The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-07
RE1NCARNATEON IN THE BIBLES
A Clerical View OF Oriental ''Reinvost-
mcnt'' and Christian Resurrection"

ttNNh .@ANH
To TIE EDITOR or The SUN-Sir: In your
issue OF June rs a correspondent sums up
the result OF his fifty years study OF the prob
lem OF a future life and concludes that not
even Christianity furnishes any higher soiu-
ton Of It than does the Oriental doctrine OF
Karma and rei~noarnation. That the Orient
may have something to contribute to the
final solution of this subject IL beginning to
be recognized by Christians themselves.
I venture to suggest that there Is a hidden
principle underlying the Old Testament, and
therefore the New. and that the full discovery
OF 1t would illuminate anew and recast our
Christian conceptions Of a future life and
make room for the Incorporation into them
Of whatever Of truth underlies the wide
spread and agelong belief of the race In re-
incarnation. That principle Ia that In the
divine method for the redemption OF man
kline from sin and death the race must be
viewed NJ a corporate unit. In which the dead
continue to hold place with the living. Its
successive generations are linked together in
one great organism.
Scripture makes mention Of but two possi-
BILE forms OF human eXistence-th natural
and the spiritual. the earthly man and the
heavenly II On the plane OF this mortal
existence men do not rise above the earthly
and natural to the plane of the spiritual
there remains the necessity Of their further
judgment and correction in the flesh. For
1t Is the divine law of spiritual progress that
only through Judgment in the flesh" do men
learn to live according to God In the spirit"
A select body Of mankind are all the time
overcoming the downward trend of their
earthly nature and rising into the spiritual.
In their case there Is no need of further in
~carnation. They "oome forth to the resur-
r~ection Of life.- while those Of the race who
the resurrection Of Judgment; that Ia. their
ecove from Punishment In death can only
be to that form OF embodied life which puts
but the purpose OF their trial. and indeed
through this life conflict, Is not simply their
individual perfection; for the race Is an organ
ism. from. which the dead are not sundered.
humanity they remain incorporate with us.
BY unseen ties we are all linked together. and
In such a way that their final perfection can
only be achieved through the spiritual trt-
umphs Of those of us who, take up the battle
Of lfe where they laid It down. They with
out us cannot be made perfect"
And It is this principle which greatly modi-
hes and broadens the Oriental conception OF
rsincarnation II INTRODUCES Into II the
whole race. living and dead. is being progress
svely achieved.
We arrive then az this broad view of hui
manity, and OF Gods gracious designs con-
oernins IL. Each generation OF those whom
we call the living stands on this earthly arena
rs IeprebenJlnB anu. as having stored up IN
Itself all that is worth preserving OF the gen
~erations past. They are virtually reincarnated
In them, Their shattered and imperfect lives
seek recovery and rehabilitation through
them. The saints. who have already reached
the goal Of immortal manhood. are the help
ers and defenders OF those Of us who are here
struggling, As we yield 10 the spirit which
inspired them, we become ~saviors Of our
fallen brethren, and so add to the number OF
the %conquering seed. Outcast and imprisoned
spirits of the dead receive their ouickening
from those IN whom the Christ spirit is tri-
umphant. The command of Jesus to His
disciples to cast out demons and raise the dead
Ia seen to he not limited to the sphere Of this
present life or to this earthly environment.
This work Is going on on a much broader scale
behind this veil of the things that are seen. "
In the depths Of the body Of humanity. OF
which we form a part, are hidden all the mys-
teries OF heaven and hell.
The doctrine of reincarnation comes then
into harmony with the Christian doctrine of
resurrection when IL is viewed not simply as
the reinvestment of each single human person
with another body for further discipline but
as the gathering M and grouping of a series
Of fragmentary and imperfect lives for further
trial and advancement along the ascending
scale: until finally the whole race shall become
the 1T habitation of God through the spirit,
and death shall be swallowed up In victory.
PRINCETON. n. j.. July 5. J.. c. JAKE