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Page 42
Belief in the existence of the soul after death seems to be an innate
belief. It has been ascribed to the influence of the superstition about
ghosts; but that superstition is only an unscientific form of the larger
faith in the persistence of being. Where did this conviction originate?
We think only of such things as have been experienced. No thought is
ever entirely original. Even imagination cannot create anything
absolutely unlike anything which ever existed. All the fabled beings
who, according to the ancient mythology, filled the spaces and waters,
were but human creatures adapted to imaginary environments. Faith in the
existence of the soul after death could not have originated in the soul
itself; to believe that would be to contradict the laws of thought. It
seems to have been born with the soul, and yet not to be a part of it.
The common conviction of continuance of being can be explained only on
the assumption that it is an innate idea. That this assumption starts,
perhaps, quite as many questions as it settles may be granted.
Nevertheless, it is the only way in which this fact in mental and
spiritual history can be accounted for.
Not only is belief in persistence of being innate, but it is also
universal. It has been found in every land, in every time, in every
religion. Dr. Matthewson has finely argued that the savage worships a
fetish because he is seeking something which does not change[8]. He
knows that he dies; he worships that which he thinks does not die. A
piece of wood or a stone, at first, seems to him more enduring than a
man; therefore he worships the fetish. Gradually his eyes are opened and
he realizes that the man is more enduring than the thing. Then the
object of his worship is lifted from something material to a spiritual
being. The belief in immortality is coterminous with belief in the
Deity; the two forms of faith are always found together. The cultured
Greek, the mystic Egyptian, the idealistic Indian, the savage who
inhabits the forests of Africa, or who formerly dwelt in the forests of
America, alike have believed in some land of spirits to which their
loved ones have gone and to which they themselves, in turn, will also
go. Every age and every time, alike, have borne witness to the strength
and vitality of this faith.
[Footnote 8: Distinctive Messages of the Old Religions, p. 9.]
But still more convincing to me than any of the suggestions which have
gone before, is the fact that it is irrational to suppose that the soul
dies with the body. If that were true, how could we account for the
enormous waste in discipline and culture, in education and affection?
What is the meaning of the love that binds human beings together, if
after a short "three-score-and-ten career" it utterly ceases to be, and
being and affection alike go into oblivion? How can our systems of
education be justified, if the soul is perfected only to be destroyed?
On everything else man spends time, labor, affection in proportion to
the possibility of its endurance. He never seeks that which he knows
will be taken from him and destroyed as soon as it is perfected. An
artist would not spend a lifetime on a picture, or a sculptor in
finishing a statue, if he knew that when his work was completed it would
be instantly sunk in the depths of the sea. We devote a large part of
our lives to education; we cultivate our minds; our affections are
disciplined; we spend time, money, labor for years for the culture of
our children; can it be that all this preparation is for something which
never can be realized? In the midst of the loftiest manifestations of
the soul's power the body ceases to be. With indescribable bravery a
warrior lays down his life, a fireman rescues a child from a burning
building, a life-boatman goes through the surf to a sinking ship, and,
at that very moment when he proves himself best fitted to live, death
comes and he is seen no more. It cannot be proven that this is not the
end, but it is not reasonable to believe that this is the end. If it is,
human life is utterly without significance, and he is most to be
commended who quickest escapes from its misery and mockery.
Moreover the inequalities of the human condition are strangely
prophetic. Much has been made of this argument in the past,--Job and
Socrates both felt its force.
The value of it has often been discredited, but without reason. How
shall the bitter injustice which is frequently found on the earth be
explained? Some have an abundance of wealth, some have literally
nothing. Some enjoy the best of health and strength all their days,
while others pass their years in suffering and trial. Some are
surrounded by families and fairly revel in love and friendship, and
others lead lonely lives toward a welcome end. Some are strong and
brave, and able to act a part in the drama of life; others are weak,
obscure, unknown, and, for aught that they or we can see, might as well
have never been. The law of heredity sweeps down from the past and
brings a terrible legacy to many who spend all their days in trying to
escape from what has been forced upon them. What shall we say concerning
those who are born in lust and must live in the midst of the vice of a
great city, and who, in turn, give birth to a lustful and vicious brood?
Have they had a fair chance? Will their children have? Such questions
have puzzled the most earnest thinkers of all time, and there has seemed
to be but one explanation. Job seemed to be in darkness, until at last
there flashed upon his mind this question, which is also a modified
affirmation, "If a man die shall he live again?" If he live again, then
it is possible that what seems to be unjust may be righted; and those
who have known only suffering and pain during their dwelling in the
flesh, may some time enter into the fruition of their discipline in the
joy and victory of the endless life. The more this argument is pondered
the stronger its force becomes. It carries conviction to all who are
deeply sensitive to the common human experience, and who at all
understand the misery and the suffering of human existence. One in the
fullness of his physical strength may think little about it, but that
deformed girl who asked her mother after service one Easter Day,
"Mother, is it true that in heaven I shall be as straight as you and
father?" is a type of millions of others. Some suffer in body and some
in mind; some have a heredity of insanity or vice--they are born with
shackles on their faculties. If they ever have a fair chance to grow
noble and beautiful, morally and spiritually, it must be after their
bodies have been laid aside. It cannot be said that they do not now
desire benefit and blessing, but it is evident that it is impossible for
their longing to be gratified. The conviction that this is a moral and
rational universe compels us to believe that some time and somewhere
those who suffer will escape from their pain, that those who are
burdened with the evil that has been inherited from past generations
will rise above it, and that the soul will be given an unhindered
opportunity for growth and advancement. The inequalities in the human
condition almost compel us to believe that the death of the body cannot
be the end of the spirit.
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