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WHERE IS THE SPIRITUAL WORLD?

KNOWLEDGE of the spiritual world is very desirable to some people. It satisfies their longings and confirms their belief in immortality. Such knowledge is for us, inasmuch as the Saviour died "to bring life and immortality to light." He is always ready to respond to reverent and careful inquiry concerning these things. No one is more anxious to demonstrate the reality of life beyond death. After his death, he appeared at intervals during forty days in a spiritual body, although to the disciples it seemed to be earthly and actually tangible.

Surely there was nothing ghostly about it. He declared "a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have." He called attention to his body, desiring that they should study and examine it, that they might know more about life in the heavenly

state.

1 Luke xxiv. 39. See page 147.

star, or in the sky indefinitely "somewhere." Neither did they put the spiritual hell of the dead into an obscure corner of the Universe. Heaven they said is "above," meaning that it is a superior state, and hell "beneath," meaning that it is an inferior condition. They did not entertain the idea of great distance as they contemplated the other life. They knew that both heaven and hell were somehow associated with this world. And we should know it, for God and angels are here, although they are in heaven; evil spirits are here, although they are in perdition.

It is not distance that separates us from the other side, but our corporeal nature and environment. It is

very near, so near that it is accessible. There is a way by which it can be known by one who is able to meet the conditions, and this involves a great privilege. There are no valid reasons for supposing that our spiritual world is located in a distant part of the Universe. Our spiritual world is closely connected with our visible world, because, living or dead, we belong to both.

A person originating on this planet must in some way be forever related to it. He is really a production of the earth, though spiritual and immortal.

Death cannot deprive him of the characteristics that made him a man of this world, unless it should rob him of personality and identity. The life beyond is not without its interests in our world which relate to the present as well as the past. For this reason the two worlds are in touch, not only because their interests are related but because they are contiguous in territory.

Where then shall we locate our spiritual world? Outside of the celestial bodies is primeval space, cold and silent. Each planet is concerned with its own affairs, and has a different history and environment. Our spiritual states must have a foundation, or source of supply. It is found in our material world.

The words "above" and "beneath" are often associated with ideas relating to the spiritual states. If these terms are understood in a literal sense, they lead to conclusions that are absurd and contradictory. Our earth is whirling through space at the rate of eighteen and one half miles per second, and the direction of the zenith changes hourly through an angle equal to fifteen degrees multiplied by the cosine of the latitude. How is heaven above us? If we believe that the infernal regions can be found

somewhere in the bowels of the earth, we shall have to concede that the place is indefinite and no sane person would try to locate it. If evil spirits can tempt us, where are they? Surely they are in hell;

but how are they below us?

They are here.

Reference to the spiritual world that involves height or depth will not bear a literal construction. Condition, rank, exaltation or degradation, success or failure, life or death, privilege or limitation, happiness or misery, good or evil, and all things associated with character and position, should be understood. This means "up" or "down."

To obtain a reasonable conception of the other world is difficult if we regard it as a place, accepting the word place in a literal sense. It is a spiritual state. It has a locality, for it is associated with our material world. It is actually here. It should not be regarded as a distant country or domain.

The spiritual realm is inhabited by persons only. Animals do not become immortal. And yet to those who live in that ethereal state everything is as vivid and real as animated nature is to us, for heaven in symbol and in vision is heaven in fact, and so it will seem to us if counted worthy to enter in when "we have shuffled off this mortal coil."

Redeemed people in heaven are open to nature in our world, but they are more open to nature as they find it on their side; for it is their true sphere of existence, where they have the use of all their faculties in a new and better way, which to them is perfectly natural and normal. For we should know that natural law is effective in our spiritual world, and so it is in the entire Universe, whether spiritual or physical. There are no supernatural states or supernatural persons. God himself, our Divine Father, is a truly natural being. Of course he is superior to what we call nature because he is the Creator; but he is ever in it and belongs with it..

People in heaven are in touch with nature in all its varied phases in our world and so they are in theirs; but they are not exposed to natural evils in such a way that they cannot avoid them.

The redeemed in glory are not disturbed because they are permitted to look in upon our world and see much of its sin and misery, because they are so wonderfully saved. And so it will be with us when we enter in to the felicities of that blessed life; although we may occasionally see that some we have left behind, who are very near and dear, are passing