The Life of the Waiting Soul Part 2

And thus the pain will surely be a very wholesome pain. What could more deepen penitence? The pain of self-reproach for unworthiness, and the pain of the sense of goodness in the Presence of Jesus Christ,--these two pains will purify the soul. No work of sanctification has ever been wrought in any soul without suffering. And none ever will. Even Christ Himself was not made perfect, as Man, without suffering. But the suffering in Paradise will be accompanied with an exquisite delight and joy. Do we not know, even here on earth, how near to each other very often are joy and sorrow? He whose spirit is swelling with a great gladness has often a sense of an undercurrent of great pain along with it. How often tears and laughter go together! So, in that home of the disembodied soul, the very process of purification will be marked by an intensity of joy and an intensity of pain. They will be simultaneous.

Nay! increasingly, it may be, they will deepen in the soul. The nearer the soul reaches its perfection the more abounding may be its gladness, and the more piercing its compunction. Thus its very anguish will be a delight, and its very delight will be an anguish, and these will proceed, and advance, and increase until the soul is ripe for the Blessed Vision of G.o.d in Heaven. For He Which began the good work in the soul, here, in life, will, we may be very confident, never abandon it, nor suspend it, but will continue it and perfect it all through the after life, even until the day of Jesus Christ.

VII.

"Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit: in which also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of G.o.d waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing."

--1 PETER III. 18, 19, 20 (_R.V._)

So far we have considered the case of those who die in the favour of G.o.d, and, though as yet unfit for the vision of G.o.d in Heaven itself, are nevertheless capable of becoming so in the course of the Intermediate Life.

What, however, must be said of those who in life had light and knowledge of G.o.d and of His will, and yet hardened themselves against G.o.d; who were free, and in the exercise of their freedom rejected G.o.d? Of these unhappy souls, if there is no yielding of their will to G.o.d in the Intermediate Life, if, and so far as, they have absolutely made themselves by the fixedness of their choice incapable of yielding, if after death they still hate G.o.d and set the whole force of their determination against Him,--one can only fear that even G.o.d Himself cannot help them. On the supposition that the prerogative of free will, once for all given to man, must be respected by G.o.d, we are driven to the belief that G.o.d cannot force the will. It is not that G.o.d changes towards them. It is not necessary to suppose that He is even punishing them. He may still be in Himself all that He is to all, full of love towards them, full of pity, full of mercy. "His mercy is over all His works." He can no more cease to be a Father to every man than He can cease to be G.o.d. He hates nothing that He has made. But if the very knowledge and thought of G.o.d'S longsuffering patience serves only to harden and to exasperate, if it only stirs in the lost soul deeper pangs of inexorable hatred, then,--man being man and G.o.d being G.o.d,--what can G.o.d do? It is they who reject G.o.d, not G.o.d Who is rejecting them. It is they who spurn Him, not He Who chastises them. He does not banish them from His Presence: it is they who banish Him from their presence. And if this defiance against G.o.d survives and lasts, if, as ages pa.s.s, it becomes more resolutely inveterate and set, what power can stop it, what love can soften it? And if it is never to be pacified, and never yields, what shall hinder it from going on up to and beyond the Day of Judgment?

It may be said that such utter determination is a moral impossibility, that no will of man could finally defy and resist the love of G.o.d. If that be so, well! But on the a.s.sumption that it is not impossible, the inference which has been drawn is inevitable.

But there are others who in life have never heard of Christ, the millions of heathen in all ages and all lands since the world began, of whom it may truly be said that they never had a chance of salvation. To these may be added many who have indeed fallen in with Christianity, but with a Christianity of such a sort, presented to them in such a way, in such a form, and under such circ.u.mstances as almost naturally to create in their minds a really honest doubt and distrust of it. What shall be said of these honest unbelievers, and, scarcely through their own fault, blind?

As to these, let us ask whether the doctrine of the Intermediate State can help to give us some better hope.

In the text, {72} we are told that Christ was put to death upon the Cross in the flesh, but was quickened in His human Spirit, that is to say, that after His human Spirit left His Body it was still quick or alive. We know, from the Gospel of S. Luke, whither His human Spirit went. It went to Paradise. S. Peter now tells us what His Spirit did there. He tells us that it preached unto other spirits, and he names the spirits of those who for 120 years, while Noah was building the ark, were disobedient.

They had rejected Noah, "the preacher of righteousness" {73} as S. Peter calls him; and now a greater Preacher went to preach to them. Further, we are told, that they were "in prison." The word should rather be rendered "in safe keeping," that is to say, still waiting, under G.o.d'S care, for this visit of Christ's human Spirit, when He should preach to them. Why the spirits of these men, who lived before the flood, are singled out for special mention, is a question that does not really bear upon the point which we have in hand. And we had better keep to that point, and not be tempted to digress. What then follows from this? Two things are clear,--first, that from as far back as the days before the flood, that is to say, from the very beginning of human life on earth, souls in the Intermediate State had been waiting in safe keeping all these many thousand years; and, secondly, that the disembodied soul of our Lord Jesus Christ visited them there and preached to them. a.s.suming that these souls had repented, however late, before they died, still we learn that something more than repentance was needful to them. In this case, it is clear that instruction was given to them. It would not have been given if it had not been necessary. And what instruction? Christ "proclaimed," we are told, to them. What did He proclaim? Surely the good news of the Gospel, {74} which He had been proclaiming on earth by the voice of the Apostles. What else did He make known than the mystery of His Incarnation and the Atonement which He had wrought out upon the Cross, in bearing the sins of men, and their sins, too, who had so long been waiting in the Intermediate State, to hear it to their salvation? S.

Peter, therefore, in another place, says, "For this cause," that is, because Christ will Himself be the Judge of the living and the dead,--"for this cause was _the Gospel_ preached even to the dead." {75}

Here, then, we have a set of facts which throw light upon some of the dark places of that unknown and unseen land, the Intermediate State. If we do justice to our Bibles we must regard these as facts, whether we can fully explain them or not. Scriptural facts they certainly are. What, then, can we learn from them? First, we seem to learn this,--that some provision is made in the Intermediate State for the salvation of those souls who in this life never heard of Christ, never had a chance, as we say, of salvation. And when we think of it, does it not seem to belong to G.o.d'S eternal justice that souls should not be condemned for that which they could not help? Every human soul must have had a chance of knowing Christ, before it can justly be punished for the consequences of not knowing Him. Countless millions in all ages, since the world began, in our own land, and in other lands, have never heard the good news of Jesus Christ in life. It is not so with us. With them it is and has been so. Christ preached to those who in safe keeping had been waiting long. Then is it not possible for such as those in all ages to receive the teaching in the Intermediate Life which they never received in this?

Why should Christ preach to those and not to these?

This hope helps to solve that hara.s.sing enigma which perplexes and oppresses so many of us,--I mean, as to the condition and future destiny of the heathen, and the outcast, and the blind, and the ignorant. There, in that stillness of the disembodied life, souls may be taught and trained to know what they never could know in this life on earth, the wonders and the blessings of the life in Christ.

And, besides, do we not at least learn this from Christ's preaching to these souls, that intercourse and communication is _possible_ in the life after death, and will take place? And this suggests another aspect of the work in that life, besides the work of progressive cleansing and perfecting. The souls of the faithful rest from their labours. Yes! but they have also a work to do which can only be done then, the work of the soul's purification. The work, however, which they can do for others is better than that which can be done for themselves. What can they do for the souls of others? Can they not do what Christ's human spirit did?

Here on earth men are charged, not only with the care of their own souls, but with the care of the souls of others also. And why should they not be amba.s.sadors for Christ there, if Christ's work has to be done there?

Here on earth He uses imperfect men to proclaim His Gospel. There, in that after life, if His Gospel is to be proclaimed to those that never heard it in this life, why should He not employ souls also, not yet perfected, upon the same happy task?

And may not this charge, laid on ministering souls in the Intermediate Life, help to solve another mystery--the mystery of many an early and, as we might think, untimely death? How often do we see a life cut short at the very climax of its best powers, in the very midst of its n.o.blest service! All the earlier days had been directed, and had contributed to the perfection of the instrument, and then, just when its work was doing, came the sudden end. Was it not so to our Blessed Lord Himself? May it not be said with due reverence that, if only His human life on earth had been prolonged, His teaching, and His miracles, and His sinlessness, and His love must have swayed and melted the hearts of men, even of those who so long and so stubbornly withstood Him? We might so think. But, just when His young life was at its prime of human excellence, He died, and His human Spirit pa.s.sed to preach salvation to souls in the spirit land.

So are souls, it may be, taken from us at the summit of their ripeness, but only to be transferred to another scene, and to be employed upon other work. Their labours change, but their works indeed do follow with them to that land where other souls of those who knew not Christ here may learn to know Him there, and knowing Him may choose Him, and choosing Him may be His and He theirs even to the end.

VIII.

"Not handling the word of G.o.d deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of G.o.d."

--2 COR. IV. 2.

The Scriptural doctrine of the Intermediate Life, as I have tried, so far, to set it forth, is a very different thing from what our Twenty-second Article calls "The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory."

The word "purgatory" simply means the sphere or life of cleansing. The Intermediate State, therefore, during which the soul is being purified and fitted for the vision of G.o.d in Heaven may be legitimately called "a purgatory." But "The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory" means much more than this. It is a belief which, originating in what was true and Scriptural, gradually became so overlaid with subsequent additions, that the original truth was at length buried and lost sight of. What the Twenty-second Article condemns is not any and every conceivable doctrine concerning Purgatory, but the Romish doctrine only. And here it is well to note that all false beliefs which have had for any length of time a wide currency among men have been founded upon and have retained in them some element of truth. This it is which enabled them to survive: this and nothing else gives to error its vitality. These false beliefs are not mere error, but contain truth and error mixed together. The error perverts and makes void the truth; but without the truth the error could not live.

In the case of the doctrine of Purgatory, the true and Scriptural doctrine of the progressive purification of the soul in the Intermediate State is the element of truth on which has been based the Romish Doctrine of Purgatory. Wherein then lies the error of it?

1. In the first place, whereas the Bible teaches, as we have seen, that every soul at death enters the Intermediate State, the souls of the greatest saints as well as the souls of the greatest sinners, "the Romish Doctrine" teaches that the souls of very many never enter the Intermediate State at all. The souls of the holy patriarchs of old, of Christian martyrs, and of canonized Saints, it is held, pa.s.s straight to heaven. On the other hand, the souls of those who die in mortal sin, and of excommunicated persons are believed to go straight to h.e.l.l. Thus practically the Intermediate State is cancelled for these two cla.s.ses.

There remains, therefore, only one cla.s.s which is supposed to enter the Intermediate State, those namely, who have died in venial sin. And since it is part of the Romish doctrine to regard Paradise as the same thing as Heaven, and to hold that the souls which alone enter Purgatory, after suffering due torments, pa.s.s direct out of Purgatory into Paradise or Heaven, it follows that in the Intermediate State are only those who are actually undergoing, for the time appointed, the pains of Purgatory. For all, therefore, eventually the Intermediate State is terminated at some time on this side of the Day of Judgment. Hence it came about that those who rejected the Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory rejected along with it the doctrine of the Intermediate State, since, virtually, Purgatory and the Intermediate State had been regarded as practically one and the same thing, as indeed they were in duration conterminous. In rejecting the one therefore, men unhappily but almost naturally rejected the other also.

2. Further, the pains which are felt in the process of purification, as has been shown, spring from within the soul itself, and are not necessarily or for all inflicted as a torment or punishment from without.

Rather they arise from the soul's own action upon itself, from its own pangs of shame and self-abas.e.m.e.nt, all deepened and made more poignant by the ever increasing sense of the love of Jesus Christ, then as never before apprehended, and by the holy vision of His perfections. Thereby, as they gaze on Him, they are changed by the influence of the sight of Him, into greater likeness to Him. On the other hand, contrast with these the nature of the pains which the Romish Doctrine a.s.signs to the souls in Purgatory. They are held in all cases to be penal, that is to say, inflicted by G.o.d as punishment. The souls are said to suffer torments! {84} Moreover these torments, as is taught in Roman Catholic treatises on the subject, are caused by literal and material flames, by actual fires which would feed on and consume corporeal substances such as the human body. But what enters the Intermediate State is the soul only, not the body: and, in the nature of things, the sufferings of the incorporeal part of our being can only be themselves incorporeal. The pains of the spirit can only be spiritual pains.

3. Again, the "Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory" is closely bound up with what are called in the Thirty-first Article "the Sacrifices of Ma.s.ses," and with the sale of "Pardons" or Indulgences, named in the Twenty-second Article. The character of the Romish doctrine, as of every other doctrine, must be tested by what has grown with its growth. It was held that by these "Sacrifices of Ma.s.ses" and "Indulgences" souls, one by one, were released from Purgatorial fires sooner than, without their aid, they could be delivered, and thus were at once admitted to Paradise or Heaven.

What, however, does the Thirty-first Article precisely mean by "Sacrifices of Ma.s.ses"? The expression is peculiar, and appears to have been designedly so shaped in order to be clearly distinguished from what is meant by the Sacrifice in the Ma.s.s, or Holy Communion. For that the Holy Communion has been held and taught by our chief English Divines to be a Sacrifice cannot well be disputed. {86} But the term "Sacrifices of Ma.s.ses" was intended to signify what were called, at the time when the Article was drawn up, "Private Ma.s.ses," which were offered chiefly for souls in Purgatory, and in return for money payment. The Article refers to modes of speaking prevalent on the lips of men at the time. It condemns that which was "_commonly said_." And what was it that was "commonly said"? It was commonly said that, while Christ's death on the Cross was indeed a propitiation for original or birth sin, on the other hand for daily sins, committed after Baptism, another propitiatory sacrifice was needed, _viz._, the "Sacrifice of the Ma.s.s." Thus the Sacrifice of the Ma.s.s, which is not the same thing as the Sacrifice _in_ the Ma.s.s, was regarded as an addition to and distinct from the Sacrifice on the Cross, as indeed a repet.i.tion of it, having a propitiatory value of its own, which the Sacrifice on the Cross had not; just as though it were what Bishop Gardiner, in repudiating it, described as "a new Redemption." {87} Hence it came about that the belief arose that Ma.s.ses offered for specific purposes had more virtue for those purposes than what was called "a Common Ma.s.s." The practice, therefore, of offering "private Ma.s.ses" for souls in Purgatory, as it was very lucrative, so it became very prevalent. Thus spiritual things were used for the purpose of bringing large money gains to the Chantry Priests, and what should be, and we may surely affirm was meant to be, for the common benefit of all became the narrow privilege of the few. For rich men could provide Ma.s.ses for their dead friends and for themselves after death, which it was quite out of the power of the poor to provide. {88}

4. But a word also must be said about "Indulgences." An Indulgence was an abatement or remission granted by the Church's authority of some part of the temporal penance imposed by that authority upon an evil doer. If the guilty person should show sincere proofs of penitence, or by liberal giving of alms made satisfactory recompense for wrongs done, his penance might be eased, or the term of his excommunication shortened, and his Church privileges partly or wholly restored. It may well be understood how all this might be very wisely and fitly done. The authority which inflicted the penance may rightly have been entrusted with the power also of mitigating or removing it. But gradually this remission of the temporal punishment for sins done in the past became applicable, not seldom, to future sin also: and it soon was no uncommon thing to grant Indulgences for 500, or 10,000, and even for 50,000 years. And, since these long periods of years would, of course, extend beyond any man's term of life on earth, it was obvious that they were intended to secure the remission, not indeed of the guilt of the sin, but of the temporal punishment of sin during all these years in Purgatory. Thus it was supposed that the best possible provision was made whereby the duration of the long years of torments due for sin in Purgatory might be curtailed. But worse remained. The Papal Court needed treasure. And in an evil moment permission was given that these Indulgences might be sold for money. Thus grew up an unholy traffic, which, as we all know, first roused in Germany the storm of the Reformation. Subsequently, the Papal authorities so far yielded as to forbid all taking of money for these Indulgences. But the system itself had meantime taken deep root. It continued, and continues to this day. It was, however, at its worst when the Twenty-second Article was drawn up. Can we be surprised that it sternly condemned it? It is all a pitiful history. But it was necessary to refer to it in order both to show how the growth of the Romish Doctrine of Purgatory gradually gathered round it mischievous accretions, and also to prove how little the belief, that in the Intermediate State there is a progressive advance of the soul in holiness towards perfection, is like the Romish teaching and practice.

But it would be an act of disloyalty to the truth, and of cowardice into the bargain, if we should abandon or minimize a truth because it has been by some corrupted and perverted. Many a truth which has come down to us may have lost some of the fresh l.u.s.tre of its early purity. But all the same, if it is the truth we cannot let it go. And that truth which tells us something of the land, now beyond our sight, to which our dear ones have already pa.s.sed, which we shall each of us ourselves soon enter--the truth which G.o.d has made known to us in Holy Scripture about this land, we cannot afford to ignore and disregard. Nothing is easier than to discredit such a truth by raising the cry of Popery. It is one of the penalties which those have to pay who seek to disentangle the truth which He has in His Church revealed from the untruth which has wrapped it round.

But we must not shrink from this duty. In days when principles are questioned, and almost all truths disputed, we must, at all hazards, learn to keep our sight clear and our footing steady. For the Lord is our Light and our Salvation. Whom then shall we fear? The Lord is the strength of our life: of whom then shall we be afraid? {92}

IX.

"The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day."--2 TIM. I. 18.

We must now bring to a close the discussion which has been occupying our attention: not that everything has been said that can or ought to be said about it; for the interest of the subject grows with the handling of it, as the various features of it open out to view.

So far we have been dealing with the condition of the faithful dead as it affects themselves, with the mode of their own conscious life in the Intermediate State, and with the nature of their own progressive advance towards perfection. But there is another aspect of the question, about which nothing has. .h.i.therto been said, I mean, their relation to us who are still living on earth. A few words, and they must be very few, must be said on this point. It is asked, for example, whether the veil has completely shut out all knowledge of what is pa.s.sing on earth from those who have gone to their rest. No doubt, we can know very little about this. But, at all events, we do not know enough to warrant us in saying with any confidence that they are aware of nothing that is going on here.

It is true that, as has been said, the door that opens between this life and that life only "open inwards," and that none have come back to tell us what in that after life they knew about us and about our doings on earth. Yet this ignorance of ours is not the same thing as knowledge of the contrary, any more than silence is always equivalent to denial.

Because we cannot see with our eyes, nor hear with our ears, and cannot, by our actual senses, put the question to the test, we are not on this account justified in denying. Do we not know almost nothing as to the limits of the powers of the spirit world? All we can say, so far as reason can be our guide, is this, that it is _possible_ that souls in the Intermediate State, if they are conscious of themselves and of their present condition, if they retain memory, if they have means of holding intercourse with one another, may have means of knowing what goes on here: I say that reason will tell us that this is at least possible, and that it is quite impossible to prove the contrary.

But does the Bible throw any light upon this mysterious subject? I think it does. It will be remembered how, in the narrative of the rich man and Lazarus, Abraham is made to say to the rich man, "They have Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them." We may ask, how could Abraham, who lived more than 400 years before the birth of Moses, have known of the existence of Moses, if there were no possible means of communication, by which occurrences on earth could be made known in the unseen world where Abraham was? What could he know of the prophets who lived more than a thousand years after his time, if no possible communication could find its way to that other world? {96} And we may trust this inference because, in a narrative of this kind, whether it be historical or not, it is not to be supposed that our Lord would have introduced a false detail.

Let us, however, turn to another pa.s.sage. In the scene on the Mount of the Transfiguration there appeared, talking with Christ, Moses and Elijah. In what condition were they present? They were still in the Intermediate State. The general Resurrection had not, and has not yet, come. "In glory" they appeared. Yes! some outward clothing, as of a bodily form, gloriously radiant was thrown round them, so that they became visible for the time to the eyes of the three disciples. But in no resurrection bodies did they come; for in those they could not yet present themselves, since they had not yet received them. And what was the theme of their conversation? They spoke, we are told, with Christ concerning the exodus or "death, which He should accomplish at Jerusalem." But how could they speak fitly of this great theme, if they had no knowledge of the circ.u.mstances which were leading to it, of the nature of Christ's Incarnate Life on earth, and something at least or the real significance, known fully to the mind of G.o.d only, of His approaching death? They must have known not only of each other, who and what they had been historically in their own generation, but also what was now pa.s.sing on earth, the course and connection of prophecies and types, and the succession of events in history which had led up to this climax of the fulness of time.

Thus we see that the hearts of these two visitants,--visitants not from Heaven, but from Paradise,--were fastened with a keen interest and strained attention upon the unfolding of that wondrous Life of Christ.

His works and words were the theme of their adoring contemplation. May we not learn then, that what these two great Saints could do was, therefore, at least a possible thing to do, and, according to the will of G.o.d, a thing which others might also do? {98} If so, the barrier between Paradise and earth is so far transparent on that further side, that what G.o.d permits souls in the Intermediate Life to know, that they do actually see and know of the occurrences that are pa.s.sing here. {99}

But I must hasten to the answer of another question. Do they pray for us? Surely that question is as good as answered by what has just been said. If those who have gone from our sight are still permitted to know what it may be good for them to know of the trials and sorrows, the hopes and fears, the temptations and the warfare to which we, whom they loved so well and still love, are exposed on earth, we are sure that they take thought of us and pray for us. Shall not they whose eyes are opened, now that they are with Christ, care for and pray for those whom they have left behind, tossing still upon the troubled seas, and buffeted by the vexing winds and storms of this earthly life?

They are, moreover, "with Christ." What does this really imply,--to be "with Christ"? It must mean at least this, that, where Christ is, there is the Church. And Christ, though He has ascended to the Right Hand of G.o.d, is still in a true sense in Paradise also. For "He filleth all in all." {100a} S. Stephen, before his death, prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Our Lord, therefore, must have been there in Paradise to receive it. S. Paul, long after our Lord's Ascension, knew that to die was better than to live, because it was to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. {100b} But if Christ is there, He must be the object of the worship of those who are also there. So then if Christ be there, and the Church is there, and worship is offered there, then it follows that the whole energy of Church life is there. The souls in Paradise are not so many isolated and individual units. The Church unites them. They are organised in the exercise of worship, sustained, as it surely is, in unfailing and perpetual intensity. As the incense of our worship rises here, it blends with the incense that ascends to Christ there. The Church is militant on earth, it is expectant in Paradise, it will be hereafter triumphant in Heaven. Yet these are not three Churches, but one Church. And this helps us to see more clearly what is meant by the Communion of Saints. The Church on earth and the Church in Paradise are one, and one thrill of spiritual communion vibrates through its members there and here.

But is prayer to be one sided? Communion is not one sided. And communion implies that what they do for us, we should also do for them.

This brings us to one more question. May we, then, pray for those who have pa.s.sed on before us? Let us plainly say that there is every reason for and none against the practice. We have in favour of it the sanction of Bible witness, of primitive Church custom, of Christian and human instinct.

In the Jewish synagogues in our Lord's time, prayers for the dead formed part of the service. {102} Our Lord therefore, Who regularly frequented the synagogue worship, must have been present at times when prayers for the dead were used. If He had disapproved of such prayers, He must have condemned the use of them. But did He? He did not. We have then His tacit sanction of them. S. Paul again, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, must have warned the Gentiles against the practice, unless he approved of it.

But so far from that, there is every reason to suppose that he himself prayed for Onesiphorus. According to the best commentators, Onesiphorus was dead when S. Paul wrote the words quoted in the text, "The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day," _viz._, in the Day of Judgment. {103a} He does not pray for temporal blessings, for health, or even for grace. If it was too late to pray for these things, this omission is quite intelligible.

The earliest Church Liturgies contained in them prayers for the dead.