full and appreciable efFect in after life. In our Father's
House, the continuation of the present will be upon a higher
level and shall extend through the ages to come, thus contin-
uing the eternal ascent of life in the Mount of God. Lives
cut of? in their prime, carefully trained and richly endowed
THE HORIZON OF THE FUTURE 193
lives, will find themselves and their fulfillment in the gra-
cious economy and expansion of God's perfected kingdom.
Such is the Apostle's outlook and expectation w^hen he says
**We are come to Mount Zion with its hosts of Angels and
Spirits of just men made perfect, the divine servants of the
New Jerusalem." Hence Paul exhorts the Church of Christ
"Be ye steadfast — for your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
The spiritual body with its divine possibilities is the guaran-
tee of continuity and infinite progress ; it is divinely ordained
to know and enjoy the glory and fullness of the kingdom of
God.
The wise Bishop Brooks is full of the personality, contin-
uity and progress in spiritual life. He says "Let us be sure
that our expectations regarding Heaven are Scriptural and
true. Heaven will not be pure stagnation, not idleness, not
any mere luxurious dreaming over the spiritual repose which
has been safely and forever won; but active tireless, earnest
work; fresh live enthusiasm for the high labors, which etern-
ity will offer. These vivid inspirations will play through our
deep repose and make it more mighty in the service of God,
than any feverish and unsatisfied toil of earth has ever been.
The sea of glass will be mingled with fire. Here too we
have the type and standard of that heavenliness of character
which ought to be ripening in all of us, as we are getting
ready for the spiritual life."
Dr. Munger speaking on Christ's treatment of death says,
"Christ is the life; he stands in humanity for that eternal
reality and he came that men might know and realize it.
If they believe in him they shall have life and shall never die.
In the common and existing sense of death, Christ did not
die. He refused to countenance such an idea as death. In
another sense Christ did die. He suffered this housing of
194 THE SPIRITUAL BODY
the soul to be torn away but he will not call it death. It
does not touch life; that flows on, an unbroken current and
rises into greater fullness. And so Christ says that those who
believe in him and die in the material sense, do not really
die; though dead they live. The life of faith in Christ is a
wholesome, life-giving, life-nurturing process. It fosters
growth and increase; it strengthens and enlarges, it always
keeps in view a broader, fuller, deeper life and thus repudi-
ates the idea of death. It is a fact of unspeakable moment
that the whole matter of Christian believing and living is
summed up in life. And so life is the single theme of Christ-
life and its fullness. God gives his children one perfect all
comprehending gift — LIFE. It is his own image, his very
substance, shared with his creatures."
In this wholesome view we may accept death as a step
onward in life and not a going out of life. Here is where
the comfort of Christ's revelation centers; it does not leave
death a plunge into darkness and despair, a ghostly realm of
gloomy waiting existence in the grave but a matter of life
from first to last; life expansive and inspiring, full of prom-
ise and hope and joy, the answer of God to all our powers,
for all eternity.
And so what we call death is the full assumption of a
spiritual body; the rising up of the soul in spiritual power
to begin a higher career, disburdened of the flesh. The res-
urrection at death is not the whole of the resurrection; the
onward progress of the soul alone will reveal what Jesus
taught concerning the resurrection life. It will need eternal
ages to expound it for it is the unfolding the life of God to
the soul. If joined with Christ and his life, death shall have
no more dominion over us and every change of eternity will
be unto more abundant life.
THE HORIZON OF THE FUTURE 195
Studying the mysteries of the future we may confidently
expect to realize our real selfhood in the perfected spiritual
body fashioned like unto Christ. The physical body has no
correspondence with and hence no place in the eternal spirit-
ual universe of God and hence no wise reason can be as-
signed for the reanimation or resuscitation of the physical
body. The conception is Heathenish and belongs to the dark
ages. The spiritual body is endowed with the power of an
endless life and divinely designed for an eternal spiritual ex-
istence. It can adapt itself, if need be to the conditions of
this earthly life or it may exhibit the fullness of the soul's ex-
pansion in the future life as God wills. It was the organ of
Christ before the worlds were created ; it was the organ with
which he revealed his divinity while creating the worlds and
afterwards manifested in the flesh by his wonderful works and
it will be the organ of his further revelation in the coming
world, where new disclosures of power will demand new
tongues to describe. It will also be the wonderful organ
through which his chosen people will reveal their new pow-
ers, when they shall be like him in the new life.
Possessed of a spiritual body every power will find full
play during ages of unwearied and unwasting action. Noth-
ing can be more welcome than this to contemplate by the soul
which has been faithful to life's opportunities and sought
conformity to the divine life seen in the Master. It is only
the unfaithful soul which can desire a future of ignoble ease
without growth and expansion. The spiritual body is Mas-
ter of all worlds and hence the Angels have always been rep-
resented as perfectly at home amidst the scenes of this life.
So the spiritual bodies of Moses and Elias seemed to com-
mand the powers of this world when they conversed with
Jesus on the Mount. It matters not where the spiritual
196 THE SPIRITUAL BODY
body may be doing God's will ; Peter tells us that Jesus went
and preached unto the spirits in prison and evidently received
no harm through his divine mission. The spiritual body is
in full sympathy with the work and purposes of God in all
worlds and for all eternity. God has his mysteries of Grace
and eternity alone will make it all plain.
The Universe is a unity to the spiritual mind and feels that
the work done for the kingdom of Christ will soon be trans-
ferred to the coming kingdom of glory. Therefore we hope
that the old life of sundered love will again be united and
continued forever. How soothingly the precious words of
Jesus fall upon the wounded heart when the objects of our
affection are torn away; "In my Father's House are many
mansions, if it were not so I would have told you, I go to
prepare a place for you. And if I go away I will return
again and receive you unto myself that where I am ye may
be also." It is like the promise of a tender Mother to a
loved child saying "I must go away but I will soon return,
so wait patiently, not fearing the separation." Then how con-
fidently may we wait hoping soon to see again the old famil-
iar faces and hear again the fond sweet words of love.
Neither your expectation, your labor, nor your love are in
vain in the Lord.
And is it too much to expect a fuller, closer and more real-
izing sense of the presence of God when the curtain of time
shall be lifted? Is there not before us an infinite march of
progress and manifold lessons to learn from the thoughts of
God, which even the angels desire to look into? As we con-
sult the mind of Jesus in dealing with the problems of hu-
man destiny, we perceive that he contemplated the future un-
der new and wonderful forms which now appear beyond the
scope of human powers. During the early centuries of Chris-
THE HORIZON OF THE FUTURE 197
tianity the Monkish Ideas of the future life prevailed and
the highest ideal of piety was the cloistered, contemplative
monk, withdrawing from the highways of life and activity and
living as if God had made a mistake in creating a world which
demands constant, earnest action, as the true expression of a
divine life. It was substituting the dull recluse for the ac-
tive energetic man. Various kinds of religion have been con-
ceived to escape the significance of the full rounded active
life of Jesus but always to the detriment of consistent piety;
and mankind in all ages have found it far easier to sing songs
of salvation and dream dreams of Heaven, than to fight the
good fight of faith and win a crown of righteousness.
If we are to believe the words of the Master the future
will be but a continuation of the present upon a higher level,
with liberated powers. He declares that the expected king-
dom will be full of Fatherhood, Friends, Home and congen-
ial activities, as we pass from mansion to mansion guarded
and guided by angelic keepers in the paths of wisdom and
expansion, beyond the powers of imagination to conceive.
How it inspires us to contemplate the soul's ascent up the
Mount of God and from that Heavenly outlook to view the
horizon of eternity. This will doubtless aid us to under-
stand the meaning of the "Power of an endless life" as ex-
pressed by the inspired Apostle. Then shall we realize some-
thing of the fullness of the kingdom of God. That kingdom
is no mere system of government but the soul's perception of
its personal relation to the eternal Father and eternal life.
When the souls of men shall be filled with love and divine
harmony, the City of God will be established and the New
Heavens and New Earth will unfold in glorious majesty.
For this unspeakable vision every true and faithful soul may
confidently wait and the waiting and working will end in
198 THE SPIRITUAL BODY
the rest of the people of God.
As we ponder the wonderful theme of the resurrection
and contemplate its possibilities, what a broad field of mys-
tery confronts us! The voice of Science assures us that we
sail upon an infinite sea, with a shoreless ocean, bounded
only by the immensities. What are we, why are we and
whither are we tending, are the supreme questions pressing
upon every thoughtful mind. Why this ceaseless march of
wearied humanity from a dark past towards a future so dim-
ly illumined? Mankind after all seem but as "an infant
crying in the night, an infant crying for the light and with
no language but a cry." We are compelled to rest in the
conviction that all this painful struggle for life and light
must result in something worthy the Almighty Creator and
Father. All the kingdoms of nature have marched along
through successive evolutions towards wise culminations as if
directed by divine wisdom. The Creator brooded for ages
over this earth until it became a fit dwelling place for the
future evolution of mankind. Man is the climax of creation
and shall he alone fail to attain an end worthy of his ori-
gin and Fatherhood ? The voice of the cross heard across the
ages, assures us that beyond the cross is the crown and he that
endures shall finally sit with his crucified Lord in eternal
majesty. Inspired and aflame with the voices of the past,
the soul may say within itself "I know God is my Father
and Helper and by his abounding grace I shall surely reach
and enjoy the honor and glory of his spiritual kingdom."
And what is the ultimate of the illimitable beyond? Is
there any light upon the mysterious future beyond the resur-
rection of Christ? We shall all sleep but shall soon awake
to begin the eternal march under perfect spiritual tuition.
We shall soon begin to realize the unspeakable. Blessed are
THE HORIZON OF THE FUTURE 199
the dead who die In the Lord, for they sleep on the bosom of
the infinite Mother and they shall soon awake to unwearied ac-
tivity. The careful Mother watches by the cradle waiting for
the moment when the child refreshed shall arise to new life
and expansion and rejoicing. So does God sit by the cradles of
humanity and watch their sleeping and wait for their waking
and for their discernment of the love which has created them
and led them tenderly and wisely towards their destiny.
Many will look up and say, "Father" but a deeper truer vi-
sion will lead them to say "Mother" and God will say "I
will comfort thee as one whom his Mother comforteth for-
ever, yea forever."
CHAPTER XXII
The Divine Law of Life in Modern Poetry
Resignation
There is no flock however watched and tended
But one dead lamb is there;
There is no fireside howsoe'r defended
But has one vacant chair.
The air is full of farewells to the dying
And mournings for the dead;
The heart of Rachel for her children crying
Will not be comforted.
Let us be patient ; these severe afllictions
Not from the ground arise,
But oftentimes celestial benedictions
Assume this dark disguise.
We see but dimly through the mists and shadows
Amid these earthly damps,
What seem to us but sad funereal tapers
May be Heaven's distant lamps.
There is no death ! What seems so is transition
This life of mortal breath
Is but a suburb of the life Elysian,
Whose portal we call death.
200
THE DIVINE LAW OF LIFE 201
6 She is not dead — the child of our affection,
But gone unto that school
Where she no longer needs our poor protection
And Christ himself doth rule.
7 In that great cloister's stillness and seclusion
By guardian angels led
Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution
She lives whom we call dead.
8 Day after day we think what she is doing
In those bright realms of air;
Year after year her tender steps pursuing
Behold her grown more fair.
9 Thus do we walk with her, and keep unbroken
The bond which nature gives
Thinking that our remembrance, though unspoken
May reach her where she lives.
10 Not as a child shall we again behold her;
For when with raptures wild
In our embraces we again enfold her,
She will not be a child.
11 But a fair maiden in her Father's mansion
Clothed with Celestial grace
And beautiful with all the soul's expansion
Shall we behold her face.
12 And though at times, impetuous with emotion
And anguish long suppressed
The swelling heart heaves, moaning like the ocean
That cannot be at rest,
202 THE SPIRITUAL BODY
13 We will be patient, and assuage the feeling,
We may not wholly stay;
By silence sanctifying, not concealing.
The grief that must have way.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Resurgam ,
I shall rise! Not ages hence.
When earth has passed away
In fervent heat; and, like a scroll,
The clouds of Heaven together roll,
Upon the final day;
But from this body born of earth,
That binds my spirit down,
I shall go forth like bird set free
To breathe the air of liberty
I ne'r before have known ;
A life as boundless as the skies
In realms whose name is Paradise.
Resurges
Thou shalt arise! When death's approach
May cause the cheek to pale.
With fancies dread, of grave and tomb.
Of earthly mold and cheerless gloom,
That oft make brave hearts fail;
Then, in an instant, thou shalt see
Through death's wide open door
A glorious world of light and hope.
Where every power has perfect scope,
THE DIVINE LAW OF LIFE 203
And joy reigns evermore;
And while thou lookest, thou shalt rise
To taste the joys of Paradise.
Resurgent
They shall rise! The world's great throng,
Through all time's cycles born,
Not one shall fail of Easter Life,
Whoe'er has entered earthly strife,
Or fleshly body worn;
But some will shrink in fright away
When called to leave the home of clay,
And others haste to go,
And meet the Judge of all their life.
Whose eye hath witnessed every strife
And battle here below.
'Tis thus two armies shall arise,
To lose or gain a Paradise.
Mrs. Margaret Bloodgood Peeke.
Eternal Life
It is not death to die
To leave this wary road,
And midst the brotherhood on high
To be at home with God.
It is not death to close
The eye long dimmed with tears
And wake in glorious repose
To spend eternal years
204 THE SPIRITUAL BODY
It is not death to bear
The wrench which sets us free
From dungeon chain, to breathe the air
Of boundless liberty.
It is not death to fling
Aside this sinful dust
And rise, on strong exulting wing
To live among the just.
Jesus, thou Prince of life
Thy chosen cannot die
Like thee, they conquer in the strife
To reign with thee on high.
Rev. H. A. Cesar Malan.
Translated by Rev. George W. Bethune, D. D.
CHAPTER XXIII
Paradise in Latin Poetry Accords with the Divine
Law of Life
THE Latin scholar will find abundant proofs of
the significance of Paradise in the Early Chris-
tian Fathers and with no hint of a double signifi-
cation. Paradise is Heaven to the devout Latin
scholar all through the early centuries.
Latin Hymns by F. A. March L. L. D. is a standard vol-
ume of Latin Hymns and herewith we present some of the
references to Paradise from this collection. The author
states that this series owes its origin to an endowment by
Mr. Benjamin Douglass, for the study of Modern Latin au-
thors and to give them a place in Modern College study.
The Hymns are superior to Augustan Odes and are the true
Latin folk poems. They have been called the Bible of the
people.
These Latin Hymns cover the period from the fourth until
the thirteenth century and all allude to Paradise as the per-
fected Heavenly state.
The great Augustine, Born 54 A. D. Expands his Hymn,
**De Gaudiis Paradisi" into sixty verses of three lines each
and clearly expresses his views of Paradise.
Bernard of Cluny, born 109 1 A. D. writes at length on
"Laus Patriae Coelestis" and lines 31 and 32, read as fol-
lows:
"Tu locus unicus, illeque coelicus es Paradisus,
Non ibi lacrima, sed placidissima gaudia risus."
205
2c6 THE SPIRITUAL BODY
Adam of St. Victor lived between 1172 and 1192 and
made two allusions to Paradise in his poems
The first is — "Vita mortem superat
Homo jam recuperat
Quod prius amiserat
Paradisa gaudium
The second is — "De SS. Evangelistis
Paradisus his rigatur.
Vivet, floret, foecundatur,
His abundat, his laetatur
Quatuor flaminibus.
Fons est Christus, hi sunt rivi,
Fons est altus, hi proclivi,
Ut sapores fontus vivi
Ministrent fidelibus.
Bonaventura born 1221 A. D. makes two allusions to
Paradise :
The first "De Sancta Cruce" —
"Crux est porta Paradisa
In qua sancti sunt confisi,
Qui vicerunt omnia.
Crux est mundi medicina.
Per quam bonitas divina
Facit mirabilia."
The second "De passione Domini" —
PARADISE IN LATIN POETRY 207
"Oh! quam dulce balneum, esca quam suavis,
Quae sumenti digne fit Paradisi clavis;
Est ei quem reficis nullus gravis,
Licet sis fastidio cordibus ignavis."
Jacoponus of the Thirteenth century takes for his theme
''Sequentia de Passione B. Virginis" —
"Fac me cruce custodiri,
Morte Christi praemuniri,
Confoveri gratia.
Quando corpus morietur
Fac, ut animae donetur
Paradisa gloria."
This volume also furnishes two anonymous poems; one
of the tenth century the Theme "Alleluia" —
"Hoc beatorum — Per prata Paradisiaca
Psallus concensus, Alleluia."
The second is "In dedicatione Ecclesiae" —
"Hie promereantur omnes petita accipere,
Et adapta possidere cum Sanctis perenniter,
Paradisum introire, translati in requiem."
All these references indicate the perfection of Paradise as
the future abode of the Saints and are in perfect accord with
the scope of the Holy Scriptures.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
REFERENCE DEPARTMENT
This book is under no circumstances to be
taken from the Building
^^r^ 1 M <>N
^'^'^ 12 191^