worthy after their death to be incorporated1 by vote of the people1 in the ,supreme ,being1 the ,grand ,etre1 a fictitious product of a poetic personification1 through the perpetual fame and influence thus secured have an immortal life in the thoughts and feelings of a grateful posterity4 ,comte says1 ,positivism greatly improves immortality and places it on a firmer foundation1 by changing it from objective to subjective4 ,great and eternal ,humanity is ,god4 ,the dead who are meritorious are alone remembered1 and1 thus incorporated into the ,divinity1 they have a subjective immortality in the brains of the living4 #de ,it is a poor shadow of the sublime truth which the soul craves4 ,leopardi1 in his ,bruto ,minore1 expresses this poor hope of being in the future's breath3 #dd ,cicero1 ,tusc4 ,quast41 lib4 i4 cap4 xv4 #de ,catechism of ,positive ,religion1 ,conversation ,,iii4 dell' atra morte ultima raggio ,conscia future eta4 ,that proud and gifted natures should have seriously stooped to such a toy1 to solace themselves with it1 is a fact strange and pathetic4 ,with reverential tenderness of sympathy must we yearn towards those whose loving natures1 baffled of any solid resource1 turn appealingly1 ere they fade away1 to clasp this substanceless image of an image4 ,another scheme is what may be called the lampada tradunt #df theory of a future life4 ,generations succeed each other1 and the course is always full4 ,eternal life takes up new subjects as fast as its exhausted receptacles perish4 ,men are the mortal cells of immortal humanity4 ,the individual must comfort himself with the sympathetic reflection that his extinction destroys nothing1 since all the elements of his being will be manipulated into the forms of his successors4 ,life is a constant renovation1 and its sum is forever full and equal on the globe4 ,the only genuine resurrection unto eternal life is an unending re creation of organisms from the same materials to repeat the same physiological and psychological processes4#dg ,there is a gleam of cheer and of nobleness in this representation2 but1 upon the whole1 it is perhaps as ineffectual as the former4 ,it is a vapid consolation1 in view of our own annihilation1 to think that others will then live and also be annihilated in their turn4 ,it is pleasant to believe that the earth will forever be peopled with throngs of men2 but though such a belief might help to reconcile us to our fate1 it could not alter the intrinsic sadness of that fate4 ,a third substitute for the common view of immortality is a scientific perception of the fact that the peculiar force which each man is1 the sum of his character and life1 is a cause indestructibly mixed with the course of subsequent history1 an objective personal immortality1 though not a conscious one4 ,what he was1 remains and acts forever in the world4 ,the fourth substitute is an identification of self with the integral scheme of things4 ,i am an inseparable portion of the totality of being1 to move eternally in its eternal motion4 ,if death seem hanging o'er thy separate soul1 ,discern thyself a part of life's great whole4 ,lose the thought of thy particular evanescence in the thought of the universal permanence4 ,the inverted torch denotes death to a mere inhabitant of the earth3 to a citizen of the universe1 downward and upward are the same4 ,perhaps one who rejects the ordinary doctrine of a future life can be solaced and edified by these substitutes in proportion to his fineness1 greatness1 and nobleness4 ,but to most persons no substitute can atone for the withdrawn truth of immortality itself4 ,in regard to the eternal preservation of personal consciousness1 it were bigoted blindness to deny that there is room for doubts and fears4 ,while the monad soul so to call it lies here beneath the weak glimmer of suns so far off that they are forceless to develop it to a #df ,lucretius1 ,de ,nat4 ,rerum1 lib4 ii4 #a4 #gh4 #dg ,schultz ,schultzenstein1 ,die ,bildung des menschlichen ,geistes durch ,kultur der ,verjungung seines ,lebens1 ss4 #hcd-hdg3 ,die ,unsterblichkeitsbegriffe4 victorious assurance1 we cannot but sometimes feel misgivings and be depressed by skeptical surmises4 ,accordingly1 while belief has generally prevailed1 disbelief has in every age had its representatives4 ,the ancients had their ,dicaarchus1 ,protagoras1 ,panatius1 ,lucan1 ,epicurus1 ,casar1 ,horace1 and a long list besides4 ,the moderns have had their ,gassendi1 ,diderot1 ,condillac1 ,hobbes1 ,hume1 ,paine1 ,leopardi1 ,shelley1 and now have their ,feuerbach1 ,vogt1 ,moleschott1 and scores of others needless to be named4 ,and although in any argument from authority the company of the great believers would incomparably outshine and a thousand times outweigh the array of deniers1 this does not alter the obvious fact that there are certain phenomena which are natural provocatives of doubt and whose troubling influence scarcely any one can always escape4 ,homer1 in giving expression to ,hector's confidence of victory over the ,greeks1 makes him wish that he were but as sure of entering the state of the immortal gods4#dh ,when some one asked ,dr4 ,johnson1 ,have we not proof enough of the immortality of the soul8 he replied1 ,i want more4 ,davenant of whom ,southey says1 ,i know no other author who has so often expressed his doubts respecting a future state and how burdensome he felt them writes1 ,but ask not bodies doom'd to die1 ,to what abode they go3 ,since knowledge is but sorrow's spy1 ,it is not safe to know4 ,charles ,lamb writes1 ,if men would honestly confess their misgivings1 7which few men will17 there are times when the strongest ,christian of us has reeled under questionings of such staggering obscurity4 ,many a man1 seeing nature hang her veil of shifting glories above the silent tombs of vanished generations1 voiceless now forever1 entertaining innumerable contradictory queries amidst feelings of decay and sights of corruption1 before the darkness of unknown futurity might piteously exclaim1 without deserving blame1 ,i run the gauntlet of a file of doubts1 ,each one of which down hurls me to the ground4 ,who that has reached maturity of reflection cannot appreciate and sympathize somewhat with these lines of ,byron1 when he stands before a lifeless form of humanity8 ,i gazed1 as oft ,i have gazed the same1 ,to try if ,i could wrench aught out of death ,which should confirm1 or shake1 or make1 a faith2 ,but it was all a mystery4 ,here we are1 ,and there we go3 but where8 ,five bits of lead1 ,or three1 or two1 or one1 send very far6 ,and is this blood1 then1 form'd but to be shed8 ,can every element our elements mar8 ,can air1 earth1 water1 fire1 live and we dead8 ,we1 whose minds comprehend all things8 ,no more4 #dh ,iliad1 lib1 viii4 ,il4 #ech-edj4 ,doubt is not sin1 but rather a misfortune2 for it is to adopt a suggestion from ,schaller a cleft in the soul through which thought steals away what the heart desires4 ,the guilt or innocence of doubting depends on the spirit in which it is done4 ,there are two attitudes of mind and moods of feeling before propositions and evidence4 ,one is1 ,i will not believe unless ,i see the prints of the nails and lay my finger in the marks of the wounds4 ,the other is1 ,lord1 ,i believe3 help thou mine unbelief4 ,in abstract logic or rigid science the former may be appropriate and right4 ,the latter alone can be justifiable in moral and religious things4 ,if a man sorrowfully and humbly doubts1 because he cannot help it1 he shall not be condemned4 ,when he is proud of his doubts1 complacently swells with fancied superiority1 plays the fanfaron with his pretentious arguments1 and sets up as a propagandist of disbelief1 being all the while in reality ,most ignorant of what he is most assured1 ,his glassy essence1 his conduct is offensive to every good man1 and his spirit must receive the condemnation of ,god4 ,a missionary of atheism and death1 horridly eager to destroy those lofty thoughts which so much help to make us men1 is a shocking spectacle4 ,yet a few such there are1 who seem delighted as by their dismal theory they bury mankind in an iron tomb of materialism and inscribe on the irrevocable door the solitary words1 ,fate and ,silence4 ,the more attentively one dwells on the perishable physical side of life1 the more prone he will be to believe in an absolute death2 the more prevailingly he ponders the incorruptible psychical side1 the more prepared he will be to credit immortality4 ,the chemist who confines his studies exclusively within his own province1 when he reflects on the probable sequence of life1 will speculatively see himself vanish in his blowpipes and retorts4 ,whoso devotedly dabbles in organisms1 nerves1 and bloods may easily become skeptical of spirit2 for it everywhere balks his analysis and eludes his search4 ,the objects he deals with are things4 ,they belong to change and dissolution4 ,mind and its proper home belong to a different category of being4 ,because no heaven appears at the end of the telescope1 and no soul is seen on the edge of the dissecting knife1 and no mind is found at the bottom of the crucible1 to infer that therefore there is neither heaven1 nor soul1 nor mind1 is as monstrous a non sequitur as it would be to infer the non existence of gravity because it cannot be distilled in any alembic nor discerned with any glass4 ,the man who goes into the dark crimson dripping halls of physiology seeking proofs of immortality1 and1 failing to find them1 abandons his faith in it1 is like that hapless traveller who1 groping in the catacombs under ,rome1 was buried by the caving in of the sepulchral roof1 and thus lost his life1 while all the time1 above1 the great vault of heaven was stretching1 blue and breezy1 filled with sunshine and sentient joy6 ,when we contemplate men in a mass1 like a swarm of bees or a hive of ants1 we find ourselves doubting their immortality4 ,they melt away1 in swiftly confused heaps and generations1 into the bosom of nature4 ,on the other hand1 when we think of individuals1 an almost unavoidable thought of personal identity makes us spontaneously conclude them immortal4 ,it rather requires the effort then to think them otherwise4 ,but obviously the real problem is never of the multitudinous throng1 but always of the solitary person4 ,in reference to this question it is sophistry to fix our thoughts on a ,chinese city as crowded with nameless and indistinguishable human inhabitants as a decayed cheese is with vermin4 ,fairness requires that our imaginations and reasonings upon the subject fasten upon an individual1 set apart and uplifted1 like a king1 in the incommunicable distinctness and grandeur of selfhood and responsibility4 ,from looking about this grave paved star1 from painful and degrading contemplations of dead bodies1 the snuff and loathed part of nature which burns itself out1 let a man turn away1 and send his interior kingly glance aloft into ideal realms1 let him summon up the glorious sentiments of freedom1 duty1 admiration1 the noble experiences of self sacrifice1 love1 and joy1 and his soul will extricate itself from the filthy net of material decay1 and feel the divine exemption of its own clean prerogatives1 dazzling types of eternity1 and fragments of blessedness that ,promise1 on our ,maker's truth1 ,long morrow to this mortal youth4 ,martyrdom is demonstration of immortality2 for self preservation is the innermost1 indestructible instinct of every conscious being4 ,when the soul1 in a sacred cause1 enthusiastically rushes upon death1 or in calm composure awaits death1 it is irresistibly convinced that it cannot be hurt1 but will be blessed1 by the crisis4 ,it knows that in an inexpressibly profound sense whosoever would ignobly save his life loses it1 but whosoever would nobly lose his life saves it4 ,martyrdom demonstrates immortality4 ,life embark'd out at sea1 'mid the wave tumbling roar1 ,the poor ship of my body went down to the floor2 ,but ,i broke1 at the bottom of death1 through a door1 ,and1 from sinking1 began forever to soar4 ,the most lamentable and pertinacious doubts of immortality sometimes arise from the survey of instances of gross wickedness1 sluggishness1 and imbecility forced on our attention4 ,but1 as these undeniably are palpable violations of the creative intention1 it is not just to reason from them4 ,in fairness the argument demands that we select the noblest1 healthiest specimens of completed humanity to reason from4 ,should we not take a case in which ,god's will is so far plainly fulfilled1 in order to trace that will farther and even to its finality8 ,and regarding on his death bed a ,newton1 a ,fenelon1 a ,washington1 is it difficult to conceive him surviving the climax and catastrophe of his somatic cell basis and soaring to a more august range of existence8 ,remembering that such as these have lived and died1 ay1 and even the godlike ,nazarene1 can we believe that man is merely a white interrogation point lifted on the black margin of matter to ask the answerless secret of the universe and be erased8 ,such a conclusion charges ,god with the transcendent crime of infanticide perpetrated in the most deliberate manner and on the most gigantic scale4 ,who can bear1 by thus quenching the hope of another life1 to add death to death1 and overcast1 to every thoughtful eye1 the whole sunny field of life with the melancholy shadow of a bier8 ,there is a noble strength and confidence1 cheering to the reader1 in these words of one of the wisest and boldest of thinkers3 ,i should be the very last man to be willing to dispense with the faith in a future life3 nay1 ,i would say1 with ,lorenzo de',medici1 that all those are dead1 even for the present life1 who do not hope for another4 ,i have the firm conviction that our soul is an existence of indestructible nature1 whose working is from eternity to eternity4 ,it is like the sun1 that seems indeed to set1 but really never sets1 shining on in unchangeable splendor4 #di ,such a view of our destiny incomparably inspires and ennobles us4 ,man1 discovering under all the poor1 wretched accidents of earth and sense and hard fortune the immortality of his soul1 feels as that king's son who1 lost in infancy1 and growing up under the care of a forest hind1 supposed himself to belong to the rude class among whom he lived2 but one day1 learning his true parentage1 he knew beneath his mean disguise that he was a prince1 and immediately claimed his kingdom4 ,these facts of experience show clearly how much it behooves us to cultivate by every honest method this cardinal tenet of religion1 how much wiser faith is in listening to the lucid echoes of the sky than despair in listening to the muffled reverberations of the grave4 ,all noble and sweet beliefs grow with the growing nobleness and tenderness of characters sensitive to those fine revealings which pachydermatous souls can never know4 ,in the upper hall of reason1 before the high shrine of faith1 burn the base doubts begotten in the cellars of sense2 and they may serve as tapers to light your tentative way to conviction4 ,if the floating al ,sirat between physiology and psychology1 earth and heaven1 is too slippery and perilous for your footing1 where heavy limbed science cannot tread1 nerve the wings of faith for a free flight4 ,or1 if every effort to fasten a definite theory on some solid support on the other side of the gulf fails1 venture forth on the naked line of limitless desire1 as the spider escapes from an unwelcome position by flinging out an exceedingly long and fine thread and going forth upon it sustained by the air4#ej ,whoever preserves the full intensity of the affections is little likely to lose his trust in ,god and a future life1 even when exposed to lowering and chilling influences from material science and speculative philosophy3 the glowing of the heart1 as ,jean ,paul says1 relights the extinguished torch in the night of the intellect1 as a beast stunned by an electric shock in the head is restored by an electric shock in the breast4 ,daniel ,webster says1 in an expression of his faith in ,christianity written shortly before his death1 ,philosophical argument1 especially that drawn from the vastness of the universe in comparison with the apparent insignificance of this globe1 has sometimes shaken my reason for the faith which is in me2 but my heart has always assured and reassured me4#ea ,contemplating the stable permanence of nature as it swallows our fleet generations1 we may feel that we vanish like sparks in the night2 but when we think of the persistent identity of the soul1 and of its immeasurable superiority to the brute mass of matter1 the aspect of the case changes and the moral inference is reversed4 ,does not the simple truth of love conquer and trample the world's aggregated lie8 ,the man who1 with assiduous toil and earnest faith1 develops his forces1 and disciplines his faculties1 and cherishes his aspirations1 and accumulates virtue and wisdom1 is thus preparing the auspicious stores and conditions of another existence4 ,as he slowly journeys over the mountains of life1 aware that there can be #di ,eckermann's ,conversations with ,goethe4 #ej ,greenough1 ,an ,artist's ,creed4 #ea ,memorial of ,daniel ,webster from the ,city of ,boston1 p4 #af4 no returning1 he gathers and carries with him materials to build a ship when he reaches the strand of death4 ,upon the mist veiled ocean launching then1 he will sail where8 ,whither ,god orders4 ,must not that be to the right port8 ,we remember an old ,brahmanic poem brought from the ,east by ,ruckert and sweetly resung in the speech of the ,west full of encouragement to those who shall die4#eb ,a man wrapped in slumber calmly reclines on the deck of a ship stranded and parting in the breakers4 ,the plank on which he sleeps is borne by a huge wave upon a bank of roses1 and he awakes amidst a jubilee of music and a chorus of friendly voices bidding him welcome4 ,so1 perhaps1 when the body is shattered on the death ledge1 the soul will be tossed into the fragrant lap of eternal life on the self identified and dynamic plank of personality4 #eb ,brahmanische ,erzahlungen1 s4 #e4 ,,chapter ,,ix4 ,,morality ,,of ,,the ,,doctrine ,,of ,a ,,future ,,life4 ,,in discussing the ethics of the doctrine of a future life a subject here amazingly neglected1 there more amazingly maltreated1 and nowhere1 within our knowledge1 truly analyzed and exhibited#a it is important that the theme be precisely defined and the debate kept strictly to the lines4 ,let it be distinctly understood1 therefore1 that the question to be handled is not1 ,whether there ought to be a future life or not1 nor1 ,whether there is a future life or not4 ,the question is1 ,what difference should it make to us whether we admit or deny the fact of a future life8 ,if we believe that we are to pass through death into an immortal existence1 what inferences pertaining to the present are right1 fully to be drawn from the supposition8 ,if1 on the other hand1 we think there is nothing for us after the present1 what are the logical consequences of that faith in regard to our aims and rules of conduct in this world8 ,suppose a man who has always imagined that death is utter annihilation should in some way suddenly acquire knowledge that an endless existence immediately succeeds the termination of this3 what would be the legitimate instructions of his new information8 ,before we can fairly answer this inquiry1 we need to know what relations connect the two states of existence4 ,a knowledge of the law and method and means of man's destiny is more important for his guidance than the mere ascertainment of its duration4 ,with reference to the query before us1 four hypotheses are conceivable4 ,if1 in the first place1 there be no connection whatever except that of temporal sequence between the present life and the future1 then1 so far as duty is concerned1 the expectation of a world to come yields not the slightest practical application for the experience that now is4 ,it can only be a source of comfort or of terror2 and that will be accordingly as it is conceived under the aspect of benignity or of vengeance4 ,if1 secondly1 the character of the future life depend on conditions to be fulfilled here1 but those conditions be not within our control1 then1 again1 no inferences of immediate duty can be drawn from the apprehended hereafter4 ,being quasi actors in a scene prearranged and with a plot predetermined1 we can no more be capable of any obligation or choice1 in regard to the end1 than puppets which some unseen ,harlequin moves by the terrible wires of primitive decree or transmitted depravity towards the genial or the tragic crisis4 ,if the soul's fate there is to be heaven or hell according to the part enacted here1 it must have free will and a fair opportunity to work the unmarred problem safely out4 ,otherwise the future life is reduced1 as far as it affects us here1 to a mere source of complacency or of horror as it respectively touches the elect and the reprobate4 ,thirdly1 it may be conceived that the future life is a state of everlasting reward and punishment unchangeably decided by the way in which the probationary period allotted on #a ,the only direct treatise on the subject known to us is ,tilemann's ,kritik der ,unsterblichkeitslehre in ,ansehung des ,sittengesetzes1 published in #aghi4 ,and this we have not seen4 earth is passed through4 ,here are men1 for a brief time1 free to act thus or otherwise4 ,do thus1 and the endless bliss of heaven is won4 ,do otherwise1 and the endless agony of hell is incurred4 ,the plain rule of action yielded by this doctrine is1 ,sacrifice all other things to the one thing needful4 ,the present life is in itself a worthless instant4 ,the future life is an inexhaustible eternity4 ,and yet this infinite wealth of glory or woe depends on how you act during that poor moment4 ,therefore you have nothing to do while on earth but to seek the salvation of your soul4 ,to waste a single pulse beat on any thing else is the very madness of folly4 ,to find out how to escape hell and secure heaven1 and then to improve the means1 this should absolutely absorb every energy and every thought and every desire of every moment4 ,this world is a bridge of straw over the roaring gulf of eternal fire4 ,is there leisure for sport and business1 or room for science and literature1 or mood for pleasures and amenities8 ,no3 to get ourselves and our friends into the magic car of salvation1 which will waft us up from the ravenous crests of the brimstone lake packed with visages of anguish1 to bind around our souls the floating cord of redemption1 which will draw us up to heaven1 this should intensely engage every faculty4 ,nothing else can be admitted save by oversight of the awful facts4 ,for is it not one flexible instant of opportunity1 and then an adamantine immortality of doom8 ,that doctrine of a future life which makes eternal unalterable happiness or misery depend on the fleeting probation allowed here yields but one practical moral2 and that it pronounces with imminent urgency and perfect distinctness4 ,the only true duty1 the only real use1 of this life is to secure the forensic salvation of the soul by improvement of the appointed means4 ,suspended by such a hair of frailty1 for one breathless moment1 on such a razor edged contingence1 an entrancing sea of blessedness above1 a horrible abyss of torture beneath1 such should be the all concentrating anxiety to secure safety that there would be neither time nor taste for any thing else4 ,every object should seem an altar drenched with sacrificial blood1 every sound a knell laden with dolorous omen1 every look a propitiatory confession1 every breath a pleading prayer4 ,from so single and preternatural a tension of the believer's faculties nothing could allow an instant's cessation except a temporary forgetting or blinking of the awful scene and the immeasurable hazard4 ,such would be a logical application to life of the genuine morals of the doctrine under consideration4 ,but the doctrine itself is to be rejected as false on many grounds4 ,it is deduced from ,scripture by a technical and unsound interpretation4 ,it is unjust and cruel1 irreconcilable with the righteousness or the goodness of ,god4 ,it is unreasonable1 opposed to the analogies of nature and to the experience of man4 ,it is wholly impossible to carry it out consistently in the practice of life4 ,if it were thoroughly credited and acted upon1 all the business of the world would cease1 and the human race would soon die out4 ,there remains one other view of the relationship of a future life with the present4 ,and it seems to be the true view4 ,the same ,creator presiding1 the same laws prevailing1 over infinitude and eternity that now rule over time and earth1 our immortality cannot reasonably be imagined either a moment of free action and an eternity of fixed consequences1 or a series of separate fragments patched into a parti colored experience with blanks of death between the patterns of life4 ,it must be conceived as one endless existence in linear connection of cause and effect developing in progressive phases under varying conditions of motive and scenery4 ,with what we are at death we live on into the next life4 ,in every epoch and world of our destiny our happiness depends on the possession of a harmoniously working soul harmoniously related with its environment4 ,each stage and state of our eternal existence has its peculiarities of duty and privilege4 ,in this one our proper work is to improve the opportunities1 discharge the tasks1 enjoy the blessings1 belonging here4 ,we are to do the same in the next one when we arrive in that4 ,all the wealth of wisdom1 virtue1 strength1 and harmony we acquire in our present life is the vantage ground and capital wherewith we start in the succeeding life4 ,therefore the true preparation for the future is to fit ourselves to enter it under the most favorable auspices1 by accumulating in our souls all the spiritual treasures afforded by the present4 ,in other words1 the truest aim we can set before ourselves during our existence on earth is to make it yield the greatest possible results of the noblest experience4 ,the life hereafter is the elevated and complementary continuation of the life here2 and certainly the directest way to ameliorate the continuation is to improve the commencement4 ,but1 it may be said1 according to this representation1 the fact of a future life makes no difference in regard to our duty now2 for if the grave swallows all1 still1 it is our duty and our interest to make the best and the most of our life in the world while it lasts4 ,true2 and really that very consideration is a strong proof of the correctness of the view in question4 ,it corresponds with the other arrangements of ,god4 ,he makes every thing its own end1 complete in itself1 at the same time that it subserves some further end and enters into some higher unity4 ,he is no mere ,teleologist1 hobbling towards his conclusions on a pair of decayed logic crutches1#b but an infinite ,artist1 whose means and ends are consentaneous in the timeless and spaceless spontaneity and perfection of his play4 ,if the tomb is our total goal1 our genuine aim in this existence is to win during its course an experience the largest in quantity and the best in quality4 ,on the other hand1 if another life follows this1 our wisdom is just the same2 because that experience alone1 with the favor of ,god1 can constitute our fitness and stock to enter on the future4 ,and yet between the two cases there is this immense difference1 not indeed in duty1 but in endowment1 that in the latter instance we work out our allotted destiny here1 in a broader illumination1 with grander incentives1 and with vaster consolations4 ,a future life1 then1 really imposes no new duty upon the present1 alters no fundamental ingredient in the present1 takes away none of the charms and claims of the present1 but merely sheds an additional radiance upon the shaded lights already shining here1 infuses an additional motive into the stimulants already animating our purposes1 distills an additional balm into the comforts which already assuage our sorrows amidst an evanescent scene4 ,the belief that we are to live hereafter in a compensating world explains to us many a sad mystery1 strengthens us for many an oppressive burden1 consoles us in many a sharp grief4 ,else we should oftener go mad in the baffling whirl of problems1 oftener obey the baser voice1 oftener yield to despair4 ,these three are the moral uses1 in the present life1 of the #b ,seht1 an der morschen ,syllogismenkrucke ,hinkt ,gott in ,seine ,welt4,lenau's ,satire auf einen ,professor philosophia4 doctrine of a future life4 ,outside of these three considerations the doctrine has no ethical meaning for human observance here4 ,it will be seen1 according to the foregoing representation1 that the expectation of a future life1 instead of being harmful to the interests and attractions of the present1 simply casts a cheering and magnifying light upon them4 ,it does not depreciate the realities or nullify the obligations now upon us1 but emphasizes them1 flinging their lights and shades forward through a mightier vista4 ,consequently there is no reason for assailing the idea of another life in behalf of the interests of this4 ,such an opposition between the two states is entirely sophistical1 resulting from a profound misinterpretation of the truemoral relations connecting them4 ,the belief in immortality has been mistakenly attacked1 not merely as hostile to our welfare on earth1 but likewise as immoral in itself1 springing from essential selfishness1 and in turn nourishing selfishness and fatally tainting every thing with that central vice4 ,to desire to live everlastingly as an identical individual1 it has been said1 is the ecstasy and culmination of avaricious conceitedness4 ,man1 the vain egotist1 dives out of sight in ,god to fish up the pearl of his darling self4 ,he makes his poor individuality the measure of all things1 his selfish desire the law of endless being4 ,such a rampant proclamation of self will and enthronement of pure egotism1 flying in the face of the solemn and all submerging order of the universe1 is the very essence and climax of immorality and irreligiousness4 ,to this assault on the morality of the belief in a future life1 whether made in the devout tones of magnanimous sincerity1 as by the sublime ,schleiermacher1 or with the dishonest trickiness of a vulgar declaimer for the rehabilitation of the senses1 as by some who might be named1 several fair replies may be made4 ,in the first place1 the objection begs the question1 by assuming that the doctrine is a falsehood1 and that its disciples wilfully set up their private wishes against the public truth4 ,such tremendous postulates cannot be granted4 ,it is seizing the victory before the battle1 grasping the conclusion without establishing the premises4 ,for1 if there be a future life provided by the ,creator1 it cannot be sinful or selfish in us to trust in it1 to accept it with humble gratitude1 and to prepare our souls for it4 ,that1 instead of being rebellious arrogance or overweening selfishness1 would simply be conforming our thoughts and plans1 our desires and labors1 to the ,divine arrangements4 ,that would be both morality and piety4 ,when one clings by will to a doctrine known to be a falsehood1 obstinately suppressing reason to affirm it as a truth1 and1 in obedience to his personal whims1 trying to force all things into conformity with it1 he does act as a selfish egotist in full violation of the moral law and the spirit of religion4 ,but a future life we believe to be a fact2 and therefore we are1 in every respect1 justified in gladly expecting it and consecratedly living with reference to it4 ,furthermore1 admitting it to be an open question1 neither proved nor disproved1 but poised in equal uncertainty1 still1 it is not immoral nor undevout deeply to desire and fondly to hope a personal immortality4 ,the aim of religion1 it has been said1 is the annihilation of one's own individuality1 the living in the ,all1 the becoming one with the universe4 ,but in such a definition altogether too much is assumed4 ,the aim of religion is only the annihilation of the self will of the individual as opposed to the ,will of the ,whole1 not the losing of one's self in the unconscious wastes of the universe1 but the harmonizing of one's self with the ,supreme ,law of the universe4 ,an humble1 loving1 and joyous conformity to the truth constitutes morality and religion4 ,this is not necessarily inconsistent with a personal immortality4 ,besides1 the charge may be retorted4 ,to be identified with the universe is a prouder thought than to be subordinated to it as an infinitesimal individual4 ,it is a far haughtier conceit to fancy one's self an integral part of ,god's substance than to believe one's self a worshipping pensioner of ,god's will4 ,the conception1 too1 is less native to the mind1 has been more curiously sought out1 and is incomparably more pampering to speculative luxury4 ,if accusations of selfishness and wilfulness are to be hurled upon any modes of preferred faith as to our destiny1 this self styled disinterested surrender of our personality to the pantheistic ,soul is as obnoxious to them as the common belief4 ,if a desire for personal immortality be a normal experience in the development of our nature1 it cannot be indictable as an offence1 but must be recognised as an indication of ,god's design4 ,whether the desire is a cold and degraded piece of egotism deserving rebuke and contempt1 or a lofty and sympathetic affection worthy of reverence and approval1 depends on no intrinsic ingredient of the desire itself1 but on the character in which it has its being4 ,one person will be a heartless tyrant1 another a loving saint1 in his hope of a future life4 ,shall our love of the dead1 our prayers to meet them again1 our unfathomed yearnings to know that they still live and are happy1 be stigmatized as mean and evil8 ,regard for others as much as for ourselves prompts the eternal sigh4 ,nor will ,divinity ever condemn the feeling himself has awakened4 ,it is said that ,xerxes1 gazing once upon his gorgeous army of a million men spread out below hire1 sheathed in golden armor1 white plumes nodding1 purple standards waving1 martial horns blowing1 wept as he thought that in thirty years the entire host composing that magnificent spectacle would be dead4 ,to have gazed thoughtfully upon such a sight with unmoved sensibilities would imply a much more selfish and hard hearted egotist4 ,so when a lonely philanthropist from some meditative eminence looks down on the human race1 if1 as the contemplation of their pathetic fading and decay wounds his saddened heart1 he heals and cheers it with the faith of a glorious immortality for them all1 who shall call him selfish and sinful8 ,to rest contented with the speedy night and the infinite oblivion1 wiping off all the unsolved sums from the slate of existence with annihilation's remorseless sponge1 that would be the selfishness and the cruelty4 ,when that sweet asp1 death1 fastens on our vein of earthly life1 we all feel1 like the dying queen of ,egypt1 that we have immortal longings in us4 ,since the soul thus holds by a pertinacious instinct to the eternity of her own existence1 it is more rational to conclude that this is a pledge of her indestructible personality1 ,god's impregnable defence reared around the citadel of her being1 than to consider it the artificial rampart flung up by an insurgent egotism4 ,in like manner1 it is a misrepresentation of the facts to assert the culpable selfishness of the faith in a future life as a demanded reward for fidelity and merit here4 ,no one demands immortality as pay for acquired desert4 ,it is modestly looked for as a free boon from the ,god who freely gave the present and who has by a thousand symbolic prophecies promised it4 ,richter says1 with great insight1 ,we desire immortality not as the reward of virtue1 but as its continuance4 ,virtue can no more be rewarded than joy can3 it is its own reward4 ,kant says1 ,immortality has been left so uncertain in order that pure freedom of choice1 and no selfish views1 shall prompt our aspirations4 ,but1 ,jean ,paul keenly replies1 as we have now discovered this intention1 its object is defeated4 ,besides1 if the belief in immortality makes virtue selfish1 the experience of it in the next world would make it more so4 ,the anticipation of heaven can hardly make man a selfish calculator of profit2 because heaven is no reward for crafty reckoning1 but the home of pure and holy souls4 ,virtue which resists temptation and perseveres in rectitude because it has a sharp eye to an ulterior result is not virtue4 ,no credible doctrine of a future life offers a prize except to those who are just and devout and strenuous in sacred service from free loyalty to the right and the good1 spontaneously obeying and loving the higher and better call because it divinely commands their obedience and love4 ,the law of duty is the superior claim of truth and goodness4 ,virtue1 yielding itself filially to this1 finds in heaven not remuneration1 but a sublimer theatre and an immortal career4 ,egotistic greed1 all mere prudential considerations as determining conditions or forces in the award1 are excluded as unclean and inadmissible by the very terms2 and the doctrine stands justified on every ground as pure and wholesome before the holiest tribunal of ethics4 ,surely it is right that goodness should be blessed2 but when it continues good only for the sake of being blessed it ceases to be goodness4 ,it is not the belief in immortality1 but only the belief in a corrupt doctrine of immortality which can poison the springs of disinterested virtue4 ,the morality of the doctrine of a future life having thus been defended from the attacks of those who have sought to destroy it in the fancied interests either of the enjoyments of the earth or of the purity of virtue and religion1 it now remains to free it from the still more fatal supports which false or superficial religionists have sought to give it by wrenching out of it meanings it never held1 by various perverse abuses of it1 by monstrous exaggerations of its moral importance to the present4 ,we have seen that the supposition of another life1 correctly interpreted1 lays no new duty upon man1 takes away from him no old duty or privilege1 but simply gives to the previously existing facts of the case the intensifying glory and strength of fresh light1 motive1 and consolation4 ,but many public teachers1 not content to treat the subject with this sobriety of reason1 instead of presenting the careful conclusions of a conscientious analysis1 have sought to strengthen their argument to the feelings by help of prodigious assumptions1 assumptions hastily adopted1 highly colored1 and authoritatively urged4 ,upon the hypothesis that annihilation is the fate of man1 they are not satisfied merely to take away from the present all the additional light1 incentive1 and comfort imparted by the faith in a future existence1 but they arbitrarily remove all the alleviations and glories intrinsically belonging to the scene1 and paint it in the most horrible hues1 and set it in a frame of midnight4 ,thus1 instead of calmly seeking to elicit and recommend truth1 they strive1 by terrifying the fancy and shocking the prejudices1 to make people accept their dogma because frightened at the seeming consequences of rejecting it4 ,it is necessary to expose the fearful fallacies which have been employed in this way1 and which are yet extensively used for the same purpose4 ,even a ,christian writer usually so judicious as ,andrews ,norton has said1 ,without the belief in personal immortality there can be no religion2 for what can any truths of religion concern the feelings and the conduct of beings whose existence is limited to a few years in this world8 #c ,such a statement from such a quarter is astonishing4 ,surely the sentiments natural to a person or incumbent upon him do not depend on the duration of his being1 but on the character1 endowments1 and relations of his being4 ,the hypothetical fact that man perishes with his body does not destroy ,god1 does not destroy man's dependence on ,god for all his privileges1 does not annihilate the overwhelming magnificence of the universe1 does not alter the native sovereignty of holiness1 does not quench our living reason1 imagination1 or sensibility1 while they last4 ,the soul's gratitude1 wonder1 love1 and worship are just as right and instinctive as before4 ,if our experience on earth1 before the phenomena of the visible creation and in conscious communion with the emblemed attributes of ,god1 does not cause us to kneel in humility and to adore in awe1 then it may be doubted if heaven or hell will ever persuade us to any sincerity in such acts4 ,the simple prolongation of our being does not add to its qualitative contents1 cannot increase the kinds of our capacity or the number of our duties4 ,chalmers utters an injurious error in saying1 as he does1 ,if there be no future life1 the moral constitution of man is stripped of its significancy1 and the ,author of that constitution is stripped of his wisdom and authority and honor4 #d ,the creative ,sovereign of fifty million firmaments of worlds stripped of his wisdom and authority and honor because a few insects on a little speck are not eternal6 ,can egotistic folly any further go8 ,the affirmation or denial of immortality neither adds to nor diminishes the numerical relations and ingredients of our nature and experience4 ,if religion is fitted for us on the former supposition1 it is also on the latter4 ,to any dependent intelligence blessed with our human susceptibilities1 reverential love and submission are as obligatory1 natural1 and becoming on the brink of annihilation as on the verge of immortality4 ,rebellious egotism makes all the difference4 ,truth is truth1 whatever it be4 ,religion is the meek submission of self will to ,god's will4 ,that is a duty not to be escaped1 no matter what the future reserves or excludes for us4 ,another sophism almost universally accepted needs to be shown4 ,man1 it is said1 has no interest in a future life if not conscious in it of the past4 ,if1 on exchange of worlds1 man loses his memory1 he virtually ceases to exist1 and might just as well be annihilated4 ,a future life with perfect oblivion of the present is no life at all for us4 ,is not this style of thought the most provincial egotism1 the utter absence of all generous thought and sympathy unselfishly grasping the absolute boons of being8 ,it is a shallow error1 too1 even on the grounds of selfishness itself4 ,in any point of view the difference is diametric and immense between a happy being in an eternal present1 unconscious of the past1 and no being at all4 ,suppose a man thirty years of age were offered his choice to die this moment1 or to live fifty years longer of unalloyed success and happiness1 only with a complete forgetfulness of all that has happened up to this moment4 ,he would not hesitate to grasp the gift1 however much he regretted the condition4 #c ,tracts concerning ,christianity1 p4 #cjg4 #d ,bridgewater ,treatise1 part ii4 ch4 #aj1 sect4 #ae4 ,it has often been argued that with the denial of a retributive life beyond the grave all restraints are taken off from the passions1 free course given to every impulse4 ,chateaubriand says1 bluntly1 ,there can be no morality if there be no future state4 #e ,with displeasing coarseness1 and with most reprehensible recklessness of reasoning1 ,luther says1 in contradiction to the essential nobleness of his loving1 heroic nature1 ,if you believe in no future life1 ,i would not give a mushroom for your ,god4 ,do1 then1 as you like4 ,for if no ,god1 so no devil1 no hell3 as with a fallen tree1 all is over when you die4 ,then plunge into lechery1 rascality1 robbery1 and murder4 ,what bible of ,moloch had he been studying to form1 for the time1 so horrid a theory of the happiest life1 and to put so degrading an estimate upon human nature8 ,is man's will a starved wolf only held back by the triple chain of fear of death1 ,satan1 and hell1 from tearing forth with ravenous bounds to flesh the fangs of his desires in bleeding virtue and innocence8 ,does the greatest satisfaction man is capable of here1 the highest blessedness he can attain to1 consist in drunkenness1 gluttony1 dishonesty1 violence1 and impiety8 ,if he had the appetite of a tiger or a vulture1 then1 thus to wallow in the offal of vice1 dive into the carrion of sensuality1 abandon himself to revelling in carnivorous crime1 might be his instinct and his happiness4 ,but by virtue of his humanity man loves his fellows1 enjoys the scenery of nature1 takes delight in thought and art1 dilates with grand presentiments of glory and eternity1 mysteriously yearns after the hidden ,god4 ,to a reasonable man and no other is to be reasoned with on matters of truth and interest the assumption of this brief season as all1 will be a double motive not to hasten and embitter its brevity by folly1 excess1 and sin4 ,if you are to be dead to morrow1 for that very reason1 in ,god's name1 do not1 by gormandizing and guzzling1 anticipate death to day6 ,the true restraint from wrong and degradation is not a crouching conscience of superstition and selfishness1 fancying a chasm of fire1 but a high toned conscience of reason and honor1 perceiving that they are wrong and degradation1 and spontaneously loathing them4 ,still worse1 many esteemed authors have not hesitated to assert that unless there be a future life there is not only no check on passion within1 but no moral law without2 every man is free to do what he pleases1 without blame or fault4 ,sir ,kenelm ,digby says1 in his ,treatise on ,man's ,soule1 that to predicate mortality in the soule taketh away all morality1 and changeth men into beastes1 by removing the ground of all difference in those thinges which are to governe our actions4 #f ,this style of teaching is a very mischievous absurdity4 ,admit1 for a moment1 that ,jocko in the woods of ,brazil1 and ,schiller in the brilliant circles of ,weimar1 will at last meet the same fate in the dusty grasp of death2 yet1 while they live1 one is an ape1 the other is a man4 ,and the differences of capacity and of duty are numberless and immense4 ,the statement is enough3 argument would be ridiculous4 ,the words of an audacious ,french preacher are yet more shocking than those of the ,english nobleman4 ,it is hard to believe they could be uttered in good faith4 ,says ,massillon1 in his famous declamation on immortality1 ,if we wholly perish with the body1 the maxims of charity1 patience1 justice1 honor1 gratitude1 and friendship1 are but empty words4 ,our own passions shall decide our duty4 #e ,genie du ,christianisme1 partie ii4 livre vi4 chap4 #c4 #f ,ch4 ix4 sect4 #aj4 ,if retribution terminate with the grave1 morality is a mere chimera1 a bugbear of human invention4 #g ,what debauched unbeliever ever inculcated a viler or a more fatal doctrine8 ,its utter barelessness1 as a single illustration may show1 is obvious at a glance4 ,as the sciences of algebra and geometry1 the relations of numbers and bodies1 are true for the material world although they may be lost sight of when time and space are transcended in some higher state1 so the science of ethics1 the relations of nobler and baser1 of right and wrong1 the manifold grades and qualities of actions and motives1 are true for human nature and experience in this life even if men perish in the grave4 ,however soon certain facts are to end1 while they endure they are as they are4 ,in a moment of carelessness1 by some strange slip of the mind1 showing1 perhaps1 how tenaciously rooted are the common prejudice and falsehood on this subject1 even so bold and fresh a thinker as ,theodore ,parker has contradicted his own philosophy by declaring1 ,if to morrow ,i perish utterly1 then my fathers will be to me only as the ground out of which my bread corn is grown4 ,i shall care nothing for the generations of mankind4 ,i shall know no higher law than passion4 ,morality will vanish4 #h ,ah1 man reveres his fathers and loves to act nobly1 not because he is to live forever1 but because he is a man4 ,and1 though all the summer hopes of escaping the grave were taken from human life1 choicest and tenderest virtues might still flourish1 as it is said the ,german crossbill pairs and broods in the dead of winter4 ,the martyr's sacrifice and the voluptuary's indulgence are very different things to day1 if they do both cease to morrow4 ,no speed of advancing destruction can equalize ,agamemnon and ,thersites1 ,mansfield and ,jeffries1 or hustle together justice and fraud1 cowardice and valor1 purity and corruption1 so that they will interchange qualities4 ,there is an eternal and immutable morality1 as whiteness is white1 and blackness is black1 and triangularity is triangular4 ,and no severance of temporal ties or compression of spatial limits can ever cut the condign bonds of duty and annihilate the essential distinctions of good and evil1 magnanimity and meanness1 faithfulness and treachery4 ,reducing our destiny from endless to definite cannot alter the inherent rightfulness and superiority of the claims of virtue4 ,the most it can do is to lessen the strength of the motive1 to give the great motor nerve of our moral life a perceptible stroke of palsy4 ,in reference to the question1 ,can ephemera have a moral law8 ,richter reasons as follows3 ,suppose a statue besouled for two days4 ,if on the first day you should shatter it1 and thus rob it of one day's life1 would you be guilty of murder8 ,one can injure only an immortal4 #i ,the sophistry appears when we rectify the conclusion thus3 one can inflict an immortal injury only on an immortal being4 ,in fact1 it would appear to be a greater wrong and injury1 for the time1 to destroy one day's life of a man whose entire existence was confined to two days1 than it would be to take away the same period from the bodily existence of one who immediately thereupon passes into a more exalted and eternal life4 ,to the sufferer1 the former would seem an immitigable calamity1 the latter a benign furtherance2 while1 in the agent1 the overt act is the same4 ,this general moral problem has been more accurately answered by ,isaac ,taylor1 whose lucid statement is as follows3 ,the creatures of a summer's day might be imagined1 when #g ,o,euvres ,completes1 tome xiii43 ,immortalite de l',ame4 #h ,sermons of ,theism1 ,sermon ,,vii4 #i ,werke1 band xxxiii4 s4 #bdj4 they stand upon the threshold of their term of existence1 to make inquiry concerning the attributes of the ,creator and the rules of his government2 for these are to be the law of their season of life and the measure of their enjoyments4 ,the sons of immortality would put the same questions with an intensity the greater from the greater stake4 ,practically1 the acknowledged authority of the moral law in human society cannot be destroyed4 ,its influence may be unlimitedly weakened1 its basis variously altered1 but as a confessed sovereign principle it cannot be expelled4 ,the denial of the freedom of the will theoretically explodes it2 but social custom1 law1 and opinion will enforce it still4 ,make man a mere dissoluble mixture of carbon and magnetism1 yet so long as he can distinguish right and wrong1 good and evil1 love and hate1 and1 unsophisticated by dialectics1 can follow either of opposite courses of action1 the moral law exists and exerts its sway4 ,it has been asked1 ,if the incendiary be1 like the fire he kindles1 a result of material combinations1 shall he not be treated in the same way8 #aj ,we should reply thus3 ,no matter what man springs from or consists of1 if he has moral ideas1 performs moral actions1 and is susceptible of moral motives1 then he is morally responsible3 for all practical and disciplinary purposes he is wholly removed from the categories of physical science4 ,another pernicious misrepresentation of the fair consequences of the denial of a life hereafter is shown in the frequent declaration that then there would be no motive to any thing good and great4 ,the incentives which animate men to strenuous services1 perilous virtues1 disinterested enterprises1 spiritual culture1 would cease to operate4 ,the essential life of all moral motives would be killed4 ,this view is to be met by a broad and indignant denial based on an appeal to human consciousness and to the reason of the thing4 ,every man knows by experience that there are a multitude of powerful motives1 entirely disconnected with future reward or punishment1 causing him to resist evil and to do good even with self sacrificing toil and danger4 ,when the fireman risks his life to save a child from the flames of a tumbling house1 is the hope of heaven his motive8 ,when the soldier spurns an offered bribe and will not betray his comrades nor desert his post1 is the fear of hell all that animates him8 ,a million such decisive specifications might be made4 ,the renowned sentence of ,cicero1 ,nemo unquam sine magna spe immortalitatis se pro patria offerret ad mortem1 #aa is effective eloquence2 but it is a baseless libel against humanity and the truth4 ,in every moment of supreme nobleness and sacrifice personality vanishes4 ,thousands of patriots1 philosophers1 saints1 have been glad to die for the freedom of native land1 the cause of truth1 the welfare of fellow men1 without a taint of selfish reward touching their wills4 ,are there not souls ,to whom dishonor's shadow is a substance ,more terrible than death here and hereafter8 ,he must be the basest of men who would decline to do any sublime act of virtue because he did not expect to enjoy the consequences of it eternally4 ,is there no motive for the #aj ,some discussion of this general subject is to be found in ,schaller1 ,leib nod ,seele4 kap4 #e3 ,die ,consequentzen des ,materialismus4 ,and in ,schopenhauer1 ,die beiden ,grundprobleme der ,ethik4 #aa ,tuscul4 ,quast4 lib4 i4 cap4 #ae4 preservation of health because it cannot be an everlasting possession8 ,since we cannot eat sweet and wholesome food forever1 shall we therefore at once saturate our stomachs with nauseating poisons8 ,if all experienced good and evil wholly terminate for us when we die1 still1 every intrinsic reason which1 on the supposition of immortality1 makes wisdom better than folly1 industry better than sloth1 righteousness better than iniquity1 benevolence and purity better than hatred and corruption1 also makes them equally preferable while they last4 ,even if the philosopher and the idiot1 the religious philanthropist and the brutal pirate1 did die alike1 who would not rather live like the sage and the saint than like the fool and the felon8 ,shall heaven be held before man simply as a piece of meat before a hungry dog to make him jump well8 ,it is a shocking perversion of the grandest doctrine of faith4 ,let the theory of annihilation assume its direst phase1 still1 our perception of principles1 our consciousness of sentiments1 our sense of moral loyalty1 are not dissolved1 but will hold us firmly to every noble duty until we ourselves flow into the dissolving abyss4 ,but some one may say1 ,if ,i have fought with beasts at ,ephesus1 what advantageth it me if the dead rise not8 ,it advantageth you every thing until you are dead1 although there be nothing afterwards4 ,as long as you live1 is it not glory and reward enough to have conquered the beasts at ,ephesus8 ,this is sufficient reply to the unbelieving flouters at the moral law4 ,and1 as an unanswerable refutation of the feeble whine of sentimentality that without immortal endurance nothing is worth our affection1 let great ,shakspeare advance1 with his matchless depth of bold insight reversing the conclusion1 and pronouncing1 in tones of cordial solidity1 ,this1 thou perceivest1 will make thy love more strong1 ,to love that well which thou must leave ere long4 ,what though ,decay's shapeless hand extinguish us8 ,its foreflung and enervating shadow shall neither transform us into devils nor degrade us into beasts4 ,that shadow indeed only falls in the valleys of ignoble fear and selfishness1 leaving all the clear road lines of moral truth and practical virtue and heroic consecration still high and bright on the table land of a worthy life2 and every honorable soul1 calmly confronting its fate1 will cry1 despite the worst1 ,the pathway of my duty lies in sunlight2 ,and ,i would tread it with as firm a step1 ,though it should terminate in cold oblivion1 ,as if ,elysian pleasures at its ,close ,gleam'd palpable to sight as things of earth4 ,if a captain knew that his ship would never reach her port1 would he therefore neglect his functions1 be slovenly and careless1 permit insubordination and drunkenness among the crew1 let the broad pennon draggle in filthy rents1 the cordage become tangled and stiff1 the planks be covered with dirt1 and the guns be grimed with rust8 ,no3 all generous hearts would condemn that4 ,he would keep every inch of the deck scoured1 every piece of metal polished like a mirror1 the sails set full and clean1 and1 with shining muzzles out1 ropes hauled taut in their blocks1 and every man at his post1 he would sweep towards the reef1 and go down into the sea firing a farewell salute of honor to the sun1 his flag flying above him as he sunk4 ,the dogmatic assertors of a future life1 in a partisan spirit set upon making out the most impressive case in its behalf1 have been guilty of painting frightful caricatures of the true nature and significance of the opposite conclusion4 ,instead of saying1 ,if such a thing be fated1 why1 then1 it must be right1 ,god's will be done1 they frantically rebel against any such admission1 and declare that it would make ,god a liar and a fiend1 man a magnetic mockery1 and life a hellish taunt4 ,this1 however unconscious it may be to its authors1 is blasphemous egotism4 ,one of the tenderest1 devoutest1 richest1 writers of the century has unflinchingly affirmed that if man who trusted that love was the final law of creation1 although nature1 her claws and teeth red with raven1 shrieked against his creed be left to be blown about the desert dust or sealed within the iron hills1 ,no more6 a monster1 then1 a dream1 ,a discord2 dragons of the prime1 ,that tare each other in their slime1 ,were mellow music match'd with ,him6 ,epictetus says1 ,when death overtakes me1 it is enough if ,i can stretch out my hands to ,god1 and say1 ',the opportunities which thou hast given me of comprehending and following thy government1 ,i have not neglected4 ,i thank thee that thou hast brought me into being4 ,i am satisfied with the time ,i have enjoyed the things thou hast given me4 ,receive them again1 and assign them to whatever place thou wilt4' #ab ,surely the pious heathen here speaks more worthily than the presumptuous ,christian6 ,how much fitter would it be1 granting that death is the end all1 to revise our interpretation1 look at the subject from the stand point of universal order1 not from this opinionative narrowness1 and see if it be not susceptible of a benignant meaning1 worthy of grateful acceptance by the humble mind of piety and the dispassionate spirit of science6 ,yea1 let ,god and his providence stand justified1 though man prove to have been egregiously mistaken4 ,though ,he smite me1 yet will ,i praise ,him2 though ,he slay me1 yet will ,i trust in ,him4 ,to return into the state we were in before we were created is not to suffer any evil3 it is to be absolutely free from all evil4 ,it is but the more perfect playing of that part1 of which every sound sleep is a rehearsal4 ,the thought of it is mournful to the enjoying soul1 but not terrific2 and even the mournfulness ceases in the realization4 ,he uttered a piece of cruel madness who said1 ,hell is more bearable than nothingness4 ,is it worse to have nothing than it is to have infinite torture8 ,milton asks1 ,for who would lose1 ,though full of pain1 this intellectual being8 ,every creature that exists1 if full of pain1 would snatch at the boon of ceasing to be4 ,to be blessed is a good2 to be wretched is an evil2 not to be is neither a good nor an evil1 but simply #ab ,dissert41 lib4 iv4 cap4 x4 sect4 #b4 nothing4 ,if such be our necessary fate1 let us accept it with a harmonized mind1 not entertaining fear nor yielding to sadness4 ,why should we shudder or grieve8 ,every time we slumber1 we try on the dress which1 when we die1 we shall wear easily forever4 ,not satisfied to let the result rest in this somewhat sad but peaceful aspect1 it is quite customary to give it a turn and hue of ghastly horribleness1 by casting over it the dyspeptic dreams1 injecting it with the lurid lights and shades1 of a morbid and wilful fancy4 ,the most loathsome and inexcusable instance in point is the ,vision of ,annihilation depicted by the vermicular1 infested imagination of the great ,teutonic phantasist while yet writhing under the sanguinary fumes of some horrid attack of nightmare4 ,stepping across the earth1 which is but a broad executioner's block for pale1 stooping humanity1 he enters the larva world of blotted out men4 ,the rotten chain of beings reaches down into this slaughter field of souls4 ,here the dead are pictured as eternally horripilating at death6 ,as annihilation1 the white shapelessness of revolting terror1 passes by each unsouled mask of a man1 a tear gushes from the crumbled eye1 as a corpse bleeds when its murderer approaches4 ,pah6 ,out upon this execrable retching of a nauseated fancy6 ,what good is there in the baseless conceit and gratuitous disgust of saying1 ,the next world is in the grave1 betwixt the teeth of the worm8 ,in the case supposed1 the truth is merely that there is no next world anywhere2 not that all the horrors of hell are scooped together into the grave1 and there multiplied by others direr yet and unknown before4 ,man's blended duty and interest1 in such a case1 are to try to see the interior beauty and essential kindness of his fate1 to adorn it and embrace it1 fomenting his resignation with the sweet lotions of faith and peace1 not exasperating his wounds with the angry pungents of suspicion1 alarm1 and complaint4 ,at the worst1 amidst all our personal disappointments1 losses1 and decay1 the view of the great universal whole of nature1 as ,humboldt says1 is reassuring and consolatory4 ,if the boon of a future immortality be not ours1 therefore to scorn the gift of the present life1 is to act not like a wise man1 who with grateful piety makes the best of what is given1 but like a spoiled child1 who1 if he cannot have both his orange and his gingerbread1 pettishly flings his gingerbread in the mud4 ,the future life1 outside of the realm of faith1 to an earnest and independent inquirer1 and considered as a scientific question1 lies in a painted mist of uncertainty4 ,there is room for hope1 and there is room for doubt4 ,the wavering evidences in some moods preponderate on that side1 in other moods on this side4 ,meanwhile it is clear that1 while he lives here1 the best thing he can do is to cherish a devout spirit1 cultivate a noble character1 lead a pure and useful life in the service of wisdom1 humanity1 and ,god1 and finally1 when the appointed time arrives1 meet the issue with reverential and affectionate conformity1 without dictating terms4 ,let the vanishing man say1 like ,ruckert's dying flower1 ,thanks to day for all the favors ,i have received from sun and stream and earth and sky1 for all the gifts from men and ,god which have made my little life an ornament and a bliss4 ,heaven1 stretch out thine azure tent while my faded one is sinking here4 ,joyous spring tide1 roll on through ages yet to come1 in which fresh generations shall rise and be glad4 ,farewell all6 ,content to have had my turn1 ,i now fall asleep1 without a murmur or a sigh4 ,surely the mournful nobility of such a strain of sentiment is preferable by much to the selfish terror of that unquestioning belief which in the ,middle ,age depicted the chase of the soul by ,satan1 on the columns and doors of the churches1 under the symbol of a deer pursued by a hunter and hounds2 and which has in later times produced in thousands the feeling thus terribly expressed by ,bunyan1 ,i blessed the condition of the dog and toad because they had no soul to perish under the everlasting weight of hell6 ,sight of truth1 with devout and loving submission to it1 is an achievement whose nobleness outweighs its sorrow1 even if the gazer foresee his own destruction4 ,it is not our intention in these words to cast doubt on the immortality of the soul1 or to depreciate the value of a belief in it4 ,we desire to vindicate morality and religion from the unwitting attacks made on them by many self styled ,christian writers in their exaggeration of the practical importance of such a faith4 ,the qualitative contents of human nature have nothing to do with its quantitative contents3 our duties rest not on the length1 but on the faculties and relations1 of our existence4 ,make the life of a dog endless1 he has only the capacity of a dog2 make the life of a man finite1 still1 within its limits1 he has the psychological functions of humanity4 ,faith in immortality may enlarge and intensify the motives to prudent and noble conduct2 it does not create new ones4 ,the denial of immortality may pale and contract those motives2 it does not take them away4 ,knowing the burden and sorrow of earth1 brooding in dim solicitude over the far times and men yet to be1 we cannot recklessly utter a word calculated to lessen the hopes of man1 pathetic creature1 who weeps into the world and faints out of it4 ,it is our faith not knowledge that the spirit is without terminus or rest4 ,the faithful truth hunter1 in dying1 finds not a covert1 but a better trail4 ,yet the saintliness of the intellect is to be purged from prejudice and self will4 ,with ,god we are not to prescribe conditions4 ,the thought that all high virtue and piety must die with the abandonment of belief in immortality is as pernicious and dangerous as it is shallow1 vulgar1 and unchristian4 ,the view is obviously gaining prevalence among scientific and philosophical thinkers1 that life is the specialization of the universal in the individual1 death the restoration of the individual to the whole4 ,this doubt as to a personal future life will unquestionably increase4 ,let traditional teachers beware how they venture to shift the moral law from its immutable basis in the will of ,god to a precarious poise on the selfish hope and fear of man4 ,the sole safety1 the ultimate desideratum1 is perception of law with disinterested conformity4 ,the influence of the doctrine of reward and punishment in a future state1 as a working motive for the observance of the moral law1 is enormously overestimated4 ,the influence1 as such a motive1 of the public opinion of mankind1 with the legal and social sanctions1 is enormously underestimated4 ,and the authority of a personal perception of right is also most unbecomingly depreciated4 ,,universal ,,order is the expression of the purposes of ,god1 not as arbitrarily chosen by his will and capriciously revealed in a book1 but as necessitated by his nature and embodied in his works4 ,the true basis of morality is universal order4 ,the true end of morality is life1 the sum of moral laws being identical with the sum of the conditions in accordance with which the fruition of the functions of life can be secured with nearest approach to perfectness1 perpetuity1 and universality4 ,the true sanctions of morality are the manifold forms in which consciousness of life is heightened by harmony with universal order or lowered by discord with it4 ,the true law of moral sacrifice or resistance to temptation is misrepresented by the common doctrine of heaven and hell1 which makes it consist in the renunciation of a present good for the clutching of a future good1 the voluntary suffering of a small present evil to avoid the involuntary suffering of an immense future evil4 ,the true law of moral sacrifice is deeper1 purer1 more comprehensive1 than that4 ,it expresses our duty1 in accordance with the requirements of universal order1 to subordinate the gratification of any part of our being to that of the whole of our being1 to forego the good of any portion of our life in deference to that of all our life1 to renounce any happiness of the individual which conflicts with the welfare of the race1 to hold the spiritual atom in absolute abeyance to the spiritual universe1 to sink self in ,god4 ,if a man believe in no future life1 is he thereby absolved from the moral law8 ,the kind and number of his duties remain as before3 only the apparent grandeur of their scale and motives is diminished4 ,the two halves of morality are the co ordination of separate interests in universal order1 and the loyalty of the parts to the wholes4 ,the desire to remove the obligations and sanctions of the moral law from their intrinsic supports1 and posit them on the fictitious pedestals of a forensic heaven and hell1 reveals incompetency of thought and vulgarity of sentiment in him who does it1 and is a procedure not less perilous than unwarranted4 ,if the creation be conceived as a machine1 it is a machine self regulating in all its parts by the immanent presence of its ,maker4 ,when we die1 may the ,spirit of ,truth1 the ,comforter of ,christ1 be our confessor2 the last inhaled breath our cup of absolution2 the tears of some dear friend our extreme unction2 no complaint for past trials1 but a grateful acknowledgment for all blessings1 our parting word4 ,and then1 resigning ourselves to the universal ,father1 assured that whatever ought to be1 and is best to be1 will be1 either absolute oblivion shall be welcome1 or we will go forward to new destinies1 whether with preserved identity or with transformed consciousness and powers being indifferent to us1 since the will of ,god is done4 ,in the mean time1 until that critical pass and all decisive hour1 as ,milnes says3 ,we all must patient stand1 ,like statues on appointed pedestals3 ,yet we may choose since choice is given to shun ,servile contentment or ignoble fear ,in the expression of our attitude2 ,and with far straining eyes1 and hands upcast1 ,and feet half raised1 declare our painful state1 ,yearning for wings to reach the fields of truth1 ,mourning for wisdom1 panting to be free4 ,,part ,,sixth ,,supplementary4 ,,fifteen ,,years ,,later ,,chapter ,i4 ,,the ,,end ,,of ,,the ,,world4 ,,we read in the ,new ,testament that the heavens and the earth are reserved unto fire against the day of judgment1 when they shall be burned up1 and all be made new4 ,it is said that the elements shall melt with ferment heat1 the stars fall1 and the sky pass away like a scroll that is rolled together4 ,on these and similar passages is based the belief of ,christendom in the destined destruction of the world by fire and in the scenic judgment of the dead and the living gathered before the visible tribunal of ,christ4 ,this belief was once general and intense4 ,it is still common1 though more vague and feeble than formerly4 ,in whatever degree it is held1 it is a doctrine of terror4 ,we hope by tracing its origin1 and showing how mistaken it is1 to help dispel its sway1 free men from the further oppression of its fearfulness1 and put in its place the just and wholesome authority of the truth4 ,the true doctrine of the divine government of the world1 the correct explanation of the course and sequel of history1 must be more honorable to ,god1 more useful to men1 of better working and omen in the life of society1 than any error can be4 ,let us then1 as far as we are able1 displace by the truth the errors prevalent around us in regard to the end of the world and the day of judgment4 ,it will help us in our proposed investigation1 if we first notice that the ecclesiastical doctrine as to an impending destruction of the world is not solitary1 but has prototypes and parallels in the faiths of other nations and ages4 ,almost every people1 every tribe1 has its cosmogony or theory of the creation1 in which there are accounts1 more or less rude or refined1 general or minute1 of the supposed beginning and of the imagined end of nature4 ,all early literatures from the philosophic treatises of the ,hindus to the oral traditions of the ,polynesians are found to contain either sublime dreams or obscure prophecies or awful pictures of the final doom and destruction of earth and man4 ,the ,hebrew symbols and the ,christian beliefs in relation to this subject therefore stand not alone1 but in connection with a multitude of others1 each one plainly reflecting the degree of knowledge and stage of development attained by the minds which originated it4 ,before proceeding to examine the familiar doctrine so enveloped in our prejudices1 a brief examination of some kindred doctrines1 less familiar to us and quite detached from our prejudices1 will be of service4 ,the sacred books of the ,hindus describe certain enormous periods of time in which the universe successively begins and ends1 springs into being and sinks into nothing4 ,these periods are called kalpas1 and each one covers a duration of thousands of millions of years4 ,each kalpa of creation is called a day of ,brahma2 each kalpa of destruction1 a night of ,brahma4 ,the belief is that ,brahma1 waking from the slumber of his self absorbed solitude1 feels his loneliness1 and his thoughts and emotions go forth in creative forms1 composing the immense scheme of worlds and creatures4 ,these play their parts1 and run their courses1 until the vast day of ,brahma is completed2 when he closes his eyes1 and falls to rest1 while the whole system of finite things returns to the silence and darkness of its aboriginal unity1 and remains there in invisible annihilation through the stupendous night that precedes the reawaking of the slumbering ,godhead and the appearance of the creation once more4 ,a little reflection makes the origin of this imagery and belief clear4 ,each night1 as the darkness comes down1 and the outer world disappears1 man falls asleep1 and1 so far as he is consciously concerned1 every thing is destroyed4 ,in his unconsciousness1 everything ceases to be4 ,the light dawns again1 he awakes1 and his reopened senses create anew the busy frame and phenomena of nature4 ,transfer this experience from man to ,god2 consider it not as abstract and apparent1 but as concrete and real1 and you have the ,hindu doctrine of the kalpa4 ,when we sleep1 to us all things are destroyed2 and when we awake1 to us they reappear4 ,when ,god sleeps1 all things in themselves really end2 and when he wakes1 they begin anew to be4 ,the visible and experimental phenomena of day and night1 sleeping and waking1 are universalized1 and attributed to ,god1 ,it is a poetic process of thought1 natural enough to a rich minded1 simple people1 but wholly illegitimate as a logical ground of belief1 ,but being stated in books supposed to be infallibly inspired1 and in the absence of critical tests for the discrimination of sound from unsound thought1 it was implicitly accepted by multitudes4 ,closely allied to the foregoing doctrine1 yet in several particulars strikingly different from it1 and evidently quite independent in its origin1 was the ,great ,year of the ,stoics1 or the alternative blotting out and restoration of all things4 ,this school of philosophers conceived of ,god as a pure artistic force or seed of universal energy1 which exhibits its history in the evolution of the kosmos1 and1 on its completion1 blossoms into fire1 and vanishes4 ,the universal periodical conflagration destroys all evil1 and leaves the indestructible ,god alone in his pure essence again4 ,the artistic germ or seed force then begins1 under its laws of intrinsic necessity1 to go once more through the same process to the same end4 ,the rise of this imagery and belief is not so obvious as in the last instance1 but it is equally discoverable and intelligible4 ,every animal1 every flower1 every plant1 begins from its proper specific germ or force1 goes through a fixed series of growths and changes1 and relapses into its prime elements1 and another and another follow after it in the same order4 ,the seasons come and go1 and come again and go again1 ,every planet repeats its revolutions over and over4 ,wherever we look1 this repetition of identical processes greets our vision4 ,now1 by imaginative association universalize this repetition of the course of phenomena as seen in the parts1 and take it up and apply it to the whole creation1 and you have the doctrine in hand4 ,it is a poetic process of thought not scientific or philosophic1 and without claim to belief2 yet1 in the absence of scientific data and standards1 it might easily win acceptance on authority4 ,the ,scandinavians1 also1 have transmitted to us1 in their sacred books1 descriptions of their belief in the approaching end of the world1 descriptions rude1 wild1 terrible1 not without elements of appalling grandeur4 ,they foretell a day called ,ragnarok1 or the ,twilight of the gods1 when all the powers of good and evil shall join in battle1 and the whole present system of things perish in a scene of unutterable strife and dismay4 ,the ,eddas were composed in an ignorant but deeply poetic and fertile age1 when all the mythological elements of mind were in full action4 ,their authors looking within1 on their own passions1 and without1 on the natural scenery around them1 conscious of order and disorder1 love and hate1 virtue and crime1 beholding phenomena of beauty and horror1 sun and stars1 night and tempest1 winter and summer1 icebergs and volcanoes1 placid moonlight and blinding mist1 assisting friends and battling foes1 personified everything as a demon or a divinity4 ,asgard1 above the blue firmament1 was the bright home of the gods1 the ,asir4 ,helheim1 beneath the rocky earth and the frozen ocean1 was the dark and foul abode of the bad spirits1 the ,jotuns4 ,everywhere in nature1 fog and fire1 fertility and barrenness1 were in conflict2 everywhere in society1 law and crime were contending4 ,in the moon followed by a drifting cloud1 they saw a goddess chased by a wolf4 ,the strife goes on waxing1 and must sooner or later reach a climax4 ,each side enlists its allies1 until all are ranged in opposition1 from ,jormungandur1 the serpent of the deep1 to ,heindall1 the warder of the rainbow1 gods and brave men there1 demons1 traitors1 and cowards here4 ,then sounds the horn of battle1 and the last day dawns in fire and splendor from the sky1 in fog and venom from the abyss4 ,flame devours the earth4 ,for the most part1 the combatants mutually slay each other4 ,only ,gimli1 the high1 safe heaven of ,all ,father1 remains as a refuge for the survivors and the beginning of a new and fairer world4 ,the natural history of this mythological mess is clear enough4 ,it arises from the poetic embodiment and personification of phenomena1 the grouping together of all evil and of all good1 then imaginatively universalizing the conflict1 and carrying it out in idea to its inevitable ultimatum4 ,the process of thought was obviously natural in its ground1 but fictitious in its result4 ,yet in a period when no sharp distinction was drawn between fancy and fact1 song and science1 but an indiscriminate faith was often yielded to both1 even such a picturesque medley as this might be held as religious truth4 ,the ,zarathustrian or ,persian scheme of a general judgment of men and of the world in some respects resembles the systems already set forth1 in other respects more closely approaches that ,christian doctrine partially borrowed from it1 and which is hereafter to be noticed4 ,ahura ,mazda1 the ,god of light and truth1 creates the world full of all sorts of blessings4 ,his adversary1 ,angra ,mainyus1 the author of darkness and falsehood1 seeks to counteract and destroy the works of ,ahura ,mazda by means of all sorts of correspondent evils and woes4 ,when ,ahura ,mazda creates the race of men happy and immortal1 ,angra ,mainyus1 the old serpent1 full of corruption and destruction1 steals in1 seduces them from their allegiance1 and brings misery and death on them1 and then leads their souls to his dark abode4 ,the whole creation is supposed to be crowded with good spirits1 the angels of ,ahura ,mazda1 seeking to carry out his beneficent designs2 and also with evil spirits1 the ministers of ,angra ,mainyus1 plotting to make men wicked1 and to pervert and poison every blessing with an answering curse4 ,light is the symbol of ,god1 darkness the symbol of his ,antagonist4 ,under these hostile banners are ranged all living creatures1 all created objects4 ,for long periods this dreadful contention rages1 involving everything below in its fluctuations4 ,but at last ,ahura ,mazda subdues ,angra ,mainyus1 overturns all the mischief he has done1 by means of a great deliverer whom he has sent among men to instruct and redeem them raises the dead1 purifies the world with fire1 and1 after properly punishing the guilty1 restores all nature to its original paradisal condition1 free from pain and death4 ,in the primitive state of mankind1 when the germs of this religion were conceived1 when men dwelt in ignorance1 exposure1 and fear1 they naturally shuddered at darkness as a supernatural enemy1 and worshipped light as a supernatural friend4 ,that became the emblem or personification of the ,devil1 this the emblem or personification of ,god4 ,they grouped all evils with that1 all goods with this4 ,imaginatively associating all light and darkness1 all blessing and bale1 respectively with ,ahura ,mazda and ,angra ,mainyus1 they universalized the fragmentary embodiments and oppositions of these into one great battle2 and under the impulse of worshipping faith and hope1 carried it to its crisis in the final victory of the good4 ,plainly1 it is mere poetry injected a little with a later speculative element1 and dealing in mythological fashion chiefly with the phenomena of nature as related to the experience of man4 ,no one now can accept it literally4 ,this survey of the various heathen myths of the end of the world has prepared us1 in some degree1 to consider the corresponding view held by the ,jews1 and more completely developed by the ,christian successors to the ,jewish heritage of thought and feeling4 ,the ,hebrews believed themselves to be exclusively the chosen people of ,god1 who directly ruled over them himself by a theocratic government represented in their patriarchs1 law givers1 prophets1 and kings4 ,jehovah was the only true ,god2 they were his only pure and accepted worshippers1 sharply distinguished from the whole idolatrous world4 ,the heathen nations1 uncircumcised adorers of vain idols or of demons1 were by consequence enemies both of the true ,god and of his servants4 ,this contrast and hostility they even carried over into the unseen world1 and imagined that each nation had its own guardian angel in the ,court of ,jehovah in heaven1 who contended there for its interests2 their own national guardian1 the angel ,michael1 being more powerful and nearer to the throne than any other one4 ,in the calamities that fell on them1 they recognized the vengeance of ,jehovah for the violation of his commands4 ,in their victories1 their deliverances1 their great blessings1 especially in their rescue from ,egypt1 and in the many miracles which they believed to have accompanied that great passage1 they saw the signal superiority of their ,god over every other god1 and the proofs of his particular providence over them in distinct preference to all other peoples4 ,he had1 as they piously believed1 made a special covenant with ,abraham1 and set apart his posterity as a sacred family1 exclusively intrusted with the divine law1 and commissioned to subdue and govern all the other families of the earth4 ,when this proud and intensely cherished faith was baffled of fulfillment1 they never dreamed of abandoning it4 ,they only supposed its triumphant execution postponed1 as a penalty for their sins1 and looked forward with redoubled ardor to a better time when their hopes should break into fruition1 their exile be ended1 their captivity appear as a dream1 ,jerusalem be the central gem of the world1 and the anointed ruler wield his sceptre over all mankind4 ,but misfortunes and woes were heaped on them4 ,their city was sacked1 their temple desecrated1 their people dragged into foreign slavery1 forbidden to celebrate the rites of their religion1 slaughtered by wholesale4 ,many times1 during the two centuries before and the first century after ,christ1 did they suffer these terrible sorrows4 ,their hatred and scorn of their heathen persecutors2 their faith in their own incomparable destiny2 their expectation of the speedy appearance of an anointed deliverer1 raised up by ,jehovah to avenge them and vindicate their trust1 all became the more fervent and profound the longer the delay4 ,under these circumstances grew up the ,jewish doctrine of the ,messiah1 as it is seen in that ,apocalyptic literature represented by the ,book of ,daniel1 the ,sibylline ,oracles1 the ,book of ,enoch1 the ,assumption of ,moses1 the ,fourth ,book of ,esdras1 and similar documents4 ,the ,jews were remarkably free from that habit of mind which led almost all the other nations to personify the most startling phenomena of nature as living beings1 which created fetiches of stocks and stones and animals2 saw a god in every wind1 season1 star1 and cloud4 ,the ,semitic mind and literature were more sober1 rational1 and monotheistic4 ,the place occupied in the thoughts of other peoples by the phenomena of nature was held in the thoughts of the ,jews by political phenomena1 by ritual1 legal1 and military relations4 ,and the poetic action of fancy1 the mythological creativeness and superstitious feeling which other people exercised on the objects and changes of nature1 the ,jews exercised on the phenomena of their own national history4 ,the burning central point of their polity and belief and imagination was the conviction of their own national consecration as the exclusive people of ,god1 meant to conquer1 teach1 and rule all the infidel nations2 that ,jehovah was literally their invisible ,king1 represented in their chief ruler2 that every great triumph or disaster was a signal ,day of the ,lord1 a special ,coming of ,jehovah to reward or punish his people4 ,during their repeated bondages under the ,persians1 ,syrians1 ,greeks1 ,parthians1 ,romans1 their feeling of the antagonism between themselves and the other people increased4 ,from the time of the ,babylonish captivity the ,persian doctrine of good and evil spirits had infiltrated into their belief2 and they adopted the notion of ,angra ,mainyus1 and developed it 7with certain modifications7 into their conception of ,satan4 ,then1 in their faith1 the war of ,jews and ,gentiles spread into the invisible world1 and took up on its opposite sides the good and the fallen angels4 ,and1 finally1 the idea of their ,messiah became the centre of a battle and a judgment in which all the generations of the dead as well as of the living were to have a part2 and which should culminate in the overthrow of evil1 the subjection of the heathen1 the assignment of the righteous to a paradisal reign1 and of the wicked to a doom typified by the submersion of ,sodom and ,gomorrah in fiery brimstone4 ,how plainly this doctrine was the result of the same poetic process of thought with the other schemes already depicted6 ,only they were developed on the basis of natural phenomena2 this1 on the basis of political phenomena4 ,it is simply the imaginative universalization of the struggle between ,jew and ,gentile1 and the carrying of it to its crisis and sequel4 ,and when inexplicable delays and the accumulation of obstacles made the realization of the expected result amidst the conditions of the present world seem ever more and more hopeless1 the growing and assimilative action of faith and fancy expanded the scene1 and transferred it to a transmundane state1 involving the destruction of the heavens and earth and their replacement with a new creation4 ,is there any more real reason for believing this doctrine than there is for believing the other kindred schemes8 ,not a whit4 ,it is a mistake of the same poetic nature1 and resting on the same grounds with them4 ,two thousand years have passed1 and it has not been fulfilled2 and there is ever less and less sign of its fulfillment4 ,it never will be fulfilled1 except in a spiritual sense4 ,the ,jews will finally lose their pride of race and covenant1 abandon their special ,messianic creed1 and blend themselves and their opinions in the mass of redeemed and progressive humanity1 and no more dream of a physical resurrection of the dead amidst the dissolving elements of nature4 ,and now we must notice that besides all these poetic pictures of the end of the world1 there are prophecies of a similar result which wear an apparently scientific garb4 ,many men of science firmly believe that our world is destined to be destroyed1 that a close for the earthly fortunes of mankind can be plainly foreseen4 ,no little alarm was felt a century or more ago1 when it was discovered that there was a progressive diminution going on in the orbit of the moon1 which must cause it at length to impinge upon the earth4 ,but ,la ,grange exhibited the fallaciousness of the prophecy1 by showing that the decrease was periodical and succeeded by a corresponding increase4 ,intense and widely spread terror has repeatedly been felt less a comet should come within our planetary orbit1 and shatter or melt our globe by its contact4 ,but the discovery of the nebulous nature of comets1 of their great numbers and regular movements1 has quite dissipated that fear from the popular mind in our day4 ,there are1 however1 other forms of scientific speculation which put the prophesied destruction of the world on a more plausible and formidable basis4 ,it is supposed by many scientists that all force is derived from the consumption of heat2 and that the fuel must at last be used up1 and therefore no life or energy be left for sustaining the present system of the creation4 ,this theory is met by the counter statement that the heat of the sun and other similar centres may possibly not depend on any material consumption2 or1 if it does1 there may be a self replenishing supply1 loss and repair forming an endless circle4 ,it is foretold by some chemists1 that the progressive interior cooling and contraction of our orb will cause ever greater interstices or vacant spaces among the solid substances below the outer crust2 and that into these pores1 first all liquids1 then all gases and the whole atmosphere1 will be absorbed3 so that the world will be left desolate1 utterly uninhabitable by life4 ,again3 it is said that all force or energy tends at every transformation to pass 7at least partially7 into heat2 and therefore that1 finally1 all force will be frittered down into the one form of heat1 all matter vanishing from its separate shapes into the state of a homogeneous1 nebulous fire4 ,the portentous sight1 repeatedly descried by astronomers1 of a nameless world1 away in remotest space1 which has suddenly kindled1 blazed1 smouldered1 darkened1 and vanished forever from its place1 is perhaps a solemn symbol of the fate of our own planet2 hinting at a time when the earth1 too1 shall make itself a funeral pyre1 ,and1 awed in distant orbs1 some race unknown ,shall miss one star whose smile had lit their own4 ,this same final crisis is also prophesied on the basis of a slight retardation to which the planets are subjected in their passage through the ethereal medium4 ,no matter how slight the resistance thus interposed1 its consequence1 it is thought1 must accumulate and ultimately compel all material bodies to approach each other2 and1 as their successive collisions convert them into heat and vapor1 nothing will be left at last but one uniform nebula4 ,the process of evolution will then begin anew1 and so the stupendous history of the universe repeat itself eternally4 ,this is the sublimest of all the generalizations of science4 ,it may be true1 and it may not be true4 ,at any rate1 it differs immensely in the moral impression it makes from that made by the current theological doctrine of the same catastrophe4 ,we can contemplate the scientific prophecy of the end of the world with a peace of mind which the traditional prophecy does not permit4 ,in the first place1 the ecclesiastical doctrine makes the destruction of the world a result of wrath and vengeance4 ,the angry ,god looms above us with flaming features and avenging weapons to tread down his enemies4 ,we shrink in fright from the wrath and power of the personal ,judge1 the inexorable ,foe of the wicked4 ,but the scientific doctrine makes the end a result of passionless laws1 a steady evolution of effects from causes1 wholly free from everything vindictive4 ,secondly4 ,the ecclesiastical doctrine makes the dreadful conclusion a sudden event1 an inconceivable shock of horror1 falling in an instant1 overwhelming all its victims with the swiftness of lightning in the unutterable agony of their ruin4 ,but the scientific doctrine makes the climax a matter of slow and gradual approach4 ,whether the worlds are to be frozen up by increasing cold1 or to evaporate in culminating heat1 or to be converted into gas as they meet in their career1 the changes of the chemical conditions will be so steady and moderate beforehand as to cause all living creatures to have diminished in numbers by insensible degrees1 and to have utterly ceased long before the final shock arrives4 ,thirdly4 ,the ecclesiastical doctrine makes the sequel imminent1 near1 ready to fall at a moment's warning4 ,at any hour the signal may strike4 ,thus it is to the earnest believer a constant1 urgent alarm1 close at hand4 ,but the scientific doctrine depicts the close as almost unimaginably remote4 ,all the data in the hands of our scientists lead their calculations as to the nearest probable end to land them in an epoch so far off as to be stated only in thousands of millions of years4 ,thus the picture is so distant as to be virtually enfeebled into nothing4 ,we cannot1 even by the most vivid imagination1 bring it home closely enough to make it real and effective on our plans4 ,and1 finally1 the theological dogma of the destruction of the world professes to be an infallible certainty4 ,the believer holds that he absolutely knows it by a revelation of supernatural authority4 ,but with the scientist such a belief is held as merely a probability4 ,a billion of centuries hence the world may perhaps come to an end2 and1 on the other hand1 the phenomena which lead to such a belief may yet be explained as implying no such result4 ,and these two issues1 so far as our social or ideal experience is concerned1 are virtually the same4 ,a brilliant ,french writer has suggested that even if the natural course of evolution does of itself necessitate the final destruction of the world1 yet our race1 judging from the magnificent achievements of science and art already reached1 may1 within ten thousand centuries1 which will be long before the foreseen end approaches1 obtain such a knowledge and control of the forces of nature as to make collective humanity master of this planet1 able to shape and guide its destinies1 ward off every fatal crisis1 and perfect and immortalize the system as now sustained4 ,it is an audacious fancy4 ,but like many other incredible conceptions which have forerun their own still more incredible fulfillment1 the very thought electrifies us with hope and courage4 ,and thus the conclusion in which we rest at the close of our investigation is the belief that the world is to last1 and our race to flourish on it virtually forever4 ,this conclusion is equally a relief from the frightful burdens of superstition1 and a consolation for our own personal evanescence4 ,the stable harmony of natural beauty and beneficence1 amidst which we individually play our brief part and vanish1 shall stand fast1 blooming with fresh growths1 and shining with fadeless light1 and the successive generations of our dear fellow men shall grow ever wiser and happier1 beyond the reach of our farthest vision into the future4 ,and if we recognize in the great catastrophic myths and previsions of the poets and scientists the fundamental truth that the things which are seen are temporal1 while the things alone which are unseen are eternal1 the end being a regular and remote sequel in the creative plan of ,god1 free from anger1 retributive disappointment1 or cruelty will not alarm us4 ,for if souls are substantial entities1 and not mere phenomenal processes1 they will survive the universal crisis1 and either at the lucid goals of their perfected destiny rejoice forever in a reflected individual fruition of the attributes of ,god1 or else start refreshed on a new career with that redistribution of the cosmic matter and motion which in its gigantic and eternal rhythm of development and dissolution the ancient ,hindu mind figured as the respiration of ,brahm and which ambitious science now generalizes as the law of evolution4 ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,day ,,of ,,judgment4 ,,judaism so largely supplied the circumstantial and doctrinal germs out of which dogmatic ,christianity grew1 that we cannot thoroughly understand the ,christian belief in a final day of judgment1 unless we first notice the historic and literary derivation of that belief from ,judaism1 and then trace its development in the new conditions through which it passed4 ,the personal character1 teachings1 life1 and death of ,jesus ,christ1 together with his subsequent resurrection and career in the consciousness of ecclesiastical ,christendom1 constituted the crystalizing centre which1 dipped in the inherited solution of ideal and social materials furnished by the ,church1 has gathered around it the accretion of faith and dogma composing the theoretic ,christianity of the present day4 ,to follow this process with reference to the particular tenet before us1 analyze it1 discriminate the appropriate in it from the inappropriate1 the true from the false1 maybe difficult2 but it is necessary for a satisfactory conclusion4 ,to this task let us therefore now address ourselves1 putting away all bias and prejudice1 invoking in equal degree candor1 fearlessness and charity4 ,the ,jews believed themselves to be a people chosen out of all the world as the exclusive favorites of ,god4 ,by the covenant of ,abraham1 and the code of ,moses1 ,jehovah had entered1 as they thought1 into a special contract with them to be their peculiar ,god1 ,guardian1 and ,ruler4 ,in contrast with the depraved habits and idolatrous rites of the heathen nations1 the ,israelites were strictly to keep the moral law1 and1 at the same time1 to pay a pure worship to ,jehovah through the scrupulous observance of their ceremonial law4 ,the bond of race and family descent from ,abraham1 the practice of circumcision1 and the ceremonies of the ,mosaic ritual1 sealed them as accepted members of this divine covenant4 ,so long as they were true to the duties involved in this relation1 ,jehovah would watch over them1 defend them from their enemies1 set them proudly above the alien ,gentiles1 and crown them with every spiritual and temporal blessing4 ,the noblest representatives of the people believed this with unparalleled thoroughness and intensity4 ,they looked down on the uncircumcised nations as wicked idolaters1 destined to be their servants until they should be adopted into the same covenant by becoming proselytes to their faith4 ,jehovah was literally their direct1 though invisible1 ,king1 ,law giver1 and ,judge1 palpably rewarding their fidelity by overt temporal blessings1 punishing their dereliction by awful temporal calamities and sufferings4 ,every signal instance of his providential intervention in their affairs they called a ,day of the ,lord1 a ,coming of ,jehovah1 a ,judgment from heaven4 ,thus the prophet ,joel foretells the vengeance which ,god would take on ,tyre and ,sidon and ,philistia1 because they had assailed and scattered his people4 ,behold the day of ,jehovah cometh1 the great and terrible day4 ,and ,i will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth1 blood and fire and pillars of smoke4 ,the sun shall be turned into darkness1 and the moon into blood4 ,then whosoever calleth on the name of ,jehovah shall be delivered3 for upon ,mount ,zion and in ,jerusalem shall be deliverance4 ,i will contend with the ,gentiles for my people1 and will bring back the captives4 ,the multitudes1 the multitudes in the valley of judgment3 for the day of ,jehovah is near in the valley of judgment4 ,in a similar strain ,isaiah prophesies against ,edom3 ,draw near1 ,o ye nations1 and hear6 ,for the wrath of ,jehovah is kindled against the nations1 and he hath given up their armies to slaughter4 ,the stench of their carcasses shall ascend1 and the mountains shall melt with their blood4 ,and all the hosts of heaven shall melt away2 and all their host shall fall down1 as the blighted fruit from the fig tree4 ,for my sword shall rush drunk from heaven3 behold1 upon ,edom shall it descend4 ,for it is a day of vengeance from ,jehovah4 ,her streams shall be turned into pitch1 and her dust into brimstone1 and her whole land shall become burning pitch4 ,it shall lie waste forever1 and none shall pass through it4 ,the pelican and the hedgehog shall possess it2 the heron and the raven shall dwell in it4 ,tremendous and appalling as this imagery is1 it is obvious that the whole meaning of it is earthly and temporal1 a local judgment of ,jehovah in vindication of his people against the heathen4 ,and kindred judgments are threatened against his own people when they lapse into wickedness and idolatry4 ,thus saith the ,lord1 ,behold1 ,i will wipe ,jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish1 wiping it and turning it upside down4 ,jehovah appeareth as a hostile witness1 the ,lord from his holy place4 ,behold1 ,jehovah cometh forth from his dwelling place1 and advanceth on the high places of the earth4 ,the mountains melt under him1 and the valleys cleave asunder like wax before the fire4 ,for the sin of the house of ,israel is all this4 ,thus the earliest meaning of the phrase1 ,day of the ,lord1 or ,day of ,judgment1 according to ,biblical usage1 was the occurrence of any severe calamity1 either to the ,jews1 as a punishment for their apostasy2 or to the ,gentiles1 as a punishment for their wickedness1 or for their violent encroachment on the rights of the chosen people4 ,these visitations of military disaster or political subjection1 though purely local and temporal1 are depicted in the most terrific images1 such as flaming brimstone1 falling stars1 heaven and earth dissolving in darkness1 blood1 and fire4 ,ezekiel1 alluding to the barbarous invasion headed by ,prince ,gog1 represents ,jehovah as declaring1 ,i will contend against him1 and will rain fire and brimstone upon him and his hosts4 ,thus will ,i show myself in my greatness and glory before the eyes of many nations1 and they shall know that ,i am ,jehovah4 ,the highly figurative character of this imagery must be apparent to every candid critic4 ,for example1 in the following passage from ,zechariah1 no one will suppose for a moment that it is meant that ,jehovah will appear visibly in person and reign in ,jerusalem1 but only that his promise shall be fulfilled1 and his law shall prevail there in the triumphant establishment of his chosen people3 ,behold the day of ,jehovah cometh1 when ,i will gather all nations to battle against ,jerusalem2 and the city shall be taken4 ,then shall ,jehovah go forth1 and fight against those nations4 ,and his feet shall stand in that day upon the ,mount of ,olives4 ,and ,jehovah shall be king over all the earth4 ,and it shall be that whoso of all the families of the earth will not go up to ,jerusalem to worship the ,king1 ,jehovah of hosts1 upon them shall be no rain4 ,when the prophets burst out in the lyric metaphors1 ,jehovah will roar from ,zion1 and utter his voice from ,jerusalem2 ,egypt shall be a waste and ,edom a wilderness for their violence to the sons of ,judah2 but ,jerusalem shall be inhabited forever1 and ,jehovah shall dwell upon ,zion1 the meaning is simply that ,jehovah will be a refuge to his people1 a stronghold to the sons of ,israel1 and all people shall know that ,jehovah is ,god4 ,it would imply the grossest ignorance in any critic if he imagined that the ,jews ever believed that ,jehovah was visibly to come down and reign over them in person4 ,they did however1 believe that an awful token or the presence of ,jehovah dwelt in the holy of holies of their temple4 ,they also believed that every anointed ruler who governed them in justice and piety represented the authority of ,jehovah4 ,and as1 in the long times of their natural captivity and oppression1 their hopes sought refuge from the depressing present in bright visions of a glorious future1 when some inspired deliverer should justify their faith by carrying the national power and happiness to the highest pitch1 they naturally believed that the spirit and signet of the ,lord would1 in a special manner1 rest on that ,messianic hero4 ,by the assimilative action of faith and imagination1 this idea of a divinely accredited ,messiah developed1 and grew ever richer and more complete4 ,it began simply with the expectation of a holy leader and ruler who should subdue the heathen and establish the favored people of ,jehovah in peerless purity1 power1 and happiness in the land of ,judea4 ,little by little the rewards of the righteous and the punishments of the wicked were extended beyond those living on the earth1 and took in the dead4 ,the prophet ,ezekiel depicted the promised restoration of the ,jews from their captivity at ,babylon to ,jerusalem under the poetic image of a revivification of a heap of dead bones4 ,this metaphor slowly assumed the form of a literal dogma1 which grew from its beginning as an exceptional belief in the resurrection of a chosen few1 stated in the book of ,daniel and the second book of ,maccabees1 to the belief in the universal resurrection of the dead1 avowed by ,paul as the common ,pharisaic belief4 ,the belief1 too1 in regard to the scene of the ,messianic triumph1 the penalties to be inflicted on the enemies of ,jehovah1 and the kind and number of those enemies1 underwent the same process of development and growth4 ,the world was conceived as a sort of three story house connected with passage ways2 heaven above the firmament1 the earth between1 and a penal region below4 ,the imagery of fire and brimstone associated in the ,hebrew mind with ,sodom and ,gomorrah1 and the fearful imagery of idolatory1 filth1 and flames in the detested valley of ,hinnom where the refuse of ,jerusalem was carried to be burned1 had been transferred by the popular imagination to the subterranean place of departed souls4 ,the story in the book of ,genesis about the sons of ,god forming an alliance with the daughters of men1 and begetting a wicked brood of giants1 had been wrought into the belief in a race of fallen angels1 foes of ,god and men1 whose dwelling place was the upper air4 ,above these wicked spirits in high places1 but below the heaven of ,jehovah1 was the paradise whither ,enoch and ,elijah were supposed to have been translated1 and whence they would come again in the last days4 ,the ,jewish apocryphal book of ,enoch which was written probably about a century and a half before the birth of ,christ1 and is explicitly quoted in the ,epistle of ,jude contains a minute account of the final judgment1 including in its scope this whole scenery and all these agents1 and closely anticipating both the doctrinal and verbal details of the same subject as recorded in the ,new ,testament itself4 ,there is not1 with one exception1 a single essential feature of the now current ,christian belief1 in regard to the day of judgment at the end of the world1 which is not distinctly brought out in the same form in the book of ,enoch1 written certainly more than a hundred years before a line of the ,gospels was composed4 ,the exception referred to relates to the person of the ,messiah4 ,in the book of ,enoch he is indeed called the ,son of man1 but is wrapt in mysterious obscurity1 undefined and unnamed3 in the ,christian documents and faith he is1 of course1 identified with ,jesus of ,nazareth1 and1 at a later period1 identified also with ,god4 ,the growth of the ,messianic personality in distinctness1 prominence1 importance1 and completeness of associated grouping1 is not only historically traceable1 but was also perfectly natural4 ,at first the prophecy of the triumphant re establishment of the ,jews was conceived as the result of the favoring power of ,jehovah1 not in a personal manifestation1 but providentially displayed4 ,thus ,joel represents ,jehovah as saying1 in his promise to vindicate ,jerusalem1 ,let the heathen be wakened1 and come up to the valley of ,jehoshaphat2 for there will ,i sit to judge all the heathen round about4 ,it cannot be denied that this was purely metaphorical4 ,but in all imagery of a kingdom1 of war1 of judgment1 the idea of the king1 the leader1 the judge1 would naturally be the strongest point of imaginative action1 the center of crystalizing association around which congruous particulars would be drawn until the picture was complete4 ,so it actually happened4 ,perhaps the most striking example of this is seen in the growth of the notion of the great ,adversary who precedes and fights against the ,messiah4 ,the book of ,daniel1 written just after ,antiochus ,epiphanes had oppressed the ,jews with such frightful cruelties and profaned their temple with such abominable desecrations1 impersonated in him the whole head and front of the impious hostility which the promised deliverer would have to subdue in vindicating the rights and hopes of the chosen people4 ,the figure of ,antiochus ,epiphanes1 ,martineau has happily said1 placed in immediate antecedence and antithesis to that of the ,messiah1 as the predicted crisis moved forward1 was carried with it1 and spread its portentous shadow over the expected close4 ,the writer of the book of ,daniel looked for the immediate arising of some inspired hero and servant of ,jehovah to overthrow this wicked despot1 this persecuting monster1 and avenge the oppressed ,jews on their ,gentile tyrants4 ,when subsequent events postponed this expected sequel1 the opposed parties in it1 the ,antichrist and the ,christ1 were thrown forward together in ever dilating proportions of gloom and brightness3 the fierce countenanced king in ,daniel becomes the ,man of ,sin in ,paul and the ,beast drunk with the blood of saints in the ,apocalypse4 ,and in the ,rabbinical books of the ,jews the belief in ,antichrist1 under the name of ,armillus1 is developed into a mass of mythological details1 afterwards adopted quite in the gross by the ,mohammedans4 ,terrible signs will precede the appearance of the ,messiah1 such as a dew of blood1 the darkening of the sun1 the destruction of the holy city1 with the slaughter and dispersion of the ,israelites1 and the suffering of awful woes4 ,the ,messiah shall gather his people and rebuild and occupy ,jerusalem4 ,armillus shall collect an army and besiege that city4 ,but ,god shall say to ,messiah1 ,sit thou on my right hand1 and to the ,israelites1 ,stand still1 and see what ,god will work for you to day4 ,then ,god will pour down sulphur and fire from heaven1 and consume ,armillus and his hosts4 ,then the trumpet will sound1 the tombs be opened1 the ten tribes be led to ,paradise to celebrate the marriage supper of the ,messiah1 the aliens be consigned to ,gehenna1 and the earth be renovated4 ,as the doctrine of the functions of the ,messiah1 in this finished form1 is not stated in the ,old ,testament1 but was familiar in the ,christian ,church1 it is commonly supposed to be exclusively a later ,christian development from the ,jewish germ4 ,it did1 however1 exist in the ,jewish mind1 before the birth of ,christ1 in the mature form already set forth4 ,it is found clearly laid down and drawn out in ,jewish apocryphal books dated earlier than the ,christian era4 ,it is likewise explicitly and minutely detailed in the ,talmud1 where its subsequent adoption from the ,christians must have been impossible to the bigoted scorn and hate of the ,jews for the ,christians2 while the historic affiliation of ,christianity on ,judaism made the ,christians avowedly adopt all the vital doctrines of the older creed4 ,the gradual growth of the ,christian doctrine of the connection of the ,messiah with the final judgment1 out of the previous ,jewish and ,rabbinical notions1 by the hardening of metaphors into dogmas and the universalizing of local peculiarities1 is confessedly an obscure process1 in many of its particulars extremely difficult to trace4 ,but that it did thus grow up1 no impartial scholar1 who has mastered what is now known on the subject1 can doubt4 ,a world of new knowledge and light has been thrown on this whole field during the last thirty five years by ,gfrorer1 ,baur1 ,ewald1 ,hoffmann1 ,hilgenfeld1 ,dilmann1 ,ceriani1 ,volkmar1 and other students of kindred power and spirit4 ,researches and discussions in this department are still pushed with the greatest zeal2 and it is confidently believed that in a few years the views adopted in the present writing will be established beyond all cavil from any fair minded critic4 ,then all the steps will have been clearly defined in the development of that doctrine of the great ,day of the ,lord1 which1 beginning with a poetic picture of a ,jewish overthrow of the ,gentiles1 through the inspiring power of ,jehovah1 before the walls of ,jerusalem1 ended with a literal belief in the setting up1 by the ,messiah1 of a tribunal in the ,valley of ,jehoshaphat1 the assemblage there of all the living and the dead for judgment1 the installation of the immortalized righteous in ,paradise1 and the submerging of the wicked under the ,vale of ,hinnom in a rainstorm of blazing brimstone4 ,and now what must we think in regard to the truth or falsehood of the outward1 forensic1 military1 and ritual part of the doctrine of historic and literary development we have imperfectly followed4 ,is it not perfectly clear1 that the growth of the doctrine in question has been but a natural action of the imagination on the materials furnished it2 adding congruous particulars1 one after another1 until the view was complete1 and therefore could extend no further8 ,and is it not equally obvious1 that it can lay no sort of claim to logical validity8 ,the superstitious and arbitrary character of its intrinsic constituents1 its irreconcilableness with science and philosophy1 disprove1 to all who dare honestly face the facts1 every plea set up for it as an inspired revelation of truth4 ,it is a mixture of poetry and speculation1 credible enough in an early and uncritical age1 but a hopeless stumbling block to the educated reason of the present day4 ,every one who brings a free intelligence to the subject will find it impossible not to recognize the same fanciful process of thought1 the same poetic ingredients1 here as in the schemes of those heathen religions whose principal portrayals we all regard as mythology4 ,to argue that because earthly rulers1 in their anger and power1 send retributive armies against their rebellious subjects1 to bring them to judgment1 destroy their homes and cities1 and lay waste their lands with fire and sword1 therefore ,god1 the supreme ,king1 will do so by the whole world1 is not to reason logically1 but to poetize creatively4 ,there can be no warrant for transferring the political and military relations between men and earthly sovereigns to the moral and spiritual relations between the human race and ,god1 since the two sets of relations are wholly different4 ,the relation of ,creator and creature is immensely higher and wider than that of king and subject4 ,he whose laws are everywhere incessantly self executing needs not to select and group and reserve his friends or foes for any climateric catastrophe4 ,the common notion of a final judgment day the fanciful association of all the good together1 on one side1 to be saved2 of all the bad together1 on the other side1 to be damned1 applies to the divine government an imperfection belonging only to human governments4 ,surely every one must see1 the moment the thought is stated1 that this imaginative universalizing of the indignation of ,god1 and carrying it to a climax1 in the destruction of the world1 is a mythological procedure utterly inapplicable to a ,being who can know no anger1 no caprice1 no change1 a ,being whose will is universal truth1 whose throne is immensity1 whose robe is omnipresence4 ,original ,christianity1 internally regarded in its divine truth1 was the pure moral law exemplified in the personal traits of ,jesus ,christ1 and universalized by his ascent out of the flesh into that kingdom of heaven which knows not nationalities or ceremonies4 ,but original ,christianity1 externally and historically regarded1 in the belief of its first disciples1 was simply ,judaism1 with the addition of the faith that the ,messiah had actually come in the person of ,jesus ,christ4 ,the first disciples vividly cherished the prevalent ,pharisaic doctrine that the ,messiah would glorify his people1 vanquish the heathen1 raise and judge the dead1 change the face of the earth1 and inaugurate a holy reign of ,israel in joy and splendor4 ,this the ,messiah was to do4 ,but they believed ,jesus to be the ,messiah4 ,yet1 before doing these things1 he had been put to death4 ,therefore1 they argued1 he must come again1 to finish his uncompleted mission4 ,such was the derivation of the apostolic and ecclesiastical doctrine of the speedy second advent of ,christ to judge the dead and the living1 and to wind up the present scheme of things4 ,the belief was inevitable under the circumstances4 ,to have believed otherwise1 they must have reconstructed the current idea of the ,messiah1 and have seen in him no political monarch with an outward realm1 but purely a king of truth4 ,for this they were not ready2 though it seems as if1 after the experience of eighteen hundred years1 we ought by this time to be prepared to see that such was really the intention of ,providence4 ,it is a question of primary interest1 whether ,jesus himself1 in assuming the ,messiahship1 regarded it personally as an exclusively spiritual office1 or as a literally including these royal and judicial functions in a visible form4 ,jesus foretold1 in the same imaginary used by the previous prophets1 and familiar to the minds of his contemporaries1 the speedy approach of frightful calamities1 wars1 rumor of wars1 famine and slaughter1 ,jerusalem compassed with armies and destroyed4 ,then1 he adds1 the ,son of man shall come in the clouds of heaven1 with all his holy angels1 and take possession of the scene1 apportioning the destinies of the righteous and the wicked4 ,the question is1 whether this pictured reappearance1 in such transcendent pomp and power1 was meant by him as a literal prophecy1 to be physically fulfilled in his own person2 or as a moral horoscope of the destined fortunes of his religion1 a figurative representation of the establishment and reign of his spiritual truth4 ,the latter view seems to us to be the correct one4 ,in the first place1 this is what has actually taken place4 ,in the growing recognition of his spirit and power1 in the spread of his teachings and name1 in the revolutionizing advancement of his kingdom among men1 ,jesus has come again and again4 ,jerusalem was destroyed by the ,romans1 as he foretold1 amidst unspeakable tribulations1 and the disciples of the new faith installed in domination over the world4 ,he said the time was then at hand1 even at the doors1 that some of those standing by should not taste death until all these things came to pass4 ,if his prophecy bore a moral sense1 the sequel justified it2 if it bore a physical sense1 the sequel refuted and falsified it4 ,for that generation passed away1 fifty generations since have passed away1 and yet there has been no literal second advent of ,jesus in person to judge the dead and the living1 and to destroy the world4 ,the event proves that we must either give the words of ,jesus a metaphorical interpretation or hold that he was in error4 ,but1 secondly1 such an error would be incompatible with soundness of mind4 ,for any man1 even for him called by an apostle the man ,christ ,jesus1 to believe that after his death he should reappear1 swooping down from heaven1 convoyed by squadrons of angels1 to collect all men from their graves1 and replace the old creation with a new one1 would imply a profound disturbance of reason1 a monomaniacal fanaticism if not an actual insanity4 ,it is such a pure piece of theatrics that no one deeply in unison with that spirit of truth which expresses the mind of ,god through the order of nature and providence could possibly believe it4 ,such a nature was preeminently that of ,jesus4 ,all his most characteristic utterances1 such as3 blessed are the pure in heart1 for they shall see ,god2 who loves much shall be forgiven much2 reveal unsurpassed saneness and truth of perception4 ,it is by much the most probable supposition1 that ,jesus employed in the deepest and purest moral sense alone those ,messianic images and catastrophic prophecies which were indeed originally used as moral metaphors1 but had been afterwards degraded into material dogmas4 ,still further1 the literal belief commonly attributed to ,jesus1 in his own physical reappearance and reign1 is not only incompatible with his supreme soundness of mind1 it is also irreconcilable with his other explicit teachings4 ,my kingdom is not of this world4 ,every one that is of the truth heareth my voice4 ,he warns his disciples against the many false ,christs who will appear1 and says that the kingdom of heaven cometh not with observation4 ,say not1 lo here6 or lo there6 for the kingdom of heaven is within you4 ,i am the truth1 the way1 and the life4 ,he that rejecteth me1 ,i judge him not2 the word that ,i have spoken1 that shall judge him4 ,whoever doeth the will of my ,father in heaven1 the same is my brother4 ,in view of these and kindred utterances of the profoundest insight1 irreconcilable with any gross mythological beliefs1 we must hold to the purely spiritual character of the doctrine of ,jesus concerning his personal offices1 and think that all the speeches1 if any such there be1 which cannot be fairly explained in accordance with this view1 have been refracted in their transmission through incompetent reporters1 or even perhaps fictitiously ascribed to him from the faith of a later age4 ,there is a grateful satisfaction in thus discharging1 as we feel we are fairly entitled to do1 from the authority of ,jesus a burden too great even for his peerless name any longer to support4 ,for1 say what its advocates may1 this gigantic melo drama of the second advent1 this world wide mixture and display of martial and forensic elements before an audience of all mankind and amidst a convulsed and closing universe1 is inherently incredible by any mind not grossly ignorant and undisciplined or drilled to the most slavish servility of traditional thought4 ,every one really educated in science and philosophy1 and familiar with the physiological conditions and literary history of mythology in the other nations of the world1 will plainly perceive the intrinsic fancifulness and falsity of the belief1 at the same time that he easily accounts for its rise and prevalence4 ,the same picture of the siege of ,jerusalem by a league of idolatrous armies1 and of the mighty coming of the ,messiah1 found in the ,new ,testament1 is drawn in the third book of the ,sibylline ,oracles1 which was composed by a ,jew two hundred years before one word of ,matthew or ,luke was written4 ,jesus took up this current and fitting imagery wherein to express the conflict of his religion with the world1 and to predict its ultimate triumph4 ,he identifies himself with the truths he has brought1 with the regenerating energies he has inaugurated to combat and overcome the wickedness and despotism of the nations of men4 ,every advent of his universal principles to a wider conflict or a higher seat of authority1 is a true coming of the ,son of ,man4 ,the vices and crimes of men1 the selfishness and tyranny of governments1 accumulate impediments in the way of the free working of the will of ,god in human society4 ,therefore from period to period convulsive crises occur1 shocks of progressive truth and liberty against the obstacles gathered in their way4 ,thus1 not only the destruction of ,jerusalem1 but the destruction of ,rome1 the ,french ,revolution1 and all the terrible social crises in the advancing affairs of the world1 write on the earth and the sky1 in huge characters of blood1 smoke and fire1 the true meaning of the repeated coming of ,christ4 ,this is the only kind of judicial second advent he will ever make1 and this will occur over and over in calamitous but helpful revolutions1 until all removable evils are done away1 all the laws of men made just and all the hearts of men pure4 ,then the spirit once manifested by ,jesus in his lonely mission will be a universal presence on earth1 and the genuine millennium prevail without end4 ,it is necessary now1 as preliminary to a clear exposition of the true ,christian doctrine of judgment1 to explain the cause and process of the dark perversion which the teachings of ,christ himself have so unfortunately undergone in the ,church4 ,for this purpose we must again1 for a moment1 refer to the original connection of ,christianity with ,judaism4 ,judaism was composed of two parts3 one an accidental form2 the other1 essential truth4 ,the first was the ceremonial peculiarities of the ,jewish race and history2 the second was the absolute and eternal principles of morality and religion4 ,these two parts the ritual law and moral law were closely joined in all the best representatives of the nation at all the best periods of its history4 ,yet there was a constant tendency to separate these4 ,one party exalted the ritual element1 another party the spiritual element2 the priestly class and the vulgar populace the former2 the prophets the men of poetic1 fiery heart and genius the latter4 ,such men as ,isaiah1 ,jeremiah1 ,ezekiel1 always insisted on personal and national righteousness1 purity1 and devotion1 as the one essential thing4 ,but the natural tendency of the common multitude1 and of every professional class1 to an external routine of mechanised forms1 manifested itself more and more in a party which made an overt covenant and ritualistic conformity the all important thing4 ,this party reached its head in the sect of the ,pharisees1 who1 at the time of ,jesus1 possessed the offices1 and represented the dominant spirit and authority of the ,jewish nation4 ,the character of this sect of bigoted formalists1 as indignantly described and denounced by ,jesus1 is too well known to need illustration4 ,they subordinated and trivialized the weightier matters of justice1 mercy1 humility1 and peace1 but enthroned and glorified the regime of mint1 anise1 and cummin4 ,what was the ,jewish idea of salvation1 or citizenship in the kingdom of ,god8 ,what was the condition of acceptance in the ,pharisaic church8 ,it was heirship in the ,jewish race1 either by descent or adoption1 with ceremonial blamelessness in belief and act4 ,do you belong to the chosen family of ,abraham1 and are you undefiled in relation to all the requirements of our code8 ,then you are one of the elect4 ,are you a ,gentile1 an idolatrous member of the uncircumcision1 or a scorner of the ,levitic and ,rabbinical customs8 ,then you are unfit to enter beyond the outer precincts of the ,temple2 you are a hopeless alien from the kingdom of heaven4 ,thus the ,jewish test of acceptance with ,god was national1 external1 formal1 a local and temporal peculiarity4 ,when ,jesus arose and began to teach1 his transcendent genius1 working under the unparalleled inspiration of ,god1 an unprecedented sensibility to divine truth in its utmost purity and freedom1 expanded beyond all these shallow material accidents and bonds2 and he propounded a perfectly moral and spiritual test of acceptance before ,god2 namely1 the possession of an intrinsically good character4 ,he made nothing of the distinction between ,jew and ,gentile1 declaring1 ,my father is able of these stones to raise up children unto ,abraham4 ,he affirmed the condition of admittance into the kingdom of ,god to be simply the doing of the will of ,god4 ,when he saw the young lawyer who had kept the two commandments1 loving ,god with all his soul1 and his neighbor as himself1 his heart yearned towards him in benediction4 ,and1 finally1 in his sublime picture of the last judgment1 he1 in the most explicit and unmistakable manner1 makes the one essential condition of rejection to be inhumanity of life1 cruel selfishness of character2 the one essential condition of acceptance1 the spirit of love1 the practical doing of good4 ,he utters not a solitary syllable about immaculateness of ceremonial propriety or soundness of dogmatic belief4 ,he only says1 ,inasmuch as ye have or have not visited the sick and the imprisoned1 fed the hungry1 and clothed the naked1 ye shall be justified or condemned at the divine tribunal4 ,this test of personal goodness or wickedness1 benevolent or malignant conduct1 proclaimed by ,jesus1 is the true standard1 free from everything local and temporary1 fitted for application to all nations and all ages4 ,but no sooner had ,christianity obtained a foothold on earth1 multiplied its converts1 and gained some outward sway1 than its ,judaizing disciples and promulgators1 fastening on that which was easiest to comprehend and practise1 that which was most impressive to the imagination1 that which seemed most sharply to distinguish them from the unbelieving and unconforming world around1 thrust far into the background this universal and eternal test of judgment set up by ,jesus himself1 and in place of it installed an exclusive test fashioned after a more developed and aggravated pattern of the very narrowest and worst elements in the ,phariasaism which he expressly came to supersede4 ,the ,pharisaic condition of salvation was inheritance1 by blood or adoption1 in the ,jewish race and ,abrahamic covenant1 together with exactitude of ceremonial observance4 ,everybody else was an unclean alien1 an uncircumcised dog1 an uncovenanted leper4 ,in place of this test1 the orthodox ecclesiastical party made their test dogmatic belief in the supernatural ,messiahship of ,jesus ,christ1 formal profession of allegiance to the official person of ,jesus ,christ4 ,it is summed up in the formula1 ,whoso believeth that ,jesus is the ,christ1 is of ,god2 whoso denieth this1 is of the ,devil4 ,exactly here is where ,paul1 the noble apostle to the ,gentiles1 broke with the ,judaizing apostles1 and taught a doctrine more fully developed in its historic sequence1 but substantially in perfect unison with the free teachings and spirit of ,jesus himself4 ,with ,paul the test of ,christian salvation was the possession of the mind of ,christ4 ,if any man have not the spirit of ,christ1 he is none of his2 but as many as are led by the spirit of ,god are sons of ,god4 ,neither circumcision availeth anything1 nor uncircumcision2 but a new creature1 begotten in the image of ,christ1 availeth everything before ,god4 ,god rewardeth every man1 the ,jew and the ,gentile1 according to his works4 ,with ,paul1 descent from ,abraham was nothing1 observance of the legal code was nothing3 a just and pure character1 full of self sacrificing love1 evoked by faith in ,christ1 was the all in all4 ,jesus ,christ was the head of a new race1 the second ,adam2 and all disciples1 who1 through moral faith in him1 were regenerated into his likeness and unto newness of living1 were thereby adopted as sons of ,god and joint heirs with him4 ,the ,pauline formula of salvation1 freely open to all the world1 was1 spiritual assimilation and reproduction of ,christ in the disciple4 ,but the ,judaizing party bore a heavy preponderance in the early ,church1 and has succeeded unto this day in imposing on ecclesiastical ,christendom its own test3 namely1 a sound dogmatic1 belief in the supreme personal rank and office of ,christ1 as the only means of admission to the kingdom of heaven4 ,the one peculiarity which most sharply and broadly contrasted the early ,christians with the rest of the world was unquestionably their belief in the miraculous mission of ,jesus1 a belief growing deeper1 higher1 intenser1 until it actually identified him with the omnipotent ,god4 ,there was an inevitable tendency1 it was a perfectly natural and necessary process1 for them to make this point of contrast the central condition on which depended the possession of all the special privileges supposed to be promised to its disciples by the new religion4 ,the result is well expressed by ,polycarp in these words3 ,whosoever confesses not that ,christ is come in the flesh1 is an ,antichrist2 and whosoever acknowledges not the martyrdom of the cross1 is of the ,devil2 and whosoever says that there is no resurrection nor judgment1 is the first born of ,satan4 ,this extract strikes the key note of the ,orthodox ,church all through ,christendom from the second century to the present hour4 ,in place of the true condition of salvation announced by ,jesus1 personal and practical goodness1 it inaugurates the false ecclesiastic standard1 soundness of dogmatic belief in relation to ,jesus himself6 ,those who hold this are the elect1 and shall stand in heaven with white robes and palms and a new song1 while all the rest of the world apostate and detested enemies of ,god and his saints shall be trampled down in merciless slaughter1 and flung into the pit whence the smoking signal of their torment shall ascend for ever and ever4 ,it is a transformation of the bigoted scorn and hate of the covenanted ,jew for his ,gentile foes into the intensified horror of the ,orthodox believer for the reprobate infidel4 ,and it finally culminated in the following frightful picture which still lowers and blazes in the imagination of ecclesiastical ,christendom as a veritable revelation of what is to take place at the end of the world3 ,while the stars are falling1 the firmament dissolving1 the dead swarming from their graves1 and the nations assembling1 ,christ will come in the clouds of heaven with a host of angels and sit in judgment on collected mankind4 ,all who submissively believed in his ,divinity1 and have the seal of his blood on their foreheads1 he will approve and accept2 all others he will condemn and reject4 ,no matter for the natural goodness and integrity of the unbeliever3 his unbelief dooms him4 ,no matter for the natural depravity and iniquity of the believer3 his faith in the atoning sacrifice saves him4 ,the ,judge will say to the orthodox1 on his right1 ,you may have been impure and cruel1 lied1 cheated1 hated your neighbor1 rolled in vice and crime1 but you have believed in me1 in my divinity3 therefore1 come1 ye blessed1 inherit my kingdom4 ,to the heretical1 on his left1 he will say1 ,you may have been pure and kind1 sought the truth1 self sacrificingly served your fellow men1 fulfilled every moral duty in your power1 but you have not believed in me1 in my deity1 and my blood3 therefore1 depart1 ye cursed1 into everlasting fire4 ,such is a fit verdict to be pronounced by the avenging ,warrior depicted in the ,apocalypse1 from whose mouth issues a two edged sword1 to cut his enemies asunder2 who sits on a white charger1 in a vesture dipped in blood1 with a bow and a crown1 and goes forth conquering and to conquer2 whose eyes are flames of fire2 who treads his rejecters in the wine press of his wrath until their blood reaches to the horse bridles4 ,it was the natural reflection of an age filled with the most murderous hatreds and persecutions1 based on political and dogmatic distinctions4 ,but how contradictory it is to the teachings of ,jesus himself6 ,how utterly irreconcilable it is with the image and spirit of that meek and lowly ,son of ,man who said that he came not to destroy men's lives but to save them2 who declared1 of mine own self ,i can do nothing2 who modestly deprecated all personal homage1 asking1 ,why callest thou me good8 who sat with the publican1 and forgave the harlot1 and denounced bigotry in many an immortal breathing of charity2 and who1 even in his final agony1 pardoned and prayed for his murderers6 ,what reason is there for supposing that he who was so infinitely gentle1 unselfish1 forgiving1 when on earth1 will undergo such a fiendish metamorphosis in his exaltation and return8 ,it is the most monstrous1 the most atrocious travesty of the truth that ever was perpetrated by the superstitious ignorance and audacity of the human mind4 ,it is a direct transference into the ,godhead of the most egotistical and hateful feelings of a bad man4 ,no good man who had been ever so grossly misconceived1 vilified1 and wronged1 if he saw his enemies prostrate in submissive terror at his feet1 perfectly powerless before his authority1 could bear to trample on them and wreak vengeance on them4 ,he would say1 ,unhappy ones1 fear not2 you have misunderstood me2 ,i will not injure you2 if there be any favor which ,i can bestow on you1 freely take it4 ,and is it not an incredible blasphemy to deny to the deified ,christ a magnanimity equal to that which any good man would exhibit8 ,it is with pain and regret that the writer has penned the foregoing sentences1 which1 he supposes1 some persons will read with the feeling that they are inexcusable misrepresentations1 others1 with a shocked and resentful horror1 relieving itself in the cry1 ,infidelity6 ,blasphemy6 ,the reply of the writer is simply that1 while reluctant to wound the sensibility of any1 he feels bound in conscience to make this exposition1 because he believes it to be a true statement2 and loyalty to truth is the first duty of every man4 ,truth is the will of ,god1 obedience to which alone is sound morality1 reverential love of which alone is pure piety4 ,frightful as is the picture drawn above of ,christ in the judgment1 it is impossible to deny1 without utter stultification1 that every lineament of it is logically implied in the formula4 ,there is no salvation for the man who unbelievingly rejects1 no damnation for the man who believingly accepts1 the official ,christ and his blood4 ,and what teacher will have the presumption to deny that just this has been1 and still is1 the central dogma in the faith of ecclesiastical ,christendom8 ,the legitimate result of this view1 unflinchingly carried out1 and applied to the precise point we now have in hand1 is seen in that horrible portrayal of the ,last ,judgment wherewith ,michael ,angelo has covered the ceiling of the ,sistine ,chapel1 in ,rome4 ,the great anatomical artist consistently depicts ,christ as an almighty athlete1 towering with vindictive wrath1 flinging thunderbolts on the writhing and helpless wilderness of his victims4 ,the popular conception of ,christ in the judgment has been borrowed from the type of a king1 who1 hurling off the incognito in which he has been outraged1 breaks out in his proper insignia1 to sentence and trample his scorners4 ,the true conception is to be fashioned after the type given in his own example during his life4 ,so far as ,christ is the representative of ,god1 there must be no vanity or egotism in him4 ,every such quality ascribed to the ,godhead is anthropomorphizing sophistry4 ,however much more ,god may be1 he is the ,general ,mind of the ,universe4 ,he includes1 while he transcends1 all other beings4 ,now1 the ,general ,mind must represent the interests of all1 the disinterested good of the whole1 and not any particular and selfish exactions1 or resentful caprices1 fashioned on the pattern shown among human egotists by a kingly despot4 ,the ,church1 in developing ,christianity out of ,judaism through the person and life of ,jesus1 has given prominence and emphasis to the wrong elements1 seeking to universalize and perpetuate1 in a transformed guise1 the local spirit and historic errors of that ,pharisaic sect against which he had himself launched all his invective4 ,that temper of bigotry and ceremonial technicality which hates all outside of its own pale as reprobate1 and which ultimated itself in the virtual ,pharisaic formula1 ,keep the hands and platter washed1 and it is no matter how full of uncleanness you are within1 at a later period embodied itself through the leaders of ecclesiastical ,orthodoxy in the central dogma1 ,nothing but faith in ,christ can avail man anything before ,god4 ,instead of this the true doctrine is1 ,nothing but obedience1 surrender1 and trust1 personal penitence and aspiration1 can avail man anything before ,god4 ,the ,christians1 as the ,jews did before them1 have made a wrong selection of the doctrine to be1 on the one hand1 particularized and left behind2 on the other hand1 carried forward and universalized4 ,this immense error demands correction4 ,let us notice a few specimens in exemplication of it4 ,jehovah is not the only true ,god in distinction from odious idols2 but ,brahma1 ,ahura ,mazda1 ,osiris1 ,zeus1 ,jupiter1 and the rest1 are names given by different nations to the ,infinite ,spirit whom each nation worships according to its own light4 ,the ,jews and the ,christians are not the only chosen people of ,god2 but all nations are his people1 chosen in the degree of their harmony with his will4 ,the providence of ,god is not an exceptional interference from without1 exclusively for the ,jews and ,christians2 but it is for all1 a steady order of laws within1 as much to be seen in the shining of the sun1 or the regular harvest1 as in any shocks of political calamity and glory4 ,not the ,messiah alone reveals ,god2 but1 in his degree1 every ruler1 prophet1 priest1 every man who stands for wisdom1 justice1 purity1 and devotion1 represents him4 ,it is not doctrinal belief in the ,messiah1 but vital adoption of his spirit and character1 of the principles of real goodness1 that constitutes the salvation of the disciple4 ,we are to look not for the resurrection of the flesh from the grave1 but for the resurrection of the soul from all forms of sin1 ignorance1 and misery4 ,it is the universal prevalence of truth and virtue1 knowledge1 love1 and peace1 in the hearts of men1 not the physical reign of the returning ,messiah1 which will make a millennium on earth4 ,the kingdom of ,god which ,judaism localized exclusively in ,palestine1 and the early church exclusively in heaven or on the millennial earth1 should be recognized in every place1 whether above the sky or on the globe1 where duty is done1 and pure affection1 trust1 and joy experienced2 for ,god is not excluded from all other spaces by any enthronization in one4 ,we ought not to cling1 as to permanent fixtures of revealed truth1 to the rigid outlines of that scheme of faith which was struck out when the three story house of the ,hebrew cosmogony showed the limits of what men knew1 before exact science was born1 or criticism conceived1 or the telescope invented1 or ,america and ,australia and the ,germanic races heard of2 but we should hold our speculative theological beliefs freely and provisionally1 ready to reconstruct and read just them1 from time to time1 in accordance with the demands of the growing body of human knowledge4 ,reflecting1 in the light of these general ideas of truth1 on the whole subject of the current doctrine of the end of the world and the day of judgment1 we shall see that that doctrine presents no valid claim for our belief1 but is a mythological growth out of the historic and literary conditions amidst which ,christianity arose on the basis of ,judaism4 ,the doctrine was formed by the unconscious transmutation of metaphors into dogmas4 ,poetic figures came1 by dint of familiarizing repetition1 by dint of imaginative collection and contemplation1 to be taken as expressive of literal truths4 ,to any reader of the ,apocalypse1 with competent historical and critical information for entering into the book from the point of view occupied by its author1 it is just as evident that its imagery was meant to describe the immediate conflict of ,hebrew ,christianity with pagan ,rome1 and not the literal blotting out of the universe1 as it is unquestionable that the book of ,daniel depicts1 not the impending destruction of the world1 but the relations of the chosen nation with the hostile empires of ,persia1 ,media1 ,babylon1 and ,macedonia1 from which they had suffered so much1 and which they then hoped speedily to put beneath their feet4 ,the slain ,lamb1 standing amidst the throne of ,god1 with seven eyes and seven horns2 ,death1 on a pale horse1 with ,hell following him2 the woman1 clothed with the sun1 and the moon under her feet2 the great red dragon1 whose tail casts to the earth the third part of the stars of heaven2 the worm wood star1 that falls as a blazing lamp1 and turns a third of the waters of the earth into bitterness2 the seven thunders1 seven seals1 seven vials1 seven spirits before the throne1 seven candlesticks1 seven angels1 seven trumpets1 seven epistles to the seven churches1 seven horns1 seven headed beast1 all these things must1 perforce1 be taken as free poetic imagery2 it would require a lunatic or an utterly unthinking verbalist to interpret them literally4 ,why1 then1 shall we select from the mass of metaphors a few of the most violent1 and insist on rendering these as veritable statements of fact8 ,if the rest is symbolism1 so are the pictures of the avenging armies of angels1 the reeking gulf of sulphur1 and the golden streets of the city4 ,the entire scheme of thought1 as it still stands in the mind of the ,orthodox believer1 is to be rejected as spurious1 because it rests on a process of imaginative accumulation and transference which is absolutely illegitimate2 namely1 the association and universalizing of political and military images1 which are then hardened from emblems into facts1 and cast over upon the mutual relations of ,god and mankind4 ,we ought to break open the metaphors1 extract their significance1 and throw the shells aside4 ,but ignorant bibliolatary and ecclesiasticism insist on worshipping the shells1 with no insight of their contents4 ,there is one all important fact which should convince of their error those who hold the current view of a general judgment at the end of the world as having been revealed from ,god through ,christ4 ,we refer to the fact that the system of ideas in which a final resurrection and judgment of the dead are logical parts1 existed in the ,zoroastrian theology five or six centuries before the birth of ,christ4 ,it was adopted thence by the ,jews1 and afterwards adopted from the ,jews by the ,christians4 ,if1 therefore1 this doctrine be a revelation from ,god1 it was revealed by him to the ,persians in a dark and credulous antiquity4 ,in that case it is ,zoroaster and not ,christ to whom we are indebted for the central dogmas of our religion6 ,no1 these things are imagery1 not essence1 the human element of imaginative error with which the divine element of truth has been overlaid1 and from whose darkening and corrupt company this is to be extricated4 ,there are1 in the ,new ,testament1 in addition to the relevant metaphors which we have already examined1 several others of great impressiveness and importance4 ,we must now explain these1 separate the truths and errors popularly associated with them1 and leave the subject with an exposition of the real method of the divine government and the true idea of the day of judgment1 in contrast with the prevalent ecclesiastical perversions of them4 ,the part played in theological speculation and popular religious belief by imagery borrowed from the scenery and methods of judicial tribunals1 the procedures and enforcement of penal law1 has not been less prominent and profound than the influence exerted by natural1 political1 and military metaphors4 ,the power1 the pomp1 the elaborate spectacle1 the mysterious formalities1 the frightful penalties1 the intense personal hopes and fears1 associated with the trial of culprits in courts or before the head of a nation1 must always have sunk so deeply into the minds of men as to be vividly present in imagination to be affixed as typical stamps on their theories concerning the judgments of ,god and the future world4 ,this process is perhaps nowhere more distinctly shown than in the belief of the ancient ,egyptians4 ,before the sarcophagus containing the mummy was ferried over the holy lake to be deposited in the tomb1 the friends and relatives of the departed1 and his enemies and accusers1 if he had any1 together with forty two assessors1 each of whom had the oversight of a particular sin1 assembled on the shore and sat in judgment4 ,the deceased was put on his trial before them3 and1 if justified1 awarded an honorable burial2 if condemned1 disgraced by the withholding of the funeral rites4 ,now the papyrus rolls found with the mummies give a description of the judgment of the dead1 a picture of the fate of the disembodied soul in the ,egyptian ,hades1 minutely agreeing in many particulars with the foregoing ceremony4 ,ma1 the ,goddess of ,justice1 leads the soul into the judgment hall1 before the throne of ,osiris1 where stands a great balance with a symbol of truth in one scale1 the symbol of a human heart in the other4 ,the accuser is heard1 and the deceased defends himself before forty two divine judges who preside over the forty two sins from which he must be cleared4 ,the gods ,horus and ,anubis attend to the balance1 and ,thoth writes down the verdict and the sentence4 ,the soul then passes on through adventures of penance or bliss1 the details of which are obviously copied1 with fanciful changes and additions1 from the connected scenery and experience known on the earth4 ,taking it for all in all1 there perhaps never was any other scene in human society so impressive as the periodical sitting in judgment of the great ,oriental kings4 ,it was the custom of those half deified rulers the ,king of ,egypt1 the ,sultan of ,persia1 the ,emperor of ,india1 the ,great ,father of ,china to set up1 each in the gate of his palace1 a tribunal for the public and irreversible administration of justice4 ,seated on his throne1 blazing in purple1 gold1 and gems1 the members of the royal family nearest to his person2 his chief officers and chosen favorites coming next in order2 his body guards and various classes of servants1 in distinctive costumes1 ranged in their several posts2 vast masses of troops1 marshalled far and near4 ,the whole assemblage must have composed a sight of august splendor and dread4 ,then appeared the accusers and the accused1 criminals from their dungeons1 captives taken in war1 representatives of tributary nations1 all who had complaints to offer1 charges to repel1 or offences to expiate4 ,the monarch listened1 weighed1 decided1 sentenced2 and his executioners carried out his commands4 ,some were pardoned1 some rewarded1 some sent to the quarries1 some to prison1 some to death4 ,when the tribunal was struck1 and the king retired1 and the scene ended1 there was relief with one1 joy with another1 blood here1 darkness there1 weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth in many a place4 ,dramatic scenes of judgment1 public judicial procedures1 in some degree corresponding with the foregoing picture1 are necessary in human governments4 ,the prison1 the culprit1 the witnesses1 the judge1 the verdict1 the penalty1 are inevitable facts of the social order4 ,offences needing to be punished by overt penalties1 wrongs demanding to be rectified by outward decrees1 criminals gathered in cells1 appeals from lower courts to higher ones1 may go on accumulating until a grand audit or universal clearing up of arrears becomes indispensable4 ,is it not obvious how natural it would be for a mind profoundly impressed with these facts1 and vividly stamped with this imagery1 to think of the relation between mankind and ,god in a similar way1 conceiving of the ,creator as the ,infinite ,king and ,judge1 who will appoint a final day to set everything right1 issue a general act of jail delivery1 summon the living and the dead before him1 and adjudicate their doom according to his sovereign pleasure8 ,the tremendous language ascribed to ,jesus1 in the twenty fifth chapter of ,matthew1 was evidently based on the historic picture of an ,eastern king in judgment4 ,when the ,son of ,man shall come in his glory1 and all the holy angels with him1 then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory3 and before him shall be gathered all nations3 and he shall separate them one from another1 as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats3 and he shall set the sheep on his right hand1 but the goats on the left4 ,if ,jesus himself used these words1 we suppose he meant figuratively to indicate by them the triumphant installation1 as a ruling and judging power in human society1 of the pure eternal principles of morality1 the true universal principles of religion1 which he had taught and exemplified4 ,but unfortunately the image proved so overpoweringly impressive to the imagination of subsequent times1 that its metaphorical import was lost in its physical setting4 ,this momentous error has arisen from the inevitable tendency of the human mind to conceive of ,god after the type of an earthly king1 as an enthroned local ,presence2 from the rooted incapacity of popular thought to grasp the idea that ,god is an equal and undivided ,everywhereness4 ,in his great speech on ,mar's ,hill1 the apostle ,paul told the ,athenians that ,god had appointed a day in the which he would judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained4 ,is not this notion of the judgment being delegated to ,jesus plainly adopted from the political image of a deputy8 ,the king himself rarely sits on a judicial tribunal3 he is generally represented there by an inferior officer4 ,but this arrangement is totally inapplicable to ,god1 who can never abdicate his prerogatives1 since they are not legal1 but dynamic4 ,the essential nature of ,god is infinity4 ,certainly1 there can be no substitution of this4 ,it cannot be put off1 nor put on1 nor multiplied4 ,there is one ,infinite alone4 ,the ,greeks located1 in the future state1 three judges of the dead1 ,minos1 who presided at the trial of souls arriving from ,europe2 ,rhadamanthus1 who examined those coming from ,asia2 and ,aacus1 who judged those from ,africa4 ,they had no fourth and fifth inspectors for the souls from ,america and ,australia1 because those divisions of the earth were1 as yet1 unknown6 ,how suggestive is this mixture of knowledge and ignorance6 ,the heaven of the ,esquimaux is a place where they will have a plenty of fine boats and harpoons1 and find a summer climate1 and a calm ocean abounding with fat seals and walruses4 ,the ,greenlander's hell is a place of torment from cold2 the ,arab's1 a place of torment from heat4 ,every people and every man unless they have learned by comparative criticism to correct the tendency conceive their destiny in the unknown future in forms and lights copied1 more or less closely1 from their familiar experiences here4 ,is there not just as much reason for holding to the literal accuracy and validity of the result in one case as in another8 ,the popular picture1 in the imagination of ,christendom1 of ,gabriel playing a trumpet solo at the end of the world1 and a huge squad of angelic police darting about the four quarters of heaven1 gathering the past and present inhabitants of the earth1 while the ,judge and his officers take their places in the ,universal ,assize1 instead of being received as sound theology1 should be held as moral symbol4 ,taken in any other way1 it sinks into gross mythology4 ,can any one fail to see that this picture of the ,last ,judgment is the result of an illogical process2 namely1 the poetic association and universalizing of our fragmentary judicial experiences1 and the bodily transfer of them over upon our relations with ,god8 ,the procedure is clearly a fallacious one1 because the relations of men with ,god in the sphere of eternal truths are wholly different from their relations with each other in the sphere of political society4 ,they are1 in no sense1 formal or forensic1 but substantial and moral2 not of the nature of a league or compact1 but interior and organic2 not acting by fits and starts1 or gathering through interruptions and delays to convulsive catastrophes1 but going on in unbreakable continuity4 ,god is a ,spirit2 and we too1 in essence1 are spirits4 ,the rewards and punishments imparted from ,god to us1 then1 are spiritual1 results of the regular action of the laws of our being as related to all other being4 ,consequently1 no figures borrowed from those judicial and police arrangements inevitable in the broken and hitching affairs of earthly rulers1 can be directly applicable1 the circumstances are so completely different4 ,the true illustration of the divine government must be adopted from physiology and psychology1 where the perfect working of the ,creator is exemplified1 not from the forum and the court1 where the imperfect artifices of men are exhibited4 ,god forever sits in judgment on all souls1 in the reactions of their own acts4 ,the divine retribution for every deed is the kick of the gun1 not an extra explosion arbitrarily thrown in4 ,the thief1 the liar1 the misanthrope1 the drunkard1 the poet1 the philosopher1 the hero1 the saint1 all have their just and intrinsic returns for what they are and for what they do1 in the fitness of their own characters and their harmonies or discords with the will of ,god1 with the public order of creation4 ,thus is the daily experience of one man made a lake of peace threaded with thrilling rivulets of bliss2 that of another1 a stream of devouring fire and poison1 or a heaving and smoking bed of uncleanness and torment4 ,the virtues represent the conditions of universal good2 the vices represent private opposition to those conditions4 ,accordingly1 the good man is in attracting and cooperative connection with all good2 the bad man1 in antagonistic and repulsive connection with it4 ,in these facts a perfect retribution resides4 ,if any one does not see it1 does not feel its working1 it is because he is too insensible to be conscious of the secrets of his own being1 too dull to read the lessons of his own experience4 ,and this self ignorant degradation1 so far from refuting1 is itself the profoundest exemplification of the truth of that wonderful word of ,jesus3 ,verily1 ,i say unto you1 they have their reward4 ,those who consider themselves saints indulge in an unspeakable vulgarity1 when they feel1 ,well1 the sinners have their turn in this world2 we shall have ours in the next4 ,the law of retribution in the spiritual sphere is identical with the first law of motion in the material sphere2 action and reaction are equal1 and in opposite directions4 ,this law being instantaneous and incessant in its operation1 there can be no occasion for a final epoch to redress its accumulated disbalancements4 ,it has no disbalancements1 save in our erroneous or defective vision4 ,the true conception of the relation of the all judging ,creator to his creatures is that of the ,infinite ,being who supplies all finite receptacles in accordance with their special forms of organization and character1 and who causes exact retributions of good and evil intrinsically to inhere in their indulged modes of thought and feeling and will1 their own virtues and vices1 fruitions and battlements4 ,this internal1 continuous1 dynamic view worthily represents the perfection of the ,divine government4 ,the incomparably inferior view the external1 intermittent1 constabulary theory rests1 as it seems to us1 merely on the traditions of ignorance and fancy4 ,it has1 in every instance1 originated from the unwarrantable interpretation of a trope as a truth4 ,for example1 the picture of the ,last ,judgment1 supposed to be drawn by ,jesus1 in the ,parable of the ,tares1 must be considered1 not as a rigid prophecy of the end of the earth1 and the transmundane destination of souls1 but as a free emblem of the approaching close of the ,jewish dispensation1 and the terrible calamities which would then come on the proud1 obstinate and rebellious people4 ,the reaping angels are the ,roman and ,jewish armies1 and other kindred agencies and collisions in the destined evolution of the fortunes of ,christianity and mankind in the future4 ,taken literally1 the symbols are incongruous with fact1 and absolutely incredible in doctrine4 ,for they are based on the image of a royal land owner1 who draws his support from the income of his fields and subjects1 and who rewards the faithful bringer of fruits1 and punishes the slothful defaulter2 who welcomes and stores sheaves1 because they are wealth3 rejects and burns tares1 because they are an injury and a nuisance4 ,but nothing can be riches or a nuisance to the infinite ,god1 who neither lives on revenue nor judges by jerks4 ,men are not literally wheat1 the property of the good sower1 ,christ2 nor tares1 the property of the bad sower1 the ,devil3 they are souls1 responsibly belonging to themselves1 under ,god4 ,and the pay of the human agriculturists1 in the moral fields of the divine ,king1 consists in the daily crops of experience they raise1 not in being advanced to a seat at the right hand of their ,lord1 or in being flagellated and flung into a flaming furnace4 ,jesus himself1 undoubtedly1 used this physical imagery as the vehicle of spiritual truths2 it is lamentable that perfunctory minds have so generally overlooked the substance in the dress4 ,he is represented1 in ,matthew1 as having said to his apostles3 ,when the ,son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory1 ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones1 judging the twelve tribes of ,israel4 ,now1 that he used this figure to convey an impersonal moral meaning1 and that his profound thought underwent a materializing degradation in the minds of his hearers and reporters1 appears clearly from the incident related immediately afterward4 ,the wife of ,zebedee asked that her two sons might sit1 the one on his right hand1 and the other on the left1 in his kingdom4 ,and ,jesus said1 ,ye shall drink indeed of my cup1 and be baptized with the baptism that ,i am baptized with3 but to sit on my right hand1 and on my left1 is not mine to give4 ,the imagery meant that the missionary assistants1 in forwarding and spreading the kingdom of truth and love he came to establish1 would be represented in common with himself in the power it would acquire and sway over the world4 ,when his hearers interpreted the imagery in a physical sense1 as indicating that he was hereafter to be a visible king1 and that his favorites might expect to share in his authority1 honor1 and glory1 he solemnly repudiated it4 ,there is yet another and a wholly different style of imagery employed by ,jesus to convey his instructions as to the judgment which is to separate the justified from the condemned4 ,the consideration of this species of imagery would afford an independent proof1 of a cogent character1 that they strangely misapprehend the mind of ,jesus who interpret the moral meaning of his parable in an outward and dramatic sense4 ,the metaphors to which we now refer are of a domestic and convivial nature1 based on some of the most impressive social customs of the ,oriental nations4 ,it was the habit of kings1 governors1 and other rich and powerful men1 to give1 on certain occasions1 great banquets1 to which the guests were invited by special favor4 ,these feasts were celebrated with the utmost pomp and splendor1 by night1 in brilliantly illuminated apartments4 ,the contrast of the blazing lights1 the richly costumed guests1 the music and talk1 the honor and luxury within1 set against the darkness1 the silence1 the envious poverty and misery without1 must have deeply struck all who saw it1 and would naturally secure rhetorical reflections in speech and literature4 ,the ,jews illustrated their idea of the ,kingdom of ,god by the symbol of a table at which ,abraham and ,isaac and ,jacob were banqueting1 and would be joined by all their faithful countrymen4 ,in his parable of the ,supper1 describing how a king1 on occasion of the marriage of his son1 made a feast and sent out generous invitations to it1 ,jesus works up this imagery still more elaborately4 ,what did he really mean to teach by it8 ,is it not clearly apparent from the whole context that he intended it as an illustration of the fact that the ,jews1 to whom he first announced his gospel1 and offered all its privileges1 having rejected it1 its blessings would be freely thrown open to the ,gentiles1 and that they would crowd in to occupy the place of joy and honor1 which the chosen people of ,jehovah had refused to accept8 ,it is by a pure effect of fancy and doctrinal bias that the parable has been perverted into a description of the ,last ,judgment4 ,the reference plainly indicates admission to or exclusion from the privileges of the new dispensation1 a matter of personal experience in the heart of the disciple and in the society of the church on this earth4 ,the wedding garment1 without which no one can come to the royal table1 is a holy1 humble1 and loving character4 ,in consequence of his destitution of this1 ,judas1 although seated at the table1 with the most honored guests1 in the very presence of his ,lord1 was proved to have no right there1 and was thrust into the outer darkness4 ,his bad spirit1 his inability to appreciate and enjoy the pure truths of the kingdom1 constituted his expulsion4 ,that such was the idea in the mind of ,jesus1 something to be experienced personally and spiritually in the present1 and not something to be shown collectively and materially at the end of the world1 appears from the great number of different forms in which he reiterates his doctrine4 ,had he meant to teach literally that he was to come in person at the last day1 and sit in judgment on all men1 would he not have had a distinct conception of the method1 and have always drawn one and the same consistent picture of it8 ,but if he meant to teach that all who were fitted by their spirit1 character and conduct to assimilate the living substance of his kingdom were thereby made members of it1 while all others were1 by their own intrinsic unfitness1 excluded1 then it was perfectly natural that his fertile mind would on a hundred different occasions convey this one truth in a hundred different figures of speech4 ,that in which the images all differ is unessential3 that in which they all agree must be the essential thought4 ,now the parables differ in the forms of judgment they picture4 ,therefore these forms are metaphoric dress4 ,the parables agree in assigning a different fate to the righteous and the wicked4 ,therefore this difference is the vital truth4 ,and ,jesus nowhere makes righteousness consist in anything national1 dogmatic1 or ceremonial1 but everywhere is something moral4 ,the doctrine of an unfailing tribunal in the soul1 the belief that we are all judged momentarily at the continuous bar of the truth reflected in our own conscience1 is too deep1 delicate1 and elusive a view for the ignorance and hardness of some ages1 and of some persons in every age4 ,they cannot understand that the mind of man is itself a living table of the law and judgment seat of the ,creator1 by its positive and negative polarities1 in sympathetic connection with the standards of good and evil1 pronouncing the verdicts and executing the sentences deserved4 ,they need to project the scheme of retribution into the startling shape of a trial in a formal court1 and then to universalize it into an overwhelming world assize4 ,the semi dramatic figment1 no doubt1 was an inevitable stage of thought1 and has wrought powerfully for good in certain periods of history4 ,but the pure truth must be as much better for all who can appreciate it1 as it is more real and more pervasive4 ,since ,god1 the indefeasible ,creator1 is a resistless power of justice and love in omnipresent relations with his creatures1 the genuine day of judgment to each being must be the entire career of that being4 ,in a lower degree1 every day is a day of judgment2 because all acts1 in the spirit from which they spring and the end at which they aim1 carry their own immediate retributions4 ,if we could survey the whole1 at once1 from the ,divine point of view1 and comprehend the relation of the parts to the whole1 undoubtedly we should perceive that the deserts and the receipts of each ephemeral existence are balanced between the rise and set of its sun4 ,but death may1 with most solemn emphasis1 be regarded as the final day of judgment to each man1 in this sense2 that then the sum of his earthly life and deeds is sealed up and closed from all further alteration by him1 passing into history as a collective cause or total unit of influence4 ,as long as the creation rolls in space1 and conscious beings live and die1 that bequeathal will tell its good or evil tale of him4 ,what sensitive spirit will not tremble at the thought of a judgment so unavoidable and so tremendous as this6 ,the votaries of superstition are mistaken in supposing that the removal of their false beliefs will destroy or weaken the sanctions of duty among men4 ,the removal of imaginary sanctions will but cause the true ones to appear more clearly and to work more effectively4 ,the judgment of ,god then1 we conclude1 is no vengeful wreaking of arbitrary royal volitions2 but it is the return of the laws of being on all deeds1 actual or ideal4 ,this is1 in itself1 perpetual and infallible3 but it sometimes forces itself on our recognition in sudden shocks or crises caused by the gathering obstacles and opposition made to it by our ignorance1 vice1 and crime4 ,every other doctrine of the ,divine judgment is either an error or a figurative statement of this one4 ,in the latter case1 the physical cover should be dissolved and thrown away1 the moral nucleus laid bare and appropriated4 ,but the popular mind of ,christendom has unfortunately pursued the contrary course1 first exaggerating and consolidating the metaphors1 then putting their forms literally in the place of their meaning4 ,the awful panorama of the last things1 as painted in the ,apocalypse1 the sun becoming as sackcloth of hair1 and the moon as blood2 the blighted stars dropping2 the unveiling of the great white throne1 from before the face of whose occupant the frightened heaven and earth flee away2 the standing up of the dead1 both small and great1 the opening of the books1 and the judging of the dead out of the things written therein1 this scenic array has1 by its terrible vividness and power of fanciful plausibility1 sunk so deeply into the imagination1 and taken such a tenacious hold on the feelings of the ,christian world1 secured for itself so constant a contemplation and encrusted itself with such a mass of associations1 that it has actually come to be regarded as a veritable revelation of the reality1 and to act as such4 ,and yet1 surely1 surely1 no one who will stop to think on the subject1 with conscious clearness1 can believe that books are provided in heaven with the names of men in them and recording angels appointed to keep their accounts by double or by single entry1 and that ,god will literally sit upon a vast white dais raised on the earth1 and go through an overt judicial ceremony4 ,on what principle is a part of the undivided apocalyptic portrayal rendered as emblem1 the rest accepted as absolute verity8 ,if the blood red warrior on his white horse followed by the shining cavalry of heaven1 the horrible vials of wrath1 the chimerical angels and beasts1 the sky and globe converted into terror struck fugitives1 the bridal city descending from ,god with its incredible walls and its impossible gates and its magic tree of life yielding twelve kinds of fruit1 are imagery2 then the lake of burning sulphur1 and the resurrection trumpet1 and the indictment of the dead before the dazzling throne1 are imagery too4 ,the reader smiles at the idea that the good ,esquimau will sit in ,leaven amidst boiling pots of walrus meat1 while in hell the fish lines of the bad ,esquimau will break1 and his canoe be crushed by falling ice4 ,but what better reason can the civilized man give for the reflecting over upon the judgments of the future his present experience in the imagery of criminal courts8 ,the same process of thought is exemplified in both cases4 ,can any one literally credit the following verses3 ,there are two angels that attend1 unseen ,each one of us1 and in great books record ,our good and evil deeds4 ,he who writes down ,the good ones after every action closes ,his volume and ascends to ,god4 ,the other keeps his dreadful day book open ,till sunset1 that we may repent1 which doing1 ,the record of the action fades away1 ,and leaves a line of white across the page4 ,no more should we literally credit the kindred phraseology in the ,new ,testament4 ,it is free metaphor4 ,the sultan may keep in his treasury a book with the names of all his favorites enrolled in it4 ,is it not a peurility to suppose that ,god has such documents8 ,when the ,gospels and the ,epistles of the ,new ,testament were written1 the reappearance of ,christ for the last judgment was almost universally supposed by the ,church to be just at hand4 ,at any instant of day or night the signal blast might be blown1 the troops of the sky pour down the swarms of the dead surge up1 and the sheep and the goats for ever be parted to the right and left4 ,each day when they saw the sun write its irrevocable verdict in the flame of the west1 the believers felt that the supreme ,dies iroe was so much nearer to its dawn4 ,but as generation after generation died1 without the sight1 and the tokens of its approach seemed no clearer1 the belief itself subsided from its early prominence into the background4 ,but as it retreated1 and became more obscure and vague in its date and other details1 it grew ever more sombre1 appalling1 and stupendous in its general certainty and preternatural accompaniments4 ,when the tenth century drew nigh its close1 a literal acceptance of the scriptural text that the dragon1 that old serpent1 which is the ,devil and ,satan1 after being bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years1 should be loosed a little season1 filled ,christendom with the most intense agitation and alarm4 ,from all the literature and history of that period the reverberations of the frightful effects of the general expectation of the impending judgment and destruction of the world have rolled down to the present time4 ,the portentous season passed1 all things continuing as they were1 and the immense incubus rose and dissolvingly vanished4 ,and the ,mediaval ,church1 like the ,apostolic ,church before1 instead of logically saying3 ,our expectation of the physical return of ,christ was a delusion1 fancifully concluded3 ,we were wrong as to the date2 and still continued to expect him4 ,the longer the crisis was delayed1 and the more it was brooded over1 the more awful the suppositious picture became4 ,the ,mohammedans held that the end would be announced by three blasts3 the blast of consternation1 so terrible that mothers will neglect the babes on their breasts1 and the solid world will melt2 the blast of disembodiment1 which will annihilate everything but heaven and hell and their inhabitants2 and the blast of resurrection1 which will call up brutes1 men1 genii1 and angels1 in such numbers that their trial will occupy the space of thousands of years4 ,but in the later imagination of ,christendom the vision assumed a shape even more fearful than this4 ,the ,protestant ,reformation1 when one party identified the ,pope1 the other1 ,luther1 with ,antichrist1 gave a new impulse to the common expectation of the avenging advent of the ,lord4 ,the horrible cruelties inflicted on each other by the hostile divisions of the ,church aggravated the fears and animosities reflected in the sequel at the last day4 ,probably nothing was ever seen in this world more execrable or more dreadful than those great ceremonies celebrated in ,spain and ,portugal1 in the seventeenth century1 at the execution of heretics condemned to death by the ,inquisition4 ,the slow1 dismal tolling of bells2 the masked and muffled familiars2 the ,dominicans carrying their horrid flag1 followed by the penitents behind a huge cross2 the condemned ones1 barefoot1 clad in painted caps and the repulsive sanbenito2 next the effigies of accused offenders who had escaped by flight2 then1 the bones of dead culprits in black coffins painted with flames and other hellish symbols2 and1 finally1 the train closing with a host of priests and monks4 ,the procession tediously winds to the great square in front of the cathedral1 where the accused stand before a crucifix with extinguished torches in their hands4 ,the king1 with all his court and the whole population of the city1 exalt the solemnity by their presence4 ,the flames are kindled1 and the poor victims perish in long drawn agonies4 ,now can anything conceivable give one a more vivid idea of the terrors embodied in the day of judgment than the fact that it came to be thought of under the terrific image of an ,auto da ,fe magnified to the scale of the human race and the earth1 ,christ1 the ,grand ,inquisitor1 seated as judge2 his familiars standing by ready with their implements of torture to fulfil his bidding2 his fellow monks enthroned around him2 his sign1 the crucifix1 towering from hell to heaven in sight of the universe2 the whole heretical world1 dressed in the sanbenito1 helpless before him1 awaiting their doom8 ,who will not shudder at the inexorable horrors of such a scheme of doctrine1 and devoutly thank ,god that he knows it to be a fiction as baseless as it is cruel8 ,since the cooling down of the great ,anabaptist fanaticism1 the millennarian fever has raged less and less extensively4 ,but if the literature it has produced1 in ignorant and declamatory books1 sermons1 and tracts1 were heaped together1 they would make a pile as big as one of the pyramids4 ,the preaching of ,miller1 about a quarter of a century ago1 with his definite assignment of the time for the appointed consummation1 caused quite a violent panic in the ,united ,states4 ,several prophets of a similar order in ,germany have also stirred transient commotions4 ,in ,england1 the celebrated ,london preacher1 ,dr4 ,cumming1 whose works entitled ,the ,end1 and ,the ,great ,tribulation1 have been circulated in tens of thousands of copies1 is now the most prominent representative of this catastrophic belief4 ,he has1 however1 made himself so ridiculous by his repeated postponements of the crisis1 that he has become more an object of laughter than of admiration4 ,mathematical calculations1 based on mystic numbers transmitted in apocalyptic poetry1 are at a heavy discount4 ,and yet there is a considerable sect1 called the ,second ,adventists1 composed of the most illiterate believers1 and swelled by clergymen wrought up to the fanatic pitch by an exclusive dogmatic drill1 who lead an eleemosynary life on mouldy scraps of ,scripture1 and anxiously wait for the sound of the archangelic trump4 ,every earthquake1 pestilence1 revolution1 violent thunderstorm1 comet1 meteoric shower1 or extraordinary gleaming of the aurora borealis1 startles them as a possible avant courier of the crack of doom4 ,some of them are said to keep their white robes in their closets all ready for ascension4 ,what a dismal thing it must be to live in such a lurid and lugubrious dream2 their best hope for the world the hope that its end is at hand1 ,impatient of the stars that keep their course ,and make no pathway for the coming ,judge6 ,but this excited and uneasy anticipation is now a rare exception4 ,in the minds of most intelligent ,christians1 even of those who still cling to the old ,orthodox dogmas1 the day of judgment has been put forward as far as the day of creation has been put backward4 ,less and less do religious believers shudder before the theatric trials depicted in heathen and ,christian mythology2 more and more do they reverently recognize the intrinsic jurisdiction in the structure of the soul1 and in the organism of society4 ,the time is not far remote1 let us trust1 when the ancient spirit of national separation1 political antipathy1 and sectarian hatred1 whose subjects identify themselves with the party of ,god1 all others with the party of the ,devil1 and cry1 ,how long1 ,o ,lord1 dost thou not judge and avenge us on our enemies1 will give way to that better spirit of philanthropy and true piety1 which sees brethren in all men1 and prays to the common ,father for the equal salvation and blessedness of all4 ,then the faith of the self righteous1 who plume themselves on their sound creed1 and so relentlessly consign the heretics to perdition1 gloating over the idea of the time when the kings of the earth1 and the chief captains1 and the rich men1 and the mighty men1 and every bondman1 and every freeman1 shall hide themselves in dens and caves1 saying to the mountains and the rocks1 ,fall on us1 and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne1 and from the wrath of the ,lamb2 for the great day of his wrath is come1 and who shall be able to stand8 then the temper of this faith will be seen to be as wicked as its doctrine is erroneous4 ,it will be recognized as a remnant of the barbaric past in steep contradiction with the whole mind of the modest and loving ,jesus1 who1 when the disciples wished to call down fire from heaven to consume his opponents1 rebuked them in words still condemning all their imitators1 ,ye know not what spirit ye are of4 ,many a bigoted and complacent dogmatist1 wrapt in that same ignorance to day1 fails to read his own heart1 and obstinately shuts his eyes to the truth1 foolishly fancying himself better and safer1 on account of his blind conservatism1 than he who fearlessly seeks the guidance of science4 ,yet are not the principles of science as much glimpses of the mind of ,god as any sentences in the ,bible are8 ,the whole ecclesiastical scheme of eschatology is a delusion4 ,no such gigantic melodrama1 no such grotesque and horrible extravaganza1 will ever get itself enacted between heaven and earth4 ,forever1 as freshly as on the first morning1 the ,creator pours his will through his works in irresistible vibrations of goodness and justice2 and forever may all his creatures come to him unimpeded1 and trust in him without limit4 ,away1 then1 monstrous horrors1 bred in the night of the past6 ,dreadful incubi6 too cruelly and too long ye have sat on the breast of man4 ,the cockcrow of reason has been heard1 and it is time ye were gone4 ,fade1 terrible dream1 painted by superstition on the cope of the sky1 picture of contending fiends and angels1 fiery rain1 a frowning ,god1 and shuddering millions of victims6 ,away forever1 and leave the blue space free for the benignant mysteries of the unknown eternity to lure us blessedly forward to our fate4 ,come1 believers in the merciful ,god of truth1 lend your aid to the glorious work of spiritual emancipation4 ,in this benign battle for the deliverance of the world from error and fear1 every free mind should be a champion1 every loving heart a volunteer4 ,free leaders of the free1 forward6 out of the darkness into the light4 ,lift your banner in the front of the field of opinions where all may see it1 and then follow it as far as truth itself shall lead4 ,on6 ,progress is the eternal rule4 ,man was made to outgrow the old and struggle into the new1 as every morning the sun mounts afresh out of the dead day1 and drives the night before him4 ,ignorance and despotism have crushed us long4 ,but now1 now we fling our fetters off1 and1 marching from good to better1 hope to escape from every falsehood1 and to conquer every wrong1 under the inspiration of the omnipresent ,judge who executes his decrees in the very working itself of that ,universal ,order whose progressive unfolding will be fulfilled at last1 not in any magic resurrection and assize1 but in the simple lifting of the veil of ignorance from all souls brought into full community1 and the illumination before their opened faculties of the whole contents of history4 ,for we believe that all history is by its own enactment indestructibly registered in the theatre of space1 and that every consciousness is educating to read it and adore the perfect justification of the ways of ,god4 ,the eternal immensity of the universe is the true ,aula ,regis in which ,god holds perpetual session1 overlooking no suppliant1 omitting no case4 ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,mythological ,,hell ,,and ,,the ,,true ,,one1 ,,or ,,the ,,law ,,of ,,perdition4 ,,the doctrine that there is a material place of torment destined to be the eternal abode of the wicked after death is based on the language of the ,bible1 supported by the aggregate teachings of the church1 and commonly asserted1 though with a stricken and failing faith1 throughout ,christendom at this moment4 ,when any one tries to show the unreasonableness of the belief in this local prison house of the damned1 arrayed with the innumerable horrors of physical anguish1 he is at once met with the declaration that ,god himself has declared the fact1 and consequently that we are bound to accept it without question1 as a truth of revelation4 ,for the reasons which we will immediately proceed to give1 this representation must be rejected as a mistake4 ,the popular doctrine of hell is not a divine revelation1 but is a mythological growth4 ,it is a fanciful mass of grotesque and frightful errors enveloping a truth which needs to be separated from them and exhibited in its purity4 ,in the first place1 the substance of the doctrine affirmed1 the notion of a bottomless pit1 or penal territory of fire and torment in which ,god will confine all the unredeemed portions of the human race after their bodily dissolution1 is something wholly apart from morality and religion1 something belonging to the two departments of descriptive geography and police history4 ,the existence or nonexistence of a place of material torment reserved for the wicked1 is a question not of theology1 but of topography4 ,in earlier times it was avowedly included in geography2 and numerous caves1 lakes1 volcanos1 as at ,lebadeia1 ,derbyshire1 ,avernus1 ,nafita1 ,etna1 and elsewhere were believed to be literally entrances to hell4 ,so famous and eminent a man as ,saint ,gregory the ,great1 when the great ,sicilian volcano was seen to be increasingly agitated1 taught that it was owing to the press of lost souls1 rendering it necessary to enlarge the approach to their prison4 ,with the increase of knowledge1 the localization of hell was subsequently by many authors1 made a part of cosmography1 and shifted about among the comets1 the moon and the sun1 although most people still think that it is the interior of the earth4 ,but1 the best theologians of all denominations1 the most authoritative thinkers of all schools1 now hold that the supernatural revelations of ,god are limited to the sphere of the spirit1 and do not include the data of geology1 astronomy1 chemistry and mathematics4 ,god is not a local king1 ruling his subjects by means of political machinery and external interferences2 he is the omnipresent ,creator1 spiritually sustaining and governing his creatures from within by means of the laws which determine their experience1 the action and reaction between their faculties and their surrounding conditions4 ,accordingly1 the sphere of direct revelations from the spirit of ,god to the spirit of man is limited to the implications in the divine logic of the soul and its life1 that is1 to moral and religious truths4 ,the facts of history and cosmology are left for the processes of natural discovery4 ,whether there be or be not a localized hell of material tortures lies not within the domain of revelation1 but is a problem of physical science4 ,and science demonstrates1 from the weight of the globe1 that it is solid2 and not1 according to the current belief1 a hollow shell containing a sea of flame packed with the floating hosts of the lost4 ,furthermore1 the only mode in which the truth of such a doctrine could be made known is wholly aside from the method of supernatural revelation4 ,god does not utter his thoughts to his chosen messengers in words or other outward signs as a man does4 ,men communicate information to one another by voice1 gesture1 drawing1 writing or other mechanical devices4 ,it is the natural mistake of a crude age to suppose that ,god does the same1 breathing verbal formularies into the of minds of his selected servants4 ,but this is not the case4 ,revelation is not to receive an announcement2 it is to perceive a truth4 ,since ,god is infinite1 we cannot stand out against him and talk with him4 ,souls in finer and fuller harmony with the works and laws of ,god1 thus fulfilling the human conditions of inspiration1 are met by the divine conditions1 and obtain new insight of the ways and designs of ,god4 ,they experience purer and richer ideas and emotions than others1 and may afterwards impart them to others1 thus transmitting the revelation to them4 ,for this new enlightenment1 sanctification1 or rise of life1 is what alone constitutes a true revelation4 ,now if there be a local and physical hell1 it is not a moral truth which the inspired soul can see1 but a scientific fact which can be perceived only by the senses or deduced by the logical intellect4 ,if a man could travel to every nook of the creation he might discover whether there were such a hell or not4 ,but you cannot discover a spiritual truth by any amount of outward travel4 ,when a soul is so delivered from egotism1 or the jar of self will against universal law1 and brought into such high harmony with the spirit of the whole1 as to perceive this divine law of life1 ,he who dwelleth in love dwelleth in ,god1 and ,god in him1 then he is inspired to see a religious truth4 ,he has obtained a divine revelation4 ,but we cannot conceive of any degree of exaltation into unison with ,god which would enable a man to see the fact that the centre of the earth or the surface of the sun or any other spot1 is a place of fire set apart as the penal abode of the damned1 and that it is crowded with burning sulphur and unimaginable forms of wickedness and agony4 ,such a doctrine is out of the province1 and its conveyance irreconcilable with the method of revelation1 which consists not in an exterior communication of scientific facts to messengers selected to receive them1 but in an interior unveiling of religious truths to souls prepared to see them4 ,in the next place1 we maintain1 that the doctrine of a local hell1 a guarded and smoking dungeon of the damned1 ought not to be regarded as a truth contained in a revelation from ,god1 because it is plainly proved by historic evidence to be a part of the mythology of the world1 a natural product of the poetic imagination of ignorant and superstitious men4 ,in all ages and lands men have recognized the difference between the good and the bad1 merit and crime2 have seen that innocence and virtue represented the permanent conditions of human welfare1 that guilt and vice represented the insurrection of private or lower and transient desire against public or higher and more lasting good2 and have felt that the former deserved to be praised and rewarded1 the latter to be blamed and punished4 ,in all ages and all nations society has teemed with devices for the distribution of these returns1 prizes to the meritorious1 penalties to the derelict4 ,there is scarcely any evil discoverable in nature or inventable in art which has not been used as a means for the punishment of criminals4 ,enemies captured in battle1 or seized by the minions of despots1 violators of the laws of the community1 arraigned before judicial tribunals1 have been in every country subjected to every species of penalty1 such as slavery1 imprisonment1 banishment1 fine1 stripes1 dismemberment4 ,they have been starved1 frozen1 burned1 hung1 drowned1 strangled by serpents1 devoured by wild beasts4 ,the rebellious and hated offenders of the king1 while he banquets in his illuminated palace with his faithful servants and favorites around him1 are exiled into outer darkness1 fettered in dungeons1 plied with every conceivable indignity and misery1 bastinadoed1 bowstrung1 or torn in pieces with lingering torture4 ,here we have the germ of hell4 ,to get the fully developed popular doctrine of hell it is only necessary to concentrate and aggravate the known evils of this world1 the horrible sufferings inflicted on criminals and enemies here1 and transfer the vindictive and pitiable mass of wretchedness over into the future state as a representation of the doom ,god has there prepared for his foes4 ,earthly rulers and their practice1 the most impressive scenes and acts experienced among men1 have always hitherto furnished the types of thought applied to illustrate the unknown details of the hereafter4 ,the judge orders the culprit to be disgraced1 scourged1 put in the stocks1 or cropped and transported4 ,the sultan hurls those he hates into the dungeon1 upon the gibbet or into the flame1 with every accompaniment of mockery and pain4 ,so1 an imaginative instinct concludes1 ,god will deal with all who offend him4 ,they will be excluded from his presence1 imprisoned and tormented forever4 ,this whole process of comparison and inference1 natural as it is1 is one prolonged fallacy exemplifying the very essence of all mythological construction in contrast both with inspired perception and logical reasoning4 ,the revealing arrival of a truth in consciousness is when an intuitive thrill announces the action of our faculties in correspondence with some relation in the reality of things4 ,mythology is the deceptive substitute for this1 employed when we arbitrarily project forms of our present experience into the unknown futurity1 and then hold the resultant fancies as a rigid belief1 or regard them as actual knowledge4 ,this is exactly what has happened in the case of the doctrine of an eternal physical hell beyond the grave4 ,the natural and punitive horrors of the present state have been collected1 intensified1 dilated1 and thrown into the future as a world of unmitigated sin and wrath and anguish1 a consolidated image of the vengeance of ,god on his insurgent subjects4 ,now the true desideratum1 the only result on which reason can rest1 whenever tests are applied to our beliefs1 is this3 that what is known be scientifically set forth in distinct definitions2 that what is unknown be treated provisionally1 with theoretic approaches2 and that what is absolutely unknowable be fixedly recognized as such4 ,this regulative principle of thought is grossly violated in every particular by the popular belief in a material hell4 ,wherever we look at the prevalent doctrines of hell among different peoples1 from the rudest to the most refined1 we see them reflecting into the penal arrangements of the other world the leading features of their earthly experience of natural1 domestic1 judicial1 and political evils4 ,the hells of the inhabitants of the frigid zones are icy and rocky2 those of the inhabitants of the torrid zones are fiery and sandy4 ,are not the poetic process and its sophistry clear8 ,nastrond1 the hell of the ,northmen1 is a vast1 hideous and grisly dwelling1 its walls built of adders whose heads1 turned inward1 continually spew poison which forms a lake of venom wherein all thieves1 cowards1 traitors1 perjurers and murderers1 eternally swim4 ,is this revelation1 science1 logic1 or is it mythology8 ,the ,egyptian priests taught1 and the people seemed to have implicitly trusted the tale1 that there was a long series of hells awaiting the disembodied souls of all who had not scrupulously observed the ritual prescribed for them1 and secured the pass words and magical formulas necessary for the safe completion of the post mortal journey4 ,the specifications and pictures of the terrors and distresses provided in the various hells are vivid in the extreme1 including ingenious paraphrases of every sort of penalty and pang known in ,egypt4 ,the same thing may be affirmed with quadruple emphasis of the ,hindu doctrine of future punishment4 ,in the ,hindu hells1 truly1 the possibilities of horror are exhausted4 ,to enumerate their sufferings in anything like their own detail would require a large volume4 ,the ,vishnu ,parana names twenty eight distinct hells1 assigning each one to a particular class of sinners2 and it adds that there are hundreds of others1 in which the various classes of offenders undergo the penalties of their misdeeds4 ,there are separate hells for thieves1 for liars1 for those who kill a cow1 for those who drink wine1 for those who insult a priest1 and so on4 ,some of the victims are chained to posts of red hot steel and lashed with flexible flames3 others are forced to devour the most horrible filth4 ,some are mangled and eaten by ravenous birds1 others are squeezed into chests of fire and locked up for millions of years4 ,these examples may serve as a small specimen of the infernal ingenuity displayed in the descriptions of the ,hindu hells1 which are all of one substantial pattern1 however varied in the embroidery4 ,the ,parsees hold that when a bad man dies his soul remains by the body three days and nights1 seeing all the sins it has ever committed1 and anxiously crying1 ,whither shall ,i go8 ,who will save me8 ,on the fourth day devils come and thrust the bad soul into fetters and lead it to the bridge that reaches from earth to heaven4 ,the warder of the bridge weighs the deeds of the wicked soul in his balance1 and condemns it4 ,the devils then fling the soul down and beat it cruelly4 ,it shrieks and groans1 struggles1 and calls for help2 but all in vain4 ,it is forced on toward hell1 when it is suddenly met by a hideous and hateful maiden4 ,it demands1 ,who art thou1 ,o1 maiden1 uglier and more detestable than ,i ever saw in the world8 ,she replies1 ,i am no maiden2 ,i am thine own wicked deeds1 ,o1 thou hateful unbeliever furnished with bad thoughts and words4 ,after further disagreeable adventures1 the soul is plunged into the abode of the devil1 where the darkness and foul odor are so thick that they can be grasped4 ,fed with horrid viands1 such as snakes1 scorpions1 poison1 there the wicked soul must remain until the day of resurrection4 ,now1 no enlightened ,christian scholar or thinker will hesitate with one stroke to brush away all the details of these pagan descriptions of hell1 as so much mythological rubbish1 leaving nothing of them but the bare truth that there is a retribution for the guilty soul in the future as in the present4 ,but1 in the ecclesiastical doctrine of hell1 prevalent in ,christendom1 we see the full equivalents of the baseless fancies and superstitions incorporated in these other doctrines4 ,if the mythological hells of the heathen nations are not a revelation from ,god1 neither is that of the ,christians2 for they are fundamentally alike1 all illustrating the same fallacy of the imaginative association of things known1 and the transference of them to things unknown4 ,not a single argument can the ,christian urge in behalf of his local hell which the ,scandinavian1 the ,egyptian1 the ,hindu or the ,persian1 would not urge in behalf of his4 ,we can actually trace the historic development of the orthodox belief in a material hell from its simple beginning to its subsequent monstrousness of detail4 ,the ,hebrew ,sheol or underworld1 the common abode of the dead1 is depicted in the ,old ,testament as a vast1 slumberous1 shadowy1 subterranean realm1 gloomy and silent4 ,it grew out of the grave in this manner4 ,the dead man was buried in the ground4 ,the imagination of the survivors followed him there and brooded on the idea of him there4 ,the image of him survived in their minds1 as a free presence existing and moving wherever their conscious thought located him4 ,the grave expanded for him1 and one grave opened into another adjoining one1 and shade was added to shade in the cavernous space thus provided2 just as the sepulchres were associated in the burial place1 and as the family of the dead were associated in the recollection of the remaining members4 ,thus ,sheol was an imaginative dilatation of the grave4 ,but it was dark and still2 an obscure region of painless rest and peace4 ,how came the notions of punishment1 fire1 brimstone1 and kindred imagery1 to be connected with it8 ,we might safely say in general that these ideas were joined with the supposed world of the dead1 by the ,hebrews1 in the same way that a similar result has been reached by almost every other civilized nation1 that is1 by a reflection into the future state of the retributive terrors experienced here4 ,since the sharpest torture known to us in this world is that inflicted by fire1 it is perfectly natural that men1 in imagining the punishments to be inflicted on his victims in the next world by one who has at his command all possible modes of pain1 should think of the application of fire there4 ,but happily1 we are not left to this possible conjecture4 ,few influences sank more deeply into the ,hebrew mind then the legend how the earth opened her mouth and swallowed into ,sheol1 ,korah and ,dathan and ,abiram1 the rebels against the authority of ,moses1 at the same time that fire fell from ,jehovah and consumed two hundred and fifty of their confederates4 ,in this story1 rebellion against a prophet of ,god1 fire and submersion in ,sheol1 are fused into one thought as a type of the future punishment of the wicked4 ,but another narrative has been of far greater importance in this direction1 namely1 the destruction of ,sodom and ,gomorrah4 ,the ,cities of the ,plain were situated on a sulphur freighted and volcanic soil4 ,they were inhabited by a people specially abandoned to vices1 and specially odious to the chosen people of ,god4 ,when a terrible eruption took place1 overwhelming those cities with all their people1 and swallowing them under a flood of bituminous flame1 ashes and gas1 it was natural that the ,hebrews in after time should say that ,jehovah had rained fire and brimstone from heaven on his enemies1 and then that the history should take form in their proud and pious imaginations as a fixed type of the doom of the wicked4 ,so it did4 ,at a later period the scenes and events in ,gehenna1 or the ,valley of ,hinnom in the outskirts of ,jerusalem1 confirmed this tendency and completed the ,jewish picture of hell4 ,in this detested vale the worship of ,moloch was once celebrated by roasting children alive in the brazen arms of the god1 in whose hollow form a fierce fire was kept up1 and around whose shrine gongs were beaten and hymns howled to drown the shrieks of the victims4 ,here all the refuse and offal of the city was carried and consumed1 in a conflagration whose fire was never quenched1 and amidst an uncleanness whose worms never died4 ,this imagery1 too1 was cast over into the future state as a representation of the fate awaiting the wicked4 ,still further1 it was the custom of some ,oriental kings to have criminals of an especially revolting character1 or the objects of their own particular hatred1 flung into a furnace of fire1 and there burned alive before the eyes of their judges4 ,the example of this given in the ,book of ,daniel1 where ,nebuchadnezzar had the furnace heated seven times hotter than was wont1 and ordered ,shadrach1 ,meshach and ,abednego cast into it1 furnished both the ,jews and the ,christians with another type of the punishment of hell4 ,so striking an image could hardly fail to take effect1 and to be often reproduced4 ,it occurs repeatedly in the ,new ,testament4 ,the old dragon1 the devil1 as the ,apocalypse says1 is to be chained and cast into a furnace of fire4 ,in the writings of the ,church fathers1 and in the visions of the monks of the ,middle ,age1 this image constantly occupies a conspicuous place4 ,and thus1 finally1 the common notion of hell became an underground world of burning brimstone1 an enormous furnace or lake of fire1 full of fiends and shrieking souls4 ,tundale1 an ,irish monk of the ,twelfth century1 describes the devil in the midst of hell1 fastened to a blazing gridiron by red hot chains1 ,the screams echo from the rafters1 but with his hands he seizes lost souls1 crushes them like grapes between his teeth1 and with his breath draws them down the fiery caverns of his throat4 ,some of the damned the chronicler describes as suspended by their tongues1 some sawn asunder1 some alternately plunged into caldrons of fire and baths of ice1 some gnawed by serpents1 some beaten on an anvil and welded into one mass1 some boiled and strained through a cloth4 ,the defenders of the orthodox doctrine of hell will admit that this terrible picture is mere mythology2 but they will say it is the product of a benighted age1 and long since outgrown4 ,yet it is no more mythological than the declarations in the ,apocalypse which are still literally accredited by multitudes of the believing4 ,and what shall be said of the following extract from a little book called ,the ,sight of ,hell1 recently published with high ecclesiastical endorsement1 for circulation among the children of ,great ,britain and ,america8 ,the writer1 the ,rev4 ,j4 ,furniss1 describes the different dungeons of hell1 and the passage which we quote is but a fair specimen of the entire series of tracts which he has collected in a volume1 and which is having a large sale at this very time4 ,in the middle of the fourth dungeon there is a boy4 ,his eyes are burning like two burning coals4 ,two long flames come out of his ears4 ,he opens his mouth1 and blazing fire rolls out4 ,but listen6 there is a sound like a kettle boiling4 ,the blood is boiling in the scalded veins of that boy4 ,the brain is boiling and bubbling in his head4 ,the marrow is boiling in his bones4 ,there is a little child in a red hot oven4 ,hear how it screams to come out4 ,see how it turns and twists itself about in the fire4 ,it beats its head against the roof of the oven4 ,it stamps its little feet on the floor4 ,very likely ,god saw that this child would get worse and worse1 and never repent1 and thus would have to be punished much more in hell4 ,so ,god in his mercy called it out of the world in its early childhood4 ,of these diabolical horrors1 drawn out through hundreds of pages1 the orthodox ,protestant may say1 ,oh1 this is only a piece of ,popish superstition4 ,we all repudiate it as a most repulsive and absurd fancy4 ,well1 what then will he say if representations1 though perhaps not quite so grossly graphic in circumstance1 yet absolutely identical in principle1 are set before him from the fresh utterances of hundreds of the most distinguished ,baptist1 ,methodist1 ,presbyterian1 ,episcopalian preachers and theologians8 ,it would be easy to present whole volumes of apposite citations4 ,but two or three will be enough4 ,john ,henry ,newman in that one of his parochial sermons1 entitled1 ,on the ,individuality of the ,soul1 gives us accounts of hell which for unshrinking detail of materiality will compare with the most frightful passages of ,oriental mythology4 ,george ,bull1 ,lord ,bishop of ,saint ,davids1 in his volume of sermons declares that all who die with any sin unrepented of1 are immediately consigned to a place and state of irreversible misery a place of horrid darkness where there shines not the least glimmering of light or comfort4 ,mr4 ,spurgeon asserts1 ,there is a real fire in hell a fire exactly like that which we have on earth1 except that it will torture without consuming4 ,when thou diest thy soul will be tormented alone in hell3 but at the day of judgment thy body shall join thy soul1 and then thou wilt have twin hells1 body and soul together1 each brimfull of pain2 thy soul sweating in its inmost pores drops of blood1 and thy body1 from head to foot1 suffused with agony2 not only conscience1 judgment1 memory1 all tormented1 but thy head tormented with racking pain1 thine eyes starting from their sockets with sights of blood and woe2 thine ears tormented with horrid noises2 thy heart beating high with fever2 thy pulse rattling at an enormous rate in agony2 thy limbs cracking in the fire1 and yet unburned2 thyself put in a vessel of hot oil1 pained1 yet undestroyed4 ,ah6 fine lady1 who takest care of thy goodly fashioned face1 that fair face shall be scarred with the claws of fiends4 ,ah6 proud gentleman1 dress thyself in goodly apparel for the pit2 come to hell with powdered hair4 ,it ill becomes you to waste time in pampering your bodies when you are only feeding them to be devoured in the flame4 ,if ,god be true1 and the ,bible be true1 what ,i have said is the truth1 and you will find it one day to be so4 ,is not this paragraph a disgusting combination of ignorance and arrogance8 ,it is to be swept aside and forgotten along with the immense mass of similar trash1 loathsome mixture of superstition and conceit1 with which ,christendom has for these many centuries been so cruelly deceived and surfeited4 ,tearing off and throwing away from the vulgar doctrine of hell all the incrustation of material errors and poetic symbolism1 the pure truth remains that ,god will forever see that justice is done1 virtue rewarded1 vice punished4 ,then the question arises1 ,in what way is this done8 ,not by the material apparatus of a local hell4 ,for the doctrine of such a penal abode is not only a natural product of the mythological action of the human mind in its development through the circumstances of history1 but when regarded in that light it is clearly a false representation4 ,it is a figment incredible to any vigorous1 educated and free mind at the present day4 ,such reception as it now has it retains by force of an unthinking submission to tradition and authority4 ,in the primitive ages1 when the soul was imagined to be a fac simile of the body1 only of a more refined substance1 capable of becoming visible as a ghost1 of receiving wounds1 of uttering faint shrieks when hurt1 of partaking of physical food and pleasure1 it was perfectly natural to believe it susceptible of material imprisonment and material torments4 ,such was the common belief when the doctrine of a physical hell was wrought out4 ,the doctrine yet lingers by sheer force of prescription and unthinkingness1 when the basis on which it originally rested has been dissipated4 ,we know great as our ignorance is1 we know that the soul is a pure immateriality4 ,its manifestations depend on certain physical organs and accompaniments1 but are not identical with them4 ,thought1 feeling1 will1 action1 force1 desire1 these are spirit1 and not matter4 ,a pure consciousness cannot be shut up in a dungeon under lock and bolt4 ,a wish cannot be lashed with a whip4 ,a volition cannot be fastened in chains of iron4 ,you may crush or blast the visible organism in connection with which the soul now acts2 but no hammer can injure an idea1 no flame scorch a sentiment4 ,what the spiritual personality becomes1 how it exists1 what it is susceptible of1 when disembodied1 no man knows4 ,it is idle for any man1 or any set of men to pretend to know4 ,unquestionably it is not capable of material confinement and penalties4 ,the gross popular doctrine of hell as the fiery prison house of the devil and his angels1 and the condemned majority of mankind1 therefore1 fades into thin air and vanishes before the truth of the absolute spirituality of mind4 ,in those early times1 when military1 political1 judicial and convivial phenomena furnished the most imposing and instructive phenomena1 before exact science and critical philosophy had given us their fitter moulds and tests of thought1 it was unavoidable that men should think of ,god and ,satan as two hostile monarchs1 each having his own empire and striving to secure his own subjects1 and looking on the subjects of his adversary as foes to be thwarted at all points4 ,but when1 with the progress of thought evil is discerned to be a negation1 the devil vanishes as a verbal phantom1 and the bounds of his local realm are blotted out and blent in the single dominion of the infinite ,god who regards none as enemies1 but is the steady friend and ruler of all creatures1 everywhere aiming1 not to inflict vengeance on the wicked1 but to harmonize the discordant1 bringing good out of bad and better out of good in perpetual evolution4 ,sound theology will see that ,god is the pervading ,creator who governs all from within by the continuous action and reaction between every life and its environing conditions4 ,but mythology puts in place of this the incompetent conception of ,god as a political king1 governing by external edicts and agents1 by overt decrees and constables4 ,this deludes us with the local and material hell of superstition1 which has no existence in reality4 ,disordered ,function is the open turnpike and metropolis of the real hell of experience4 ,the great king's highway1 leading to heaven from every point in the universe is the golden ,mean of ,virtue2 but on the right and left of this broad road two tributary rivers1 namely1 ,defect and ,excess1 empty into hell4 ,the only true hell is the vindicating and remedial return of resisted law on a being out of tune with some just condition of his nature and destiny4 ,the fearful cruelty and tyranny of the mythological hell1 supported by the constant drilling of the people on the part of the priesthood whose vested interests and prejudices are bound up in the doctrine1 have held the human race long enough in their bondage of pain and terror4 ,in a ,buddhist scripture we read1 ,the people in hell who are immersed in the ,lohakumbha1 a copper caldron a thousand miles in depth1 boiling and bubbling like rice grains in a cooking pot1 once in sixty thousand years descend to the bottom and return to the top4 ,as they reach the surface they utter one syllable of prayer1 and sink again on their terrific journey4 ,those who1 during their life on earth1 reverence the three jewels1 ,buddha1 the ,law and the ,priesthood1 will escape ,lohakumbha6 ,the same essential doctrine resting on the same inveterate basis1 selfish love of power and sensation1 still prevails1 though diminishingly1 among us4 ,when at last in the light of reason and a pure faith it vanishes away what a long breath of relief ,christendom and humanity will draw6 ,if we thus dismiss as a vulgar error the belief in a hell which is a bounded region of physical torture somewhere in outward space1 it becomes us to acquire in place of this rejected figment some more just and adequate idea4 ,for a doctrine which has played such a tremendous part in the religious history of the world must be based on a truth1 however travestied and overlaid that truth may be4 ,this frightful envelop of superstitious fictions cannot be without some important reality within4 ,in distinction1 then1 from the monstrous mass of mistakes denoted by it1 what is the truth carried in the awful word1 hell8 ,denying hell to be distinctively any particular locality in time and space1 we affirm it to be an experience resulting wherever the spiritual conditions of it are furnished4 ,accordingly1 we are not to exclude it from the present state and confine it to the future1 as those seem to do who say that men go to hell after death4 ,being a personal experience and not a material place1 many are in it now and here as much as they ever will be anywhere4 ,neither are we to exclude it from the future and confine it to the present state1 as those do who say that all the hell there is terminates with the emergence of the soul from the body4 ,this might be so1 if all sins discords and retributions were bodily4 ,but1 plainly1 they are not4 ,a mental chaos or inversion of order is as possible as a physical one4 ,hell is anywhere or nowhere1 at any time or at no time1 accordingly as the soul carries or does not carry its conditions4 ,we are not to say of the sinner that he goes to hell when he dies1 but that hell comes to him when he feels the returns of his evil deeds4 ,it is a state within rather than a place without4 ,the true meaning of hell is1 a state of painful opposition to the will of ,god1 misadjustment of personal constitution with universal order or the rightful conditions of being4 ,this is not1 as the vulgar doctrine would make it1 an experience of unvarying sameness into which all its subjects are indiscriminately flung4 ,it is a thing of endless varieties and degrees1 varying with the individual fitnessess4 ,hell is pain in the senses1 slavery in the will1 contradiction or confusion in the intellect1 remorse or vain aspiration in the conscience1 disproportion or ugliness in the imagination1 doubt1 fear1 and hate in the heart4 ,there is a hell of remorse1 forever retreading the path of ruined yesterdays4 ,there is a hell of loss1 whose occupant stands gazing on the melancholy might have been transmuted now into a relentless nevermore4 ,every sinner has a hell as original and idiosyncratic as his soul and its contents4 ,as the ingredients of evil experience are not mixed alike in any1 hell cannot be one monotonous fixture for all1 but must be a process altering with the different elements and degrees afforded1 and softening or ending its wretchedness in proportion as the heavenly elements and degrees of freedom1 pleasure1 clearness1 self approval1 beauty1 faith and love1 furnish the conditions of blessedness4 ,hell being the consciousness of a soul in which private will is antagonistic to some relation of universal law1 its keenness and extent1 in every instance1 must be measured by the variations of this antagonism4 ,but how does such an antagonism arise8 ,what are the results or penalties of it8 ,how can it be remedied8 ,no amount of reflection will enable any man to penetrate to the bottom of all the mysteries connected with these questions4 ,but though we cannot tell why the principles of our destiny should be as we find them1 we can see what the facts of the case actually are as revealed in the history of human experience4 ,and this is what chiefly concerns us4 ,let us1 then1 try to penetrate a little more thoroughly into the nature of hell4 ,the rude definition of heaven and hell1 regardless of any special place or time1 is respectively the experience of good1 and the experience of evil4 ,but what are good and evil8 ,good is the conscious realization of universal order1 the absolute fruition of being1 the fulfillment of individual function1 in accordance with the conditions for the most perfect and prolonged fulfillment of the universal totality of functions4 ,supposing that there were only one instance and form of conscious life1 with no possibility of conflicting claims within or without1 then good would be to that life simply the fulfillment of the functions of its nature4 ,but the moment a being is set in relation with other beings like itself1 and also made aware of various gradations of importance among its own interior faculties1 then the definition of good is no longer the simple fulfillment of function1 or the mere gratification of desire2 but it becomes the fulfillment of function in such a manner as to secure the greatest total quality and quantity of fulfilled function4 ,now evil is the opposite or negation of this4 ,it is whatever lessens the fruition of life1 prevents the fulfillment of function1 contracts or mars the realization of universal order in the consciousness of a living being4 ,thus evil is not merely the keeping of an individual desire from its own proper good4 ,but every gratification of desire which involves the winning of a less important good at the expense of a more important one is evil2 or1 on the other hand1 the evil of sacrificing or denying a gratification in itself legitimate1 becomes good when it is the means for securing a more authoritative gratification4 ,let us try to make these abstract statements intelligible by illustration4 ,the appropriation of nutriment is a good1 the indispensable method for sustaining life4 ,it is right that we should eat and drink2 and the pleasure which accompanies the proper performance of the function is the reflex approval of the ,creator4 ,the refusal fitly to take and relish our food brings debility1 disease1 pain1 and premature death4 ,whether this refusal results from absorption in other employment or from some superstitious belief1 it is a violation of the will of our ,maker1 and the consequent suffering and dissolution are the retributive hell or reflex signals1 painfully pointing out our duty4 ,on the other hand1 if the pleasure of gratifying appetite becomes a motive for its own sake and leads to excessive indulgence1 the superior good of permanent health and vigor is sacrificed to the far inferior transient good of a tickled palate4 ,thus1 the dyspeptic over loading his stomach is plunged into the horrid hell of nightmare3 the gourmand1 pampering himself with a diet of spiced meats and ,burgundy1 shrieks from the twinging hell of gout4 ,there is no divine malice in this4 ,it is simply the rectifying rebound of the distorted arrangements of nature4 ,the law of virtue prescribes in every respect that course of action which1 on the whole1 permanently and universally1 will secure the greatest amount and the best quality of life and experience4 ,vice is whatever inverts or interferes with this1 as when a man exalts a physical impulse above a moral faculty1 or incurs years of shame and misery in the future for the sake of some passing gratification in the present4 ,god commands man to rule his passions by reason1 not slavishly obey them2 to exercise a wisely proportioned self denial to day for the winning of a safer and nobler morrow4 ,the degree in which they do this measures the civilization1 wisdom1 moral valor1 and dignity of men4 ,the failure to do this is the condition on which every infernal penalty or reaction of hellish experience hinges4 ,a man may feed an abnormal craving for opium1 until all his once royal powers of body and mind are sacrificed1 imbecility and madness set in1 and his nervous system becomes a darting box of torments4 ,how much better1 according to the aphorism of ,jesus1 to have cut off this single desire1 than for the whole man to be thus cast into hell4 ,hell is the retributive reflex or return of disarranged order experienced when in the hieriarchy of man higher grades of faculty and motive are subordinated to lower ones4 ,the miser who gives himself up to a base greed for money1 separated from its uses1 is thereby degraded into a mechanized1 self fed and self consuming passion1 having no pleasure1 except that of accumulating1 hoarding and gloating over the idle emblem of a good never realized4 ,his time and life1 his very brain and heart1 are coined into an obscene dream of money4 ,he knows nothing of the grandest ranges of the universe1 nothing of the sweetest delights of humanity4 ,contracted1 stooping1 poorly clad1 ill fed1 self neglected1 despised by everybody1 dwelling alone in a bleak and squalid chamber1 despite his potential riches1 his whole life is a conglomerate of impure fears welded by one sordid lust fear of robbery1 fear of poverty1 fear of men1 fear of ,god1 fear of death1 all fused together by a lust for money4 ,is he not in a competent hell8 ,who would wish anything worse for him8 ,his vice is the elevation of the love of money above a thousand nobler claims4 ,his unclean and odious experience is the avenging hell which warns the spectators1 and would redeem its occupant1 if he would open his soul to its lessons4 ,so1 when a burglar breaks into a bank and bears off the treasures deposited there1 scattering dismay and ruin amidst a hundred families1 the essence of his crime is that he makes the narrow principle of his selfish desire paramount over the broad principle of the public welfare1 setting the petty good of his individual enrichment above the weighty good represented by that respect for the right of property which is a condition essential to the life of the community4 ,the principle on which he acts1 if carried out1 would cause the dissolution of society4 ,the evil which he seeks to avoid1 his lack of the means of life1 is incomparably smaller than the evil he perpetrates1 the means for the death of society4 ,the resulting sense of hostility between himself and the community1 alienation from his fellow men and from ,god1 fear of detection1 actual condemnation by his own conscience1 and ideal condemnation by all the world1 constitute a hell felt in proportion to the delicacy of his sensibility4 ,the spiritual disturbance and pain thus suffered are the effort of ,providence to readjust the inverted relation of his low self interest to the higher interest of the general public1 and remove the threatened ruinous consequences of his sin by remedying the order it has disbalanced and broken4 ,these illustrations have prepared the way for a statement of the true idea of hell in its final formula4 ,the will of ,god is expressed in that gradation of goods or scale of ranks which indicates the fixed conditions of universal welfare and the accordant forces of the motives which should impel our pursuit of them4 ,to seek these goods in their proper order of importance and authority1 every level of function beneath kept subservient to every one above1 is the law of salvation1 or the pathway of heaven through the universe4 ,to substitute our will for the will of ,god1 the intensity of private desires in place of the dignity of public motives1 putting the lower and smaller over the higher and greater1 is the law of perdition1 or the pathway of hell through the universe4 ,the lowest function of man is a simple momentary gratification of sense1 as1 for example1 an act of nutrition4 ,the highest function of which his nature is capable is the surrender of himself to the universal order1 the sympathetic identification of himself with the eternal law and weal of the whole4 ,between those vast extremes there are hundreds of intermediate functions1 rising in worth and authority from the direct gratifications of appetite to the ideal appropriations of transcendental good1 from the titillation given by a pinch of snuff to the thrill imparted by an imaginative contemplation of the redeemed state of humanity a million years ahead4 ,but1 throughout the entire range1 all the sin and guilt from which hell is produced consist in obeying a lower motive in preference to a higher one1 making some narrow or selfish good paramount over a wider or disinterested one4 ,a man1 educated as a physician1 practiced his profession on scientific principles1 and nearly starved on an income of seven hundred dollars a year4 ,he then set up as a quack1 compounded a worthless nostrum1 and1 by dint of impudence1 advertising1 and other charlatanry1 made eighteen thousand dollars a year1 and justified his conduct on the ground of his success4 ,by falsehood and cheating he preyed on the credulity of the public4 ,if all men were like him1 society could not exist4 ,the meanness of his soul1 shutting him out from the most exquisite and exalted prerogatives of human nature1 is the revenge which the universe takes on such a man the hell in which ,god envelops him4 ,a manufacturer turns out certain products by means of a chemical process which adds seven per cent4 to his profit1 but shortens the average life of his workmen five years4 ,all mankind would indignantly denounce him with an instinctive recognition of his wickedness in thus erecting the profane standard of pecuniary gain above the sacredness of the lives of his brothers4 ,but when of two men in deadly peril from an approaching explosion only one can escape1 and the stronger1 instead of monopolizing the chance1 as he might1 stands back and lays down his life in saving the weaker1 it is a deed of heroic virtue1 applauded by all men1 supported by the whole moral creation which derives new beauty and sweetness from it4 ,it radiates a peaceful bliss of self approval through the breast before it is mangled and cold1 and fills the soul with a serene joy as it flies to ,god4 ,the essential merit of such an action is the subjection of that selfishness which is the principle of all sin1 and whose recoil is the spring trap of hell1 to that disinterestedness which is the germ of redemption and the perfume of heaven4 ,it is not an unfrequent occurrence for a mixture of heaven and hell to be experienced4 ,here is an able and upright merchant who is about to fail1 in consequence of disasters which he could neither foresee nor prevent1 and for which he is in no sense responsible4 ,he shrinks from bankruptcy with inexpressible shame and distress4 ,he is mortified1 cut to the quick1 robbed of sleep1 can hardly look his creditors in the face4 ,now1 he reflects1 ,this is not my fault4 ,i have been honest1 prudent1 economical1 unwearied in effort1 ,i have done my duty to the best of my ability4 ,god approves me1 and all good men would if they knew the exact facts4 ,if that assurance does not shed an element of heaven into his hell1 spread a soothing veil of light and oil over his stormy trouble1 then it is because his pride is greater than his self respect1 his vanity more keen than his conscience is strong1 his regard for appearances more influential than his knowledge of the truth4 ,and in that case the misery he suffers is the penalty of his excessive self sensitiveness4 ,the elements of hell are pain1 slavery1 imprisonment1 rebellion1 forced exertion1 forced inaction1 shame1 fear1 self condemnation1 social condemnation1 universal condemnation1 aimlessness1 and despair4 ,he who seeks good only in the just order of its successive standards1 gratifying no lower function1 except in subservience to the higher ones1 escapes these experiences1 feels that he fulfills his destiny1 and is an approved freeman of ,god4 ,the service of truth and good alone makes free2 all service of evil is slavery and wretchedness4 ,for freedom is spontaneous obedience to that which has a right to command4 ,the thirsty man who quaffs a glass of cold water does an act of liberty2 but he who constantly intoxicates himself in satiation of a morbid and despotic appetite1 knows that he is a slave1 and feels condemned1 and chafes in the hell of his bondage4 ,the dissipated sluggards and thieves who feed the vices and prey on the interests of the community1 writhe under the rebuke of the higher laws they break in enthroning their selfish propensities above the cardinal standards of the public good2 and in the stale monotony of their indulgences1 they know nothing of the glorious zest shed by the best prizes of existence into the breasts of the virtuous and aspiring1 whom every day finds farther advanced on their way to perfection4 ,envy is the very blast that blows the forge of hell4 ,it sets its victim in painful antagonism with all good not his own1 actually turning it into evil2 while a generous sympathy appropriates as its own all the foreign good it contemplates4 ,the sight of his successful rival keeps an envious man in a chronic hell1 but adds a heavenly enjoyment to the experience of a generous friend4 ,ignorance1 pride1 falsehood1 and hate are the four master keys to the gates of hell keys which sinners are ever unwittingly using to let themselves in1 and then to lock the bolts behind4 ,a character whose spontaneous motions are upward and outward1 from the central and lowermost instincts of self toward the highest and outer most apprehensions of good1 exemplifies the law of salvation1 which guides the conscious soul in an ascending and expanding spiral through the successively greater spheres of truth and life4 ,the character whose spontaneous tendencies are the reverse of this1 moving inward and downward1 exemplifies the law of perdition1 which guides the soul in a descending and contracting spiral1 constantly enslaving it to lower and viler attractions of self in preference to letting it freely serve the superior ranks forever issuing their redemptive behests and invitations above4 ,when the members of a family erect their separate wills as independent laws1 instead of harmoniously blending around a common authority of truth and love1 when they live in incessant collisions and stormy insubordination1 a poisonous fret of irritable vanity gnawing their heart strings1 a fiery sleet of hate and scorn hurtling through the domestic atmosphere1 the whole household are in perdition4 ,their home is a concentrated hell4 ,to be without love1 without soothing attentions and encouragements1 without fresh aims1 and a relishing alternation of work and rest1 without progress and hope1 to be deprived of the legitimate gratifications of the functions of our being1 and compelled to suffer their opposites what closer definition of hell can there be than this8 ,and this1 while avoided or neutralized by virtue1 is1 in its various degrees1 obviously the inevitable result and penalty of sin4 ,the great mistake in the popular view or mythological doctrine of hell has arisen from conceiving of ,god under the image of a political ruler1 acting from without1 by wilful methods1 and inflicting arbitrary judgments on his rebellious subjects4 ,he should be conceived as the dynamic ,creator1 acting from within1 through the intrinsic order and laws of things1 for the instruction and guidance of his creatures4 ,his condemnation is the inevitable culmination of a discordant state of being1 rather than the verdict of a vindictive judge or the sentence of a forensic monarch4 ,every retribution is an impinge of the creature in the creation1 and1 so far from expressing destructive wrath1 is an act of the self rectifying mechanism of the universe to readjust the part with the whole4 ,with what pernicious folly1 what cruel superstition1 men have attributed their own miserable passions to their imperturbable ,maker1 breaking his infinite perfection into all sorts of frightful shapes1 as seen through the blur and effervescence of their own imperfections6 ,so the sun seems to go down with his garments rolled in blood1 and to set angrily in a stormy ocean of fire3 but really the great lamp of the universe shines serenely from the unalterable fixture of his central seat1 and all this spectral tempest of blaze and glare is but a refraction of his beams through our vexed atmosphere4 ,god being infinitely perfect1 does not change his dispositions and modes of action like a fickle man4 ,his intentions and deeds are the same here and everywhere1 now and always4 ,if we wish to learn in what manner ,god will prepare a hell and punish the impenitent wicked after death1 we must not1 as men did in the barbaric and mythological ages1 make an induction from the treatment of criminals by capricious and revengeful rulers in this world2 we must see how ,god himself now treats his disobedient children for their demerits here1 assured that his eternal temper and method are identical with his temporal temper and method4 ,well1 then1 how does ,god treat offenders now8 ,incapable of anger or caprice1 he retains his own steady procedures and absolute serenity unaltered1 but leaves the culprits to endure the effects of their perverted bearing towards him and towards the order he has established4 ,if a man lies or defiles himself1 or blasphemes1 or murders1 ,god does not dash him from a cliff or cast him into a furnace of fire4 ,there would be no connection of cause and effect in that2 and to suppose it1 is a gross superstition4 ,he leaves the offender to the reactions of his own acts1 the discordant vileness of his own degradation1 the devouring return of his own passions1 to punish him for his sin1 and to purge him of his wrong4 ,the true retribution of every wicked deed is contained in the recalcitration of its own motive4 ,what fitter penalty can the soul suffer than that of being embraced in the hellish atmosphere of its own bad spirit1 to teach it to reform itself and cultivate a better spirit8 ,what1 then1 is the meaning of the fear1 suffering and horror1 which so often accompany or follow sin8 ,they do not1 as has been commonly supposed1 express the indignation and revengefulness of ,god4 ,no1 at their very darkest1 they must suggest the shadow of his aggrieved will1 not the lurid frown of his rage4 ,a part of the discord which sin is and introduces1 they denote the remedial struggles of nature and grace to restore the perverted being to its normal condition4 ,if you put your finger in the fire the burning pain is the reaction of your act1 and that pain is not vengeance1 but preservative education4 ,when some frightful disease seizes on a man1 the inflammation and convulsions which succeed are the violent spring of the constitution on the enemy1 its desperate attempt to shake off the fell grasp1 and bring the organism to health and peace again4 ,these efforts either succeed1 or in the exhausting shocks the body is destroyed4 ,it is the same with the soul4 ,sin is the displacement of the hierarchy of authorities in the soul1 the misbalancing of its energies1 the disturbance of its health and peace4 ,and all the varieties of retribution are the recoil of the injured faculties1 the struggles of the insulted authorities1 to vindicate and reestablish themselves4 ,now1 these efforts1 if the soul is indestructible1 must always1 at last1 be successful4 ,health in the body is the harmonious adjustment of its energies with its conditions2 and a sufficient modicum must be obtained or death ensues4 ,virtue in the soul is the harmony of its powers with the laws of ,god2 the measure of this is the measure of spiritual life2 and granting the soul to be immortal1 the tendency towards a complete measure of virtue must ultimately become irresistible1 and every hell at last terminate in paradise4 ,the persistent forces or laws of the divine environment steadily tend to draw the unstable forces or passions of all creatures into harmony with them1 and that harmony is redemption4 ,perdition is consequently never1 as the ecclesiastical doctrine makes it always1 a state of fixed hopelessness4 ,though we make our bed in the nethermost hell1 ,god is there4 ,and wherever ,god is1 penitence and grace1 reformation and pardon1 have a right of eminent domain between him and the souls of his children4 ,according to the common doctrine of hell as a physical locality1 and the predestination of all men to it through the sin of ,adam1 birth is a universal gateway of perdition1 the whole world one open course to damnation for all except the few elected to be saved through the blood of ,christ4 ,the orthodox scheme depicts the lineage of ,adam as a dark river of perdition1 choked with the souls of the damned1 steadily pouring into hell ever since our human generations began4 ,but in addition to the refutation of this terrible belief by its monstrous moral iniquity1 science is now doubly refuting it by the proof of the existence of the human race on the earth for unnumbered centuries before the ,biblical date of ,adam4 ,so this fictitious gate of a fictitious hell is shut and abolished4 ,with it vanishes the horrible picture of this world as floored with omnipresent trap doors to the bottomless pit1 and closed fatally around by a dead wall of doom1 through which1 by one bloody orifice alone1 the believers in the vicarious atonement could crawl up into heaven4 ,in place of this1 we see the whole universe as one open ,house of ,god1 traversed in all directions by the free entries of laws of intrinsic justice and love4 ,and so of the remaining theoretic gates of hell1 unbelief1 ritual neglect1 and the other technicalities on which priests and deluded zealots have always hinged the perdition of such as heed not their authority2 none of them shall much longer prevail4 ,with the wiping out of the mythological hell all these fanciful entrances to it likewise disappear4 ,but instead of these visionary ones we should point out and warn men from the substantial gates of the true hell4 ,whatever is a cause of insubordinate and discordant fruition in body or soul1 individual or community1 is a real gate of hell4 ,all the moral and social evils1 intemperance1 war1 ambition1 avarice1 the extremes of poverty and wealth1 ignorance1 bad example1 despotism1 disease1 every form of vice or crime1 all the influences that destroy or mar human virtue1 excellence1 and harmony1 are so many open gates of hell1 drawing their victims in4 ,in holding back those who are approaching these fatal gates1 in trying to contract them1 to shut them up here is a vital work to be done1 infinitely more promising than the brandishing of the terrors of that material hell in which sensible men can no longer believe4 ,for the only true hell is the remedial vibration of truth in an uncoordinated soul1 even when not remedial for the individual still remedial for the race4 ,it is not our outward abode1 but our inmost spirit1 that makes our experience infernal or heavenly3 for1 in the last result1 it is the occupying spirit that moulds the environment1 not the habitation that determines the tenant4 ,this is the substance of the whole matter4 ,an accomplished chemist1 who was a good man in truth1 but a heretic by the standard of orthodoxy1 died4 ,being an unbeliever1 of course1 he went to hell4 ,seeing a group of children in torment there1 he pitied them very deeply1 and straightway began to devise measures1 by means of his skill in chemical science1 to shield them from the flame4 ,instantly the whole scene changed4 ,the beauty of heaven lay around him1 and all its blandness breathed through him4 ,forgetting his own sufferings in sympathy for those of others1 he had obeyed the law of virtue1 subjecting a selfish desire to a disinterested one2 and the omnipotent ,god enveloped him with the heaven of his own spirit4 ,another man1 who was hard and cruel in character1 but perfectly sound in the orthodox faith and observances1 died4 ,it is true he was an avaricious and hard saint1 but then he believed in the atoning blood2 and so1 of course1 he went to heaven4 ,no sooner did he find himself safely seated in bliss than he tried to peep over the golden wall into the pit of perdition1 in order to heighten the relish of his favored lot by the contrast of the agonies of the lost4 ,instantly the celestial scenery about him was changed into infernal1 and1 by the radiation and return of his own bad spirit1 he found himself plunged into hell and writhing under its retributive experience4 ,his character exemplified the law of perdition1 enthroning selfishness over disinterestedness1 subverting the order of virtue2 and the insulted will of ,god made his imagined heaven a real hell4 ,hell is revealed in the experience of the world as a diminishing quantity through the successive periods since war1 cannibalism and slavery were universal4 ,will not the progressive process terminate in the utter extinction of it1 paradise everywhere steadily encroaching on purgatory until at last the whole universe of matter and spirit composes an unbroken heaven8 ,according to the nebular hypothesis1 the entire creation was once a measureless chaos confusion1 conflict1 collisions1 explosions1 making a universal hell of matter4 ,but the discords and perturbations grew ever less and less1 regularity and order more and more1 as suns and planets and moons took form and wheeled in their gleaming circles1 till now the mazy web of worlds is weaving throughout space the perfect harmony of the creative design4 ,the evolution of incarnate spiritual destinies began later1 and is more complex than the material1 each mind being as complicated as the whole galaxy4 ,may we not trust that at last it shall be as complete as the evolution of the astronomic motions already is1 and a divine empire of holy and happy men be the goal of history8 ,this hope carries the cross through hell1 and leaves nothing unredeemed4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,the ,,gates ,,of ,,heaven2 ,,or1 ,,the ,,law ,,of ,,salvation ,,in ,,all ,,worlds4 ,,heaven1 in the crude fancy of mankind1 has generally been conceived as a definite1 exclusive1 material abode2 either some elysian clime on the surface of the earth2 or some happy isle beyond the setting sun2 or this whole globe1 renovated by fire and peopled with a risen and ransomed race2 or else some halcyon spot in the sky1 curtained with inaccessible splendor and crowded with eternal blessings4 ,it was natural that men should think thus of heaven as a place whence all the evils which they knew were excluded and where all the goods which they knew were carried to the highest pitch1 ,god himself visibly enthroned there in entrancing glory amidst throngs of worshippers4 ,this was unavoidable1 because1 in an early age1 before knowledge and reflection had trained men to the critical examination and correction of their instinctive conclusions1 all the data which they possessed would naturally lead them to imagine the unknown ,god in the glorified form and circumstances of the most enviable being their experience had yet revealed to them2 and to paint the unknown future state of perfected souls under the purest aspects of the most desirable boons they had known in the present state4 ,it being a necessity of their uncritical minds to personify ,god by a definite picture of imagination1 and to portray heaven to themselves as an external place1 they could not do otherwise than work out the results by means of the most intense experiences and the most impressive imagery familiar to them4 ,the highest idea they had of man1 purified and expanded to the utmost1 would be their idea of ,god2 and the grandest and happiest conditions of existence within their observation1 enhanced by the removal of every limiting ill1 would form their notion of heaven4 ,both would be outward1 definite1 local1 and1 as it were1 tangible4 ,royal courts with their pomp of power and luxury2 priestly temples1 with their exclusive sanctity1 their awe inspiring secrets1 their processions and anthems1 would inevitably furnish the prevailing casts and colors to the dogmas and the scenery of early religion4 ,for what were the most vivid of all the experiences men had among their fellows on earth8 ,why1 the exhibitions of the sultan with his gorgeous ceremonial state1 and of the high priest with the dread sacrifice and homage he paid amidst clouds of incense and rolling waves of song2 the admission of the favored1 in glittering robes1 to share the privileges2 the exclusion of the profane and vulgar in squalid misery and outer darkness4 ,consequently1 except by a miracle1 these sights could not fail largely to constitute the scenic elements for the popular belief concerning ,god and heaven4 ,what should men reflect over into the unknown to portray their ideals there1 if not the most coveted ingredients and the most impressive forms of the known8 ,the great thing1 then1 inevitably1 would be supposed to be to gain the personal favor of the supreme ,sovereign by some artifice1 some flattery1 some fortunate compliance with his arbitrary caprice1 and to get into the charmed enclosure of his abode by some special grace some authoritative passport or magic art4 ,but as soon as science and philosophy1 and a spiritual experience rectifying its own errors by reflective criticism1 have created a more competent theology it discredits all these raw schemes4 ,it teaches that ,god1 being the eternal omnipresent power and mystery which foreran1 underlies1 pervades and includes all things1 cannot justly be figured as a man1 locally here or there1 and not elsewhere4 ,he can be justly thought of only as the almighty ,creator of the universe1 intelligible in the order of his works and ways1 but inscrutable in his essence1 absent nowhere1 present everywhere in general1 and specially revealed anywhere whenever a fit experience in the soul awakens a special consciousness of him4 ,this conception of ,god the only one any longer defensible as the ,infinite ,spirit1 incapable1 except in his various incarnations1 of particular local enthronement and uncovering to the outward gaze of worshippers1 necessitates a correspondent alteration in the vulgar idea of heaven as an exclusive spot in space4 ,in every form of being1 in any portion of the universe1 the central idea of a state of salvation1 is the fulfillment of the will of the ,creator in the faculties of the creature1 the fruition of the ends of the whole in the consciousness of the part1 the congruity of the forces of the soul with the requirements of its situation4 ,if this definition be accepted1 it is clear that no mere place of residence1 however excellent1 can be heaven4 ,that is but one factor of heaven1 and worthless without a corresponding factor of a spiritual kind4 ,essentially1 heaven is a divine experience1 not a divine location2 yet constructively it is both of these4 ,ever so serene and pure a space1 perfectly free from every perturbation of ill1 and surrounded with all the outer provisions of power and order1 would be no heaven1 until a prepared soul entered it1 furnishing the spiritual conditions for the forces to run into fruition1 for the melody of blissful being to play4 ,the material elements of the universe1 so far as we know1 are unconscious dynamics4 ,however perfectly marshalled1 they can by themselves compose no heaven4 ,so the conscious soul1 as far as we know1 is incapable of an independent and unrelated existence in itself4 ,all its experience1 when ultimately analyzed1 is the resultant of the mutual relations between its own energies and capacities and the forms and forces of things outside of itself4 ,when there is a right arrangement of right realities in the residence1 and a right development of faculties and affections within the resident1 and such an adjustment of the spiritual states with the surrounding conditions1 that1 as these act and react upon each other1 the laws of the universe break into conscious harmony1 or the will of ,god is realized in a life of blessedness2 that harmony1 that blessedness1 is what we mean by heaven2 and the conditions of its realization constitute the law of salvation4 ,such being the true idea of heaven1 obviously1 it cannot be limited to any particular locality4 ,it may be here1 elsewhere1 anywhere1 everywhere1 before death1 in death1 after death2 whenever and wherever the proper conditions meet inward state and outward circumstances so adjusted as to produce an experience which fulfills the will of ,god and realizes the end of the creation4 ,hereafter this may be1 as we know it now on earth1 a spiritual fruition in material conditions1 or it may be something altered in accordance with the varying exigences of worlds whose details are as yet inconceivable by us1 altogether hidden behind the veil of futurity and our ignorance4 ,but its one fundamental condition1 its eternal essence under all circumstances which can possibly happen1 must always be the same4 ,whatever changes await the soul1 embodied in a new form in the state after death1 or remaining in pure disembodiment2 whatever be the relation of the immaterial entity of mind to the circumference and contents of its new home1 it can be in paradise1 it can command peace and bliss1 or any equivalent of these terms1 only by the fulfillment of the will of ,god in its being4 ,heaven is1 therefore1 the reconciliation and unison of the soul with its divinely appointed lot1 the identification of the ideal and the real4 ,the will of ,god is expressed in the soul in the submissive services and virtues of a pure and pious character it is expressed in the outward creation by the unbreakable persistency of his laws through all the aberrations and discords of accompaning evil or limitation4 ,nowhere can it ever be an impossibility to conjoin these and thus to make a heaven4 ,the one thing which everywhere is variable and evanescent1 is evil1 or the imperfect adjustment of the creature with the works and designs of the ,creator4 ,the one thing which forever stays1 and steadily invites the intelligent soul to its embrace1 is good1 that is1 the opportunity to realize the divinely intended correspondence of the relations in the part with the relations in the whole1 a serene movement of life through the unison of the soul with its true fate4 ,now1 the one predicate which is essential in all things1 without whose presence nothing can be1 is the will of ,god4 ,even could that will be violated or withstood1 still it would be there1 upholding1 forgiving1 wooing ,salvation1 or a life of conscious harmony1 is capable of realization1 of course1 wherever the means are offered for the performance and enjoyment of the will of ,god2 and the infinity of his attributes necessarily makes that condition an omnipresent possibility in the realm of free spirits4 ,therefore1 heaven is not outwardly limited to one place1 or to one period1 but may be achieved at any time1 and anywhere4 ,this throws light on the fallacy of the current1 narrow doctrine of a limited probation4 ,the oriental belief that the action of the present is the fate of the future unquestionably covers a profound truth4 ,yet1 if there is always a future there must likewise always be a present1 and the right action in this may forever redeem that4 ,probation is limited by no decree1 only by the duration of free being4 ,although the essential element in the idea of heaven is forever the same1 it may be regarded in three different aspects1 or on three different scales as an individual experience1 as a social state1 as a far off universal event4 ,heaven1 as a private experience1 is the harmonized intercourse of the soul with the divineness in its surrounding conditions4 ,heaven1 as a public society1 is the blessed communion of blessed souls1 a complete adjustment of the lives of kindred natures4 ,heaven1 as a final consummation1 is the publication of the vindicated will of ,god in the total harmony of the universe1 all individual wills so many separate notes blent in the collective consonance of the whole4 ,but1 for all practical purposes1 we may overlook this triple distinction and think of heaven simply as the correspondence of the life of the soul with those outward conditions which represent the will of ,god4 ,and towards this conclusion everything1 in its profoundest and most persistent tendency1 is bearing4 ,in spite of interruptions and seeming exceptions1 it is towards this that the entire confluence of forces and beings gravitates and slowly advances4 ,the universal law of evolution1 in which a scientific philosophy has generalized its most comprehensive induction1 is but a history and prophecy of the progress towards a moving equilibrium of the totality of worlds and intelligences1 which can eventuate only in a universal heaven1 or unimpeded completion of the creative design4 ,do we not see all creatures tending towards the perfection of their respective types1 every improvement selectively taken up and carried on1 every deteriorating deviation eliminated1 all errors and failures doomed to perish or change into new conditions for more hopeful attempts8 ,this confirms the faith first based on the deeper argument4 ,for1 since the will of ,god is the one persistent reality1 the one all evolving and all inclusive power of which evil is only the distorted and shadowy negation1 that opposition to the will of ,god which constitutes sin and misery1 that discord with him which generates hell1 must prove an ever smaller accompaniment of his plan1 a transitory phenomenon ceasing in even degree with the spreading conquests of his almighty purpose1 as race on race of creatures1 and system on system of worlds1 sweep into the victorious harmony1 until the boundless realm of being shall be boundless heaven4 ,heaven1 then1 in essence1 is not merely a favored locality1 not merely a resigned soul1 but the result of a combination of these in a just relation4 ,it is not a playing power in the material environment nor an inherent attribute of the spiritual instrument2 but it is the music which flows from the instrument when it is attuned to react in coordination with the acting environment4 ,salvation1 consequently1 is not simply a divine place of abode1 not simply a divine state of soul2 but it is these two conjoined4 ,it is the experimental deposit between the two poles of rightly ordered conditions in the realm and rightly directed energies in the inhabitant4 ,heaven1 then1 in the best and briefest definition we can give1 is the will of ,god in fulfillment1 or the law of the whole in uncrossed action4 ,hell is the experience produced by the rebound of violated law4 ,or1 if we hold that1 strictly speaking1 a divine law is incapable of violation2 as every seeming resistance to gravitation is in fact a deeper obedience to gravitation1 then we may say1 in more accurate phrase1 hell is the collision and friction of the limitations of different laws4 ,it is the discord of the part with the whole4 ,it is the antagonism of the soul with ,god4 ,but the perpetual preservation of a perfectly balanced antagonism with ,god is inconceivable4 ,it must vary1 totter1 grow either worse or better4 ,if it grows worse1 it will finally destroy itself1 the aberrant individuality or malign insurgence vanishing in the totality of force1 as the filth of our sewers vanishes purely in the purity of the ocean4 ,if it grows better1 its improvement will finally transform the opposition into reconciliation1 the evil disappearing in good4 ,therefore1 every being must at length be saved from misery1 if not by redemptive atonement then by absolvent annihilation1 and one absolute heaven finally absorb the dwindling hells4 ,the question of chief importance to us in relation to heaven is1 ,how can we gain admission into it4 ,the limitations of language necessitate the use of imagery for the expression of religious ideas3 and there is no objection to it if it be recognized as imagery1 and be interpreted accordingly4 ,considering1 then1 that beatific experience of which heaven consists1 under the metaphor of a city1 what are its ways of entrance8 ,how can we pass to its citizenship8 ,the obstacles to our entrance exist not in the city itself4 ,its gates are never closed4 ,the supreme conditions of redemption are spiritual1 and not local or material4 ,if there be within no fatal impediments to the free course of the will of ,god1 all outer obstacles easily give way and cease4 ,if we are ever to know heaven1 it is within ourselves that we must find it out4 ,whatever abolishes that internal rebellion of the soul which makes its experience a purgatory1 whatever replaces this confusion with an accord of the faculties1 is a road to heaven4 ,whatever removes vices and inserts virtues in their stead1 attuning us to the eternal laws of things1 leads us through some gate into paradise4 ,and nothing else can no ceremonial artifice1 no external transference1 no sacramental exorcism1 no priestly dodge4 ,the same mistake generally committed in regard to the nature of heaven1 making it a mere local residence1 has been as generally committed in regard to the conditions of admission4 ,they have been made arbitrary1 whereas they are intrinsic4 ,they are inwrought with the substantial laws of being4 ,the idea of ,god being first fashioned after the image of a sultan throned in his palace amidst his courtiers1 ruling an empire by his whims1 it was but natural that heaven1 and the terms of entrance there1 should be in a similar manner conceived under the forms of court ceremonial with its capricious favoritisms4 ,thus it has been supposed that by the atoning sacrifice of an incarnate person of the ,godhead satisfaction has been made for the sins of the world1 which was hopelessly ruined by its original federal representative1 and that thus a pardon was offered to those alone who mentally accept the formula of the correspondent belief4 ,according to this view1 the only open gateway of heaven is faith in the vicarious atonement1 a baptismal passage through the blood of ,christ4 ,science explodes this narrow and repulsive doctrine by demonstrating its irreconcilableness alike with physical fact and with moral law1 first tracing the affiliated lines of our race back to many separate ,adams in the shadows of an indeterminable antiquity1 and then showing that the divine method of salvation is through substantial rejection of evil and appropriation of good in personal character1 and not through royal proclamation and forensic conformity4 ,the plan of ,god for the salvation of men1 as its culmination is seen in ,christ1 is the exhibition of the true type of being1 the true style of motive and action1 for their assimilation and reproduction3 but ,calvinism1 when fundamentally analyzed1 reduces it to a monarchical manifesto and spectacular drama working its effects through verbal terms1 acts of mental assent and gesticular deeds4 ,every sound teaching of philosophy refutes this exclusive and arbitrary creed4 ,in fact1 its fictitious and mythological nature is obvious the moment we see that the will of ,god is represented in those laws of nature which are the direct articulations and embodiments of his eternal mind1 and not in those political regulations or priestly and judicial formalities which express the perverted desires and artificial devices of men4 ,the wearing of a certain dress1 the bending of the knee1 the muttering of a phrase1 may flatter an earthly sovereign and gain a seat at his banquets4 ,but it is childish folly to fancy any such thing of ,god4 ,it is absurd to suppose that he has two schemes of government1 one for the present state1 another for the future2 one for the elect1 another for the reprobate2 one for those who gaze on the spectacle of the crucifixion and make a certain sign1 another for those who do not4 ,his laws1 identified with the unchangeable nature and course of the creation1 sweep in one unbroken order throughout immensity and eternity1 awarding perfect justice1 and perfect mercy to all alike1 making the experience of all souls a hell or a heaven to them accordingly as they strive against or harmonize with the divine system of existence in which they have their being4 ,the mere acceptance of a technical dogma1 the mere performance of a ritual action1 cannot adjust a discordant character with the conditions of blessedness so as to reinstate an exile of heaven4 ,to imagine that ,god will1 in consideration of some technical device1 place in heaven a man whose character fits him for hell1 or1 in default of that conventionality1 place in hell a man whose character fits him for heaven1 is to represent him as acting on an eccentric whim4 ,and surely every one who has a worthy idea of ,god must find it much easier to believe that men have mixed mythological dreams with their religion1 than to believe that the infinite ,god is capable of despotic freaks or melo dramatic caprices4 ,the poor1 odious figment that baptism with the blood of ,christ is the sole entrance to heaven1 is rebuked by the sweet and awful imperturbableness with which the laws of being act1 distributing the ingredients of hell or heaven to every one accordingly as his vices disobey or his virtues obey the will of ,god4 ,in a universe of law where ,god with all his attributes is omnipresent no trick can ever be the pathway into paradise4 ,the true method of salvation is by the production of a good character through divine grace and the discipline of life4 ,thus1 the real law of salvation through ,christ consists not in the technical belief that he shed his blood for our redemption1 but in the personal derival from him of that spirit which will make us willing to shed our own blood for the good of others4 ,there was1 not long ago1 called to her eternal home1 a young woman1 who1 by the sweet gentleness1 the heroic generosity and the unspotted fidelity of her whole life1 deserves an exalted place on the roll of feminine chivalry and saintliness4 ,not a brighter name1 or one associated with a more fearless and accomplished spirit1 is recorded on the list of those ,christian women who volunteered to serve as nurses in the great ,american war of nationality4 ,no soldier was braver1 few were more under fire1 than she2 still plying her holy work with unfaltering love and fortitude1 both in the horrid miasma of camps and before the charge of cavalry and the blaze of cannon4 ,many a time1 the livelong night1 under the solemn stars1 equipped with assuaging stores1 she threaded her way alone through the debris of carnage1 seeking out the wounded among the dead1 lifting her voice in song as a signal for any lingering survivor who might be near4 ,many a time she broke on the vision of mutilated and dying men1 with the light of love in her eyes1 a hymn of cheer on her lips1 and unwearied ministrations in her hands1 transfigured with courage and devotion1 gleaming on their sight through the sulphurous flame of battle or the darkening mists of disease like an angel from heaven4 ,receiving the seeds of fatal illness from her exposures1 she returned home to delight with her noble qualities all who knew her1 to make a husband happy1 and then to die a contented martyr4 ,meekly folding her hands1 and saying3 ,thanks1 ,father1 for what thou hast enabled me to do1 and still more for the new home to which thou art calling me now she was gone4 ,the cruel creed of superstition says3 ,since she was a ,universalist1 having no part1 by faith1 in the mystic sacrifice of ,christ1 she is doomed to hell4 ,but every attribute of ,god1 every promise written by his own finger in the sacred instincts of our nature1 as well as the cardinal teachings of the ,new ,testament1 assure us that as the victorious purity and devotedness of her soul bore her away from the tabernacle of flesh1 the welcoming ,savior said3 ,come1 thou blessed of my ,father1 inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world4 ,and heaven swung wide its gate for her2 and excited fancy conceives that1 as she passed in1 there was a gratulatory flutter of wings and waving of palms through the angelic ranks4 ,in distinction from that hypothetical gate of blood1 set up by a crude theology in one narrow place alone1 what1 then1 are the real gates of heaven1 which stand open throughout the realms of responsible being8 ,all the causes which bring the will of man into consent with the will of ,god4 ,truth is the harmony of mind with the divine order2 beauty1 the harmony of taste with the divine symmetries2 good1 the harmony of volition with the divine ends4 ,everything that secures these for us is an avenue into the peaceful city of bliss4 ,to be in heaven is to be a transparent medium through which the qualities of objects1 the reflections of phenomena1 the vibrations of aboriginal power1 pass in blessed freedom1 without deflection or jar1 and on which the mysterious attraction of the ,infinite exerts its supreme spell4 ,to be there in a superlative degree is to have a mind which is an infinitesimal mirror of the ,all1 and a heart responsive to that mind1 every perception of truth in the realm of the intellect generating a correspondent emotion of good in the realm of affection4 ,not any forensic act of faith in atoning blood1 but ingrained piety a modest renunciation before the reality of things is the grand gateway of souls to the blessedness and repose of ,god4 ,anselm1 the great sainted ,archbishop of ,canterbury1 said3 ,i would rather be in hell without a fault than in heaven with one4 ,can any defective technicality damn such a man8 ,no2 such a spirit carries and radiates heaven is itself heaven4 ,that spirit is ,god himself in his creature1 and can no more be imprisoned in hell than ,god can be4 ,on the other hand1 any professing ,orthodoxist who1 according to a horrible doctrine of the ,calvinists in former days1 should hope in heaven to obtain a sharper relish for his own joy by looking down on the tortures of the damned1 and contrasting his blissful safety with the hopeless agony of their perdition1 would find himself in hell4 ,the infernal scenery1 even there1 would burst on his gaze1 its atmosphere of pain reek around him1 and the detestable turmoil of its experience rage in his breast4 ,the selfishness of his character1 in steep contradiction to the public disinterestedness belonging to the divine will1 must invert every proper experience of heaven4 ,could any conventional arrangement1 or accident of locality1 save such a man1 while his character remained unchanged8 ,no2 such a spirit carries and radiates hell1 is itself hell4 ,a ,mohammedan author says of the seventy three sects into which his coreligionists are divided1 that seventy two are wrong ways1 terminating in eternal damnation2 the remaining one alone1 in which are the party of salvation1 leads through the true faith into the ,city of ,allah4 ,the same unwise bigotry1 the same unripeness of judgment1 has been generally shown by ,christians4 ,it is time they were ashamed of it1 and allowed their souls to mature and expand into a more liberal creed in fuller keeping with the hospitable amplitude of the righteousness and goodness of ,god4 ,everything that tends to bring the will of man into loving submission to the infinite ,father1 to mould the structure of character into correspondence with those established conditions of rightful being represented by the moral and religious virtues1 is an open highway of salvation4 ,and all the great cardinal ordinations of life do legitimately tend to this result4 ,therefore all these are gates of heaven4 ,some pass in through one of them1 others through another2 and by means of them all1 it is decreed in the sovereign councils of the ,divinity1 as we believe1 that1 sooner or later1 every intelligence shall reach the goal4 ,first is the gate of innocence4 ,little children1 spotless youths and maidens who have known no malice or guile1 the saintly few among mature men and women who by the untempted elevation and serenity of their temper have kept their integrity unmarred and their robes unsullied1 enter by this nearest and easiest gate4 ,borne aloft by their own native gravitation1 we see the white procession of the innocent ones winding far up the cerulean height and defiling in long melodious line into heaven4 ,the second gate is prosperity4 ,through this enter those to whom good fortune has served as the guiding smile of ,god1 not pampering them with arrogance1 nor hardening them with careless egotism1 but shaping them to thankful meekness and generosity4 ,exempt from lacerating trials1 every want benignly supplied1 girt with friends1 they have grown up in goodness and gratitude1 obeying the will of ,god by the natural discharge of their duties1 diffusing benedictions and benefits around them4 ,to such beautiful spirits1 saved from wrong and woe by the redemptive shelter of their lot1 happiness is a better purgatory than wretchedness4 ,the crystal stream of joy percolating throughout the soul cleanses it more perfectly than any flames of pain can4 ,and so the virtuous children of a favored fortune1 who have improved their privileges with pious fidelity1 move on into heaven4 ,then the third gate is victory4 ,this is more arduous of approach1 and yet a throng of heroic souls1 the very chivalry of heaven1 press through it1 wounded and bleeding from the struggle1 but triumphant4 ,these are they who have endured hardship with uncomplaining fortitude and fought their way through all enemies1 seductions and tribulations4 ,these are they who1 armed with the native sacrament of righteousness1 inspired with a loyal love1 would never stoop their crests to wrong nor make a league with iniquity the conquering champions who tread down every vile temptation1 ever hearing their ,leader say1 ,in the world ye shall have trouble and sorrow2 but be of good cheer1 ,i have overcome the world4 ,penitence is another gate of heaven4 ,by the instructions of ,providence1 by the natural progress of experience1 the evolution of wisdom1 a sinner may become aware of the ingratitude of his disobedience1 ashamed of the odiousness of his guilt2 be smitten with a regenerating love of truth1 beauty1 goodness1 ,god2 and1 without waiting for the lash of an external judgment to drive him the way he should go1 by voluntary preference may grieve over his folly and sin1 and turn to his duty and his ,savior4 ,then the blessed gate of a spontaneous repentance stands open before him2 and through this hospitable entrance multitudes find admission to the divine home4 ,death often gives an otherwise unattainable deliverance1 and so yields the poor victim of unhappy outer conditions a passage to heaven4 ,it is a thought no less false than it is frightful1 which represents death as the vindictive turnkey of the creation1 at whose approach probation ends1 and the shuddering convict is thrust into hell1 the hopeless bolt dropping into its ward behind him4 ,it is rather the divine messenger of deliverance for those who are borne down here under a fate too hard for them4 ,oh1 what myriads of afflicted ones orphan children crushed by brutal treatment2 poor seamstresses starving in garrets2 men and women ground and grimed almost out of the semblance of humanity1 in the drudgery and darkness of coal mines2 hapless suicides1 who have rashly fled from this step dame world1 and whose alabaster forms1 purpled with bruises1 are laid on the dismal beds of brass in the morgue1 where a ghastly light strains through the grates1 and the crowd of gazers sweeps endlessly on2 unsuccessful men of genius1 unappreciated1 neglected1 cruelly wronged1 their extreme sensitiveness making their lives a long martyrdom to these what a blessed angel is death1 freeing them1 setting them in a new state1 starting them on a fresh career1 amidst fairer circumstances1 in front of better opportunities6 ,to be saved1 and in paradise1 what is it but to be a pure instrument to echo the music of divine things8 ,when the corruptible parts of the instrument are hopelessly discordant1 or the circumstances of its place here are jangled with evils which it cannot overcome1 then the disentanglement of the spiritual harp1 and the translation of it to some finer sphere2 where its free chords may ring their proper music clearly out1 are a blessed redemption1 making death itself a triumphant gate of heaven4 ,retribution is the remotest and most difficult of all the heavenly gates2 and yet it is one1 and one that is indispensable for many a neglectful1 halting1 and obstinate child of man4 ,it is an extreme error to think punishment a gate of hell4 ,it is rather a result of being already inside1 and it legitimately serves as an outlet thence4 ,whatever may be the case with imperfect human rulers1 in the government of ,god no punishment is ever inflicted for the sake of vengeance1 a gratuitous evil4 ,it is blasphemy to deem ,god vindictive4 ,he always punishes for the sake of good1 to awaken attention1 produce insight and sorrow1 and cause a reattunement of character and conduct with the laws of right1 seen at last to be supremely authoritative and benignant1 indissolubly bound up with the truest good of each and with the sole good of all4 ,on every gate of hell may be written4 ,wherever retribution is actual1 salvation is possible1 equivalent to the great maxim of jurisprudence3 ,ubi jus ibi remedium6 ,so1 even the dark door of retribution1 when men will advance by no other way1 leads them to thoughtfulness1 regret1 and a redemptive readjustment of their passions and acts4 ,thus it becomes the ultimate gate of heaven4 ,and1 alas6 what a dismal crowd of sufferers1 refusing all shorter and happier ways1 wait to be drawn through this torturing passage of remedial mercy6 ,may the number entering by the other gates ever increase1 and those entering this dwindle6 ,and yet1 may it forever stand open for the unhappy culprits who must be lost unless saved here6 ,besides all these gates1 and commanding them all1 there is one everywhere accessible1 and never shut on any soul which has the grace to try it the omnipresent gate of resignation4 ,remove the conditions of resistance1 or friction1 by a total surrender of self will and an absolute acceptance of the ,divine ,will1 and1 it matters not where you are1 the essence of perdition is destroyed in your soul4 ,the utter abandonment of pride1 a pious submission to the laws of things1 a glad and grateful acquiescence in whatever the ,supreme ,authority decrees this is the unrestricted way into heaven which waits before the steps of all who will only exhibit the requisite spirit1 and enter4 ,yes1 let any being but banish from himself every vestige of personal dictation before ,god and unexactingly identify his desires with universal good2 and1 even though he stand on the bottom of hell1 heaven will be directly before him through the open gate of resignation4 ,for the organic attitude of a pure and loving submission tunes the discordant creature to that eternal breath of ,god which blows everywhere through the universe of souls1 sighing until they conspire with it to make the music of redemption4 ,,chapter ,v4 ,,resume ,,how ,,the ,,question ,,of ,,immortality ,,now ,,stands4 ,,in ,,the leading nations of ,christendom1 the belief in the immortality of the soul has for some time past obviously been weakening4 ,the number of those who assail the belief increases1 and their utterances become more frank and dogmatic4 ,a multitude of instances1 clear to every careful observer1 prove this4 ,especially at the present moment do examples of painful doubt1 profound misgiving1 bold and exultant denial1 mocking flippancy and ridicule1 abound on all sides1 in private conversation1 in public discussion1 and in every form of literary activity4 ,the hearty thoroughness and fervor with which the faith of the ,church was once held have gone from whole classes4 ,subtle skepticism or blank negation is a common characteristic4 ,whether this tendency towards unbelief be sound or fallacious1 temporary or permanent1 it is at least actual4 ,and it is important that we examine the causes of it1 and test their logical validity while tracing their historic spread4 ,why1 then1 we ask1 is the faith in a future life for man suffering such a marked decay in the present generation of ,christendom8 ,in the first place1 the faith pales and dwindles1 from the general neglect of that strenuous and constant cultivation of it formerly secured by the stern doctrinal drill and by the rigid supervision of daily thought and habit in the interests of religion4 ,never before were men so absorbed as now in material toil and care during the serious portion of their existence2 never before so beset as now during the leisure portion by innumerable forms of amusement and dissipation4 ,the habit of lonely meditation and prayer grows rarer4 ,the exactions of the struggle of ambition grow fiercer1 the burdens of necessity press more heavily2 the vices and temptations of society thicken3 and they withdraw the attention of men from ideal and sacred aims4 ,more and more men seem to live for labor and pleasure1 for time and sense2 less and less for truth and good1 for ,god and eternity4 ,absorbed in the materialistic game1 or frittered and jaded in frivolous diversions1 all eternal aims go by default4 ,in what precious age was maddening rivalry so universal1 giggling laughter so pestilent an epidemic1 triviality at such a premium and sublimity at such a discount8 ,but the things to which men really devote themselves dilate to fill the whole field of their vision4 ,they soon come to disbelieve that for which they take no thought and make no sacrifice or investment4 ,the average men of our time1 as well those of the educated classes as those of the laboring classes1 do not live for immortality4 ,therefore their faith in it diminishes4 ,our fathers1 to a degree not common now1 walked in mental companionship with ,god1 practiced solitary devotion1 shaped their daily feelings and deeds with reference to the effect on their future life4 ,thus that hidden life became real to them4 ,now the interests and provocations of the present world1 concentrated and intensified as never before the strife of aspirants1 the giddy enterprises of speculation and commerce and engineering1 the chaos of caucuses and newspapers and telegraphs monopolize our faculties and exhaust our energies1 leaving us but faint inclination to attend to the solemn themes of the soul and the mystic lures of infinity4 ,to those crazed with greed1 battling with rivals or sunk in debauchery1 ,god naturally becomes a verbal phantom and immortality a foolish dream4 ,there is nothing in mechanism and mammon worship1 nothing in selfish sloth and laughter1 nothing in cruel oppression and drudgery1 to inspire belief in the deathless spirituality of man4 ,among a people prevailingly given over to these earthlinesses1 faith in the transcendent verities of religion perforce dies out4 ,in the long run the supreme devotion of the soul irresistibly moulds its faith4 ,christendom does not live in conscious sacrifices and aspirations for ,god and eternal life1 but it lives chiefly for selfish power and knowledge1 money1 praise and luxury4 ,therefore in ,christendom faith in immortality is decaying4 ,but we believe this decay to be temporary1 the necessary transition to a richer and more harmonic insight4 ,the passing eclipse of faith in a future life is destined by concentrating attention on the present to develop its resources1 realize the divine possibilities of this world1 unveil all the elements of hell and heaven really existing here1 and fully attune mankind to the conditions of virtue and blessedness now4 ,when this shall have been done the tangential and fractional character of our experience will be so obvious1 the inadequacy of the earthly state for the wants of our transcendent and prophetic faculties will be so urgent1 and the supplementing adaptations of the entire unseen but clearly divined future to the craving parts in the present will be so manifest1 that a complete revelation of immortality will break upon the prepared mind of the race4 ,then history will take a new departure in breathing communion with the whole creation4 ,but infidelity to duty and privilege does not destroy the truth of duty and privilege4 ,it only blinds the faithless eyes so that they cannot see the truth4 ,if the immortality of the soul be a truth1 the materialistic absorption of our life would blind us to it and make us deny it4 ,exclusive attention to the present would hide the future from us1 although its dazzling prizes1 scattered on the dark back ground of eternity1 were burning there in everlasting invitation and hospitality4 ,thus1 while the eager worldliness of our age practically vacates the faith in a future life1 it does not logically disprove it2 but leaves it for the ultimate test of the genuine evidence4 ,the second reason for the apparent rapid crumbling away of the belief in immortality in ,christendom is the recent wide diffusion of a critical knowledge of the comparative history of the opinions of all nations on the subject of a future life1 revealing the mythological character common to them1 and tracking them back to their origin in primitive superstitions no longer is their literal purport credible to any educated intelligence4 ,in many works by theological writers1 and by scientific writers1 of free habits of thought1 like ,strauss and ,spencer1 collections have been made of the fancies and theories of mankind respecting the survival of the spirit and the conditions of its experience after the death of the body4 ,these beliefs1 it has been agreed1 even among the most enlightened peoples1 rest at last on the same basis with the crudest notions of the barbarians of the prehistoric period1 namely1 the spontaneous workings of raw instinct and imagination4 ,tracing the views of ,christians as to the nature of the soul1 and the life to come in heaven or hell1 back to the rude conceptions of the naked savages who fashioned their idea of the ghost from the shadow or the reflection of the man1 which was a picture or representative of him1 yet without matter1 and from the phenomena of dreams1 in which they supposed the spirit of the man left him and went through the adventures of the dream and returned ere he awoke it has been asserted that every form of later faith1 however refined and improved in details1 yet really resting on such puerile fancies1 such incompetent and absurd beginnings1 is thereby discredited and must be rejected4 ,now1 it is true that when we find among ,christian believers1 connected with the doctrine of a future life1 an incongruous medley of physical imagery and gross imaginative pictures1 conceptions of just the same character as the grotesque dreamings of the earliest savages and the elaborate mythology of subsequent priesthoods1 we are required to treat the whole suppositious mass as mere poetry or superstition1 and to dismiss it from our faith4 ,but we are by no means justified in doing so with the essential fact itself of a future life4 ,the essential fact1 the assertion of immortality1 may be true1 even if the mythological dress be all fictitious4 ,it does not follow that man has no surviving soul because the local heaven or hell1 described by savage or priest as its residence1 is unreal4 ,it surely is no correct inference that the soul perishes with the body1 because the barbarian mind generalized its idea of the soul from the phenomena of shadows1 reflections1 echoes and dreams4 ,the critical scholar1 who judges the case fairly1 will correct the fallacies of the confused reasoning instinct1 and relegate the mythology to its proper province1 but reserve his judgment on the question itself of spiritual survival to be settled on the only appropriate evidence4 ,although the habit thus formed by the critical scholar1 and by those who follow his authority1 of sweeping away as wholly untenable so many varieties of speculation1 and so many groups of images connected with the belief in a future life1 has unquestionably contributed powerfully to foster complete disbelief in the doctrine itself1 yet it is equally unquestionable that this process of negation is illogical4 ,many a true doctrine has been cradled in superstitions and absurdities4 ,a faith supported by many classes of independent arguments is not overthrown by the disproof of one of those classes4 ,it is as wrongful a procedure to deny the immortality of the soul because barbaric instinct grounded it on erroneous notions and enveloped it with falsehoods1 as it would be to reject the established laws of gravitation and light and sound1 for the reason that the various provisional theories1 preceding the correct ones1 were ridiculous mistakes4 ,the problem to be solved is1 ,does the man who is now a soul in a body remain a soul when the body dissolves8 ,the inadequacy or folly of a hundred provisional answers does not affect the final answer4 ,instead of denying immortality because the childish mind of the early world feigned impossible things about it1 we should change the question by appeal to a more competent court1 and inquire what ,pythagoras1 ,augustine1 ,dante1 ,leibnitz1 ,fichte1 ,schelling1 ,swedenborg1 ,goethe1 thought about it4 ,it is a question for the consensus of the most gifted and impartial minds1 the very ,areopagus of ,humanity1 to decide4 ,furthermore1 on a deeper inquiry1 it seems clear that the real belief in immortality did not originate from the contemplation of the phenomena of dreams and shadows and echoes1 but arose rather from the inexpugnable self assertion of consciousness1 its inability to feel itself non existent4 ,this persistency of consciousness1 following it in all its imaginative flights of thought beyond the death of the body1 was the cause of the mythological creativeness of the barbaric mind4 ,and thus the elaboration of the imagery of ghosts and a ghostly realm was not the precursor1 but the result of a belief in another life4 ,the belief sprang directly out of the feeling of a continuous being unconquerably connected with human self consciousness1 and is independent of the imagery in which it has been clothed1 may clothe itself in endless forms of imagery1 and survive their removal on the discovery of their incompetence4 ,besides1 the savage himself was1 after all1 not so far out of the way4 ,his mythology was not a mere fiction concreted into fact by superstition4 ,he was on that track of analogy which1 when cleared1 will be1 perhaps1 the luminous highway to universal truth4 ,the savage was obscurely conscious that the objects which appeared around him as solid material realities had their immaterial correspondences within his spirit4 ,the tree1 the stone1 the flower1 the star1 the beast1 the man1 had within him correspondent mental images or ideas just as real as they1 but without sensible qualities1 and incapable of hurt4 ,with creative wonder he recognized a symbol or analogy of this inner world in the shadow and the reflection4 ,the shadow or the reflection is a representation of its original1 but without material substance4 ,see1 it lies there1 wavering1 on the rock1 or in the water4 ,no arrow can pierce it1 no club bruise it1 no pestle pulverize it1 no chemistry disintegrate it4 ,it is an emblem of the immaterial and indestructible spirit1 revealed in the outer world of matter1 where everything changes and passes away except the noumena under the phenomena4 ,no wonder it stirred the brooding fancy of the ignorant1 but prophetic primitive man1 and made it teem with poesy and personification4 ,freely1 then1 let us brush aside the mythological extravagance and irrational errors in the entire cosmopolitan doctrine of a future life1 but beware of rejecting the fact itself of immortality until we have better grounds than have yet been afforded by the accumulating insight of literary history4 ,as the world moves on1 and the human mind develops with it1 the crude must give way to the mature1 and the false be replaced1 not with vacancy1 but with the true4 ,the problem of the nature and destiny of the soul will not be solved by tearing away the fictitious drapery thrown around it1 but by piercing to the roots of the reality within the drapery4 ,and now we come to the third reason for the increasing doubt and decreasing faith in regard to a future life3 that reason is that the form of the belief in it prevalent in ,christendom has become incredible1 and the rejection of the form has loosened the hold on the substance4 ,the philosophic mind1 which has attained to the idea of the infinite ,god1 without body1 or parts1 or passions1 omnipresent in his total perfection1 can reason to the belief in a kindred immortality for its own finite being4 ,but since our experience is here limited to the life now known1 we are utterly without data or ability to image forth such a conception of immortality in any form of picture or mental scenery4 ,there seem to be only three ways in which we can give imaginative representation of a future life4 ,the first is the method of the universal barbarian mind1 which paints the life to come as a shadowy reflex or copy of the present world and life1 an unsubstantial1 graspless1 yet actual and conscious realm of ghosts1 carrying on a pale and noiseless mimicry of their former adventures in the body4 ,holding fast to that clew of analogy which is the nucleus of philosophy in this view1 but rejecting the rest as fantastic figment1 we arrive at the next way in which those who are unwilling to leave their thoughts of the future life in empty rational abstraction1 portray it in vivid concrete4 ,this they do by means of the doctrine of a general bodily resurrection of the dead4 ,it is a striking fact that four of the great historic and literary religions have taught the doctrine of immortality under the form of a physical resurrection1 namely3 ,zoroastrianism1 ,judaism1 ,christianity1 and ,mohammedanism4 ,it has been attributed1 also1 to the ancient religion of ,egypt1 but erroneously4 ,its belief there is a mere inference from facts which do not really imply it4 ,the ,egyptians plainly believed in a series of individual reincarnations1 not in any general resurrection4 ,but it is a sufficiently interesting and impressive fact that over one third of the human race have embodied their expectation of a future eternal life in this concrete and astonishing form4 ,it has not rested on a basis of reason1 but on one of asserted revelation and authority4 ,it originated in the fact that the only life of which we now have any experience is a life in the body1 and1 therefore1 this is the life which we instinctively love and prefer2 also in the fact that this is the only mode of life which we are able to represent to ourselves in any satisfactory1 apprehensible image4 ,it then bolstered itself up by arbitrary theological theorizings1 and proclaimed itself with sanctions of a pretended supernatural authority4 ,slowly the minds of its disciples were drilled to a familiarity with it1 and to a habit of implicitly believing it1 which grew strong enough to make them hold to it in spite of its difficulty as a sheer and violent miracle having no connection whatever with the natural order of things4 ,authority and passive habit long maintained the belief in unbroken sway4 ,they still so support it in the ,mohammedan world1 where there is almost no science1 but little skeptical thought1 and a common uniformity of abject submission to the word of the ,koran4 ,but in ,christendom it fares differently4 ,here1 the knowledge of modern science and habits of free inquiry are almost universally diffused4 ,the consequence is1 since the chief ,christian belief in immortality has been identified with the notion of a general physical resurrection of the dead at the last day1 and since all philosophical and scientific thinking refutes that notion by setting its arbitrariness and monstrous abnormality in high and steep relief against the consensus of demonstrated knowledge and moral probability1 that the popular belief of ,christendom in immortality itself is depolarized and swiftly dropping into decay with a large class of persons4 ,but this spread of doubt and denial1 while a natural process1 is yet an illogical and unnecessary one4 ,the competent thinker will extricate the question of the immortality of the soul from its accidental entanglement with the doctrine of the resurrection1 and1 rejecting the latter as incredible1 still affirm the former on its own independent grounds4 ,to prove and illustrate these statements we must here give a little additional study1 fresh and independent study1 to the subject4 ,the doctrine of the resurrection of the flesh is bound up with the whole fabric of the ,catholic and ,orthodox dogmatic theology of ,christendom1 and cannot be removed without logically shaking that system of belief into pieces4 ,and yet the doctrine1 as has been shown in a previous chapter1 is unscriptural and of a purely pagan origin1 the ,new ,testament foretelling a resurrection of spirits from the underworld1 not of bodies from the grave4 ,it has no real analogies in the world1 but is a figment of fancy1 unsupported by reason on any authentic physical or moral grounds4 ,it is1 furthermore1 a doctrine whose realization is impossible1 because it is a self destroying absurdity4 ,all that we need for demonstrating its absolute incredibility1 is simply to ultimate its implications1 carry it out in thought to the necessary results which its ignorant originators never foresaw4 ,the doctrine of a physical resurrection presupposes that our race was originally intended to be immortal on earth1 and that death was a penalty for sin4 ,fill out the theory4 ,adam and ,eve1 made male and female1 were commanded to multiply and replenish the earth4 ,their descendants1 doubling every twenty five years1 would1 after sixty or seventy generations had accumulated1 have covered the whole earth so thickly that they would be packed in one immovable mass1 the whole planet carpeted with their forms and paved with their upturned faces4 ,not an inch of room on the globe for any harvest to grow or any creature to move2 the world1 crowded and imbedded at every point with one continuous multitude of immortal human beings1 would have then rolled around the zodiac1 presenting this chronic and motionless picture1 to all eternity6 ,if it be maintained that had it not been for sin and its penalty1 the successive generations would neither have died nor have remained forever on the earth1 but would have been translated bodily to some other world1 the absurdity just exposed is escaped only to introduce another one equally glaring4 ,for in time1 the entire solid contents of the globe would thus be removed1 and the disappearance of our planet unhinge the solar system and produce a general cataclysm4 ,the solid contents of the earth have been estimated at about thirty nine trillions of cubic feet4 ,seventy five doublings of the primal pair would reach to over seventy trillions of human beings1 each containing more than a solid cubic foot4 ,it is perfectly clear1 therefore1 in any view1 that the only way in which the human race1 with their reproductive constitution1 could permanently inhabit the world is by the present system of successive births and deaths2 a system1 furthermore1 which science shows to have been in working existence among the preceding races of creatures for innumerable ages before the mythical sin of ,adam and ,eve1 with its mythical consequences4 ,the fabulous scheme of an intended bodily immortality on the earth is a discordant and disagreeable one in every respect1 asthetic1 rational1 and moral4 ,it jars incongruously with the great order of nature and providence1 which everywhere interpolates a night between two days1 a sleep between two wakings1 to keep the edge of consciousness fresh and the possibilities of pleasure alive4 ,imprisoned in this carcass of flesh with its ignoble necessities for endless ages1 the contemplation of the fearful burden of monotony would be insufferable to any one who had thought the case out in all its details with vivid realization4 ,and yet1 so unthinking are most persons in regard to the conventional beliefs prevalent in society1 ,parsees1 ,jews1 ,christians and ,mohammedans1 professedly base their entire faith in immortality on this dogma with the resurrection involved in it4 ,when carried out in its particulars by the imagination1 the doctrine is self evidently untenable1 contradictory to the essential facts of human nature under the given conditions of the material creation4 ,it had its theologic birth in the speculations of the dualistic religion of ,persia1 whence it was first borrowed by the ,jews1 then secondarily adopted into ,christianity1 and thence finally impacted into the mongrel creed of ,mohammed and his followers4 ,it is philosophically irreconcilable with a pure monotheism2 for1 if ,god be infinite1 no enemy could subvert his original scheme and force ,him to an arbitrary miracle to restore it4 ,it is a creaking and dissonant artifice1 every way repugnant to all whose reason and sentiment have learned to love the smooth and continuous evolution of the order of the cosmos and the connected destinies of conscious beings4 ,it is absolutely refuted by the double reductio ad absurdum shown above to be contained in it4 ,yet1 while the grounds on which the common belief in a destined general resurrection of the dead rests have really lost their validity to the mind of the nineteenth century1 the millions of ,islam and ,christendom retain the article unchanged in their creeds1 and to question it is a heresy4 ,no wonder skepticism flourishes and genuine faith decays4 ,this clinging to an outgrown scheme is not only from the strong drift of a passive mental conformity1 as the train of cars keeps on for some time after the dynamic locomotive has been taken off4 ,another reason is that the tenet is so centrally imbedded in the dogmatic ecclesiasticism that it cannot be extricated without involving all the associated dogmas4 ,therefore1 one portion of this knowing generation repeat the formula and blink the difficulties1 while another portion go over to open disbelief of any future life4 ,the doctrine of the literal resurrection of the body from the grave is incredible to the educated and free intelligence of the age4 ,in continuing to affirm it ecclesiastical ,christendom brands itself with frivolity1 not earnest enough to carry its thought in loyalty to truth as far as possible1 or with hypocrisy1 consciously dishonest to its doubts4 ,it is a precious boon to be rid of such an unnatural and ominous belief as that in the final disemboguing of the dead by sea and land1 the tumbling of the rocks1 the falling of the stars1 and the everlasting torture of the condemned in a prison of fire4 ,far better than any such doctrine is a calm confronting of the mystery of the future in its confessed secrecy as it is1 and a peaceful resignation to the will of ,god in conscious ignorance and trust4 ,and yet the believer in this scheme of colossal and ghastly necromancy1 when confronted with the unanswerable arguments against it1 is sometimes found clinging to it with willful tenacity1 and bitterly complaining of those who refute it1 that they would rob him of his faith and give him nothing in exchange4 ,suppose a man to believe that in the year nineteen hundred the earth will be exploded1 and that all men1 except himself and the little clique of his friends1 will be strung for eternity on a red hot iron wire in empty space4 ,suppose that this horrid notion is clearly proved to him to be an error4 ,then1 because he is not taught exactly what will happen in the year nineteen hundred1 he1 the unhappy man1 assails his enlightener for having robbed him of his faith and given him nothing in exchange6 ,is not the truth of ignorance better than the falsity of superstition8 ,modest faith in front of the shrouded unknown can well stand comparison with the arrogant and incompetent exultation of fanaticism4 ,in regard to that belated relic of the belief in magic1 the doctrine of the literal resurrection of the dead in their fleshy bodies1 let us gratefully wipe it all out and draw a long breath of relief4 ,let us rejoice to know that the will of ,god will be done in the fulfilling order of the universe1 although we may now be ignorant of precisely what that will is4 ,believing the will of ,god to be good1 whether revealed or concealed1 we can afford to wait in peace1 trying in the meantime to carry our individual character and our social state and experience here steadily toward perfection4 ,surely1 that is the best way to prepare ourselves for whatever lies beyond4 ,and yet we are not wholly shut up to mere blind faith4 ,there is always some ground of moral truth in every widely extended dogmatic belief4 ,in casting off the dogma we should carefully extract its moral purport and try to give it a more authentic setting4 ,it will not be hard to do this with reference to the doctrine now under consideration4 ,obscure and complicated and baffling as the problem of our future destiny is1 we can already trace many a line of light1 many a prophetic signal and hint suggestive of what is ordained to happen to the individual and the race4 ,unquestionably1 the genuine moral reason why the belief in the fleshly resurrection has been so general and tenacious is the two fold consideration3 first2 that we desire our future life to be an incarnate life because our experience makes that form of being realizable and precious to our imagination1 while a disembodied ghostliness is1 perforce1 repulsively vacant and abstract2 and1 secondly because our affection and our imagination and our conscience profoundly crave the complete fulfillment of the scheme of the historic career of collective humanity in this world in some such manner1 that here1 on this dear old earth1 the experience of our whole race may be brought to a clear epical unity1 and may close with an illuminating justification of providence in the sight of all men1 who shall then read the interpretation of their entire past1 and see together eye to eye4 ,now we believe that the essence of this natural desire and this sublime hope is a divine prophecy which shall be fulfilled4 ,we believe that in the very falsity of the doctrine of a carnal resurrection and judgment there lurks a truth yet to break out in overwhelming refulgence and perfectly satisfy every soul of man4 ,but it will be brought about by the gradual culmination of the means and processes which ,god is now visibly carrying forward1 and not by any sudden convulsion of miracle4 ,the faculties of human consciousness in the individual and the race are in process of development4 ,also the transmissible sum of knowledge1 on which those faculties employ themselves1 is in process of rapid increase4 ,the faculties of knowledge possessed by an accomplished master of literature and science now1 contrasted with those of a cannibal savage of the pre glacial epoch1 reveal an advance which hardly needs to be repeated in order to give us a comprehension of the whole experience of our kind on earth1 quite ample to explain the facts of the case and solve the problem of our destiny4 ,the grasp of our intelligence and the richness of our sensibility increase along the ages4 ,the generalizations of our philosophy grow wider1 the gropings of our sympathetic faith become vaster1 the retrospection and the prevision of our science keener and longer and more inclusive1 every generation4 ,it is very significant that the further away we get from the prehistoric times the more we learn about them4 ,archaology is one of the latest and most swiftly enlarging branches of knowledge4 ,let the processes thus indicated go on1 as they have gone on and are with accelerated pace going on1 and the date is not beyond prophecy when all earthly and human secrets will be solved1 and their mysteries be revealed1 and the autobiographic book and volume of the world be opened1 and the universal tribunal be set in the light of every life1 and the irreversible judgment be declared1 by the simple revelation of the truth of history in the web of its relations4 ,for as every atom of matter is conjoined by all the laws of nature with all other atoms of matter1 and the history of all their adventures is registered by their own indestructible vibrations in the elemental spaces of the universe where they run their career1 so every identity of spirit is conjoined by all the laws of spirit with all other spirits1 and all their deeds and sufferings are ineffaceably self registered in their reactions upon the authors1 in the pictures they shed upon space1 and the influences they set rolling through the eternity of successive souls and lives4 ,all1 then1 that is needed for a perfectly vindicating judgment is the awakening of consciousness to the full view of the facts4 ,and the tendencies are powerfully moving in that direction4 ,what was the illumination of ,swedenborg but the taking possession by his consciousness of the unconscious lower nervous system1 with all its impacted ancestral experiences and wondrous relations with the visible and invisible worlds8 ,and this may be repeated1 by and by1 and be perfected1 and become common4 ,what may result is as yet almost inconceivable4 ,let us trace a little1 in this regard1 the connections of the individual and the face1 and follow out some of their implications4 ,suppose that in turn every child born begets or bears two children4 ,then in the thirtieth generation the transmitted qualities of spirit1 nerve and blood1 of the single original pair of parents will be represented in upwards of one thousand millions of descendants4 ,it is clear from this law1 allowing for all deviations from its numerical progression on account of inter marriages and of failures of offspring1 how powerfully and swiftly the ever multiplying streams of consanguinity are spreading in every direction1 affiliating and fraternizing the whole human race literally into one family1 the innumerable rills of separate descent intermingling as they flow on1 and finally diffusing over the earth in that oceanic unity of humanity1 which1 when full1 will beat with the tidal pulse of a single sympathy4 ,it is believed by many that no experience of any living creature is ever lost1 but is by its own spontaneous and exact reflex vibrations either registered in the conscious memory or deposited in the unconscious organism in latent perfection of vestige and tendency4 ,memory is a faithful treasurer of all the stores of events4 ,suppose now that each parent bequeaths in the dynamic germ of his progeny the possibility of reviving into consciousness1 when the proper conditions shall be furnished1 the accumulated sum of all that has happened throughout the entire line of his ancestry4 ,and again1 imagine that all the souls composing the human race each of which is a substantial and indestructible entity1 living incarnated over and over1 and not a mere phenomenal process that vanishes into nothing with the dissolution of the body are so limited in number that they may be embodied on the earth in one generation1 whose members shall be so conjoined in knowledge and fellowship that the life of the whole is concentrated in every one1 and the life of every one mirrored in the whole4 ,now1 finally1 let it be conceived that this latest generation1 including all who have ever inhabited the world1 at last attain a development which enables them to grasp in distinct consciousness the collective sum of the organic heritage of the race1 each one reading with perfect clearness in every particular the complete history of humanity from the beginning to the end1 understanding all its causes1 courses and consequences1 and beholding with unspeakable delight the justification of the ways of ,god1 the whole universe opening into free intercommunication1 as if time and space were either no more or else their measures were of boundless subjective elasticity1 every creature found in peace and rapture at the goal of his destiny4 ,that1 indeed1 would be a realization of the day of judgment and the resurrection of the dead1 but without a shock or a jar in the course of things which science reveals4 ,the process of development now going on1 if carried far enough1 will naturally result in this or in something equivalent to it2 while the notion of the vomiting forth of the accumulated dead from land and sea1 at the blast of a trumpet1 is a wild piece of imagery1 borrowed from startling political phenomena1 and applied with absurd incongruity to the chronic providence of ,god4 ,the former view contains all the moral significance of the latter1 but without its violation of probability4 ,nor is it all necessary that the climax shall be brought about of a simultaneous universal judgment1 or of the appearance of our whole race on the earth at one time4 ,the giving of the vision to souls subjectively1 one after another1 in the order of their attainment of the conditions1 would meet every requirement of the case4 ,to each one in turn1 wherever he was1 as the result broke on him in the ecstatic glory of all it means1 the essence of the so long cherished faith of ,christendom would be justified1 and the providential theater and scenery of human experience would appear under its illumination as a dazzling vision of poetic justice perfect at every point4 ,marvelous and almost incredible as this scheme of thought may seem1 it is not more mysterious in itself1 or more staggering in its demand on our faith1 than many things successively were which are now established beyond a doubt such as the telegraphic conversation of men through the ocean and around the globe2 the seven hundred and thirty three thousand millions of ethereal vibrations in a second1 which cause the report of the violet ray in consciousness2 the transcendent disclosures of the spectrum analysis2 the conception of gravitation as a force which holds all matter in unbroken union1 and acts throughout the stellar universe with timeless simultaneity4 ,it is in entire keeping with everything else in the workings of ,god1 as demonstrated by science1 on every hand1 both in nature and history4 ,the atomic theory and the nebular hypothesis1 the chemical crucible and the mathematical calculus1 the microscope and the telescope discover to our senses and our reason1 wherever we look1 facts as mysterious to the understanding1 and as baffling to the imagination as any of the foregoing implications2 showing us1 in every department of nature and experience1 the bewildering miracles of the infinitely little and the infinitely great exactly balanced and perpetually passing into one another4 ,there is a third way1 in addition to the ghost world of the primitive faith of barbarians1 and the resurrection climax of the ,christian and ,parsee and ,hebrew and ,moslem creeds1 in which the imagination of man1 moved by his instinct and reason1 has concreted the idea of a future life2 namely1 by the doctrine of transmigration4 ,a striking feature and no slight recommendation of the foregoing view of the true meaning of the dogma of the resurrection is that it reconciles these two chief forms of the belief in immortal life4 ,for resurrection and transmigration agree in the central point of a restoration of the disembodied soul to a new bodily existence1 only the former represents this as a single collective miracle wrought by an arbitrary stroke of ,god at the close of the earthly drama1 the latter depicts it as constantly taking place in the regular fulfillment of the divine plan in the creation4 ,this difference is certainly1 to a scientific and philosophical thinker1 who reasons on the data of nature and experience and not on the dicta of theologians1 strongly in favor of the ,oriental theory4 ,we have no experience whatever of any general resurrection1 but all experience is full of the constant appearances of souls in freshly created bodies throughout the scale of sentient being4 ,if our final future life is to be a bodily one there surely is a world of presumptive evidence1 therefore1 in behalf of transmigration as opposed to resurrection4 ,besides the various distinctive arguments of its own1 every reason for the resurrection holds with at least equal force for transmigration4 ,the argument from analogy is especially strong4 ,it is natural to argue from the universal spectacle of incarnated life that this is the eternal scheme everywhere1 the variety of souls finding in the variety of worlds an everlasting series of adventures1 in appropriate organisms2 there being1 as ,paul said1 one kind of flesh of birds1 another kind of flesh of beasts1 another of men1 another of angels1 and so on4 ,our present lack of recollection of past lives is no disproof of their actuality4 ,every night we lose all knowledge of the past1 but every day we reawaken to a memory of the whole series of days and nights4 ,so in one life we may forget or dream1 and in another recover the whole thread of experience from the beginning4 ,in every event1 it must be confessed that of all the thoughtful and refined forms of the belief in a future life none has had so extensive and prolonged a prevalence as this4 ,it has the vote of the majority1 having for ages on ages been held by half of the human race with an intensity of conviction almost without a parallel4 ,indeed the most striking fact1 at first sight1 about the doctrine of the repeated existences of the soul incarnated in different organisms1 its form and experience in each successive embodiment being determined by its merits and demerits in the preceding ones1 is the constant reappearance of the faith in it in all parts of the world1 and its permanent hold on certain great nations4 ,the ancient civilization of ,egypt1 whose contrasted splendors and horrors awaken astonishment more and more with each step in the progressive decipherment of its mysterious record1 seems largely to have grown out of this faith4 ,the swarming millions of ,india also1 through the chief periods of their history1 have lain under its spell1 suffered their lives1 wrought their great works of government1 architecture1 philosophy1 and poetry1 and in its belief meditated1 aspired1 and exhaled their souls4 ,ruder forms of it are reported among innumerable barbaric tribes4 ,it played an important part in the speculations of the early ,fathers of the ,christian ,church1 and has often cropped out in the works of later theologians4 ,men of the profoundest metaphysical genius1 like ,scotus ,erigena and ,leibnitz1 have affirmed it1 and sought to give it a logical or scientific basis4 ,and even amidst the predominance of skeptical and materialistic influences in ,europe and ,america1 at the present time1 we constantly meet individuals with independent minds who earnestly believe the alluring dogma4 ,for1 to a large and varied class of minds1 the doctrine holds a transcendent attraction as well as a manifold plausibility4 ,another striking fact connected with this doctrine is that it seems to be a native and ineradicable growth of the ,oriental world2 but appears in the ,western world only in scattered instances1 and rather as an exotic form of thought4 ,in the growing freedom and liberality of thought1 which no less than its doubt and denial1 now characterize ,christendom1 it seems as if the full time had come for a greater mental and asthetic hospitality on the part of ,christians towards ,hindus4 ,the advocates of the resurrection should not confine their attention to the repellent or the ludicrous aspects of metempsychosis1 but do justice to its claim and its charm4 ,the ,pantheistic tendency which possessed and overwhelmed the ,brahminic mind1 shaping and tinging its views opened the whole range of sentient existences to an indiscriminate sympathy1 and made the idea of transmigration natural1 and more pleasing than repugnant4 ,furthermore1 the ,brahminic thinkers and sages were a distinct class of men whose whole lives were absorbed in introspective reveries and metaphysical broodings calculated to stimulate the imagination and arouse to the keenest consciousness all the latent marvels and possibilities of human experience1 thus furnishing the most favorable conditions for exactly such a belief as that of transmigration1 an endless series of ever varying adventures for the imperishable soul4 ,and the vast swarms of the common people in the ,east are the passive followers of this high caste of thinkers1 abjectly accepting what they teach4 ,accordingly1 the mysterious doctrine of the metempsychosis has held the entire mind1 sentiment and civilization of the ,east1 through every period of its history1 as with an irreversible spell4 ,the persistent practice of various modes of profound and rhythmical breathing by which the ,brahmins perfect their respiration1 and the keen and sustained concentration of their attention on their inner states1 tend at the same time to heighten the richness and intensity of the cerebral nerves1 to unify the connections of the lower nerve centres with them1 and to fuse the unconscious physiological processes with the conscious psychological processes4 ,then the persevering disuse and suppression of the action of their outer senses cause the objects of the material world around them to seem more vague and dreamy than the impressions of the ideal world within4 ,and so the earth with all its affairs seems an illusion1 while their own unsought trains of thought1 feeling and imagery the rich mental panorama of pictures and events1 are taken for a series of substantial revelations of the universe of being4 ,an irresistible belief in preexistence1 immortality and transmigration1 results4 ,on the contrary1 in the ,western world1 the characteristic tendencies are all different4 ,pantheistic theories are rarely held1 and the dreams and emotions which those theories are fitted to feed are foreign and repulsive4 ,an impassible barrier is imagined separating humanity from every other form of being4 ,speculative reason1 imagination and affection1 are chiefly employed in scientific studies and social pursuits1 or personal schemes1 external rather than internal4 ,this absorption in material things and evanescent affairs engenders in the spirit an arid atmosphere of doubt and denial1 in which no efflorescence of poetic and mystic faiths can flourish4 ,thus1 while the outward utilities abound1 hard negations spread abroad2 and living1 personal apprehension of ,god1 of an all pervasive ,providence1 and of the immortality of the soul in any form1 dies out either in open infidelity or in a mere verbal acceptance of the established creed of society4 ,consequently1 to the average mind of the modern ,western world1 the doctrine of transmigration remains a mere fancy1 although1 as we shall immediately see1 it has a strange poetic charm1 a deep metaphysical basis1 and a high ethical and religious quality4 ,the first ground on which the belief rests is the various strong resemblances1 both physical and psychical1 connecting human beings with the whole family of lower creatures4 ,they have all the senses in common with us1 together with the rudiments of intelligence and will4 ,they all seem created after one plan1 as if their varieties were the gradulations of a single original type4 ,we recognize kindred forms of experience and modes of expression in ourselves and in them4 ,now the man seems a travesty of the hog1 the parrot1 the ape1 the hawk1 or the shark2 now they seem travesties of him4 ,as we gaze at the ruminating ox1 couched on the summer grass1 notice the slow rhythm of his jaw1 and the wondering dreaminess of his eyes1 it is not difficult to fancy him some ancient ,brahmin transmigrated to this1 and patiently awaiting his release4 ,nor is it incongruous with our reason or moral feeling to suppose that the cruel monsters of humanity may in a succeeding birth find the fit penalty for their degradation and crime1 in the horrid life of a crocodile or a boa constrictor4 ,the conception of a series of connected lives also furnishes a plausible explanation for many mysteries in our present experience4 ,reference is made to all that class of phenomena covered by the ,platonic doctrine of reminiscence4 ,faces previously unseen1 and localities unvisited1 awaken in us a vivid feeling of a long familiarity with them4 ,thoughts and emotions1 not hitherto entertained1 come to us as if we had welcomed and dismissed them a thousand times in periods long gone by4 ,many an experience1 apparently novel and untried1 makes us start as at the shadowy reminder of something often known before4 ,the supposition of forgotten lives preceding the present1 portions of whose consciousness reverberate and gleam through the veils of thought and sense1 seems to throw satisfactory light on this strange department of experience4 ,much more weighty and penetrative1 however1 than the foregoing considerations is the philosophical argument in behalf of transmigration1 drawn from the nature of the soul4 ,consciousness being in its very essence the feeling of itself1 the conscious soul can never feel itself annihilated1 even in thought it only loses the knowledge of its being when it lapses into unconsciousness1 as in sleep or trance4 ,the soul may indeed think of its own annihilation but cannot realize the thought in feeling1 since the fainter emotional reflex upon the idea of its destruction is instantly contradicted and over borne by the more massive and vivid sense of its persistent being in immediate consciousness4 ,this incessant self assertion of consciousness at once suggests the idea of its being independent of the changing and vanishing body in which it is temporarily shrined4 ,then the conception naturally follows that the soul1 as it has once appeared in human form1 so it may reappear indefinitely in any of the higher or lower forms of being which compose the hierarchy of the universe4 ,the eternity of the soul1 past and future1 once accepted by the mind1 leads directly to the construction of the whole scheme of metempsychosis an everlasting succession of births and deaths1 disembodiments and reembodiments1 with their laws of personality and fortunes of time and space weaving the boundless web of destiny and playing the endless drama of providence4 ,but the strongest support of the theory of transmigration is the happy moral solution it seems to give to the problem of the dark and distressing inequality and injustice which otherwise appear so predominant in the experience of the world4 ,to the superficial observer of human life the whole scene of struggle1 sin and sorrow1 nobleness and joy1 triumph and defeat1 is a tangled maze of inconsistencies1 a painful combination of violent discords4 ,but if we believe that every soul1 from that of the lowest insect to that of the greatest archangel1 forms an affiliated member of the infinite family of ,god1 and is eternal in its conscious essence1 perishable only as to its evanescent disguises of unconscious incarnation2 that every act of every creature is followed by its legitimate reactions2 that these actions and reactions constitute a law of retribution absolutely perfect2 that these souls1 with all their doings and sufferings are interconnected with one another1 and with the whole1 all whose relationships copenetrate and cooperate with mutual influences whose reports are infallible and with lines of sequence that never break1 then the bewildering maze becomes a vindicated plan1 the horrible discord a divine harmony4 ,what an explication it gives of those mysteries of evil1 pain1 sorrow and retribution1 which often wrap the innocent and the wicked in one sad fate1 if we but see that no individual stands alone1 but trails along with him the unfinished sequels of all ancestral experience1 and1 furthermore1 is so bound up with his simultaneous race that each is responsible for all and all for each1 and that no one can be wholly saved or safe until all are redeemed and perfected6 ,then every suffering we endure for faults not our own1 the consequence of the deeds of others1 assumes a holy light and a sublime dignity1 associating us with that great sacrament of atoning pain whereof the crucified ,christ is not the exclusive instance but the representative head4 ,the above translation of the ecclesiastical doctrine of the resurrection into a form scientifically credible1 and reconciled with the immemorial tenet of transmigration1 may seem to some a very fanciful speculation1 a mere intellectual toy4 ,perhaps it is so4 ,it is not propounded with the slightest dogmatic animus4 ,it is advanced solely as an illustration of what may possibly be true1 as suggested by the general evidence of the phenomena of history and the facts of experience4 ,the thoughts embodied in it are so wonderful1 the method of it is so rational1 the region of contemplation into which it lifts the mind is so grand1 the prospects it opens are of such universal reach and import1 that the study of it brings us into full sympathy with the sublime scope of the idea of immortality and of a cosmopolitan vindication of providence uncovered to every eye4 ,it takes us out of the littleness of petty themes and selfish affairs1 and makes it easier for us to believe in the vastest hopes mankind have ever known4 ,it causes the most magnificent conceptions of human destiny to seem simply proportional to the native magnitude and beauty of the powers of the mind which can conceive such things4 ,after traversing the grounds here set forth we feel that if the view based on them be not the truth1 it must be because ,god has in reserve for us a sequel greater and lovelier1 not meaner than our brightest dream hitherto4 ,the worthiest theory of the fate of man which the spirit of man can construct must either be a revelatory divination of the truth1 or an inadequate attempt to grasp the design of the ,creator in its true glory4 ,it is impious and absurd to hold that man can think out a scheme superior to the one ,god has decreed4 ,and it seems equally unreasonable to suppose that the scheme of ,god for the future stages of our career is one which has no hints in our present experience4 ,certainly it appears more likely that the sequel will be discovered by the logical completion of the inwrought order which has been slowly unfolding from the first4 ,and what do history and prophecy show more plainly than the tendency to a convergence of all humanity in every man8 ,spreading consanguinity in descent and growth of sympathetic knowledge both point to this4 ,perfect this in each man1 and illuminate his whole organism and its relations with adequate intelligence1 and we have a true resurrection1 not indeed of decayed bodies from the grave1 but of historic states of consciousness from their latent embedment in the nervous system1 and their undulatory record in the dynamic medium of the creation4 ,our senses now convert certain sets of undulations of the ethereal medium into perceptions of light1 heat1 sound1 and so interpret their contents and extract their tidings4 ,it is not impossible that in a coming stage of development we may obtain additional senses2 our spirits may command the means of translating into correspondent states of consciousness all the other modes of vibration of the ethereal medium1 and grasp the keys of unlimited knowledge deciphering every secret wherever they go4 ,the whole universe may be a palimpsest preserving the inscriptions of all deeds1 and every soul may be a reagent gifted with the power to recover and read its own4 ,as each generation is the inheritor of the preceding ones1 all of which from the first prolong their existence into the last in unbroken continuity of historic conduct and responsibility1 justice may at the ripened period be naturally summed up without any miracle4 ,we all are projections of our ancestors4 ,they properly in us suffer and enjoy in accordance with what has flowed from their lives4 ,the whole of this1 lighted up with consciousness at last1 may be the real meaning of the burden of the spirit given to the apostle ,paul1 but misinterpreted by him into the mechanico scenic scheme of the ,judaized ,christian ,church4 ,for when the mighty influx struck the brain of the persecuting zealot1 revolutionizing his life1 it came into connection with all the inflamed theories and convictions so deeply drilled therein by his ,pharisaic education4 ,these convictions1 partly of a mere local and transient character1 associated with legends of ,adam and ,abraham and the under world and ,christ and the sky1 mixed with the true and universal import of the higher inspiration now given him1 caused his misconstrual of its message1 and stamped the purely human and providential meaning of the doctrine of the resurrection with the rabbinical die of a politico mythological dogma4 ,if this were so1 it is not the only instance in which the preexistent discolorations in the mind of an inspired prophet have refracted the truth of his burden into distorted error and bequeathed the task of a future rectification when more light shall have come4 ,in the next place1 we come to the fourth reason for the growing doubts and disbelief of our day in immortality4 ,it is the remarkable diffusion of the habits of thought engendered by the study of materialistic science4 ,the authority of physical science has been rapidly encroaching on and displacing the authority of the church theology and sectarian creeds4 ,belief in invariable laws has undermined belief in miracle and supernatural revelation4 ,those who had been taught that the resurrection of ,christ was the only adequate proof of the immortality of the soul1 learning to deny the former1 have naturally proceeded to question the latter4 ,for in such matters the real implications of logic are little noticed4 ,the religious skepticism nourished by physical science is in all respects really as irrational and baseless as it is actual4 ,for example1 the resurrection of ,christ1 admitting it to be a fact1 did not create the immortality it was considered to illustrate4 ,if he rose1 it was because men are immortal1 and men are not immortal because he rose4 ,if he did not rise1 men are immortal all the same1 provided human immortality be a truth2 if it be not a truth1 the resurrection of ,christ would be an isolated abnormal event without any logical validity on the question4 ,the truth or falsity of human immortality1 therefore1 is a question of the creative plan of ,god and the essential nature of man1 to be decided on the intrinsic evidences1 and cannot logically be affected one way or the other by any individual historic occurrence limited to a certain time and place4 ,yet it is a practical necessity that any great popular faith1 if it rests on authority1 will be shocked and weakened by everything which shocks and weakens that authority1 no matter how adventitious it is4 ,if one cannot believe in the preternatural resurrection of ,christ1 that surely is no valid reason for denying the natural immortality of the soul1 but only a good reason for seeking to learn if there be not adequate grounds for this faith quite independent of scripture text and priestly assertion4 ,precisely the same reasoning holds in relation to the doubts about spiritual realities bred in the minds of those whose studies are conversant exclusively with material realities4 ,the professors of physical science1 thoroughly familiarized with things which combine and dissolve1 often come to fancy that everything is phenomenal and evanescent1 that there is no immaterial substance1 that spirit is not entity but process1 that thought and feeling and will are mere transient functions of transient matter4 ,thus all faith in the individuality of mind is pulverized at the fountain head4 ,there can be no question but that such is the common influence of a constant contemplation of the physical aspects alone of physical things4 ,mentality1 consciousness1 is regarded as the prismatic bow in the cloud1 a spectral show that appears and vanishes1 with no permanent substance4 ,at the present time1 in ,christendom1 the one conquering power in literature1 the one fascinating absorption of thought in society1 is that connected with the cultivation of physical science4 ,its prestige is overwhelming4 ,its prevalent methods and results give a materialistic turn of interpretation to the popular mind upon all subjects4 ,the direct consequence1 among that class of minds who put physical science above theology1 is the spreading disavowal of all belief in the immortality of the soul4 ,the fallacy is obvious1 and the remedy is simple1 if there be at hand but enough of modest candor and patience fairly to weigh the facts of the case in the scales of a sound logic4 ,in the first place1 by the very structure of our being1 by the very necessity of our experience1 the universe is divided into two irreconcilable classes of realities1 namely1 spiritual subjects and material objects4 ,sensations1 perceptions1 emotions1 thoughts1 volitions1 all qualities of mind1 all states of consciousness1 are absolutely immaterial4 ,they are more real to us1 that is to say1 they more inexpugnably assert and maintain themselves1 than material things do3 and it is only hopeless vulgarity and incompetence of thinking which can ever confuse or merge them with material things4 ,matter is that which proves itself to spirit by the effects it produces on spirit4 ,spirit is that which is its own evidence4 ,the center of consciousness in us is its own proof of its own being1 and all that occurs within it is its own proof1 and is unsusceptible of any other or foreign demonstration4 ,hope1 fear1 love1 imagination1 reason1 are absolutely unthinkable as forms of material substance1 however exquisitely refined and exalted4 ,there is no conceivable community of being between a sentiment and an atom1 a gas and an aspiration1 an idea of truth in the soul and any mass of matter in space4 ,each of these facts1 conscious thought and material extension1 has its own incommunicable and incomparable sphere of being and laws of action1 which can be confused only by ignorance and sophistry4 ,so clear has this become to all profound reflection1 that the ablest supporters of the theory of evolution1 with all their preponderant bias in favor of physical science1 declare1 in the words of ,herbert ,spencer1 that if compelled to choose between thinking of spirit in the terms of matter and thinking of matter in the terms of spirit1 they should take the latter alternative and give an idealistic interpretation to nature rather than a materialistic interpretation to the soul4 ,it is logically clear1 then1 despite the fallacious influences of habit to the contrary1 that no progress of the physical sciences1 no conceivable amount of induction and generalization as to the composition or decomposition of material bodies1 can throw any new light or darkness on the nature and destiny of the immaterial soul4 ,the incessant flux of phenomena constructing and destroying apparent things1 though studied till the observing eye sees nothing but mirage anywhere1 has nothing to do with the steady persistence of spiritual identity4 ,to force it to discredit our claim to a divine descent and an endless inheritance is a glaring sophism4 ,the question must be snatched back from the assumption of the retort and crucible1 the observational and numerical methods of the physical realm1 and relegated to the legitimate tests of the moral and metaphysical realm4 ,again1 there is furnished in the results of the study of physical science itself1 as pursued by its most gifted masters1 a glorious overthrow and neutralization of the moral and religious doubts called out in its shallower votaries by their absorption in its more superficial phases4 ,the scientific men of the most profound intellectual power and the most brilliant original genius1 the supreme heads of chemistry1 dynamics and mathematics1 have applied to the phenomena of the material creation modes of observation and instruments of reasoning before whose compelling efficacy the whole frowning vastitude of the outer universe melts into ideal points of force and forms of law4 ,everything in time and space is reduced to molecular vibrations1 regulated by the mental conceptions of number1 weight and measure4 ,the reasonings of such men as ,oersted and ,faraday on electricity and magnetism2 of ,sir ,william ,thomson and ,clerk ,maxwell on thermodynamics2 the theories of the greatest mathematicians1 grasping all things in heaven and earth with their irresistible calculus1 literally using infinites as toys1 creating imaginary quantities1 and1 going through certain operations with them1 actually discovering new truths in the solid domain of reality yield conceptions of order1 beauty and sublimity1 and emotions of wonder1 awe and delight1 nowhere else surpassed4 ,they exalt the spectacle of nature into a vision of poetic intelligence1 and show the theorizing mind of man to be akin to the creating mind of ,god4 ,thus1 if skepticism as to the deathless royalty of soul is bred in the physicist who constantly stoops with the scalpel and the microscope1 it is offset in him who1 with as steady a judgment1 soars to the contemplation of the ethereal medium with its lines of force traversing immensity and vibrating timelessly along their whole length1 loaded1 for those who can interpret them1 with tidings of all that happens4 ,instead of spirit being materialized1 matter is spiritualized and nature transfigured into the ideal home of ideal entities4 ,dumas1 years ago1 asserted that hydrogen gas is but an etherealized metal4 ,just now1 it is said1 ,pictet has succeeded1 under a pressure of six hundred and fifty atmospheres1 in actually crystallizing oxygen and hydrogen4 ,one has only to read such papers as those of ,stallo on the fundamental concepts of science to learn that if matter or mind is ever to be lost1 it will not be mind4 ,but there remains a more direct and more important way of correcting the dismal or defiant doubts of immortality caused by the inferior phases of materialistic study2 and that is1 by bringing up to a correspondent fullness and intensity the counter activity of the ideal powers4 ,let justice be done to the subject as well as to the object4 ,over against the watching of clouds and waves1 the sorting of herbs1 the weighing of metals1 the measuring of quantities1 bring up the exercise of the mind on the treasures of qualitative substance in its own proper sphere of reason and love and faith4 ,admire the beautiful1 love the good1 obey the true1 worship the right1 aspire to the highest1 subordinate or sacrifice everything base or wrong in a generous service of duty1 and thus nourish a consciousness of those ontological relations by which the soul is rooted in the ,godhead1 and stimulate that intuitive efflorescence of faith which grows out of progressive fulfillment and which prophecies perpetuity of fulfillment4 ,to say the least1 the subject is as real as the object1 the contemplating faculty as valid as the phenomenon it confronts4 ,the teachings of the soul rightly construed are as authentic as the teachings of nature4 ,and1 some day in the future1 a complete system of truth developed from the central principle of the one by the subjective method will be found to correspond perfectly with the complete system of truth developed by the objective method from the central principle of the other4 ,as the objective scientific principle is the persistence of force1 the subjective scientific principle is the potential infinity of individual spirit1 each one the equivalent of the all4 ,what else than this can be the ultimate meaning of the primal1 universal1 indestructible antithesis or dual classification of being1 the ego and the non ego1 self and not self1 the former including each individual in his own apprehension1 the latter including all besides8 ,there is a philosophical authority which1 for those incompetent to judge for themselves1 should properly take the place vacated by the ecclesiastical authority1 which1 in our day1 is plainly on the wane4 ,multitudes no longer believe in the immortality of their souls on the ground of the resurrection of ,christ1 or the assertion of ,scripture or creed4 ,shall they1 then1 deny it altogether because the materialistic band clamor that it is a delusion1 and they themselves see no sufficient evidence for it8 ,there is a more appropriate alternative4 ,many theories in natural philosophy have been exploded by the proof of their absurdity1 and the correct explanations are accepted on trust by the multitudes incompetent to master their logical and mathematical grounds4 ,very few understand the proofs of the chief laws of nature1 but the vast majority of men implicitly trust the assertions of those who do know them4 ,in like manner there is a legitimate sphere for authority in moral and religious beliefs2 only it should be the authority of the competent and disinterested4 ,now1 it is a fact that the very greatest philosophers who have ever lived1 the preeminently imperial thinkers1 such as ,plato1 ,aristotle1 ,aquinas1 ,anselm1 ,hegel1 and the resplendent group of their peers1 have asserted as a necessary principle the real being and eternal substantiality of the soul4 ,besides all the combinations of matter that dissolve1 all the phenomena that pass1 they affirm the existence of enduring entities1 individual spirits1 thinkers conscious of their thoughts4 ,in central calm1 far within the struggle and vex of the rolling elements1 throned in its own serene realm of law1 lives the free1 conscious soul1 and will live eternally1 actualizing its potentialities4 ,nothing can disintegrate it1 because it is not an aggregate but a unity1 not a quantitative mass of matter1 but a spaceless monad of power4 ,it is a closed circuit of thinking activity1 impenetrable to everything else4 ,spirits are the only solids1 matter being endlessly penetrable and transmutable4 ,we are all obliged to think of ourselves as entities1 and not as mere phenomenal series of states4 ,there must be a substratum for the affections of consciousness4 ,all changes are changes of something4 ,it is true there is a mystery involved here which no words can make clear2 yet the more deeply one thinks and feels the more intense will be his assurance that there is something in him which thinks and feels1 or rather that he himself is a something which thinks and feels4 ,the best conception we can get of the soul is that it is a subject which is its own object and a mirror for the inner reflection of all other objects4 ,god is not an object1 because ,he is the actualized infinite ,subject4 ,his thoughts are concrete creations1 the objective realities of the universe phenomenal and substantial4 ,we are actually finite subjects1 but with a potential infinity1 patterned in free correspondence with ,him4 ,our thoughts are subjective reflections of ,his1 modified by the contents of our facultative constitution and the peculiarities of our historic experience4 ,what constitutes my soul is the potentiality of all states of consciousness1 actual and latent1 past1 present and future4 ,it reveals itself to me1 so to speak1 in my actual thoughts and feelings4 ,so far as these are true and good1 they correspond with and represent the will of ,god1 and must share the fortunes of the ,divine ,reality with which they are implicitly joined4 ,then my soul cannot be annihilated unless the will of ,god is so far annihilated4 ,but ,god is infinite being1 and there is nothing outside of or counter to infinite being to destroy it4 ,all evil is but defect or negation4 ,i am only in so far as ,i am positive reality4 ,nothing of me1 therefore1 can ever perish1 except my imperfections2 and the thought of the perishing of imperfections is a thought of joy4 ,welcome1 then1 be the approach of death which shall cleanse and dislimit me into unimprisonable divineness of being1 the crystalline sphere of pure intelligence and immortality6 ,the only real proof of immortality in the sight of the intellect1 is the perception of the necessity of self determining entities as the causes and grounds of the facts of experience4 ,a series of states implies something of which they are states4 ,there seems to be no possible explanation or understanding of the phenomena which confront our experience without the conception of ultimate individualities1 indestructible subject objects1 centers of spiritual activity1 monistic selfhoods1 conscious egos1 each of which distinguishes itself from every other1 and contrasts itself with the ,all4 ,now it is claimed that every thinker who reaches the maturest stage of thought attains to this insight4 ,it is the imperial mark of a certain stage of knowledge4 ,here the supreme thinkers1 sceptered with final perception of the truth of their own eternity1 sit at ease1 enthroned in the serene and lucid realm of law1 beyond the reach of the dark tempest of cavils and doubts4 ,and there is a larger company who on easier terms have attained the same result4 ,for1 without this wearisome metaphysical hewing of conclusions from the quarries of ontology1 the good and pure1 who1 in their loving obedience and aspiration1 keep the harmonic quickness and innocence of their intuitions uninjured1 also have an unshaken assurance that they live in ,god and shall share his life forevermore4 ,the mystics of every period seem in feeling to have an immediate grasp of all that the greatest philosophers have painfully conquered by speculation4 ,these two classes may claim to possess direct certitude of eternal life4 ,all others must either attain to the stage of development and mount of vision of these1 or receive the faith on their authority1 or else be subject to doubt and unbelief4 ,to accept the doctrine of the immortality of the soul on the authority of the wisest philosophers and the purest saints1 is a legitimate procedure perfectly in keeping with what the human race does in all other provinces of thought where it is incapable of proving what its teachers have demonstrated1 but can easily appreciate and make practical application of the truths they have affirmed4 ,the great laws of science in all its domains are scientifically mastered by very few1 but their empirical rules are implicitly followed by the common multitude4 ,one form or receptacle of authority after another may be superseded2 but authority itself always remains4 ,and the true course for those to pursue who have come to repudiate the authority of scripture1 or church creed1 or the resurrection of ,christ1 as a proof of the future life of man1 is not at once to abandon all belief in a future state1 but to accept the guidance of the most competent independent thinkers in place of that of the most arbitrary dogmatists4 ,for unto all who do not arrogate to themselves a transcendent competency to judge1 the general consensus of the thought and feeling of the world1 clarified and interpreted by the fittest few1 will always be a grateful ground of reliance and trust4 ,and the verdict thus revealed is unequivocally in favor of the doctrine of immortality4 ,there can be no changes independently of something which is changed4 ,amidst all the changeable in us which passes and is forgotten1 there is something which stays and is inexpugnable4 ,it is our identity4 ,that which appears in consciousness first1 which recurs oftenest1 and which persists longest1 is the most valid object of belief4 ,and what is that but the very consciousness1 or the subject as its own object8 ,surely1 the one invariable accompaniment of all the shifting states of consciousness is the bare essential consciousness itself3 this is1 so to speak1 the unitary vessel containing all their varieties4 ,this unquestionably exists now4 ,the burden of proof1 then1 as ,bishop ,butler long ago showed1 is on those who affirm its destruction in the article of death4 ,consciousness is purely immaterial1 as every one who has passed beyond the most ignorant and childish stages of thought must see4 ,merely because it is1 in our present experience1 associated in time and space with a material organism1 therefore to declare that it is a dependent production of matter1 or a transient concomitant of the transient body1 is a gratuitous assertion with not one scintilla of evidence4 ,even1 for the moment1 admitting it to be true that no argument of irresistible cogency has yet been advanced to prove the immortality of the soul1 it is certain that no proof has ever been given of its mortality4 ,the very utmost that can be claimed by any skeptic who fairly understands the whole case1 is that the different arguments1 for and against1 offset one another1 and leave the question in a neutral balance of suspense1 just where it was before the debate began4 ,many persons hold that the counter reasonings do thus balance and annul one another4 ,for them the problem remains to be decided on other grounds than those of the logical disputation which has proved inadequate to its settlement4 ,these other grounds are considerations of congruity1 probability1 the prophetic preparations and demands of present experience4 ,what sort of a figure would the segments which we now see1 compose1 if they were completed8 ,what in the hidden future portions of our destiny would be harmonic and complementary as related with the parts here experienced8 ,when the other modes of inquiry are abandoned this mode remains4 ,its teachings are rich and impressive in proportion to the greatness of the faculties and the wealth of knowledge and love brought to its consideration4 ,and thus we come face to face with the fifth and last cause of the failing faith in immortality confessed to characterize the present day4 ,that cause is the common inability to realize in the thoughts of the mind1 and to hold in the faith of the feelings1 a conception so vast1 so mysterious1 so remote from the usual routine of the selfish trifles and petty notions which monopolize the powers and fritter down the faculties of the average people of the nineteenth century4 ,the battle of sensualism1 the scramble over material interests1 the wearing absorption in the small and evanescent struggles of social rivalry1 the irritated attention given to the ever thickening claims of external things1 the pulverizing discussions of all sorts of opinions by hostile schools1 are fatal to that concentrated calmness of mood1 that unity of passion1 that serene amplitude of intellectual and imaginative scope1 that docile religious receptiveness of soul1 requisite for the fit contemplation of a doctrine so solemn and sublime as that of immortality4 ,the grade of thought and scale of emotion ordinarily characteristic of ordinary men are utterly out of keeping with the inexpressible grandeur of themes like that of the divine kinship and eternity of the soul4 ,the reason and fancy1 before they can be competent to appreciate such truths1 must be trained in the study and worshipful meditation of subjects of commensurate mystery and sublimity4 ,it is no wonder that when minds and hearts familiar only with houses and clothes and food1 the trivial gossip and vanity of the hour1 are summoned to grasp the idea of spiritual survival and an everlasting destiny of conscious adventures1 they are overwhelmed and helplessly fail to represent to themselves the possibility of any such truth4 ,this cause of doubt is very prevalent and effective2 for ever more and more in our age conscious attention is turned away from states within and fixed upon things without4 ,the natural consequence is that the objective world is arrogating the first place in consciousness1 and the subjective world is sinking into the secondary rank4 ,whatever exalts the object at the expense of the subject tends to materialism1 unbelief in the separate being of the spirit4 ,on the other hand whatever gives the panoramic passage of subjective states in the soul greater apparent vividness and tenacity than belong to outer phenomena1 tends to produce faith in the independence and immortality of the spirit4 ,hence it is quite to be expected that until our modern concentration on objective toil and study and amusement reaches its destined climax and begins the return career to subjective reason and feeling1 the skepticism of the age will increase4 ,meanwhile the remedy for the evil is1 first1 to perceive it1 and then1 to cultivate the kinds of experience calculated to neutralize it4 ,for the logical invalidity and fallaciousness of the doubts concerning immortality1 arising from the immense disparity of such a belief with the mental habits of ignorant earthlings and social parasites1 appear from the fact that there are others with whose experience and thought the doctrine has no such disparity1 but for whose spiritual range and haunt it is as natural to believe it as to breathe4 ,and1 in explaining the destiny of man1 it is legitimate to take the most finished and furnished specimens1 not the abortive ones4 ,there are grounds of knowledge1 domains of imagination1 heights of nobility1 familiar to the most exalted characters1 perfectly cognate and harmonious with the conception of eternal life1 and making the faith in it fully as credible as the transcendent truths of science and philosophy which have been actually demonstrated4 ,those who are familiar only with the little affairs of sense1 in narrow bounds of time and space1 may well gasp in despair and denial when the bewildering contents of the doctrine of immortality are held before them2 but for all who have mastered what science reveals of the objective world of nature1 and what literature records of the subjective world of soul1 both these spheres furnish ample illustrative examples and data to make the faith in every way congruous with what else they know1 and as easy as it is pleasing to receive4 ,assuredly the belief resulting in this latter class from their positive perception and correspondent desire and persuasion1 are1 on every ground of reason or moral fitness1 more than a counterbalance for the unbelief resulting in the former class from their negative experience and incompetency4 ,if we sought to estimate the possibility and destined fulfillment of human nature when all its conditions shall have been perfected1 should we choose for the basis of our judgment the incapacity of the lower specimens of man8 or the capacity of the higher8 ,after considering the chief achievements of human genius1 the mysterious powers of the human soul now1 the doctrine of immortality does not seem too great and wonderful for belief2 but1 on the contrary1 it appears the coherent complement of the facts of the present4 ,nothing can be more marvelous or imply greater glory for the destiny of the individual being than the fact that each consciousness is to itself the antithetical equivalent or balance of the totality of being beside2 since the whole universe1 all other beings1 ,god himself1 are known to the individual consciousness only as revealed in itself through its personal faculties4 ,the slightest change in the subject is reported by a correspondent change in objects4 ,heighten the internal activities of the soul to a certain pitch1 and the convictions they engender will be so intense1 and the experience so absorbing1 as irresistibly to sweep away all opposing doubts and fill every craving with the triumphant flood of life4 ,what overwhelming revelations of the providence of ,god and eternal life1 crowding the cosmos at every point with the workings of poetic justice1 may thus be made to prepared spirits1 only those who receive them know4 ,paul said he was caught up into the third heaven and heard unspeakable words4 ,it is to be believed that such visions1 while often illusory1 are sometimes genuine4 ,a test to discriminate the spurious and the authentic will one day be secured4 ,meanwhile it is either a faithless faintheartedness or a vulgar arrogance to omit from the data of our expected fate those thoughts1 which1 though beyond the reaches of our souls1 nevertheless irresistibly allure our attention and enchain our affection2 ideas belonging to our nature1 though transcending our experience1 and1 while surpassing our faculties1 still attracting us to our destiny4 ,what are presentiments but divine wings of the spirit fluttering toward our unseen goal8 ,again1 the great metaphysicians1 who have elaborated the idealistic philosophy in so many forms1 exhibit the mind of man to us as superior to the cosmic spectacle it contemplates projected in immensity4 ,they portray the material creation as a phantasmal show of mind1 a phenomenal process and aspect of spirit1 indissoluble centers of consciousness alone having solid verity and stay1 while matter and force and times and places whirl and pass1 combine and dissolve4 ,likewise the mathematicians1 with their mighty calculus1 translate all quantities and qualities1 all objects and operations1 into numerical symbols1 and with these intellectual toys play the same miraculous tricks that the ,creator himself plays with the originals4 ,they symbolize purely imaginary quantities1 bring them into relations and pass them through certain operations1 and thereby discover truths which are found to have permanent objective validity4 ,it demonstrates1 as said before1 that the filial mind which thus wanders in thought through the house of the ,father1 and1 everywhere making itself familiarly at home1 disports among ,his treasures1 is of the same type with the parental ,mind4 ,and now1 still farther1 that the cultivators of physical science are pushing their discoveries and their theories to ultimates1 we begin to see the adamantine structure of material nature melting into a system of ideal equivalents1 vaporizing into an undulatory ether1 vanishing before our microscopes in immaterial bases of thought1 reason1 law and will4 ,the gases have just been first liquified and then actually solidified1 confirming the speculative announcement long before made that oxygen and hydrogen are metals volatilized4 ,many valuable and strange discoveries have been reached in physical science by following prophetic declarations made a priori on grounds of pure reason4 ,the same proofs of intellectual design and purpose are discerned in the order of atomic combination1 in the beauty of crystals and dewdrops and snowflakes1 in the perfect geometrical symmetry of minerals and flowers1 and in the same spiral adjustment of the leaves on a tree and of the orbits of the planets in the sky1 as in the artistic works of man4 ,intellect and will are as much shown in the production of a palm tree as they are in the production of a poem ,and so1 before the gaze of the accomplished and devout scientist1 matter is translated into terms of mind1 rather than the reverse1 and the whole cosmos is transmuted into a divine laboratory of ideal powers1 a divine gallery of ideal pictures1 a divine theater for the eternal adventures of conscious spirits4 ,in mental conception man deals with mathematical infinites as easily as with the pettiest objects1 dilates a point to the universe and shrinks the universe to a point1 condenses eternity into a moment or stretches a moment to eternity4 ,it has been shown that if correspondent diminution or enlargement in the faculties of sense and intelligence and in all the forces concerned were made1 the whole stellar system and its contents might be dwarfed into the bulk of a grain of sand1 or so magnified that each grain would fill the space now occupied by the whole1 and no one would perceive any change whatever in the scale4 ,in reply to the statement that nothing can act where it is not1 it has been proved that every atom is virtually omnipresent4 ,it takes the entire universe to constitute an atom1 since the forces centered in each atom are connected with the whole by the insunderable continuity of all the laws of being4 ,the science of molecular physics as expounded by its latest masters is not less astounding than the wildest soarings of transcendental metaphysics4 ,for instance1 it is proved that if there be ultimate atoms their size must be so small that it would require at least five hundred millions of them to an inch in length4 ,in a cubic inch of hydrogen gas1 then1 for example1 there are #abe1jjj1jjj1jjj1jjj1jjj1jjj1jjj1jjj one hundred and twenty five septillions of atoms1 moving with the inconceivable velocity that is implied by their making thousands of millions of changes of direction every second4 ,the view of the dynamic s tructure of the universe opened in this direction is as appalling as that unveiled in the opposite direction by the largest extension of the nebular hypothesis4 ,he who can gaze here with steady reason need not be staggered by the sublimest doctrine of religion4 ,amazed at the spectacle of creative power and wisdom1 equally amazed at the discovering faculty of man1 we feel it to be incredible that he should have been made capable of such thoughts only to be annihilated after a brief tantalization4 ,confronting the immeasurable wilderness of divine glory1 strewn all through with prizes before which his soul burns with the unconsumable fire of a god like ambition1 man lifts his eye to worship and reaches out his hand to receive4 ,is he merely taunted with the starry sky1 and mocked with an infinite illusion of progress1 suddenly barred with endless night and oblivion8 ,behold him emerging out of nothingness1 mastering his self conscious identity1 climbing over the rounds of symbolic experience and language through the heights of knowledge and love4 ,strange1 helpless1 sublime prince of the universe1 beggar of ,god1 when he has attained the summit of illimitable perception1 holding immortal joys in full prospect1 shall he be dashed back into nonentity8 ,is it not fitter that he be welcomed by triumphant initiation into the family of the deathless ,father8 ,think of the advancement man has made since the time when he was a cannibal cave dweller1 shivering out of the glacial epoch1 and contending with wild beasts for a foothold on the earth1 till now that he enjoys the idealism of ,berkeley1 wields the quaternions of ,hamilton1 uses the lightnings for his red sandaled messengers1 holds his spectroscope to a star and tells what elements compose it1 or to an outskirting nebula and declares it a mass of incandescent hydrogen4 ,from such a background of accomplished fact he seems really to have a right to peer forth into the unbounded future and promise himself an unbounded destiny4 ,the repetition of such a progress1 nay much less1 it may not unreasonably be imagined would raise the curtains from unsuspected secrets1 bring the family of intelligences scattered over all worlds into conscious communication1 and accomplish the deliverance of the whole creation travailing and groaning together unto this day for the redemption of the creature4 ,what a splendid1 almost incredible task man has already achieved in disentangling the apparent astronomic motions and converting them into the real ones4 ,how immensely sublimer and more complex is the position of man on this planet than it seemed to the primitive savage1 who knew only what his crude senses taught him1 although1 all the while1 the moon was circling about him twenty five hundred miles an hour1 and he was whirling with the revolving earth a thousand miles an hour1 and spinning around the sun over thirty thousand miles an hour1 and swooping with the whole solar system through the blue void with a still swifter gyre in a yet vaster cycle6 ,this is demonstrated physical fact4 ,its harmonic correlate in the spiritual sphere would be nothing less than a lease of eternal existence for the soul which sees endless invitations ahead1 and exults at the prospect of an eternal pursuit of them1 its reason and affection affiliated with those of the whole divine household of immortals4 ,two or three generations ago it would have been more inconceivable that men a hundred miles apart could audibly converse together1 as they now do by means of the telephone1 than it is at this day to believe that communication may at some future time be opened between the inhabitants of the earth and the inhabitants of ,sirius through the vibrations of the ethereal medium4 ,futhermore1 the idea of the infinite ,god1 in possession of which man finds himself1 is a warrant for his immortality4 ,there cannot be more in an effect than was in its cause1 though there may be less4 ,we perceive intelligence1 orderly purpose1 as well as power1 in nature4 ,we find in ourselves all the explicit attributes and treasures of consciousness4 ,reasoning back by indubitable steps we come to an uncaused1 unlimited1 infinite ,being1 the underived and eternal source of all that is4 ,this idea in our minds of a ,being of absolute perfection1 whose boundless consciousness as being necessarily indivisible must be totally present at every point of infinitude1 is the charter of our own divine nature and heirship4 ,for we can become1 even here1 friends and companions of this omnipresent ,one1 of whose essence and attributes everything below is but a defective transcript or dimmed revelation4 ,this idea of ,himself is the gift of ,god to us4 ,to suppose that we are capable of originating it implies a greater miracle than the one it seeks to account for1 and really puts ourselves in the place of ,god4 ,can we imagine that we are the creators of ,god8 ,if the absolute noumenal ,power beyond all phenomena be unknowable1 it cannot contain less1 but must contain more than all the attributes of the material and spiritual creation which has proceeded thence4 ,the noblest and best spirits of all lands and ages have walked in full fellowship with this ,being1 seeking supremely to serve and love ,him in the subjection of self will and in the doing of good4 ,many a nameless saint1 in a pure consecration1 has heroically thought and suffered and aspired1 worn out life in slow toils or offered it up in sharp sacrifice1 for the good of fellow creatures1 as a tribute to ,god1 and exhaled the last breath in a prayer of love and trust4 ,such faithful servants and comrades must be dear to the ,infinite ,spirit1 and it is natural to believe that ,he will keep them with him forever4 ,when ,christ1 in self sacrificing love1 submitted to death on the cross1 saying1 ,father1 into ,thy hands ,i commit my spirit1 he who can believe that the magnanimous sufferer was disappointed1 blotted out and extinguished1 thus reveals the grade of his own insight1 but does not refute the greater hope of nobler seers4 ,it seems as if the idea of ,god1 with loving faith and obedience to its requirements1 planted in a soul which had not inherited immortality would straightway begin to develop it there4 ,the atmosphere of eternity alone befits a nature which feels itself living in the companionship of ,god4 ,everything subject to decay cowers into oblivion from before the idea of that august1 incorruptible presence4 ,the fear of death is but the recoil of the immortal from mortality4 ,when man voluntarily faces death without fear1 even courting martyrdom with a radiant joy1 it is because there is in him1 deeper than consciousness1 a mystic knowledge that he is essentially eternal and cannot perish4 ,he who freely sacrifices anything thereby proves himself superior to that which he sacrifices4 ,man freely sacrifices his life4 ,therefore he is immortal4 ,the ancient ,semitic philosopher and poet who wrote the book of ,job1 brooding on the strange problem of life and death1 murmured1 ,man giveth up the ghost1 and where is he8 ,with each successive generation1 for many ages1 countless millions have dissolved and vanished into the vast1 dumb mystery4 ,now1 the spectator1 remembering all this1 stands beneath the dome of midnight1 imploringly breathes the mystic sigh1 ,man giveth up the ghost1 and where is he8 ,the only responses is the same dread silence still maintained as of old4 ,and1 in a moment more1 he who breathed the wondering inquiry is himself gone4 ,whither8 ,into the vacant dark of nothingness8 ,into the transparent sphere of perfect intelligence8 ,the sublimity of the demand seems to ally the finite questioner with the infinite ,creator2 and1 with a presentiment of marvelous joy1 we look beyond the ignorant veil at the close of earth1 and hold that eternity itself will not exhaust the possibilities of the soul1 whose career shall be kept from stagnation by constant interspersals of death and birth1 refreshing disembodiments from worn out forms and reincarnations in new4 ,if this life on the earth1 where man feels himself a stranger1 be his all1 how superfluously he is equipped with foresights and longings that outrun every conceivable limit6 ,why is he gifted with powers of reason and demands of love so far beyond his conditions8 ,if there be no future for him1 why is he tortured with the inspiring idea of the eternal pursuit of the still flying goal of perfection8 ,is it possible that the hero and the martyr and the saint1 whose experience is laden with painful sacrifices for humanity1 are mistaken8 and that the slattern and the voluptuary and the sluggard1 whose course is one of base self indulgence1 are correct8 ,is it credible that1 with no justifying explanation hereafter1 it should be ordained that the more gifted and disinterested a man is the more he shall uselessly suffer1 from his sympathetic carriage of the greater share in the sin and sorrow of all his race8 ,no1 far back in the past there has been some dark mystery which yet flings its dense shadows over our history here2 and in the obscurity we cannot read its solution4 ,but there is a solution4 ,and when in some blessed age to come mankind shall outgrow their discords and be reconciled1 so that their divinest living member can become the focalizing center of their collective inspiration1 through him the truth will be revealed4 ,the most inspired individual can only in a degree anticipate his age4 ,at a certain distance he is tethered by his connections with the race4 ,they must be near the goal before he can deliver the final message4 ,inspiration and revelation are as real as the sensuous method of outer knowledge4 ,spirit or consciousness1 as that which is its own evidence1 has a more than mathematic validity4 ,when men purely love one another1 and1 with supreme loyalty1 seek truth1 ignorance and delusion will melt away before the encroaching illumination from ,god1 and the dominion of death will be abolished4 ,that the human mind shall be the victim of death is incongruous with its rank4 ,the atheistic scientist who imagines that the energy of the stellar creation is gradually dissipating1 so that the whole scheme must at last perish2 and who sees the soul1 then1 like a belated butterfly1 fall frozen on the boundary of a dead universe1 refutes his own dismal creed by the grandeur of the power shown in thinking it4 ,the might of love1 the faculty of thought1 the instinct of curiosity1 are insatiable2 and that which remains wooing them to grasp it1 is infinite4 ,and1 after all is said1 it seems certain that we are either discerpted emanations and avatars of ,god suffering transient incarnations for a purpose1 and then to be resumed1 immortal in his immortality2 or else we are separate and inherent entities1 immortal in ourselves4 ,the former faith ought to satisfy the proudest ambition4 ,the latter faith yields every motive for contentment and aspiring obedience4 ,man1 forever feeding on the unknown1 is the mysterious guest of ,god in the universe4 ,we cannot believe that1 the hospitality of the infinite ,housekeeper becoming exhausted1 ,he will ever blow out the lights and quench the guests4 ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,the ,,transient ,,and ,,the ,,permanent ,,in ,,the ,,destiny ,,of ,,man4 ,a ,,companion of ,solomon once said to him1 ,give me1 ,o king of wisdom1 a maxim equally applicable on all occasions1 that ,i may fortify myself with it against the caprices of fortune4 ,solomon reflected a moment1 then gave him1 in these words1 the maxim he sought3 ,this1 too1 shall pass away4 ,the courtier at first felt disappointed1 but1 meditating awhile1 perceived the pertinent and profound meaning hidden in the transparent simplicity of the words4 ,are you afflicted8 ,be not despondent or rash1 ,this1 too1 shall pass away4 ,are you blessed8 ,be not elated or careless1 ,this too shall pass away4 ,are you in danger8 in temptation8 in glory8 ,still1 for your proper guidance1 in relation to each one1 remember2 ,this too shall pass away4 ,and so on1 under every diversity of situation in which man can be placed4 ,whatever restraint1 whatever encouragement1 whatever consolation he needs1 it is all contained in the profound thought1 ,this too shall pass away4 ,this maxim for all times needs to be supplemented by a corresponding maxim for all persons4 ,there is a truth constantly suited for the variety of immortal souls1 as the foregoing one is for the variety of temporal changes4 ,let us see what that truth is and set it in a fitting aphorism4 ,the desires of the human soul are boundless4 ,nothing can satisfy its wishes by fulfilling them and circumscribing there a fixed limit4 ,it would devour the whole creation1 and hungrily cry for more4 ,whatever extension of power or fruition it can conceive1 it wants for its own1 and frets if deprived of it4 ,now1 if the spirit of the ,creator is in the creature1 this illimitable passion of acquisition cannot be a mere mockery4 ,it must be a hint of the will of ,god and of the destiny of his child in whom ,he has implanted it4 ,it is prophetic of something awaiting fulfillment4 ,but what is the prophecy1 and how is it to be fulfilled8 ,the answer to this question will give us that maxim of eternal humanity which accords with the maxim of transient fortune4 ,and thus it reads3 ,over all the things for which men struggle with each other1 there is one thing1 out of the sphere of struggle1 which indivisibly belongs to every man1 and that one thing is the whole universe6 ,be not baffled by the appearance of transcendental mysticism in this maxim1 as the ancient inquirer was by the appearance of commonplace in his1 but seek its significance4 ,a son is an heir of his father4 ,all men are sons of ,god1 though only a few1 and that in varying degree1 are distinctly conscious as yet of their sonship4 ,but1 despite their ignorance1 all are tending1 more or less swiftly1 toward the goal of their nature and inheritance4 ,there are exclusive prizes which men can monopolize3 and they fight with one another for these1 because the more some have the less others can obtain4 ,there are also inclusive prizes1 or modes of holding and enjoying property which do not interfere with universal participation1 with universal1 undivided ownership4 ,in these no one need have any the less because every one has all4 ,this is the region of reason1 imagination1 affection1 the empire of the soul4 ,the more one knows of mathematical truth1 poetic beauty or moral good1 the easier it is1 not the harder1 for others to know and enjoy as much or more4 ,in this divine domain no monopoly or conflict is possible1 because the outward moving fence of each consciousness1 retreating and vanishing before its conquests of experience1 is a vacuum with respect to that of every other4 ,they overlap and penetrate one another as if they were mutually nonexistent4 ,for example1 the pleasure any one takes in a picture1 or in a play1 does not lessen the pleasure which remains for the other spectators2 but1 on the contrary1 adds to it if they have sympathy4 ,now1 the all inclusive prize of desire1 the very secret of the ,godhead namely1 the power of taking a full pure joy in every form of being1 in every substance and phenomenon of the creation is forever wooing every soul2 and every soul1 in proportion to its advancement1 is forever embracing it just as freely as if no other soul existed1 yet has the zest of its enjoyments endlessly varied and heightened by mutual contemplations and reflections of those of all the rest4 ,such is the superiority of the disinterested spirit over the selfish flesh1 of the inner world over the outer world1 of good over evil4 ,mental ownership is sympathetic and universal1 physical appropriation antagonistic and individual4 ,we hate and oppose our fellows that with hand and foot we may monopolize some wretched grains of good1 while ,god is inviting every one of us with our mind and heart to accept as fast as we can his whole undivided infinitude of good4 ,the universe is the house of the ,father2 the true spirit of the family is disinterested1 and consequently every child is heir of the whole even as the apostle ,paul said1 joint heir with ,christ4 ,register1 then1 deeply in memory1 side by side with the historic maxim for all times1 ,this too shall pass away6 the religious maxim for all souls4 ,over those things for which men struggle with each other1 there is one thing1 out of the sphere of struggle1 which belongs indivisibly to every man1 and that one thing is the whole universe6 ,then1 should you ever feel vexed or disheartened by the irritations and failures you meet in your journey through the evanescent masquerade of this world1 pause and say to yourself1 ,is it worthy of me1 while the entire realm of existence asks me to appropriate it in ever expansive possession1 to be angry or sad because some infinitesimal speck of it does not grant me as much of itself as ,i crave8 ,the more things we love the richer we are4 ,the fewer things we care for the freer we are4 ,o blessed wealth and wretched freedom1 how shall we perfect and reconcile them8 ,this is the secret3 ,if we love the divine and eternal in everything1 and care not for the limiting and perishable evil connected with it1 then we shall at once be both rich and free4 ,the former practice educates our powers2 the latter emancipates them4 ,the true use of renunciation is as a means for larger fulfillment4 ,detach from lower and lesser objects in order to attach to higher and greater ones4 ,be always ready to renounce the meaner at the invitation of the nobler4 ,the soul1 like a grand frigate1 may be loosely tied by a thousand separate strings1 but should be held firm by one cable4 ,our relations to fellow creatures are those threads2 our supreme relation to ,god1 that cable4 ,those are the gossamer of time2 this the adamant of eternity4 ,the lame man cries1 ,o1 that ,i could walk6 ,he who can walk says1 ,o1 that ,i could fly6 ,if he could soar1 he would sigh1 ,o1 that ,i were omnipresent1 and therefore had no need to move6 ,the end of one wish is but the beginning of another2 and the craving of every human soul1 let loose in sincere expression1 is absolutely illimitable4 ,it always comes1 in the last analysis1 to this2 every one really longs to be ,god4 ,therefore1 unless the rational creation is mendacious1 to be deified1 is1 in some mystical but true sense1 the final destiny of all souls4 ,every one1 in its consciousness fully developed and harmonized1 shall become a focus of universal being1 a finite reflex of ,god1 the infinite ,god himself remaining eternally the same unescapable and incomprehensible mystery as ever4 ,there are1 therefore1 two supreme maxims for souls conditioned in time and space but destined for eternity and infinity a maxim of comfort for those who suffer1 and a maxim of impulse for those who aspire4 ,the one1 to be used in view of every fear1 every evil or limit4 ,this1 too1 shall pass away6 ,the other1 to be used in view of every insatiable desire1 ,over all those things for which men struggle with each other1 there is one thing1 out of the sphere of struggle1 which indivisibly belongs to every man1 and that one thing is the whole universe6 ,nothing but the ,absolute ,good is everlasting3 and that must belong to all who1 being essential personalities1 are superior to death4 ,blessed1 blessed1 then1 are they who hunger and thirst after ,god2 for1 by a real transubstantiation assimilating ,him1 they shall as divinely live forevermore4 ,they shall cease to say any more of anything1 ,this1 too1 shall pass away6 because the infinite ,god shall have said to each of them1 ,son1 thou art ever with me1 and all that ,i have is thine6 ,if the view above marked out1 a view in many respects so sublime and satisfactory1 a view which goes so far to explain the mysteries1 reconcile the contradictions1 and transfigure the evils of our transient life and lot below be not true1 it must either be because some other higher and better view is the truth in which case we certainly ought to be contented or else the creative and providential plan of ,god is inferior to the thought of one of his creatures4 ,it is not possible for me to suppose that a speculative theory of my brain can transcend in harmony and beneficence the design of the infinite ,god4 ,could it do so1 then1 in reality1 ,i should be a higher being than ,he4 ,i should veritably have dethroned ,him and vaulted into his place4 ,is not that a pitch of impiety and absurdity too great even for the pride of man1 insurgent atom of criticising assumption1 set1 baffled at every point1 amidst the awful immensity of existence8 ,here1 then1 is rest4 ,either our highest view is the truth1 or the truth is higher and better than that4 ,for to think that his thought is superior to the purpose of ,god1 thus making himself the real ,god1 is too much for the extremist human egotist within the limits of sanity4 ,therefore1 until a better theory is propounded1 we hold that the destiny of the soul is to become1 through the progressive actualization of its potential consciousness1 a free thinking center of the universe1 an infinitesimal mirror of ,god4 ,the adventures of the different souls1 full of inexhaustible curiosity and relish in the mutually revealing contacts of their degrees of development and originalities of personal character and treasure1 constitute the endless drama of spiritual existence within the phenomenal theater of the material creation4 ,and still the infinite ,one serenely smiles on the troubled play of the eternal ,many2 because the psychological kaleidoscope of their experience is a continuous improvisation of justice1 weaving the fate of ,each with the fates of ,all1 and transfusing the monotonous unity of the ,same with the zestful variety of the ,other4