Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

142 WITH THE HEAVEN AND HELL OF SCRIPTURE.heaven of Spiritualism. I liope that, agreeably to the communicationsfrom the spirit world recorded in the preceding pages, there is enough tocreate an ardent desire to become a dweller therein.739. But is it not unreasonable for a person to disdain a state of existencewhich is by the spirits themselves described as •' ineffably" happy ?Alluding to the progression, which isto carry spirits eventually among theministering angels of God, I observed to my spirit friend. Dr. W. E. Channing,that I did not consider him in heaven yet.^' AVere you situated as Iam," said he, "you would not say that I"But let us see how far the ideasof heaven, as warranted in Scripture, are comparable with those which havebeen communicated by spirits.740. In a work by the Rev. Mr. Ilarbaugh, of the German ReformedClmrch of Lancaster, Pa., a great effort is made to collect all the hintsrespecting heaven which have been given in the Old and New Testaments.This learned divine quotes the following paragraph from Dr. Chalmers" The common imagination," says Dr. Chalmers, '' that we have a paradiseon the other side of death, is that of a lofty aerial region, where the inmatesfloat in ether, or are mysteriously suspended upon nothing—where all thewarm and sensible accompaniments which give such an expression ofstrength, and life, and colouring to our present habitation, are attenuatedinto a sort of spiritual element; that is, meagre and imperceptible, andutterly uninviting to the eye of mortals here below; where every vestigeof materialism is done away, and nothing left but unearthly scenes, thathave no power of allurement, and certain unearthly ecstacies, with whichit is felt impossible to sj^rapathize."741. After reading and believing the representations of heaven givenby the immortal inhabitants of the spirit world, who can avoid turning indisgust from the portrait thus cited by Dr. Chalmers?742. The most favourable idea of heaven given in Scripture seems tobe that which identifies it with Paradise;in other words, a most beautifulgarden. But who would conceive an eternal residence in one garden,however superlative its attractions, as desirable ? The idea of the spheresassumes a succession of gardens, with every pleasure, every joy of whichthe human heart and intellect are capable; and beyond those gardensthe whole universe is open to us, and an ultimate ministration as angelsunder our Heavenly Father.743. The portraiture cited by Chalmers is not approved of by the Rev.Mr. Harbaugh, but in order to confute it he does not resort to any betterpicture given in the Bible, but to reasoning. This shows that, learned ashe is, and idolatrous as he appears in worshipping the Bible as an adequatefountain of light, he cannot get from the object of this idolatry anypassage tending to prove the inconsistency of the idea quoted from Chalmerswith Scripture. "Were there not the greatest poverty of instructionon this all-important subject, the ideas alleged to exist as above mentioned,