--- 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: 11 published: 1899-09 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. 11 (September 1899): 841–849.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera211unse 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: improvementera211unse start_page: 841 end_page: 849 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1899-09) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera211unse 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 STUDffiS. IV. THE REALITY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF HEAVEN AND HELL. BY PROFESSOR N. L. NELSON. In former articles an attempt was made to show that so far from being mere sentimental chimeras, appealing only to the over- credulous, Heaven and Hell are in fact realities — as much so as any other effects whose causes are clearly discernible. To one who believes that life persists after death. Heaven need not be taken on trust, nor Hell either; for the antecedents of both places, as well as much of ,the places themselves, can be seen and felt within the brief span of mortal life. One has but to carry forward to their culmination the progressiveness or retrogressive forces now acting upon mankind to perceive these two places with reasonable vividness, as future realities. The question next to be considered is, what significance in the shaping of our lives attaches, or should attach, to the perception of heaven and hell as realities? Perfect Heaven, so far as the state is concerned, means abso- lute psychic harmony with the universe; on the other hand, the lowest Hell means complete discord with the universe. It follows that any degree of harmony is Heaven by so much, and any degree of discord is an approach to Hell by so much. The best of us therefore are daily, perhaps hourly, oscillating between Heaven and Hell, so far as the state of the soul is concerned. The contention is often made that Heaven and Hell are only 842 IMPROVEMENT ERA. states of the soul. This, I think, is a wrong view. That they are states of the soul cannot for a moment be doubted; a little reflec- tion will make it equally plain that in eternity at least, they will be something more: that is, they will be places, which brings me to my first proposition, viz: Heaven and Hell as places, are the direct results of Heaven and Hell as states of the soul. Let us first trace the operation of this law in purely mundane affairs. If we look over the face of the earth we shall not find mankind dwelling homogeneously, but in groups and societies, differentiated by race, color, degree of intelligence, occupation^ religion, wealth, tradition, family caste, natural proclivities and a thousand other aflinities or want of affinities. The law that a state of the soul leads naturally to a place is well expressed in the old proverb, "Birds of a feather flock together." Dr. Maeser often tells a story in illustration of this psychic tendency. "I once had a bad boy specially entrusted to my care. He came from the far south, and proved to be all that his parents claimed for him. It took the combined efforts of the faculty to keep him straight.A few weeks later I got word that another young scamp was coming— from the extreme north. How shall I keep these two black birds apart, was my first anxiety. I seated the new boy in a different room and gave him a bparding house in a remote part of the city. Small good to take precautions. On the third day they were locked in each other's arms." Clubs, guilds, brotherhoods and secret societies, are instances of places which result from harmony in desires. Churches are pre-eminently illustrators of the law. Governments take form and substance only by virtue of this law. Consider how impossible it would be to establish in loco a republic that did not first exist in mente; also how quickly a monarchy ceases when the national ideal changes in favor of representative government! Even on the negative side, slums, dens of vice and shame, and rendezvouses of crime must be regarded as operations of this law. Why do people gravitate to such centers? Because here outer conditions corres- pond with inner. They are more comfortable here, find more sympathy and less opposition • and restraint than they would in other places. Robbers' Roost the place, is the legitimate outcome GOSPEL STUDIES. 843 of Robbers' Roost the state of mind. Indeed, whatever be a man's habitual, self-chosen environments, depend upon it, they are a true index of his soul's attitude. Change his ideals and he will suddenly find his old haunts uncomfortable. Now if it be true that states of the soul induced by purely human affinities seek to express themselves in associations, (which associations of course involve place and other external conditions), how much truer it — must be that Heaven as a state of the soul, by which is meant a state of harmony with the universe — should result in Heaven as a place; in other words that all who feel this eternal affinity should unite as a society, withdrawing themselves from associations antagonistic thereto and if the law be true of Heaven, it must by ; correlation be equally true of Hell: the state Hell must inevitably lead to the place Hell. Carrying this proposition a little further, we may safely assert that not only do states of the soul seek corresponding outward associations, but until such associations are found there can be neither happiness nor contentment. In other words, a sinner would find no more happiness in Heaven than a righteous person would in Hell. For while there are no positive joys in Hell, and even pleasure has perhaps palled to the verge of disgust, it is neverthe- less the most comfortable, or let us rather say the least painful, place in the universe for the sinner. So also in respect of glories in Heaven: there would be no rest in a Celestial Kingdom for him whose inner state fitted him only for a Terrestrial. But waving consideration of the law as respects future states, let us see how it acts in this life. We will first consider some of the failures resulting from mal-adjustments of inner and outer conditions. The most pronounced failure, coming under this head among the Latter-day Saints was that of the United Order. The reason is not far to seek. Within the bosom of every nine out of ten who entered this association, the old system of individualism reigned supreme, and of course made them discontented and un- happy in the new. The attempt was made to bend the tree after it was grown, and of course it could not stand the pressure. The ideal of the order had to be created out of the practice, and the system went to pieces ere there was time to do so. Now every intelligent man will agree that this is a higher 844 IMPROVEMENT ERA. order of life, a step nearer Heaven than the one which has hitherto prevailed. Reflecting upon my experiences in it, however, I often imagine what a miserable wretch I should be, did God suddenly take me from this life and make me work in the associations of Heaven; and what wailing and gnashing of teeth there would be even among faithful Latter-day Saints should God place them in the Celestial Glory without a few thousand years of preparation But there is room to contemplate the operations of this law in details of more every-day occurrence. Occasionally we find men who pay great attention to the outward conditions of right- eousness, but neglect the inner. I have in mind a man who was the father of a large family. He was moreover a great preacher, and prayed with such gusto that he could be heard for blocks. As regarded works of righteousness he was an exemplar in the ward. His flock was always together at family prayers, and were no less strict in attending Sunday School and meetings. But when he died the whole system fell to pieces. His autocratic will alone was the iron band which had held the staves together. Today there are but two or three of his children that hold even a nominal standing in the Church. Throughout Zion there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of young people who, whether by this road or some other, have reached the same stage of indifference. What they need are ideals of righteousness corresponding with the religious duties enjoined upon them. Until these inner states are created they will persist in disliking prayer, the ordinances of the Church, meetings, young people's associations, and other such places. How shall these ideals be created? The natural way is that followed by the Mutual Improvement missionaries during the winter months. If enough time could be given to individual persuasion, the work would be most effectual but this can seldom he done where the field to be covered is so extensive. The surest way is to get the young man or young woman into a Church school. During the course of a year's study the inner life will be awakened and the corresponding outer life will then be sought out for itself. But outer and inner life are in fact reciprocal. The place GOSPEL STUDIES. 845 tends to create the state, though not so strongly as the state the place. Mohammedanism is no less strongly ingrafted upon the peoples of western Asia, that the first converts were held to it by the sword. Could Bellamy's system be kept going, say for twenty- five years, the inner life of the nation would be so adjusted that thereafter it could not fail.Had the United Order continued till now, it would, for the same reason, hereafter gradually supplant the individualism which now prevails among us. So where the natural way cannot be followed, let parents, by the sheer force of parental authority, hold their children in strict obedience to, and reverence for, the forms of righteousness, for many will thereby become imbued with the spirit of righteousness, (and many, it may be added, will go to hell also.) My next proposition is that Heaven, both as a state and as a place is eternal ; and it is the only association of which intelligences are capable, that is eternal. Observe first the nature of the cohesion which holds together the varied associations of earth. The element of righteousness is rarely present in any of them. Occasionally there are pure flashes of joy, as in philanthropic societies, and chastened tints of sorrow, as in societies for self-abnegation; but for the most part the flaming red of pleasure, which is but the expression of human selfishness, colors the states of soul out of which associations grow. Self-interest, self-aggrandizement, variously known as wealth, fame, power, the gratification of the appetites and pas- sions, —these are the controlling afiinities in human societies. But the striking feature of these elements of cohesion is not their complexion but their transitoriness. Where can you point to any association born of human impulses that has lived? Take for instance the cohesion that brings people together for an even- ing's party, and is it not a type of human associations? It all lasts but a few hours — as mortals measure time; but did the Roman Empire last longer—by the watches of eternity? "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave. Await alike the inevitable hour : The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 846 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Permit me, by way of illustrating this theme, to make a vari- ation on a much-worn comparison. Conceive time then in the old way — as a mighty river ready to begin its descent down the ages that make up this world's history. When its course shall be done it will be found to have run pretty straight from eternity to eternity. But during any given epoch it seems to wind quite like any real river. Let us note how it acts during one generation in the midst of its terrible, onward sweep. Long before the full depth of the current reaches any place, it has sent out advance streams which flow hither and thither according to the inequalities of the ground, making here a meadow- fringed brooklet, there a beautiful lake, yonder an unsightly chasm. The landscape, which a short time ago lay hidden in the sombre veil of the future, has suddenly burst into ten thousand variegated forms and colors in the light of the present. What are all these changes, these restless flashes of activity, these teeming evidences of life? Let them typify the ten thous- and human associations which we have been considering — "The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power." How long will they endure? body of the flood, which is now pouring Until the full over yonder heights, has reached them. Tomorrow they will be overwhelmed, and indistinguishably submerged forever. But farther down the river's course the same play of life is going on and will go on to the end. Nor do all such human associations vanish alike, beneath the river Time. Occasionally an advance channel remains unaltered for age after age. That occurs when its course runs parallel with the predestined course of the river. But its end comes at last. Without warning it suddenly disappears, having swerved from its time-honored direction. Such channels represent the noble monu- ments of history, the institutions that have helped lift the race to high ideals. For every association of this kind Time submerged a thousand works of man built at varying angles with the channel of eternal destiny. Such then is the transitoriness of all human institutions. The reason that they do not persist is to be found in the fact that the affinities out of which they grow are only incidents of eternal GOSPEL STUDIES. 847 progress, like eddies in a current which in time are worn smooth and frictionless. Human institutions are not therefore to be con- demned. On the contrary they are to be recognized as distinct factors in the solution of eternal life. But they should be recog- nized as transitory factors; the mistake is made when we rest our hope in them: when we say, for instance, "This life is meant for pleasure and he is a fool that does not make the most of it;" and acting on this thought, throw all our energies into the pursuit of wealth, or fame, or fashion, or power over our fellow- men. If all these principles of cohesion are transitory, what princi- ple may be regarded as being eternal? The answer is righteous- ness —the righteousness of God, which in my illustration is typi- fied by the momentum, the persistent onward sweep, of the river of time; which overwhelms in oblivion every work of man lying con- trary to its course, but continues itself unabated to the ocean of eternity. It is this element which gives unity and consistency to the history of the world. Without it, the drama of human life would be a meaningless concatenation of unrelated events. It is this power which Tennyson dimly discerned when he wrote: "I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs, And men are growing wiser with the process of the suns." This power it is which alone persists and carries everything before it. For what is it but another name for the oneness, the integrity, the harmony, the homogeneity of the universe? What is it but another name for the Spirit of Truth which, permeating all things, makes the universe one? Associations founded on this principle must be eternal, for the simple reason that there is nothing in the universe which can overthrow them. True, in mortal life they meet friction with human institutions— to the extent that the latter are lacking the element of righteousness; and they are also directly opposed by all those negative forces whose tendency is Hell. What then? Human opposition is but transitory. The utmost extent to which it can prevail is to transfer the seat of war into the spiritual 848 IMPROVEMENT ERA. world; as when the Church of Christ was "driven into the wilder- ness" by the Beast and the Mother of Harlots that sat upon the Beast. (See Revelation, 12th to 18th chapters.) Once off this field of action, human persecution must necessarily end. No doubt the conflict with the forces of unrighteousness continue; but these latter must progressively lose power, at least so far as any given association of righteousness is concerned, until their ability to thwart and overthrow reaches zero. Now, associations formed on the principle of righteousness are only another name for Heaven in externality. My proposition is that such associations must endure forever, and that they are the only associations which can endure forever. It is plain that they have nothing to fear from the universe itself, for their very essence is identical with that of the universe. The battle is with human associations —the flesh, as Paul would say — and the powers of evil — or the devil. Now respecting Heaven as the state of soul of an individual, there is great danger that it may be destroyed, both by affinities which the individual possesses in common with the race, and also by the temptations of the active forces of evil; in which case of course Heaven the place is also lost to him: but that Heaven, con- sidered as the association of the righteous, can be overcome by earth powers, such a thing is clearly impossible. Human opposi- tion (the desires of the flesh and what they lead to) may reduce the number composing the association, but the association itself, being eternal in its essence, must outlive and overcome any merely transitory foe. It must become equally plain that, to use the words of our Savior, "the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it;" for Hell, though evidently longer-lived than human associations, must itself progressively lose power until it ceases to be. I am not asserting that the principle of evil must cease to be; for this is evidently connected inseparably with states of imperfection in any world that has been or ever will be; but our hell, our powers of evil, fighting as they are the universe, and being by comparison only as gnats in the sunbeam, must at length be ground to nothingness- reduced, let me not say to the mint of chaos again, for that I do ^ GOSPEL STUDIES. 849 not know, but to a state in which their opposition to Heaven will be nil.* This thought also finds beautiful illustration in the foregoing comparison. If the onward sweep of the river represents the righteousness of God, then the back-water, as the stream breaks into sloughs and bayous, may stand for the retrogressive forces which depart from the line of eternal progress. The parallel holds also in minor particulars. For instance, how often in history we marvel that negative forces have movement and results, the wicked enjoying the fruits of their victory. But watch these results a little further and you will find them turn into wide-spread curses of humanity. We involuntarily think of the rush of water into channels contrary to the course of the river. At first there is swift backward progress, as if the current were to prevail for- ever; but the end is stagnation, miasma, disease and death. One more parallel may be pointed out The river finally fills : up with healthful soil the sloughs and bayous that have so long bred disease and death. So the righteousness of God is continually purifying the plague-centers of sin; and this power will not cease its work until Hell, — that spiritual slough which, even before the world was, engulfed one-third of the bright spirits of Heaven until Hell shall no more remain to breed sin and damnation among the children of men. * What their end is, says the Doc, and Gov., Sec. 76, verses 44-48, no man knows, nor is it revealed save to them who are ordained unto this condemnation. The implication is that there is an end. Hell is not eternal. It is difficult for reason to come to any other conclusion. The deathless principle, the "I am," which, being co-eternal with God, existed before spiritual birth in Heaven, cannot of course be annihilated; but that which was begun may be undone. Accordingly, if the devil and his angels are constantly losing power, one reasons that the time must eventually come when all the advantage they gained by birth in Heaven and righteousness during pre-existence, will be gone. They will be resolved to powerless states, mere centers of consciousness, (egos, in the language of psychology,) capable still of saying "I am," but utterly inca- pable in themselves of either good or evil. What follows this state it would be futile to conjecture, nor does it have any bearing in this argu- ment. My purpose is served, if the proposition is clear that Heaven is the only state in which the soul may have eternal life.