IMMORTALITY
v^—
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
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IMMORTALITY
,i
AN ESSAY IN DISCOVERY
CO-ORDINATING
SCIENTIFIC, PSYCHICAL, AND BIBLICAL
RESEARCH
BY
B. H. STREETER
A. CLUTTON-BROCK, C. W. EMMET, J. A. HADFIELD
AND
THE AUTHOR OF TRO CHRISTO ET ECCLESIA'
And though thy soul sail leagues and leagues beyond —
Still, leagues beyond those leagues, there is more sea.
gorfe
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1917
COPYRIGHT, 1917
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Set up and Electro typed. Published November, 1917
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
I. PRESUPPOSITIONS AND PRE-
JUDGMENTS
PAGE
By A. GLUTTON-BROCK, Author of 'Thoughts on the
War,9 'The Ultimate Belief,' 'William Morris:
his Work and Influence' (Home University
Library) I
II. THE MIND AND THE BRAIN
(A DISCUSSION OF IMMORTALITY FROM THE STANDPOINT
OF SCIENCE)
By J. A. HADFIELD, M.A., M.B., Surgeon, Royal Navy 17
III. THE RESURRECTION OF THE
DEAD
By the REV. B. H. STREETER, M.A., Canon Resi-
dentiary of Hereford, Fellow and Lecturer of Queen s
College, Oxford. Editor of 'Foundations9 and 'Con-
cerning Prayer, 'Author of 'Restatement and Reunion9 75
IV. THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO
COME
By B. H. STREETER 131
vi IMMORTALITY
V. THE BIBLE AND HELL
By the REV. C. W. EMMET, B.D., Vicar of West
Hendred, Berks, Author of 'The Eschatological Ques-
tion in the Gospels,' 'The Epistle to the Galatians'
(Readers' Commentary), 'The Third Book of Macca-
bees' (Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old
Testament, ed. by Charles), 'The Fourth Book of
Maccabees' (S.P.C.K. translations of early docu-
ments), etc 167
VI. A DREAM OF HEAVEN
By A. CLUTTON-BROCK 219
VII. THE GOOD AND EVIL IN
SPIRITUALISM
By the AUTHOR OF TRO CHRISTO ET ECCLESIA* (LiLY
DOUGALL), Author of 'Christus Futurus,' 'Absente
Reo,' (Voluntas Dei,' 'The Practice of Christianity,'
(The Christian Doctrine of Health'; also of 'Beggars
All,' 'The Zeitgeist,' 'The Mormon Prophet,' 'Paths
of the Righteous, 'etc 241
VIII. REINCARNATION, KARMA AND
THEOSOPHY
By the AUTHOR OF TRO CHRISTO ET ECCLESIA* . . 293
IX. THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY
By the AUTHOR OF TRO CHRISTO ET ECCLESIA* . . 343
INDEX OF SUBJECTS 375
INDEX OF NAMES 379
INTRODUCTION
Man's life is like a Sparrow, mighty King!
That — while at banquet with your chiefs you sit
Housed near a blazing fire — is seen to flit
Safe from the wintry tempest. Fluttering,
Here did it enter; there, on hasty wing,
Flies out, and passes on from cold to cold;
But whence it came we know not, nor behold
Whither it goes. Even such, that Transient Thing
The Human Soul. . . .
This mystery if the Stranger can reveal,
His be a welcome cordially bestowed!
BECAUSE they believed the Roman Stranger could re-
veal the mystery of the After-life our Saxon fathers ac-
cepted Christianity. May we believe that any teacher,
Christian or other, can reveal that mystery to us to-
day? . . . That is a question which tens of thousands
are asking now.
That there is a life beyond the grave, many, perhaps
the majority, still believe; but it is a belief resting
mainly upon instinct or upon a tradition the trust-
worthiness of which they are increasingly aware is be-
ing questioned from many sides.
The growth alike of knowledge and of moral insight
has gradually made more and more untenable the con-
ventional pictures of Heaven and Hell which seem to
have satisfied, or at least to have been accepted by,
vii
viii IMMORTALITY
most men well on into the nineteenth century. Popular
confidence in the authority of Scripture has been sapped
by scientific discovery and vague rumours of the Higher
Criticism. Above all, by demonstrating how intimate
is the union of the mindewith a brain which is obviously
perishable, Science seems to not a few to have given the
final coup de grace to any belief in personal Immortal-
ity at all.
To such a situation different individuals react in dif-
ferent ways. To the ignoble is open the simple course,
"Let us eat and drink for to-morrow we die." The
nobler sort are moved in divers ways. Some by an act
of will turn their backs upon the whole of the achieve-
ment of the human intellect and cling, with the despera-
tion of drowning men, to an infallible Bible or an in-
fallible Church. Others seek new light in Spiritualistic
seance or in Theosophical revelation. The majority,
thinking like the old Rabbi that "God hath given man
the present, the future He has kept in His own hand,"
give themselves over to the task of living cleanly and
doing good work in this world, deliberately refusing
to let their thoughts dwell over much on a possible
Beyond.
Of these last perhaps the greater number still
"faintly trust the larger hope"; others with a Stoic re-
nunciation reject it as an out-worn superstition and an
enervating dream ; others again have lost all interest in
any life beyond the present — and are content. But
such contentment, whether the disciplined contentment
of the Stoic or the easy acquiescence of the indifferent,
has a way of breaking down,
INTRODUCTION ix
And ah, to know not, while with friends I sit,
And while the purple joy is pass'd about,
Whether 'tis ampler day divinelier lit
Or homeless night without;
And whether, stepping forth, my soul shall see
New prospects, or fall sheer — a blinded thing!
Thereiis, O grave, thy hourly victory,
And there, O death, thy sting.
And, to-day, most of those who care little on their
own account are thinking of brave men about whose
present case they would fain know more — if only they
believed that possible.
But is it really necessary to rest content in such a
state of doubt and darkness? Has Science really
proved that Mind is only a pale reflection of material
changes in the Brain? A few years ago it did indeed
look as if at no distant date such a conclusion might be
reached. It is otherwise to-day.
Again, must the Christian outlook on the Future
Life be for ever confined within what we now know to
be pre-Christian forms of thought which were already,
when St. Paul wrote, obsolescent? Must a grown man
always lisp in baby speech? Is Theology the one de-
partment of human enterprise in which there can never
be advance? And, while the range of human know-
ledge is expanding yearly on every side, is the destiny
of man the one and only subject on which we can never
hope to learn something new?
Macaulay, in a well-known passage, contrasts the
gigantic strides of human science in every other direc-
tion with the absolute stagnation in our knowledge of
x IMMORTALITY
all that lies behind the world of sight and touch.
"There are branches of knowledge with respect to
which the law of the human mind is progress. . . .
But with theology the case is very different. ... A
Christian of the fifth century with a Bible is neither
better nor worse situated than a Christian of the nine-
teenth with a Bible, candour and natural acuteness be-
ing, of course, supposed equal."
But things have changed since Macaulay wrote.
Science is every day making new discoveries which bear
on the relation of the body and the soul. Psychical Re-
search, if it has added little to our knowledge of an-
other life, has at least thrown startling light on the na-
ture of that mind whose survival is in question; and
Philosophy has not been idle. The application to
Theology of the doctrine of Evolution and of the re-
sults of Psychology and of the Science of Comparative
Religions has given a new meaning to the word Revela-
tion; while, in the light-of lately discovered documents
and new methods of study, the New Testament speaks
with another voice. It is not the lack of new knowl-
edge but the difficulty of co-ordinating it which holds us
back; for no one person can have really first-hand
knowledge of all the various departments of thought
concerned.
Discovery comes whenever trains of thought or
pieces of information originally separate are seen to
illuminate and explain each other. But, when the
things requiring to be brought together exist in differ-
ent minds, this fusion is made harder or easier in exact
proportion to the degree of sympathy and the range of
contact between those minds. Hence, though much
INTRODUCTION xi
may be accomplished by the reading of books or arti-
cles by workers in different departments, conditions be-
come more favourable if this can be supplemented by
the living contact of mind with mind. The maximum
possibilities of such fusion of different strains is reached
where there is personal as well as intellectual under-
standing, and where there is an overmastering passion
for Truth which makes each willing to put all he has
into the common stock, to hold back no half-formed
thought as foolish or immature, to secrete no bright
idea as private property, and to defend no position
once taken up merely from respect to interest or con-
servatism or from personal amour propre. Intellectual
co-operation only achieves its greatest possibilities
where its basis is enthusiasm for a common cause and
personal friendship; and experience shows that the in-
tellectual activity and receptivity of each is raised to the
highest pitch when that fellowship is not in work alone
and in discussion, but in jest and prayer as well — for
humour and common devotion, when both are quite
spontaneous, are, though in very different ways, the
greatest solvents of egotism and a well-spring of fellow-
ship and mutual understanding. Such fellowship and
co-operation in not always an easy thing to compass, but
when it exists persons of quite modest gifts and moder-
ate experience can do, relatively to their capacity, great
things.
The last ten years have seen a widespread recogni-
tion of the value of this group method of attacking
current problems, practical as well as intellectual. The
volumes Foundations and Concerning Prayer were an
xii IMMORTALITY
attempt to apply it to some urgent questions of Reli-
gion; and, whatever may.be thought of these works,
such merits as they have are mainly due to this method
of approach. The experience gained in the prepara-
tion of these books, particularly the latter, suggested
the hope that, by the application of the same method,
light might be gained on the burning question of the
Future Life.
Several whose names do not appear on the title-page
of this book took part in one or more of the prelimi-
nary conferences held at Cumnor, and contributed mem-
oranda on special points. And though none of them
are in any way responsible for the opinions expressed
in any of the Essays, the authors feel bound to acknowl-
edge the value of their participation in the conferences
by the mention of their names: Dr. E. W. Barnes,
Master of the Temple; the Rev. W. S. Bradley, Tutor
of Mansfield College; the Rev. C. H. S. Matthews,
Vicar of St. Peter's, Thanet; Captain W. H. Moberly,
D.S.O., Fellow of Lincoln College; and lastly, Miss
M. S. Earp, who, besides being present at all the con-
ferences, has given invaluable help in connection with
the MSS. and proofs. An acknowledgment is also due
to Miss M. E. Campbell for the compilation of the
Index.
In addition to the discussions, both in this larger
group and among themselves, individual contributors
have had the advantage of being able to consult other
friends who had special knowledge on particular points.
By this method it has been possible to focus upon the
subjects treated a range of thought, experience, and ex-
pert knowledge which no one person could have com-
INTRODUCTION xiii
manded alone. As a result of thorough discussion a
degree of unity and unanimity has been arrived at
which, in view of the very various tastes, training, and
experience of the authors, is remarkable, and which en-
courages them to believe that the conclusions reached
are really sound. Sometimes, of course, an Essay treats
of subjects of which its author has himself made a
special study, but about which some or all of the other
contributors feel that they are not competent to speak
with authority; and things are sometimes said by one
writer which would have been put with a different kind
of emphasis by another. Subject, however, to these
reservations, the book is put forward on the corporate
responsibility of all the contributors; it presents a con-
nected train of thought and a definite and coherent
point of view, and, though each Essay is complete in
itself, it will gain by being read in the order and con-
text in which it stands.
In the first two Essays and the first section of the
third the attempt is made to set out in a logical se-
quence the main arguments for the belief in personal
Immortality. The rest of Essay III. and Essays IV.
to VI. deal with the nature of the after-life, and dis-
cuss the meaning and value for modern thought of con-
ceptions like Resurrection, Judgment, Heaven and
Hell. Essays VII. and VIII. endeavour to estimate
judicially the elements of truth and error in Spiritual-
ism and in the doctrine of Reincarnation, more es-
pecially in relation to the claims made on its behalf by
modern Theosophy. Essay IX forms, as it were, an
Epilogue to the whole collection.
xiv IMMORTALITY
The effect of the very considerable amount of
thought and labour given to the preparation of this
book on the minds of its authors has been to convince
them of three things :
First, they have come to see that the belief in per-
sonal Immortality rests on a wider and surer basis in
reason than they had originally supposed.
Secondly, they feel that though a veil must always
hang between this world and the next, it is not entirely
impenetrable. If he will only seek it in the right way
some real and definite knowledge of the life Beyond
can be attained by man.
Thirdly, if they believe, as they do, that they have
something of value to contribute, it is not from any
conceit of their own ability, but because of the method
they have used. This has been, in effect, an endeavour
to get right away from the old bickerings between
Science and Religion, Reason and Revelation; and to
bring together the ascertained results of different
branches of Scientific, Philosophical, Critical, and
Historical study in such a way as to interpenetrate and
illuminate one another in the light of the values deriv-
able from Religion, Ethics, and Art. But what they
have done is only to make a beginning, and they are
confident that others, improving on their method and
commanding wider and deeper ranges of knowledge
and experience, will be able to go further forward, and
that such light as men can now see is only the twilight
which precedes the dawn.
B. H. S.
CUTTS END, CUM NOR,
October i, 1917.
PRESUPPOSITIONS & PREJUDGMENTS
BY
ARTHUR CLUTTON-BROCK
AUTHOR OF "THOUGHTS ON THE WAR," "THE ULTIMATE BELIEF,"
"WILLIAM MORRIS: HIS WORK AND INFLUENCE" (HOME UNIVERSITY LIBRARY)
SYNOPSIS
PAGE
Agnosticism, i. e. complete suspense of judgment about a future
life is really impossible ..... 3
One main cause of disbelief in it is the passion for disinter-
estedness. In this case the disbelief is not so complete as
it supposes. It is moral rather than intellectual . . 3
Another cause is the reaction against current presentations of
the belief. If our beliefs fail to express our values, we
reject them. Our effort is to conceive reality in terms of
our values. The conflict between beliefs and values is
most acute in the matter of a future life ... 5
There is a disinterested desire to believe in a future life in so
far as we wish to prove the justice of the universe. But
the consequent effort to attain certainty leads us into an
unjust conception. So we lose certainty ... 6
The belief in Hell and its revenge on those who hold it. The
natural reaction and the despair of all belief. The sus-
picion of any belief in a future life as tainted with egotism.
So agnosticism seems safer and more moral ... 9
But there is always a counter-reaction. The revolt against
mechanical conceptions of life inevitable. The belief in a
future life not obsolete but always growing. Only the ex-
pression of it becomes obsolete. Men believe more and
more in a future state. But they have to earn their belief,
and it is always being destroyed by unearned certainties.
It can be earned only by the practice of the principles of
Christianity ....... 10
I
PRESUPPOSITIONS AND PREJUDGMENTS
IN this paper I propose to discuss, not the reasons
men give for their belief or disbelief in a future life,
but deeper, unconscious causes, which are peculiarly
powerful in this case because there is so little to argue
about. The unseen world, if there is one, is unseen;
and we know no facts about it as we know facts about
this world. Therefore there are many who say they
are agnostics about it; but it is impossible to be
really an agnostic about the question of a future life.
If this life is a preparation for another, it cannot
be the same for us as if it ended with death; hence
we cannot escape from a working hypothesis that it
does or does not end with death, which must, one
would suppose, affect our conduct. It may be, of
course, that all our working hypotheses, all our
thoughts, are merely part of a mechanism and have
nothing to do with our conduct, which is another
part of the mechanism of life. But we must and
do always dismiss that possibility when we think; for
it makes all thinking and all theories futile, including
itself.
It is, however, a strange fact that unbelievers
in a future life do not greatly differ in conduct or
in values from believers. They do not say, "Let
us eat and drink for to-morrow we die." They
believe just as firmly in absolute values, in truth,
in righteousness, and in beauty, as the man who
4 IMMORTALITY i
could draw you a map of heaven; indeed they often
seem to believe more firmly in them, for it is possible
to believe in a future life and to have no absolute values
at all, to see every good action merely as an investment.
But the man who refuses to believe in a future life,
if he acts rightly, must do so for the sake of doing
so; righteousness must have an absolute value for him
indeed. And here, perhaps, we may find the cause
of much avowed disbelief. It is really faith, a faith in
absolute values which refuses the support and comfort
of any dogma. It maintains that man has his values
and that it is his duty to obey them without hope of
reward, without even seeking for a proof that they
belong to the order of the universe, that they are
shared by anything except man; that man must be
good without postulating a God to approve of his
goodness, or a universe in which that goodness has
any significance or lasting effect. This refusal to
believe in a future life is the supreme example of
man's passion for disinterestedness. It is the most
resolute and defiant of all possible answers to the
question — Doth Job fear God for nought? The
answer is — Yes, even though there be no God, and
though he who fears is but a quintessence of dust,
for a moment become conscious of itself. That is the
last asceticism of which man in his passion for absolute
values is capable. He proclaims them in the face
of a universe which he asserts to be utterly indifferent
to them.
But this asceticism is never, I think, the complete
disbelief it supposes itself to be. Rather it is a
kind of self-denial, a discipline which the mind
imposes on itself so that it may be sure that its
values are absolute. All the beliefs of man have
been tainted with his egotism; they have supplied
him with reasons for righteousness other than the
right reasons, and have therefore perverted his very
conception of righteousness. Tantum religio potuit,
i PRESUPPOSITIONS & PREJUDGMENTS 5
suadere malorum; and we are better without it in the
form of dogma, for we cannot trust ourselves not to
frame dogmas that will pervert our absolute values.
As Nietzsche said, there is the will to power in all
religion; and it continually deceives us by pretending
to express our absolute values, while it really expresses
our desire for rewards for ourselves and punishments
for others.
All this is not consciously stated; but it is deep
in the minds of many upright men and produces in
them a habit of defiant incredulity, which is not so
much rational as moral.
But there is also another, narrower reason why
many excellent men deny a future life. What they
really deny is not a future life generally, but the
particular kind of future life which they have been
taught to believe in, or the particular arguments
advanced for it. It is a natural infirmity of the human
mind thus to deny the general in the particular. There
are, for instance, many people who suppose that the
whole question of a future life is bound up with the
notion that Heaven is a place above the sky and with
the dogma of the physical Resurrection of Christ. It has
never occurred to them to consider the two questions
separately. Because they do not believe in a local
Heaven, or in the physical Resurrection, they assume
that they cannot believe in a future life. But it is
possible not to be a Christian at all, to believe that
Christ never existed, or never to have heard of the
name Heaven, and yet to believe in a future life
with Plato. Yet another irrelevant cause of disbelief
in a future life is the strange assertion, commonly
associated with the Christian faith, that animals have
no souls. This did not matter so long as men saw no
likeness between themselves and animals; but, now
that a thousand discovered facts prove the likeness,
the contention is obvious that, since animals have no
souls, men can have none either, and must die like
6 IMMORTALITY i
/ dogs. But how if dogs die like men? How if animals
are like men rather than men like animals? Perhaps
the last piece of Christian humility we have to learn,
with St. Francis, is that the black beetle is our brother.
Perhaps it is the generic snobbery of man, more than
anything else, that has deprived him of his highest
hopes, just as all our snobberies deprive us of hope
by emptying life of absolute values for us. I cannot
believe in any real and universal fellowship unless I
am ready to strip myself of all status; I cannot
believe in a real future life so long as I think of it
as a privilege of my own species. In the long run
exclusiveness always shuts out those who exclude; for
there is a terrible unconscious sincerity in the human
mind by which all lies told for comfort or pride
revenge themselves on the liar.
If in our beliefs we express our own sense of status,
our own hatred, or our own selfish desires, those
beliefs gradually empty the universe of values, and
so become intolerable to us. Then, whatever truth
there may be in them, is also rejected; hence much
of our modern defiant refusal to believe in a future
state, in a God, in a universe, which can be valued,
is the result of a reaction from beliefs in a future
state, a God, a universe, which men find that they
cannot value. In his beliefs about these things man
is always trying to express his absolute values;
but his beliefs are incessantly tainted with his
egotism and so mis-express his values. The values
are permanent; they are the most certain and un-
changing fact in the mind of man; they are always
seeking expression and always failing of it because they
arc so deep and unconscious. There is in man always
, a desire to love something for its own sake, and not
as it helps him to live, either in this life or in another.
That passion, that appetite of the soul, persists always
through all his changing bodily appetites, and because
of it he can never be content with the pleasure he
i PRESUPPOSITIONS & PREJUDGMENTS 7
gets from them. It is the most permanent fact of
his mind, and to him the most permanent fact of
the universe. Therefore he makes an incessant effort
to conceive of the universe in terms of it. Since
he has this incessant desire to love something for
its own sake and values such a love, whether he
attains to it or no, above all other experiences of
his mind or body, he has also an unceasing desire
to find in the very nature of the universe that
which is worthy of his love. This desire, because of
its very nature, cannot be satisfied by any merely
comforting belief. It is indeed the reason why men
are suspicious of all comforting beliefs; for, if I
love God, or any one or anything, so that I may be
comforted by my love, my love itself is spurious.
I might as well try to fall in love with a woman
because she is rich. But what man desires above all
things is a love which is not spurious; and yet,
because he desires that love so much, his egotism is
always tempting him into spurious loves, into spurious
certainties. And for a time perhaps he is certain,
convinced by miracles or documentary proofs that
he has found the true God whom he can love, the
creator and ruler of a righteous universe. But
gradually, through that terrible unconscious sincerity
of his, the very proofs which have given him certainty
cause him discomfort. He finds that the God who
has been revealed to him so precisely does not satisfy
his own values. Will he then give up the God or
the values? The conflict between the God and the
values rages through all religious history; for man
clings tenaciously to both and is torn by the logic
which would force him to reject the one or the other.
But nowhere is this conflict fiercer than in the
matter of beliefs about a future life. For man has
a disinterested desire to believe in a future life. It
is not merely that the individual man wishes to
survive, that his egotism cannot endure the thought
8 IMMORTALITY i
of a universe in which he himself will not be; it
f is that he wishes to find justice, not merely in the
mind of man, but also in the order of the universe,
and that, without a future life, there seems to
him to be no justice, no significance in pain and
grief. There are of course those who tell us that
our pain and grief will profit posterity. That is
not certain; and, even if it were, there would be no
justice in it; for it is not justice that one man should
profit by another's misfortunes; justice is a matter of
the treatment of individuals, not of the race. There
it is like love. If I do not love individuals, if I
am not just to them, I do not love, I am not just,
at all. So, if I believe in the love and the justice
of God at all, I believe in His love and justice to
individuals. What we really value is persons, not pro-
cesses; and we cannot value a mere process of salva-
tion for some abstraction called the race, if persons
are utterly sacrificed to it. We cannot value a universe
in which this sacrifice occurs, whatever brave efforts
we may make to do so.
Since, then, there is in man this quite disinterested
desire to believe in a future life, since it is an essential
part of his desire to believe in a universe which he
can value, man is continually tempted to find sure
proofs that there is a future life. He is "hot for
certainties"; and these very certainties, when he has
attained to them, cause him discomfort. For, since
they are spurious certainties, they are always tainted
with his own egotism; and there is some lack of
the very justice he desires in the future state of which
he is certain. This lack of justice, though it may
at first seem to work in his own favour, will afterwards
take a terrible revenge upon him ; for it is the injustice
of an omnipotent God, in whose hands he is helpless.
There is, for instance, the taint of egotism in all our
traditional beliefs about rewards and punishments in
a future state ; men have always used those beliefs to
I PRESUPPOSITIONS & PREJUDGMENTS 9
discourage certain kinds of conduct and to encourage
others. Churches in particular have used them to
suit their own purposes. They conceive of a God
who gives to their enemies the kind of future life that
they deserve. But if this God of ours is capable of
punishing our enemies as we wish, He is capable also
of punishing us as He wishes. If He will take ven-
geance for us He may take vengeance on us. Ven-
geance is mine, saith the Lord; and vengeance is a
terrible weapon in the hands of an omnipotent being
into whose nature you have read your own vindictive-
ness. Hence the belief in Hell, a Hell in which our
enemies will suffer; but we do not know that we our-
selves shall not meet them there.
Men have been utterly certain about this Hell, and
they have not been able to escape from the logic of
their own certainty. It is a danger to them as well
as to their enemies; if they use it as a terror to others
they cannot escape from the terror of it themselves.
They can escape only by denying it altogether; and
this denial comes to them at last, when they see that
they cannot value the God whom they have made the
instrument of their own vengeance. Hence the fierce
reactions against our egotistical conceptions of a future
life, of God, of the universe, reactions of man's values
against his spurious certainties. In them man tries to
destroy all that he has achieved; he despairs of belief
altogether and finds his safety only in denial.
In this mood he is peculiarly suspicious of all beliefs
in a future state ; for they, more than all other beliefs,
have been tainted with egotism and discredited by the
frightful revenge they have taken upon it. Certainly
belief in a future state has been the cause of more
fantastic misery than any other kind of belief, the cause
of more fantastic cruelty inflicted by man on man. The
struggle for life is a human and kindly thing compared
with the struggle for salvation. Egotism in time can
be reasoned with and limited; but egotism projected
io IMMORTALITY I
into eternity goes mad with its own terrors of eternity.
Indeed there is an incongruity between egotism and
eternity which produces madness in the egotist; for
eternity itself is a conception of the unegotistic, the
universal, mind; and when man projects his egotism
into it, fighting for life as in time and space, the result
is a nightmare.
So the mind of man is at the present day suffering
from a nervous shock caused by his past failures to con-
ceive of a future state. A burnt child dreads the fire;
and the mind of man has been burnt by the fires of his
own imagined Hell. So he flinches from the peril of
any more conceiving. Rather he will keep his values
and refuse the attempt to express them in any kind of
faith, lest he should lose them in a failure of expression.
For there is nothing so demoralising to the nature of
man as these failures. They alone have power utterly
to pervert his values, to make evil seem to him good.
There is no cruelty like religious cruelty; for nothing
but religious fanaticism can utterly remove the natural,
kindly inhibitions of man's nature. Therefore men are
shy of all faith lest it should lead to fanaticism. There
is to them something sane and wholesome in the avowal
that they are merely animals, for then at least they can
be clean, decent animals and not morbid devils.
And yet, as I said to begin with, we cannot thus
artificially and wilfully turn away from the question of
a future state. For it does, whether we wish it or no,
involve our whole view of the nature of the universe.
Is the ultimate reality person or process; is matter the
master of that which we call spirit, or spirit the master
of that which we call matter? Is there such a thing as
spirit, or merely a complicated mechanical process which
becomes conscious of itself through some extra intensity
in its working? There is no getting away from these
two alternatives. Either spirit is the supreme fact,
supreme over all changes of process and lasting through
them all; or life is to be defined as a mechanical process
I PRESUPPOSITIONS & PREJUDGMENTS n
suffering from the illusion that it is not mechanical.
In which case nothing distinguishes it from not-life
except the illusion. If that be so, all our values are part
of that superfluous illusion which is the essence of life.
But however much we may seem to be comfortably im-
prisoned within the illusion of life, yet the fact that we
can call it an illusion proves that we are not perfectly
imprisoned. The cold draughts of reality do find their
way into our warm prison-house. That consciousness of
ours, which we are told is in its very nature a misunder-
standing of the reality of ourselves, has by some means
begun to be an understanding. The mechanical process
is capable of knowing that it is one; a remarkable tri-
umph no doubt, but one which necessarily must tempt
it to the doubt whether it is a mechanical process after
all. Indeed the mechanical explanation of the universe
would be quite satisfying, if only it were not we poor
machines that had hit upon it. But the mere fact that
we are capable of hitting upon it at once arouses a
doubt of it in our minds. For, if we can thus trium-
phantly rid ourselves of our illusions and see that we
are only machines, what is that property of the machine
which is thus able to triumph over its own nature ? This
question the machine cannot but ask itself; and, as soon
as it asks it, it ceases to be a machine to itself. Thus
there must always be a reaction against all mechanical
theories of life just as inevitable as the reaction against
all spurious certainties of supernatural belief. The
fact that we are capable of conceiving these theories
will always in the long run make it impossible for us to
believe them. We do finally exist for ourselves because
we think; and that which thinks has for us a reality
superior to that which it thinks about, including our
own flesh, a reality persisting through all changes of
flesh, even the change which we call death.
Therefore men will continue to believe in a future
life, will indeed believe in it more and more with every
increase of consciousness. Such increases of conscious-
12 IMMORTALITY I
ness produce doubts of everything, especially doubts
of all past beliefs; for the doubts are themselves part
of the increase of consciousness, a necessary part of its
conquest of its own subject matter. But consciousness,
with every new conquest, becomes more and more sure
of its own existence, of its own paramount reality.
With all his dethronements of himself, with all his
efforts to explain himself, even as a machine, man does
become more and more aware of himself as a person,
it is this growing sense of his own reality which
makes him cast about so wildly for explanations of him-
self. The more this person, which is himself, becomes
to him an ultimate reality, the more he tries to explain
it in terms of something else, of that which he observes
rather than of that which he is. He cannot explain
himself in terms of himself; nor, if he is an ultimate
reality, can he learn the nature of that reality from
that which is less real; yet he incessantly tries to do so
in the mere process of increasing consciousness. There
is this paradox in the whole process of our minds, that
we become more aware of ourselves only through our
increasing knowledge and experience of that which is
not ourselves. And this paradox tempts us continually
to believe that what we observe is true also of the
observer.
We observe certain processes everywhere; they are
truths to us about the external world; and we believe
that they are also true of ourselves. We see the pro-
cess we call death and we do not see beyond it; so we
think that we are utterly subject to it, that it ends us,
because we observe it to end certain formal arrange-
ments of matter.
But though we may think this, the whole of ourselves
is never utterly absorbed into that thought; for that
which thinks remains behind the thought and is capable
of a vast unconscious reserve from its own thoughts.
Through these very thoughts man achieves the cer-
tainty of his own pre-eminent reality; and it persists
I PRESUPPOSITIONS & PREJUDGMENTS 13
through all his doubts and disputations. At certain
stages of history it expresses itself in a more and more
triumphant faith in a future life, and in other things.
But this faith, unfortunately, is apt to be too trium-
phant; it goes to man's head and makes him believe that
he knows more precisely than he can know. The artist
in him, the passionate expresser of faith, is confused
with the man of science, and he rushes from passion to
logic, as in the Athanasian Creed. He expresses his cer-
tainty in dogmas which, because of their very precision,
become obsolete, for the precision is temporal though
the faith be eternal. He parodies his own certainties in
a wrong medium and then falls out of conceit with the
parody. It is not enough for him to be sure of his own
paramount reality. He must turn his hymns about it in-
to guide-books of the New Jerusalem; he must take the
Apocalypse for history looking forwards. And the re-
sult is that sooner or later he ridicules his own presump-
tion and tells himself that these certainties of his are out-
worn superstitions because their expression is obsolete.
So we are always being told that the belief in a future
state is an outworn superstition. But, if by superstition
we mean a mere survival, nothing could be more untrue.
For, as a matter of fact, men have attained to a belief
in a future state very slowly, and are still in process of
attaining to it, a process much hindered by their disgust
of past failures to conceive it rationally. Primitive be-
liefs about it are nearly always beliefs in Ghosts, in ap-
pearances of the dead. For to the savage the dead ex-
ist only in the shadowy forms in which (as he supposes)
they are from time to time seen by the living; they are
not spirits in our sense at all but some kind of material
vapour, all that is left of the flesh after the process of
death, like the smoke that rises from a funeral pyre.
And from this belief in a material phantom there comes
a belief in a phantasmic survival of life in beings that —
Move among shadows a shadow and wail by impassable
streams.
14 IMMORTALITY I
This survival is as inferior in reality to the life of a
living man as the phantom is inferior to the living body.
The whole notion arises from the belief that such
ghosts are seen, and from the dreams and visions which
are the support of that belief. They do not spring
from any sense of the superior reality of person to
process, of spirit to matter. This sense grows much
later; and the belief in a future life which is based on it
can be sharply distinguished from the belief in ghosts.
There is all the difference in the world between the faith
of St. Paul and Homer's legends of the underworld.
And yet, even now, the faith is constantly confused
with the superstition, and while some used the supersti-
tion to explain away the faith, by others it is employed
to confirm it. Traditional Christian teaching has inher-
ited from pre-Christian Judaism notions of a physical
resurrection and a local Heaven above the sky, which,
though a great advance on early ideas of ghost survi-
val, seem crude and childlike to the modern mind.
Hence the very natural tendency to think the faith
itself a mere superstition. In all things our faith is
constantly weakened by our efforts to attain to a cer-
tainty we have not earned. We would have scientific
proof where we cannot have it; and we rely on scientific
proof for that faith which can come to us, if at all, only
through our whole way of life and thought. Hence
the incessant excesses of our belief, and the incessant
reactions against them. Hence also the strange fact
that men's conscious beliefs are often utterly different
from their unconscious. The conscious belief may be
merely a reaction against some inadequate expression of
belief; the unconscious, all the while, being the slow
deposit of faith produced by all that is disinterested in
the man's life. This deposit is very slow, slower still
for the race than for the individual; and it is hindered
by all perversities both of theory and of conduct.
Whenever, for instance, any large body of men,
whether a class, or a nation, or a whole civilisation, are
i PRESUPPOSITIONS & PRE JUDGMENTS 15
filled with the idea of their own peculiar status, when-
ever it seems to them that they are born better^than
other men, then there is a necessary decline in their
sense of the justice of the universe, in their values, in
their faith. Life loses significance for them because
they have found a peculiar significance in themselves.
It is no accident that the exultation of Christian faith
in a future life was combined with the assertion that all
men were equal in the sight of God. The Christian
faith went with the renunciation of all status. That
renunciation, not in words only, but in deeds and in the
innermost recesses of the mind, was a necessary ante-
cedent to the Christian happiness. And that happiness
was the result of a collective effort made by a whole
society, which would no longer believe the proud non-
sense of the ancient world. But our modern world is
full of a like proud nonsense. Let us get rid of that;
let us once again assert the equality of all men before
God, assert it, not only in word, but in thought and in
the innermost recesses of the mind; and then we may
leave our faith to grow of itself through our works.
II
THE MIND AND THE BRAIN
(A DISCUSSION OF IMMORTALITY FROM THE
STANDPOINT OF SCIENCE)
BY
JAMES ARTHUR HADFIELD, M.A., M.B.
SURGEON, ROYAL NAVY
SYNOPSIS
PAGE
The main problem of Psychology is the relation of Body and
Mind. The mind is always found associated with a brain:
but shows an increasing tendency to become independent . 20
The main thesis of this paper: that the tendency of the mind
towards independence and autonomy suggests the possi-
bility of its becoming entirely liberated from the body,
and continuing to exist in a disembodied state.
I. The main Theories of the Relation of Body and Mind . 22
The Materialistic: that mind is dependent upon the
activity of brain cells.
The Idealistic: that the brain is merely an instrument of
the mind.
The Psychological: that mind and body interact and
each has the power of initiation.
Psycho-physical interaction.
II. Study of the Mind in its present stage of evolution estab-
lishing its dominating Influence over the Body . 25
(1) Influence of Body on Mind.
Mental disturbance from physical causes.
Localisation of mental functions in the Brain.
(2) Influence of Mind on Brain and Nervous System.
Examples of Psychic blindness: deafness: and anal-
gesia.
The Nature of Hypnotism and of "Suggestion." A
phenomenon of relatively heightened attention.
Auto-suggestion and trance.
The Power of the Mind to heal bodily disease by mental
suggestion.
Neurasthenia:
Its cause and cure.
Rival views of Neurologist and Psychologist.
Two illustrations of the cure of Neurasthenia.
"Shell Shock":
Illustrations of its cure by mental suggestion.
The Psychology of "shell shock."
Christian Science:
Its claims and its limitations.
Telepathy :
Communication with spirits of the departed not
proved. But the phenomena of "wraiths," too fre-
quent to be neglected; and other evidence proves
existence of mind-transference.
18
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 19
III. Study of the Biological development of the Mind, proving
its Tendency to Autonomy . . eg
(a) In the individual.
Development of Vision: and of the Emotions.
(b) In the race.
Low forms of life.
The advent of Consciousness — a Psychic fact unex-
plained by physical terms.
The development of Will.
Conclusion: •••..... 70
Foregoing evidence not a proof that mind will survive, but
leads us to expect it. A reasonable hypothesis.
Speculation on the purpose of our earthly life.
II
THE MIND AND THE BRAIN
(A DISCUSSION OF IMMORTALITY FROM THE
STANDPOINT OF SCIENCE)
I PROPOSE in this Essay to approach the subject from
the scientific and empirical rather than from the philo-
sophical and speculative point of view. Psychology
presents us with no more difficult and certainly no more
fundamental problem than that of the relation of the
mind to the brain. Is the mind merely an activity of
the brain cells, a product of nerve stimulation? Or, on
the other hand, does the mind dominate the brain and
use it as its instrument of expression? On our answer
to this question depends our view as to the possibility of
the survival of the mind afterthe destruction of thebrain.
Let it be frankly admitted at the outset that we have
no scientific proof of the existence of a disembodied
mind, a mind entirely free from the limitations of the
brain. All the philosophies in the world's history were
cradled and nourished in a brain. In its highest flights
of fancy or in its wrestling with the problems of life
and destiny, the mind yet finds it necessary, like An-
taeus, to keep in touch with mother earth from whose
breast it draws its sustenance and strength.
Science, I repeat, gives us no evidence of the exist-
ence of a mind disembodied, naked and stripped of its
covering of flesh — but always shows us mind and body
associated with one another. Nevertheless, I propose
20
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 21
to bring forward evidence which will encourage us in
the belief that in the course of evolution the mind shows
an ever-increasing tendency to free itself from physical
control and, breaking loose from its bonds, to assert its
independence and live a life undetermined except by
the laws of its own nature. The main argument of
this essay is that the tendency of the mind towards
independence and autonomy suggests the possibility
of its becoming entirely liberated from the body, and
continuing to live disembodied and free.
If we can demonstrate from the point of view of
science the relative autonomy of the mind, we may,
without doing violence to the facts of science, but
rather by interpreting the processes which underlie
them, deduce sufficient proof to justify the conclusion
that, though the mind is in this life always associated
with the brain, it can under suitable conditions survive
the destruction of the brain: so that when the body
crumbles into dust the mind may ''spring triumphant
on exulting wing."
Modern researches, particularly in the domain of
Psychology, normal and abnormal, have opened our
eyes to the vast possibilities, as yet unexplored, which
lie latent in the mind. In our discussion we shall
touch upon some of these discoveries in the sphere of
Hypnotism, Telepathy, and Psychotherapy or mental
healing, as well as in the more "legitimate" sphere of
normal mental biology; and these studies will supply
us with sufficient evidence to establish the claim of the
mind to a progressively increasing independence, and
to point to the complete liberation of the mind from
the body as the probable goal and destiny of natural
evolution.
It will be convenient to divide our investigation into
three main sections: —
I. The main theories as to the relation of body and
mind.
II. Evidence from the study of the mind in its
22 IMMORTALITY n
present stage of evolution, pointing to its independence
of the body.
III. Evidence from the biological evolution of mind
in the individual and in the race to show how it
originated as a product of physical stimulation, but
developed into a psychical force.
I. THE MAIN THEORIES AS TO THE RELATION OF
BODY AND MIND
A. The Materialistic. — The first and most material-
istic view regards the mind as a direct product of the
brain. Huxley championed this theory under the name
of "Epiphenomenalism." The mind, according to this
theory, is "foam" thrown up as a result of the activity
of the brain: a "mist" that rises from the surface of
the deep, formed of fine particles of its waters. The
mind accompanies the brain as a shadow does its sub-
stance, and though, like the shadow, it may appear to
be more vivacious, it is in reality completely dependent
upon the functioning of the brain. Every thought is
the result of chemical or mechanical changes in the
brain: an "idea" is but an explosion or discharge of a
nerve cell : an emotion is an activity of the brain burst-
ing into flame : every feeling of love, aspiration, or fear
can be explained as due to purely physical changes
which produce the vapour of thought or the aroma of
virtue. A fuller knowledge of the physiology of the
brain would enable us to demonstrate how certain
mechanical forces in the mind of Shakespeare produced
the character of Hamlet: and how the "Dead March"
in Saul was the result of chemical combustion. Let it
be understood that this is at present nothing more than
a theory, for these chemical changes have never been
demonstrated, and there is at present practically no
direct evidence in favour of it. The effect of physical
functions on the mind is no doubt important and far-
reaching. It is all too obvious to those who are com-
it THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 23
pelled to live with sufferers from gout or dyspepsia,
and we shall do justice to this aspect of the question
later. But the reverse effect of the mind on body is in-
comparably greater. Meanwhile let us note that to the
materialist there is but one answer to our original ques-
tion : the mind will be abolished as soon as the brain de-
cays : the shadow vanishes when the substance is re-
moved : the music must end when the silver cord is
loosed: the flame flickers and dies when the wood is
burnt to ashes.
B. The Idealistic. — The second theory of the rela-
tion of mind to body carries us to the other extreme. In
the beginning was mind, and mind created the physical
world. The material universe is the plastic substance
out of which mind may mould her thoughts : the instru-
ment upon which she may play her melody of passion
and grief and then cast it off. Without mind the earth
would be without form and void : for it is the indwell-
ing soul that gives form to the shell and gladness to the
summer cloud. Without soul the leaf would wither, the
massive crag fall, and the crystal crumble to an amor-
phous mass. Wordsworth, in his meditations on Tin-
tern Abbey, has described the presence of this all-per-
vading mind. A , T , , ,
And I have felt
A Presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts: a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,
And the round ocean, and the living air,
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man.
Mind is alone real and eternal: the brain is but a
deposit thrown out, precipitated, and then formed into
a coherent whole, and fashioned as the instrument by
which the mind communicates with the material world
and with other minds. The destruction of the brain
will have no more effect on the existence of the mind
than the breaking of a violin on the genius of a musi-
cian. The mind, being eternal, is undisturbed by the
24 IMMORTALITY n
accidents which may befall the material and temporary,
whose very nature is to decay.
I do not propose to discuss in detail either of these
two views. There is much to be said for both the ma-
terialist and the idealist position, and full justice must
be done to both if we are to get at the truth. But we
pass them by for the purposes of our investigation, be-
cause both views if accepted in toto prejudge the ques-
tion at issue, and so rule out all further discussion of
our main problem. Both the materialist and the ideal-
ist have in their philosophy decided beforehand
whether the mind can survive the destruction of the
brain: it is as impossible for the mind to survive on
the one theory as it is necessary in the other: and no
amount of argument could alter these conclusions.
C. The Psychological. — For the purposes of our dis-
cussion we take as our starting-point a third view,1
which is more empirical and open to scientific investiga-
tion, namely, that of Psycho-physical interaction. On
this view every thought which occupies the mind may
have some influence on the nervous system : and, on the
other hand, every change which takes place in the brain
may leave its mark upon mental processes. This theory
allows of a certain freedom of action to both the mind
and the body, but yet affirms their interdependence.
At one time it is the mind that initiates action which
results in molecular and vascular changes in the brain :
at other times it is the cellular activity of the brain
which modifies the thoughts and emotions of the mind.
For example : constant mental worry tends to diminish
the secretion of bile and so leads to indigestion; on
the other hand, the presence of bile in the blood not
only produces jaundice but a depressed spirit and a
"jaundiced" view of life. A mighty emotion can sway
the body, throwing it into paroxysms now of fear
and again of joy. Those of us who have seen men
1 Psychology (I employ the word throughout as in modern scientific usage) in
so far as it does not profess, like Idealism or Materialism, to be a philosophical
theory of Ultimate Reality, is, of course, not exactly a third alternative to them.
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 25
in mortal terror, their eyes thrust out of their orbits,
their hair like bristles, realise how the mind in its
emotion can effect physical processes. On the other
hand, all of us have experienced the depressing effect
on the mind of even a slight physical indisposition,
producing an irritability which we know to be unworthy
of us but which we are unable to control. "The train
of representation is determined all along the line from
both the neural and the psychical side, with constant
psycho-physical interaction, initiated now from this
side, now from that.'5 1
Nor soul helps flesh more, now, than flesh helps soul !
Taking our start, then, from this theory of "Psycho-
physical interaction," and assuming that mind and body
are constantly influencing one another, we have yet to
study this interaction with a view to determining which
of these, the mind or the body, is the dominating factor
in our lives, and whether the neural or the physical
exercises the more compelling influence over the other.
If the mind is dominated by the body, we cannot hope
that it can "carry on" after the destruction of the
brain : but if the mind proves itself to have gained the
mastery over the flesh and can force its commands upon
the body, then we may infer that the mind holds its
destiny in its own hands.
In order to determine this question of dominance
let us proceed to our second main subject.
II. THE STUDY OF THE MIND IN ITS PRESENT STAGE
OF EVOLUTION, ESTABLISHING ITS DOMINATING
INFLUENCE OVER THE BODY
In order to do justice to both sides of the question
I shall deal first of all with
1 i ) The influence of the body over mind, and then
discuss
(2) The influence of the mind over the body.
1 W. McDougall in Mind and Body.
26 IMMORTALITY n
( I ) The Influence of the Body over the Mind
An impartial study of facts shows that the mind is
not that independent, detached, self-determined entity
which some would have us believe, but is often con-
ditioned by the state of the body and brain. Some of
the glandular secretions of the body, the thyroid, for
instance, and the ovarian, have a marked effect upon
the mind. Most of my readers will be familiar with
that form of idiocy in children due to want of the thy-
roid secretion. This dull, heavy, dribbling child, with-
out intelligence and without character, is treated with
a course of thyroid extract and becomes in a few
months as quick-witted and self-respecting as the aver-
age child of its age. The discovery of the pathology
of Cretinism and its consequent cure have no doubt
contributed largely to the diminution in the number of
"village idiots" which we cannot but have noticed.
The mind and intelligence in this case were obviously
arrested by the want of this physical secretion, and its
artificial supply was followed by the liberation of the
mental faculties and the growth of intellect.
Some forms of insanity, such as melancholia, also
seem to be determined by physical conditions. In
many cases such a disease may have followed and been
partly caused by mental stress.1 But the treatment of
the mind alone seems to have little effect on this disease,
which seems to have a physical as well as a psychic
origin, and is probably due to an auto-intoxication, the
toxins of which must be purged from the body before
the mind can become sane and healthy again. It is
probable, indeed, that a good deal of what we call
"temperament" is due to the secretions and toxins
which circulate in our system. It is interesting to note
that popular language suggests that the origin of these
1 1 have been particularly struck in dealing with the insane amongst Naval
men, with the fact that even in mental diseases of an undoubted organic origin
like General Paralysis of the Insane, the onset of the symptoms appears fre-
quently to have been precipitated by a shock of a mental character.
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 27
states is due to physical causes : we speak, for instance,
of a man being "phlegmatic," i.e. charged with a super-
abundance of "phlegm" or lymph: of another as
"liverish" : and use phrases like "vent his spleen,"
"make his gorge rise," which ascribe mental symptoms
to physical causes. We are not, of course, defending
the use of such phrases as being accurate (particularly
in the case of the liver, that long-suffering organ, which
has shared with the kidney most of the abuse of the
quack), but to indicate how the popular mind has
fastened on the idea that one's temperament is
influenced by the effect of physical conditions on the
mind.
Another indication of the dependence of the mind
on the brain is to be found in the phenomena of local-
isation in the brain. If the visual centres in the occipi-
tal lobe of the brain be removed or injured, we lose our
sight: if the area anterior to the occipital lobe be
injured, we retain our sight, can see things and copy
them, but we fail to understand their meaning. That
is to say, a psychical quality is lost with the loss of this
piece of brain, clearly indicating that besides the sen-
sory centres there are psychical centres in the brain
upon the integrity of which our mental condition to
some extent depends.
Let us for our third illustration point to facts
familiar enough to all. Let the reader try for himself
this experiment. When he is feeling gloomy and de-
pressed, let him force himself to smile: he will imme-
diately find the influence of his action in relieving his
gloom. Let a man who is walking with shoulders
bent and eyes cast to the ground in thought, raise
his head, square his shoulders, and walk upright. He
will immediately experience a martial feeling of self-
possession. So, clenching the hand, setting the jaw,
producing a sneer, and many other physical actions,
have a tendency to produce the mental emotion with
which they are associated. A very familiar illustration
28 IMMORTALITY II
of this same law is that the attitude of prayer helps us
realise a reverent spirit. We shall have reason to
refer to this subject again later: for the present we are
only concerned to show how ghysical conditions can
modify mental processes.
Let us, then, do justice to this side of the question
and admit that the brain has its share in influencing the
processes of the mind, and realise that the mind cannot
afford to spurn the advances of the body, but must for
its own health maintain amicable relations with it.
The mens sana and the corpus sanum are intimately
connected.
(2) The Influence of the Mind on the Brain and
Nervous System
Having acknowledged the service rendered by the
brain to the mind, we turn to the facts pointing to the
influence of the mind on the brain and nervous system.
We shall find that the mind not only influences the
body, but that it has an increasing tendency to domi-
nate the body and control its sensations.
Let us take a common illustration. A woman re-
ceives the news of the sudden death of her husband.
This is a "psychic" cause : we call it psychic because it
is not the message as spoken that produces the effect on
her (she had often before felt the impact of the sound-
waves of the word "death") , but its significance for her.
We see the flush — an attempt of the heart to drive suffi-
cient blood to the brain to stand the shock — the subse-
quent pallor, the sickness, the trembling, and ultimately
the loss of consciousness, by which means nature delivers
her from the agony of mental pain. These phenomena
of the circulation and nervous system are produced by
a cause that is purely psychical in origin, and prove
that the mind is able to use the body to express its feel-
ings and emotions, like the evening wind which makes
the trees rustle as in merriment or moan as in sadness.
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 29
Again, there is conclusive evidence that the mind can
completely dominate sensations, not only by controlling
but even by abolishing all feeling of them. Those,
for instance, who are accustomed to use microscopes
are able to produce a psychic blindness in one eye.
Whilst the right eye, let us say, is kept focussed on the
slide, the left eye is kept open, but is yet blind to the
rays of light which come to it. The beginner is at first
confused with rays coming from the slide and from the
surroundings simultaneously, but a little training en-
ables him to cut out the vision of the surroundings in
the left eye even though this eye is kept open. The
rays of light from the table, stand, and other surround-
ings are still striking his retina, but the mind refuses
to admit them. The mind thus has the power to refuse
the sensations offered to it and to decide which sensa-
tions it will reject and which accept.
A similar phenomenon is observed in the hypnotic
state. A hypnotised subject may be told to observe
every picture on a wall except one, and he will no
longer see this picture. His sight is not impaired in
any way, since he can observe the other pictures, but
a psychic blindness has been produced, the mind having
the power to refuse the sensations due to the rays of
light coming from that one picture. "Having eyes
they see not."
I have at the present time a patient who, in the
hypnotised state, converses with me and obeys my
commands. But should any one else command him or
speak to him he is completely deaf to the voice and
makes no response, telling me that he hears nothing.
But as soon as I tell him that he will heartheothervoice,
he immediately responds, and carries out the commands
of the man to whose voice he was previously deaf.
The stimuli enter the brain alike in both cases : but in
the first case the mind is psychically deaf to them.
The extremes of concentration of which the mind
is capable are exemplified in the analgesia or loss of the
30 IMMORTALITY n
sensation of pain which can be produced in a hypnotised
person. I remember a case (though I was not fortunate
enough to see it) in one of the operating theatres of
Edinburgh Royal Infirmary in which a major abdomi-
nal operation (for hernia) was performed on a student
with no anaesthetic except that of hypnotic suggestion.
The patient was admitted to the hospital the day before
the operation, was hypnotised by his own family doctor
that night and told under hypnosis that the next day,
before the operation, the house surgeon of the wards
would tell him to sleep, and that he would pass into
a condition in which he would feel no pain. The
house surgeon duly carried out his instructions, and
though, as far as I remember, he had never had any
acquaintance with hypnotism before, his suggestion
produced the desired condition in the patient. The
patient was operated on painlessly, and recovered with-
out discomfort. Indeed, hypnotism is the ideal anaes-
thetic if the patient is sufficiently susceptible to its
influence, for it is followed by none of those nauseating
symptoms of chloroform poisoning so distressing to the
patient, and, what is even more important, it is not
accompanied by the same degree of shock. Hypnotic
anaesthesia differs from that of chloroform in that it
is an anaesthetic of the mind, in contrast to that of
chloroform, which produces its effect on the brain by
melting the myelin fat round the nerve cells, or by
some other chemical action which cuts off these cells
from external stimuli.
These illustrations of the reaction of the mind under
hypnosis are extremely important, for they show us the
mind so dominating the senses that it can abolish the
sensations coming from them, and maintain an attitude
of complete indifference to the most urgent calls of
physical pain. What more suggestive evidence could
we have that the mind is well on its way to that state
in which it may dispense altogether with the physical,
and wing its way to freedom and independence?
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 31
Hypnotism, however, has discovered for us another
truth of great importance, namely, that the mind pre-
sides over even those functions of the body which we
regard as "vegetative"; we refer to the secretions of
glands, the flow of gastric and other digestive juices,
the function of digestion, the peristaltic movements of
the bowels, changes in the calibre of the arteries and so
forth. Are these functions controlled and regulated
by the mind, or by purely mechanical or reflex pro-
cesses? Over these actions we certainly have no vol-
untary control. Our efforts to stop ourselves blushing
are as futile as our attempts to cure a spasm of colic
by force of will or expenditure of thought. All these
effects are normally the result of reflex action, and are
regulated by the so-called autonomic or sympathetic
nervous system. It is usually the presence of food in
the stomach that excites the stomach to secrete its
hydrochloric acid, and it is the pressure of food, or the
irritation of some poison on the bowel wall, that causes
it to contract into a colic spasm in order to drive out
the irritant: it is the effect of heat upon the skin that
dilates the arterioles, thus bringing the blood to the
skin surface, and so cooling the blood by contact with
the outside air. But it seems to have escaped the
observation of some physiologists that the sympathetic
nervous system, which normally acts reflexly, may itself
be controlled and modified by mental processes. It is
true that our conscious will has no influence over them,
but the "unconscious" part of the mind certainly has
the power to initiate or modify these functions of secre-
tion and circulation, as we may prove by experiment-
ing with a subject under hypnosis. Let us try this
simple experiment (which the writer has performed) :
let a subject be hypnotised, and while he sits calmly
and quietly in his chair, suggest to him that his hand
is becoming suffused with blood. In the course of
half a minute or so this hyperaemia is produced in the
.Vnd indicated, whilst the other hand remains pallid.
32 IMMORTALITY n
The secretion of perspiration may be similarly regu-
lated. In some rare but well-authenticated cases blis-
ters have been produced on the skin by mental sugges-
tion under hypnosis.1 Again, the action of the
intestines, over which the conscious volition has no
direct control, is easily regulated by mental suggestion
when the subject is under hypnosis, and thus constipa-
tion may be rapidly and easily cured.2 So we might
review the other vegetative functions of the body, but
the illustrations given will be sufficient to prove that
the mind exerts a controlling influence over even the
reflex and autonomic functions of the nervous system,
and may at any time assert its claim to regulate and
direct them.
The Nature of Hypnotism and Suggestion
Before proceeding to discuss the power of the
mind in curing bodily disease, it may not be out of
place to refer to the nature of the hypnotic state and of
"suggestion." The name "Hypnotism" was originally
introduced by Braid to describe this state because it
resembled sleep in its mode of induction, its outward
appearance of quiescence, and in the loss of memory
produced. But Braid abandoned the term because it
was found that the mind was really in a state of activ-
ity, and in a subsequent hypnosis a person could recall
all that occurred in the previous seance. It therefore
became the fashion to attribute the phenomena of
hypnotism to a "subconscious self." There seems to
me, however, to be a much simpler explanation, and
one which avoids the necessity of assuming a separate
"self." Hypnotism, far from being a condition of
1 Since writing this I have performed this experiment; cf. p. 74, Note A.
2 I have at present a patient with chronic constipation whose condition be-
came so severe that he was invalided from his duties as a Probationary Flight
Officer and his commission cancelled. When he came under my care he had for
months been treated with the most drastic purgatives. After a fortnight's treat-
ment by Psychotherapy his disability has disappeared and he is looking a differ-
ent being. The condition in his case had been brought on and perpetuated by
worry.
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 33
sleep, is a condition of heightened attention. In this
state the attention is so fixed on some dominating
idea, as, for instance, that the subject is in a garden of
flowers, that his mind is abstracted from everything
else, and there results a dissociation of consciousness.
In short, there is produced the same kind of psychic
blindness which I have illustrated in the bacteriologist
looking through the microscope, and in the patients
whose indifference to the sensation of pain I have
cited. The state of hypnosis, then, is a state of ab-
straction from the world produced by devoting the
whole attention to one idea, or to a single complex of
ideas.
The method of inducing hypnotism also suggests this
as the true explanation. Whatever the method em-
ployed— gazing at a bright light; listening to the mo-
notonous beat of a metronome; feeling the soothing
sensation of "passes," or picturing some quiet scene
suggestive of rest — there is one feature common to all
and essential to the success of the hypnosis, namely,
that the attention of the subject is arrested by one idea
or group of ideas to the exclusion of all others. This
is brought about partly by .suppressing other sensa-
tions, and partly by focussing the attention upon the
object selected. The hypnotist having once arrested
the attention, and fixed it upon one idea to the exclu-
sion of all other ideas, thoughts, and sensations, can
then shift it from one point to another, from one idea
to another, to each of which the subject gives his
undivided attention. The magnet, as it moves from
point to point over a sheet of iron filings, concentrates
the filings and accumulates them into a little heap,
now here, now there. The hypnotist, working on the
mind of the subject, first arrests his attention, con-
centrating it on one fixed point, and then is able to
shift his attention from point to point. During the
hypnosis the attention is at such a pitch of concentra-
tion, and is raised to such high pressure, that if a
34 IMMORTALITY n
channel towards motor discharge or sensory feeling
is opened, the accumulated energy finds an immediate
outlet in action. There is no room here for the criti-
cism of the reason or for inhibition: all opposition
is swept away, so that the subject forthwith performs
the action or is swayed by the feelings suggested, how-
ever irrational these may be.1
It is interesting to note, however, that this flood of
energy is not sufficient to overcome the moral sense
although it may override the ordinary barriers of con-
vention and perform actions that are stupid. The hyp-
notised person will refuse to do anything that is
strongly repugnant to him. I have, indeed, had such
opposition in a recent case of mine, where the patient
consistently refused to carry out an action to which he
was opposed, even when he was deeply hypnotised. The
case in point was one in which I wished to take out the
patient's teeth with hypnosis as an anaesthetic, as he
was too weak in health to have gas. For some reason
he had a rooted objection to this, which I could not
overcome. I could make him do all manner of stupid
things, laugh and cry alternately, or dance on one leg,
and could stick pins into him without his apparently
feeling it, but any attempts to persuade him to have
his teeth out invariably aroused his opposition, and
he absolutely refused to have it done. In another
case of mine the patient, under deep hypnosis, per-
sisted even in an absolute lie, on which he had staked
his reputation, so rooted was his determination to carry
out the deception. The hypnotised person is therefore
not the automaton some people would have us believe.
This theory of hypnosis as a condition of heightened
1 Since writing this account of hypnotism I have read an article by Dr. W.
McDougall, of Oxford, on the "State of the Mind during Hypnosis." His view
differs from that suggested in this paper, in that he lays emphasis not on the
heightened attention of the one idea, so much as the suppression of the remain-
ing ideas and sensations in the brain. Both views, however, agree that hypnosis
is the relative predominance of one idea or group of ideas: and both seem to be
opposed to the relegating of hypnotic phenomena to a "subconscious self." I
have the feeling that the "subconscious self" has had too much imposed upon
it by an admiring public.
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 35
attention also explains the tremendous force that lies in
suggestion under hypnosis. The suggestions of health
and well-being absorb for the time the whole mind and
exert a correspondingly powerful effect. If presented
to the mind in its ordinary waking state such sugges-
tions are immediately made null and void by the reason,
which criticises the ideas suggested and tells the patient
that he is, in fact, not well, that his digestion is out
of order, and his business is going to the dogs. But
under hypnosis the reason is inhibited and the whole
attention of the patient is concentrated on the idea that
he is becoming vigorous and strong, that he will be
determined to tackle his business courageously, that
his appetite will improve, and that he will forget his
melancholy in a flood of happiness.
By "suggestion" we mean the insinuation of an
idea into the mind in such a way that it does not clash
with the critical and reasoning faculty. This is essen-
tially the nature and meaning of "suggestion" in the
therapeutic sense. The suggestion exerts its influence
on the mind owing to the fact that it is working without
the opposition of the critical faculty, which is abolished
by hypnotism or the induction of a quiescent state in
the subject. Having induced this state we proceed to
make these "suggestions" of health and well-being,
which we have already described, and which produce
so potent an effect on the personality of the patient.
We shall proceed later to deal with this power which
the mind possesses of modifying physical functions and
curing physical disease.
Auto-suggestion and Trance
The similarity of Hypnotic states to the condition
of Trance makes it necessary to say a little on this
subject, particularly as it has an important bearing on
the subjects discussed later in Essays VII. and VIII.
pp. 261 f., 322 ff.
36 IMMORTALITY n
First let us enumerate the various stages of Hypno-
sis. Probably the simplest type of the hypnotic state is
"reverie" — that condition in which the mind is absorbed
with its own thoughts of some far distant scene, or
pleasing recollection of the past, and so becomes obliv-
ious to all its surroundings. Some people are more
prone to these moods of abstraction than others, and
will walk along the busiest thoroughfares and yet be
entirely dissociated from all the sounds and sights of
their environment. This is really a very early stage of
hypnosis, in this case, self-imposed.
When I hypnotise a patient the first state into which
he passes is one in which he is completely conscious of
all that is taking place, but is flaccid and unable to
produce any voluntary movement. In my own experi-
ence of being hypnotised, I have found this stage to be
one of extraordinary lucidity. One's mind seems to
pass into space in which the atmosphere is rarefied and
thought clear and electric. One seems to possess a
bird's-eye view of events, to see them in their entirety,
and yet to be conscious of their minutest detail. This
condition most of us have experienced when lying half-
awake in bed. We know perfectly well all that trans-
pires, but we have not the voluntary power to move
and get up. It is significant that many poets, philoso-
phers, orators, and even mathematicians receive some
of their greatest inspirations in this condition, and
solve problems which months of previous labour had
failed to elucidate. The clairvoyance of the crystal-
gazer appears to belong to this stage, and it is prob-
ably whilst in this condition that mystics and seers have
their visions. As a rule, they are not aware of having
been in a state of mind in any sense abnormal, but feel
that they have their wits about them during the whole
period. This stage of hypnosis is an excellent one for
treatment by suggestion, for in it the suggestions made
are exceptionally lucid and carry a conviction which
ordinary speech could never produce.
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 37
As I proceed with my hypnosis the patient passes into
a condition in which anaesthesia can be produced. The
patient may be perfectly conscious of what the hypnotist
is saying and may remember it all afterwards, but yet
under suggestion can be made to feel no pain. This
stage of hypnosis introduces us to the state of mind
of men who have severe wounds inflicted upon them in
battle, but are not conscious of their wound, nor of the
pain that it should cause, until the excitement of the
battle is over and their minds become less abstracted
from their condition. It also explains the ecstasy of
the martyr whose flesh is torn by wild beasts or who is
burnt at the stake but yet feels nothing because of the
blessed vision of angels or his glorified Lord.
In the next stage of hypnosis the patient passes into
a state resembling sleep ; not that he loses consciousness
of what is taking place around, for he is perfectly aware
of what is said to him and of the people about him, but
when he is "wakened" he forgets all that has trans-
pired, and feels that he has merely been to sleep.
A stage further than this, and the patient may, on the
initiative of another or of himself, be made to speak,
rise up, walk about the room, and so behave that a
casual observer would not realise that there was any-
thing unusual in his behaviour. Yet in his normal wak-
ing state the patient has not the faintest recollection of
what has happened. A part of his life has been wiped
out of his normal memory.1 This is a condition analo-
gous to that of the spiritualistic medium, who, how-
ever, produces this condition by auto-suggestion. In it
the mind is extremely sensitive to suggestions of the
hypnotiser. It is only reasonable to believe that when
this condition is produced by auto-suggestion, and the
subject passes into the trance with the avowed intention
1 The analogous pathological condition is seen in cases such as that of a
patient of mine at the present time who remembers being in hospital in Meso-
potamia, and then suddenly found himself at home in Surrey. He had mean-
while lived for six months, visiting Bombay and returning home by Suez, but
all this was completely abolished from his memory.
38 IMMORTALITY n
of getting into communication with a certain person,
his mind will be particularly sensitive to thoughts about
that person, whether these come by direct communica-
tion with the spirit of the person, as the spiritualist
holds, or whether from some other mind, as the tele-
pathist considers more probable.
We see, then, that in the phenomena of abstraction
and trance we may find conditions analogous to those of
hypnosis whichever stage of hypnosis we take. In the
first stage there is day-dreaming; in the second the
clear mental state so conducive to prayer, and so stimu-
lating to the mind of the thinker, the seer, and the
visionary; instances of the third stage we have in the
indifference to pain due to the ecstasy of the martyr
or the elation of the soldier on the field of battle; and
finally the somnambulism of the medium. I have some
hesitation in thus pointing out the analogy and identity
of these states of mind with the stages of hypnosis,
lest it should be thought that I am merely "reducing"
them to hypnotism. I would therefore like it to be
understood that in my own mind this "reduction" in
no way limits the value of these states of mind. These
are all most valuable, each in its own sphere, and the
fact that they are shown to be natural states of mind
does not make them less valuable as weapons of the
spiritual. My purpose is not to show that these states
of mind are "only hypnotism," but to show that they
can be scientifically induced, and in fact are induced
in the various stages of what we call, for want of a
better name, "Hypnotism."
There are, however, certain deductions of some im-
portance which I may be permitted to point out.
First, that the various stages of hypnosis can be
induced without the aid of a hypnotist, by auto-sug-
gestion. It is obvious that moods of abstraction and
the anaesthesia of the soldier are produced from within
and not by suggestions from without. So also is the
state of mind of the crystal-gazer, the Hindoo, and
II THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 39
the saint at prayer. The deeper stages of amnesia
and somnambulism are not so often self-induced, but
may be, as in the medium and the sleep-walker, in the
former voluntarily, in the latter involuntarily, but in
both without the aid of another person.
In the second place, let us understand that a person
may be in a condition analogous to the early stages of
hypnosis and not be aware of anything abnormal taking
place. A patient recently told me that I could not
hypnotise him as others had tried without success. I
induced him, however, to let me try. I hypnotised him
and stuck a pin through a fold of skin in his hand, and
continued my suggestions of healing his "shell-shock."
When he was "wakened" he said he had been awake
all the time, had his wits about him and heard every
word I said. I then pointed to his hand, and to his
great surprise he saw the pin sticking through his flesh
without causing any pain. I may add that he is now
quite cured of his headaches, trembling, sleeplessness,
and general nervousness. But I mention the case to
show how in this stage, as in the ecstasy of martyrs
and wounded soldiers, as well as in crystal-gazers, it
is quite possible to be in such a degree of "trance"
and yet be conscious of nothing abnormal.
Lastly, I would emphasise the fact that hypnosis is
not an abnormal condition in the sense of being patho-
logical. In its early forms it is exemplified in every
mood of abstraction in which we indulge. The later
and deeper stages are merely an exaggeration of this
mental abstraction in various degrees.
There is no doubt that hypnotism carries with it its
own dangers, which makes it necessary that only duly
qualified men should be permitted to use it, but there
is no branch of surgery or medicine of which the same
cannot be said. Patient work and experience in opera-
tions on the mind as well as on the body teach one
what are the dangers and how to avoid them. In
neither case, in my opinion, is any one justified in using
40 IMMORTALITY n
his skill for public entertainment, and perhaps not even
for experiment. Personally, I make a point of rarely
using hypnotism except for the cure of disease, not
because of its dangers — for I consider there are none
to the experienced hypnotist — but because it debases
the just uses of a valuable therapeutic agency.
THE POWER OF THE MIND TO HEAL BODILY
DISEASE BY MENTAL SUGGESTION
In the preceding paragraphs I have put forward the
rival claims of the psychologist and the neurologist to
explain the functions of the mind: the one claiming
that mental processes are the outcome of changes in the
brain cells, the other maintaining that the mind is also
able to initiate activity and control the functions of the
body. We have now to bring forward a further con-
tribution to the solution of this problem, and can put
the rival claims to the test of successful treatment. If
mental suggestion, by itself, can cure diseases of the
body we are compelled to conclude one of two things :
either that the physical disease had its origin in the
mind; or, if the disease is organic, that the mind has a
direct influence in curing organic physical disease. In
either case the mind is the dominant factor in causing
or curing bodily disease.
Neurasthenia
Let us take the commonest of all these "borderland"
diseases, namely, Neurasthenia. It is a disease in which
both mental and physical symptoms are well marked.
The physical lassitude, irritability of reflexes, sluggish-
ness of bodily functions, constipation, headache, back-
ache, dyspepsia, fatigue after the slightest exertion, and
a "tired feeling" even after a long night's rest, find
their mental counterpart in irritability of temper, indif-
ference to the joys and sorrows of life, brooding, intro-
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 41
spection, worry, and loss of the power to concentrate the
mind. Most of us can claim relationship to some one
who was "born tired" and has been tired ever since.
This disease of neurasthenia is claimed both by the
neurologist and the psychologist, and is treated by these
rival claimants each in his own way.
Its Origin
The neurologist says that the worry and want of con-
centration and other symptoms are caused by physical
or chemical changes in the brain structure. "If we
could," says he, "but carry our investigations far
enough, as some day we shall, we should discover that
there are certain chemical changes in the brain cells to
account for the worry and lassitude." Huxley, for in-
stance, suggested that every psychosis has its cause in
an underlying neurosis. This is at present nothing
more than a hypothesis: for no one has yet demon-
strated the chemical changes in the brain cells that are
supposed to cause the mental symptoms. But it is, of
course, a perfectly tenable hypothesis on which to make
an investigation. If the absence of thyroid secretion
can produce idiocy, it is within the bounds of possibility
that some toxin may produce neurasthenia. The
thyroid, the suprarenal body, the pituitary body, high
blood pressure, low blood pressure, have all been ac-
cused by physiologists of being the cause of neuras-
thenia. I believe that the neurologist is sometimes
correct. There is a type of "neurasthenia" due to
wasting diseases like cancer or an organically disor-
ganised digestion. I am convinced, however, that the
ordinary type of neurasthenia is not produced in this
way, and this opinion is backed by the history of its
origin in any particular case and by success in treat-
ment by mental suggestion alone, as I shall illustrate
later.
The psychologist (I use the term in its modern
42 IMMORTALITY n
scientific, not in its more familiar philosophical sense)
looks at the disease from the other point of view. The
condition of the mind, he says, produces the physical
symptoms. The worry is primary and the physical las-
situde secondary. The psychotherapist, therefore,
delves into the mind of the patient, either by question-
ing him directly, or by employing the method known as
"psycho-analysis," to try to discover the underlying
mental cause. He finds that in a very large number
of cases the disease originated soon after some violent
mental strain, usually associated with a strong emo-
tional element. Disappointment in a love affair is one
of the most common: grief at the loss of wife or child:
the fear of battle: the shock of being torpedoed: anx-
iety over business affairs: some wrong committed and
the consequent fear of exposure. Every clergyman
and doctor is familiar enough with these conditions,
which eat out the soul and depress the spirit of the vic-
tim, and make life so heavy that he considers it better
to die than to live. Thus the origin of the complaint
in itself suggests that the psychologist is right in diag-
nosing the disease as mental rather than physical.
Its Treatment
The correctness of this diagnosis is further con-
firmed by success in treatment by mental suggestion.
In the treatment of neurasthenia the neurologist, pro-
ceeding on the assumption that the symptoms are caused
by physical changes in the brain, treats it accordingly.
Ascribing it at one time to a toxaemia of the gastro-
intestinal tract, one physician treats the patient with
intestinal antiseptics, laxatives, and sour milk: another
stimulates the nervous system with strychnine or soothes
it with bromides: a third puts the patient on a strict
milk diet, treats him with massage and electricity. Yet
another physician, diagnosing the condition as uonly
neurasthenia," sends him off on a sea voyage or to a
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 43
spa. By these means the patient may or may not be
cured; usually he is not. But if he is cured, it has still
to be proved by the neurologist that it was not the
mental influences, such as the personality of the phy-
sician, or the mental relaxation of the spa, even more
than the change of air and the sulphur, that produced
the cure.
The psychotherapist in his treatment approaches the
patient from an entirely different point of view. Start-
ing from the discovery that in most cases the symptoms
of neurasthenia commenced after some mental strain,
he examines his patient to find out if he has had any
such experience. Having discovered the supposed cause
either by questioning or by psycho-analysis,1 he begins
to treat the patient with mental suggestion. Let us sup-
pose we have a patient suffering from worry, the disease
of the age. The psychologist treats the patient by ver-
bal suggestions alone and cures the worry. The only
conclusion we can draw is that the disease was the result
of mental causes and not due to a physical defect: or,
on the other hand, if the disease is said to be organic,
we must conclude that the verbal suggestion of the
doctor is able to produce a change in the diseased brain
1 1 cannot stay to describe the methods of psycho-analysis in this paper.
Freud's method is to diagnose the patient's condition by analysing his dreams,
which are said to represent the patient's suppressed wishes expressing them-
selves in symbolic form. Jung's method is that of word-association tests, the
patient being given certain words and asked to reply with the first word that
comes to the mind. The principle underlying this method appears to be that
emotion checks thought. In this way certain words (e.g. the word "water" to
a patient who had contemplated suicide by drowning) arouse emotions. The
patient, therefore, delays in giving the reaction word. Both by the delay in
replying and also by the nature of the patient's reply, the emotional complex
in the patient's mind is laid bare to the physician even when the patient is
unwilling to divulge it or has even forgotten it. Personally, in my investiga-
tions I combine the word-association test with another method suggested and
used by the Freudian school, viz. the "free-association" method. Having deter-
mined the words, e.g., "water" in the illustration above, to which the patient
reacts emotionally, we take these words in rotation and ask the patient to say
exactly what comes into his mind when he thinks of the word "water" and the
other words reacted to; what picture he sees before his mind, and so on. One
finds that whichever word is taken the thoughts ultimately wander to the one
important event — the central emotional complex of the mind — the desire to
drown himself. I may add that the fact that Freud attributes practically all
cases of hysteria to sexual causes has unfortunately blinded many to the real
value both of his psychology and of the methods of psycho-analysis. It is quite
possible, however, to employ his methods without accepting, his conclusions.,
44 IMMORTALITY n
cells. The neurologist is thus placed on the horns of
a dilemma, and is compelled to admit the dominating
influence of the mind in either case.
In order to illustrate the cure of such cases by mental
suggestion, I may be permitted to mention some of my
own cases. The first case treated was that of a gentle-
man in Edinburgh who for six years had been suffer-
ing from worry, sleeplessness, and haunting suicidal
tendencies. He came to the conclusion, as many such
patients do, that he was going mad, and fear of the
asylum made him worse. I found that the symptoms
first arose when he was lying ill with diphtheria six
years previously, and when in this prostrate condition
he received news of the death of his little girl. Assum-
ing this to have been the cause of neurasthenia I put
the patient into a hypnoidal condition (in which, how-
ever, he was quite conscious) * and treated him with
appropriate suggestions, pointing out to him the cause
of the ailment, urging him to face it and then bury the
dead past: stimulated his faith in immortality and ex-
pectation of reunion with his lost child: impressed on
him the need of abandoning worry and care : taught
him how to be happy though worried, and prevailed on
him to abandon his anxieties and to renew his strength
by resting his soul in the Everlasting Arms. He was
cured after two sittings of about half an hour each, and
when I last saw him, some eight years after the treat-
ment, he had had no return of the symptoms. I would
not have it believed that all cases of neurasthenia are so
easily cured, but bring forward the illustration to show
what effect purely mental suggestion can have on this
class of disease which the neurologist attributes to
changes in brain cells, but which the psychologist
rightly regards as mentally produced. So rapid a cure
1 1 may here repeat in parenthesis that for therapeutic purposes complete un-
sciousness in hypnotism is quite unnecessary, the only condition required being
the suppression of the critical faculty, so that the mind may be the more power-
fully concentrated on the suggestions to a degree impossible in ordinary con-
versation.
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 45
can only be accounted for on the hypothesis that the
cause was mental.
In the course of writing the account of this case I
have had a visit from an officer recently returned from
the front, who was formerly a patient of mine for psy-
chotherapy. A year ago he was a clerk in a shipping
office. He came to me with the symptoms of physical
exhaustion, anaemia, and sleeplessness. In addition
he had delusions that anything he touched, and par-
ticularly his pen, were covered with microbes. Bits of
paper about the street and about the house filled him
with the same fear of contamination. It will be readily
understood that such delusions completely incapaci-
tated him for his work, for nothing could persuade him
to write a letter, and he was compelled to abandon his
work suffering from a nervous breakdown. Were
the mental symptoms in his case due to some toxin
affecting the brain? or, on the other hand, were the
physical symptoms caused by mental disturbance? The
test of successful treatment will furnish us with an
answer. An attempt to discover the cause of the
condition by questioning failed to elicit any satisfac-
tory reason for the disease. I therefore applied the
method of "psycho-analysis." By this method I dis-
covered the true cause of his malady; it turned out,
as is so often the case, to be a suppressed anxiety of a
strongly emotional character, the nature of which I
do not feel justified in making public. In this case
the mere realisation by the patient of the latent cause,
once it was discovered, was practically sufficient to cure
the condition, on the same principle that the best cure
for a "tune running in the head" is to sing it aloud,
and the only cure for a hidden sin is to confess it.
I saw this officer a year ago a candidate for the asylum :
I see him now having been through the fighting of
the "Devil's Wood" in which one third of his bat-
talion was laid low, but far from being afflicted with-
the nerve shock one would have expected he has won
46 IMMORTALITY n
for himself a commission, and is one of the few men
I have met who genuinely desires to return to the
trenches. These two cases are sufficient to prove that
the primary lesion was not to be sought for in the brain
cells but in the mind, and illustrate the power which
the mind is capable of exercising not only over mental
but over physical conditions.
"Shell Shock"
The experience of the war has given to medical
science another group of interesting examples of "bor-
derland" disease, namely those grouped together as
"shell shock." x I have at the present time under my
care men of the Royal Navy who are suffering from
blindness, loss of speech, loss of control over limbs and
body which results in a condition of perpetual tremor
even during sleep, and other physical nervous disor-
ders, all of which are produced by "shell shock." In
these cases the affection of the nervous system is of a
functional and not an organic nature, and exhibits
no changes such as the microscopic or test tube can
discover. Examined by all the known tests the affected
nerve is in no sense different from any normal nerve.
This may, of course, be due to the imperfection of
our laboratory methods, but both the origin and the
treatment of these interesting cases encourage us in
the belief that "shell shock" is primarily a mental
rather than a nervous disease. One or two cases I
quote. One patient of mine, J. D., was on board a
drifter when it was attacked by a submarine. He
was at the gun and eagerly gazing across the waves
at the submarine. This slight strain on the eyes, cou-
pled with the great emotional strain on the nervous
system, produced a blindness by the next morning which
was almost complete. Another patient I am still treat-
ing was occupied one Sunday in dragging bodies out
1 I use the term in the very widest sense, as practically equivalent to war
stress.
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 47
of the debris of an explosion. Next morning he woke
up to find his arm paralysed. This paralysis, like
the blindness of the other patient, is only of a hysterical
type. I have obtained some movement of his fingers
under hypnosis, and still hope to cure him entirely.
A young Belgian I saw had a bullet wound in his
arm and lost the use of the forearm. The surgeon,
therefore, cut down to examine the nerves which he
supposed to have been injured. He found no evi-
dence of injury, the wound being only a flesh wound.
The lad was treated by the physician in charge with
suggestion, in this case without hypnosis, and when
I saw him he was well on the way to recovery. I have
read of another case, one of many that have appeared
in the public press, of a soldier who was struck dumb
in battle but was suddenly cured on being kissed by a
young lady visiting at his bedside !
Perhaps I may dwell with a little more detail on one
or two of my cases. One of my patients was in H.M.S.
when she was blown up by a mine. When I
saw him about sixteen months after the event he was
in a condition of extreme terror; day and night he had
the sight of the sinking ship with all its horrors in his
mind. He had no control over his emotions, was
"blubbering" continually, and was shaking all over
from head to foot. If a plate fell in the ward, he
would literally jump out of bed and hide under it.
After the first treatment by mental suggestion his
tremors were greatly lessened: after the second he
could control his feelings and could discuss the sinking
of the ship without emotion; his headaches had also
disappeared: and after further treatment, he was so
far cured that he expressed his desire to undergo an
operation on his ear and throat, the very thought of
which had previously produced in him a spasm of ter-
ror. Another patient, J. S., aged 42, was in the Dar-
danelles, on a mine-sweeper which was frequently
shelled, When I saw him his hair had turned white
48 IMMORTALITY n
with the strain of work and constant exposure to dan-
ger. He had bad nightmares, and tremors, especially
of the limbs, which were in a continual state of spas-
ticity. He proved an excellent subject for hypnosis,
becoming a somnambulist. He has now lost his spas-
ticity, and his tremors have disappeared. At the time
of writing he no longer dreams, the nightmares have
disappeared, and he is well enough to return home to
his work. A very interesting case was that of E. C.,
aged 37, officers' steward, who came complaining of
neuritis. On examination, however, I found that he
was completely anaesthetic from head to foot, so that
I could stick pins into him anywhere over the body.
He won for himself in the ward the nickname of the
"living pincushion." I could not help regretting that
he did not require to have his appendix removed, for
the operation could have been done painlessly without
further anaesthetic! We have in this man a case of
"hysterical" anaesthesia, produced, as I interpret it,
as an expression of his protective instinct in order to
ward off the "slings of fortune." In his desire to
avoid hurt of any kind, he has quite unconsciously
become anaesthetic. His case is very interesting as
another instance of the power of the mind to cancel
the incoming sensations. I have managed to dispel
his neuritis and cure his shakiness, by mental sug-
gestion, but, up to the present, even under deep hyp-
nosis, I have not managed to restore his sensation of
pain, and the conditions of service prevent my pro-
ceeding further with the case.
The only conclusion we can draw from these cases
is that "shell shock," in spite of all its physical symp-
toms of paralysis, etc., is primarily a mental rather than
a nervous disease. Psychologists are therefore at the
present time seeking for the explanation of these
lesions. The matter is still under investigation, but the
following view seems most in keeping with what is
known of such conditions.
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 49
Those acquainted with psychotherapy are familiar
with the theory that neuroses and psychoses can be
caused by suppressed emotion. When a woman is op-
pressed with grief even her next-door neighbour knows
that it is much better for her to "have a good cry"
than to suppress her grief. Suppressed emotions are
like suppressed steam, and often lead to disaster in
insanity and the asylum. An old lady I know lost her
husband by death, and at the time showed no grief at
the loss, but two days afterwards began to have de-
lusions that the rest of the family were going to be
taken from her, and subsequently she had to be put
under restraint. The theologian knows that unless the
sin is confessed it produces a depressed and brooding
disposition like that of Cain in the traditional story,
who seems to have started with a melancholia and
ended with the aimless, restless wandering of mania.
When the sin is confessed the sinner at once feels him-
self a new man, the sky clears, and the spirit is lib-
erated because the suppressed emotion has been let
loose. Most of us have had the uncomfortable feeling
of having "something on our mind" which makes us
worry and feel restless. As soon, however, as we look
for the cause and bring it into consciousness, the rest-
lessness disappears. This principle we apply to shell
shock. The soldier on the field of battle, the sailor
mine-sweeping at sea, are constantly in a state of ex-
treme tension. The natural expression of fear is to
turn and run in flight. These men suppress that nat-
ural impulse : nothing will induce them to give way to
fear: grim determination is written upon their faces.
But their very courage is a danger to them. Gun-
powder is the more dangerous when it is packed tight
and closely confined; so, too, with the instinctive emo-
tions. The soldier succeeds in suppressing his fear,
but that very suppression makes an explosion the more
dangerous. A sudden bursting of a high explosive
stuns him for a moment, and deprives him of his power
50 IMMORTALITY n
of control; and in that moment the pent-up emotion
bursts forth. When he comes to himself he finds that
he has completely lost the reins, his grip over himself
has gone, his self-mastery has given way, and he falls a
victim to these symptoms of paralysis, or of general
tremors, characteristic of the cases of "shell shock."
It is thus often the bravest men, those who have been
most successful in mastering and suppressing their fear,
that fall victims to this disease. It is not maintained
that all cases of "shell shock" can be explained in this
way: many cases may be due to a complex of causes.
But it seems clear that the above is the cause in
many cases of the disease, and a contributory cause in
others.
I think these cases I have cited will be sufficient to
convince the reader of the extraordinary power of the
mind over the body, and to compel us to the conclusion
that, however much the body and its sensations may
modify mental conditions, the mind is the predominant
factor in the life of the individual.
Christian Science
In the popular mind the subject of Mental Healing
is so commonly confused with the claims of Christian
Science that a few words on this subject will not be out
of place. That many of the cures of Christian Scien-
tists are authentic I have no doubt. Convinced as I am
of the power of mind over body, I should be surprised
if it were not the case. But I am equally convinced
that the philosophy or "religion" on which it is based
is false. I am antecedently inclined to believe the lady
who told me that she had suffered from nervousness
and was troubled with aches and pains shifting from
place to place about her body, and that she was cured
by believing in the Christian Science doctrine that
"God was All, and that, pain and evil being illusion,
she must be healthy and have no pains." But when a
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 51
man tells me that he broke his leg and, after treatment
by Christian Science was immediately cured, his state-
ment is so entirely contrary to all that is scientifically
known about the body, that it would require over-
whelming evidence to convince me that, assuming the
person to be telling the truth, this was not a mistake
in diagnosis. Even if he tells me that the fracture
was diagnosed as such by a medical man I should still
be unconvinced, for even the best of surgeons make
mistakes on such matters. To take another illustra-
tion. If a man's arm is paralysed by "shell shock,"
in which there is no lesion of the nerve-trunk, but where
the function alone is at fault owing to some blockage,
I can conceive that a discharge of energy from the
mind, whether by the religious emotion fomented by
Christian Science, or by Suggestion under Hypnosis,
may break down the block, and so suddenly and im-
mediately restore the function. But when a patient
comes to me with his nerve-trunk severed by a bullet,
I do not believe that any amount of suggestion or of
faith will mend the lesion, and I assure him that it will
be at least some months before his arm regains its
power and sensation. This is the radical distinction be-
tween the Christian Scientist and the Psychotherapist:
it is based on a fundamental difference between an
organic lesion like a ruptured nerve, and a functional
lesion such as we find in the cases of patients suffering
from "shell shock" to which I have already referred.
At the same time, I am quite prepared to admit that
Mental Healing may very favourably influence even
organic lesions. We have already shown what effect
mental suggestion may have on blood supply. But the
speedy restoration of bodily tissue is very largely de-
pendent on blood supply. It is quite obvious, there-
fore, that the process of healing can be accelerated in a
marked degree by increasing the blood supply under
mental suggestion. Again, healing is greatly aided
by the abolition of pain, so that, if the mind can abolish
52 IMMORTALITY n
pain, it will materially aid in curing organic disease.
Pain is a very valuable aid in the detection of physical
maladies: it waves the red flag to warn us that disease
is about to make an onslaught on our bodies, so that
we, being forewarned, may also be forearmed. But
its proper task is then complete. If it continues to
wave its flag and inflict constant and severe suffering,
it becomes a positive danger. Following the sugges-
tions of other hypnotists I have performed this interest-
ing experiment: I inflicted two burns on the arms of
a hypnotised subject. In the one case I suggested that
the pain should disappear, and it did so; in the other
I allowed the burn to be normally painful. It was
found that the painless burn healed with much greater
rapidity than the other. This clearly indicates that,
after a certain point, pain acts as a deterrent to rapid
healing; and the abolition of pain by suggestion may
therefore aid considerably in the cure even of organic
diseases. But in both illustrations, whether in the
regulation of the blood supply, or in the abolition of
pain, the effect that the mind has in healing the body
is an indirect one, and has no relation to such a case
as the sudden knitting of broken bones which the
credulity of the Christian Scientist permits him to
believe possible.
Now, what is the significance of Mental Healing?
It is that by the influence of the spoken word we have
been able to drive away physical pain, control physical
movements which have become uncontrolled, bring
back power to limbs afflicted with palsy. Physical
symptoms have been cured by psychical causes, thus
demonstrating the mastery of the mind over the body.
In other words, we have in the mind an energy which
acts not only in its own sphere of mental life, but flows
over and floods the arid clods of the physical plains to
produce health and gladness.
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 53
TELEPATHY
Having pointed out that we have real evidence that
the mind can dominate the body and all its functions,
let us now consider certain evidence which suggests
that the mind can act without using the ordinary chan-
nels of bodily sense.
Just as the pursuit of Astrology brought to light
facts which laid the foundation of the science of As-
tronomy, so the pursuit of Spiritualism has brought
to light facts of thought-transference or Telepathy.
These have already given rise to a certain amount of
scientific investigation, and will be more thoroughly
investigated in the future.
Only the briefest indication of their nature can be
given in this place; but some further illustration will
be found in Essay VII. of this volume. Probably the
subject first forced itself to the front owing to the
frequently recorded cases of "wraiths'* appearing at
the time of death. Many of us have personal experi-
ence of having the thought of some person obtruded
on our mind, and have discovered later that this person
died at that moment, or passed through some extraor-
dinary experience. The image of the person is flashed
across our mind, perhaps visualised. I should hold
myself that, if visualised, the appearance is a hallucina-
tion, the result of a subjective impression. This states
very concisely the difference between the theory of
Telepathy and that of Spiritualism.
The Spiritualist seems to believe that the spirit of
the departed is in the room and manifests himself in
some actual form, but a more reasonable theory is
that the impression is purely subjective, and due to
Telepathy from the dying person. It is to be noted
that in several of the best-authenticated of these stories
of apparitions of the dying, the death takes place in
India or Africa, and the recipient is in England. In
54 IMMORTALITY n
the Proceedings of the S.P.R. many instances of exactly
this class are recorded.1
The following account by Dr. Leonard Guthrie,
relates the experience of a credible witness, E. W. M.,
a distinguished scientist and F.R.S. In his own words
he writes 2 : —
uWhen I lived in Canada, the following case oc-
curred: an Englishman and an American clubbed to-
gether to try to reach the Klondyke goldfield by the
overland trail, i.e., by going due north from the
prairies, instead of following the usual course of cross-
ing by the Canadian Pacific Railway to Vancouver, then
taking steamer up the coast to Sitka, and crossing back
over the mountains via White Horse Pass. After the
pair had passed on their journey what the American
judged to be the outposts of civilisation, he shot the
Englishman while he lay asleep, tried to destroy the
body by burning it, rifled his baggage, taking every-
thing of value, and returned. When he was questioned
as to what had become of his companion, he replied
that he (the American) had become discouraged and
had given up the expedition, but that the Englishman
had pushed on. But there was an encampment of
Indians close to the spot where the crime had been
committed. The old chief saw two men come north
and encamp in the night, he heard a shot and saw one
man go south. He went to the camp, saw the body,
and informed the nearest post of N.W. Mounted
Police. They trailed the murderer, and arrested him
before he could escape across the U.S. border. He
was brought to Regina. Meanwhile, the brother of
the murdered man, in England, had a dream in which
he saw his absent brother lying dead and bloody on
the ground. He came down next morning very de-
pressed, told his dream, and announced his intention
of going straight out to Canada to see if anything had
1 For a case that has just come under my own notice, cf. p. 74, Note B.
2 Extract from "Dreams and their Interpretation," by Sir Robert Armstrong-
Jones, M.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.C.S., in The Practitioner.
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 55
happened to his brother. He arrived out as the trial
of the murderer was progressing. He identified several
articles in the possession of the murderer as the prop-
erty of his late brother. The murderer was hanged
at Regina."
Such instances are comparatively common, and if
they do not convince the sceptic they at least afford
sufficient ground for scientific investigation. There
must be some cause for these phenomena, and if they
are not due to telepathy then it is just as necessary to
explain in some other way the psychology of such
mental aberrations.
In a series of seances arranged by the Society for
Psychical Research, with Mrs. Piper as medium, the in-
vestigators sought to obtain an account of a certain con-
versation which took place between Mrs. Sidgwick and
Mr. F. W. H. Myers, some time before his death. This
conversation was known to none except to the two par-
ticipants. In her trance Mrs. Piper claimed to have ac-
cess to "Myers," and an attempt was made to induce the
spirit of "Myers" to reproduce the conversation
through Mrs. Piper. As long as Mrs. Sidgwick was
absent and did not come into contact with Mrs. Piper,
the medium failed to reproduce the conversation.
When, however, Mrs. Sidgwick came into contact with
Mrs. Piper, there was a remarkable, though not per-
fectly accurate, account given of the conversation.
That is to say, it was the proximity of Mrs. Sidgwick,
who knew the conversation, that made the difference.
Mrs. Sidgwick, therefore, concludes, and rightly so in
my opinion, that the medium became possessed of the
information, not from the spirit of "Myers," but by
mental transference from Mrs. Sidgwick herself. In
other words, though it did not prove communication
with the spirit world it did afford important evidence
of telepathy.
The subject needs patient and thorough investiga-
tion. Are we to assume that there is a psychic ether
56 IMMORTALITY n
pervading space in the same way as that material ether
which the scientist assumes to be omnipresent; or are
we to believe in the theory of ''brain waves," by which
the activity of one brain is transferred to another brain,
as the air conveys waves of sound from one man's
voice to the ear of another man; or, as a third possi-
bility, is the mind altogether free from the limitations
of time and space, and does it thus possess the power
of presenting itself to two persons at once, possibly
at remote parts of the earth?
On the one hand, experiments in telepathy, e.g., those
conducted at Brighton, and quoted by Podmore in the
Encyclopedia Britannica, have shown that more suc-
cesses are obtained when the person giving and the
person receiving the message are in the same room,
which suggests that distance does have an influence on
the transmission of thought. On the other hand, the
fact that messages have been transferred from one
hemisphere to another, from Canada to England, sug-
gests that the process of transference is independent of
space and time and that it is concerned, therefore, with
mind itself. It is difficult to conceive how brain waves,
the very name of which suggests a material medium,
can overcome the obstacle of continents and penetrate
a brain in the uttermost parts of the earth, and to do so
with sufficient force to rise into consciousness.
Whatever the explanation, however, it is safe to say
that in telepathy we have an indication that the mind is
much less circumscribed by the limitations of the ma-
terial body than is ordinarily supposed.
III. STUDY OF THE BIOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT OF
THE MIND (a) IN THE INDIVIDUAL AND (b)
IN THE RACE, POINTING TO THE GRADUAL
ASCENDANCY OF THE MIND OVER THE BODY
We now pass to another line of argument. In the
preceding section we have been examining the mind
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 57
of man as we know it in its present state of evolution.
This investigation has shown us the mind dominating
the body, having the power to abolish its sensations, to
cure its ills and, liberating itself, in a sense, from the
brain, to communicate with other minds at a distance
from it.
We have now to look at the mind biologically, as it
passes from its low and humble origin to attain that
position of mastery which it now possesses. This study
will convince us that in its earlier stages the function of
the mind is largely passive in the sense that it has al-
ways to await the impact of some external physical
stimulus, and has no power of initiation in itself : but in
its later stages the mind is found to acquire more and
more the power of initiating action, and seems to be on
the way to becoming master of itself and of its own
destinies.
This development I shall trace both in the individual
and in the race. In reality the development is analo-
gous in both cases, for the individual passes through the
stages of evolution that the race has passed through,
from the speck of protoplasm from which each of
us originated to our present state of growth and in-
telligence.
(a) In the Individual
First, then, I shall trace briefly the evolution of vision
and of the emotions in the individual in order to draw
attention to that point in evolution where the physical
surrenders its rights to the sovereignty of the mind.
The development of Vision furnishes us with an ex-
cellent example of this change.
The new-born child possesses the whole apparatus
of vision — cornea, lens, retina, optic nerve and tracts,
and centres of vision in the brain. But the child does
not see, and has as yet no sense of vision. For the
development of that sense external stimuli are necea-
58 IMMORTALITY n
sary : the child must open its eyes and let the rays from
objects around, from its toys, its mother, or the lamp,
fall upon its retina and be conveyed to its brain, where
they produce an appropriate sensation. These external
stimuli, we repeat, are necessary to sight : without them
there would be no sense of vision. In short, the mental
representation is dependent upon physical sensations.
But this does not remain so always. Look at the
child a few years later. The sensations have meanwhile
been stored as memories, combined to acquire meanings,
associated for the building up of visions that "eye hath
not seen." This power of calling up new visions we
call "imagination" : it is quite independent of external
stimulus. Indeed imagination is more vivid when these
stimuli are cut off. Consequently we shut our eyes
when we wish to image anything, and seers receive
their visions in the dark watches of the night.
In the highest examples we have the genius of the
artist, poet, and philosopher, each of whom expresses
in his own plastic material of words or of pigment
the creations of his imagination. The balance has now
turned: mental representation is altogether independent
of physical stimuli, and the mind can initiate its own
objects of imagination. Indeed we may go a step fur-
ther and we find that imagination can become so vivid
that it deceives the senses into believing that the
imaged objects are actually present. This we term
hallucination. The functions have been reversed and
the mind is now creating the sensations. The develop-
ment of vision, then, shows us the transference of
initiative from the periphery, namely the bodily sensa-
tion, to the mind at the centre.
The Emotions. — The second illustration we take is
that of the emotions. Readers of James's Psychology
are familiar with the theory there enunciated, that the
emotions are the result of bodily movement.
"The bodily changes follow directly the perception
of the exciting fact, and our feeling of the same changes
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 59
as they occur is the emotion. Common sense says we
lose our fortune, are sorry and weep: we meet a bear,
are frightened and run: we are insulted by a rival, are
angry and strike." In contrast to that James holds
that "we feel sorry because we cry, angry because we
strike, afraid because we tremble."
In this account of the emotions we have the direct
assertion that the mental states of emotion are depend-
ent on physical movements, and therefore subordinated
to them. We need have no hesitation in accepting this
theory, provided that it is intended to account only for
the origin and early development of the emotions.
Darwin, in his fascinating book on the Expression
of the Emotions, has shown the physiological purpose
of emotional expressions, which seems to prove their
physiological origin. The scowl expressive of anger is
the vestige of the setting of the brow assumed by an
animal before charging a hostile animal. The sneer
which exhibits the canine teeth is all that remains of
the fierce threat of the wolf to devour. I have myself
often seen South Sea Islanders express disgust of oth-
ers by turning their back on them and lifting one leg
in the manner of the dog. We are therefore quite
justified in admitting the truth of this evidence, and in
accepting the theory that the emotions originated in
physical movements which serve a physiological pur-
pose, so long as it relates to the origin and development,
and not to the present state, of our emotions. These
movements, originally expressing physiological func-
tions, have now assumed a new meaning, having at-
tained a mental significance which has obliterated the
traces of their physiological origin. In the develop-
ment of the emotions there comes the time, correspond-
ing to that we have noted in the case of vision, when
the movement no longer creates the emotion, though it
may suggest it, but is itself produced by the emotion.
The balance of power has changed from the physical
to the mental, so that the physical actions which orig-
60 IMMORTALITY n
inally produced the emotions (as James has told us)
are now merely the expressions of those emotions. This
conclusion is in keeping with the judgment of common
sense and of introspection. It is embodied in ordinary
language; the word e-motion suggests a motion from
within outward, a movement originated in the mind
and expressing itself in physical activity. Thus we
now knit our brow because we are angry; we show our
teeth in order to express a threat; smile because we
feel pleasure; and run away because we are frightened.
In short, while mental emotion originated in physical
movements, the balance has now turned and the mind
now initiates these movements and uses them as modes
of expression.
The process which we have illustrated in the indi-
vidual, by which vision and emotion have liberated
themselves from the domination of the body, is also
found to be at work in the biological evolution of the
race. Here, too, we can trace the process by which
the mind grows from being a puny parasite of the body
to become its master and lord.
(b) In the Race
In tracing the biological development of the mind
in the race I cannot, in the space at my disposal, even
mention all the varied stages through which it passes.
It is possible only to touch on the more important ones,
but these will suffice for our argument.
My purpose in outlining these stages is to trace the
gradually increasing ascendancy of the mind from its
humble origin, a weakling, dependent for its every
movement on the body, until it attains the full vigour
of mindhood which subdues the parent from which it
sprang, and makes the body its slave.
In the earliest forms of animal life, and even in
some forms of plant life, we find what appears to be
evidence of mental activity, in that their actions seem
n THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 61
to exhibit an intelligent purpose. When the sensitive
plant is touched, its leaves curl up and droop, as though
to withdraw themselves from danger. The Venus Fly-
trap, which closes its petals over the fly and traps it,
appears to possess more wit and cunning than its hap-
less victim. The single-celled amoeba, the earliest form
of animal life, puts forth its pseudopodia or prolonga-
tions and, encircling a morsel of food, seizes and ab-
sorbs it. All these organisms, although devoid of any
nervous system, perform movements which so stimulate
purposive actions that the casual observer is apt to
jump to the conclusion that they are endowed with
mental power.
But are we justified in concluding that these early
forms of life exhibit mental power: can we say that
they possess intelligence?
From the philosophical point of view it is maintained
that the fact that their actions are Directed towards
useful ends, suggests that a mind must fee at work.
The philosopher will argue that these actions cannot be
explained except by postulating a guiding and directing
jforoe which is essentially intelligent and purposive.
Tms, however, does not mean that these creatures have
minds in the individual sense, nor that they possess the
power of initiation with themselves as centre. I, per-
sonally, agree with the views of the philosopher, and
believe in the existence of the "cosmic mind" which
dwells in all living things and works out its purposes
in them; but, as scientists, it is better that we should
not accept this as a postulate and argue from it as fact,
until we find some scientific and empirical evidence of
the presence of mind in these low forms of life. Looked
at from the scientific point of view there are several
facts which make us hesitate to affirm that these primi-
tive forms of life have minds. In the first place, their
actions are of a mechanical nature whereby we can
predict with certainty what their movements will be.
If you touch the Venus Fly-trap it will close its petals^
62 IMMORTALITY n
quite irrespective of whether the stimulus is a fly which
it can eat or a bit of wood. In other words, it acts
without discrimination : its action is purely mechanical.
Similarly, in an animal like the mollusc, action is
purely reflex, so that when you apply any irritant you
can always predict with certainty that it will respond
in a particular way. In the case of the amoeba, the
mechanical nature of its movements have been demon-
strated in an experiment devised by Professor Schafer,
which reproduces these movements in a globule of
olive-oil under conditions which exclude the possibility
of mental interference.1
We cannot, therefore, claim that as yet we have
conclusive proof of a mind in these early forms of life,
except perhaps in the vague sense of a mind general
and diffuse, pervading all living things, and expressing
its power and purpose through them. We often hear
it said that a musician "makes his violin speak," his
piano "live." They are not living, but they are the
vehicle of a mind behind. In this sense we can perhaps
say that these primitive creatures possess a mind. But
they possess a mind only in a passive sense; they con-
tain it rather than possess it.2
Let us pass to a higher stage in the development of
mind, in which we find a store of nerve energy.
If we destroy the brain of a frog and then touch its
belly with acid, it will lift its leg and make movements
to scratch off the acid. This is a purely reflex action,
and acts with that mechanical certainty which seems to
exclude the working of an intelligence. But further,
1 "Take on a glass-rod a drop of ordinary olive-oil which has been coloured
with Scharlach R., and place it gently on the surface of a i per cent solution
of sodium bicarbonate." The result observed is that the olive-oil sends out pro-
longations, and performs movements almost identical with those of the amoeba.
This, however, is purely a phenomenon of surface tension.
2 It is only right to state that, whereas I have maintained the generally
accepted view of scientific men on this question, there is a growing opinion
among scientists, that even in these very early forms of life there are the
manifestations of mental activity and intelligence. Were such a view to become
accepted I need hardly point out that the general conclusion I am arguing for
would be further strengthened, but I prefer not to assume more than the evi-
dence would be generally admitted to prove.
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 63
let the leg be restrained from movement, and the brain-
less creature will lift the other leg to perform the same
service. This looks, at first sight, as if the animal,
realising that one action was frustrated, devised another
action to perform the same service, and, in doing so,
showed purposive intelligence. This, however, would
be going beyond our premises. He would be a bold
man who would affirm that a brainless frog has a mind.
This experiment, however, does take us one stage
higher. In order to perform this action, reflex as it is,
we must assume that the creature has a store of nerve
energy. When this source of energy finds the normal
channel of outflow closed, it expends itself by passing
down another: denied access to one leg, it discharges
its force down the motor nerve of the other leg which
moves towards the irritated point on the belly. We
have here, then, a new factor which distinguishes this
"reflex" frog from the amoeba and lower forms of
life, namely, its power to store up nerve energy. It
has not, however, the power possessed by the normal
frog and all higher animals of determining at will into
which channel that store of nerve force shall be
directed.
The next stage is the all-important one, from our
point of view, since it introduces the psychic element,
and presents us with phenomena which can be explained
only in terms of mental life. The organism now de-
velops along two paths which are associated together.
1 i ) On the sensory side, the organism now pos-
sesses the power of recognising the sensations which
come to it — in other words, it develops Consciousness.
(2) On the motor side, the organism has the power
of directing its reserve store of nerve energy in any
direction in accordance with its own desires towards
carrying out its purposes and fulfilling its aims — in
other words, it develops a Will.
In both Consciousness and Will we have phenomena
which the laws of Physiology entirely fail to explain,
64 IMMORTALITY n
and which Psychology alone can even attempt to
elucidate.
( i ) Consciousness is the sensation of psychic states.
When we speak of being "conscious" of any sensation
we mean that by some means we become "aware" of it.
Let us realise that there are millions of sensations
which never rise to consciousness; impressions that do
not impress our mind sufficiently to make us "aware"
of them. Such, for instance, are the "sensations" of
normal digestion, breathing, or the secretion of glands.
These functions are always sending impressions up to
the higher centres, but, under normal conditions, they
do not produce consciousness of their movements. They
become conscious only when these organs are disturbed
and their functions upset, in which case we may be very
painfully "aware" of them. But let us pause for a
moment. What do we mean when we say that we are
"aware"? What is it to be "aware"? Who is it
that is conscious? We have, in using these terms,
taken a great stride: we have, in fact, passed from
physiological to psychical terms. In using such words as
"aware" we are using terms for which we can find no
physiological substitute. We have, in fact, entered the
realm of "mind," a sphere into which physiology can-
not enter and in which it cannot live. Like the fish
which cannot breathe in the open air, physiology pants
and expires in its efforts to follow the mind into the
psychic region ; the atmosphere is too rarefied : thought
is too ethereal to be grasped by it. In short, physiol-
ogy has to abandon this field to the psychology.
In the earlier stages physiology may, with some rea-
son, claim to explain the phenomena presented. It
can trace the stimulus as it passes round the reflex arc,
up the sensory nerve, across the synapse or junction,
and down the motor nerve. This acts with the same
mechanical certainty as the touching of an electric but-
ton at one end of a wire produces the ringing of a bell
at the other end. But when we come to consciousness,
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 65
physiology fails to satisfy us, because we are dealing
with something that is different in kind from nerve
energy. We may make use of our last illustration
(remembering that it is only an analogy, and at best
only explains the mechanism of consciousness) to make
clear this difference. An ordinary current of electricity
produces heat in a wire — such is the normal mechanism
of nerve energy as illustrated in reflex action. But
let this current pass through a filament of exceptional
refinement, and be raised to a greater intensity, and the
heat will be transformed into light. Consciousness
is thus a phenomena of intensification: it is produced
when our sensations are raised to a sufficiently high
pitch of tension. It is due to mental friction: to the
effort to cut a new channel through the brain. Heat
and light may both be produced by the transmission of
a current of electricity along an electric wire : they may,
from the physical point of view, differ only in the
length of their waves and in velocity. But the essential
feature of our analogy, imperfect as it is, is that in its
resultant expression light Is_a different form of energy
from heat, and ffieref ofe* "stimulate s~an entirely differ-
ent system of nerve-endings in our bodies. Conscious-
ness is thus a different form of energy from nerve
energy, though it may have arisen out of it; it is, in
fact, psychic energy, which it is impossible to describe
in terms of the physical.
This dramatic leap from the physiological to the
psychical is the most irgpnrtapf f^r>pr in the eyolutlon
of mind. It is the decisive factor which once and for
all turns the balance and establishes the supremacy of
the mind over the body. This is that reversal of power
which we have already illustrated in the faculty of
vision and in the emotions, both of which were born
of sensory impulses but grew to become psychic powers
by throwing off the yoke of the flesh.
Henceforward the mind begins to live a life inde-
pendent of the body. The tulip springs from a bulb,
66 IMMORTALITY n
and in its early stages derives all its sustenance from
the store of food in the bulb. But when its leaves are
well established, and it has exhausted its store of nour-
ishment, it begins to breathe in strength and force from
the sunlight and air around, without which it would
fade and wither and fail to produce the perfect flower.
So mind can come to perfection only by turning to the
light, and freely exercising its intellectual and aesthetic
functions. The mind arises from the body and its
sensations, but only in the sense that the dragon-fly
springs from the grub which lives in the mud of a
stagnant pool; its origin is humble but its life in the
sunlight is a whirl of coloured brilliance and wanton
liberty. This ^qew form of^cnergy^ which we call con-
sciousness has a similar freedom and autonomy; it
originated in^physical sensations of the body, but has
taken wing, breatKes the airs of the ethical blue, and is
nourished by ^spiritual food. Thus the mind has now
as little in common with the sensations of the body
from which it sprang, as this fiery, dazzling, creature
has with the slime-covered grub.
Let us, then, note the significance of this change.
The mind has now the power to choose its own food,
because it knows what it is getting. This truth we
have illustrated in the individual by the power pos-
sessed by the mind to refuse sensations offered to it and
to produce a psychic blindness and psychic deafness.
The results of this are very far-reaching from the point
of view of our mental and spiritual development.
"Take heed what (or how) ye hear," said the Master,
realising that it is in the power of man to respond or
not to the appeals of sense made to him. There are
other ways of resisting the voices of the sirens than the
crude method of stuffing the ears with wax; the mind
may refuse to listen. St. Paul follows up the injunc-
tion of the Master by encouraging us to think only of
"whatsoever things are beautiful and of good report,"
realising that the mind is capable of seeking the best
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 67
things, by which alone it can develop and fulfil its
highest life.
(2) The Development of the Will. — Hitherto we
have dealt with the new stage in the biology of the
mind in so far as it affects the sensory side in the
development of consciousness. We have now to
study it on the motor side, and to discuss the power
of the mind to react as it wills to sensations in order
either to annul or to reinforce any tendencies to
action. Let us compare this stage with the foregoing.
In the case of reflex action, as in the occipitated frog,
we could always predict that the animal would perform
certain movements in response to certain irritation.
With the advent of will we cannot so predict action.
The normal frog, for instance, if touched with acid
may scratch itself, may shrink into itself, or may jump
away, and we can never say which it will choose to do.
Again, in the "reflex" animal the greater the stimulus
the greater is the reaction : the stronger the acid the
more violently will the frog scratch : the more a child
is annoyed the more vigorously does it cry. But the
adult man or woman in whom the mind is fully devel-
oped can either inhibit or reinforce the tendency to
any particular action.
A man may be beaten with many stripes, and not
raise a finger in protest; for he is exercising another
power than that of reflex action, the power of mental
inhibition or self-restraint. On the other hand, incom-
ing sensations may be greatly reinforced by the mind,
producing a more violent motor reaction. No casual
observer, for instance, would have understood why, in
a certain episode, the dangling of a bit of string by a
'bus conductor should have produced such wild fury in
the driver of the 'bus behind. The grim humour of the
situation was, however, revealed and the fury account-
ed for, when the conductor explained his little joke —
the driver's father was being hanged that morning.
The stimulus of a bit of string was quite insufficient in
68 IMMORTALITY n
itself to produce the reaction; but it was reinforced by
the mind which grasped the sinister meaning, and let
loose stores of energy which turned the driver's face
purple and the air blue.
These illustrations will convince us that the adult
mind does not react mechanically nor proportionately
to any incoming sensation, but has the power either to
react vigorously or to exert an inhibitory action in re-
sponse to it. This implies that there must be a store of
energy, a reservoir of nerve force, accumulated some-
where in the brain, which the mind can draw upon and
can either withhold or expend in response to any given
stimulus. This power we call the Will. The will is the
power the mind possesses of directing as it desires the
store of nerve energy to the accomplishment of its own
ends. Contrast this with the lower forms of animal life
already illustrated, which have a store of nerve energy,
but which have not the power to direct that energy into
any channel they will, but must necessarily discharge it
down the most open or frequently used channel. For
will two things are essential, both of which we have in
the developed mind — a store of nerve energy and the
capacity to direct that energy into any desired channel.
There may, however, be those who are still sceptical
of the existence of a definite power we call the will,
and who consider that the discharge of nerve energy to
which we give that name can be accounted for by the
purely mechanical workings of the law of association.
In order to illustrate the difference between the law of
association and the working of will, I would recommend
such to try the simple experiment devised by Dr. Mc-
Dougall of Oxford. Take a series of nonsense sylla-
bles, read them over a number of times in a casual,
indifferent manner, and record how many repetitions
are required to memorise accurately the whole series.
In this case the memorising is brought about purely
by the association of one syllable with another, the one
mechanically calling up the other. Now repeat the
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 69
experiment with another series of nonsense syllables,
but this time, instead of reading them indifferently,
"set your mind" to it, directing your energies towards
your object. It may surprise you to find that it now
requires only some ten or twelve repetitions. Obvi-
ously, in this latter case, some new force has been added
which is something different, and far more potent than
mere association, and produces a very different result.
This additional force is the will.
We may now summarise the stages of the evolution
of the mind. There are, of course, countless other
intermediate stages, but it is sufficient for us to have
mentioned the most important: —
1 i ) In the first stage, that illustrated in the amoeba,
we have as yet no conclusive proof of the presence of a
mind, except perhaps in the sense of a pervading mind,
passive and impersonal, a part of the cosmic mind
working in and through the primitive creature.
(2) In the second stage, we have the animals which
possess a nervous system, whose actions are controlled
by the flow of nerve energy or neurokyme.
(3) In the third stage, we have those animals in
which incoming sensations have developed a centre for
sensations, the central nervous system, where nerve
energy is stored, and from which it is discharged by
regularly constituted channels, and in response to
specially strong stimuli.
(4) In the final stage, sensations are raised to a
high pitch of intensity, and in some unknown way pro-
duce a psychic form of energy we call consciousness.
In this stage, also, the organism not only has a store
of nerve energy, but possesses the power of directing
that energy at will into any channel which leads to the
fulfilment of its conscious purposes.
In the will, as in consciousness, we have a new ele-
ment in the evolution of the life, the development of
a force which can dominate brain processes. It is an
autonomy, controlling the nervous system, and regu-
yo IMMORTALITY n
lating the functions of the mind. It is a psychic force
which from its place of authority can direct the stores
of nerve force, now into this channel, and now into
that, by a power of choice which no physiological
law, and, indeed, no psychological law, can explain or
predict.
The body thus appears to have produced what it can
no longer control, nor even understand; and evolution
has brought forth the flower and glory of its age-long
development.
Beyond this stage of mental evolution it is not neces-
sary to go, because we have now crossed the great gulf
between the physiological and the psychical, and have
set our feet firmly on that shore where the higher fac-
ulties of the mind, reason and abstract thought, are
subsequently developed. These higher powers serve
only to point us still further along the road that de-
livers us from bondage to the flesh, and leads us to
anticipate the complete emancipation of the mind from
the body. The mind may henceforth become indiffer-
ent to the disasters which in the course of nature are
bound to overtake the body, and may hope to survive
its destruction and decay — and perhaps thereafter to
find or create for itself a ''spiritual body" adapted to
a different sphere of existence and to other modes of
life.1
This brings to an end our examination, from the
scientific point of view, of the relation of body and
mind with special reference to the possibility of the
mind surviving the destruction of the body. The sur-
vey is necessarily incomplete. We have, for instance,
omitted altogether the question as to the nature of
matter. An increasing number of scientists are de-
voting themselves to this problem, and they tell us that
matter is not that solid, indestructible thing we take it
to be, but consists of ions vibrating at an extraordinary
1 Cf. Essay III. p. 103 ff.
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 71
velocity. It will be extremely dramatic if science
proves that matter is after all only a function of some
invisible force. This and other similar subjects I have
been compelled to omit from this short study.
I do not pretend that the evidence I have brought
forward amounts to proof that the mind survives the
destruction of the body. I have merely attempted to
show, in the first place, that it is credible, and not con-
tradictory to the teaching of science as we know it at
the present day; and, secondly, that it is not only not
contradictory to science, but that science points to this
supremacy and liberation of the mind as the goal to-
wards which nature is working. It is only reasonable
to assume that the process which has been at work dur-
ing the whole of biological history will be continued to
its logical conclusion.
For the present, therefore, so far as science is con-
cerned, life after the grave is not a proved fact, but
the evidence is sufficient to justify faith in it. Such
"faith" is often looked upon as a specifically religious
function, and suggests to the casual observer a process
of "swallowing" what is incredible. Far from that
being the case, faith is a function which the scientist
employs constantly and without which he could not
conduct his investigations. "Faith" is merely the re-
ligious counterpart of the "hypothesis" of the scientist.
He is bound to assume as a hypothesis the law of
gravity, and other mighty assumptions which he has
not proved; but, having assumed any such hypothesis,
he finds that the facts of the universe as he knows
them fit so perfectly into it that he is confirmed in
his belief in the legitimacy of his hypothesis. Pre-
cisely the same process is employed by the religious man
who assumes the truth of belief in God and in im-
mortal life. Having accepted these hypotheses, he
finds that they explain so many of the deep problems of
the world that his faith in them is confirmed. Since,
therefore, the facts of science, which we have been
72 IMMORTALITY n
studying, seem rather to confirm than to contradict the
hypothesis of a life beyond death, the religious man is
acting only reasonably when he accepts the belief as an
article of his faith.
I have, in the preceding discussion, tried to keep
within the bounds of scientific fact. It remains with
other contributors to this book to discuss these prob-
lems from the religious and philosophical point of view.
I may be permitted, however, to trespass on their
domain to the extent of suggesting the broad conclu-
sions to which I feel myself drawn. We have looked
upon the emancipation of the soul from the body as
a process of evolution. This emancipation we may
therefore assume to be the purpose of our existence
on this earth. Before our birth we were undifferen-
tiated "soul" ; we were parts of the "cosmic mind," we
were as water drawn in a pitcher from the "mind
pool." Our destiny is to grow personalities out of the
raw material with which we began life. In every stage
of evolution it is only the few who progress, the many
remain unevolved. So it may be in the passage from
the physical to the spiritual.
Readers of Ibsen's Peer Gynt will remember that
when the prodigal returned from his wanderings he
encountered the "Voice in the Darkness." The Voice
informed him in reply to his enquiries that he had never
developed an individuality, his life had been too pith-
less to entitle him to any reward, for he was neither
good enough for Heaven, nor bad enough for HeJL
His fate would therefore be to be boiled down again
in the same melting-pot as Tom, Dick, and Hal, and
so form raw material again. Such may be the destiny of
those who never pass upwards. They have never grown
personalities; they have not even become individuals
in the highest sense; they have, therefore, failed in the
main purpose of their lives. They were intended to
gain the mastery over their senses and develop minds
capable of dominating the body. Instead, even to the
ii THE MIND AND THE BRAIN 73
end, they are completely under the mastery of their
senses, in which they find thejrjmlyjjQjk These pro-
fane personsTTn^Esalj^ sell their birthright for a mess
of pottage. What will happen to them? Since they
have chosen not to develop that "soul" with which
they were endowed into personalities in touch with the
eternal, their end may be to pass back again into the
melting-pot to be boiled down with the rest (for the
Master of the Universe wastes nothing) : they merely
return to that nonentity from which they came : from
them may be taken away even that individuality which
they have.
But there are those, too, who fulfil their destiny.
They, too, were drawn out of the "mind pool" before
their individual life began, and were thrown into this
material world to turn the soul substance into a living
personality realising and fulfilling the purpose of their
Maker. This is nature's way always: to transform
the simple and undifferentiated into the complex and
highly developed. What are the essential conditions
by which the personality passes from the terrestrial to
the immortal life? These will be differently stated
according to the philosophy, creed, or CHurch to which
we adhere. In all true religions and philosophies
there is the turning away from evil and wrong to all
that is right and good in the belief that it is only truth
and beauty and love that are real and eternal. Herein
the intuition of the seer goes beyond the conclusions of
empirical science, but it in no wise contradicts them,
for it is only travelling a little further along the same
road.
We may conclude, then, that before our lives began
we were each parts of the "world soul" without sepa-
rate consciousness, and without distinct individuality,
that our lives were offspring of the universal life and
that by interaction with other lives, with material
things, and with God, we are capable of developing
souls free and undetermined, and capable of immortal
74 IMMORTALITY n
life. Our destiny is, that from the undeveloped soul
with which we started we shall become ever more
differentiated and more spiritual, in touch with the
Infinite, knowing and loving God. The world soul
from which we are derived came from God, and we
go to God who is our Eternal Home. Meanwhile
it is our business on earth so to live that we shall
prepare ourselves for the time when body and brain
decay but
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
A (cf. p. 32). Since this Essay has been in type I have
myself succeeded in producing blisters by suggestion alone on
three different occasions — the first time unexpectedly, the other
times under strictly scientific conditions, the experiment being
witnessed by another medical man, besides the hypnotist, and
the patient being closely watched to avoid any possibility of
fraud.
B (cf. p. 54). On the morning of August 14 a patient of
mine announced to his ward doctor that he was very troubled
by a dream that his brother was killed in France. On Tues-
day, August 21, he told me he had again dreamed this and was
very troubled. On August 24 I received word from the
patient's father asking me to break the news to the son that
his brother had died as the result of wounds received in action
on August 1 4th. His last letter home, written when he was
quite well, was dated August 13. I may add that when the
patient told me of his dream on the 2ist another surgeon was
present, and I said to this surgeon, as well as to another who
was not present, that we would take note of it and see if it
corresponded with fact. The doctor of the ward also confirms
the story of the dream a week previously, so that the whole
account rests on very firm evidence. I have the signatures of
these surgeons as witnesses.
Ill
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD
BY
BURNETT HILLMAN STREETER
CANON RESIDENTIARY OF HEREFORD
FELLOW OF QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD
EDITOR OF "FOUNDATIONS" AND "CONCERNING PRAYER"
AUTHOR OF "RESTATEMENT AND REUNION"
SYNOPSIS
PAGE
THE PROOF OF IMMORTALITY . . . . 78
The intuitions of great men.
The argument used by our Lord amplified and discussed.
CHRIST AND His CONTEMPORARIES ..... 89
Considerations bearing on the question of the sense in
which He accepted the current conceptions of His age.
THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY . . . . .91
The origin of the belief in Jewish Apocalyptic. Its accep-
tance by our Lord and by St. Paul qualified by their re-
jection of a "flesh and blood" resurrection. Positive
values which their acceptance of it was intended to
assert.
TIME AND SPACE IN THE NEXT LIFE . . . .96
The question whether the "spiritual body" is to be under
stood in a purely symbolic or in a more or less realistic
sense is bound up with the question whether or no Space
is a condition of the next life.
Arguments to show that Space (and Time) is such a con-
dition, and that therefore some kind of local centre and
organ of expression of the personality — which may be
called a "body" — must be postulated.
BODIES CELESTIAL AND BODIES TERRESTRIAL . . . 103
Further considerations on the nature of the "spiritual
body."
How will recognition be possible?
THE HOUR OF DEATH . . . . . .no
The idea that the future fate of the soul depends entirely
on the state of mind at the actual moment of death to
be rejected as immoral.
Nevertheless, the way a man reacts to the circumstances of
death may profoundly modify his character and there-
fore his future fate.
THE RESURRECTION — ITS TIME AND MANNER . . .113
The relation between the body of the present and of the
future life in no way one of material identity.
76
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 77
PACK
The Resurrection of our Lord.
The transition from the "natural" to the "spiritual body."
No interval between Death and Resurrection.
The day of death for the individual also the Day of
Judgment.
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT . . . . . .121
The traditional picture of the Dies irae is derived rather
from Jewish Apocalyptic, than from authentic teaching
of Christ.
In the Fourth Gospel Judgment is regarded as an inter-
nal automatic process of which the results will be re-'
vealed on "the last day." At death we leave behind
external possessions and disguises; supposing that we
also assume a spiritual body which completely expresses
our real character we shall be "found out" for what we
really are. This will be our condemnation or reward.
Is repentance and amendment possible after death?
Ill
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD
THE PROOF OF IMMORTALITY
GREAT men are greater than the arguments they use.
Their insight into the reality of things often transcends
what they can justify by logic. Plato, Zoroaster, the
philosophers of India, the Taoist sages of China, to
say nothing of outstanding thinkers of more recent date
— men divided from one another by race, temperament,
epoch, and civilisation — have all agreed, though on
very diverse grounds, in looking for some kind of life
beyond the grave. Their arguments may often fail to
convince, but the fact of their broad general agreement
is an impressive one. It is not to the pigmies of our
race that we owe the persistence of the belief in immor-
tality; nor is it the mark of a moral weakling to value
or desire it.
Not the least impressive feature in this list is the
fact that there can be included in it the name of Jesus
Christ. A life beyond and better than the present was
one of the things which He most valued and about
which He was most sure. The precise degree of au-
thority to be attributed to His views is a matter on
which at the present day opinions vary immensely; but
the absolute conviction on a point of this fundamental
importance of one whom few will estimate as less than
the world's supreme religious genius is a fact which
cannot lightly be dismissed.
78
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 79
But however we may estimate the precise weight to
be attached to the mere intuition of supreme genius,
we have also, in the case of our Lord, to consider a
clear summary statement of what he regarded as the
main, if not the only, reason for His belief.
"As touching the dead, that they are raised; have
ye not read in the book of Moses, in the place con-
cerning the Bush, how God spake unto him, saying,
I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead,
but of the living" (Mk. xii. 26-27).
An appeal to a text of the Pentateuch does not at
first seem at all convincing. The actual form, however,
in which the argument is cast is due to its being ad-
dressed to a body of men who acknowledge no other
authority; but a very little consideration shows that
it is much more than a mere argumentum ad hominem.
To say that God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob is to say that He is a God who sets a supreme
value on individual persons; and it is argued that the
fact that God so values them is a guarantee that He
cannot allow them to perish. It is essentially an argu-
ment from the character of God; and its point and
cogency lies in the assertion that belief in immortality
is a necessary deduction and consequence of a right
belief in God.
The argument will repay a close examination. What
is a right belief in God? What are its implications?
Man cannot conceive of the Infinite in His totality,
but we feel that we must speak of God as personal.
But when we ascribe personality to God we do not
mean to imply that He has the limitations of personal-
ity as we know it but merely that personality — with its
free self-determined life of thought and love and the
delight in beauty — just because it is the highest thing
we know, is that something from the analogy of which
we can derive the least inadequate conception that is
possible of the Divine. If we say that God is personal
8o IMMORTALITY m
we at least say something which is positive, something
which, though short of being the whole truth, we know
to be really true. To say that He is not personal is to
imply that He is less than personal, and that we know
to be untrue.
Within the conception of personality the Apostles'
Creed singles out for emphasis two outstanding aspects
of the Divine activity by styling Him Father1 and
Creator. Father and Creator, when applied to God,
must, like Person, be understood as instances of the
highest activities known to our experience, taken as
types of a higher and richer activity of the Divine to
which these are the nearest and least misleading anal-
ogies we can find. To what, then, do they point? Let
us for Father say Parent, for in God must be combined
all and more than all we find in human Fatherhood and
Motherhood in one. And for Creator may we not say
Artist, to include all and more than all we mean by
constructor, inventor, thinker, poet? God — Parent
and Artist — what does this mean? Both analogies
alike suggest one who brings into existence what other-
wise would not have been. And in the case of God this
bringing into existence cannot be thought of as a single
act, but as a continual activity of giving, guiding, sus-
taining, and perfecting. But this is only half and not
the most important half of what is meant. Artist and
Parent are not mere workers or mere producers, how-
ever diligent, however able; they are above all things
those who supremely value, though for different quali-
ties and in a different way, that on which their care
is lavished. In different ways they are two types of
absolutely disinterested love — in the case of the artist
of the vision he vainly endeavours to embody in his
work, in the case of the parent of the living person
whom he or she has been permitted to bring into
being and to rear.
The human artist again and again destroys his work;
but only when" he feels it completely fails to embody
m THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 81
the vision. In the rare cases where he knows he has
reached such relative success as is permitted to man-
kind, he would wish his work to last for ever — exegi
monumentum aere perennius. Still more rarely can the
human parent acquiesce in the extinction of a child —
to those who really know and love it any human per-
sonality, however imperfect, has a value other and
greater than that of the greatest work of art. Hence,
if the personality of a human parent or of a human
artist are dim reflections of elements in the character
of the Divine (that is, unless we are prepared to say
that the Infinite is in the last resort something less
noble than ourselves) He must be above all things
interested in the continual production of that which has
supreme value — of value in ever new and ever higher
forms, and no value which He has created can He light-
ly or willingly suffer to perish. Not merely the Conser-
vation of Energy but the Conservation of Value, to use
Hoffding's famous phrase, nay, rather the Augmen-
tation * of Value must be a principle of the Universe.
But, we must ask, would not this principle of the
Conservation of Value, or even of the Augmentation
of Value, be satisfied without assuming the immortality
of the individual, so long as new and possibly eYgr
better and richer, forms of life were being continually
created? Would not the assumption to the contrary
prove too much? Would it not mean that the lily and
the butterfly have immortal souls?
If God were thought of merely as the Artist, the
continuance of the species with its continual rebirth of
fresh lives to take the place of those who have deceased
might perhaps suffice. But not if we think of Him as
also Parent and Friend. The question resolves itself
into this, at what point does individuality as such
become a thing of absolute value? No two lilies, no
two butterflies, are exactly the same, but, despite this
fact, judged purely by aesthetic values, there is no
1 Cf. Concerning Prayer, p. 6.
82 IMMORTALITY m
great loss when the lilies or the butterflies of one year
have replaced those of the year before. Whether
their individuality has a value other than aesthetic
must depend in the last resort upon whether they have
anything which we can reasonably call a conscious
personality, or, in other words, a soul. So far as we
can see they have not.
In the teaching of our Lord we seem to detect the
suggestion of a hierarchy of values in the scale of life.
There is the grass of the field which "God has so
clothed" — it has supreme aesthetic value — but which
to-day is and to-morrow is cast into the baker's furnace.
There are the sparrows "not one of which falleth to
the ground without your Father" — a phrase which sug-
gests something more of individual care. And there
is man, of whom it is said "ye are of more value than
many sparrows," and "the very hairs of your head are
numbered." We need not dogmatise as to the exact
point in the scale of being at which there first appears
a consciousness sufficiently individual to have a per-
manent value as such. There are some, for instance,
who hold that phenomena like "race memory" and the
instincts which compel the individual insect to sacrifice
its own interests to those of the species, point either to
the existence of an individual soul greater than can find
expression in the physical constitution of the individual
creature, or possibly to the existence of a corporate
soul of the species to which the individual is related
much as one's hand would be to one's self, if one could
conceive of the attachment of the hand to the self as
being of a purely psychic and not also of a physical
nature. I hesitate to accept such speculations myself,
but had they any foundation it would be conceivable
that even vegetable life might be the expression of a
hidden soul. If so, it is so effectively hidden that we
can make no positive use of the hypothesis. But when
we come to the higher animals the case is different. If
love, loyalty, and capacity for unselfish devotion rathej:
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 83
than intellect be the test of "soul," few lovers of the
dog would be disposed to deny that at least in some in-
dividuals, if not in whole species of the lower animals,
there is latent and can be awakened something to which
we cannot refuse the name "soul" — a rudimentary soul
if you like, but, then, even among men are all souls
equally advanced? Souls are not, like sixpences, ma-
terial objects all of the same size. Whatever is sentient
partakes of the nature of spirit, and the standard by
which we measure spirit is not magnitude but quality.
Dogs, at any rate some dogs, have at least an elemen-
tary sense of right and wrong. They know when they
have done wrong, and are capable of shame. They
may not understand the meaning of their offence, but
they know they have offended against the will of a
person higher than themselves whom they both love
and fear. The attitude of a dog towards its master is
very like that of the ancient Hebrew to his God. Per-
haps the analogy may be pressed still further. It is
often pointed out that this apparent "sense of sin" in
animals appears to be confined to domestic animals,
and it is argued that it is merely a result of their inter-
course with man. Possibly — but is it therefore an
illusion? Nothing stimulates the growth of conscience
in man so much as willing service of and conscious fel-
lowship with a Being infinitely higher than himself.
Why should not relations with a master, made in the
image of God, do for the dog what relation with God
can do for the master? Indeed, it may possibly — I
would not say more than "possibly" — be the case that
animals have what is known as a "conditional" immor-
tality, that is to say, that they survive as individuals
only if they have, through contact with human beings,
actually developed what would otherwise have been only
a latent possibilityand achieved something which we may
call a soul or personality of a rudimentary kind. But if
they have once achieved personality we may suppose it
will still further develop, and that they might come to
84 IMMORTALITY m
play in the next life a part in the fellowship of souls
analogous to that which little children play in this life.
But I should be unwilling to lay too much stress on
the arguments which bear on the difficult and highly de-
batable question of animal survival. After all, to ap-
proach the problem of the quality and individual worth
of life by first considering the vegetable, insect, or ani-
mal world, is to begin at the end about which we know
least. The important thing to recognise is that at the
other end of the scale of life, in the fully developed
human being, we certainly have an individuality which is
a thing of intrinsic value as individual. No two leaves
of a tree are exactly alike, but no two brothers of a fam-
ily are even approximately identical even though they
may be twins physically almost indistinguishable. What
constitutes the individuality of human beings is charac-
ter— character possibly to some extent a thing innate
but ever developing through conscious reaction towards
circumstances, experiences, and especially through the
infinitely subtle influences of personal relationships; and
to any two individuals these must be infinitely diverse.
If there are men of whom it must be said that it were
"better had they not been born," it is probable that, un-
less in some way their characters can be revolutionised
either in this world or the next, they will ultimately
cease to have any real value to man or God and become
extinct. But these, we believe, are exceptional cases.
No one who has really loved another but feels that he
has loved something which is unique and uniquely
valuable.
There are many nowadays who urge that what we
love is only that element in our friends which is divine
and eternal, and that therefore it will suffice if we think
of this element as destined to survive only as part of
the Infinite Divine Life to be manifested again in
higher achievements of personal existence. "Wheth-
er," writes Mr. Wells, "we live for ever or die to-
morrow does not affect righteousness. Many people
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 85
seem to find the prospect of a final personal death un-
fendurable. This impresses me as egotism. I have no
such appetite for a separate immortality; what, of me,
is identified with God, is God; what is not is of no more
permanent value than the snows of yester-year."
There is a note of idealism here ; but it simply is not
true to say that "it does not affect righteousness"
whether we live for ever or die to-morrow. For if the
Divine righteousness may lightly "scrap" the individ-
ual, human righteousness may do the same. The most
conspicuous mark of the moral level of any community
is the value it sets on human personality. The moral
achievement of the individual may be measured largely
by his readiness to sacrifice his own life for others, but
the moral height of a society is shown by its reluctance
to sacrifice even its least worthy members. The dis-
interestedness which is content with a Universe in which
his own ego will soon cease to be, is much to the credit
of Mr. Wells; it would not be to God's credit were
He equally content.
Weary and disillusioned with ourselves and with the
world, there are times when most of us cease to desire
a future life and when we think that the one individual
about whom we have most knowledge is perhaps not
worth preserving. But Christ looked at it not from our
end but from God's. He did not consider the question
from the point of view of what we think about ourselves
or what we hope for for ourselves; but of what God
thinks and what God hopes. We are the children of
God, and therefore God wants us, and is not content to
cut down His plans and expectations for us to the level
either of our desert, our weariness, or our despair.
We are thus brought back again to the point that,
in the last resort, belief in individual immortality de-
pends on our conception of the character of God. If
God is at all like what Christ supposed Him to be,
personal immortality is completely proved.
*H. G. Wells in God the Invisible King.
86 IMMORTALITY in
But what if Christ be mistaken about God? Why
should we trust His insight into reality rather than that
of some who have thought otherwise than He?
My answer would be that, in regard to every ques-
tion, that man gets the right solution who most clearly
sees how to state the problem rightly, that man finds the
law which explains phenomena who realises which are
the really significant facts to be explained. And in this
matter of the essential character of the Power behind
the Universe, of all the facts Christ noted those which
are the most significant, and of all the questions that can
be asked He asked the most fundamental first. The
conceptions we entertain about God depend very much
on the moral and intellectual interests on which our
own lives are concentrated. If, like the early Semite,
we are preoccupied in internecine tribal wars, our God
will be the great avenger — on His enemies and on ours.
If, like the Buddha, we despair of life and seek only
respite from the "wheel of Things," God will evaporate
into the eternal calm of the ocean of unruffled Being.
If, like the pure metaphysician, we are seeking merely
the intellectual postulates of an intelligible world, we
may chance to light upon an Absolute ubeyond good
and evil" or on some featureless Eternal which under-
lies the temporal. If, like the Scientific Materialist, we
focus all our attention on the stupendous revelations
which Chemistryand Physics have given as to the nature
of the material creation, we may see nothing in or be-
hind the Universe but matter and primal energy. But
if, following the lead of Christ, we take a broader sur-
vey and look also into the heart of nature's last product,
man, we shall see that the most fundamental thing to
be explained is not the material Universe but the pres-
ence of life, and that the most significant thing about
life itself is not its quantity but its quality. The real
problem of the philosopher is to explain this — :to tell
us, not why we eat and drink, but why we can rever-
ence or admire, not why we need our fellows, but why
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 87
we can also disinterestedly love. Any tenable hypo-
thesis of the ultimate nature of Reality must, of course,
explain the material creation, it must explain biological
evolution, but it must explain in addition something
much more difficult. The world and the struggle for
life must indeed be accounted for, but in the last resort
what most requires to be explained is not the struggle
for life but the fact that men can rise above it and will
cheerfully sacrifice life itself for a cause or an ideal.
If the highest life we know is a life which is capable
of supreme devotion to ideals, we must surely attribute
to the Source of all life a sense of value deeper, not
shallower, than ours. That is what Christ taught —
God is love. And it is the quality of His love, not of
our achievement, which is the guarantee for our sur-
vival. God is the Creator, the great Artist, and must
value what He has madejjust in. proportion to the ex-
tent in which He has expressed Himself in it — of all
the creatures, therefore, that we know on this earth,
He must value most the being who, in however imper-
fect degree, is made in His own image. He is the
great Artist, but He is much more than this. He is
the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob — a God
to whom the individual is personally dear. He is the
all-Parent who cannot regard His children merely as
details in a picture however glorious, or as notes in a
tune however wonderful.
"What man is there of you, who, if his son shall ask
him for a loaf, will give him a stone; or if he shall
ask for a fish, will give him a serpent? If ye then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children, how much more shall your Father which is
in heaven give good things to them that ask him."
No one of us, could we help it, would consent to the.
extinction of a child or friend of ours. Can God then
allow one of His children or His friends to cease to be?
If so He were either as impotent as we, or, not being
impotent* more callous than ourselves. This cannot be.
88 IMMORTALITY m
If human goodness has in it anything of real and eter-
nal value, if it is something grounded in ultimate real-
ity, if it is an imperfect reflection of a characteristic of
the Divine — then that Eternal and Divine Reality
which is the ground and source of our poor goodness
must be better, not worse, than ourselves. It must be
more just, more tender, not less so than ourselves. To
It even the falling to the ground of a single sparrow
cannot but be a matter of concern. In the eyes of the
Infinite Living Reality we are of more value than many
sparrows — therefore Death is not the end.
More than this, it follows that Death, so far from
being the end can only be a fresh beginning. If God
really cares for the things which we see to be supremely
valuable in life, why is it that their perfection is so
rarely, or rather never, actually attained? Why is it
that achievement is so often missed, character so often
marred? Why are lives so obviously of value, so
clearly moving on the upward path, in one case cut
short by early death, in another strangely ruined or
frustrated; why are so many others checked and stunted
at the very start? Look where we will, poet and artist
just miss the perfection of their art, the work of the
clearest thinker is marred by some element of cranki-
ness or error, the highest and noblest character shows
strange inconsistencies and unexpected flaws.
There is but one possible answer. Life in this world
is but a stage on the road to something further on and
better. It is a school whose curriculum is inexplicable,
except as leading to a life's career beyond. It is the
first act of a drama in which the characters are intro-
duced, the action set in motion, but the whole plot is
not yet seen. We see enough of life to feel sure that
it is (or rather that to those who make it so it can be)
an education; we see enough of the play to catch an
inkling of a plot — but that is all. There is enough
evidence of purpose and design to justify us in assert-
ing that there must be more. And if so there must be
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 89
a life beyond the present in which that more will be
worked out.
If man is potentially the noblest of all the Creator's
works of art, he is also the most unfinished; if he is
the child of God he is only in the nursery stage. A
God that was content to leave it so would be morally
of lower status than ourselves.
CHRIST AND His CONTEMPORARIES
The Resurrection of the Body and the Day of Judg-
ment are the most striking features of the form under
which the nature and inauguration of the future life
are conceived of in the New Testament. If we are to
estimate the value of these conceptions for modern
thought we must first ask exactly what the phrases
meant on the lips of Christ Himself and of St. Paul.
This cannot be done without a momentary glance at
the history of the ideas. But the history of ideas alone
may be actually misleading, unless certain principles of
interpretation are already borne in mind.
To express in words thoughts even about simple and
obvious matters, completely, adequately, and without
possibility of misunderstanding, is always hard; to do
so in deep matters about which we feel strongly is well-
nigh impossible. Poets and prophets often, less fre-
quently philosophers, have possessed to a supreme de-
gree the gift of expressing thought in words, but in
exact proportion to the originality of what they had
to say they too have found complete and adequate ex-
pression elude their efforts. Prophet, philosopher, or
poet can only express himself by means of the words,
ideas, and conceptions which are familiar to his con-
temporaries; and some thoughts can only be conveyed
indirectly by association or allusion. Hence, to inter-
pret correctly the message of any great one of the past
it is necessary first to study the world of thought and
idea in which he lived; we must know something of
90 IMMORTALITY in
the background of historic memories, social usage, lit-
erary tradition and education of the contemporaries
whom he was addressing. To seek his meaning we
must ask, not what such and such words, if literally
translated into English, would mean to us, but what
associations the words would have in the minds of those
who first heard or read them; and this often means a
careful study of the history of the phrase he uses. On
the other hand, having once recognised this principle,
and having once thoroughly studied the environment
of the great man and the history and meaning to con-
temporaries of the words and conceptions with which
he deals, we must beware of the error of supposing
that by these words and ideas he means no more than
an average contemporary would have understood by
them. No great man is ever really understood by
his contemporaries simply because the mere fact that
what he says is so largely original makes it impossible
for its full meaning to be brought home to the majority.
Only after his influence has penetrated and has actually
modified the thought-milieu of future generations does
it become possible for any but the selected few to un-
derstand him.
No great man of the past can be interpreted aright
if these two to some extent opposing considerations are
lost sight of, but they are of more than ordinary im-
portance for the interpretation of our Lord's views of
the mode and circumstances of the future life. The
thought-world of the Palestine in which He lived was
so remote from our own that without some study of
the background of contemporary thought we are bound
to misconceive much of what He says. On the other
hand, the depth and originality of His thought is such
that it is not sufficient to study the meaning that the
terms which He uses would have borne to an average
contemporary. We must also remember that su-
premely in His case interpretation must beware of los-
ing the spirit behind the letter, and we must recognise
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 91
that the key to the real meaning of His words must be
sought in the clear apprehension of His outlook upon
life and religion as a whole. And this is a key of which
we can only possess ourselves in virtue of the fact that
substantial elements at least of His general religious
attitude have by this time percolated into and become
a part of the substance of European thought.
THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY
The oldest Hebrew literature, like the oldest Greek,
reveals a belief in a dim, shadowy Underworld to which
go the spirits of the departed — Sheol, the Hebrew
equivalent of Hades, a world of ghosts and sapless
shades leading a faint and feeble existence in which the
same fate is shared by good and evil alike. "A land
of thick darkness, as darkness itself; a land of the
shadow of death, without any order, and where the
light is as darkness" (Job x. 22). "Cast off among
the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou
rememberest no more; and they are cut off from thy
hand" (Ps. Ixxxviii. 5). "The dead praise not the
Lord, neither any that go down into silence" (Ps.
cxv. 17). It was not until some time after the return
from the Babylonian Exile that the hope began to dawn
that the righteous might have something better to look
forward to than this land of darkness and of unsub-
stantial dreams. This dawning hope took the form of
the belief that the body would be miraculously restored,
its scattered elements recombined, and the soul brought
back from Sheol to animate it. But this hope and
expectation, it is important to remember, did not stand
in isolation. It grew up and it only existed in integral
connection with a particular development and extension
of the expectation of a "Day of the Lord" and a Mes-
sianic Kingdom, very different in character from that
looked forward to by the older Prophets, which was
elaborated by a series of so-called Apocalyptic writers,
92 IMMORTALITY m
beginning with the second century B.C. The Book of
Daniel and the Revelation of St. John are the only two
works of the kind which have gained a place in the
Canon, and most of the intervening members of the
series were lost sight of quite early in the history of the
Church.1 Their rediscovery, mainly during the last
half century, has shed an entirely new light upon the
origin and interpretation of that whole cycle of New
Testament teaching which is connected with the "Resur-
rection and the Day of Judgment, and on the meaning
in detail of the ideas associated with these two central
conceptions.
A review of the various stages in the development
of the idea of the Resurrection, and a careful discrimi-
nation of the minor differences in which the conception
is worked out by different Apocalyptic writers, is not
here necessary. To students of theology it is familiar,
for others it would be tedious. Two points only re-
quire to be emphasised: —
(1) The belief in the resurrection of the body was
in a sense a protest against the older idea — which still
survived among the powerful sect of Sadducees — of an
empty and meaningless ghost existence. Compared and
contrasted with life in Sheol, the belief in the Resurrec-
tion meant an immortality worth the having. In Sheol,
again, good and evil fared alike. The association of
the resurrection with a judgment on each individual
according to his works was an emphatic affirmation
that the consequences of right or wrong choice extend
into the next life. So far, therefore, the belief in the
resurrection of the body was an immense moral and
religious advance.
(2) Without a return to life in the body it was felt
that the righteous dead could have no share in the
glorious Messianic Kingdom on earth, participation in
which was their obvious due. A common view of these
writers was that the old body of flesh and blood would
1 For brief account of this literature cf. p. 176, note.
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 93
be raised up with all its wounds and weakness, but
would shortly be transformed into something more
glorious than the body of this life.1 The amount of
transformation thought to be required, and the concep-
tion of the life to be lived in the transformed body,
vary with the degree of spiritual insight in different
writers; but some extremely crude and materialistic
ideas are found, and it is probable that these appealed
most widely to the popular mind.
The real meaning of our Lord's answer to the prob-
lem propounded by the Sadducees as to the woman who
had seven husbands (Mk. xii. i8ff.) cannot be properly
understood unless it is considered in relation to these
elements in contemporary thought. Thus, as against
the belief in nothing better than a ghost existence in the
world below, to which the majority of the Sadducees
still adhered, He is emphatic that the dead are raised —
that is to say, that the life of the future is something
more glorious and more satisfying, not something less
so, than this present life. On the other hand, He is
equally opposed to any materialistic conception of a
future life which is merely a glorified replica of the
present, with marrying and giving in marriage, and with
all the physical and social limitations which this inevita-
bly involves in this world. The cruder elements in pop-
ular Apocalyptic He rejects with no less emphasis than
He had rejected the empty, joyless future of the Saddu-
cees. The future life will be no mere repetition of
this; it will be something transcending all earthly ex-
perience— they will be uas the angels in heaven."
The discussion of the subject by St. Paul in writing
to the Corinthians is conditioned by a somewhat differ-
ent background of thought. The via media laid down
by our Lord was defined in relation to opposing ele-
ments in Palestinian thought. On the one hand, to the
cruder popular Apocalyptic expectation of a flesh and
blood resurrection; on the other, to the Sadducean be-
*€£. 2 Baruch 50-51.
94 IMMORTALITY m
lief in an unsubstantial life in Sheol. St. Paul's solution
is equally a via media, but not between the same ex-
tremes. The difficulty felt by the Corinthians depended
upon their supposing that they must make a choice
between one of two alternatives. On the one side
there was the same popular Apocalyptic belief in a
flesh and blood resurrection still continuing in much
of early Christian thought, but, on the other, there
was, not, as in the case of our Lord's answer to the
Sadducees, a conception of a shadowy Hades, but
rather a belief in the immortality of the soul conceived
along the lines of later Greek philosophy.
Like our Lord, St. Paul is emphatic in repudiating
the notion that "flesh and blood" can inherit eternal
life, but, as against a section of his Greek converts,
he still argues that a body will be given by God — a
spiritual body, indeed, but still a body. What was the
point of this insistence? Greek thought valued the in-
tellect above all. The affections were associated in that
philosophy with the life of the body, they belonged to
the temporal not to the eternal element in man's nature.
To Greek thought airaBeia, incapacity to feel, was a
characteristic of the divine, and the life of God con-
sisted in 0€copia, in pure intellectual activity apart from
feeling, vovs only, the intellectual element in man
which was held to be most akin to the divine, would
certainly be immortal.
But to the Christian God is love, and the highest
capacity in man is love. Hence feeling, effort, experi-
ence— things which come to us in and through the life
of the body — are the things we value most, not least,
and supreme values would be lost unless something
corresponding to them exists in the life of the world
to come.
Again, "pure reason" is the same for all men, and an
immortality of the Reason only would tend to obliterate
all individuality and idiosyncrasy. If the "body" stands
for the medium of individuality, for the means by
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 95
which in the next world persons will be recognisable
or still distinct — then the body must survive.
Eternal form will still divide
The Eternal soul from all beside
And I shall know him when we meet.
To our Lord, then, and to St. Paul, the real meaning
and value of the idea of the resurrection of the body
does not consist in an affirmation of a material and
flesh and blood existence in the future — that they both
repudiate. It stands mainly for two things, that the
life of the future will be richer not poorer than this
life, and that individuality, personal distinctions, and
the results of the moral and emotional as well as of the
intellectual activities of this life will be preserved in
the next. More than that, it means that the capacity
for such activity will still endure. uLove never fail-
eth." The future will be no Nirvana of passionless
contemplation, but a full activity of the whole person-
ality in conscious harmony with other souls.
It is probable, though less certain, that St. Paul had
another reason for insisting on the importance of the
body. His Epistles show that the tendencies of thought
which appeared a little later as Gnosticism were already
beginning to affect the Church. A fundamental tenet
of this type of thought was the doctrine that matter,
and therefore the body, is intrinsically evil and that
spirit alone is good. In practice two contrary deduc-
tions could be and were made from this theory — either
that the body must be crushed by an extreme asceti-
cism or that the lusts of the flesh might be indulged
in at will, since the further pollution of an already
evil body cannot affect the spirit which is a prisoner
within. The teaching that the body is an integral part
of the complete nature and life of a being who is des-
tined in his whole nature to inherit Eternal Life proved
to be one of the strongest guarantees against the in-
vasion of ideas which, though sounding to modern
96 IMMORTALITY m
ears as unscientific as immoral, had a strong appeal
to serious thinkers in that age.
The foregoing summary makes it clear that the
belief in the resurrection of the body arose, was de-
veloped, and was chiefly valued as being the most nat-
ural and obvious way in which to express in regard to
the future life that belief in the Conservation and in
the Augmentation of Value which, as has been pre-
viously argued, is of the essence of the Christian belief
in God. It is the genius of Christianity to put the
inward before the outward, the spiritual before the
material; hence it is on the resurrection of the body
as an expression of belief in the preservation of spir-
itual values that I would lay most stress. In so far
as it is this, I would urge that it rests on the firm and
inexpugnable ground of being a necessary deduction
from our belief in God.
But a further question must be raised. Does an in-
terpretation in terms of moral and spiritual values
really exhaust the meaning of the conception of a "spir-
itual body" in the life to come? Ought we to affirm
that the term "body" is no more than a mere symbol
of our belief that, in some way at present inconceiv-
able, spiritual values such as individuality, capacity for
action or affection, and the possibility of mutual rec-
ognition are conserved? Or ought we to affirm that
in the next life there will still exist an organ of ex-
pression of the activity of the spirit which, though
not the same as the flesh and blood body of this life,
has some recognisable analogy to it, and possibly even
some direct connection with it?
TIME AND SPACE IN THE NEXT LIFE
The answer to the foregoing question must mainly
depend upon whether we think of the future life as
being an existence in space, or whether we believe it
to be a state of being in which our consciousness will,
Hi THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 97
in some way at present wholly inconceivable, be inde-
pendent of spatial relations.
There is a widespread notion among philosophers
and theologians that the life of the world to come must
necessarily be one which transcends the conditions of
time and space, and in which pure spirit can exist and
function apart from all contact with or relation to
matter. Granted such presuppositions, it is clear that
the resurrection of the body is a meaningless phrase
unless the word body is understood to be used in a
purely symbolic sense. For a body in any ordinary
sense can only exist in space. I must frankly confess
that until lately I have felt bound to accept this view.
But more recent reflection inclines me to question, not
the validity of the deduction but the premises from
which it starts, and to ask, Are we really bound to
assume that the life of the world to come is a life that
is outside time and space?
At first sight it might seem that the question I am
asking could not be answered without first obtaining a
satisfactory solution of that most difficult philosophical
problem, what is the real nature of space and time?
If so, our question would have to wait long for an
answer and nothing less than a treatise would suffice
even to attempt it. But this is not required. The
widespread notion that the life of the next world is one
transcending time and space seems to me to be partly
the result of an acute reaction against the crude con-
ceptions of popular theology, and partly a confused
deduction from four propositions. The propositions
are of a very different character from one another, but
no one of them, even if we admit it to be true, will
really support the conclusion so often drawn from them.
These propositions are: —
( i ) God exists outside time and space. To His
consciousness all time is simultaneously present as an
Eternal Now, and He is present in His entirety totus
\ubique at every point of space.
98 IMMORTALITY m
(2) Space and Time, according to Kant's famous
contention, are not things having an independent ob-
jective existence, but are "forms of perception." They
belong to the subjective constitution of our own mind,
which is so made that it can only experience things
as happening successively in time, and cannot think of
them except as existing externally to the self and to
one another in space.
(3) Thought is independent of space. It is no
more difficult to think about the Dog Star millions
of miles away than about a lamp in the room upstairs.
A ihird-class railway compartment ocri?pipH by ten
{ft not more crowded if they
Absolute, or less crowded if they all fall
(4) In this life, especially with the progress of years
and infirmity, we are acutely conscious of material
"limitations" to the spirit. Human aspiration would
throw off all limitations in the life to come — and space
seems to be one of these.
The sum total effect of these four sets of considera-
tions is to produce a general feeling that somehow or
other Time and Space are slightly discreditable and
troublesome limitations belonging to the lower life of
flesh and blood which we shall transcend in the world
to come.
I submit, however, that a closer analysis of these,
arguments does not bear this out.
( i ) The proposition that the Divine consciousness
transcends Time and Space would be assented to by
most, though not by all, philosophers; but assuming
it to be true it is irrelevant to the question of the
nature of our consciousness in the life to come — unless,
indeed, we assume that what happens after death is
a complete merging of the individual in the universal
consciousness.
The arguments in support of the view that the con-
sciousness of God transcends Time and Space are far
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 99
too complex to be summarised in this place. But so
far as I apprehend them they (or at any rate the most
important of them) are based on considerations which
apply to the Infinite Consciousness as such and are not
applicable to any finite consciousness. It is argued,
for instance, that there must be an ultimate Unity
which transcends all difference, an Absolute as the con-
dition of the existence of the Relative, an Unchange-
able as a background of change, a Perfection as the
presupposition of the possibility of Progress. But these
arguments (if valid at all) apply to God only because
He is assumed to be Infinite; and for precisely the
same reason they do not apply to any finite spirit.
The chief argument for the contrary view seems to
me to be this. In the world to come the righteous
may look forward to an ever closer union with the
Divine, and in so far as this is consummated they may
expect to share more and more of the Divine Life, and
so ultimately to share the Divine consciousness in every
way. Moreover, such a view seems at first sight to be
borne out by that indescribable experience of the Poet,
the Artist, or the Mystic which is commonly spoken
of as "an experience of the Eternal in the temporal."
This appeal to artistic and mystic experience cannot be
lightly dismissed, but I believe on further analysis that
the content of the consciousness in question will be
found to consist in a sense of abidingness and contact
with ultimate reality rather than in that complete elim-
ination of the experience of succession which would be
involved in perception outside time. Union with the
Divine means primarily complete harmony of will and
taste; it implies an identical sense of values in regard
to whatever the individual experiences; it has nothing
to do with the capacity to understand and experience
all things whatsoever simultaneously in one coup d'ceil.
It may indeed be ultimately possible for the individual
to become so closely identified with the Divine will as
to be able to apprehend reality with something even of
ioo IMMORTALITY in
the metaphysical transcendence of the Divine mind, but
even so this could only be in a partial and, as it were,
derivative way.1 Otherwise the individual would be
simply merged in the Universal consciousness, he would
become just a part of God — a view which is inconsist-
ent with that belief in individual immortality which on
other grounds I have urged we should accept, and
which in the last resort seems inconsistent with the pos-
sibility of either the love of God to man or of man
to God, since an undifferentiated unit cannot love
itself.
(2) We can accept, if we will, the argument of
Kant that Time and Space are merely "forms of per-
ception" without committing ourselves to the view that
we shall be independent of them in the next life. For
his argument in no way depends on the fact that we
are beings encased in flesh and blood but on an analy-
sis of the nature of perception applicable to any finite
being. This point he himself makes quite clear in the
additions to the second edition of the Critique of Pure
Reason. "It is not necessary that we should limit this
intuition in space and time to the sensibility of man.
It is quite possible that all finite thinking beings must
necessarily agree with us on this point." "Such an
intuition (i.e. an intuition which is not limited to space
and time), so far as we can understand, can belong
to the First Being only.2 '
Many philosophers accept Kant's view of Space and
Time in a modified form. They hold that these are,
indeed, as he maintains, merely subjective "forms of
perception," but go beyond him in supposing that they
are the forms under which the Universal mind perceives
things. God thinks the universe — that is what con-
stitutes creation — and He thinks it under the forms of
1 This appears to be substantially the view of St. Thomas Aquinas — himself a
mystic and the friend of the notable mystic S. Bonaventura. Cf. Summa i. 10.
5, creaturae spirituals quantum ad affectiones et intelligentias, in quibus est
successio, mensurantur tempore . . . sed quantum ad visionem gloriae partici-
pant aeternitatem.
3 Cf. Max Muller's translation, p. 735.
m THE RESURRECTION OF THF DEAD 101
time and space. Hence space and time, though ideal
and subjective in relation to mind as such, are real and
objective in relation to finite minds. This is a con-
siderable departure from the teaching of Kant, since it
Ignores his distinction between "forms of perception"
and "categories of the understanding."
But on this view it is even more clear that we can
never transcend the limitations of Time and Space.
For if the thought of God is what creates, and if things
are what they are because God so thinks them, then, if
God thinks them under the forms of Time and Space,
we could only think of them otherwise by thinking of
them as being something different from what they really
are — a privilege to which few would aspire.
(3) The fact that thought does not itself occupy
space and that distance is no impediment to thought,
though true, is irrelevant. My thought about an ele-
phant takes up no more room than my thought about
the fly on its ear, but I can only think of either as
occupying space and as being external to each other
and to myself. And again, though I can think of
Sirius as easily as of the house opposite, I can only
think of it as being something which is outside myself,
in the sense that I take for granted that the self which
thinks is situated at or somehow centred in a particular
spot in space which I call "here," and that the object
I think of is situated at a certain distance, whether far
or near, from that spot.
Of course there is a sense in which anything which
is embraced by my thought is not "outside" myself,
and it is impossible to think of my personality as
strictly confined within the limits of my outermost skin.
But the difficulty — a great one — of seeing how per-
sonality can be attached to a local centre, or of defin-
ing exactly where or what that centre is, does not alter
the fact that the very possibility of perceiving objects
in space implies that the percipient is "here" and the
thing perceived is "there," i.e. that the percipient has,
1 02 IMMORTALITY in
somehow or other, a centre of consciousness at a par-
ticular point in space.
(4) The notion that space is a cramping limitation,
which we may aspire to transcend in another world, is
due to a confusion between space as a philosophical
concept and distance as a practical impediment to at-
taining our desires. "O that I had wings like a dove"
is a common enough desire, but what we really wish
for is, not to escape from space altogether, but to be
wafted rapidly and easily to some other point in space
— to join some absent dear one or enjoy a fairer scene.
In the life to come, for all we know, we may be able
like Ariel "to put a girdle round the earth in forty
minutes," to take a week-end trip to Mars or a six
months' tour round the Milky Way. But an existence
in which that was possible would be no more an exist-
ence which transcended the limits of space than is the
life of a squirrel in a cage.
It would seem, then, that unless we suppose that
after death the individual consciousness becomes part
of the Universal Consciousness and "the dewdrop slips
into the silent sea," that is, if there is such a thing as a
separate individual immortality at all, the presumption
is strongly in favour of the view that we shall continue
to imagine and to perceive in terms of time and space.
But an ego that thinks in terms of kpace must nec-
essarily have some centre of consciousness localised
at any given moment in a particular spot; for other-
wise it cannot think of objects as outside itself, or have
any standpoint from which to survey them. Hence, a
state of existence in which we can perceive things other
than ourselves as existing in space is only possible if
our consciousness has some localised centre such as in
this world is provided by our body. This centre may
be capable of moving from one place to another with
incredible rapidity, but it must be something which
exists in space and is at a particular point in space at
any given time.
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 103
But a consciousness with a centre which exists in
space at all must be conceived of as associated with or
attached to some entity which is at any rate on the way
to having a claim to the title "body" in more than
a merely symbolic sense. The considerations which fol-
low may seem to strengthen the claim.
BODIES CELESTIAL AND BODIES TERRESTRIAL
It has been shown above that, once we dismiss from
our minds the idea that the next life is one that tran-
scends the conditions of time and space, and once we
clearly recognise that if we must expect still to look
out upon a Universe that exists in space, we are com-
pelled to assume that the ego must have some kind of
local centre. But if the ego is to survive at all it is
incredible that it will survive merely as a "looker on."
It must live and move and act. But this means that,
related to the local centre which we are bound to pos-
tulate in order to make even "looking on" a possi-
bility, there must also be an organ or instrument of the
activity of the personality having something like the
same kind of relation to it that the physical body has
to mind and will in this life. At once we seem to be
driven to postulate something which may be called a
"body" in something like the ordinary sense of that
term. But if so, of what nature is this local centre,
this instrument, this organ of the spirit, this "body" if
we may so call it. Is it material?
Certainly not, if by "material" is meant something
which you can kick with your boot. But that is not
the proper meaning of the word. A cubic foot of
hydrogen, invisible and lighter than the air, is precisely
no more and no less "material" than a cubic foot of
lead. And the ultimate atom of which any kind of
matter is composed has lately been shown to be no
undifferentiated "solid" mass but a vortex, a kind of
infinitesimal solar system, of electrons; which electrons
io4 IMMORTALITY m
themselves seem, so far as can at present be determined,
to be units of electric force without any measurable
solid substratum. Matter is not necessarily something
gross; indeed, if scientific speculation as to the ether
are correct, it is not necessarily even ponderable. We
need not even raise, much less attempt to settle, that
most difficult of all philosophical questions, what is
matter and what is its relation to mind? By matter
is meant that which can be thought of as other than
mind or spirit. Whether mind or matter are in the
last resort disparate, or whether they are each an as-
pect of some ultimate substance which is neither, or
whether one is a product of the other are questions
on which the doctors largely differ. We need not stay
to discuss these questions; for whatever views are held
about them, it would be admitted that what exists in
and occupies space must be called matter, whatever
its mobility, its tenuity, or its capacity for rapidly as-
suming different forms. Hence we cannot deny the
attribute "material" in its strictly philosophic sense to
the "body" of the future life; though in the popular
sense of the word "material" we assuredly must do
so — and that with emphasis, since we must suppose it
to be normally invisible and impalpable to earthly,
senses, though probably both visible and palpable to
the acuter perceptions of the next life.
We may proceed to ask whether we can suppose
there to be any further analogies between the "body"
of this life and this material instrument of the spirit in
the next, which would perhaps even more fully justify
the use of the term "body" to describe it?
The time is past when a point of this kind could be
considered as settled by a discussion of the exact ex-
egesis of a text of Scripture, but it can never be wholly
irrelevant to examine the underlying principle of the
inspired intuitions of such an original thinker and pro-
found religious genius as St. Paul.
What, then, is the fundamental idea at the back of
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 105
St. Paul's mind when he draws his famous distinction
between the natural body of flesh and blood ( o-co/xa
IJ/VX<.KOI>) and the spiritual body (<7c6/*a irvevnaTMov) of the
life to come? It is often supposed that by "spiritual"
he means "made of spirit," i.e. "immaterial." This
is a possible meaning; St. Paul certainly did not regard
the future body as material in the crude popular sense,
for he expressly denies that flesh and blood can inherit
eternal life; but the context makes another interpreta-
tion more probable. Since "natural" (\I/VXLKOV) in the
context does not mean a body made of ^ux^ but a body
adapted to the life of the ^x1?, it is probable that by
"spiritual" (irvevfjiaTiKov) body is meant, not a body
made of 7n/eO/*a, but a body adapted to the life of the
TrvevjjLa. When in Greek the words \pvxrj and irvevna are
used in contrast to one another, the word ipvx-fi always
stands for the life which man shares with the animals,
while irvevfjio. stands for those higher capacities in which
he transcends them. Thus the "natural" body is one
adapted to a life in which eating, drinking, and the
continuance of the species are necessary; the "spiritual"
body is one adapted to a life in which these things are
left behind, but in which the higher activities of life
are to be pursued in an enhanced and intensified de-
gree. In fact, in each case he is thinking not of the
material of which the body is composed, but, to use a
modern phrase, of the environment to which it is
adapted.
If this interpretation is correct, the idea that lies'
behind St. Paul's mind, put into modern language, is
something like this. The body is essentially the means
of expression of the life of the spirit, and the organ of
its activity. As such it is adapted to its environment,
and it draws its substance and nourishment from that
environment. Change the environment, and the spirit
must find a new expression for its life, a new organ of
its activity, a new "body." But the new "body" will
be as perfectly (indeed, we hope more perfectly)
io6 IMMORTALITY m
adapted to the new environment as the old body was
to the old environment; it must, therefore, be of an
entirely different character. "It is sown in corruption;
it is raised in incorruption : it is sown in dishonour; it
is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in
power: it is sown a natural, it is raised a spiritual
body" (i Cor. xv. 42-44). And its substance (what-
ever that may be) is derived from the new environ-
ment; it is "a building from God, a house not made
with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Cor. v. i).
"Thou sowest not the body that shall be ... but God
giveth it a body" (i Cor. xv. 37-38).
The idea is one which it will be worth while to fol-
low out a little further.
In this world mind is the highest form of life, and
life only appears in connection with organisms made up
of material constituents. It is, however, important to
observe the relation which exists in any living animal
between the life principle and the material organism.
Whether we regard the life principle as a separate
entity, having much the same relation to the material
organism as a bird to its cage or a tenant to his house,
or whether we regard the organism as a single entity
of which the life principle and the body which is its
material concomitant are merely two aspects, it is clear
that the life principle is, so to speak, the predominant
partner. A contrast must be made between what in
popular language is known as "living matter" and
"dead matter." "Dead matter," so-called, can only
grow as a result of accretion from without, and can
only move as a result of impact from some external
force. Living matter grows by absorbing into itself,
by means of its own spontaneous activity, matter orig-
inally outside it, and it transforms the character of that
which it takes in, so that it becomes assimilated to it-
self. In the case of animal organisms there is in
addition a conscious selection and rejection of the out-
side material according as it is suitable or otherwise
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 107
to assimilation; and this purposive selection is still
further facilitated by a power of spontaneous move-
ment in space.
The human body has its origin in a minute cell, or
rather in the conjunction of two minute cells, and from
this small beginning, first within and afterwards out-
side the womb, it gradually increases in size and in dif-
ferentiation of function in regard to its parts till the
age of maturity. But the important point to notice is
that it is only by virtue of the continued activity of the
life principle within it that this process of growth is
accomplished, and that the continued nourishment and
repair of the body when grown is maintained. There
is, of course, no point at which we can say that the life
exists apart from its material substratum, but it is
equally true to say that the developed body has been
built up by and is the result of the initiative, activity,
and dominance of the principle of life within it. The
most highly evolved expression of this principle of life
is that complex of will, thought, and feeling which we
call mind or consciousness. It would seem, therefore,
that, up to a point, it is literally true to say that the
body is made by the soul within it, using the term soul
to include the unconscious and subconscious as well as
the conscious manifestations of the principle of life.
Now, if we believe that the soul is a thing which has
such an intrinsic value that, if the universe is a reason-
able and tolerable universe, it must somehow or other
be preserved, it is surely reasonable to suppose that it
will not lose this capacity of building up for itself out
of its environment a body which can be an organ of ex-
pression and activity adapted to its new environment.
"When they shall rise from the dead," said our Lord,
"they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are
as the angels in Heaven." A body adapted to the en-
vironment of the life to come will be one which will
not be adapted to eating, drinking, and the continuance
of the species. Our present bodies have been developed
io8 IMMORTALITY m
during a long course of evolution throughout which the
environment has been such that the chief form of adap-
tation demanded has been in regard to activities of this
kind. Hence they are less perfectly adapted than we
could wish to those higher activities of the soul whose
possibilities andvalue have come intoviewcomparative-
ly late in the physical history of the race. Our bodies
are the only means we have for the expression of our
aspirations, our creative, our ethical and our aesthetic
activities, nevertheless they are felt to be clumsy and
inefficient mediums of such expression just in proportion
to the mental, moral, and aesthetic development of the
individual. What ardent soul would not wish to construct
for itself an organ of expression more subtly responsive
to its needs and aspirations than the body of this life?
"Here in the body pent, absent from Thee I roam" ex-
presses a feeling which in one form or another few
have not experienced. A body, but one immune from
the weaknesses and limitations and grosser wants of this
world, is what we all should wish for. And, after all, is
there really any solid reason why we should not do so?
Matter, let me repeat, exists in subtler forms than
flesh and blood. Bodies, as St. Paul says, may be of
many different kinds. Speculations as to bodies made
of ether or some such substance are too often nowa-
days pursued into the realms of the fanciful and the
absurd, nevertheless it is, I would submit, both unphil-
osophic and unscientific to reject entirely every such
hypothesis as unworthy of serious consideration. Such
speculations, no doubt, are to be found most frequently
in books which portray the future life with a childish
elaboration of grotesque and material details vouched
for by fancied revelations, the greater part of which
clearly rest either on misunderstanding of the true na-
ture of phenomena like automatic writing 1 or medium-
istic vision, or on conscious fraud, or on a mixture of
the two. But is not the widespread popularity of such
1 Cf. pp. 257-262, 322 ff.
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 109
literature the natural and inevitable result of the fact
that more sober teachers have been content, either to go
on merely repeating a traditional Apocalyptic symbol-
ism that has lost all meaning and attraction to the mod-
ern mind; or, by insisting that the life of the next world
must transcend the conditions of Time and Space, have
offered mankind a conception which to the intellect is
a puzzle and to the imagination an empty blank?
The attempt to reach too precise and detailed a con-
ception of the nature of the "spiritual" body is to be
deprecated. Speculations on the subject may easily
become so fanciful and uncertain that they tend to
throw discredit on the very idea of a "spiritual" body
at all. There is, however, one question which cannot
be altogether avoided. If I ask "With what body do
they come?" I raise a question wider than that of the
constituency, material or otherwise, of the future in-
tegument of the soul. The body of youth is very dif-
ferent from the body of old age. Shall we be raised
up young or old? In the resurrection of the dead,
will a man meet his mother as he remembers her when
he laid her grey-headed in the grave, or will it be as
his father saw her in the prime of life at the marriage
altar, or will it be as her grandmother knew her a
baby in the cradle? In this life we recognise our
friends by sight and touch and by the sound of the
voice. Will recognition of persons in the next life
also depend on something corresponding to sense im-
pressions?
I think a distinction should be drawn. We cannot
imagine that in the life to come the Heavens will cease
to declare the glory of God; or that the "music of
the spheres" (if such there be) should sound, and we
be deaf. In the immensity of the universe there must
be sights and sounds strange and beautiful yet to be
revealed. And why may not the mountains, the sun-
sets, and the flowers of this earth still be open to our
gaze — but seen as still more glorious by the undimmed
no IMMORTALITY m
eye and heightened perceptions of the body that shall
be ? The beauty and the glory may no longer come to
us through five separate avenues of sense; perhaps it
may be through more than five, perhaps through less,
but obviously in a life under conditions of Time and
Space the capacity of aesthetic appreciation depends on
there being something corresponding to sense percep-
tion. On the other hand, it is probable that the com-
munication between soul and soul on which recogni-
tion, mutual understanding, and fellowship depend will
be far less dependent there than here on sense percep-
tion. Phenomena like Telepathy and thought-transfer-
ence and the richer though more familiar experience of
sympathy and fellowship in love and friendship, point
already in the direction of a possibility of recognition
and inter-communion without the need of sight or hear-
ing. But if this be so, then in the next life, though we
may expect to see and hear our loved ones, we shall
not be dependent on seeing and hearing for knowledge
of and communion with them. No changes in outward
form will prevent immediate recognition of our friends;
and not only of them, but of those also whom we have
never known in this life. Elijah and St. Paul will not
look at all like the portraits of them in stained-glass
windows; but we shall be able to recognise them none
the less.
THE HOUR OF DEATH
Now might I do it pat, now he is praying ;
And now I'll do 't. And so he goes to heaven;
And so am I revenged.
Thus Hamlet declines to kill the king at prayer, he
will rather wait till he can find him
about some act
That has no relish of salvation in 't ;
Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven,
And that his soul may be as damned and black
As hell, whereto it goes.
m THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 1 1 1
The idea of the supreme importance of the last few
moments of life on earth appears conspicuously in the
Prayer Book — in the Service for the Burial of the
Dead, "Suffer us not at our last hour, for any pains of
death to fall from thee," in the petition in the Litany
against "sudden death," and in that for deliverance "in
the hour of death and in the day of judgment." In Ro-
man Catholic theology, again, it is held that one who
has committed any mortal sin must, if he dies unab-
solved, inevitably go to Hell. This widespread and
deeply rooted conviction as to the critical nature of the
Hour of Death contains an element which, I would sub-
mit, is both true and important, and also an element
which, I venture to think, is superstitious and immoral.
All is but lost, that living we bestow,
If not well ended at our dying day.
Oh man, have mind of that last bitter throe,
For as the tree does fall, so lies it ever low.1
The haunting fear that at the last moment some little
slip may cause a noble soul to trip and fall from Heaven
to Hell has been the cause of untold misery and super-
stition. While the idea that there will be a chance to
make it all right on one's death-bed has helped many
another to stifle the warnings of his conscience. It is
time that Christian teaching repudiated far more openly
and with far more emphasis than heretofore, all relics
of the notion that a man's life will be judged not as a
whole but solely by the thought or act of its last mo-
ment. Such a view revolts our sense of justice; it is
really inconsistent with a thoroughgoing belief in the
goodness of God. And, if God is not just and not
good — and that in a sense in which we can understand
those words — what becomes of the hope of Immortal-
ity at all?
On the other hand, it is important to remember that
the circumstances of death vary immensely. Very
often, so far as we can see, death has in it no element
1 Spenser, Faerie Queene, i. 10. 41.
ii2 IMMORTALITY m
of crisis ; it is a mere passing away from this life which
is hardly likely to modify the character at all. In other
cases it occurs as the climax of a great moral, mental,
or physical struggle. Now, the way in which we react
to any great crisis in life, profoundly and permanently
modifies our character — either for better or for worse.
The circumstances of a man's last moments may be
such that the very fact of facing death may be the
expression of an act of choice of the highest moral
value. The sailor who goes down with his ship after
standing aside to let the women and children be saved,
the soldier who dies heroically for the sake of what he
believes to be the cause of right, are doing something
else than merely dying. They are performing acts of
supreme moral value ; and no one can perform any act
having any degree of moral excellence at all without
being permanently the better for it, whether he goes on
living in this world or the next. And what applies to
the sailor and the soldier applies also to many cases
where death follows an accident or an illness — the way
in which the soul reacts to the whole set of circum-
stances, be they prolonged or be they short and sudden,
which culminate in death, cannot but affect for better
or for worse the state in which he makes a new begin-
ning in the life to come. Again, the possibility of a
death-bed repentance is nof a thing to be ignored.
Those who postpone repentance to their death-bed,
commonly find it impossible to repent then; for re-
pentance means a real change of heart and not merely
the conventional reaction of a frivolous nature terrified
at the thought of Hell. But cases of real and genuine
change of heart on the death-bed do occur; and when
they occur they constitute a real change of character
which cannot but affect the moral level at which a man
enters into the life of the world to come, and this, as
will appear from what follows, is really a matter of no
small moment.
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 1 13
THE RESURRECTION — ITS TIME AND MANNER
"And the sea gave up the dead which were in it."
Christian art has delighted in the picture of waves di-
viding, tombs bursting, and the dead coming forth,
naked or in grave-clothes, just as they were when last
seen by human eye, to stand before the Throne. The-
ology has added that if any had been consumed with
fire, devoured by beasts or scattered to the winds, the
bodies of these also will be restored ubone to his bone"
as in Ezekiel's vision. x This crude, but vividly dra-
matic, conception of the resurrection, ultimately derived
from pre-Christian Apocalyptic, was held by many,
though by no means all, of the early Fathers of the
Church. But, as has been already shown, it is directly
opposed not only to the clear implications of our Lord's
teaching, but to the actual letter of St. Paul's — "that
which thou sowest, thou sowest not the body that shall
be" ; "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of
God." At the present day there is not, so far as I am
aware, any theologian of repute by whom it would be
maintained; but it is still sufficiently prevalent, espe-
cially among the less educated, to be the cause of a
widespread misunderstanding, and consequently of a
complete rejection, of the real teaching of the New
Testament, and too often, along with that, of any defi-
nite and effective belief in Immortality at all.
The notion of a material identity between the pres-
ent and the future bodies is one which ought to be
far more emphatically repudiated by the Church than
has hitherto been done; but that does not mean that
there is no connection or continuity between them.
That connection, however, clearly cannot consist in
identity of material particles; for even in this life, so
we are told, the material particles which constitute our
1 Ezek. xxxvii. In Ezekiel the original reference of the vision was not to
the resurrection of the individual but to the restoration of the scattered rem-
nants of Israel.
n4 IMMORTALITY in
bodies are completely replaced about once in every
seven years. The principle of continuity and connec-
tion between my body of to-day and my body of twenty
years ago is to be found, not in its material particles,
but in the form-giving body-building principle of life
within, i.e. in the soul. The soul is not, as the
Gnostics thought, a mere prisoner in a body of alien
nature. Body affects soul and soul affects body, and
neither is complete without the other; but, as argued
above, the soul is the "predominant partner." But
if the principle of bodily continuity even in this world
is found, not in any identity of material particles, but
in the soul, it is obvious that the principle of conti-
nuity between the terrestrial and the celestial body also
must be looked for in the same direction. And if we
ask how the connection we seek can be adequately sup-
plied by the soul, the reply would be that it is in virtue
of that power inherent in the life principle of determin-
ing form and of building up by assimilation from its
environment a new body suited to that environment —
whether that environment be in this world or in the
world beyond our sight.
It may be asked whether some light on the relation
of the present and the future body cannot be derived
from the accounts in the Gospels of the Resurrection
of our Lord. This would undoubtedly be the case if
only we might assume that every detail in these stories
was to be relied upon as authentic. That assumption,
however, is one which I personally am unable to make.
The belief that our Lord showed Himself alive after
His passion rests upon a stronger historical basis than
is often supposed. Quite apart from the literary evi-
dence, of which the most remarkable is the first-hand
and detailed account of the various appearances by
St. Paul (i Cor. xv. 3-8), the broad fact of the rise
of Christianity has somehow to be explained. It is
impossible to account for the fact that a body of peas-
ants— crushed and disillusioned by the crucifixion of
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 115
the leader they had regarded as the destined Master of
the world — started forthwith, in the face of incredulity,
opposition, and bitter persecution, to preach with pas-
sion and conviction the Gospel that He was the Son of
God soon to return in glory as Judge of all mankind,
except on the hypothesis that some startling event or
events had occurred which put it for them absolutely
beyond doubt that He was still alive. But the histori-
cal value of the accounts given in the Gospels of these
events is a very different matter. No doubt the bulk of
the material in the first three Gospels has a high degree
of historical value — of that a prolonged study of the
subject has convinced me — but there are special reasons
why I feel that too much confidence cannot be put in
the details of the accounts they give of the Resurrection.
Of these one of the most weighty is the unfortunate
disappearance of the original conclusion of St. Mark,
which is the earliest and (for purposes of narrative as
distinct from discourse) the most reliable of the three.
Another is the fact that, in spite of the clear teaching
of our Lord and of St. Paul, the early Church contin-
ued to be largely dominated by the pre-Christian idea
of a flesh and blood resurrection; and there are clear
indications that the influence of this preconceived idea
has modified the tradition of what actually hap-
pened in this case. The most conspicuous, but not
the only, instance of this would be the statement (Lk.
xxiv. 39-43) that the Risen Master partook in the
presence of the disciples of a piece of broiled fish,
and invited them to handle a body of "flesh and
bones."
In view of this unreliability of the tradition in points
of detail, it seems to me impossible to make use of it
to elucidate our conception of the nature of the con-
tinuity between our bodies in this and in the next life.
On the contrary, my own inclination is to reverse the
process and to approach the particular question of the
relation between the crucified and the risen body of our
n6 IMMORTALITY m
Lord Himself in the light of the conclusions arrived at
above as to the general question of the continuity and
connection between the "natural" and the "spiritual"
body. I am far from wishing to dogmatise on the
difficult subject of the manner of our Lord's Resurrec-
tion, but in trying to frame a conception of it for
myself, I am disposed to look first to His own teach-
ing and that of St. Paul on the nature of the Resurrec-
tion-body. I cannot build upon the details of a tradi-
tion which there is reason to think has been influenced
by the a priori conceptions of a generation which, in
this as in other things, only partially understood either
the Master or His greatest follower.
There remains to ask how we may conceive the
transition from the "natural" to the "spiritual" body
to be effected. Three main answers to this question
have been suggested.
We may suppose that during our life on earth we
are, although we know it not, building up an unseen
celestial body which is a sort of counterpart of our
earthly body but more exactly adapted to the expres-
sion of the character which our thoughts and conduct
are all the while developing. Or, again, we may hold
that the death of this body is the very act of birth of a
new body which will grow, possibly with immense ra-
pidity, to be a perfect expression of the character to
which we shall have by that time attained. In either
case we may expect the body to reflect the nature of
the self far more clearly than it does in this world. It
will be fair and vigorous when the character is good,
mean and weak when the character is bad. And in either
case, if there is any growth or change of our character
in the next life, it would be reflected and accompanied
by a corresponding growth in the "spiritual" body.
As between these two alternatives there seems little
to choose, and little evidence on which to base a
decision. The third possibility is one which, person-
ally, I am disinclined to accept, but, as the weight of
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 1 17
tradition can be pleaded in its favour, it demands a
serious consideration.
Christian theology inherited from Jewish Apocalyp-
tic the idea that after death there is an interval during
which the soul waits in a disembodied state until the
time is ripe for a general resurrection of all men for
the Day of Judgment, and that its assumption of the
risen body will be postponed till that date. The va-
lidity or otherwise of this view cannot be considered
without a brief summary of its origin and history.
As has already been pointed out, the Jews, until long
after the return from Babylon, believed that the soul at
death left the body and departed to a joyless existence
in Sheol. The Apocalyptic writers started with the
conception of Sheol as an accepted belief. Their own
contribution to a more worthy conception of immor-
tality was twofold. They moralised the conception of
Sheol itself by making a considerable difference in the
degree of happiness and the quality of life enjoyed
there — a difference which depended on the degree of
goodness or wickedness in the life that had been led on
earth. In addition to this they taught that ultimately
all the spirits of the righteous would be recalled from
Sheol altogether and would again assume their bodies
to enjoy a fuller and more glorious life. This bodily
resurrection was connected either with the establish-
ment or with the end and final sublimation into Heaven
of the Messianic Kingdom on earth. Thus the idea
that there must be a long interval between death and
resurrection in the case of any individual who dies
before the General Resurrection of all men was partly
due to the survival of an originally non-ethical concep-
tion of life in Sheol as the next stage after death, and
was partly due to the historical fact that belief in the
resurrection (i.e. in a full and worthy immortality for
the individual) was to the mind of the average Jew
inextricably bound up with the conception of the
Messianic Kingdom upon earth.
n8 IMMORTALITY m
This idea, along with others, the early Church took
over more or less uncriticised from Jewish Apocalyptic.
But there are two points worth noting.
(i) The belief in a long interval between death
and resurrection cannot claim to have behind it the
authority of our Lord's own teaching. True, there are
sayings of His which might appear to suggest it, but
there are others which imply something much more like
the view advocated above. A crucial saying is that to
the Penitent Thief, uTo-day shalt thou be with me in
Paradise." Paradise in Jewish Apocalyptic (wherever
the word does not refer to the earthly Garden of Eden)
is one of the divisions of Heaven; it does not mean a
department of Sheol. Our Lord therefore, it would
seem, expected that both He and the Thief would go
straight to Heaven without any interval in Hades.
The Parable of Dives and Lazarus, if we accept the
current view that "Abraham's bosom" is a synonym
for Paradise, has precisely the same implication. Again,
His argument to the Sadducees, that the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is not the God of the
dead but of the living, would lose half its force if we
suppose He thought of them as being in a "disem-
bodied state," i.e., as enjoying a less full and real life
than they had done on earth. * No doubt the idea that
our Lord Himself spent the interval between Good
Friday and Easter morning in Hades is found in the
primitive Church; but that is easily explained as being
the natural, indeed the inevitable, inference which
minds trained in Jewish Apocalyptic would draw from
the fact that the series of events which convinced the
Apostles of His Resurrection began on the third day.
The inference was a natural one; it does not follow
that it was correct. 2
1 The idea that the new life of the transformed ^v%^ follows immediately
after death, which appears in 4 Mace. ix. 22, xvii. 18, xviii. 23, may have been
already current in some circles in Palestine.
3 The clause "descended into Hell" first appears in a local version of the
Apostles' Creed about the year 400 A.D. Its probable reference is to the "rak-
ing of Hell," i.e. to the belief that during the interval between His Death and
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 119
(2) The question is one on which St. Paul's views
appear to have undergone a change. When he wrote
the Epistles to*the Thessalonians and the first Epistle
to the Corinthians he expected to be alive at a visible
Second Coming of Christ, and he taught that the dead
would first be raised (evidently from Sheol) to meet
the Lord. Later in life he writes to the Philippians of
his desire uto depart and be with Christ." Whether
or not he had faced the full implications of this remark
we cannot be certain. But we know that he habitually
thought of Christ and His celestial body as in Heaven,
not in Sheol; and the expectation that after death he
will at once depart to be with Christ logically involves
the complete abandonment of the old belief in any
interval of waiting in Sheol at all before the entry
into the resurrection life.
Possibly, in another of its aspects, the idea of "the
end of all things" is one which should still be retained.
The realisation of the Kingdom of God on earth is as
much an integral part of the Christian hope as is the
entry of the individual into immortal life — and this can
only be realised after a long process, which may possibly
culminate in a final consummation before this planet
becomes uninhabitable, if, as is generally supposed, this
will sooner or later be the case. Again, if the dead
still take an interest in this earth — and at the very
least they cannot but be affected by the moral quality
of those who keep leaving this world to enter the
society of which they are members — there is a sense in
which uthey without us should not be made perfect,"
since the full achievement of the glory of Heaven must
wait for the complete regeneration of Earth.
But the corporate regeneration of society on earth
and the entry by the individual into that state where
Resurrection our Lord preached to, converted and baptized the righteous men of
old. In so far as it is an endeavor to assert the principle that a way of salva-
tion is provided for good men who die without the opportunity of hearing the
full Christian message presented in a form which they can definitely accept, the
insertion of the clause marks a real improvement on the older form of the
Creed. Cf. p. 202 «.
120 IMMORTALITY m
"this mortal shall have put on immortality" are two
quite different things. The one has to do with this
visible, the other with the unseen world. Jewish and
early Christian Apocalyptic, holding that both would
be achieved together through the coming of the
Messianic Kingdom, really confused two separate is-
sues. But it is surely unreasonable for us — who both
clearly realise the distinction between them, and also
the historical causes which led to their being confused
— to continue to suppose that the resurrection of the
individual must await the establishment of the Kingdom
of Heaven on earth. Hence, though we may recognise
elements of truth in the old expectation of the Last
Day, I would urge that Christian teaching would do well
to surrender avowedly and completely the belief that
the resurrection, that is, the assumption by the spirit
of its celestial body, is postponed to a distant future.
To reject the idea of a possible interval between
death and resurrection is no doubt to abandon the
form of primitive Christian belief, but it is really to
return to its substance. All the first generation of
Christians believed, like St. Paul when he wrote his
earlier letters, that in their own case there would be no
interval at all between this life and the entry into the
glorious life of the world to come. Thus, if we affirm
that we too, at once and without any interval of wait-
ing, shall take on our new celestial bodies, we affirm
exactly what the Apostles taught would happen to
themselves and to every member of the Church they
knew. The notion of an age-long interval between
death and resurrection is an inheritance from the letter
of Jewish Apocalyptic which the actual vital belief of
the first generation of Christians had in practice,
though not in theory, already discarded. For them-
selves they undoubtedly believed there would be no
interval of waiting; and they never considered the
question in regard to generations yet unborn, for the
simple reason that they believed that the end of the
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 121
world would come in their own lifetime. Hence, I
would submit that, if we believe with regard to our-
selves what they believed with regard to themselves, we
are actually nearer to primitive belief than if we accept
the views of traditional theology.
But if we get rid of the supposed interval between
Death and Resurrection, we dispose at the same time of
the interval between Death and Judgment. And this is
a great gain, for it is only by so doing that we are able
to accept in anything like its original force and meaning
one of the central features in the teaching of our Lord.
"Watch, therefore, for ye know not the day nor the
hour." "In an hour that ye know not, the Son of
Man cometh." These and similar sayings were un-
doubtedly intended by our Lord and understood by
the Apostles to refer to the Last Judgment, conceived
of as a stupendous crisis, which those who heard Him
might at any moment be called upon to face. "In the
midst of life we are in death," and if, but only if, we
hold that for each man the day of death is also the Day
of Judgment can we understand and realise in our own
lives the meaning of this vital element in His mes-
sage.
How and why the day of death both can and must
be also a day of judgment will be shown later.1
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT
Quantus tremor est futurus,
Quando Judex est venturus,
Cuncta stricte discussurus.
Tuba, mirum spargens sonum
Per sepulchra regionum,
Coget omnes ante thronum.
The notion of one final Great Assize logically stands
or falls with the idea of a General Resurrection at the
1 In Mediaeval and Roman Catholic Theology it is held, rightly, I would
maintain, that a "Particular" Judgment of the individual follows immediately
upon death; but the belief in a subsequent Universal Judgment on the Last Day,
which in that case is surely superfluous, is retained from the Apocalyptic tradi-
tion.
122 IMMORTALITY m
Last Day. If we recognise this we are at once faced
with two questions. What are we to make of the
language of the New Testament with regard to the
Second Coming of Our Lord? And how are we to
think of the Judgment at all? Of the meaning and
value for modern thought of the idea of the Second
Coming of Christ space will not permit a discussion
now, so I may be permitted to refer to my treatment of
it in the volume Concerning Prayer. J The question,
however, of our conception of the nature of the Judg-
ment is vital to the subject in hand. Any attempt to
answer it must begin with a brief examination of the
words ascribed to our Lord in the Gospels.
If we wish to estimate truly the relation of the
teaching of our Lord to the Apocalyptic views of the
time, we must be careful never to lose sight of the prin-
ciples of interpretation outlined above (cp. p. 89 ff.).
Besides this, it is of the first importance to note how
little in the way of detailed description can be found in
His sayings with regard to the closely associated topics
of Resurrection, Second Coming, and Judgment. This
is one of those cases where silence is evidential; for it
is just this sort of detail about which all minds are
greedy for information and in which Jewish and Chris-
tian Apocalyptic in general abounds. Those sayings
of our Lord have been preserved which seemed most
interesting and most important to contemporaries; if,
therefore, the record contains little on a topic in which
contemporary interest was so strong, it can only be
because there was little to record. There is, moreover,
on purely critical grounds, reason to believe that even
the small amount of detail that is to be found in His
reported sayings is at least in part due to embellish-
ment by Christian tradition of the actual words He
used. Our Lord's avoidance of detail, therefore, was
clearly intentional. His declaration that He did not
1 Cf. section "Armageddon and the New Jerusalem" of the Essay on "God
and the World's Pain," pp. 12-19.
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 123
know the hour of His Coming, and His explicit re-
pudiation before the Sadducees of the grosser forms of
the contemporary ideas as to the resurrection which
has already been discussed, all point in one direction.
While accepting the great ideas of Apocalyptic — judg-
ment and eternal life — He recognised the inadequacy
and even, up to a point, the misleading tendency of
the more elaborate details in the contemporary ideas.
The only two passages in the Gospels which describe
the Last Judgment with any approach to elaboration
occur in St. Matthew; and it is probably that both of
these are instances of the tendency which undoubtedly
existed in primitive Christian tradition to bring His
language into closer accord with contemporary Apoca-
lyptic ideas by the addition of current phrases. * In the
case of one of them, the description in Matt. xxiv.
29-31, this can be definitely proved. Practically all
scholars are now agreed that a large part of the First
Gospel has been copied with editorial modifications
from St. Mark or from a document practically identical
with St. Mark; we have only then to compare this
passage of St. Matthew with the earlier version of it
in Mark xiii. 24-27 to see this process of elaboration
at work.
MATTHEW xxiv. 29-31. MARK xm. 24-27.
But immediately after the But in those days, after that
tribulation of those days, the tribulation, the sun shall be
sun shall be darkened, and the darkened, and the moon shall
moon shall not give her light, not give her light, and the
and the stars shall fall from stars shall be falling from
heaven, and the powers of the heaven, and the powers that
heavens shall be shaken: and are in the heavens shall be
then shall appear the sign of shaken. And then shall they
the Son of man in heaven: and see the Son of man coming in
then shall all the tribes of the clouds with great power and
earth mourn, and they shall glory. And then shall he send
see the Son of man coming on forth the angels and shall
1 For the proof of the existence of this tendency, especially in the First
Gospel, cf. Oxford Studies in the Synoptic Problem, pp. 425-36.
124 IMMORTALITY m
the clouds of heaven with gather together his elect from
power and great glory. And the four winds, from the utter-
he shall send forth his angels most part of the earth to the
with a great sound of a trum- uttermost part of heaven.
pet, and they shall gather to-
gether his elect from the four
winds, from one end of heaven
to the other.
Notice in particular that the famous "last trump"
does not occur in the more original version represented
by St. Mark. I
Moreover, it is not only clear that the editor of the
First Gospel has here elaborated the details of the
original passage in St. Mark; there is also reason to
suppose that Mark xiii., itself, the so-called "Little
Apocalypse" (and the parallels in Matthew xxiv. and
Luke xxi. which are derived from it), is that section
in the Synoptic Gospels where the probability of the
presence of unauthentic details is at its maximum. 2
The second passage is the tremendous scene (Matt.
xxv. 31-46) where all the nations are gathered before
the Son of Man sitting on the throne of his glory to be
separated "as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the
goats." Here again, as is shown elsewhere in this
volume, 3 there is reason to suspect that the details of
the picture have been modified through reminiscences
of Enoch and other Apocalyptic books. But, in any case,
the whole passage reads as if it were a parable intended
mainly to point the moral, "Inasmuch as ye have done
it unto one of the least of these. . . ." It does not
read as if it were meant to be taken as a description of
an event in which every detail is to be taken literally.
Even more important, however, for our purpose is it
to recognise how entirely the dramatic picture of an ex-
ternal act of judgment disappears in the interpretation
1 The trumpet before the Judgment is found in Jewish Apocalyptic (cf. 4 Ez.
vi. 23), and its mention by St. Paul (i Thess. iv. 16, i Cor. xv. 52) and by
the editor of the First Gospel is doubtless due to current Apocalyptic tradition.
2Cf. Oxford Studies in the Synoptic Problem, p. 179 ff,
3Cf, Essay V. p. 197 n.
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 125
given in the Fourth Gospel. In the teaching of this
Gospel judgment is not a single act by an external
power. "I am come a light into the world, that who-
soever believeth on me may not abide in the darkness.
And if any man hear my sayings, and keep them not,
I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world,
but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and
receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him:
the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the
last day" (John xii. 46-48). Again, in John ix. 39, we
read: "For judgment came I into this world; that
they which see not may see, and that they which see may
become blind." Judgment is by an internal and auto-
matic process, it is a necessary consequence of rejection
of the light, it is a process of moral deterioration, the
results of which, not always visible here, will be clearly
revealed "on the last day." Scientists tell us that every
act, every thought, every wish, leaves its record on the
grey matter of the brain, and common experience shows
that every deed and every impulse leaves its trace on
character. In this life we simply cannot stand still, we
are perpetually compelled to choose and to act; and
according as we accept or reject the light, according as
we incline in thought, word, or deed towards the good
or towards the evil, we are building up our character for
better or for worse. If Judgment means discrimination
between good and evil, it is automatically proceeding
all the while ; the Last Day will not be something new
and added, it will merely be the revelation of a fait
accompli. But it will be a revelation inevitably entail-
ing some startling and tremendous consequences.
And what, we may ask, will those consequences be?
If our previous argument is sound, we must eliminate
the idea of an interval between death and resurrection,
and say that for each individual, the day of death will
also be the Day of Judgment. A moment's considera-
tion will show that it requires no artificial machinery
to make it so. The distinction between the sheep and
126 IMMORTALITY m
goats, in this world so obscure, in the next must nec-
essarily at once be patent. The very act of entering
into the next life means that we leave behind us all
those external advantages such as wealth, power, phy-
sical strength and beauty which so often in this world
win for us a respect and admiration wholly undeserved
and serve to disguise from others and from ourselves
our real character. We shall enter an immense society,
"join the majority" as we say, where we must stand
only on our merits. We shall be rated not by what we
have, nor by what we seem, but simply by what we are.
But there is a further and still more important con-
sideration. Even in this world the outward appearance
of the body is to some extent modified by the life of
the soul within, which profoundly affects both its gen-
eral health and vigour and the expression of the face
and carriage. But if we accept in any degree at all the
view that the "spiritual" body of the next life will be
one which will be a more perfect organ than is our
present body for the expression of the spirit, then in the
next world the body will no longer be able to disguise,
it will, on the contrary, perfectly reveal the personal-
ity. The body will be fair or foul, strong or weak, ac-
cording as would best express the character of the per-
son it serves. It will bear on it scars, indeed, but they
will be the scars of self-inflicted moral wounds, rather
than of physical wounds inflicted from without — these
latter may often be the nail-prints of a cross transfig-
ured into lines of ineffable beauty. That new body will
automatically "bring to light the hidden things of dark-
ness, and make manifest the counsels of the heart" —
either for glory or for shame.
There is no reason to suppose that the mere act of
dying, as such, will bring about any miraculous change
in our characters or ideals, but it will in our bodies; and
it will completely revolutionise our circumstances. It
will be the great revealer. We shall all of us be "found
out." The tyrant will have lost his throne, the success-
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 127
ful swindler will no longer impress his friends and even
enemies by the splendour of his country seat, the sen-
sualist may still have the itch for base excitement but
not the means to gratify it, the selfish beauty will have
forfeited her charms, the self-advertising quack will
have left behind his reputation. In this world there are
always some who look upon the rake as "dashing," the
bully as a superman, the Pharisee as a saint; but,
clothed in a body which really expresses their charac-
ter, they will all of them be "found out." That is why
in the next world, though it will be possible for the
good to help the evil, it will be less possible for the evil
to hurt the good; for a person or an ideal which has
been "found out" has lost the power to seduce.
To be "found out" is an acute humiliation. It is
painful in exact proportion to a man's vanity, selfish-
ness, self-complacency, and to the degree of respect or
admiration he has previously enjoyed. But it often has
one salutary result. To be "found out" by other people
sometimes leads to the finding out of oneself. The
folly, meanness, cruelty, and contemptibility of our own
conduct often first really comes home to us when we
see how it strikes other people. And to discover that
one is not merely contemned but contemptible is the
greatest humiliation of all. But real self-knowledge,
painful as it is, is the first step towards reformation.
Partly for this reason, partly because it is natural to
think of the next life as a society in which the good
will be able to influence the evil, we may hope that
many, of whose character in this life we are tempted to
despair, may have the chance of a fresh start — at how-
ever low a level; and may yet struggle upwards — at
the cost of however great effort and humiliation. A
"fresh start" under new conditions is often in this
world an opportunity for moral advance. A boy who
has got into bad odour at school not infrequently turns
out well at the University; and some who have been a
failure at the University make a success of life in a
128 IMMORTALITY m
changed environment. But in such cases the shock of
change, the presence of new interests, the influence of
better friends are only able to effect a reformation
where there is present sufficient moral insight to appre-
ciate, at any rate to some extent, the new interests and
the better friends, and where there is a dawning percep-
tion (which, be it noted, often follows rather than pre-
cedes the first stages of reformation) that he has previ-
ously "made a fool of himself."
Unless some perception of a higher ideal can be
awakened, no recognition of the error of previous ways
and no amendment is possible. It is often forgotten
that the result of wrong doing or wrong thinking is to
blunt and blind the conscience. The worse a man gets
the less is he conscious of the fact; the more selfish and
self-centred he becomes the less he is aware of it.
Hence, if the inevitable "finding out" by others which
will result on entering into the next world, the shock
which this will bring, and the kindly influence of the
better spirits he will find there do not sooner or later
bring such an one to recognise the bankruptcy of his old
ideals and the contemptibility of his old self, its effect
will be the reverse of redemptive. To be despised for
what one thinks to be one's excellence, to be pitied for
that of which one is most proud, to be convinced that
admiration, affection, and respect are one's due, and to
receive the contrary, is to suffer acutely; but it is the
suffering not of Purgatory but of Hell — for it is suffer-
ing which is not redemptive but wholy profitless. l It is
the inevitable consequence of egotism in its extreme de-
velopment that it makes a man unable to perceive his
own nature, and that therefore he cannot but regard
himself as an instance of merit unappreciated and good-
ness misunderstood; and he becomes ever more and
more sensitive and more and more resentful. But if a
man once repents and recognises past suffering as de-
served, even suffering which was resented and therefore
1 For a further development of this point cf. Concerning Prayer^ pp. 3°-33'
in THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD 129
profitless at the time, may in retrospect be made re-
demptive. So long as a man has the faintest percep-
tion of an ideal that is higher than that which is ex-
pressed in his own life there is a chance of reformation
— that is why the publican, though of a lower standard
of actual achievement, is more hopeful than the Phari-
see. For the incurably selfish, however, if such there
be, there must be an experience of Hell, that is to say,
a period of inevitable but wholly profitless suffering.
But a recognition of this fact does not bind us to sup-
pose that, as a matter of fact, any cases will be found
to be ultimately incurable; or that, if so, the Hell in
which they will have necessarily lived for a time will
not ultimately be ended by their annihilation. On this
point I should wish to associate myself entirely with
the view expressed in Essay V.
But the Judgment will not be all of one kind. Not
only will the evil be "found out," the good will also
be revealed for what they are. And this will mean
that many of the apparent failures of this life will be
seen in a very different light. The rank and file of
brave, cheerful, kindly, dutiful, hard-working men and
women may stand out as more admirable than some
whom the world regards as saints and heroes. The
soldier who could not take the trench, the unknown
researcher who just failed to make the great discovery
but paved the way for some one else, the
village Hampden who, with dauntless breast,
The little tyrant of his fields withstood;
all these will be "discovered" — much to their own sur-
prise. "Lord, when saw we thee hungry and fed thee?"
they will exclaim with astonishment. Mirrored in the
eyes of those around they will see themselves transfig-
ured, and with astonished ears will hear echoing from
lip to lip the cry of welcome, "Well done, good and
faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few
things : enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."
IV
THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME
BY
B. H. STREETER
SYNOPSIS
PART I
THE CONDITIONS OF THE LIFE BEYOND THE PRESENT
PAGE
THE NEED OF A DEFINITE CONCEPTION . . . .134
The traditional pictures of Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell
have ceased to "grip" the modern man, even as symbol-
ism, with a consequent weakening of th£ belief in Immor-
tality.
Hence the need of an alternative, but no less definite,
way of conceiving the nature of the future life.
Tentative character of the present Essay.
QUALITY OF LIFE, LOCALITY, AND PROGRESS . . . .136
Heaven is not a place above the sky, but no need to elim-
inate the idea of space altogether.
Nevertheless, "Quality of life" must be our guiding con-
ception.
If so, there must be many gradations, not merely two
(or three) Heaven (Purgatory) Hell. But persons in dif-
ferent stages not necessarily locally separated from one
another.
Progress an essential element in our conception.
PURGATORY ........ 139
Criticism of modern Roman Catholic doctrine.
Any acceptable view must stress the positive idea of
moral growth rather than the negative idea of cleansing
(a misleading metaphor), and must also recognise value
of joy as well as pain in development of character.
PROGRESS AND ATTAINMENT . . . . . .141
The idea of Progress suggests an ultimate goal. But is
finality desirable?
Reasons for passing over this question and confining our
attention to the life immediately following this, i.e. to the
proximate as distinguished from the ultimate Heaven, if
such there be.
PART II
THE NATURE OF ETERNAL LIFE
GOD, MAN, AND CHRIST . . . . . 145
Life in Heaven must be thought of as a participation in
the Divine Life; but what do we know of the nature of
the Divine Life?
The doctrine of the Divinity of Christ, properly under-
stood, answers this question. Christ is "the portrait of the
unseen God"; but, if so, God must be very different from
132
iv LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME 133
PAGE
what we are apt to think, and Heaven must not be
thought of after the model of "Solomon in all his glory."
ETERNAL LIFE ....... 148
St. John's conception of Eternal Life.
The highest life we know on earth is a foretaste of the
life of Heaven.
But what is the highest life on earth?
The influence of Plotinus and the experience of supreme
moments has led to an under-estimating of the value of
variety in our conception of Heaven.
Our Lord's fondness for the symbol of the "Supper"
shows importance in His view of the more "homely" and
of the social elements in experience.
THE CONTENT OF THE IDEA OF HEAVEN . . . .154
Love.
"Charity never faileth"; love will be the same in kind
in the next as in the present life; which must therefore be
thought of as predominantly social in character.
Work.
Creation not a finished act but an eternal activity of the
Divine Life ; there will therefore be work to do in Heaven.
Thought.
An essential element in the highest life and therefore
eternal.
Importance attached to intellectual activity and the ap-
prehension of truth by St. Paul and St. Thomas Aquinas.
Beauty.
Popular Theology, influenced by the symbolism of the
Apocalypse, recognises the existence of aesthetic activity in
the next life; but the conception of beauty implied is too
narrow.
Humour.
A quality exhibited by our Lord, and therefore an ele-
ment in the highest life.
In praise of Humour.
The Vision of God.
In the next life there must be elements which transcend
imagination. The language used about the Beatific Vision
has in practice led to an impoverishment of the idea of
Heaven, and consequently to a false notion of sanctity, i.e.
of the kind of life which is the best preparation for
Heaven.
What we see in Goodness, Truth, and Beauty is really
the Divine, but, as God is personal, these do not reveal
Him fully.
Christ will not cease to reveal the Father in the next life,
hence we may expect our knowledge of God to be consum-
mated in the vision of Christ in His "spiritual body."
The effect on the individual of the Vision of Christ
The unimaginable Beyond.
IV
THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME
PARTI
THE CONDITIONS OF THE LIFE BEYOND
THE PRESENT
THE NEED OF A DEFINITE CONCEPTION
AMONG educated people it is recognised that the
traditional language about a Heaven "above the bright
blue sky" or a Hell beneath the earth can only be
accepted as figurative. We are commonly told that
we ought to think of Heaven, unot as a place but as
a state," and that the harps, palms, and crowns are
merely symbols. The phrase, unot a place but a state"
is only half satisfactory, but for the moment we may
accept it and note that it applies also to Purgatory
and Hell, supposing we feel bound to retain either or
both of these conceptions in our creed. But, if we are
frankly to abandon the old mental pictures and really
begin to ask what we mean when we say that Heaven
is not a place but a state, it behooves us to ask with
no slight insistence what kind of state we mean. If
we dismiss the old imagery as merely symbol we are
the more bound to ask what kind of a thing does it
symbolise?
This question is one to which no final and no cut-
and-dried answer is possible, or even desirable. But it
134
iv LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME 135
is well worth while to make a resolute attempt to
arrive at an answer as clear and definite as is practi-
cable in view of the nature of the enquiry and of the
limitations of human experience and imagination. This
attempt is no mere interesting exercise in academic spec-
ulation, it is a vital necessity for religion and life. The
old conceptions of Heaven and Hell which were de-
veloped by the early and mediaeval Church, partly from
hints in the New Testament, but mainly on the basis
of ideas inherited from pre-Christian Jewish Apocalyp-
tic, had the great merit that they presented vivid pic-
tures of the nature of the world to come, — pictures
clear and definite enough to fire the imagination, to
convince the intellect, and thereby to mould the aspi-
rations and influence the conduct of mankind. At the
present day these conceptions are intellectually discred-
ited, even at the level of education which the Elemen-
tary School has made universal. They cannot be gal-
vanised into fresh life.
Contemporary religion has no more pressing need
than the thinking out and popularisation of new ways
of presenting to the mind an idea of what is meant by
the Christian hope of immortality, clear and definite
enough to do for our generation what the symbols
and pictures inherited from Jewish Apocalyptic did for
our fathers. The lack of clear and reasoned guiding
conceptions as to the nature of the Future Life is, I
am confident, at the root of most of the widespread
doubt and disbelief in immortality at the present day.
People do not believe in a future life because the forms
in which the belief has been presented to their minds
seem, on the one hand, to be intellectually untenable,
and, on the other, to be unattractive or even repellant.
Traditional pictures of Hell seem morally revolting;
while the Heaven of Sunday School teaching or pop-
ular hymnology is a place which the plain man does not
believe to exist, and which he would not want to go to
if it did.
136 IMMORTALITY iv
This paper is an attempt to think out the implica-
tions of the New Testament conception of Eternal Life
in the light of the changed intellectual background of
the present day. It is put forward not with the dog-
matism of one who proclaims unchallengeable results,
but rather as a suggestion of the lines along which the
solution of an admittedly difficult problem may be
looked for. As such it is submitted, and as such I
would ask that it be judged.
QUALITY OF LIFE, LOCALITY, AND PROGRESS
At the outset I must observe that if, as has been
argued in the previous paper, existence in the next life
as in this must be thought of as existence in space, the
proposition that Heaven must be thought of rather as a
state than as a place can only be accepted if it means
that Heaven must not be thought of as one particular
and definite place situated locally above the sky — a con-
ception which belongs to an age which believed the earth
to be the centre of the Universe. The discovery that
the earth is not the centre of the Universe, but a mere
speck in a corner of it, one world out of many millions,
does not mean that we must eliminate the notion of
place from our conception of any life beyond the pres-
ent. On the contrary, it means that we must infinitely
enlarge our conception of the amount of room there is
and of the number of places which the Universe con-
tains. It thus becomes thinkable that in the next life
we may have the power of easy and rapid movement
from world to world; or may have our home, as it
were, in some one world with the power of visiting or
communicating with this and other worlds. We know
nothing about the spatial conditions of the next life,
but it is important to insist that we are in no way
bound, because we discard the old Apocalyptic Heaven
above "this solid bowl we call the sky,1' to rob our con-
ception of the next life of that element of space and
iv LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME 137
spaciousness which must be preserved if we are to at-
tempt to imagine it at all.
The value of the proposition that Heaven must be
thought of "not as a place but as a state" lies in the
positive not in the negative part of the sentence; for,
though we can only make the merest guess at the spa-
tial conditions of the next life, we can, if we are at pains
to think out what is implicit in the fundamental ideas
of the New Testament, arrive at very clear and defi-
nite ideas as to the state or quality of life enjoyed by
the righteous in the world to come. In the second part
of this Essay I shall show that in the last resort the
New Testament idea of Heaven is thought out less in
terms of place than in terms of quality of life, and I
shall endeavour to give clearness and definition to this
conception. But, before doing this, it is worth while
to point out certain very important consequences which
follow if we take as the basis of our idea of the world
beyond the present the conception of quality of life.
So long as Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell are thought
of mainly in terms of place, they must necessarily be
thought of as entirely separate one from the other, so
that a person who is in one could have little or no
communication with a person in the other. Again,
along with the idea of three different places goes nat-
urally (if not in strict logic) the idea of three distinct
states of desert and happiness separable from one an-
other by clear, definite, hard and fast lines. But if
we take quality of life instead of locality as the start-
ing-point of our conception of the Beyond, these hard
and fast distinctions and divisions immediately disap-
pear, with two important results.
First, between Dives and Lazarus there may be still
a great gulf fixed, but the gulf is one of quality of life,
expressing itself in feeling and character; it is not one
which is constituted by distance in space. Once think
away these local conceptions and it would be as possible
for saint and sinner to get into personal contact in the
138 IMMORTALITY iv
next world if they desired, ^Q ^ is in thlV wnrlrl fnr a.
L..disappninffiH Iny^r i-n hp mp.rnhrrY ^ —
the same house partyT though one may b? in
ham's bosorrftand the other jn ^ st^te of torment. This
"consideration removes what is a very real difficulty to
many minds. Take, for example, the case of a good
mother who has a worthless son. It is impossible that
both can, in the traditional phrase, "go to Heaven" ;
yet it is equally impossible that Heaven should be
Heaven to the mother if the son is not there. Take
away, however, the idea of locality from conceptions
like Heaven, Purgatory, or Hell, and we see that, how-
ever different may be the inner state or quality of life
led by the mother and the son, they can still be in per-
sonal correspondence. The mother may yet be able to
do something towards restoring and reforming the
son — a possibility which not merely suggests a solution
of some of the problems of this life, but also gives a
concrete illustration of what we mean by saying that
in the next world there will still remain work to be
done and an opportunity for love and service. But of
this more will be said later on.
Secondly, if we think away the implications of local-
ity associated with the old ideas of Heaven, Purgatory,
and Hell, there seems no reason to maintain the notion
that there are three and only three clearly defined
"states" in the next life. If we think of the future in
terms of quality of life we should naturally suppose that
there would be an infinite number of degrees in quality,
shading off into one another, and that this would mean
a possibility of progress — certainly a progress upward,
probably also (though this is less certain) downward.
This consideration meets a difficulty widely felt, which
is commonly expressed in this form : "The great ma-
jority of people seem when they die to be neither good
enough for Heaven nor bad enough for Hell." To
this difficulty there is no satisfactory answer unless we
assume the possibility of Progress in the life to come.
iv LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME 139
But if we surrender the notion of three distinct and
definite denominations, there is no reason why we
should not make Progress one of the most fundamental
and characteristic elements in our conception of the
future life.
PURGATORY
The idea of Progress, however, in the world to come
must be clearly distinguished from the doctrine of Pur-
gatory, at any rate as understood in the Roman Church.
Even if the materialistic conceptions and supersti-
tious observances which have gathered round it in pop-
ular belief are removed, there are in the officially ac-
cepted doctrine of Purgatory two points which are
open to serious objection. Firstly, it is held that at the
moment of death it is decided whether the soul is ulti-
mately destined for Heaven or Hell. If for Heaven,
at that moment its character is transformed by super-
natural grace so as to make it completely and finally
fit for the place it is destined to hold there. Sec-
ondly, the pains of Purgatory are not, though the der-
ivation of the word suggests it, held to effect a moral
purification of the soul. They are purely penal, and
constitute as it were the repayment in the next life in a
currency of pain of a debt which has been incurred in
this life in a currency of sin.1 The postulate of a
miraculous transformation of character at the moment
of death, and the purely vindictive debtor and creditor
conception of Divine justice, leave a Purgatory so con-
ceived open to quite as many objections as the tradi-
tional Protestant dichotomy of the future life into
Heaven or Hell.
Outside the Roman Church, the word Purgatory is
often used in its ancient mediaeval sense to denote a
state of real progress and moral purification. There is
1 An eminent Roman Catholic theologian tells me that the present domi-
nance of this view is largely due to the influence of the great Spanish Jesuit
Suarez. Cf. also Fr. von Hiigel, The Mystical Element in Religion, p. 240 f.
140 IMMORTALITY iv
much to be said for a revival of such an idea. It will,
however, be of little value so long as the main emphasis
is laid either on the idea of getting rid of undesirable
qualities in the soul or on the element of pain which
that process will require. These two false tendencies
are due, partly to the wholly unchristian emphasis on
the purely negative element in morality which has per-
vaded so much of the practical teaching of the pulpit
and the Sunday School, partly to a misconception of
the part played by suffering in the development of char-
acter.
So long as Christian teaching puts the avoidance
of evil before enthusiasm for good, thus overlaying the
Gospel with the Law, Purgatory will be thought of in
the same negative way. But what is really wanted is a
conception of a Progress in the next life in which the
leading idea shall be that of addition rather than of
subtraction, and which will emphasise the need of en-
riching that which is good in the character rather than
merely the purging away of that which is evil. We
are often misled by our metaphors: moral evil is not
a stain that can be removed by a negative and exter-
nal process like washing or burning. It is rather a
disease of the will which can only be cured by a re-
storation to health, which is a positive process akin to
growth.
Again, moral growth inevitably and of course in-
volves an element of pain; for repentance and the rec-
ognition of the real nature of one's own misconduct
is a necessary condition of such growth. And the
realisation of the contemptibility of one's own charac-
ter, and of the extent and real character of the wrong
one has done, which is an essential preliminary to re-
pentance, is not likely to be less painful in the world
to come than it is in this. And the more there is to
repent of, the more lasting and the more acute must
be the pain. But Christianity associates forgiveness
with repentance; and in the most characteristically
iv LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME 141
Christian teaching the joy of the forgiven is not held
to be a lesser thing than the pain of the penitent. Suf-
fering also of other kinds, if rightly borne, plays an
important part in the development of character. But
this is only one side of the matter. Dazzled by the
discovery of the supreme value of suffering rightly
borne, too many of the saints have been blind both to
the intrinsic and to the educative value of joy. Hence
Christianity has unfortunately come to be associated
in many minds with a refusal of the joie de vivre, and
with a denial both of the intrinsic value and of the bene-
ficent function in the development of character of sim-
ple pleasure, cheerfulness, and humour. But may we
not hope that that portion of the Church of Christ
which has gone before has recovered from this delu-
sion?
PROGRESS AND ATTAINMENT
Assuming, then, that the idea of Progress is an es-
sential element in our conception of the life to come,
a further question at once arises. Progress implies
direction. If it be true that most people when they
die are neither good enough for Heaven nor bad
enough for Hell, are we to suppose that movement in
the life to come will be in both directions? Will the
person whose life in this world seems to be a steady
development in the direction of increasing moral blind-
ness and deliberate rejection of good and light have a
chance of amendment in the next? And, if so, suppos-
ing he rejects this second opportunity, will the process
of degeneration ultimately reach its logical climax? In
other words, does Hell exist; and, if so, what is it like
and who, if any one, will go there? This is an intensely
important question, but as I have already indicated
(p. 128 f.) the kind of answer I should be disposed to
give to it, and as other aspects of it are discussed in
Essay V. of this volume, I will pass it by and confine
142 IMMORTALITY iv
my attention to the meaning of the idea of Progress
in the upward direction.
We are at once brought up against the question,
Is there such a thing as a final and perfect Heaven? The
very idea of Progress seems to imply an ultimate goal
towards which the advance is being made. Hence,
strict logic seems to demand an ultimate Heaven in the
sense of a final goal for achieved perfection. We hu-
man beings strive for perfection and we long for rest;
but, on the other hand, when we think of it, the idea
of an eternity of existence in a static state of achieved
perfection seems intolerable. The fact that, in such a
state, nothing would remain to be hoped for, and noth-
ing would be left to be done, implies to many minds
the negation of one of the fundamental conditions of
happiness. The human heart has an insatiable demand
for apparently inconsistent things — activity and repose,
achievement and pursuit. We may go a little deeper
and say that the mind and will of man is essentially
creative, and that creation implies both the existence
of an end which it is possible to attain and the fact that
it is not yet attained. The difficulty (which, be it
noted, is the same as the standing philosophical diffi-
culty of getting a conception of the Divine Being which
will include both perfection and activity) is one which
does not admit of solution within the limits of analo-
gies suggested by our present experience. But, for
practical purposes, we may leave it on one side.
Experience shows that the result of any advance to-
wards a goal which is clearly seen, whether in knowl-
edge, in artistic achievement, or in morals, leads to the
discovery of a goal and of an ideal beyond that origin-
ally perceived. And, in this world at any rate, it is the
case that those who have made most progress in any
department are also those who recognise most clearly
the infinite distance which still separates them from
their ideal. Every achievement brings with it an en-
hancement of the ideal to be achieved. Not only that,
iv LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME 143
but we grow more rapidly in our perception of the char-
rcter and richness of the ideal than in our achievement
uf what we have perceived. The distance between the
starting-point and the goal perceived increases rather
than diminishes as we advance; and it is probable that
this would not be otherwise in the life to come. As far
ahead as, and further than, our imaginations can pic-
ture, fresh vistas and richer possibilities will open up,
new heights to climb will continue to loom in sight. And
long before we have reached that finality which strict
logic seems to postulate, we may expect to have at-
tained an insight into the ultimate nature of reality
which will enable us to apprehend the solution of this
as well as of many other problems to which no answer
seems now forthcoming.
It would seem, therefore, that if our speculations
with regard to the future life are to have any practical
value, it would be well to confine them to the attempt
to make more precise our ideas of what that state of
life will be which follows immediately on the present.
Even if we feel bound to postulate the existence of a
final and ultimate state of perfection, in our present
state of knowledge and with even our imaginations lim-
ited by the experience of this world, speculations as to
its nature are worthless. In what follows, therefore,
I shall endeavour merely to ask whether it is possible
to discover any principles which will enable us to real-
ise in a more concrete way the nature and character of
the life which immediately follows the present, and, as
before remarked, I shall simplify the problem by leav-
ing out of account the question of the fate of the un-
repentant sinner as being sufficiently dealt with else-
where in this volume.
If, as I suggest, we confine our attention to the con-
ception of what I may call the proximate as distin-
guished from the ultimate Heaven, we are relieved of
the necessity of any further, discussion of the difficult
c/uestion of the relation of Time to Eternity, and its
144 IMMORTALITY iv
bearing on the nature of the future life. The concep-
tion of an existence outside Time is one which baffles
the imagination. It provides, no doubt, a solution to
certain difficult problems of philosophy, but, to my own
mind, it creates as many or nearly as many as it solves,
and I feel a reluctance to commit myself to an opinion
as to whether an existence out of Time either is or is
not a possibility, even in the case of God. But I think
that it is unnecessary to do so, for the question is really
irrelevant to the particular enquiry on which we are en-
gaged. Time may possibly not be a condition of the
life of God. If so, it may not be a condition of the life
of Heaven — if by Heaven we mean that final state of
achieved perfection which we may perhaps be bound to
postulate as the ultimate goal of progress — though, for
the reasons urged in the previous Essay, l I incline to
doubt it. But the quest on which we are now engaged
is not an attempt to imagine for ourselves the nature
of existence in this ultimate Heaven, if such there be,
but merely in a proximate Heaven, i.e. in that long
period of progress which we have agreed will follow
this present life. In this proximate Heaven Time is a
necessity as much as it is for life on earth, for progress
is impossible except in Time. I hold, therefore, that
whatever philosophical view we adopt as to the ulti-
mate relation of Time and Eternity, we are not only
justified but bound to think of the life immediately
after death as life in Time, even if the view be accepted,
which personally I incline to think erroneous, that we
ought not to think of it in terms of space.
*Cf. p. 96 ff.
iv LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME 145
PART II
THE NATURE OF ETERNAL LIFE
GOD, MAN, AND CHRIST
IN the previous Essay it has been shown that the
proof of personal Immortality rests in the last resort
on the Christian conception of the character of God.
Our view of the nature and quality of the life of the
world to come is equally determined by this same thing.
The life of those in Heaven must be thought of as a
participation in the Divine life as full as is compatible
with their still remaining finite human beings. We
must first of all, then, ask what clear and certain knowl-
edge have we as to the character and quality of the
Divine life? This at once brings us up against the
question, What do we mean by saying that God is
revealed in Christ? Only in so far as we grasp the
real meaning of this central feature in Christianity shall
we be able to make any progress at all in our present
quest. Hence a summary statement on this subject seems
to be a necessary preliminary to any further enquiry.
The notion that the same Person could be both com-
pletely divine and completely human, perfectus Deus,
perfectus Homo, as the Athanasian Creed puts it, is one
which presented insurmountable intellectual difficulties
to the mind of that Greco-Roman world to which the
early Church had to endeavour to explain and justify
its belief. Most of the doctrinal disputes and heresies
of the first five centuries were due to the fact that no
conception of the Person of Christ seemed intellectually
tenable to the average educated man of the time which
did not make out that Christ was either less than fully
divine, or else not really and truly human. The moral
and religious insight, however, of the Christian com-
munity could not rest satisfied with any view which
146 IMMORTALITY iv
seemed to impair, however subtly, the full reality either
of His humanity or of His divinity. Hence, since the
philosophy of the day was inadequate to suggest any
explanation which was intellectually satisfactory, the
Church was driven to affirm the complete personal
union of the two natures as an inexplicable mystery to
be accepted by faith. And it was defended by defini-
tions which aimed less at offering a satisfactory ex-
planation of what was believed than at ruling out
such unsatisfactory explanations as had up to that date
been formulated.
During the last century, however, it has been be-
coming more and more clear that the intellectual diffi-
culties felt in the matter by the ancient world — and,
indeed, by the majority of people in the modern world
— were due to the fact that an attempt was being made
to solve the problem of the relation of God and man in
Christ while leaving uncriticised pre-Christian concep-
tions of the nature both of God and man. If the same
Person is both completely divine and completely human,
it follows that both God and man are very different
beings from what is commonly supposed; there must
be in man possibilities as yet unrealised, and in God
actualities as yet unsuspected. So far as man was con-
cerned this was early recognised, especially by the Alex-
andrian Fathers. Athanasius' famous "He became
human that we might be made divine" states in a word
what was an accepted tenet of his school. But it has
taken a much longer time to realise that the doctrine
of the Divinity of Christ necessitates a far more dras-
tic revolution in pre-Christian (and, indeed, in most
current) conceptions of God than in pre-Christian con-
ceptions of man. Before Christ, the Jew had pictured
God as a monarch living in gorgeous splendour, sur-
rounded by celestial state and pomp, the embodiment
of power, magnificence, and splendour. The Greek had
looked on Him as the Absolute Being of philosophy,
immutable, impassible, who could not be thought of
iv LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME 147
even as Creator unless He worked through an inter-
mediary. But neither of these is the God whom Christ
called Father; neither of these is the God of whom
Christ is the "image" here on earth.
Athanasius made a heroic effort to save the Church
from invasion by the extreme form of the half Greek,
half Jewish conception of God which Arianism stood
for. But he did not go far enough in the direction of
thinking out the full implications of his main conten-
tion, that the Son is really and essentially Divine and
that what we see in Him is the substance and not the
shadow of the Divine life. Indeed, no man educated in
Greek Philosophy and accepting the Old Testament as
verbally inspired could have gone further than he did.
Great men should be honoured for what they did, not
blamed for what they left undone. But the present
age, unshackled by that philosophy and taught by the
Higher Criticism to see in the Old Testament not one
single authoritative revelation but a long struggle to-
wards ever higher and higher conceptions of the Di-
vine, can, and — if it is not to turn its back on Athana-
sius^— must go further forward along the road he
fought and suffered so much to keep unbarred.
The inherent logic of the doctrine of the Incarnation
necessitates a revaluation of the natural man's ideas, not
merely of things on earth, but also of things in Heaven.
If the Son of Man on earth repudiated the methods
and ideals of the Kings of the Gentiles who lord and
strut, if He taught that he who is the greatest on earth
must be servant of all, and that the King of Kings is
He who dies for all; and if Christ is, as St. Paul puts it,
"the portrait of the unseen God," a then that must mean
that God and the life of Heaven are not what we are
apt to fancy. If uthe light of the knowledge of the
glory of God is to be seen in the face of Jesus Christ,"
then the glory of God must be a very different thing
from what most of us would otherwise suppose. If the
1 Ei/cwv TOV Of ov TOV aoparov, Col. i. 15.
148 IMMORTALITY iv
life of Christ on earth is the picture in time of some-
thing which is eternal in the life of God, then God Him-
self is seen to share the suffering of the world and, at
the cost of His own agony, to be overcoming the evil in
it. And the pomp and circumstance, the dignity and
domination, which seem to us magnificent and grand,
are shown to be a hollow fraud. A revolution in our
scheme of values is effected which at once puts down the
mighty from their seat and exalts the inconspicuous and
the quiet.
But, if this be so, it follows that the popular concep-
tion of Heaven errs, not so much through being sym-
bolic— that is inevitable — as from the fact that its sym-
bolism suggests as the dominant characteristic of the
life of Heaven something lower than what Christ
taught us is the highest life on earth. It has in it too
much of Solomon in all his glory, too little of the beauty
of the lilies of the field. At its lower levels it suggests
the splendour of an Imperial court, and even at its
highest level it has left out something vital. Painters,
preachers, hymn-writers, starting from St. John's vision
of the Adoration of the Lamb or from a glorified remi-
niscence of High Mass in some great cathedral, have
tried to depict a Heaven compact of awe, sublimity,
and the rapture of mystic adoration. Heaven must in-
clude these, but it must include much more. We cannot
conceive of a Heaven in which Christ would be content
to dwell unless there was to be found in it the counter-
part of other things He loved on earth, the wild flowers
and the birds, the children playing, friends gathered
round the common board, the fellowship of labour and
of love, and the quiet hour on the mountainside at dawn.
ETERNAL LIFE
If, then, we take our stand upon the doctrine of the
Incarnation, we see at once that the life of the world to
come must be thought of as differing from the highest
iv LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME 149
kind of life which we know on earth in degree rather
than in kind. And this, be it noted, is exactly how it
is thought of in the Gospel of St. John. The con-
ception of Eternal Life in this Gospel gives us exactly
the guiding principle we want if we are to attain any
clear, definite, and vital notion of the nature and qual-
ity of the life of the world to come. To him we call
St. John, Eternal Life is something of which we can
already experience a foretaste in this world; it is a life
to which death is not an interruption but rather the re-
moval of restrictions and impediments; it is a life of
which the important characteristic is, not the place
where it is lived, but the quality of the life itself.
Eternal Life is said, by the author of the fourth
Gospel, to consist in "the knowledge of God and of
His Son Jesus Christ." What does this imply? Not,
surely, or at any rate not in the first place, philosophic
understanding of the nature of the Supreme Being or
historical information about the historic Jesus, such as
one may get by reading books or hearing discourses.
The knowledge of God and Christ which St. John
speaks of is such an intimacy with, such an appropria-
tion of, the personal Divine life revealed in Christ, that
he who has it sees eye to eye with Christ, loves the
things that He loves, shares His sense of values. The
life, then, of the world to come must be thought of,
not in terms of average life on earth, but only of the
highest life on earth; and our test of what is highest
on earth is to be determined by that standard of value
which we have learnt from Christ.
The modern man, who is not habituated to express-
ing the ideals which most appeal to him in religious
phraseology, will be disposed to define the highest life
as consisting in absolute devotion to the triad Goodness,
Beauty, and Truth. Is this essentially different from
St. John's definition, "the Knowledge of God and His
Son Jesus Christ"? It is possible to be devoted to
Goodness, Beauty, or Truth without any conscious or
150 IMMORTALITY iv
explicit reference to God or Christ; but, in so far as
one or all of these are thought of and pursued apart
from any conscious recognition of the one Divine in
which they have their source and final harmony, there is
something incompletely realised. It cannot be too often
insisted that all disinterested devotion to Goodness,
Beauty, or Truth is really and truly (whether the devo-
tee is aware of it or not) a recognition of, and an act
of service to, the One Divine, from whom these flow
and in whom they have their unifying principle and ul-
timate explanation. On the other hand, it must be no
less emphasised that it is not possible really to know
and serve God unless we recognise Him, not only as the
Personal Reality over and above the totality of things,
but also as actually present and directly manifested
through nature and through man in the actual world
given to us by sense and thought. *
If the present life be regarded as a pilgrimage, a
preparation for the life of the world to come, our
expectations of what will be the chief activities of the
next life cannot but influence our idea of what ought
to be our chief activity in this. The widespread idea
I that life in Heaven is to be thought of as one unending
/ act of undifferentiated religious adoration has undoubt-
t edly led to a narrowing of the conception of the mean-
j ing of sanctity on earth — with disastrous consequences.
I The great tragedy of Christianity in modern times has
/ been, not its failure to attract or retain the allegiance of
<, the vain, the frivolous, and the materially minded, but
its failure to appeal to the idealist of to-day. And this
has been to no small extent due to the fact that the ideal
which the Church has held up to — or perhaps to speak
more accurately, that aspect of the ideal life which it has
been most successful ineffectively bringing home to — the
imagination of Europe has been narrow and one-sided.
In a matter of moral and spiritual values deliberately
1 For the further working out of this idea, see my Essay on "Worship" in
Concerning Prayer.
iv LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME 151
to challenge what at first sight seems to be the verdict
of the saints, may appear a rash proceeding. I would
maintain, however, that what I am challenging is not
the verdict of the consensus sanctorum, but, at most, the
verdict of that section of the saints whom ecclesiastical
authority has seen fit to canonise. Nor is it really even
this. In the case of many of the canonised saints the
nearer we get to their authentic biographies the wider
and richer do we find was the ideal in accordance with
which they actually lived, and the less conspicuous and
dominating an element in their lives is that particular
set of interests and activities which are conventionally
associated with the idea of sanctity. We not infre-
quently find, too, that the saints themselves lamented
as a weakness what was really breadth of moral vision,
and, in deference to the authority of traditional views,
deplored what they supposed to be a failure in them-
selves to the extent of making considerable and ill-
judged efforts to force their thoughts, tastes, and de-
sires into accordance with the conventional pattern.
The latter part of the life of St. Francis of Assisi is a
notable case. And biographers have been even more
active in this direction, and have often completely
succeeded in doing on paper what the saint was fortu-
nately unable to accomplish in real life. 1
Again, the interpretation of their experiences given
by the great Mystics has often been to some extent
vitiated — probably even the actual form of the experi-
ence itself has been to some extent perverted — by a
conception of the nature of the Divine derived ulti-
mately from Plotinus. The concrete conception of a
richly personal, a feeling and acting Diety, which the
Biblical writers are all agreed in holding, is really in
marked contrast to the Neo-Platonic idea that God is
one whom we can best conceive of by denying to Him
1 Contrast the Life of St. Francis by S. Bonaventura with the Speculum Per-
fectionis or the first Life of Celano. I am inclined to accept the view of
Sabatier as to the later life of St. Francis as in the main correct in spite of the
great authority of Father Cuthbert.
152 IMMORTALITY iv
any of the qualities or attributes of which we have
experience ; and that He is a Being whom we can, there-
fore, best draw near to by cutting ourselves off from
all interest in earthly things. The substitution of the
Neo-Platonic for the Christian idea of God could not
but have important consequences. True, few, if any,
of the Mediaeval Saints effected more than a partial
substitution between the two views. In practice they
tried to combine them. But the effect of the Neo-Pla-
tonic element in their theology, and the ascetic element
in their practice, has profoundly affected, and that not
for the better, the traditional conception of the Beati-
fic Vision. The via negativa which, on its intellectual
side, will only think of God in negative categories, and
which, on its practical side, mainly seeks Him by turn-
ing its back on the ordinary life of mankind, cannot but
introduce an element of abstraction and monotony into
our conception of what is the highest life of the spirit
in the next life as in this.
Something more is said on this subject in the con-
cluding section of the last Essay in this volume, so all
I would emphasise here is that the life of God must not
only be said to be, but actually imagined as something
fuller, richer, and more alive, as something more con-
crete, not less so, than the life of man; and that the life
of Heaven must be thought of as more, not less, teem-
ing with varied content than that of earth. Life here
would be intolerable without variety, and the life of a
world which is better than this would have in it more
and not less variety than that of this world.
One of the reasons why so few people are interested
in the Heaven of popular Theology is that the picture
it presents to the imagination of the life of the blessed
suggests a life of unbroken monotony. There are those
who would defend, or at any rate palliate, the tradi-
tional picture by reminding us that in supreme moments,
whether of adoration or otherwise, we seem to be lifted
as it were out of Time into Eternity and to feel that
iv LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME 153
we could be content could such a moment be prolonged
infinitely. But our more sober reflection tells us that
even if this were the case there are supreme moments
of different qualities and different characters, and we
would enjoy not one but all of these. There is the mo-
ment when the discovery of new truth dawns upon the
seeker —
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
there is the moment of entrancement at the vision of
perfect beauty; there is the moment of the union of
soul and soul in love. The passion of religious adora-
tion may interpenetrate and transcend, and, in that
sense, may include, all these, yet, unless they are ex-
perienced seriatim and in separation, something of su-
preme value will be lost for ever. And this variety is
needed, because the value of supreme moments lies not
only in themselves, but also in their permanent and
abiding consequences in the enrichment and elevation)
of the whole life — and that a life which is meant to be
lived not in isolation but in harmony with other souls.
To dwell over much on the hilltops of supreme indi-
vidualistic experiences, and to interpret their meaning
and value in the light of an overmastering conception
such as that of "the Alone with the Alone," is ulti-
mately to impoverish them. That which cannot be
shared with others — if not directly at least in its re-
sults— may possibly be good but it is not the best.
Why was it that of all the symbols current at the
time for expressing the joy of the coming Age, our
Lord so frequently selected the most homely and seem-
ingly the most material — the common meal, the Sup-
per to which a certain man invited his friends, the table
round which we shall "sit at meal" in the Kingdom with
present friends and with the great souls of the past?
Why on that night when He was to be betrayed had
He desired with desire to eat that passover, and, fail-
154 IMMORTALITY iv
ing that, why did He break the bread and pass the cup
of which He was to drink no more till He drank a
new kind in the world to come? Surely it all means
that to Him the frank, free union in love and friend-
ship, perhaps most often seen on earth round the fa-
miliar board — that Kingdom which consists not in eat-
ing or drinking, but in righteousness and peace and joy,
in that Spirit which was the spirit in and by which He
lived Himself — is the highest thing on earth, and is,
therefore, a foretaste of the life of Heaven. The near-
est thing to Heaven that we can attain on earth is the
experience of love and fellowship, of the complete har-
mony of mind with mind and heart with heart, between
those who feel themselves to be lifted out of and above
themselves, not only by the depth of their personal af-
fection but by their passionate devotion to some com-
mon interest or ideal. This may be found on earth
without any religious bond explicitly so-called, but
wherever that is the case I would affirm that there is
really an apprehension and realisation of the Divine
Presence even though it be unrecognised as such. But
it is only when personal affection and consecration to
a great ideal finds its natural consummation in con-
scious fellowship in the experience of the Divine Pres-
ence that we can understand what St. John means by
Eternal Life and can "know that we have passed from
death unto life because we love the brethren."
THE CONTENT OF THE IDEA OF HEAVEN
I will now proceed to work out in rather more detail
the conception of the character of the life of the world
to come which follows it, accepting the scheme of values
implied in the doctrine of the Incarnation, we think out
the full meaning of St. John's view of Eternal Life.
And lest I be thought to be attempting to read my
own personal hopes or foibles into the next life, I will,
in every case, base what I advance on some outstanding
passage in the New Testament.
iv LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME 155
'Love
No thought is more fundamental to the teaching of
the New Testament than that the ideal of goodness
itself and all the rules of morality are merely divers ex-
pressions of the one inward passion of beneficent desire
and activity to which is given the name Love. To the
Master, Love God, love thy neighbour, are the great
commandments. "Love," says St. Paul, "is the ful-
filment of the law."
In the famous hymn to Charity in i Cor. xiii. St.
Paul develops the great idea that, whereas all other
activities — prophecies, tongues, and the like — are rela-
tive to the temporary and transient conditions of life on
earth, Love is the great exception, "Love never fail-
eth." This, and this alone, will be precisely of the same
kind in Heaven as it is on earth. It is a commonplace
of philosophers that we cannot think of God as exhib-
iting the cardinal virtues except in a symbolic sense ; for
the very meaning of qualities like courage, temperance,
or even justice, is relative both to our personal limita-
tions and the limitations of our earthly environment.
It is otherwise with the principle of Love — that is why
it is possible that in the character of the Ideal Man
the very essence of the Divine should be manifest on
earth. And the Love which St. Paul speaks of as that
which will not fail or be changed into something very
different in the world to come is not the love of man
to God — that is not with most of us an experience
vivid enough to illuminate an unknown world — but the
love of man to man.
The life, therefore, of the world to come must be
thought of as life in a society — the New Jerusalem,
the Kingdom of God, the Communion of Saints; call
it what you will. And the most conspicuous feature of
that society will be not merely that the exercise of active
love will be as possible there as it is on earth, but that
the love will be of an intenser quality, will lavish itself
156 IMMORTALITY iv
on a wider range of persons, and will be able to express
itself more freely and in more diverse ways. Gesture
and speech, which as often disguise as reveal our real
meaning, may perhaps be superseded, at least they will
be supplemented, by an acuter sympathy and insight
which shall make impossible the uncertainties, misun-
derstandings, and embarrassments which hinder love
on earth or restrict its range to narrow circles. A so-
ciety in which every individual thought and did exactly
the same would not be a society; individuality, there-
fore, diversity of character, capacity, and taste, must
still remain. But the differences will no longer be a
source of strain and friction but will be united into one
great harmony like the notes of the very various in-
struments in a great orchestra.
Work
"My father worketh hitherto and I work," our
Lord is reported to have said to those who objected to
His healing on the Sabbath day. Creation, the making
that to be which hitherto has not been, is not to be
thought of as something which God did once for all in
a remote past but as a constant eternal activity. And
some shadow, some counterpart of this creative faculty
has been given to man on earth. The farmer, the
builder, the inventor, the artist, are all in a sense crea-
tors. They bring into existence that which, but for
them, would not have been. This creative capacity and
activity of man — an activity so valuable that we can see
in it a shadow and counterpart of the eternal and char-
acteristic life of God — shall it not continue in the world
to come? It must continue, though exercising itself on
different materials and adapting itself to ends differing
from those of which we now have experience, as much
as the present work of one who designs an Atlantic
liner differs from the making of paper boats which oc-
cupied his childhood. What exactly the work will be
iv LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME 157
which we have to do we cannot even profitably guess;
but there will surely be different kinds of work for
different kinds of people. And for some, if not for all,
we may suppose that part of it will consist in labour
for the souls of those who have entered the next life
lower down in the moral scale than themselves. And
why may not the work of some be to watch over and
inspire the lives of loved ones still on earth?
Thought
"Now we see through a glass darkly; but then face
to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know
even as also I am known." The pursuit of truth along
the line of scientific investigation, though existent in
the Greek-speaking world, had probably never been a
very serious interest in the circles in which St. Paul had
lived. A wider and more dominant interest of his age
was the passion for truth along the line of philosophic
enquiry. Here, again, St. Paul's early education had
probably only brought him in contact with the outskirts
of this movement. Though born at Tarsus he had
been trained a Pharisee ; and though the Pharisees were
genuinely interested in righteousness, they supposed
they had already attained all the truth that they re-
quired. Yet, in spite of this, a passionate interest in
the ultimate nature of reality flashes continually
through his words; it is the presupposition of his
change of faith and the inspiration of all his preach-
ing of righteousness. True, he never elaborated a
systematic philosophy of religion, but he produced cre-
ative thought which no subsequent philosophy has been
able to neglect. To the Corinthians, indeed, corrupted
by the conceit of a shallow intellectualism, he will
preach only the Cross of Christ. He declines to
gratify them with logomachies. But he tells them that,
for the initiated, he has a philosophy. And when in
the hymn to Charity he contracts love with knowledge
158 IMMORTALITY iv
to the detriment of the latter, it is not because he thinks
poorly of knowledge and its pursuit. Quite the con-
trary. It is precisely because he rates knowledge of
the truth so high that in praise of love he says that
love is higher even than knowledge. And what he
looks for in the world to come is, not the abolition of
the interest in truth, but its full and complete fruition.
The notion that the activity of the reason in the pur-
suit of truth is something on which Religion should
look askance runs counter not only to St. Paul's teach-
ing but to that of all the greatest Christian thinkers. St.
Thomas Aquinas, indeed, goes so far as to say that the
Beatific Vision is an activity of the intellect, actus in-
tellectus, and indeed an activity of the speculative
rather than of the practical intellect, and more than
once adopts to describe it St. Augustine's phrase,
"guadium de veritate" *
Beauty
The apprehension and enjoyment of the Beautiful
is that element in the ideal state of existence which tra-
ditional apocalyptic conceptions of Heaven have been
fairly successful in bringing home to the popular mind.
The glorious vision of the descent of the New Jerusa-
lem which concludes the Book of Revelation, the sub-
lime poetry of which no amount of over-literal and
materialistic interpretation could disguise, is mainly re-
sponsible for this relative success. But though the ap-
prehension of sublimer forms of beauty must be a nec-
essary element in our conception of the future life, the
sublime alone will not suffice. The highest and most
complete activity of the aesthetic instinct demands for
its satisfaction not merely the grandeur of an Alpine
vista, of an Indian sunset, or of a great Cathedral, but
1 Cf. "Summa Theologiae," Prima Secundae, Hi. 4. I have no desire to
defend this particular conclusion but I quote it as showing the outlook of the
man. What the Church needs to-day is to abandon the letter in order thereby
to recover the spirit of the great Theologians of the past.
iv LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME 159
the quiet, homely appeal of the violet, the mossy nook,
the village church. As I have already urged, our no-
tions of the beauty of Heaven and the splendour of it
have been modelled too much on the throne-room of
Solomon in all his glory, and too little on the lilies
of the field and on the everyday interests of Him whose
standard of values we profess to recognise but have
none of us yet completely apprehended. Stateliness,
dignity, classical perfection are the ideal of Pagan art
• — Greek or Renaissance. The modern taste, which is
not content with Praxiteles or Coreggio unless it can
also have Rembrandt or Rodin, is moving nearer to the
aesthetic sense of Christ.
Humour
In the Bible there is not much humour, but the place
where we find it most is the place where, if the line of
argument I am pursuing is correct, we should most ex-
pect to find it — in some of the sayings of our Lord. 1
These instances of humour range from the delicate
irony of the suggestion that the Pharisees were such as
"needed no physician" to the touch of extravaganza in
the picture of the man naively volunteering to remove
a speck from a friend's eye while there is half a tree in
his own. Only those sayings of our Lord have been
preserved which happened to strike the original hearers
as supremely interesting and which, in addition, ap-
peared to the second generation of Christians, by whom
our Gospels were composed, to have a distinct moral,
religious, or apologetic value. Hence they have all been,
as it were, passed through a sieve, which inevitably
sifted out many things which seemed uninteresting or
unimportant to more conventionally-minded followers.
Thus only one saying of His implying a judgment on
aesthetics (uthe lilies of the field") , one only indicating
His love for animals ("not one sparrow"), have been
1 Cf. T. R. Glover, The Jesus of History, p. 49 flf.
160 IMMORTALITY iv
preserved. But these cannot have been the only ones
of the kind that were spoken, for each implies a whole
philosophy; and these two, be it noted, are recorded,
not for the sake of showing His love of nature or of
animals — the features in these sayings which are of
most interest to us — but for the sake of the moral which
can be drawn from them. There are, perhaps, not
more than half a dozen sayings recorded which are
clearly humorous. These are sufficient to prove that
humour was natural to Him; and it is a reasonable con-
jecture that it was a more conspicuous feature in His
discourse than at first sight we might infer from the
relatively small proportion of recorded sayings in
which we can still detect it.
Personally, I should not be satisfied by a future life
from which the element of kindly humour was excluded.
And the fact that it entered into the mental life of our
Lord would seem to justify the inference that there
will be something equivalent to it in the next world —
otherwise, a real loss of values would take place. Hu-
mour is one of those things which is developed rather
late in the progress of the race. Primitive humour
like primitive courage usually has in it an element of
cruelty and brutality, often, too, of grossness. But
with the intellectual, and still more with the moral, ad-
vance of the community the humour which consists in
jeers at the misfortunes of others or which expresses
itself in crude practical jokes gives place to a subtler
thing, of which the fundamental quality is a keen per-
ception of absurdity or unreality and in which the pre-
dominant element is kindliness. In a society of real
friends humour is the solvent in which egoism, the
root of all unsocial thought and action, is insensibly
dissolved. Most of all so when a person sees or even
enunciates the joke against himself. The highest form
of humour implies the unerring perception of reality
which sees at once through shams, pretences, and self-
deceptions. It implies a gift of expression which can
iv LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME 161
absolutely fit word, thought, and gesture in the subtlest
combination. Again, it implies a keenness of moral
perception which can "understand all" and yet refuse
to "pardon all" without the expression of a subtle criti-
cism which can purify without wounding, because it
speaks not as from a moral pedestal, but from the
standpoint of one conscious of membership in a race to
which absurdity and self-deception is innate. It can
express, indeed it alone can express in little things, a
moral judgment without self-righteousness, because it
implies the humility which necessarily goes with the
recognition of reality. Humour, of course, can be
cruel, base, or filthy, but in its highest form it implies
a synthesis of the highest intellectual, aesthetic, and
moral perceptions. In another aspect it is an expres-
sion, the most spontaneous perhaps of all, of the joy
of life. It is essentially thanksgiving though not con-
sciously realised as such. Again, it is before all things
a social virtue since it is only within a circle bound to-
gether by real ties of fellowship and sympathy that it
can attain its subtlest, richest, and most spontaneous
expression. But if there are to be jokes in Heaven,
they will be better and more kindly than most of those
we hear on earth.
The Fision of God
"And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God
Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the
city had no need of the sun neither of the moon to
shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the
Lamb is the light thereof."
Saints and theologians have always admitted, more
than that, they have always cried aloud, that it was the
unimagined and unimaginable to which they pointed
when they spoke of the Beatific Vision. Yet, in spite
of, perhaps even partly on account of, their emphasis
on its unimaginable wonder, certain ideas and associa-
1 62 IMMORTALITY iv
tions have gathered round the phrase which have led
to an actual impoverishment of our notions of the life
of Heaven, and have also exercised a misleading and
demoralising influence on religious life and practice on
earth. For this reason, and for this reason only, I feel
that I cannot altogether avoid the subject.
Clearly here, as in what has gone before, the guiding
principle of our enquiry must be that "the knowledge
of God and of His Son Jesus Christ," which consti-
tutes the essence of Eternal Life, is something of which
already in this world it is possible to have some en-
joyment. St. Paul, St. John, and the Saints in general
agree in regarding the conscious experience of the
presence of God in the life of the world to come
rather as an enhancement, an intensification, an exten-
sion, and a consummation, of the highest experiences of
this life than as something wholly different in kind. But
just because it is the highest of all experiences that are
here in question we must be especially careful to bring
our judgment of what it is that we mean by "highest"
to the test of the standard of values which was set by
Christ. The conflict is always with us between the
Christian and the Pagan conceptions as to what is the
essential test and quality of "religious experience" or
of the "spiritual"; and we do well to study carefully
what St. Paul has to say to the Corinthians on the
matter of "spiritual gifts." By the Corinthians
"speaking with tongues" — an ecstasy of exalted emo-
tion without clear content or articulate expression-
was regarded as the type of the highest spiritual ex-
perience and activity. St. Paul does not condemn the
emotion or even the incapacity of expression; but he
clearly regards this incoherent emotionalism as a very
great danger; and ranks it as far inferior to the pas-
sionate apprehension and clear enunciation of truth
and righteousness which prophecy can give. And he
proceeds at once to "show them a more excellent way"
— the way of the love that never f aileth and is the only
iv LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME 163
true and the final canon by which to judge of spiritual
values in heaven as on earth.
In modern religion the error of the Corinthians most
commonly takes two forms. First, there is what I may
call the "cult of the supreme moment," the pursuit,
for its own sake, of a religious experience of a wholly
emotional character. Secondly, there is the notion that
holiness or sanctity or "the supernatural life" is a thing
which can exist apart from what is known as "ordi-
nary" goodness, good sense or good taste. The teach-
ing and the methods by which it is sought to attain
this spurious religious experience or to realise this
falsely conceived sanctity differ considerably according
as those who pursue them are influenced by uthe cor-
i apt following" of Catholic Mysticism or of Evangeli-
cal Revivalism. The danger of the emotional short-cut
which thinks to enjoy an experience of God without
clear apprehension of and complete devotion to the
Goodness, Beauty, and Truth which are the expression
of, and the revelation in ordinary life of, the very na-
ture of the Divine, is one of which the great Mystics
and Revivalists themselves have often been fully aware.
It is the tragedy of all greatness that it can be used
to give an added prestige to weaknesses or errors,
which may perhaps have existed in the great man, but
in him were either merely the reflection of a general
tendency of his time or were at any rate the least char-
acteristic element of his own real message.
If we start with a false conception of what is meant
by the worship of God on earth we shall reach a false
conception of the life of Heaven. I have tried else-
where a to work out what I believe to be the true con-
ception of worship. In this place I can only state my
conviction that a life consisting in one unending act of
adoration — provided always that adoration be thought
of as something isolated from, and unrelated to the life
of social fellowship, creative work, aesthetic apprehen-
1 Concerning Prayer, Essay VIII.
1 64 IMMORTALITY iv
sion and active thought — is not the highest life. True
worship is an orientation of the whole self which col-
ours, conditions, and pervades these departmental ac-
tivities. It is not a uniform preoccupation with the rea-
lisation of an emotional mystic experience which can
supersede them; although in this world certainly, and
possibly in the next, definite times may be set apart for
concentration on the realisation of the Divine Presence
apart from action, thought, aesthetic apprehension, or
human fellowship.
That which is revealed to us by truth and beauty and
goodness is not something other than the Divine, it is
very God ; but to say this and this only is to leave unsaid
something quite as important. God is a person, and the
Vision of God must mean a fuller realisation of this in
all its richness and meaning than is possible on earth.
The experience which goes with the perception of nat-
ural beauty sometimes seems to carry with it the con-
sciousness of an Infinite Presence almost personal; in
the next life the qualifying "almost" may disappear. But
this analogy will not take us all the way we want to go,
and it is hard not to surmise that to finite minds the In-
finite Being must always baffle and transcend our appre-
hension. It is just here that the Christian doctrine of
the Incarnation helps us. "No man hath seen God at
any time ; the only begotten Son ... he hath declared
him." If this is true on earth surely it will not become
untrue in Heaven. If we are right in thinking that the
"spiritual body" of the world to come will be such as to
completely express the real nature of our personalities,
and if even in the body of His flesh and blood Christ
could be for men the "image of the unseen God," how
much more will He in His spiritual body be able to
reveal to us the very nature of the Divine personality,
"the fulness of the Godhead bodily"? In this way
we can imagine how what now we see through a glass
darkly we shall then indeed see face to face.
And what, may we expect, will be the effect upon
iv LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME 165
us of this visible personal contact with our Lord? Not,
as is so often taken for granted, to dazzle, paralyse, or
crush. A personality that is truly great, great that is
in the sense in which Christ reckons greatness, is not
one which breaks the bruised reed or quenches the
smouldering wick in weaker characters. That is the
function of the vulgar Super-man. A really great
personality uplifts and inspires, it does not abash; it
stimulates the individuality of others, it does not strive
to reduce them to a pattern; it encourages them to
diverse and spontaneous activity, it does not drill them
into a uniform monotony.
The world is so full of a number of things,
I am sure we should all be as happy as kings.
Heaven will be more "full of things" than earth, and
Christ is not the supreme Egoist who must always have
all eyes directly gazing on Himself alone, but the su-
preme Friend who will share with us all our interests
and our joys in their infinite variety.
"It is I; be not afraid."
In the picture by Apelles of Agamemnon offering
up his only daughter in sacrifice to liberate the Greek
fleet from the curse of an offended deity, we are told
that on the faces of kings, chieftains, soldiers, and at-
tendants was depicted with a master's skill every shade
of sympathy, pity, horror, and awe; but the figure of
the father was so turned that the expression of his face
could not be seen. What word or brush cannot express
imagination can sometimes compass. But there are
things in regard to which even imagination must faint
and fail. Our attempt to penetrate the nature of the
life that is to be has reached this point.
The principle of the continuity between the life of
Heaven and the highest life we know on earth — that
necessary deduction from belief in the Divinity of
Christ — will carry us a long way towards finding that
1 66 IMMORTALITY iv
definite and concrete picture of the nature of the future
life which was the goal set before us in this enquiry. It
also indicates the direction in which further revelation
may be sought. If Christ is for us the "portrait of the
unseen God," our knowledge of God, and therefore of
the nature of eternal life will depend upon the extent
to which we can enter into and understand the mind of
Christ. But this is something which is always growing
with the moral and spiritual growth, not only of the
individual, but also of the community. In exact pro-
portion to the effective realisation on earth of the
Kingdom of God will be the increase in our knowledge
of the real nature of the life of the world to come.
But something unrealised and unguessed at by man
on earth must still remain. Say that in the life of
Christ is revealed the life of very God, and you say it
of the life of One who "increased in wisdom and
stature," who was made "perfect through sufferings,"
but who only reached the climax of maturity in His
experience of the triumph over death and His entry
into a life which is beyond our present ken. The best
we know on earth is no mere shadow, it is of the very
substance of that which is to come, but it is still only
an earnest and a foretaste. There must remain heights
and possibilities yet unexplored. "Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man, the things which God hath prepared for them that
love him." The fruit of the Vine which we drink on
earth is really and essentially Eternal Life, but we shall
drink it new in the Kingdom of God.
V
THE BIBLE AND HELL
BY
CYRIL WILLIAM EMMET, B.D.
VICAR OF WEST HENDRED, BERKS.
AUTHOR OF "THE ESCHATOLOGICAL QUESTION IN THE GOSPELS"; "THE EPISTLE
TO THE GALATIANS" (READERS' COMMENTARY) J "THE THIRD BOOK OF MACCABEES"
(APOCRYPHA AND PSEUDEPIGRAPHA OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, EDITED BY CHARLES) ;
"THE FOURTH BOOK OF MACCABEES" (S.P.C.K. TRANSLATIONS OF EARLY
DOCUMENTS), ETC.
SYNOPSIS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . .170
The modern tendency to reject the idea of hell. Is this com-
patable with the teaching of the Bible, and in particular
of the New Testament? Recent discovery and research
into origin and meaning of language used about future
punishment shows that doctrine of hell in the strict sense
is not to be found in the Bible.
THE TEACHING OF THE OLD TESTAMENT .... 173
Sheol ; sinners punished on earth. Late passages which
suggest punishment after death (Isaiah, Daniel).
THE TEACHING OF THE APOCRYPHA AND OF APOCALYPTIC
LITERATURE . . . . . . .176
The Apocrypha as a whole agrees with the Old Testament.
The change in Apocalyptic literature; its importance.
Persecutors, oppressors, and apostates punished after
death. Uncertainty as to fate of Gentiles. Duration of
punishment not thought out; loose use of "for ever,"
etc. Doctrine of annihilation. Repentance after death
and the ethical problem (4 Esdras).
ZOROASTRIAN INFLUENCE ON JEWISH ESCHATOLOGY . . .183
No strict doctrine of everlasting punishment in contempo-
rary religions. Zoroastrian influence; its ambiguity on
this question.
THE TEACHING OF THE NEW TESTAMENT .... 185
Comparative silence ; books in which future punishment is
almost ignored (St. Paul, St. John). The Synoptic Gos-
pels; prominence of the doctrine in the first Gospel as
opposed to the second and third; evidence. Which is
the more original ? The group of Apocalyptic books on
which the belief rests. Do these books teach an ever-
lasting hell? Fire; "aeonian." Three crucial passages.
SUMMARY OF NEW TESTAMENT TEACHING .... 198
i. The two classes. 2. General reticence. 3. Influence of
contemporary Apocalyptic ideas. 4. The desire for retri-
bution. 5. Everlasting punishment nowhere certainly
taught. 6. No evidence that it was taught by Christ.
7. Traces of Universalism.
168
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 169
PAGE
THE HARDENING OF THE DOCTRINE IN LATER THOUGHT AND
THE REVOLT AGAINST IT ..... 202
Everlasting punishment not embodied in any official Church
formula. Reasons why it became the accepted view.
Protests against it; Origen. The Middle Ages. Opposi-
tion within the Church of England; an open question
for her members.
THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER OF THE NEW TESTAMENT TEACHING 209
The two classes of the New Testament. Attempts to miti-
gate the doctrine of hell: (i) death-bed repentance;
(2) poena damni. The need of advancing beyond the
explicit teaching of the New Testament. The desire to
do so ethical, and due to the teaching of Christ Himself
and the belief in the Fatherhood of God. Is a belief
in hell a deterrent against sin? The hope of future
progress and amendment not a minimising of sin. The
possibility of ultimate dissolution in extreme cases. The
fundamental religious principles and the love of God
revealed in Christ.
THE BIBLE AND HELL
INTRODUCTION
IN any average gathering of persons discussing the
future life from at all a modern point of view — always
supposing they were prepared to say frankly what they
thought, and not merely what they thought they ought
to think — it would be fairly safe to assume that the idea
of hell would be rejected almost without debate. By
"hell" in this connection I would be understood to
mean any state of punishment, whether bodily or spir-
itual, from which there is no longer any prospect of the
soul deriving any benefit, and in which it suffers without
hope for itself or profit to others.
/ Our strongest ground for the belief in immortality at
all is our trust in the infinite Love of God and our con-
( viction that in His Universe goodness must ultimately
prevail; but the doctrine that through all eternity there
will continue to exist individuals suffering acutely in
useless and hopeless agony is too cruel and too irra-
tional to be compatible with that belief. Indeed, there
is no doubt that the notion that the doctrine of hell is
an essential part of Christianity has been one of the
main reasons of the widespread revolt against accepted
religious ideas on the part of so large a proportion of
the more thoughtful and seriously minded which has
taken place during the last century.
The probable tendency of discussion in such a group
170
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 171
as I am supposing would be to some form of Universal-
ism, i.e. to the belief that so long as there was any
spark of goodness in the soul it might still be purified
and developed by the Divine discipline through the
ages. There might be differences of opinion as to the
existence of any who could be regarded as irremediably
bad, but it would be agreed that if there were such,
some form of annihilation was the only end which could
be conceived for them.
The difficulty, however, at once arises that though,
no doubt, this is the general attitude of educated Chris-
tians to-day — and we shall consider later the ethical
grounds on which it rests — it is not what the Church
has in practice taught. And the traditional Christian
teaching in this matter is very generally supposed to
rest directly on the teaching of the Bible as a whole and
of the New Testament in particular.
It is the contention of this paper that this supposi-
tion is wholly erroneous. The recovery, during recent
years, of a large number of lost Jewish Apocalyptic
writings has thrown an entirely new light on the exact
nature of the problem contemplated, on the exact mean-
ing of the terms employed, and on the history and
origin of many of the ideas on this subject found in the
Biblical writers. The net result of modern Biblical
scholarship, with its application of the historical method
commonly known as the higher criticism, combined with
the light derived from these new sources, is to make it
quite clear that the doctrine of hell in the sense in which
that term was understood by our greatgrandfathers is
not to be found in the Bible at all. The Bible teaches,
indeed, that the choice between right and wrong action
is one which has eternal and abiding consequences. It
is emphatically opposed to any belief that, do what
we will, it will make no difference in the long run.
What it does not teach is that, in the last and final re-
sult of things, there will still remain in the Universe
beings suffering acute and everlasting torment in per-
172 IMMORTALITY v
manent rebellion against the Divine Will and for ever
rejecting the Divine Love.
Before, however, submitting the detailed evidence
for this conclusion, it will be convenient to summarise
briefly the main considerations upon which it rests.
1 i ) In the Old Testament, except for a single pas-
sage in one of the latest books, there is no clear teach-
ing of any punishment at all for the wicked after
death. They may be punished in this world, their
bodies may lie unburied, their children may suffer for
their sins, but they themselves will simply perish from
the earth.
(2) The idea of a punishment after death for the
wicked comes in with the so-called Apocalyptic litera-
ture, and the conception of the nature of that punish-
ment was probably largely due to the influence of
Zoroastrian teaching. Two points, however, of great
importance emerge from the study of this literature:
(a) The authors are mainly, if not entirely, preoccu-
pied with the problem of the punishment deserved either
by persecutors of the righteous Israel or by apostates
from the Faith. They are hardly, if at all, interested
in the future destiny of mankind at large, or even of
ordinary sinners in Israel, (b) The punishment con-
templated, though often conceived of in crude and ma-
terial terms, is thought of as enduring for an epoch of
limited duration, not for ever. A careful study of the
passages in which they occur show that the words trans-
lated "eternal" or "everlasting" do not as a matter of
fact mean what those words would imply in the Eng-
lish language. There is indeed a notable passage in
which life during a period expressly defined as con-
sisting of 500 years is spoken of as "eternal."
(3) The writers of the New Testament lived in an
atmosphere which was saturated in the conceptions and
the imagery of the Apocalyptic writings. Their rela-
tion to the whole cycle of Apocalyptic ideas is partly
one of acceptance, partly one of emancipation, but the
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 173
degree of acceptance or emancipation varies very much
in the different books of the New Testament. In par-
ticular there is reason to believe that the teaching of
Our Lord, especially as represented in the first Gospel,
has been to some extent modified by tradition so as to
make it conform rather more closely to the conventional
Apocalyptic views of the time. The general teaching
of the New Testament appears to be that, on the one
hand, the choice between good and evil in this world is
one which involves abiding consequences extending far
beyond the limits of this life, but, on the other hand,
there is no clear evidence that any of the writers con-
templated for the sinner an unending existence in a
state of torment and rebellion against God.
In the light of these results it will then be possible to
consider certain aspects of the problems of the destiny
of the wicked in the next life, which do not seem to
be explicitly contemplated by the Biblical writers, and
to ask what light is thrown upon them, in the form
in which they are presented to the mind of the present
day, by the underlying moral and religious principles
of the New Testament.
THE TEACHING OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
It is now generally recognised that there are in the
Old Testament but faint traces of any real belief in
immortality. In the shadowy Sheol,1 the land of for-
getfulness and darkness, where men are gathered to
their fathers, there are no moral distinctions between
good and bad. When the problem of the sufferings
of the righteous arises in an acute form, as in Job,
Ecclesiastes, and some of the Psalms, it is of primary
significance that no new or future world is called
in to redress the balance of the old. The solution
of the problem is not found in any system of rewards
1 Though this is generally represented by "hell" in the A.V., we must be-
ware of transferring to it the later connotation of the English word.
I74 IMMORTALITY V
and punishments after death. In the few hints which
are given of a life beyond the grave (e.g. Ps. xlix.,
Ixxiii., and perhaps Job xix. 25) the point is the es-
sential link of communion between the believer and
his God, a link which even death cannot sever. That
is to say it is only the future of the righteous which is
here under consideration. With regard to the wicked
the solution is that they will ultimately perish from
this earth, or that their children will suffer, not that
they will be punished after death. In this Essay we
are only concerned with what happens after death, and
there can be no doubt that in the Old Testament the
fate of the enemies of Jahweh is simply destruction,
complete and final. This comes out very clearly in the
descriptions of the "Day of the Lord" in connection
with which we find, mainly in comparatively late pas-
sages, the idea of a Day of Judgment on the nations
(first in Zeph. iii. 8; cf. Joel iii. 2 etc.). On this day
Jahweh takes vengeance on His foes, but it is on His
foes, living on earth at the moment; there is no sugges-
tion that His vengeance falls on those already dead,
or that it pursues its objects in any other way than by
their complete destruction.
We may consider one or two late passages which
might be regarded as exceptions. In the famous "Taunt
Song" on the king of Babylon (Is. xiv.) the point is the
contrast between his earthly pride and ambition and his
humiliation as he descends to join the shades — the
Rephaim — in the uttermost part of the pit. He has
hoped to be as God, and he shares the common lot of
men. Anything exceptional in his fate is apparently
connected with the fact that his body remains unburied :
"All the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory
every one in his own house. But thou art cast forth
from thy sepulchre like an abominable branch. . . .
Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial" (vv. 18
ff.). In order that Jahweh may punish such a promi-
nent sinner He must bring it about that his body re-
y THE BIBLE AND HELL 175
mains unburied.1 The inference is obvious that nor-
mally there were no rewards and punishments in Sheol.
Is. xxvi. 19 ff. does speak of the resurrection of
righteous Israelites, but nothing is said of the wicked;
w. 20 ff., which might conceivably suggest this, belong
apparently to another section.
Of greater importance for our purpose is the well-
known passage which closes the Book of Isaiah (Ixvi.
24). "They shall go forth and look upon the carcases
of the men that have transgressed against me : for their
worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched,
and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh." The
meanings seems to be that in the new age the righteous
in Jerusalem will see the corpses of sinners, probably
in the Valley of Hinnom, decaying and burning.2 It is
not said that their spirits live and feel the torture,
though this may be intended. At any rate the passage
is comparatively late, and it is beyond question impor-
tant historically as affording a basis for the later doc-
trine of Gehenna.
The one clear exception which speaks of the punish-
ment of sinners after death is Dan. xii. 2. "Many of
them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
some to everlasting life, and some to shame and ever-
lasting contempt/' The passage comes in the most
Apocalyptic of all the Old Testament books (the date
is 167 B.C.), and stands alone in suggesting a resurrec-
tion of sinners to judgment. We may note that the
resurrection is apparently confined to the very good and
the very bad, and, as seems probable from the context,
to Israel. The sinners the writer has in mind are
Jewish apostates, a feature which will meet us again
later; they awake to shame and everlasting "abhor-
rence" (the word is the same as in Is. Ixvi. 24) ; we
do not yet get any mention of fire or torture.
1 It is worth noting that great stress was laid on the importance of burial in
Babylonian religion, as in Greece and Rome. See Jastrow, Religious Belief in
Babylonia and Assyria, p. 359-
2 Is. 1. ii is sometimes thought to embody the same idea.
176 IMMORTALITY v
THE TEACHING OF THE APOCRYPHA AND
APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE
In the purely ethical and historical books of the
Apocrypha no very marked change is to be noted. In
Ecclesiasticus retribution is still confined to this life;
sinners are punished only here, or in the blotting out of
their remembrance after death and in the misfortunes
of their descendants.1 Even in Wisdom with its strong
insistence on the blessed immortality of the righteous
we hear but little of the fate of the wicked. They are
conscious of the joys of the servants of God and of
their own folly (v. 2 ff.), but apparently they them-
selves are destroyed rather than punished. The stress
is on their lack of burial (iv. 18), the vanity of their
life, and the perishing of their memory. On the other
hand, in 2 Mac. we do find a definite belief in punishment
after death (vi. 26, vii. 34 ff.) ; let us note that both
these passages have to do with the encouragement of
the martyr and the denouncing of the persecutor. In
4 Mac., where the main theme is the martyrdom of
Eleazar and the seven brethren, the future doom of the
tyrant is a constantly recurring feature. Each of the
seven threatens Antiochus with the divine vengeance
after death, and the same idea is repeated more than
once with emphasis in the body of the book.
It is when we pass to the Apocalyptic literature 2
1 In vii. 17, where the Hebrew has "worms," the later Greek has "fire and
worms," thus adding the idea of suffering to that of decay.
2 This literature dates from the last two centuries B.C. and the first century
A.D. ; it includes 2 Esdras, found in our Apocrypha, the Books of Enoch, Baruch,
the Testaments of the XII. Patriarchs, Jubilees, and shorter works. The
"revelations" are always ascribed to some well-known figure of the distant past.
Though there are in some books a few additions, or glosses, obviously due to
Christian influence, these do not affect their general independence; as a whole
they are either earlier than, or contemporary with, the New Testament. Much
of this literature has either been discovered, or at least translated and edited,
within recent years, and our knowledge and understanding of it is chiefly due
to an English scholar, Dr. Charles. It may be studied in detail in his edition
of the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, published by the
Oxford University Press, while a most readable and clear popular account is
given in his volume in the Home University Library, Between the Old and New
Testaments. A series of cheap translations is now being issued by the S.P.C.K.
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 177
proper that the real change of outlook comes. Since
this is still comparatively unfamiliar except to students
of theology, and is quite essential to the due under-
standing of the New Testament, it will be necessary
to discuss it in some detail. The books consist of
elaborate and detailed visions and prophecies, usually
expressed in bizarre and fantastic imagery, of the "last
things" — in technical language their eschatology. They
are known as "Apocalypses," as claiming to contain
"revelations" of the future.
In the eschatological pictures drawn of the future the
punishment of sinners stands out very prominently, par-
ticularly in the Book of Enoch. But in regard to this,
the essential thing to notice is that the classes punished
are mainly the enemies of God and of Israel, the two
being identified with no scruples of conscience as to the
adequacy of the purely tribal conception of God im-
plied. A terrible doom awaits the rebellious angels
and demons, the powers of the earth who have been
hostile to the chosen people ("the kings and the
mighty" of Enoch), and oppressors and apostates from
among the Jews themselves — the dissenters of the day.
Most stress is laid on the divine vengeance in contexts
which deal with persecution (as we have seen in 4
Mac.), or when party spirit and fanaticism run high.
This is the case in those sections of Enoch which ex-
press the bitterness of the Pharisees against the later
Maccabean princes and the Sadducees. Or a good ex-
ample may be found in Jub. xxxvi. 198. "On the day of
turbulence and execration and indignation and anger,
with flaming devouring fire as He burnt Sodom, so
likewise shall He burn his land and his city and all
that is his, and he shall be blotted out of the book of
the discipline of the children of men and not be re-
corded in the book of life, but in that which is ap-
pointed to destruction, and he shall depart into eternal
execration; so that their condemnation may be always
renewed in hate and in execration, and in wrath, and
178 IMMORTALITY v
in torment, and in indignation, and in plagues, and in
disease for ever." The words are put into the mouth
of Isaac with reference to Esau, but the real refer-
ence is obviously to contemporary Edom. Those
who have described hell, whether in word or in pic-
ture, have usually found room in it for those they
disliked, and it is worth noting how strongly this
feature stands out in its earliest descriptions. We
may ascribe to the same spirit the insistence on the
delight of the righteous in the tortures of their enemies
which meets us not infrequently in this literature
(Enoch xxvii. 3, Ixii. 12, etc.; Ass. Mos. x. 10). It
is a somewhat rare touch to find punishment after death
considered in relation to matters of purely personal
ethics as in 3 Baruch iv. 16, where it is drunkards
who are warned that they are Surrendering them-
selves to the eternal fire."
Again we hear comparatively little of the fate of the
mass of mankind or of those Gentiles who have not
come into direct collision with the chosen people. In
Enoch xci. 9; 2 Baruch xliv. 15 they are all destroyed,
but there is no gloating over their doom, as is the case
when the enemies of Israel are thought of. Some-
times (The Testaments of the XII. Patriarchs gener-
ally, Enoch 1., xc. 30, 4 Esdras vi. 26) the Gentiles
are converted, but of course the reference is only to
those who are alive at the coming of the Kingdom,
not to the dead, of whom we hear nothing.
A specially instructive passage is 2 Baruch Ixxii.
(from an earlier source than ch. xliv. just quoted).
Here the Messiah summons the nations; "Some of
them He shall spare and some of them He shall slay.
. . . Every nation, which knows not Israel, and has
not trodden down the seed of Jacob, shall indeed be
spared. And this because some out of every nation
shall be subjected to thy people. But all those who
have ruled over you, or have known you, shall be given
to the sword." We see here very clearly how the view
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 179
of the future is dominated by the nationalist outlook,
and by the desire for vengeance on all who have ill-
treated Israel.
As to the nature of the punishment of sinners the
figures used are those familiar to us from the New Tes-
tament and later Christian writers, but there is far more
stress on the details than in the New Testament itself.
Fire and worms, ice and cold, chains and darkness, are
the constant instruments of torture. For the purpose,
however, of this paper the view entertained as to the
duration and results of the punishment deserves a more
special study. In this connection "eternal," "for ever,"
and such like phrases are used freely, but it is clear that
they are used very loosely and that the question of
actual "everlastingness" is not thought out. Some-
times "for ever" — and the point is of primary im-
portance for our interpretation of the New Testament
— means only "till the Judgment." In Jub. v. 10,
fallen angels are "bound in the depths of the earth for
ever, till the day of the great condemnation when judg-
ment is executed." In Enoch v. 5 we find the words
"The years of your destruction shall be multiplied in
eternal execration, and ye shall find no mercy," but
the following verses, which deal with the blessedness
of the righteous, seem to contemplate a temporary
state of bliss ("They shall complete the number of
the days of their life"). It is therefore not probable
that the tortures of the lost were regarded as strictly
everlasting. In Enoch x. 5 "for ever" with reference
to punishment stands for seventy "generations," while
in v. 10 "eternal life," denotes 500 years. Or again in
2 Baruch xl. 3 we read that the principate of the Mes-
siah "will stand for ever, until the world of corruption
is at an end"; cf. Ixxiii. I. Similarly 4 Mac., which
apparently emphasises the eternity of punishment so
strongly, can yet speak of the life of the blessed as
iro\vxpbvios ("very long," xvii. 12). It is clear then
that "for ever," "eternal," and the like sometimes, if
i8o IMMORTALITY v
not always, mean either "for the duration of an aeon"
or "until the final judgment."
What, then, is supposed to happen to the sinner
after this? There are not a few passages which sug-
gest annihilation. In Enoch xix. i angels are judged
"until they are made an end of." xlviii. 9, speaking
of the kings and the mighty, reads "On the day of
their anguish and affliction they shall not be able to
save themselves. And I will give them over into the
hands of mine elect: as straw in the fire shall they burn
before the face of the holy: as lead in the water shall
they sink before the face of the righteous, and no trace
of them shall any more be found." Such language
undoubtedly suggests complete destruction; cf. also
ch. liii. Similarly 4 Esdras xii. 33, xiii. 10 ff. 38, seem
to imply that the enemies of the Messiah shall simply
be destroyed, and the language of the Psalms of Solo-
mon, which is mainly modelled on that of the Old Tes-
tament, is to the same effect.
Other passages do at first sight suggest an indefinite
period of punishment after death; e.g. Enoch xci. 9,
"they shall be cast into the Judgment of fire, and perish
in wrath and grievous judgment for ever" ; 4 Mac. ix.
9, "thou for our cruel murder shalt suffer at the hands
of divine justice sufficient torment by fire for ever" ; x.
1 1 "thou for thy impiety and thy cruelty shalt endure
torments without end." The fiercely fanatical and
nationalist Book of Judith goes out of its way to
explain that the fire does not destroy. The Almighty
puts "fire and worms in the flesh of oppressors, and
they shall weep and feel their pain for ever" (xvi. 17;
cf. Enoch cviii. 3). Such passages clearly exclude im-
mediate annihilation after death, but in view of the
examples given above of the loose use of "for ever,"
it is dangerous to interpret them as necessarily imply-
ing everlasting punishment. In the Secrets of Enoch
part of the third heaven is a hell prepared for "an
eternal inheritance" for sinners, and mansions are
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 181
assigned to good and to bad, but in the climax of ch.
Ixv., after the "seven weeks" there is one "aeon" when
time ceases and the righteous live eternally, while the
fate of the wicked is passed over in silence.
With regard to the result of such punishment after
death, it is not infrequently depicted as bringing open-
ing of eyes and repentance. In Enoch Ixiii. i the kings
and the mighty implore respite from their torments in
order that they may fall down and worship before the
Lord of Spirits and confess their sins before him. In
Ixvii. 9 "in proportion as the burning of their bodies
becomes severe, a corresponding change shall take
place in their spirit for ever and ever; for before the
Lord of Spirits none shall utter an idle word." So in
4 Esdras ix. 12 those who have defied the Law during
the time of repentance umust be brought to know after
death by torment." But though we might seem here
on the verge of a more ethical view in which punish-
ment could be regarded as remedial, the possibility of
any efficacious repentance after death is explicitly de-
nied both in 2 Baruch and 4 Esdras.
In a case such as this, however, even denial may
mark a step forward, since it at any rate shows that the
difficulty is coming to be realised. And in fact the two
books just mentioned do stand on a higher ethical level
in this respect than the rest of the Apocalyptic litera-
ture, and even, it must be confessed, than the New Tes-
tament itself.1 For they realise the tremendous moral
problem involved if anything like eternal punishment or
extinction is to be regarded as the future fate of a large
proportion of mankind. There is a curiously modern
note in passages such as the following from 4 Esdras : —
O thou earth, why hast thou brought forth, if the mind is
sprung from the dust as every other created thing ! It had been
better if the dust itself had even been unborn, that the mind
might not have come into being from it. But as it is, the mind
grows with us, and on this account we are tormented, because
1 See below, p. 214, n. 2.
1 82 IMMORTALITY v
we perish and know it. Let the human race lament, but the
beasts of the field be glad ! Let all the earth-born mourn, but
let the cattle and flocks rejoice! For it is far better with
them than with us; for they have no judgment to look for,
neither do they know of any torture or of any salvation promised
to them after death. But what doth it profit us that we shall
be preserved alive, but yet suffer great torment? For all the
earth-born are defiled with iniquities, full of sins, laden with of-
fences. And if after death we were not to come into judgment,
it might, perchance, have been far better for us (vii. 62 ff.).
This is my first and last word; better had it been that the
earth had not produced Adam, or else, having once produced
him, for thee to have restrained him from sinning. For what
doth it profit us all that in the present we must live in grief, and
after death look for punishment? (vii. 116 ff. ; see also x. 9 f.).
What, indeed, is the purpose of the infinite skill and labour
lavished upon man? We are all one fashioning, the work of
thine hands, as thou hast said. . . . And afterwards thou sus-
tainest it in thy mercy, and nourishest it in thy righteousness;
thou disciplinest it through thy law, and reprovest it in thy
wisdom. Thou wilt kill it — as it is thy creature, and quicken
it — as it is thy work If then, with a light word thou shalt
destroy him who with such infinite labour has been fashioned
by thy command, to what purpose was he made? (viii. 7 ff.)-
The writer of the book can himself find no solution
to the problem. The angel bids him "rejoice over the
few that shall be saved and not grieve over the multi-
tude that perish" ; "many have been created, but few
shall be saved." He falls back, as does St. Paul in a
similar connection, on the inscrutability of the ways of
Providence, coupled with an almost desperate faith in
the love of God, "Lovest thou him [Israel] better than
him that made him ?" "Thou comest far short of being
able to love my creation more than I." The consistent
application of this principle must occupy us later; we
can only in passing pay our respect to the nameless
questioner who realised so clearly the fundamental
elements of the problem.1
1 For a fuller discussion of the teaching of 4 Esdras on this and related
questions, see the writer's article on "The Fourth Book of Esdras and St. Paul"
(Espository Times, xxvii. p. 55 1).
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 183
To sum up the results of our survey: the Apocalyptic
literature, unlike the Old Testament, lays considerable
stress on punishments after death, and this stress is very
definitely connected with feelings of bitterness towards
persecutors, oppressors, or heretics. Various views are
held as to the duration of such punishment, but it is
clear that "for ever," "eternal," and the like, rarely, if
ever, connote everlastingness. There is no trace of any
idea of an efficacious repentance after death, though the
sporadic hints of the effects of punishment in opening
the eyes of the sufferer contain the germs of a higher
point of view. The ethical problem of the fate of the
mass of mankind is raised, but no solution is found.
ZOROASTRIAN INFLUENCE ON JEWISH ESCHATOLOGY
This doctrine of future punishment was, as we have
seen, a new feature in Jewish thought. It is natural to
ask whether it can be traced to any external non-Jewish
influences. A full consideration of the subject would
involve a discussion of the sources of the post-exilic
eschatology as a whole, and the influence of Babylonian,
Egyptian, Persian, and Greek ideas upon its develop-
ment. If, however, we confine ourselves to a few re-
marks bearing on the vital point of the conception of
punishment after death in contemporary religions,
Babylonian religion at once drops out, since it had no
real doctrine of rewards and punishments in the other
world. "The absence of the ethical factor in the con-
ception of life after death, preventing . . . the rise of
a doctrine of retribution for the wicked, and belief in a
better fate for those who had lived a virtuous and
godly life, had at least a compensation in not leading to
any dogma of actual bodily sufferings for the dead.
... A hell full of tortures is the counterpart of a
heaven full of joys. The Babylonian-Assyrian religion
had neither the one nor the other." 1 Egyptian relig-
1 Jastrow, Religious Belief in Babylonia and Assyria, p. 373.
1 84 IMMORTALITY v
ion, on the other hand, in its faith of Osiris, had devel-
oped its view of the weighing of the soul and of judg-
ment after death; the condemned, however, were
destroyed, not punished indefinitely.1 The Greeks had
their well-known myths of tortures in Hades, and
theories of future punishment were carried further in
the Orphic Mysteries. But outside Orphism punish-
ments were only thought of in the case of notorious and
very special sinners, like Sisyphus and Tantalus, and as
in the "Myth of Er" at the close of Plato's Republic.
The Olympian religion was too easygoing to believe in
eternal punishment; and it is thought by some scholars
that so far as it existed at all the belief was due to
Orphism, where it was essentially the fate of the un-
initiated.2 In the same way Dr. Farnell writes: 3 "To
suppose that the crowds that sought the privilege of
initiation were tormented, as modern Europe has been
at certain times, by ghostly terrors of judgment, is to
misconceive the average Greek mind. The inferno of
Greek mythology is far less lurid than Dante's, and it
is to the credit of the Greek temperament that it never
took its goblin world very seriously, though the belief
was generally prevalent that the gods might punish
flagrant sinners after death."
The main influence behind the Jewish eschatology, in
this as in other doctrines, must undoubtedly be sought in
Zoroastrianism. Here we find the definite separation
of good and bad after death, with rewards and punish-
ments mainly, by fire. On the question how far the
punishment was conceived of as eternal there is some
doubt as to the original teaching of Zoroaster himself.4
1 Enc. Rel. and Ethics, s.v. "Egyptian Religion," v. p. 243.
2 Cf. Miss Harrison, Prolegomena to Greek Religion, pp. 612 ff.
8 Cults of the Greek States, iii. p. 193.
4 Moulton {Early Zoroastrianism, p. 312) holds, in contrast to his previously
expressed view, that the Gathas imply "penal suffering without end." He ad-
mits, however, that the molten metal which accomplishes the separation suggests
annihilation of the sinner or of the sin, and he adds a note by Prof. Jackson to
the effect that there is in Zoroastrianism exactly the same problem as in Judaism
with regard to the real meaning of the term "everlasting." The Pahlavi inter-
pretation renders the original phrase by "till the future body" or "until the
resurrection." See also pp. 157, 173, which leave the doctrine equally ambiguous.
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 185
There is, however, no doubt that in later developments
of Zoroastrianism, which go back to a period before the
date of the Jewish Apocalyptic literature, and therefore
represent the form of Zoroastrianism with which post-
exilic Judaism came in contact, the belief was definitely
held that the punishment of the sinner only lasted till
the commencement of the final age when Ahriman and
his hosts are annihilated and hell itself becomes pure.1
This brief comparison of contemporary thought,
therefore, confirms the position already reached that
the question of strict "everlastingness" was not thought
out with regard to the punishment of the sinner. The
ethical instinct required that he should suffer after
death, if he had prospered here, and it depicted his
sufferings in a terrifying form, but it did not condemn
him to an eternal hell.
THE TEACHING OF THE NEW TESTAMENT 2
We find in the New Testament a sharp division into
two classes, those who will enter the kingdom and those
who will not, those who inherit life and those whose end
is death, the sheep and the goats. We are, however,
told far less than is usually supposed about the final
fate of the latter, and details as to future punishment
are largely confined to books of a single type. In view
of this fact it will be simplest to make no attempt at
chronological order in our treatment of its literature,
but to clear the ground by beginning with the groups
in which the subject is least prominent.
In the Johannine literature, outside the Apocalypse,
1 Enc. Rel. and Ethics, s. v. "Eschatology," v. p. 376.
2 The reader who may be disinclined for detailed discussions of passages may
omit what follows and pass straight on to the summary on p. 198. No doubt it
would be convenient if such discussions could be short and simple, but the New
Testament was not written as a "Handbook to Theology." It consists of books
written for different purposes, by different writers, and at different dates, and
expressed in the language and ideas current at the time. It is therefore wise,
on many points at least, to look with some suspicion on what claim to be brief
dogmatic statements of the teaching of the New Testament, unless they are
based on a thorough examination and comparison of the relevant passages in
the light of contemporary modes of thought.
1 86 IMMORTALITY v
the main thought is the contrast between death and
life, with the self-acting judgment of the hearer's own
attitude towards the truth.1 There is no kind of em-
phasis on the future punishment of the sinner, or on
what his "death" implies. The eschatological denun-
ciations of the Baptist are omitted in common with
practically all the other eschatological features of the
Synoptists. The passage at the end of ch. v., which
includes the awakening to a resurrection of judgment,
stands alone, and may perhaps best be accounted for
as a more or less inconsistent retention of the popular
point of view. Otherwise the writer contents him-
self with saying that the wrath of God abides on the
unbeliever (iii. 36), or that the unfruitful branch is
cast into the fire and burned (xv. 6), a phrase which
suggests annihilation.2
In the teaching of St. Paul we find a similar anti-
thesis between death and life, the flesh and the spirit.
Sinners cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (Gal. v. 21,
i Cor. vi. 9, Eph. v. 5) ; there are fairly constant ref-
erences to judgment and to the wrath of God, especially
in Romans. But it is very doubtful whether St. Paul
speaks of the resurrection of the wicked except in so far
as it is implied in the gathering of all before the judg-
ment seat (Rom. ii. 14 ff., 2 Cor. v. 10). This is in-
deed emphasised in the speeches of Acts (cf. xvii. 31,
xxiv. 25 ; cf. St. Peter in x. 42) , but it is often held that
on this point St. Luke somewhat misinterpreted his
master's teaching. In the Epistles the resurrection is
generally something to be won or attained to (Phil. iii.
1 1 ) , the privilege of those who have received the adop-
tion of sons and the first-fruits of the spirit (cf. Luke
xx. 35) . Except in i and 2 Thess., which we shall con-
sider later, there is no sort of doctrine of what happens
to the sinner after judgment, certainly no emphasis is
laid on any punishment, eternal or otherwise. This
iCf. Essay III. p. 125.
aFor "the sin unto death" (i John v. 16) see below, p. 195.
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 187
feature is somewhat remarkable, as St. Paul was not
always specially tender to those who differed from him,
and it is noticeable that in the Pastoral Epistles, with
all the fierceness of their denunciation of false teach-
ers, there is no reference to their future doom, except,
perhaps, in 2 Tim. iv. 14. 1
In Hebrews we find considerable stress on the finality
of choice and the impossibility of repentance for back-
sliders. Punishment is spoken of in terms of fire which
devours (x. 27) and consumes (xii. 29) ; the language
not only suggests but implies annihilation.
Acts has nothing bearing on our subject, except the
references to judgment already quoted. Here again
this mildness of tone in a book which deals largely with
persecution and opposition is in strong contrast to the
language of the Apocalyptic books. A similar reticence
is found in i Peter, which, again, is written in an at-
mosphere of persecution. The furthest the writer goes
is to speak of the approaching judgment; in it "if the
righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly
and sinner appear?" (iv. 18). James again only
speaks generally of the coming of the judge who is
able both to save and to destroy (iv. 12). It is worth
comparing the passage in ch. v. on the tyranny of the
rich, with its reserve as to their future fate, with Enoch
chs. xciv. ff., where very similar language is used com-
bined with a fierce exultation in their approaching tor-
ments and destruction.2
We pass to the teaching of the Synoptists. Here the
immediate goal is the coming of the Kingdom, whether
on earth or in Heaven ; but it must not be assumed that
the conception is in all respects identical with our mod-
ern view of the "Heaven" awaiting the good after
death or judgment. There is a sharp dichotomy be-
tween those who will enter the Kingdom and those who
1 "The Lord shall reward him (Alexander)"; the words are a quotation from
Ps. Ixii. 12, Prov. xxiv. 12, and seem to mean simply, "I leave him to God."
2 The passage in James is perhaps based on Enoch; "day of slaughter" occurs
in .both, but this phrase may have been taken independently from Jer. xii. 3.
1 88 IMMORTALITY v
are to be cast out. Here the teaching of Jesus and the
early Church was in entire agreement with contempo-
rary Jewish thought, the only difference being as to the
principles on which the composition of the two classes
was to be determined. Few in fact find the narrow
way; umany" will find themselves shut out (Mt. vii.
13, Lk. xiii. 23 ff.). Some kind of penalty is un-
doubtedly contemplated for those who refuse the Gos-
pel. What is its nature? How far do Our Lord and
the Gospels teach a doctrine of "hell"?
Attention may first be called to a fact which has
been very insufficiently realised; there is a marked and
striking difference in this respect between the teaching
of Our Lord as reported by St. Luke and His teaching
as reported by St. Matthew. It will be necessary to
give evidence of this statement in some detail.
"Fire" as applied to future punishment is found in
Luke only in the teaching of the Baptist (Lk. iii. 9,
17), in Mark only in the "offences" passage (Mk.
ix. 43 ff.). By Matthew it is used 10 times, in 6
different contexts.
"Gehenna" occurs in Lk. only in xii. 5, in Mk. only
in the "offences" passage, in Mt. 7 times (5 different
contexts).1
"Eternal" (cua^ios) is never used by Lk. of future
punishment, by Mk. only of "the eternal sin," by Mt.
3 times, as well as being implied in the substantival
phrase, "either in this aeon or in that which is to come,"
once (xii. 32).
"Day of judgment" is never used by Lk. ; Mt. 4
times. Lk. has "in the judgment" 3 times, Mt. this,
or similar phrases, 5 times; Mk. has neither. Mk.
and Lk., but not Mt., according to the best texts, have
the phrase, "these shall receive greater condemnation"
(jrepurvorepov Kptjuct, Mk. xii. 40).
1 Elsewhere in the New Testament only in James iii. 6 (the tongue set on
fire of hell). In Lk. xvi. 23 ff. (the Lazarus parable) we have "Hades," "tor-
ments," and "flame.*'
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 189
"Outer darkness" occurs in Mt. 3 times (viii. 12,
xxii. 13, xxv. 30) , and nowhere else. Since in each case
Lk. has close parallels to the Matthean narratives, his
omission of the reference to future punishment is sig-
nificant. Similarly the phrase, "There shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth" occurs in Lk. only in xiii. 28,
while Mt. has it 6 times. In Mt. xxii. 13, xxiv. 51,
xxv. 30, the fact that the more or less parallel Lucan
context does not contain the words is again significant.
Again Lk. in xxii. 22 omits the words, applied to Judas
both in Mt. and Mk., "it were good for that man if
he had not been born."
Positively there are indications of a milder view of
the future life in the Lazarus parable (the context
where future punishment is most prominent in Lk.),
with its hint of the rich man's better feelings in his tor-
ment, in the repentance of the thief at the last moment,
and in the saying about many and few stripes (Lk. xii.
47), implying degrees of punishment. All these are
peculiar to the third Gospel, while Lk. alone, after the
saying, "one shall be taken, the other left," adds the
question, "Where, Lord?" with the ambiguous answer,
"Where the body is, thither will the eagles also be
gathered together" (xvii. 37). This log'ion is clearly
intended to exclude any undue dogmatising as to the
future.1
We have, therefore, sufficient evidence that Luke's
attitude as to the future punishment of the sinner ex-
cluded from the Kingdom is much milder than Mat-
thew's. The question at once arises, Which is nearer to
Our Lord's own teaching? 2 Has Luke toned it down
1 The saying "Thou shalt not come out thence till thou hast paid the utter-
most farthing" occurs both in Mt. v. 25 and Lk. xii. 59. It seems to be a gen-
eral statement of the principle that when the time for reconciliation is allowed
to slip by the law must take its course. It is not clear that it refers in any
way to God's dealings with man. If, however, it is to be understood as the sud-
den introduction of a pronouncement as to the nature of future punishment, it
is ambiguous. It may at least imply that the debt can ultimately be paid.
2 It must be remembered that even when we have decided which is the earl-
iest form of the varying traditions presented to us in our present Gospels, it
cannot be assumed that we have always got back to the ipsissiona verba of
Christ. See below, p. 200.
190 IMMORTALITY v
or Matthew added to it? It is a priori possible that
both processes have been at work to some extent. On
the one hand Luke's reticence might be an instance of
his "Paulinism"; we have already noted a similar re-
serve in the Pauline Epistles. On the other, the lan-
guage of Matthew is in line with the general Judaic
and Apocalyptic tone of the first Gospel, and its ac-
curacy will depend on whether these features as a whole
can be regarded as representing the original teaching
of Christ (see Essay III. pp. 123 ff.).
At this point we may ask, What light is thrown on
the question by Mark, our earliest Gospel? The rele-
vant passages are: iii. 28-29 (sin against the Holy
Ghost) ; viii. 35 (the possibility of losing one's "life,"
Vvxt ) ; ix. 43 ff. (the command to cut off what offends) ,
the sayings that the Pharisees shall receive greater con-
demnation (xii. 40), and that it were better for Judas
if he had not been born (xiv. 2I).1 The latter saying
occurs in Enoch xxxviii. 2 (plural instead of singular),
and though Our Lord may have quoted a current saying
(whether directly from Enoch or not), the fact of its
being a quotation, together with its omission by Luke,
makes it very possible that it may be an early addition
to an original "woe to that man by whom he is be-
trayed." The Marcan language as a whole is at any
rate vague and lays little emphasis on future punish-
ment; it supports the originality of Luke in this respect
as against Matthew. Again, in view of the fact that
Matthew shows definite traces of later controversies
between Jews and Christians, it does become very prob-
able that these have left their mark in a heightening of
the severity of Our Lord's language against the Phari-
sees and other unbelievers and apostates.2 We have
1 In the non-Marcan appendix (xvi. 16) we have the general statement, "he
that disbelieveth shall be condemned."
2 It may be remarked that from the point of view of the strict inerrancy of
the Bible, the theory that Luke has toned down or omitted the severe sayings is
no easier than the theory that Matthew has added to them. Those who hold the
doctrine of hell argue rightly that, if it is ex hypothesi true, it is the real char-
ity to "declare the whole counsel of God" (see e.g. Liddon's Sermon on this
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 191
already seen, and shall see again, that the belief in hell
has always owed much to such types of religious bit-
terness.
There remains to discuss the books in which the
doctrine of future punishment is prominent. They
are Matthew, I and 2 Thessalonians, 2 Peter, Jude,
and Revelation. The curious significance of this group-
ing of books is at once apparent, in that they are the
very books which are recognised as showing most
clearly the influence of contemporary Apocalyptic ideas.
In i Thess. v. 3 we hear of sudden destruction and
wrath (v. 9) falling on the unwary: the nature and re-
sult of the vengeance remains undefined. The language
of 2 Thess. goes further; here God "recompenses afflic-
tion to them that afflict you," and brings "vengeance,"
"punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of
the Lord" (i. 6 ff.). We note the following points.
The passage suggests annihilation rather than indefinite
torment; it is strongly Apocalyptic in character; and
once again the main motive is indignation towards per-
secutors. Finally this language occurs in an early
Epistle (assuming the authenticity of 2 Thess., which,
however, is not undisputed), and does not, as we have
already seen, represent St. Paul's later teaching.
2 Peter and Jude are, of course, definitely in line with
the older Apocalyptic books ; the stress is on the punish-
ment of fallen angels, false teachers, and rebels against
authority ; the language used is conventional and some-
what vague, suggesting death and destruction.
The Apocalypse has much to say of the final doom of
the sinner. The prominent features are such things as
the second death, the lake of fire, the abyss, and the
subject in Clerical Life and Work), and that it is treason to gloss over it.
Luke's consistent omission of this type of teaching is, therefore, very hard to
explain on any theory that the Gospels were mechanically inspired in their rec-
ord of Christ's teaching. From the modern point of view there is no special dif-
ficulty either in Matthew's over-emphasis or in Luke's toning down, and we are
free to choose between the two on the principles of historical criticism.
192 IMMORTALITY v
familiar elements of earlier Apocalypses. It should,
however, be noted that many of the "woes" refer to
the temporary tribulations which usher in the establish-
ment of the Kingdom. Once more attention may be
called to the fact that the underlying motive of the book
is denunciation of the persecuting power of Rome and
the conviction of its final doom.
We go on to ask how far even these books teach the
everlasting nature of the punishment of which they
speak. They use freely the figure of fire, sometimes
with the epithet "unquenchable." Fire suggests suf-
fering with one of two results, either the purging
away of dross and impurities (it is so used in i
Cor. iii. 13, 15, in an eschatological context, i Peter
i. 7, Rev. iii. 18) or the destruction of the whole of
what is committed to it. This latter is certainly the
prlma facie impression conveyed when we read of chaff
(Matt. iii. 12) or tares (xiii. 40) cast into the fire
(cf. John xv. 6 and Heb. x. 27, etc.) . It would, in fact,
be difficult to find any figure which suggests more
completely speedy and final annihilation. "Unquench-
able" in this connection means simply that the fire will
not be extinguished until it has done its work; the
same applies to the undying worm of Mk. ix. 48, etc.
So generally, unless we hear explicitly to the contrary,
we have no right to assume that the victims of the fire
suffer eternally without being consumed; that they do
live on is never stated in the New Testament. The
same principles apply to language about death, the
second death, destruction, and the like. They all sug-
gest ceasing to be.
There remains the word "aeonian" (tudwos) to-
gether with cognate phrases using the noun aeon. As
we have seen, in the Synoptics these are applied to
future punishment only in Mt, xviii. 8, xxv. 41, 46, xii.
32, with the exception of Mk. iii. 29. Elsewhere, out-
side the Apocalypse, they occur only in 2 Thess. i. 9,
Jude 7, 13. John viii. 52, x. 28, xi, 26 promises that
THE BIBLE AND HELL 193
the believer shall not die "for ever" (els TOV
and so implies that others may do so. It is recognised
that the translation "everlasting," found in A.V., is
wrong; R.V. has "eternal." 1 The word properly
means "age-long," lasting for an aeon, whatever that
may be. It is used freely in the Septuagint of things
which are in no sense everlasting, and takes its meaning
from the context. The Jews of the day believed in a
variety of aeons or ages, including sometimes a tempo-
rary Messianic age. No doubt in the New Testament
"aeonian" is used vaguely; the point is that we have
no right to read into it any metaphysical idea of un-
ending duration. As we have seen with regard to the
Apocalyptic books, from which this language is de-
rived, there are various views as to the duration of
punishment, and "for ever" sometimes means only till
the final judgment or the like. We have, in fact, a
clear example of this use in the New Testament; Jude
6 speaks of angels "kept in everlasting bonds under
darkness unto the judgment of the great day" The
word used here is not "aeonian," but another Greek
word (<u5ios), which actually emphasises unendingness
more strongly. If this can be used in this way much
more can "aeonian." If we look at the context of the
New Testament passages we see that in Mt. xviii. 8 it is
applied to fire, in 2 Thess. i. 9 to destruction; both of
these are compatible with annihilation, while when we
read in Jude 7 of Sodom and Gomorrah "suffering the
punishment of eternal fire," it is not an obvious inter-
pretation that their inhabitants have been miraculously
kept alive to feel it. There are, however, passages in
Revelation where unending duration is suggested by the
phrase "to ages of ages" (elsal&vasT&valwvuv). Let it
be noted that this in itself implies that anything belong-
ing to a single "aeon" was not necessarily unending.
1 The difference between the two may not be obvious at first sight. The point
is that "eternal" need not suggest endless duration; it may apply to that which
belongs to another order of be"ing and is out of time, cf. Essay III. pp. 97 ff.
i94 IMMORTALITY v
The phrase is used in xix. 3 of the burning of Babylon
— not necessarily a personal reference at all — in xx. 10
of the torments of the devil, the beast and the false
prophet, and in xiv. 1 1 of the worshippers of the beast.
The last passage is the most important; it is, however,
a direct reminiscence of Isaiah xxxiv. 10, which refers
to the desolation of the Land of Edom. In Isaiah
there is certainly no idea of the unending torment of
men; it is simply a picture of complete doom on a
country, and it is precarious to read too much into the
quotation of such a phrase in a very rhetorical context
such as Rev. xiv. In xix. 20 it is only the beast and
the false prophet who are cast alive into the lake of
fire; their followers are killed and their flesh given to
the birds. The contradiction with xiv. 1 1 shows how
far we are from any idea of a formal doctrine of the
unending punishment of sinners. Indeed when we find
cut-and-dried theological dogmas based on the obvi-
ously figurative and conventional language of the
Apocalypse, we can only wonder at the artificiality of
the older Biblical exegesis.
There remain three important passages in the Gos-
pels, in which it is argued that the context itself clearly
implies everlasting punishment.
(a) Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost (Mk. iii. 28,
Mt. xii. 31, Lk. xii. 10). This saying of Our Lord's
is one of those which occur in a slightly different version
in Mark and also in Q — the hypothetical document
assumed to have been incorporated, in some form or
another, in the first and third Gospels. Wherever
Mark and Q contain similar matter it will usually be
found that Matthew combines the two versions, while
Luke either gives both, but in different contexts, or
prefers to follow Q. Scholars are divided on the
question whether in these cases Mark's version was
derived from Q, or whether he represents an inde-
pendent tradition, but it is usually agreed that the Q
version is the older and as a rule more original. Hence
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 195
we are justified in assuming with regard to the saying
before us that the form of words in Lk. xii. 10 is likely
to be the nearest to the original.1
We are mainly concerned here with the concluding
clause :
Mk. "Hath never forgiveness, but is guilty of an
eternal sin."
Lk. "It shall not be forgiven him."
Mt. "It shall not be forgiven him, either in this
world or in that which is to come."
Granted that the Lucan form is the most original,
the word "eternal" was not used at all by Our Lord
in this context.
As usual, Matthew is most explicit and seems to
combine Mark and Q.
As to the meaning, we may emphasise the implica-
tion that all other sins are forgivable, conceivably
hereafter, if not here. Blasphemy against the Holy
Ghost alone is not. It is not said that the soul guilty
of this sin will suffer everlastingly; the words are con-
sistent with annihilation. This is entirely in keeping
with the modern point of view. If, as is probable,
blasphemy against the Holy Ghost means an obstinate
refusal to recognise the good, this refusal, if persisted
in, must at last destroy the power of doing so. Such
a state would be hopeless; the soul could only cease
to be.2
(b) The cutting off of what offends (Mk. ix. 43 ff.,
Mt. v. 29, xviii. 8 f.). This passage is not found in
Luke. Its importance for our present purpose lies in
the epithets "eternal" and "unquenchable" applied to
the fire, and in the description of Gehenna as the place
"where their worm dieth not and their fire is not
1 On the whole question of the relation of Mk. and Q, see Streeter in Studies
in the Synoptic Problems, pp. 166 ff. W. C. Allen in the same volume (p. 253),
and Harnack in the Sayings of Jesus accept the Lucan form of the saying con-
sidered above as the original. It is worth emphasising the fact that this conclu-
sion is arrived at purely on grounds of literary criticism, and not from any de-
sire to eliminate a possible reference to future punishment.
2 The sin unto death of i John v. 16 may be understood in the same way.
196 IMMORTALITY v
quenched." 1 It has already been argued that such
language does not necessarily imply that the fire and
worm do not destroy that on which they feed; the
present tenses "state simply the law or normal condi-
tion of the worm and fire. . . . The question of the
eternity of punishment does not come into sight." 2
The description of Gehenna is an almost exact quota-
tion from Is. Ixvi. 25, 3 and may well be an early or
editorial addition to an original saying of Christ. But
whether the words were actually spoken by Him or not,
it is most precarious to build a doctrine of eternal pun-
ishment on an ambiguous quotation.
It may be added that the passage is a very difficult
one. Assuming, as is no doubt the case, that the
maiming is to be understood metaphorically, it would
seem to be implied that the self as a result of its
necessary discipline will enter into life in some sense
maimed and with its natural powers impaired. This
can hardly be regarded as the final state of the saved
soul, and if this be granted it is at least possible that
the entry into Gehenna is not the last word for the lost
either.
(c) The sheep and the goats (Mt. xxv. 31 ff.). A
glance at Patristic quotations and general literature
dealing with eternal punishment will show that of all
Gospel passages this is the one most confidently relied
on. The crucial words are "Depart from me ye
cursed into the 'aeonian' fire which is prepared for the
devil and his angels" (v. 41) and "These shall go into
'aeonian' punishment, but the righteous into 'aeonian'
life" (v. 46). It is argued (i) that the mention of
the devil and his angels shows that the fire is neither
purgatorial nor temporary, unless we are to hold that
the devil will be either saved or destroyed. (2) That
since 'aeonian' is used of the life of the blessed as
1 According to the best reading the phrase occurs in Mk. only in v. 48, not,
as in A.V., in w. 44, 46.
2 Swete, The Gospel according to St. Mark, ad loc.
3 See above, p. 175.
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 197
well as of the doom of the lost, if the one comes to
an end the other must also. This is Augustine's
famous argument against Origen. As to (i), those
who hold that the only end conceivable for the irre-
mediably bad is that they will cease to be, will no
doubt hold the same of the devil, if they think of him
in terms of personality. (2) Assuming that 'aeonian'
is indeterminate in meaning, it is perfectly true that
we could not argue from the particular epithet here
applied to the life of the blessed that that life was ever-
lasting. But in fact our belief in this depends on quite
other grounds than the nuance of an adjective, and we
are not in the least driven to hold that communion
with God will come to an end because we believe that
punishment will do so.
Apart, however, from the question of the duration
of punishment this is undoubtedly one of the strongest
passages about future punishment itself. It is there-
fore well to note (i) that it is peculiar to Matthew;
we have already seen how strongly he emphasises this
feature of eschatology. (2) The whole passage is
charged with reminiscences of the Apocalyptic books.1
1 It will be worth while stating these in detail.
The "Son of Man coming in His glory," "sitting on the throne of His
glory" as judge, is practically verbatim from Enoch xlv. 3, Ixii. 5, etc.
For the faithful as "sheep," sinners and Gentiles as other animals, see Enoch xc.
For the blessed on "the right hand" at the resurrection see Test, of Benja-
min x. 6.
For the whole idea see Secrets of Enoch ix. : "This place, O Enoch, is pre-
pared for the righteous who . . . make righteous judgment, and give bread to
the hungering, and cover the naked with clothing, and raise up the fallen, and
help injured orphans .... for them is prepared this place for eternal inherit-
ance." In ch. x. another place of fire, cold, and other horrors is prepared, also
for an eternal inheritance, for those who amongst other sins oppress the poor,
"who being able to satisfy the empty, made the hungering to die; being able to
clothe, stripped the naked."
For the sequence of the acts of mercy cf. also Test, of Joseph i. 5 ff.:
"I was taken into captivity and His strong hand succoured me.
I was beset with hunger and the Lord himself nourished me.
I was alone and God comforted me.
I was sick and the Lord visited me:
I was in prison and my God showed favour unto me."
It is needless to give special references for the "fire prepared for the devil"
and for "aeonian punishment," which are commonplaces of Apocalyptic.
It will be noted that it is the phraseology and the setting of the parable which
seem to be borrowed from Apocalyptic, not its essential features — the stress on
acts of emission and the Judge's identification of Himself with "His brethren."
198 IMMORTALITY V
It is therefore very probable that, though the parable
may in substance go back to Our Lord's own teaching,
a good deal of the phraseology is due to modification
of His original words either in oral tradition or by the
editor of the first Gospel.
SUMMARY OF NEW TESTAMENT TEACHING
1. The constant features are the sharp division into
two classes and the sense of the importance of the
choice made in this life. But note that, generally speak-
ing, only those are considered to whom the opportunity
of choice has actually been offered; the rest are simply
ignored.1
2. There is in fact far less about future punishment
than is usually supposed.2 Whole groups of books,
including the majority of the Pauline Epistles and the
Johannine writings, outside the Apocalypse, do little
more than speak in general terms of judgment and
death as awaiting the sinner.
3. The language used about future punishment is
These, so far as I am aware, are original and the lesson drawn from them is
quite independent of the particular character of the penalty inflicted on those
who have failed to show charity. The underlying idea is found in Mk. ix. 37
(cf. v. 41) : "Whosoever shall receive one of these little ones in my name, re-
ceiveth me," and if we suppose an authentic parable of Christ's developing this
thought, some of its features may well have been emphasised later under the
influence of the Apocalyptic ideas which are so prominent in the first Gospel.
The point is that it is not necessary to reject the parable as a whole because
we find reason to suspect certain phrases in it.
1 The chief passages which speak of a general judgment are Rom. ii. 14 ff., 2
Cor. v. 10, Rev. xx. 12, and the passages from Acts quoted above (p. 186). It is
doubtful whether Mt. xxv. 31 is really universal; it is possible that the refer-
ence is to those from "all nations" who have come into contact with the de-
spised and persecuted Christians, "My brethren," and, without being converted
themselves, have treated them kindly; so in Mk. ix. 41 the reward is for the
cup of cold water given "because ye are Christ's." I do not, however, feel
quite confident as to this limitation of the idea.
2 N.B. the confusion caused by the use in A.V. and in popular theology of
such terms as "hell," "damnati)n," "perdition," etc. A recent and regrettable
example may be seen in Moore's The Brook Kcrith, where he makes Our Lord
say, "Thou shalt eat my flesh and drink my blood, else perish utterly, and go
into eternal damnation" (p. 222). Such words may be justified in their strict
etymological meaning, but they have come to have a connotation which suggests
everlasting punishment and is in the highest degree misleading.
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 199
quite clearly of the same type as that found in the
Apocalyptic literature, and is practically confined to a
single group of books which is in other ways strongly
Apocalyptic in tone. We are therefore fully justified in
arguing that it is a direct reflection of the current
Apocalyptic teaching. Whilst this does not imply that
this side of New Testament teaching can be altogether
ignored, it does show that it was not a deliberate crea-
tion of Our Lord and His followers, but was simply one
of the elements taken over from contemporary thought.
Like other elements so taken over, e.g. the demonology
of the day, it may be subject to very considerable modi-
fications. The belief in the immediate Parousia and an
imminent and miraculously manifested end of the age
was a similar heritage, and history has proved this to
have been untrue in any literal sense.
We must bear in mind that the real and fundamental
meaning of any writer is to be found in the ideas which
are original and characteristic, not in those which are
simply inherited from the current thought of his age.
That which is specially characteristic and original in the
NewTestament is precisely not the Apocalyptic element.
4. We found in the earlier literature that the doc-
trine owed a good deal to the sense of injustice and the
desire for retribution aroused by persecution and op-
pression, as well as to the intolerance so commonly
evoked by religious differences. It may be conceded
that the same motives, though in a lesser degree, are at
work in the New Testament, especially in Rev., 2
Thess., and Peter and Jude; traces of them are also
found in the first Gospel, though not so prominently.
At the same time it should be remembered that, with
the partial exception of the Apocalypse, there is far
more restraint and far less gloating over details than,
e.g., in Enoch. And we must never forget that the
thought throughout is of the immediate enemies of the
Gospel, not of the mass of mankind, whether living or
dead, whose fate is practically ignored.
200 IMMORTALITY v
5. On the question of the everlasting nature of pun-
ishment, the Apocalyptic books themselves are, as we
saw, really vague and indecisive. The same is true of
the New Testament. There is no passage which abso-
lutely requires it when due allowance is made for a
rhetorical use of quotations from earlier literature and
the conventional employment of current figures. In
some cases it is a possible interpretation of its language,
but the general trend of the New Testament as a whole
is definitely in the direction of annihilation.
6. With regard to the teaching of Our Lord the
evidence is still less decisive. The belief that He
taught everlasting punishment rests mainly on the evi-
dence of the first Gospel. It is a commonplace of
criticism that on many points besides this much of
the matter which is found only in this Gospel bears
very definite traces of the controversies of the sub-
Apostolic age. The moment we abandon the position
that every saying attributed to Christ in the Gospels
must be regarded as a literal and infallible report of
His words, we have no choice but to apply critical
principles.1 The general objections to the authenticity
of the language about punishment attributed to Him 2
are that it is very often weakly attested, that the form
in which it is recorded varies considerably, that it is
definitely traceable to contemporary Apocalyptic ideas,
and that, as many will hold, it is out of keeping with
the general tone of His character and teaching. More
will be said on this point later, but admitting for the
1 On this question I would beg leave to refer to my article on "The Teach-
ing of the Historic Christ" (Nineteenth Century, January 1914).
2 For a recent and very careful discussion of this see Rashdall, Conscience
and Christ, pp. 294 ff. To those who regard all such criticism as "subjective" it
may be said that the moment we question the literal accuracy of any document
or report, sacred or secular, we are thrown back upon probabilities which will to
some extent be variously estimated by different minds. In this sense all such
criticism is "subjective," as is all reasoning which falls short of mathematical
proof. But subjective need not be the same as arbitrary, and there are quite co-
gent and definite principles of historical criticism which we all use in everyday
life, e.g. we apply them to the various war reports which reach us, rejecting
some and accepting others, perhaos with modifications; and we do so on precisely
the same kind of principles as those which critics use with regard to the Bible.
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 201
moment the truth of this objection, it is obviously sound
criticism to regard with some suspicion, and to refuse to
build a far-reaching conclusion upon, a definite and not
very large class of discordant and exceptional sayings,
the origin of which can readily be otherwise explained.
Those who hold the doctrine of hell have based it
almost entirely on "revelation," i.e. on the recorded
teaching of Christ and His followers; in many cases
they would gladly abandon it, were it not that they
felt compelled to hold it on these grounds. If then
this supposed basis can be shown to be at best very
doubtful, the main argument in favour of the doctrine
disappears at once.
7. There are in the Pauline Epistles very definite
hints of a certain type of Universalism. Christ is to be
all in all ; it is the purpose of God to sum up all things
in Him ; through Him to reconcile all things to Himself
(Eph. i. 10, Col. i. 1 6, 20, iii. n) ; He has shut up all
unto disobedience that He might have mercy upon all
( Rom. xi. 3 1 ; see also i Cor. xv. 27 ff . ) . It is not clear
whether in such passages St. Paul actually contemplated
the salvation of individuals already dead or of the spir-
itual powers of evil. He seems to be thinking rather
of the cosmos as a whole and of all classes and types of
created beings within it. Rom. xi. refers to the Jewish
nation as an entity and to those who chance to be alive
at the consummation, rather than to those members of
the race who had already refused the Gospel.1 But
whatever the primary meaning of such language, the
principles which underlie it, when thought out, cannot
allow us to ignore the fate of previous generations, and
they are certainly not consistent with the existence of a
class of rebellious souls suffering unending torments.
It is, however, very difficult to find in the New Testa-
1 Rev. xxi. 24 ff. xxii. 2, refer to a great conversion of the Gentiles during
the Millennial Kingdom (see the convincing reconstruction of these chapters by
Dr. Charles in the Expository Times, xxvi. pp. 54, "9>- But (i) only those
are included who chance to be alive at the time; (2) the passage is not univer-
salistic since sinners remain without the city.
202 IMMORTALITY v
ment any real indications of further opportunities after
this life, and this applies just as strongly to the heathen
who have never heard the message as to those who
have heard and refused. If we do believe in repen-
tance after death, we must frankly base our belief on
something other than isolated texts.1
THE HARDENING OF THE DOCTRINE IN LATER
THOUGHT AND THE REVOLT AGAINST IT
The doctrine of everlasting punishment does not
figure either in any creed 2 or in the pronouncements of
the first four General Councils.3 Though it was vigor-
ously debated at the time, the Church remained silent
on the subject. Dr. Gore 4 admits that even Universal-
ism, which he himself rejects, "has never been formally
condemned by the Church with any ecumenical judg-
ment." At the same time it is only too obvious that the
belief in hell soon became dominant both in popular and
in official theology. If our contention is correct that
this is a misinterpretation of the real teaching of the
1 The Lazarus parable does contain such a hint, and the obscure passage in i
Peter iii. 19 ff. certainly implies the preaching of the Gospel to the dead. It is,
however, confined to those who died before the Flood. The supposed traces of a
similar idea in Enoch are very doubtful; we may see in i Peter rather the in-
fluence of the pagan myth of the conquest of the powers of the underworld by
an unrecognised divine hero (Bousset, Kyrios Christos, pp. 32 f.). In any case,
we cannot use an isolated passage such as this to explain other writers. St.
Paul, the universalist, gives no hint of a similar belief; Eph. iv. 9 has no men-
tion of preaching. The "harrowing of hell" plays a large part in later Christian
thought, but the point is mainly the rescue of the good men of old, not the of-
fering of another chance to sinners. In Ignatius, Magn. ix. 3, it is the prophets
who are rescued. In Hernias, Sim. ix. 16, 5, the Apostles descend to baptize
"those who have fallen asleep in righteousness." The descensus becomes an an-
swer, as in Dante, to the problem of how the good men of old can be saved if
baptism and faith in Christ are necessary to salvation; from this point of view
it has no bearing on universalism.
2 The English version of the Hymn of Athanasius has "everlasting," "ever-
lastingly," but these can scarcely be defended as renderings of the original Latin
word "aeternus." The Creed is intended to represent the New Testament lan-
guage; therefore "whatever Our Lord's words mean, the Creed means the
same." — Gibson, The Thirty-Nine Articles, p. 352.
& On the vexed question whether and how far Origen and his doctrines were
ever formally condemned, see Pusey, What is of Faith as to Everlasting Punish-
ment, p. 137; and Bigg, Christian Platonists of Alexandria, ch. viii., esp. pp.
323 ff.
4 The Religion of the Church, p. 91.
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 203
New Testament, how are we to account for its early
rise and general acceptance?
There would seem to have been four main influences
at work. ( i ) When Christianity passed from its origi-
nal Jewish surroundings to the Graeco-Roman world
the key was lost to the right interpretation of the lan-
guage in which many of its doctrines were clothed.
The Latin mind in particular tended to force the East-
ern metaphors and picturesque language of the New
Testament into a . literalistic and legal mould. This
especially affected the understanding of the eschatologi-
cal system of thought, out of which, as we have seen,
the belief in future punishment developed.
(2) It was not realised that the New Testament,
like other documents, must be interpreted in the light of
contemporary ideas and with a due regard to the his-
tory which lay behind its doctrines. The belief in
inspiration led to a mechanical system of interpretation
which, whether literal or allegorical, based itself on the
letter, and treated all books and texts as equally impor-
tant. This method already existed as applied to the
Old Testament, and it was transferred bodily to the
New. In particular it was taken for granted that all
the books represented a single homogeneous theology,
accepted by all its writers alike. Apparent divergences
must be explained away, and in particular silence must
be understood as consent. Accordingly those books
which really say little or nothing as to everlasting pun-
ishment, instead of being counted as witnesses against
it, were simply assumed to be in agreement with the
doctrine, though, as we have seen, it is in fact almost
exclusively confined to contexts where the Jewish
eschatological influence is dominant.
(3) The influences which we have found at work in
Apocalyptic literature and the New Testament operate
with increasing force in the history of the Church.
The growth of the belief in hell was largely due to
a very intelligible indignation at the cruelty of perse-
204 IMMORTALITY v
cutors and a desire to stem heresy. Tertullian's * out-
burst of mocking and exultant joy at the coming sight
of kings, persecutors, philosophers, and poets writhing
in the flames is well known, and Pusey 2 quotes a long
catena of passages from the Acts of the Martyrs and
similar literature, insisting on the belief in everlasting
punishment.
(4) Added to this, there was on the philosophical
side the growing belief, inherited from Plato, in the
natural immortality of the soul. This led to the ignor-
ing of the prima facie meaning of the Biblical passages
which speak of annihilation.3 If the soul is essentially
immortal and indissoluble and the possibility of re-
pentance after death is not contemplated, the sinner
can only suffer unendingly.
At the same time there have always been isolated
voices raised in support of other views. There are
hints of a belief in repentance after death, as well as in
conditional immortality and annihilation.4 The out-
standing figure in this respect is of course Origen; ref-
erence may be made to the full account of his views in
Bigg's Christian Platonists of Alexandria. The salient
points are these. He held that all punishment is reme-
dial; future suffering is not a penalty, but a wholesome
reaction by which the soul casts out poison; the "fire"
is spiritual and inward. uThe sin which is not forgiven
in this aeon, or the aeon to come, might yet be blotted
out in some one of the aeons beyond." 5 At the same
time he apparently believed in a final poena damni or
exclusion from the sight of God. "The soul which has
sinned beyond a certain point can never again become
*De Sped. 30.
2 What is of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment, pp. 155-172.
3 The Jewish conception of the temporary Messianic age had ceased to be fa-
miliar, particularly as Millenarianism (the reign of Christ for 1000 years) passed
into disrepute. It will be remembered that in the Apocalyptic books the final
destruction of sinners is often placed at the close of this period.
* For references see Enc. of Religion and Ethics, s.v. "Annihilation"; "Con-
ditional Immortality"; "Eschatology" (v. p. 388).
BBigg, p. 277.
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 205
what it once might have been. The 'wise fire' will con-
sume its evil fuel; anguish, remorse, shame, distrac-
tion, all torment will end when 'the wood, the hay,
the straw' are burnt up. The purified spirit will be
brought home, it will no longer rebel; it will acquiesce
in its lot; but it may never be admitted within that
holy circle where the pure in heart see face to face." *
At the same time, in view of what he considered the
teaching of Scripture, he is sometimes uncertain as to
the final fate of those rejected on earth. "Who is that
guest who ... is cast into outer darkness? You will
ask whether he remains bound in the outer darkness
for ever? — for the words 'for this aeon,' or 'for the
aeons' are not added — or whether he will in the end be
loosed? for it does not appear that anything is written
about his future release. It does not seem to me to be
safe, seeing I have no full understanding, to pronounce
an opinion, especially in a case where Scripture is
silent." 2 In the same way it is not clear whether he
really believed "that the devil will be saved," though
some of his followers seem to have done so.
Origen's views were strenuously combated by Au-
gustine, whose influence prevailed on this, as on other
subjects. In fact, to the four reasons already given
for the wide spread of the doctrine of hell, the almost
unquestioned supremacy of his authority, at least in
the west, may be added as a fifth.
From his time, and through the period covered by
the Middle Ages, there is little in the development of
eschatological theories which need detain us here.3 The
doctrine of Purgatory with its corollaries came to oc-
cupy a central place. But this was always a preparation
for heaven, not a mitigation of hell. No doubt it pro-
vided a temporary half-way house for those who with
i Bigg, p. 343.
2Origen, In Joan, xxviii. 7. quoted by Biggs, p. 278.
8 For John Scotus Erigena and "Dionysius the Areopagite," who were in
some sense Universalists, see H. B. Workman, Christian Thought to the Re-
formation, pp. 150 ff., and literature there quoted.
206 IMMORTALITY v
were neither good enough for the one nor bad enough
for the other. But it is a mistake to suppose that it
practically ousted hell. Dante and mediaeval art and
literature in general show that hell remained a serious
possibility, not merely for those outside the Church but
even for Popes, Bishops, and the highest ecclesiastical
dignitaries. The practical authority of the Church,
exercised in the last resort by excommunication, rested
largely on the belief, or at least the fear, that its con-
demnation did in fact carry with it the certainty of ever-
lasting punishment. This was the secret of its power
over heretics and secular princes. Gregory's excom-
munication of Henry IV. and the Emperor's humilia-
tion at Canossa are the outstanding proof of the seri-
ousness with which the power of the keys was regarded,
a seriousness bound up with the belief in the reality of
the torments of an unending hell. "His [Gregory's]
premises once admitted — and no one dreamt of deny-
ing them — the reasonings by which he established the
superiority of spiritual to temporal jurisdiction were
unassailable. With his authority, in whose hands are
the keys of heaven and hell, whose word can bestow
eternal bliss or plunge in everlasting misery, no other
earthly authority can compete or interfere : if his power
extends over the infinite, how much more must he be
supreme over the finite." 1 At the same time the fact
that such anathemas were sometimes disregarded com-
bines with the extraordinary flippancy with which, then
as now, hell was often treated in art and literature to
suggest the existence of an undercurrent of scepticism.
The prevalent attitude was no doubt very much that of
"Pascal's wager" : the Church's view of the future
might not be true; on the other hand it might. And
with so much to gain and lose if it did turn out to be
true, it was better to be on the safe side and stake
what you conveniently could upon it.
The Reformation, where it swept away the doctrine
1 Bryce, Holy Roman Empire, p. 161.
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 207
of Purgatory, left heaven and hell in still sharper op-
position. Everlasting punishment remained the official
teaching of the Reformed churches. Opposition came
mainly not from theologians but from philosophers,
such as Spinoza, Hobbes, Locke, and Mill. Isolated
protests were however heard from time to time from
within the Church.1 It would take too long, and would
not really be much to our purpose, to attempt to discuss
these here. We can only add a few words on the
modern history of the controversy within the Church
of England.
Here an important stage was marked by the publica-
tion in 1860 of Essays and Reviews. Mr. Wilson
closed his essay on "The National Church" with a very
cautious and moderate expression of his belief in Uni-
versalism. This formed one of the counts in the
"Essays and Reviews" trial. After the Ecclesiastical
Court had condemned the writers, the judgment was
reversed by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Coun-
cil, the part of the Judgment with which we are con-
cerned running as follows : —
"We are not required, or at liberty, to express any
opinion upon the mysterious question of the eternity
of future punishment, further than to say that we do
not find in the formularies to which this article refers
any such distinct declaration of our church upon the
subject as to require us to condemn as penal the ex-
pression of a hope by a clergyman that even the ulti-
mate pardon of the wicked who are condemned in the
Day of Judgment may be consistent with the will of
Almighty God."
The ecclesiastical opinion of the day still took an-
other view, and a Declaration signed by 11,000 clergy
expressed the belief that the Church of England teaches
in the words of our blessed Lord that the punish-
ment of the "cursed" equally with the "life" of the
1 See Farrar, Eternal Hope, Appendix: "Brief Sketch of Eschatologrical
Opinions in the Church."
208 IMMORTALITY v
"righteous" is "everlasting." Similarly Dr. Pusey
writes: "If the highest Court of Appeal allows
our clergy to take the word everlasting in a sense
contrary to its known English meaning . . . how
can our people believe that we mean anything that
we say?"
A few years previously (in 1853) a similar spirit had
been shown when Maurice was deprived of his Chair at
King's College on account of a very tentative rejection
of the current doctrine of hell and the expression of a
hope that some sinners might have an opportunity of
repentance after death.1 Many will remember the
storm raised by the publication of Farrar's Eternal
Hope, which was on much the same lines. It is worth
while recalling these controversies as some indication
of the change which has come over the theological
world in recent years with regard to this doctrine.
It is probably safe to say that except in a few restricted
circles a living belief in hell has practically vanished
to-day in the Church of England. It is no doubt still
held conventionally by many, but it is not seriously
preached or taught in spite of the efforts made from
time to time in the correspondence columns of the relig-
ious press to galvanise it into life. And now the semi-
official theology of the Church is falling into line with
what has long been the instinctive attitude of lay opin-
ion. The present Bishop of Oxford in a Manual of
Membership, "intended as a summary statement of the
religion of the catholic church," while rejecting "Uni-
versalism," abandons the strict doctrine of hell. "I do
not think . . . we are absolutely shut up into the al-
most intolerable belief in unending conscious torment
for the lost. . . . Final moral ruin may involve, I can-
not but think, such a dissolution of personality as carries
with it the cessation of personal consciousness. In this
way the final ruin of irretrievably lost spirits, awful
as it is to contemplate, may be found consistent with
1 Tennyson's poem "To the Rev. F. D. Maurice" refers to this.
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 209
St. Paul's anticipation of a universe in which ultimately
God is to be all in all — which does not seem to be really
compatible with the existence of a region of everlast-
ingly tormented and rebellious spirits." *
There can be no doubt that the impression that a
belief in everlasting punishment is an essential element
in the official theology of the Church has long been,
and still is, one of the greatest stumbling-blocks in the
minds of serious men. If it does not lead to the rejec-
tion of Christianity itself, it prevents them associating
themselves with any of the churches. It is well, there-
fore, to emphasise the fact that according to the strict-
est interpretation of her formularies considerable lati-
tude is now allowed to her members, at any rate within
the Church of England.
THE SPIRIT AND THE LETTER OF THE NEW
TESTAMENT TEACHING
The modern mind, then, with some unanimity rejects,
either explicitly or implicitly, the doctrine of hell. While
it may not always believe in the ultimate salvation of
all men, it does hold that the majority of souls will be
purified by discipline after death and will gradually at-
tain, if not to the fulness of the beatific vision, at least
to some measure of a profitable and happy state of be-
ing. We must now consider how far this is really com-
patible with what we have seen to be the teaching of the
New Testament. Let us remind ourselves once more
that the belief in hell depends upon the words of the
Bible to an extent which is probably true of no other
doctrine. We have already seen reason to hold that its
teaching is at best ambiguous and not always consistent
with itself, and this fact alone should be fatal to the
doctrine as a necessary matter of faith. But though
the New Testament is not decisive as to everlasting
punishment, the difficulty is that it does definitely con-
1Gore, The Religion of the Church, p. 92 f.
2io IMMORTALITY V
template the existence of two clearly defined classes —
the sheep and the goats, the saved and the lost — and
it does not explicitly suggest any possibility of im-
provement hereafter for those on the wrong side of
the line, whether they are there because they have
been deliberately rebellious or are only unconverted
through no fault of their own. Now there is no get-
ting away from the fact that those on the wrong side
of the line constitute a large proportion of those whom
on a prima facie view the language of the New Tes-
tament contemplates. Few enter in at the strait gate * ;
the foolish virgins are half the number. It is clear that
the "tares" and the "goats" stand for a class, which,
though indefinite, is quite considerable. Whether in
the Pauline Epistles, or in the fourth Gospel, it is per-
fectly obvious that those who are not saved by faith in
Christ are by no means a negligible fraction. It has
been a commonplace that the leaven of true Christians
must always be small.
Attempts are often made to remove the difficulty by
arguing that we are never told of the damnation of any
specified individual, that God alone is judge, and that
there is always the possibility that the soul may have
accepted Christ at the moment of death. Pusey 2 goes
through the list of notorious sinners of the Bible —
Ahab, Absalom, Solomon, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus
Epiphanes — and argues with regard to each one that
he may have repented at the last. Now we are quite
sure that the writers of the Jewish Apocalypses, or of
4 Maccabees, had not the least intention of excluding
an Antiochus 3 from the fire they describe, nor had the
1 See Lk. xiii. 23 ff. (Mt. vii. 13). In answer to the question, "Are there
few that be saved?" (cf. 2 Esdras vii., viii.) Our Lord refuses to define the
proportion, but He does say that "many" shall fail to enter the Kingdom, and
the following verses emphasise the same fact.
2 What if of Faith as to Everlasting Punishment, p. 12 ff.
3 It is true that in i Mac. vi., 2 Mac. ix. Antiochus is represented as filled
with remorse at his oppression of the Jews, and as recognising in his illness the
hand of divine vengeance. Such a touch has an obvious dramatic fitness, but
neither in 2 nor in 4 Maccabees is it suggested that he will thus escape his
future doom. Punishment after death is not referred to in i Maccabees.
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 211
author of Revelation any idea of placing Nero and his
satellites in the work of persecution among the re-
deemed arrayed in white robes. And the argument is
really a good example of a well-known fallacy. It
holds good "distributively" but not "collectively."
It may apply to any given individual, but it cannot be
extended to the whole class. If it really means that
the great majority of such sinners repent "between
the stirrup and the ground," it waters down the idea
of hell quite as effectually as any theory of future op-
portunity. But it is even less ethical, and it is untrue
to observed experience. As a warning against any pre-
sumptuous attempt to anticipate the judgment of God
by passing sentence on any one individual it is of course
valuable, but it does not ease the problem of what must
be, on the ordinary view, the large number of the lost.
All attempts to retain a theoretical hell, while sug-
gesting that probably no one goes there, are in fact
diametrically opposed to the teaching of the New Tes-
tament. The one point on which this is quite clear
is that only a fraction are fitted for and receive the
Kingdom. The question is whether those who do not
are really condemned to hell. If they are, hell is by
no means empty, whatever be our doubts as to the fate
of any particular person.
Again the issue is often confused by language used
about what is technically known as the poena damni,
which figures as we saw in Origen's theory. It is argued
that the soul of the sinner is worse off throughout eter-
nity as the result of his sin, that his God-given faculties
have not been so fully developed as they might have
been. At the same time it enjoys something which
might be called life; it is not an aimless existence of
suffering, but one of growth, activity, and hope, how-
ever much it falls short of the full vision of God which
under other circumstances it might have attained. This
is in fact very much the view which will be advocated
in this paper, but the point at the moment is that it does
212 IMMORTALITY v
not, as is often maintained, agree with the teaching of
the New Testament, understood in anything like its
literal sense. It certainly does not agree with it inter-
preted in terms of everlasting punishment, nor is it
equivalent to the doctrine of annihilation which, as we
saw, is sometimes the most reasonable deduction from
its language. Fire, darkness, exclusion, and death are
not the figures of a life good so far as it goes, though
truncated of much which might have been.
It is best in fact to admit quite frankly that any view
of the future destiny of those "on the wrong side of the
line" which is to be tolerable to us to-day must go be-
yond the explicit teaching of the New Testament. It
has come to be recognised that this is the case with
other questions. Our views of slavery, the position of
women, the social order, the claims of art and beauty,
are not limited by what the New Testament writers
actually say on these subjects. We claim the right in
all such cases to develop the essential principles of
Christianity. It will be a great gain when the same at-
titude is adopted quite explicitly with regard to the fu-
ture of sinners. We have indeed seen reason to believe
that the New Testament teaching is not in fact so ex-
treme as is usually supposed, that it is ambiguous and
not always consistent with itself. But it does not really
give us all that we want, and it only leads to insincerity
if we try to satisfy ourselves by artificial explanations of
its language. And we are in the end on surer ground
when as Christians we claim the right to go beyond the
letter, since we do so under the irresistible leading of
the moral principles of the New Testament and of
Christ Himself.
It has lately been remarked with reference to social
problems that we often "underate the ethical driving
force of the revolutionary ideas." 1 This certainly holds
good of the question we are now considering. The im-
possibility of believing that all who are not saved in this
1 Report of the Archbishops' Committee on Church and State, p. 257.
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 213
life are in any sense lost for ever arises not from philo-
sophical or critical assumptions, but from definitely
moral principles. We saw that the belief in future pun-
ishment itself owed much to the ethical motive which
demanded due vengeance on the persecutor and the op-
pressor. It was based on the sense of justice and the de-
sire that there should be a compensation in the next
world for the wrongs of this. At the time this marked
a real ethical advance, and it contains elements for
which we must find room in any final solution. But it
is not the highest stage, and it is the teaching and the
Spirit of Christ Himself which enable us now to rise to
something higher. It is our belief in the Fatherhood
and love of God as revealed in Christ which makes the
idea of unending torment strictly intolerable. 1 If a dog
acquired irremediably vicious habits, making him a nui-
sance and a danger, what should we say to a master
who, instead of shooting him at once, chained him up to
starve and torture him until he had "expiated" the mis-
chief he had done? If it be urged that in the case of a
responsible personality "justice" requires that sin should
be followed by a certain amount of "retributive suffer-
ing," apart from its effect on the character of the suf-
1 This can hardly be put better than it is in the Life of that strange saint of
God, John Smith of Harrow. "One of the elder boys once opened his heart to
John Smith upon the subject of future punishment. . . . 'What proof,' I said,
'have you that all will be eventually restored?' I shall never forget the way in
which he stopped, pvit his hand on my shoulder, and looking up to heaven, said
in his expressive voice, 'Our Father' " (Life, p. 54).
One result of the dropping of any general preaching of the doctrine of hell
has been that thoSe who continue to use the conventional language have forgot-
ten what it really implies. We should do well to exercise our imagination by
trying to think what everlasting punishment means. We may look at some of the
quotations given in Farrar's Eternal Hope (especially pp. xxvi, 26 {.), or better
still, read for ourselves the Works of Jonathan Edwards, and see it all in the
full horror of its context. The writer will never forget the impression made upon
him years ago when, on taking down one of these from the shelves of a library
and opening it almost at random, he lighted on the following: "The sight of hell
torments will exalt the happiness of the Saints for ever; it will give them a more
lively relish" (Works, vol. vii. p. 521). If eternal punishment is really consist-
ent both with the justice and the love of God and a completely good universe,
it does follow that the righteous must approve of it and even rejoice in it.
It is a minor point whether we think of it in terms of material and bodily
sufferings, or of mental and spiritual pangs. Those who reject the former usu-
ally go on to insist that the latter are the more terrible. Of course if we re-
gard these as remedial and as leading to repentance and progress, they are on
a different plane, but then this is not hell.
2i4 IMMORTALITY V
ferer, that punishment must at least bear some propor-
tion to the sin. To say that any sin deserves an "infinite"
penalty is an outrage to the very sense of fairness which
the argument invokes. Many will find it difficult to con-
ceive of the God of Jesus inflicting any punishment af-
ter death which is not in some way remedial and disci-
plinary; it is certainly impossible to regard Him as con-
demning any sinner to unending and purposeless tor-
ments. To fall back on the arbitrary decrees of God, to
say that in this respect His ways are not as our ways,
and that the highest ethical judgments we can form are
no criterion of His actions, is simply fatal to all religion.
"We who believe in Christ know nothing more certainly
than the character of God. We knew that He is perfect
love, perfect equity. We are quite justified in refus-
ing to believe about Him anything which would be in-
consistent with the highest goodness we can conceive." 1
Once more there are grave moral difficulties with re-
gard to the belief in the dissolution of personality as the
universal fate of sinners. For it is an admission of the
failure of the love of God. The absolute value of each
soul is a cardinal doctrine of Christianity. We must be-
lieve that God created each soul for a good end, for the
happiness of communion with Himself and others, and
of playing a part in the working out of His purpose for
the universe. The soul that ceases to be represents,
therefore, a failure of the divine purpose, however
much that failure may be due to its own sin. It means
that love has failed to overcome the obstacles. If it is
difficult to believe this of any souls it is almost impos-
sible to believe it of a large fraction of mankind. 2
1 Gore, Religion of the Church, p. 90. On the question of the validity of our
ethical judgments as a criterion of God's ways, I would venture to refer to what
I have written elsewhere in The Faith and the War, p. 193 f*
2 See above, p. 210, on the point that the New Testament does in fact regard
a large proportion as "on the wrong side of the line." The question naturally
arises as to why the New Testament writers failed to realise the moral difficulties
involved in this position, difficulties which were plain to the author of 4 Esdras.
It may be suggested that they were completely possessed with exultation at the
extension of God's love to which they bore witness. Potentially all Gentilo
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 215
The force of these ethical difficulties is widely felt,
but it is feared on the other hand that to surrender the
belief in hell or in final annihilation would be to deny
the eternal consequences of right or wrong choice, to
cut at the root of the sense of ultimate responsibility,
to minimise the awfulness of sin and remove a main
incentive to the struggle against it. If everything is
bound to come right in the end, why need we bother
overmuch?
In the first place we may reply that it is in fact very
doubtful how far the fear of future punishment is a
very effective deterrent against sin or incentive to vir-
tue. The ages when it was treated most seriously are
certainly not the most moral or the purest in church his-
tory. Tyrrell's experience is perhaps not very common
when he writes: "I cannot remember any time of my
childhood, or afterwards, when the fear of hell or desire
of heaven had the slightest practical effect on my con-
duct" ; l but it is quite certain that the ultimate effect
of a threat which the conscience does not acknowledge as
just or moral cannot be either very great or desirable. 2
In the second place, we are not shut up to the view
that it will be "all right" for every one after death, that
good and bad, loving and selfish, will all find themselves
equally well off. The New Testament division into two
classes does no doubt correspond to some division in the
were admitted on equal terms; in fact many more were to be saved than any one
had expected. This was enough for the moment, and they did not go on to face
the problem of those who refused the message or had not heard it. To us the
difficulty is not that some Gentiles should be saved but that any soul should be
finally lost.
1 Autobiography of George Tyrrell, i. p. 22.
2 An anonymous satirist has stated the argument unmercifully, but not un-
fairly:
To others the doctrine of love may be dear;
I own I confide in the doctrine of fear:
There's nothing, I think, so effective to make
Cur weak fellow-creatures their errors forsake.
As to tell them abruptly with unchanging front,
"You'll be damned if you do! You'll be damned if you don't."
A new generation forthwith must arise,
With Beelzebub pictured before their young eyes,
They'll be brave, they'll be true, they'll be gentle and kind
Because they have Satan for ever in mind.
216 IMMORTALITY V
next world, the nature of which we can only dimly
imagine. But we do not interpret it as final in the sense
that it excludes all hope of future progress and amend-
ment for those in the lower class. We may, if we will,
retain the language of fire, worms, darkness, and even
death, so long as we interpret them in terms of purga-
tory a and not of a final hell. Discipline and suffering,
pangs of repentance and the sense of what might have
been, delay in the fulfilment of God's purpose for the
self and the sense that His love has been thwarted, will
surely all be elements in the purifying process through
which the soul will have to pass. Such a doctrine of
the future is not an easygoing ignoring of sin, while
it does satisfy our ethical demands.
And though here we refuse to dogmatise, we keep
open the solemn possibility that final dissolution will be
the ultimate end for such souls as have completely lost
the power to recognise and desire goodness and respond
to the love of God. But we hold that so far as we can
see, this stage is seldom reached in this life. Even in
the worst we know, we ourselves can always find some
spark of goodness, some traits of love and unselfishness;
all evangelical work depends on this principle. So long
as there is the faintest spark of the divine life in the
soul, there remains the possibility of better things,
and the love of God has something on which to
wrork. We dare not abandon the hope of progress
and forgiveness after death for such a soul. 2 Only
1 As has often been pointed out, it is very remarkable that the modern Ro-
man doctrine in its most widely prevalent form teaches that Purgatory is only
penal and vindictive; it is the place where the soul, which is already saved and
forgiven, works out the temporal consequences of its sin. The growing modern
use of the term, like the early mediaeval, regards it as a place of purification and
growth, while of course it rejects the various superstitions connected with it. Cf.
P. 139.
2 A popular view, keeping the theoretical doctrine of hell but attempting to
minimise it as far as possible, holds that in such cases the soul is redeemed in
this life by an unconscious faith in Christ, however rudimentary. But this, like
Pusey's extension of death-bed repentances, only keeps the form of the orthodox
language at the expense of its meaning. The New Testament writers did not
include in the Kingdom all who died with any unextinguished spark of goodness,
even in the somewhat rare cases where they contemplate salvation without a per-
sonal faith in Christ (see above, p. 198).
v THE BIBLE AND HELL 217
where the Spirit is definitely quenched will the soul
cease to be. 1
As to details, the how and where of progress, the
stages through which the soul must pass, and where it
will finally rest, we may refuse to dogmatise, or even to
surmise. We are only certain about our religious and
ethical principles — that the God revealed in Christ is a
God of love, that each soul He has made has an abso-
lute value, that He cannot allow His children to suffer
hopelessly and without purpose, that His love has su-
preme power to draw out the best in every soul and
to destroy evil. These principles are admitted by all
Christians, but they have not always been applied
unflinchingly and consistently to the doctrine of the
future. 2 Augustine speaks of Origen's followers who
tried to do so as "deceived by a certain human kind-
ness." But it is a very halting faith which fears that a
thorough-going belief in the love of God and in the re-
flection of that love which we find in our own conscience
and actions at their best will deceive us. The Good
Shepherd who seeks for the lost sheep will not rest till
he has saved the goats.
The infant Church, of love she felt the tide
Stream on her from her Lord's yet recent grave.
And then she smiled ; and in the Catacombs,
With eye suffused but heart inspired true,
On those walls subterranean, where she hid
Her head 'mid ignominy, death, and tombs,
She her Good Shepherd's hasty image drew —
And on his shoulders, not a lamb, a kid.3
1 This is not quite the doctrine of "conditional immortality." That says the
soul is not immortal till it has won eternal life; this says it is immortal till it has
forfeited its boon by an extreme of wilful sin. More and more we see that it is
goodness which is essentially immortal and there is no serious philosophical dif-
ficulty in believing in the dissolution of the completely bad personality.
a There is food for thought in a pregnant remark of Dr. Charles: "The
eschatology of the nation is always the last part of its religion to experience the
transforming power of new ideas and facts. The eschatology of Israel was at times
six hundred years behind its theology." "So far as the Christian Churches hold
fast to the doctrine [sc. of eternal punishment] taken over from Judaism at the
Christian era, their eschatology is nearly two thousand years behind their doc-
trine of God and Christ."— Between the Old and New Testaments, pp. 128, 131.
8 M. Arnold, The Good Shepherd with the Kid.
VI
A DREAM OF HEAVEN
BY
A. GLUTTON-BROCK
SYNOPSIS
Myths of Heaven and their meaning. They give us life emptied of
irrelevance. That irrelevance is the struggle for life — from which
we escape in art. In art men are led to prophesy of Heaven. But
the myths of the artists are taken literally and misunderstood. So
comes the conventional idea of Heaven, of characterless angels and
saints. An example. But we are not fit for the perfection we imagine
in Heaven. We must need to be trained to it and yet to remain
ourselves. But there we shall be rid of all the unreal part of our-
selves, and the reality in us will recognise the reality of Heaven.
The problem of the wicked. Purgatory will really be enrichment.
We know that what we need is enrichment. How shall we be rid of
the evil in ourselves? By punishing ourselves. The pain of Heaven
will be in our sense of our inadequacy. The reality and uncertainty
of Heaven.
VI
A DREAM OF HEAVEN
THERE have been many myths of a future blessed state.
Valhalla, the Islands of the Blessed, Dante's Paradise
and the Visions of the Apocalypse; and there is no
truth in any of them except for those who know that
they are myths — in Plato's sense of that word — and
for whom they express a belief that can be expressed
only in an artistic form. These myths, for those who
understand their nature, have the same relation to re-
ality that music has to actual experience. Music is an
expression of actual experience, but in terms of pure
emotion not of representation. So the myth is an ex-
pression of what is believed to be real but not in terms of
representation. It is art, not science ; it is like music, an
answer given by the mind to reality, an answer which
does not reproduce reality but transmutes it into an-
other form. There is prophecy in it, as there is in mu-
sic, the prophecy of another state of being freed from
all the insignificance of this; and of that state of being
man can prophesy only by creating it in an artistic form.
"Heaven is music," Campion says; it is life become
music; and when men dream and talk, as they naturally
do, of this heaven of music, they mean, if it has any
reality to them, not a perpetual singing of hymns but
a life that is music, a life not emptied of its content
but freed from its irrelevance, as poetry is speech not
emptied of content but freed from irrelevance.
This irrelevance in life is, for all of us, the struggle
221
222 IMMORTALITY vi
for life, the fact that we are here tied and bound by a
perpetual effort to go on living. It is from the thought
of that struggle that we escape in art. Our common
speech is hampered by haphazard necessities; it is a
hand-to-mouth means of expressing our wants and has
been developed in the expression of them. But we have
always the idea of a speech freed from these wants and
no longer at the mercy of haphazard necessities ; and we
make that speech in poetry. The rhythm of poetry is
itself a freed movement, which has escaped from the
pressure of the struggle for life ; it is a movement willed
by the poet not imposed upon him by emergencies, a
movement in which he expresses himself and not his
wants. And so the dance is freer and more expressive
walking; and, as for music, it is sound freed altogether,
sound become purely rhythmical and expressive in it-
self, being freed even from the fetters of sense. So all
rhythm is a prophecy of a freer state of being, a state
in which man escapes from the struggle for life to the
expression of his own values, his own ideals; and in all
art, the more completely it is art, there is the sense of
heaven, whether it be a triumphant prophecy of it or an
aching desire for it. Even in despair the artist con-
jures up the freedom of that heaven of which he de-
spairs ; for he expresses his despair in the free speech
of heaven.
And this free speech leads men to prophesy of
Heaven, almost without knowing it. Morris suddenly,
in a poem to Iceland, is carried by his own music into
a myth of Iceland which his music brings to life in his
mind : —
Ah ! when thy Balder comes back, and bears from the heart of
the Sun
Peace and the healing of pain, and the wisdom that waiteth no
more,
And the lilies are laid on thy brow 'mid the crown of the deeds
thou hast done,
And the roses spring up by thy feet that the rocks of the wilder-
ness wore;
vi A DREAM OF HEAVEN 223
Ah! when thy Balder comes back and we gather the gains he
hath won,
Shall we not linger a little to talk of thy sweetness of old,
Yea, turn back awhile to thy travail, whence the Gods stood
aloof to behold?
There is the desire making a prophecy of what it
desires ; there is the poet making a heaven out of what
he loves in this world and impelled to make it by the
heavenly freedom of his own speech.
But, though in these heavens of art life is freed from
its slavery to the struggle for life, it is not therefore
emptied of content but rather enriched with more of it.
It is a fuller life because a freer; and the artist makes
his myth to express his longing for freedom, for a posi-
tive freedom. He conceives of a state in which men
shall act without the spur of the struggle for life. That
is what immortality means to him; above all, it is the
consciousness of freedom, it is an everlasting now, into
which man can throw the whole of himself without
looking before or after. It is not that he will live a life
emptied of sorrow, but that he will rejoice or mourn al-
ways with the freedom of passion, and not for himself.
For it is the struggle for life that binds us to ourselves ;
the tyranny of the struggle for life is the tyranny of a
self that cannot be forgotten ; and that is what the con-
stant passion in the mind of man rebels against.
But the myths of the artist — and the prophets and
seers who created the Christian myth were not the less
but rather the more artists because they had religious
genius — are always being misunderstood by those who
have not imagination enough to conceive of a life which
is still really alive though freed from the struggle for
life. For them Heaven is mere idleness; and they cast
about for something to do in it. They assume that it
must be a pious idleness; they are told by the artist in
his myths that it is the free life of art; but they do not
understand what he means by this. So to them this
free life of art means worship, not for the sake of wor-
224 IMMORTALITY vi
ship, but because worship is a means of acquiring merit,
because God is supposed to like it. Heaven is music,
they are told by the poets; and they suppose this to
be a statement of literal fact. So, if they are members
of the Church of England, they suppose that Heaven
is an eternity of Hymns ancient and modern, sung to
God because He likes to hear them.
Where the bright seraphim in burning row
Their loud uplifted angel trumpets blow,
And the Cherubic host in thousand choirs
Touch their immortal harps of golden wires.
Empty that of the artist's passion for positive free-
dom; empty it of the meaning in its music, which is
all its meaning; regard it, not as a myth, but as a state-
ment of fact, and it becomes the conventional notion of
heaven, as far from what Milton meant as a reproduc-
tion of Fra Angelico's Paradise on a picture post-card
is from what Fra Angelico meant when he painted the
picture.
It is a curious fact that the conventional idea of
Heaven, produced by people for the most part morbidly
absorbed in morals, is a state of being in which art will
be the only activity. Heaven to them is music, and
music which they will all know by heart, like Church
hymns. But a decent state of being cannot be all art
any more than all morals. The artist must live; he
must experience before he can give out his experience
in art; and he enjoys the taking in as much as the giv-
ing out. Besides, he must produce his own art out of
the exercise of all his other faculties. He must in fact
be free; and freer in a future state than here, if it
is to be anything like Heaven and not rather on the
way to Hell. Hence it is that the conventional
Heaven of the conventionally devout is unreal; unreal
even to them because it is bad art, art emptied of con-
tent and so life emptied of content. It is joy, but
a joy they cannot conceive, and therefore an empty
conventional joy; the joy of an Academy picture, or
vi A DREAM OF HEAVEN 225
of that hymn which cries, uOh, let us be joyful," with-
out knowing how to set about it.
Our notions of perfection, in so far as they come at
all from our actual experience, are notions really of
sudden and extreme joy, of achievement, recognition,
or reconciliation. This joy there must be in Heaven;
but it always has to be earned, and could not be itself if
it were not earned. We cannot, so to speak, pay a life
subscription for it and have it without further effort
throughout eternity. Nor should we be satisfied with
a universe in which we could. Such a Heaven would
be like an everlasting club, in which we should all pass
the time, having retired from business. But the best of
men do not wish to retire from business; they wish
rather for a business freed from the struggle for life,
and all the more intense for that reason.
Again, in the conventional Heaven all the human
beings there are, like the hymns they sing, emptied of
content; they are made good by losing their characters.
And this comes of men's impotence to conceive a life
freed from the struggle for life. That is why the myths
are meaningless to them, since they are myths of a life
freed from the struggle for life yet not emptied of its
content; and of human beings freed also, but not emp-
tied of their character, and not left with nothing to
do. Heaven would not be Heaven to us if we our-
selves, and all others, were made good by losing our
characters. If we are to love each other in Heaven it
must be we ourselves that love each other, ourselves
with all the savour of individual character still about
us. If we think of Heaven as a real place it is as a
heaven of real people doing real things. I imagine to
myself, for instance, Henry James in Heaven. If it
were the conventional state of blessedness, what a po-
lite but persistent note of interrogation he would sound
in it; how he would still labour incessantly to find the
phrase that would exactly describe his dislike of it. At
least, if he did not, he would be no longer Henry James,
226 IMMORTALITY vi
but a spirit beatified, like the spirits in the bad pictures,
by being emptied of content. Just as he used to watch
the splendours of the rich, seeking all the while his
phrases for them and making the splendours tolerable
to himself only with the phrases; so he would watch
the four-and-twenty elders casting down their golden
crowns beside the glassy sea. 1
"Yes," he would say, "it is a ritual, most impres-
sive no doubt, all that one can imagine of disciplined
ardour. There is achievement, a very real achieve-
ment, in it; and yet I find myself asking more and more
insistently — Why? and above all — Why so often? I
cannot conceal from myself that it all seems to belong
to the past, to be a little musty and romantic, like the
smell of incense in a Baroque church. I take off my
hat to it of course; one must be grateful to an enter-
tainment so splendid, so finished — but will it never be
finished? That is what I find myself asking, as I say,
with ever-increasing insistence. Let us come away, my
dear fellow, to some quiet place, if we can find one,
and talk it all over." His state of blessedness, if
he were still himself, would be talking it all over with
an enhanced power of hinting, in involved but exqui-
sitely adjusted sentences, just what he would prefer
instead of it.
In any future life we may have a great access of
knowledge and power; but that access must come to
us ourselves. It is I myself that will experience it.
It is I and so it will be I. The will be must be con-
nected with the is; or I shall not be I. In many ideas
of a future state the will be is not connected with the
is at all through the I, and that is why so many men
cease to believe in a future state at all or even to de-
sire it. They cannot imagine themselves as being, if
they are not to be themselves.
But are any of us, being what we are, fit for a life
1 Henry James must have admired, as much as any man, the magnificent
imagery of this scene. He would be wearied by a Heaven in which it was not
imagery but fact.
vi A DREAM OF HEAVEN 227
without the struggle for life? We may be able to
conceive it, to prophesy of it, in art; but art here is
not life; and we must never forget that. Life here is
not music, but a struggle for life which at best rises, at
rare moments, into music. Beauty for us, righteous-
ness for us, flower out of the struggle for life; seeming
to be wonderful by-products of it, and yet the by-
products for which we live. A man of science said
to me once that the struggle for life is only a pass
examination; you must pass it so that you may go
on to the real content of life, and rise to its real
meaning. But we have to be passing it all the time ;
and could we rise to the real content of life at all, if
we were not always passing it? We have this power
of rising above it for a moment; all of us have it,
even if we are not artists; but could we have it if
there were not the struggle to rise above? That is the
question we must always ask ourselves; and because
we cannot answer yes, we know that we are not fit
for Heaven, even if it be there waiting for us. We are
not fit for a life free from the struggle for life. Out
of that very struggle arises for us fellowship between
men and the love of a mother for her child, the wild
virtues from which Christianity has drawn its idea of
God himself. Love, fellowship, these come to us out
of the struggle for life ; it is through that very struggle
that we transcend it, just as beauty comes into objects
of use through their use. Divorce them from their
use, and the beauty is meaningless; and so, it seems to
us, we should be meaningless if we were divorced from
our struggle for life. If we were turned suddenly
into Angels we should be but domestic pets kept by
God.
We are all so unfit for perfection that it would be
a nightmare to us if we were thrown into it. God is
not so cruel as that, and if He loves us, He loves us
for what we are. He does not wish to change us into
something utterly different. He must have liked Henry
228 IMMORTALITY vi
James, as he was here; He could not wish to change
him into a pattern saint, so that he might enjoy a pat-
tern Heaven. Besides, our capacity for enjoyment is
ourselves; and we exist in a relation with real things,
in a relation already with God who is real even here
and will be more real hereafter. But He is real to us
in these real things, and in the very imperfection of
them which is akin to our own imperfection. There
is always something homely to us in our sense of Him,
and we are most sure of it in homely and humble and
very imperfect things, when we suddenly discover their
beauty by our own effort. As the poet says of children,
"God's speech is on their stammering tongue, and His
compassion in their smile." But we have to find it. It
is not forced upon us like the finished charms of a so-
ciety beauty or the splendour of a grand hotel. These
things are unreal, however much we may think we ad-
mire them; because we ourselves make no answering
effort to them. What they have to give us is forced
upon us, like the condescensions of a kind lady to the
poor. Heaven cannot be like that or it would be Hell
to all except the abject. No; the future life must be
more real not less; and we too shall be more real both
to ourselves and to each other. Already we are the
children of God, and that means that we are growing
into a kind of equality with Him. This equality can-
not be given to us or it would not be equality. We
must grow into it and be always growing. God is
love before He is power; power is merely an attribute
of the love; and because God is love we must have an
independence of Him. He could not love us if we were
His creatures in the old mechanical sense. He can
love us only if we are ourselves, as He is Himself; and
we are equal with Him in that we are ourselves, and
not creatures made to love Him like mechanical toys
for His amusement. What we call creation is the gift
of independent life without which we could not be
loved or love. And we must keep this notion of in-
vi A DREAM OF HEAVEN 229
dependent life in all our ideas of a future state, or it
will not be life at all.
And this future life must be such that it will accom-
modate all the actual people whom we know here well
enough to love them. But, on the other hand, it will
not accommodate our ideas of the people whom we
do not know and do not love. It will not contain our
ideas of the Germans, or the German ideas of us.
These are in the main phantoms of this life; for it is
infested with phantoms that we throw up out of our-
selves, that are, as we say, subjective. For here we
have not enough commerce with reality and are always
making unreal substitutes for it. The madman is one
who cannot face reality and who is always altering it in
his own mind and believing in his alterations. And
we all have this tendency to madness. We throw out
these phantoms and live among them. But the fu-
ture life will be swept clean of them and we shall leave
them behind us like dust and litter when we change
houses. It will be swept clean of our hatreds, our hos-
tile generalisations about hostile classes and peoples,
our sense of status, our bad art, our formulae, moral,
intellectual, and aesthetic, our habit of valuing the tem-
poral as the eternal. These are the phantoms, our
own absurd creations, that we shall leave behind with
death. They are not part of reality, as dreams are not
part of our waking hours. We shall feel them gone
like a nightmare, when we wake from it, but we our-
selves with all our capacities still imperfect will not
be gone.
The mere act of dying cannot, of course, free a man
at once from all capacity for illusion. Some men have
false standards of value so deeply engrained in them,
they have trained themselves so thoroughly into blind-
ness to reality, that on the threshold of the next life
they may begin again to create for themselves new
phantoms and new delusions. But, at least, there will
be the possibility of a fresh start.
23o IMMORTALITY vi
If the universe, if reality, is really a home to us, we
shall find it more of a home when we are rid of the lit-
ter and phantoms of this life, which are here our prop-
erty and not ourselves. And we shall come into this
home, not as strangers needing to learn the customs and
the language, but as exiles returning with memories
awakened at every step. Everywhere we shall recog-
nise those people and things that are according to our
idea and memory of home, as we now recognise a great
tune when we hear it for the first time. It is as if we
were helping to make it ourselves. It is we ourselves
that speak in it and say what we have always wanted
to say. So this future life will seem to be ours and
always to have been ours; only we have never managed
to live in it before. It will be the expression of what
we always knew about reality but could not even dare
to whisper to ourselves. Nor will it seem to be a
reward to us but rather something that we have been
fools not to make for ourselves before. Music is not
a prize for being good; it is not something that the
musician imposes upon us, but a revelation that sud-
denly we share with him. And we can share it only
because in our values we are his equals and of like
mind with him, though we could not have expressed
our minds without his help. That is an image
of our equality with God. He makes the music
but we recognise it; and He does not make the
music for Himself but for us; His joy is in our
recognition of it, and to be one with us in that
recognition.
What we have in common with each other is this
power of recognition of the same thing, the same
God, the same reality, quod semper, quod ubique, quod
ab omnibus. How much of what separates us from
each other is in those phantoms which we throw up
out of our own minds and which fill the spiritual
air between us and pester us with the sting and buzz
of our own egotism! When they are gone it will
vi A DREAM OF HEAVEN 231
be an ampler aether, a diviner air, in which we shall
recognise each other and shall be more purely our-
selves. There, too, we shall not be born as we are
here into a life infested with the phantoms of past
minds that have gone and left them behind, with bad
art, and formulae, and inherited rancours. But this
future will not be unsubstantial because free of all
those phantoms; rather it will be far more real, for it
is the phantoms here that afflict us with a sense of
unreality, cutting us off from that fellowship in which
alone reality can be found. Reality, to me, here, is
in what I love, not in what I hate; and I do not love
from mere habit and just what happens to be round
me. I love from recognition of what is everlastingly
lovable; and this will last into a future life. That
everlastingly lovable will be the connection between the
future life and this one, as I myself shall be the con-
nection. It is the spirit that gives form, and the beauty
of things made by man is the form given to them by
the spirit of man. So, as the spirit will persist, the
beauty will persist also and will be of the same na-
ture, whether it come from man or from God, and
whatever its material may be. The beauty we shall
recognise even if its material be strange to us. We
shall not have to learn it all afresh; and we shall rec-
ognise it the more easily because all our present ugly
phantoms of beauty will be gone. So will the false
phantoms we mistake for truth, and the evil phantoms
we miscall goodness.
In this life progress means that we become freer of
the tyranny of the past. I am aware of progress in
myself when I am able suddenly to live in the present
and no longer to see it only through the phantoms of
my own past. Only then do I become myself and not
something else subject to what I have been. The
difficulty, for us, is to go on being freshly ourselves
in an eternally fresh relation with what is. We are
always falling behind our actual experience, judging
23 2 IMMORTALITY vi
it as if it were a something that had happened be-
fore, as if it were actually in the past for us; and so
we judge other men as if they were tied by their past.
That is how we find it difficult to forget and to for-
give. They are to us what they have done; and we
become to ourselves what we have done; and so come
to think of all things as bound by a chain of cause
and effect. But progress in another life will be a greater
freedom from this tyranny of the past.1 We shall
begin afresh, but it will be we ourselves that begin. All
status will be swept away like cobwebs. We shall
love Shakespeare for himself not for his reputation,
and we shall come much nearer to loving God also for
Himself and not for His reputation.
We all have some fear of the strangeness of a
future state into which we shall come like new boys
to school. Certainly we may feel naked there because
we shall have lost all status, we shall be free of our
past both ways, from the comfort and from the dis-
comfort of it. So Mr. Roosevelt will not be asked to
make a speech there ; but neither will he be caricatured
in comic weeklies. It will no doubt be hard for all
of us at first to do without the comfort of our past;
but we shall soon find it bracing. We may wish to
fall back upon our own past achievements out of the
new life of everlasting fresh achievement and activity.
When we have done something well we may wish to
step back and look at it, instead of going on at once
to do something else. But the others will be doing
well too and not talking about it; and we shall soon
find that we are happier than we had ever thought
possible in admiring what they do. There will be a
perpetual current of all things drawing us into fel-
lowship with a force that may be painful to us at first;
and those who have grown part of the current will
have forgotten utterly the dividing habits of this life
1 I need hardly say that by freedom from the past here I do not mean loss
of memory.
vi A DREAM OF HEAVEN 233
so that they will gently discourage us from talking
about ourselves. There will be none of those silent
treaties of egotism by which some men band together
to despise others; and, if we at first make ill-natured
jokes, no one will see the point of them; as a child
does not see the point of a dirty story. All that
may even seem a little insipid to us at first, as fruit
is insipid to an East End child fed on liquorice and
whelks; but in time we shall learn to relish the celes-
tial fruit, and raise ourselves to the capacity of en-
joying the new life.
But what will happen to the people who seem here
entirely disgusting — to the wicked? The difficulty
is that if they are at all the same as in this life, they
will not like the new life. Even the confirmed club
bore will not like it unless he can find other bores
to talk to; in which case we shall begin to have the
same old trouble all over again. It may be possible
for the wicked and the bores and the bad artists to
band together and make this new world for them-
selves, and partly for others, like the old one. But
all these people live among their own phantoms here,
and these they will have left behind. There may
be a very small residuum of reality left to them when
all the phantasmal part is gone, but this residuum will
grow. They will be weaker than the good, they will
not have the perverted power they often have here,
and they will have to depend on the good and on the
fulness of their life. I think they will be like conva-
lescents after a long illness, very frail and timid and
pathetic, looking on at the happy sports of the healthy;
and they will desire gradually to share in these sports.
They, too, will be drawn into the current; and life
will come to them from their contact with it. All
kinds of long-forgotten memories will quicken in their
minds, and with these will return to them the sense
of reality which in this world they had lost among
their own phantoms. There are people who have no
234 IMMORTALITY vi
sense of reality at all except in their memories of child-
hood. All that they do and think and feel now seems
to them merely provisional. It is all a means to some-
thing else. They pass through life, in fact, as if they
were in the waiting-room at Clapham Junction; and
on the faces of the vicious, one always seems to see
a provisional look, as if they lived among makeshifts,
as indeed they do. In the future life they will not be
able to stay themselves with makeshifts. They will be
back like children among realities, among the things
that are worth doing for their own sake, and they will
slowly nerve themselves up to realities and lose all
that false shame, which in this world persuaded them
that realities were childish and beneath the attention
of men of the world.
Here they have believed nothing; there they will
learn to believe. The process may be painful at first;
one may call it Purgatory, but the word has an error
latent in it. For it is not purging that we shall need,
but enriching. In the very word Purgatory there is
already a perversion of what we really mean by it, a
perversion caused by our dislike of one another. It
seems to us that other men need to be purged of all
that we dislike in them, but if we think of ourselves we
know quite well that what we need is to be enriched.
Purging would not make us fit for Heaven, there would
not be enough of us left for it when we were purged.
We shall be purged enough by leaving this world and
its phantoms behind us; but we shall be weak and
empty after the process. In some cases that thread of
self connecting this life with another will be very thin.
There will be little reality to remember from the past
when all the phantoms are forgotten, but in that small
residuum of reality will be the faint beginnings of the
future life. Whatever we have known of reality here
will help us to recognise reality there. Whatever we
have really loved here will be there to be loved again,
to be recognised like the sound of bells from an old city
vi A DREAM OF HEAVEN 235
church, like the swinging open of gates, like the sunrise
over the mountains, like all those things that are eter-
nal to us, that seem to call us into that place when no
more time shall be "but steadfast rest of all things
firmly stayed upon the pillars of eternity."
For what is the reality of ourselves to ourselves?
Not that part of us which is absorbed in the struggle
for life; that is merely the routine self, the mechanical
part of us. The real self is that which rises in the very
process of the struggle for life to absolute values. One
real self is aware of another, is aware of itself, only in
love. A great part of our relations with each other is
merely mechanical, a matter of business, as we say; and
we wear business masks to each other, hiding our re-
ality. There are some who wear these masks always
to others and even to themselves. They have subdued
themselves to the conception of a business universe;
they despair of reality altogether; they have forgotten
their own absolute values. Their relation with God
Himself, if they had one, would be merely a business
relation.
What is the artist except a man who does reveal the
real part of himself, not to individual men in some per-
sonal intercourse, but to all the world through his art?
In that he is aware of his real self through love, he does
rise to absolute values. But art, prophetic of Heaven
as it is, is not enough, because it is not a personal inter-
course between man and man. Heaven would be the
fusion of the artist and the saint, the real, not the con-
ventional saint, who is hero and lover and poet in one;
it would be absolute values mastering all conduct and
turning it into art, making it as beautiful as music. In
Heaven conduct would be music. But there is not
enough material in us, not enough even in the artist or
the lover, to make this music. We are not real enough
to make it with each other; the artist himself has to
make it for an ideal audience; he cannot speak to the
man in the street as he speaks to an imagined world in
236 IMMORTALITY vi
his art. He has to suppose saints and angels listening
to him before he can begin. Only at rare moments are
two human beings at one with each other in their sense
of absolute values and then they have a glimpse of
Heaven; but it passes because they cannot sustain the
moment; they become unreal to each other and to
themselves. Heaven would be a universal and ever-
lasting fellowship in the enjoyment of absolute values,
a concert of all minds, of all thoughts, and all actions,
like that concert of the Cherubim and Seraphim which
Milton himself can only express for us in terms of
music. He says trumpets and harps; but he means
speech and thought and action all become music. He
must impoverish the content of Heaven so that he may
represent it at all; and that is a proof how far too poor
we all are now for the life of Heaven. There is not in
us yet soul enough for a life free from the struggle for
life. We are pained by the very desire for a love and
a fellowship not forced on us by that struggle. There
is a warmth in the desires of the flesh without which
we should seem to ourselves cold nothings. Our very
values seem to be far away from us when we try to
obey them for no reason except that they are our
values. And yet we know that all our reality is in those
values; and our worst sorrow in life is the knowledge
that they are not quite real.
Lord, ft is my chief complaint
That my love is weak and faint.
That is the chief complaint of all men, if only they
knew it. Their cry is, not to be purged, but to be
enriched.
And yet evil does exist; and in our myths of Hell
and Purgatory we insist that it exists, that it is positive,
a hard fact in the very nature of man and not imposed
on him by circumstances. Man does really will evil if
he wills anything; and this we know from our experi-
ence of ourselves. Therefore man needs to be purged
vi A DREAM OF HEAVEN 237
of evil; and the common notion is that he must be
purged of it by punishment. The myths of Hell and
Purgatory are not all an expression of our dislike
for each other, of our bad temper. They are an in-
sistence on the fact that evil does exist, and that we
cannot rid ourselves of it by a mechanical process of
salvation. The notion that all men will necessarily be
saved is repulsive to us, not merely because there are
some men whom we do not wish to be saved, but
because it makes life and the universe unreal to us. It
makes evil an illusion imposed on us by God; and, if
we believe in God at all, we do not believe that He
plays tricks with us.
Further, it is the essence of reality for us that it is un-
certain. The future is really the future, the unknown;
and our values depend on the fact of this uncertainty.
If we were sure of an escape from all evil we should lose
our values; the future, no longer a real future, would
become a mechanical process, and the good would fade
out of it with the evil. So in all myths about our rela-
tion with God it is implied that God Himself is not cer-
tain of our fate. There is more joy in Heaven over
one sinner that repenteth than over ninety-and-nine
just men. There could not be that joy if there were
foreknowledge; it would not be a real joy but a mere
ritual of welcome. And if Heaven is real to us it is not
a mere ritual, a perfect theatrical performance of the
same happiness for a million and one nights, but a life
utterly spontaneous and improvised, a life free of serv-
itude to the past or calculation about the future, free
of looking before and after. And that is what we
mean by eternity, an everlasting now, such as we attain
to sometimes when we hear great music, a now in which
there is succession but not that sense of duration that
comes of weariness and anxiety.
But here we are cut off from this freedom by evil
in us and outside us. This evil exists and yet we
protest continually against its existence. In fact evil is
238 IMMORTALITY vi
to us that which is unreal and yet exists. We never
consent to it in theory, even when we do evil ourselves
in practice. Evil is unreal and yet we are evil. That
can only be because we are unreal; but all the while
there is a reality in us that rebels against this unreal-
ity. If I have been in a rage, I say, when I emerge
from it, that it was not really I who was in a rage. Yet
the rage existed; and I consented to its existence. So,
in the case of all sin, the sin exists and the sinner con-
sents to it, is for the moment subdued to its unreality.
And it continues to exist in its consequences after he
has withdrawn his consent; that is why we are con-
vinced of the existence of evil in spite of its unreality.
It is a tyranny of the past over the present and of the
present over the future ; and Heaven is to us an escape
from this tyranny into the everlasting now.
But it is an escape that we must win for ourselves
and not attain to by a mechanical process, such as death.
It is we ourselves that must become completely real by
an effort of our own; and yet, as we know in this life,
we become real only by being aware of a reality not
ourselves. That reality exists and passionately desires
us to be aware of it; it appeals to us constantly, it
pleads with us, in all righteousness, in all truth, in all
beauty. From it, if we will consent to open ourselves
to it, we get a strength that is not our own. It does
not punish us; we punish ourselves by ignoring it; and,
what is worse, we punish each other and are cut off
from each other, and become alone with ourselves and
the sinful unreality of ourselves. The notion that God
punishes us, which taints our myths of Purgatory and
Hell with our own cruelty, is the result of a failure to
conceive of God. All real punishment is self-punish-
ment; it is the real in us rebelling against the unreal,
and yet a slave to it. But, if God is real, He is de-
liverance from the unreal, as the sun is deliverance
from darkness; and this real causes us pain only be-
cause we refuse the deliverance, refuse the love of
vi A DREAM OF HEAVEN 239
God. So there is no punishment from God for us
either in this world or in another.
But, if in that other life God is more instant to us,
more plainly revealed in a more piercing righteousness,
truth, and beauty, it may be that we shall suffer a
sharper pain than here from our failure to rise to our
opportunity. Beauty often makes us sad here, because
we are ourselves inadequate to it. There our inade-
quacy may make the far greater beauty almost intoler-
able to us. We shall have lost all our comfortable un-
realities, our sense of status, our vulgarities, our formu-
lae, and our hostile generalisations; we shall have no
one to encourage us in our nonsense; and we shall be
face to face, all naked and bare as we are, with that
which here we call the beatific vision. We shall know
that it is the beatific vision; and yet it will hurt us with
our own inadequacy to experience it. That is what the
myth of Jupiter and Semele means. We are not equal
to the contemplation of sublimity, for here we have
consented to admire an unreal sublime as if it were
real. Here we are always tainting our ideas of beauty
with our own egotism. We prefer Solomon in all his
glory to the lilies of the field, because we should like
to be Solomons ourselves. Only through the lilies of
the field could we prepare ourselves for the beatific
vision. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit
the earth; blessed are the pure in heart for they shall
see God.
But this sublimity of the beatific vision is not a cold
sublimity, as we often suppose; it is not a sublimity
emptied of all content or absorbed in the enjoyment
of itself. There is desire in it calling to our desire, the
love of God calling to the love of man; and it is the
urgency of the call that will pain us —
Lord, it is my chief complaint
That my love is weak and faint.
To fail in the answer to this ineffable appeal, to baffle
24o IMMORTALITY vi
the desire of God with the faintness of our own desire,
that will be the pain of Heaven. Nor shall we know,
nor will God know, whether we shall ever be able to
satisfy His desire with our own. But at least this pain
of ours will be real, as his desire is real. It will be
real like the sorrow of a great piece of music, not
unreal like the routine of this life to which we subdue
ourselves even while we rebel against it. It will be
real like the Crucifixion, which continues for ever and
must continue, until man has risen to an equality with
God; for that time is hidden in the darkness of the
future, for it rests with man himself whether he shall
so rise. But all the beauty and glory of the universe
is in the desire of God for man to be equal with Him-
self, and in the answering desire of man. And that
also is the beauty and glory of heaven, more intense
than on earth because there man is closer to God.
VII
THE GOOD & EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM
BY THE AUTHOR OF
"PRO CHRISTO ET ECCLESIA"
(LILY DOUGALL)
AUTHOR OF
"CHRISTUS FUTURUS," "VOLUNTAS DEI,"
"THE CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE OF HEALTH," ETC.
ALSO OF
"BEGGARS ALL." "THE ZEITGEIST," "THE MORMON ^ROPHET," ETC.
SYNOPSIS
PAGE
SPIRITUALISM AND PSYCHICAL RESEARCH . ... .244
Truth underlying the popular dislike of the occult.
Distinction between Spiritualism as a religion and scientific
investigations of psychic phenomena.
TELEPATHY ........ 247
(a) Telepathy of ordinary sympathetic intercourse.
(b) Crowd emotion.
(c) Ascendancy of one mind over another in or after
hypnosis.
(d) The telepathic impression received by B from A and
conveyed later to C, a medium.
(e) Crucial test in Mr. A. J. Hill's Psychical Investiga-
tions; also incident from Raymond.
OBJECTIONS TO SPIRITUALIST HYPOTHESIS .... 253
First objection: until we know the limits of telepathy be-
tween the living, we cannot assume it insufficient to ex-
plain mediumistic phenomena.
(a) Fortune-telling gipsy.
(b) Mrs. Piper and the Conner case.
(c) Medium's dramatic interpretations.
Second objection: communications from the next world by
automatic writing always reflect the thought of the me-
dium's environment.
Third objection: the dream consciousness of the medium
vitiates the telepathic message.
(a) Dream life dramatic.
(b) Medium's "control," probably a personality of
dream life.
(c) Air castles.
Fourth objection: clairvoyance is a possible source of
knowledge.
(a) Dowser's second sight.
(b) Hypnotic second sight.
(c) The Willett Script— the "Ear of Dionysius."
(d) The photograph incident in Raymond.
Fifth objection: messages are of flippant type.
(a) Sir W. R. Barrett's "tie-pin case."
(b) The "Ear of Dionysius."
Sixth objection: the difficulties in believing in verbal in-
spiration.
(a) If God's revelation were not also man's discovery
man's mental powers would not be educed.
242
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 243
(b) History shows that spirits from the other worlds
have not imparted "ready-made" knowledge to
man. "Revelations" of mystics and seers are
not in advance of their time.
(c) The highest prophetic writings show inference
from judgment of ascertained fact.
GHOSTS 2?8
Their probable explanation.
THE ANTI-SOCIAL SIN OF CREDULITY .... 279
(a) The credulity of spiritualists hinders investigation
of veridic phenomena.
(b) The credulity of the orthodox concerning demo-
nology induces foolish fears.
THE GAINS OF PSYCHICAL INVESTIGATION .... 284
(a) They furnish proof of telepathy.
(b) They witness to communion, as distinguished
from communication, with discarnate spirits.
CONCLUSION . . . . . . . .291
VII
THE GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM
SPIRITUALISM AND PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
MOST of us dislike anything that may be called occult.
The temperament of the average Anglo-Saxon is by
nature unfortunately not characterised by scientific pa-
tience, and very many are too apt to think that a scien-
tific temper consists in cutting the Gordian knot of some
difficult question depending on evidence with the sword
of pre-conceived, anti-superstitious opinion. The ex-
pressions, "I believe," "I am profoundly convinced,"
"Every sane man believes," or "No sane man be-
lieves," are constantly used among us as a means of
shirking the discomfort of suspended judgment about
matters not yet adequately investigated. Touching all
that field of thought and emotion commonly called "su-
perstition" this attitude of mind has a certain working
value, because it is sometimes exercised in genuine mis-
take for something true to the best in man and truly
scientific. For example, if the average Anglo-Saxon
were to say about spiritualistic phenomena, "I am
quite sure that at the heart of the universe lie order
and reason and health — that God is the God of order
and reason and health in all human affairs — and there-
fore I can, with a light heart, leave the investigation of
alleged spiritualistic phenomena to expert scientists; I
am quite certain that whatever turns out to be true will
also prove useful to man and honouring to God," he
244
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 245
would really say what in intention lies behind much
futile asseveration of scorn and unbelief.
It is important to distinguish clearly between scien-
tific investigations such as those undertaken by the
Society for Psychical Research (which, as regards at-
tempted communication with the dead, is carried on
by mediumistic methods) and the religious or quasi-
religious movement which goes by the name of Spir-
itualism in England and America and of Spiritism on
the Continent. This distinction must be kept in mind,
and with it one or two points which bear upon the lit-
erature of the subject, (a) It does not follow, because
a man or woman has won a reputation in some depart-
ment— say chemistry or electricity — that either their
repudiation or their investigation of occult matters will
be scientific. Many people keep their science, just as
many others keep their religion, in water-tight com-
partments. When this infirmity of great minds is
grasped we shall no longer be confused by the fact that
Professor This, who has won real distinction in some
special department of science, disbelieves in the possi-
bility of communicating with the spirits of the dead,
and Professor That, equally distinguished, daily ob-
tains such communications, (b) Another point to be re-
membered is that because a man, even a scientific man,
belongs to the S.P.R. it does not follow that he works
with the temper and caution which have characterised
the official work of the Society, (c) Yet a further
point is that, although certain prominent men who pro-
fess Spiritualism in the religious sense are also mem-
bers of the S.P.R. , that is no reason why we should
confuse Spiritualism with the official work of this
Society.
There are very few who have ever taken the
trouble to read even an article giving an authentic
resume of conclusions arrived at by reliable people who
have for years followed the investigations of the Soci-
ety for Psychical Research. As a matter of fact, this
246 IMMORTALITY vn
Society, which numbers among its members many illus-
trious names, has not seen its way to put forth as yet
any conclusion with regard to the alleged phenomena
of Spiritualism further than the following: it has
proved many mediums to be fraudulent, but in cases
where all suspicion of fraud has been eliminated by the
most careful observation, the most serious members of
the Society admit that there is evidence, either of non-
sensuous — i.e. telepathic — communications between the
minds of living people to a degree not commonly ad-
mitted, or of direction by some discarnate spirit. I be-
lieve that it is foolish to ignore or discard the evidence.
In face of it it is futile to say one day that we do not
believe in communication with discarnate spirits, and
the next day that we do not believe in what is called
"telepathy"; the results of the scientific investigations
of the S.P.R. are such that to disbelieve both these
alternatives is as unreasonable as to say that we do
not believe in any other of the common working hy-
potheses of life which are accepted only on cumulative
evidence.
What is our object in thus doggedly disbelieving
that mind may act independently of the body? There
is a purpose in it. Usually we want to preserve our
friends and our families from contact with what ap-
pears to us an unhealthy interest. But if our friends
and families sooner or later find that they are faced
with inexplicable facts that they cannot disbelieve, they
will set aside us and our judgments as valueless. If we
show credulity in making negative assertions on insuf-
ficient evidence, they will show similar credulity in ac-
cepting deleterious superstitions. It is true that super-
stition inhibits the best activities of the soul by dwarf-
ing the love of truth, but prejudice also dwarfs it. If
any well-attested fact is subversive of our traditional
beliefs, instead of getting angry or scornful, let us con-
sider it patiently. If it be true we may be quite sure
that it has been true from the foundation of the world.
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 247
If true, it has been awaiting our discovery, and when
further explored and assimilated to all the rest of our
knowledge, we shall find that it is something that is
part of the warp and woof of our familiar life, just as
much a part of all our safe and kindly intercourse with
the world of sense as any other part of experience.
In endeavouring to make a dispassionate examina-
tion of Spiritualism I am going to take my stand upon
what I believe to be proved by the evidence furnished
by the S.P.R. There are "mediums" who are honest
and entirely convinced that the words they give forth
by their various automatisms are inspired by some dis-
carnate spirit. This they believe on the strength of the
fact that when their talk or their automatic script or
their visions have been analysed, they are found to
contain information certainly not consciously acquired
through their physical senses.
I propose first to show that the hypothesis of telep-
athy between the living is the more probable explana-
tion of the super-physical knowledge of these mediums.
Afterwards, I hope to show that even though their
claims to hold verbal communications with the dead
are not substantiated, there may still be an important
element of truth in spiritualistic experience.
TELEPATHY
In small ways we are all quite familiar with telepathy,
although we have not called it by that name. Like "Le
Bourgeois gentilhomme," who talked prose all his life
without knowing it, we shall find that we have been
telepathic and ignored it. To begin with, most little
children know that "mother" can "understand with
half a word" what it would be very difficult to explain
to any one else. The trouble or joy in question may
have occurred quite away from the mother, yet how
quickly she knows all about it from a few incoherent
words. When we are grown-up we all know the same
148 IMMORTALITY vil
thing to be true between us and our best friends; in-
deed, it is this quickness of understanding, this ability
to dispense with endless verbal explanations, which
makes friendship. Now, if we examine this phenome-
non, we know that neither the mother nor the friend
could say in so many words, before we speak, what we
have to tell them ; but neither can the "medium" do this,
unless she throw herself into some abnormal condition
in which what is called for convenience "the subcon-
scious mind" works automatically. It is a quite ten-
able hypothesis that her subconscious mind is, at all
times, taking photographs, as it were, of the minds of
those with whom she comes in contact. Then the auto-
matic power would appear to constitute merely the de-
veloping process applied to the photographs taken, so
that they may be described by the "medium" and oth-
ers. On the hypothesis that the mother or friend knows
subconsciously very much of what goes on in the lives
of those they love, such knowledge would lie, like an
undeveloped photograph, until some demand upon sym-
pathy so far developed it that the conscious mind be-
came able dimly to trace its outline. In other words,
a demand on sympathy makes the sympathetic person
mediumistic to a degree perfectly healthy and normal,
so that the emerging subconscious knowledge meets
half-way the halting verbal deliverance of the other
who seeks sympathy. The old proverb, "It is love that
makes the world go round," may thus be translated
into the assertion that without the emotion that causes
this sympathetic quickness of understanding, outrun-
ning and transcending speech, human society would not
hold together. We have too little, not too much, of
such understanding, and the telepathic law lying at
the bottom of it may be awaiting discovery by those
who investigate spiritualistic phenomena. Such a dis-
covery would add to our knowledge, and might help
us to value more truly the fact explained: it would
not alter an age-long fact.
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 249
There are other well-known social phenomena which
may prove explicable also by the power of the human
mind to take subconscious photographs of other minds,
photographs which sometimes, under stress of emotion
or public excitement, seem to start, with outline more or
less dim, into consciousness. Among such phenomena
may be mentioned the spread of rumour, which pro-
verbially flies in front of any messenger; the corporate
manias which from time to time affect societies, and
were just as common before the existence of daily news-
papers as they are now; the power of panic to affect
those having no knowledge of the cause of danger; and
other more common and well-attested social facts.
Another fact germane to our hypothesis is the
mental ascendancy gained over an hypnotic subject
by the man who habitually hypnotises him. This
ascendancy, although absurdly and deplorably exag-
gerated in fiction and journalism, has extended in some
well-authenticated cases to cover absent suggestion,
i.e. the suggestion that passes from one to another
without physical presence or communication. In such
cases we get, first, the susceptibility of the subject to
oral suggestion during hypnotic sleep ; second, a prone-
ness to the mental suggestion of the hypnotiser when
present during that sleep; third, the mental sugges-
tion operating in absence.1
Thus we see that the telepathy with which we pro-
pose to explain the super-sensuous knowledge of medi-
ums is allied to phenomena with which we are all fa-
miliar. Reverting to the stages in hypnotic sugges-
tion just noted, it is the second that is commonly re-
produced in a private seance with a medium, when the
medium, by some process of self-hypnotism, goes into
sleep or trance, and so passes under the influence of
the "sitter's" mind as to interpret with variations what
he or she already knows. The investigators of the
S.P.R. all admit that when a medium in trance-speech
1 See Studies in Psychical Research, by F. Podmore, pp. 219 ff.
250 IMMORTALITY vn
or automatic writing reproduces in any form any idea
in the mind of some one present during the trance,
there is no evidence of anything but telepathic com-
munication between the two. The automatic condition
is supposed to make the mind mediumistic or peculiarly
susceptible to telepathic impressions.
The following story, taken in connection with such
facts of common life as are noted in the previous pages,
seems to suggest that the automatic condition is pe-
culiar, not in receiving telepathic impressions, but in
developing them in consciousness. I believe the story,
told me recently by a friend, to be true as I give it, al-
though when told to me it appeared more erie and quite
as incredible as any other story of ghostly happenings.
My friend, whom we will call "Miss A," received a
visit from an acquaintance we will call "Mrs. B." The
mind of Miss A was at the time absorbed by the de-
tails of some striking events which had lately occurred
in her own circle, but she did not mention these events
to Mrs. B, who was not an intimate friend, and was
not personally concerned in them. In the course of
conversation Mrs. B said she was on her way to keep
an appointment with a visualising medium. Asked
why she made such appointments, she replied that this
medium had the power to see as in a vision the most
important factors of her life, and in that way to give
her wise advice as to how to act in the present and im-
mediate future. Mrs. B took her leave, but in a short
time unexpectedly called again on her way home, to
tell Miss A that her visit to the medium this time had
been disappointing and useless. The medium had had
and described a series of visions, but nothing in them
was recognised by Mrs. B, and neither she nor the
medium could make any sense out of the visions. Out
of politeness, Miss A enquired their nature, and was
amazed when Mrs. B's recital set forth with consider-
able detail the events which had absorbed her own
mind during Mrs. B's visit before she went on to the
viz GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 25 1
seance. One curious detail was added: the visions had
been ushered into the medium's plane of vision by the
figure of a Chinaman in fine apparel. Now, the odd
thing was, that that very morning Miss A had hap-
pened to pass the Chinese Embassy in London, and
had seen two gorgeously attired Chinamen coming
down the steps, whose dress had greatly pleased her
artistic sense. These Chinamen, had of course, noth-
ing to do with the other events over which in those
days her mind was brooding.
We may describe what happened — figuratively — by
saying that Mrs. B's subconscious mind had carried
away what might be called a photograph of Miss A's
thought as they sat together, a photograph that did
not emerge into Mrs. B's consciousness, but was per-
ceived, developed, and described by the medium's sub-
conscious mind. The other possible hypotheses — that
the medium visualised Miss A's thought direct — would
seem to deny any limit at all to the medium's power of
thought-reading, as in this case he had never seen or
heard of Miss A.
In the light of this incident I should like to analyse
the one given in Mr. J. Arthur Hill's Psychical In-
vestigation and headed, "A Crucial Test:" Mr. Hill
says (p. 172) : "I give, below, a recent case in which
the theory of telepathy from the sitter is excluded."
He then describes how his medium, Mr. A. Wilkinson,
had seen a woman called Ruth Robertshaw.
"A. W . Did you know somebody called Ruth
Robertshaw?
"J. A. H. I don't remember anybody at the moment.
"A. W. . . I saw her perfectly. A crescent-shaped
light was over her head, and her face was illumined.
She would be inclined to be rather pious in her way
(quite meaningless to me). This woman Ruth is no
relation to you, I think. There was a gentleman be-
longing to her, called Jacob. I think he would be
her husband. Whoever he was, he was older than
252 IMMORTALITY vn
her. He would be seventy-three. She would be
about ten years younger. . . .
"All this conveyed nothing to me. But previous
experience (see pp. 167-169, etc.) warned me not to
dismiss it hastily, and it occurred to me to write to the
last visitor I had had, three days before — a Miss North
• — in case the two people belonged to her, though I
thought it unlikely, for I knew of no Robertshaws
among her relatives or friends.
"Her reply was : 'You make me feel creepy. Ruth
Robertshaw was my father's cousin — one of the sweet-
est women that ever lived. She was a beautiful old
lady when I knew her, and good. Jacob was her hus-
band. The ages given are just about right.' J
Now the likeness between this case and the previous
case of "Miss A" and "Mrs. B" is obvious. They
differ in that three days elapsed between Miss North's
visit to Mr. Hill and his visit to the medium, while, too,
we have no proof that during her visit to Mr. Hill
Miss North's mind was actively occupied with the
Robertshaws. Otherwise the likeness between the two
cases is striking. Even apart from the Chinaman, we
must rule out any interference of a discarnate spirit
in the case of "Miss A" and "Mrs. B"; and the ad-
dition of the living Chinaman makes such an hypoth-
esis absurd. So we must disagree with Mr. Hill
when he says (p. 173) : "To me (this case of Miss
North) is conclusive of something beyond either
normal knowledge on the medium's part or telepathy
from me; and indeed I can find no satisfactory ex-
planation except the spiritistic one. Apparently those
on the other side are aware of the movements of
those in whom they are still interested down here, and
are in some sense 'with' them, even to the extent of
being perceivable by a sensitive through an after-
influence left some days before." Mr. Hill suggests, as
the only mind-reading theory that might be advanced,
that this "after-influence" established a rapport by
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 253
which Wilkinson was able to read the mind of the dis-
tant and unknown Miss North, and dismisses the idea
as credulous and superstitious. He does not consider
the explanation my story suggests. It will be noted,
however, that he attributes to Miss North the knowl-
edge which the medium, Wilkinson, communicated,
and he regards the spirits as perceivable by the medium
because they were "with" Miss North some days be-
fore and left an "after-influence." In the case of
"Miss A" and "Mrs. B" the after-influence perceived
by the medium, though left some hours before, was
not a spirit, but obviously a telepathic impression, and
the persistence of such an impression for three days
in Mr. Hill's mind is not a priori impossible. The dif-
ference of three hours in the one case and three days
in the other is hardly a proof that a discarnate
spirit was present in the latter case and not in the
former.1
Apart from my story, there is abundant evidence
that certain honest mediums have shown an extraordi-
nary knowledge, not only of events present to the
minds of enquirers who went to them in a receptive
mood, but of events that such enquirers were convinced
they did not know, but which people connected with
them did know. An instance of this occurs in Ray-
mond (pp. 147-8), where the medium gives the name
"Norman" as a nickname given to Raymond by his
brothers, a nickname which the sitters at the seance
did not know.
OBJECTIONS TO THE SPIRITUALIST HYPOTHESIS
We may now proceed to state the principal objec-
tions to the belief in detailed verbal communication
from discarnate spirits which Spiritualism maintains.
1 It occurs to me as possible that the incident may throw light on the case of
the photograph in Sir Oliver Lodge's Raymond, discussed below, pp. 268-9.
254 IMMORTALITY vn
(i) Telepathy usually an Adequate Explanation
The first objection has been already indicated. It
is that as yet we do not know the limits of the sub-
conscious mind's power of access to other minds on
earth, nor the length of time an impression thus made
may persist before it is brought into consciousness.
Because thought-transference or telepathy certainly ac-
counts for so large a part of so-called "communica-
tions," we are forbidden by the Law of Parsimony to
seek another cause till we are assured that this or some
other known cause will not serve. While our knowl-
edge of the limits and working of telepathy remains
imperfect, this is not a final objection, but it has much
greater weight than convinced spiritualists will com-
monly allow. They urge that the explanation of mes-
sages as obtained by telepathy from the living is often
much more complex or roundabout than the spiritual-
ist explanation, and this argument sounds plausible.
But science has often found that what seems the sim-
pler explanation is not the true one. Many people
used to be indignant at the suggestion that the com-
mon cold is caused by an infectious microbe. They
felt chill; they developed a cold; why drag in the
complicated theory of the catarrhal microbe? Yet the
more complex theory was the true one. And in every
department of research science has had to replace
simple and obvious explanations which were false by
the more complex truth.
In our present problem we must remember that telep-
athy from the living is proved to be the source of
part of the information imparted by mediums. No
one who has studied the subject will deny this. I once
had an interview with a fortune-telling gipsy whose
ways were obviously mediumistic. She told me that
I would receive a letter in the first week of the new
year containing a hundred pounds. I was much im-
pressed, because I expected this amount at exactly
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 255
that time, believing the money was then due from my
publisher. When the time came I discovered that the
publisher did not pay till six months after the year's
accounts were rendered, and that then ten pounds of
it would go to the literary agent! The gipsy's infor-
mation was obviously a reflection of my own mind at
the time we met.
A notable instance of the same sort is given in
an account by Mrs. Henry Sidgwick of a case in which
Mrs. Piper gave false information, part of which was
certainly derived from the minds of the enquirers
concerned. Briefly the facts are as follows. Conner,
a young citizen of the United States, went to the city
of Mexico to work as electrician in a theatre, but
was soon taken ill with typhoid fever, removed to
the American hospital and died in the spring of 1895.
An official account of his death and burial was sent
by the American Consul-General to his father in
Vermont. A few months later his father had a vivid
dream in which his son appeared to him and said he
was not dead, but alive, and held a captive in Mexico.
Conner's friends consulted Mrs. Piper, who in trance
confirmed the dream. Her controls claimed that he
had been taken from the hospital at night by the
"South road" and was being held for ransom or some
other dark purpose, and that the body of another pa-
tient who had died was dressed in his clothes and bur-
ied as Conner. Thus fortified in their suspicions Con-
ner's friends sent a Mr. Dodge, who knew him well, to
Mexico to look for him. Ultimately he got leave to ex-
hume the body, now buried about a year, and awas
pretty well convinced at the time that" it was that of
Conner. Mrs. Piper's controls, on the contrary, con-
tinued to assert that he had been taken along a South
road — to a country house, said one; to Tuxedo, said
another. Mrs. Piper was ill for a good part of 1896,
but in October of that year Mr. Dodge had another
sitting with her, in which her control gave a lurid ac-
256 IMMORTALITY vn
count of Conner's condition at or near Puebla in some
sort of lunatic asylum. The friends again started in
search, directed by telegraphed instructions given in
trance by Mrs. Piper. The directions as to his where-
abouts were precise, but they were always incorrect
or inadequate, and the seekers returned puzzled and
disappointed. Ultimately the gentleman who pub-
lished the story satisfied himself that the descriptions
were misleading, that Conner could not have been
confined as described without the knowledge of the
authorities, and, moreover, that there could have been
no motive for kidnapping him. He also found the
nurse who had actually seen Conner die, and, in fine,
set the whole question at rest. As to Mrs. Piper, it
would seem that athe enquiry set her subliminal imag-
ination to work." Mrs. Sidgwick says, "She got some
things right according to the ideas of Mr. Dodge-
perhaps in part by thought-transference from him, and,
once started on the wrong line, embroidered on it fur-
ther." One incident at least seems a remarkable in-
stance of telepathy from the sitter. A certain land-
scape view, as seen by Mr. Dodge at Puebla, was in
his presence vividly and accurately described by the
controls.1
It appears to me that in such a case it is probable
that what Mrs. Sidgwick calls Mrs. Piper's "sublimi-
nal imagination" gave a dramatic representation of the
uneasy fears of Conner's friends. From visits of my
own to mediums and from what others tell me, I
have formed the opinion that all that is commonly ob-
tained from a professional medium is, at best, a dra-
matic reproduction of what is, consciously or uncon-
sciously, in the sister's mind. By a dramatic repro-
duction I mean that the medium sees the knowledge
imaginatively as in a dream; his or her statement
comes in an unexpected form, and therefore seems
fresh. I once asked a medium for my mother's name,
1 S.P.R. Journal, vol. xvii. No, cccxxxiii.
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 257
and was told that the name, which she gave correctly,
was "written in fire across the table!"
The source of the knowledge is telepathic; the form
is given by the dream imagery discussed later. That
some telepathic impression from the enquirer is the
most frequent source of the medium's knowledge is
recognised by many investigators of the S.P.R. Sir O.
Lodge says: "The possibility of what may be called
normal telepathy, or unconscious mind-reading from
survivors, raises hesitation about accepting messages as
irrefragable evidence of persistent personal existence."1
Even accepting as something seriously to be reckoned
with, the evidence offered by the S.P.R. , we clearly need
much more investigation before we can be assured that
mediums possess any spiritistic source of information.
But the belief of the ordinary spiritualist runs far in
advance of anything for which the annals of the S.P.R.
offer evidence. A notable development of spiritualism
is the publication of whole books purporting to have
been dictated by discarnate spirits to mediums who took
down these dictations in automatic script. By "auto-
matic script" is meant writing that is done when the
mind of the writer is either entranced or diverted from
the operation of writing; the writer does not look at the
paper and professes to be ignorant of what is written.
(2) Automatic Writing
The second objection concerns such "inspired" writ-
ing of the spiritualists, much of which is now published
and has great currency. While it is impossible to as-
sert of any one passage from published automatic writ-
ings that it certainly represents the earthly environment
of the medium, and not the mind of any discarnate
spirit, it is worthy of note that when we get whole books
of automatic writing supposed to be inspired by some
individual from the next life, we find that on the whole
1 Raymond, p. 346.
258 IMMORTALITY vii
we have nothing that does not correspond with the in-
tellectual, moral, and religious environment of the me-
dium. Beside the automatic writings reported by the
S.P.R. I may refer to three such books of whose origin
I happen to know something. One was written in the
house of a personal friend; one by a lady medium well
known to some of my friends; the third by different
members of one family all quite well known in a neigh-
bourhood where I often visit. I have reason to believe
that each of these three books is an honest effort to
give to the world what is honestly believed to be a
revelation from another world, verbally inspired by a
discarnate spirit. What is most striking about all these
collections is that they reflect the general thought of the
circles and households from which they emanate. What
might be called the general telepathic environment of
the medium is exactly reflected, and nothing more.
If "mediumship" means, as I believe it does, a
greater awareness than the ordinary person possesses
of telepathic environment, a greater quiescence of the
individual judgment and the conscious reason, such
faithful reflection of mental environment would be just
what we should expect. I find no individual style or
character in these books. They ripple on with serious
but monotonous and insipid platitudes on a level with
surrounding thought and belief.
Such physical and mental automatisms as writing or
speaking or screaming or dancing are well known to
medical science. They can be self-induced in various
ways. A child, after its grief is appeased, will some-
times go on sobbing, unable to stop. The laughter of
a hysteric is analogous. Public speakers, even of strong
character, sometimes find themselves unable to bring a
speech to a desired end: sentences which add nothing
to the force of what they have said keep rising in their
mind and rolling from their lips because mind and
voice, habituated to the exercise, work automatically.
Men who are forced to think on certain subjects by
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 259
day often find that they cannot help thinking of them
by night; their conscious thoughts go on and on, but
produce no conclusion. Automatic speech or writing,
so far as it is physical, may be precisely the same sort
of affection in kind, although it is a further develop-
ment of the power of mechanical habit. So far as it is
mental it may be referred to the dream consciousness
discussed later on. Responsible members of the S.P.R.
are generally of the opinion that the fact that speech or
writing is automatic is not in itself any evidence that it
has any source beyond the subconscious mind of the
medium. Such automatic writings as the S.P.R. has
offered for public criticism have been interesting only
because they appeared to contain information which the
medium could not have obtained in any ordinary way,
and which was of such a nature that it could be verified.
As to descriptions of the next life, what spiritualists
tell us is of no importance if it rests on no other evi-
dence than that some medium has produced it in auto-
matic speech or writing and attributed it to the dic-
tation or revelation of some discarnate spirit.
(3) Dream-consciousness of the Medium
This brings us to the third objection to the claim
of spiritualists to know the conditions of the next life :
even if a discarnate spirit were striving to communicate
through a medium's automatic speech or script, the me-
dium's dream-consciousness would always, potentially
at least, vitiate the message. Thus we must consider
the working of the dream-consciousness of human be-
ings. It has often been proved that dramatic dreams,
which to the dreamer appear of long duration, have
taken place in a few moments of time and have been
suggested by some simple external circumstance, such as
a knock at the door, a street cry, or the touch of some-
thing near the dreamer. This proves the facility with
which the human imagination, when unbridled by con-
460 IMMORTALITY vn
scious reason, groups scenes and narratives round some
casual sensuous suggestion, a facility well known to every
candid student of dreams. The scenes and narratives
will depend upon the temperament, environment, and
experience of the dreamer, but the imaginative power
to produce them when in a dreaming state is common.
The same sort of power is seen in those hallucinations
which in mist or half light frequently startle waking
people. Some half-seen object by its outline or colour
suggests something else, and straightway the percipient
sees the thing suggested in all its detail, although the
detail can be proved afterwards not to be there. I once
stood for a full minute with a friend gazing at a won-
derful apparition of Mary Queen of Scots in the exact
costume of her best-known portrait. She was kneeling
by a chair in a darkened room, her hand and face up-
lifted apparently in prayer. We both saw the same
person — the attitude, the costume — in the light from
the door we had opened; but when we recovered from
our astonishment and went forward to investigate, we
found only a black velvet gown with lace frills, which
a maid had thrown carelessly on the chair. The real
outline suggested, but only suggested, what we saw.
The imaginative element in all perception, heightened
in such a case as this, is probably the same that runs
riot in our dreams. Only yesterday I was told that a
friend had had a long and vivid dream of a hound that
sprang on his bed and grabbed at his stomach: he
awoke to feel an acute pain in that organ, caused by
a fit of indigestion. When I was a child having les-
sons in English composition my class was given the
task of writing an essay upon the herring. I idled my
time and went to sleep with the heavy consciousness
that I had no paper ready to give in the next day. I
dreamed of a parliament of herrings under the sea,
in which, with dramatic ceremony, a red herring was
elected their king. Hastily transcribing my dream, I
gave in a paper, and later was amazed to receive an
.vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 261
ill-deserved prize for imaginative composition. Had
I gone to sleep with my mind full of the death of
some friend and heavy with perplexed questions con-
cerning the after-life, I should have been quite as
likely to have had a coherent dream of the after-life.
If, on repeating such a dream to parents or friends, it
had been much discussed I might easily have had more
dreams on the same subject, none of them less vivid
and coherent or more authentic than that of the herring
parliament.
To the facility of the sleeping dream we must add
the facility of the day-dreaming imagination. Weaving
stories of our own pleasurable expectations or "build-
ing castles in Spain" is a very common source of self-
entertainment. With many young people of the dreamy
temperament it becomes a sort of second life, and the
dream-self becomes a second personality. Some have
several different dream-selves to suit different moods,
and each moves among a different set of characters. As
long as the day-dreamer remains sane and wide awake,
the difference between these dreams and reality is not
blurred; but such dreams attest the facility of dramatic
imagination in a large class of young people, and in
some throughout life. Further, there are times, on go-
ing to sleep and on awaking, when most day-dreamers
confuse the habitual dream-story with reality. It is in
bed, on the verge of sleep, that most children derive
the liveliest pleasure from their "castles in Spain, " be-
cause then they seem to be in reality the dream-self and
to mix with the dream surroundings.
It has been pointed out in a previous Essay * that
Reverie, or day-dreaming is only the first of a series of
self-induced hypnoidal states which fade off insensibly
into one another until they culminate, in what looks
like a deep sleep, in the hypnotic trance — of which the
trance of the medium seems to be a variety. We can-
not, however, realise too clearly that hypnoidal states,
iPp. 35 ff.
262 IMMORTALITY vn
or hypnotic trances, are not — though the name sug-
gests it — states of sleepiness or sleep. They are rather
states of heightened attention, in which the mind is
withdrawn from voluntary trains of thought and (at
certain stages) from sensation. The consciousness thus
liberated is intensely awake, and is aware of impres-
sions and alive to conclusions which at other times
would be unnoticed. Things that we know, but do not
know we know, may arise in it. Vivid imaginations
started by chance suggestions may pass before it.
Thoughts from other minds may intrude upon it — in-
deed susceptibility to "suggestion" is a marked charac-
teristic of the hypnoidal state. When the state has
been induced by another person, that person can by
suggestion largely determine the content of the mind
of the subject. But when the hypnoidal state is self-
induced, the general tenor of that content will prob-
ably be governed by the real, although perhaps not
conscious, tenor of desire and purpose in the life of
the subject. Hence where, as in the case of the auto-
matic writer an elementary, or in the case of the me-
dium in trance an advanced, stage of the hypnoidal
state is self-induced with the express purpose of getting
into communication with a person in the spirit-world,
the subject is likely to be peculiarly sensitive to tele-
pathic suggestion from other minds, or to be domi-
nated by an uprush of ideas latent in his own mind,
concerning some person in the spirit world.
In the light of these considerations we may examine
the conception of the "control" developed by mediums.
Sir O. Lodge says : "The kind of medium chiefly dealt
with in this book is one who, by waiting quietly, goes
more or less into a trance, and is then subject to what
is called 'control' . . . which certainly is a secondary
personality of the medium, whatever that phrase may
really signify." * It is to the dramatic imagination of
the dream-consciousness that I should judge the appar-
1 Raymond, p. 86.
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 263
ent personality and communications of the "control" to
be due. But Sir Oliver speaks of the "control" as re-
ceiving some, but only some, messages which he thinks
are from "the next world," and "transmitting them
through the speech or writing of the medium, and with
mannerisms belonging either to the medium or to the
'control.' The amount of sophistication varies accord-
ing to the quality of the medium and to the state of the
medium at different times; it must be attributed in the
best cases physiologically to the medium, intellectually
to the control." l It is when the dream padding is coher-
ent that Sir Oliver apparently calls it "sophistication."
When speaking of information given by Mrs. Leon-
ard's control, "Feda," as to the nature of the next life,
he says that some records are "of a very non-evidential
and perhaps ridiculous kind, but I do not feel inclined
to suppress them. ... I should think, myself, that
they are of very varying degrees of value, and pecul-
iarly liable to unintentional sophistication by the me-
dium. They cannot be really satisfactory, as we have
no means of bringing them to book. The difficulty
is that Feda encounters many sitters, and though the
majority are just enquirers, taking what comes and
saying very little, one or two may be themselves full
of theories, and may either intentionally or uncon-
sciously convey them to the control; who may there-
after retail them as actual information, without per-
haps being sure whence they are derived." 2
The passages in the sitting referred to are given by
Feda dramatically as spoken by Raymond, or glibly,
describing Raymond's experience. "He's been attend-
ing lectures at what they call 'halls of learning' : you
can prepare yourself for the higher spheres while you
are living in lower ones. He's on the third, but he's
told that even now he could go on to the fourth if he
chose; but he says he would rather be learning the laws
ap-per-taining to each sphere while he's still living on
1 Raymond, p. 87. * Ibid. pp. 191-2.
264 IMMORTALITY vn
the third. . . . He went into a place on the fifth
sphere — a place he takes to be made of alabaster.
He's not sure that it really was, but it looked like that.
It looked like a kind of temple — a large one. . . . He
went in, and he saw that though the building was
white, there were many different lights; looked like
certain places covered in red, and . . . was blue, and
the centre was orange. These were not the crude col-
ours that go by those names, but a softened shade. And
he looked to see what they came from. Then he saw
that a lot of the windows were extremely large, and
the panes in them had glass of these colours." *
Before giving these and analogous passages, Sir O.
Lodge says: "I am inclined myself to attribute a good
deal of this to hypothetical information received by
Feda from other sitters; but it seems unfair to sup-
press it. In accordance with my plan I propose to re-
produce it for what it is worth." 2 Sir Oliver does not
himself pronounce any final decision as to whether
these messages are from the discarnate spirit and
therefore veridical, or not. He seems to admit the
possibility of their genuineness without sufficiently em-
phasising the grave dilemma involved. If these long,
and — to us — certainly ridiculous accounts of the next
life are genuine, it becomes impossible to defend their
triviality, and the general triviality of spirit commu-
nications, on the ground that it is so difficult to get
through coherent messages; yet that is the ground on
which the scrappy or trivial nature of such communi-
cations is always defended. On the other hand, if
these long screeds of Feda's proceed from the me-
dium's dream-consciousness, it must be observed that
they come with just the same credentials as any other
message from Raymond or other discarnate spirit given
by other mediums. If these are false there is no suffi-
cient reason for accepting any spiritualistic description
of the next life.
1 Raymond, pp. 263-4. 2 Ibid. p. 262.
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 265
We have seen that the imaginative faculty appears
to work most freely when the subject is in a semi-wak-
ing or waking condition, but with the conscious reason
entirely diverted or inactive; such a condition is just
what we appear to get when mediums obtain their sup-
posed messages from discarnate spirits; it is there-
fore but reasonable to expect that their dream imag-
ination will work actively on any suggestion given to
them when in a semi-sleeping or trance or automatic
state. What Sir Oliver Lodge calls "padding" ap-
pears to show that such dreams figure in the commu-
nications of mediums who are not conscious of any
fraudulent intention.
Young people who indulge in ordinary day-dreams
are usually surrounded by friends who show no in-
clination to take interest in such dreams. The dreams
are so obviously of the stuff that would wake derision
in the bystanders that the dreamer, however prone
to this private folly, is never tempted to credulity con-
cerning it. But young people of the same temperament
among spiritualists, if they betrayed any sign of being
"mediumistic," would find encouragement to believe a
certain class of waking or half-waking dreams inspired.
The psychological result of such encouragement re-
quires investigation. As an example of the sort of au-
tomatic or impressionist script that is accepted and pub-
lished among spiritualists, I quote from a book which
seems popular among them. A mother purports to
speak to her children : —
"I told you of my experiences with a band of newly
arrived people who were led with me to hear some
beautiful music. After that music had ceased, they did
not all disperse, but we went on in a little company still
further along the spacious valley till we were met by a
band of shining ones, who came towards us as on the
wings of the wind — so swift and undulating was their
motion, and each of these messengers — for such they
were — had a bright star on his or her forehead; and
266 IMMORTALITY vn
when they met us they advanced to my companions and
each of them took one or two by the hand and so
drew them away by different paths; but one of these
fair messengers remained with me, and led me apart to
a green spot on the banks of one of the bright streams
that adds so much to the music and the beauty of this
land, and sitting on that sweet-scented bank, this com-
rade from a higher sphere opened his heart to me, and
taught me more of the true wisdom that comes like
drops of balm to the thirsting, eager spirit. He told
me that other work was awaiting me than that I was
now doing; that it would come gradually; and he as-
sured me it would not separate me from Earth and
the loved ones I had left there, but would greatly add
to my powers of helping and serving them." 1
This is quite evidently just the sort of thing that
the habitual day-dreamer can produce "for seven years
together, eating and sleeping hours excepted."
(4) The Possibility of Clairvoyance
There is another difficulty in accepting as conclusive
even some of the most "evidential" of the automatic
scripts published by the S.P.R. Those that are nearest
to being convincing to my mind are given by Mr. Ger-
ald Balfour in the Proceedings of the S.P.R. , vol. xxix.
No. Ixxiii. They are passages from the script of a
medium called Mrs. Willett. The communicators pur-
port to be Dr. A. W. Verrall and Prof. S. H. Butcher,
both dead. The evidence consists in the fact that in
several sittings given in 1914-15, a number of appar-
ently disconnected classical allusions are furnished —
afterwards found to circle round the uear of Diony-
sius" — and the sitting is closed with the words,
"Enough for this time. ... A literary association of
ideas pointing to the influence of two discarnate minds."
The apparently disconnected allusions were finally
1 Messages from the Unseen, pp. 140-1.
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 267
found all together in a classical work by an American
scholar, a copy of which Dr. Verrall possessed and used
when preparing his lectures. The contents of this book
were certainly not known to the medium, and were not
consciously known to Mrs. Verrall or the other investi-
gators. As there appears to have been no one concerned
in the investigation, or connected with the medium, who
had in mind the various classical stories involved or
was consciously aware of the one historical incident
with which they were all connected, it follows that there
is little in these scripts that can be attributed merely to
thought-transference or to the dramatic dream-con-
sciousness of the medium. The conclusion of Mr. Ger-
ald Balfour and some others is that they were dictated
by the discarnate mind of Dr. Verrall; others think
that the medium really had the knowledge and had
forgotten it. But there is another possible power of
the subliminal self which I think needs to be taken into
account. It is called "second sight," and is the faculty
of seeing at a distance or into a closed room, or reading
a closed letter or a closed book. We should need to
know much more of the nature and limits of this power
of "second" or "super-normal" sight before we can
rule it out as a possible factor in producing this script,
and hence before we could consider the evidence
proved the operation of discarnate minds. I have per-
sonally known cases in which certain people at certain
times appeared to obtain a correct impression of let-
ters or books before they were opened. Thus, I have
seen a child open a large Bible, apparently at random,
and straightway put her finger on a somewhat recondite
text that had been asked for, although by any normal
method she could only have found it after long search.
Any one such case may, of course, be mere coincidence,
but there is a body of experience affording evidence
of such a faculty, for it is obviously quite as easy
to read a closed book or letter as to see water under-
ground or see what is passing in another town.
268 IMMORTALITY vii
The operations of "dowsers" seem to support this
theory, as also do some of Swendenborg's well-attested
experiences.
Other evidence of the same faculty can be found in
Myers's Human Personality, vol. i. p. 352, appendix
236A; and p. 370, appendix 41 5 A. Vol. vii. of the
Proceedings of the S.P.R. contains two articles by Mrs.
Sidgwick and one by Dr. Alfred Backman, of Kalmar,
Sweden, which appear to establish the fact that when
the subconscious mind is liberated by the hypnotic
trance it evinces some power of seeing what could not
be discerned by the agent's physical eyes — e.g. seeing
into rooms at a distance. This is called "travelling
clairvoyance." It appears to be regarded as proved
by Sir O. Lodge.1
Whether the subconscious minds of educated people
can or cannot see into closed books which they do not
•consciously consult, remains to be proved.
My suggestion as to a possible explanation in the
case of the Willett script — if it be true that no one
concerned had other means of acquiring this knowl-
edge— is that Mrs. Verrall's subconscious mind, ex-
cited by an accidental reference in an early script to
the "ear of Dionysius," may have been working upon
the subject and obtaining by clairvoyance from Dr.
Verrall's books around her, evidence which she was
able to transfer — also subconsciously — in a patchy
way to the mind of Mrs. Willett. Such a description
of the way our mental affairs may be conducted is,
I confess, fantastic in the extreme, but the evidence
of second sight or travelling clairvoyance given in the
articles to which I have referred is also extremely fan-
tastic— one would have said, incredible, and nothing
could appear more incredible than the true story which
I have told of Miss A and Mrs. B.
Turning again to Raymond, we find the most evi-
dential circumstance given is the description of a photo-
1Cf. Hibbert Journal, April 1917.
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 269
graph of Raymond communicated to Sir Oliver Lodge,
who had not seen it. The case is this : On September
27 Lady Lodge was informed by a medium, Peters,
that among the portraits she possessed of "this boy"
was one where he was in a group of other men, adding;
uHe is particular that I should tell you this. In one
you see his walking-stick." As all officers carry canes
and are often photographed in groups, there is so
far nothing evidential, but what follows is noteworthy.
Lady Lodge at that time had no such photograph
and knew of none such; but on Nov. 29 she got a
note from a Mrs. Cheves, a stranger to her, but the
mother of one of Raymond's friends, offering to send
her a group photograph in which her son Raymond
appeared, and adding, "I have often thought of you
and felt so much for you in your great sorrow."
Before the photograph arrived Sir Oliver Lodge con-
sulted another medium, Mrs. Leonard, and in reply
to questions got some correct and striking details con-
cerning the photograph. The question remains whether
travelling clairvoyance may not have given this infor-
mation to the mediums.1
(5) Character of Messages
The fifth objection concerns the character of the
messages put forward as coming from spirits of the
dead. Moral and religious people are objecting that
they are too trivial to be credible. But I do not con-
ceive mere triviality or littleness to be a real objection.
To the observant nothing is insignificant; and the char-
acters of the greatest men may be read in their trifling,
half-unconscious actions. On earth "God comes to us
in the little things."
1 An alternative explanation of this incident would be that the medium
was able to "photograph" impressions telepathetically conveyed to Sir Oliver
from Mrs. Cheves; the only difference "between this and the cases quoted
on pp. 250-253 would be that Sir Oliver and Mrs. Cheves had not been in actual
personal contact, though they had clearly been thinking about one another in
connection with Raymond.
270 IMMORTALITY vn
If the next life is continuous with this, we have no
need to think of it as of huge, empty spaces in which a
few magnificent realities loom dreadful to the naked
soul. If God is Creator He is eternally Creator. To
create means to manifest thought in form. There, as
here, we must know Him in the beauty of His creation.
If He is eternal Love, there, as here, life will be in the
human family, social, hence interesting; there, as here,1
the reign of God will be within blessed souls, and their
activities will make its outward manifestations, even in
smallest words and actions. Therefore I think the
objection of mere triviality cannot hold.
What is really felt, though seldom said, is that all
communications are disappointing; those which cannot
be verified are feeble, while those which have the best
verification are, for the most part, under the circum-
stances, flippant. Sir William Barrett, in his book, On
the Threshold of the Unseen, tells us of a young officer
who was killed in France, and who before leaving for
the front had been secretly engaged to a girl who was
unknown to all his relatives. Shortly after his death a
message was spelt out on the ouija board purporting to
come from him, merely bidding his mother to give his
pearl tie-pin to his fiancee, whose name he supplied.
The information was verified, and he was found to have
left his effects by will to the lady. What should we
think of a young man who, lying wounded in a base hos-
pital after going through the terrible experiences of the
war, is able to send one short telegram to his mother,
and uses the opportunity merely to arrange the disposal
of a tie-pin, in such a way announcing a secret engage-
ment? And is such a message less unfilial and flippant
if it come from the other side of death? I cite this
case as typical of many messages from missing soldiers
that would have seemed impertinent or insane if ar-
riving by telegram from a German prison or a foreign
1 Spatial terms are used without prejudging the question as to the nature of
the inter-relation of the two worlds.
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 271
hospital, but are cherished as evidence of survival,
though obviously a more appropriate and feeling mes-
sage could have been just as simply expressed and just
as evidential. When the substance of such messages
can be verified in fact it is more likely that they result
from telepathic impressions received by relatives be-
fore the death and only realised afterwards.
The same objection applies to messages which "evi-
dentially" are of a much higher type. Let us take, for
instance, the communications published by the S.P.R.
under the title "The Ear of Dionysius," referred to
above. In this case two learned men of fine character
are represented as deciding together in the unseen how
to get some evidence of their personal survival to their
friends on earth. They had been absent from those
friends for some months, and those friends in the
meantime had been experiencing the shock and grief
of the present war. Surely the circumstances are such
that jokes and badinage and literary reminiscences of
the lightest type, charming enough if timely, are not
expressive of a rational and kindly standard of relative
values. It must be impossible to give evidence of per-
sonal survival that will admit of scientific proof; only a
strong presumption can be created; but there are many
incidents in classic lore more appropriate to such an
occasion than that chosen, and as suitable to indicate
survival. Evidence of this sort appears to many to
raise more difficulties than it allays.
(6) Spiritualism postulates Verbal Inspiration
The last and greatest objection which I have to urge
concerns the whole question of the possibility of verbal
inspiration from the unseen world.
If it be urged that communications from friends who
have passed into the next world arc not of the nature
of a revelation or inspiration, but that they would
naturally talk to us by words and signs just as they
272 IMMORTALITY vii
did upon earth, it may be answered, first, that we
cannot possibly take communications from those who
have passed into a discarnate state as though they
were on the level of our earthly powers and experi-
ence. They have a great experience which we have
not; presumably they have powers and opportunities
of knowledge which we have not. We are therefore
not in a position to judge what in their communica-
tions is probable and what is not, as we judge the
communications of living people. Their words, if
they reach us, have a new authority, or at least a
new importance; and, unfortunately, to-day the air of
large religious circles is rife with notions that are
supposed to have been got in this way, notions which
do not conduce to wisdom. If we receive from our
dead communications concerning the next life, these
communications, if true, are certainly revelations con-
cerning that life, and therefore of vital import to us.
Further, if we and they be religious we shall naturally
believe that, while such revelations are given us
through our friends, they are still given us by the grace
of God. Thus we cannot blame people who receive
even foolish notions as authoritative if they believe
them to be communications from the dead. In the
second place, the word "inspiration" implies some
thought or message which a living person believes
himself to receive, not through his senses, but within
that sphere in which his supersensuous nature operates.
Methods of mediumistic operation are thus described
by Sir O. Lodge : —
"When the method of communication is purely men-
tal or telepathic, we are assured that the communicator
'on the other side' has to select from and utilise those
ideas and channels which represent the customary
mental scope of the medium. ... In many such tele-
pathic communications the physical form which the
emergent message takes is that of automatic or semi-
conscious writing or speech; the manner of the utter-
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 273
ance being fairly normal, but the substance of it ap-
pearing not to emanate from the writer's or speaker's
own mind: though but very seldom is either the sub-
ject-matter or the language of a kind quite beyond
the writer's or speaker's normal capabilities. In other
cases, when the medium becomes entranced, the dem-
onstration of a communicator's separate intelligence
may become stronger and the sophistication less. A
still further stage is reached when by special effort
what is called telergy is employed, i.e. when physio-
logical mechanism is more directly utilised without
telepathic operation on the mind." 1 Here, then, we
see Sir Oliver recognises at least three methods of com-
munication from those in the next life: First, an im-
pression made telepathically on the mind of the me-
dium: Secondly, when the communicator has some
share in the control of the semi-conscious thought or
speech of the medium, who is entranced: and, Thirdly,
when the communicator usurps the medium's vocal
chords or the muscles which manipulate the pen. Mes-
sages arriving through any of these three methods may
quite legitimately be called "inspired," if they are be-
lieved to give a true account of the next life they are
regarded as a revelation. If, then, we believe that by
these methods we obtain messages verbally dictated by
departed souls, we have returned to a belief in verbal
inspiration, and I wish to submit that all the difficulties
with which we are familiar in believing that our Scrip-
tures were thus inspired are to be urged against any be-
lief that our friends in the next world give verbally in-
spired messages to those who remain in the flesh. This
may not be a final objection to allmessages from another
world, but it is a serious difficulty and must be faced.
Which of us believes that our sacred Scriptures were
verbally inspired? If we do not believe it, why not?
There is no need to recall the familiar objections
arising out of historical contradictions and inaccuracies
1 Raytndnd, p. 88.
274 IMMORTALITY vii
or the "moral difficulties" of the Old Testament and
the like. But it is perhaps worth while to suggest two
less obvious but, as it seems to me, even more cogent
reasons.
Firstly, if we can discern any purpose at all in the
universe it is the educing of life and the latent powers
of life by enterprise and discovery. The evolution of
mind or soul seems to be an aim of the biological proc-
ess; it is the going forth to seek food that develops
mind. Even in our small reach of biological knowledge
and in human history we see that when food for the
stomach or for the soul is superimposed, mind remains
servile and stunted. It is alone by the enterprise and
adventure that engage all his powers that man grows.
In him is planted an insatiable desire to know, to ad-
mire, to love. This desire is an open mouth, and is
only fed by. what he discovers for himself. The vege-
table feeds only on what comes to it, and develops no
mind. The process of the development of mind is so
costly that if God be God or Good the value of what
is educed by it must be the supreme value of our world.
If, then, by "revelation" we mean knowledge concern-
ing things as yet undiscovered by us, do we expect
this knowledge to be given us in a spoon, as it were,
from another world? No, we conceive that it must
come by the use of our own powers, for only by use
can they grow strong enough to assimilate new food.
On the other hand, God cannot be anything to which
we could give that name if He does not put within
reach of our attainment what we require for develop-
ment. It is because of the Divine Spirit within us
that we seek truth; it is because of the Divine Spirit
without us that there is truth to discover. This Di-
vine urgence to our new discovery is one consideration
which causes us to reject the theory of God and of
truth implied in the belief in verbal inspiration or
revelation.
The second consideration which causes us to reject
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 275
the belief in verbal inspiration is historical. If man
did not receive this saving knowledge we infer that
God could not give it without doing violence to man's
freedom, without stunting the whole development of
humanity along the line of free initiation. Because,
if God had from time to time imparted knowledge to
mankind, either direct from Himself or through any
discarnate intelligence who, by being removed ever so
little from this earth, might see the trend of earthly
events in truer proportion, how very much of the
world's misery might have been saved! Even if the
instruments of our better information had been the
souls of well-intentioned people who had recently left
the earth, and who, presumably have, as Tennyson
says, "larger, other eyes than ours"; it is evident that
there is much they might have imparted which would
have been of wonderful use to well-intentioned people
still in the world.
If Socrates could have imparted to Aristotle right
principles of scientific investigation, the communication
would not have been more complex or more difficult to
reduce to human speech than the messages which spirit-
ualistic books purport to give. If the prophet Moses
could have imparted to the prophet Isaiah such truths
as that it is not God's will that woman should be re-
garded as man's chattel, that slavery must disappear
with the development of true religion, that animals,
children, and servants can be better and more easily
trained and controlled by kindness than by the rod, how
greatly would even our Western manners have been
ameliorated and God vindicated ! Or again, how easy
it would seem for some of the Apostles to have made it
clear to one of their successors — say St. Augustine —
that religious persecution was always instigated by evil
passions, that torture is not the best way of obtaining
truth from a suspected criminal, nor severity of punish-
ment the best way of maintaining discipline. Or if they
had revealed to the Church that magic is futile and that
276 IMMORTALITY vn
we dishonour God if we either admire or fear or perse-
cute those who profess to exercise it, how enlightening
it would have been. If such information, and even in-
formation more vital, was not given, the reason must
be either that the dead are as ignorant as the living or
that they are not able, or do not care, to impart their
knowledge to us.
There is, of course, much in what is called inspired
writing" that purports to come by vision, dream, and
message. Such visions would seem to be the judgment
of the seer, heightened by prayer, taking objective
form. Dr. Rufus Jones has made careful analysis of
the contents of many of the visions of well-known mys-
tics, and he is convinced that what occurs in such so-
called "revelations" is an awareness of the Divine
Presence which heightens the natural powers of the
mystic, while the actual content of the vision always
reflects the thought of his community and age — that is,
the heightened power enables the mystic to select from
the thoughts possible to his age and place those that
are truest, and to give them their best application.
Hence, no dictation by God of thought or language is
involved, for there is no trace of thought or language
that transcends what might be evolved by a religious
genius of that age.
Most Old Testament scholars would admit that the
same analysis is applicable to the prophetic writings;
indeed, in all the greatest utterances of the Bible we see
clearly a method of inspiration and revelation very
different from the supposed method of verbal inspira-
tion. The universalism of the great Hebrew prophets
is clearly a God-guided inference from the character of
the good to the character of God.
In the New Testament we see this inference from
the judgment or conscience or higher reason of men to
the character of God. Our Lord reasoned in this way.
1 "He taught His disciples that they could take the
1 The Manhood of the Master, by Dr. Fosdick, p. 12.
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 277
most beautiful aspects of human life, like fatherhood,
and lifting them up to the best they could imagine,
could say, God is much better than this. 'If ye then,
being evil,' He said, 'know how to give good gifts unto
your children, how much more shall your Father.' . . .
Jesus taught men to interpret God in terms of the
spiritually best they could imagine. Whatsoever things
are just, true, honourable, pure, lovely, and of good
report, if there was any virtue and any praise, Jesus
affirmed these things of God. When a scientist catches
this method of Jesus in thinking of God, he says, in the
words of Sir Oliver Lodge, 'I will not believe that it is
given to man to have thoughts higher and nobler than
the real truth of things.' When a poet takes fire from
Jesus's joyful conception of God, he pictures — as
Browning does in 'Saul' — a man longing to help his
friend and then rising from this human love toward
God to cry:
'Would I suffer for him that I love? So wouldst Thou — so
wilt Thou.' "
If indeed God could — or we might better say
"would" — communicate truth in human words or
earthly pictures that are not the product of the human
mind, what must we conclude concerning His mercy?
The old theory was that God dictated thoughts to those
who truly served Him and sought truth : if that were
so we must conclude, either that those who truly serve
God and seek truth are very few, or that in all ages
God has left the toiling millions of earth without many
kinds of enlightenment that He could have given.
Thus, on the hypothesis that it is God's will to limit
human freedom so far as to dictate thoughts to His
servants, we are driven to a very low estimate, either
of the religious morality of men, including even the
greatest prophets, or else of God's mercy. On the
other hand, if we believe that to those who seek God
and truth God imparts His Spirit to heighten all their
278 IMMORTALITY vn
powers of thought and feeling and volition so that they
may reason truly and read aright the thoughts of God
in all creation, we shall infer that the Divine will is the
education of the human mind rather than magical or
mechanical gifts of knowledge, and we shall be very
slow to believe that discarnate spirits find channels for
the arbitrary dictation of information concerning our
immortal life or our present welfare.
GHOSTS
So far nothing has been said of the "evidence" of
the presence of discarnate spirits derivable from stories
of what used to be called "ghosts" but are now called
"apparitions." Near the time of death apparitions of
the dead or dying have been frequently seen. The
evidence for this is good. But much the most probable
interpretation of the evidence is that the apparitions are
caused by a subjective telepathic impression. For the
person who "appears" does not always die; and occa-
sionally, though in some peril, remains in perfect health.
Again if, as is quite likely, a telepathic impression may
persist in the mind of the percipient for some time be-
fore it is developed in consciousness, the occurrence of
such apparitions some time — perhaps a year or two
after death — would not prove the presence of a discar-
nate spirit. Also, if any living person had clearly in
mind the form of a dead person, or the form of a tradi-
tional ghost, the ghostly appearance of these forms to
another person could be explained by thought-trans-
ference. It is noteworthy that it is very rare to find an
authentic case of an apparition that some one does not
at once triumphantly "identify." If apparitions were
the result of telepathy from the dead, the living would
surely frequently see forms that could not be identified,
just as we meet with strangers in the street.
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 279
THE ANTI-SOCIAL SIN OF CREDULITY
In Psychical Research, more perhaps than in any
other subject, progress in our knowledge is hindered by
credulity. It is time, and more than time, that we all
realised that credulity is an anti-social sin, whether it
is shown in regard to this or to any other matter.
Credulity may be defined as a disposition to believe on
insufficient evidence, or we may call it uncritical belief.
Webster's Dictionary illustrates by the following quota-
tion from Sir W. Hamilton: "That implicit credulity
is the mark of a feeble mind will not be disputed."
Since Hamilton's day we make a distinction between
those who are by mental defect feeble-minded, whether
they will or no, and those who voluntarily indulge in
folly to the deterioration of their own powers and the
standards of social intelligence. Of the first class it can
hardly be affirmed that credulity is a sin; they cannot
help it, poor souls ; but that any one should voluntarily
act as though their powers of reason were naturally
impaired, is deliberately dishonouring to themselves
and the community, and if they are religious, it is dis-
honouring to the God they profess to serve and the
religious society to which they belong.
It is very difficult to obtain any real evidence for
super-normal phenomena. In many cases even what
appears to be the best evidence breaks down under criti-
cal investigation. It is safe to say that no first-hand
evidence can be found for the great majority of the
stories of "evidential" messages from mediums or
ghosts. Track it as far as we will, it is nearly always
"some one else" who saw the ghost. If we are sure we
have good second-hand evidence, we may place it in our
minds as something about which we hold our judgment
in suspense — a very different attitude from that of be-
lief. Unless we have first-hand evidence which stands
the test of any questions as to details which we put, it
vs not worth while to believe the story. When we have
280 IMMORTALITY vn
first-hand evidence offered to us the first point to decide
is whether the percipient is a person reliable about
other things — first as to honesty of intention, and sec-
ondly, as to good judgment. If either of these points
is doubtful, we may well doubt the story. Given these
points satisfactorily settled, and assured that our
friends were not half-asleep or unwell, we have to bear
in mind that the wisest of us is quite frequently under
delusions about the ordinary happenings of life. If
you cross-question several people about any one inci-
dent which they have all observed, you will find the evi-
dence so conflicting upon some points that it becomes
clear that one or two of them thought they saw some-
thing which they did not see, or thought they heard
something they did not hear. And this degree of inac-
curacy, common as it is even among truthful or men-
tally trained people, must throw uncertainty on the
greater number of marvellous stories. Very common
examples of inaccuracy are stories of mediumistic mes-
sages which purport to come from the other world and
are alleged to state facts unknown at the time but after-
wards verified. In such cases it can almost always be
discovered, either that the message is not repeated
exactly as the medium gave it, or, if accurately re-
ported, that it does not precisely define the fact it is
supposed to have revealed, or that the fact was really
known to some one concerned before the medium re-
vealed it — in which last case telepathy is not ruled out.
Unless we can be quite certain that we have accuracy
on all these points, and that our friend, in retailing the
story, is not relying merely on that treacherous thing,
the story-teller's memory, the story is not worth har-
bouring in our minds.
Let us examine for a moment the harm it does to
give currency to untrue stories of this sort. Suppose in
a community of one thousand persons there are three
veridical cases of super-normal phenomena, and that
there are twenty-five stories in all of such phenomena
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 281
which pass from one to another and are believed by
half the community. Twenty-two of these stories will
be founded, either upon the exaggerations of rumour,
or upon a misunderstanding, or upon delusion of some
sort. Now, the three veridical cases are of real im-
portance, because they can furnish some further evi-
dence for some serious hypothesis with regard to our
communication with the unseen. It is therefore impor-
tant that they should receive serious attention, be ana-
lysed and probed to the uttermost, and classified, so
that we may find out whether some hypothesis which
has accounted for other cases can be held to also ex-
plain them, or whether they add evidence in favour of
some other hypothesis. It is only thus that any real
knowledge on such matters can be acquired, and it is
only upon genuine fact that we can base any reasonable
inference for some fresh aspect of faith. The result
of the credulity which adds to the currency of three
veridical cases some twenty-two which will not bear
any examination, is that the unbelieving half of the
community will not give fair consideration to what is
worth it. They find themselves wading knee-deep in
nonsense if they listen to reports, and will therefore
turn a deaf ear to all. But this is not the only harm
done. All stories of super-normal phenomena which
are true will tally with each other in certain respects,
will corroborate a true hypothesis when such exists;
but untrue stories may easily discredit the truest
hypothesis, and when they are believed and repeated
confuse the minds of even genuine researchers.
But the anti-social sin of credulity does not belong
only to spiritualists. A certain class of religious think-
ers, even to-day, encourage a much worse form of
credulity in preaching the terrors of demonic influence.
On this point I will quote, with his permission, from a
recent sermon of the Master of the Temple, printed in
The Guardian of February 22, 1917: —
"Superstition is the acceptance of religious beliefs
282 IMMORTALITY vn
which are contrary to or not justified by the assured
results of human experience and human thought.
Superstitions die hard. To observe accurately and to
draw just conclusions from one's observation is not
easy. Metaphysics, the study of the nature of ultimate
reality, is a difficult subject. And, moreover, the in-
terpretation of religious experience which the average
man makes for himself is unlikely to be satisfactory.
Primitive explanations of God and His realm of action
continue to be too readily accepted by the unreflective
mind. Man progresses slowly; and the mass of men
will often accept or hark back to false ideas which the
leaders of the thought of their time condemn. Espe-
cially is this likely to be true at a period of emotional
activity.
"The modern consensus of educated opinion which
regards magic and witchcraft as worthless imposture
is little more than two centuries old. Belief in the
possibility of magical practices was almost universal
until the middle of the seventeenth century, and the
record of the teaching and legislation of Christendom
in regard to such matters is deplorable reading. Those
who are unfamiliar with Europe's history of blood-
stained credulity should read the first chapter of Lecky's
History of Rationalism in Europe. They will find that
Church Councils from the Synod of Elvira in A.D. 306
onwards not only denounced the practice, but firmly
believed in the possibility of black magic. St. Thomas
Aquinas, the ablest theologian of the fourteenth cen-
tury, maintained alike its reality and heretical nature.
Gerson, who possibly wrote the Imitatio Christi, de-
fended the belief. The Inquisition drenched Europe in
blood to extirpate witchcraft. And Luther and the
followers of Calvin were at one with Rome in believing
it true that diabolical powers were derived from the
devilish compacts which they denounced.
"Nor did theologians alone hold such superstitious
beliefs. Many of the ablest English Judges of the six-
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 283
teenth and seventeenth centuries conducted elaborate
trials of witches, and by their speeches and judgments
showed that they fully shared the popular credulity.
The fact should be a significant warning that often in
psychical investigations even the ablest men discover
what they set out to seek. Gradually, however, the
superstition vanished. In England the last trial for
witchcraft occurred in 1712, and the laws against
sorcery were repealed without controversy in 1736.
"It is sad reading — this record of the struggles of
the Christian Church and of Christian communities to
free themselves from primitive demonology; from be-
liefs long anterior to Christianity, still referred to in
Italy as la vecchia religlone. I would not mention the
subject to-day but for my fear lest a belief in demonol-
ogy should be revived. Lecky points out how, when-
ever disease or political catastrophe has made men
acutely conscious of evil, or when the growth of a new
spirit of critical enquiry has challenged the optimism of
an assured faith, the rapid growth of a belief in magic,
with all its evil consequences, has shown itself. Shall
we see the same terrible return to human error as a
result of present calamities?
"Last Wednesday Lord Halifax, the President of
the English Church Union, spoke at St. Martin's-in-the
Fields on Sir Oliver Lodge's Raymond. I rejoice to see
that one usually regarded as the spokesman of a large
party in the English Church warned his hearers of the
evil results which often attend the morbid excitements
of spiritualism. When I discussed the subject in this
church I tried to urge with equal emphasis the danger
to moral health which those incur who enter the atmo-
sphere of fraud, delusion, and psychical pathology that
surrounds seances. I pointed out that the evidence for
communication with the dead was entirely inadequate
to establish the fact, and urged Christians to leave such
investigations to highly-trained unemotional scientific
observers. But if I understand aright the copious
284 IMMORTALITY vn
extracts from his address, given in The Guardian of
Thursday last, Lord Halifax does not regard the prac-
tices of the medium as a mixture of imposture and de-
lusion. He credits her with some, at least, of the
supposed powers of the old witch. He explicitly likens
the controls, Feda, Moonstone, and the like, to the
familiar spirits Pluck, Catch, and so forth, who figured
in a celebrated trial for witchcraft in 1593. Appar-
ently— I fear that I do him no injustice — he accepts the
mediaeval demonology that we thought we had dis-
carded. He states that in the communications of the
medium 'the evil is plain, and for a Christian the
source of their inspiration is clear.' He asks Sir Oliver
Lodge whether the knowledge assumed to be possessed
by Raymond may not 'come from an altogether dif-
ferent source,' and significantly in the next sentence
says : 'Satan for his own purposes can transform him-
self into an angel of light.'
"The difference between my own view of spiritualism
and that of Lord Halifax can be summed up in a sen-
tence by using an oft-employed metaphor. I do not
think that there is any evidence to prove that telephonic
communication with the other world has been estab-
lished ; his lordship thinks that a devil is speaking into
the receiver at the other end."
THE GAINS OF PSYCHICAL INVESTIGATION
So far we have been dealing with the objections to
accepting the main evidence for communication with
discarnate spirits which has been advanced by the
Spiritualists and the enquirers of the S.P.R. On the
other hand, there are, I feel convinced, two very sub-
stantial gains which come to us through these channels.
The first is that an important, if only initial, step has
been taken towards discovering the ways in which mind
may prove itself independent of the body; and, sec-
ondly, we have a mass of evidence which cannot be
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 285
ignored that living people have felt themselves to be in
the presence of, and in some sort of tacit communion
with, departed spirits.
In regard to the first of these points, another essay
in this book 1 makes it clear how far such phenomena as
telepathy between living minds and the clairvoyance of
the hypnotic state tend towards a rational belief in the
survival of the human soul in its integrity. These tele-
pathic powers seem to involve will, memory, and rea-
son; therefore the evidence for telepathy and clairvoy-
ance strengthens the presumption that these powers do
not pass away at death. For if thought can traverse
the world, and make itself comprehensible between men
at a distance, it is thereby proved not to be dependent
upon sense connections. It need only here be added
that while the investigators of the S.P.R. tell us again
and again that their object in proving the fact of verbal
communications is to show that the soul in passing
through death does not lose the normal powers which
characterised it here, they have gone very far to estab-
lish a strong presumption of the survival of these
powers, without proving these communications.
The second point will require a more detailed con-
sideration. What is the value of the witness of many
honest people who are assured that they have experi-
enced some sort of contact with their discarnate
friends? If we admit the testimony of religious ex-
perience as one ground for our belief in the possibility
of communion with God, we cannot disregard this
conviction of honest people that they commune with
their dead. For this conviction is separable from, and
is quite independent of, any stimuli offered to the senses
in objective apparitions, or movements of objects, or
voices, or human words dictated to mediums who speak
or write. All these things appeal to our senses, and
we have as yet no proof that they are not all the work
of the subconscious earthly human mind. But the
i^The Mind and the Brain," pp. 52 ff.
286 IMMORTALITY vn
hypothesis I would suggest is that these things occur
as the result of an effort to interpret the sense of the
"presence" of a discarnate spirit which I believe to
be veridical, but that they are usually a mistaken in-
terpretation. For when we sum up all such sensuous
experiences, how unsatisfactory they are if regarded as
a true interpretation of our relation to the world of
departed spirits ! But in spite of this I think we may
take it that the effort of spiritualists to interpret, the
constant recurrence of this effort, the insistence of the
human soul on this aspect of life, does indeed point to
reality — i.e. to the existence of a real touch between the
visible and invisible worlds.
I personally find it incredible that so many reason-
able and truth-loving people should have followed this
way for so many years and should have so easily
accepted as cogent evidence that which, when exam-
ined dispassionately, appears insufficient, unless they
had had some true experience which cast a glamour of
apparent truth over much that was false. Further, if,
on other grounds, we believe both in immortality and
that the character of God and of His universe is such
that those who seek find, it appears more reasonable to
believe that those who earnestly sought to come in con-
tact with some one they had loved and lost, found what
they sought, and, experiencing the inner truth of this,
and in the light of it, interpreted sensuous phenomena
which but for this would have appeared trivial and
inconclusive.
It has, of course, become a dogma with many men
of science that this life is cut off from any invisible
life, if such there be, beyond the grave. On the whole,
this has been a very respectable belief, both for men
of science and for religious people who desired to
think reasonably. For it must be remembered that
the choice as presented to minds in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries lay between becoming a victim of
the silly fears engendered by the common ghost story
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 287
and disbelieving the possibility of any communion be-
tween the dead and the living. It lay, also, between the
conception of God's aloofness, which made supplication
to the Virgin and the saints necessary to a cheerful life
of prayer, and the conception of the human mind as
having access only to God and to none else in the
invisible world; between explaining away all vivid
telepathic impressions as mere coincidence, and believ-
ing every phantasm of the mind to have objective real-
ity. The choice they made was a wise one under the
circumstances, for nothing more inhibits true faith than
the superstition that peoples the unseen with romantic
beings for whose existence there is no shred of real
evidence.
We are not in their position. For us there is suffi-
cient evidence, gathered mainly by the honoured labours
of those who have done yeoman's service in the S.P.R.,
of the power of mind to communicate with mind irre-
spective of material contact, to justify us in revising the
verdict of the sturdy common sense of our ancestors.
In the first place, all "ghost" stories and stories of
apparently supernatural knowledge, when they can be
proved true, can be explained more reasonably by the
telepathic hypothesis than by any other. We need no
longer be afraid that intelligent minds will succumb to
theories of the supernatural world based on fantastic
mental experiences, nor need we fear the dominance of
any religious system which teaches that men must be
afraid of speaking directly to God, or that any lesser
spirit can be nearer to them than Divine Love. Again,
we have already much careful evidence as to the nature
and result of telepathic impressions, and we look for-
ward confidently to the progress of scientific research
along this line; but what we already know convinces
us that when such a telepathic impression comes into
consciousness, the thought or feeling of the agent or
agents giving the impression is already mixed with the
interpretation of the individual mind which receives it.
288 IMMORTALITY vii
So that individual experience of this sort must always
be referred to the common sense of the many, must be
assimilated to all else that is found true or credible,
before what is received in this way, even if it did come
from another world, can be counted as adding to the
store of truth.
We may, therefore, with perfect safety ask ourselves
whether within our own experience we may not find
real evidence of telepathic touch with discarnate spirits.
We have already learned that there is much more
in our actual experience than we consciously attend to.
A common illustration of this is that when we come
to know a new word we see it frequently in books
and newspapers. This is not because it suddenly enters
books and newspapers, but because before we learned
the word, to use the Gospel phrase, uour eyes were
holden" and we did not see it. We had eyes and
we saw not. So in our summer gardens, after we learn
to distinguish the note of a certain bird, we constantly
hear that little bird singing to us in the bushes. The
bird sang before our enlightenment. We had ears but
we did not hear it, and were only conscious of the
larks and thrushes whose notes we had learned in our
childhood.
We need not on this account suppose that we need
"a sign from heaven" in order to receive a new
revelation about the things which belong to our
peace.
An artist is constantly making discoveries — seeing in
colour and form what he never saw before, but what
was always there to be seen. Again, there are many
authentic instances of men and women under an anaes-
thetic or in delirium having shown themselves able to
remember matters they had never consciously known.
Similarly, then, it is possible that in the experience of
the inner life evidence may be found which, if it tally
with all else that is true and reasonable, may give us
real light on things at present unapprehended. I was
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 289
once speaking to a man distinguished in practical af-
fairs, and I chanced to say of a family matter, "How
much this would delight your wife if she were still
living and could know it." He replied, "She is
living, and she does know it." I said, "How; do
you know she knows it?" He replied quite simply,
"I asked God to tell her, and after that I knew that
she knew." We are too reverent to probe such an
experience as this, but the quiet certainty of his tone
convinced me that some experience had satisfied his
own well-balanced judgment. Yet at another time
this same man could speak with some contempt
of people who imagined they could have sensuous
impressions of what was spiritual. Such an experi-
ence as that I have just quoted recalls to our minds
the undoubted fact, which all to whom God has re-
vealed Himself will recognise, that in God we have,
if we will use it, a means of speaking to our beloved
dead.
My own opinion is that there is real ground for
reverent investigation; much to encourage us, along
with much negative evidence to discourage us. If there
is truth to be discovered and we meet only with what
seems to us blank negation, we must remember that our
own negative attitude toward the whole subject would
be only too likely to make us deaf and blind. I think
the method most likely to be safe and helpful for most
of us is — while never omitting to bring all our fears,
doubts, hopes, and questions to God — to pray for the
welfare of those whom we have loved and who are
lost to sight, and after such prayer, take time to think
of them in the silence and ask ourselves whether we
have not some reason to believe that they also are
thinking of us.
To make clear what I take to be the distinction
between "the sense of presence" and any evidence
of verbal communication with a discarnate spirit, I
would refer to the family "table-sittings" which Sir
29o IMMORTALITY vn
Oliver Lodge so faithfully describes in his book,
Raymond.
In these "table-sittings" of the Lodge family in
their attempts to communicate with Raymond, we are
strongly impressed with the sense of Raymond's
presence, which is here so graphically described. I
get this impression all through the book. What I
would suggest is that this sense of presence may be
perfectly veridical, but that the actions of the table
may have been entirely the result of the subconscious
mentality of the Lodge family, and the character of its
movements decided by minds strongly moved by that
sense of presence.
"A family sitting," says Sir Oliver,1 "with no
medium present is quite different from one held with a
professional or indeed any outside medium. Informa-
tion is freely given about the doings of the family;
and the general air is that of a family conversation."
And again 2 he says that when a table is employed the
communicators (i.e. the spirits of the dead persons)
"say they feel more directly in touch with the sitters
than when they operate through an intermediary or
'control' on their side. ... It (the table) can indicate
joy or sorrow, fun or gravity . . . and, most notable of
all, it can exhibit affection in a most notable manner."
When serious-minded persons speak of a table as
"exhibiting affection," one can only suppose that an
overwhelming sense of the presence of the spirit of
the departed has caused the family group to read into
the motions of the table a meaning which is really de-
rived from their own inner experience of direct contact
with an unseen person.
I have myself experienced the tilting and dancing of
a table under the hands of several people and the inex-
haustible but coherent platitudes it could so spell out.
But in my experience, although the table did all these
things, and although the four people whose finger-tips
1Cf. Raymond, p. 218. 2 Ibid. pp. 363-364.
vii GOOD AND EVIL IN SPIRITUALISM 291
were on it were quite incapable of deception and un-
conscious of producing the fantastic results, there was
no medium present and no talk or thought of discar-
nate spirits. We had been told that the "subliminal
self" — whatever that was — could tilt tables; we did
not believe it, but upon trying we found that it could.
We none of us had the slightest doubt — nor have I
yet — that the mechanical force and rudimentary intel-
ligence came in some way from ourselves. If the
mechanical force come from the "sitters" — in our case
we had to run round the room after the table — there
can be no reason to suppose that the "sitters" do not
also supply the intelligence.
On this point, Sir Oliver Lodge admits (p. 137) :
"The effort required to tilt the table is slight, and
evidentially it must no doubt be assumed that so far
as mechanical force is concerned it is exerted by muscu-
lar action."
But though I hold this view of the origin of the
mechanical force exerted, the account of private family
sittings at Mariemont (Pt. II. chap, xix.) suggests to
me the inference that the spirit of Raymond was prob-
ably with them and able so to come into personal touch
with them that they were perfectly aware of (i) his
presence, (2) his sympathy with their moods and di-
versions, (3) his desire to assure them of his own integ-
rity and continued happiness. But I remain unconvinced
that anything that the table did or said was a correct
interpretation of Raymond's thoughts in detail.
CONCLUSION
The real cause of the hold which Spiritualism has
on many religious minds is the failure of the Church
to realise in practice the meaning of the Communion
of Saints. The Mediaeval Church failed on account of
the unchristian superstition which pictured the next
stage of existence as a state of mere torture and punish-
292 IMMORTALITY vn
ment. The reaction of the Protestant mind against
mercenary prayers and ceremonies to relieve the misery
of the souls in Purgatory was healthy. But with this
came in another superstition, that it was wrong to pray
for the dead or to believe in their fellowship with the
living. In so far as it is a reaction against this newer
superstition, Spiritualism shows a healthy instinct. But
the methods employed by spiritualists to bridge with
friendly overtures the stream of death appear to be
mistaken and therefore dangerous. They are, at best,
only a roundabout way of obtaining a sense of com-
panionship with those who have passed on, since the
same sense of companionship might be obtained better
and more easily by prayer. Then, too, when this sense
of companionship is attained in the spiritualistic seance,
or by some private automatic means, it is inevitably
mixed with, and confused by, communications from
the inner mind of the medium or agent, which is always
subject to telepathic intrusions from — none can tell
whom.
In the concluding essay of this volume I hope to
show how love can open a door between this life and
the next, by which we can get more real knowledge of
that next life and a truer communion with those who
have entered into it than we can by any attempts to
get sensuous indications of their presence through
mediums, table-turning, or other such means. I have
read a good deal of Spiritualist literature, and — apart
from the light it incidentally sheds on purely scientific
problems like telepathy — I think that the grain of
wheat in the chaff is this sense of presence, which I
believe to be authentic and to be the real cause why
many really noble minds accept evidence of sensuous
communications on most insufficient grounds.
VIII
REINCARNATION, KARMA AND
THEOSOPHY
BY THE AUTHOR OF
"PRO CHRISTO ET ECCLESIA"
(LILY DOUGALL)
SYNOPSIS
PAGE
PART I. REINCARNATION AND KARMA . . . 295
Reincarnation as a speculation of religious philosophy.
(a) Its historic origin.
(b) Objections to the belief.
Karma and Retribution.
(a) Attractiveness of the doctrine.
(b) Its origin.
(c) Sin and suffering.
(i.) The sinner's suffering does not cancel re-
sults of his sin.
(ii.) Traditional theory of punishment ineffec-
tive.
(iii.) The sinner's fate not suffering but degra-
dation.
(d) Karma a false theory of justice.
PART II.— MODERN THEOSOPHY . . . . -317
Theosophy as a religion.
(1) The claim to occult knowledge.
(a) The claim as made.
(b) Hypnoidal conditions and their content.
(c) Prayer and Ecstasy in Christian devotion.
(d) Barrenness of Trance-experience.
(2) Doctrine of the common origin of all religions.
(3) The conception of Personality.
VIII
REINCARNATION, KARMA AND
THEOSOPHY
PART I.— REINCARNATION AND KARMA
REINCARNATION AS PHILOSOPHICAL THEORY
THE doctrine of Reincarnation presents itself to the
thought of the modern Western world with the prestige
derivable from the fact of its primitive and widespread
currency. It comes down to us through two ancient
and apparently independent traditions of religious phi-
losophy. One tradition derives from the doctrine of
Karma, which first appears in the early Upanishads of
India about the seventh century B.C. It was adopted
into Buddhism with certain modifications, but as these
characteristic modifications have disappeared in later
Buddhism, the doctrine of Karma in its original form
has become the very core of the religious belief of a
large portion of mankind. At the present day, through
the influence of modern Theosophy, it is beginning to
gain large numbers of adherents in Europe and
America. Along another line of tradition the doctrine
of the pre-existence of the soul comes to us from Plato,
being derived by him, it is supposed, from the Orphic
Mysteries, which were probably uninfluenced by Indian
thought; and it is being upheld on metaphysical
grounds at the present day by no less a philosopher
than Dr. McTaggart. An ancient doctrine so widely
295
296 IMMORTALITY vm
held and so ably supported cannot be dismissed without
serious consideration, whatever one may think of some
of the other views of the religions and sects, ancient
and modern, which maintain it.
Dr. McTaggart's doctrine of Reincarnation is bound
up with his metaphysical belief in a pluralistic universe,
and stands or falls with it. A critical examination of
the theory of a pluralistic universe cannot be under-
taken in this place; but it may be pointed out that it
is not shared by most modern philosophers or by the
writers of this volume. We need not, therefore, deal
here with his argument for Reincarnation, which is a
mere corollary of his general metaphysic. It may be
noted, however, that he rejects any argument for the
immortality of the soul which is based on the goodness
of God; but he perceives that, assuming the goodness
of God, as the Christian thinker does, immortality
could be proved more easily than pre-existence. Given
its premises, he allows the force of the Christian argu-
ment for immortality in the following passage :
"Arguments of this type (assuming the universe the
work of a benevolent creator) could prove immortality
more readily than they could prove pre-existence. No
wrong can be done to the non-existent, and it could
hardly be made a reproach to the goodness of the uni-
verse that it had waited a long time before it produced
a particular person. But, once produced, any person
has a certain moral claim, and if it could be shown that
his annihilation was inconsistent with those claims, we
could argue from the goodness of the universe to the
impossibility of his annihilation." *
Belief in the transmigration of souls, or Metem-
psychosis, seems to appear in its earliest definite form
as totemism. Many totemistic tribes believe that at
death man becomes like his totem — a tiger, an ox, a
frog, etc. Further, they explain conception as the
descent of some discarnate spirit from some dead tree
1 Human Immortality and Pre-existence, by Dr. J. M. E. McTaggart, p. 75-
vin REINCARNATION AND KARMA 297
or animal.1 From all this it is an easy step to the later
idea that the better men might again become men. It
is obvious that in speculating, as all men have done,
upon what may happen to the soul after death, the
thought of a return to the only life they know is a very
natural one; in any case, it was a belief common to
many tribes and to several ancient civilisations.
But though Reincarnation was in earlier ages a very
natural belief, and may seem attractive now to those
who seek authority from the past, there are certain
considerations which, I think, combine to present an
argument of some weight against it.
( i ) The objection to Reincarnation which perhaps
first strikes us is the lack of conscious continuity be-
tween the incarnations of a soul. Even granting all that
may be claimed to exist in this life as "intimations" of a
former life or lives, it amounts to very little ; one feels
that a future life that has no more conscious connection
with this one than this has with any former life is not
worth accepting as personal immortality, indeed a
continuance of memory is necessary to personality.
It is true that, under the pressure of the Christian
stress on personal immortality, later Oriental thinkers
maintain that the soul when it attains a certain eleva-
tion is able between its incarnations to look back on all
its past lives, and that when it rises high in the scale of
being it is able to bring this continuous memory back
into its earthly lives. Modern Theosophists claim,
indeed, that their Adepts, now alive upon earth, have
such a continuous memory. No adequate evidence is
forthcoming, however, to substantiate this claim; and
it must be noted that the thing which on this theory
is supposed to survive and be reincarnated is at best
not a person; it is something which has lost all emotion
and all desire. Judging the doctrine on a priori
grounds, the ordinary man will deem it weary work to
plod through some hundreds of reincarnations before
1 Consult The Way of NirvBna, by Professor de la Vallee Poussin, pp. n, 18.
29 8 IMMORTALITY vm
attaining to any continuous thread of memory con-
necting them.
( 2 ) Again, it is important to observe how geocentric
at bottom the doctrine is — a fact not often realised.
Hindu philosophers no doubt held vaguely the existence
of other worlds in different cycles of manifestation; but
the geocentric conception of our present universe, com-
mon when the belief was formulated, prevented the be-
lief in other worlds having any discernible influence on
their theory of the future life. We find the influence of
the same geocentric conception of the universe in other
religious philosophies. For the Greeks there was but
one world where discipline and social experience were
possible. For us there are other, probably habitable,
worlds, and no need to hold the difficult doctrine of
physical rebirth as the mode of the soul's entrance to
them. Even assuming its further experience is in ma-
terial conditions, when we think of the vastness of this
magnificent universe of ours, of its innumerable solar
systems, no idea could be more unnatural to us, if we
did not inherit it from the past, than that this remote
speck of star-dust called our earth should be the only
part of it utilised by God for the progress of the human
soul. It is, of course, conceivable that human souls
should be so bound to this planet that they must return
again and again by rebirth, but it does not appear the
more reasonable hypothesis. It certainly seems to us
a gratuitous limitation of possibility to assume as axio-
matic that only in this little corner of the universe, and
under the exact physical conditions of life here, can
our destiny be worked out. This geocentric conception
of a future life, almost necessary to an earlier age,
in our days bespeaks, not merely an intellectual limita-
tion, but poverty of imagination. To us the discovery
of the infinite range of a universe teeming with mil-
lions of worlds has indeed made the earth seem smaller,
but it has made the possibilities for the future life seem
infinitely wider and more varied.
vni REINCARNATION AND KARMA 299
Notwithstanding this, it is true that to the imagina-
tion of many people the enormous number of souls
which earth appears to generate through successive
ages presents a real difficulty which belief in successive
rebirths would meet. These spiritual Malthusians are
greatly occupied with the housing problem. They cry,
"What limit is there otherwise to the generations?
Where can they be accommodated?" To other minds
the multiplicity of solar systems extending in space as
far as we can hazard any guess, with their innumer-
able habitable worlds which it is reasonable to suppose
available, is a corresponding difficulty. In any case it
is more reasonable to suppose that the two difficulties
have a corresponding solution than to assume a number
of successive births and deaths for every soul. We
must not forget that both theologians and philoso-
phers l carried a tidy-minded desire to limit the number
of worlds in the universe to an absurd extreme before
they would admit the logical inference of astronomical
discovery; it is exactly the same limitation of thought
that makes us imagine that a universe with fewer souls
would be more tidy.
Dr. James Ward 2 argues that, viewed from the
general standpoint of science, uthe probability is not
against, but enormously in favour of, a plurality of
worlds, as men of science almost unanimously allow";
and goes on to show that, "granted that in the one
universe there are many worlds, the Christian theo-
logian has the strongest grounds for believing that they
are spiritually and historically, and not merely physi-
cally, interconnected."
All these worlds may, for aught we know, be stages
in the destiny of each human person. He may pass
from world to world with memory intact and without
physical rebirth. He may continue his age-long pro-
gress in the society of his own generation and possibly
1 See Pluralism and Theism, by Dr. J. Ward, pp. 181-184.
*lbid. p. 184.
300 IMMORTALITY vm
also of preceding and following generations. This is,
of course, speculation, but so also is the theory of rein-
carnation on this earth.
(3) Much ancient thought, with the exception, per-
haps, of Semetic and Persian varieties, conceived of the
soul's spiritual life as solitary. A right attitude and
course of action toward other beings was part of its
discipline, but the aim was to get beyond this discipline.
The aim and goal of the soul's progress being thus
non-social, it was natural to suppose that until the
jostling with fellow-creatures experienced in this life
had had its perfect work, the soul must return again
and again to this earth. The Hebrew conception of
social virtues and social obligations as "eternal"
(aeonian), and of social salvation as a goal, has been
endorsed by Christianity and is more in harmony with
all that sociology and social psychology have of late
years been teaching us of the unity of the race and of
our mutual interdependence.
All this drives the modern mind to think of every
stage in the soul's future, during probation or in
heaven, as social, and makes it impossible to suppose
that social experience and social discipline only obtain
in the earthly life.
(4) Again, in Hindu thought the doctrine of rein-
carnation is bound up with the ancient idea that all
being proceeds in endless cycles, and that in the uni-
verse all things tend to repeat themselves by an endless
return. But, though this theory of the revolving wheel
of existence fascinated the ancient Indian mind, and
appealed by the splendour and sweep of the conception
embodied in it to some of the Greek and Roman poets
and thinkers, modern science offers us no shadow of
proof, or even presumption, that physical creation re-
volves in returning cycles. For the modern thinker
the idea is obsolete, and so also is the analogy it fur-
nished for the conception of the soul as revolving on
an eternal wheel of life and death.
vin REINCARNATION AND KARMA 301
(5) A final difficulty concerning Reincarnation is
little touched upon by its advocates, that is, that it
makes childhood, which appears so beautiful and so
holy as the beginning of a virgin soul, a gigantic lie,
merely a part of nature's protective mimicry intended
to deceive parental love and human reverence, the
greatest of the illusions of sense. It is hard to con-
ceive how any mother can look into the dawning in-
telligence of her child's eyes and be satisfied to believe
that in innumerable past lives that same soul has gone
through experience savage and civilised, has probably
been in turn harlot or rake, victim or tyrant, wife
or warrior, layman or priest, and perhaps all these a
hundred times.
If we take the beauty of that story of Jesus Christ
setting a little child in the midst of his disciples and
telling them that to become ulike this little child" is
to find the door of the heavenly kingdom, we shall
realise how for us the whole beauty and point of the
scene vanish if we think of the soul of that child as
already an aged pilgrim, scarred and seamed by evil
experience, only innocent in the sense in which the
senile are innocent when memory entirely fails.
The facts of life often advanced as arguments for
pre-existence are the following: —
(a) The sudden friendship that often springs up
between people before unknown to each other.
To account for this it may be urged that the extra-
ordinary complexity of human life, the innumerable
strains of heredity that are combined in any child's
inheritance, would seem sufficient to account for such
characteristic predelictions ; whereas if they indicated
recognition of the friends of a past life, and if all
human beings now living had experienced many lives,
such recognitions ought to be of more frequent occur-
rence, for even among people whom Theosophists
would consider on a similar plane of development they
are comparatively rare.
302 IMMORTALITY vm
(b) It is argued that the tendencies and qualities in
precocious children which do not seem to be accounted
for by either ancestry or environment are proofs of
knowledge acquired in some previous life. But the
evidence seems to point the other way, for there is,
again, the great difficulty that infant prodigies so very
rarely occur, and when they do, their genius always
has to do with numbers, and runs to music or arith-
metic. This suggests that it follows some psychic law
by which the operations of the mind having to do with
numbers may be early and abnormally developed. We
do not get any good evidence of child-philosophers or
child-painters or child-statesmen or child-scientists; yet
if the acquirements of a past life were the cause of
infant precocity we surely should get all these.
On the whole, those arguments from the nature of
the self which seem to me to point to the probability
of its immortality do not appear to point also to a
series of former births and deaths, but rather to a
spiritual origin for all that we may call created life, the
soul of each child being interpreted as a differentiation
of the universal life which comes from God.
It appears, then, that unless there exists some strong
reason, based on our perceptions of moral necessity, to
believe in a multiplicity of earthly lives for each soul,
this hypothesis of the whence and whither of every
earthly life may be set aside. The doctrine of Karma,
however, is held by many to afford just such a valid
reason for belief in reincarnation, and this we have
now to consider.
KARMA AND RETRIBUTION
Attractiveness of the Doctrine
Not long ago I heard at a London dinner-table a
conversation among rather influential, but quite ordi-
nary, religious people.
viii REINCARNATION AND KARMA 303
One lady said with a touch of scorn, "I have too
much respect for personality to believe in the trans-
migration of souls; the soul that had been a hundred
different persons would have no personality."
Another vigorously replied, "I could not believe in
God if I did not believe in Reincarnation and Karma.
Before I understood those great truths I wasted my
energy raging at the injustice of the universe; now I
can work intelligently."
The first answered, "I don't understand your idea
of justice."
The other retorted confidently, "The law of Karma
is the only perfect justice; it alone vindicates perfect
righteousness. In it we see that each soul suffers
precisely according to its sins; no one suffers for the
sins of another. When men are born to suffering it is
because in past lives they have deserved it; and it is
only by deserving something better that they can escape
suffering. We owe a great debt to the Theosophists
for having taught us this."
The conversation then became general, and, upon
the whole, most present were inclined to assent to the
doctrine of Reincarnation and Karma as a good work-
ing hypothesis, because it satisfied their belief in the
moral government of the world.
It is well to realise clearly what are the strong points
of this doctrine. These seem to be : —
First; it is an attempt to solve the greatest of all
moral and religious problems — the problem of evil.
It is an attempt to affirm, in the face of apparently
contradictory experience, the fundamental conviction
of the human heart that the Universe in the last resort
is morally governed. As such, it invites a sympathetic
consideration.
Secondly; it clearly recognises the prevalence of the
law of cause and effect in the moral sphere. Every
action has inevitable consequences, and those conse-
quences extend beyond the present life of the individual.
304 IMMORTALITY vnr
Thus, it is an emphatic asseveration of moral responsi-
bility and of the eternal consequences of right choice.
Thirdly; it gives a moral basis for a conception of
the nature and character of the future life which it is
easy for the most unimaginative to grasp.
Origin of the Doctrine
The doctrine of Karma originated with the Indo-
Aryan tribes during the period in which they were
subjugating northern India. A very interesting and
easily accessible account of it is given in the Hibbert
Lectures of Professor de la Vallee Poussin.
Karma did not form a part of the religion which
these early Aryan tribes brought with them into India.
Modern teachers of Brahmanism read the doctrine into
the hymns of this early religion by a process of inter-
pretation akin to that which has been used by Christians
in reading later Christian beliefs into the Old Testa-
ment. It seems certain, however, that the religion of
this noble and most gifted race, as seen in the Rigveda,
is free from pessimistic ponderings on the problem of
evil and the terrible entail of sin.
Professor Poussin thus describes the earlier belief of
the Rigveda: —
"Superstitions connected with the belief that the dead
are living in the grave, depending for this shadowy life
on the offering poured on the grave, are not abolished
in the Vedic civilisation. The general view is never-
theless an altogether hopeful one. The dead, who are
called the Fathers, do not envy the living as did
Achilles. Some of them are now gods. The first of
the mortals, Yama — 'who first went over the great
mountains and spied out a path for many, who found
us a way of which we shall not be frustrated' — Yama
the King sits under a tree with Varuna the righteous
god. The Fathers are gathered around him, drinking
nectar, enjoying the libations of the living, enjoying
viii REINCARNATION AND KARMA 305
also — and this point is worthy of notice — their own
pious works, their sacrifices and their gifts, especially
their gifts to the priests. The abode of the Fathers is
an immortal, unending world. 'There make me im-
mortal,' says the Vedic poet, 'where exist delight, joy,
rejoicing, and joyance, where wishes are obtained/ It
is not a spiritual paradise. Whatever poetical descrip-
tions we may find, 'supreme luminous regions, middle
sky, third heaven, lap of the red dawns,' the pleasures
of the Fathers are essentially mundane ones; rivers of
mead, milk, and waters, pools of butter with banks of
honey, also Apsarases or celestial damsels. The dead
were happy; their life was worthy to be lived." *
Professor Poussin is concerned to account for the
ascetic religious "disciplines" which arose about the
seventh century B.C., and, contrasting them with the
early religion of the Vedas, says : —
"One sees how radical a change was necessary for
asceticism and the disciplines of salvation to be possible.
. . . What were the causes of this change? ... To
begin with, we must not forget that the Sanscrit-speak-
ing peoples, the priestly and feudal aristocracy who
created the disciplines of salvation, were no longer of
unmixed Aryan race, as the old poets of the Vedas, but
a mixture of Aryas and of the aborigines. ... It is
certain that the 'intellectual' Aryas, at the time of the
compilation of the Rigveda and later on, did not feel
as their ancestors did. . . . This aristocracy was likely
to borrow from the aborigines, and from the mass of
the Aryan people in daily contact with the aborigines,
many superstitions or beliefs — confused notions con-
nected with penance, ecstasy, reincarnations. . . .
Such notions, it is certain, they borrowed: this can be
proved in many cases. . . . The change we are study-
ing is, to a large extent, not a revolution, but an evolu-
tion; and the safest way to understand it is perhaps to
describe it as an autonomous alteration of the genuine
1 The Way of Nirvana, pp. 12-14.
306 IMMORTALITY vm
Aryan beliefs and notions. The Brahmans, endowed
with an equal genius for conservation and adaptation,
were the workers of the change. . . . The Brahmans
were, by profession, busied with gods, sacrifice, and
ritual. After a time, before even the Rigveda was
compiled, they became philosophers." 1
An interesting account of the course of their thought
as it may be conjectured from evidence in the Upani-
shads, is given by Dr. J. N. Farquhar : —
"This theory, that a man's health arid fortune in
this life are the recompense of his deeds (in this life),
has been held by many other early peoples, notably
by early Israel. But facts are too stubborn for such
a theory: clearly it is not true. The stage in Israel's
history when the old belief became incredible comes
vividly before us in the Book of Job. We may con-
jecture that at the time when the transmigration theory
came to the notice of the Indo-Aryans, they had by
experience found the theory of material recompense in
this life untenable, and that they seized on the idea
of transmigration as a means of solving the problem.
But all this is but conjecture. We know only that
in the 'Brihadaranyaka' and 'Chhandogya Upanishads'
a few of the more advanced men teach, as a new and
precious truth, the doctrine that as a man sows in this
life he will reap in another.
"From these passages it seems clear that the doctrine
was first thought out and stated with reference to the
future, and that it was some little time before reflection
led to the further thought, that a man's present cir-
cumstances and experience are the recompense of his
behaviour in past lives. Then this train of thought,
carried farther both backward and forward, would in-
evitably lead to the conclusion that the series of lives
can have neither beginning nor end."
With regard to the desire for release from this chain
of rebirths, he remarks : —
1 The Way of Nirvana, pp. 16-19.
vin REINCARNATION AND KARMA 307
"When reflection had made some progress, men
began to regard these many lives as most undesirable,
and to long for emancipation from the necessity of
rebirth. When this unexpected change occurred, men
began to deplore their own good deeds, because they
led to rebirth as surely as their evil deeds; so, that
which originally was the highest possible reward be-
came hated." 1
As it thus appears in the original Hindu philosophy
it would seem that the doctrine of Karma was first and
foremost an attempt to solve the moral problem — the
problem discussed at length in the Book of Job — of the
glaring injustice apparent in this life in the matter of
individual merit and prosperity. Why is it that some
are born to lives of hardship, misery, disease, and fail-
ure, others to lives of ease, prosperity, and fulness of
opportunity? Ought not this difference, if it exists at
all, to have some close correspondence with differences
in degree of goodness or badness in the character or
lives of the persons concerned? The Indian philoso-
phers explained the enigma by the hypothesis that seem-
ingly unmerited misfortunes in this life are really the
punishment for wickedness in a previous existence,
while seemingly undeserved prosperity in this life is the
due reward for goodness in a previous existence.
Sin and Suffering
It will be seen that the doctrine of Karma takes for
granted that wrong action both ought to be and can be
expiated by suffering. This idea is not confined to
Hindus or Theosophists. It is implicit in the tradi-
tional, but, as is shown elsewhere in this volume,2 the
really unscriptural, conception of Hell; and it is the
view of the functions of the pains of Purgatory of
which Suarez is the most notable exponent, and which
1 The Crown of Hinduism, by J. N. Farquhar, D. Litt., pp. 136-137, 138.
2 Essay V.
308 IMMORTALITY vm
has prevailed almost universally in the Roman Church.
Indeed, it has been very widely held until compara-
tively modern times, and it cannot be said that the
reaction against it is by any means complete even
among enlightened statesmen, philosophers, or theo-
logians. Nevertheless, I believe it to be as funda-
mentally unsound as it is antagonistic to the best mod-
ern thought upon human justice. In spite of the emi-
nence of some of the names of those who still uphold
it, I would maintain that the vindictive or retributive
theory of punishment, which requires that suffering
be proportioned to sin, is in the last resort a relic of
the primitive savagery which confused justice with
vengeance and then attributed its own conception of
justice to the divine.
The requirement of a moral universe is that sin
once committed should at all costs be removed — i.e.,
the injury inflicted must be made good and the sinner
must be made righteous. But how is this to be done ?
Does the torture'of the sinner accomplish it?
To answer this a slight analysis of the theory of
human punishment is necessary.
It is evident — no one would dispute it — that legal
and domestic punishments, which are based on the
retributive theory, have been a very useful social de-
vice: (a) as an emphatic expression of moral opinion
where it has so far made for itself no other mode of
expression; (b) as deterrent — helping to prevent
wrongdoing by fear; (c) as arresting a sinner on a
heady course and evoking reflection.
In all these ways social and domestic punishment
has been an immense advance on moral anarchy. But
the questions we have to ask are:
1 i ) Does the suffering of the sinner do away with
the injury his sin has done to others?
(2) Have we any reason to believe that the suffer-
ing of the sinner does away with the consequences of
the sin in his own soul?
Vin REINCARNATION AND KARMA 309
(3) Have we any reason to believe that there is any
law in the universe by which suffering is meted out to
the sinner in proportion to his sin?
1 i ) The answer to the first question is, of course,
in the negative. A reformed sinner may sometimes
do much to make amends in this world, and if he can
influence in the immortal life those whom he has in-
jured in this, may, by God's help, more than repay his
victims; but it is not by any torment he can endure that
he will make good their injuries. He must first be
recreated. But how is this to be done? This leads us
to our second point.
(2) Do the sinner's torments recreate his own soul,
i.e. make him good? Certain facts have to be recog-
nised, (a) Experience shows that where a character is
not specially vicious or criminal but has a tendency
either to arrogance or to frivolity, it often happens that
a sharp rebuke or penalty acts as a steadying and sober-
ing influence. But this result ensues only when the char-
acter is fundamentally sound. It "brings people to
their senses," we say — implying truly that the sense is
there all the while underneath, (b) Yet again, suffer-
ing faced cheerfully and heroically undoubtedly enno-
bles the character; but it cannot be too often empha-
sised that it is not the suffering itself, but the way in
which it is faced, that produces this result. Suffering
per se does not ennoble or purify; on the contrary, un-
less it is met in the right spirit it inevitably hardens and
degrades. The extent to which suffering elevates is in
exact proportion to the original goodness of the charac-
ter. He of whom it is said that uHe was made perfect
by suffering" is the same of whom also it is said that
He was "without sin." (c) Punishment, again — i.e.
the infliction of suffering as the penalty for wrongdo-
ing, whether by parent, schoolmaster or magistrate —
often has salutary results. But all experience in educa-
tional or criminal reform shows that the less there is of
penal infliction of pain upon the offender, and the more
310 IMMORTALITY vm
elevating personal influences can be brought to bear in-
stead, the more effective the results. Above all, it is
found that unless the opprobrium expressed by the in-
fliction of punishment is regarded by the offender as
"just" — not perhaps at first, but ultimately — the pun-
ishment hardens and degrades instead of elevating.
Excessive punishments may, indeed, operate as a deter-
rent; they may make a particular offence too dangerous
to be worth risking; but they cannot produce a change
of mind in the offender which makes him cease to desire
to commit it or condemn himself for desiring to do so
or prevent him doing it when risk of detection seems
small. On the contrary, they rather tend to arouse in
him moral condemnation of the power which punishes
as being merely oppressive. That is to say, they have
no moral value. The moral value of punishment de-
pends on the degree to which the individual recognises
the punishment as just, that is, as being the expression
by the punisher or the community of a moral principle
to which he himself assents. But it is the element of
good in him, shown by his assent to the principle and
the consequent way in which he reacts towards the in-
flicted pain, not the inflicted pain per se, which reforms
him. And this is made none the less true by the fact
that, in many cases, without some strong reminder of
the moral principle and of the disapproval of its in-
fraction by the community, he would have gone on un-
interruptedly in his old courses. Fichte well distin-
guishes between Punishment properly so called and
Outlawry, and he argues that the logical treatment of
one who offends gravely against the law of the well-be-
ing of the community is outlawry, i.e. has complete
elimination, whether by death or otherwise, from that
society. Punishment, on the other hand, is the infliction
of something less than outlawry, in the hope that the
offender may yet live to conform to the law. Common
feeling supports this view; when a criminal is con-
demned to death the rigours of prison diet anddiscipline
viii REINCARNATION AND KARMA 311
are relaxed; another chance in this life being denied
him, it is felt that further punishment is useless cruelty.
So, too, as is argued elsewhere in this volume,1 if any
soul continues to set itself in hostility, in this world and
the next, to the Divine goodness, annihilation, not end-
less torment, seems the only end compatible with justice.
In the interests of society penalties which are purely
deterrent, and, in the last resort, complete annihilation,
may be justified while society has no better method of
moral education. But punishment, in its truest and
highest sense, must have in view the possible reclama-
tion of the offender. Reformatory punishment implies
that the person punished is a being who knows that he
has offended against a moral principle. You do not
punish a sow who — as occasionally happens — devours
her young alive; you do punish a human mother who
even neglects her children. Only in so far as the crimi-
nal is capable of recognising that he has done wrong —
i.e. only in so far as there is still alive in him a certain
amount of moral insight — is there any likelihood of the
penalty having a reformatory effect. The more mor-
ally degraded a person is, the less of such moral insight
remains, and the more likely is he to regard the penalty
as unjust, as being merely the tyrannical infliction of a
hostile power, and hence to become a more embittered
enemy of society than before. This is true when the
soul remembers its wrongdoing; but Karma brings pain
to bear on the soul that has forgotten its past, and
which, therefore, cannot recognise the sinfulness of its
past, and it brings the heaviest pain on the souls who
are most degraded. We all recognise that to punish a
man who had lost both memory and moral insight
would be futile ; therefore Karma, in its essence, is not
disciplinary or purgative, but vindictive.2
1 Essay V. pp. 216-217.
3 In justice to their capacity for clear thought it is only fair to notice that in
Indian philosophy Karma is frankly thought of as involving punishment of the
"vindictive" type. It is only modern interpreters who by reading into it a pur-
gatorial conception have, in order to save its morality, made it logically absurd.
312 IMMORTALITY vm
From this analysis of the human theory of punish-
ment we see that while the purely vindictive or retri-
butive theory assumes that Justice with her scales de-
mands an almost mechanically weighed-out equivalent
of suffering to expiate so much sin, the application of
such a theory to practice leads, not to the decrease of
iniquity, but to its increase. This conception of Justice
required revision, and in fact it has been revised by a
large consensus of modern opinion.
Our answer, then, to the question, Can suffering do
away with sin? is in the negative. Sin can only be can-
celled— that is to say, its results, in so far as they take
the form of the degradation of the soul that sins — can
only be wiped out by a change of heart, which, again,
only takes place by the conscious experience of a fresh
access of love to good or God. The only thing that
can do away with moral badness in the soul is something
which replaces that moral badness by moral goodness.
Only by saving a sinner out of a condition of sin into a
condition of active moral goodness can he be saved
from the results of sin; only by active beneficence, in-
spired by divine wisdom, can he counterbalance the
harm his sin has done to others. It is therefore only by
active goodness, both of God and man — God giving,
man responding — that evil can be remedied. A certain
form of suffering accompanies all reformation; for
repentance implies sorrow for the past, and this often
involves very acute suffering. But the essential differ-
ence between true repentance and the notion of expia-
tion by mere suffering, is that repentance, with its
correlative forgiveness, has in it also an element of
refreshment and joy — the joy of a psychic re-creation
into a freer and nobler life. When Jesus Christ said
of a woman, "Her sins which are many are forgiven
her, for she loved much," He clearly taught that the
basis of her salvation was not suffering, but the love in
the woman's soul for the goodness she saw in the heart
of Jesus. We know this to be true in everyday life.
viii REINCARNATION AND KARMA 313
Reformation of character depends on a fresh access of
love for goodness, and is the outward aspect of the
inward grace of forgiveness; for all goodness is ulti-
mately of God, and God's forgiveness is not the remit-
ting of some arbitrary penalty, but the gift of His good
Spirit to the repentant soul. The soul that can go out
of itself in love is already on the upward path because
it is already joined to God.
(3) Our third question was whether we have reason
to believe it to be a law of the universe that the suffer-
ing of the sinner is in proportion to his sin. As a
matter of fact, so far as we can observe, the results of
wrongdoing in human life are not proportionate suffer-
ing, but proportionate degradation. Degradation, of
course, involves some suffering, but the suffering is
most acute in the initial stages of degeneracy. It is
certainly not cumulative, nor is it intensified as the man
continues the downward path. The blear-eyed, half-
paralysed drunkard, who has given up all moral con-
flict, is very uncomfortable, but is not able to suffer as
acutely as he did when he took the first wrong step ; and
he does not begin to be capable of the same acute suf-
fering as his innocent and high-minded wife feels on his
behalf. Nor is his degeneracy merely that of deadened
nerves. He will be found to have become more and
more selfish, more and more incapable of recognising
the claims of other people in relation to his own. In
many cases he becomes egotistical and dishonest, with
shorter and shorter intervals of maudlin repentance.
This is a case where degeneracy and its accompanying
callousness are easily seen ; but exactly the same growth
of degeneracy and callousness can be traced in any
habitually immoral life. No egoist knows that he is
one, and so he may complain loudly of the inexplicable
loss of friends that his egoism brings him; but though
he whine and brood, it is obvious that he becomes
hardened to all that makes the acutest suffering of
noble souls, just as he becomes callous to their acute
314 IMMORTALITY vm
enjoyments. The more a soul becomes enriched, en-
nobled, and consequently purified, the more it becomes
capable of intense delight and intense sorrow; but
wrongdoing has a disintegrating effect, not only on the
body but the mind. Coarseness, obliquity, brutality, in-
evitably come in its train, but not anything that deserves
to be called intense suffering. True suffering in the sin-
ner appears to be due quite as much to the upward beat
of the wing as to the descent; while the greatest suffer-
ing must always be experienced by the highest natures,
who also are alone capable of the greatest joy.1
Again, let us ask ourselves what our innate power
of appreciating truth has to say, in the face of fact, to
this theory that all suffering is deserved. Can any
normally constituted father or mother, seeing a little
child in the grasp of some cruel physical disease, believe
that the child is expiating some hideous crime? More-
over, how can those who are able to comfort themselves
with the conviction that the drab lives and painful
privations of the poor are always deserved, ever clearly
perceive their own responsibility for righting great
social wrongs? Indeed, the doctrine of Karma, which
explains that a man is born a Brahman as a reward, or
an Outcast as a punishment, for his deeds in a former
life, supplies the Hindu with a moral justification of
the system of Caste.
Karma embodies False Notion of Justice
The doctrine of Karma was an advance on what
preceded it. The Brahmans who conceived it made a
splendid hypothesis and raised a trivial conception of
the moral world into grandeur. But their hypothesis
has been found inadequate to express the facts. They
assumed the "vindictive" theory that in the individual
life suffering ought to be proportionate to sin; so that
subject of sin and suffering is more fully treated in the Essay on
"Repentance and Hope" in Concerning Prayer.
vin REINCARNATION AND KARMA 315
they added nothing to the explanation given by earlier
thinkers of the problem of suffering, they only enlarged
the sweep of the still more primitive explanation.
Primitive man says that the gods punish the sinner
here and now — we see this in the Old Testament; later,
he says that they punish him in another world — we see
this stage reached in Jewish Apocalyptic; the philoso-
phers of Karma said that in a thousand earthly lives
he would be punished. The problem of evil is larger
than the problem of suffering; it asks why, if the
Power manifested in the universe be good, should any
living soul be so constituted and environed that it will
choose to do wrong and thus cause suffering? To
this the thinkers who conceived of Karma gave no
answer, unless it was that the experience of wrong-
doing is necessary for the soul's development.
We must respect the real effort this philosophy
makes to vindicate the moral government of the uni-
verse, though it fails to vindicate it. If the experi-
ence of wrongdoing be necessary for the soul's moral
growth, how unjust to punish by age-long suffering;
if it is not necessary, then this philosophy offers no
explanation of the existence of evil. We have seen
that suffering neither makes the bad man righteous nor
makes good the injury he has done. So that the law
of Karma, if it held good, would not point to a moral
government of the world.
Intellectually, the strong point of Karma is its in-
sistence on the reign of law in the moral sphere — on
the fact that an action inevitably produces its inherent
consequences, good if the act be good, evil if the act
be evil. But we have discovered that the necessary
and inherent consequences of evil action are the degra-
dation or degeneration of the sinner, which lessens his
capacity to suffer; and its most usual results are mis-
fortune for the innocent and grief for the noble-minded.
Thus we conclude that law does rule in the moral
sphere, but that it is not the law set forth by the doc-
IMMORTALITY vm
trine of Karma. These Hindu philosophers failed to
see how progress is actually achieved in the moral life.
The whole process of progress, as we see it in this life,
would need to be reversed to fit into their theory; for
in this life the soul progresses when the capacity alike
for sorrow and for joy increases, and goes backward
as sensibility to either diminishes. The greater part of
the pain resulting from sin falls — as the early Hebrews
saw — on children's children, i.e. on the innocent. It
falls also, and with sharpest stroke, on the noblest
souls. It is Moses who was agonised by Israel's sin,
while the people were satisfied with themselves; and
we are sure that Absalom was incapable of the pain
which David suffered when he cried, "Would God I
had died for thee, my son! my son!"
If the believer in Karma holds that all human suf-
fering is the direct result of the sin of the sufferer, he
must frankly hold it on the mere verbal authority of
Sages or Adepts, for there is nothing in known fact to
corroborate it. But, assuming for the sake of argu-
ment that it is true, let us ask if, carefully considered, it
really appears just. According to this doctrine the
Supreme Being permits fallible beings to be born into
this world of temptation with sensuous natures which
necessarily lead them at first to place a mistaken value
upon sensuous pleasures. If they fall, the universe is
such that they incur suffering, and if they do not re-
form under this suffering in successive lives, it grows
more and more severe while they grow less and less
able to profit by it. Thus it may be endlessly pro-
longed. That is the law of Karma, and I submit that,
candidly considered, it offends the instinct of justice in
any healthy mind that believes in God. The fact
Christian thinkers have often taught as crude and crueli
a doctrine of the Divine government of the world does!
not make the law of Karma, as expounded by Theoso-|
phy, more just. It portrays horrible injustice on the
part of a Divine Power, who binds fallible men upon
vin MODERN THEOSOPHY 317
the wheel of time and offers them no escape but by toil- ^
some effort and the fire of suffering, while He Himself ;
holds aloof both from effort and suffering. "~
Prophets of deeper insight, pondering on the mys-
tery of God and man, came to think that if the God
who originated both fallible men and the earth on
which they are bound, shared their suffering and offered
them the immediate escape of forgiveness and restora-
tion when they fell, exerting His own energy to supply
their lack of moral power, and afterwards compensat-
ing them with fuller joy, the scheme — although still
mysterious — could not be conceived as unjust; for the
Supreme Power would be taking the responsibility and
sorrow on Himself, and giving to men in the end what
would repay their effort and distress. The fact that
the noblest souls, capable of the greatest joy, grow also
in the power of sorrow, leads us to perceive that sorrow
is divine. Such a^Go^ wp r^^gn^R to have been fr>/
preached by Jesus Christ, and exemplified in His ovyi ""
sufteringjmd death ; but we get no hint of this sort
oT JDivimT suffering and exertion, or of the offer of
immediate escape and of personal care and compensa-
tion, in the law of Karma, which offers no real justifica-
tion for the ways of God to men.
PART II.— MODERN THEOSOPHY
THEOSOPHY AS A RELIGION
The Buddhists accepted the belief in Karma and
Metempsychosis from the Brahmans, and it was from
Buddhism, to begin with, that the founders of the
modern Theosophical Society took these doctrines and
preached them in modern Europe. Along with these
theories they taught a harmony of all religions, and a
path of salvation by which the evolution of the soul
toward bliss may be hastened, and other beliefs, chiefly
Indian in origin, but partly neo-Platonic.
318 IMMORTALITY vm
The success of the Theosophical Society in attracting
numbers of pure-hearted and earnest-minded Chris-
tians is, I believe, due to two things — (a) the emphasis
laid upon disinterested love and fellowship, and (b)
the control over self and circumstances which its dis-
ciples often exhibit.
(a) The emphasis laid on love and fellowship as the
first essential of the spiritual life is far in advance, not
of Christian principle, nor of the highest ideal of the
Hebrew prophets, but of the bulk of Old Testament
righteousness which was, and is, constantly taught in
our Sunday Schools and Churches under the name of
Christianity. I may confirm this assertion by reference
to the value still attached in many circles to the
imprecatory Psalms and the widespread opposition to
their being omitted from the daily services of the
Church, a proposal which has only quite recently
gained any concerted support. With regard to the
right attitude of mind toward an enemy, the Buddhist
doctrine that "hatred ceaseth not by hatred at any
time but only by love," teaches a reaction of the vir-
tuous mind against sin probably more effectual and
nearer to truth and the mind of Christ than the
"righteous anger" so generally exalted as a primary
virtue by Western Christianity. The insistence on love
to all as necessary to the path of salvation draws saintly
minds to Theosophy.
(b) Theosophy also teaches as part of the way of
salvation, definite habits of auto-suggestion by which
certain forms of self-control and control over others
are actually obtained. Serenity and helpfulness ac-
quired by a discipline of concentration and contempla-
tion, produce a happiness little known to the average
worried and careworn Western mind, and this throws
a glamour over Oriental beliefs concerning the life
after death which those beliefs, dispassionately consid-
ered by themselves, would not possess. One turns from
the perusal of certain books written by Theosophists
vm MODERN THEOSOPHY 319
upon the way of salvation with the conviction that here
are ideals of the duties and privileges of life on earth,
of the soul's passage through discarnate heavenly
states, and of its final goal, very much nobler than the
complex of lower Old Testament and apocalyptic ideals
so often set forth as Christianity. It is the bigoted per-
sistence of our religious teachers in perpetuating such
lower ideals which is the true cause of most of our
modern heresies.
But to dwell on the religious aspect of Theosophy
would be irrelevant to our subject, which is the views
of Theosophists on the after-life, and in discussing the
theories of the after-life set forth by the Theosophical
Society it is no part of our work to criticise the circum-
stances of its foundation or the character of its founder
or present leaders. We are concerned only to examine
the grounds on which it endorses the Oriental doctrines
of the life after death which it is spreading in Chris-
tendom.
We have to examine:
1 i ) Their claim to base their belief on occult
knowledge.
(2) The claim of Theosophy to be the nucleus of
all religions.
(3) The conception of personality involved in their
view.
( i ) THE CLAIM TO OCCULT KNOWLEDGE
The Claim as made
The Theosophical teachers are not content to specu-
late; they assert that they know. William Q. Judge,
one of their American founders, says: —
"Theosophy is sometimes called the Wisdom-Re-
ligion, because from immemorial time it has had knowl-
edge of all the laws governing the spiritual, the moral,
and the material. The theory of nature and of life
which it offers is not one that was at first speculatively
320 IMMORTALITY vm
laid down and then proved by adjusting facts or con-
clusions to fit it; but is an explanation of existence,
cosmic and individual, derived from knowledge
reached by those who have acquired the power to see
behind the curtain that hides the operations of nature
from the ordinary mind. Such Beings are called Sages,
using the term in its highest sense. Of late they have
been called Mahatmas and Adepts." *•
Similarly, Mrs. Besant testifies as to the method by
which it is possible for Theosophists to discover and
reveal the working of the divine mind as seen in the
universe :
"Theosophy accepts the method of Science — obser-
vation, experiment, arrangement of ascertained facts,
induction, hypothesis, deduction, verification, assertion
of the discovered truth — but immensely increases its
area. ... It has observed that the condition of know-
ing the physical universe is the possession of a physical
body, of which certain parts have been evolved into
organs of sense, eyes, ears, etc., through which percep-
tion of outside objects is possible. . . . The Theoso-
phist carries on the same principle into higher realms."
She goes on : "That there should be other spheres, and
other bodies through which those spheres can be known,
is no more inherently incredible than that there is a
physical sphere, and that there are physical bodies
through which we know it. The Occultist — the stu-
dent of the workings of the divine Mind in Nature —
asserts that there are such spheres, and that he has and
uses such bodies. The following statements are made
as results of investigations carried on in such spheres
by the use of such bodies by the writer and other Oc-
cultists; we all received the outline from highly devel-
oped members of our humanity, and have proved it
true step by step, and have filled in many gaps by our
own researches. We, therefore, feel that we have the
right to affirm, on our own first-hand experience —
1 An Epitome of Theosophy, William Q. Judge, p, 3.
vin MODERN THEOSOPHY 321
stretching over a period of twenty-three years in one
case and twenty-five in another — that super-physical
research is practicable, and is as trustworthy as physical
research." 1
It is on the evidence of such experience as this that
the Society has reaffirmed the doctrines of Reincarna-
tion and Karma.
It is by this "scientific" method, too, that Theo-
sophists obtain pictures of that life after death to which
they are taught to aspire. E.g.: after describing the
soul's discarnate experiences on the "astral plane," 54« ***» *
where it sheds emotion and desire, Mrs. Besantjells of
the "mental plane": —
"Comparatively few people, at the present stage of
evolution, can function freely in the mental world,
clothed only in the higher and the mental bodies, sepa-
rated from the physical and astral. But those who
can do so can tell about its phenomena — an important
matter, since heaven is a part of the mental world
guarded from all unpleasant intrusions. The inhabi-
tants of the world are the higher ranks of nature-
spirits, called in the East Devas, or Shining Ones, and
by Christians, Hebrews, and Muhammadans Angels —
the lowest Order of the angelic Intelligences. These
are glowing forms with changing shades of exquisite
colours, whose language is colour, whose motion is
melody. The heaven-portion of the mental world is
filled with discarnate human beings, who work out into
mental and moral powers the good experiences they
have garnered in their earthly lives. Here the relig-
ious devotee is seen, rapt in adoring contemplation of
the Divine Form he loved on earth, for God reveals
Himself in any form dear to the human heart. . . .
Every high activity followed on earth, every noble
thought and aspiration, here grow into flowers, flowers
which contain within themselves the seeds which shall
later be sown on earth. Knowing this, men may in this
1 Theosophy, by Annie Besant, pp. 21-23.
322 IMMORTALITY vm
world prepare the seeds of experience which shall
flower in heaven." *
To any one who can take these extracts au pied de la
lettre it must be rather a shock to be told that, after
a few centuries of this heaven, the soul needs to be
re-born on earth.
Hypnoidal States and their Content 2
The assumption of knowledge, the experience of
direct vision of things unknowable by sense and reason
- — such as described above by Mrs. Besant — has by
many critics been met with outward indifference and the
tacit accusation of fraud, an accusation at some time or
other levelled at all religions. This accusation has
never served to condemn a religion with its adherents
or to elucidate truth; for, though there is probably
fraud and hypocrisy among the teachers of many, per-
haps all, religious societies, no such society was ever
held together by the mere practice of deceit.
The experience of being "caught up into the third
heaven" 3 or of ugoing out into the astral plane," and
of so acquiring supposed knowledge in other planes or
spheres of being, is a widespread mental phenomenon.
Many men of undoubted good faith have reported such
experience ; the important point is to study scientifically
the nature of the mental states in which such experience
occurs. It appears to belong to the phenomena of
hypnoidal states. In all religions the attempt to attain
enlightenment has been connected with semi-hypnotic
states induced by penances or intoxications or the
psycho-physical exercises known as "trance-practice."
In such states the subject realises a sense of liberty and
power unknown to the sober, waking consciousness.4
In such states suggestions given to him, or self-induced,
1 Theosophy, by Annie Besant, pp. 38-39.
2 This section should be read in connection with the discussion on "Auto-
suggestion and Trance," Essay II. pp. 35-40.
3 Cf. p. 331- 4 See Essay II. p. 36.
vin MODERN THEOSOPHY 323
operate powerfully in his immediate future. In such
states also he is subject to dreams l that, when after-
wards remembered, appear to him to be revelations
from an objective source. The ''schools of the
prophets" in all times and everywhere have been more
or less partial to trance-practice. It is an essential part
of the "Path" of Indian religion. It is more unwit-
tingly practised in many Christian forms of devotion.
It is desirable to have in mind exactly what is meant
by "trance-practice." It is the habit of falling into
self-induced hypnoidal conditions of mind, either as an
end in themselves, under the belief that the condition
is spiritual, or with the deliberate intention of acquiring
knowledge or magical power or moral discipline or
religious emotion. It is very important to understand
that such states of mind are in no way supra-normal.
The earlier stages of hypnosis are both natural and
wholesome; we are often lulled into them without rec-
ognising the fact. It is equally important to recognise
clearly that the powers of the human mind which
come to light in these, its quiescent, moments — sug-
gestibility, thought-transference, clairvoyance, etc.,
— are not supernatural but natural, and that the state
in itself is no more "spiritual" than the state of rational
activity.
Of Hindu trance Professor Poussin says: —
"It was admitted that Man obtains, in semi-hypnotic
states, a magical power. The name of a thing is sup-
posed to be either the thing itself or a sort of double
of the thing; to master, during trance, the name, is to
master the thing. Just as penance, trance became a
means to spiritual aims. That is the case with Brah-
manism. Trance is the necessary path to the merging
of the individual Self into the universal Self. . . .
Buddhism teaches in so many words that not every
trance is good. A trance which is not aimed at the
right end, eradication of desire, is a mundane affair.
i See Essay VII. pp. 261-262.
324 IMMORTALITY vm
When undertaken with desire, in order to obtain either
advantages in this life, namely magical powers, or some
special kind of rebirth, trances cannot confer any spir-
itual advantage. Of course, if they are correctly man-
aged, they succeed, as any other human contrivance
would succeed.1 . . . The intention of the ascetic and
his moral preparation make all the difference between
mundane and supra-mundane trance. " For example,
he says: uThe monk makes a disk of light red clay.
. . . Then the meditation begins; the ecstatic has to
look at the disk as long as it is necessary in order to
see it with closed eyes, that is, in order to create a
mental image of the disk. To realise this aim he must
contemplate the disk sometimes with his eyes open,
sometimes with his eyes shut, and thus for a hundred
times, or for a thousand times, or even more, until the
mental image is secured. . . . The mind, once con-
centrated and strengthened by exercise with the clay
disk or any other exercise of the same kind,2 is succes-
sively to abandon its content and its categories. The
ecstatic starts from a state of contemplation coupled
with reasoning and reflection; he abandons desire, sin,
distractions, discursiveness, joy, hedonic feeling; he
goes beyond any notion of matter, of contact, of differ-
ence ; . . . finally, he realises the actual disappearance
of feeling and notion. It is a lull in the psychical life
which coincides with perfect hypnosis." 3
But there is more to be understood. In our con-
sideration of Spiritualism we saw 4 that the mediumistic
condition — which, of course, belongs to trance-practice
— does actually carry with it a certain susceptibility to
telepathic knowledge, and a certain power of what is
often called "clairvoyance." There is good evidence
for the actual operation of these powers, which has
been carefully recorded and indexed in the Proceed-
1 Much in what is called "New Thought" is illuminated by this.
2 The italics are mine. 8 The Way of Nirvana, pp. 160-165.
4 See Essay VII. p. 262.
vin MODERN THEOSOPHY 325
ings of the Society for Psychical Research, and is ac-
cessible to all.
There is also some evidence of another power pos-
sessed by the mind in an early stage of hypnosis, and
that is the power of influencing others who are pas-
sive or in some sympathetic personal connection. It
was assumed, on a priori reasoning, by earlier inves-
tigators of telepathy that the agent in the telepathic
communication must exercise determined volition while
the subject remained passive; but there is a good deal
of evidence to show that the agent also must have en-
tered a state of quiescence, or what is called "the
silence of the soul," if he would make his influence ef-
fective. An experienced medical woman, not at all re-
ligious or infected with mystical notions, once told me
that she believed "absent treatment" by mind-healers
was in some cases actually effective. She said she had
known sudden and unexpected recoveries which had
synchronised with the action of an absent healer who
worked unknown to the patient. A similar body of
evidence comes from Christian Scientists. My point
is that in such cases the healer seeks the "inner silence
of the soul," and there endeavours to experience the
power of God for his patient. The only volition in-
volved is to induce the passive state. In the innum-
erable veridical cases of apparitions at the time of
death there appears little evidence of volition on the
part of the dying; the transference of thought, which
no doubt originated the apparition, seems more likely
to have taken place when the dying person is sinking,
and hence passive.
The Buddhists reckon that there are four distinct
phases of rapt meditation. In the first, attention is
"directed and sustained." The second is the "inward
tranquillising of the mind, self-contained and uplifted
from the working of attention" ; this state is "born of
concentration." In the third, "through the quenching
of zest" man "abides indifferent but also mindful";
326 IMMORTALITY vm
of this state it is declared, uhe who is indifferent but
mindful dwells in happiness." The final state is "pure
mindfulness and indifference, wherein is neither happi-
ness nor unhappiness." 1
In our own language, and from what appears to be
the evidence concerning states of quiescence, we may
say that the first state is that of intent and pleasant
thought upon some special subject. Secondly, from the
strain of attention, especially if any outward object of
adoration or contemplation is seen or imagined, the
mind becomes slightly exhausted, and slips into what
may be called inward silence or a cessation of all the
inward voices of mind and heart. This state can be
achieved by some practice without the previous state
of meditation. It is extraordinarily useful as a rest to
the harassed mind, and after such a rest the mind may
often reap the harvest of its best previous labour. The
subject soon becomes incapable of criticising any sug-
gestion that may come, unless it be too deeply antag-
onistic to be acceptable. This is a stage in which the
crystal-gazer sees visions in the crystal, in which the de-
votee may see unwonted sights or hear voices or ex-
perience revelations. It is also the stage which is the
parent of hallucination and delusion, because the mind
apparently always believes itself to be completely alert,
not recognising its hypnoidal state. In any normal
condition the rest is very short. If by practice this
period can be unduly prolonged, or if the strain of the
mind's vision is fixed upon any object too long, a third
state ensues which is hypnotic sleep or trance.
We require a far more thorough scientific study
than we now have of these natural powers of the mind
in quiescent conditions, in order that we may unravel
the good and evil strains in trance-practice. It is prob-
able that knowledge of actual facts arising from the
natural powers of the mind in hypnotic conditions, and,
appearing supernatural, as it must to those who do
1 Buddhism, by .Mrs. Rhys Davids, p. 200.
vm MODERN THEOSOPHY 327
not know its real cause, casts a glamour over the mem-
ory of mere hypnotic dreams, making them seem verid-
ical, and throws a false sanctity over objects and be-
liefs connected with all the milder forms of self-
hypnosis.
The key to the problem of discriminating the valu-
able and the worthless elements in all such "revela-
tions" is to be found in two facts already noted in Essay
VII. Firstly, that the general tenor of the content of
the mind in any self-induced hypnoidal state is deter-
mined by the real, though not always conscious, tenor
of the desire and purpose of the self. Secondly, that
the telepathic influences from other minds to which it
is most susceptible are thoughts or pictures in harmony
with that real desire and purpose. Hence the value
of the thoughts or visions which rise in the mind in
such states depends entirely upon the mental, moral,
and aesthetic interests of the subject. They must be
tested by their quality, not accepted uncriticised as a
revelation from the unseen world. The content of
such hypnoidal states as come short of trance is re-
membered by the subject; hence in spite of the com-
pelling force which attaches to suggestions made in
these hypnoidal states (cf. p. 36) the responsibility of
their interpretation lies with the reason of the subject.
The interpretation of what is said and done in deeper
trance lies with the reason of the observers.
The problem of interpretation has been entirely con-
fused by the absurd idea that if the state is due to auto-
suggestion, its content must be also. The hypnoidal
state is always due either to auto-suggestion, or to
hetero-suggestion which is not repelled, or to some de-
gree of physical exhaustion. When the subject of the
hypnoidal state is of weak or vagrant mind the con-
tent of the self-induced state will be due to any chance
suggestion, verbal or telepathic. When the state is
entered into with a distinct desire for a certain type of
content, the content will again be due to suggestion,
328 IMMORTALITY vm
and will have only the value of that suggestion. At
the same time, in this state, the poet, the painter, the
musician, the discoverer, the thinker, the saint, may
sometimes attain the vision which is the crown of their
laborious lives, and that vision is a vision of objective
reality because truth and beauty and God have ob-
jective realities, and the quest for these realities has
been the ruling passion of their ordinary life.
We are thus forced to believe that all these hypnoi-
dal mental states — whether of Apocalyptic Seers,
Christian Mystics, Theosophical Adepts, or Spiritualist
Mediums — however induced, are in themselves nega-
tive, and that their content may be expected to reveal
objective reality only so far as the life of the subject
exhibits an endeavour after such reality. Their content
must at all times be rationally criticised.
We have three ways of approaching truth — knowl-
edge of fact, current and historic, the experience of the
self or of others; hard thinking; and the initiative
vision of quiescent moments. Truth arrived at by
such insight must not contradict knowledge attained in
these other ways.
Prayer and Ecstasy in Christian Devotion
In petitional or intercessory prayer, the reason is
active, the attention alert to the train of thought. But
Christian practice sanctions certain devotional methods
under the names of meditation, concentration, adora-
tion, and contemplation, which are usually varying de-
grees of trance-practice — wholesome if held in check
by reason, unwholesome if unduly indulged.
Every Catholic priest knows that after people have
knelt in adoration for some time before some object
which fixes the gaze, the vows or resolutions they then
make are likely to be operative; but he does not know
why. Evangelists produce the same effect by the sing-
ing of hymns whose words and music are such that they
viii MODERN THEOSOPHY 329
silence the reason rather than stimulate thought; but
they do not understand their own procedure. Part of
the psychological explanation is simple : give a sugges-
tion to a busy mind, and it is neglected, as a candle in
a light room is unnoticed; but suggestion in a quies-
cent mind makes a vivid impression, like a searchlight
suddenly penetrating the subdued landscape of night;
or, if we want another illustration, the best food in-
troduced into a full stomach only produces indiges-
tion, while when the stomach is prepared by rest, the
same food is received with appetite, easily digested,
and produces strength.
A beautiful English girl once told me of a method of
meditation which she had been taught — by her vicar, if
I remember rightly. She said, "You take the name of
the subject you wish to understand — love, or humility,
or anything else — you make yourself see just the word
with your eyes shut. By and bye you can see each
letter outlined in fire; then you get through. " There
was a note of happy triumph in the word "through."
"Through where? Through to what?" I asked.
"Through to reality," she said reverently — "after that
it is quite different."
In the light of such experience we must ask, What
is the value of trance-practice to devotion? It is im-
portant to realise that the law of mental rhythm is a
law of God, one of those natural laws the breaking of
which produces confusion. The inward silence of the
mind is as necessary before coming to the conclusion of
any train of thought, as rest before any important ef-
fort. The natural summing up of the mind's insight
which seems to come almost automatically after such
inward silence, will combine the fruit of the more im-
mediate work and the tenor of the whole mental life.
The Divine Spirit, who is always, everywhere, seeking
to enhance man's powers and attract him toward truth,
undoubtedly sustains the mind in its rest and conse-
quent strength. At such an hour God is not nearer
330 IMMORTALITY vm
than at any other, nor the voice of truth more personally
directed to the soul; but man by conformity to nature's
rhythm is better able to exercise his innate power of
appreciating truth. Because this is true whatever the
subject of thought, it is true also in devotional thought.
Because it is true of all intuitions, it is certainly true of
religious intuitions. In all cases the value of the experi-
ence is the value of the aspirations or desires or efforts
of the mind that has the experience. This would still
be true although, as appears to be the case, the soul at
such times is liable to be reinforced by telepathic influ-
ence. What the mind receives by telepathy from other
minds will be only such moods or wordless thoughts as
are of the texture of its own habits of thought.
Again, we have seen that the content of the mind
in any self-induced, hypnoidal states, and the influence
from without to which it is susceptible, are largely de-
termined by the purpose which was dominant in in-
ducing the state. If the purpose of prayer is commu-
nion with a Being who is all goodness and all love, this
cannot but exercise a favourable influence on the con-
tent of the mind. On the other hand, prayer to a God
conceived of as petty or vindictive is liable to have the
worst results — a reflection which shows that idolatry
is indeed the worst of sins, for idolatry does not consist
in making images of wood or stone, but in holding
the unworthy conceptions of God which are usually
embodied in such images.
But while the godly soul is thus not in danger from
hypnoidal states as such, danger certainly arises from
misinterpretation. Because a laborious and noble mind
discovers truth in the inner silence, mere emptiness of
mind is often held to be a door to God's secret place :
objects used to concentrate gaze and thought come to
be regarded as possessing in themselves divine power;
visions seen in crystals, in convent cells, or in dim chan-
cels, are thought objective, and dream voices that arise
in the soul are taken for revelations from another
viii MODERN THEOSOPHY 331
world. The subject is too large to be more than
touched on here.
While prayer is essential in the teaching of Jesus,
trance-ecstasy is not, in His teaching, either the test of
true prayer or its culmination. Experiences of the
deepest trance are very rare in the lives of men who
have brought great enlightenment to the world in any
direction. When they occur unsought in the lives of
men whose aspirations are set upon truth and right-
eousness and who, like St. Paul, are habitually using all
their faculties in the service of these, mistakes concern-
ing their nature can do no harm. They may well bring
into consciousness conclusions that are a true revelation,
because they have been ripening in a sober and active
mind, inspired in all its operations by the spirit of
truth.
But — and this is the point with which this paper
is concerned — the spectacular or verbal content of the
state arises from the subject's own mentality, and the
visions seen or words heard cannot be accepted as a
source of accurate information about the unseen world.1
Barrenness of Trance-Experience
The unprofitableness of the pursuit of such experi-
ences is confirmed by the fact that in communities where
trance is most prized and encouraged there has been
for centuries least contribution to the world's thought
and least improvement in its manners and customs.
Several modern Hindu writers, who have no leanings
1 In regard to the memory of trance-dreams induced by suggestion, and to
the persistent vision of auras claimed by many theosophists, I would quote the
testimony of a scientific hypnotist of experience: "It is perfectly possible, and
is indeed quite customary, for one in a hypnotic trance to remember afterwards
all that happened in the trance. As for the colour aura, to find out how it may
be visualised, I hypnotised a patient and told him that after he wakened he
would think my uniform was green. After he got up I asked him, 'What is the
colour of my uniform?' He said, 'Green.' " In this case the patient after an
interval, having the real uniform before his eyes, was able to give the correct
colour. But the Self-hypnotised Theosophist has no such real object by which
to correct the suggestion if ever a colour aura becomes associated in his mind
with a particular person.
332 IMMORTALITY vm
towards Western religion, are waking up to the fact
that the assiduous trance-practices of the Hindu are
inimical to the acquirement of truth. Thus Professor
Har Dayal (in the Modern Review, July 191 2) l says:
"India has hundreds of really sincere and aspiring
young men and women, who are free from all taint of
greed or worldliness, but they are altogether useless for
any purpose that one may appreciate. . . . 'Samadhi'
or trance is regarded as the acme of spiritual progress !
. . . To look upon an abnormal psychological condition
produced by artificial means as the sign of enlighten-
ment was a folly reserved for Indian philosophers."
The experience called by Mrs. Besant, "going out
into the astral plane to acquire knowledge," is well
described by Dr. Jacks in the words of a character
drawn true to life as we know it: —
"Well, I've often done it, and many's the story I
could tell of things I've seen by day and night; but it
wasn't till I went to hear Sir Robert Ball as the grand
idea came to me. 'Why not throw yerself into the
stars, Bob?' I sez to myself. And, by gum, sir, I did
it that very night. How I did it I don't know; I
won't say as there weren't a drop of drink in it; but
the minute I'd got through, I felt as I'd stretched out
wonderful, and blessed if I didn't find myself standin'
wi' millions of other spirits, right in the middle o'
Saturn's rings. And the things I see there I couldn't
tell you, no, not if you was to give me a thousand
pounds. Talk o' spirits ! I tell you there was millions
on 'em! And the lights and the colours — oh, but it's
no good talkin' ! I looked back and wanted to know
where the earth was, and there I see it, dwindled to a
speck o' light."2
Here we discern three elements in the experience
— the practice of some form of self-hypnotism by a
man who did not accurately know how he did it; the
1 Quoted by Dr. Farquhar in The Crown of Hinduism, p. 37.
2 Writings by L. P. Jacks, vol. i. Mad Shepherds, pp. 32-33-
viii MODERN THEOSOPHY 333
suggestion derived from an absorbing lecture by Sir R.
Ball; and the memory of a dream that appears veridical
but added nothing to the store of the world's knowledge.
Thus, Theosophy comes to us as a rampant occult-
ism, setting the seal of occult "knowledge" upon its
teaching of the after-life. In its "illumination" I can
find no idea that has not long been current. The very
phrases and notions seem to come straight from Ori-
ental or neo-Platonic literature, or from modern, but
not the latest, philosophy and science. It is the pro-
fession of its teachers that all the truth they teach has
always been in the possession of the world-sages; they
therefore admit that it makes no original contribution.
(2) DOCTRINE OF THE COMMON ORIGIN OF ALL
RELIGIONS
We are now in a position to criticise the occult or
trance-acquired knowledge of the Theosophists as to
the essentials of religion. I have read five primers or
manuals of Theosophy. They all insist that the essen-
tials of all religions are the same, since they have been
revealed through Adepts or Mahatmas, appearing from
time to time as Prophets or Founders of the Historic
Religions, but all teaching the one Universal Religion.
But a very little real knowledge of actual religious sys-
tems, e.g. of Old Testament Jahvehism and Buddhism,
shows that it is just in essentials that they differ most —
in their conceptions of God, and in their beliefs con-
cerning the origin and goal of man and concerning the
nature of goodness. The idea of an original Universal
Religion, the parent of all existing religions, was once
plausible, but it has been completely exploded by the
scientific study of Comparative Religion.
"The body of doctrine," says Mrs. Besant, "is ob-
tained by separating the beliefs common to all religions
from the peculiarities, specialities, rites, ceremonies,
and customs which mark off one religion from another;
334 IMMORTALITY vm
it presents these common truths as a consensus of
world-beliefs, forming, in their entirety, the Wisdom
Religion, or the Universal Religion, the source from
which all separate religions spring, the trunk of the
Tree of Life from which they all branch forth. . . .
The community of religious teachings, ethics, stories,
symbols, ceremonies, and even the traces of these
among savages, arose from the derivation of all re-
ligions from a common centre, from a Brotherhood of
Divine Men, which sent out one of its members into
the world from time to time to found a new religion,
containing the same essential verities as its predeces-
sors, but varying in form with the needs of the time,
and with the capacities of the people to whom the Mes-
senger was sent. . . . Comparative Mythology cannot
bring one single proof from history of a religion that
has evolved from savagery into spirituality and philos-
ophy; its hypothesis is disproved by history. The The-
osophical view is now so widely accepted that people
do not realise how triumphant was the opposing the-
ory, when Theosophy again rode into the arena of the
world's thought in 1875, mounted on its new steed,
the Theosophical Society/' 1
We cannot accept this view. The following passage
by Mr. C. C. J. Webb will suffice to explain both its
origin and why it must be regarded as obsolete.
"When the distinction between Natural and Re-
vealed Religion was most in vogue, some would frankly
regard Natural Religion as that religion the truth of
whose tenets was sure and certain, as the general agree-
ment upon them indicated. . . . The difficulty which thus
confronted those who maintained the value of the
special doctrines of their own religion could not be
adequately met with the help of an abstract Logic
untouched by the theory of development, which took
little account in dealing with other peoples and other
ages of the different intellectual contexts in which their
1 Theosophy, pp. 12, 14-16.
vm MODERN THEOSOPHY 335
statements were made, and scarcely conceived of any
relation between the different doctrines which obtained
in different periods or among different nations, except
the relations of agreement or disagreement. With
such a logic it was only possible, if one held to the truth
of the doctrines of one's own religion, either to sup-
pose all other doctrines simply false, a view difficult for
men of culture who were aware how much they them-
selves and their religion owed to the believers and
teachers of other religions; or to suppose that one and
the same esoteric doctrine (whether traceable or no
to one primeval 'revelation') had been taught un-
changed in divers religions under different phraseology.
This last view does not now recommend itself to schol-
ars or scientific theologians, but it has still great at-
tractions for many who have enjoyed only a general
and unsystematic education, as the success of the Theo-
sophical Society and of kindred movements sufficiently
proves ; and in a former age it was entertained by men
who stood in the first rank of the learning and science
of their day. Without going back to the attempts of
ancient thinkers like Philo to find Platonism in the
Old Testament, and the like effects of later theolo-
gians and philosophers, a notion of this sort is the
leading principle in a work of vast learning and deep
thought, the production of which conferred honour
on Cambridge and England in the seventeenth cen-
tury, Cudworth's Intellectual System of the Universe;
and we may find a lingering echo of this way of think-
ing in the late Mr. Gladstone's discussion of Homeric
religion in his Juventus Mundi. . . . To advance fur-
ther, it was necessary to introduce the conception of
development. . . . We have also come to think it
less profitable to study under the name of 'natural re-
ligion' a religion reached by abstracting from each
religion what is peculiar to it and retaining only
what is common, a religion therefore which never
really exists as the religion of any nation or people.
336 IMMORTALITY vm
We think it better to try to understand a real actual
religion, one which has grown up with the natural
development of a people's mind, to seek to discover
why it has just the peculiarities which it has, why in
these particular respects it has departed from some
older religious system which may have preceded it,
or has opposed itself to the religious systems which
confront it in the same or neighbouring lands." *
If what Mrs. Besant puts forth as the central tenet
of Theosophy, endorsed by her occult investigations
has no basis in the facts as now more clearly elucidated
by the comparative study of religions, the authority of
the Theosophical Society as an exponent of occult truth
concerning the future life must be shaken.
(3) THE CONCEPTION OF PERSONALITY
The third point in which Theosophist teaching seems
to fail is with regard to the conception of personality.
There is in the teaching of the greater prophets and
psalmists of the Old Testament, in the teaching and
example of Jesus Christ, and in much of the religious
experience recorded in the New Testament, a concep-
tion of the relation of God and man that commands
our acceptance by its moral beauty, and that, by its
splendour and tenderness causes the beliefs in Reincar-
nation and Karma to appear tawdry and trivial. The
main objection to these doctrines is that they belittle
personality, and that in three ways : ( i ) The view
of a thread of psychic life on which different earthly
lives could be strung, like beads on a string, is an
abstraction of thought: the minimum or life principle
common to a hundred or a thousand lives does not con-
stitute personality. (2) A continuous memory is not
held to be necessary to life progress; but we are to our-
selves and to our friends only what memory makes us.
(3) Under the law of Karma men are supposed to be
1 The Notion of Revelation, C. C. J. Webb, pp. 6-8.
vm MODERN THEOSOPHY 337
punished cruelly for wrongs they do not know they
have committed; this would be seen to be an outrage
upon dignity and freedom if God, or fate, was conceived
as respecting man's personality. When personality is
accepted as the standard of value, and exalted as an
attribute of God, the belief that the human soul in its
aeonian pilgrimage casts off a hundred different per-
sonalities, each like a soiled garment, becomes profane.
The nature of personality has always been a difficulty
to the philosopher. It will not lend itself to abstraction.
The moment it is conceived of as cut up into will and
emotion and intellect, into soul, mind, and spirit, or
into any other division, that moment it ceases to exist
for the mind who thus conceives it. The conception
becomes at once a misconception, useful for certain
purposes of dialectic, but representing nothing real.
The trend of modern philosophy is, in spite of all diffi-
culties, to emphasise personality as central to the
thought of reality. But personality only exists for man
qua father or son or brother or friend; the philosopher,
unless he hold fast to his experience of friendship as
a basis for his search for reality, will not succeed in
retaining personality for man.
In Hindu religion, where the more primitive and now
obsolescent philosophic conceptions of the Brahmans
became dominant, friendship is belittled by asceticism,
personality becomes a thing of nought; or perhaps be-
cause personality is belittled by ascetical thought,
friendship is not valued. Disgust for life is esteemed
holiness. This is a natural result, for human love —
motherly, brotherly, and friendly — is the only salt
which keeps life wholesome and ever fragrant.
There are many things at which a philosophy must
necessarily stumble if it proceeds by processes of analy-
sis and abstraction — the freedom of the human will;
the knowledge of God; problems of the one and the
many, the finite and the infinite. There are things that
the human mind knows in their entirety and knows di-
338 IMMORTALITY vm
rectly — that is, as soon as it becomes aware of them it
knows that they are real. Personality is reality for the
soul. Love is seen to inhere in persons and to be possi-
ble only because of individuals. God is known to be real
through His personality; and other problems, insolu-
ble through any other conception of reality, are,
through this one made more easy. The soul that ad-
mits its knowledge of the distinction between persons,
knows also that the unity of homogeneity, even if in-
finite, is something far lower than the possible har-
mony of differentiation. The soul, even in childhood,
knows these things. To the Hindu sage, to the Greek
philosopher, the Hebrew prophets were like unreflect-
ing children ; but to us, on the contrary, it is clear that
their thought, being based on an intuitive perception
of personality as the fundamental quality of ultimate
reality, really went further and deeper.
It is curious to note how little time and place alter
this vision of the soul that has its first true religious
experience, and brings forth its criterion of personality
as the test of reality. In this matter deep answers to
deep across some twenty-five or twenty-seven centuries,
and we see moderns like Mr. Wells making, by a per-
sonal experience of religion, the same discoveries as
were made by the Hebrew prophets. The more we
study the purer strain of Hebrew religion the more we
realise how close it is to the purer strain in, e.g., Mr.
Wells's conception of religion. In both we have the
insistence upon God as a veritable person ; both look to
personality at its highest for the character of God.
Thus, the prophets assert that God loathes blood-reek-
ing altars, and loves kindness and truth; and Mr. Wells
cries, uGod fights against death in every form . . .
against the petty death of indolence, insufficiency, base-
ness, misconception, and perversion." 1 Both insist that
our knowledge of God comes from direct personal
friendship with Him. "The Lord is my shepherd . . .
1 God the Invisible King, p. 118.
vin MODERN THEOSOPHY 339
He leads me ... He restores my soul." * "I sought
the Lord and he heard me." 2 "God comes. ... It
is like standing side by side with and touching some one
that we love very dearly and trust completely." 3 Both,
having direct knowledge of God, are comparatively
indifferent to any complete philosophy of the universe
or any definite conception of the after-life. I am not
setting Mr. Wells and the makers of all that was best
in the Hebrew religion on a level ; I am simply showing
that where there is the true religious experience, even
in those who are agnostic concerning the after-life and
the Divine omnipotence, there is the uplifting of human
personality into the heavens, and the certainty that it
is men as persons that God personally loves. If the
abiding part of man is, as the doctrine of Reincarnation
affirms, not man at all but a mere principle of life that
may manifest itself on earth as first a mouse and then a
lion, a cannibal, a squaw, a warrior, a philosopher, a
Christian monk, a Buddhist ascetic, his God will also be
a mere principle of life, something we cannot now know
and love. The test of reality and the whole standard
of value changes and becomes "as moonlight unto sun-
light, as water unto wine"; instead of confidence we
get fear, asceticism instead of fulness of life, benevo-
lence in place of friendship.
Again, how mean and dreary to us appears the in-
dividualistic belief that each soul must suffer only for
its own sins, never for those of others, expiating all its
own sins to the uttermost through innumerable suffer-
ing lives without God's interposition. To find a faith
with nobler appeal we need not turn to the tender
experience and reasoning of Jesus Christ; we find in
Hebrew literature, from the eighth century B.C. on-
ward, a faith concerning God's interposition on man's
behalf which convinces us of its truth because we all
know that we are most nearly divine when we can bear
*Psa. xxiii. 'Psa. xxxiv. 4.
*God the Invisible King, p. 27.
340 IMMORTALITY vm
the burdens which others have incurred, and relieve
them of their sin's ill consequence, while we help to
restore their moral insight and strength.
The following passage is from an unpublished lec-
ture by Professor Kennett : —
"This brings me to that characteristic of the Old
Testament for which it will be valued so long as men
are seeking after God. In the Hebrew Scriptures we
have the language of perfect faith ... a certainty that
there is no wrong which God will not redress, no social
or political sore too inveterate for His healing touch,
no sorrow which He cannot comfort. To quote in
length is impossible, for the Psalms and prophetic books
must needs be quoted almost in extenso. It is enough
to suggest such utterances as these : 'God is our refuge
and strength, a very present help in trouble ; therefore
will not we fear.' x And this : 'He hath swallowed
up death for ever, and the Lord God will wipe away
tears from off all faces, and the reproach of His people
shall He take away from off all the earth.' " 2
Again, we get the faith reiterated — as over against
the conception of human expiation and expiatory sacri-
fice— that it is at cost to Himself that God saves. "In
all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his
presence saved them." 3 "I have blotted out, as a
thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy
sins; return unto me, for I have redeemed thee." 4
Just as in the Old Testament religion we see a con-
stant struggle going on between the sacrificial cults
whose morality tended always to inhibitions and ritual
exactions, and the prophetic conception which made
friendship with God the criterion both of religion and
ethics, so in Christianity we see the same struggle going
forward; but in Christianity a third combatant has been
added, who takes sides with the sacrificial cults, i.e.,
the Oriental monastic disciplines which had come into
iPsa. xlvi. 2Isa. xxv. 8.
alsa. Ixiii. 9. * Isa. xliv. 22.
vin MODERN THEOSOPHY 341
Europe through Egypt. Although, as I have said,
much teaching called Christian about Retribution — in
this life or the next — is on a lower level than the doc-
trine of Karma, and some elements in our "religious"
disciplines and devotional practice are merely on a level
with Oriental monasticism, there is, in what is essen-
tially Christian, a religion much higher than anything
to be found in Hindu philosophy or in Theosophic
teaching.
The keynote of Christianity is personality. Com-
panionship with Jesus teaches us that the open-eyed
friendship with God which prophets and psalmists
sought, is the way even to returning sinners and to little
children. Prayer becomes reasonable and confident
and constant, because the child's instinctive knowledge
of the reality of personal contacts is seen to be the en-
trance to, or basis of, the heavenly wisdom, the true
philosophy. Notions of infinitude and omnipotence are
seen to be mere pale reflections of truth until they are
translated into the terms of personal Love. The power
of true majesty is seen to be attraction, not compulsion,
and hence the only remedy for sin is the influx of the
Divine Spirit of love into the soul. In the sunburst
of Christian friendship with God and man, the doc-
trines of impersonal spirit and of the expiation of sin
by the suffering of the sinner are shadows that flee
away.
IX
THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY
BY THE AUTHOR OF
"PRO CHRISTO ET ECCLESIA"
(LILY DOUGALL)
SYNOPSIS
PAGE
I. THE STING OF DEATH . . . . . .345
Christendom has not overcome the dread of death. It is
reflected in Mediaeval miracle and mystery plays.
The attitude of Shakespeare's characters to death indi-
cates no certain hope.
Post-Reformation literature tells the same tale.
II. THE REVIVAL OF INTEREST IN THE FUTURE LIFE . . 349
This fear due to ignorance of what lies beyond the grave;
and the ignorance largely due to lack of interest. This
lack of interest shown in philosophy and poetry.
The present desire to know more is the promise of its own
fulfilment.
III. THE PATH TOWARDS DISCOVERY . . . .352
Certainty concerning the after-life can be found if we
seek it by: —
A. Prayer ....... 352
The common discouragements of prayer are ex-
plained by our inability to picture the end
from the beginning, and to know what we
want. God always gives what we really
want if we only knew it.
B. A living theology . . . . 356
Distinction between traditionalism and theology.
The early Christian records speak of the
Christian life as a constant discovery of truth.
The doctrines of (a) The Resurrection; (b)
The Invocation of Saints; (c) The Com-
munion of Saints.
C. Reinterpretation of experience . . .364
By a more careful interpretation of our inward
experience we find evidence that the next life
interpenetrates this. Colloquy illustrating
two ways of seeking communion with our
dead.
D. Consideration of the goal of existence . -367
Two conceptions of this goal : ( i ) absorption
into God — a state without individual distinc-
tions or activities; (2) ever-increasing friend-
ship with God — a social state in which per-
sonal distinction attains its fullest develop-
ment.
The trend of biological progress, and the
fact that the ideal community is only realised
through more complete individuality, suggest
that the second is the truer conception of the
goal.
344
IX
THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY
I. THE STING OF DEATH
"O DEATH, where is thy sting I" St. Paul made this
exclamation in exaltation of spirit when writing in pas-
sionate, poetic joy of the Christian doctrine of the
Resurrection. But is the fear of the grave vanquished?
Has death no sting? We shut it out of our minds,
and busy ourselves with other thoughts. We hypnotise
ourselves with religious or philosophic maxims which
we mistake for insipid truisms until we find ourselves
face to face with the contrasting realities of life and
death ; then how many of us can feel St. Paul's thrill of
triumph ?
In the heart of Christendom, a thousand years after
St. Paul's martyrdom, we come upon miracle and mys-
tery plays better calculated to instil the terror of death
than the peace of God. Sometimes they rise to the
level of real poetry which comes from the heart.
Mors execrabilis!
Mors detestabilis !
Mors mihi flebilis!
Fratris interitus
Gravis et subitus
Est causa gemitus.
Thus sings Martha at the death of Lazarus, and the
chorus of consoling Jews answers:
345
346 IMMORTALITY ix
Non per tales lacrimas
Visum fuit animas
Redisse corporibus.
Cessent ergo lacrimae
Quae defunctis minime
Proderunt hominibus.
But there is nothing in the latter part of the play
that comes home to the common heart as this does.
Although one would expect the Christian triumph to
come with poetic conviction, there is no later verse that
rings with the energy and poignancy of this opening.
When the truths of Christianity had for several
centuries been taught to the people by such plays, by
sermons and services in the splendid churches that were
built in every locality, by instruction from populous
convents and monasteries which stood in almost every
fertile vale, how stood the mind of the common people
concerning death? If death for them had lost its sting,
confidence in the life after death would by Shake-
speare's time have become a common sentiment. It
would have been taught to little children in those house-
hold maxims which become the warp of thought of
which after-experience is but the woof-thread. Had
Christian joy in the life after death been the common
attitude, Shakespeare must have put it into the mouth
of many dramatic characters. But this triumph of faith
is not echoed from play to play as some other serious
sentiments of even a more recondite nature are echoed.
The confidence that a good conscience gives in battle,
the superiority of mercy to retributive justice, are thus
echoed; but the attitude of man toward death — what
is it?
We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
The Tempest, Act IV. Sc. I.
Ay, but to die, and go we know not where —
Measure for Measure, Act III. Sc. I.
ix THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY 347
The weariest and most loathed worldly life
That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment
Can lay on nature, is a paradise
To what we fear of death.
Ibid.
. . . the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country. . . .
Hamlet, Act III. Sc. I.
... all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. . . .
Life's but a walking shadow.
Macbeth, Act V. Sc. v.
A century of Protestantism does not seem to have
much altered the attitude of mind towards death. In
The New England Primer for Children, published in
1737 we get,
Our days begin with trouble here,
Our life is but a span,
And cruel death is always near,
So frail a thing is man.
When Steel in The Taller writes a paper on "Sad
Memories," it is of one bereavement after another that
he writes, and there is no suggestion of resurrection.
The first was his father's death : —
"I remember I went into the room where his body
lay, and my mother sat weeping alone by it. I had my
battledore in my hand, and fell a-beating the coffin, and
calling papa ; for, I know not how, I had some slight
idea that he was locked up there. My mother catched
me in her arms, and, transported beyond all patience
of the silent grief she was before in, she almost smoth-
ered me in her embraces; and told me in a flood of
tears, 'Papa could not hear me, and would play with
me no more, for they were going to put him under-
ground, whence he could never come to us again.* She
was a very beautiful woman, of a noble spirit, and there
was a dignity in her grief amidst all the wildness of her
transport; which, methought, struck me with an instinct
348 IMMORTALITY ix
of sorrow, that, before I was sensible of what it was
to grieve, seized my very soul."
And if we turn to the last optimistic century, and
the most popular poet of the most optimistic of nations,
we are told that:
The air is full of farewells to the dying,
And mournings for the dead.
And this even in the same set of verses in which he
assures us:
There is no death! What seems so is transition —
LONGFELLOW, "Resignation."
Of all Tennyson's poetry, the first part of "In
Memoriam," which voices passionate grief, is the
truest poetry. It is here alone that he reaches that
region in which poetry unerringly reveals to men their
own thoughts and emotions. The later part of the
poem contains a metaphysical argument that falls below
the level of much of his other verse, wanting the touch
of reality.
How varied are the sentiments we hear read at the
burial of the dead! No one can say that the sting of
the unknown or the sorrow of bereavement is removed
by the teaching of that service. Contrast the misery
of Psalm xxxix. with the triumphant expression of St.
Paul's faith in i Cor. xv. ; and the committal sentences,
"In the midst of life we are in death: of whom may
we seek succour, but of thee, O Lord, who for our sins
art justly displeased . . . deliver us not into the bitter
pains of eternal death," with the expression of the
"sure and certain hope" which follows. The misery
obliterates any certainty of hope. It is quite impos-
sible that, if the soul of the common people were really
and habitually rejoicing in the victory over death, the
service could remain in use as it now is in the Book
of Common Prayer. The sting of death remains.
Much as we wish to determinedly claim that genuine
ix THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY 349
Christianity overcomes all uneasiness in face of the
unknown, solaces all passionate grief, we can only
truthfully assert that for certain favoured souls it does;
and it is because they have discovered for themselves
some assurance, some certainty, some glimpse into the
beauty of the unseen, that is not the possession of the
majority. The average friendship or domestic tie does
not long survive death. It is forgotten, and the heart
becomes apathetic to it, because there is no vivid sense
that the friend in the unseen is still the same and can
still remember. In quiet hours memories of the lost
recur, and "never again" rings through the soul in
thoughts that lie too deep for tears. Neither the
Christian Catholicism of the first fifteen hundred years,
nor the Christian Protestantism of the last five hundred
years, nor Atheism, nor Agnosticism, nor any form of
free thought has given to the common sensitive man
in the common street or the common field, lightness of
heart concerning the death of his beloved or in face of
his own certain end.
This condition ought not to continue. If Christi-
anity is to be justified Christians must attain to a new
outlook upon the country beyond the grave.
II. THE REVIVAL OF INTEREST IN THE FUTURE LIFE
The cause of our lack of confidence in face of death
is ignorance. The cause of our ignorance is largely
that we have not sought importunately to know more
than we do of the soul's further pilgrimage and its
goal. Until recently the majority have accepted as
final, unsatisfying traditions concerning the nature of
the future life which the enlightened minority have
declared to be discredited. No one enquires into mat-
ters that are thought to be finally settled, or that are
not worth knowing. But for the last three-quarters of
a century a change has been coming over religious
thought. Any long-established religion is liable to be
350 IMMORTALITY ix
conservative and slow to move, and the (to us) curious
lack of interest shown by the Christianity of the last
few centuries in the future life is in harmony with the
fact that its accredited teachers, until quite lately, dis-
couraged all speculative thought on the subject. But
this lack of interest was quite genuine in the common
mind, and was not imposed by religious dogma; rather,
the dogma was the result of previous lack of interest.
No one will accuse the philosophers or poets of the
nineteenth century of slavery to dogmatism, yet their
lack of interest in this subject is obvious. We give
only two illustrations out of many. Dr. McTaggart l
discusses the fact that "Hegel treats at great length
of the nature, the duties, the hopes, of human society,
without paying the least attention to his own belief
that, for each of the men who compose that society,
life in it is but an infinitesimal fragment of his whole
existence, a fragment which can have no meaning ex-
cept in its relation to the whole" ; and Dr. McTaggart
asks, "Can we believe he really held a doctrine which
he neglected in this manner?" He goes on to show
that Hegel's honesty and the explicit statements of his
belief in immortality prove he did hold it, and adds:
"The real explanation, I think, must be found else-
where. The fact is that Hegel does not seem much
interested in the question of immortality," and proves
this by showing that, while he held the doctrine he
made no use of it. Observe, again, the obvious lack
of interest in the conditions of the after-life in Words-
worth's "Ode," written confessedly on "Immortality,"
and contrast this with Tennyson's eager speculations
on the future.
This interest, growing for fifty years, has now be-
come acute and all but universal. A vast death-deal-
ing conflict of nations has stung both the world
and the Church into consciousness of their former
apathy.
1 Studies in Hegelian Cosmology, p. 5«
ix THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY 351
In other regions of knowledge the desire for truth,
and lively speculation upon a problem, have always
preceded discovery; and if we believe that all truth is
of God we must believe all desire for it to be inspired
by Him, and that persistent effort in its quest never
exists without the co-operation of the Divine Spirit,
and is therefore bound to succeed. We may well
believe this even though truth, when found, be long
sneered at or neglected or even utilised by some for
bad purposes, for it is the law of our life that all good
things may by man's free choice be either neglected
or abused. If we look back through history we shall
see that it is the seeking communities that have found,
and that to those who in divine discontent have ham-
mered on the door of truth that door has opened. It
was because the Greek sought after wisdom and beauty
that his nation created the intellectual and aesthetic
tradition of Europe; it was because there was always
left a "seven thousand in Israel" who sought first after
righteousness and the knowledge of God that the Christ
was born a Jew.
If this be so, we have now every encouragement to
hope that we shall receive new enlightenment with
regard to the future life if we seek it in the right way.
We have seen that some expect to obtain scientific
certainty as to the survival of departed friends through
the channels of psychical research. But even if this
were obtained, it would be merely a bald fact that
would at best only bring reasonable conviction of ex-
actly what was proved and no more. It would also
rouse in us a thousand more disquieting questions.
What we need in this matter is the sort of satisfying
knowledge that cannot receive scientific proof, but is
none the less assured for that. In this life we know
that our friends will continue to love us; we know
that Truth and Beauty have objective reality — that they
exist independently of us and that we shall learn more
and more of them. But this knowledge is not based on
352 IMMORTALITY ix
the empirical evidence with which science deals. Yet
how certain we are of these things, what deep joy these
certainties give !
It is this sort of intuitive certainty that we want
to acquire concerning the continuance of the soul after
death with unimpaired powers and personal distinc-
tion. We wish to know that life after death is an
enterprise continuous with this, an enterprise bringing
ever-increasing powers of character, ever-increasing
discoveries of truth and beauty and love, ever-increas-
ing diversity of experience and consequently of per-
sonality. Now all this is for us included in the
conception of increasing knowledge of God, in the
approach to the direct vision of God, in our concep-
tion of life in Him. We can argue about this con-
ception of the next life; we can convince ourselves in
certain hours that it must be so; but we want to have
the assurance of it, the unquestioning realisation of it;
just as we have the unquestioning realisation, in earthly
things, of the objectiveness of beauty, or of the loyalty
of love, or, in things of religion, that God, of
whom we are conscious, is friendly to us and to all
mankind.
III. THE PATH TOWARDS DISCOVERY
But how are we to attain to this unquestioning con-
viction ?
I believe that God will give us assurance concerning
the life after death if we seek it by confidence of prayer
and by travail of thought. This means that four
things are required — prayer rightly understood; a liv-
ing theology; a truer interpretation of experience; and
a consideration of the goal of our existence.
Prayer
First, we need prayer; but it must be the prayer
of faith. Most of us have little faith in prayer. We
ix THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY 353
fix our minds on something we want to get from God,
or on the hope for instruction about something we
want to do. We picture to ourselves the thing we
ask. We ask for it first with complete expectation
that we shall have what we picture; then, when the
answer tarries, with entreaty and some persistence.
We may not get what we have pictured to ourselves;
then we are discouraged. What child has not gone
through this experience? After that come explana-
tions from religious teachers, by which the things which
Jesus said about prayer are explained away. Some
teachers tell us that we shall seldom get what we want,
but that we must go on praying because it is a duty,
and God will give us spiritual endowments by which
we can successfully meet the lack of those good things
for which we ask Him. They also explain that even
such dutiful prayer is only to be offered according to
certain elaborate conditions of self-abasement. At
this explanation those who have made childlike prayers
divide into three classes. The first class turn away,
for they feel that they have been offered a stone for
bread; or, if they continue to pray, they seek vaguely
for a good they do not attempt to picture, and in
their habits of prayer they do not lay hold of God
for any special purpose. The second class make a
habit of repeating definite prayers without expecting
much result. They have not the faith that will bring
light to the world. The third, and much the smallest
class, give themselves to realising the conditions laid
down, and praying with ardour and expectation for
what they believe to be purely spiritual gifts, but in
doing so they seek to belittle human spontaneity and
natural affection.
I do not think that such explanations are true or
right. What Jesus taught about prayer is meaningless
if what God sees to be good for us is usually the
thwarting of our natural wishes. God is more than
able to give Himself with every gift we ask for, so that
354 IMMORTALITY ix
each gift becomes a sacrament of His grace. Prayer
that has not the momentum of impulse and spontaneous
desire, and does not leap forward with the hope of
gratification, will never attain its full growth, or serve
us in such hours of the world's need as we experience
to-day. The reason that we do not get what we expect
when we pray is that our expectation of future circum-
stances is always fallacious. When men set aside all
natural desire, and pray for some spiritual benefit for
themselves, or others, or for the world, they do not get
what they definitely expect any more than in simpler
prayers for other delights. And if we turn at any
point to the process of life, and look at it with candid
eyes, we shall see that the end which any one proposes
as the result of a course of action is very different
from the end he achieves; and this is most true when
the course of action is most successful. If any of us
look back to our own childhood or youth, and can
remember the vivid pictures we often painted for our-
selves of future joys, together with the reality that hap-
pened along the line of our expectation, we shall see
how .different was the real joy from the imaginary,
even when quite satisfying. We shall realise that the
mental picture was more often than not tawdry and
artificial. Memory is short; we are not conscious
of any feeling of disappointment when we enjoy some-
thing quite different from what we anticipated. But
if our mind remained fixed on our first expectations,
we should always be disappointed. It is true of life
generally that the eye of the mind hath not seen, nor
the ear of the mind heard, the things that the future
has really in store. But in prayer our expectations,
because of repetition, remain more fixed, and we expect
a speedy realisation, an artificial notion of Divine om-
nipotence rendering us unreasonable. A mother, if
omnipotent, would not give her child what it cries for
when it cries for the moon ; she would give it a yellow
ball, for that is what it really wants.
ix THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY 355
The important truth — the real explanation of disap-
pointment in prayer — is that what we picture in our
mood of hope is seldom what we should hope for if
we understood our real desires. A child cries for a
complex and difficult toy; but what he wants is the sort
of pleasure the toy would give if he were mature enough
to take care of it and understand how to work it. The
pleasure he desires can only be given through another
plaything. A man pictures himself as happy with a
certain woman for his wife, but what he really wants
is a mated happiness which might or might not be
possible with her. Or if it is merely mated happiness
he pictures, he may want other things more which
would be incompatible with it. And so with all the
round of life: God could not give us what we want
if He gave us what we think we want. So in prayer:
there is no evidence that the good we really want
when we pray, is not given to us just as quickly as
it is possible for us to assimilate it to our other benefits
and enjoy it. Faith realises that we live and move
and have our being in the love of God, just as a long-
wished-for babe lives and moves and has its being
in its parents' love. It is impossible for us to turn
the attention of our souls toward God without receiv-
ing, when burdened with any desire, the gratification
of the desire. That is what Jesus said, and it is ab-
solutely and unreservedly true. But we must realise
that in prayer, as in every other aspect of our life,
we have consciously but a dim knowledge of the end
we have in view. In the ordinary affairs of life, if
we form no picture of the ends we have in view, and
seek not to attain them, we shall become futile. So
in prayer some definite picture of what we want is
necessary, even though we recognise that the picture
may have but a distant likeness to what we really and
whole-heartedly desire.
It is only when we realise that prayer never fails
that we can have faith. It is because prayer never fails
356 IMMORTALITY ix
that we should betake ourselves to prayer, when we
feel the burden of ignorance about the undiscovered
country beyond the grave. What do we want when we
are in this sorrow? We want to know that those who
were so kind and attractive and pleasant when with
us are alive and well and making good progress in an-
other country; that no loss of memory or comprehen-
sion separates their minds from ours; that when we go
to them they will still be the same to us, but better off
for the experiences of the years of separation. We do
not dress in black, or subdue our laughter because a
son or father, a daughter or friend, has gone to fill
some good appointment in a far land, where we con-
ceive that love and character and fortune may mature
before we clasp hands with them again. It is this that
we want to know about our dead. Let us, then, take
our wants passionately to God, assured that He will
give us, not any detailed pieces of information, but
something more and better than we can ask or think.
He will give us increasing knowledge of Himself, and,
included in that, increasing knowledge of our dead.
A Living Theology
The great Christian theologians, each in his own
day, pushed forward the faith by their whole individual
might of intellectual travail. They have left us a splen-
did heritage. But when Christian theology becomes
traditionalism and men fail to hold and use it as they
do a living language, it becomes an obstacle, not a help
to religious conviction. To the greatest of the early
Fathers and the great scholastics theology was a lan-
guage which, like all language, had a grammar and a
vocabulary from the past, but which they used to ex-
press all the knowledge and experience of their own
time as well. They enlarged its vocabulary; they
modified its grammar. But in this particular of helping
the common man to rejoice in the sure knowledge of
ix THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY 357
the immortal life, their lack of knowledge — e.g. of the
origin of the Apocalyptic imagery — hampered them,
and they had only a very partial success. And yet it
is probable that in their time the ordinary, unlearned
Christian, with the priest at his bedside, felt more
complacency as to the death of his dear ones or of
himself than did his heathen forefathers. But since
Thomas Aquinas wrote his Summa a world of new
knowledge has swum into our ken; and the tradi-
tionalism which refuses to assimilate this into the
splendid structure of Christian theology has been
rampant.
This distinction between living Christian theology
and traditionalism is of the greatest importance. Just
as a language that expresses a great civilisation is a
great mental achievement, inspired by the Spirit, built
up by the many, and greatly advanced by each genius
who uses it, so is the theology of any honest religion;
and of all religions the most intellectual, the most finely
thought out, is Christianity; the classical Christian
theology was the greatest of all the structural growths
of human thought about God and man. But we must
cease any longer to acquiesce in the teaching of Chris-
tianity as a dead language. It is as a dead language
that the multitudes to-day have been taught the doctrine
of the Resurrection. And because of this they have
not learned the truth as it is in Christ about death, or
at least have learned but a small portion of it.
Christ came to give us unbounded hope and con-
fidence in the willingness of God to impart fresh truth.
At the end of the first Christian age the most thought-
ful of our Lord's followers interpreted His teaching
thus:
"Truly, truly, I tell you all, you shall see heaven
open wide, and God's angels ascending and descending
upon th® Son of Man." 1
"Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes in me will
1Joho i. 51, Moffatt's trans.
358 IMMORTALITY ix
do the very deeds I do, and still greater deeds than
these. For I am going to the Father, and I will do
whatever you ask in my name." 1
"I have still much to say to you, but you cannot
bear it just now. However, when the Spirit of Truth
comes he will lead you all to the truth, for he will not
speak of his own accord, he will say whatever he is
told ... he will draw upon what is mine and disclose
it to you." 2
In the Synoptic Gospels we see Jesus declaring in all
the ways in which it is possible to speak that those who
seek to understand have free access to the wisdom of
heaven. uAsk, and it shall be given." The least in
His Kingdom is said by Jesus to be greater than the
greatest prophets of a former age. To His followers
He says, "Unto you it is given to know the mysteries
of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he
shall have abundance." 3
The first friends of Jesus bear witness to the spirit
of wisdom and knowledge which they believe to be the
gift of the risen Christ. Thus in Acts, St. Peter says
to the chief priests, uWe are his witnesses, and so is
also the Holy Ghost whom God has given to them
that obey him." 4 And St. Paul to the Corinthians
says, "But the manifestation of the spirit is given to
every man to profit withal. For to one is given by
the spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word
of knowledge by the same spirit." 5 In the benedic-
tion that ends 2 Peter believers are bidden to "grow
in grace and in knowledge." St. Paul desires for the
Philippians "that your love may abound yet more and
more in knowledge and all discernment; so that ye
may try the things that differ." 6 In the comparatively
brief writings of the New Testament the number of
1 John xiv. 12, Moffatt's trans.
2 John xvi. 12-13, Ibid. 3 Matt. xiii. 11-12.
* Acts v. 32. BI Cor. xii, 7-8 6 Philipp. i. 9-10.
ix THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY 359
passages in which the Spirit of Christ is associated with
increasing knowledge and increasing understanding is
so striking a feature that it is surprising that the vital
connection between the possession of the Christian spirit
and increasing knowledge ever became obscured or
denied.
Again, if we are seeking, daily praying and knocking
upon the door of heaven, for more abundant knowledge
concerning the life after death, let us note that Jesus
clearly said that truth can only be shown to "whosoever
hath ears to hear." Are we listening — listening intently
to Truth, who is always speaking in the "still small
voice" of the mind? — to Truth, who is always speaking
parables in the science of history and in the discoveries
of science concerning all that world that lies open to our
physical sense? Just as it is the province of science to
find out what the facts of life are, to classify them and
use them to verify or discredit whatever theory may
have been advanced concerning them, so it is the prov-
ince of a living theology to be constantly seeking from
God the wit and wisdom that will interpret anew and
more truly the parable of life.
We cannot do more here than give three illustra-
tions of the way in which accepted Christian doctrines
may be cross-examined in such a way that they may
yield increasing help on the problem of the immortal
life, taking as examples the doctrines of the Resurrec-
tion, the Invocation of Saints, and the Communion of
Saints.
Christian theology has always insisted that on His
Resurrection our Lord took His humanity into the
next world. As we believe that on earth He lived
manifesting the ideal humanity, we must believe that
it was the ideal humanity that He manifested in His
passage into the next world. Years after He had died
St. Paul believed himself to see Him and speak to
Him again and again. St. Paul was not alone in this :
immediately after our Lord's death His closest friends
360 IMMORTALITY ix
appear frequently to have seen Him and known Him.
In the early Christian records we have very vivid pic-
tures of such experiences. Nor have we any real rea-
son to suppose that this power in Jesus Christ to make
Himself known to men on earth in any way diminished
as time passed on earth. All down the centuries cer-
tain faithful souls have given witness to the same sort
of experience, and notably in the foreign mission-field
to-day it is possible to find innumerable humble workers
with whom awareness of their Lord's presence and in-
ward conversation with Him is a vivid and common
experience. We may, if we will, believe that the com-
munion Jesus held with His followers after His death
was telepathic, but that the strength of His spirit and
His love were such that He could give clearer and
stronger impressions of His presence than other spirits
can; or we may, if we please, believe that all spirits in
the next world clothe themselves in some ethereal form,
and that He had the power to make this form manifest
while faith was very weak; but the truth we must per-
ceive to be essential is that this power to make Himself
known and to re-create the flagging spirits of His
friends is associated with the unique moral and spiritual
achievement of His life; which suggests that the men
and women who come nearest to the moral and spir-
itual level of His life here will be those who have most
power in the beyond to touch and help the friends they
have left and all who in all times are working for the
reign of God.
The author of the Fourth Gospel reports His Mas-
ter as saying just before His death to His disciples:
"Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know . . .
I am the Way." This strongly suggests that the way
in which in the after-life He lived in ever closer fellow-
ship with His followers on earth has a bearing on the
problem of our own passing into the next life, on the
conditions in which we shall exist there, and upon what
sort of conduct here will enhance our future powers of
ix THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY 361
living in communion with our friends on earth. The
outstanding idea we seem to gather from our Lord's
example and teaching is that the better and nobler the
life here the more closely it will be associated with the
helping of humanity after death. The assumption of
Oriental speculation that the reverse is the case is
founded upon belief in the inherent evil of matter, and
the consequent belief that time and progress must free
the spirit more and more from association with it. But
Christian experience is like the sunshine of spring,
which glorifies all matter, causing it to break forth into
bloom and song; and it teaches that the higher and
stronger the flight of a human spirit into the heavens,
the more it is able to return upon the rays of divine
light and bless the earth.
In the practice of the Invocation of Saints Christian
consciousness has witnessed to the belief that they who
have attained some special degree of grace upon earth
are able in the after-life to hear the prayers of the
living and to give them wisdom and aid. Where we
think this doctrine has become artificial and uncon-
vincing is in the assumption that any earthly organisa-
tion has the insight to decide who are or are not the best
men and women, together with the assumption that
God is such that we need them as mediators of our
prayers to Him. We find that canonisation has often
been decided by a standard of values which we cannot,
in this age of the world, acknowledge. It is not that
many of these canonised saints have not lived most
nobly, but that we are sure that hundreds of men and
women, whose lives have made little appeal to the
admiration of the official Church, have lived as nobly
and in as close communion with God. If the power
to return and bless the earth, and cheer and elevate
children and children's children, is the reward of moral
achievement, these also must have won the power.
Just as all who live nobly on earth in manifesting their
truth and love to us manifest God, so any of these who
362 IMMORTALITY ix
have passed beyond the reach of our senses may touch
our souls and manifest God to us in other ways. We
all know Browning's verses entitled "Apparitions," in
which beauty is revealed to him in a flower, hope in a
star, and God in a human face. Such apparitions of
beauty on earth are of Heaven, and the beauty that
may come to us in the silent experience of the soul by
the touch of some noble discarnate spirit will be also
of God. Such unseen "apparitions" as are the mani-
festation of God in the medium through which He
chooses to appear bear no relation to those unhappy
"ghosts" that are supposed to haunt certain localities
or certain people, and as a fact engender only moods of
fear and curiosity. Our reasons for doubting whether
these bear evidence to the presence of discarnate spirits
have been already given.1
Let us now consider what fresh light on our problem
the doctrine of "the Communion of Saints" may yield.
In an essay in Concerning Prayer 2 I have endeav-
oured to show that because salvation for humanity
must be a social salvation, the communion of saints, or
the ties which bind together human society in the next
life "and in this, ought to be realised in our thoughts
and in our prayers. We must reflect that fellowship is
of the very essence of Christianity, and we cannot
perfectly realise fellowship with the living if we do not
regard friendship as something stronger than death,
something unimpaired by death. It is true of every
spiritual or social development that it takes its tone
and standard from the end in view, and if we look
forward to the truncating of any friendship by death,
or to its sudden vapouring off into something incon-
ceivable, its whole standard will be lower, much lower,
than if we realise the meaning of the communion of
souls in this life and the next. This will also be true
of our wider social friendships. How different would
be our service to the cause of "the poor," "the
1 Essay VII. p. 278. 2 Essay on "Prayer for the Dead."
ix THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY 363
drunkard," uthe prostitute," or "the party politician,"
if we realised the certainty of meeting each now un-
known person benefited or injured by our efforts, and
discussing our motives and methods with them in a fu-
ture life in which all concealment had become impossi-
ble, and in which their welfare and ours were plainly
interdependent. It is not left to us to choose whether
our salvation shall be social or not; we are born into a
bond far closer than that of earthly kindred — a tele-
pathic bond including every other human soul. Their
thoughts, their feelings, their acts of will, are woven
into the mental atmosphere in which we live, whether
we will or no. We inherit our very thoughts and
feelings from all past generations; the knowledge that
they have accumulated is the very breath of our minds;
and if man is immortal, as we believe, they all await us
in another world, where, if such evidence as we now
have of telepathy be any promise for the future,1 our
connection with them will be far closer than it is now,
so that our fate will be still more closely bound up
with theirs. It therefore not only behooves us to desire
to know more concerning the social nature of our sal-
vation both here and hereafter, but to pray for the wel-
fare of those who have passed into the unseen as we
pray for our own.
Along similar lines other of the tenets of Christian
theology might, if interrogated, help us to a clearer
knowledge of the after-life. They are rich in truths
that lie undeveloped, and the work of many minds is
needed for their development. In late centuries the
Church has been all too remiss. A contemporary
writer observes:
"The conception of immortality brought to light in
the Gospel . . . such a reinforcement, and enrichment,
and intensity of life beyond the grave as no language
can describe, no imagination picture forth . . . was the
'hope of glory/ begun in foretaste here. . . . Not
1 Cf. Essay III, p. no.
364 IMMORTALITY ix
mere continuance of such a life, even at its best, as we
now enjoy; but a full realisation of what comes to us
here only in inspired moments, in ecstatic foreshadow-
ings, in dreams and visions of the soul. . . . The Resur-
rection Life of Jesus was the morning-star of this glori-
ous day. This it was that set the seal on his promise
that where he was they should be also, and filled them
all with such confidence. ... It is strange, but true, that
the Christian Church has only realised at rare intervals
in its long history the splendour of this vision, and has
lived under its inspiration only by fits and starts." x
We must hope and pray that our modern theologians
may take heart of grace and help the questioning world.
Reinterpretation of Experience
Theology deals chiefly with the religious experience
of the past, and the interpretation that great thinkers
give to that experience; but we have also our own
present experience to interrogate.
Let us, then, candidly ask whether this life is really
in our experience as much cut off from the next as we
are apt to believe.
It is quite possible that we have made an entire
mistake in supposing that the souls of our dead friends
are cut off from us. When a soul develops the God
consciousness it finds God continually within and with-
out; communion with God becomes a constant and
familiar reality. It is not to be imagined that God
was not with such a soul before, as well as after, its
awakening. Just so, it is at least possible that our
souls may have communion with the discarnate souls
of those they have loved on earth, but may be unaware
of the fact, for we overlook many things in our lives
till we obtain some new light upon their nature and
importance.
I would like to illustrate what I mean by transcrib-
1 Faith and Immortality, by Dr. E. Gr'ffith-Jones, pp. 305-307-
ix THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY 365
ing what I believe to embody a true experience. It is
a colloquy between a widow and a modern vicar. The
latter, having lost his only daughter at the same time
as his son was killed in the war, had been plunged
into depression and had received great comfort from
visiting a medium through whose lips he believed he
had caught characteristic messages from his children.
In paying a visit he spoke of this in confidence to the
widow, saying at the same time how inadequate he had
found the ordinary consolations of religion.
"Well," said she, "when I was young I lost my hus-
band. I was mad with grief. He was all the world
to me, and I was a silly little thing without much re-
ligion and with almost no faith ; and I had the children
to bring up, and no one to help me. I just raged
against God for taking my James from me. So when
the parson came I raged at him for calling a God like
that good. All he said was, 'I don't know whether
your husband's death was God's will or not. It may
have happened because of the sinful condition of the
world; but of one thing I am quite sure, and that is
that it is God's will to be your Comforter.' '
"Yes," said the vicar, "we all say that, but comfort
sometimes comes through indirect channels, and I think
that in Spiritualism God may be guiding us to find
such a channel. Did you find the comfort of which he
spoke?"
"I will tell you what happened if you care to know,"
said the widow. "I didn't believe I should get comfort
his way. I was angry at heart, but I was honest. I
asked the parson how God could comfort me, and he
said that God could be to me all that my husband had
been, and more. I was so angry that I got in the way
of defying God in my heart. A dozen times a day,
when I wanted my husband, I would say to God, 'Now
and here, this is what I need, and you can't give it to
me.' Perhaps it would be advice I wanted; perhaps
I wanted to show my husband how bonny the children
366 IMMORTALITY ix
were ; perhaps I wanted to tell him of the clever things
they said; or perhaps I was tired and wanted a hand
to help. I thought this was a wicked habit of mine,
telling God that He couldn't meet my needs. But after
a while I came somehow to feel that God liked the
honesty of it. Sometimes I seemed to think quite sud-
denly and unexpectedly of the Lord Christ looking
at me with a twinkle in His eye" — she paused for a
few moments. "It was just wonderful how, some way
or other, after a few months the world was all full of
God for me. I was very young and foolish, and I am
none too wise now, but I have known a secret since
that time that I can't put into words. But what I
was going to tell you when I began was something else.
It was one day a year after my husband died, and I
went out with God into the garden to get some flowers
to put on his grave, and there, suddenly, I knew that
my husband himself was there with me in the garden-
just himself, only braver and stronger and more happy
than I had ever known him."
"Did you see anything?" asked the vicar.
"Oh no. I thank God I have always kept my five
wits about me. If the sort of form he had were the
kind my eyes could see, of course I should see him all
the time, and not occasionally standing about like a
silly ghost."
"Did you hear anything?" enquired the vicar.
"No, I didn't. How could I hear what I couldn't
see?"
"How did you know that he was there?" asked the
vicar.
"I don't know how I knew — but I knew; and times
and times since I have known; and if you want any
proof that what I tell you is true, I should say, Apply
the old test — look for the fruits ! Look at my chil-
dren. Do yoTTThink the foolish undisciplined girl
that I was could have trained and taught them as they
have been trained and taught? What I think is that
ix THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY 367
whatever comfort you got through your medium, I got
a better form of comfort, for I found God and my
husband too."
Afterwards, in speaking about it, the vicar remarked
that she was evidently an unusual woman, spiritually
minded, healthy and intelligent; but he added that
he also thought she had a lively imagination, and he
questioned the veridical nature of her experiences. As
for me, I question the veridical nature of his ; I do not
find his evidence at all convincing.
The Goal of Existence
We have seen that in our knocking at the door of
knowledge concerning the life after death we must seek
to enter into the past of Christian experience and its
interpretation, and that we must also seek to enter with
more intelligence and patience into the present experi-
ence of the inner life. Lastly, it is evident that what-
ever we may learn about the goal of our existence must
throw light upon our relations here and hereafter, and
the relation between the here and hereafter.
There are two distinct conceptions of the ultimate
future of man; the one seems to be founded upon the
ecstasy of mystic vision, the other upon the experience
of the excellence of fellowship or friendship. In the
one conception high Heaven is a rapture in which all
particulars are fused into the Infinite: in the other
the Heavenly state is social, emphasising personal
distinctions. Let us consider these two ideals in more
detail.
The irradiation of the inner vision when the soul first
becomes conscious of God is an experience in compari-
son with which all other aspects of life seem partial
and poor. When a man is not brought up in the God-
consciousness — which a child ought to share with its
mother from the dawn of life — the first hour of his
consciousness of God is often ecstatic. In it the power
368 IMMORTALITY ix
of thought fails ; hence all distinctions are blurred, and
the new experience of self-devotion or self-forgetful-
ness which the thought of God evokes is confused with
the loss of all outline, all character, all individuality,
in the sense of infinitude.1 This failure of the power
of thought in times of great emotion is a consequence
of our insufficiency. We are, as yet, too weak, too
undeveloped, to feel greatly and to think clearly at the
same time. One transcendent idea produces a state of
mental rest, necessary to our feebleness, since the
rhythm of our immature lives is as yet slow.2
But because this is our beginning in the apprehen-
sion of God, it is a mistake to suppose it to be the
goal. This mistake arises from our confusion of God
— whom we dimly perceive, and the clear apprehension
of whom is our goal — with the effect upon our weak-
ness of perceiving Him. God is the beauty from
which all beauty comes, the truth in which all truth
centres. He imparts the health, the mirth, the energy
of life, because these are His attributes. He is also the
personality in whose love our personal characters be-
come worthy. Thus, when we first become personally
aware of His beauty and delightfulness, thought fails;
nor are we conscious of volition, but only of being
attracted and of His attraction. But this incapacity of
ours to think clearly, to will strongly, while we feel
intense attraction, is not the supreme good. God is
the supreme good, not the failure of thought and will
in our undeveloped nature which is so often involved
in our glimpses of Him. Yet some mystics, in all
ages, have mistaken the failure of thought and will, in
contemplation, for the highest good, because they have
confused the perfection of that which is adorable
with the imperfection of the adoration. They have
sought to return again and again to the beginning,
mistaking it for the goal. They have sought, con-
!Cf. Essay II. p. 38.
aCf. Essay VIII. pp. 329-330.
ix THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY 369
sciously or unconsciously, to acquire a habit of this
fainting of reason and will before the vision of God.
They have sought to conceive of the abeyance of
thought and will as eternal. Strong natures who have
made this mistake have held other strong beliefs about
God which are not compatible with it. They did not
see the incompatibility, and by their conscious com-
munion with God their personalities became lusty, their
individuality clearly defined, their activities widespread
and beneficent. These were the great mystics, and
while they speak of the immortal life in phrases which
suggest absorption into God, they do not teach either
the future annihilation of the self or the intolerable
emptiness of an existence that approaches the Nirvana
of the Orientals. But to weaker natures the mistake
of believing contemplation which has no intellectual
content1 to be the goal of the religious life, is fatal;
and under the delusion we see men and women whose
wills become weaker, whose thoughts become more
and more shallow, whose virtues are largely negative,
and whose prayers seem ineffectual. Their lives, on
the whole — judged by any liberal standard of human
responsibility in face of the world's need — are less
worthy than the average life of men and women who
have declared that they have no consciousness of such
a God as this worship indicates, and no desire to par-
ticipate in the worship.
Again, the belief that we at our highest fall back into
God, as a planet might fall back into the sun and
become indistinguishable from the sun, is fostered by
our natural inability to reconcile the finite and infinite
or time and eternity. We cannot think of God as
personal and as infinite at the same time; we cannot
think of Him as the All, embracing both good and
evil, and at the same time think of Him as the Good.
Argument is useless here, because we are on the bed-
rock of things that underlie all argument. By sophisti-
*Cf. Essay VIII. pp. 331-33*.
370 IMMORTALITY ix
cation we may indeed argue any of our natural certain-
ties out of consciousness, but they come back to us when
we consult truth in simplicity and silence. Our hearts
tell us that God is personal; if we know Him we
know that He is our Friend: our reason tells us that
God is infinite : our own power to will tells us that
God, too, makes choice between good and evil — that
He chooses good and not evil. All these truths come
to us as the voice of God in the soul. Dispute them
for a time we may, but they return upon us in the first
uprush from the depth of that part of our mind lying
below consciousness. Argue as we will, sophisticate
ourselves as we will, degrade ourselves as we will,
yet in the first quiet hour when we listen to the voice
of truth in our souls we know that evil exists, and that
God is good and not evil. Now, because, in our im-
maturity, we cannot reconcile God's personality and
goodness with His infinitude, it is pure folly to think
that a return to homogeneity — the mere disappearance
of the particular, the individual, the personal — would
vindicate the divine infinitude and give us the unity we
desire. To bring the finite to an end is not to reconcile
it with the infinite, any more than setting a term to
time can reconcile it with eternity. For we, and all
things, exist in God's infinitude now; our individuality
battens within it; our personality grows strong because
of it; and we know, if we know anything, that while
the more we approach the good the more we please
God, at the same time the more men approach the
good the more nobly distinctive, the more beautifully
individual, do their characters become. To imagine,
then, that at the end of this life we shall cease to exist
as conscious beings, that our characters, our personali-
ties, will fall back into some boundless being, instead of
becoming more and more definite, more and more in-
dividual, is certainly not to exalt God ; for it is founded
on the belief, either that God is now belittled by our
present individuality, or that our present individuality
ix THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY 37 1
is a mere delusion. In the latter case God, whom
we find in the depths of our souls, is doubtless also
a delusion, for if the self is not real it is no respectable
witness on whose testimony we can accept God. Our
deepest mature conviction is that finite and infinite
interpenetrate, as time and eternity interpenetrate, and
our problems must be solved in the light of that con-
viction.
Yet our minds are so made that they must find unity.
The question we are discussing is, how may we realise
unity? The highest unity of which experience teaches
us is a society of highly developed personalities, clearly
defined characters, who are loyally united to one an-
other in love and in purposeful activity for some great
end. That was our Lord's conception of the kingdom
of God : that, at its highest, has always been the ideal
of Christians for the Church.
To suppose that in the ultimate heaven a higher
unity can be found by the extinction of individuality
and personality, venerable as the speculation is, seems
to imply the confusion of thought which we have just
been seeking to analyse. I have suggested that this
idea is engendered by the way in which our will and
reason seem to faint and fail in contemplation of God's
goodness or beauty, and is fostered by our partial or
abstract ways of thought which create the problem of
the finite and infinite. We know certainly that unless
in this life our nature quickly rights itself from the
failure of reason and will in adoration, we shall fail
to live nobly. Experience, too, teaches us that, as we
grow in understanding of and likeness to God, the
attitude of worship becomes more and more compatible
with clear thought and strong volition.
The better thing, then — in sight for us even now —
is an increased vitality, in which all the powers of our
nature can work together in perfect and restful har-
mony, so that we may be able, while we adore beauty,
to grasp the perfection of separate beauties; while we
372 IMMORTALITY ix
contemplate personality, to perceive the necessity for
distinct persons; while we worship truth, to be able to
rejoice in the recognition of separate truths. At perfect
rest in the harmony of life, we ought to be able to
choose with strong will between the better and the
worse — the will strengthened, not weakened, by our
consciousness of the infinite Good. As a matter of fact,
simple natures who in quiet ways move on instinctively
from strength to strength of love and activity and com-
mon sense, do attain to this harmony of powers "with-
out observation," and find no difficulty in the Christian
faith of personal immortality and an endless, conscious,
and ever ennobling fellowship with all men and friend-
ship with the God in whom now they live and move and
have their being.
But the opposing conception — that the energies of
the self must pass away in the ecstasy of the Divine
Vision — has had a far-reaching, and in my view bane-
ful, influence. Largely through it the Christian hope of
immortality has been emptied of content. It is not
Christian; it came into the Church from Oriental and
neo-Platonic sources. The greatest minds of the
Church have never proclaimed it; but it has been held
by certain sections of Christians all down the centuries,
and their words and experiences still influence many
minds both Christian and non-Christian. The idea
that it is noble to give up "individual desire," to become
"impersonal," to cease from wanting an individual im-
mortality, is quite common now, and was originally
due to the mystics who in the religious life set ecstasy
above the joy of friendship.
If, on the other hand, we accept the ideal of friend-
ship as the perfect unity we must realise that it implies
distinction of selves. Love is an attribute which only
exists in a person and in relation to other persons.
Love always desires that its object should become more
of a person — more individual, of stronger and more
defined character. That, indeed, is the meaning of the
ix THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY 373
parable of biological evolution. It is the progress
from what is all alike, all the same, all one, all absorbed
in an infinite sameness or principle of being, to what is
definite, the most distinctive form of individuality —
the person, compact of thought, feeling, and volition,
all dominated by and reflecting the personal outlook.
Can God love an amoeba? Yet a thousand times
sooner can Love greet the amoeba for the promise of
individuality it enfolds than feel attraction for the
homogeneity out of which it springs.
Here on earth the human soul begins by being sepa-
rated from all else, a self; and by degrees attains to
greater and greater differentiation. Can we believe
that in another life its progress will be by returning to
selflessness?
Again, we do not get co-operation, much less unity,
by selflessness here. The men whom we call nonenti-
ties, the women whose desires and wills have been sup-
pressed until impulse and volition have atrophied —
these do not long hang together in any enterprise. They
need to be driven like sheep, and then their movements
are never harmonious but merely similar. Loyalty to
the unity of any friendship, private or corporate, re-
quires strength and distinction of character.
We have, then, two rays of light illuminating the
highest paradise we can conceive. They are like
searchlights from the lanterns of earthly truth, and we
see their long, slender pencils traversing the unknown
heaven. The one affirms that if the ultimate unity is
the perfect friendship of all living selves with each
other and with God, each individual soul living for
this high destiny must become ever more clearly out-
lined in distinctive personal beauty. The other affirms
that if the progress of the soul is from selflessness to
clearer and clearer definition of personal distinction,
the ultimate unity of all in all must be the perfect
friendship. So they meet in the zenith.
INDEX OF SUBJECTS
Adoration, 148, 150, 152 f., 163, 328,
Animals, mental activity in, 60-63,
67
moral sense in, 83
survival of, 5 f., 83 f.
Annihilation, 73, 84, 87, 129, 171,
180, 186, 187, 192-195, 200, 204,
208, 212, 214 f., 216, 311
Apocalypse, the, 13, 92, 158, 191 f.,
194, 199
Apocalyptic literature. See Escha-
tology and Future Life
Arianism, 147
Athanasian Creed, 13, 145, 202
Automatic writing, 108, 247, 250,
257-259, 272
Bible, The, and Hell, Essay V. pas-
sim
authority of, viii, x, 147
inspiration of, 273 f., 276
Body—
and mind, Essay II. passim. See
Mind
and soul, x, 106-108, 114, 126
the material, 92-95, 103-110, 113
f., 115 f.
Resurrection of the, 89, 91-96, 97.
See also Resurrection
the spiritual, 70, 94, 96, 103-110,
113 f., 115 f., 120, 126, 164
Brahmanism 304, 306, 314, 317, 323,
337
Buddhism, 295, 3x7, 318, 323, 325 f.,
333
Christ and His contemporaries, 89-91
as Friend, 165
Crucifixion of, 114, 157, 240
Divinity of, 145-148, 149, 164-166
His love of nature and animals, 159
f.
His revelation of God, 85-87, 166,
213 f., 217, 277, 357 f. See also
Divinity of
humour of, 159 f.
375
Christ, Resurrection of. See Resur-
rection
Second Coming of, 119, 122
teaching on prayer, 331, 353, 355,
357 f.
teaching on Future Life and Resur-
rection. See sub verba
Christianity, false presentation of,
319, 34i
Christian Science, 50-52, 325
Church, the —
its teaching on Hell, 202-209
Mediaeval, 135, 205 f., 291
of England, 207-209, 224
primitive, 113, 115, 118, 202-205
Clairvoyance, 36, 266-269, 285, 323,
324
Consciousness, 63-67
Credulity, sin of, 279-284
Dead, burial of the, in, 348
communication with the, Essay
VII. passim
communion with, 285-287, 291 f.,
360-363, 364-367
interest of, in this earth, 109, 119,
157, 36o f., 364-367
prayers for the, 289, 292, 362 f.
Death-
apparitions at time of, 325
hour of, 110-112, 139
moral significance of, lia
not the end, 12 f., 88
premature, 88
repentance at, in, 112, 139, 216
revealing character, 126 f.
the "second," 192
the sting of, ix, 345-349
Demonology, 199, 281-284
Dream-consciousness, 36, 38, 259-166
323, 337
Emotionalism, 162 f.
Epiphenomenalism, 22
Eschatology, in the New Testament,
119, 173 f., 185-202
376
IMMORTALITY
Eschatology, Jewish, 117 £., 172, 173-
185, 193
later ecclesiastical, 113, 202-209
Eternity, 10, 153, 237
Time and, 143 f.
Evil, moral, 140, 236-238
problem of, 315
Faith-
confused with superstition, 13 f.
in future life. See Future Life,
belief in
nature of, 71
tainted with egotism, 4 f., 6-10.
Forgiveness, 140, 195, 216, 312 f., 317
Future Life, the —
activity of intellect in, 157 f.
a fuller life, 93, 95, 148, 149, 152,
158, 165, 223, 363
Apocalyptic conceptions of, 91-93,
113, 117-121, 122-124, 135, 158,
I7I-I73, 175, 176-183, 191-193,
199 f.
as home, 74, 230
as social, 126 f., 153 f., 155 f., 270,
300, 362 f., 367
beauty in, 158 f., 231, 239, 270
belief in, vii, xiii, xiv, Essay I.
Passim, 44, 71, 78 f., 85, 170,
286, 346-352, 373
causes of disbelief in, vii, f., 3-10,
"3, i3S
Christ's teaching on, 78 f., 90, 93,
107, 113, 122-125, 153 f., 173,
188-190, 195-198, 200 f.
Church's teaching on, 202-209, 35^ f.
desire after belief in, ix, 7, 8, 350-
352, 367
geocentric conception of, 136, 298
Greek philosophy and, 5, 78, 94,
184, 204
Hindu philosophy and, 78, 295, 298,
300, 304-307. See also Reincar-
nation and Karma
humour in, 159-161
inter-communication in 109 f. 127,
137 f-, 363
Jewish beliefs in, 91-93, 117 f.,
120. See also Eschatology
love in, no, 155 f., 225, 234, 235
f., 372 f.
need of new and definite concep-
tions of, vii-x, 134-136
primitive beliefs in, 13 f., 296 f.
progress in, 127-129, 138, I39-I43,
209, 211, 216 f., 226, 228, 232-
335, 299 f., 352
Future Life —
rewards and punishments in, 5, 8,
173 f. See also Hell and Punish-
ment
time and space in, 96-103, 136, 138,
143 f.
vision of God in, 164, 209, 211, 239,
352, 372
work in, 138, 156 f., 225
Gehenna, 175, 188, 195 t.
Ghosts, 13 f., 91, 278, 279, 286 f.,
362
Gnosticism, 95, 114
God-
as Absolute, 146
as Artist, 80, 81, 87
as Creator, 80, 87, 100 f. 156, 270
as Father, 80, 85, 147, 213, 228,
277
as immanent, 150, 274
as Infinite, 73, 79, 99, 164, 341,
367-371
as love, 8, 73, 87, 94, 100, 155,
170, 172, 182, 213 f., 216 f.,
227, 239, 270, 287, 341, 355
as omnipotent, 8 f., 339, 341, 354
as Parent, 80, 81, 87
as personal, 79 f., 150, 164 f.,
337-339, 368-371
Christian conception of, 80, 85-87,
94, 96, 145-148, 152, 164 f., 213
f., 217, 227 f., 276 f., 296, 336,
341, 372
communion with, 99, 197, 214, 285,
330, 364, 369
inadequate conceptions of, 6, 7, 86,
146 f., 151 f., 282, 330, 333
justice of, 8, in, 139
knowledge of, 149 f., 162, 166, 337,
339, 352, 355
presence of, 154, 162, 164
suffering of, 148, 317
vision of, 152, 158, 161-165, 209,
211, 239, 352, 367, 369, 372
wrath of, 9, 174, 186, 238 f. See
also Hell and Punishment
Hades, 91, 94, 118, 184
Heaven, a dream of, Essay VI. pas-
sim
and perfection, 119, 142-144
as quality of life, 137 f., 149
localized, 5, 14, 134, 136-139
pain in, 239 f.
symbols of, 134 f., 148, 153, 221-
226, 236
INDEX OF SUBJECTS
377
Heaven, traditional conceptions of,
134 *-, 136-139, 148, 152, 158,
224 f.
vision of God in, 164, 209, 211, 239,
352, 372. See also Future Life
Hell, doctrine of, 9, 135, 170, 171,
201, 202-217
existence of, 141
fear of, 9, 112, 215
fire of, 178, 180, 187, 188, 191 f.,
194, 195 f., 204 f.
rejection of belief in, 9 f., 170,
209, 212-217
Roman Catholic teaching on, in
The Bible and, Essay V. passim
traditional conceptions of, 9, 134 f.,
137 f., 236 f., 238, 307
Higher Criticism, viii, 147, 171
Holy Spirit, 194, 277, 3*3, 329, 35 1,
358 f.
Hypnotism, 21, 28-40, 249, 261 f.,
285, 322-328, 332
and suggestion, 32-35, 51, 249
dangers of, 39 f.
Immortality —
conditional, 83, 204, 217
personal. See Personality
proof of, 78-89, 145, 296. See also
Heaven and Resurrection
Incarnation, the doctrine of, 147, 154,
164. See also Christ, Divinity of
Individual. See Personality
Inspiration, verbal, 271-278
Intuition, 73, 79, 100, 328
Jahweh, 174, 333
Joy, in Heaven, 224 f., 237
of forgiveness, 312 £., 317
of God, 230
value of 141, 161, 314
Judgment, xiii, 210 f.
Day of, 89, 91 f., 117, 121-129,
1 80, 1 86, 1 88, 197 f., 207
in Fourth Gospel, 125
Particular, 121 n.
Justice, 15, in, 139, 213 f.
Divine, the, 8, in, 139
false conceptions of, 308, 312, 314-317
Karma, 295, 302-317, 321, 336, 34*
Kingdom of God —
Christian hope of, 119, 155, 166
Christ's teaching on, 153 f., 187 f.,
371
Jewish riew of, 91, 92, 117, MO,
186 f.
Life, as preparation, 88, 150
Eternal, 95, 136, 148-154, 162, 166
sacrifice of, 85, 87
struggle for, 9, 87, 221-223, 225,
227
theories of, 10 f., 86 f.
Magic, 275, 282-284
Matter —
as evil, 95, 361
nature of, 10, 70, 95, 103 f., 106,
1 08
Mediumistic experience, 37, 108, 245-
247, 248-253, 254-278, 324, 328
Metempsychosis, 296, 317
Mind—
and Brain, ix, Essay II. passim
and Disease, 26 f., 40-52, 325
and the emotions, 58-60
and Will, 63, 67-69
cosmic, the, 23, 61, 72
development of. 22, 56-70, 274
independence of body, 21, 24, 56,
70, 72, 246, 284 f.
interaction of body and, 22-56
survival of, x, 21-25, 70-74, 285
Mystic experience, 36, 99, 151, 163,
276, 328, 367-369
Myth, 221, 223 f.
Neurasthenia, 40-46
New Jerusalem, 13, 155
Nirvana, 95, 369
Occultism, 319-322
Paradise, 118, 221
Personality —
absorption of, in the Divine, 84 f.,
100, 102, 369, 370-373
extinction of. See Annihilation
growth of, 12, 72 f., 127-129, 138,
I39-I43. IS5 f.. 228, 231-235, 274,
373
survival of, viii, xiii, 73, 81, 84 f.,
87-89, 94 f., 100, 102, 117, 119,
145, 156, 225 f., 297, 372 f.
Theosophical conception of, 336 f.
value of, 8, 72, 79-81, 84, 214, 217,
337-341, 372-373
Prayer, 38, 289, 292, 328-331, 34L
352-356, 358, 362 f.
Book of Common, in, 348
Psychical, Research, x, 54 f., 244-247,
279, 283, 351
Society of, 54 f., 245-247, 256 f.,
259, 266-268, 271. 284, 287, 324 f.
378
IMMORTALITY
Psychotherapy, 21, 40-52, 325
and Christian Science, 50-52
Punishment, idea of, 9, 170, 213-215,
238, 275, 308-317
Punishment, Future, 8 f., 128, Essay
V. passim
as everlasting, 171 f., 179-183, 185,
188, 192-198, 200, 202, 209
in Church teaching, 202-209
in New Testament, 170-173, 179,
185-202, 203, 209-217
in Old Testament, 172, 173-175
in teaching of Christ, 173, 188-190,
192-201
Purgatory, 128, 134, 137-140, 216,
234, 236 f., 238
Roman Catholic teaching on, 139,
207, 216, 292, 307 f.
Reality, nature of, 10, 12, 87, 230 f.
Reincarnation, xiii, 295-302, 303-321,
336, 339
Repentance, 140, 312 f.
after death, 127-129, 141, 181, 183,
187, 202, 204, 216
deathbed, in, 112, 139, 216
Resurrection —
Apocalyptic expectations of, 91-93,
113, 117-121, 122-124, 175
Christ's teaching on, 93, 95, 107,
116, 118, 122 f.
development of idea of, 91-96
general, 117, 121
interval between death and, 117-
121, 125
in Old Testament, 14, 91, 175
New Testament teaching on, 92-95,
104-106, 113-121, 186
of Christ, 5, 114-116, 118, 359 f., 364
of the Dead, Essay III. passim,
357, 359
physical, 5, 14, 89, 91-96, 115, "7
St. Paul on, 93, 95, 104-106, 113,
114-116, 119, 186, 345, 348
Rigveda, 304
Sadducees, 92, 94, 118, 177
Saints, canonisation of, 151, 152, 361
Communion of The, 155, 291 f.,
359, 362
conventional, 235
Saints, Invocation of, 359, 361
Shell-shock, 39, 46-50
Sheol, 91, 92, 94, 118, 119, 173
Soul, and body, 72, 106-108, 114, 126
destiny of, 73, 139, 211 f., 285,
297
of animals, 5 f., 83 f.
of species, 82
pre-existence of. See Reincarna-
tion
World-, 73
Spiritualism, viii, xiii, 53-55. Essay
VII. passim, 324 f., 365
as a religion, 245, 291
gains of, 284-292
objections to, 253-278
Suffering and sin, 213 f., 307-317,
34i
of God, 148
penal, 139. See Punishment
profitless, 128 f., 139, 170, 213
redemptive, 129, 140 f., 214, 309
f.
Suggestion, auto-, 35-40, 318, 327
mental, 40, 42-44, 47, Si f.
under hypnosis, 32-35, 51, 249
Superstition, 13, in, 244, 246, 281-
284, 287, 291 f.
Table-turning, 289-291, 292
Telepathy, 21, 53*56, no, 246, 247-
253, 254-257, 272 f., 278, 280,
285, 287 f., 292, 323, 324 f., 363
Theology, need of a living, ix, 352,
356-364
Theosophy, xiii, Essay VIII. passim
Trance-practise, 35-40, 249 f., 261 f.,
322-333
and devotion, 328-331
Universalism, 171, 201, 202, 207, 208
Upanishads, 295, 306
Valhalla, 221
Values, absolute, 4-6, 87, 94, 96, 151,
162, 235 f.
Christ's scheme of, 82, 149, 162
conservation of, 81, 96, 107
Witchcraft, 282-284
Worship, 163 f., 223 f., 328-331, 371
Zoroastrianism, 78, 183-185
INDEX OF NAMES
Apelles, 165
Aquinas, St. Thomas, loo, 158, 282,
357
Aristotle* 275
Armstrong-Jones, Sir R., 54
Arnold, Matthew, 217
Athanasius, St., 146 f.
Augustine, St., 158, 197, 205, 217,
275
Backman, Dr. A., 268
Balfour, Mr. Gerald, 266 f.
Barnes, Dr., 281-284
Barrett, Sir William, On the
Threshold of the Unseen, 270
Besant, Mrs., 320-322, 332, 333 f.,
336
Bigg, Christian Platonists of Alex-
andria, 202, 204
Bonaventura, St., 100, 151
Bousset, Kyrios Christos, 202
Braid, 32
Browning, Apparitions, 362
Saul, 277
Bryce, Holy Roman Empire, 206
Butcher, Prof. S. H., 266
Calvin, 282
Campion, 221
Celano, 151
Charles, Dr., 201, Between the Old
and New Testaments, 176, 217
Concerning Prayer, Si, 122, 129,
341, 362
Correggio, 159
Cudworth, Intellectual System of the
Universe, 335
Cuthbert, Father, 151
Dante, 184, 202, 206, 221
Darwin, Expression of the Emotions,
59
Davids, Mrs. Rhys, Buddhism, 326
Edwards, Jonathan, 213
Essays and Reviews, 207
Farquhar, Dr. J. N., The Crown of
Hinduism, 306 f., 332
Farnell, Dr., 184
Farrar, Eternal Hope, 207, 208, 213
Fosdick, The Manhood of the Mas-
ter, 276 f.
Fra Angelico, 224
Francis, St., of Assisi, 6, 151
Freud, 43
Gibson, Dr., The Thirty-nine Articles,
202
Gladstone, Juventus Mundi, 335
Glover, T. R., The Jesus of History,
J59
Gore, Dr., The Religion of the
Church, 202, 208 f., 214
Guthrie, Dr. Leonard, 54
Halifax, Lord, 283 f.
Hamilton, Sir William, 279
Har Dayal, Prof., 332
Harnack, Sayings of Jesus, 195
Harrison, Miss, Prolegomena to Greek
Religion, 184
Hegel, 350
Hill, Mr. J. A., 251-253
Hobbes, 207
Hoffding, 8 1
Homer, 14
Hiigel, Fr. von, The Mystical Ele-
ment in Religion, 139
Huxley, 22, 41
Ibsen, Peer Gynt, 72
Ignatius, St., 202
Jacks, Dr. L. P., Mad Shepherds,
332
James, Henry, 225 f., 228
James, William, Psychology, 58-60
Jastrow, Religious Belief in Babylo-
nia and Assyria, 175
Job, 4, 173 f., 306
Jones, Dr. Griffith-, 364
Jones, Dr. Rufus, 276
Judge, William Q., An Epitome of
Theosophy, 319 *.
Jung, 43
379
380
IMMORTALITY
Kant, 98, 100 f.
Kennett, Prof., 340
Lecky, History of Rationalism in
Europe, 282, 283
Leonard, Mrs. 263, 269
Liddon, 191
Locke, 207
Lodge, Sir Oliver, 277
Raymond, 253, 257, 262-265, 268 f.,
272 f., 283, 290 f.
Longfellow, Resignation, 348
Luther, 282
Macaulay, ix.
McDougall, Dr. W., 25, 34, 68
McTaggart, Dr., Human Immortality
and Pre-existence, 295 f.
Studies in Hegelian Cosmology, 350
Maurice, F. D., 208
Mill, J. S., 207
Milton, 224, 236
Moffatt, Dr. J., New Translation of
N. T., 357, 358
Moore, G., The Brook Kerith, 198
Morris, William, 222
Moulton, Early Zoroastrianism, 184
Myers, Frederick, 55
Human Personality, 268
Nietzsche, 5
Origen, 197, 202, 205, 211, 217
Oxford Studies in the Synoptic Prob-
lem, 123, 124, 195
Paul, St., ix, 14, 66, 89, 93-95, 104-
106, 108, no, 113, 114-116, 119,
I47> 155. i57» 162, 182, 186, 201,
331, 345, 348
Philo, 335
Piper, Mrs., 55, 255 f.
Plato, 5, 78, 184, 204, 221, 295
Plotinus, 151
Podmore, F., 56
Poussin, Prof, de la Valise, Way of
Nirvana, 297, 304-306, 323 f.
Praxiteles, 159
Pusey, 202, 204, 208, 210, «6
Rashdall, Dr. H., Conscience and
Christ, 200
Rembrandt, 159
Rodin, 159
Roosevelt, 232
Rossetti, D. G., The House of Life,
iii
Schafer, Prof., 62
Shakespeare, 22, no, 232, 346 f.
Sidgwick, Mrs., 55, 255 f., 268
Smith, John, 213
Socrates, 275
Spenser, Faerie Queene, in
Spinoza, 207
Steele, The Tatler, 347
Suarez, 139, 307
Swete, The Gospel according to St.
Mark, 196
Tennyson, 275
In Memorium, 348, 350
To Rev. F. D. Maurice, 208
Tertullian, 204
Tyrrell, George, Autobiography of,
215
Verrall, Dr. A. W., 266-268
Verrall, Mrs., 267 f.
Ward, Dr. J., Pluralism and Theism,
299
Watson, William, The Great Misgiv-
ing, ix.
Webb, Mr. C. C. J., The Notion of
Revelation, 334-336
Wells, H. G., God the Invisible
King, 84 f., 338 f.
Wilkinson, Mr. A., 251-253
Willett, Mrs., 266-268
Wordsworth, Ecclesiastical Sonnets,
vii
Ode to Immortality, 350
Tinier n Abbey, 23
Workman, H. B., Christian Thought
to the Reformation, 205
Zoroaster, 78, 184
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