The Highest Evidence of Immortality
‘In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not 80, I would have told you. Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” — Joun xiv. 2, 8.
AM not aware that these verses have ever
before been put together. And yet they are as closely connected as if they had been consecutive. Christ had been speaking of immortality and of the silence which even in His teaching hangs over the subject. A discussion had arisen as to “the way” of arriving at a clear conviction on this point. Thomas is of opinion that the true attitude for men is agnosticism, “We know not whither Thou goest; and how can we know the way!” But Philip takes another view, “Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us” — sufficeth us for a proof of immortality. This is what I understand him to
mean. I read him as saying that for the belief in a future state the one thing needed is a clear conviction of the existence of God. And I am bound to say that I agree with that statement. Personally, I should ask no stronger evidence of immortality than the distinct consciousness that I am in the presence of God. That is Tennyson’s argument as well as Philip’s; he says, “Thou art just; Thou wouldst not leave me in the dust.” It is a bold saying; he founds his immortal hope not on God’s grace but on His justice. I think he is right. If God made an eagle immortal, it would be an act of grace; the eagle’s life is quite complete here, it needs no more. But to make man immortal, is only justice. His life is not complete here. Itisa fragment. It is like the half of an unfinished, though inhabited, castle. Within that finished half there is a mass of unused furniture — furniture which can only be used in upper rooms. Shall the upper rooms never come! Shall there never be use for the furniture! Shall there be no completion of the building! Shall man be the one fragment in the universe — the bud that never flowers, the dawn that never spreads, the bird that never flies, the river that never reaches the sea! Surely that is incompatible with the justice of my Father!
Father in heaven, when I am in doubt about my future, let me gaze into Thy present face!
I feel, like Thy disciple, that a sure knowledge of Thee would suffice for my hope of immortality. I need not the opening of pearly gates. I need not the unsealing of crystal fountains. I need not the hearing of heavenly voices. I need not stand upon a Pisgah height with the Promised Land in view. I have only to gaze at Thee. I have only to remember that Thy work is never left unfinished, that when Thou hast begun a building Thou wilt perfect it. Thow art the evidence of my immortality, O Lord. I could not know Thee to be just, and doubt that Iam immortal. My brightest evidence is not my perfections but my imperfections. It is just where I am weak that I am strong. I am too small for the clothes Thou hast made me. I have aspirings beyond my strength. I have desires beyond my power. I have visions beyond the range of my telescope. I have a will to be good beyond the capacity of my nature. I have purposes of action beyond the limit of any human life. I have debts to pay that would require eternity to discharge. Why hast Thou swathed. me in such: garments, if I am not to grow! Why hast Thou lodged me in such a dwelling, if I am never to have a larger income! I appeal to Thy justice, O my Father. I need no other proof of a life beyond; the thought of Thy justice sufficeth.