Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1896-01-08
A DREAM OF HEAVEN.
EDWARD FOSTER TEMPLES IDEA OF
A HAPPY HEREAFTER.
Tho Bright and Beautiful Condition of the
Soul In the Abode beyond the Grave.
Reasoning That Brings Comfort to the
Issrrayed.


Issrcaved.
There Is nothing In life so interesting as
death. Whether wo have an immortal soul
and what becomes of It when the spirit Is
out OF tho earthly body Is u problem ever
In tho human mind, and one that ever
cries to us trumpet tongued as we stand
by the side OF our beloved dead. In Today
Edward Foster Temple declares his conyic-
tion OF bright and happy spiritual life In
AN article entitled "a Dream Of Heaven" "
He begins by saying;
SIN my conception of heaven there are
bloom and bird song very much akln TO
the bloom | see by the waysldc and the
bird song hear under my window. When
my eyes open to the experience OF the here
after, expect TO be greeted, not by some
thing marvellous, but by familiar sights
and sounds. Why may not even nature
have its spiritual counterpart Before tho
violet existed rs substance II existed rs
an idea In the thought Of God Why, then,
mny not that mental conception continue
TO exist after the substance itself has per-
ished, so that when tho violet Is no longer
visible to our natural vision we may still
know 1t as violet through onr sense of
spiritual rocognitionS cannot believe that
anything loses its identity by dying. Be
cause the flower withers whom the FIRST
frost touches IL and before long bocomGs q
heap Of unsightly decay IL is not evidence
that tho flower ceases to exist any moro
than the pulseless form OF u man arrayod
in his burial clothes Is evidence that his
life Is forever extinct. Some one will say
perhaps, There Is presupposition to i'm
mortality in tho case of man because OF
his spiritual attributes. How do we know
that vegetation has no spiritual attributesH
Who indeed among the wisest WHO ever
lived has actually demonstrated when the
vegetable creation ends ana tho animal
creation beginsf"
Mr. Temples belief that heaven Is moth
ing more or less than Rlorited earth is
thus beautifully expressed;
81 believe that everything ia nature has
a spiritual form which is the exact like
ness OF Its material form. The pattern Of
what has been always must be, and tho
heaven which l cherish in my holiest
dream, and which expect to realize after
my feet have crossed the threshold Of this
hereafter, Is only this beautiful earth trans
figured. There will be laughter and sun
shine, tinted sky and springinp grass
blade, running brook and meludious bird
SONG just the same as we experience here,
tangible things, but as conditions Of soul.
According to tho ancient conception OF
heaven, which some believe even today 1t
is place where the elect spend eternity
In tho worship OF deity, but do not see
why 1t is not Just as reasonable TO suppose
that the lover Of flowers will have flowers,
that the lover Of birds will have birds,
that the lover Of sunshine Will hive sun.
shine and that the homage We render deity
viii! he our willing and faithful care for
something We love rather than any mere
vocal and conventional praise.
Beecher 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 1t wreath
OF beautiful flowers. He wished II to he
understood that the transition from the
here TO the hereafter was not something to
DO regretted or dreaded but something to
be rojoiced in as "A triumphant going
home"
That We shall meet in another world the
friends whose departure has wrung our
hearts In this, Mr.. Temple firmly believes,
as this paragraph proves:
"Tho reunion Of friends is another fea-
ture that cannot be omitted from any ra-
tional conception of heaven We arc often
see our friends dio and cannot follow them
into the other world and come back and
demonstrate tho absolute certainty OF
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 vermont
frame, what does 1t moan when they soc
iAcos which we do not sec and hear voices
which We do not hear? II sometimes hnp-
pens that before tho natural vision has
closed the spiritual Il opened, and the
hand Of tho dying is not only put into ours
for pressure Of nffectlonate parting, but
is at tho Same time put into that of an
angel for n pressure Of Rifoctlonatc greet
ing
That there Is progress even in heaven Is
theory vigorously maintained by Mr.
Temple thus:
''Tho law of progress Is universal Inv
IL operates as distinctly In the realm OF
spirit ms In the realm of matter, and Is
concerned both with the evolution OF
planet and the growth of human soul. |
believe TINT the future state is state OF
progression. Growth Is essential to hap
piness. While we are subject 10 bodily
limitations it may be that our growth is
olstructed. There arc sometimes physical
infirmitics which prevent us from reach
Ing the heights we aspire to, but when
these distractions arc removed by death
we have no laudable excuse for staying be-
hind
To me, said Goethe, tho external OK.
istonce of my soul is proved from my idea
OF activity. II work incessantly until
my death, nature is bound TO give me an.
other form of existence when tho present
can no longer sustain my spirit. Open
the door of heaven but little way and we
must surely see movement toward higher
ends. This life is but the beginning OF
tho life God hAs mapped out for the human
soul. Infinite development Is before us.
Our longings and our affections have a
meaning which tho present cannot fully
unfold. There arc conditions of glory which
the human spirit can attain to only in the
hereafter, Joys and hopes and attainmonts
which reach out to other conditions of be.
Ing, and the mora we observe, tho more we
Think the closer We live to the innxorable
laws which govern the evolution of a true
manhood, the more we arc inclined TO be.
llevc the poet that
Mans heart the Almighty tothe future hath
EaHNN IN a.. ~.