Chapter VII: The Unseen Universe (3)

We have, however, no physical proof in favour of it, unless we allow that Christ rose from the dead. But it will be admitted that, if Christ rose from the dead, a future state becomes more than possible; it becomes probable; and we do not see that this conclusion is, in itself, greatly modified by differences in our mode of regarding the exact nature of Christ.

Again, the production of the visible universe in time leads us, by the principle of Continuity, to the conception of a fully conditioned intelligent universe, existing prior to the production of the visible. And furthermore, we are induced by our argument (Art. 218) to regard the production of the visible universe as the work of an intelligent agency residing in the invisible. If, then, such an agency could produce the visible universe, it could certainly accomplish the resurrection of Christ, without any break of continuity, so far as the whole universe is concerned.

254. The joys of the Christian Heaven are celebrated in Hymns which are frequently very beautiful, even if they do not mount to the sublimity of the ancient Hebrew ode. One of the finest of these is the free translation by Pope of the Latin (not originally Christian) ode standing at the commencement of this volume. It runs thus:—

‘Vital spark of heavenly flame!
Quit, oh, quit this mortal frame!
Trembling, hoping, ling’ring, flying!
Oh, the pain, the bliss of dying!
Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life!

Hark! they whisper—angels say,
“Sister spirit, come away!”
What is this absorbs me quite;
Steals my senses, shuts my sight;
Drowns my spirits, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be—death?

The world recedes! it disappears!
Heaven opens to my eyes!—my ears
With sounds seraphic ring:
Lend, lend your wings! I mount! I fly!
O Grave! where is thy victory?
O Death! where is thy sting?’

Many specimens might be given if our object were to collect together the Christian Hymns relating to Heaven. Sometimes, too, we have beautiful descriptions not in verse, and Bunyan’s account of the reception of Christian and Hopeful at the Celestial City will at once occur to the reader as not inferior in the claims of true poetry to anything that we have in verse.

255. Now, if we analyse such hymns of joy, we find in them two prominent chords, one or other of which is always struck. The first expresses the Christian’s sense of relief from sorrow and death, and the second his joy in the anticipated presence of Christ—his intense desire to behold the King in his beauty.

These chords are struck together by St. John, when he says (Rev. xxi. 3, 4), ‘And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.’ In other respects the descriptions of the Christian heaven are no doubt figurative. They are intended for Christians of all ages of the world, and have hardly any reference to the material conditions of life in a future state. These could not be apprehended by believers 1800 years ago, inasmuch as we can hardly be said to grasp them now. Nevertheless there is one direction in which _we do think_ we are able to obtain a glimpse into the conditions of this future life.

256. One of the most prominent characteristics of even the well-directed human mind is its insatiable curiosity. How intensely anxious we all are to realise the conditions of the life of our forefathers in the ruder and earlier times; how interested in every scrap of intelligence which reaches us from the dead old world! How interested too in any light thrown upon the civilisation which preceded these old times! What would not any man give for half an hour with Socrates or Plato? what would he not give, be he Christian or unbeliever, to have pictured out vividly and truly before him some episode in the life of Christ? In a tedious, toilsome, tantalising, roundabout way we do indeed get some passing glimpses into these ancient historical ages.

The earth is not unlike the human brain, in that it contains in itself certain memories of the past: and, just as we rummage out and hunt up in our brains old memories, so do the historian and the antiquary search about in the earth for that memory which it retains of those distant but glorious ages. But the universe, no less than the individual, has another memory besides the material one, and we have endeavoured (Art. 196) to convince our readers that nothing is really lost, the past being always present in the universe. If this be the case, it may readily be conceived that this universal memory may by some process of exaltation and intensification, or as it were by some relay battery of the universe, be occasionally quickened into such a life that the individual in the future and glorified state may be enabled (through the power of the Lord) to realise scenes that happened in the far distant past. For if so much can be accomplished with a thing so little plastic as the material memory of the earth, what may not be done with that infinitely more plastic form of existence which we term the world to come?

257. Again, if in this present world we have great difficulty in realising our own past, we have even greater difficulty in realising what is at this very moment taking place in remote parts of the present visible universe. Astronomers and Physicists agree that life is possible in the planet Mars, and it is quite likely that intelligent beings analogous to ourselves exist at the present moment on the surface of that planet, but we shall never in this life know for certain anything about them. There is an insurmountable barrier to physical inquiry as great as if Mars belonged to the unseen universe, instead of being, what he is in reality, our next-door neighbour in the present.

Now, may not this barrier be removed in the future state? This has been a favourite topic with scientific theologians, and we believe that all who have speculated on the conditions of a future life have unanimously agreed that we shall have much greater freedom of motion in the world to come. There can be no doubt that our relations to time and space will then be greatly altered and enlarged. Men shall run to and fro in the universe, and knowledge shall be increased.

258. But yet the picture is not altogether one of intellectual brightness and beauty. It wears also a moral aspect, and upon this almost exclusively the Christian records dwell. We are told in these records that nothing is forgotten. Christ tells us (St. Luke viii. 17), ‘Nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither anything hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.’ And again St. John tells us (Rev. xx. 12), ‘I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God: and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.’ This thought has been developed by the Rev. Alexander Macleod, D.D., in a work entitled _Our own Lives the Books of Judgment_. This author points out that in many cases it may not be even necessary to appeal to the universe for the record which is therein written, for this is sufficiently stamped upon the body itself, and he then draws a vivid and lurid picture of the sensual man in whom the mortal body is like a parchment written within and without—a truly mournful and terrible record of the deeds done in the body.

But if all this is possible with an organism possessing so little plasticity as the natural body, and where the wish of the individual is to preserve a respectable exterior, what must be the case in the soul[66] of such a man?—‘If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?’ What a hideous and horrible likeness must not that foul thing have that issues forth from the ‘grave and gate of Death’ into the presence of the Unseen and Eternal?

259. It is extremely striking to read in this connection the following extract from Plato’s _Gorgias_. We quote from Jowett’s translation. Socrates is the speaker:—

‘This is a tale, Callicles, which I have heard and believe, and
from which I draw the following inferences: Death, if I am right,
is in the first place the separation from one another of two
things, soul and body;—this, and nothing else. And after they
are separated they retain their several characteristics, which
are much the same as in life; the body has the same nature and
ways and affections, all clearly discernible; for example, he
who by nature or training, or both, was a tall man while he was
alive, will remain as he was after he is dead; and the fat man
will remain fat; and so on: and the dead man, who in life had a
fancy to have flowing hair, will have flowing hair. And if he
was marked with the whip and had the prints of the scourge, or
of wounds in him while he was alive, you might see the same in
the dead body; and if his limbs were broken or misshapen while
he was alive, the same appearance would be visible in the dead.
And, in a word, whatever was the habit of the body during life
would be distinguishable after death, either perfectly or in a
great measure and for a time. And I should infer that this is
equally true of the soul, Callicles; when the man is stripped of
the body all the natural or acquired affections of the soul are
laid open to view. And when they come to the judge, as those from
Asia came to Rhadamanthus, he places them near him and inspects
them quite impartially, not knowing whose the soul is: perhaps
he may lay hands on the soul of the great king, or of some other
king or potentate, who has no soundness in him, but his soul is
marked with the whip, and is full of the prints and scars of
perjuries, and of wrongs which have been plastered into him by
each action, and he is all crooked with falsehood and imposture,
because he has lived without truth. Him Rhadamanthus beholds,
full of all deformity and disproportion, which is caused by
licence and luxury and insolence and incontinence, and despatches
him ignominiously to his prison, and there he undergoes the
punishment which he deserves.’

260. As, in Eastern monarchies, a veil was sometimes cast over the face of the guilty;[67] so in the New Testament the veil of darkness is drawn over the fate of the lost soul who falls into the hands of the living God. ‘And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding-garment: and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding-garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’[68]

We greatly question whether any school of theologians have succeeded in throwing a single ray of real light into this mysterious region.[69] Our readers are well aware that there are three such schools. One of these contemplates the eternity of punishment physical, mental, or both; another the final salvation of all men; while a third expects the annihilation of the wicked in Gehenna. Now while it is entirely without our province to enter into these discussions, we may yet be permitted to point out that, as it appears to us, the principle of Continuity demands not merely one state, but rather an eternal and infinite succession of states, in order to constitute true immortality.

The precise conditions of such an immortality it is not for us to discuss. Under any school of theological thought a glorious immortality implies the ultimate union, morally and spiritually, of the individual with the Divine over-life, while the fate of the impenitent must surely be something so awful that language fails to bring it fully before the mind.

261. But this graphic and powerful picture of the fate of the lost fared as badly as other New Testament conceptions when it fell into the hands of the materialists of the middle ages. Its meaning was entirely altered, and the Christian Hell, instead of being the Gehenna of the Universe, where all its garbage and filth is consumed, was changed into a region shut in by adamantine walls and full of impossible physical fires—the Devil being the chief stoker.

The one idea is awful, while the other is simply grotesque. An antient Jew who had occasion to pass by the valley of Hinnom, and whose senses were invaded by the sights and smells of that doleful region, must have entertained a conception of the Hell described by Christ as different as possible from that which has reached us from the middle ages, and to which some even of the readers of this book may have been accustomed in their earlier years. The reader who desires to know something of the more than fiendish malignity with which human beings (mainly Christian ministers) have _improved upon_ the solemn but markedly reserved language of Scripture on such points has only to refer to the _Inferno_. Perhaps the hideous realism of Doré’s illustrations will of itself be enough for him. If not, a very few lines of the original cannot fail to suffice.

Perch’ io dissi:—Maestro, esti tormenti
Cresceranno ei dopo la gran sentenza,
O fien minori, o saran si cocenti?
Ed egli a me:—Ritorna a tua scienza,
Che vuol, quanto la cosa è più perfetta,
Più senta ’l bene, e così la doglienza.
Tutto che questa gente maledetta
In vera perfezion giammai non vada,
Di là, più che di qua, essere aspetta.[70]

Since the time of Dante many attempts have been made, unsuccessfully, by men without his genius, to import additional horror.

To some extent no doubt Christ’s description of the Universal Gehenna must be regarded as figurative, but yet we do not think that the sayings of Christ with regard to the unseen world ought to be looked upon as nothing more than pure figures of speech. We feel assured that the principle of Continuity cries out against such an interpretation—may they not rather be descriptions of what takes place in the unseen universe brought home to our minds by means of perfectly true comparisons with the processes and things of this present universe which they most resemble? And just as, in the visible universe, there is apparently an enormous and inexplicable _waste_ of germs, seeds, and eggs of all kinds, which die simply because they are useless—analogy would lead us to conclude that something similar, and to at least as enormous an extent, happens in the Unseen with the germs of spiritual frames. The caterpillar which has not chosen a secure place of refuge in which to assume the chrysalis form does not live to become a perfect insect. The seeds that fell by the wayside, though scattered by an intelligent sower, were devoured by the birds of the air. ‘Let every one of them pass away, like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.’ ‘For many are called, but few chosen.’[71]

262. Thus the Christian Gehenna bears to the Unseen Universe precisely the same relation as the Gehenna of the Jews did to the city of Jerusalem; and just as the fire was always kept up and the worm ever active in the one, so are we forced to contemplate an enduring process in the other.

For we cannot easily agree with those who would limit the existence of evil to the present world. We know now that the matter of the whole of the visible universe is of a piece with that which we recognise here, and the beings of other worlds must apparently be subject to accidental occurrences from their relation with the outer universe in the same way as we are. But if there be accident, must there not be pain and death? Now these are naturally associated in our minds with the presence of moral evil.

We are thus drawn, if not forced, to surmise that the dark thread known as evil is one which is very deeply woven into that garment of God which is called the Universe.

In fine, just as the arguments of this chapter lead us to regard the whole Universe[72] as eternal, so in like manner are we led to surmise that evil is eternal, and therefore we cannot easily imagine the Universe without its Gehenna, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. The _process_ at all events would seem to us to be most probably an enduring one. [Many passages of the New Testament, however, seem to point to a continuity of moral development in the unseen universe, a development whose climax is to be reached when the last enemy, death, is destroyed in Gehenna.]

263. But it is fruitless to expect that Science should throw any light upon that greatest of all mysteries—the origin of evil. We have now come to a region where we must suffer ourselves to be led solely by the light which is given us in the Christian Records. And while here we would quote from a very remarkable work on the Lord’s Prayer[73] by the Rev. Charles Parsons Reichel, B.D., which exhibits in a singularly clear light the testimony given by Scripture, as well as the fruitlessness of all attempts to obtain information from any other quarter. Our first extract relates to the personality of ‘The Evil One:’—

‘In refutation’ (says the writer) ‘of the objections that have
been urged against the personal existence of the Adversary, this
one observation is quite enough: that of the world of spirits we
cannot possibly know anything save by direct revelation. It is
beyond the domain of the senses; it is beyond the cognisance of
reason. A man born blind might therefore as rationally attempt
to disprove by a process of reasoning the existence of a sense
of which he can know nothing except by testimony, as we attempt
by a process of reasoning to disprove the existence of a spirit
of whose existence we can know nothing save by testimony. The
only point to be ascertained in either case is whether the
testimony be sufficient. If the testimony of Scripture be deemed
sufficient, then I cannot see that it is possible to deny the
Personal existence of Satan any more than that of God. _How_
Satan exists, or _where_ at the present time, or how his power
_avails_, as we are told it does, to contrive and suggest
temptations to the mind of man; and to what extent he is aware of
what is passing in men’s minds, so as to adapt his suggestions
to their weakness, we are not told, and do not therefore know.
But our not being told the manner in which his power is exercised
and brought to bear, is no proof of the unreality of that fearful
Being who is everywhere in the New Testament exhibited as the
adversary of God and goodness, whether in the individual, or in
the development of the human race.’

The next passage is one which all of us may study with much advantage. It refers to temptation:—

‘Every risk incurred unnecessarily for the sake of exhibiting
our trust in God, every unusual or unnecessary act done merely
or chiefly for the purpose of displaying our privileges or our
conviction, or of attracting attention and admiration, every
stepping out of the plain, unadorned, and _unadmired_ path of
simple duty, is a phase of it.’

* * * * *

‘Why God should permit any of his creatures to be tempted is
a question we can no more answer than we can that question of
which indeed it is but a case, why God should permit evil to
exist at all. But we know that evil does exist; and we know too
that temptation does exist. That evil was first introduced into
the world by a Being who goes under the name of Satan or the
Adversary (2 Cor. xi. 3) we are told: that this Being endeavoured
first to seduce, and afterwards to menace our Saviour into evil;
and that he is constantly engaged in tempting us as he tempted
Christ, we are also told.’

* * * * *

‘And the true rendering of the last clause in Christ’s own prayer
would seem to intimate that the same Being is also busy in
suggesting temptations to every follower of Christ—“Lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One.”’

264. But we must now draw to a close; first of all, however, let us briefly sum up the results of our discussion.

The great scientific principle which we have made use of has been the Law of Continuity. This simply means that the whole universe is of a piece; that it is something which an intelligent being is capable of understanding, not completely nor all at once, but better and better the more he studies it.

In this great whole which we call the Universe there is no impenetrable barrier to the intellectual development of the individual. Death is not such a barrier, whether we contemplate it in others, or whether we experience it ourselves. And the same continuity which has been insisted on with reference to our intellectual conceptions of the universe applies, we have little doubt, to the other faculties of man, and to other regions of thought.

When we regard the universe from this point of view we are led to a scientific conception of it which is, we have seen, strikingly analogous to the system which is presented to us in the Christian religion. For not only are the nebulous beginning and fiery termination of the present visible universe indicated in the Christian records, but a constitution and power are therein assigned to the Unseen Universe strikingly analogous to those at which we arrive by a legitimate scientific process.

265. Our readers are now in a position to perceive the result of questioning science in this manner, and of abandoning ourselves without mistrust or hesitation to the guidance of legitimate principles. It is that science so developed, instead of appearing antagonistic to the claims of Christianity, is in reality its most efficient supporter; and that the burden of showing how the early Christians got hold of a constitution of the unseen universe, altogether different from any other cosmogony, but similar to that which modern science proclaims, is transferred to the shoulders of the opponents of Christianity.

266. For the present we would only add that the principle, of the aid of which we have availed ourselves, is not a mere theological weapon, but will, we believe, ultimately prove a most powerful scientific auxiliary. Already we have used it in our endeavour to modify the most probable hypothesis which has been formed concerning the ultimate constitution of matter.

The truth is, that science and religion neither are nor can be two fields of knowledge with no possible communication between them. Such a hypothesis is simply absurd.

There is undoubtedly an avenue leading from the one to the other, but this avenue is through the unseen universe, and unfortunately it has been walled up and ticketed with ‘_No road this way_,’ professedly alike in the name of science at the one end, and in the name of religion at the other.

We are in hopes that when this region of thought comes to be further examined it may lead to some common ground on which followers of science on the one hand, and of revealed religion on the other, may meet together and recognise each other’s claims without any sacrifice of the spirit of independence, or any diminution of self-respect. Entertaining these views we shall welcome with sincere pleasure any remarks or criticism on these speculations of ours, whether by the leaders of scientific thought or by those of religious inquiry.

It must never be forgotten that, whether we take the scientific or the religious point of view, one great object of our life in the visible universe is obviously to _learn_; and that (as human beings are constituted) advance in learning necessarily implies a high purpose kept steadily before us, and a continuous and arduous pursuit. For, as we are told in the First Epistle of John, ‘This is the victory which overcometh the world, even our faith.’

Τῷ νικῶντι δώσω αὐτῷ φαγεῖν ἐκ τοῦ
ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς ...

Edinburgh University Press:
THOMAS AND ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY

FOOTNOTES:

[1] It will be seen from our last chapter that we have used by preference the word _Soul_ to represent that which survives death both in the righteous and the wicked.

[2] See also Job xxi. 14, 15.

[3] See _Westminster Sermons_, by the Rev. Charles Kingsley.

[4] Wilkinson.

[5] Wilkinson.

[6] Exod. vi. 2.

[7] Gen. xix. 12.

[8] _Lectures on the Jewish Church._

[9] Dan. xii. 2.

[10] Dan. xii. 13.

[11] 2 Macc. vii. 14.

[12] _Wars of the Jews_, II. viii. 14.

[13] _Essays on some of the Peculiarities of the Christian Religion._

[14] _Phædrus_, quoted by Wilkinson.

[15] _Chips from a German Workshop._

[16] 1 Cor. xv. 35.

[17] Ps. cii. 25.

[18] 2 Cor. iv. 18.

[19] 2 Pet. iii. 10.

[20] Rev. xx. 11.

[21] See footnote to Art. 224.

[22] John v. 30.

[23] Gal. iv. 4.

[24] John viii. 28.

[25] See Professor Huxley’s Birmingham Lecture.

[26] _Life and Writings of Swedenborg_ by William White.

[27] We are aware that a certain class of thinkers regard all matter and combinations of matter as in some unexplained sense alive. We will discuss this doctrine in another place; meanwhile it must be understood that we do not here allude to this peculiar life, which from its very conception must exist as truly in a dead body as in a living one; what we are discussing at present is individual consciousness of the ordinary recognised type.

[28] As will be seen in Chap. III., the more important half of the realities of the physical world are forms of Energy, _which cannot exist_ except when associated with Matter. We mention this merely in a footnote now, as we do not wish to diverge too far from our present line of argument.

[29] A very striking analogy to this will be found in Chapter III., where it is shown that energy of visible motion often disappears by transformation into the dormant or latent energy of position.

[30] See Essay on this subject by the Hon. Sir W. R. Grove, in his book on _The Correlation of Physical Forces_.

[31] See _Contributions to Solar Physics_, by De la Rue, Stewart, and Loewy.

[32] In Chap. IV. the reader will see that the only attempt to explain the mechanism of gravitation, which can be called even _hopeful_, does not give _rigorously_ the law of the inverse square of the distance.

[33] ‘I hope all will be well. And, as for the gate you talk of, all the world knows that it is a great way off our country. I cannot think that any man in all our parts doth so much as know the way to it; nor need they matter whether they do or no, since we have, as you see, a fine, pleasant, green lane, that comes down from our country, the next way into the way.’

[34] This is discussed in Chapter IV. below.

[35] It is hardly needful to inform our readers that the word _substance_ is used in this chapter in the ordinary sense.

[36] See Thomson and Tait’s _Natural Philosophy_, § 269; or Tait’s _Thermodynamics_, § 91.

[37] Thus paraphrased for us:—

Nature, bewildering in diversity,
Of marvels Marvel most inscrutable,
Like Proteus, altereth her shape and mould;
But Fate remaineth ever immovable,
And, changeless in persistency, outwears
The Time of men, the gods’ Eternity.

[38] For a more complete statement of Carnot’s work see Tait, _Recent Advances in Physical Science_, 1876.

[39] They virtually showed that in a perfect steam-engine with pressure equal to ‘one atmosphere’ in its boiler, and with its condenser at the temperature of melting ice, the ratio of the heat taken in to the heat given out is 1·365 to 1. Hence if the difference between the numbers is to be 100, these must be 374, 274.—_Phil. Trans._, 1854.

[40] See Tait, _Phil. Mag._, 1872, I. 338, 516; II. 240.

[41] Thomson and Tait’s _Natural Philosophy_, § 300; or Tait and Steele’s _Dynamics of a Particle_, 3d ed. § 299.

[42] Stewart and Tait _on the Heating of a Disk by Rotation_ in vacuo (_Proceedings of the Royal Society_). See also Stewart’s _Elementary Treatise on Heat_, 3d edition, Art. 387 (Clarendon Press Series).

[43] If the visible universe be imagined to be infinite, we should have (following out our line of thought) infinitely large masses separated from each other by infinite distances, appearing for infinite ages in the liquid and solid states, and thence transformed by means of infinite collisions into the gaseous condition in which they will remain for another infinite series of ages. Is there much gained by this conception?

[44] i. 641. Thus rendered by Munro:—‘For fools admire and like all things the more which they perceive to be concealed under involved language, and determine things to be true which can prettily tickle the ears and are varnished over with finely sounding phrase.’

[45] This has been spoken of as an exaggeration. We hope it may be so; but when it was written (in the winter of 1874) the newspapers were full of the sickening details of the gouging of an old man by a gang of miners, who afterwards filled the sockets with quicklime! These human fiends are probably already at liberty, having had their few months of simple imprisonment!

[46] Tait, _Proc. R.S.E._, 1874-5.

[47] See also the extremely interesting article _Atom_, by Clerk-Maxwell, in the 9th ed. of the _Encyclopædia Britannica_.

[48] Here it is important to observe that the speculations of Sir W. Thomson with regard to the density of the Ether assign only the inferior limit of that density. The _real_ density may possibly be very much greater.

[49] _Études d’Astronomie Stellaire_, 1847.

[50] In Art. 148 we made a suggestion that gravitation might be the visible result of a tendency to a minimum of some affection of the fluid in which atoms are immersed. The exertion of gravitating force might thus be associated with a change in the constitution of visible things, and might perhaps point to an ultimate dying out, just as the radiation from the sun, which obeys the same formal law as that of gravity, points to a dying out of our luminary.

If this be conceivable, the really trivial nature of gravitating force (Art. 139) might come to be associated with the extraordinary persistence of the present state of things.

[51] The words ‘left to its own laws’ must not be taken too literally. We ought perhaps rather to say, the procedure of the Governor of the visible universe is at present such as to indicate uniformity of physical laws, while, on the other hand, His procedure when producing the universe indicated an intelligent agent designing uniformity of product.

[52] _Lay Sermons, Essays, and Reviews._

[53] Stewart on the _Conservation of Energy_.

[54] Stewart on the _Conservation of Energy_.

[55] Stewart on the _Conservation of Energy_.

[56] See Meldrum on the _Periodicity of Rainfall_.

[57] _Principles of Science_, vol. ii. p. 455.

[58] So-called Ninth Bridgewater Treatise.

[59] It is surely unnecessary to inform our readers that we adopt this hypothesis, not because we imagine it to have any inherent probability, but simply as a concrete mode of bringing development before the understanding.

[60] We are not here opposing the theological doctrine that _the Universe is in the Son of God_. In fact, when we contemplate any past phase of the Universe, we are driven to look upon this as having been previously developed by the Son of God, who doubtless also sustains it. This therefore represents the theological doctrine, nevertheless it will at once be acknowledged that we may speak of Christ as being in the Universe.

[61] Heb. x. 7.

[62] See a specially interesting and exhaustive paper by Lister (_Trans. R. S. E._, 1874-5). A very clear analysis of it is given by Crum Brown (_Proc. R. S. E._, 1875).

[63] _Nature_, January 14, 1875.

[64] The Rev. James Martineau has, we perceive, taken up a similar line of argument. (See Art. on ‘Modern Materialism,’ _Contemporary Review_, February 1876.)

[65] See Sermon preached at Belfast by Dr. Reichel, August 23, 1874.

[66] [Those who believe that the New Testament asserts the annihilation of the wicked in _Gehenna_, of course hold that only the just obtain the spiritual body. But we have no definite term for the body as it shall be (in the _Hades_ of the New Testament) between death and the resurrection. It is probable that the want of such a term is due to the fact that the authors of our recognised version have unfortunately rendered both Hades and Gehenna indifferently by the word Hell, itself a term from Scandinavian mythology.]

[67] ‘As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.’—Esther vii. 8.

[68] St. Matthew xxii. 11-13. [See, however, also Luke xiii. 28, where the true meaning obviously is ‘_while ye are being cast out_.’ There are other obvious mistranslations in our version; such as for instance that of Mark ix. 43, where for ‘the fire that cannot be put out’ we have ‘the fire that never shall be quenched.’ It is to be hoped that the revised version will be such as to give readers ignorant of Greek a thoroughly correct idea of the meaning of the original, most especially on points of such awful importance as this.]

[69] The extent of our knowledge, or rather of our ignorance, on this subject has been happily rendered by the Rev. Dr. Irons, when he states that all we are authorised to infer is that retribution will be morally complete.

[70] The sense is as follows:—Master, said I, will these torments increase after the great judgment, will they be less, or equally severe? He replied—Go back to your scholastic learning, which tells you that the more perfect the being the more he feels both pleasure and pain. And, although these accursed ones can never reach full perfection, they expect to be more perfect after than before (the judgment).

[71] [We ought perhaps to inform our readers that what we have here said refers to that particular state after the present—the dying out of which, in consequence of voluntary separation from its centre of life and energy, has been called the second death. Whether this dying out is equivalent to absolute annihilation is a point which we do not pretend to discuss.]

[72] Including in it _a state of things_ like the present physical universe; not, however, _the very things_ that now exist, these being evanescent in energy at least, if not also in material.

[73] _Cambridge_, Macmillan, 1855.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE

Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.

Some hyphens in words have been silently removed, some added,
when a predominant preference was found in the original book.

Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.

Pg 78: ‘tell us’ replaced by ‘tells us’.
Pg 115: ‘τρισμυριόις’ replaced by ‘τρισμυρίοις’.
Pg 118: ‘first to recal’ replaced by ‘first to recall’.
Pg 150: ‘The griding sword’ replaced by ‘The grinding sword’.
Pg 205: ‘in the charracter’ replaced by ‘in the character’.
Pg 213: ‘its continous energy’ replaced by ‘its continuous energy’.
Pg 227: ‘John iii. 16’ replaced by ‘John iii. 13’.
Pg 243: ‘school of thought are’ replaced by ‘school of thought is’.
Footnote 44, Pg 131: ‘tickle the the ears’ replaced by
‘tickle the ears’.