# The Last Judgement and Second Coming of the Lord Illustrated/Chapter 4

CHAPTER IV.
OF THAT REGION IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD WHICH IS THE FIRST COMMON RECEPTACLE FOR THE SOULS OF ALL WHO DIE, AND ALSO THE PLACE OF JUDGMENT.
If it be true, as we have attempted to show in a preceding chapter, that several judgments are recorded in the Scriptures to have taken place; and, specially, that at the personal advent of the Lord a general judgment was really executed in consequence of the height to which the corruption of Divine religion had attained—that judgment being one of the declared purposes for which that advent was undertaken—then it will follow that the doctrine concerning the world of spirits, the truth of the existence of which has been occasionally assumed in the process of the argument, must, in reality, be true. And this being so, the expectations commonly entertained respecting the last judgment, the second coming of the Lord, the cessation of the human race, the resurrection of the natural body, and the destruction of the world, cannot be founded in correct views of the Scripture teaching. These subjects it will be requisite to consider, in order that our main argument may be sufficiently clear. We shall therefore treat of them in the present and following chapters: considering in this chapter that region in the spiritual world which is the first common receptacle for the souls of all who die, and also the place of judgment.
The existence of a spiritual world is conceded upon all hands, but by that term is generally meant heaven and hell as the final destination of the good and the evil of mankind. It appears, however, to us, that there must be an intermediate region for the reception of the soul between the periods of natural death and final judgment. This region we call the world of spirits. The existence of such a world is not commonly accepted, at least among the ​Protestant sections of the professing Church; though the admission of its reality seems indispensable for preserving any reasonable idea concerning the existence of the soul after the death of the body and before the judgment. It is, however, to be found in the teachings of the Scriptures, and among the ancient doctrines of Christianity. It was known to the Jews; indications concerning it are to be found in the philosophy of the Greeks, and in the poetry of the Latins. Indeed, it was universally accepted in the Christian Church up to the time of the Reformation. At that period, however, the true idea of it had been corrupted, and the Romish purgatory had been substituted in its stead. The Reformers, in disgust at such corruptions, threw aside the doctrine as not having any foundation in Christian teaching. Instead of reforming the abuse, they rejected the truth that had been abused; so that the "Church" was left without any information concerning the destination of the soul between the times of natural death and final judgment. The soul is immortal; and, therefore, it must live somewhere. If it does not immediately undergo its judgment, that residence cannot be either in heaven or hell; hence it follows that there must be an intermediate region for its reception: and did not the Lord Jesus Christ plainly refer to this when He spoke of Abraham, who was in heaven, saying to the rich man who was in hell, "between us and you there is a great gulf fixed "? ​The term gulf, in the original, is χάσμα, chasma, from which we derive the English word chasm, which denotes an interstice, that is a space between two things; consequently, in the case before us, it must mean that world which exists between heaven and hell. This idea was held by the most eminent Fathers of the Church: indeed, it is founded in the very nature of things; for between opposites there must be intermediates; and, therefore, between heaven and hell there must be an intermediate region. The force of this reasoning has been perceived; and, therefore, it has been thought, and sometimes expressed by Protestant writers, that the intermediate state of the soul between death and judgment was a condition of insensibility. But what is this but the cessation of a life that never dies? for surely that must be a strange conception of immortality which can imagine the interruption of conscious life for thousands of years, and which, if this doctrine were true, is still the condition of the first men, supposing them not yet to have experienced their judgment. But this is an idea nowhere taught in the Scriptures. The Lord said, that those who live and believe in Him should never die: and also, that the faithless had a worm that dieth not. To suppose that the promise of "everlasting life" includes the idea of unnumbered years of insensible existence, is a novelty of interpretation on which we need not dwell. Dives and Lazarus, though dead as to their natural bodies, were still living, thinking, talking men. To be absent ​from the body is to be present with the Lord; and is this presence to be accompanied by a state of unconsciousness? Was the promise of Paradise to the penitent malefactor to be realized in a condition of insensibility? Were those souls, whom the apostle tells us were under the altar and crying for judgment, unconscious of their existence? It is amazing to consider how so helpless an idea could have found for itself an utterance among any reputable thinkers.
Some, indeed, have supposed that the soul, immediately after death, passes into such a condition of enjoyment or suffering as the deeds done in the body may have merited. But to maintain this view, the common doctrine concerning the resurrection and last judgment must be abandoned, or the idea of sending souls to their destination first, and bringing them to judgment afterwards, must be adopted! This latter opinion will hardly be defended; and although a relinquishment of the two doctrines referred to would be no detriment to truth, yet neither can be advocated for a moment without first admitting the execution of a judgment: there must, therefore, be some place for receiving the souls of men, in which they must be judged before they can enter upon their final destiny. And what other place can be conceived of but an intermediate region in the spiritual world?
Moreover, such a region seems to be a necessity arising out of the condition of man at the period of his decease. Heaven is a state of felicity, into which nothing that is ​unclean can be admitted; and hell is a state of wickedness, into which nothing that is good can be allowed to enter. But universal experience shows that the states of men in this life are of a mixed character. It will rarely happen that any individuals, at the time of death, are so fully prepared that they can at once pass on to their final destination. But supposing such cases do sometimes occur, surely those persons will not pass on to their eternal homes without a judgment? Where, then, can that judgment take place? Doubtless the world of spirits must be the scene of it. How, indeed, can any go from the earth to heaven or to hell, and avoid the imtermediate region? We might as well attempt to pass from mountain to mountain and escape the valley! Good and evil enter into the affections of all men, and although one or the other of those principles will predominate in their character at the time of death, yet something of an opposite tendency will still remain. The mere circumstance of death does not remove from man any principles he may have cherished. Men, in general, pass out of this life with a composite nature, and therefore the separation which is necessary, before they can enter either heaven or hell, must take place in some distinct region. This separation is the work of judgment: it is spoken of as dividing the sheep from the goats; and where can be the scene of it? It cannot be heaven, because the evil which adhered to them will prevent their admission into that kingdom: it cannot be hell, because the good to which they may be attached will hinder them from descending into that fearful abode; it follows, therefore, that there must be an intermediate region for their reception on their departure from the natural world, and that region must be the scene of judgment. The judgment consists in the separation of all those ​things from the souls of men which are contrary to their predominating love and characters. This is effected by the merciful providence of the Lord opening out "the book of life," which pertains to every individual; separating the good from the evil by which he may be distinguished, and bringing that which predominates of either into the fulness of its existence. It is thus that the spirits of just men are made perfect; and where from him who hath not is taken away that which he seemeth to have.
These reasonable considerations are, in addition, plentifully confirmed by the evidence of Scripture. They are clearly indicated by the terms sheol in the Old Testament, and hades in the New. These two words of the original are by no means satisfactorily rendered in our version of the Scriptures. Sometimes they are translated grave, and sometimes hell, which every one perceives to be two very distinct things; and the consequence is that a frequent confusion of thought upon the subject is induced. The word sheol is sometimes surrounded with expressions which clearly show that hell could not have been intended by it; in these cases, because the translators did not acknowledge an intermediate state, they have rendered it by the expression grave, which, however, the very same surroundings clearly show cannot have been its true meaning. For instance, Jacob, in his grief occasioned by the reported death of his son Joseph, said, "I will go down to sheol to my son, mourning." Here it was readily perceived that hell could not have been the place referred to, and, therefore, the word grave was adopted. But who does not see that the patriarch could never have expected to find his son in any natural sepulchre, to which he himself might be consigned. Joseph had not been interred: the report was ​that he had been torn in pieces by some wild beast; and therefore the idea of a grave could not have been present to his father's mind, when in the depth of his sorrow he spoke of going down to him in sheol. Hence it is plain that sheol does not mean the natural grave for the reception of a dead body, but that region in the spiritual world designed as the first receptacle for the living soul. If the grave had been meant, surely keber, which in Hebrew is the common term for grave, would have been employed, since it is very carefully distinguished from sheol throughout the Hebrew writings.
So again it is written, "sheol and destruction are before the Lord." Here it was seen that the purpose of the term sheol was not to indicate the grave, and therefore it has been rendered hell: but that hell was not the idea intended by the expression, follows from the circumstance of its being distinguished from "destruction." Hell is the destruction of all heavenly life: "destruction," therefore includes that idea; consequently, the sheol, which is also before the Lord, denotes that intermediate region in which His judgments are performed upon the souls of men. It is also declared, "God will redeem my soul from the power ​of sheol:" thus, not from the grave, for the soul is not interred; nor from hell, as it is translated, because thence there is no deliverance: it is plain, therefore, that by sheol must be denoted the world of spirits.
Now, the equivalent of this term sheol, in the New Testament, is hades. This is established upon the best authority. It is written in the Psalms, "Thou wilt not leave my Soul in sheol:" the apostle, citing this passage, and applying it to the Lord, says "His soul was not left in hades:" hades, therefore, was understood by the apostle to have the same meaning as sheol: and it is plain that sheol denotes the first common receptacle for departed spirits, consequently, that must also be the signification of hades: and Josephus expressly tells us that such is the meaning of the word: "it is that place," says he, "wherein the souls of the righteous and unrighteous are detained." And we have bequeathed to us by Peter an historical circumstance which illustrates the fact. He says Christ was "quickened by the Spirit, by which also He went and preached to the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing." Here we are plainly informed that certain spirits had been waiting for deliverance, from the days of Noah until after the Lord's resurrection. Now in what department of the spiritual world had those expectant spirits been detained? It was not heaven, for that is not a prison; nor was it in hell, for there all hope is lost: it must then, most certainly, ​have been in hades, the intermediate spiritual world: and in this case it is called a prison, simply because it is there where the spirits of the departed are received, and as it were held in custody until the time of their judgment is accomplished; and, no doubt, those to whom the Lord preached were "prisoners of hope," whom, in the process of His judgment, He mercifully released, and conducted into heaven. The same apostle relates another remarkable circumstance, which cannot be explained without the admission of the existence of an intermediate region in the spiritual world. When Christianity was established, David had been dead upwards of a thousand years; and yet Peter declared that in his time David had not ascended into the heavens. Doubtless he was still a living spirit, and it will hardly be admitted that he was consigned to the kingdom of the lost. Where, then, had he been residing during that long period after the decease of his body? If it was not in either of the two kingdoms intended for the final destination of the evil and the good, it must, most certainly, have been in hades, the intermediate region. The case of Samuel, when seen by Saul and the woman of Endor, is somewhat parallel. Samuel had passed by ordinary death from the natural world, and yet he was seen ​alive again: he had not then ascended into heaven, nor had he descended into hell: how plain is it then that the region of his sojourn must have been hades—the intermediate world? Saul believed that Samuel was still alive, notwithstanding his bodily decease: he would not otherwise have made the effort which he did to "bring him up," and as the woman applied to for the purpose made no reference to the locality of Samuel's interment, it seems plain that sheol was not understood to be the grave from which he had to be invoked, but that common place of assembly for all spirits on their first departure hence.
The classical signification of the term hades, is the place "where the souls of the righteous and the unrighteous are detained;" thus it is neither heaven nor hell, but that region in the future life of which we have spoken as the world of spirits. And although this word, in the New Testament, is generally translated hell, it does not always mean that miserable abode of the lost. That condition is more fully expressed by the terms "gehenna," "hell-fire," and tartarosas, "hell." And when this idea is intended by hades, it is indicated more by the context than the term, for there are many cases in which it is manifestly not employed with such a meaning. For instance, it is said, "Death and hell (hades) delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged according to their works. And death and hell (hades) were cast into the lake
​of fire." How clear is it that in those cases hades cannot mean hell, considered as the final destination of the lost; for they who were in it were to be judged, and, it was after their judgment that they are said to be cast into "the lake of fire." Surely they were not passed on to their final destiny first, and judged during the process of its punishment! The connection in which the term occurs plainly shows that an intermediate region is essential to explain the phenomena recorded. John expressly says, "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works." The facts thus detailed did not take place on earth; it is equally plain that they did not occur in heaven or in hell. The conclusion, therefore, is irresistible, namely, that the scene of them must have been the world of spirits. This at once enables us to see why it is said that hades delivered up its dead; it plainly denotes that the wicked inhabitants of that department of the spiritual world were brought to judgment: and hades is said to have been cast into the lake, to signify the miserable condition of the wicked which resulted.
In another place, John says, "I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit." Here we are expressly informed that an angel ​came down from heaven; heaven, therefore, could not have been the scene of his action; he finds the dragon, not in the bottomless pit, for he was to cast him into it: where then could have been this dragon at the period of the angel's visit? Is it not plain that it must have been an intermediate region between heaven and hell; and does it not clearly follow that that must have been the scene of judgment? Again, John "saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And it was said unto them that they should rest for a little season, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." Here the apostle plainly says, that he saw the souls of departed martyrs, and heard them asking for a judgment. What department of the spiritual world could have been the scene of these remarkable occurrences? That it was neither heaven nor hell is manifest; it seems therefore certain that it must have been an intermediate region.
Other passages pointing to the same conclusion could easily be selected from that wonderful book, the "Revelation;" indeed, a very considerable portion of it treats of appearances which were presented to the vision of John in this intermediate region of the spiritual world. Every one who has read it with care and discrimination must have observed that the extraordinary scenery and circumstances which are related to have been seen, were such as could not belong to the pure and peaceful kingdom of heaven, or to the entirely corrupt and abandoned condi​tion of hell. Nevertheless, they were scenes and occurrences in some department of the spiritual world: about this there can be no reasonable doubt: how plain then does it become that it must have been that "gulf which exists between them;" where, consequently, judgment is performed, and from which the good are elevated into "eternal life," and the evil removed into "everlasting fire." The extraordinary things which are recorded to have appeared, were symbols of the spiritual states of those who dwell there: they were representative surroundings, and projections of the collective life and character of those who had gone thither from the natural world. Without the admission of the existence of such a place, and the belief of such a principle on which to account for the wonderful appearances displayed therein, the whole book becomes a dark enigma; but concede that they were spiritual realities, and all the phenomena become a wonderful philosophy unveiling to the world some of the peculiarities which distinguish the passage of men hence to their eternal destiny.
Moreover, the visions of the prophets consisted, for the most part, of sights into this first receptacle for departed men: and the singular things which they are stated to have seen were the outbirths and representations of the spiritual life of its inhabitants; thus revealing the interior condition of the Church and of the world, with which they had been connected. And as the phenomena described are, in many cases, such as cannot be reasonably supposed to be connected with the final residences of the lost, or of the blessed; it must follow, as an indisputable result, that they were connected with a world which exists between them.
The soul does not go directly to its everlasting home: that state cannot be entered till after judgment; it must, then, as before remarked, have a place in which to dwell, ​and where the true assize is held; and what imagination, aided by the suggestions of the Scriptures, can point out another place than that which the idea of an intermediate world supplies? Men cannot go from one place to another without passing through the space which intervenes. Neither can they rise from one state to another without passing through that which exists between them. Between two opposites there must be an intermediate. This seems to be a universal fact. It is observable between fire and ice; light and darkness; height and depth: also, between vice and virtue; wisdom and folly; industry and idleness: likewise between mind and matter; reason and instinct; love and hatred: why, then, should any one hesitate to acknowledge the existence of an intermediate world between heaven and hell?
But we are not left to the mere logic of the case for this conclusion: there are some statements in the prophets, by which it is clearly sustained. Ezekiel, speaking of being in "the spirit," said, "The hand of the Lord fell upon me, and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven." And Zechariah relates that he saw, when his spiritual eyes were opened for the purpose: "Two women, and the wind was in their wings, for they had wings like a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven." These passages plainly declare that there is a place in the spiritual world which is neither heaven nor hell. It is true that the terms employed are "between the earth and the heaven:" but the earth there does not mean the natural world; but those states of men that are of the "earth, earthy:" the prophets were lifted above this state, in the vision which they experienced, and yet their elevation did not reach the heavenly world; this, therefore, ​is a demonstration that an intermediate place must have been the scene of those appearances.
We might, indeed, dwell upon other evidences, and extend our reasonings over a considerable space, but we will only advert to one other circumstance in proof of our position. This, however, is of great weight and importance in the argument. It was predicted, concerning the Lord, that His soul should not be left in sheol, that is hades. It has, we think, been clearly shown that those terms denote the world of spirits; but if there were any doubts respecting this, a little attention to the narrative, in which the prediction is considered to have been fulfilled, will sufficiently remove them. The circumstance that the Lord, after His resurrection, was not to be left in hades, clearly shows that He must have been there at least for a period, and that that was the scene of His operations, prior to his ascension. Now, where was this? Our answer is known: but look at another proof of it. There is a clause in a popular creed which says of the Lord, that "He descended into hell:" but there is no Scriptural statement to that effect, if that term be understood to mean the miserable abodes of those who are irretrievably lost; and yet there is a distinct narration of His having been in some department of the spiritual world which is not properly heaven. The Apostle Peter, as we have seen, tells us that the Lord, being quickened by the Spirit, went and taught some spirits who had been detained there from the days of Noe.
But apart from this fact, the Lord, by His resurrection, passed away from the ordinary sight of men in the natural world: He was no longer seen by their physical eyes: and when the disciples were privileged to behold Him, it was by means of some specific sight opened in them for the ​purpose. Hence we read of their eyes being holden that they should not know Him: and again of their eyes being opened and they knew Him: and He vanished out of their sight. Several cases of His having so appeared to them are recorded. Where was the scene of those appearances? Surely it was not hell! for although the creed adverted to says, "He descended into hell," it limits the period of His duration there to the third day. Neither was it heaven, for of this none of the surroundings which attended those appearances give us any indication. Moreover, it was seven weeks after the time of His resurrection that He ascended into heaven; that event is related in the "Acts:" where then was the scene of His sojourn? It was not specifically either heaven or hell: how plain, then, is it that it was that sheol of the Old Testament; that hades of the New; that intermediate region of which those terms are significant; and which He entered to complete the judgment for which He originally came.
Another argument, powerfully tending to the same conclusion, is presented by two remarkable passages in the Lord's discourse with His disciples. Before His passion, He said unto them, "These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you:" and after His resurrection, He said unto them, "These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day." The passion, to which He refers in this passage, was that about which He had frequently spoken to the dis​ciples, when He was present with them. By the phrase, "being present with you," He, of course, meant His personal presence in the natural world; but when, after His passion, he reminded the disciples of His conversation on the subject, by saying, "While I was yet present with you," it is evident that He was not then present with them in the natural world as He had previously been. Indeed, if He had been so, He might have been seen by any one; but we find that He only appeared to His disciples, and that for them to see Him it was necessary that their eyes should be opened that they might know Him. As, then, His presence with the disciples before the passion was in the natural world; so His presence with them after His resurrection, and when He reminded them of His conversation on the subject, was not in the natural world: neither was it in heaven or hell; how irresistible, then, is the conclusion that it must have been in the world of spirits! Seeing then that the Lord, in the process of ascending into that heaven, from which He had descended, was pleased to pass into this intermediate region, is it not reasonable to suppose that the spirits of all flesh do the same when passing on to their final destination; a destination, decided by the quality of the life they have led and the faith they have cherished? But the Scriptures furnish us with special cases which illustrate this reasonable conclusion. All the passages in the New Testament which speak of judgment, invariably treat of that event as taking place at a time when the subjects of it are no longer in the natural world; where, then, can they be but in some department of the spiritual world? That, therefore, must be the scene of judgment, and living souls ​must be the subjects of it. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
The Lord, in treating of the judgment which He executed during His residence on earth, said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live." In this passage it is distinctly said, not only that the hour is coming, but that it now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. He also said, "The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." Now, who were the dead who are spoken of as then hearing the voice of the Son of God? Doubtless they were not only those who were insensible to His Divine teachings in the world; but those, also, who had passed out of it by natural death,—those living souls, who, being immortal, could not die, and who were then in the process of experiencing their judgment; hence, the scene of that event must have been the world of spirits.
The Lord said to the penitent malefactor, when dying upon the cross, "Verily I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." Now where was this? Doubtless it must have been some department in the spiritual world for the reception of souls emancipated from their bodies: both Jesus and the penitent were to enter it that very day. The promise certainly implied that the penitent would still continue to be a conscious living human being, notwithstanding the death of his material body: and where could that existence be enjoyed? The Lord spoke of it under the name of paradise, a name which only occurs in two other places throughout the Word: in one, the apostle ​says, he knew a man who was caught up into paradise, but leaves the place without a description; and in the other it is called the paradise of God. In this latter case, it is, no doubt, employed as a designation for heaven; and although an idea of heaven must have been included in the promise with which the penitent was encouraged, yet it could not be the full enjoyment of that kingdom, which he was about to realize on that day. The Lord, who had so frequently made use of a word signifying heaven, would surely not have employed another term on so peculiar an occasion, if He had not intended by it to express some distinct idea: hence we believe that the paradise promised for that day, is that position in the world of spirits, where the faithful are gathered with a view of raising them to heaven. Surely the malefactor did not pass on to the final residence of the blessed without the experience of a judgment. Besides, the Lord on the third day after the crucifixion, told Mary that He Himself had not yet ascended; and, therefore, it appears plain that the paradise spoken of could not have been the full enjoyment of the angelic kingdom, but rather that position in the intermediate spiritual world where the good are gathered together for their judgment, and whence they are raised into heaven. There, indeed, the Lord was; there, also, was the penitent, and there he would have to remain until the period of his judgment; for without that he could not pass on to his final destination: how plain is it, then, that the world of spirits must be the scene of its execution. John, indeed, expressly tells us that it is so. He saw the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held; and they were living in the hope of judgment, for they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not ​judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? and it was said unto them, that they were to rest for a little season." This passage was before cited in evidence of the existence of an intermediate region in the spiritual world: it is now again produced because it clearly proves that region to have been the scene of judgment; for white robes were given to the parties treated of as an assurance that their judgment would result in future happiness.
Again; the Lord, speaking of His judgment, said, "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice." The phrase "is coming," evidently contemplated the event as near; certainly not as one to be postponed for some thousands of years: doubtless it came within the meaning of His statement, "now is the Judgment of this world," that being one of the purposes for which He came. And where could have been the scene of such an occurrence? It did not transpire in the natural world; and, therefore, it must have been the spiritual. By "the graves," of which the Lord spoke, are not to be understood material sepulchres. He employed the term with another meaning. When denouncing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, He said unto them, "Ye are as graves which appear not, and men walk over them and are not aware of them." The graves, therefore, signify of those states of mind in which goodness lay interred. He also spoke of such as "whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful without, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." So that external professions which do not agree with the internal states, and which at the same time conceal them, ​are the graves to which the Lord refers; and this may be evident from the circumstance that those who are spoken of are to hear His voice. Dead corpses in natural graves do not hear. The body that has been mingled with its kindred earth for unnumbered years—from which every trace of its organization has disappeared, and which has been converted into other forms and put to other uses, has no capability of hearing. When, therefore, the Lord said, that those who "are in the graves shall hear His voice," He did not merely speak of the conversion of those who were dead in trespasses and sins, but of those also who had passed into the world of spirits, but whose external professions of good did not agree with their internal state of evil. They, in that world, and at the time of judgment, would be sure to hear His voice: for it is there, and then, that "there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known;" where "whatsoever has been spoken in darkness will be heard in light, and that which has been spoken in the ear, in closets, will be proclaimed upon the housetops." It is in that world, and not in this, where those terrifying disclosures will be made: it is there where those who have known and professed, but have not loved and lived, will say unto "the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" He said, "Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Such persons have buried their ​real character in the grave of a profession; their grave, when they die, they take with them into the world of spirits; and it is in this grave that they hear the voice of the Judge, and learn their sentence. The word that He speaketh, the same will judge them in the last day.
The external character, which does not agree with a man's internal life, is spoken of in the Scripture as a grave. Not only is this the case with those who simulate a virtue which they do not possess, but also with those who are beset with unfavourable surroundings and yet have within them nobler sentiments and a purer love. Thus when David was delivered from some affliction which distressed him, he exclaimed, "O Lord, Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave;" and here it is important to notice that it is the rescue of the soul, and not the body which is spoken of. When the Israelites were enduring captivity in Babylon, that also is spoken of as a grave; for the Lord, in promising deliverance, said, "Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live." Hence it is quite plain, that there are other graves besides those of pits in the earth, or holes in the rocks, in which dead bodies are interred.
This fact will aid us in understanding a very remarkable case, which is related to have occurred at the time of the Lord's resurrection. It is written, "that the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." ​It is usual to consider this as a visible occurrence, of which the natural city of Jerusalem was the locality: but a little reflection will show this to be a mistake. Those who believe that view of the case know it to be full of difficulties; they suppose many things, in order to avoid them, and yet acknowledge that conjecture is but a poor interpreter. We hold that the natural world could not have been the scene of the transaction, and that the carnal Jerusalem was not "the holy city." There are no parallels between this case, and the raising of Lazarus and the widow's son. These were restored to their friends, and were known to their enemies; and they died again. They were the subjects of wonder among men, and testified to the love and the power of Him by whom their raising was effected. But at the coming of the saints out of their graves, which is a much more extraordinary occurrence than either of these, no astonishment whatever is recorded. Matthew is the only evangelist by whom it is related; it is not alluded to in any of the epistles, nor in any other portion of the Scriptures. It is simply mentioned as an incidental occurrence connected with the resurrection of the Lord, and left without remark or reflection. Surely this could hardly have been the case, if many who had been dead and buried had walked out of their sepulchres into Jerusalem, and were seen by many! It cannot be reasonably supposed that such an amazing event would have been observed in silence: there could have been no motive for secrecy; the obvious result of such an occurrence must have been great excitement and publicity. The apostles must have been acquainted with it; and, doubtless, they would have made use of it as an argument in favour of the mission in which they were engaged, had it been a transaction in the natural world, to which they could have referred; ​and yet they have failed to notice it. Matthew tells us that "when Jesus was come to Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying. Who is this?" And if that circumstance could produce such a commotion among the people, surely the appearance in the city of many who had been dead and buried must have given rise to great commotion and inquiry. And yet nothing of the kind is mentioned; all appears to have been as quiet as if no such phenomenon had happened. But the reason for this silence; the reason for the absence of all reference to the effect of such a circumstance upon the people; and the reason why it took place after the Lord's resurrection,—is, because the scene of it was not in the natural but in the spiritual world. It was an event kindred to this which is related by Peter, where he says, that the Lord, after His resurrection, "went and preached unto the spirits in prison: in this case the subjects are called spirits in prison; in the other, which we are considering, they are spoken of as saints in their graves. But both the prison and the graves refer to certain external dismal surroundings, from which the internal characters of good spirits were delivered at the time of the Lord's resurrection. He thereby had taken to Himself His great power, and so provided the means for its accomplishment. "The bodies of the saints," were not the carcases of virtuous men on earth, but their living souls in the world of spirits: "There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body;" and the spiritual body is the human soul. It is the soul which loves and feels and cares, and incurs responsibility for what it does. The natural body is simply an instrument by which the spiritual body performs its purposes in the world of nature: this dies and returns to the dust from which it came; but the soul, being a spiritual body, lives ​for ever: this, therefore, must be the subject of the judgment; and the world of spirits into which it passes, when the natural body dies, is the place of that experience. And these bodies are said to have slept, not to have been dead; because sleep expresses a condition of obscurity which had been induced upon them by certain unfavourable influences which had surrounded them during their residence in the world. It was in reference to such obscurity that the apostle said to the Ephesians, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." Those bodies of the saints are said to have come out of their graves, to inform us that they were delivered from the external restraint which had beset them; and by their going into the holy city a revelation is made of their elevation into heaven, for that is the holy city which is meant; and there they are said to have appeared unto many, because there they would become associated with many who were grounded in similar principles to themselves. The removal of those external disorders which an unfavourable influence had hung about their character, and which did not agree with the internal sanctity of their lives, constituted that final act of judgment by which they were brought into the liberty with which they could enter into heaven. And this proves to us that it is the soul which is the proper subject of the judgment, and that the world of spirits is the only scene for its accomplishment.
Under this view of the narrative all its difficulties vanish, and the whole phenomenon is brought within the reach of reasonable intelligence. When the manners and opinions of an age become corrupt, men of honest minds and devout purposes do not escape their dangerous seductions. The external character and general conduct of such are brought ​into some conformity with the misleading circumstances by which they are surrounded; but their interior character and sentiment are guided by higher views of life and duty. Their motives and desires may be sincere, good, and earnest, but the period may be inimical to their right development. Excellence of interior character has not unfrequently existed in corrupt times, and men yearning to do right have been seduced into courses that were wrong. The apostle has put this fact in a striking light. "The good," says he, "that I would, I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do." So far, then, as such persons are interiorly good, they possess the qualifications for heaven; but the corrupting circumstances with which they have come in contact on the earth, have exercised an unfavourable influence upon their characters, and this, on the death of their body, they will take with them into the world of spirits; it is as a prison to their inner life, and, for a time, it will be to them as a grave, in which their more interior excellence will be entombed. This is the grave out of which they will have to come before they can enter into "the holy city." To bring their interior love of goodness into freedom, and to effect its separation from that with which it disagrees, is the work of judgment. They then, who will carefully reflect upon these considerations, will find no difficulty in rationally understanding what is related concerning the bodies of the saints. But without admitting the existence of an intermediate spiritual world, and viewing it as the place of judgment, the whole narrative is entirely beyond the reach of any satisfactory explanation.
We might dwell upon other evidences, and prolong this investigation to a greater length; but we think suffi​cient has been said to induce serious reflection upon the subject. And here we might end the discussion; but there is one other circumstance which it may be useful to notice.
Although immediately after natural death every one passes into the world of spirits, it is not to be supposed that before the time of judgment the good and the evil mix up together and form, as it were, an indiscriminate crowd. Men with marked differences of character naturally separate from each other, even in this life; and this tendency of their spirits they will necessarily carry with them into the other life, and so induce, even there, certain arrangements of spiritual society. Although the good and faithful, and the wicked and depraved, all pass, by natural death, into the world of spirits, yet who can hesitate to believe that, on their arrival there, their dissimilarity of character will maintain the separation which they have effected here? Doubtless the faithful will be attracted towards that position in the intermediate region which is nearest heaven, and which may be described as "under the altar;" and "paradise!" while the faithless will betake: themselves to that opposite quarter, which is nearest hell, and which may be described as the residence of "Abaddon," and "Apollyon;" that is the destroyer—the destroyer of everything that is good and true which may still remain among them. And is it not reasonable to suppose that others, whose characters are less decided, will occupy some more central position until the time of judgment? It so appears to us; and here we leave the matter to the reflection of the reader.
We feel assured that the provision of an intermediate spiritual world, for our reception immediately after death, is a most merciful display of the Divine wisdom and good​ness; because it is an adaptation to those mixed conditions of our spiritual life, which have arisen out of the fallen state of our race, and which regeneration here seldom, if ever, completely separates.
* ↑ Luke xvi. 26. "The universal Christian world from the very commencement, believed generally in an invisible world of spirits, which was divided into three different regions: heaven, or the place of the blessed; hell, or the place of torment; and then a third place, which the Bible calls hades, or the receptacle for the dead, in which those souls which were not ripe for either destination, are fully made meet for that to which they most adapted themselves in this life."—Dr. Jung Stilling: "Theory of Pneumatology," Jackson's translation, p. 11.
* ↑ See Dr. Pearson on the Creed, under the clause, "He descended into hell." Also Dr. Burnet, in his Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles. Art, iii.
* ↑ Dr. Whately's View of Scripture Revelation concerning a Future State. Fifth edition, p. 89.
* ↑ John xi. 26.
* ↑ Mark ix. 44—48.
* ↑ 2 Cor. v. 8.
* ↑ Luke xxiii. 43.
* ↑ Rev. vi. 9.
* ↑ "I think the doctrine of an intermediate state can never be effectually extirpated, so long as a belief of a separate soul is retained. For while that is supposed to exist independently of the body, it will not be easily imagined to sleep along with it, but will be thought to enjoy more or less of consciousness of its existence."—Dr. Priestley's "History of the Corruptions of Christianity," vol, i., p. 425.
* ↑ Heb. xii. 23.
* ↑ Luke viii. 18.
* ↑ "It is a leading mark of distinction between keber, the grave, and sheol, the place of souls: that while the former takes the possessive pronouns through all their variety, such as my grave, his grave, your grave, etc.: the latter never does, and never appears in the plural, but stands by itself as one extended region, the receptacle of all spirits departed. It is never said they buried him in sheol, or I will cause your bodies to come out of your sheol; such expressions never occur once throughout the whole of the sacred volume. Keber is invariably employed. On the other hand, when mention is made of the soul's destination, its assigned abode is as invariably sheol."—Olam Haneshaneth. By the Rev. G. Bennet, p. 283.
* ↑ Prov. xv. 11.
* ↑ Psalm xlix. 15.
* ↑ Psalm xvi. 10.
* ↑ Acts ii. 31.
* ↑ See his discourse to the Greeks on this subject.
* ↑ 1 Pet. iii. 18, 19. Dr. Kitto observes that this is one of the strongest texts in proof of the existence of an intermediate spiritual world.—Bib. Cyc., Art. Hades.
* ↑ Acts ii. 34.
* ↑ In speaking of the final destination, it may be useful to make this point clear and emphatic, because it has been supposed by some, no doubt from a benevolent wish, that the condition of the lost is not eternal. The following beautiful passage from Swedenborg appears to us to be quite conclusive on the point. "The life of man cannot be changed after death, but must for ever remain such as it had been in the world; for the quality of man's spirit is in every respect the same as that of his love, and infernal love can never be transformed into heavenly love, because they are in direct opposition to each other. This is what is meant by the words of Abraham's address to the rich man in hell: 'Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us that would come from thence' (Luke xvi. 26). Hence it is evident, that all who go to hell remain there to eternity, and that all who go to heaven remain there to eternity." The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrines, 239.
* ↑ 1 Sam. xxviii. 15.
* ↑ Matt. v. 22; Mark ix. 47; 2 Pet. ii. 4.
* ↑ Rev. xx. 13, 14.
* ↑ Rev. xx. 12.
* ↑ Rev. xx. 1, 2, 3. By the dragon, the serpent, the devil, and Satan, are not simply meant individual wicked spirits, but the complex of all those, who at the time of the judgment treated of were principled in evil loves and false persuasions.
* ↑ Rev. vi. 9-11.
* ↑ Ezek. viii. 1, 3.
* ↑ Zech. v. 9.
* ↑ Psalm xvi. 10; Acts ii. 27.
* ↑ Luke xxiv. 16-31.
* ↑ John xiv. 25.
* ↑ Luke xxiv. 44-46.
* ↑ Matt. xvi. 21; xvii. 22, 23; xx. 17; Mark viii. 31; ix. 30; x. 33; Luke ix. 22-44; xviii. 31, etc.
* ↑ Luke xxiv. 31.
* ↑ See Matt. vii. 21-23; xxii. 11-13; xxv. 46.
* ↑ John v. 25.
* ↑ John xii. 48.
* ↑ Luke xxiii. 43.
* ↑ 2 Cor. xii. 4; Rev. ii. 7.
* ↑ John xx. 17.
* ↑ John v. 27, 28
* ↑ John xii. 31.
* ↑ John ix. 39.
* ↑ Luke xi. 44.
* ↑ Matt. xxiii. 27.
* ↑ Luke xii. 2, 3.
* ↑ Rev. vi. 16, 17.
* ↑ Matt. vii. 22, 23.
* ↑ Psalm xxx. 3.
* ↑ Ezek. xxxvii. 12-14.
* ↑ Matt. xxvii. 52, 53.
* ↑ Matt. xxi. 10.
* ↑ 1 Pet. iii. 19.
* ↑ Eph. v. 14.
* ↑ Rom. vii. 19.