THAT BETTER WORLD BY GEORGE W. FIELD, D.D. BOSTON; CHARLES G. CHASE, PUBLISHER, 10 Centkal Street. Copyright, 1890, By Charles G. Chase. THE SOUTH PUBLISHING CO., ENGRAVERS & PRINTERS, 22 COLLEGE PLACE, NEV^ YORK. This sermon is printed by a friend of the author^ with the hope that it may carrij comfort to the hearts of many bereaved and suffering ones. 43385 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/thatbetterworldOOfiel THAT BETTER WORLD. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. — Matthew 13 : 43. HESP2 v/ords invite us to some thoughts upon heaven. If we thought more of that better world, we should desire it more, and our lives might be more in harmony with its spirit. But can we have any definite concep- tion of that world ? Are not all the teachings of the Bible, in regard to it, of a very vague and general nature ? They are indeed so — too mucli so, per- haps, to justify us in speaking of the details of the future life with any degree of posi- tiveness. And yet, even from these general statements, we can deduce particular con- 6 That Better World. ceptions, suggestive to the mind and stim- ulating to the heart. When I read, for instance, that we are to be clothed upon hereafter with a spiritual body (a body perfectly tractable to the spirit, in harmony with it, instead of a clog and an incum- brance as this material body so often is), does not that one broad statement throw a very blessed light over the heavenly state, and does it not suggest a multitude of analogies as well as of differences be- tween the present and the future ? When I read of a paradise, of trees of life and waters of life, of fruits and flowers that never wither and fade ; when I read of a city whose walls are gold, whose pave- ments are jasper, whose gates are pearl, — am I not justified thereby in attaching all conceptions of beauty of nature or of art to that world; in believing that what- ever fairness of scenery or richness of adornment earth hath ever exhibited to me, or my fancy conceived, falls infinitely That Better World. 7 short of tlie beauty and glory which is over the abodes of the blessed ; that when I let fancy revel and gather all forms of gorgeonsness and magnifieence, I only err in the adequacy of the conception, in putting such ordinary beauties in the place of the ineffable glories which are to be over the new heavens and the new earth ? When I read that we are not to sorrow for onr lost friends, as those who have no hope, that is, no hope of meeting them again ; when I read (as I do in so many pages of the Bible) of the communion and fellowship of heaven, — what a storehouse of blessedness is opened to me at once in the thought of the renewed and the perpetuated friend- ships and affections of heaven ! and what forbids a sanctified imagination, guided by the laws of our spiritual nature, from drawing a thousand scenes of social bliss, richer than we now know how distinctly to conceive ? When I hear Paul longing 8 That Better World. to depart that he may be with Christ, that one little touch of being with Christ, what a glimpse does it give me into the whole life of holy beings, and what end- less particular enjoyments my imagination und my reason find clustering around the idea of the society and the friendships of exalted intelligences, and, most of all, the society and friendship of the Divine Man ! And though all our representations and our conceptions of heaven, of its beauty, its freedom, its friendships, its raptures of adoration, necessarily fall short of the intensity and the glory of the reality, yet are they the best our imperfect natures permit ; and they serve a good purpose, even as the coarse pictures and hiero- glyphics of savages convey from tribe to tribe an idea, though it be imperfect, of things which only the written speech of a cultivated mind can adequately body forth. And so though the teachings of the Bible may be very general and vague, That Better World, 9 yet they lead us to definite conceptions which may be very useful and stimulating to us. Before speaking of these conceptions, let me say that I cannot now, as in my earlier days, speak of the Christian as entering immediately at death on the complete happiness and perfection of his being. I believe indeed that death shall bring an exceeding exaltation of condition and of character. I can see how that shall be, must be, in the nature of things, as I shall show. But I do not see what power there can be in death, in the ceasing of the heart to beat and the blood to flow, to bring about so unspeakable a change as the full bliss of the body and spirit ; nor can I con- eeive of God as putting forth his power to produce such a result in opposition to those laws of voluntary growth and of gradual development which prevail every- where else in the universe as far as we know of it, and which seem inseparable 10 That Better World. from our nature as far as u e understand it. It seems to me that we do not stop to consider what is implied in perfection of condition and of character, or we should be staggered at the thought of its ensuing at once with scarcely an instant’s interval upon the exceeding imperfections of this mortality, nor should we think it possible. If I were in an instant to become a per- fect being, with every faculty of thought, every sensibility and affection, every ca- pacity of enjoyment carried to its utmost limit, lifted to its utmost height, I should not know myself, I should not be myself. It would be another being created to take the place of the old one, separated from it by so wide a space that the personal iden- tity could not span the chasm nor recog- nize itself. If it could, it would perha[)s be too much for it. As it is sometimes said that the sudden vision of God would consume the mortal who looked upon it, so such a swift transition from the exceed- That Better World. 11 ing imperfections of earth to the perfect happiness and good of heaven would be too much for the spirit to endure ; it would perish in the excess of its blessed- ness. Moreover, those who believe (a& our Church generally has believed) in a middle state, an existence intervening before the final judgment, might be asked to say what purpose such an inter- mediate state could serve, except the development of tlie being along the lines on which it has started itself in life, its development towards a consummation which will lead on naturally to its full heaven. If at the moment of death the good enter upon that perfection of char- acter and of bliss which makes our essen- tial conception of heaven, why should they be thought of as detained from the actual heaven during those long inter- vening cycles of ages? But if we sup- pose that during this intermediate period they are advancing in goodness, in knowl- 12 That Better' World. edge, ui love, in all nobility of cliaracter and of life, gradually growing in ripeness for the final consummation, we shall see abnndaot significance in it. But whether with a belief in an intermediate state or not, it seems to me quite incredible to suppose that the spirit at the very moment of entering the higher life reaches that perfection of its nature which is rather the goal and consum- mation towards which it will be approach- ing through interminable ages. What, then, is the change which takes place at death, to the good man, and what may be conceived to be the advantages, the blessedness of the condition on which he then enters? In considering this, we will follow the track of thought which suggested itself when, a few moments since, I spoke of the definite conceptions of heaven which de- velop themselves out of the few general statements of the Bible, in regard to the That Better World. leS spiritual body, the l)eauty of heaven, its friendships, its worship. In the first place, there is the change, and the exaltation of condition implied in the exchange of the present material body for that spiritual body with which the Scriptures so plainly assert that we shall be clothed upon at death. This at least we must understand of the spiritual l)ody : it is free from the limitations, the infirmities, the pains, the disabilities which in the nature of things inhere in tlie material body. To the spiritual body there can be no sickness, weakness, weariness, no need of food and raiment and material supplies to support a material existence, no poverty therefore, no want, no business cares and perplexi- ties — none surely of the drudgery of physical work. No longer shall men and women, endowed with faculties of thought, of imagination, of reason, — endowed with loftiest and finest sensibilities, — be con- 14 That Better World. demiiecl to spend their days in mechanical pursuits for ends better accomplished by many machines of modern invention. You whose life is bound to some tedious and unvaried employment which is irk- some to you and gives no play to your liigher nature, if an edict should go forth, “Labor no more; be free to expatiate in thoughts and pursuits congenial to you,” what a weary bondage it would liberate you from, and what a glorious enlarge- ment you would feel it to be ! You who have the seeds of disease sown in your bodies, and who struggle day after day and month after month against feebleness, and infirmities, and all whose plans and schemes for the future are perplexed, and all whose enjoyments are clouded by this constant sense of debility and constant fear of something worse ever threatening — suppose that in an instant liealth and vigor should enter your system, and an inexpressible elasticity, ease, and lightness That Better World. 15 should [)ervade all the movements ot mind and body, so that you should feel not only that disease was worked out, but that, stretch and strain your powers to tlie utmost and yield yourself to all expos- ures, no weariness or languor or sickness or pain would ensue, why, this simple thing would almost change the whole complexion of life and make heaven out of it for a time. When we consider how much of the suffering of life, of its dis- abilities, its failures, come from the body (the body doubtless has its glorious side that shall be taken up into the spiritual), how much, I say, of the suffering and the failure of life come from the material body, from that in it which is of the earth earthy — we shall feel that it will be an inexpressible gain when it is re- placed by the spiritual body. Take again the influence of the spirit- ual body in its reference to character, so much more important than that of happi- 16 That Better World. ness merely. In the close union between the body and the spirit, the sins and infirmities of the spirit work themselves into the body in some mysterious way, so that when the spirit would renounce them the struggle is inexpressibly harder, often only partially successful, because the evil is so imbedded and intrenched in the physical nature. I do not mean merely that there are sins of the body, intemperance, glut- tony, sensuality of all kinds ; the truth to which I refer is broader and deeper than that — every sin of the mind^ of the hearty works some change in the body whereby the sin is more likely to repeat itself. We can see this more plainly per- haps in the corporeal sins. Take an ex- treme case, like that of intemperance. Be3'ond a certain point the body of itself holds the man, as it were, to his vice ; the evil tendency wrought into the physical nature triumphs over the bet- ter desire awakening in the spiritual That Better World. 17 nature ; the law in the members, as Paul says, triumphs over the law of the mincL But the same thing is true, though less obviously, of all sins. Every wrong de- sire, peevish feeling, outbreak of passion, makes haste to imprint and intrench itself upon that part of our nature which lies halfwa3^ between the body and the spirit and partakes of the nature of both, — - the nervous system, — and from that vantage- ground and stronghold is harder to be driven out of the being. When the repenting spirit renounces the sin, the unrepentant body holds on, as it were, to its share of it and reacts to keep the spirit as it was. To what extent such sins as envy, jealousy, malignity (sins of the spirit solely) will work themselves into the physical nature, the nervous nature, just as intemperance, for instance, does, you have a proof in the fact that they will mold the whole (countenance into their expression. Pride, haughtiness, craftiness. 18 That Better World. will show themselves in the whole physi- cal form and bearing. And so the body, fashioned into sympathy with the sins of the past, tends to keep the spirit fastened and anchored to the past, and death, loos- ening the spirit from the body, delivers it from this encumbrance ; the law which is in the members no longer works against the law of the spirit. The new body is called the spiritual body, partly because it is in sympathy with the spirit, catches up, reflects, confirms, intensifies its aspirations and desires — works with it. So that to the good man the mere falling away of the body with the bonds and attachments which it has thrown around the spirit shall be at once the entrance upon a life so much freer and nobler and higher than the present that we cannot know now how to conceive what it is. The blessedness of^ the spiritual body shall be not only in what it delivers the spirit from, but, even more, in that which That Better World. 19 it adds unto it. It shall be a spiritual body in that all its members and func- tions shall be so perfectly subordinated to the indwelling spirit, so quick and true to catch and express its least move- ment, so instinct and pervaded by its life as to be itself almost spirit, so in sym- pathy with it as to confirm and intensify all its aspirations and work with it towards all spiritual ends. That new body shall not be as the present too often is, only a dark wall, behind which the spirit hides itself, but the transparent veil through which it shines, lit up and transfigured by the indwelling beauty and glory. There shall be no jar between the body and spirit ; no more shall coarse and un- gracious features disfigure a sweet and gracious spirit ; no more shall a harsh, grating voice mar gentle and loving sen- sibilities. Oh, what a strange gush and richness of soul shall pour itself forth in the very tones there, when the new, the 20 That Better World. spiritual organs shall at once instinctivelj assume the very shade of expression most befitting each varying emotion of the soul ! what joy when the spirit shall mold the countenance and the form into the like- ness of its own grace and purity, and every figure and feature shall outrival all that artists have conceived, for the richest ideals of this Avorld shall be sur- passed in the realities of that I Then what strange powers may be given to that spiritual body; through what vast distances the eye may send its glance, so that as I behold all within these walls, even with such distinctness shall the spiritual man, standing on the battle- ments of heaven, send his vision among distant worlds ! Then, too, with what incredible ease and rapidity and delight may these spiritual bodies pass from place to place, as even now at the bidding of my will my arm moves, so at the like summons the spiritual body passing from That Better World. 21 city to city and from planet to planet with like ease and with some now un- known delight ! Then also what new senses may be opened in the spiritual body ; senses, which as the present senses touch oidy the forms, the phenomena of things, as the philosophers say, so these new senses may penetrate into the very nature and essence of things and make us to see truths which are now too deep for reason to reach. God only knows what new and strange powers may de- velop themselves in the spiritual body if not at the instant of death, yet in the progress of the coming life. Thus have I mentioned a few of the things suggested in the teaching regarding the spiritual body. And before I go on to speak of what is implied in that other representation of heaven as a place of ineffable beauty, let me say that I thiidv good people have made heaven seem less attractive than it 22 That Better World. ought to be, ill two ways. First, by try- ing to make it too unlike this life, as though any resemblance to this world would degrade it — not recognizing that this world is God’s work also, and might be a heaven if those who dwell in it were what they ought to be. Then also they render heaven less attractive by seeking to make its happiness consist too much in one thing, one kind of activity and of happiness — overlooking the fact that our nature was made for many kinds of activity and happiness, and can find its full heaven only in them all, and forgetting what is clearly taught and symbolized b}' the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruit and yielding its fruit every month ; the boundless diversity of pursuits for which heaven may and undoubtedly will afford unrestricted scope and opportunity. Why should conscience, that part of my nature which reveals to me the right, and which, therefore, is the foundation of That Better World. 23 righteousness and of holiness, be con- sidered sacred, while that other part of my nature which reveals to me the beautiful be not sacred also, although they are alike implanted of God, alike reveal to us something in the nature of God, and although they are inseparably bound to- gether, since if we should practise the right merely out of constraints of con- science, without any sense of the beauty of goodness, conscience itself would not be satisfied, for to be truly good we must feel the beauty of goodness as well as its obligation; but this sense of the beauty of goodness is the rudiment, the germ of all that material beauty which God has scat- tered over the universe, meaning that everywhere there should be suggestions, correspondences, symbols of the nobilities and the beauties of that goodness in which our nature is to find its supremest good. Yes, beauty is divine; beauty is sacred. It shall be a part of our heaven. He who 24 That Better World. made a paradise for the unfallen race has prepared a grander paradise for the race redeemed. That garden where Adam and Eve dwelt with its goodly trees “of noblest kind” (of which the poet tells) ‘-‘for sight, smell, taste, its flowers of all hues, its rose without thorn, its vernal airs, breathing the smell of field and grove,” — this is only the type of that heavenly garden, fairer than any poet’s fancy ever conceived, which shall reveal itself in advancing ages in fuller and fuller measure to the ever-advancing spirit, to be looked upon also by eyes endowed with a finer sense of observa- tion, a keener relish of beauty, a richer glow of sensibility than we can now con- ceive. Forms of beauty richer than any artist’s fancy conceived shall brighten every pathway of that better land. For I believe that all the higher faculties, kept dowii here, by hard circumstances, in many a true and Christian man, there That Better World. 25 shall have a chance to develop themselves and to 3 deld each its appropriate felicity. Oh, these wondrous minds which God has given to us all, capable of such vast improvement, of such noble achievements, of such rich happiness, made for some- thing better than tliis life makes possible to most of us, — kept down by grinding conditions of poverty, lack of culture, buried under tlie rubbish of poor and narrow cares, — there, beyond the grave liberated, they shall break forth and range with unutterable joy through the limitless domains of knowledge, of thought, of fancy ; shall expatiate through the broad universe of truth, everywhere gathering vast and rich materials to kindle emotion, •to quicken thought, to deepen joy, to exalt tlie spirit, to inspire worship. The quiet pleasures of research and study which fall in life only to the lot of a few cul- -tivated minds, but of which multitudes .of the poorest and the 1 nimblest are as 26 That Better World. capable as any, shall be in that better world an element of rich delight in the cup of every child of God. There is the young person now present who, if he be true to the highest law of his nature, which is the law of his God, shall find himself in that blessed world, in some coming period, gifted with a deeper insight of truth, a sublimer style of thought and speech than ever fell to the lot of the most gifted son of earth ; and all the raptures which the masters of eloquence, of thought, of poetry ever felt when swept along by the inspiration of genius, and bearing delighted auditors with them, shall be as naught compared with his, when he shall rise to heights from which he can look down upon their loftiest flights as the efforts of mere children. Ambition, the natural emulation which God has implanted and made one of our strongest passions, and which when found in an un- selfish and magnanimous nature is only an That Better World. 27 added beauty to the character, is (I often think) an argument for another life. For- ever baffled here in the case of almost all, it points forward to a coming existence where it shall find its fulfilment and its fruition. Heaven is to be no dull and listless world. There shall be great and stirring events in comparison with which the most exciting achievements of earth shall be only as children’s sport. Oh, thou young man, whose heart is beating to the quick pulsations of a generous am- bition, did you not know, have you not read in the Bible that there is an honor and glory eternal? Did you not know that there is a sphere of action as mucli broader and higher than any here as heaven is higher than earth, as eternity is longer than time ? exploits to be wrought there by the side of which those of earthly heroes are only the listless efforts of weak and disordered intellects ? But let me turn to anotlier of the em- 28 That Better World. ployments and enjoyments of heaven. I have no doubt that the future life will be full of opportunities for quiet, humble, self-sacrificing benevolence. When I con- sider how the whole discipline of life serves to implant this principle to those who take it aright — all domestic, social, civil life ; when I consider how all the influences and teachings of Christianity tend to the same result (to lead us to sink self in thoughts of the good of others), — I cannot think that there is any such harsh discontinuity in the arrange- ments of providence that we, thus disci- plined all our lives, should find ourselves at death instantly transferred to a state for which all this training has no relation, a condition of easy, supine, half-selfish happiness. To multitudes of the best spirits this happiness would be no happi- ness. They would spurn it for the happiness of self-sacrifice. •. And if it be asked. What room for this That Better World. 29 in heaven where are none to be helped? — perhaps our conception of the future life is not the wisest — if no more, there are in that world grades of happiness ; and may not the higher find some room for their benevolent activity in lifting to their own level those beneath them? But there must be more than this. Are we not told of the blessed, that they are ministering spirits to those that live? and does not that open to us one source of benevolent activity possible to them ? And do we not read of the angels, that they rejoice over the repentant sinner ? and does not that give us to see some relations of love which they sustain to the wicked and suf- fering ? Are we not told of their being sent on embassies of love ? I doubt not that in that better world there shall be not only opportunities for quiet, humble, lov- ing service, such as shall befit and satisfy all tlie aspirations of some of us, but there shall be also grand achievements of 30 That Better World. benevolence such as shall satisfy those with whose benevolence is joined also the desire for high and glorious activity. Who knows what grand enterprises of benevolence reaching beyond the limits of heaven, if I may so speak, involving in their issues the destinies of jnyriads of beings, may be entrusted to the skill and the wisdom and the energy of redeemed and exalted spirits ? Who knows what regions of God’s dominion may be con- trolled and governed and molded by the sons of light? We read of dominions and principalities and powers in heaven, mak- ing us to know not only that there is no dull uniformity of life there, but also that the blessed spirits shall be ever rising to higher grades of goodness and of great- ness according to their vaiying measure of beneficent power. In heaven as on earth the door to the best greatness shall be Christian goodness. I scarcely regret that I have not suffi- That Better World. 31 cient time to speak of another source of happiness. The friendships of heaven is a subject so tender we should hardly dare trust ourselves to speak of it. Who has not felt, at least at times, that the renewed friendships and affections of heaven must make its supreme felicity ? To take the beloved ones again by the hand, to look into the dear faces, to talk of all the way God has led us, — together to explore the wonders of the new existence, — it seems as though this were all the heaven we should desire. Friendship is the best hap- piness of this world; but friendship is a flower almost too delicate for the bleak airs and the rough winds and the thin soil of our world. In heaven it shall bloom with a sweetness of perfume and drop a richness of fruit which earth can never know. There we shall meet the dear departed ones, whose virtues and graces, ethereal- ized by the touch of death, are garnered 32 That Better World. ill our memories. In a moment we shall know them. Though so strangely altered, though in every lineament and feature there shall be the glow and beauty of heaven, we shall know them at once. Oh, the joy of those meetings ! Who can tell of the sweetness which the interchange of love shall add to all the felicity of heaven, without which it would not be heaven ? How shall we love to talk of all the way God has led us! How shall we wonder and mourn that in the cares and selfish- ness of the life we lived on earth we had not better revealed the deeper experience of our nature to one another and known more of the love which was in each other’s hearts, and jnelded a more helpful sympa- thy to one another ! Oh, the bliss of the long-tried friendships and loves that shall survive the grave ! of the way-worn com- rades “ who shall renew their pledges on the farther side of the river of death ” ! As some one says, ‘‘Wot a pang, not a That Better World, 33 parting, not a self-denial, not a self-sacri- fice but shall there be fondly remembered. Acts and sufferings which could not be spoken of here, too sacred, too sublime, will reveal there their depths of love. Ye who live, bear bravely, silently, the strain of unselfish self-sacrificing, minis- tering tenderness; it is making love im- mortal ; it is making the bliss of heaven intense and complete.” And there are new friendships in heaven as well as the renewal of the old ones. What illustrious characters must meet together there — all the great and good who ever walked our earth. And we may enrich ourselves every day with some new friendship of some lofty spirit, of whom we have read in the his- tory of the good, or whose recorded words have stirred and quickened our hearts. And there shall be other spirits besides the illustrious sons of earth whom we 34 That Better World, may see and know. Heaven is gathering within its walls all that is pure and rich and divine from every quarter of the universe. There we may see, perchance, and converse with beings of a different order, spirits from other worlds, trained under different conditions ; angels, per- haps, who have been gathering wisdom, enlarging their thoughts and powers for more ages than our world has existed years, and whose memories contain the history of worlds, perchance, and systems of worlds. We have thought it the dis- tinction of our lives, perhaps, that we have heard words from the lips of some famous master of wisdom or of eloquence. What a divine pleasure worthy of heaven to hear one of these sons of immortality discoursing of his treasured wisdom in strains such as angels use ! As we think of it, we are lost in wonder at the possi- bility of such destinies of blessedness awaiting such as we, l^hat Better World. 35 But Christ shall be the grand attrac- tion of heaven ; his friendship its su- preme felicity. When we consider how glorious a being He is, it seems as thougli such as we could only stand at a distance and adore and worship him. Then we remember what the disciples were, how dull of comprehension, how unworthy ia character, and yet how closely He took them to His heart, how tenderly He loved them even unto the end, and we feel that to us also, at least when refined by the touch of death, there may be the same felicity. He shall be our friend and companion (as Paul taught, and the good have always believed), and shall come nearer to us and we come nearer to Him, perhaps, than to any of our earthly friends. We know not liow to speak of this friendship. We doubt not that the smile of recognition wherewith He shall meet the ascending spirit shall be the beginning of its felicity, and, when thou- 36 That Better World, sands of ages shall have passed away, the spirit shall find nothing so sweet in all the universe of its delights as His friendship. Thus poorly have I spoken to you of heaven. If I had had much more of time and ability, I should still have spoken poorly. No thought or speech of man can do it justice. If we should ever reach that better world, how poor and tame the most glowing representation will seem in comparison with the reality I Is there indeed a world where we shall be delivered from the infirmities and the limitations, the pains and the weariness of the earth, and be clothed upon with bodies that shall flourish in immortal youth and vigor? Is there a paradise, a garden of our God set off with a beauty and a glory by the side of which what is fairest on earth is but as the desert where the owl and the satyr dwell ; a garden which our feet shall tread and our eyes That Better World. 87 look upon ? Is there a world under whose genial influence all our faculties and capacities shall revel in all treasures of thought, and in time rise to unknown heights of greatness? Is there a world where we shall dwell with all pure and loving spirits, where we shall be reunited forever with those we most love and honor ; where we shall behold the face of Jesus and share his felicity forever? What should we need more than that simple thought to lift us above the depres- sions and temptations of the world ; to arm us with fortitude ; to inspire us with zeal, and to make us live for things that are heavenly and eternal ? “Oh, could we,” as some one says — “ could we but lift the veil and sweep one earnest glance over the heavenly plains, our life would become a longing for the moment of emancipation ; and of all God’s angels, the brightest and most wel- come would be his angel of Death ! 38 That BeMer World. Who would not rather depart and be with Christ, which is far better, if he was as sure as the apostle was that his lifework was accomplished, his battle fought out. Ids victory forever won ! What here would keep us from the white-robed throng, the palm, the crown, the vision of the Saviour, the rest of the blessed and glorified ? ”