Eternalism, a theory of infinite justice

Preface

It is usually assumed that the individual is created at his birth by a Divine Power, or by the processes of Nature. And we cannot deny that some individuals are born good and others bad, and it seems to be impossible to reconcile with Infinite Justice the theory that one individual is created — " compelled to be " — with a noble character, and another individual with a vicious character.

Other questions must be answered. If God or Nature has created a criminal, can we acquit the Creator of all accountability for the criminal ? Has not the soul which is created vicious been deeply wronged? How can men be held to equal moral accountability if they have not been endowed in the beginning with equal goodness, equal strength, equal intelligence ? Are those who are born vicious .really the victims of the malice of Nature or of the wrath of God?

I shall attempt herein to answer these and kiniv PREFACE

dred questions, and to prove that the Eternal Order can be and must be just and right.

A small part of the matter in this volume is taken from a brochure published by me in 1899, entitled " A Short View of Great Questions."

O. J. S.

New York, 1902.

Part I Creation And Annihilation Are Unknown To Science

PAGE

I. Agnosticism, the Theory that no one can know ... 3 II. Materialism, the Theory that Death ends all ... . 6

III. Materialistic Fatalism : Man is the Beneficiary of Na-

ture's Bounty, or the Victim of her Malice .... 9

IV. The Theological Theory, that Man is made by a Cre-

ator 12

V. Theological Fatalism : all Men are under the Favor or

Curse of the Creator 16

VT. Justice cannot be built upon a Foundation of Injustice . 20 VII. Science knows nothing of Creation or of Annihilation . 25 VIII. The Theory of Eternalism — Man builds his own Character 28

IX. A World without Evil would be as Toil without Exertion, as a Battle with no Antagonist 30

X. The Problem of Heredity — God or Nature has not

created a vicious Man 34

XI. Man's Accountability — Suicide cannot kill him ; Death

cannot destroy him 37

XII. Man is his own Savior and Creator, and makes his own

Heaven and Hell 39

PART n

I. Our Life here is as a broken Part of a much broader

Life 45

II. The contradictory Definitions of the Word Religion . . 49 vi CONTENTS

PAGE

III. The true Definition will be found in instinctive and per-

manent Belief ' 55

IV. The Survival of the Soul is an instinctive and a perma-

nent religious Doctrine 60

V. The Belief in the Accountability of the Soul is also

instinctive and permanent 67

VI. The Belief in God — the War between Naturalism and

Supernaturalism 72

VII. The Meaning of the two fundamental religious Beliefs . 74 VIII. Eternal Justice is the actual meaning of Religion ... 77 IX. A Harmony in the Definitions of Religion — its Perversions — its Origin 81

X. The Meaning of the Belief in God — inherited Theology

— Supernaturalism 84

XI. It is not well to scorn the moral Results of human Experience 89

Part III

I. That which Theology calls Predestination, Philosophy

names Necessity — both Terms mean Fatalism . . 95 II. All Forms of Fatalism are based on the Assumption

that Man's Character is made for him 99

III. The Law of Causation — the Answer of Eternalism to

IV. Mm as a Pen that writes, as a Trumpet that talks . . 108 V. The Failure of the Efforts to reconcile Fatalism with

moral Accountability Ill

VI. Morality is secondary in Theology, while Philosophy

hat not v.-t decided what Morality is 120

VII. Materialism and Morality — " the cosmic Process has

no Sori of Relation to mora] Ends" 124

VIII. Science demonstrates that some arc born vicious and

Others good — the Pica of the Degenerate .... 136 IX. Tin- [nsignifioanoe of Man — "a Chalk-mark on the

Blackboard of Time " 142

\ Thfl Dogma Of Fatalism belittles and enslaves Mankind 14o

CONTENTS vii

PAGE

XI. The Decay of Theology and Philosophy — our Poets are

our clearest Thinkers 149

XII. There is no Error in the instinctive Logic and Philosophy of Mankind 153

Part IV

L Each Day is a Day of Judgment — Justice is Compensation, Reciprocity, Equilibrium 161

II. Justice involves a Cycle of Cause, Development, and

Effect 166

III. Nothing exists without Compensation — the Key of all

Truth 171

IV. Justice is the basic Verity, the fundamental Law, the

divine Principle 175

Part V

I. An Answer to the Materialist — a Demonstration of Pre-

existence 181

II. The Theory of Creation is as the Darkness of Night ;

the Theory of Eternalism as the Light of Day . . . 185

III. Theories concerning the Reincarnation of Souls . . .190

IV. Why have we no Memory of our past Lives ? . . . . 196 V. The Universe is Man's Heritage, Man's Arena, Man's

Throne 199

VI. To each Soul all Good is accessible, and all Evil possible 204 VII. Eternalism — a Faith based on Reason and Understanding ... 207

Part VI

I. All Theories denying Preexistence are Theories of Cre-

ationism and Fatalism 217 viii CONTENTS

FAGS

II. Religion" and the Sense of Justice — the Perversions of

Religion 221

III. The Theory of Divine Love and Mercy — Naturalism

against Supernaturalism 226

IV. Accountability to Law — the Caterpillar and Butterfly

— other Criticisms 236

V. The Question of Memory — conscious Immortality a

Thing to be earned 250

VI. The Difficulties in accepting and expressing the Logic

of Fatalism 256

VII. The Decay of Western Philosophy — the true and imperishable Philosophy 259

VJJLL. Agnosticism — the Evidences of the After-life, of Pre-

existence, of the moral Order of the Universe . . . 264 IX. An Examination of the one Theory of Infinite Justice

offered by Creationism 274

Appendix

Pojt.ts, Philosophers, and other Thinkers on Eternalism 287

Index 311

Part I Creation And Annihilation Are Unknown To Science

The world was never made.

It will change, but it will not fade.

So let the wind range,

For even and morn

Ever will be

Through eternity.

Nothing was born ; Nothing will die ; All things will change.

Tennyson.

AGNOSTICISM, THE THEORY THAT NO ONE CAN KNOW

DESIRING to discuss the immortality of the soul, with kindred questions, I am met in the beginning by the Agnostic theory that knowledge bearing on the subject is unobtainable.

The position " I do not know " is a modest one. Every man must take it in relation to many things, for " our knowledge is as the rivulet, our ignorance as the sea." But the extension of the statement " I do not know " by the Agnostic to " I cannot know ; no one knows ; no one can know" does not bear the impress of humility. It has the appearance rather of an indirect form of denial, a method of changing the grounds of discussion, a challenge to human intelligence.

Man has always struggled to comprehend the meaning of his existence. He has been undiscouraged by countless failures. Beaten in one field of exploration, he turns with undiminished hope and courage to another. He refuses to accept a denial of the possibility of knowledge. He says to the Agnostic :

f-

" How do you know that no one can know ? You do not explain ; you do not answer ; you only deny.

" Upon what basis do you set a limit to human knowledge — not alone to your own knowledge, or to the knowledge of all who are now living, but to the knowledge of all who may yet live ?

" When you say that ' no one can know,' you assert by implication that there is no evidence bearing on the subject ; for knowledge cannot be denied where evidence exists.

11 Here are two conflicting theories — one that the soul of man is immortal ; the other that it is not. Is it likely that an inquiry would prove one theory to be exactly as reasonable, or as unreasonable, as the other ?

" The true theory must have more evidence to support it than the false one, the truth being stronger than that which is untrue.

" You ask us to dismiss the subject. We cannot dismiss it. Primitive man could not ; the half-civilized could not, and no more can enlightened man. And the Agnostics cannot dismiss it ; for, having denied all possibility of knowledge and ended discussion, they continue to lecture and to write about it."

In a time within the memory of men now living, the theory of evolution had made little impression even upon scientific men, and not any upon mankind in general The physical origin of the human race was still undemonstratecL

When Darwin wrote his immortal demonstration, Agnosticism was unknown. Darwin was impelled, however, in the introduction to his " Descent of Man," to dispose in these words of the " no one can know " theory, which is doubtless as old as the thought of man :

" It has often and confidently been asserted that man's origin can never be known ; but ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge ; it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science."

We now understand, through the labors of Darwin and others, the physical origin of the race of men.

If we would advance in our investigation of the still more important problem of the wherefore of the soul of man, we should deal promptly with essentials, rather than with non-essentials.

II Materialism, The Theory That Death Ends All

TWO common views are held, in Europe and in America, regarding the past and future of the soul of man — the materialistic view and the theological view. Reduced to its simplest terms, this is the theory of Materialism :

The existence of the individual begins with the birth, and ends with the death, of his body.

The philosophy of Materialism may be expressed as follows :

" The individual is born without his own consent — the product of Heredity and of other causes of which he has no knowledge — and is equipped with physical, mental, and moral qualities for which he is not responsible.

u All that the individual knows is that he is here ; that he is what he is. Why he is here, why he is what he is, he does not and cannot know."

But man must ask questions. He must, for example, inquire concerning the law of Heredity, upon which is based the claim that the dull and the depraved inherit the follies and suffer for the vices of their forefathers. How can this theory be reconciled with moral accountability or with justice? Why should the individual be condemned for the sins of his fathers ?

We do not tolerate a code that punishes one man for the wrong done by another. Can it be that man is just, and that the Eternal Order is unjust ?

The Materialist would doubtless answer :

" Even if there were no law of Heredity, your questions would remain unanswered ; for, since the individual does not create himself, he is not accountable for the qualities born in him.

" Nature, for reasons which we cannot comprehend, or perhaps for lack of reason, produces creatures that are unequal — some being men, some beasts, some reptiles. Of the men, some are wise and some are foolish, some good and some bad."

Then man must ask more questions. If Nature has created one brave and another cowardly, one wise and another foolish, one good and another vicious, why should the wise reproach the foolish, or the good the bad, or the hero scorn the coward ? Is creation a lottery, in which some creatures draw prizes and others blanks ?

We may assume that the Materialist would answer in these words :

" But why do you question me ? I am not the Creative Force. I only face the facts, and decline to cherish illusions. If I have stated the facts incorrectly, please correct me. If I have stated them correctly, then you, who question their justice, should account for them.

"If you cannot answer them, then accept them and make the best of them. If they overthrow some of your most sacred idols and theories, so much the worse for your idols and theories.

"The sheep does not complain because it is a sheep, nor the snake because it is a snake. Perhaps it would be wise for us to congratulate ourselves that we are no worse than we are, and make the best of what we are, rather than lament because some creatures have been treated unfairly in the distribution of Nature's favors."

Ill

MATERIALISTIC FATALISM : MAN IS THE BENE- FICIARY OF NATURE'S BOUNTY, OR THE VIC- TIM OF HER MALICE

IT is now evident that the theory of Materialism is the doctrine of Fatalism, which can be in- . terpreted as follows :

" We are men ; we know not why. That we are men is due to no merit of our own.

" The good are only the beneficiaries of Nature's bounty, and the evil are the victims of her malice.

M That we are not monkeys or rats or snakes is due to our good luck alone.

" We had no part in our creation ; we shall not be consulted about our extinction. ) A few years ago / we were not ; a few years hence we shallnot be. ,~ " If we are discontented, we can depart of our own will and without fear ; for there can be no consequences oi self-destruction. He who finds life undesirable is foolish to suffer here, when he can go hence to eternal sleep.

" * If you would not this poor life fulfill, Lo, you are free to end it when you will, Without the fear of waking" after death.'

" Courage, truthfulness, honor, and wisdom are the gifts of Nature, for which he who possesses them deserves no more credit than the apple for its flavor, or the rose for its fragrance.

" The noblest thought of Plato is not his thought ; it is the result of the forces which Nature planted in the skull of Plato.

" Nature propagates intellectual and moral qualities as she grows potatoes, and vicious impulses as she produces thistles. The good and evil in us belong to Nature, who planted them.

" We are only the garden pots with which she indulges her fancy for the cultivation of man. In one pot she plants a seed which produces a hero, in another a poet, in another a thinker, in another a savior ; and other seeds planted in other pots produce fools, traitors, liars, thieves.

" Our noblest, brightest, and best are as the prize roses in the flower show ; our meanest are as the weeds by the wayside, or as the noxious growths in the swamps of the tropics.

" What merit we have is due to Nature's favor ; our demerit to her neglect."

If the theory of Materialism be true, we must indeed part with the idols and ideals which we have most cherished. We must cease building monuments to the good and noble.

If it be true, we must pluek from our hearts all reverence for the great teachers, thinkers, disco verers, and heroes of the earth, for we owe them no respect ; they were only the fortunate ones in the lottery of Fate.

If it be true, we can condemn no cowards, fools, or criminals, for they are the wretched victims of Nature's malevolence, and as such are entitled to our sympathy — if Nature has endowed us with such a quality as sympathy.

If it be true, we must admit that moral accountability is a fiction, and that equity has no place in the Eternal Order,

If it be true, our theories of eternal justice are dreams and illusions. Nature negatives them all. Man reaps what he has not sown, ^nd sows what he shall not reap.

Materialism is a dismal and hopeless philosophy, which sends a chill to our heart-strings, turns the sweet things of life into bitterness, and destroys the charts and extinguishes the lights by which we have been guided.

And yet the Materialist is right in at least one position — his propositions should be answered, rather than merely questioned or denied.

IV The Theological Theory, That Man Is Made By A Creator

THE theory of Theology concerning the soul of man is expressed briefly as follows : The individual is created at his birth, an immortal soul, who survives the death of his body.

This theory differs from the theory of Materialism in two particulars: First, in the assumption that the individual is created by God rather than by Nature ; and, second, that man is endowed with immortality.

The theological theory — that the individual has been created by God — is also a doctrine of Fatalism. Man remains a creature that has been made ; and the credit or responsibility for what he is rests with the Maker, and not with the thing made. Man is still but a pot in which the Great Gardener has planted a seed of good or of evil.

[ndeed, the law of Heredity is distinctly asserted

in die Second Commandment (Exodus xx. 5) : " For

I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the

• iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the

M&ird and fourth generation of them that hate me."

A few of the many other texts' touching the creation and final disposal of man, aiid the fatalistic relation of the Creator to man, ire here reproduced :

Genesis ii. 7 :

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living soul.

Ephesians i. 11 :

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.

Proverbs xvi. 4 :

The Lord hath made all things for himself : yea, even <--*— the wicked for the day of evil.

Acts xv. 18 :

Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.

Proverbs xv. 3 :

The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

Isaiah xlv. 5, 7 :

I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness: I make peace, and create \ evil : I the Lord do all these things.

(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth.) As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Romans viii. 30 :

Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called : and whom he called, them he also justified : and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Timothy i. 9 :

Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

Ephesians ii. 8, 9 :

For by grace are ye saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God — not of works, lest any man should boast.

Romans ix. 21, 22 :

Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make 1 lis power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction ?

Daniel iv. 34, 35 :

I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored

him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting

dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing : and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth : and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

Psalm cxxxv. 6 :

Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places.

Matthew x. 29-81 :

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing ? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Psalm xciv. 8—11 :

Understand, ye brutish among the people : and ye fools, when will ye be wise ? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct ? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know ?

Romans xi. 7 :

What then ? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (according as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear) unto this day.

THEOLOGICAL FATALISM : ALL MEN ARE UNDER THE FAVOR OR CURSE OF THE CREATOR

ORTHODOX theologians agree in affirming the all-presence, all-wisdom, and all-power of a Creative God ; that he sees all things, knows all things, wills all things ; that /the creature is powerless against the Creator ; that man is an instrument of his Maker.

Upon this line of reasoning has been built the most absolute form of Fatalism that the wit of man can conceive — the doctrine of Predestination — which was until recent centuries accepted by all of the churches, though against the protest of an earnest minority. It yet remains in the creeds of the sects which hold the Westminster Confession of Faith, in which it is expressed in these words :

" By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life and others foreordained to everlasting death.

"These angels and men thus predestinated and foreordained arc particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number is bo certain and definite that it cannot be

either increased Or diminished.

" The rest of mankind God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of his own will, whereby he extendeth or withholdeth mercy, as he pleaseth, for the glory of his sovereign power over his creatures, to pass by and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sins, to the praise of his glorious justice."

The doctrine of Predestination is the logical and inevitable deduction from the theory of a Creative God, against whose will nothing can happen, who is all-powerful and is personally cognizant of all that is and will be.

But the sense of justice in the hearts of nearly all men revolts against every phase of Fatalism. The larger bodies of the church long ago abandoned the doctrine of Predestination. It is now a dying dogma.

And yet the denial that the final disposition of the 'souls of men has been predetermined by the Creator leaves equally serious questions unexplained ; for it is evident, if the Creative theory be true, that the Creator has already either blessed or damned all of his creatures in the very act of creating them.

If the Creative theory be true, man is of necessity, from the first breath he draws, — for no merit or demerit of his own, — under the favor or the wrath of the Creator.

If it be true, then some men are created strong, brave, wise, honest, and righteous ; some receive the gift of genius, of beauty, of fair-mindedness, of innocence, of honor ; and these are under the favor and blessing of the Creator.

If it be true, then others are created ignorant, cruel, corrupt, selfish, cowardly, and base ; some receive the gift of dullness, of selfishness, of meanness, of indolence, of ugliness, of savagery, of depravity; and these are under the curse of the Creator.

Justice requires that man shall earn what he gets, and shall not get what he does not earn; that he shall reap as he sows, and not reap what another has sown ; that he shall suffer for his own sin, and not for the sin of another.

In one creature the Creator, if we accept the theory of Theology, has planted good. This good the creature has not earned. It is the gift of man's Maker.

In another creature the Creator, in accordance with the same theory, has planted evil. This evil the creature has not earned. It is the curse of man's Maker.

The doctrine that all men sinned in Adam is at war with justice. If we assume that a creature can sin against the will of his Creator and Ruler, then Adam's sin was his own, and he alone could justly pay its penalty. But if man did sin in Adam, then man should pay the penalty. Hence the atonement, by which man's responsibility is shifted, is also at war with justice.

The doctrine that salvation cannot be earned through a moral life alone, which has perplexed so many minds, now becomes plain. The individual cannot, under the Creative hypothesis, be saved by his own merits, for he has none. His merits belong to his Maker, who gave them.

Man's demerits also, under the Creative theory, belong to his Maker ; and the justice of this claim is crudely recognized in the granting of easy terms of salvation. Repentance and faith are the essential theological factors in salvation. Repentance is easy, and especially so to one in trouble. Faith is easy also to one who can accept the theory, often advanced, that reason need not enter into faith.

Theology has failed in its prolonged efforts to reconcile the doctrine of Fatalism, or of the creation of the individual, with justice and morality. Such a reconciliation is impossible. No system of justice or morality can be built upon the theory that we are, from our birth, and for no merit or demerit of our own, either the beneficiaries of God's bounty or the victims of his wrath.

VI Justice Cannot Be Built Upon A Founda- Tion Of Injustice

MATERIALISM and Theology are in agreement to this extent — that the individual is created. The Materialist believes that man's character is made for him by the processes of Nature ; and the theologian holds that man's character is made for him by the act of a Creative God.

We have now reached the heart of the main difficulty in all theological and philosophical thought — the riddle which has puzzled, confused, and baffled every reasoning mind that has approached it from the standpoint of Creationism. Millions have discussed the question in books, pamphlets, sermons, lectures. The foremost thinkers in Christendom have sought for light on the subject, and have failed. The issue, when cleared of the complications and entanglements with which learning and authority have sought fruitlessly to explain, evade, or bury it, is as follows: I low can the responsibility for the (food and ceil in the individual who is created be transferred from the Creator to his creature?

Can we even say that the thing that is manufactured, compounded, is either moral or immoral? The lotion that changes agony into peace, the prescription that saves a life, are not moral ; nor is a poisonous compound immoral. Morality and immorality exist in the maker and designer only, and not in the thing made or designed.

If the individual is created, then he can think only such thoughts as his Maker has given him the power to think, and do only the things which his Maker has given him the power to do. His thoughts and acts are therefore not his own ; they are the thoughts and acts of his Maker.

It will be said in answer, by the theologian, that all men have been given freedom by their Maker to choose between good and evil. Does the Maker grant to the one created deaf, freedom to hear ? Or to the one created blind, freedom to see ? Or can the one created morally deaf be free to hear, or the one created morally blind be free to see ? " Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? " Must not each created soul act in harmony with the nature or character that has been given to it by its Maker ?

Some men, it is true, have the inclination, will, or power to improve their moral condition. But if man is created, this inclination, will, or power is the endowment given to him by his Maker.

Other men have an inclination toward evil, and are mentally or morally weak. This tendency and weakness are also, in accordance with the Creative theory, the gifts of man's Maker.

If man has been created, his will, his ambitions, his aspirations, are all the gifts of his Maker ; and his weakness of will, his lack of aspiration or ambition, his mean-spiritedness, are also conferred upon him by his Maker. He can be nothing more or less than what he is made to be.