The problem of final destiny, studied in the light of revised theological statement

Front matter

LIBRARY OF. CONGRESS.

Cliap..w.-. Copyright No*

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Problem Stated and Opened - - 13

II. The Personality of God in the Problem - 28

Chapter I. The Problem Stated And Opened

For more than six thousand years the generations of men, like ocean waves, have been thrown up on the shores of time and rolled back into the infinite deep. What has been in the past will continue to be in the future. History repeats itself. "One generation cometh and another goeth. After the fathers shall be the children/' This has been and, to the end will be, the order of Divine Providence.

Whence came these countless millions of human beings, and whither do they go? This is the problem of Final Destiny which has not yet been solved.

The great question here proposed involves others that hang around and enter into it, such as these : Was man's entrance into life a new creation, or was he pre-existent? "Does death end all," or is there continued life after physical death? Is immortality unconditional and universal? Has life, after death, any close connection with life in this world, and, if so, what? Do all share alike in the after world, or are some perfectly happy and others utterly miserable? Will existence, to any part of man-

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kind, be a curse and not a blessing? What has the principle of natural consequences to do in deciding man's condition in the great hereafter? Did Christ come into the world to save a part of mankind or the whole? and will the purpose of his coming be accomplished? May not final restitution, obtain to the extent that existence, to all who bear God's image and are made immortal, shall be a source of greater good than evil?

These, and other similar questions, enter into and constitute the great problem of Destiny. At bottom they are all one question : — Whence and Whither?

This is for the human race the question of questions. Nothing else, from a practical point of view compares with it. It touches the vital issues of man's existence here and hereafter. It concerns every human being, and is so great a problem that it involves, more or less, almost every other of enduring interest. What is life to us if we know not the end toward which we are tending? Croesus, king of the Lydians, rolling in wealth and luxury, asked of his philosophic counsellor — expecting a flattering answer — if he did not consider him the happiest of mortals? His faithful friend replied: "It is not possible to decide that one's life is truly prosperous and happy until we know how it terminates." This is pre-eminently true of man's existence. All that wealth, honor, pleasure and prosperity of every kind which this world can bestow does not satisfy a thoughtful mind., destined to an immortal conscious existence, apart from some reasonable assurance as to whether this endless existence is to be one of infinite good or of infinite evil to its possessor. So long as such a question hangs in doubt, the soul of man, be he peasant, philosopher, millionaire or king, must be restless ; death must ever re-

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IS main the king of terrors ; men must feel that it is better to "bear the ills they have than fly to others that they know not of." At best, "riches take to themselves wings and fly away." Life is a fleeting shadow, a hand's breadth, a tale that is told, "a meteor in the sky, which, before we've said, see, see! 'tis fled." But there is an eternity beyond. What to us and to the human race is that eternity to be?

There may be people who regard such a question as unworthy of their attention ; but such ones are themselves unworthy of the intellectual and moral natures that God has given them. Most men have times of profound thought on this great subject ; and history shows that it has ever been so. Apart from the problem of Destiny, we know not how to explain anything. Existence is an awful mystery ; the course or history of human life is inexplicable; God Himself is the "Great Unknowable," in whose presence we bow down, but whether we should do it in fear and dread, or in confidence and love, who, apart from light on the awful problem of Destiny, can satisfactorily decide?

This great problem, on which the world has been thinking for thousands of years, is still unsettled. The questions at the opening of this chapter indicate the variety and diversity of opinions that still prevail. A deep feeling of uncertainty, an undercurrent of misgiving and doubt, of mingled hope and fear are continually, and from every quarter, revealed. Those who think they have solved the problem would give worlds, if they had them, to know assuredly that they had solved it correctly and beyond the possibility of mistake.

Is the problem of Human Destiny solvable? The fact that it has not yet been fully solved is not proof that it cannot be. Other questions that perplexed the thinking world for ages have, at length, reached satisfactory solutions. The Copernican system of Astronomy is an example. How men of scientific turn and culture struggled with the problem of our Solar System and of the stellar heavens ! But, at last, by a wide range of study, and the grouping together of rays of light from all quarters the great system of astronomic truth stood revealed, and a new universe was created. So, the time must come, if men study honestly, patiently and in right directions and long enough, when this problem of Destiny will yield up its secrets to the infinite satisfaction of a weary and waiting world.

Demonstrable solution of the problem at the present time is probably impossible. No one has yet come back from the unseen world fully to reveal its secrets. I do not mean to deny that messengers from the spirit world have appeared to men in such a way as to prove the fact of continued life after death ; nor would I venture to predict that the time will never come when communications between the seen and the unseen worlds will be far more frequent, marked and satisfactory than they have ever yet been. But, certainly, at present, no such reliable testimony is generally believed to exist. Swedenborg claimed to have communications with spirits in the world of spirits ; but I do not see how any one can read many of his strange and weird narratives without concluding that he often mistook hallucination for reality.

Conceding that the problem of Final Destiny cannot at present be solved on the basis of demonstrative certainty, may it not be placed on the pedestal of rational probability? Probability, rather than certainty, is the ground on which we all stand in relation to nine-tenths of the ques-

THE PROBLEM STATED AND OPENED.

tions with which we have to deal. Outside of mathematical and moral axioms our beliefs, decisions and actions have to be regulated largely by degrees of probability. When probability is very strong, men should act upon it and follow its guidance with caution, but without hesitation. Wise men do this; weak men hesitate; and this constitutes largely the difference between success and failure in this world, and may, as regards the world beyond. Final Destiny, on the basis of rational probability^ then all that these chapters are expected to establish ; but that probability will, I trust, appear so great that rational people should not hesitate to accept and act upon it with confidence and earnest endeavor, as they do on other questions to which they are similarly related.

A rational solution of the problem of Final Destiny necessitates a re-examination and careful revision of the historic Creeds, and some of the traditional beliefs of the Christian Church. As the Creeds stand to-day, the problem is already solved. They lay down the exact conditions on which alone the salvation of any soul is possible. Then they make it clear, in view of these conditions and existing facts, that the great proportion of the human family, past and present, who have attained the state of moral accountability, not having complied with these specified conditions, are, and must be eternally lost; in other words, tormented forever by the direct hand of God. For nearly 2,000 years this has been the doctrine of the Creeds and the professed belief of the Christian Church. All this time the heart of man, apart from creedal dogma, has more or less revolted against so awful a conclusion, which it cannot reconcile with the love and justice of God.

Creedal theology, unrevised, makes no compromises ;

l8 THE PROBLEM OF FINAL DESTINY.

and therefore the feeling is everywhere growing that the time is near, if it has not arrived, when, on this and on many other points, a revision and re-statement is a necessity.

In view of these facts, the title of this work has been adopted, which is, The Problem of Final Destiny, Studied in the Light of Revised Theological Statement. Apart from such a revision there can be no other than the old unsatisfactory solution. The revised statement, which must retain all fundamental and essential truth, is expected of itself to reveal a new solution. But, to many minds the very idea of such a revisal suggests a rejection of the l^ible, the putting of dishonor upon Jesus Christ, and a meandering into bypaths of heresy; just as if the world had never made progress and was never expected to. While revision and restatement upon every other subject is, from time to time a necessity, why should credal Theology, which at best is of human origin, be a conspicuous exception?

A glance at the world's theological history, and at the many and great changes through which it has passed, should convince any one that still further change, carefully considered and cautiously introduced, is to be expected as both certain and necessary. The history of creed revisals is both interesting and instructive. Let us glance at some of them.

The early parts of the Old Testament are a revision and re-statement of traditions and beliefs that had been current among tribes and nations much older than Moses or Abraham. Many suppose that all contained in these earlier writings was a new and independent revelation direct from God ; and not, in large part, a revised statement of traditions and beliefs that ante-date Hebrew

THE PROBLEM STATED AND OPENED.

history. But late discoveries of those older records disprove this. Then, the later portions of the Old Testament revise, in part, the earlier ones. The Bible is throughout a progressive Book.

The New Testament is, to a great extent, a revisal and restatement of the Old. Jesus revised the Jewish conception of Himself and of His Kingdom. He revised the Ten Commandments, taking them out of the negative and putting them into a positive form. He revised and modified the Fourth Commandment, retaining its spirit, but rejecting its letter. He enlarged the meaning of the Fifth Commandment, making murder to consist not alone in killing, but equally in hating one's brother. The Seventh Commandment was greatly expanded, so as to include thoughts equally with deeds. Christ reversed the Jewish conception of God, making Him a Father and a God of love, and not a Being possessed of like passions with ourselves, as He had been conceived of by many of the old Hebrews. He put a new estimate upon man no less than upon God ; He brought life and immortality to light as the Old Testament did not. He made all men brethren and children of a common Father. Jesus reversed the conception of the whole moral law, and made it to consist alone, as God's character consisted, in love. Love was the fulfilling of the law. On this one Commandment hung all the law and the prophets. Thus, the New Testament, while it embodies all that was good in the Old, throws out a vast amount of what was human and temporal, and was intended to pass away, or, to re-appear in greatly modified and improved form. In these and other ways the New Testament is a full revision of the Old. Man and revelation advance together.

Then, again, the apostolic age witnessed, to some ex-

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tent, though perhaps unconsciously, a revisal and re-statement of Gospel teaching. Christ laid down great principles ; the Apostles sought to reduce those principles to a system of doctrines ; They did more ; after the resurrection we hear almost nothing of the Kingdom of God which was the great theme of our Lord's teaching. Now, the Church, which Christ mentioned but twice, takes the place of the Kingdom, which He spoke of about eighty times. No one can compare the epistles of Paul with the Gospels, without seeing how great is the difference of expression between them. This apostolic revision was not a denial of anything contained in the Gospels, but was an advance along partly new lines.

After the apostolic age, and when Christianity was becoming a power in the Roman Empire, ambition for party leadership entered into the Church ; party zeal ran high, differences prevailed and a re-statement of Christian doctrine was demanded. This resulted in the calling of the Nicene Council, and others of less note, for the dogmatic settlement of Christian doctrine. That great revision and re-statement, after a hundred years of contention was accepted, and through ten centuries of spiritual death in the Church was practically unquestioned.

Then, at the opening of the 16th century, the Reformation was inaugurated, which divided the Roman Catholic Church and established Protestantism over half of Europe. After this, among Protestants, the work of revision and creed-manufacture was renewed ; and it finally crystallized, among English speaking people, in the Westminster Confession of Faith. For a time general satisfaction prevailed. A little later it came to be seen that the metaphysics of the creed denied man's free-

THE PROBLEM STATED AND OPENED.

dom, as the older system had done, and so left him in a state of inability and irresponsibility. Of course, the power of the Gospel was broken, and irreligion came like a flood over England and America. To correct this state of things, another creedal revision was necessary ; and President Edwards, Dr. Hopkins, Andrew Fuller, and others became theological reformers. They revised the creedal doctrine of the Will. That, in the end, divided the Churches into what was called New and Old School sections, and this distinction with variations has continued to this day.

Then, again, the scientific, historic and literary advances and discussions of the last forty years have created so much of restlessness, uncertainty and dissatisfaction with existing formulas, that still another revision and re-statement of doctrine is made necessary. While one class in the Church is eagerly engaged in discussions preliminary to such revision, another class appears to be in a state of alarm lest the Bible and the Christian faith should be overthrown. The past history of revision, as here outlined, ought to dispel such groundless fears. Only the wood, hay and stubble will be discarded or burned; while the gold, silver and precious stones will have new settings, and shine more brilliantly than ever.

What has been in the past will continue to be in the future. As knowledge increases — knowledge of the Bible, of science, of history, of literature and of the sacredness of man's moral intuitions — revision, in every department of human knowledge, theology included, is to be expected and desired. And this same process must go on in the world of departed spirits and among the angels of God. All that finite beings can ever know must be

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infinitely less than infinite ; and, as knowledge increases, revisions of past thought must follow.

The lesson from this sketch on the subject of revision should quiet the fears of the timid, shut the mouths of those who regard Creeds as finalities, and encourage earnest seekers after truth to go forward thoughtfully and prayerfully in the work to which God calls them. Light must be sought from all quarters, accepted and followed, lead where it may. Revision is the order of this world, and so long as time endures and knowledge increases, it should be encouraged and not repressed. God only is unchangeable.

I would emphasize the fact that the present time is peculiarly favorable for the study of this and other great problems, and for needful revisions. The whole civilized world appears to be in a state of unrest and transition. Social, civil and religious life are all drifting towards some new order of things as yet but dimly seen. "Coming events cast their shadows before. ,, Naturally, conservatism resists the change, and it is probably best that it should, as a too rapid movement might produce disorder. New ideas need to be well examined, and tested on all sides, before they come into general acceptance. Recklessness always leads to ruin.

Thinking people are now alive to the great questions of the day; and, especially, to the central truths of religion. They may not all care to express themselves fully. While men have not the interest in Creeds they once had, yet the living truths that hang around those Creeds, but may be no longer symbolized in them, were never so vivid in the thoughts, not only of church people, but of the world generally, as they are to-day. Those who look on this as an inconsiderate and really sceptical

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age are profoundly mistaken. It is true that new ideas on some points are supplanting old ones ; but men want to know the truth and to find God, as they never did before ; and they are seeking for Him, not in books and sermons alone, as they once did, but in themselves. The truths of Christ's Gospel are largely supported now, not so much by arguments addressed to the intellect, as by appeals to the consciences and consciousness of men. God in us and we in God, is now, more than ever before, the foundation of Christian hope. The immanence of God, the love of God, the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, — these are the great vital principles and facts in the type of religion that is beginning to move, and will soon move the world as it has not been moved before. What was once theory, form and law, is now coming to be spirit and life. "The letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life."

In this new movement that is agitating the world, the great problem of Human Destiny comes to the front and has to be considered, both from old and from new points of view. Modified conceptions of God, of truth and of man, and what they all signify, and how they stand related, are changing man's conceptions of probable Destiny. Endless punishment is no longer accepted and proclaimed as it once was ; and a general hope, growing into belief, prevails that the doctrine, in its old, legal, mechanical, sensuous form of statement is not true. In the creedal form, it is not believed by the people ; and the present attitude of a large number of Christian ministers of all orders is one of uncertainty and doubt. The people know and feel this ; they know it from the changed style of preaching and speaking on the subject, all of which tends to unsettle the faith of the Church and the world,

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not only on this, but, to an extent, on other religious questions. It must then, by all leaders of Christian thought, be fairly and fearlessly met and settled in a way that shall honor God and satisfy man's reason and intuitive sense of right and justice.

The securing of such a result must involve a wide range of investigation. The problem of Human Destiny is so interblended with all the great questions of Christian Theology that it cannot be studied separately, by itself. Each cardinal doctrine must be briefly but carefully considered, and made to yield up its quota of evidence that bears upon, and helps to solve, the problem. No one line of evidence could solve it ; but when all these gleams of light, from many sources, are converged to a common centre, then the looked-for solution may be expected of itself to appear. The proposed extended course of study may be briefly outlined as follows :

The Personality of God is the fundamental fact always to be recognized ; for, if there be no personal God, there is no problem. Then theTri-Unity of God must be considered. Not the personality of God alone, but His moral character as a God of honor, justice, mercy and love must be clearly apprehended ; for, upon these qualities in God, man's destiny depends. Then man himself must be studied; his two-fold nature, animal and spiritual; the conflict between them, and the probable issue of the struggle should come into view. Creation, its nature, its law, its progress, its purpose and interpretation, at least so far as man is concerned, must throw light on the problem to be solved. The Bible, as a Book, containing human and Divine elements, and its place and value in the discussion has to be carefully considered. The question of Immortal Life, and what it suggests as to God's purpose in creation, should come into the study. The doctrine of Sin, viewed in its relationships, and especially as to its nature, desert and penalty, must have an important bearing on the great problem. Christ and His Gospel — the central ground of hope — must be studied as Christ revealed it. The controverted doctrine of Atonement calls for examination and revision. The question of the Intermediate State, or of life between death and finality, and as to what may take place in a soul's experience during this period calls for careful consideration. Creeds, and, especially, the "Adamic System of Metaphysics," have had a large share in forming conclusions as to Human Destiny, and so, must be reviewed and revised. Christ's words on Future Punishment are of great import and must have careful study. The question of Eternal Hope, the value of hope, what crushes it, and the efforts men make to encourage hope as to the life after death, must be considered. The Second Coming of Christ, the Resurrection and Judgment, all closely related, bear directly on the great problem. The hypothesis of natural consequences, as illustrated in Divine and human Governments, is one of the most important studies in the whole series. Then, as a branch of the same, the place of the Natural and Supernatural in the world's history has to be considered. And, finally, the rays of light from all the preceding studies must be collected and converged to a common centre, out of which the solution of the problem of Human Destiny ought naturally to arise and stand forth, at least on a basis of strong rational probability.

These are great themes; and, while they are to be studied with constant reference to their eschatological bearing, yet the themes in themselves, though briefly and

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imperfectly unfolded, are of such great interest that their discussion should claim attention apart from the special end to be kept ever in view.

In this whole course of study, as in most others, as much depends upon the method of investigation as upon the investigation itself. If the postulate or deductive method is adopted, then we have not a series of subjects to be studied, but a proposition to be proved, which necessitates, or, at least, secures an ex-parte argument in its support. To assume the main conclusion in advance is almost to affirm that further investigation is unnecessary; at least, it involves such committal to a theory as to make an impartial study of the whole subject impossible. Unfortunately most theological controversies have been conducted on the postulate plan, and this is why they are generally unsatisfactory and inconclusive; and why, also, the method should be abandoned.

What is known as the Inductive or study method, as Lord Bacon presented it, is far preferable. This begins with no theory or proposition to sustain ; it is only looking after facts and their bearing on the question to be investigated. The facts must speak for themselves, so that no conclusion is forced into view; that must come of itself, and it will be recognized when it appears. On this inductive plan one must not reach conclusions from a narrow line of study, but must range for his facts over w T ide fields that encircle the whole question. Then, those facts themselves must be studied, classified, compared and allowed to give their own testimony until, step by step, the conclusion becomes more and more distinct and finally stands out a self-revealed truth.

Of late, what may be called the Intuitive or Psycho-

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2/ logical method of study, in the department of Theology, is holding a larger place than formerly. Men are beginning to find God and moral truth in themselves more, and out of themselves less, than they once did. God has put into the reason and conscience of moral beings certain fundamental principles and distinctions of Right and Wrong, of Honor and Justice that are common to all men, and from whose decisions there is no appeal. These felt and conceded principles of moral intuition are the arbiters of truth and duty wherever they apply. They help to settle many questions that otherwise would hang in endless doubt. In the future, most questions of religious duty must be settled more at the bar of reason and conscience than by appeal to authority.

In accordance with ideas that have now been suggested, the effort to solve the great problem of Destiny, not demonstratively, but on the ground of rational probability, is undertaken. Some views will be expressed and conclusions reached that current theology, as we find it in the Creeds and in popular belief, cannot accept. But, if freedom of thought, and frank statement of conclusions that seem to follow, are to be sacrificed for any reason whatever, then it were better that the work should not have been undertaken. Truth alone is worth the seeking; and if, on so great a subject, one can go so far as to establish a basis of strong probability, one's labor, though not a finality, is not in vain. In any event, truth once apprehended is in no danger of being overthrown. In the words of John Milton :

"Though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so truth is in the field we do injuriously by licensing and prohibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and falsehood grapple; who ever knew truth put to the worse in a fair and free encounter ?"

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Chapter II. The Personality Of God In The Problem

If there be any rational ground for hope that the great proportion of the human family will enter into everlasting life, and that, to none will existence prove an infinite curse, that hope centres in God. God, then, is the chief fact and factor in the problem of Final Destiny. Other factors, as we shall see, enter into it; but, apart from this central one, they could never solve the question. The Supreme Being then must be carefully studied in three aspects — Personality, Tri-Unity, Moral Character — showing incidentally how each is related to Man's Destiny. This study must occupy the present and the two following chapters.

If there be no personal God, there is no problem to solve, for the universe is in the grasp of cruel, heartless fate. An impersonal God is impossible of conception. Divine Personality (apart from Scripture) may be established on three grounds — moral intuition, human consciousness and logical induction. The first two of these, because more familiar, will be considered briefly.

i. Moral intuitions prove the personality of God. By intuition I mean those beliefs and judgments that present themselves spontaneously to the mind with irresistible evidence, and without the assistance of reasoning or reflection. They are self-evident and necessary truths. In every course of study something has to be assumed as conceded truth.

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2 9

The study of Astronomy assumes the truth of numbers, of mathematical axioms and the fact of angles, space and duration. The study of Physics assumes the existence of matter and the reality of touch, sight and sound. The study of Psychology assumes the existence of mind and the fact of consciousness. So, the study of Religion, and of the problem of Final Destiny assumes the existence and personality of God. It assumes this on the ground of moral intuition. All people in all ages have believed in the existence of a personal God, not because they have reasoned themselves into that belief, so much as because man is so constituted that the belief in a Supreme Being is a moral necessity. It is as natural for man to believe in the existence of a personal God as it is to believe in one's own personal existence ; and, probably as many people doubt the reality of one as of the other.

Upon this point of intuitive authority all theological and most philosophical writers agree. Sir William Hamilton says : "We are inspired with a belief in something unconditioned beyond the sphere of comprehensible reality." Mr. Mansel, in his ''Limitations of Religious Thought," expresses the same idea more simply : "We are compelled by the constitution of our minds to believe in the existence of an Absolute and Infinite Being/' Such, in a word, is the intuitive method of finding God. Expansion here is unnecessary.