redeemed in consequence of having accepted the conditions of the offer made to all.

If there were a judgment at death, and another at the last day, the first would be by far the most important one to us, except to those who, from not having died, were then judged for the first time, so it would be a real judgment to some, but only a ratification to others.

Dr. Sherlock, in his Practical Discourse concerning a Future Judgment, says "And the truth is, if all men have a final sentence passed on them, as soon as they go into the other world, it is very unaccountable, why Christ at the last day shall come with such a terrible pomp and solemnity to judge and condemn those who are judged, and condemned, and executed already as much as they ever can be."

The author of Natural History of Enthusiasm notices that -"one commanding subject pervades the Scriptures, and rises to view on every page :-this recurring theme, towards which all instructions and histories tend, is the great and anxious question of condemnation or acquittal at the bar of God, when the irreversible sentence shall come to be pronounced."-The same author afterwards refers to the dreadful convulsions of the earth which shall precede the judgement, and goes on thus :-"Then the bright appearance of “Then the judge, encircled by the splendours of the court of heaven ;-the convoked assemblage of witnesses from all worlds, filling the concave of the skies.* Then the dense masses of the family of man crowding the arena of the great tribunal; -the separation of the multitude;-the irreversible sentence; -the departure of the doomed ;-the triumphant ascent of the ransomed."+ Here, revelation is held to indicate past

This is going rather beyond the letter of the Record, where there is nothing said which would indicate that the inhabitants of other worlds, (except the angels of heaven,) are to be present at our trial, or are then themselves to be judged, and so far from filling the vast concave of the skies, it is probable that the inhabitants of the next star (if it is inhabited) shall know nothing of such an event. + Pp. 45. 53.

dispute, that the great decision on our fate is not to be until the last day: None of these events are at this moment taking place: There are none such constantly transacting, as a judgment at death would necessarily infer.

There is therefore no decision on our eternal doom, or with which, at least, we shall be made acquainted, until the great day of judgment; and if there has been no trial, then there is no sentence, nor execution of one, and whatever may be the joy or sorrow of the separate soul, it is not that bliss or woe which we are told is to follow the judgment, nor is it to be experienced in the same place, since the Scriptures make a distinction, not only in name, but in various particulars regarding them.

It is said that "Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven;" but this was a mode of expression agreeable to the popular belief that the state of the departed blessed is now in the material and visible heavens. "Heaven" may not here be meant to signify that region (wherever it may be in the immeasurable creation of God) which is intended for the eternal residence of the saints, which was denominated the third or highest heavens. If Christ's declaration to Nicodemus is to be strictly interpreted—that no man had at that time ascended up to heaven, then Elijah had not gone thither. But then this prophet did not depart by a natural course, and took his human body with him, (although it may probably have undergone its change by the way,) so he has no resurrection to look to; he being therefore in a more fit condition for the highest heaven than a disembodied soul. It is also said "David is not yet ascended into the heavens." His soul, consequently, must abide in some separate region. Although the souls of the departed just may be in happiness, or in glory, we must not think they are necessarily in the highest heaven, for Moses and Elias were both said to have appeared in glory on the top of a mountain in Palestine, which assuredly could not be called heaven.

* 2 Kings ii. 11.

† Acts ii. 34.

Our eternal Fate undeclared till the Last Day. 245

They were not merely seen from the place where the disciples stood, as at a distance, or in a vision, or as St. Stephen saw the Son of man just before his own death, but these two prophets were actually present and were heard talking with Jesus. A great light or glory also shone around St. Paul at his conversion, from within which our Lord was heard to speak.

That the righteous have already received their great reward, is directly refuted by St. Luke recording the words of our Saviour on one occasion, which would seem to be conclusive of the question. "But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just :”* evidently meaning not till then, except in the approval of a man's own conscience.

The happiness of heaven and the misery of hell are represented as complete,-that of soul and body.† But until the last day, the body is subject to corruption. Previously, then, to the resurrection, the righteous and the wicked cannot be in heaven and hell. Their respective states at present must be different in their nature from the places of final destination.

When one asked our Lord if only a few would be saved, it is plain from his answer, as given by the same disciple, that the time for entering heaven is only to be at the last day, and that it is not till then that the Master of the house shall rise up and shut the door. "Then shall ye begin to say, we have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets," but he answers, saying to those without, "depart," &c. It is then there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth, and that others shall come from the east, and from the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God.‡

Luke xiv. 14.

+ Matt. iv. 14, &c.-2 Thess. i. 7, 8, 9.-1 Cor. xv. 52, 53, 54.-Phil, iii. 20, 21.-1 Thess. iv. 14, &c. ↑ Luke xiii. 23, &c.

In the parable of the tares and the wheat, these were to be allowed to grow up together until the harvest, which means that the good and the bad were to continue together until then, and it seems to put off the final separation till the judgment of the last day, when the same authority informs us, that the angels, as reapers, shall divide them. It is quite plain that the harvest is not meant to be reaped at the death of each individual, although, in the parable of Lazarus and Dives, there does appear to be a distinction and separation made, but they are there said to be within sight of each other, and the division afterwards must be infinitely wider and more complete, inasmuch as heaven and the place of eternal torment or of outer darkness must be greatly more distant from each other than are the happy and unhappy re gions of Hades. The very sight of the righteous in this lat ter place, and the prospect of a still greater difference between the condition of the evil doers and the good, may form no inconsiderable part of the misery which may naturally arise to the wicked in that state, merely from their consciences and the prospect before them. The separating "at the end of the world" may be said to allude only to those alive upon earth, who are of course mixed together, good and bad; and to join the one side, may be brought the souls from Paradise, and for the other, those from Tartarus; thus the separation would become a general one, and on considering the above, along with many other texts, which make no limitation, but seem to include all of each description, we may in this way explain the separation mentioned in Holy Writ, with the fact also there stated, of there being already a separation in so far between disembodied souls. The final separation, too, shall be between just and wicked men, the one which exists at present is only between the souls of men. It is then that He shall separate all nations as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; setting the one description on his right hand, and the other on his left. "Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand-Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit

the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'

St. Paul, in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians,† thus informs them of what shall take place at the resurrection, according to Dr. Macknight's translation :-" We affirm to you, by command of the Lord, that we the living, who remain at the coming of the Lord, shall not anticipate them who are asleep; for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Afterwards we, the living, who remain, shall at the same time with them be caught up in clouds, to join the Lord in the air, and so we shall be for ever with the Lord." In our common versions, the Greek word poάooper is rendered prevent, by which the translators meant the same as anticipate. Bishop Tillotson explains the passage-"we shall not be taken up into heaven before the saints which are already dead shall be raised." That is, the earthly bodies of those departed when joined to their souls. The whole passage clearly establishes that they are not yet in heaven, and are at the last day to ascend thither for the first time.

There is a passage in the Revelation of St. John, the import of which may at least be allowed to contribute to elucidate the condition or present state of departed souls, in as far as it seems to show that they are not yet in the place of their final reward. It is as follows:-"I saw under the altar§ the souls of them that were slain for the word of

* Matt. xxv. 31. 34. 11th Sermon.

† Chap. iv. 15. 17.

§ In the Jewish temples, under the altar was held as a place of sanctuary. A person was there considered to be under the protection of the temple; and this expression in the text would therefore merely indicate to the Jews to whom it was addressed, that the souls spoken of were under the special protection of Christ. Their state is also described by St. John in these words: "Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in His temple, and He that sits on the throne shall dwell among them." The heavenly Personage here denominated God, is, no doubt, Christ himself, as several other passages seem also to establish. He is often called so, and de