All sight, all thought; for all we see, Is but an island in the sea." Mr. Allingham, quoted in The Story of the Heavens, p. 398, by Robert Stawell Ball, LL.D. We can think of states and realms, which are perfectly natural, where, the universal ether being quiescent, there is no matter such as we are acquainted with, no warmth, no light, no life. In other realms, there may be warmth, even fire; but no light, no life; states, visible; states, invisible; where sight, hearing, feeling, every sense, is by intuition; where every portion of matter has even more than that inwardness, which our brain possesses by means of thought. These conceivable states and realms, whether of darkness splendour, would not be less natural than those with which we are familiar. It is perfectly natural but incomprehensible, that Eternity centres in every moment; that Infinitude is present in every atom, and in every infinitesimal part of space. The truly scientific and philosophic mind delights to know that there are worlds of existence within the narrowest limits, and worlds beyond all the bounds of conceived possibilities. or Vast as are the masses of matter, arrayed in the systematic beauties and powers of form, of motion, of life, of sensation, of thought; they seem but one of the smaller manifestations of the unseen agencies, and of the unseen substance, occupying all known space. Taking a limited view, such as directly concerns ourselves, we believe that there are-as if in accord with the three stages of existence recorded on page 265— three vital, mental, moral distinctions and separations; with peculiar processes, characterizing universes, within the infinitude. They are spheres, or rather processes, of rudimentary preparation; of differentiating and selecting operation; for perfected and glorious condition. External to all these will be that state of chaos; the condition of things not having part in the threefold processes of creating, disciplining, glorifying, as the background for display of the intellectual and moral spectacle of Creation, Redemption, and Glorification. These various grades of transformation and transition have their symbols in many earthly processes, showing the unity of God's plan. Day sinks into night, and out of that rest comes another day. During winter, the sap goes down into the tree's roots; but, when summer returns, the sap gives another clothing to the tree. Things are repaired by changes; life is renewed by dying; and the natural body becomes a spiritual glorious body. The whole is because the Infinite, in infinitude; the Eternal, in eternity; occupies all space, all time, all substances, as the Creator, the Sustainer, the Ruler; manifesting Himself, or not manifesting, according to His own will. By successive reaches of thought, in these various researches, we endeavour to raise ourselves beyond that intellectual state which merely sees "The world was built in order, And the atoms march in tune." Ralph Waldo Emerson, Monadnoc. Believing that man's death is not for ever, not even a suspension of consciousness, we now investigate the state after death. The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke xvi. 19-31) indicates that there are two states, two places, separated by a great gulf: the one, of happiness; the other, of suffering. Into the happy state our Lord entered on the day of His crucifixion; and with Him the penitent thief (Luke xxiii. 42, 43). This happy state St. Paul desired to enter (Phil. i. 23; 2 Cor. v. 8); its joys, and the nearer presence of Jesus, being better than life in the flesh. This happy state is not a final, a glorious, or perfected condition; into that Christ afterwards ascended (John xx. 17; Acts i. 9; vii. 56); and into it we shall be translated when Christ returns to take us unto Himself (John xiv. 2, 3). When we are buried, we do not attain, but wait for, our perfect consummation and bliss (see Burial Service). So far all orthodox Christians are agreed. Our life is a vapour which appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth away; not to be lost-it is the shadow of a life, greater and better, to be lived and manifested hereafter; the great proof being the resurrection and ascension of our Lord; and the scientific, the doctrine of the conservation of energy—nothing perishes. The realm, entered by our soul at dissolution of the body, is Hades (Luke xvi. 23); there we wait to be clothed upon with a new and immortal body (2 Cor. v. 4), and are in a state contrasted to the present, as night to day, so far as work for God is concerned (John ix. 4). It is a time and place for thought and self-fathoming. There will be no escape from one's self, as into a kingdom of externals-like the present; where we may hide ourselves and be still from whatever we do not wish to see or hear. The present following us; our deeds and thoughts, that seemed scattered and lost for ever, will gather around us; and our self-consciousness will anticipate the coming judgment, and prepare our soul for the resurrection-body; the unclothed state not being one of nakedness, but a state that conditions the manner of our being clothed upon-whether with glory or shame (2 Cor. v. 2-4). Our life on the earth and in the body being the first day of our being; our life out of the body being the second day; our life in glory being the third day. We commonly speak, as if by intuition, that poets, artists, musicians, live on in their works; and by these give higher life to other men. This seems an earthly index of the sublimer facts; that we and our works never die, but that all the good become "Fresh beings fraught with truth's imperishable hue." Where are the souls of the men who perished before and in the Flood? the souls of men who died in ignorance? the whole Gentile world? We know that the very best men did not know the whole of spiritual truth, nor had completeness in blessedness (Heb. xii. 39, 40). Is there, possibly, a teaching for those ignorant; a recovery of those lost; a perfecting of those good, who were not made perfect? They are somewhere; and, though dead, are yet alive; for "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living" (Matt. xxii. 32). Is there any act in the spirits' worlds to correspond with the Psalmist's words, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in" (Ps. xxiv. 7-10)? The Church has always believed that Christ's victory over Death was a source of glad tidings, even to the dead; that it passed as a light and as a Divine power amongst them; an assurance that their being made righteous was a preliminary to being made glorious. There are two great schools of thought as to the descent of Christ into Hades, and as to the work He did. One says that there is hope for the dead who died in ignorance and in evil for which they were only in part responsible. The other says, when a man dies, his lot remains fixed for ever. There are other opinions-Annihilation of the wicked, conditional immortality—as to which we may judge in seeking to find the truth as taught by the Church at large. The controversy mainly concerns the meaning of 1 Pet. iii. 18-20; as to the spirits in prison, who they were, did Christ preach to them, and with what result? The generally received opinion, as the result of that controversy, shall be briefly expressed. Jesus, having been put to death in the flesh, had power, being quick, or quickened, in the Spirit, Tŵ Ilvevματι; and went and preached unto the spirits τοῖς ἐν pνдaкη πVεvμаot, in prison. The construction of the Greek does not mean that He had gone to preach by the Holy Spirit in the days of Noah; but that He went, in His own Spirit, after His death and before His resurrection, to the spirits who formerly, in their ignorance, had been disobedient. The light of Divine mercy shone, and the Gospel was preached, even unto men that were dead; that they might be judged as men are judged who, in the flesh, have had the Gospel; and live, or be made to live, according to the will of God in their spirit (1 Pet. iv. 6). This dissipates our darkness as to all those who, in this life, had not sufficient opportunities of knowing 1 The contention of Archdeacon Campbell (Churchman, April, 1887: "The Spirits in Prison "), that spirits in prison were devils, not spirits of men, is not warranted; the same word being used for the Lord's soul, or spirit, as for souls or spirits of those in prison. Moreover, it was not devils who were specially disobedient in the days of Noah, but men who were drowned. |