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THE. GREAT MY5TLRY
— ? -»- ?
LIFE AFTER DEATH.
Lecture by Professor M'Neile,
Probation and progress after death were
dealt with by itev. ? Professor A. II.
M'Xeile, D.I.)., Regius I'i-fti'cs.«,r of
Divinity, University ol .Dublin, in his
fourth lecture, delivered li'st evening at
St.. Paul's Cathedral, on The Problem of
the 'Future Life. There was a large
attendance, lie s.-iid the psychology of
man was inch that nnvthiiic thai nn
lil'trd the '.yes and the mini! wa? felt to be
mblime. Thcrci'.u'c: Cod w:iu conceived as
dwelling iu :i high and holy place. Thcj
ideas of inn.st Christian* were .still deeply I
affected by ancient scriptural liiniruan;. !
The conception oi hell us a locality be- 1
ncath the earth had not retained ils hold,
and yet she idea that il was a locality
.-initially .separated from heaven fclill clung
hard. .Minds wuru mi constituted that in
their present stale they could not, ex
cept, in pure theory, think oi individual
persons apart from thu category ot space.
And it might bu flint people would tluuk
iu a similar way hercai'lcr. Whatever
cl.se they involved, thu words' heaven and
hcli represented two conditions which
might be culled a pciicctcd union with
Siod ami ;i complete iccpalation iroin him.
If s-o. partial union with God and partial j
partition from Him wuic respectively de
grees of approach to or degrees of realisa
tion oi the two conditions, heaven and
hell. Kvery step of progress or ot retro
epecliou in the. spiritual life win that do
glee of nearer movement to the one or
other. So that going lo heaven and going
to hell were in each case a spiritual pro
cesB, not a spatial movement, and still
less one performed only alter the death of
the body. Some people had u crude idea
that God's forgiveness was a very simple
atlnir, tho readiness of a BOlt-hcarled,
good-natured Being to forgive and forget,
an though lui' looked pityingly at
a sinner who was going on sinning
with occasional .'twinges- of conscience.
Repcntence moved n burner between tho
soul ?and Cod, but it did not make people
all at once what they might have been
had 'they not sinned. Itcp'untiiucc must be
u real change of mind. Then forgiveness
was instantaneous. A man who frequently
yinned anil grew worse, unui on inn uemu
bod he turned to Ciod in earnest repent
ance, received in u moment freo and lull
loiKivcnesK. But it could not be sup
posed lhat the spiritual struggle, was thus
suddenly rendered unnecessary. It fol
lowed that souls which had repented bo
gun their existence in widely dmercnt
spiritual conditions after, death. ? l.ncy
wcer all with Clod in paradise, which might
be tunned the intermediate stale. It mutt
be a stage of spiritual growth which begiiu
exactly, at the stage that each individual
had reached at the moment of his death.
Here- they stood* on the brink ot impene
trable mystery, and they could not even
guess how npiritunl growth was curried
on. Tho highest element in man was
spirit, which made him desire to rise
Tcm-tution to n human being in this lite
was perfectly natural and inevitable. Jt
was the clash, the stress and strain tlijit
occurred whenever the spirit, in its dis
position to rise higher, felt tho downward
pull of the annual nature in man. Jomp
tntion was not wrong; nor was it a urn to
feel tho strain, but to .give way under it. Jf
there was after death tin overcoming o!
resistance its nature could not be identi
cal with temptation as it, was known here.
Kxtcrnal influences for good or evil might,
still bo felt. The perfect development
would be readied when th« lower was en
tirely overci'iuc. If this was anything like,
a true description of spiritual progress
after death it was in line with progress
here. Trouble had a purifying effect, and
there might hereafter be some sort ot
trouble in the purification process. , Una
might be thought lo bo what many people
called purgatory-- not a place and not suf
ferings which could bo even remotely wm
Killed bv physical torture, but something
that could not bo , described. If trouble
contributed lo tho spiritual growth ot t.bose
who bad departed it, was clearly -i para
mount duly to pray for them as for men
and women on earth. If people on eartli
could pray for the departed there need
bo no hesitation in thinking, they coiiltl
pray tor people en carin. ii iik'.v ««m.
m-thej- and prayed to them cafe must be
taken to defino the toi-inn.. an it was un
thinkable that an expression of humble
reverence, dependence, worship or adora
tion should be offered to any but Got. . If
vc(]ui'sfs to tho departed were kept strict
ly on a par with requests made, to men
on earth (here could not bu anything
wrong. Th*ro were absolutely no means
of knowing how long it took souls lo reach
perfeetne.«s with God; that, was heaven.
It was equally impossible for people on
earth to know whether, any given soul was
yet completely in heaven o» not. If
ihcre was progress the rale, of it was a
mystery beyond their knowledge.
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