The Washington bee., 1895-10-26
The State of the Righteous Dead.

The Rev. DR.. Il. b. Tyler read q pa
per on September "A at the regular
weekly meeting of the Baptist ministers
Of New York city on 1.-The State of the
Righteous Dead" The New York Her
aid reports Mr.. Tyler as saying, in part:
In the New Testament there are two
classes Of texts referring to the state Of
the righteous dead No theory can be
correct that does not harmonize them.
Previous to the death Of Christ there
are several allusions to the intermediate
or middle state. Hades expressed the
state Of the dead, without regard to their
condition. At death the good and bad
alike went into hades. The rich man
lifted up his eyes in hades, being in tor
ment.
Christ was In hades while His body
was In the grave, yet this was place Of
rest David, speaking Of the Christ,
said: Thou wilt not leave my soul in
hades.' Hades included both Paradise
and Tartarus-the one the abode of the
righteous, the other the place for the
wicked. Christ did not go to the Father
while His body was in the grave, for
on the day Of His resurrection He said
to Mary: I have not yet ascended to my
Father! 1t was there made evident
that paradise was not the dwelling place
Of God-that 1t was not what we call
heaven-it was but the intermediate, or
middle state.
Previous to the glorification Of Jesus
paradise was in hades. Every passage in
the Bible SO teaches. Now paradise is in
heaven. Every passage subsequent to
the resurrection Of the Son of God so
teaches. Heaven and hades are two dis
tinct places. One Of the main points
Of dissimilarity between the old cove
nant and the new is that in the new our
sins and iniquities are remembered no
more, while under the old they were
continually, brought to remembrance by
the offering Of bulls and goats, typical
Of Him who, in the fulness Of time
would make a real atonement Of our
sins"
DR.. Tyler went on to express the be-
lief that all the righteous who died pre-
vious to the resurrection of Christ wait
ed in an intermediate resting place be-
fore they were admitted to heaven.
Heaven was therefore a place closed to
mortals during all the early days Of the
worlds history. He continued:
Jesus in his death in some sense van
Quished the devil. When Jesus died he
went into hades, as we have seen. It's
gates closed on him. He was a prisoner
within its gates and Satan held the
keys. Could he have held Jesus as his
prisoner as he has held all the rest of the
human race the story Of the worlds re-
demption would never have been told.
Satan was clamorous to get the Son Of
God into the grave. under the dominion
Of death. He little thought that, In this,
Jesus would only stoop to conquer. He
voluntarily went within. He feared not
to meet Satan in his own dominion.
When, on the third day, He came
forth he wrested from Satan the keys
Of hades, opened ITS gates and came forth
conqueror. Not only so; he dragged the
captor captive. Hence he said to John
on the Isle of Patmos: I was dead, and
behold, / am alive forevermore. and I
have the keys Of death and Of hades."
Hitherto Satan had carried them, but
now they suspend from the girdle Of the
Son Of God: hence in His own death
the Son OF God destroyed the power OF
Satan over the dominion Of death. Para
disc in hades Is eternally no more. Thar
department OF hades is abolished"