The Hope of the Gospel

WHAT IS IT?
AND
WHEN WILL IT BE CONSUMMATED?

BY
J. N. LOUGHBOROUGH.

"Hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace." 2Thess.2:16.

STEAM PRESS
OF THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION,
BATTLE CREEK, MICH.:

1873.

PREFACE

To mortals, toiling in this world of perplexities, afflictions, temptations, persecutions, and death, how important to have the anchor of hope to steady our barque, threatened as it is on every hand with destruction amid the rocks and shoals of sin and sorrow. While toiling on, beating against the current, how the heart is cheered with a knowledge of the fact that we have a kind Father who pities us "like as a father pitieth his children." While we humbly trust him, our Father is at the helm to guide us, and the star of hope is before us to cheer us with its clear shining.

The question proposed on the title page of this book relates to the gospel hope. It is an object of inestimable value, a prize that mines of gold will not buy, and which worldly honor and fame cannot secure; yet its accomplishment is the merciful bestowment of our Father's free gift of eternal life to those who humbly serve him. As to the time and manner of the bringing in of the gospel hope, we have shown in these few pages that it relates to a state beyond the coming again of Christ and the resurrection.

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A solemn sense of the importance of disseminating light on the great theme of life only through Christ, has prompted the writer to prepare this work. We trust the reader will give it a candid and prayerful perusal before passing judgment upon it.

May the Lord, as he has promised, give us his Spirit to guide us into all truth. May he be to us indeed "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." And when

"Hope shall change to glad fruition,"

may we meet in glory.

J. N. L.

ST. HELENA, Cal., Aug.1, 1873.

HOPE OF THE GOSPEL

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." 1Pet.3:15.

WE should most certainly conclude from reading the above language that the Christian's hope is a subject which can, and should, be understood, and that there are also ample evidences and proofs in which the true gospel hope is set before us; else how could we "be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh"? To do this, we must know what our hope is, when, and in what manner, it is to be realized, and upon these points we assert that the Scriptures do thoroughly furnish us.

Paul says: "For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge

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to lay hold upon the hope set before us." Heb.6:13-18.

If there is strong consolation for them that lay hold of the hope, then, surely, it is important that we understand the hope, that our faith may lay hold of the evidence from which this consolation is to be derived.

Hope is defined as expectation and desire. Neither of these alone constitutes a hope. A man may desire what he has no reasonable expectation of receiving. Again, a man may expect to receive what he by no means desires. A man may desire eternal life, and all the glories of the kingdom of God, yet he cannot expect to receive them unless he complies with the conditions on which eternal life is promised. The sinner may expect, on the authority of the word of God, that, if he does not turn and serve the Lord, he will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power (2Thess.1:8,9,), yet he does not desire it. So we may conclude that the hope is a combination of expectation and desire, based upon what God has promised, and upon the assurance that we ourselves are complying with the conditions of the promise.

GOOD HOPE

In order, then, to have a good hope, we must expect and desire what God has promised, and not settle down in the expectation of that object, unless we have the fullest assurance that we are complying with every condition on which that object is promised. We see, then, that a well-grounded hope must be a matter of promise, and

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as every promise of God is made on conditions before we are entitled to the promise, we must be sure we are complying with the conditions.

That all God's promises of reward and punishment are made to us on condition of our obedience or disobedience, is the only reasonable position we can take. When we appeal to the Scriptures, we see they give us a general rule reaching all such cases. We read, "At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; if that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And, at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them." Jer.18:7-10. Complying with the conditions of a promise, constitutes us the heirs of that promise. "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal.3:29. "If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham." John 8:39.

While we see that a true hope must be based upon the promises of God, and that none can truly cherish that hope as theirs unless they are complying with the conditions; yet there are false hopes, and there are hopes cherished by those who are not complying with the conditions of God's promises, or else hoping concerning matters that God has never promised. Job says, "The hope of the wicked shall be as the giving up of the ghost." "As a puff of breath," margin. Job 11:20.

We have seen, by the reading of Heb.6:17,18,

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that the true gospel hope is based on the promises of God, confirmed by an oath. So a false hope would be a hope not based on the promises of God, or, if comprehending what is in that promise, cherished by one not obeying the conditions of the promise. Paul says of those who were ignorant of the promises, and, as a matter of course, not obeying God, not complying with the conditions of the promise, "Wherefore, remember that ye being in the time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world." Eph.2:11,12. We see that one important reason why they had no hope was because they were strangers to God's promises of future blessings. Then, indeed, every hope, to be well-grounded, must be based upon the promises of God.

THE GOSPEL HOPE

But we now come to the direct question, What is the gospel hope? Paul says, "There is one body, and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling." Many are the hopes cherished by different classes, yet there is but one true hope given to cheer God's people. But it may be inquired, If there is but one hope, why are there so many things spoken of in the word of God as the hope? We reply, There may be several events to be accomplished in order to the realization of the hope, and each of these may be

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spoken of as the hope, but only in the sense that the accomplishment of these events is embodied in the ushering in of the one gospel hope. And so these several events may be necessary to be accomplished, in order that we may receive that for which we are hoping. These objects, or events, are so intimately connected with the hope, as to be called the hope; because if these are not fulfilled, the hope would fail of its accomplishment.

We look upon the different events embodied in the ushering in of the hope as we would look upon several steps to be taken to gain an eminence; each is taken to gain the eminence, but no one of the steps alone will bring us to the object desired. Although each is taken to gain the point, still it is not gained unless all the steps are taken. So with the different steps that, in their order, as fulfilled, usher in the realization of our hope; all must be fulfilled or our hope is never realized. But we will pass to notice, in their order, the events that are called the hope.

CHRIST OUR HOPE

In 1Tim.1:1, Paul calls "Christ our hope." Of course a true gospel hope must center in Jesus Christ as the object, being, or agency, through whom the promises of God concerning man are to be carried out. "We are complete in him." Without him we "can do nothing," and are nothing. He is the "Alpha and Omega." Alpha and Omega is the more ancient form by which the Greeks expressed their alphabet. Alpha being the first Greek letter, and Omega, the last one, in their alphabet; from the Alpha to the Omega

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was from the first letter to the last, or, in other words, the whole alphabet. So Christ is the Alpha and Omega, or the alphabet of God's plan and purposes concerning man. As the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet, arranged in various combinations, constitute literally the words of the Bible, so the subject matter of the plan of salvation treated of in the Bible is Christ arranged in various forms as the being through whom God's purposes concerning man will be carried out. As Christ was employed in the work of creation, so also is he the second Adam, through whom the restitution of all things God has promised will be carried out. The Father "has given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the Son of man." So, also, the Father "has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as he has given him." Christ is in the promises of good, and in the threatenings of judgment. He is the root and center of the great plan of atonement devised for the rescue of man, and, in fact, he is the grand source of all the bliss and joy promised to the faithful. Christ is the agent by whom, and through whom, all is to be accomplished. With this view of the subject, we see, then, that the Bible itself is Christ arranged in his various offices, form, and work. As we would arrange the twenty-six letters of the English alphabet in their various combinations to form a book, so we see how Christ is the Alpha and Omega.

When we say, Christ is our hope, it embodies all that is in Christ, or is to be brought about through Christ. In making our inquiries respecting him, and of what is accomplished by him, we should find ourselves, in some respects, in

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a similar position to that occupied by the ancient prophets in their researches concerning Christ: "Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow." 1Pet.1:10,11.

Hence, we see that a hope in Christ embraces all that is wrought out by Christ till the glory of God is revealed in his people, in their being brought to their eternal rest in his kingdom.

In the very connection of the text above, we gain some light as to what our hope embraces: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." 1Pet.1:3-5. In writing to the Colossians, Paul says, "We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints, for the hope which is laid up for you in Heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel." Col.1:3-5. Thus we see that the true gospel hope brings to view the final consummation, when the saints of God shall receive the heavenly inheritance which is now in reserve for them; when they shall become possessors of that of which

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they are now heirs - the kingdom of Heaven.

We will look again at Paul's testimony to the Hebrews, and we may gain some light as to what is the hope: "When God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater; and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." Heb.6:13-18.

From the foregoing, we understand Paul argues that we have strong consolation from the hope, because the Abrahamic promise was made sure. This is conclusive evidence that that promise has special reference to the hope. That this promise to Abraham had reference to some future inheritance is clear from the following testimonies: Paul says of Abraham, that he was called to go out into a place "which he should after receive for an inheritance." "He sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country." Heb.11:8,9. Stephen said of Abraham, that the Lord gave him none inheritance in it [the land], no, not so much as to set his foot on." Acts 7:5. Again Paul says of him and all the multitudinous seed that sprang from him, that they "died in faith, not having received the promises." The promise, then, which was made with such certainty

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to Abraham and his seed, must relate to things beyond this life. Again he says of these ancient worthies: "These all having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."

These quotations show that the promise to Abraham had not been fulfilled when Paul wrote to the Hebrews. They also show that the promise cannot be fulfilled until all those are made perfect who are embraced in the term, "us," which embraces all Christians in the gospel age. So the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise must be beyond the gospel age. That promise embraces Christ as the true seed. "He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ." Gal.3:16. Christ is the seed to whom the promises are made. He has been on earth once, as the "Child born," and the "Son given." But he is to come again as "King of kings, and Lord of lords," and then "the government shall be upon his shoulder." We are now "joint-heirs" with him; but we shall then be recipients of the glory, entering "into the joy of" our Lord.

Paul, when permitted to speak before Agrippa, said, "And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers; unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come; for which hope's sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews." Acts 26:6,7. If Paul, with the twelve tribes, still hoped to come to that promise, it had not yet been fulfilled. We do not think that Paul would submit to be

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judged for his expectation concerning a promise that had already been fulfilled. From his reasoning, he must have considered the fulfillment of that promise in the future. Knowing the manner in which their thoughts would run, he says, "Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the dead?" Verse 8.

We must conclude from this reasoning that Paul considered the fulfillment of that promise as an event beyond the resurrection. As this promise to Abraham is the sure foundation of the hope which affords consolation to those who have laid hold upon it, it follows that the gospel hope is the hope of a future inheritance.

Peter says of this inheritance, "Reserved in Heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." 1Pet.1:4,5. But, you may say, he here speaks of an inheritance reserved in Heaven, which cannot be the future kingdom. Paul said of Abraham, "He looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Heb.11:10. That city of foundations is now in Heaven - "Jerusalem which is above is free." Gal.4:26. It is in reserve for the obedient. "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Rev.22:14. It is finally to come down from Heaven, and be the great center of the new-earth kingdom. Rev.21:2. So this glorious portion of the inheritance is reserved in Heaven, ready to be revealed, not at death, but "in the last time."

It was not our design in this work to give

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a detailed exposition of the kingdom, but to call attention to some features of the hope and the time when it is to be consummated.

ETERNAL LIFE

In Titus 2:2, Paul speaks of eternal life as the hope: "In hope of eternal life." Not that eternal life is a hope independent of the possession of the future kingdom, but eternal life is a necessary preparation for the bringing of the people of God into the possession of the heavenly inheritance. Suppose the Lord should beautify the kingdom and fit it up as he has promised in his word, yet it would be of no avail to give to a race of mortal beings, for they must needs die and leave it. In order to receive and possess an immortal inheritance, we must ourselves be made immortal, or, in other words, come into possession of eternal life. So Paul reasons, "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed; for this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." 1Cor.15:50-53. Before we pass into that kingdom we must have eternal life given to us. When, then, we cherish in our minds the hope of entering that immortal kingdom, and look forward to it as something that we shall receive, we connect with it, in our minds, our own change to immortality, preparing us to receive that kingdom. So that eternal life

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becomes one branch of the one hope of the future kingdom.

HOPE OF THE RESURRECTION

But it may be asked, Does not Paul speak of the resurrection of the dead as the hope? Yes, and we will quote a few texts where he thus speaks of it. "He cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question." Acts 23:6. "But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets; and have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." Acts 24:14,15. "And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers; unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope's sake, King Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?" Acts 26:6-8.

The above texts clearly present the resurrection as one branch of the hope, or one step in the fulfillment of events that are essential to the ushering in of the hope. It is at the resurrection that the saints are to be made immortal. "We shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1Cor.15:51,52.

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As the saints are to be made immortal at the resurrection, if there were no resurrection, the eternal life would never be given, and so the hope of receiving a future kingdom would prove a failure.

HOPE OF CHRIST'S COMING

But you may ask, Is not the coming of Christ called the hope? Yes. Paul says, "The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and [kat, even] the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Titus 2:11-13. The coming of Christ is also a branch of the one hope. It is at the coming of Christ that the resurrection is to take place. "For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first." 1Thess.4:16. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits, afterward they that are Christ's at his coming." 1Cor.15:22,23.

If there were no second coming of Christ, there would be no resurrection. The resurrection is spoken of as an event to transpire at the coming of Christ, hence, if there should be no coming of Christ, the saints would not be raised. If the saints are not raised, immortality will not be given. If immortality be not given, the hope of the future kingdom must all prove a failure; for

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"flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom." Thus it is evident that the coming of Christ is the grand event which must take place to usher in the consummation of the hope of God's people. With this view of the subject, there is no wonder that importance is attached in the Scriptures to the great theme of the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Receiving the idea that our hope centers in his coming to raise the dead and bestow immortality upon his people, that they may possess the immortal kingdom, there is a glory clustering around the event of Christ's coming like the glorious dawning of the morning. Thus we see that the coming of Christ is the grand door that must be opened to usher us into the kingdom of God.

PROMISES OF REWARD

With the foregoing facts before us, we can understand why the Bible promises respecting the reward of God's people are made in the manner they are. The reward is an event invariably connected either with the coming of Christ, the resurrection, the reception of immortality and eternal life at the resurrection, or the possession of the kingdom beyond the resurrection of the dead.

We now refer to a few instances illustrative of the whole scope of Scripture promises of reward. Job, when speaking of death, says, "If I wait, the grave is mine house; I have made my bed in the darkness. I have said to corruption, Thou art my father, to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister. And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?" Job 17:13-18.

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He certainly does not speak here as though his hope would be consummated at death; but rather to the contrary, as though it was otherwise than the realization of his hope. Job does not speak thus because of a lack of knowledge of the true hope; for, in chapter nineteen, he sets the matter forth in its true light. He says: "Oh, that my words were now written! Oh, that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever! For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me." Job 19:23-27. Here he points, in a clear manner, to the resurrection as the time when for himself he shall see God.

The above is in harmony with other testimony of Job. "Oh! that thou wouldst hide me in the grave, that thou wouldst keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldst appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands." Job 14:13-15. The change to which Job here refers is not death, but the change from mortal to immortal at the resurrection. For Job simply to say, I will wait until I die, would not settle the question as to whether he should "live again" if he did die. But he is willing to risk it, to "wait" in the "grave," his "house," all his "appointed time," till his "change," the resurrection, comes.

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When Ezekiel had his vision, recorded in the thirty-seventh chapter of his prophecy, he clearly portrays the resurrection of God's people. He says, "The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of a valley which was full of bones, and caused me to pass by them round about; and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest." It looked like a doubtful matter to Ezekiel that they could live again, but he meekly submits it to the Lord. "O Lord God, thou knowest." Now the Lord shows him how it is: "Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live; and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon

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their feet, an exceeding great army." This clearly describes the resurrection. "They lived," that is, they came to life.

But Ezekiel continues, "Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel" - Israel meaning all God's people in any age. "If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal.3:29. "Behold they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts." This was the language of Israel when they lost sight of God's promise to redeem them from the curse, and from death. When we look at the grave, the body moldering back to its mother earth, we gain no light respecting our hope. Infidelity, looking at death, has said, "Death is an eternal sleep." Israel despondingly said, "Our bones are dried, our hope is lost." But God replies to them: "Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people [called house of Israel in verse 11], I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel;" the "land of Israel," referring to the land promised to Abraham - the future kingdom. "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, and I shall place you in your own land; then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord." See Ezekiel 37:1-14.

These words of Ezekiel are not only clear evidence that the hope of God's people is to be consummated beyond the resurrection, but, if the

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resurrection does not take place, the "hope" will indeed be "lost," and God's people "cut off" for their parts.

Paul, when desirous of placing the true hope before his Thessalonian friends, says, "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1Thess.4:13-18.

These words of Paul are very important in the bearing they have on the subject of the true gospel hope. Let us look carefully at what is embodied in Paul's preface to the grand statement he here makes. 1. We learn that those he addresses were sorrowing like those who had no hope. 2. That the reason why they were thus sorrowing was because they were ignorant concerning their friends who had died. 3. He tells them he would not have them ignorant, which proves conclusively that he was not ignorant concerning them. 4. Having intimated to them that they were ignorant concerning their friends, that he was not

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ignorant, and that he would not leave them in ignorance, he could not discharge his duty as a faithful apostle of Christ, unless he should write in such a manner as to remove all their ignorance on the subject, and place the true grounds of hope before them.

But what, under these circumstances, does he tell them? That their friends are in Heaven, receiving their reward? That they are already happy in the full fruition of their hope? No! he has no such statement to make; but, that the Lord is coming to raise their friends from the dead, and take them up, with the living saints, to meet the Lord in the air when he comes, to be forever with him. And he concludes by saying, "Wherefore comfort one another with these words." This, then, is the true hope, and the comfort he gives to relieve their sorrow.

The beloved apostle John says, "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." 1John 3:1-3. Here, again, we are pointed to the coming of Christ as the time of the realization of the hope.

PROMISE OF LIFE

We have already shown that eternal life is one feature of the Christian's hope, from the fact that we must be made immortal before we can inherit

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the kingdom of God. But, if we are immortal by creation, and have a principle in us that cannot die, and that is ever conscious, how can we be said to be hoping for eternal life? If man is in possession of such a principle, an immortal soul or spirit, he must then live eternally. If he already actually possesses eternal life, how is it that he is hoping for it? Paul says, "What a man seeth why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." Rom.8:24. As eternal life is a matter of hope, the Christian is waiting for it. This is all plain, for eternal life is yet a matter of promise. John says, "And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life." 1John 2:25.

And at this juncture, we will look at some of the promises of eternal life. Paul says of the righteous judgment of God: "Who will render to every man according to his deeds; to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory, honor, and immortality, eternal life." Rom.2:6,7. To evade the force of such testimony, some have said, "Eternal life means a holy life." The above text shows that eternal life is a reward to be given to the obedient. Patient continuance in well doing is a holy life, while eternal life is the reward for leading a holy life.

The lawyer who came to Christ inquired, "What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" Matt.19:16. Or, as Luke records it, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Luke 10:25. Jesus answers, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." What the saints receive by inheritance is their reward, and that is not bestowed here, but beyond

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the Judgment; "Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance; for ye serve the Lord Christ." Col.3:24. Jesus emphatically states that eternal life belongs to the world to come. "And Jesus answered and said, "Verily I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundred-fold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life." Mark 10:29,30.

Paul speaks very explicitly on the time and manner of receiving eternal life. "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life; whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." 1Tim.6:12-14. They are exhorted to faithfulness until Jesus comes, because that is the time when the reward will be bestowed. He states farther down, in the same chapter, "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." Verses 17-19. The time to come, when they lay hold on

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eternal life, verse 19, is the same as the appearing of Christ, verse 14. That is the time, as we are showing, when the reward shall be given.

Paul, also, when speaking of his own reward, locates it at Christ's coming: "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure [death] is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth [from the time of his death] there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." 2Tim.4:6-8. This shows clearly that the crown (reward) of righteousness is to be bestowed at the appearing of Jesus Christ. This crown of righteousness is called "the crown of life." "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him." James 1:12. See also 1Cor.9:25; 1Pet.5:4.

Another clear promise of eternal life is recorded by the beloved John: "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:39,40. Wherein lies the danger of Christ losing those the Father has given him? It seems from the reading of the above text that if he does not raise them up from the dead at the last day, they will be lost. But it is the Father's will that they should have

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eternal life, so they will not be lost, for Christ will raise them up at the last day, to give them eternal life.

In verse 47, we read, "Verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life." But, say you, this text states that we already have eternal life. How, then, can it be a matter of hope? We have it by hope, or in prospect, the same as the apostle says, "We are saved by hope." Rom.8:24. Some urge that this and similar texts prove that we have already entered upon eternal life, and hence are possessors of immortality. To claim from such texts that we have by nature an immortal part, is inconsistent; for the eternal life spoken of in these texts is obtained by believing. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life."

Verse 54: "Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." Here, again, those who take hold of the merits of Christ's blood become subjects of eternal life and will be raised from the dead to receive that eternal life at the last day. If they are not raised up, as before shown, they will be lost. See, also, John 3:36, and 5:39,40. But, it is urged, if it is true that we only have eternal life by faith, why is it said so positively, "hath eternal life"? We read (1John 5:12), "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." Let verse 11 explain: "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." We now see how the believer hath eternal life. He is not said to be already absolutely in possession of it; but this life is "in his Son." As if a person should say he had a

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thousand dollars, when he had only a draft for that amount, the money being in the bank, yet he says he has the money, because when pay day comes he is so sure the draft will draw the money from the bank. So with those who comply with the conditions of the promise of eternal life, they have a sure promise that they shall have eternal life, if faithful, at the last day. They have eternal life, but it is their wealth in the bank of Heaven, while they have in their possession Heaven's draft (a sure promise) and the earnest of the Spirit, a witness of their acceptance by the Lord. When pay day (the coming of Christ) comes, they will become possessors of the true heavenly riches, and receive "the crown of life" - the "incorruptible" inheritance. "Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." Col.3:3,4. Our eternal life is in God, because he "only hath immortality." He is the only source from whence we can receive life eternal. It is said to be "with Christ," because upon him has been conferred, by his Father, the right of bestowing immortality and eternal life upon all that accept and believe on the Son and obey God. "As thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him." John 17:2. "As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man." John 5:26. Through Christ, then, we shall, at the coming of Christ, and the resurrection, receive eternal life from the Father, and in

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no text is it said that we shall receive eternal life at any other time or by any other means.

TIME OF REWARD

The words of Christ recorded in Luke are very significant in their bearing on the time of reward. He had been bidden to a feast: "Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. 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." Luke 14:12-14. The above is decidedly plain in its statement, without comment. It shows clearly that the resurrection is the time of reward.

Another testimony of Christ on the time of reward is found in his reply to Peter's inquiry as to what the disciples were to have. "Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily, I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Matt.19:27,28. There can be no dispute but here was a plain question as to what should be their reward. If it was the design of God that they should receive a recompense at death, here was certainly a favorable opportunity to tell them so, for their minds were

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stirred up to the question. Does the Saviour's answer intimate anything contrary to what we have already presented? Nay, verily; but when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, they shall receive their reward.

But we learn more of this in Matthew's record of Christ's words. "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on the right hand, but the goats on the 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." Matt.25:31-34. We suppose this will be at his literal second coming, for that is the time when he comes with all the holy angels with him. See Matt.24:31.

But we will note Paul's testimony to the Romans: "For the earnest expectation [hope] of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope; because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now; and not only they [or that], but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting [to go to Heaven at death? no; but] for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of

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our body." Rom.8:19-23. The creature spoken of in these verses we understand to be the saints of God. It cannot be the wicked, they have no earnest expectation of what is here presented. Neither can the creature be the beasts, as John Wesley thought, for then it would prove that every beast of the whole animal creation that ever existed would be delivered into the kingdom of God. The saints of God are "waiting for the manifestation [revelation] of the sons of God," that is, for it to be made known who are the sons of God. As stated in verse 23, they are waiting for "the redemption of our body." That is, for the change of the body from mortal to immortal, at the coming of Christ, which, with the people of God, will end creation's groan.

He continues, "For we are saved by hope. But hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." Verses 24,25. By the above testimony, Paul plainly represents that the saint of God is waiting and hoping for his salvation, and redemption of the body, by or through the resurrection.

Compare the above with Paul's testimony to the Philippians: "For our conversation is in Heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body." Perhaps you are ready to exclaim that Christ comes at death. Where, in all the Bible, is there any authority for claiming that Christ comes at death? Sometimes, on funeral occasions, Matt.24:44, is quoted, and applied to death: "Be ye also ready; for in such

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an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." Thus the Son of man is made to mean death, while the book of God represents death as "the king of terrors." See Job 18:14.

CHRIST'S COMING NOT DEATH

Did the disciples understand that Christ meant death when he spake to them of his second coming? We have a most forcible illustration of the fact that they did not so understand it in Christ's words concerning the beloved disciple: "Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved, following (which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?) Peter seeing him, saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me." Did they decide that John, the beloved disciple, was going to die soon? Let us see: "Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die; yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" Here is the most positive evidence that the disciples of Christ understood his coming to refer to something besides death.

Calling death the coming of Christ would make an absurdity of the testimony of Paul to the Philippians, quoted above; for it would make him assert that our bodies were fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body when they go into the grave. Paul was not expecting to go to Heaven at death, but he was waiting for Christ to come from Heaven. Not when his body should go

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into the grave, but when the time should arrive for it to be changed and fashioned like Christ's body. His language in the same chapter plainly shows us what encouraged him to labor and suffer. "If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Verse 11. The Greek term employed in this text, and rendered resurrection, is ex anastasis, which signifies a rising from the dead, or, as Greek scholars say it might be rendered, "out from among the dead." Paul did not merely wish to rise, but he wished to have a "part in the first resurrection."

The testimony of Christ to his disciples as he was about to leave them is important, when considered in its bearings upon this subject: "Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me; and, as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come, so now I say to you." John 13:33. By looking at chap.7:33,34, we shall see what Christ had said unto the Jews: "Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto Him that sent me. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me; and where I am, thither ye cannot come." The testimony of Christ to the apostles, that they could not go with him, called forth earnest Peter, who said, "Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, "Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterward. Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice." John 13:36-38.

This testimony of Christ troubled the mind of

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the disciples. Their hearts had been endeared to him by his many acts of benevolence, but now he tells them he is going back to Heaven - going to return to his Father, and that they cannot go. But he gives a word of consolation to cheer their troubled hearts. "Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:1-3.

This text is often quoted: "I go to prepare a place for you," "that where I am, there ye may be also," thus designing to convey the idea that the saints go to be with Christ at death. But the text presents no being with Christ until he comes. "I will come again, and receive you unto myself."

James says: "Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." James 5:7,8. This text shows that, as the husbandman reaps his harvest, so the people of God, the wheat of the earth (Matt.3:12), are to be gathered when Christ comes.

Peter bears an interesting testimony on the subject of the hope as follows: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope [hope of life] by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an

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inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season (if need be) ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations; that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honor, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ." 1Pet.1:3-7. From the testimony of Peter, we learn that the saints' inheritance is reserved, to be revealed in the last time. Peter himself shows that the last time is the coming of Christ. It is at the coming of Christ that the lively hope, or hope of life, is to be realized.

In giving his charge to the elders, Peter uses words that have an important bearing on this question also: "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ; and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lord's over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." 1Pet.5:1-4.

Christ is the Chief Shepherd; ministers of the truth are under shepherds, called upon to labor, endure, deny self, and suffer for the good of the flock. To encourage them in the self-denying way, Peter points them to the great fact that Christ, the "Chief Shepherd," is to return; that, when he returns, they shall "receive a crown of

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glory." Then the crown is not promised at death, but "at the appearing of Jesus Christ."

We have now shown that the unanimous testimony of the New Testament, as well as the Old, is, that at the coming of Christ is the time when the saints are to receive their reward.

THE RESURRECTION

The manner in which the resurrection is treated in the Bible, is such as to show that the dead are not rewarded, or receiving the accomplishment of their hope, between death and the resurrection. We, of course, take the position of a literal resurrection of the body. We will examine still further upon this subject. We shall see that this resurrection is not being brought up from their reward, but brought up in order to receive their reward.

There are some who talk about the resurrection as the rising of the soul from the body, at death, to Heaven; or of the resurrection as a resurrection of the person from a state of sin to a life of holiness. But the resurrection of which we speak, and what we understand the Bible to present, is a resurrection of those who are asleep in death. In claiming that the resurrection is literal, we wish to be understood. We claim that the resurrection brings up the man, possessing the same identity as the man that goes down into the grave.

We shall not follow at length the finely-spun philosophical argument in regard to the passage of the matter of one body into the formation of other bodies, after decomposition. We consider it no objection to the Bible doctrine of the resurrection, 1. For the reason that not a thousandth

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part of such a decomposed body ever becomes an actual component part of another human body, even on their own hypothesis. 2. Because a substance lost to our sight, may, under the action of God's chemistry, be made again to appear, as well as for man, by his chemistry, to bring to light material that has disappeared from human sight. Notice the case of silver dissolved in aqua fortis. Nothing is visible to human sight except what appears like milky colored water. A little common salt separates the silver from the solution, and causes it to fall on the bottom of the dish, from whence it can be gathered again, and melted, with but a very slight loss of its former weight. So God may have materials in his laboratory that may be brought to bear to cause the dead to live again. 3. We do not consider it absolutely necessary to have every identical particle of matter to produce the identical individual in the resurrection.

If the particles of matter of which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were composed, have entered into the formation of other bodies, God has promised that they shall live again. If in the resurrection three men are brought up preserving the identity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they will be Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and no one else in the universe; for they will think the same thoughts which they thought, remember that they had performed the same acts which they had performed in their lives, and realize that they are the same beings that (as it seems to them), a short time before, were struggling in the agonies of death.

The same class of reasoners who claim that the matter of our bodies enters into the formation of other bodies when decomposed, contend that there

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is a constant change going on while we are still living. Some claim that our bodies are all renewed about once in the space of seven years. According to their reasoning, my body has been changed about five times since the period of my remembrance. But still I am conscious that I am the same being that I was before. What produces this consciousness? I answer, The memory of those events connected with my past life.

The objector may claim that the identity is preserved by the soul, and that although the body changes, the mind does not lose its identity, and that it never ceases to think. This is not the fact. There are scores of cases on record, where persons have lost their identity, and in fact all consciousness, for days, weeks, and even months, through disease of the body or injury of the brain, and when the healthy action of the brain was restored, their identity was also restored. I have room to insert but one case here, which was related to me by William Humphrey, of East Townsend, Huron Co., Ohio, in August, 1858. He said to me, one evening, at the close of a lecture on this subject, "Elder, you have explained to-night eighteen days of my life that I never knew what to do with before." Why, said I, how is that? He said, "When I was about eighteen years of age, I was working in a turning shop in the town of Goshen, Litchfield Co., Conn. I was engaged one day in turning a large wooden drum wheel for a shingle machine. I had nearly finished the job, when a young lady came in who worked in the house of my employer, and asked, 'What are you doing, Bill?' I answered, Wait a minute, and I will show you. I was going to start the lathe and sand-paper off the drum, which completed the job. I carelessly hoisted the gate

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and let the water on to the water wheel; but perceived I had too much motion on the lathe. I thought, I will go and shut the gate; but at that instant, the drum burst into four pieces, and a piece weighing about sixty pounds struck me on the breast, shoulder, and head, dislocating my shoulder, breaking the collar bone twice, and crushing my right temple so that the skull bones were badly depressed upon the brain. I was taken into the house for dead. Physicians said it was useless to undertake to trepan me, as I could not live. My skull was so badly fractured they could not raise it from the brain. I lay unconscious of all around me, yet taking some nourishment in the shape of gruel, which I swallowed when placed into my mouth. By the eighteenth day, the edges of the skull had knit together, the inflammation had subsided, and consciousness returned, of which I had been deprived during this whole period. I called out, Shut that gate; for the last I remembered was starting to shut the gate. Since that time when I have heard it preached that the mind of man exists independent of the body, and never loses its consciousness, I would think of these eighteen days, and I could not harmonize the two. But," said he, "It's all straight now."

The body preserves its identity. Although changes are taking place in the body, it is a gradual process. A minute cell-structure is broken down and destroyed, but immediately a new one takes its place, and so gradual is the process, that scars and marks on the body still remain. I have scars on my hands that were wounds thirty years ago. I do not urge this to prove that my body contains the identical particles of matter it did then, but it does prove that although the particles

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of which my body is composed may have been changed several times, there is an identity in the arrangement of the particles of the body. We meet a friend whom we have not seen in years, and yet we instantly recognize each other's countenances, though unexpectedly meeting. How is this, if in the change of particles the body does not preserve its identity?

So in the resurrection, an identity of arrangement in man's organism, with what it was at his death, will constitute the identical man. He will look as he looked, think as he thought, remember having performed the same acts which he performed before his death. In God's book, all our members are written. Ps.139:16.

But, as we have said before, with God's chemistry brought to bear, for aught we know, the essential particles may be produced. If it was left to us to raise the dead, of course we might say, "It can't be done." God has not left that for us to do, but proposes to raise them himself; and we do not conceive it to be any greater act of his power to raise man again than to create him at first.

Cavilers on this subject are well represented by Paul, who says, "Some man will say, How are the dead raised up?" To such, we reply, They are raised by the power of God. Says Christ, "God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." And to the Sadducees, who are objecting to the resurrection, he said, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." It is a lamentable fact, that even a great portion of the professed church of Christ, at the present day, deny the doctrine of the literal resurrection of the body, a doctrine so plainly taught by the Bible.

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But we will notice a few more scriptures on the subject of the resurrection - scriptures of such character as to show us that there is no reward at death, and that without the resurrection there would be a failure of receiving the reward.

John gives an account of the sickness, death, and resurrection, of Lazarus. "After that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth: but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well." John 11:11. They supposed there was a favorable turn of the disease if he could rest. "Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe." Verses 14,15. He was going to raise Lazarus, which would strengthen their faith, that they might believe. As they came near Bethany, Martha, the sister of Lazarus, met Jesus, and said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" Verses 21-26.

The idea we get from the above, by comparing it with the statements of other scriptures, is this: Martha had carried the attention of Christ over to the last day. Jesus gives her to understand that he is the power of the resurrection, and that, at the last day, those who were dead, believers in him, should rise, and those who were

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alive, and believed in him, should not die. As Paul states, They will be "changed in a moment," from mortal to immortal.

Jesus, with the two sisters of Lazarus, came weeping to the grave. After praying to his Father, he turns his attention to the grave, and cries, "Lazarus, come forth"! To suit theories of the present time, he should have cried, O immortal spirit of Lazarus, come down from Heaven, and animate this lifeless clay! But we get no intimation from his language that Lazarus came from any place but the grave.

THE STATE OF THE DEAD

It is said by some that death is the separation of soul and body, and that the resurrection is the reuniting of soul and body; but we see no such language here. Lazarus was asleep. Christ went to awake him out of sleep, and said, "Lazarus, come forth." Certainly it would look cruel to call his immortal spirit from its reward, to come down and raise the body, and be subjected again to all the evils of this world.

John Milton, author of "Paradise Lost," in his "Treatise of Christian Doctrine," says of this text: "If the soul of Lazarus, that is, if Lazarus himself, was not within the grave, why did Christ call on the lifeless body, which could not hear? If it were the soul which he addressed, why did he call it from a place where it was not? Had he intended to intimate that the soul was separate from the body, he would have directed his eyes to the quarter from whence the soul of Lazarus might be expected to return, namely, from Heaven; for to call from the grave what is not there, is like seeking the living among the dead,

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which the angel reprehended as ignorance in the disciples. Luke 24:5. The same is apparent in raising the widow's son. Luke 7:14."

Again, in showing that the resurrection is a resurrection from a bodily death, he says, "The death of the body is the loss or extinction of life. The common definition, which supposes it to consist in the separation of soul and body, is inadmissible. For what part of man is it that dies when this separation takes place? Is it the soul? This will not be admitted by the supporters of the above definition. Is it then the body? But how can that be said to die, which never had any life of itself? Therefore, the separation of soul and body cannot be called the death of man."

He himself quotes from his "Paradise Lost" the same sentiment:

. . . . "It was but breath
Of life that sinned; what dies but what had life
And sin? the body properly had neither.
All of me then shall die: let this appease
The doubt, since human reach no further knows."

--Paradise Lost, book x.p.788.

Ezekiel's account of the resurrection shows that after the bones had come together, bone to its bone, and the sinews, flesh, and skin, covered them above, they still lacked life. He does not prophesy to immortal souls to come and animate those bodies, but the breath comes "from the four winds," and the Spirit of God enters them, and they live. Eze.37.

Paul's reasoning in Corinthians shows most conclusively that the dead are not rewarded, as, also, that there must be a literal resurrection of the dead or there will be no future life, and we will be left without a hope beyond this life. He says, "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is

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vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." Verses 17,18. On this text, Dr. Bloomfield, who has been termed England's brightest scholar, says: "They perish. As if he had said, There is an end of them and all their hopes." Olshausen, in his comments upon it, takes occasion to say: "The doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and the name, are alike unknown to the entire Bible."

Paul continues: "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." Verse 19. This language shows most conclusively that, if there is no resurrection, the Christian's hope is all confined to this life. So he says, in verse 32, "If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die." He could see no advantage in obeying God unless there is to be a resurrection. The Epicureans of that time, who believed in no future state, who sought their pleasure here, had this motto, "Eat and drink; for to-morrow we die." Leaving the doctrine of the resurrection, Paul would join the Epicureans, in their saying, "Eat and drink; for to-morrow we die." Who could ask a plainer testimony to show that Paul viewed the consummation of his hope as beyond the resurrection of the dead?

THE JUDGMENT

We have already quoted many texts showing that the hope is not consummated till Christ appears; but there is another consideration which has quite a bearing upon this subject. It is

THE TIME OF THE JUDGMENT

Many, in their theories at the present time, claim that "at death the souls of all men go immediately to Heaven, and are judged; those found worthy of Heaven are permitted to remain, while the souls of the wicked are thrust down to hell, to receive their punishment. At the time of Christ's second advent, the souls of the righteous, which have been happy in Heaven, receiving their reward, perhaps thousands of years, are called together; then the souls of the wicked, which have been wailing in torments, perhaps the same length of time, are summoned to appear before God. The several bodies which were tenanted by these souls while living here, are then raised from the dead; the souls are united with them, and again they stand before God." For what? We are informed that the day has come that God appointed, in which to judge the world, and these souls must there stand and receive their doom, or the welcome, "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

What necessity is there of judging these persons at the resurrection, if judgment was passed upon them at death, and they have been receiving their reward or punishment for thousands of years? Can it be that an all-wise Being has made an oversight, and that they are judged again, to detect errors that may have been made at the first sentence? Who would dare take such a position?

But we inquire, Do the Scriptures state that men are judged at death? We know of but one text that is brought forward to substantiate that point, and that text does not affirm that the

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dead are judged at death. It is Heb.9:27,28: "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the Judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." This text does not state that they are judged as soon as they die. If they are judged at death, we should expect that they would immediately enter upon their reward; but the text tells us that Christ will appear the second time unto - or for their - salvation. If the position were correct, that all men are judged at death, how can it be said, "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust to the day of Judgment to be punished"? 2Pet.2:9. If men are judged at death, then we have been in the Judgment since the first man died, and there would be no propriety in the apostle's pointing to a Judgment day in the future, as men are being judged all the time. Paul "reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come." Acts 24:25.

John says: "The seventh angel sounded," and voices were heard declaring, "and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear thy name, small and great." Rev.11:15-18. Here we see that the time of judgment is at the time when the reward shall be given. The reward is not given at death, but at the coming of Christ.

There is no promise in the Bible of a reward at death, and but one text we know of that could be claimed as such a promise, that is Rev.2:10: "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give

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thee a crown of life." This text is not speaking of the time of the reward, but is a sure promise that they shall have a reward. The death here, you will notice, is a death by violence from the hand of their persecutors. It is not, "Be faithful until you die," but, "Be thou faithful unto death." Be faithful, though by so doing it costs you your lives. Be willing to "lose" your lives for Christ's sake, and ye shall keep them "unto life eternal." So this text is only an assurance of the certainty of the reward, without direct reference to the time when it shall be given. If we wish to know when the reward shall be given, we may learn it abundantly from other scriptures. Paul tells us to whom crowns will be given, and when. "Henceforth [from the time of his death] there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me in that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." 2Tim.4:8. This explains the promise to the Smyrna church. A crown of life is promised them, and they will receive it at the appearing of Jesus. Christ's own language accords with this when speaking of the time of recompense: "Thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." Luke 14:14.

The judgment of the righteous is prior to their reward, and according to Peter's testimony it is just prior to the coming of Christ, and the end of all things. Speaking of the wicked, he says: "Who shall give account to Him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. For, for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the

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spirit. But the end of all things is at hand." 1Pet.4:5-7.

We do not understand from this that the end of all things was at hand when Peter wrote, but that the righteous dead will be judged when the end of all things is at hand, just before the coming of Christ.

The testimony of James is in point here, as having a bearing upon the subject of the Judgment: "Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned; behold, the Judge standeth before the door." James 5:7-9. This locates the judgment of God's people just before Christ comes.

Paul, in his last solemn charge to Timothy, says: "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge [all men at death? no, but] the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom." 2Tim.4:1. Why not charge him in view of his death? Because that is not the time of judgment and recompense.

After giving this most solemn charge, Paul says: "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure [death] is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." The sentiment of many at the present time would be, Paul, you will go right to Heaven. But let us hear what Paul says on the subject: "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me [at death? no, but]

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at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." Verses 6-8.

My fellow Christian, you and I, each of us, want a crown; but if I supposed that the day of Paul's death was the time that crowns were given to all, I should despair of ever getting one. The day spoken of above is the day of the Lord's appearing. Then the righteous of all ages will be made perfect at once.

We read an interesting testimony bearing upon the subject of the Judgment and time of reward in Rev.20: "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, nor in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." Here we see that the judgment of God's people is just prior to the coming of Christ to raise the dead, at the commencement of the thousand years. He continues: "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This [which he had already described] is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." Verses 5,6.

From the above testimony it seems that the persons who are participants in the first resurrection are thereby exempt from the second death, and permitted to go to be with Christ, and ever to reign with him. By this act of their being raised in the first resurrection, it is manifest to all who

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are the "blessed and holy." We fail to see the force of this scripture, if they had been, some of them, with Christ, receiving their reward for thousands of years.

THE DEAD ARE NOT BEING REWARDED

We see clearly that the state of the dead is not one in which they are rewarded. Should it still be objected that men are conscious between the death and resurrection of the body, still they are without reward, and "if the dead rise not, then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished." There are some texts from which it has been inferred that there is consciousness and reward in death. These are all noticed, answered, and successfully harmonized with the view we are here advocating. See larger works on immortality published at the Review Office, Battle Creek, Mich. In our limited space here we shall simply pass to notice matters and texts of a positive character, instead of mere inference.

We have already shown that Paul told his brethren to comfort themselves, when bereft of their friends, with the coming of Christ and the resurrection. 1Thess.4:18. Dear reader, are these words of comfort to you? Not if you cherish the sentiment that death sets the Christian free, and sends his soul to bliss and happiness. I presume if you cherish such a sentiment, you have been ready to exclaim long before reading this page, What a gloomy doctrine! True, death is a gloomy picture when viewed without the light of the resurrection. As Job says, it is "the land of darkness, as darkness itself." But Christ has brought life to light. He is coming again, to "proclaim liberty to the captives, and

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the opening of the prison to them that are bound." So if there is no appearing of Christ, there will be no resurrection. If no resurrection, no eternal life; yea, no reward. Faith, then, in the coming of Jesus and the resurrection, attributes to Christ the work he claims as his. If we believe the Scripture doctrine, that then life is to be obtained, it throws a radiant glory like morning sunlight around that event. But if we incorporate into the items of our faith the sentiment that the saint goes to his reward at death, we at once destroy the force of the doctrine of the coming of Christ and the resurrection.

If we believe that the reward is given to the saints at death, what would be the force of the doctrine of Christ's coming to reward the saints? To illustrate: Suppose a man in London was owing you half a million of dollars that had fallen to you. He promises to meet you in New York city on a certain day, and pay you that sum; of course your mind will be fixed on the point of time when he is coming to New York. But if it so happens that you go to London and get the money before the day arrives, it entirely supersedes the necessity of the man's coming to New York, as the sole object for which he is coming has been accomplished in some other way.

The Scriptures represent, as we have previously quoted, that Christ is coming to reward his saints. But if they go to him and get their reward, I fail to see the necessity of his coming to "reward every man according to his works."

Paul, to the Hebrews, says: "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the Judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto

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salvation." Heb.9:27,28. This is conclusive evidence that the time of Christ's coming is the time of reward. In the eleventh chapter, after speaking of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sarah, he says: "Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Heb.11:12,13. These surely did not receive their reward either in their life-time, or at their death. He continues to say: "The time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jepthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again; and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance: that they might obtain a better resurrection: and others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins, and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented (of whom the world was not worthy); they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth." Verses 32-38.

Of such godly characters as just described, if there is such a thing as entering upon reward at

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death, we should conclude it would certainly be their lot. The promise here spoken of, as we saw in the examination of Heb.6:17,18, relates to the future reward - to the hope. Paul closes the brief statement concerning the ancient worthies, who surround us as a cloud of witnesses for faith, not by telling of their flight to glory and reward, but, "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Verses 39,40. So we see God's plan is, the better thing, that all his people shall be rewarded at once.

Do you marvel that so many professing Christians of the present time see no force in the doctrine of the second coming of Christ, and manifest no more care in regard to that event, while they cherish a sentiment which robs the doctrine of Christ's coming of all its force and beauty? They claim that they have immortal souls, and shall enter upon a reward at death, and possess eternal life whether Christ comes or not. We would ask such, who may read these pages, to candidly reflect upon the words of Paul: "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." The Lord help us to realize it; to be thoroughly in earnest in the work of seeking for immortality, and patiently wait the return of our Lord, that we may receive a crown of life.

HADES AND PARADISE

But some assert that though the Scriptures do not teach that men are judged, or rewarded, at death, yet still they must be conscious somewhere. John Wesley was of that class, as may

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be seen by reading in his sermon on Dives and Lazarus. He says: "It is indeed very generally supposed that the souls of good men, as soon as they are discharged from the body, go directly to Heaven; but this is contrary to the Scriptures, for Christ said to Mary, three days after his death (at the time of his resurrection), 'Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father.'"

Probably Wesley's position on this matter was similar to that of Harbaugh in his Doctrine of a Future Life. He introduces a chapter on this subject with the following verse:-

"O, see! An awful world is this
Where spirits are detained. It's half a Heaven
And half a hell! What horrid mixture here!
I see before me and along the edge
Of rayless night, on either side, the shade
Of spirits move; as yet unjudged, undoomed,
Or unrewarded. Some do seem to hope;
Some sit in gloom; some walk in dark suspense;
Some agonize to change their state. Oh! say,
Is all this real, or but a monstrous dream?"

-Harbaugh on the Future Life, vol.i. p.106.

It seems to us most appropriate, at the end of this poetic stretch of fancy, to say, Echo says, "A MONSTROUS dream."

We are gravely told by some that the Jews believed the state of the dead to be one in which neither righteous nor wicked were receiving reward or punishment, but were, as a minister once stated to me in Ohio, "like a prisoner in Huron County jail, awaiting his trial." It is said that the Hebrew word sheol, corresponding to the Greek hades, refers to the state of the dead, and that, according to Josephus' testimony on hades, the Jews believed that it consisted of two apartments, one in which were the wicked; not receiving their punishment, but with fearful forebodings

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of the future, and remorse over the past, they were awaiting the Judgment. And that the other apartment of hades was the Paradise of the Bible, in which the righteous are reflecting on the blessings of the past, and with a pleasing prospect of future joys, anticipate the decision of the Judgment upon their cases.

Josephus does not say, as it reads in his history, whether this was the Jewish sentiment or his own sentiment. I have heard it stated, on what seemed like very good authority, that the more ancient manuscripts of Josephus do not contain this statement concerning Paradise being a part of hades, etc., and that it crept into his works about the time the Catholic church brought in their doctrine of purgatory. Of course, having never examined ancient MSS. of Josephus, I am not prepared to state whether the Catholics have corrupted his work on that point or not. It is true that the church of Rome have had, as stated by Wm. Reeves, "all the opportunities of time, place, and power, to establish the kingdom of darkness; and that in coining, clipping, and washing, the primitive records to their own good liking, they have not been wanting to themselves, is notoriously evident." ¹1

While Wilbur Fiske, a prominent Methodist minister, was in the old countries a few years since, he examined the more ancient MSS. of Josephus and found that several points in Josephus had been tampered with and corrupted by the church of Rome; and it would be nothing strange if they had made Josephus' history say, on hades, what he never said, and may have never believed.

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Whether he is corrupted on this point or not, this much will be evident to all, by carefully examining the Scripture statements concerning hades, that the Paradise hades accords more nearly with Catholic doctrine than with the Bible doctrine concerning sheol or hades.

From a tract called, "The Rich Man and Lazarus," by J. N. Andrews, published at the Review Office, we make the following extract: "The Hebrew term sheol, as used in the Old Testament, is, therefore, the same in meaning with the Greek word hades as used in the New. In other words, the hades of Christ and the apostles is the sheol of Moses and the prophets." "The Hebrew word is used in the Old Testament sixty-five times. It is rendered grave thirty-one times, . . . pit, three times. It is also rendered hell in thirty-one instances.

"Hades, the New-Testament term for the sheol of the Old Testament, is used eleven times, and in ten of these it is rendered hell. . . It is once rendered grave. . . . Sheol is the common receptacle of the dead, both righteous and wicked. . . . Though sheol is rendered grave thirty-one times, it is not the word usually so rendered in the Old Testament."

It is said by our opponents that sheol and hades do "not mean simply the grave, but all that is comprehended in the state of the dead." Admitted, and we will see what is stated, then, in plain terms in the Scriptures respecting the state of the dead, in its testimonies on hades and sheol.

David says: "In death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave [sheol "state of the dead,"] who shall give thee thanks?" Ps.6:5. Hezekiah, when brought near to death, and restored to health, spake as follows: "I said in the

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cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave [sheol]. I am deprived of the residue of my years. . . . Behold, for peace I had great bitterness; but Thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption; for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For the grave [sheol, "state of the dead"] cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth." Isa.38:10-19. Again, we read in David's testimony: "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence" (sheol). Ps.115:17. So we learn from the statements already examined that the dead do not remember God, nor praise God. If any should claim that it meant the wicked dead do not praise God, the last quoted text is very explicit. "Neither any that go down into [sheol] silence."

These statements concerning the state of the dead in sheol, are a logical conclusion from what David has stated in the 146th psalm: "While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have my being. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth: in that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God: which made Heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth the truth forever: which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners." Ps.146:2-7. The dead are thus shown to be without thoughts, and are prisoners in the pit - sheol.

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It is no wonder that those who die are represented as losing their thoughts, for the sheol - state of the dead - into which they are to pass, is plainly stated to be a state of secrecy, silence, corruption, etc. "So man lieth down, and riseth not; till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. Oh! that thou wouldst hide me in the grave [sheol], that thou wouldst keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldst appoint me a set time, and remember me. If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee; thou wilt have a desire to the work of thy hands." Job 14:12-15. He says again. "If I wait, the grave [sheol] is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness. I have said to corruption, Thou art my father; to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister. And where is now my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it! They shall go down to the bars of the pit [sheol], when our rest together is in the dust." Job 17:13-16.

But one of the most remarkable testimonies in which this word sheol is used, is found in the writings of Solomon. "For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope; for a living dog is better than a dead lion. For the living know that they shall die; but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward: for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun. . . . Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor

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knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave [sheol] whither thou goest." Eccl.9:4-6,10.

Objectors have sometimes said that the above expression, "The dead know not anything," simply means they don't know anything about the living. The same persons are very careful to tell us that "sheol means more than the grave," that "it means all that is comprehended in the state of the dead." Admitting that to be so, it is into sheol - the state of the dead - that people go at death. So "there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom," in the state of the dead.

It is not true that Paradise is one part of hades. Paradise is up. Paul says, "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth;) such an one caught UP to the third Heaven." This, as you will see by the connection, was Paul himself. He was lost in his heavenly vision to all consciousness of things around him, and could not tell whether he went to Heaven bodily or not. This he knew, that he was "caught up to the third Heaven." Repeating, he says, "He was caught up into Paradise." 2Cor.12:2,4. This not only shows that Paradise is up, but that it is in the third Heaven. By comparing this with the testimony in Revelation, we shall learn that this third Heaven is the New Jerusalem. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." Rev.2:7. By comparing this with chap.22:2, "In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life," we learn that Paradise is the New Jerusalem. That "Jerusalem is above." Gal.4:26. It is to come

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"down from God out of Heaven." Rev.21:2. Paradise cannot, then, be a part of hades [Heb., sheol], for sheol is down. When Jacob was mourning for his son Joseph, supposing he had been devoured by wild beasts, he said, "I will go down into the grave [sheol] unto my son mourning." Gen.37:35.

If Paradise was an apartment of hades in which the righteous were joyfully anticipating their final reward, how could hades be represented as having had a victory over them? By looking at Paul's testimony to the brethren in 1Cor.15, we shall see that when the saints are raised from the dead they claim a victory over the grave - hades. They shout: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave [hades], where is thy victory?" 1Cor.15:55. If one apartment of hades is Paradise, and the saints have been in happiness there, it seems strange that it should be recognized as a victory over them; but allowing that hades is a place of inactivity and silence, not of reward, and that, when the saints are delivered from hades, they enter again upon life, and receive their reward, then has death had a victory over them, and they may indeed shout, "O grave [hades], where is thy victory?"

Again, we read in Rev.20:13,14: "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell [hades] delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell [hades] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death." If it be true that one apartment of hades is Paradise, then when hades is destroyed in the lake of fire, Paradise will be burned up. How much more clear and consistent is the truth. The heavenly city, the holy Jerusalem,

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the great metropolitan capital of the new earth, is the Paradise of God, in which his saints will ever dwell.

POPULAR THEORIES

We see, then, that there is no chance to establish the doctrine of a Paradise in hades from Bible testimony, or to show from the Bible that dead men are conscious. It is true that poets have sung:

"There is no death, what seems so is transition.
This life of mortal breath
Is but a suburb of the life elysian,
Whose portals we call death."

Great men have built beautiful theories of fancy relative to it, but God's word is very clear and plain. I will give one sample of philosophizing on the matter from Benjamin Franklin's letter to Miss Hubbard on the death of his brother, Mr. John Franklin. "MADAM: I condole with you. We have lost a most dear and valuable relation. But it is the will of God and nature that these mortal bodies be laid aside when the soul is to enter into real life. This is rather an embryo state, a preparation for living. A man is not completely born till he be dead. Why then should we grieve that a new child is born among the immortals, a new member added to their happy society? We are spirits. That bodies should be lent us, while they can afford us pleasure, assist us in acquiring knowledge, or in doing good to our fellow-creatures, is a kind and benevolent act of God. When they become unfit for these purposes, and afford us pain instead of pleasure, instead of an aid become an incumbrance, and answer none of the intentions for which they

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were given, it is equally kind and benevolent that a way is provided in which we may get rid of them. Death is that way. We ourselves, in some cases, prudently choose a partial death. A mangled, painful limb, which cannot be restored, we willingly cut off. He who plucks out a tooth, parts with it freely, since the pain goes with it; and he who quits the whole body, parts at once with all pains, and possibilities of pains, and diseases, it is liable to, or capable of making him suffer.

"Our friend and we were invited abroad on a party of pleasure which is to last forever. His chair was ready first, and he is gone before us. We could not all conveniently start together; and why should we be grieved at this since we are so soon to follow and know where to find him?"

This talk of the philosopher Franklin of course was in harmony with the theology he had been taught. He well expresses the popular sentiment of this time, but he presents no proof of it above; it is mere assertion, and these assertions are in direct opposition to the teachings of the Bible, which present death as a foe instead of a friend, and declare that, without the resurrection, the dead are lost.

The contrast between Bible doctrine and the theology of the present time, on this subject, is great. We read, "The first-born of death shall devour his strength. His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors." Job 18:13,14. Here, death is called the "king of terrors." Again he says: "Oh! that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried

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from the womb to the grave. Are not my days few? cease, then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little, before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness, and the shadow of death: a land of darkness, as darkness itself, and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness." Job 10:18-22. Compare this with a little modern theology and you will see the contrast. "Death, to a man whose mind is healthy, is a pleasant prospect. He does not regard it as death at all. A man who believes that he will ever be buried must have very unpleasant feelings. For our part, we believe it is impossible to bury any man; that no grave or coffin will ever contain him; and that no undertaker is able to seize him when he leaves his earthly tenement. Buried! what a horrid idea! We pity the man who thinks he ever will or can be buried. We know by experience in childhood and youth what it is to fear it; but now we know that the grave is no concern of ours, and has no dominion over us. Truly death is a good thing."

See what a different sentiment is penned by Isaiah: "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead." Isa.26:19. See what he calls death in the previous chapter: "And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations." What is this covering and vail? The next words tell us: "He will swallow up death in victory." Isa.25:7,8.

The reason of the above contrast is this: Bible writers saw no hope, only in the resurrection of

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the dead, while modern writers claim that man is possessed of an entity which they call soul or spirit, which they say is capable of a conscious existence separate from the body. This part they claim is immortal. Does the Bible tell us anywhere that man has an immortal soul or spirit? It does not. The terms soul and spirit occur in the Bible many hundred times, but in not one single instance are they said to be immortal or deathless.

IMMORTAL

The word immortal is only once used in our version of the Bible, and then is applied to God as one of the divine attributes. "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever." 1Tim.1:17. The original word is, however, used in six other instances, but is never applied to man, nor to any part of man, in the present life. In Rom.1:23, it is again applied to God, translated uncorruptible, as contrasted with man; who is said to be corruptible or mortal. In 1Cor.9:25, it describes the crown of the overcomer. In 1Cor.15:52, it is used to describe the bodies of the saints after the resurrection to immortality. In 1Pet.1:4, it is used of our future and eternal inheritance; and in verse 23, to the word of God. In 1Pet.3:4, it is referred to the heavenly adorning of meekness and quietness of spirit.

IMMORTALITY

The word immortality occurs five times only in our version, and is never connected with the soul or spirit. We will look at these texts. Paul, in his letter to Timothy, while urging the church

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to "fight the good fight of faith," and to "lay hold on eternal life," says of Christ, "Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting." 1Tim.6:15,16.

This scripture shows in the most emphatic manner that God is the being alone who is absolutely the Immortal One - the one from whom all immortality is, and must be, derived. If his word states that he has given immortality to the race at creation, or since, that is sufficient to prove that they are immortal; but, if we find it to be an object of pursuit, and that it is only to be obtained through the resurrection of the dead, then it is folly to claim that man must be conscious in death because his immortal soul cannot die. The first thing to be proved is that man has any such immortal part.

In the second epistle to Timothy, Paul says: "But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." 2Tim.1:10. That is, in the teachings of the gospel it is brought to light, or made plain, how death is to be abolished, and immortality to be bestowed. It was predicted by the ancient prophet that death should be abolished, or "swallowed up," Isa.26:8, but the New Testament shows in clear light for whom this shall be done, and how it shall be done.

We read in Paul's letter to the Romans: "Who will render to every man according to his deeds; to them who by patient continuance in well doing

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seek for glory, and honor, and immortality; eternal life." Rom.2:6,7. Here we see it is those who "seek for immortality" that are to receive it. In the letter of Paul to the Corinthians are the two remaining instances where the term immortality occurs; this chapter is addressed to the saints, the ones for whom death is abolished. To them he says: "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." 1Cor.15:51-54.

We see by these testimonies that the abolition of death, and the bestowment of immortality, is indeed made plain in the gospel, but these scriptures are far from telling us that we are already in possession of immortality, but they are in perfect accordance with the whole chapter, which shows that all future life is dependent upon the resurrection of the dead, as we have before shown.

HISTORICAL TESTIMONY

Neander says, in his church history: "It was an old Jewish notion that immortality was not founded upon the nature of the soul, but a peculiar gift of divine grace; a representation which had been transferred from Judaism to Christianity."

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It seems also from the controversy in the times of the Reformers that many of them stoutly contended against the doctrine of the natural immortality. Archdeacon Blackburne, who wrote upon this subject over one hundred years since, said: "Those we call Reformers, in the days of Queen Elizabeth, sufficiently expressed their scruples concerning the state of the soul after death, by expunging an article of religion which condemned the opinion espoused by Mr. Layton and others." In Mr. Henry Layton's own work, part ii. pp.21-23, he states his doctrine as follows: "True it is, that our churches, for about the last twelve hundred years, have been so possessed with the conceit of a separately subsisting soul, that they have made little use of the resurrection in their exhortations. And, in truth, if the soul, parting from the body, goes presently to Heaven or hell, our article of the resurrection can be but of small use in the church. If souls get amongst blessed angels in Heaven, what need can there be to them of a resurrection?"

Blackburne himself says of the Reformers:-

"I have little doubt but they saw that the separate existence of the soul, being one of those doctrines which popery borrowed from paganism, and also so necessary to support so great a part of the impious and absurd superstitions of the church of Rome, should have been discarded among other errors of the same tendency, and that it was to little purpose to set about demolishing the superstructure while the foundation was acknowledged to be sound and orthodox. They little dreamt that, by this oversight, they would give their posterity the trouble of fighting the papistical battle over again with some of their nominal Protestant successors, who have found their temporal account in building again many things which these reformers thought, in the simplicity of their hearts, they had sufficiently destroyed." Chap.xxii.

Again, he says of this doctrine:-

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"The Scripture system of immortality supposes that man had forfeited his original title to immortality, and would never have recovered it but for the interposition of a Redeemer. The consequence of this doctrine is, that between the time of the forfeiture and the actual appearing of the Redeemer, the dead could have life in no sense at all, and that neither before nor after the appearance of the Redeemer, dead men were, or would be, restored to life, otherwise than in the way revealed by the Redeemer, namely, by a resurrection of the dead. Hence, to suppose the souls of dead men to be alive, conscious, and active, and capable of happiness and misery, from the death of the first man to the resurrection of the very last, and to pretend to demonstrate this by reason and philosophy, is plainly to overturn the whole Christian system." Chap.xx. last part.

The Puritans, in the time of Edward viii., 1543, said in their creed respecting departed souls, and praying for them, "It is good and charitable to do it; but because 'tis not known what condition departed souls are in, we ought only to recommend them to the mercy of God." - Hist. of Puritans, pp. 464, 465.

When we go still farther back, to the days of the English and German Reformers, Tyndale and Luther, we shall find them speaking very pointedly upon this subject. Wm. Tyndale, the great English Reformer, who first translated and published the Bible in the English language, had a written controversy, in 1530, with Thomas More, called his "Answer to Thomas More's Dialogue." More objected to Luther, and plead for papal ideas of going to Heaven at death, purgatory, prayers for the dead, etc. Tyndale says of him:-

"And when he proveth that the saints be in Heaven in glory with Christ already, saying: If God be their God they be in Heaven; for he is not the God of the dead: there he stealeth away Christ's argument wherewith he proveth the resurrection, that Abraham and all the saints should rise again, and not that their souls were in Heaven, which doctrine was not yet in the world. And with that doctrine he taketh away the resurrection quite, and maketh Christ's argument

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of none effect. For when Christ allegeth the scripture that God is Abraham's God, and addeth, too, that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, and so proveth that Abraham must rise again: I deny Christ's argument, and say with Master More, that Abraham is yet alive, not because of the resurrection, but because his soul is in Heaven. And in like manner, Paul's argument to the Corinthians is naught worth. For where he saith, If there be no resurrection, we be of all wretches the miserablest: here we have no pleasure, but sorrow, care, and oppression. And therefore, if we rise not again, all our suffering is in vain. Nay, Paul, thou art unlearned, go to Master More and learn a new way. We be not most miserable, though we rise not again; for our souls go to Heaven as soon as we be dead, and are there in as great joy as Christ that is risen again. And I marvel that Paul had not comforted the Thessalonians with that doctrine, if he had wist it, that the souls of their dead had been in joy, as he did with the resurrection, that their dead should rise again. If the souls be in Heaven in as great glory as the angels, after your doctrine, show me what cause should be of the resurrection?" - Works of William Tyndale, vol.ii. p.123.

Again, More objected to Luther that he taught that "all souls lie and sleep till doomsday."

Tyndale answers:-

"And ye, in putting them in Heaven, hell, and purgatory, destroy the arguments wherewith Christ and Paul proved the resurrection. What God doth with them, that shall we know when we come to them. The true faith putteth the resurrection which we be warned to look for every hour. The heathen philosophers denying that, did put that the souls did ever live. And the pope joineth the spiritual doctrine of Christ, and the fleshly doctrine of philosophers together, things so contrary that they cannot agree, no more than the spirit and the flesh do in a Christian man. And because the fleshly minded pope consenteth unto heathen doctrine, therefore he corrupteth the Scripture to stablish it. Moses saith in Deuteronomy, The secret things pertain unto the Lord, and the things that be opened pertain unto us, that we do all that is written in the book. Wherefore, sir, if we loved the laws of God, and would occupy ourselves to fulfill them, and would, on the other side, be meek, and let God alone with his secrets, and suffer him to be wiser than we, we should make none article of faith of this or that. And again, if the souls be in Heaven, tell me why they be not in as good case

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as the angels be? And then what cause is there of the resurrection?" - Tyndale's Works, vol.ii. pp.188,189.

Again, More objected to Luther:-

"What shall he care how long he live in sin, that believeth Luther, that he shall after this life feel neither good nor evil, in body nor soul, until the day of doom?"

Tyndale answers:-

"Christ and his apostles taught no other, but warned to look for Christ's coming again every hour. Which coming again, because ye believe will never be, therefore ye have feigned that other merchandise." - Tyndale's Works, vol.ii. p.196.

To go back ten years earlier, 1520, we find Luther saying:-

"But I permit the pope to make articles of faith for himself and his faithful, such as . . . the pope is the emperor of the world, and the king of Heaven, and God upon earth, THE SOUL IS IMMORTAL, with all those monstrous opinions found in the Roman dunghill of decretals."

Archdeacon Blackburne says of Luther, after speaking of this sentiment above, "Afterwards, indeed, Luther espoused the doctrine of the sleep of the soul, upon a Scripture foundation, and then he made use of it as a confutation of purgatory and saint-worship, and continued in that belief to the last moment of his life." "In his commentary upon Ecclesiastes, which was published in 1553, he was clearly and indisputably on the side of those who maintain the sleep of the soul." - Blackburne's Hist. of the Controversy, p.15.

In 1516, Peter Pompanatius, a philosopher of Mantua, wrote against the followers of Aristotle, who held to the doctrine of the immortality of the soul. In this work he said: "Whoever goes about to prove the immortality of the soul by philosophical arguments, does not deserve the name

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of a Christian." - Bayle's Pompanatius, cit.62. Quoted in Blackburne, chap.xx. last clause.

Blackburne says of the introduction of the doctrine of purgatory into the Romish church, that it was done "by the council of Florence, called by Pope Eugenius IV., in 1439. Before this, they taught that the dead were 'in abditis receptaculis, where they expected the resurrection, they believed they were happy, but not fully rewarded.' At the above council, they adopted and established the doctrine of purgatory, "in which souls were prepared for a full reward in Heaven; and after passing through which, they would go into the felicities of the fully blessed."

DEATH A SLEEP

From the testimonies already examined, it is evident that the dead are not receiving their reward, but that their hope is respecting the coming of Christ, the resurrection, and the inheritance, to be given God's people beyond the resurrection. We have been taught from our childhood that "the body is mortal, it will soon die; the soul is immortal, it can never die." ²1 But we have seen from the Scriptures that man is mortal, and has no promise of immortality only through Christ at the resurrection. Webster's statement above is a direct contradiction of the plain statements of the Bible. "Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die." Eze.18:4,20.

Here theologians have found themselves in a difficulty, and to extricate themselves from it, have stated that the death of the soul was the

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"death that never dies." What death is that? We should consider it a contradiction of terms, and that there was no death about it. What would you think if some one should tell you of a person who lived a life that never lived? You would most certainly conclude that it was either a contradiction in language or that the person was not yet born. So a death that never dies is just no death at all. But with the Scripture theory of immortality, there is no necessity for such explanations, and the Scripture statements concerning unconsciousness in death and no reward until the resurrection are all harmonious.

We will now call attention to plain statements of Scripture which show us that the dead are asleep, without knowledge or reward. Of the dead, Solomon says: "Neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten." Eccl.9:5. Again he says, "The heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead." Eccl.9:3. If they go to the dead, they are not rewarded; for, as we have just quoted, "neither have they any more a reward." In verse 10, he says, "There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest."

Paul says: "If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die." If the dead enter at once into their reward, it surely would be of great advantage to Paul to be faithful, even though the body should never be raised. How often we hear the hymn,

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"I'll praise my Maker while I've breath,
And when my voice is lost in death,
Praise shall employ my nobler powers"

This sentiment, however, does not agree with the plain statements of David: "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Ps.115:17. Again, "While I live will I praise the Lord; I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being." Ps.146:2.

But, it is asked, Is not the death of persons spoken of in the Bible as though they were still in conscious existence? As, for instance, the case of Isaac: "And Isaac gave up the ghost and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days; and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him." Gen.35:29. The claim is made on his being "gathered to his people," that he and his people must be conscious. Were his people in Heaven? They must have been in the grave; for the last clause of the above text says, "Esau and Jacob buried him."

His father was in the grave, and went to his fathers when he went to the grave, as the Lord had told him. "And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace: thou shalt be buried in a good old age." Gen.15:15. He went to his fathers in the grave. When Jacob supposed his son was destroyed by an evil beast, and was sorrowing for him, he could not have supposed his son was in Heaven: "And he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him." Gen.37:35.

Of Hezekiah, we read, "And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchers of the sons of David." 2Chron.32:33. It was also said to Josiah: "Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and

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thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace." 2Chron.34:28. Such expressions clearly show that being gathered to their fathers meant their passing into the grave. Of David, Paul says: "For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption." Acts 13:36. The same David who went to his fathers, saw corruption. Certainly there is no corruption in Heaven. And as certain is it that David did not go there. Says Peter, "For David is not ascended into the Heavens." Acts 2:34. Where is David? Peter says, "Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day." Acts 2:29. David says of himself, "I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness." Ps.17:15. Again he says, "Thou wilt shew me the path of life; in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures forever more." Ps.16:11. If David was going into the presence of God to receive his reward at death, then he is represented as looking forward to the resurrection for satisfaction, when he had fullness of joy before. Or, in other words, he could be where there was fullness of joy, and not be satisfied. Of Stephen's death, we read: "And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep." Acts 7:60. He was the first martyr for Christ. As he yields his life as a sacrifice for Christ, he does it in these words: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." What is recorded? That he went to Heaven? No; but, "He fell asleep." Paul says to the Thessalonians, "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning

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them which are asleep." 1Thess.4:13. "Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." Verse 14. "Bring with him." That is, bring up from the dead by the power of Christ. Daniel says, "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake." Dan.12:1.

Paul says to the Corinthians: "We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed; in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1Cor.15:51,52. But, says one, if the dead are asleep, there must still be some part that is alive. When men are asleep here they dream, and do not these texts show that the dead are in a sort of semi-consciousness? The texts quoted concerning the sleep show that they are dead, "sleeping in the dust of the earth." In a sound sleep, literally, there is no dreaming, and so those who are in the sleep of death are without knowledge; "the dead know not anything." Eccl.9:5.

If you say that Solomon simply meant to tell them that the bodies of the dead know nothing, we answer, that, according to the immortal-soul theory, the body of a living man knows nothing. And in such a case it would make folly of the text to say that he tells them that a dead body knows nothing. It is the same that knows when alive that knows nothing when dead.

"The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Ps.115:17. If it be said that this language simply applies to the body, we reply that, with the common theory, a live man's body does not praise the Lord. Mary said, "My soul doth magnify the Lord." The text is pointedly against the common theory, and presents the dead as in a state of "silence."

If we look still further at David's testimony, we shall see why the dead are in silence, and why they know not anything: "While I live will I praise the Lord: I will

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sing praises unto my God while I have any being. Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God; which made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that therein is; which keepeth truth forever; which executeth judgment for the oppressed; which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners." Ps.146:2-7.

If we compare the above with previous quotations, we shall see plainly that David expected when dead he should be out of being. All the hope he saw for the Lord's people was in the resurrection, as expressed in verse 7: "The Lord looseth the prisoners."

Job also says of one when dead: "His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it not; and they are brought low, but he perceiveth it not of them." Job 14:21. Mark his testimony concerning his condition, had he died in his infancy: "For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept; then had I been at rest with kings and counselors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves; or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver; or as an hidden, untimely birth, I had not been." Job 3:13-16. Again he says, "Oh! that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not been." Job 10:18,19. Again he says, "And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be." Job 7:21. Where would he be? Sleeping in the dust. As before shown in this work, he expected to see God in his flesh, when the Redeemer should come, at the latter day." See Job 19:26.

We will now look at the testimony of Jeremiah concerning Rachel, fulfilled in the mothers' weeping at the time Herod slew the children of Bethlehem while seeking to destroy Christ: "Thus saith the Lord, A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel

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weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not." See Jer.31:15-17, and Matt.2:15. These children were not in Heaven, nor in a hell of punishment, but out of existence. Now notice the consolation which the Lord gives these mothers: "Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy." Why, say you, I thought children, when they died, went right to Heaven. Is Heaven the land of the enemy? No; but the grave is, and these are the words of consolation offered to those whose children are in the graves.

How different is the above from that given by those who believe in immediate rewards at death. I will quote a sample from the "Christian Almanac," illustrating the popular consolation given to weeping mothers. "Lady, how many children have you? Two on earth, and two in Heaven. Thou art mother of angels then. They are yet yours, only gone before! Rejoicing in the heavenly pastures, guarded by the Good Shepherd - little lambs of the heavenly fold! Earth, then, is less attractive. These invisible little spiritual cords twine around you, and draw your soul upward. Like 'still, small voices,' ever whispering, 'Come to the world where spirits live.' Mother of cherubs! Walk softly! Little angel-eyes watch thy steps! Spirit forms stoop to listen! Keep thy soul free from earth; thou shalt go to them, though they cannot return to thee!" How different this from the word of the Lord: "They are not." "They shall come again from the land of the enemy," and "There is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border."

"Said the woman of Tekoah, when pleading before David, "For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person; yet doth he devise means that his banished be not expelled from him." 2Sam.14:14. Here are several direct statements respecting the dead. (1) They are "as water spilt on the

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ground, which cannot be gathered up again." (2) They are represented as "banished" from the Lord - a very different sentiment from that which is commonly taught, that God's people go immediately into his presence. (3) In the testimony of this woman of Tekoah, we learn that if God does not devise some means to redeem his people, they will not only remain "banished," but they will be also "expelled from him." The means God has devised is to get the saints out of the enemy's prison, for "He [Satan] lets not his prisoners loose homewards." Isa.14:7.

This work is to be accomplished by Christ, through the resurrection. Christ says, "Or else, how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house." Matt.12:29. The strong man spoken of represents Satan.

Notice a corresponding testimony concerning him in Luke: "When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace; but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils." Luke 11:21,22. The spoils he (the devil) takes from the army of the saints, he puts into his prison house (the grave). But Christ, a stronger than he, is coming upon him, and he will take the spoil.

According to the testimony of Paul, Christ is to conquer the devil through death. See Heb.2:14. This work is predicted of Christ by Isaiah. "Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto death," etc. Here it is promised that Christ shall divide the spoil with the strong. When he has bound the

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strong man, he will raise the saints of God from their dusty beds, while the wicked dead will be left with Satan, to be destroyed with him at last.

We have a view of the fulfillment of this work in Rev.20:1: "And I saw an angel come down from Heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand." We understand that he who is here represented as binding Satan is Christ. He is called an angel (see 1Thess.4:16), and he is the one who has the key of the bottomless pit. "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forever more, Amen: and have the keys of hell and of death." Rev.1:18. John proceeds to tell us what Christ will do: "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit." Here the strong man is bound. He is rendered inactive. His power is broken, or as Christ says in Luke, "When a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils." The next thing of which John gives an account after the binding of Satan, is the resurrection of the saints. Verses 4,5: "And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God. . . . . and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection."

The means God has devised to accomplish the resurrection is the death and resurrection of his Son. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. Christ died, passed into the tomb, into the prison house of "the strong man armed" - Satan. But God had promised not to leave his soul in hell. "Bright angels rolled the rock away, And Christ, the conqueror, rose."

Jesus broke the strongest power of Satan, and rose a

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triumphant victor over death and the grave. Then he obtained the keys of hell and of death. There he received power to bruise Satan under our feet. In the act of rising from the grave it is fully manifested to all men that Christ has power to conquer Satan and deliver those "who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." This is the great work to be accomplished. Christ is "our hope," and, as we have set forth in these pages, it is in and through him that we, if his servants, will receive an eternal victory over death at his coming and the resurrection. Any hope of reward at death, or otherwise than through the resurrection, is not the gospel hope. There is no promise of any such reward in the Bible, and all that is ever urged in its support, at most, is but inference. Of this kind of testimony, Dr. Adam Clarke says: "Let it be remembered that by the consent of all (except the basely interested), no metaphor is ever to be produced in proof of a doctrine. In the things that concern our eternal salvation we need the most pointed and express evidence on which to establish the faith of our souls." - Comment on Matt.5:26.

An eminent English writer says: "But if the proposition is not expressly revealed, the right of inferring is equal on all sides; and surely those conclusions which are inferred from what is expressly revealed should be at least as just and as strong as those which are inferred from what is not." - Blackburne's History of the Controversy, p.337.

Dear reader, in concluding these few pages, we express the earnest wish that Christ may indeed be your hope, that we may each receive all that grace and strength proffered to us through him, that we may be complete in him who is the head over all to his church, and that we may share eternal joys with him in the day of his coming. Amen. ³1

¹ Translation of the Apologies of Justin Martyr, etc., vol.ii. p.175. History of the Sabbath, by J. N. Andrews, first edition, p.201.

² Webster's Spelling Book.

³ Those wishing to pursue this matter still further are requested to examine a work entitled, "Nature and Destiny of Man," 384 pages, bound, price $1.00, in which all these inferences are examined, and a thorough harmony is shown in the entire Bible on the subject of life only through Christ. Address Review and Herald, Battle Creek, Mich.