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Page 44
It is always best to believe the best. This world and human life may be
interpreted on the materialistic hypothesis; then matter is all and
death is the gloomy _finale_ to the tragedy of existence. Or they may be
interpreted according to the spiritual hypothesis; then within the body
dwells the spirit; then the latter is but a tenant of the former. If the
house is destroyed the tenant goes elsewhere. If we interpret the world,
and human life, according to the materialistic theory all the beauty and
joy of existence on the earth will disappear. We will then live for a
little time; and our loves, our disciplines, and our victories alike
will be only delusions soon to be mercifully ended by death. Possibly
that is true; but, if it is true, then this universe is the embodiment
of the most dismal, desolate, and diabolical thought that it is possible
for a human being to conceive. On the spiritual hypothesis all
experiences are intended for the perfection of the soul. Bodily
limitations, physical sufferings, animal solicitations, may all be used
so as to promote the development and perfection of the spirit. When the
body can do no more the soul will emerge purified and strengthened by
contact with that which is physical. It will then move from the narrow
quarters in which it has dwelt into some larger and fairer room in the
great palace of God. Once more, I confess, we cannot demonstrate the
truth of this faith, but it is always best for ourselves and for the
world to believe the best. With this faith human life is nobler, and
human effort more persistent and enduring than it would be without it.
At the end "the finished product" will be larger, and more perfect, if
there is something to strive for than if hope is destroyed the moment
that aspiration is born. I should be willing to rest my faith in
immortality upon this one argument. A rational being should be satisfied
only with a rational answer to his questions; a moral being should be
satisfied only with a moral solution of his problems. This universe is
neither rational nor moral if the soul ceases to be at the death of the
body. On the other hand, if the soul passes into another and ampler
sphere all the mysteries are explained, and there is meaning even in the
darkest passages of human experience. All things work together for good
to those who are willing to be led toward the higher things.
These are some of the reasons, with which all thinking persons are
familiar, for believing that the soul continues its growth after the
body has been laid aside. Evolution has opened a new vista in human
thought. There had been vague suggestions of it before, but evolution
has done much to confirm faith by its clear and strong testimony. It
prophesies the eternal growth of the spirit. These prophecies are
harmonious with those of the soul, and with the positive teachings of
the Christian revelation. This then is our conclusion:--in the process
of time, in accordance with natural law, our bodies will be laid aside,
some in one way and some in another, but the soul that has dwelt in
these bodies will become free. In ways of which we know not, and of
which it would be presumption to speak, its perfecting will be
continued. What teachers will take it in hand then is beyond our
knowledge; but we are confident that its individual existence will
continue, that its perfection will be along moral and spiritual lines,
that it will grow forever and forever in intelligence, in love, in the
power of rational choice, and into harmony with Him from whom it has
come and whose glory will be its perfection. To believe less would be to
refuse to listen to the voices which speak within and the voices which
speak without,--it would be to believe in an irrational and immoral
universe rather than a rational and moral one.
Our souls have a right to be heard, and their prophecies have in them an
element of certainty. He who listens to the voices which speak within
will never believe that the death of the body is the end of his personal
being. The suggestion of a state of existence from which sin, sorrow,
and death shall be forever absent, into which there shall enter nothing
that maketh a lie, and where sacrificial love is the everlasting light,
is the highest and most satisfying ideal for human life that has ever
been spoken or imagined; and that which completely satisfies the heart
cannot at the same time be repudiated by the intellect.
Let us, therefore, reverently confess that we believe in "the life
everlasting."
PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD
Thy voice is on the rolling air;
I hear thee where the waters run;
Thou standest in the rising sun,
And in the setting thou art fair.
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