Ess. IX.]

Exists after Death,

177 of God," vi, 9,-" the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God:" xx, 4. Lastly, our Lord himself appears to have employed the word "soul" in this peculiar sense, when he said to his disciples, "Fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell:" Matt. x, 28.

When Jesus thus exhorted his followers, he plainly promulgated the doctrine, that, although men are able to destroy the bodies of one another, they have no power to annihilate the soul-that, in other words, the annihilation of the soul is not effected by the death or destruction of the body-that when the body dies, therefore, the soul continues to exist. The body, which is justly described, by two inspiried apostles, as the "tabernacle"-the tent in which the soul resides for a season-is laid aside in death, and is presently resolved into its original dust, see 2 Cor. v, 1; 2 Pet. i, 13; but the higher and more essential part of man, although invisible to mortal eye, preserves its identity, and is introduced to a new sphere of existence and action-a new scene either of pain or of pleasure. That, during the interval which takes place between the death of the body and the resurrection of the dead, man is not in a state of absolute insensibility or annihilation, as some persons have vainly imagined, but in a condition either of suffering or of rejoicing, the New Testament contains a variety of evidence, which, although in some degree indirect, is nevertheless clear and satisfactory.

First, with respect to the impenitent wicked, their lot, during the separate state of existence, is described as one of pain and punishment, or, in language more or less metaphorical (and in what degree it is metaphorical no man can pretend to decide), as one of fire

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in Misery,

Ess. IX.] and imprisonment. Although our Lord's parable of the rich man and Lazarus probably presents to our view a fictitious history, yet we have every reason to allow that the doctrines which it so clearly conveys to our understanding are the doctrines of absolute truth. The rich man, who refused to exercise the offices of Christian charity towards his afflicted neighbour dies: and, while his body is mouldering in the grave-while his relations are continuing to live on the earth-he is himself described as being in hell, a victim to the devouring flames: Luke xvi, 23. Again, we read, in a passage of the First Epistle of Peter, that Jesus Christ was "put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit; by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah :" 1 Pet. iii, 18-20. Although this passage is in some respects of doubtful interpretation, it will, I believe, be found to be explicit as far as relates to the point now before us. For, whether we understand it as declaratory of the doctrine, that Jesus, after his crucifixion, " descended into hell," or as conveying the far more probable idea, that, in his preexistence and divine nature, he preached to the antediluvians by his prophet Noah,—it is evident that the apostle speaks of the spirits of that ancient race of sinners, as being, at the time when he wrote "in prison." 9

Secondly, with respect to the righteous, we are again and again instructed that they live after the death of the body, and live in happiness. When Lazarus, in the parable, escaped from those shackles of mortality

9 Vide Schleusner. Lex. voc. Tvε~μa, No. 4. "De defunctorum animis Veμa quoque legitur, Heb. xiii, 23; 1 Pet. iii, 19; ubi, per rà έv puλanñ πveúμara, animæ flagitiosorum, Noachi coævorum, corpore exules, intelligendæ sunt."

Ess. IX.]

or in Happiness.

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in which he so greatly suffered, he is represented as finding his refuge and consolation in the bosom of Abraham: Luke xvi, 22. Nor can we forget the memorable expressions employed by our Saviour, when he was conversing with the Sadducees respecting the doctrine of a future life, and respecting that first resurrection of which we are now speaking: "Ye do err, not knowing the Scripture, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the ressurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living:" Matt. xxii, 29-32. When, therefore, God spake these words to Moses out of the burning bush, it is certain that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who had long since paid the debt of nature, were nevertheless living. So also in the history of our Lord's transfiguration, it is recorded that Moses and Elias appeared and talked with him: and the disciples would have erected three tabernacles-one for Jesus, and one for each of these his ancient and glorified servants: Matt. xvii, 3, 4.

When the penitent and converted thief, who was the companion of our Lord in his crucifixion, supplicated for his mercy, and cried out, "Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom," Jesus answered him (in words which may well be deemed completely decisive of the question now under discussion)" Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise: Luke xxiii, 42, 43.1

1 Αμὴν λέγω σοι, σήμερον μετ ̓ ἐμοῦ ἔσῃ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ. “ Pessime fecerunt qui hanc vocem aut cum Keyw dico conjunxerunt (quod aperte improbat Syrus) aut interpretati sunt onμegov hodie, post resur

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Celestial Glory of Spirits made Perfect. [Ess. Ix.

In the Epistle to the Hebrews, Christians are exhorted to be diligent in their religious course, after the example of the saints already glorified-to be " followers of them who, through faith and patience, inherit (that is, as in the Greek, are inheriting) the promises," vi, 12; and, in reference to the same subject, it is declared, in a following chapter of this Epistle, that we are not "come unto the mount that might be touched, &c.; but unto Mount Zion.......and to an innumerable company of angels: to the general assemby and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven.......and to the spirits of just men made perfect:" xii, 18-23. But it is in his Second Epistle to the Corinthins, that the apostle Paul has most clearly indicated the truth, that, when they are delivered from the confinement of their earthly tabernacle, the servants of Christ are alive in heaven-alive with their Lord. "For we know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens....Therefore, we are always confident, knowing, that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord (for we walk by faith, not by sight): we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord:" 2 Cor. v, 1-8. So, again, to the Philippians, he says, "For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better: nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you :" i, 23. Lastly, it was long previously

rectionem. Christus plus promittit, quam erat rogatus. Rogas, inquit, ut olim tui sim memor cum Regni possessionem accepero: ego tam diu non differam tua vota: sed partem et primitias speratæ felicitatis tibi intra hunc ipsum diem repræsentabo: morere securus; a morte statim te divina solatia expectant:" Grotii, Com. in loc.

2

κληρονομούντων.

3 Vide Schleusner. Lex. voc. IIvεuμa.

Ess. IX.]

Resurrection of the Dead,

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to his vision of the resurrection, and of the day of final retribution, that the apostle John, in the Revelation, was permitted to hear the elders, in a state of glory, singing their new song, in honour of him who "had redeemed them to God by his blood," v, 9; and, on a subsequent occasion, to behold "a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues," who "stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands"-persons, who had already passed through all their tribulations, and had entered into unspeakable joy, because they had "washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb:" vii, 9-14.

SECTION III. On the Resurrection of the Dead. While the passages of Scripture, which thus unfold to us some of the hidden mysteries of the separate state of existence, afford an ample evidence that there is in us a living substance, by which our identity is preserved, and which cannot die, there is yet another point of view in which man is represented, by the inspired writers, as the heir of an endless futurity. In an awful day to come, his mortal part shall put on immortality; his corruptible shall be clothed with incorruption; the man who sleeps in the dust of the earth shall be quickened-shall be raised from a state of death-shall stand alive before the judgment-seat of the Almighty.

This doctrine, though, fully revealed in its several majestic particulars only under the dispensation of the Gospel, was by no means entirely unknown to the ancient Israelitish church. It cannot with reason be denied, the Job spake of his resurrection from the dead when, with so much emphasis, he declared his faith in that Redeemer by whom this wonderful change will be effected: "I know that my Redeemer liveth,