It has been understood, in accordance with the idea that man is possessd of inherent immortality, that the true object of hope is to be obtained at death. And thus the Poet has sung.
*"Death is the gate to endless joys,
And yet we dread to enter there,"
We wish now to call the attention of the reader for a short time, to the sentiments advanced in Scripture, in regard to the true object of hope. We shall claim, that the christian's hope is not as commonly represented in hymns, sermons &c.
Read the following poetic description of death from the Baptist Register.
"The air is full of farewels to the dying,
And mournings for the dead:
The heart of Rachel for her children crying
Will not be comforted!
We see but dimly through the mists and vapors,
Amid these earthly damps;
What are to us but dim funereal tapers,
May be Heaven's distant lamps.
There is no death! what seems so is transition;
This life of mortal breath,
Is but a suburb of the life elysian,
Whose portals we call Death."
But we will notice Bible testimony. Job says, in regard to his hope, when speaking of death, [chap. xvii, 13-16.] "If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, thou art my mother, and my sister. And where is now my hope? as for my hope who shall see it? They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust." He does not speak in this testimony, as though death was his hope: but in the grave he would wait. Wait for what? the fulfillment of his hope. In chap. xix, 23-26, he tells us plainly what it is that he expects: not to go to heaven and see God when he died, but, "O that my words were now written! O that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever! for I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet IN MY FLESH shall I see God." The candid mind will see at once, that Job's hope was in the resurrection. He does not once intimate that he should realize his hope at death.
But before we pass into a thorough investigation of the Scripture testimony on the subject of hope, we shall inquire What is hope? It has been commonly defined, expectation and desire. Neither of these alone constitutes hope. A man may expect to receive that which he does not desire. And on the other hand, he may desire that which he cannot expect to receive. Because we simply desire some object, is no proof that we shall receive it. You ask professing christians of the present day in regard to their hope, and ninety-nine out68of one hundred would answer you, that they hoped "to die and go to heaven."
Peter says be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." 1 Peter iii, 15. We shall claim the privilege of asking those who hope to go to heaven when they die a "reason of the hope," that they cherish. Of course they have no good reason to expect, or desire to go to heaven at death, unless God has promised it. If God has made no such promise to men, then their hope is without foundation, and not the gospel hope. It will not answer to have a conjecture, or merely an inference as the foundation of such a hope. We want a "thus saith the Lord."
Whatever may be the true object of hope, the Scriptures will certainly furnish us with testimony concerning it. We might expect, that whatever God designed to bestow upon his people he would give the most plain and positive assurance concerning it. Says Paul, [Heb. vi, 17, 18.] "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsels, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." If the hope set before us, is the hope of going to heaven, then we have a clear promise on the subject, or else the hope is not well grounded. Where is there such a promise? Don't produce the thief on the cross, Moses on the Mount, nor any of those texts we have been investigating, which you claim prove the existence of man in death: for we have shown, that they prove no such thing. Where is your "thus saith the Lord," the saints go to heaven at death? You have none. Perhaps you are ready to reply, the Lord testified through John to the church of Smyrna, [Rev. ii, 10.] "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." When? At death say you. But the text does not say, I will give you a crown of life at death. Now, unless you can prove from positive scripture, that men are to receive the crown of life at death, the above testimony will weigh nothing in favor of your hope of going to heaven at death. No such testimony can be found. We shall conclude, that the popular hope of going to heaven at death, is a hope without foundation, being not once promised in the book of God.