Christendom1 that must have a claim upon our faith. When we apply what has been said to the doctrine of a future life we find that all that is binding upon our acceptance under pain of heresy is the statement in the Creed, "I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come." It is clear, therefore, that by far the greater part of our inquiry into the future life will be in the department of revelation that lies outside the region of dogma. The Church has settled little or nothing. We have then a perfect right to explore for ourselves the teaching that may fairly be gathered from the written Word of God, and see how far the popular beliefs prevalent in the Christian Church are supported by the holy Scriptures. Moreover, outside the tradition of the Church and the teaching of Holy Writ there is that body of doctrine that has come down to us from the enlightened reason of pre-Christian antiquity. The traditions of Judaism and the mythologies of Paganism were, we believe, part of the preparation of the world for the reception of the Gospel. We cannot afford to neglect these foregleams and anticipations of the truth, since they are in many ways bound up with the teaching and terminology of the holy Scriptures. They, moreover, often furnish the only answer there is to the question as to what impression was conveyed to the hearers by the words of our Lord and the Apostles. 1 A truth contained in Scripture but not in Creeds is said to be de fide definibili, a dogma capable of definition. When reason is found to have arrived at beliefs very similar to those made known by revelation, we cannot but feel that our faith is greatly strengthened. In a very marked degree men of science have found that progress can only be made by continually looking back to the past. It has been well said that advance in natural science means a fuller realisation of Newton's great principles; that progress in philosophy means, "back to Kant," and in politics, "back to Aristotle."1 It is equally certain that progress in theology must mean, "back to the Bible," since the sacred Scriptures are the unchanging depository of unalterable truth "once delivered to the saints." We have greater helps to assist us to the exact meaning of the sacred Text than our forefathers possessed, and it is in this careful weighing of the words of the Bible that we may hope for any fresh light along the dark paths of the Unseen. Jesus Christ speaking through His Church is, we believe, our "teacher come from God." The fact that there is "a life of the world to come" He plainly asserts, and we accept His teaching as absolutely final. For any knowledge of the conditions of that life we must refer to the less clear doctrine contained in parables, conversations, and the apostolic Epistles, trusting to the promised help of that Holy Spirit Who "spake by the prophets," and Who guided the Evangelists and the writers of the rest of the New Testament. 1 Study the Sources, HERDER. "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it" (Eccles. xii. 7). "The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery, and their going from us to be utter destruction; but they are in peace. For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality." But "the hope of the ungodly is like dust that is blown away with the wind; like a thin froth that is driven away with the storm; like as the smoke which is dispersed here and there with a tempest, and passeth away as the remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but a day' (Wisdom iii. 1-4; v. 14). II. Body, Soul and Spirit HAT is man, that Thou art mindful of him?” 1 WHA The Psalmist turns from the contemplation of the beauty and the magnificence of the inanimate creation to the thought of the apparent littleness and insignificance of man. The heavens seem to him worthily to witness to God as their Maker; the silent voices of the stars are eloquent in their praise of the power and wisdom of the Creator. But man? What is man that God should be mindful of him, since man alone constantly departs from the obedient service of God? "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him; or the son of man, that Thou visitest him?" The question leads the Psalmist towards the answer. Man, if he has affinity with the inanimate and animate world around him, has also something in common with those pure Intelligences who hold a place above man and below God. "Thou madest him lower than the angels" 1 Ps. viii. 4. |