Page:The Collected Works of Theodore Parker Discourse volume 1.djvu/123

76 of men is then against it, but when an accident drives them to somewhat more fundamental than processes of logic, the instinctive belief does its work. Here then are three distinct things: a Belief in a future and immortal state; a Definite Conception of that state; and a Proof of the fact of a future and immortal state. The two latter may be fluctuating and inadequate, while the former remains secure.

Now it may be considered as pretty well fixed, that all nations of the earth, above the mere wild man, believe this doctrine; at least, the exceptions are so rare, that they only confirm the rule. However, it is often difficult, and sometimes impossible, to determine the popular conception, and the influence of this belief at a particular time and place. But the subject demands a more special and detailed examination. Let us look at the opinion of the ancients.

It has sometimes been taught that this doctrine was perfectly understood, even by the Patriarchs; and sometimes declared altogether foreign to the Old Testament. Both statements are incorrect. In some parts of the Hebrew Scriptures we find rude notions of a future state, but a firm belief in it; in others doubt, and even denial thereof. In the early books, at least, it never appears as a motive. It has no sanction in the Law; no symbol in the Jewish worship. The soul was sometimes placed in the blood, as by Empedocles; sometimes in the breath; the heart, or the bowels, were sometimes considered as its seat. The notion of immortality was indefinite in the early books; there are cloudy views of a subterranean world, which gradually acquire more distinctness. The state of the departed is a gloomy, joyless consciousness; the servant is free from his master; the king has a shadowy grandeur.