Orthodoxy: Its Truths And Errors Part 28

If his eye is single, his whole body is full of light. If he is true to the light within his soul, it grows more and more clear to him what G.o.d wants him to do. Not every man's business is to do great works in the world; but every one is sent to do something and to be something-something which shall bring him nearer to G.o.d-something which shall make him more useful to man. At first he is confused; he cannot tell what his calling is. But each day, if he be faithful to each day's call, causes the whole calling of his life to become more luminous and clear. So we see that conscientious and faithful people, as they continue to live, grow more and more into specialty of work, and have more and more of a special place and duty. Thus we see that all G.o.d's callings are special, and none vague or general. "Every man has his proper gift from the Lord; one after this fas.h.i.+on, and another after that." Perhaps it is not a s.h.i.+ning gift, it will not make him famous, but it is always a good one-always useful and n.o.ble. If we follow G.o.d's leadings, we shall always come out right. "Let every man," says the apostle, "abide in the calling in which he is called." Let him not be impatient of his own gift, nor covetous of another's; let him not be uneasy in his place, nor straining for something beyond his reach. But if faithful every day to his own gift, he may be sure that it will grow at last into something truly good, satisfactory, and sufficient.

-- 9. How Jesus was elected to be the Christ.

Perhaps we can now better understand how Christ was "the chosen one of G.o.d." If Columbus was chosen and sent to discover a world, if Dante was sent to be a great poet, if Mozart, Rafaelle, had each his mission, can we doubt that Jesus also was specially selected and endowed for the work which he has actually done, to be the leader of the human race in religion and goodness-to lead it up to G.o.d? Yet those who will admit the mission in all other cases, question it in his case. But what was true in them was much more so in him. He was conscious from the first that he was selected.

"Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" "To this end I was born, that I might bear witness to the truth." "G.o.d sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through him, might be saved." "For this cause came I to this hour." "I have finished the work given me to do."

Jesus, by his nature and organization, by his education, by the very time of his birth, by the inspiration and influence of the Holy Spirit, was elected and called. And he fulfilled his part perfectly; and so, the two conditions being met, he became Saviour of the world, and perpetual Ruler of the moral and spiritual nature of man.

-- 10. Other Ill.u.s.trations of Individual Calling and Election.

But it is not merely great men, and men of genius, who are thus providentially chosen and sent. _Every_ man is chosen for something, and that something not vague and general, but special and distinct.

You go into some country village of New England. You find there some plain farmer, of no great education, perhaps, but endowed with admirable insight and sagacity, and of a kind and benevolent nature. He has come to be the counsellor and adviser of the whole community. He has no t.i.tle; he is not even a "squire." He has no office; he is not even a justice of the peace.

But he fulfils the mission of peace-maker and of sagacious counsellor. He is judge without a seat on the bench; he is spiritual guide without being called "reverend;" he is the stay, the centre, the most essential person in the place. He has had an evident calling from G.o.d, not from man, and he has made it sure by his diligence and fidelity in his work.

And perhaps in the same village is a woman, poor, old, and uneducated. But she, too, has a calling from G.o.d. She is always sent for in the hour of trial. If any accident happens, she is there. Her sagacity and experience help her to do what is needed. She has no medical diploma, but she is the good physician of the place. G.o.d gave to her native sagacity, gave to her benevolence, gave her acute observation and a good memory, and she has made her election sure by her own fidelity.

Some persons are called to love and teach little children: that is _their_ work. They are happy with children, and children are happy with them. Some are called to sympathize; their natures overflow with sympathy; they enter readily into all trials and into the troubles of every soul, and they pour oil and wine into the wounds of the heart. G.o.d called them to be his good Samaritans, and they hear the call and obey.

"A place for everything, and everything in its place," says the prudent housekeeper. "A place for every man, and every man in his place," says the divine Housekeeper, who has so many mansions in his house, and whose Son said he went to prepare a place for us there in the other world-a working place, probably, and a sphere of labor there as here. But in this world, too, what a delight it is to see any one in his right place!

There are different ways in which G.o.d calls us, and different kinds of callings. But every calling of G.o.d is good and n.o.ble. He calls us to work; he calls us to Christian goodness; he calls us to heavenly joy, to glory, honor, and immortality. These are the three great callings of man-Christian work first, Christian goodness next, Christian glory last.

Since G.o.d made every one of us, he made every one of us for something; he has appointed a destiny for each one, and he calls us to it. If we do not hear the gentle call, the whisper of his grace, he calls us by trial, by disaster, by disappointment. He chastens us for our profit. He prunes our too luxuriant branches that we may bring forth more fruit.

So this doctrine of election, in its other form, as usually taught by Orthodoxy, so harsh and terrible,-"_horrible decretum_,"-so dishonorable to G.o.d, so destructive to morality, so palsying to effort, grows lovely and encouraging when looked at aright.

As one grows old, and looks back over his past life, he sees the working of this divine decree-working where he concurred with it, working where he resisted it. He sees more and more clearly what his election was, and how he has fulfilled it, how far failed. He sees himself as a youth, fiery and ardent, striving for one thing, educated by G.o.d for another. He sees how he was partly led and partly driven into his true work; how he has been made an instrument by G.o.d for good he never dreamed of to G.o.d's other children. He says, "It is no doing of mine. It is the Lord's doing. He chose me for it before the foundation of the world. I builded better than I knew. I have failed in a thousand plans of my own, but I have ignorantly fulfilled G.o.d's plans. I am like Saul, the son of Kish, who went out to seek his father's a.s.ses, and found a kingdom. I am like Schiller's explorer, who went to sea with a thousand vessels, and came to sh.o.r.e saved in a single boat, yet having in that boat the best result of the whole voyage."

CHAPTER XII. IMMORTALITY AND THE RESURRECTION.

-- 1. Orthodox Doctrine.

The Orthodox doctrine of the future life is thus stated in the a.s.sembly's Catechism, chapter 32:-

"I. The bodies of men, after death, return to dust, and see corruption; but their souls (which neither die nor sleep) having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to G.o.d who gave them. The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of G.o.d, in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies. And the souls of the wicked are cast into h.e.l.l, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day. Besides these two places for souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledged none.

"II. At the last day, such as are found alive shall not die, but be changed; and all the dead shall be raised up with the selfsame bodies, and none other, although with different qualities, which shall be united again with their souls forever.

"III. The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonor; the bodies of the just by his Spirit unto honor, and be made conformable to his own glorious body."

The views here given may be considered, on the whole, the Orthodox notions on this subject, although Orthodoxy is by no means rigorous on these points. Considerable diversity of opinion is here allowed. The nature of the life between death and the resurrection, and the nature of the resurrection body, are differently apprehended, without any discredit to the Orthodoxy of the belief. But, on the whole, we may say that the Orthodox views on these topics include the following heads:-

1. Man consists of soul and body.

2. The soul of man is naturally immortal.

3. The only satisfactory proof of this immortality is the resurrection of Christ.

4. Christ's resurrection consisted in his return to earth in the same body as that with which he died, though glorified.

5. Our resurrection will consist in our taking again the same bodies which we have now, glorified if we are Christians, but degraded if we are not.

On the other hand, those views which incline towards rationalism and spiritualism agree in part with these statements, and in part differ; thus:-

1. They usually agree with Orthodoxy in believing man to consist of soul and body.

2. They also agree in believing the soul of man naturally immortal.

3. They differ from Orthodoxy in thinking the proof of immortality to be found in human consciousness, not at all in the resurrection of Jesus.

We will therefore examine these two points of immortality and the resurrection, to see what the true doctrine of Scripture is concerning them.

-- 2. The Doctrine of Immortality as taught by Reason, the Instinctive Consciousness, and Scripture.

The first cla.s.s of proofs usually adduced for immortality are the rational proofs, which are such as these:-

THE METAPHYSICAL PROOF.-This is based on the distinction of soul and body.

The existence of the soul is proved exactly as we prove the existence of the body. If we can prove the one, we can equally prove the other. If any one asks, How do we know there is such a thing as body? we reply that we know it by the senses; we can touch, taste, smell, and see it. But to this the answer is, that the senses only give us sensations, and that these sensations are in the mind, not out of it. We have a sensation of resistance, of color, of perfume, and the like; but how do we know that there is anything outside of the mind corresponding to them? The answer to this is, that by a necessary law of the reason, when we have a sensation, we _infer_ some external substance from which it proceeds. We look at a book, for example. We have a sensation of shape and color; we infer something outside of our mind from which it proceeds. In other words, we perceive qualities and infer substance. This inference is a spontaneous and inevitable act of the mind. Now, we are conscious of another group of feelings which are not sensations, which do not come from without, but from within. These are mental and moral. But they, too, are qualities; and, as in the other case, perceiving qualities, we infer a substance in which they inhere. This latter substance we name soul, and we know it exactly as we know body. It is known by us as a simple substance, having personal unity. The personality, the "I," is a fundamental idea. Now, as soon as we perceive the existence of soul, it becomes evident that soul _cannot_ die. It may be annihilated, but it cannot die. For what is _death_ when applied to the body? Dissolution or separation of the parts, but not destruction of the simple elements. Death is decomposition of these elements, and their resolution into new combinations. Now, the soul, being known by us as a simple substance, is incapable of dissolution.

This is the metaphysical proof of immortality. Then comes the TELEOLOGIC proof, or that from final causes. Man's end is not reached in this life.

We see everything in this world made for an end. The body is made for an end, and attains it, and then decays and is dissolved. The soul, with all its great powers, goes on and on, but the body dies before the soul is ever perfected. Every human life is like an unfinished tale in a magazine, with "to be continued" written at its close, to show that it is not yet ended.

And besides these proofs of immortality, there is the THEOLOGICAL proof, founded on the attributes of G.o.d; and the MORAL proof, based on the conflict between conscience and self-love; and the a.n.a.lOGICAL proof, based on the law of progress in nature; and the COSMIC proof, founded on the relation of the soul to the universe; and the HISTORIC proof, resting on the universal belief in immortality; and lastly, the PSYCHOLOGIC proof, or the instinct of life in man, which carries with it its own evidence of continuity.

But after all these proofs have been considered, the final result is probability. Only the last gives more, and this acts not as an argument, but as conviction. And the strength of this conviction depends on the strength in any individual of this instinct. Some have more of the instinct of life, others less.(29) Those who have much are easily convinced by these various arguments. But those who have less, feel as Cicero did after reading the Phaedo of Plato.(30)

This instinct of life appears not only to be different from the fear of death, but its exact opposite. When we have most of the one, we have the least of the other. Any great excitement lifts us temporarily above the fear of death by giving us more life. So a man will plunge into the sea, and risk his own life to save that of another. So whole armies go to die cheerfully in the great rage of battle. But this instinct receives a permanent strength by all that elevates the soul. All greatness of aim, all devotion to duty, all generous love, take away the fear of death by adding to the quantum of life in the soul.(31)