CHAPTER V

LOSING THE SENSE OF IMMORTALITY

A general statement

The "what" and "where" of God is still incomplete so long as we confine our thought to the mere fragment of time measured by this earth life. Though we have found the unity of all parts in the Christ life, yet that unity is and can be but imperfectly realized by society on earth. A longer time and a wider sphere must be considered if we are really to know what God and man is. Therefore, God, man, and the universe must be viewed in the light of endless time.

If in certain respects this generation is conspicuous for its lack of faith, in other respects it is notable for its abundance of faith. The new knowledge acquired along many lines instead of destroying our belief in immortality is going to enrich it immeasurably when we have thoroughly digested the facts. In the meantime some minds are bound to be disquieted.

It is most fortunate that the majority of people seem able to accept the fact of a future life as something altogether natural and inevitable. Those who are not able to do so, however, appear to be increasing in number. Yet we may rest assured that whatever will save the faith of the doubting ones will enrich the faith of those who find it easy to believe. And if those who doubt are not as numerous as sometimes appears, so much the better. Whatever the real situation may be, it is our privilege and duty to deepen and enrich our faith to the extent of our ability. That so many express doubts on the subject of immortality is something to be deplored and, if possible, remedied.

An old man, highly esteemed, despondingly said to me after the funeral of his friend:

"We hope there is something beyond, but we do not know."

In response to my word of assurance, he grew even more pensive and added, "No one has ever returned."

To say the least this life-long member of the Church saw nothing in future prospects to cheer his declining years. As I gave his feeble hand a warm clasp, I painfully realized that the light was fading from his soul as well as from his eyes.

On my first visit after the funeral of a senior deacon, his widow plaintively repeated the words of the old man:

"We hope there is something beyond, but we do not know."

My prompt response was immediately checked by a languid wave of the hand, and an emphatic, "_No one_ can know."

This uncertain state of mind is in striking contrast with that of the saints and martyrs; it cannot say, "To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."

Some highly honorable people tell me that they have no desire to live again, and express wonder that anyone has such a desire. The good influence we may leave behind us, they think, is immortality enough.

A general loss of faith in immortality, I am confident, would work irreparable harm to society. It would completely destroy religion. The Church, therefore, should do its utmost to keep alive a rational and heartfelt assurance of immortality. This, I am sure, can be done without, in any way, stultifying the intellect. In fact, the intellect must be made our ally if we are to succeed.

At this point the remark of a woman ninety years old is very significant and reassuring. After reading a popular book of the day on immortality, she said:

"I did not like it. I do not want anyone to try to prove immortality by science, because he cannot do it. I grasp the reality of a future life with my whole being."

_Why are so many people losing their assurance of immortality?_

1. The contagion of doubt

There is a contagion of doubt as well as a contagion of faith. With facts still favorable to a victory, an army may lose morale. When the general and all his officers keep hopeful, their confidence works its way down to the enlisted men. If the hopeful word is on many lips the morale is saved, and the whole army is confident of victory. Witnessing to any belief has a tremendous psychic influence for good or evil. The facts concerning any great subject are never deeply analyzed by the masses; yet the people possess a rare power for sensing the spirit of their times.

In the fight for Eternal Life the morale of the Church is too low. The confidence at the top is not always as rugged and commanding as it might be. Too many college men are confused in a jumble of ideas, and some of them, unfortunately, give their testimony on the side of doubt.

No one should give an insincere testimony for the sake of helping out a weak cause. Yet many college men are greatly remiss in not giving more careful consideration to a theme that vitally affects all human interests.

At all events, the masses hear many expressions of doubt, and are not slow to pass them on. A large number of people who stand aloof from the Churches hear a dozen denials to one affirmation of belief in immortality. Many radical socialists carry on a determined propaganda against belief in immortality for political and economic reasons. They say to the restless crowds:

"The Church is fooling you with the hope that the wrongs of this life will be righted in another; but there is no other. If ever you get your share of good things you must get it soon, for your life is short. Therefore, down with the Church and king capital!"

I am not fearful for the grounds on which the assurance of this great Christian belief rests, but I am disturbed over the prevalent ignorance and indifference manifested.

2. The inability to make a religious use of modern knowledge

The Christian view of life in its relation to the whole body of modern information has not been adequately given to the people. And they are seriously affected in consequence of this neglect. That irreligion does not tend toward assurance of immortality I regard as an incontrovertible position. Yet to say that all doubt is due to a lack of Christian devotion is not true. Many good Christians are confused, and seek help to regain the comforting belief that death does not end all. All clearly ascertained truth about the universe should prove a help to faith, but until people know what to do with so many new facts, they prove a decided hindrance.

Take for example just one popular subject of the day, physiological psychology: When taught by men who have never grasped the Christian philosophy of life, it affords the shortest possible road to atheism and the denial of the human soul. This modern branch of learning, though the finest of servants, is the meanest of masters. It has slain its thousands. Physiological psychology has its own field of investigation, but it is never safe when it parts company with sound philosophy.

3. The loss of a satisfying conception of the future life

In sharp contrast with former times, this generation has no satisfying conception of the future life. And naturally an indefinite and hazy future makes but slight appeal. Many instinctively turn from such a future to save their peace of mind. They prefer something that is definite and interesting. It is a matter of common experience that the heart will not glow if there is no picture on the canvas. Unless we can so adjust the lens of our minds as to project something more than confused colors, we shall never bring back the former interest in a future life. Unfortunately, there has not been much striving on the part of the Church to construct a future that will harmonize with the newly discovered constitution of the universe. And without this end in view all striving would be in vain; nothing will avail that does not relate the future to the divine framework of God's present Universe.

The common conception of heaven has been of something quite apart from the existing world as we know it. Among all with whom I have conversed, I have not found one who expects to have a physical body in the future life. They have erroneously interpreted a "spiritual body" to mean a spirit body. This crude idea of a spirit body is a fair sample of a hundred other fancies and misconceptions.

When the commonly accepted idea of heaven became as distasteful to the minister as it was to many of his congregation, he stopped preaching about it. The laity may no longer be seen enjoying a rapturous contemplation of future bliss. Instead, they accuse persons so inclined of other-worldliness, and point out to them that they are not as good as they might be here and now. So, for one reason or another we seldom give more than a furtive glance at that which lies beyond the grave. In proportion as the vision has gone from the mind, the sense has faded from the soul. The old picture of heaven has become altogether inadequate, and no other has been put in its place. Considering the sudden transition through which the world has been passing, possibly this stage of affairs was inevitable.

4. The growing habit of classifying the future with things unknown and unknowable

At last there has arisen in the Church a considerable class that strives to discourage any effort to inquire into the future life. "One world at a time" is their motto. The future is classed among things unknown and unknowable. This type of mind is trying to arouse interest in the present by drawing attention from the future.

Said a woman professor to a student:

"If ministers would talk less of things about which they can know nothing and do more to help those about them, they would show more sense and accomplish a great deal more good."

I think I know some ministers who might do more for their environments, but I happen to know of none who talk much about the future. This teacher so enthusiastic over a fragment of the truth has never suspected how meager and one-sided her education is. She has not grasped the thought of our age which recognizes, above everything else, the unity and solidarity of things. So she protests against any _rounded-out_ conception of life. It is not strange, therefore, that immortality is to her a disagreeable theme that she would like to see tabooed.

A professional man once said to me:

"When you came on the train the other day our mutual friend, Mr. A. said, 'There is the Parson,' and then nudging me remarked, 'Say, he knows no more about the other world than we do, does he?'"

"So that is what you were talking about," I replied. "Well, I am surprised. I thought you were modern men, and knew that there is no other world. Science, philosophy, religion, and common sense, teach us that there is but one world, a uni-verse. We now live in all the world there is. But since we have not penetrated it very deeply, if your friend had remarked that the minister was no more developed than you, or that he had gone no deeper into the meaning of the universe than you, he would at least have been on debatable ground. When, however, two men of your opportunities could sit there and talk about another world, I am ashamed of you. The universe is as much one as my watch is one. Every particle of it enfolds us continually and never ceases to pour its energies through us. Every part of the universe is beating upon us to waken us, if possible, to its meaning. If I live for an eternity, I shall be in the same world as now, and what I truthfully know about it now will still be true after my body has decayed. God's one-world is the only world."

No wonder that people become confused and mixed up with their plural worlds, and broken fragments of worlds.

5. An inadequate conception of the Kingdom of God

More than a generation ago it came to us like a new discovery that while Jesus rarely spoke of heaven, the expression, "Kingdom of Heaven," was continually on His lips. This discovery turned the whole tide. And since then, "The Kingdom of God on Earth" has been the theme of the Church.

While heartily agreeing with this discovery, and sympathizing with the new aim, I still seriously doubt whether we have seen the kingdom of heaven in any such full-orbed sense as Jesus intended we should. Too often we unwittingly preach a kingdom of _earth_ on earth; we leave something out. That which Jesus preached was somehow more religious. Surely it is an inadequate kingdom of God when it, as so often happens, degenerates into a _mere_ scientific cooking-school, or a _mere_ scientific system of sanitation, or a _mere_ several other things lacking in God motive and God consciousness. The Kingdom of God is more than a program of social service; it is a God-filled and God-ruled society. A genuine Kingdom of God on earth will be pervaded by a heavenly atmosphere. Even a social religion may become so unsocial as to eliminate the Head of society; it may consign Him to the oblivion of forgetfulness.

No woman, whose duty it is to be a cook, can be a perfect Christian while she is careless about the preparation of food for her family. Yet one may be a scientific cook without being a Christian. It requires more than beautiful, material conditions to make the kingdom of God on earth.

I know families with beautiful mahogany dining rooms and all that goes with them, whose good food is so well cooked that it almost melts in their mouths, and yet they give God no thanks. Indeed, there are those thus situated who think nothing about God.

This is not meant to imply that the conditions of poverty and ignorance are any more favorable to a Christian life.

Coming one day from a poor family's home across the street, my little son said:

"Papa, does Mr. R. love the Lord?" When I told him that I did not know, "Well," he replied, "I don't believe he does, because he sat down at the table to-day with his coat off and never thanked the Lord for his food. He just looked around and said, 'Pass the taters,' and that is all he said."

From what I knew of this poor man, he was probably neither more nor less a pagan than the man with a mahogany dining room. The doctrine of the kingdom of God on earth, with but little consciousness of God, is surely increasing among rich and poor, both in the Church and out of the Church. And as personal acquaintance with God goes, the assurance of immortality invariably fades.

Many women, of varying degrees of intelligence and social standing, are doing commendable social work for the love of humanity with but dim consciousness of God. It has come to pass that fine women may whisk about in silks and limousines visiting day-nurseries and the like without bending the knee to the Father or remembering that the babies are God's little ones. Yet no right-minded person wishes to diminish the social service of this day by whomsoever rendered. On the contrary, he feels that the Church which overlooks the poor babies should have a millstone hanged about its neck and be cast into the sea. Nevertheless, a kingdom without the consciousness of God in the hearts of its subjects will never succeed in saving the assurance of immortality. The old religion could not succeed without a bottom, and the new religion will not succeed without a top. This topless kingdom, spreading far beyond the Church, is making many feel that they are better off without the Church. Some of these are sincere and substantial men and women, while others of them are extremely superficial.

Many of the latter class will tell you with real self-appreciation that they look after poor stray kitties, and feed the birdies in cold weather, and in fact befriend all the animals. Really, they are too busy with good works among animals and needy people to go to church and, as one of them told me, they are not among the narrow-minded people anyway "Who believe in hell."

This generation needs to learn the necessity, and the sane psychology, of Christian experience. To put it plainly, it should be converted to God. With God in our thoughts and affections we can hardly be too careful about the material side of His kingdom; for the religion of Jesus means the spiritualizing of the material, all the way from our bodies to the end of the material forces that are at our command. Though ever so many cups of cold water be given, if they are not given in His name or with a consciousness of His share in the gift, the kindly deed will not impart to us Christ's assurance of life eternal.

6. We automatically lose the assurance of the future when we lose the reality of the present

Because he _has_ nothing in his ice-bound world, the Eskimo hopes for nothing. There is nothing within his present grasp that suggests great things to come. Whereas, the civilized man hopes for a glorious future not yet attained because he sees that the present warrants such a hope. No one can reasonably hope for that which the present does not justify. Only let him be sure that he knows the present. Men who miscalculate the future usually do so because they fail to apprehend the present facts. We cannot judge what the fruit will be unless we know the particular variety of tree. The future history of the universe depends upon whether there is a God _now_. Either there is or there is not a God. If there is, the one not knowing Him has a very superficial knowledge of the world that now is. A God-projected and a God-filled world will have a very different future from a world of mindless ether and mindless electrons. The discovery of electricity and some knowledge of its behavior were necessary before men could dream of electric cars and electric lights. When electricity and some of the laws were known, however, the dream was unavoidable, and like many another rational prediction it has come true. When the thought of God fades, Christian hope dies. If one is only _agnostic_ with reference to the existence of God, he is simply agnostic on the subject of immortality. In exact proportion as we lose connection with the deeper realities of the present, we forfeit insight into the future. As one who is entirely ignorant of chemistry has no criteria by which to judge the future of chemistry, so the one having no personal consciousness of God, nor clear vision of the deeper meanings of life, has no data for a rational prediction of the future. Paul said that the rulers of his day did not know spiritual things, or they "Would not have crucified the Lord of glory." Not knowing God, naturally they did not recognize His purpose when they met it in the character and teachings of Jesus; so they ignorantly put Jesus to death. Things which their eyes saw not and their ears heard not, were recognized by those who knew God. "For who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God. But we received the spirit which is from God; that we might know."

Our expectations for the future always rise spontaneously out of our vision of the present. Whether it will rain within the next forty-eight hours I can but imperfectly predict because I recognize but a few vague weather conditions. The weather bureau, however, with many more present facts at its command may predict with far greater certainty.

The man who knows nothing but a material universe cannot believe in immortality. Any effort to convince him is but a waste of breath. If he is right in thinking that the universe has no soul, then he is right in believing that there is no future life.

The Soul--granting that it has a Soul--is the best part of the universe. To have lost God, therefore, is to have lost the best part of reality. And the loss does not end here, for, in the best sense, we have lost the world also. Though its chemistry and physics remain the same, its higher meaning and finer uses no longer exist, for us, when God is eliminated. To comprehend the universe we must know it philosophically, poetically, and religiously, as well as scientifically. Some unwisely think that to know it scientifically and poetically is enough. If the forces of nature are energies proceeding from an Infinite Mind, and if we might so use these forces as to express His wisdom and love in all human relations, then the universe is fundamentally different from the atheist's world. The one who does not recognize an infinite Mind of love and righteousness, must prostitute the world to uses lower than the highest. And as soon as he does this he has not only lost the Soul of the universe, but in the very finest sense he has lost the body of the universe as well. On such a poor foundation, his common sense saves him from the folly of trying to build a temple that pierces the skies. He may still remain a gentleman, and have a most kindly and unselfish disposition within certain limits, but at a thousand points he will find his will at right angles with the one who lives in a different world,--in a world that warrants the long look. I have experienced the world from both points of view. And though my common conduct did not vary greatly, yet when I was deeply conscious of God, and saw the universe all vibrant with His thought and love, my life in its inner meaning and quality was different from center to circumference.

Here, then, is the crux of the whole matter. In so far as we have lost the assurance of a future life, it is because we have lost so much of the present that what remains of it is not sufficient to arouse a lively anticipation of immortality. True, our sense of reality is oppressively intense in the physical realm; we clutch, with death-like grip, that from which the Soul has escaped. But the husk will not support spiritual life nor give assurance of the life to come.