Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-12-13
A IREAM OF HEAVEN.

EDWARD FOSTER TEMPLES IDEA Of
A HAPPY HEREAFTER.
The Bright and Beautiful Condition of til,
Soul In the Abode Beyond the Grave
Reasoning That Brings Comfort to til,
Bereaved.
There is nothing in life SO interesting a.
death. Whether we have an immortal sou
! and what becomes of it when the spirit il
out Of the earthly body is a problem ever
In the human mind, and one that eye1
cries to us trumpet tongued as we stant
by the side Of our beloved dead. In Toda,
Edward Foster Temple declares his convic
ton of a bright and happy spiritual life il
IN article entitled GA Dream of Heaven
He begins by saying:
"In my conception of heaven there are
bloom and bird song very much akin tc
the bloom l see by the wayside and the
bird songI hear under my window. When
my eyes open to the experience Of the here.
after, I expect to be greeted, not by some.
thing marvellous, but by familiar sights
and sounds. Why may not even nature
have It's spiritual counterpart? Before the
violet existed as a substance it existed rs
an idea in the thought of God. Why, then,
may not that mental conception continue
to exist after the substance itself has per-
ished, SO that when the violet is no longer
visible to our natural vision we may still
know it as a violet through our sense of
spiritual recognition? Icannot believe that
anything loses it's identity by dying. Be.
cause tho flower withers when the first
frost touches it and before long becomes 1.
heap Of unsightly decay it is not evidence
that the flower ceases to exist any more
char the pulscless form OF a man arrayod
in his burial clothes is evidence that his
life is forever extinct. Some one will say
perhaps, There is a pr%osupposition to i'm
mortality in the case Of man because of
his spiritual attributes. How do we know
that vegetation has no spiritual attributes?
Who indeed among the wisest who ever
lived has actually demonstrated when the
vegetable creation ends and the animal
creation begins?'
Mr.. Temples belief that heaven is moth
ing more or less h a Slorified earth is
thus beautifully expressed:
II believe that everything in nature has
a spiritual form which is the exact like
ness of it's material form. The pattern Of
what has been always must be, and the
heaven which l cherish in my holiest
dream, and which l expect to realize after
my feet nave crossed the threshold of this
hereafter, is only this beautiful earth trans
figured. There will be laughter and sun
shine, tinted sky and springing grass
blade, running brook and melodious bird
song just the same as we experience here,
only we shall know them then, not as
tangible things, but as conditions of soul
According to the ancient conception of
heaven, which some believe even today, it
is a place where the elect spend eternity
IN the worship of deity, but I do not see
why it is not just as reasonable to suppose
that the lover of flowers will have lowers.
that the lover of birds will nave birds,
that the lover of sunshine will have sun
shine and that the homage we render deity
will be our willing and faithful care for
something we love rather than any mere
vocal and conventional praise.
"Bcccher always thought that going to
heaven was going to claim ones own. He
wanted no band Of Grape tied to his door
when he died, but in place of it a wreath
of beautiful flowers. He wished it to be
understood that the transition from the
here to the hereafter was not something to
be regretted or dreaded, but something to
be rejoiced III as a triumphant ding
home"
That we shall meet in another world the
friends whose departure has wrung our
hearts III this, Mr.. Temple firmly believes,
as this paragraph proves:
"The reunion of friends is another fea-
ture that cannot be omitted from any ra-
As@,<01 - @-.,- 49, e.
told that the future is a sealed book. We
see our friends die and nnot follow them
into the other world and come back and
demonstrate the absolute certainty of a
continued existence after death. That is
true. But, standing beside them when
their breath grows fainter and fainter,
when they have taken their final leave of
us, and are only waiting until the glad
spirit can be wholly freed from a n
frame, what does it mean when they see
faces which we do not see and hear voices
which we do not hear? It sometimes hap
pens hat before the natural vision has
closed the spiritual is opened, and the
hand of the dying is not onlyput into ours
for a pressure Of affectionate parting, but
is at the same time put into that of an
angel for a pressure of afectionate greet
ing"
That there is progress even in heaven is
a theory vigorously maintained by MI.
Temple thus:
"The law of progress is a universal law.
1t operates as distinctly in the realm of
spirit as in the realm of matter, and is
concerned both with the evolution of a
planet and the growth of a human soul. 1
believe that the future state is a state of
progression. Growth is essential to hap
piness. While we are subject to bodily
limitations it may be that our growth is
obstructed. There are sometimes physical
infirmities which prevent us from reach
ing the heights we aspire to, but when
these distractions are removed by death
we have 10 laudable excuse for staying be-
hind.
ITO me, said Goethe, the external ex-
istence of my soul is proved from my idea
of activity. II I work necessarily until
my death, nature is bound to give me an
other form Of existence when the present
can no longer sustain my spirit Open
the door Of heaven but a little way and we
must surely SEQ movement toward higher
ends. This life is but the beginning Of
the life Got has mapped out for the human
soul. Infinite development is before us.
Our longings and our affections have a