Heaven: Or, An Earnest and Scriptural Inquiry Into the Abode of the Sainted Dead

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Preface

TO

THE FIKST EDITION

For several years my mind has been specially directed towards the heavenly world. In gathering information on this interesting subject, I was surprised to find that so little had been written directly on it. I have also found, since my own mind has been employed on this subject, that there are many to whom it has been a subject of like interest, and who eagerly read what professes to throw light on it. I have therefore ventured to offer this volume as a contribution to this department of pious inquiry, hoping that the reading of it may be as much blest to the hearts of those

VI PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION.

who read it, as I feel the writing of it to have been to me. Any book that will serve, in any degree, to draw the realities of the eternal world — especially of heaven — nearer to us, is not written and read in vain. There is great danger that the perishing objects of this life, because they are so near to us, may have a stronger effect on our hearts than those which are imperishable, because they are more distant. K, however, we can confirm our faith in them, and increase our desires after them, we have gained great help^ to practical piety. "We are saved by hope." The sentiment of Stilling on the title-page is most sweetly true: " Blessed are they that are home-sick, for they shall get home." Nothing can better create, or keep alive, this home-sickness for heaven, than a vivid representation to our minds of celestial treasures and attractions.

Lewisburg, Pa., July 22, 1848.

PREFACE

TO

THE SECOND EDITION

It was not a mistaken opinion, expressed in the preface to the first edition of this book, that there are many to whom this is an interesting subject, and who eagerly read whatever is written on it. Of this, the fact that the first edition was in a very short time exhausted, is the best evidence.

I attribute the favour which this volume has received, partly to the intrinsic interest of the subject itself, but chiefly to its being an attempt to exhibit the proper Protestant and scriptural side of the solemn things after death. It must be a matter of surprise to any one who earnestly pursues the history of this subject, to find how generally the prominent Protestant sjonbols are contradicted, and how almost every thing

(vii)

VUl PREFACE TO THE SEC50ND EDmON.

that has been written on the subject of man's condition after death, is unsymbolic and unprotestant. If the position which our symbols take is not a true one, let the fact at once be acknowledged; if they teach the true and scriptural doctrine on the subject, let it be clearly exhibited for the consolation of the saints. The things of another life are, in their nature, so deeply interesting that all who earnestly look "for that blessed hope" will read, on the subject, what is oflFered to them, even though it be part popish and part pagan. This want should, by all means, be met by an exhibition of the subject in the light of our own symbols.

Since the issue of the first edition, I have carefully re-examined the whole subject, by the aid of a number of works which I have since been fortunate enough to procure. Among these are : " A treatise concerning the State of Departed Souls, before, at, and after, the Resurrection," by Rev. Dr. Thomas Burnet, London, 1730 ; " Dr. WiUiam Sherlock on a Future State," London, 1740 ; " The World to Come," by Isaac Watts, D. D. General selections, entitled : " The Mourner Comforted," by James Abercrombie, D. D. ; " The State of the Departed," by John Henry Hobart, D. D.; "The

Preface To The Second Edition. IX

Happiness of the blessed," by Bichard Mart, D. D. Upon a carefiil study of these and other authors, I have not found reason to change or modify any of the positions of this book ; on the contrary, I have been vastly strengthened in them.

This Second Edition, therefore, goes forth without any change as to its position and doctrine. It has, however, been enriched at various points, and considerably enlarged by additional arguments, illustrations, and practical • reflections, the fruit of continued attenticm to the subject. May it be found more worthy of the favour it has received.

To God, and to all who desire a "better country, that is, an heavenly," this volume is gratefully and prayerfully dedicated. May its deficiencies be forgiven; may its truths be blest : and, may all who shall read these pages become the happy heirs of " an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven."

Lancaster City, September 4, 1850.

1*

Contents

Paai pRirAOE to the First Edition 5

Preface to the Second Edition 7

Introdnction 9

CHAPTER I. Qaestions concerning Heayen 26

IS HEAYBN A PLACE?

It is a Place — not a State. Nature of its materiality. The localitj of Heayen argued from Beason — from our first Scriptural Impressions. Scripture proofs, — from the Bodies of the Saints — ^from the Body of Christ — ^from the Translation of Enoch and El^ah. Objections answered. The fitness of such an Abode as ^ Home for the Saints. Concluding Reflections. Poetry 28

CHAI^R n.

WBXBB IB HEAVEN?

Ideas among Pagans 45

Seotion I. — The Theory of Progressiye Ascensions . . 48 Section II. — Progressive Ascensions in another form . 60 Section III. — Heaven unseen and unfelt around us . .66 Section IV. — The sudden creation of a Heaven at the end

of the World .62

Section V. — The Theory of the Renovation of this Earth 65 The True Doctrine 69

XU CONTENTS.

Chapter III. Do The Saints Pass Immediately At Death Into Heaven?

Introdactory remarks 92

Various theories 98

Section I. — The Ancient Under World . . . .96 Section II. — ^The Intermediate abode . . . 106

Section III. — The Transmigration of Souls . . . 132 Section IV.— The Sleep of the Soul .... 138 Section V. — The Spirits of the Dead lingering near their

Graves 159

Section VI.— The True Doctrine 164

Chapter IV. Sympathy Between Heayen And Eaeth

IntroAuotory remarks 180

Section I. — Divine Sympathy . . . , . 192 The Sympathy of the Father ... 192 The Sympathy of the Son .... 199 The Sympathy of the Holy Spirit . . 216 Sboxion n. — ^Angelic Sympathy .... 221

Angelic Sympathy in the Old Testament . 228 Angelic Sympathy not superseded by the introduction of the New Dispensation . 229 Angelic Sympathy consistent with the offices

of the Spirit 231

Sympathy with Angels as Intelligent Spirits 239

Sympathy with Angels as Animatiz^ €pirits 247

Sympathy with Angels as Executive Spirits 251

Section III. — Saintly Sympathy . . . . . 268 PROPOSITIONS

I. We have communion with the Saints in

II. The Saints in Heaven remember this World,

and think of us . . . . . 276

III. The Saints in Heaven know more of us than

we do of them . . . • . 282

IV. The Saints in Heaven know us and are inter-

ested in us 2S5 r

* .

HEAVEN.

Introduction

The soul, uneasy and confined from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

Lift up your heads, ye heavenly pilgrims, and behold your home ! Tour earnest, longing eyes, turned upward, declare plainly that you seek a country. " Blessed are they that are home-sick, for they shall get home/' As yet there is wo unto you, because you sojourn in Mesech, and are compelled to tarry in the tents of Kedar; but if you will, I shall speak comfortably to you, in the language of Canaan, by the way. Rest thee, then, upon thy staff, for even in this weary land whence ye go out, it is granted unto way-faring men to tiim aside for a night, to refresh themselves with rest under the shadow of a rock. Strong in thy heart, it is true, are the drawings of thy Father, and of thy home ; yet, in thy earnestness to gather the full harvest of heavenly fire-side joys, thou must not forget to enjoy the blessed first-fruits, which are granted thee as an earnest by the way.

Wilt thou stop, then, brother pilgrim, till we commune together in the joyful hopes of home, and refresh ourselves with visions of that heavenly land towards which our yearning hearts are aspiring ?

There is no subject upon which the mind ought to dwell more frequently, more joyfully, and more deeply, than that state of existence which lies beyond the grave. Whether it is acknowledged or not, this subject does, perhaps more than any other, occupy the thoughts of men. The hope of something better, and the dread of something worse, is always with man, to hang garlands of light and smiles, or of gloom and tears, along every path he takes through life. In the busiest hours, in the gayest circles, in the wildest confusion of earthly din and bustle, as well as in the hours of solitude, the powers of the world to come, at times, bear heavily on the spirit. This is natural, and it would be strange if it were not so. It is impossible that we, surrounded as we are by so many infallible evidences of our immortality, and tending consciously and fast toward an eternal state, should not often look, with trembling anxiety, beyond this life. The exile, while yet in chains on a foreign shore, thinks and dreams often of his home, but when he once leaves the shores of his captivity, and sails toward it, it becomes a subject of still deeper anxiety and greater longing ; we are exiles on our way home, already are we driving fast and far upon the sea of life : and ought we not to look anxiously towards our landing-place on eternal shores ? Who, with the Bible to direct his thoughts, and the Christian's hope to inspire his heart, can live without thinking much of heaven ? He who has this hope in him looks and longs for its complete consummation, as one looks and longs for the morning during a long and wretched night.

It is somewhat strange that the future life does not occupy the attention of men — especially of Christians — in a different way from what it does. Their minds are thinking much of heaven, it is true, but it is only thinking J it is not earnest inquiry — it is not bending over and prying into it as the angels are said to bend over and look into the mysteries of salvation. The angels know that there is such a thing as salvation, but they are not satisfied with such a vague knowledge, they desire to look into it : so the saints ought not to be satisfied with merely knowing that there is a heaven, and content themselves with thinking of it in a general way ; they ought to desire, by faith, and in the clear light of revealed truth, to go over and see the goodly land. Many Christians, however^ go on through Ufe with a professed hope of heaven, having nothing but some vague, undefined, and cloudy image of the land of their hopes before their eyes. It is a dreamy region in which their hopes swim.* Their thoughts

* The greater part of Christians rest contented with the most vague and incorrect ideas of the felicity of heaven, and talk and write about it in so loose and figurative a manner, as can convey no rational or definite conception of the sublime contemplations and employments of celestial intelligences. Instead of eliciting, from the metaphorical language of Scripture, the ideas intended to be conveyed, they endeavour to expand and ramify the figures employed by the sacred writers still farther, heaping metaphor upon metaphor, and epithet upon epithet, and blending a number of discordant ideas, till the image or picture presented to the mind assumes the semblance of a splendid chaotic map, or of a dazzling but undefined meteor. The term Glory^ and its kindred epithets, have been reiterated a thousand

Bometimes make excursions through it, but return because they have found no resting place. Man in analogous cases does not act so. He is prone to dive into his future history, and to measure and weigh its probabilities with an untiring curiosity. If he is about to remove to some unknown land, curious questions concerning it will be upon his mind during all the time he is making preparation, and he seeks in every way to inform himself concerning it ; and it is strange how much he will soon know of it, even where the sources of information seemed at first exceedingly scarce. It

times in descriptions of the heavenly state — the redeemed have been represented as assembled in one vast crowd above the visible concave of the sky, adorned with " starry crowns," drinking at "crystal fountains," and making "the vault of heaven ring" with their loud acclamations. The Redeemer himself has been exhibited as suspended like a statue in the heavens, above the immense crowd, crowned with diadems, and encircled with a refulgent splendour, while the assembly of the heavenly inhabitants were incessantly gdL7Ang on this object, like a crowd of spectators gazing at the motion of an air-balloon, or of a splendid meteor. Such representations are repugnant to the ideas intended to be conveyed by the metaphorical language of inspiration, when stripped of its drapery. They can convey nothing but a meagre and distorted conception of the employments of the celestial state, and tend only to bewilder the imagination, and to " darken counsel by words without knowledge." Hence it has happened, that certain infidel scoffers have been led to conclude, that the Christian heaven is not an object tc be desired ; and have frequently declared, that " they could feel no pleasure in being suspended for ever in an ethereal region, and perpetually singing psalms and hymns to the Eternal "— . an idea of heaven which is too frequently conveyed by the vague and distorted descriptions which have been given of the exercises and entertainments of the future world. — Dick's Future State, pp. 181, 182.

is because his earnest desire . to know induces him to * catch every item of intelligence that throws light upon the subject of his inquiries. Why do not Christians in like manner concentrate every ray of light that falls upon this world from that which is future, in order that they may, as intelligently and as comfortably as possible, journey toward it ? Is it because their hopes to obtain, and their desires for it, are so weak and wavering? Alas! is not this the secret? The man who had bought a piece of land which was but an earthly trifle, must needs go and see it, though he thereby forego a rich feast ; but he who professes to have an eternal inheritance beyond the grave, cannot forfeit a few of life's vain pleasures in order that he may examine it. Certainly such persons are not saved by hope !

It may be said, that heaven is only indistinctly revealed to us. It is true, heaven is exhibited to us in revelation mostly in figures, images, and symbols; but these are not without meaning. Indeed they are used for the very purpose of making the ideas which they are intended to convey plainer to us, and of giving us a more graphic description of those things which are unseen and eternal. We may know more of heaven from these figures, images, and symbols, than if it had been revealed to us by prepept. In these we have envelopes of heavenly treasure, which we can unrol, and when unrolled the treasures are our own. These symbols are caskets to which the humble and inquiring Christian has the key. The Spirit is his commentator ; " He takes of the things which are Christ's," and ours because they are his, "and showu

J them to US." Thus sayings upon the harp, which to some are aark and dead, or at best but uncertain sounds, are to the Christian, voices from a better land, which pour their rich and refreshing melody into hia heart.

In the Old Testament, there are types, shadows, and symbols, yet they embosom great truths which in , the new economy are clearly revealed; but we are not to suppose that the truths which they shadowed forth were entirely unperceived by the saints of that day. All the Jews, however, did not see these truths with equal clearness. To the thoughtless and wicked, the blood that flowed at the foot of the altar was only the blood of lambs, bulls, and goats ; and the whole transaction of tabernacle service was to them only an empty ceremonial; but to those who ardently and piously longed for union with God, these were replete with divine power, truth, and consolation. The lamb slain on the great day of atonement, was to many a common lamb, and so in one sense it was; but to those who, with eyes fixed upon the promise, waited for the consolation of Israel, the whole transaction was a panorama of the future sacrifice of better blood on Calvary ! The pious Israelite saw in these things a shadow of good things to come, the reality or substance of which they knew to be a true transcript of the shadow, and that they already apprehended by faith. Thus, what to the unbelieving and the careless seemed but dark floating images, were to them rainbows of promise, tinselled with the true substance of gospel glory. The Sun of Righteousness, which was l^fterwards to arise so gloriously over Judea's hills,

INTRQDUOTORT REMARKS. 15

with healing in his beams, was already discovered by the heaven-averted eye of patriarchal fldth, peering up behind the darkness of the typical age.

The New dispensation stands related to heaven as the Old dispensation did to the New. As Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the prophets, saw, by virtue of superior faith, the outlines of the New dispensation, so we see now the outlines of a heavenly country. Those among the Jews whose faith was strongest, understood most of what would come to pass in gospel times ; so now, those who stand most in the light, shall see the most light. Those whose eyes are ardently, piously, and longingly directed towards their future home, will get farthest in their knowledge of it. If we wait and look for it, being burdened, as the pious Jews waited for the coming Messiah, and if we study the word of God in reference to this subject as they studied the sure word of prophecy in reference to the Saviour for whom they looked, then we shall see every ray of light in the Bible which reveals heaven.

Many things may be known from the Bible about heaven, after close study, which are not known at first sight, or at first thought. In regard to this, as in regard to all its truths, it is inexhaustible ; the more we learn, the more there is to be learned.

" Ever charming, ever new !"

He who sells all that he has, and buys this field of pearl, and then turns all his energies to digging, will find good treasures. As the opening rose reveals new beauty every time it rolls ofiF an envelope, and as tints of tenderer and more refined beauty play upon its petals the nearer jou approach its heart; so, the nearer you come to the warm and living heart of divine revelation, the more sensibly will you see and feel the blissful power of heavenly things. If we get a letter from an absent friend, in which the country where he sojourns is described, we see things at a second reading which we did not see at first ; and, if even the country is not professedly described, yet we are able to gather something from it in reference to the country. A mere allusion, or the relation of some relative matter, if followed up in thought, and compared with other known facts, may bring a field of information to light which was not even directly contemplated or intended by the writer. A book on one subject will often throw light, incidentally, on a dozen other subjects in its course, or suggest hints, which, if followed out, will lead to just and valuable conclusions. So in reading the Bible with reference to the subject before us, we are not dependent upon direct passages only, or on those passages where the sacred writer speaks professedly of heaven, but we may employ incidental hints and allusions, and may take all the light thrown upon it from collateral subjects. The resurrection, the judgment, the constitution of Christ's mediatorial person, and other collateral doctrines, may all speak. " In relation to the unseen world. Scripture is to be listened to much as we might listen to an ambassador from a distant country, who, while earnestly discharging the special duties of his office, and while urging at large the political and commercial interests of his sovereign, might make many allusions and employ many phrases, which, when collected and attentively considered, would serve to convey some good general notion of the climate, usages, and wealth of his native land." A village and its landscape may be drawn from different points, and in each view some new object or feature will be included in the picture ; 80, heaven maiy be viewed from different parts of relative Bible truth, and from each it will receive some additional tint of glory, until the picture be such as eye hath not before seen, nor the heart of man conceived. Thus the subject will open much to continued, deep, and sanctified study.

Great familiarity with the Bible, with the expositions of it given by holy men, and with everything pertaining to the subject in general, is another source of light on this interesting subject. In this, as in other things, the hand of the diligent maketh rich, and he that seeketh shall find. The coarse features of scenery, which strike the eye when one looks on a landscape, are but a small part of those varied and ever-varying lights and shadows which strike the eye, touch the heart, and fire the soul, of an experienced painter or poet, and which are capable of receiving from them, upon canvass or paper, a local habitation and a name. So a careless passing glance cast toward the heavenly world by one who is bent upon the wild chase of earthly good, or the cold and idle look of dead faith, will not reveal those delicate and lovely glories which make up the tender details of celestial scenery.

This idea may be illustrated by an instance. All persons have a knowledge of Washington from reading the outlines of his life, or from tradition in the way J* of fireside tales. They will, howeyer, from these sketches, form a very incorrect, or at least a very limited idea of his real character. But let the same persons become great admirers of Washington, and consequently get also an increased desire to understand his character more fully. They will now read more extensive biographies, and read them more closely, endeavouring at the same time to fill out the picture in their minds with known facts. Besides they will gain access to his private journals and letters. - They will read the lives of all such men as lived at the same time, and acted with him in the revolution — their letters to him, and his to them. Besides this, they will read the history of the times, and thus transplant themselves in thought into that age, and move in the living scene as it transpires before them. Thus will they get a different idea altogether of his character, and thus only will they get a proper one. Before, they saw his life in its coarse and imperfect outlines ; they saw him as a chief, a hero, lover of his country ; but now they see a feature of his character which was hidden by the very glare of these ; — they see him now as a man, a citizen, a friend, a parent. Before they could not get clear of the idea that he was a being of a different order from men in general, and this in spite of their better judgment ; but now they see him as a person like themselves in all the relations of life, only great in small things as well as in great things. Now, as a result of greAt familiarity with him in the more unobtrusive details of his life, they see another Washington, because they see the true one. Apply the illustration to the subject in hand, and it will teach

INTBODUGTOBT REMARKS. 19

ns that heaven will become a different heaven to those who by great familiarity with all that pertains to it in the Bible, make it a subject of careful, persevering, and deep meditation.

It requires, also, a heart in full and earnest sympathy with the powers of the world to come, and an ardent desire to be brought more under its influence, to learn what may be known of heaven. It requires a heart, whose very longings will draw heaven and earth together; a heart, whose faith will annihilate time, space, and death, and summon the substance of things hoped for right around it. This will have a tendency to produce a familiarity with things in the Bible which would otherwise remain obscure, and what might seem to be allusions and hints incidental, will be seized upon with pious avidity as sources of light to be interpreted by the heart's deep desires, in sweet submission to the guidance of that Spirit by whom we are led into all truth ; and that Spirit by whom those deep spiritual wants and desires are first awakened will find means to direct and satisfy them.

In most that has been written on heaven, so far as it has come within the range of my reading, there is either too much wild and imwarrantable speculation'*' on the one hand, or too much vague spiritualistic use of the figurative language of the Bible on the other.f Both mislead the mind, and afford no satisfaction to

• Of this we have an instance in Taylor's Physical Theory of another Life, and in Dick's Philosophy of a Future State.

t Of this we have an example in that otherwise good book, Baxter's Saint's Rest, and in many other books on practical pety.

I

20 HEAV13N.

the spirit of pious inquiry. My object is to steer between these two extremes. When I speculate — if the carrying out of Bible truths to their legitimate consequences by the assistance of scripture allusions and established rational and analogical laws of interpretation, can be called speculation — it shall be tame, and tempered with that modesty and reverence which ought to characterize the Christian mind when looking into things not seen.

The Bible evidently says something — it says much —of heaven. What it says may certainly be known. What it says it is our duty and privilege to know, and as Christians we ought to have an ardent desire to know it. It does not tell us all, it is true, which an unholy and presumptuous curiosity might prompt us to wish, but it tells us enough to cheer our hearts, and strengthen our longings while we travel towards it. This it is my ptirpose to gather, arrange, illustrate, and enforce, for the instruction of inquirers after a better land, and for the comfort of those on the way who are faint, yet still pursuing.

I do not write for the schools ; nor do I intend that this little volume shall lie on the table of the controversialist. I contend with what I consider error when it comes in my way, but do not go out of my course to seek it for the sake of strife. This is rather intended as a manual for the way. It may give refreshment at some " lodging-pl^,ce of way-faring men in the wilderness." It may while away the nameless inquietudes of a stranger in the land, when he tumeth aside to tarry for the night. It may be of use to

The soul uneasy and confined from home.

It iLay be read at the cottage window when day-light closes, where sits some home-sick pilgrim tired of gazing into the dim distant blue, as if to see by sight what can only be seen by faith — a distant heaven ! Or at the sunset hour, when the eye is disappointed in looking through the golden yista of bright clouds into a better land. Or at that time when moments flow

More peacefully than all beside :

That sweetest of all times below, A sabbath eve in summer tide.

When the public exercises of the sanctuary are closed, when the holy quietude of closing day steals around, and when the soul, having had a foretaste of heavenly rest, is still ardently longing for the rest which remaineth — ^then, by its aid, the patience of faith may be strengthened, the tremblings of hope confirmed, and the wings of love plumed for heaven !

Reader, does your heaven-directed countenance declare to all you pass that you seek a country ; and are you weary of all the oppressions that are done under the sun ?— read of heaven ; not so much in those bright and lucid moments when the smiles of God's countenance rest consciously upon you, and when the Spirit by a sweet impulse of faith mounts up as on eagle's wings ; but read when your hours are loneliest, when your burdens are heaviest, when your temptations are strongest, when your way is darkest^ when your friends are fewest, when your heart is weakest, and when the powers of hell are fiercest. For your comfort and encouragement come and see the good land. Get thee up into the top of the Pis« gah of faith, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes !