--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Nelson, N. L. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 2 number: 8 published: 1899-06 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Nelson, N. L., "Gospel Studies—The Reality and Significance of Heaven and Hell," *Improvement Era* 2, no. 8 (June 1899): 606–612.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera28unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera28unse start_page: 606 end_page: 612 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1899-06) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera28unse publication_year: 1899 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1899, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Gospel Studies—The Reality and Significance of Heaven and Hell GOSPEL STUDIES. THE REALITY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF HEAVEN AND HELL. BY PROF. N. L. NELSON, OF THE BRIGHAM YOUNG ACADEMY, PROVO. m. . The reader who has followed previous articles of this series may well be pardoned if he stopped to exclaim, "What is he trying to get at! " In order that my conclusions may be the better understood I beg leave to bring forward, in brief, some of the considerations set forth in my last paper. 1. —Heaven as a reality may appeal to the mind (a) from a consideration that something in the heart of every natural man whispers of a hereafter; (b) from a fervent faith in revelation, which declares there will be a future state; and (c) from a close scrutiny of the tendency and direction of the earth and its inhabitants, which seems to be progressively toward a higher and better state of things. It is on the last consideration that this study of Heaven and Hell is made. 2. — The Heaven and the Hell here considered are not the im. possible creations of the revivalist, but the natural evolution of forces now at work on the earth; causes and effects such as man is familiar vnth, reaching in an unbroken chain from this middle state in either direction —to eternal or endless confusion. bliss 3. —In studying man's progress towards Heaven or our Hell, — GOSPEL STUDIES. 607 land-marks must not be externals, i. e., dress, occupations, customs, form of government, etc., since these vary with every exigency; but internals, i. e., the eternal principles which express themselves now in these externals now in those, but beneath all changes, remain themselves unchanged. 4. — Heaven so considered is best defined as harmony with the universe; and degrees of Heaven signify merely approaches to perfect harmony. Hell on the other hand may be defined as discord with the universe. It also has degrees, as the confusion increases. 5.— God's purpose is to bring all His creations into this harmony. Creations which have no will, (e. g., the earth with its mineral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms,) are being shaped toward this harmony by the Divine will; man, having a will of his own, may or may not choose to conform to his harmony, i. e., he may go to Heaven or Hell as he elects. 6. —Harmony in earth conditions takes place as fast as earth objects, including man, are permeated with the essence which fills the universe, and which constitutes its oneness, homogeneity, or integrity. 7. —This essence is variously known, according to the point of view v/e take, as Truth, Light, Harmony, the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost, the " Infinite and Eternal Energy whence all things proceed " (to adopt Spencer's phraseology.) 8. —To the mind of man this Truth, Harmony, or Oneness, The harmony of the universe is varifinds its expression in law. ously known, according to the side of our nature to which it appeals, as natural law, physical law, intellectual law, social law, moral law, or spiritual law. 9_ — Whoever obeys law is making his own nature conform to the harmony of the universe, and is therefore preparing himself for Heaven. It matters not what the law may be called— hygiene physiology, ethics, religion— the only question being. Is it a law of the universe? If so it expresses the harmony of the universe by of that harmony. sO much, and whoever obeys it partakes " comes from the Father of Lights;" but 10.—All intelligence, as to the manner in which it enters our minds we may distinguish truth as direct and indirect: direct, as when we get a testimony of 608 IMPROVEMENT ERA. the Gospel: indirect, as when we gather it through the medium of our senses. I attempted to make this last thought plain by the analogy of sunlight: direct, it is pure white light; indirect, it varies from pure light in a thousand tints and hues, according to the surface that reflects it or the medium that refracts it. So of truth: it is more or less colored from the multiplicity of the objects in nature which reflect it and the imperfection of the minds which receive it. It is well-nigh impossible to get absolute truth respecting any complex idea, (as for instance, whence man came, why is he here, and whither he goes after this life,) from the correlation of facts gathered by the perceptive faculties and elaborated by human reason; at least it would be as difl[icult as to recombine the thousand colors of nature in such proportion as to get pure white light again. If therefore our attaining the goal of Heaven depended solely upon the oneness and harmony which our poor outward senses should detect, we might well despair of ever reaching it; but if we had direct truth for daily comparison with indirect truth, as we have direct sunlight with which to compare the off-color of indirect sunlight, heaven would by no means be an impossibility. Such conditions of truth-perception I believe to be possessed by the human race. Setting aside revelation, which must be truth direct if it be truth at all, I believe that nine-tenths of the harmony which is shaping mankind for the heaven-state, comes as a direct, intuitive inflow from the ocean of truth, the universe. Of such origin are the burning messages of poets, prophets, and reformers —yea, of every great soul whose work unifies rather than scatters mankind. But my last article closed in the midst of a consideration of the indirect ways by which man is preparing himself for Heaven. Attention was called to the wonderful increase of knowledge during our century on almost every conceivable subject. In so far as this knowledge represents science —that is so far as it records Law — represents material for heavenizing earth- conditions; and. it to the extent that people liveby the harmony which this mass of knowledge represents, to that extent are they actually accumulating Heaven within themselves, i. e., removing the friction be- GOSPEL STUDIES. 609 tween themselves and the universe. Is not this actually what is taking place? Do not mankind today see eye to eye in ten thousand particulars (and a proportionate resultant of generals) about which there was either complete ignorance or blind strife three hundred years ago! And is not the circle of unity growing wider and wider as men perceive truth-relations between things hitherto counted antagonistic? Last year Victoria celebrated a reign of internal peace covering half a century. In so far as one human being could contribute to so glorious a record, England's Queen has no doubt done her full duty. But a jubilee of national unity results not from the supremacy of rulers, however gifted, but from the supremacy of ideas. Victoria's reign, like her name, symbolizes the triumph of truth —the saturation of her subjects by just that knowledge whose effect is civil harmony. Such an unbroken stretch of national fraternity makes it easier to believe in the reality of Heaven. Conceive Victoria's reign prolonged for ten thousand years —a very short span compared with eternity — and conceive her subjects possessing themselves, by theory and practice, of truth at the accelerated ratio which seems to be the history of truth-getting.Would there not be, here and there, beings fitted for some of the lower degrees of Heaven? Nay, would not the average intelligence of the nation be fairly good material for a kingdom that would seem Heaven by contrast with the best in the kingdom today? If it would not, put the trial period at one hundred thousand years —time immaterial is when measured against eternity. The point I make is, given time and opportunity for truth-getting, a being constituted as man is could eventually get control of self, subordinate self to principle; in other words, place self in harmony with the universe; and a community of such beings would be Heaven. But is not this in fact what every being born to earth has, or will have, the privilege of doing— that of acquiring truth not only for ten thousand or a hundred thousand years but for all eternity? Granted the immortality of the soul—with attributes as at present constituted— and how can any one escape believing in the reality of Heaven in some degree, even though he disbelieve in any other method of truth-getting than that which I have called indirect? 610 IMPROVEMENT ERA. I say in some degree; for while it is clear that a community which shall succeed in conforming to all laws and truths discoverable by human research, would eventually live in Paradise compared with present earth conditions, it is equally clear they could never attain to the perfection of our Father in Heaven. Indirect methods of truth-getting do not serve mankind equally for progress on all sides of his complex nature. A little reflection will make this fact self-evident. Psychologists hold, or have held until lately, that man can know nothing save what has come to him through his powers of observation or been evolved by thinking. They also maintain that thinking is limited to materials stored up by the senses. Should this view prove to be correct, what field of truth would be likely to yield the most prolific harvest? Assuredly the field of matter, this being ideally fitted to man's perceptive faculties. And such is actually the harvest. Knowledge of the earth and of earth- forces has far outstripped all other kinds of knowledge. Indeed, if we had pushed the discovery of divine harmony as far in all directions as we have in the natural and physical sciences, we should now be very nearly ready for the Millennium. What is the result of this unprecedented accumulation of material knowledge? The reply is, a marvelous conquest of natural forces, and with it a tremendous power of producing what is needed for the material welfare of man. But how has it affected the social status of mankind? "The poor ye have always with you." Are the masses better off for this wide discovery of natural law? No; there was perhaps a greater average of social well-being before machines took the place of men. What is the difficulty? Simply this: man cannot discover social law with the same certainty that he can natural law. It requires infinitely keener powers. In sociology therefore we are centuries behind. We have learned how to produce, but we have not learned how to distribute. If our social problems were solved as well as our natural problems, we should already have reached the stage in heaven-making when we should have no further use for war. Indirect truth-getting serves us but badly in the social world. It is on the social problem —on the thousand relationships of man to man and man to woman —that we need the direct of Heaven. light GOSPEL STUDIES. 611 What of our intellectual problems? Some of these we have solved well, othersill. Among the latter are questions that involve our whole educational system. Is not the world in turmoil as to what should be taught to children? Direct truth is needed to correct the obliquities of indirect in this field also. We may or may not be further along the road to Heaven intellectually than we are socially; but we are far behind the point we have reached materially, and for the same reason as given above. Intellectual problems do not present such easy sequences as do causes and effects in the natural world. We need therefore the guidance of the Spirit of truth to supplement or correct the findings of natural research. And if this be true of the social and intellectual world how much truer still of the moral and spiritual! The essence of the moral law is justice — the doing unto others as we would be done by. " Others," in Christ's expression of the law, stands not only for mankind, but for animals, plants, even the earth on which we dwell. Man therefore comes daily into contact with the moral law by every thought, word and act of his life: by the relationships growing out of family, business, social, or political ties; by the treatment he accords to domestic animals, birds, and even the snail that crosses his path; by the cultivation or neglect of plant life on which we depend for sustenance or pleasure — all these involving the question of right or wrong, justice or injustice. Moral obligation is as inseparable a part of the thoughts and acts of man as warmth is of the sunbeam or wetness of the dewdrop. He cannot — either the direcescape change of moral status from day today in tion of harmony with the universe or of discord — save by doing nothing and thinking nothing; and even such refusal would involve the question of justice to himself. From indirect methods of study man can learn divine law but slowly in the field of morals. If his mind be filled with moral con- ceptions he can perhaps find example and proof enough from nature; but without such conceptions, his powers of discrimination are not keen enough to deduce moral law by mere observation and reflection. Indeed, in nine cases out of ten, acts involving moral growth, do not admit of time for intellectual analysis; they must be decided on the instant; they are consequently decided rather — 612 IMPROVEMENT ERA. by a feeling of what is right and fitting, than by a conscious intellectual operation. Now this feeling of what is right — call it in- stinct, conscience, or what — you will is precisely what I mean by the direct inflow of truth or harmony from the Conscience of the universe. It is not possible to grow into moral unity with God, save as this Conscience becomes our conscience. Need I discuss the impossibility of growing into spiritual harmony with the universe by the rigid cast-iron methods of modern science —methods which distrust all avenues of light save those of the outward senses? "We may, indeed, find through those senses abundant proof in nature of the genuineness of the spiritual harmony which has flooded our souls; but without that flooding direct, that intuitive perception of spiritual relations —the sublimest chords "ofharmony in our nature would never be set vibrating; that part of our being which links us most nearly to God, would lie dormant forever. To sum up then: Man is placed on the earth with faculties specially shaped and adapted to the indirect discovery of truth. This fact is proof enough that he must follow indirect methods assiduously. But it is no proof that he should neglect direct methods. By the first he is able to get a wide knowledge of law in the material world. The method begins to fail when used to search out intellectual laws, and becomes progressively less certain as a guide in the social, moral and spiritual realms. With it alone man might reach a Paradise beyond comparison with even the most ideal conditions now on earth, but he could never reach Heaven conceived as the place where God dwells. But with both methods—direct truth to interpret indirect —he could reach Heaven even the state which represents the fulfillment of Christ's in- junction, " Be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect." Here then is my conclusion: Heaven is a reality to me because I — know absolutely know — that both these methods of gaining — truth of putting self in harmony with the universe are within — the reach of man. "Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." The reality of Hell follows as a corrolary of the reality of Heaven. If the development of harmony in man leads progressively to eternal bliss then the accumulation of discord leads progres-