The Jewish and Christian doctrines of a final judgment, a resurrection of the dead, and ever lasting punishments and rewards were adopted by Islam, and the eschatology was enriched, after the prophet's time, by contact with Persian thought. The idea of a reincarnation of some great representative of Allah in the past has exerted a particularly strong influence, and the expectation of some Imam or Mandi to reveal the truth more fully or to change the condi tions of life on earth has from time to time stirred profoundly the Mohammedan world. In later Judaism the denial by Maimonides of a physical resurrection found support at the time and has led more recently to a wide-spread hope for an immortal life independent of a resuscitation of the body. The disillusionment that has followed every Messianic movement has, no doubt, had something to do with the less prominent place held to-day even among orthodox Jews by speculation as to the advent of the Messiah. Neither conservatives nor liberals who are interested in the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine seem to contem plate a monarchical constitution; and the fun damental difference between Jewish cosmo politans and nationalists does not even affect the conviction that Israel has a particular func tion to fulfil in the regeneration of the human race.
Modern thought, freeing itself from the authority of tradition, has earnestly en deavored to test the foundations and appraise the value of the various eschatological con ceptions, and to find out how far, and on what it is possible to formulate any views concerning the future that shall be in harmony with scientifically ascertainable facts. There is a disposition to examine objectively and im partially any evidence that is adduced, whether from the correspondence of the phenomena of consciousness to the operations of special parts of the brain or the alleged communications with the dead, the kinship of cerebral functions in man and animal or the intrinsic worth of human self-consciousness, the potentiality in all or the high degree of realization in some. Scientific inquiry, unable to go beyond a non liquet, may not find any ground for vetoing the assumption of an idealistic philosophy that the inmost self in man may be an indispensable unit in a spirit ual universe. But there can be no question that the characteristic modern attitude, affected by science, is one of unwillingness to dogmatize, readiness to hold the judgment in suspense, and disinclination to regard knowledge in this field as essential. That the individual continues to live in the race is capable of demonstration, and to the consciousness of this fact a strong moral appeal is possible. An intelligent patriot ism is to-day obliged to consider the future of the nation in connection with the whole system of sovereign and independent states. The political integration of these states into an all embracing league of nations is felt to he indis pensable to the general security and looked forward to with confidence. Eschatological
thought is intensely occupied at present with the changes, political, industrial, economic, social, and religious, that are likely to follow the world war. It attaches itself again to the destiny of the earth. Barring an accident, which is always within the bounds of possi bility, our planet may be expected to run its course through long ages before it passes away or ceases to be inhabitable. A new glacial period, however, probably lies in a much more immediate future. Living in an interval be tween two such periods particularly favorable to the development of civilization, we are threat ened by the exhaustion of some supplies on which that civilization particularly seems to depend. A careful husbanding of all our natural resources, an equitable distribution to men and nations according to their needs, and a just regard for the necessities of coming generations will be called for. In the efforts to realize the eschatological ideals a moral energy may be released which shall constitute the most precious spiritual harvest of the life of man on earth.
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