parted spirits, called in Hebrew in Greek aồng, and in English Hell, means the invisible receptacle of the dead. Peter says of our Lord, 'His SOUL was not left in hell,' (aons,) nor did his FLESH see corruption;' where there is a contrast between his soul being in the invisible state, and his flesh in the grave. Gehenna is the term used to describe the state of the wicked exclusively hereafter, Matt. v. 29; xx. 15; Mark 1x. 43, &c. Respecting the conscious happiness of the spirits of the just, between death and the Resurrection, such passages as Luke XXIII. 43; Phil. 1. 23; 2 Cor. v. 8, put it out of all doubt; but of the nature of that happiness, not only the silence of the Scripture, but the very terms of the Hebrew, Greek, and English words which name it (, a concealed state, adns, from, 'not seen;' hell, a Saxon word, meaning 'hidden,' or 'concealed,' see Packhurst,) show us how little we can possibly know of it, and how far short it must be of the promised glory which is so largely described." * See Eccles. XII. 7; Luke xxIII. 46; Acts VII. 59; Isai. LVII. 1, 2; Rev. xiv. 13; where peace and rest from this life are all that are intimated. But the following portions of Scripture prove the presence of Christ in the separate state: 2 Cor. v. 6-8; Phil. 1. 21-23. And in whatever manner this is vouchsafed, it appears that the departed saints have not ascended into heaven with their Redeemer. “The material sun is said to be present with us, and felt, . . . though it is separated from us by millions of miles why may not the sun of righteousness equally gladden the saints in paradise, by some similar manifestation of himself, and communications of his beams from the highest heavens ?" * Abdiel's Essays. seen Oh, when shall thy release from cumb'rous flesh ROWE. In whatever way the soul is present with Christ when absent from the body, his Deity will be apprehended in the same manner as that of God the Father, and God the Spirit; but this cannot be similar to the glorified state, in which he will come as our great God and Saviour," to present the church to himself, a glorious church, &c., which shall then stand before Him, as the SON of MAN,-when he comes again to receive them unto himself. 66 Farther, it must be recollected that after the Resurrection of the body in which our Lord suffered, he makes no import of his presence among his disciples, as compared with the hope which he had set before them. The righteous are now said to be "sons and daughters of the Almighty;" yet it is only "the spirit of adoption" which they have as yet received; i. e., the pledge and earnest of their inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession: the adoption itself being identified with the redemption of the body, which is also the time of the manifestation of the sons of God.* "When the Lord Jesus was risen from the dead, he said to Mary, that he was not yet ascended to his Father, plainly intimating, as I conceive, that Hades, or Paradise, from which he was just come, was not the abode of the Father. The same may be inferred from the words of the 2 Cor. v. 5, 6; Gal. IV. Acts 11. 34; Psalm xvii. *Compare Rom. vIII. 15, 19, 23; 5, 6; Ephes. 1. 13, 14; John xx. 17; 15; Rev. III. 5; 2 Cor. iv. 14. See also Heb. xi. 16. apostle concerning David; viz., 'David is not ascended into the heavens:' and the Psalmist himself defers the period of the beholding the face of God in righteousness ‘until he shall awake up with God's likeness.' with God's likeness.' . . . It is to this period Jesus refers, when he promises concerning him that overcometh,' I will not blot his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.' . . . St. Paul expresses his confidence that 'he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also' (probably meaning himself and the other apostles) 'by Jesus, and shall present us with you.' See 1 Thess. 1. 13; Jude 24." Mr. Cunningham thinks that "the building of God, the house not made with hands,' 2 Cor. v. 1, &c. signifies the celestial body, and the term ' unclothed the separate state, when the soul shall be destitute of her bodily covering; and that for the comfort of believers the apostle adds, that he was always confident, knowing, that even when absent from the body, he should, in a more intimate manner than now, 'be present with the Lord:' and this, doubtless, is the case," says he, "seeing that in the interval between death and the Resurrection the saints are where our Lord was with the penitent thief. But were it true, as the modern church believes, that the saints enter heaven immediately on leaving the body, how is it that Paul says, 'this we do not desire?' And let the reader also carefully mark the great difference of the apostle's expressions with regard to the Resurrection of the body and the intermediate state: For in this (tabernacle) we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon. Again, 'We groan, being burdened, not because we desire to be unclothed, but clothed upon.' So in the passage quoted from the Romans, We that have the first fruits of the Spirit, do groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body.' "On the other hand, when speaking of his departure from the body, he merely says, 'we are willing rather to be absent from the body.' . . When the apostle Peter speaks of his decease as being near at hand, he calls it simply a putting off of this tabernacle, and his departure, without using a single expression intimating any expectation of being at once in glory." It seems calculated also to repel the erroneous notions so general on this subject, when our Lord desired the wealthy Pharisee to "call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind," at such time as he would make "a feast;" and he says, "Thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee, for thou shalt be recompensed at the Resurrection of the just," Luke xiv. 13, 14. This is equally obvious when in John vi. 39, he declares the Father's will to be, that he should "lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day," therefore a belief of present entrance into the glory which our Lord has promised to his people would negative his own words. It seems evident, that the soul of man in its separate state, does not behold the splendour of the Deity,-the triune Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,-in the same manner as when it shall be united with its glorified body, when it shall be said, "Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and GOD HIMSELF shall be with them, and be their God." Rev. XXI. 3. But one of the chief incitements which Scripture affords, with respect to future happiness, is not merely a union of the souls of the saints with their celestial bodies, but a just, holy, and endless dominion, this is incompatible with the separate state. We are fully aware that neither ministers nor the generality of writers desire to subvert the doctrines of the Advent and the Resurrection; but then they identify these with what they represent as the full and entire reward of heaven, and so exclude the revealed assurances of a Millennial dispensation. The apostle Paul says, that "if there be no Resurrection our faith is vain." Now there could be little strength in this mode of argumentation if the elect were at their decease immediately to enjoy the heavenly glory; why, under such circumstances, think of a Resurrection at all? Such considerations should be calculated deeply to engage the attention of both ministers and hearers who have not hitherto reflected sufficiently on these subjects. It may be further remarked, that the same apostle, in 1 Thess. IV., while comforting his disciples, does not state that their friends were then in glory, but shows them that the Lord's Resurrection is the forerunner of their own; and, as must be inferred, that they shall again meet with their dear connexions, and with all the host of the redeemed which the Lord "shall bring with him," when he comes to reign with them over a renovated earth.* Finally, "The work which Christ undertook was the reconciliation of this fallen and corrupt creature to the Father, and its complete restoration to purity and health, beauty and life. Now it does not consist with the glory of the Father, or the Son, that any part of the redeemed creation should be presented before the presence of his glory, while this work is incomplete. Man, in his original state, consisted of body and spirit, and it is manifest, that at the Resurrection of the just, they are to be formed of bodies glorious, * See Supplement, No. XVI. |