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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2016 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates 
 
 https://archive.org/details/heavenorearnests00harb_0 
 
THE U3RABY 
 OF THE 
 
 OWIYERSITY OF ILUHC1S 
 
&tu nnb f\n\m\} (Edition. 
 
 H E A Y E N; 
 
 AN EARNEST AND SCRIPTURAL INQUIRY 
 
 INTO THE ABODE OP 
 
 THE SAINTED DEAD. 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. H. HARBAUGH, A.M. 
 
 P^JSTOR OF THE FIRST GERMAN REFORMED CHURCH, LANCASTER, PA. 
 
 Scelig sind,cUe das Heimweh haben; denn sie sollen nachllausekommen. 
 
 Stilling. 
 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 LINDSAY & BLAKISTON, 
 1857 . 
 
Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1849, by 
 3EV. H. HARBAUGH, 
 
 m the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United States, 
 in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Stereotyped by J. Fagan. 
 
H'2-\ Vi 
 
 TO 
 
 THE MEMBERS 
 
 OF 
 
 CIje fmi i'Enrnm JUfarnrait Cjjttrclj, 
 
 LEWISBURG, PA., 
 
 OP WHICH THE AUTHOR WAS LATELY PASTOB. 
 AND, 
 
 TO THE MEMBERS 
 
 OF 
 
 ill t fml Bum ek fvEfnrmi;’]! 
 
 IN 
 
 THE CITY OF LANCASTER, 
 
 OF -WHICH 
 
 HE IS now pastor: 
 
 V ITH THE HOPE AND PRAYER THAT IT MAY BE A MEANS OF 
 ALLURING THEIR THOUGHTS AND HEARTS TO- 
 WARDS THE GLORIES OF 
 
 A BETTER WORLD, 
 
 THIS VOLUME IS 
 
 aifcctfonateR) Drtucatrti. 
 
 80359 
 
 (Hi) 
 
PREFACE 
 
 T O 
 
 THE REVISED EDITION. 
 
 The favor of the Christian public having been 
 continued to this volume, it has become necessary 
 to issue a twelfth edition. The author has taken 
 this opportunity to give it a careful revision ; and 
 it is now issued in an improved and more attractive 
 dress. 
 
 The Author desires to return his thanks to the 
 public for the interest they have been pleased to 
 manifest in his work ; and also to the publishers 
 for the very courteous manner in which all their 
 transactions with him have been conducted 
 
 Lancaster, September, 1855. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO 
 
 THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 For several years my mind has been spe- 
 cially directed towards the heavenly world. 
 In gathering information on this interesting 
 subject, I was surprised to find that so little 
 had been written directly on it. I have also 
 found, since my own mind has been employed 
 on this subject, that there are many to whom 
 it has been a subject of like interest, and who 
 eagerly read what professes to throw light on 
 it. I have therefore ventured to offer this 
 volume as a contribution to this department of 
 pious inquiry, hoping that the reading of it 
 may be as much blest to the hearts of those 
 
 1 (V) 
 
VI PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 who read it, as I feel the writing of it to have 
 been to me. Any book that will serve, in any 
 degree, to draw the realities of the eternal 
 world — especially of heaven — nearer to us, is 
 not written and read in vain. There is great 
 danger that the perishing objects of this life, 
 because they are so near to us, may have a 
 stronger effect on our hearts than those which 
 are imperishable, because they are more distant. 
 If, however, we can confirm our faith in them, 
 and increase our desires after them, we have 
 gained great helps to practical piety. a We 
 are saved by hope.” The sentiment of Stil- 
 ling on the title-page is most sweetly true : 
 “ Blessed are they that are home-sick, for they 
 shall get home.” Nothing can better create, 
 or keep alive, this home-sickness for heaven, 
 than a vivid representation to our minds of 
 celestial treasures and attractions. 
 
 Lewisburg, Pa., July 22, 1848. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO 
 
 THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 It was not a mistaken opinion, expressed in 
 the preface to the first edition of this book, 
 that there are many to whom this is an inte- 
 resting subject, and who eagerly read whatever 
 is written on it. Of this, the fact that the first 
 edition was in a very short time exhausted, is 
 
 the best evidence. 
 
 « 
 
 I attribute the favour which this volume has 
 received, partly to the intrinsic interest of the 
 subject itself, but chiefly to its being an attempt 
 to exhibit the proper Protestant and scriptural 
 side of the solemn things after death. It must 
 be a matter of surprise to any one w r ho earn- 
 estly pursues the history of this subject, to find 
 how generally the prominent Protestant symbols 
 are contradicted, and how almost every thing 
 
 (vii) 
 
Vlll 
 
 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 that has been written on the subject of man’s 
 condition after death, is unsymbolic and unpro- 
 testant. If the position which our symbols 
 take is not a true one, let the fact at once be 
 acknowledged ; if they teach the true and 
 scriptural doctrine on the subject, let it be 
 clearly exhibited for the consolation of the 
 saints. The things of another life are, in their 
 nature, so deeply interesting that all who 
 earnestly look “ for that blessed hope” will read, 
 on the subject, what is olfered to them, even 
 though it be part popish and part pagan. This 
 want should, by all means, be met by an ex- 
 hibition of the subject in the light of our own 
 symbols. 
 
 Since the issue of the first edition, I have 
 carefully re-examined the whole subject, by the 
 aid of a number of works which I have since 
 been fortunate enough to procure. Among 
 these are : “ A treatise concerning the State of 
 Departed Souls, before, at, and after, the Res- 
 urrection,” by Rev. Dr. Thomas Burnet, Lon- 
 don, 1730 ; “ Dr. William Sherlock on a Future 
 State,” London, 1740; “The World to Come,” 
 by Isaac Watts, D. D. General selections, en- 
 titled : “ The Mourner Comforted,” by James 
 Abercrombie, D. D. ; “ The State of the De- 
 parted,” by John Henry Hobart, D. D.; “The 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. ix 
 
 Happiness of the blessed,” by Richard Mant, D. D. 
 Upon a careful study of these and other authors, 
 I have not found reason to change or modify 
 any of the positions of this book ; on the con- 
 trary, I have been vastly strengthened in them. 
 
 This Second Edition, therefore, goes forth 
 without any change as to its position and 
 doctrine. It has, however, been enriched at 
 various points, and considerably enlarged by 
 additional arguments, illustrations, and practical 
 reflections, the fruit of continued attention to 
 the subject. May it be found more worthy of 
 the favour it has received. 
 
 To God, and to all who desire a “ better 
 country, that is, an- heavenly,” this volume is 
 gratefully and prayerfully dedicated. May its 
 deficiencies be forgiven; may its truths be blest : 
 and, may all who shall read these pages become 
 the happy heirs of “ an inheritance incorrupt- 
 ible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, 
 reserved in Heaven.” 
 
 Lancaster City, September 4, 1850. 
 

 
CONTENTS 
 
 Pag* 
 
 Preface to the First Edition 
 Freface to the Second Edition 
 Introduction 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Questions concerning Heaven . • . . . . 26 
 
 IS IIEAVEN A FLACE ? 
 
 It is a Place — not a State. Nature of its materiality. The 
 locality of Heaven argued from Reason — from our first 
 Scriptural Impressions. Scripture proofs, — from the 
 Bodies of the Saints — from the Body of Christ — from the 
 Translation of Enoch and Elijah. Objections answered. 
 
 The fitness of such an Abode as a Home for the Saints. 
 
 Concluding Reflections. Poetry. . . . . .28 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 WHERE IS HEAVEN? 
 
 Ideas among Pagans ........ 45 
 
 Section I. — The Theory of Progressive Ascensions . . 48 
 
 Section II. — Progressive Ascensions in another form . 50 
 
 Section III. — Heaven unseen and unfelt around us . . 56 
 
 Section IV. — The sudden creation of a Heaven at the end 
 
 of the World .62 
 
 Section V. — The Theory of the Renovation of this Earth 65 
 The True Doctrine . . . . # . 69 
 
 (xi) 
 
 OMOt 
 
Xll 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LO THE SAINTS TASS IMMEDIATELY AT DEATH INTO HEAVEN? 
 
 Introductory remarks ........ 92 
 
 Various theories 93 
 
 Section I. — The Ancient Under World . . . .95 
 
 Section II. — The Intermediate abode . . . 100 
 
 Section III. — The Transmigration of Souls . . .132 
 
 Section IV. — The Sleep of the Soul .... 138 
 
 Section V. — The Spirits of the Dead lingering near their 
 
 Graves 159 
 
 Section VI. — The True Doctrine 164 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SYMPATHY BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH. 
 
 Introductory remarks 
 
 180 
 
 192 
 
 192 
 
 199 
 
 216 
 
 221 
 
 223 
 
 Section I. — Divine Sympathy .... 
 
 The Sympathy of the Father . 
 
 The Sympathy of the Son . 
 
 The Sympathy of the Holy Spirit . 
 
 Section II. — Angelic Sympathy .... 
 
 Angelic Sympathy in the Old Testament 
 Angelic Sympathy not superseded by the in- 
 troduction of the New Dispensation . 229 
 Angelic Sympathy consistent with the offices 
 of the Spirit ..... 231 
 
 Sympathy with Angels as Intelligent Spirits 239 
 Sympathy with Angels as Animating Spirits 247 
 Sympathy with Angels as Executive Spirits 251 
 Section III. — Saintly Sympathy 258 
 
 propositions. 
 
 I. We have communion with the Saints in 
 
 Heaven 259 
 
 II. The Saints in Heaven remember this World, 
 
 and think of us 270 
 
 III. The Saints in Heaven know more of us than 
 
 we do of them . 282 
 
 IV. The Saints in Heaven know us and are inter- 
 
 ested in us 285 
 
HEAVEN. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The soul, uneasy and confined from homo, 
 
 Rests and expatiates in a life to come. 
 
 Lift up your heads, ye heavenly pilgrims, and be- 
 nold your home ! Tour earnest, longing eyes, turned 
 upward, declare plainly that you seek a country. 
 “ Blessed are they that are home-sick, for they shall 
 get home. ,, As yet there is wo unto you, because 
 you sojourn in Mesech, and are compelled to tarry in 
 the tents of Kedar; but if you will, I shall speak 
 comfortably to you, in the language of Canaan, by 
 the way. Rest thee, then, upon thy staff, for even 
 in this weary land whence ye go out, it is granted 
 unto way-faring men to turn aside for a night, to re- 
 fresh themselves with rest under the shadow of a rock. 
 Strong in thy heart, it is true, are the drawings of 
 thy Father, and of thy home ; yet, in thy earnestness 
 to gather the full harvest of heavenly fire-side joys, 
 thou must not forget to enjoy the blessed first-fruits, 
 which are granted thee as an earnest by the wa.y. 
 Wilt thou stop, then, brother pilgrim, till we commune 
 
 (9) 
 
10 
 
 IIEAVEN. 
 
 together in the joyful hopes of home, and refresh our- 
 selves with visions of that heavenly land towards which 
 our yearning hearts are aspiring ? 
 
 There is no subject upon which the mind ought to 
 dwell more frequently, more joyfully, and more deeply, 
 than that state of existence which lies beyond the. 
 grave. Whether it is acknowledged or not, this sub- 
 ject does, perhaps more than any other, occupy the 
 thoughts of men. The hope of something better, and 
 the dread of something worse, is always with man, to 
 hang garlands of light and smiles, or of gloom and 
 tears, along every path he takes through life. In the 
 busiest hours, in the gayest circles, in the wildest con- 
 fusion of earthly din and bustle, as well as in the hours 
 of solitude, the powers of the world to come, at times, 
 bear heavily on the spirit. This is natural, and it 
 would be strange if it were not so. It is impossible 
 that we, surrounded as we are by so many infallible 
 evidences of our immortality, and tending consciously 
 and fast toward an eternal state, should not often look, 
 with trembling anxiety, beyond this life. The exile, 
 while yet in chains on a foreign shore, thinks and 
 dreams often of his home, but when he once leaves the 
 shores of his captivity, and sails toward it, it becomes 
 a subject of still deeper anxiety and greater longing ; 
 we are exiles on our way home, already are we driving 
 fast and far upon the sea of life : and ought we not 
 to look anxiously towards our landing-place on eternal 
 shores ? Who, with the Bible to direct his thoughts, 
 and the Christian’s hope to inspire his heart, can live 
 without thinking much of heaven ? He who has this 
 hope in him looks and longs for its complete consum- 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 1 1 
 
 raation, as one looks and longs for the morning during 
 a long and wretched night. 
 
 It is somewhat strange that the future life does not 
 occupy the attention of men — especially of Christians 
 — in a different way from what it does. Their minds 
 are thinking much of heaven, it is true, but it is only 
 thinking , it is not earnest inquiry — it is not bending 
 over and prying into it as the angels are said to bend 
 over and look into the mysteries of salvation. The angels 
 know that there is such a thing as salvation, but they 
 are not satisfied with such a vague knowledge, they 
 desire to look into it : so the saints ought not to be 
 satisfied with merely knowing that there is a heaven, 
 and content themselves with thinking of it in a gene- 
 ral way ; they ought to desire, by faith, and in the 
 clear light of revealed truth, to go over and see the 
 goodly land. Many Christians, however, go on through 
 life with a professed hope of heaven, having nothing 
 but some vague, undefined, and cloudy image of the 
 land of their hopes before their eyes. It is a dreamy 
 region in which their hopes swim.* Their thoughts 
 
 * The greater part of Christians rest contented with the most 
 vague and incorrect ideas of the felicity of heaven, and talk and 
 write about it in so loose and figurative a manner, as can convey 
 no rational or definite conception of the sublime contemplations 
 and employments of celestial intelligences. Instead of elicit- 
 ing. from the metaphorical language of Scripture, the ideds in- 
 tended to be conveyed, they endeavour to expand and ramify 
 the figures employed by the sacred writers still farther, heap 
 ing metaphor upon metaphor, and epithet upon epithet, and 
 blending a number of discordant ideas, till the image or picture 
 presented to the mind assumes the semblance of a splendid 
 chaotic map, or of a dazzling but undefined meteor. The term 
 Glory, and its kindred epithets, have been reiterated a thousand 
 
12 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 sometimes make excursions through it, but return be- 
 cause they have found no resting place. Man in 
 analogous cases does not act so. He is prone to dive 
 into his future history, and to measure and weigh its 
 probabilities with an untiring curiosity. If he is about 
 to remove to some unknown land, curious questions 
 concerning it will be upon his mind during all the time 
 he is making preparation, and he seeks in every way 
 to inform himself concerning it ; and it is strange how 
 much he will soon know of it, even where the sources 
 of information seemed at first exceedingly scarce. It 
 
 times in descriptions of the heavenly state — the redeemed have 
 been represented as assembled in one vast crowd above the 
 visible concave of the sky, adorned with “ starry crowns,” 
 drinking at “crystal fountains,” and making “the vault of 
 heaven ring” with their loud acclamations. The Redeemer 
 himself has been exhibited as suspended like a statue in the 
 heavens, above the immense crowd, crowned with diadems, and 
 encircled with a refulgent splendour, while the assembly of the 
 heavenly inhabitants were incessantly gazing on this object, like 
 a crowd of spectators gazing at the motion of an air-balloon, or 
 of a splendid meteor. Such representations are repugnant to 
 the ideas intended to be conveyed by the metaphorical language 
 of inspiration, when stripped of its drapery. They can convey 
 nothing but a meagre and distorted conception of the employ- 
 ments of the celestial state, and tend only to bewilder the ima- 
 gination, and to “ darken counsel by words without knowledge.” 
 Hence it has happened, that certain infidel scoffers have been 
 led to conclude, that the Christian heaven is not an object tc be 
 desired ) and have frequently declared, that “ they could feel 
 no pleasure in being suspended for ever in an ethereal region, 
 and perpetually singing psalms and hymns to the Eternal” — 
 an idea of heaven which is too frequently conveyed by the 
 vague and distorted descriptions which have been given of the 
 exercises and entertainments of the future world. — JDic/ds Future 
 State, pp. 181, 182. 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 13 
 
 is because his earnest desire to know induces him to 
 catch every item of intelligence that throws light upon 
 the subject of his inquiries. Why do not Christians 
 in like manner concentrate every ray of light that falls 
 upon this world from that which is future, in order 
 that they may, as intelligently and as comfortably as 
 possible, journey toward it ? Is it because their hopes 
 t j obtain, and their desires for it, are so weak and 
 wavering? Alas! is not this the secret? The man 
 who had bought a piece of land which was but an 
 earthly trifle, must needs go and see it, though he 
 thereby forego a rich feast ; but he who professes to 
 have an eternal inheritance beyond the grave, cannot 
 forfeit a few of life’s vain pleasures in order that he 
 may examine it. Certainly such persons are not saved 
 by hope ! 
 
 It may be said, that heaven is only indistinctly re- 
 vealed to us. It is true, heaven is exhibited to us in 
 revelation mostly in figures, images, and symbols ; 
 but these are not without meaning. Indeed they are 
 used for the very purpose of making the ideas which 
 they are intended to convey plainer to us, and of 
 giving us a more graphic description of those things 
 which are unseen and eternal. We may know more 
 of heaven from these figures, images, and symbols, 
 than if it had been revealed to us by precept. In 
 these we have envelopes of heavenly treasure, which 
 we can unrol, and when unrolled the treasures are our 
 own. These symbols are caskets to which the humble 
 and inquiring Christian has the key. The Spirit is 
 his commentator ; “ He takes of the things which are 
 Christ’s,” and ours because they are his, “and shows 
 
 9 
 
14 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 then: to us.” Thus sayings upon the harp, which to 
 some are dark and dead, or at best but uncertain 
 sounds, are to the Christian, voices from a better land, 
 which pour their rich and refreshing melody into his 
 heart. 
 
 In the Old Testament, there are types, shadows, 
 and symbols, yet they embosom great truths which in 
 the new economy are clearly revealed ; but we are 
 not to suppose that the truths which they shadowed 
 forth were entirely unperceived by the saints of that 
 day. All the Jews, however, did not see these truths 
 with equal clearness. To the thoughtless and wicked, 
 the blood that flowed at the foot of the altar was only 
 the blood of lambs, bulls, and goats ; and the whole 
 transaction of tabernacle service was to them only an 
 empty ceremonial; but to those who ardently and 
 piously longed for union with God, these were replete 
 with divine power, truth, and consolation. The lamb 
 slain on the great day of atonement, was to many a 
 common lamb, and so in one sense it was ; but to 
 those who, with eyes fixed upon the promise, waited 
 for the consolation of Israel, the whole transaction 
 was a panorama of the future sacrifice of better blood 
 on Calvary ! The pious Israelite saw in these things 
 a shadow of good things to come, the reality or sub- 
 stance of which they knew to be a true transcript of 
 the shadow, and that they already apprehended by 
 faith. Thus, what to the unbelieving and the careless 
 seemed but dark floating images, were to them rain- 
 bows of promise, tinselled with the true substance of 
 gospel glory. The Sun of Righteousness, which was 
 afterwards to arise so gloriously over Judea’s hills, 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 15 
 
 with healing in his beams, was already discovered by 
 the heaven-averted eye of patriarchal faith, peering 
 up behind the darkness of the typical age. 
 
 The New dispensation stands related to heaven as 
 the Old dispensation did to the New. As Abraham, 
 Isaac, Jacob, and the prophets, saw, by virtue of su- 
 perior faith, the outlines of the New dispensation, so 
 we see now the outlines of a heavenly country. Those 
 among the Jews whose faith was strongest, understood' 
 most of what would come to pass in gospel times ; so 
 now, those who stand most in the light, shall see the 
 most light. Those whose eyes are ardently, piously, 
 and longingly directed towards their future home, will 
 get farthest in their knowledge of it. If we wait and 
 look for it, being burdened, as the pious Jews waited 
 for the coming Messiah, and if we study the word of 
 God in reference to this subject as they studied the 
 sure word of prophecy in reference to the Saviour for 
 whom they looked, then we shall see every ray of 
 light in the Bible which reveals heaven. 
 
 Many things may be known from the Bible about 
 heaven, after close study, which are not known at first 
 sight, or at first thought. In regard to this, as in 
 regard to all its truths, it is inexhaustible ; the more 
 we learn, the more there is to be learned. 
 
 “Ever charming, ever new!” 
 
 He who sells all that he has, and buys this field of 
 pearl, and then turns all his energies to digging, will 
 find good treasures. As the opening rose reveals new 
 beauty every time it rolls off an envelope, and as tints 
 of tenderer and more refined beauty play upon its 
 
16 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 petals the nearer you approach its heart ; so, the 
 nearer you come to the warm and living heart of di- 
 vine revelation, the more sensibly will you see and 
 feel the blissful power of heavenly things. If we get 
 a letter from an absent friend, in which the country 
 where he sojourns is described, we see things at a 
 second reading which we did not see at first ; and, if 
 even the country is not professedly described, yet we 
 are able to gather something from it in reference to 
 the country. A mere allusion, or the relation of some 
 relative matter, if followed up in thought, and com- 
 pared with other known facts, may bring a field of 
 information to light which was not even directly con- 
 templated or intended by the writer. A book on one 
 subject will often throw light, incidentally, on a dozen 
 other subjects in its course, or suggest hints, which, 
 if followed out, will lead to just and valuable conclu- 
 sions. So in reading the Bible with reference to the 
 subject before us, we are not dependent upon direct 
 passages only, or on those passages where the sacred 
 writer speaks professedly of heaven, but we may em- 
 ploy incidental hints and allusions, and may take all 
 the light thrown upon it from collateral subjects. The 
 resurrection, the judgment, the constitution of Christ’s 
 mediatorial person, and other collateral doctrines, may 
 all speak. “ In relation to the unseen world, Scrip- 
 ture is to be listened to much as we might listen to 
 an ambassador from a distant country, who, while 
 earnestly discharging the special duties of his office, 
 and while urging at large the political and commercial 
 interests of his sovereign, might make many allusions 
 and employ many phrases, which, vdien collected and 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 17 
 
 attentively considered, would serve to convey some 
 good general notion of the climate, usages, and wealth 
 of his native land.” A village and its landscape may 
 be drawn from different points, and in each view some 
 new object or feature will be included in the picture ; 
 so, heaven may be viewed from different parts of rela- 
 tive Bible truth, and from each it will receive some 
 additional tint of glory, until the picture be such as 
 eye hath not before seen, nor the heart of man con- 
 ceived. Thus the subject will open much to continued, 
 deep, and sanctified study. 
 
 Great familiarity with the Bible, with the exposi- 
 tions of it given by holy men, and with everything 
 pertaining to the subject in general, is another source 
 of light on this interesting subject. In this, as in 
 other things, the hand of the diligent maketh rich, 
 and he that seeketh shall find. The coarse features 
 of scenery, which strike the eye when one looks on a 
 landscape, are but a small part of those varied and 
 ever-varying lights and shadows which strike the eye, 
 touch the heart, and fire the soul, of an experienced 
 painter or poet, and which are capable of receiving 
 from them, upon canvass or paper, a local habitation 
 and a name. So a careless passing glance cast toward 
 the heavenly world by one who is bent upon the wild 
 chase of earthly good, or the cold and idle look of 
 dead faith, will not reveal those delicate and lovely 
 glories which make up the tender details of celestial 
 scenery. 
 
 This idea may be illustrated by an instance. All 
 persons have a knowledge of Washington from reading 
 the outlines of his life, or from tradition in the way 
 
 9 * 
 
18 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 of fireside tales. They will, however, from these 
 sketches, form a very, incorrect, or at least a very 
 limited idea of his real character. But let the same 
 persons become great admirers of Washington, and 
 consequently get also an increased desire to understand 
 his character more fully. They will now read more 
 extensive biographies, and read them more closely, 
 endeavouring at the same time to fill out the picture 
 in their minds with known facts. Besides they will 
 gain access to his private journals and letters. They 
 will read the lives of all such men as lived at the same 
 time, and acted with him in the revolution — their 
 letters to him, and his to them. Besides this, they 
 wull read the history of the times, and thus transplant 
 themselves in thought into that age, and move in the 
 living scene as it transpires before them. Thus will 
 they get a different idea altogether of his character, 
 and thus only will they get a proper one. Before, 
 they saw his life in its coarse and imperfect outlines ; 
 they saw him as a chief, a hero, lover of his country ; 
 but now they see a feature of his character which was 
 hidden by the very glare of these ; — they see him now 
 as a man, a citizen, a friend, a parent. Before they 
 could not get clear of the idea that he was a being of 
 a different order from men in general, and this in spite 
 of their better judgment ; but now they see him as a 
 person like themselves in all the relations of life, only 
 great in small things as well as in great things. Now, 
 as a result of great familiarity with him in the more 
 unobtrusive details of his life, they see another Wash- 
 ington, because they see the true one. Apply the 
 illustration to the subject in hand, and it will teach 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 19 
 
 us that heaven will become a different heaven to those 
 who by great familiarity with all that pertains to it in 
 the Bible, make it a subject of careful, persevering, 
 and deep meditation. 
 
 It requires, also, a heart in full and earnest sympa- 
 thy with the powers of the world to come, and an 
 ardent desire to be brought more under its influence, 
 to learn what may be known of heaven. It requires a 
 heart, whose very longings will draw heaven and earth 
 together; a heart, whose faith will annihilate time, 
 space, and death, and summon the substance of things 
 hoped for right around it. This will have a tendency 
 to produce a familiarity with things in the Bible which 
 would otherwise remain obscure, and what might seem 
 to be allusions and hints incidental, will be seized upon 
 with pious avidity as sources of light to be interpreted 
 by the heart’s deep desires, in sweet submission to the 
 guidance of that Spirit by whom we are led into all 
 truth ; and that Spirit by whom those deep spiritual 
 wants and desires are first awakened will find means 
 to direct and satisfy them. 
 
 In most that has been written on heaven, so far as 
 it has come within the range of my reading, there is 
 either too much wild and unwarrantable speculation* 
 on the one hand, or too much vague spiritualistic use 
 of the figurative language of the Bible on the other.f 
 Both mislead the mind, and afford no satisfaction to 
 
 * Of this we have an instance in Taylor’s Physical Theory 
 of another Life, and in Dick’s Philosophy of a Future State. 
 
 t Of this we have an example in that otherwise good book, 
 Baxter’s Saint’s Rest, and in many other books on practical 
 piety. 
 
20 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 the spirit of pious inquiry. My object is to steer be- 
 tween these two extremes. When I speculate — if the 
 carrying out of Bible truths to their legitimate conse- 
 quences by the assistance of scripture allusions and 
 established rational and analogical laws of interpreta- 
 tion, can be called speculation — it shall be tame, and 
 tempered with that modesty and reverence which 
 ought to characterize the Christian mind when looking 
 into things not seen. 
 
 The Bible evidently says something — it says much 
 — of heaven. What it says may certainly be known. 
 What it says it is our duty and privilege to know, and 
 as Christians we ought to have an ardent desire to 
 know it. It does not tell us all, it is true, which an 
 unholy and presumptuous curiosity might prompt us 
 to wish, but it tells us enough to cheer our hearts, 
 and strengthen our longings while we travel towards 
 it. This it is my purpose to gather, arrange, illus- 
 trate, and enforce, for the instruction of inquirers 
 after a better land, and for the comfort of those on 
 the way who are faint, yet still pursuing. 
 
 I do not write for the schools ; nor do I intend that 
 this little volume shall lie on the table of the contro- 
 versialist. I contend with what I consider error when 
 it comes in my way, but do not go out of my course to 
 seek it for the sake of strife. This is rather intended 
 as a manual for the way. It may give refreshment at 
 some “ lodging-place of way-faring men in the wilder- 
 ness.” It may while away the nameless inquietudes 
 of a stranger in the land, when he turneth aside to 
 tarry for the night. It may be of use to 
 
 The soul uneasy and confined from home. 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 21 
 
 It n ay be read at the cottage window when day-light 
 closes, where sits some home-sick pilgrim tired of 
 gazing into the dim distant blue, as if to see by sight 
 what can only be seen by faith — a distant heaven ! 
 Or at the sunset hour, when the eye is disappointed 
 in looking through the golden vista of bright clouds 
 into a better land. Or at that 
 
 time when moments flow 
 
 More peacefully than all beside : 
 
 That sweetest of all times below, 
 
 A sabbath eve in summer tide. 
 
 When the public exercises of the sanctuary are closed, 
 when the holy quietude of closing day steals around, 
 and when the soul, having had a foretaste of heavenly 
 rest, is still ardently longing for the rest which re- 
 maineth — then, by its aid, the patience of faith may 
 be strengthened, the tremblings of hope confirmed, 
 and the wings of love plumed for heaven ! 
 
 Reader, does your heaven-directed countenance de- 
 clare to all you pass that you seek a country ; and 
 are you weary of all the oppressions that are done 
 under the sun? — read of heaven; not so much in 
 those bright and lucid moments when the smiles of 
 God’s countenance rest consciously upon you, and 
 when the Spirit by a sweet impulse of faith mounts 
 up as on eagle’s wings ; but read when your hours are 
 loneliest, when your burdens are heaviest, when your 
 temptations are strongest, when your way is darkest, 
 when your friends are fewest, when your heart is 
 ^weakest, and when the powers of hell are fiercest. 
 For your comfort and encouragement come and see 
 the good land. Get thee up into the top of the Pis* 
 
22 
 
 IIEAVEN. 
 
 gah of faith, and lift up thine eyes westward, and 
 northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold 
 it with thine eyes ! 
 
 Have you lost some of those to whom you were 
 united on earth by the tenderest ties of the flesh, or 
 by those purer and piously tempered affections which 
 knit closer than the flesh ; and do you often bend 
 over the sod where their bodies sleep, as if to call 
 them back by the eloquence of tears ? Do you sit at 
 the tomb of the beloved dead, and, filled with the spi- 
 rit of pious hope, sing 
 
 Yet again we hope to meet thee, 
 
 When the day of life is fled, 
 
 Then, in heaven, with joy to greet thee, 
 
 Where no farewell tear is shed ? 
 
 Come, mourner bereft and sad ! Instead of standing 
 upon their graves drooping and bent like the willow, 
 and, like it, moaning over what it shadows, sit down 
 on some green hillock like a consistent child of hope, 
 and wipe your tears while you read of heaven. From 
 that eternal home of the sainted dead, hear a com- 
 forting voice, “ He is not there ; he is risen : behold 
 the place where he lay !” 
 
 Have you been marked for sorrow from childhood’s 
 hour ? Have your fondest hopes been the play-thing 
 of every passing change ? Do you lie neglected as a 
 harp, whose music is no more sweet, because it is no 
 more needed to make others happy; and have the 
 gems one by one dropped away from your circle of 
 love ? Has your life become cold and desolate and 
 dreary as a rainy autumnal day ? Look up, child of 
 sorrow, for a bright heaven. 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 23 
 
 u Earth has no sorrows that heaven cannot heal.” 
 
 The reason you are not happier is because you love too 
 much this inconstant world, and you love it so much, 
 because you have not sufficiently thought of a better. 
 Why sit weeping among ruins, like melancholy Ma- 
 rius among the heaps of Carthage, calling back ’things 
 that have died only to see them die again ? “ Let the 
 
 dead bury their dead.” Why linger about the graves 
 of buried hope, or unfaithful love, when before you is 
 a land where hopes never disappoint, and where affec- 
 tions never die ? 
 
 Are you a tempted soul, often in the wilderness in 
 dark and dreadful conflict with Satan ? Are those 
 lying spirits whose name is legion, by your side to 
 harass, and before to hinder you, and do you often 
 become faint and disheartened because of the way ? 
 Do you sometimes cry out beneath a shower of fall- 
 ing darts, “ It is enough ; now, 0 Lord, take away 
 my life ?” Look up ; your reward is before you ; the 
 blessed thought of home will heal all the wounds 
 received by the way. Arise ye, and depart in the 
 strength of the Lord, for this is not your rest. 
 
 Ye young, who are wandering intoxicated with 
 vanity in the mazes of a heated imagination, your 
 thoughts are spreading the wing over hopes on which 
 they can never light. You have seen the world and 
 life only in the freshness and beauty Of its morning 
 dew, and you have loved them. You will yet learn 
 that all is a vapour on the earth, which, like the 
 morning cloud and the early dew, goeth away. The 
 things which are seen are temporal. I desire you to 
 learn this now, rather than hereafter by bitter expe- 
 
24 
 
 IIEAVEN. 
 
 nence : and, as you live on hope, direct those hopes 
 to things which are unseen and eternal. Will you 
 learn and believe that beyond the grave are not only 
 the only realities, but the most glorious ones ? Bo- 
 hold the glory of that world, that your eyes be not 
 deceitfully dazzled by the sheen of this world, which 
 must soon be merged into eternal night. Not only 
 must the beauty and fire of youth die, but the heavens 
 and the earth themselves, which are now, God has 
 reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and 
 perdition of ungodly men. Amid the consternation 
 and confusion of dissolving nature, when earth shall 
 utter her final groan, where will you find a home, if 
 not in heaven ? If you are friendless, houseless, and 
 homeless then, it will not be because you have not 
 known of a heaven where the weary are at rest. 
 
 Aged pilgrim ! you expect soon to go over ! You 
 are already going down the wintry hill-side of life 
 towards the valley of the shadow of death. Lift up 
 your eyes before you descend into the dark Jordan, 
 and fix in your mind, as much as you can, the outlines 
 of Canaan. Your eyes are dim to the loveliness of 
 earth, your ears are dead to its music, and your feet 
 are weary and heavy on its thorny road ; lift up your 
 eyes, and look for a better land, for behold it lies be- 
 fore you. To read of heaven is better than pastime 
 for you while the chariots of Israel tarry. It will 
 inspire an earnest longing to depart and be with 
 Christ, and thus make your departure easy and your 
 passage smooth. 
 
 Heaven, oh ! heaven ! who does not desire to know 
 all that may be known of it ? Heaven, it is our Fa- 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 25 
 
 tlier’s house, the home of angels, and of all the 
 departed saints who have fallen asleep in Jesus ! 
 
 li Apostles, prophets, martyrs there 
 Around the Saviour stand.” 
 
 Heaven, it is the home of all our hopes ; the end of 
 life’s weary pilgrimage, where we all at last expect to 
 dismiss our burdens, to forget our sorrows, and to 
 wipe our tears. If this be heaven, then let us know 
 what the Spirit saith concerning it to the churches ! 
 
 0, Spirit, that dost prefer 
 Before all temples th ? upright heart and pure, 
 
 Instruct me, for thou know’st. 
 
 What in me is dark, 
 
 Illumine ! what is low, raise and support! 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Sja Hjittmi e an? 
 
 Dhj talk to me of heaven ! I love 
 To hear about my home above ) 
 
 For there doth many a loved one dwell 
 In light and joy ineffable. 
 
 O! tell me how they shine and sing, 
 
 While every harp rings echoing, 
 
 And every glad and tearless eye 
 Beams like the bright sun gloriously. 
 
 Tell me of that victorious palm, 
 
 Each hand in glory beareth ) 
 
 Tell me of that celestial calm, 
 
 Each face in glory weareth. 
 
 “ Behold we have left all and followed thee ; what 
 shall we have therefore ?” What shall we have there- 
 fore ? This is a question that frequently arises in the 
 Christian’s mind, as he endeavours to cheer his oft- 
 times drooping spirits with a look towards the recom- 
 pense of reward. What shall we have? We have 
 left all for thee, and by following thee we have con- 
 fessed that we are pilgrims and strangers upon the 
 earth. In this world we shall have tribulation, but 
 thou didst overcome the world ; what shall those have 
 who overcome with thee ? 
 
 ( 26 ) 
 
IS HEAVEN A I LACE? 
 
 27 
 
 These are the saint’s ardent inquiries, when in the 
 spirit of self-denial he stands above the earth and 
 despises all its offers, and when, in the spirit of entire 
 self-consecration to Christ, he has no desire but to 
 follow the Lamb wheresoever he goes. The ardour 
 of hope outstrips the patience of faith, and hovering 
 around the battlements of the celestial city, seeks a 
 prelibation of promised joys. Although the opening 
 gates let out no glory ; though the anthems of their 
 worship are not heard without ; and though saints 
 and angels, 
 
 11 On heavenly pastimes bent,” 
 
 do not stop to give particulars to curious inquirers 
 who linger in their way, yet modest inquiries are not 
 improper, and may frequently be answered to the 
 comfort and joy of believers. 
 
 The Saviour answered the above inquiry when made 
 by Peter. He told him, “ When the Son of man shall 
 sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon 
 twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” 
 Here then there is curiosity which the Saviour him- 
 self approved, because he satisfied it. The same 
 pious curiosity still manifests itself in the minds of 
 God’s people in their holiest hours, and shall there be 
 nothing revealed to satisfy them? Yes, God will 
 approve of such inquiries, and will grant the influence 
 of that Spirit who leads into all truth, to all those 
 who search the scriptures for an answer. 
 
 I propose in this book to consider some questions 
 which often arise in the minds of Christians concern- 
 ing heaven. In this inquiry we shall endeavour to 
 
28 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 adhere closely to the sure word of prophecy. What 
 the Spirit has revealed, through holy men of old, is 
 profitable, what He does not reveal we cannot know. 
 It was a comfort for Moses to view from Pisgah the 
 promised land, though at a distance, where he could 
 only get the coarsest outlines of its beauty ; so it is 
 sweet to -us to see, from the mount of revelation, 
 something of the heavenly Canaan, though it be only 
 its veiled glory through a glass darkly. 
 
 In a world so full of change as this, and in the 
 midst of a life which must so certainly and so soon 
 come to a close, to be succeeded by an eternal state, 
 there are few who do not, at times, think earnestly 
 about a home beyond this life. This is a subject 
 which especially occupies the minds of the truly pious 
 in the twilight of life’s loveliest and loneliest hours. 
 It is the land of their hopes, and of their treasures ! 
 To it they are bound, not only by the power of a 
 deathless faith, but by that holiest and sweetest of all 
 human ties, — affection for their beloved dead who 
 have died in the Lord. 
 
 IS HEAVEN A PLACE? 
 
 And as a bird each fond endearment tries 
 To tempt its new-fledged offspring to the skies, 
 
 He tried each art, reproved each dull delay, 
 
 Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way. 
 
 Is heaver, a place, or is it a state of existence 
 merely ? Has it locality, and is it material ? Shall 
 we exist in the heavenly world, related to time and 
 space? Will that world be visible to the eye and 
 
IS HEAVEN A PLACE i 
 
 29 
 
 tangible to the senses ? In short, will it be a local, 
 material, visible, and tangible heaven ? These are 
 questions which often arise in the minds of Christians, 
 and so far as light is thrown upon this subject by 
 revelation, S3 far it is right that these inquiries should 
 be answered. 
 
 Some have professed to believe that heaven is 
 merely a state of being, without any reference to time 
 or place, as the state of matrimony or slavery. Thus 
 it has been said that heaven is as much where we are, 
 or a foot from us, as any where else. It has been 
 said that where there is a holy soul, there is heaven ; 
 that the spirit after death is disconnected from matter, 
 from time, and from space, and enjoys a kind of bliss 
 so purely abstract and spiritual that it is in no way 
 connected with matter however refined. It is hard to 
 understand this theory, but somehow the spirit floats 
 in a spiritual element, enjoys itself and is happy, in a 
 state entirely separated from all that is tangible to 
 our senses. This theory of course traces its origin to 
 the old Platonic notion that matter is essentially evil, 
 and the highest good consists in getting entirely clear 
 of it. 
 
 “ The common imagination,” says Dr. Chalmers — 
 we hope not altogether common, — “ that we have of 
 Paradise on the other side of death, is that of a lofty 
 aerial region, where the inmates float m ether, or are 
 mysteriously suspended upon nothing — where all the 
 warm and sensible accompaniments, which give such 
 an expression of strength, and life, and colouring to 
 our present habitation, are attenuated into a sort of 
 spiritual element, that is meagre, and imperceptible, 
 3 * 
 
80 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 and utterly uninvitiug to the eye of mortals here be- 
 low — where every vestige of materialism is done 
 away, and nothing left but unearthly scenes that have 
 no power of allurement, and certain unearthly ecsta- 
 sies, with which it is felt impossible to sympathize.” 
 
 To show the folly of this theory it is sufficient to 
 remark, that if this be true, then the five senses by 
 which the spirit now communicates with the material 
 world would be quite useless, and w'ould be dispensed 
 with ; but as the habits of the spirit have been formed 
 by the activities of these senses, and as all the facul- 
 ties of the mind have been trained to act through 
 these channels, it would seem very violent to cut them 
 off at once and for ever from that mode of acting. It 
 would seem that such a transition would require 
 nearly, if not altogether, the destruction of the mind 
 as it now is, and the erection of one entirely new. 
 This is only a rational objection ; it will be hereafter 
 seen how this mystic dream is further condemned by 
 the positive arguments for heaven’s locality, both from 
 reason and from scripture. 
 
 It is evident, from various considerations, that 
 heaven is strictly and properly a place — a local and 
 material heaven. 
 
 When we say that heaven is material, it must be 
 remembered we do not assert that matter there ap- 
 pears in just the same form, or that it is of the same 
 construction or appearance as it is here upon the 
 earth. It may be far less rough and coarse, and yet 
 be matter still. Matter, we know, is capable of many 
 combinations, and perhaps of many the nature of 
 which we cannot at present conceive. We know that 
 
IS HEAVEN A PLACE? 
 
 31 
 
 matter can and does exist in a very refined state ; as, 
 for instance, in light, electricity or air, all of which 
 are material. Philosophy assures us that the matter 
 of wdiich the planets are composed is very differently 
 combined, so that their appearances to the senses are 
 widely different. The planet Mercury, which revolves 
 nearest the sun, it is said, is far more dense and solid 
 than any of the other planets. From what we know, 
 therefore, it is certain that a material world may 
 exist, more refined in its constitution, more delicate 
 in its combinations, and consequently more beautiful 
 and glorious in its construction and appearance. 
 When we speak, therefore, of heaven as a material 
 world, let not the reader’s imagination present to his 
 hopes a world like this earth, as though this was the 
 only form in which it is possible for matter to exist. 
 “All flesh is not the same flesh, ’’^-though all flesh m 
 material, — “but there is one kind of flesh of men, 
 another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another 
 of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies 
 terrestrial:” — these are all material bodies, — “but 
 the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the 
 terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, 
 and another glory of the moon, and another glory of 
 the stars ; for one star differeth from another star in 
 glory.” 
 
 A strong presumptive evidence for the locality of 
 heaven is furnished by enlightened reason. The soul 
 is constitutionally interwoven with an external world 
 throughout all its mundane history. The mind or 
 spirit developes itself in this connexion, and in its 
 very texture it is intertwined with the forms of time 
 
32 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 and space. It rests, if not necessarily, — though this 
 I think, not, however, in a materialistic sense, might 
 be confidently affirmed — yet by a powerful habit, upon 
 matter ; and this habit is not an incidental state, but 
 it is the only state of existence with which the soul 
 was acquainted from the first dawn of its conscious- 
 ness. As has been above observed, to tear the spirit 
 suddenly loose, at death, from these relations to an 
 external world, and place it into a state completely 
 and for ever isolated from all matter, where it would 
 find no opportunity to exercise these faculties, would 
 be subjecting it to a terrible violence ! A violence 
 which would destroy its personal identity. 
 
 The faculties of the soul are necessarily dependent, 
 for a healthful exercise of their energies, upon an ex- 
 ternal world. A moment’s reflection will convince 
 us of this. Reason steps from one deduction to an- 
 other, by the aid of analogies which it finds in the 
 world without, so that it is dependent on the external 
 world for the exercise of its strength. The mind, in 
 reasoning, cannot divest itself of analogies. Imagi- 
 nation must have a real world in which to range ; the 
 material with which it builds, it gets from the mate- 
 rial world ; all it can do is to combine — it cannot 
 create. Memory must find a backward track through 
 time and space, or it is dead. All these faculties are 
 supplied with materials to keep them in life and vigour, 
 through the senses, from an external world. Shall 
 these faculties be cut off from their sources and con- 
 ditions, and die? No. Reason must exist in the 
 future life to approve the dealings of God with the 
 soul, and tte adjudge him praise for his goodness. 
 
IS IIEAVEN A PLACE? 
 
 33 
 
 Memory must wander back to earth to remind the 
 soul for ever of its obligations to the Saviour who 
 redeemed it from the sink of sin, and wdien it does 
 travel back imagination must be the wing to bear it. 
 
 The first, and most natural impression, that every 
 one gets on reading the Bible, concerning heaven, is 
 that it is a locality somewhere in God’s universe ; 
 hence the majority of Christians, without ever ques- 
 tioning the propriety of their belief, liaveP intuitively 
 that impression of another world. This impression is 
 piously and pleasantly cherished, and can only be 
 removed by that reckless speculative curiosity by 
 which the holiest of divine truths are invaded and 
 dislodged by such as are cruel and bold enough to 
 take away the contents of our faith without feeling 
 themselves responsible to furnish us with a better. 
 Learned men who have examined the popular ideas 
 on this subject, instead of casting them away, have 
 found it pleasant to cherish and retain them as con- 
 genial with the deepest and holiest wants of the spirit. 
 Hence also almost all who have expressed themselves 
 on this subject, even without assigning any reason for 
 it, have unhesitatingly expressed themselves as believ- 
 ing in a material heaven. 
 
 It may be objected, that these impressions may be 
 wrong ; and we may be referred to cases which seem 
 analogous, where they have been wrong ; as, for in- 
 stance, the first impression we get of God on reading 
 the scriptures, is, that he has a form like a man, hav- 
 ing hands, feet, mouth, ears and eyes ; but I answer, 
 that this being spoken after the manner of men, is 
 soon corrected by the distinct declaration that God is 
 
34 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 a spirit, while with regard to heaven it is not so. 
 The impression which we at first receive is not cor- 
 rected by any plain declaration ; on the contrary, 
 continually strengthened and confirmed, as will shortly 
 be seen. We conclude, therefore, that the sacred 
 writers would not make an impression which is so 
 easily received, and which is so general, only to be 
 “ The herald of a lie.” 
 
 The general impressions which we receive on reading 
 the Bible first have a great influence on those particu- 
 lar investigations which we afterwards make. We 
 cannot avoid looking through these general impres- 
 sions, and they will cast their shadow on all that we 
 see ; it is not at all possible, therefore, that God would 
 so construct his revelation, in which immortality t is 
 brought to light, as to make these first impressions 
 afterwards mislead us. 
 
 From these introductory considerations, which, 
 though not without much force, are only presumptive, 
 we pass on to consider the light which is thrown upon 
 this subject by the sure word of inspiration. God 
 has not left us in the dark upon a subject of so much 
 interest and importance in connexion with the future 
 life. 
 
 m 
 
 It is plainly declared in Scripture that heaven is a 
 locality. It is called a phlce. u I go to prepare a 
 place for you.” The Saviour says farther, that when 
 this place is prepared, he will come again and receive 
 us to himself, that where he is we may be also. Here 
 is reference to place ; where he is we shall be. We 
 shall be together in the same locality, and that to be- 
 hold his glory and to see him face to face. 
 
IS HEAVEN A PLACE? 
 
 35 
 
 It could not be a suitable abode for the saints, if it 
 were not a local, material heaven. The saints will 
 have bodies. Pure spirits may, for aught we know, 
 exist differently ; but the saints, having bodies, must 
 have a material dwelling-place, because they are ma- 
 terial. Can the abode of these bodies be less tangible 
 than the bodies themselves ? Certainly not. They 
 cannot be suspended in air, or float in space eternally ! 
 Though the bodies of the saints will be, in some re- 
 spects, no doubt, greatly changed — for w T e shall all 
 be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, 
 at the sound of the last trump — and they will be spi- 
 ritualized in a w T ay now unknown to us, yet they will 
 be bodies still. “ There is a spiritual body.” Job 
 felt confident that he should in his flesh see God. A 
 human being consists of soul and body, the one mate- 
 rial and the other immaterial ; these tv r o united make 
 the man, and they must therefore be united again in 
 the future wmrld, if the man is to retain his nature. 
 Hence we read, that they that are in their graves 
 shall come forth, and that our vile bodies, as well as 
 our souls, shall come under the transforming power 
 of Christ’s resurrection-life, and be fashioned like 
 unto his glorious body. The Saviour’s body rose as 
 a first-fruit and pledge of the resurrection of our bo- 
 dies, and at his resurrection “many bodies of the 
 saints which slept arose and came of the graves,” as 
 an evidence that his resurrection had shaken off for 
 ever the fetters of the tomb from his saints, and 
 henceforth they shall live because he lives. In virtue 
 of all this, the saints now r rejoice in hope, and we 
 “ wdiioh have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even v r e 
 
36 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adop- 
 tion, to wit, the redemption of the body. 5 ' The body, 
 then, will be raised and become a sharer with the 
 spirit in the blessed gift of immortality. Whatever 
 will be the refinement of this immortal man, — though 
 raised in honour, in power, in incorruption, in spiritu- 
 ality, yet he has a body, and must therefore have a 
 local platform, a physical substratum, for his future 
 habitation. 
 
 The bodies of Enoch and Elijah are in heaven. 
 “ Enoch was translated that he should not see death ; 
 and was not found, because God had translated him.” 
 His body was made immortal, incorruptible, and glori- 
 fied, without going through the change of death ; and 
 it was not to be found by his friends, that it might 
 have the rite of burial, because God had translated* it 
 into heaven. “And Elijah went up by a whirlwind 
 into heaven. And Elisha saw it.” It was a visible 
 translation. Elijah took his body with him, which, 
 in form and appearance, was the same as that in which 
 he wandered about on earth, for Elisha saw it go up. 
 Where that body now is, there must be a local heaven, 
 and it must be as material and tangible as the body 
 for whose activities it is the platform. 
 
 The Saviour took with him into heaven a visible, 
 tangible, material body. When he appeared to his 
 disciples after his resurrection, and consequently in 
 his resurrection body, they were terrified and affrighted, 
 supposing him to be a spirit ; but he said, “ Behold 
 my hands and my feet, that it is I myself : handle 
 me, and see : for a spirit hath not flesh and bones , as 
 ye- see me have . And when he had thus spoken, he 
 
IS HEAVEN A PLACE? 
 
 37 
 
 showed them his hands and his feet.” Luke xxiv. See 
 also John xx. 29. This he said to convince them that 
 he was not a spirit. He appeals first to their sight, 
 “ Behold my hands and my feet,” then to their sense 
 of touch, “ Handle me, and see.” In order to con- 
 vince them still more fully that his resurrection body 
 was a real human body, he did eat before them a 
 “piece of broiled fish, and of a honey-comb.” Soon 
 afterwards, when he had given them satisfactory evi- 
 dence that he was not a phantom, but the real and 
 true human Christ, “he lifted up his hands, and blessed 
 them. And it came to pass while he blessed them, he 
 was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.” 
 He was visible to them “while they looked steadfastly 
 towards heaven as he went up,” until a cloud received 
 him out of their sight. We are told also, that this 
 same Jesus shall come again in like manner as he was 
 seen going up. (Acts i. 11.) He has not, therefore, 
 laid aside his human body, and become an invisible 
 spirit, but he retains it, and will come in it when he 
 shall come to judge the world. The same Jesus who 
 died and rose is also in heaven now at God’^ right 
 hand. There he is visible and occupies & place. There 
 we expect to “ see him as he is ;” we shall look upon 
 him as the disciples looked upon him while he stood, 
 sat, or moved in their midst. “ I know that my Re- 
 deemer liveth, and though after my skin worms destroy 
 this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God : whom 1 
 shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold him, 
 and not another.” Where Christ’s body is, there 
 must be a material heaven. 
 
 It is sometimes objected that saints will not have 
 4 
 
HEAVEN. 
 
 bodies in heaven, at least not constructed after the 
 same form as these we have on earth. In confirma- 
 tion of this objection, the passage, of Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 
 50, is quoted: “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh 
 and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither 
 doth corruption inherit incorruption.” This passage, 
 however, when correctly interpreted, does not confirm 
 the objection. The expression “flesh and blood,” is 
 figurative, and is used to express man’s carnal nature. 
 When Peter confessed Christ with such a blessed unc- 
 tion, the Saviour said that he was blessed in being 
 enabled so to confess him, because “flesh and blood” 
 had not revealed his divine character to him, but that 
 this knowledge had been bestowed upon him by his 
 Heavenly Father. The meaning is, that his carnal 
 nature could in no case be the source of such know- 
 ledge, and the fact that he had this knowledge, was 
 proof that he was in gracious communion with his 
 Heavenly Father, therefore he was blessed. (Matt, 
 xvi. 17.) See also Eph. vi. 12 : Gal. i. 16. The ex- 
 pression is also sometimes taken “for the quality of 
 corruption, which is not sinful, but the effect of sin, 
 to which our bodies are subject in this life. Flesh 
 and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; that 
 is, our frail corruptible bodies cannot come. to heaven: 
 that which shall inherit heaven must be incorrupt flesh, 
 a body without corruption.” This seems to be the 
 meaning of the expression in Heb. ii. 14, where the 
 Saviour is said to have taken upon him flesh and blood, 
 because the children whom he would save, were par- 
 takers of the same. He did certainly not take a 
 carnal nature, but he took a body having the innocent 
 
IS HEAVEN A PLACE? 
 
 39 
 
 infirmities which belong to man in his fallen state. 
 He took a body which had in it the possibility of 
 dying ; he did not take sin upon himself, which is its 
 cause, but these infirmities which are its consequences. 
 He took this nature, disposed to die, upon himself, 
 that through death he might destroy him that hath 
 the power of death. The Christian has the same still 
 in his converted state, for he is disposed to death and 
 corruption ; but this part of his nature cannot inherit 
 the kingdom of God : it will be displaced by an im- 
 perishable nature, suited to an immortal existence ; 
 for since we have borne the image of the earthy, we 
 shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 
 
 Now, either of these two meanings will better suit 
 the context than to take the passage literally. It is, 
 perhaps, most consistent with the context to say that 
 it includes both these ideas. In the context preceding 
 the passage, he speaks of those that are earthy, by 
 which he seems to mean such as are carnal, which 
 would require the passage to be understood as having 
 reference to man’s carnal nature. In the context 
 succeeding, he speaks of corruption and incorruption 
 in man, without any reference to sin as the cause of 
 corruption ; this would rather favour that exposition 
 which makes flesh and blood to mean the innocent in- 
 firmities of man’s nature, which are not themselves 
 sinful, but are a result of sin. It may, therefore, con- 
 sistently include both these ideas, because they are 
 united as cause and effect, and are, in their ground, 
 one. Then he would say, man’s carnal nature, which 
 is sinful, shall not inherit heaven ; for as is the hea- 
 venly, such are they that are heavenly ; neither shall 
 
40 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 that part of man’s nature which is liable to decay, 
 having become so as the result of sin, get to heaven, 
 for corruption doth not inherit incorruption. 
 
 We come, then, to this conclusion, that from what 
 is revealed concerning the Saviour’s body, and the 
 bodies of the saints after the resurrection, we may be 
 firmly persuaded that heaven, which is to be their 
 eternal abode, is a local, material heaven ; in all re- 
 spects suitable to be the dwelling-place of Such bodies. 
 In the language of Knapp, “ according to the New' 
 Testament, man will possess a body , even in the future 
 life, and continue to be, as he now is, a being com- 
 posed of both sense and reason ; and so there, as well 
 as here, he will have the want of something cognizable 
 by the senses' ’ We look, therefore, says Krummacher, 
 for “a house, a home, a heavenly paternal home; a 
 peopled residence, a real habitation, where we shall 
 know one another, and be with one another upon 
 terms of the most intimate friendships and the dearest 
 fellowships.” 
 
 If the heavenly inheritance be a material world, 
 then matter must exist there in some kind of organi- 
 zation ; what form of organization w T e cannot pre- 
 cisely know : this it hath not entered into the heart 
 of man fully to conceive. The scenery of heaven 
 presented to us in Scripture, is similar to what w T e see 
 on earth, and its representations are perhaps not en- 
 tirely metaphorical and figurative. That we shall 
 find there trees, streams, mountains, &c., I will not 
 affirm, but much less will I deny. Our minds are 
 habituated to objects of sight in this form here on 
 earth ; we think by earthly analogies : it is not pro* 
 
IS HEAVEN A PLACE ? 
 
 41 
 
 bable that at death our minds will, abruptly and vio- 
 lently, be transferred into scenes to which, in their 
 constitution and previous habits of acting, they are 
 entirely unused. Whatever may be the forms of or- 
 ganized matter in heaven, it is certain that matter in 
 these organizations is more completely under the 
 power of the laws of life than it is in this world. In 
 this world all organized matter, even that in our bo- 
 dies, is partly under the power of the laws of attrac- 
 tion and gravitation, and only to a limited extent 
 under the power of the laws of life. In heaven, how- 
 ever, the laws of life may bring matter so entirely 
 under its power, as to surmount and supersede com- 
 pletely the laws of attraction and gravitation. Then 
 life would be most gloriously free ! In that case, 
 there could be no such thing as decay. It is the fric- 
 tion, so to say, produced by the opposite interests of 
 the laws of gravitation, and the laws of life inces- 
 santly contending, which w^ears out and tears down 
 all earthly organizations, and produces decay. Oh ! 
 what scenery must that be where the animations of 
 life meet no barrier, are subject to no obscuration, 
 and know no decay ! 
 
 That a material world, even w 7 ith scenery similar to 
 that of earth, is a fit abode for holy spirits, is evident 
 from the fact that Adam and Eve livefd in such a 
 world in their holy state. God, no doubt, put them 
 into a place which was entirely adapted to the nature 
 of their being, and where they could enjoy the highest 
 degree of spiritual advantage and happiness. His 
 benevolence would induce him to this. Hence also 
 we are told that he planted a garden eastward in 
 4 * 
 
42 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 Eden, and made to grow in it “ every tree that is 
 pleasant to the sight and good for food.” It was not 
 even a barrier to the holy joys of Paradise that they 
 should “ dress it and keep it.” Nature in Paradise, 
 in the form of earthly scenery, was not polluting or 
 degrading, but rather elevating to holy minds. It 
 was both a happiness and a benefit for their minds to 
 refresh themselves in communion with the external 
 world in that garden of delights. Eden scenes laid 
 their lovely transcripts upon their hearts, and lived 
 in their thoughts as things of pure beauty and love. 
 Every object around them was clothed in unsullied 
 freshness, when reflected from the pure mirror of their 
 pure hearts. Every thought that arose in their minds, 
 partook of the beauty of the surrounding scenery, by 
 which it was suggested or begotten, and every word 
 they spake, fell upon fragrant air. The echoes of 
 their own words in that holy place were like angel 
 voices to their hearts. If such was Eden, created by 
 God himself as a fit abode for holy beings, and adapted 
 by his own hands to their purest and highest joys, 
 why should we consider it gross to think of similar 
 scenery in heaven ? Similar — yes, for Paradise on 
 earth is a type of Paradise above ; and it must needs 
 be that the pattern of heavenly things on earth, should 
 have some similarity to their substance in heaven. 
 
 What a garden of delights must that world be ! 
 What scenery must the heavenly landscape present 
 to the enraptured gaze of the saints ! Even in this 
 world there are scenes of beauty, which fill the soul 
 with the freshest delights, especially of such as can 
 see God in nature. What cool groves, what fragrant 
 
IS HEAVEN A PLACE ? 
 
 43 
 
 bowers, what quiet meadows, what murmuring, laugh- 
 ing streams, what green, extended plains, what solemn 
 mountains, what bright and peaceful heavens — in 
 short, place together and take in one view, by the 
 power of the imagination, all the thousand things of 
 beauty which make up the lovely details of earthly 
 scenery, and what scenes of surprising loveliness and 
 beauty does even earth afford ! If such scenes still 
 appear in the land of the curse, what must it be where 
 no curse was ever known ! Imagination staggers and 
 trembles in its present abode of clay, under the effort 
 to realize the glories of the final abode of the sainted 
 dead. 
 
 Hail ye blest inhabitants of that lovely and peace- 
 ful land ! Hail ye happy spirits of the sainted dead ! 
 We feel, even here upon earth, a comfortable earnest 
 of your celestial joys. The bright landscape of those 
 immortal realms lies before the eyes of our faith in 
 smiles of invitation. We are- cheered, even on these 
 low grounds of sin and sorrow, by the dawn of an 
 eternal morning, and we have a desire to depart ; yet 
 “ all the days of our appointed time will we wait till 
 our change come. Thou shalt call, and we will an- 
 swer thee.” 
 
 We speak of the realms of the blest, 
 
 Of that country so bright and so fair 
 And oft are its glories confess’d — 
 
 But what must it be to be there ! 
 
 We speak of its pathways of gold, 
 
 Of its walks deck’d with jewels so rare, 
 
 Of its wonders and pleasures untold — 
 
 But what must it be to be there l 
 
HEAVEN. 
 
 We speak of its freedom from sin, 
 
 From sorrow, temptation, and care; 
 
 From trials, without and within — 
 
 But what must it be to be there ! 
 
 We speak of its service of love, 
 
 Of the robes which the glorified wear, 
 
 Of the church of the first-born above- 
 But what must it be to be there ! 
 
 Do thou, Lord, ’midst sorrow and wo, 
 Stilf for heaven my spirit prepare; 
 
 And shortly I also shall know* 
 
 And feel what it is to be there! 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ttfljm is IImiieh? 
 
 Oh ! could our thoughts and wishes fly, 
 
 Above these gloomy shades,^ 
 
 To those bright worlds beyond the sky, 
 
 Which sorrow ne’er invades ! 
 
 Here let no one’s curiosity be unduly on the alert. 
 Speculations on this subject are plenty and sufficiently 
 wild. I do not intend to add to them. There is a 
 class of persons who are always more diligent to pry 
 into things not revealed, than into things which are. 
 Let that fancy which is ever on the wing, and ready 
 at the .smallest beck to soar into things not seen, stay 
 its flight. It will fly in vain, for, like Noah’s dove, 
 it will find no resting-place. It may for a moment 
 rest on some floating twig on this pathless ocean, but 
 before it can nestle itself into a comfortable quiet, a 
 billow will drive it away. Thus fancy may find a 
 home for the spirit, but it will be a home on the deep. 
 If, then, we desire to know where is our future home, 
 we must cast down imaginations, take the Bible, and 
 sit at the feet of Him who brought immortality to 
 light. What we learn in this way, though it may not 
 
 ( 45 ) 
 
46 
 
 IIEAVEN. 
 
 be much, will be true, and it will also be all that we 
 need know, while we are on this side of the grave. 
 
 The ancient nations and tribes have always some- 
 where located for themselves a heaven, as the object 
 of their desires and hopes. The spiritual longings of 
 the superstitious pagans found a home for their dead 
 beyond the misty sea. There, in some island, un- 
 known and unvisited by mortals, their imaginations 
 located the Hesperian gardens and Elysian fields. 
 Their fancy beautified them w T ith beds of flowers, em- 
 bowered walks, cool retreats, mossy seats, and groves 
 of spices, quiet valleys and crystal streams, sparkling 
 fountains and skies unclouded, and airs rich with 
 odours, upon wdiich floated the matins and vespers of 
 the blest in notes of unearthly sweetness ! Here was 
 a home for their weary spirits, the thoughts of which 
 made the ills of life more easy, and the thoughts of 
 death more comfortable. The leaders of the people 
 promised them that if they lived virtuous lives, ac- 
 cording to the pagan notions of virtue, they should 
 at death be borne away to these abodes of blessedness 
 and peace. 
 
 More modern discoveries show that similar ideas of 
 a home for the spirit after death, prevail among the 
 inhabitants of the different islands of the ocean.* As 
 the dead are put out of sight, it is natural that they 
 should locate the abodes of their spirits out of sight ; 
 and hence they generally fix upon some lovely island 
 in the far off* seas. “ The North American Indians 
 believe that beyond the most distant mountains of 
 
 *See Dick’s Future State, page 20, et seq. 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN ? 
 
 4 * 
 
 tlieir country, there is a wide river; beyond that 
 river a great country ; on the other side of that 
 country a world of water ; in that v’ater are a thou- 
 sand islands, full of trees and streams of water, and 
 that a thousand buffaloes, and ten thousand deer, 
 graze on the hills, or ruminate in the valleys. When 
 they die, they are persuaded that the Great Spirit 
 will conduct them to this land of souls/' ’ Their ideas 
 of the place v r here they shall be blest after death, are 
 beautifully described by the poet. 
 
 “Even the poor Indian, whose untutored mind 
 Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind, 
 
 Whose soul proud science never taught to stray 
 Far as the solar walk or milky way — 
 
 Yet simple nature to his hope has given, 
 
 Behind the cloud-capt hill, an humbler heaven ; 
 
 Some safer world in depths of wood embraced, 
 
 Some happier island in the watery waste, 
 
 Where slaves once more their native land behold, 
 
 No fiends torment, no Christians thirst for gold,-- 
 And thinks, admitted to yon equal sky, 
 
 His faithful dog shall bear him company. ?? — Popk. 
 
 It w^as natural for these pagan nations and tribes 
 thus to create imaginary w T orlds of happiness. The 
 desire for happiness in the human breast is general 
 and natural, and where the least idea of the soul’s 
 immortality exists, this desire is increased. As im- 
 mortality has been brought to light more clearly by 
 revelation, it has also increased, in like proportion, 
 the desire of future blessedness. The pagan nations 
 having had but a limited knowledge of the world in 
 which they lived, very naturally suffered their specu- 
 lations to locate their heaven in the unknown regions. 
 
' 48 
 
 IIEAVEN. 
 
 We, being acquainted with this world, give our ima- 
 ginations more scope, and therefore seek no more for 
 the abode of the blest* on the plain of this earth ; but, 
 invited and allured by revelation, the human mind 
 has directed its speculation into the heavens, where 
 many worlds are still floating like islands in the blue 
 sea of space, — here fancy may still erect its castles 
 where no human eye can penetrate to question the 
 reality of their existence. Speculations are therefore 
 not yet at an end. The earnest eye of men, stirred 
 by immortal desires, still wanders through the wide 
 universe of God, and fixes us now on one place, and 
 now upon another, as the probable abode of the 
 blessed dead. 
 
 I will present to the reader some of the speculations 
 which have been made by deep-thinking men in 
 reference to the locality of the future world of the 
 blest. This is done, not to invite his faith, or to 
 satisfy his curiosity, but to prepare the mind for 
 something surer and better, into which, I trust, his 
 convictions may be led by aid of the sure word of 
 prophecy. The bee hovers around the flower before 
 it lights upon it ; w T e cannot tell the reason, but we 
 are satisfied with its conduct. Men will speculate ; 
 and if you lead them not a chase through its wild 
 regions, they will not relish the truth. The prodigal 
 is better satisfied with his home after he has travelled. 
 One who has long wandered in dreary mountains, 
 scaled precipices, wound around rocks, trees, pits, and 
 brush, though the excursion was romantic and pleasant 
 at first, is glad to find some beaten path. So, when 
 we walk a while in the devious and difficult regions 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN? 
 
 49 
 
 of speculation, we will walk more contentedly, and 
 with greater relish afterwards, in the divinely illumi- 
 nated path of revelation. Will the reader then please 
 to follow firmly and heartily on, we will promise to 
 bring him safely back again, with his experience per- 
 haps somewhat enlarged, and, no doubt, like all tra- 
 vellers, better content at home than before. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 THE THEORY OF PROGRESSIVE ASCENSIONS. 
 
 Some have supposed that the heaven of the blest is 
 not one particular place or locality, but that it con- 
 sists in a series of progressive ascensions. That at 
 death we do not pass into one permanent habitation, 
 but that we change place from one platform of exist- 
 ence to another, but still higher, and that a great deal 
 of happiness is derived from the new range of know^- 
 ledge which is thus opened to the soul in each succes- 
 sive stage of its ascent. Thus we are supposed to 
 experience at each ascent a new change, similar in 
 effect, though not in nature, to that which attends our 
 passage out of this life at death. It will easily be 
 seen that this is a refinement of the ancient doctrine 
 of transmigrations, and may be traced back to that 
 idea as its germ. 
 
 According to this theory, it has been supposed that 
 the numerous w T orlds which we see rolling through the 
 heavens are the different platforms upon w^hich the 
 successive stages of our spiritual history are to trans ■ 
 pire. Thus, as we pass from one world or star to an- 
 other, a still wider view of the Creator’s power and 
 5 
 
5v 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 perfections will be opened to us, while cur powers will 
 be still farther unfolded towards our endless destiny. 
 Then the whole universe being our “ Father’s house,” 
 these worlds will be the “many mansions” prepared 
 for the children of God, through all of which it will 
 be our delightful privilege to pass. 
 
 This theory is beautiful, and at first sight plausible. 
 The difficulty, however, is that the scriptures reveal 
 nothing of such a series of progressive changes. It 
 does give countenance to the idea that the soul shall 
 progress in the way of evolution and development to- 
 wards its perfection for ever, but it intimates nothing 
 of successive changes of residence, as the ever-aseend- 
 *rg platforms upon which these successive develop- 
 ments shall take place. On the contrary, the future 
 abode of the saints is represented always as a perma- 
 nent location, where they shall be peculiarly and for 
 ever at home, and it is not the smallest part of its 
 attractions, that it is free from changes, and that its 
 inhabitants go no more out. This abode is represented 
 as the fixed and peculiar residence of God ; where he 
 manifests himself in glory through the incarnate Re- 
 deemer to all intelligences, whether angels or men, 
 the imperial city of the King of kings ! 
 
 That the saints may, and do, make temporary ex- 
 cursions from planet to planet, through the universe 
 of God, w T e do not wish to deny ; for that seems alto- 
 gether probable, and does not conflict with the im- 
 pressions of a fixed and permanent abode as we get 
 Aem from God’s word. Still this is different from 
 the idea of successive ascensions, as understood in 
 this theory. This theory holds that the soul, ever 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN? 
 
 51 
 
 restless, ascends still upward through co Annual change 
 of residence, and every new position is to bo gained 
 only to be in like manner again surmounted and left 
 behind, while the soul is ever changing homes, and 
 never at home. Whereas, the other idea assigns to 
 the soul a permanent home, from which it may go out 
 to explore and admire the vast universe, and thus 
 enjoy itself and God in his boundless works, while it 
 ; £, notwithstanding, ever at home, in a proper sense, 
 at the same place. 
 
 SECTION" II. 
 
 PROGRESSIVE ASCENSIONS IN ANOTHER FORM. 
 
 There is another theory somewhat allied to this, 
 given by an original and ingenious writer,* and ac- 
 companied by striking and seemingly plausible argu- 
 ments. As this theory is stated in terms which might 
 make it to some readers obscure, I prefer to state it 
 in my own language. 
 
 In this theory, the universe of known worlds, ac- 
 cording to known facts, is divided into two parts, each 
 part comprehending a particular class of worlds. The 
 one class consists of suns, which are centres of sys- 
 tems, and the other of planets, subordinate to them, 
 depending on them, and revolving round them in the 
 same way as is known to be the case with the solar 
 system. These primary planets are schools of instruc- 
 tion and initiation, the suns are the central homes for 
 all rational orders belonging to the system, to which 
 
 # Taylor’s Physical Theory of another Life, chap. xvi. 
 
52 
 
 HEA\ JSN. 
 
 they are taken after they have gone through the pre- 
 paratory course of being on one or other of the pri- 
 mary planets. The sun or central world is the heaven 
 and home of each system, where all will meet at last 
 in happy company. 
 
 This, however, is not to be their final and eternal 
 home ; but is again preparatory to an existence still 
 higher. “For,” says the author, “the opinion has 
 often been advanced, and seems to be gathering 
 strength, that the sun and other stars, that is to say 
 the entire celestial system visible to us, is in actual 
 movement in one direction ; or that it is rolling around 
 a common centre. But who shall calculate the dimen- 
 sions of that central mass which may be adequate to 
 sustain the revolution of all suns and worlds? If 
 each sun be a place of assembly and a home of im- 
 mortality to all the rational planetary tribes of its 
 system, the vast world around which all suns are sup- 
 posed to be revolving, may be the home of a still 
 higher order of life, and the theatre of a still more 
 comprehensive convocation of the intellectual com- 
 munity.” 
 
 Bringing this theory down to practical application, 
 it is argued that our sun is a world of too much im- 
 portance to be considered merely as a lamp or hearth 
 to the earth, or as the swivel of its revolutions. It is 
 also said that modern discoveries have almost demon- 
 strated that the surface of the sun is habitable. Espe- 
 cially may it be a fit realm for refined, incorruptible, 
 and immortal bodies, such as are promised to us after 
 death. It is farther argued that there is apparent on 
 the planets a fitness for mortal life, and on the sun a 
 
WHERE IS IIEAVEN? 
 
 53 
 
 fitness for immortal life. On the earth, for instance, 
 as well as on all primary planets, there is continual 
 change, such as summer and winter, day and night, 
 excitement and repose, all of which is favourable to 
 dissolution ; the sun, on the other hand, is free from 
 all these changes produced by diurnal and annual re- 
 volutions ; and not being subject to the friction of 
 excitement and repose, it is favourable to immortal 
 life. On earth seasons of repose for the body are 
 necessary, because the soul in its activity out-labours 
 and tires the body its fellow ; hence night and rest for 
 the body are provided in the arrangement of the earth’s 
 diurnal revolutions, that its exhausted stores may be 
 replenished. On the sun, however, no such seasons 
 are afforded, and hence it is concluded that they are 
 there not needed, and that their absence makes it 
 strongly probable that these are the abodes of immor- 
 tal life. 
 
 To this theory, plausible as it seems to be made by 
 a number of scientific probabilities, I must offer a few 
 formidable scriptural objections. 
 
 The Jews reckoned the sun, which is thus made our 
 first heaven, as well as all the visible planetary worlds 
 to the second heaven ; whereas the heaven which the 
 scriptures represent as the abode of the blest, is “ far 
 above all heavens” — and hence even beyond the third 
 heaven, and separate from it. The place into which 
 Paul was caught up, and into which the Saviour as- 
 cended, is beyond the bounds of all that is visible. 
 In that place the Saviour now is, and in that place he 
 was at the time when the apostle said that to be ab- 
 sent from the body was the same as to be present 
 
64 
 
 IIEaVEN, 
 
 with the Lord. If the saints, then, when they leave 
 the body, are to be taken to the place where Christ 
 is, and if Christ is beyond all heavens, then there is 
 no room for the idea that the rational beings of the 
 primary planets will first be assembled on their re- 
 spective suns, and after some time be again advanced 
 higher. The same considerations also which have 
 been urged against the theory of successive ascen- 
 sions in a previous section, lie with equal force against 
 this theory. 
 
 If it be argued, however, that the sun is only one 
 stage of the soul’s ascension, and that as the sun and 
 its systems revolve around some other centre, so the 
 soul will in due time be promoted to the central sphere 
 as its final home ; — then we answer that the scriptures, 
 although they do not discountenance the idea of such 
 a central world, around which all subordinate worlds 
 move, do nevertheless every where discountenance 
 such a gradual promotion of the spirit. It will here- 
 after be shown that, according to scripture, the souls 
 of the saints pass immediately at death to their final 
 home ; that they go to the place whither the Saviour 
 ascended, which is the place highest in glory and ho- 
 nour in the universe of God. He went beyond the 
 veil into the holy of holies, which is heaven itself. 
 There is the place which he has prepared for us, from 
 whence he will come and receive us to himself, that 
 where he is, we may also be. 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN? 
 
 55 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 HEAVEN UNSEEN AND UNFELT AROUND US. 
 
 There is another theory or conjecture offered by 
 the same writer,* which will, no doubt, strike the 
 reader with still greater surprise. According to this 
 conjecture, it is considered probable that the spirit 
 world is unseen and unfelt around us. “ That within 
 the space occupied by the visible and ponderable uni- 
 verse, and on all sides of us, there is existing and 
 moving, another element, fraught with another species 
 of life — corporeal indeed, and various in its orders, 
 but not open to the cognizance of those who are con- 
 fined to the conditions of animal organization — not to 
 be seen, nor to be heard, nor to be felt by man. Our 
 present conjecture — remarks the author in another 
 place — reaches to the extent of supposing that within 
 the space encircled by the sidereal revolutions, there 
 exists and moves a second universe, not less real than 
 the one we are at present conversant with ; a universe 
 elaborate in structure, and replete with life ; life agi- 
 tated with momentous interests, and perhaps by frivo- 
 lous interests; a universe conscious perhaps of the 
 material spheres, or unconscious of them, and firmly 
 believing (as we do) itself to be the only reality. Our 
 planets in their sweep do not perforate the structure 
 of this invisible creation ; our suns do not scorch its 
 plains : for the two collateral systems are not con- 
 nected by any active affinities.” 
 
 Physical Theory of another Life, chap. 17. 
 
56 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 This would bring “ the things which are not seen/’ 
 indeed near to us and around us. To enter the other 
 world would not be so much a removal in space as just 
 to be made loose from, or to become insensible to, the 
 conditions of this life. Death will be only the de- 
 struction or disappearance of human and earthly 
 affinities, and directly we shall be surrounded by 
 affinities adapted to our new state of existence, and 
 shall find for ourselves a congenial home in and 
 around our present habitation. 
 
 Much is argued in favour of this theory. It is 
 said in no place to interfere with scripture, but rather 
 to be countenanced by incidental hints and allusions. 
 It is said to be made highly probable by the known 
 truths of physical science. An unseen world, in all 
 respects material, inhabited by corporeal beings, it is 
 said, is possible. There are material elements which 
 are not cognizable to any of our senses, except by a 
 round of research and experiment, and then only in 
 their remote effects, as, for instance, electricity. The 
 atmosphere also, and light, are material, and yet so 
 subtle as almost entirely to evade our unassisted ob- 
 servation ; and may there not be still others as yet to 
 us unknown? We are related to, and become ac- 
 quainted with, the external world by the medium of 
 the five senses ; but who will say that there are not 
 other senses hidden in possibility in our nature which 
 may by means of other affinities communicate with a 
 world far more refined in its constitution, with which 
 we cannot now come in contact ? Science has disco- 
 vered living animalcule in the solidest substances ; the 
 air we breathe, and the water we drink, are the homes 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN? 
 
 57 
 
 of myriads of beings, and though unseen by the na- 
 ked eye, these elements are swarming with miniature 
 life ! It seems to be God’s motto, “ multum in parvo ” 
 —life in life, world in world, universe in universe ! 
 With these known facts in science before us, may we 
 not, it is asked, consider the above theory probable ? 
 
 It is farther supposed that this invisible world 
 around us is the after stage of the present life ; and 
 as it is a stage of being in all respects superior to 
 this, it may be that its inhabitants have a knowledge 
 i>f us, though we have not of them, just as we are 
 acquainted with grades of animalcule life beneath us, 
 when it can hardly be supposed that they know any 
 thing of our existence. Hence, too, in some exceptive 
 cases it may be possible for them to break through 
 the veil of separation and appear in various ways unto 
 men on the platform of human life. In this way we 
 might account for the various appearances of super- 
 natural beings which are reported by popular belief, 
 md which are in some cases substantiated by evi- 
 dences almost too strong to be set aside. The origin 
 of presentiments and tokens is also accounted for on 
 this supposition. Thus, also, the dead which appeared 
 in Jerusalem at the resurrection of Christ may be 
 supposed to have crowded too earnestly upon the pre- 
 cincts of sublunary life, and thus passed in upon it in 
 their astonishment and joy. Then ive are indeed 
 u surrounded by a cloud of witnesses” who stand 
 around, or bend over us, and look with deep interest 
 upon the struggle of life, and when they see it une- 
 qual in the case of the saints, they break through in 
 
58 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 their ardour, and become ministering spirits to those 
 who are heirs of eternal life. 
 
 The kingdom of Satan, on the same supposition, 
 may be considered as unseen around us. Then he is 
 called wfith propriety the “ prince of the power of the 
 air” and the “ ruler of the darkness of this world.” 
 In this way wicked spirits of men, having entered 
 into affinity with the kingdom of Satan, may aid him 
 in carrying out his hellish malice against men. Those 
 demoniacal possessions so common in the days of 
 Christ, and perhaps still more common than we ima- 
 gine, though not so palpable, may be considered as 
 the intrusion of wdcked spirits into the sphere of hu- 
 man life. We know T that good spirits, evil spirits, and 
 men are in a real contest with each other, and why 
 not suppose them to be really near each other in 
 space? We know that the wind, though unseen, 
 bloweth where it listeth, when we see its effects ; w r hy 
 not conclude, on the same principle, that this contest, 
 the fact of which is so evident, is carried on by beings 
 existent in the same field of space ? 
 
 It is also supposed that these beings, in the world 
 unseen, may have capacities to communicate with the 
 remotest inhabitants of God’s universe. The facilities 
 of communication may be so great in these ethereal 
 climes, that space is annihilated, and the different 
 hosts of intelligences in the wide universe may com- 
 mune with each other and God, as one family in their 
 “ father’s house.” Caught up, as it were, by the in- 
 spiration of the idea, the author exclaims — “ might 
 we then rest for a moment upon an animating concep 
 tion such as this, namely, that the field of the visible 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN ? 
 
 59 
 
 universe is the theatre of a vast social economy, hold- 
 ing rational intercourse at great distances. Let us 
 claim leave to indulge the belief, when we contem- 
 plate the starry heavens, that speech, inquiry, and 
 response, commands and petitions, debate and instruc- 
 tion, are passing to and fro ; or shall the imagination 
 catch the pealing anthem of praise, at stated periods 
 arising from worshippers in all quarters, and flowing 
 on with a thundering power, like the noise of many 
 waters, until it meet and shake the court of the cen- 
 tral heavens !” 
 
 Here let us stop in astonishment and winder at the 
 things which the human mind imagines and contrives 
 in reference to its future home. The deep earnest- 
 ness in which it bends over its eternal destiny, if it 
 serves for nothing else, is a strong evidence of its im- 
 mortality. It shows also that it is ready to open its 
 eyes with admiration and gratitude upon the blessed 
 scenes of the future life, whatever be their nature, 
 where God shall cause them to pass before his re- 
 deemed saints in another world. Before the light of 
 revelation, however, this sublime structure of fancy 
 and speculation vanishes like the mist of the morn- 
 ing. 
 
 It does violence to the scriptural idea exhibited in 
 the first chapter, that the future abode of the blest is 
 distant in space from this present world. This idea 
 brings it immediately around us, and to enter it, it is 
 not so much necessary to remove through space as to 
 lay down the present conditions of life, to become in- 
 sensible to and free from its affinities. Death, accord- 
 ing to this idea, is as when one lies down to sleep in 
 
GO 
 
 IIEAVEN. 
 
 a room of a certain form and furnished with certain 
 furniture ; but during sleep the whole room and furni- 
 ture is changed, and he awakes to new scenes, and in 
 the midst of new relations, without changing his posi- 
 tion. If this be so, what need, we may ask, was there 
 then for Elijah to be removed visibly from the earth 
 upwards through the air to heaven ? Why did the 
 chariots of Israel cleave the heavens and carry their 
 precious treasure beyond the reach of sight? Why 
 did the risen Saviour disappear from the sight of his 
 disciples, going up “far above all heavens ?” 
 
 It makes also the future abode more ethereal than 
 is warranted from Scripture. We have seen in chap- 
 ter I., that heaven must be not only material, but 
 tangible even to our sight. The Saviour being there, 
 with the same body in which he appeared to his disci- 
 ples and others after his resurrection, and which he 
 carried away with him in their sight to heaven, is a 
 proof that heaven, where he now is in his body, must 
 be a place, as tangible to the sense of sight, as his 
 body itself was. Here we see, that while Christ was 
 in his resurrection body and his disciples not, he was 
 tangible to them; for they saw him, felt him, and 
 heard him speak. Here we have the Saviour standing 
 in the conditions and affinities of the eternal world 
 with his glorified resurrection body, and the disciples 
 standing in the affinities and conditions of this life, 
 and yet they were tangible to each other. This, ac- 
 cording to this theory, could not be, for the two 
 worlds, though in and through each other, are sup- 
 posed to stand in no active affinities to each other. 
 If, therefore, what is said here and in chapter I., 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN? G1 
 
 about the nature of heaven, rest on good ground, then 
 this theory cannot be true. 
 
 Besides all this, it grates on the feelings of one 
 familiar with the Scripture representations of heaven, 
 and sounds wild and unnatural to a deeply pious 
 Christian consciousness. There seems, to say the 
 least, something undesirable, if not repugnant to our 
 hopes, in the idea that at death we are to be launched 
 forth into a world with no other material substratum 
 but ether, or something still more subtle and refined. 
 No, rather let us call back our minds from the super- 
 stitious and ideal to what is more real, and therefore 
 better suited to the bent which our existence has 
 received, from all previous habit, while connected with 
 such bodies as we now have, and resident in a world 
 like the present. In the language of the author of 
 this theory, in another place, let us 66 bring our reli- 
 gious conceptions into definite alliance with the real 
 world, and with nature, and break up a little those 
 vague and powerless notions which place our religious 
 expectation at a dim remoteness from whatever is 
 substantial and effective. Let us try to persuade our- 
 selves that the future and unseen world, with all its 
 momentous transactions, is as simply natural and true 
 as is this world of land and water, trees and houses, 
 with which now we have to do.” 
 
 6 
 
62 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 THE SUDDEN CREATION OF A HEAVEN. 
 
 • 
 
 We have another theory from the same source,* 
 which may be briefly stated. It supposes “ that the 
 visible universe, replete every where with various 
 forms of animal life, is to fill one period only in the 
 great history of the moral system, and that it is des- 
 tined, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, to dis- 
 appear and to return to its nihility, giving placg to 
 new elements and to new and higher expressions of 
 omnipotence and intelligence.” 
 
 It is said that the visible universe exists only by 
 the will of God, and that to destroy it, is only for 
 him to will that its existence shall cease. The same 
 word of power, which spake it out of nothing, can bid 
 it return. Indeed, he need not exert any power to 
 destroy it, he need only cease to support it and it will 
 vanish like smoke. Should he just withdraw his sus- 
 taining power, the solid spheres would disappear as 
 the flame of a taper disappears when sunk into gas. 
 Life being perfectly above and superior to matter, 
 would sustain no injury, not even a shock. Silently 
 as fog disappears before and around the traveller, and 
 leaves a world of glory around him without disturbing 
 him at all, so silently but more suddenly would the 
 conditions and affinities of the present life disappear, 
 and the spirit be unclothed of the mortal and clothed 
 upon by the immortal. Thus, at the last day, in the 
 
 # Chapter 18. 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN? 
 
 63 
 
 very place of the present universe, would spring up 
 another, in no sense the same as this, constructed not 
 out of this, but of matter entirely new. 46 Let then 
 the material universe vanish silent and unnoticed as a 
 dream, or let it melt with fervent heat, and pass awaj 
 as in a painful struggle and convulsion 4 with a grea 
 noise in either case, all minds, rational and moral, 
 shall emerge from the mighty ruin and float clear and 
 untouched above the terrors of nature’s dying day. 
 Mind shall shake itself of the corruptible and dis 
 soluble elements, and shall put on incorruption : it 
 shall lay down the dishonour of its union with the 
 inert masses of the material world, take leave of 
 death, and be clothed with immortality.’’ 
 
 As to that part of this conjecture w T hich affirms the 
 passing away of the visible universe, at least our own 
 system, it is only what the Scriptures plainly assert ; 
 but to the sudden reconstruction of another in its place, 
 as a heaven for the saints, there are formidable scrip- 
 tural objections. The whole appears more like magic 
 than like God’s work. 
 
 The Scriptures teach that the inheritance of the 
 saints was prepared before the foundation of the world. 
 (Matt, xxiv.) It is now reserved in heaven. (1 Pet. 
 i. 4.) The Saviour declares, that there are many 
 mansions in his Father’s house, and that he would 
 prepare, or set them in order before his second coming, 
 and his second coming will be, according to the Scrip- 
 ture, before the present heavens and earth shall depart 
 and be no more. 
 
 This theory also, to be consistent, takes for grante . 
 that all the souls of men shall, at one time , leave this 
 
64 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 world and enter upon the other , namely, at the time 
 when the present universe disappears and the other 
 takes its place. It provides for those, it is true, who 
 shall live at his coming, hut not for those who have 
 left the world before. Where are they until the con- 
 struction of this new universe is effected ? It involves 
 the absurdity that the Saviour in his human body, the 
 bodies of Enoch and Elijah, as well as the spirits of 
 all the dead saints, have at present no home, at least 
 no permanent one, and are awaiting in some temporary 
 abode the creation of this fancied universe. The Sa- 
 viour, however, declares that where he is — in the midst 
 of that glory which he had with his Father before the 
 foundation of the world — thither he will take us to be- 
 hold that glory, and that there we shall be ever with 
 him. Those that have overcome and are now in pa- 
 radise, “go no more out” into a place that shall be 
 hereafter created for them. 
 
 Such are theories, probably to us seemingly scien- 
 tific deductions, supported by allusions and by figura- 
 tive and prophetic language of Scripture ; but who 
 that has proper reverence for clear and positive reve- 
 lation, and modesty in looking into things not seen, 
 can follow in the confidence of faith and consolations 
 of hope, in so strange and wild a track ? These are 
 our thoughts, and on that account they may be plea- 
 sant to us, for we are prone to love our own children 
 better than 'others ; but “ my thoughts are not your 
 thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the 
 Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, 
 so are my ways higher than your ways, and my 
 thoughts than your thoughts.” 
 
IS HEAVEN A PLACE? 
 
 65 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 THE RENOVATION OF THIS EARTH. 
 
 We come now to a theory which is extensively held 
 m the Christian world, and which is professedly based 
 on Scripture. This will demand more extensive and 
 critical attention. According to this theory, this earth 
 on which we now dwell will be the future abode of the 
 righteous. As the old world, at the deluge, was de- 
 stroyed by water, so the world which now is, will, after 
 Christ’s second coming, be destroyed, or rather purified 
 by fire from the effects of the curse which was passed 
 upon the ground on account of sin and renovated into 
 its original Eden-like beauty and glory, and thus be- 
 come the eternal habitation of redeemed man. 
 
 In favour of this theory, an argument from reason 
 is adduced. It is said that when man sinned and fell, 
 the physical world sympathized in the terrible ruin 
 which was consequent. 
 
 u Earth felt the wound, and nature from her seat, 
 Sighing through all her works, gave signs of wo, 
 
 That all was lost.” 
 
 And it is thought reasonable that the physical world, 
 being sharer in the fall, should also become sharer 
 with man in the restoration. It is true, the ground, 
 by which we may, no doubt, understand the whole 
 material world, was cursed with man in consequence 
 of the fall ; but, to argue that it must necessarily also 
 become sharer with him in his renovation, is not sound 
 logic. The argument proves too much, and therefore 
 it proves nothing. With the same propriety might we 
 6 * 
 
66 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 argue, that because in the fall death passed upon all 
 men, therefore all men must necessarily be restored 
 together. This would carry the advocates of this 
 theory to conclusions which they would not themselves 
 sdmit, and which flatly contradict God’s word, and 
 the strong main stream of the church’s testimony in 
 all ages. 
 
 The principal ground, however, jpon which this 
 theory is rested is Scripture passages. The principal 
 of these we will now proceed to examine, and the 
 reader will, no doubt, find that this, like all other 
 strange out-of-the-way notions, is supported rather by 
 the sound than by the sense of scripture. 
 
 The first passage to which we refer, and the one in 
 which this doctrine is supposed to be stated in the 
 clearest manner, is 2 Peter iii. 13. Here the apostle 
 after having spoken of the end of the world, and the 
 final judgment, when the heavens being on fire shall 
 be dissolved, the elements melt with fervent heat, and 
 the earth with all the works that are therein shall be 
 burnt up, adds: “ Nevertheless, we, according to his 
 promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, where- 
 in dwelleth righteousness.” With regard to this pass- 
 age, it may be remarked that the context very strongly 
 discountenances such a theory, and is anything but 
 calculated to lead the mind to receive from the passage 
 such an impression. The whole language and spirit 
 gives us the idea that destruction , and not change , 
 awaits this world. In the fifth and sixth verses, where 
 the fate of the old world which perished and that of 
 the world which now is, is spoken of in connexion, 
 fiiese two events are not spoken of as parallel, but /» 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN? 
 
 67 
 
 contrast to each other. It is not said, as the old world 
 perished so shall this. The language puts these two 
 events in contrast, showing that a different kind of 
 perishing awaits the latter. “ The world that then 
 was, being overflowed with water, perished, but the 
 heavens and the earth, which are now by the same 
 word, are kept in store,” to be renovated? No! — 
 “ reserved unto fire, against the day of judgment and 
 perdition of ungodly men.” Farther on we are told, 
 that while “ the heavens shall pass aivay with a great 
 noise, the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the 
 earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be 
 burned up .” Other language of a similar kind is con- 
 tained in this chapter. Now, while we admit that this 
 language does not necessarily imply entire annihila- 
 tion, we contend, at the same time, that it leads more 
 naturally to that idea than to the idea of change or 
 renovation. 
 
 Further, it may be remarked that the expression, 
 “ new heavens and a new earth,” is evidently figura- 
 tive, just as much as the expression “ wherein dwelleth 
 righteousness” is figurative. Righteousness can only 
 be said to dwell at any place in a figurative sense. 
 The expression indicates an important and joyful 
 change which awaits the righteous at the close of this 
 present economy. While the present world is destroy- 
 ed, an abode of righteousness will be provided for 
 them. In the midst of the dreadful ruin which shall 
 come over the earth and ungodly men at the last day 
 because of sin, the righteous, as heirs according to a 
 promise, shall not share in that destruction, nor be 
 forsaken in it. Though the heavens depart above 
 
68 
 
 HEAVEN 
 
 them, they shall not be left shelterless, for he will 
 overshadow them with a new heaven. Though the 
 earth be burnt up beneath their feet, they shall not bo 
 left to sink into the general perdition without a foun- 
 dation on which to stand, or without a home in which 
 to live, for he will provide for them a habitation far 
 superior ; one pure from vicissitude and sinful defile- 
 ments, one ever new and perennial in beauty and holi- 
 ness, “ wherein dwelleth righteousness !” 
 
 Again : these “ new heavens and a new earth” are 
 expected “ according to his promise.” It will be dif- 
 ficult for the advocates of the earth’s renovation to 
 point out the place where God has given us such a 
 promise. Promises of a father’s house prepared in 
 heaven from the foundation of the world, and of a 
 house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, 
 and such like, are numerous ; but promises of a puri- 
 fication by fire and physical renovation of this globe 
 on which we now live, as the future abode of the 
 saints, are much fewer than angels’ visits, and farther 
 between. The only passages in the whole Bible which 
 have any resemblance even in sound to such a promise 
 are those written in Is. lxv. 17, 18 ; lxvh 22. The 
 first of these will abundantly show what idea is to be 
 attached to the figurative expression, “ new heavens 
 and a new earth.” The passage runs thus: “For 
 behold, I create new heavens and a new earth : and 
 the former shall not be remembered, nor come into 
 mind. But be ye glad, and rejoice for ever in that 
 which I create :” and then he tells us what it is that 
 he creates, and it is certainly not a heaven out of this 
 earth, for the abode of the saints — “For, behold, I 
 
WIIEEB IS HEAVEN? 
 
 69 
 
 create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joj. 
 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my peo- 
 ple.’ ’ This shows not only that the language of the 
 promise is figurative,* but it points out also distinctly 
 to what the promise refers, so that the new heaven 
 and the new earth are declared to be nothing else 
 than “ Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy” — 
 a joyful time for his saints ! In the preceding con- 
 text he declares that he will number the wicked to the 
 sword and make them bow down to the slaughter, and 
 that while he does this he will distinguish his own 
 people in mercy and with blessings ; rejoicing and 
 gladness shall be among them in Jerusalem, as if a 
 new heaven and a new earth had clothed itself in 
 beauty around them. In like manner, also, while the 
 world shall be consumed at the last day, and ungodly 
 men are overthrown in their sins and consigned to 
 their merited perdition, a new world of righteousness, 
 and consequently of joy and peace, shall receive the 
 righteous. This is all that the promise embodies, ac- 
 cording to which the apostle comforts and encourages 
 himself and his brethren to expect a new heaven and 
 a new earth ; and could he exhibit to their hopes any 
 thing so rich in blessed consolation as this ? 
 
 A similar passage to this, to which frequent refer- 
 ence is also made in support of this theory, is found 
 in Rev. xxi. 1, et seq. “ And I saw a new heaven and 
 a new earth : for the first heaven and the first earth 
 were passed away, and there w T as no more sea,” etc. 
 
 * “The phrases, new heavens and new earth , etc., are used to 
 denote the welfare and returning prosperity of states : for ex 
 ample, Is Ixv. 17 ) lxvi. 22. J? — Knapp’s Theo. vol. 2, page 647 
 
70 
 
 IIEAVEN. 
 
 From wliat has been said about the passages in Peter 
 and Isaiah, it will not now be denied that this is also 
 figurative. Besides, if this is taken literally, then 
 the whole chapter must be taken literally, and this 
 would make strange work indeed ! In this chapter 
 we have represented to us the glorious and happy 
 state of the church in the last stage of its earthly 
 triumphs at the close of the millennial period, the ush- 
 ering in of which is proclaimed in such glowing rap- 
 tures in the previous chapter. What the exact nature 
 of that period shall be w r e do not now precisely know, 
 but prophecies of it are abundant, and in prospect of 
 it, the spirit of prophecy always kindles up into a 
 glow of joyful exultation. W r e may easily suppose, 
 however, that when the church of God shall return 
 from the field of her latest strife and victory, shall 
 stand forth adorned and leaning as a bride upon her 
 Beloved, and when heaven and earth shall meet to 
 celebrate with joyful anthems her eternal jubilee, we 
 shall see the propriety of calling that day the crea- 
 tion of a new heaven and a new earth. In the light 
 and joy of that day, the heavens will smile in love- 
 lier brightness, and the earth will put on the beauty 
 of Eden. 
 
 The sense of this passage in its w T hole connexion and 
 import will become still more clear, from an examina- 
 tion of the context, commencing at the seventh verse 
 of the preceding chapter ; then it will also be seen 
 why this holy city is represented as coming down from 
 God out of heaven. The reader will observe that two 
 cities are spoken of. The “ beloved city,” in chap, 
 xx. 9, which is on earth, and the “holy city,” coming 
 
WHERE IS IIEAVEN ? 
 
 71 
 
 down from heaven afterwards, chap. xxi. 2. I look 
 upon these as denoting the militant and triumphant 
 branches of the church. With this in mind, let us 
 attend to a connected exposition of the wL>:e passage, 
 and see if all will not become dea* and natural. 
 
 At the close of this glorious millennial reign, when 
 the time comes for the final winding up of all terres- 
 trial things ; when the church militant has encamped 
 in full panoply, waiting to be marched into its tri- 
 umphal state, then the devil will make one more des- 
 perate sally against it. The powers of hell will then 
 be marched against it from the four corners of the 
 earth. This army, figuratively called Gog and Ma- 
 gog, will be numerous as the sands of the sea. They 
 march boldly up and encompass the saints who lie 
 encamped in the beloved city, viz., the church of Gal 
 militant. Now, however, the Lord appears for his 
 beloved saints, the mighty army of the enemy is de- 
 voured by fire from God out of heaven, and the devil, 
 who was their leader and deceived them, is taken and 
 cast into the lake of fire and brimstone to reap his 
 bitter reward for ever and ever. Meanwhile there 
 appears, perhaps in the clouds, a great white throne 
 and one sitting on it. Before his glorious face the 
 heavens and earth fly away, so that there is no place 
 found for them — that is, they are swept into nothing. 
 In the mean time, the dead, small and great, rise from 
 the receding and departing world — the sea heaves back, 
 and hell yields up her dead. Now, the heavens and 
 earth departed, but the white throne remaining, the 
 Judge will sit upon it, the books will be opened, and 
 the final judgment will begin. The saints, having 
 
72 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 been judged and found worthy to enter that place 
 prepared for them from the foundation of the world, 
 are now ready and waiting to be conducted thither. 
 Who shall escort them ? Hear it, oh heavens ! 46 The 
 holy city, New Jerusalem ” — that is, the whole church 
 triumphant — shall come down from God out of heaven, 
 as did the chariots of Israel for Elijah. The new Je- 
 rusalem, the holy city, or church triumphant, and the 
 44 beloved city,” or church militant, composed of the 
 saints that are alive at his coming, now visibly and 
 completely united, (1 Thess. iv. 17,) constitute the 
 B^‘de, Jie Lamb’s wife, which has now made herself 
 ready. The Bridegroom’s tarrying time having now 
 ended, the church, 44 caught up together with them in 
 the clouds,” meet their Lord 44 in the an* ” Th: holy 
 nuptials are consummated, and now tue blessed home- 
 bringing must follow! They ascend in triumph, and 
 imid raptures of eternal love, to the 44 place prepared ! u 
 In the Father’s house of many mansions, they are re- 
 ceived with holy joy. The Father smiles — the mar- 
 riage feast is prepared — angels clap their wings with 
 emotions of bliss unfelt before — all heaven exclaims : 
 44 Let us be glad, and rejoice, and give^honour to Him, 
 for the marriage of the Lamb is come !” 
 
 This may suffice as an exposition of these passages 
 of shadowy prophetic import. Should this not seem 
 to be satisfactory to the reader, I would remind him 
 that both passages are prophecy, and that it is preca- 
 rious to build a positive doctrine on prophecy, when 
 there is no literal scripture to be its foundation and 
 support ; and especially when there is, as I shall here- 
 after show, so much direct evidence in scripture 
 against it. 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN? 
 
 73 
 
 Another passage, which is supposed to teach this 
 earth-heaven theory, is Rom. viii. 19 — 24. This pas- 
 sage is confessedly dark, and has not, as yet, come 
 clearly into the consciousness of the church. The 
 key to it has not yet been found, and, consequently, 
 it can be of but little weight in favour of a thing that 
 stands otherwise on such sandy ground. To show how 
 doubtful is its meaning, I will quote a few passages 
 from two learned biblical critics. “ There is consider- 
 able difficulty in this passage,” says Dr. A. Clark, 
 “ and the difficulty lies chiefly in the meaning of the 
 word \ xt iffis, which we translate the creature , and 
 creation. Some think that by it the brute creation 
 is meant, others apply it to the Jewish people, others 
 to the godly , others to the Gc entiles, others to the 
 good angels, and others to the fallen spirits, both 
 angelic and human. Dissertations without end have 
 been written on it ; and it does not appear that the 
 Christian world are come to any general agreement 
 on the subject.’ ’ Another learned critic, Dr. Bloom- 
 field, says : “ There is perhaps no passage of the apos- 
 tle more difficult than the present, or on which the 
 opinions of commentators are more various.” 
 
 A modern advocate of this theory who makes this 
 passage the foundation of a small book on the “ Per- 
 petuity of the Earth,” says to his readers : “ You will 
 be able to form some faint idea of the perplexity and 
 confusion, when we assure you that the single word 
 which occurs four times, and is in our version thrice 
 translated creature, and once creation, has been under- 
 stood by some to mean “ the lower animals — the brute 
 creation while by another class of interpreters it is 
 7 
 
74 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 supposed that “the Jews” is intended; and by an- 
 other, “the Gentiles;” some again choose to refer it 
 generally to “the saints;” others to “ the wicked ;” 
 some to “the holy angels,” and others to “ the devils.” 
 It is strange, that after all this, the author was not 
 afraid to venture himself to “ give that view of the 
 whole passage, which appeared to him, after a some- 
 what careful examination of all the theories, by far 
 the most obvious, and the best.” 
 
 I do not intend to enter upon an exposition of this 
 difficult passage myself; my object in quoting the 
 above is simply to show that the light of the church 
 has not yet risen so high as to shine into this deep 
 place in divine things. Some future stadium of the 
 church will no doubt furnish the key to this, as well 
 as to all other obscure passages of the holy record. 
 As yet, therefore, this passage cannot be used with 
 any force in favour of a theory which other plain parts 
 of the Bible show to stand on doubtful ground. 
 
 The following passages are also quoted to support 
 this theory : Eph. vi. 23, Heb. i. 6, ii. 5 — 9, Is. 
 xxxvii. 17, Ps. xxxvii., and xxvii. 13, Matt. v. 5, Rev. 
 v. 9, 10. It would carry me too far, and in too de- 
 vious a way, to point out the manner in which thes8 
 passages are supposed to support this doctrine. If 
 anything like it is taught in them, the reader will no 
 doubt find it ; if it is so dark and obscure that it can- 
 not be found, unless it be specially pointed out, it 
 cannot be of much weight. It may be proper to re- 
 mark, that those who quote these passages have found 
 it necessary to translate some of them anew~, and to 
 explain others by the Old Testament, in order to tor* 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN? 
 
 75 
 
 ture them into testimony to favour the idea of the 
 perpetuity of the earth. Stubborn truth needs twist- 
 ing by those who do not love it in its straight and 
 pure form. 
 
 It is remarkable, too, that the greatest number of 
 passages by which the doctrine of the earth’s renova- 
 tion is supposed to be established, if they are not 
 figurative, prophetic language, are either in the Old 
 Testament, or such as are quoted in the New from 
 the Old. Now, those in the Old Testament which 
 speak of the earth as the inheritance of the saints, 
 have, of course, a spiritual reference to future bless- 
 ings, of which these earthly ones are typical. Canaan, 
 which was emphatically the land of blessed inhe- 
 ritance, w T as typical of the heavenly Canaan. The 
 possession of Canaan, in which they were placed by 
 Joshua, w'as not the final object of their hopes, and 
 was not so understood. “For if Jesus (Joshua) had 
 given them rest, then would he not afterwards have 
 spoken of another day. There remaineth, therefore, 
 a rest to the people of God.” That this rest is not 
 on the earth, and that it was not by the Jews believed 
 that it ever would be, is evident from the fact, that 
 those who w r ere in pursuit of it “ confessed that they 
 were pilgrims and strangers on the earth. For they 
 that say such things, declare plainly that they seek a 
 country — they desire a better country, that is a hea- 
 venly: wdierefore God is not ashamed to be called 
 their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” 
 
 Those passages, which, in the New Testament, are 
 quoted from the Old, are intended to convince the 
 Jews that the new dispensation, which the apostle 
 
V6 HEAVEN. 
 
 preached, was that foretold and promised in the 
 Jewish scriptures, for which their fathers had looked 
 and waited. Can we for a moment believe that when 
 the apostles, in argument with the Jews, quoted from 
 the Old Testament, it was their object to convince 
 them of the earth’s renovation ? Would he endeavour 
 to convince them of that which is to be the crowning 
 result of Christ’s mission into the world, before they 
 were convinced of his mission at all ? Certainly 
 there was something else for the apostles to do first, 
 namely, to convince the unbelieving of the truth and 
 nature of Christ’s divine mission into the world, and 
 for this purpose they quoted those passages, Heb. i. 6, 
 ii. 5 — 9. 
 
 This theory, even at the bar of sound reason, stands 
 condemned. Would not the surface of the earth, 
 even if there were no more sea, be too small to be the 
 theatre of enjoyments for the sacramental host? 
 Even in the days of the apostle Paul, the spiritual 
 seed of Abraham was like “ the stars of the sky in 
 multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea-shore 
 innumerable. These all died in faith.” In that time 
 of fearful apostasy, when Elijah looked out from Ho- 
 reb upon Israel’s desolate and forsaken altars, and 
 when he believed that he alone was left a friend of 
 God on earth, there were seven thousand that had not 
 bowed their knees to Baal, nor kissed his image. 
 How great, even in the darkest times, is the hidden 
 seed ! We must still include all that shall die in Christ 
 to the end of time, including the time of Zion’s •won- 
 derful harvest-time, which the prophets tell us will 
 come in her future history, when children shall be 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN? 
 
 77 
 
 born of her like the dew-drops of the morning ! Ps. 
 ex. 3.* To this must be added, also, the countless 
 numbers of infants that have died, and shall still die 
 to the end of time, in Christian and heathen lands. 
 It is known that one-half of the human race die before 
 they are seven years of age, and the most of these 
 under one year. To swell this number, the inhuman 
 and wicked practice of infant sacrifice in heathen 
 lands, largely contributes. Take all these considera- 
 tions together, and how does it swell before us the 
 mighty aggregate of those who shall fill those many 
 mansions which are prepared for them ! Shall such 
 a host, even if this globe could entertain them, be 
 for ever imprisoned on this little earth ? — to gaze with 
 unsatisfied wonder and astonishment out upon the im- 
 measurable plain of God’s universe, like a captive in 
 a grated cell ? 
 
 The scriptures represent heaven as the place where 
 not only saints shall be, but angels and Christ, and 
 other holy intelligences, all in one great happy so- 
 ciety — in that place which is God’s peculiar d^welling- 
 place. Can w T e believe that this insignificant earth, 
 comparatively only an atom in the known universe of 
 God, will be that place ? Does not the following lan- 
 guage seem to imply that the author w T as of opinion 
 that this earth is the greatest of God’s worlds, and 
 that all worlds which roll amid the 
 
 u — dread magnificence of heaven,” 
 
 are only glistening diamonds stuck into the sky? 
 “ Then we say that this earth of ours, cleansed from 
 
 * German translation. 
 
78 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 the blood and tears of many generations, and exulting 
 in the smile of the Eternal, shall be — not heaven 
 merely — but the very centre and shrine of heaven !” 
 
 This, and all the foregoing theories, do violence to 
 the scripture representations of heaven at various 
 points. They rob heaven of much of its grandeur in 
 our eyes, throw a check upon our hopes, and unhinge 
 many of our oldest and happiest associations — such 
 associations too as God by his own revelation, ob- 
 viously interpreted, has implanted and wrought into 
 our hearts. God, so far as he has revealed unto us 
 the nature of our future home, does certainly not in- 
 tend to deceive us ; and so far as the Holy Spirit has 
 interpreted that revelation to the pious inquiry of 
 God’s children, he has not misled them ; and so far, 
 therefore, as ardent longings and blessed hopes have 
 been excited and cherished in our hearts, they will 
 not be disappointed. These tender associations which 
 have ever, like a sweet home-thought, been twining 
 themselves around every upward aspiration of our 
 hearts, and the general feeling of the church on this 
 subject, must not be set aside by theories founded on 
 scientific probabilities, or on the sound of scripture 
 language. It must not be believed that that heaven 
 which has so long floated in cherished glory before 
 the pious wisdom of humble faith, will at last turn out 
 to be but an idle myth, that magnified itself into such 
 unearthly glory in the twilight of pious ignorance ! 
 
 I will now offer some positive scriptural reasons 
 why this theory of the earth’s renovation is not to be 
 entertained, which will also show at the same time 
 that heaven is a place now prepared , in some remote 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN? 
 
 79 
 
 part of God’s universe, to which all the saints will at 
 last be taken to be for ever its happy inhabitants. 
 If this be established, it will also serve still more ef- 
 fectually to overthrow all those other conjectures and 
 theories, which are presented in the former part of 
 this chapter. 
 
 It may be remarked first, as in a previous chapter, 
 that the general impression which one gets from read- 
 ing the scriptures, is, that heaven is a place separate 
 and removed from the earth. This is the first and 
 most natural idea which any unprejudiced mind will 
 get from the scriptures on this subject. God would 
 not make his revelation so plainly, generally, and 
 naturally teach one thing, when something quite dif- 
 ferent was the truth. The theory of the earth’s puri- 
 fication and perpetuity is unnatural to a mind versed 
 in scripture, and is only gained as the result of curious 
 speculation. 
 
 The Saviour, when he was about to leave the world, 
 said to his disconsolate disciples : “ 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 to prepare a place for you, I will come again 
 and receive you to myself, that where I am, there ye 
 may be also.” John xiv. 2, 3. 
 
 1. Here he speaks of a place which he calls his 
 “ Father’s house.” Now', in no proper sense can this 
 earth be called the peculiar residence of God. “ The 
 Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens.” Ps. 
 ciii. 19. “ Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, 0 thou that 
 
 dwellest in the heavens.” Ps. cxxiii. 1. The Father’s 
 house, then, is not on the earth, but in the heavens. 
 
80 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 2. In this Father’s house are “many mansions.” 
 What exactly is to he understood by this expression, 
 is not particularly important here ; it is enough to re~ 
 mark that it could in no intelligent sense be applied 
 to this earth. This earth is his footstool. 
 
 3. In this abode are many mansions already pre- 
 pared^ whereas, according to the theory of the earth’s 
 renovation, the place which the blest are to occupy as 
 their final abode is not yet prepared , but shall be at 
 the end of the world. 
 
 4. After this place is prepared, he will come again ; 
 but according to this theory, it is to be prepared after 
 his second coming. 
 
 5. In order to prepare that place, he goes away 
 from the earth, and when it is prepared, he comes 
 again to the earth. This shows plainly that it is away 
 from the earth. 
 
 6. He comes to the earth in order to receive his 
 people to himself, that where he is they may be. This 
 language plainly implies that he will take them away 
 from the earth to that place which he has prepared 
 for them. This is also confirmed by other passages 
 which allude to this subject ; for when he comes, they 
 “ 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.” 1 Thess. iv. 17. They shall be with 
 him where he is, to behold the glory which he had with 
 his Father, not on earth, certainly, for that was the 
 theatre of his humiliation ; but that glory which he 
 enjoyed with him in his Father’s house, in which glory 
 all his saints in the future life shall be the happy 
 eharers. 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN? 
 
 81 
 
 When the Saviour disappeared from the sight of 
 men, to go to his Father, or to heaven, he went away 
 from the earth ; for he was seen by the disciples going 
 up from Mount Olivet, till a cloud received him out 
 of sight. (Acts i. 10, 11.) The Apostle Paul tells 
 us that he 44 ascended up, far above all heavens.” 
 Eph. iv. 10. Nothing is clearer than that the Sa- 
 viour’s ascension into heaven was a removal from tho 
 earth. 46 1 came forth from the Father, and am come 
 into the world : again I leave the world, and go to the 
 Father.” John xvi. 28. Paul was 44 caught up to the 
 third heaven — into paradise.” 2 Cor. xii. .The pa- 
 triarchs, according to Paul, confessed that they were 
 pilgrims and strangers on the earth, and by making 
 this confession, they declared plainly that they sought 
 a country, (Fatherland !) Canaan was not what they 
 sought, but they 44 desired a better country, that is a 
 heavenly : wherefore God is not ashamed to be called 
 .their God, for he hath prepared for them a city.” 
 Here, again, the future abode of the blest is said to 
 be already prepared. 44 We know, then, that if our 
 tarthly house of this tabernacle w T ere dissolved, we 
 have a building of God, a house not made with hands, 
 eternal in the heavens.” 2 Cor. v. 1. 
 
 That heaven is a place now existing, somewhere 
 away from the earth, is also evident from the fact that 
 heaven — the third heaven, or abode of God and the 
 blest — and the earth, are frequently placed in juxta- 
 position in the same sentence. 44 Behold, the heaven, 
 and the heaven of heavens, is the Lord’s, thy God, the 
 earth also, with all that therein is.” Deut. x. 14. 
 
 Whom have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none 
 
82 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 upon earth that I desire besides thee.” Ps. lxxiii. 25* 
 “ Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven .” Matt, 
 ri. 10. This shows that heaven, where God exhibits 
 his special glory, where angels and holy men are, is a 
 place now existing, distinct and separate from the 
 earth. There the throne of the great Eternal is es- 
 tablished for ever, and so far from changing it for the 
 earth, and making it “ the very centre and shrine of 
 heaven,” he calls the earth, in holy derision, “his 
 footstool !” The scriptures represent it as an instance 
 of great condescension that the incarnate God should 
 descend, to. earth on a mission of mercy, and it is to 
 the Psalmist a matter of great surprise that God should 
 be “mindful” of man on the earth; but according to 
 this theory we are to believe that the theatre .on w 7 hich 
 his humiliation and condescension are displayed, shall 
 also be the theatre on which he can best display his 
 incomprehensible and eternal greatness and glory ! 
 
 The learned Bishop Pierson* has quite a different 
 idea of our Father’s house, and our future home. 
 “ This house of God, though uniform, yet is not all 
 of the same materials, the footstool and the throne 
 are not of the same mould ; there is a vast difference 
 between the heavenly expansions. This first aereal 
 heaven, where God setteth up his pavilion, where c he 
 xnaketh the clouds his chariot, and walketh upon the 
 wings of the wind,’ is not so far inferior in place as 
 it is in glory to the next, the seat of the sun and 
 moon, the two great lights, and stars innumerable, far 
 greater than the one of them. And yet that second 
 
 * Exposition of the Creed, p. 75. 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN ? 
 
 83 
 
 heaven is not so far above the first as beneath the 
 ‘third/ (2 Cor. xii. 2,) into which Paul was caught. 
 The brightness of the sun doth not so far surpass the 
 blackness of a wandering cloud, as the glory of that, 
 heaven of presence surmounts the fading beauty of 
 the starry firmament. For in this great temple of 
 the world, in which the Son of God is the High-priest, 
 the heaven which we see is but the veil, and that 
 which is above, the Holy of Holies. This veil, in- 
 deed, is rich and glorious, but one day to be rent, and 
 then to admit us into a far greater glory, even to the 
 mercy-seat and cherubim ! ” 
 
 The question still arises, where is heaven ? and our 
 answer still continues. The scriptures, as we have 
 seen, speak of heaven as “up on high.” We know, 
 however, that up and down are merely relative terms ; 
 what is up on one side of the globe, is down on the . 
 other. If the earth be round — as we know it to be — 
 then up can only mean away from the earth, and 
 down, towards its centre. The expression “up on 
 high,” will, therefore, convey a WTong idea to us, un- 
 less we understand it only to mean away from the 
 earth. This we may say then as certain, that heaven 
 being on high, is away from the earth. 
 
 The Jews had three heavens. First, the regions 
 of the air, where the clouds move, and the birds fly. 
 Second, the regions of the stars, which form, appa 
 rently, a spangled concave above us. Third, the 
 realms invisible*beyond the first and second heavens. 
 The Saviour ascended “far above all heavens,” conse- 
 quently beyond the third. Not only above all hea- 
 vens, but far above them. “ He passed into the hea- 
 
84 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 vens.” Ileb. iv. 14. “He entered into that within 
 the veil.” Ileb. vi. 19. “ Into the holy place.” Heb. 
 
 ix. 12. Exclaims the learned and pious Bishop Pear- 
 son, “ Whatsoever heaven there is higher than all the 
 rest which are called heavens ; whatsoever sanctuary 
 is holier than all which are called holies ; whatsoever 
 place is of greatest dignity in all those courts above, 
 into that place did he ascend, where in the splendour 
 of his Deity he was, before he took upon himself our 
 humanity.” Thither we can only follow him by the 
 eye of faith. We learn from this, then, for certain, 
 that in none of the planets or stars, visible or invisible, 
 in w r hat is called the second heaven, is to be sought 
 the final abode of the blest, but it is far beyond them. 
 
 Again : heaven is the same place which is the pro- 
 per home of all God’s holy intelligences, whether 
 principalities or powers, angels or men. Jerusalem 
 of old was the home of assembly, whither all the 
 tribes went up, the place where the Shekinah of God’s 
 presence abode between the cherubim in the holiest 
 place, the place where his presence was felt, and his 
 glory shone forth as it did no where else on earth; — 
 so heaven is the great antitype of that Holy City : 
 there God is seen, not in a luminous cloud, but in him 
 who is God manifested in the flesh, as the brightness 
 of the Father’s glory; thither too the tribes of God 
 go up, of all the different ranks, and from all the dif- 
 ferent dominions of God — the home of the Uni- 
 verse ! There on Mount Zion we ghall meet, not 
 only the saints who from the earth, with us, through 
 tribulations deep have laboured up, but we shall come 
 to u an innumerable company of angels, to the gene- 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN? 
 
 85 
 
 ral assembly and church of the first born — to God, 
 the Judge of all — to the spirits of just men made 
 perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new cove- 
 nant.” 
 
 No one can, for a moment, doubt that the scriptures 
 point to a place, existing in some high and far-off 
 region of the universe, which it calls heaven — the 
 throne of God — the imperial Salem — the holy moun- 
 tain. “ Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my 
 foot-stool.” “ The Lord hath prepared his throne in 
 the heavens.” “A glorious .high throne, from the 
 beginning, is the place of thy sanctuary.” All these 
 passages show that “ Jehovah hath prepared his 
 throne in the heavens, and his kingdom ruleth over 
 all.” Wherever this place may be, the scriptures 
 constantly allude to it as the high, holy and peaceful 
 region appointed as the eternal home of the sainted 
 dead. 
 
 Being content to walk by faith rather than by sight, 
 we should not pursue this subject any farther, did not 
 scripture allusions, and the scientific deductions of 
 astronomy, so strongly unite in recommending to our 
 faith a beautiful suggestion in reference to our eternal 
 home in the skies. “ There is,” says Dr. Dick, “an 
 astronomical idea, which may help us to form some 
 conception of this “glorious high throne,” which is 
 the peculiar residence of the Eternal. It is now con 
 sidered by astronomers as highly probable, if not cer- 
 tain, — from late observations, from the nature of 
 gravitation, and other circumstances, — that all the 
 systems of the universe revolve round one common 
 centre, and that this centre may bear as great a pro- 
 8 
 
86 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 portion, in point of magnitude, to tlie universal assem- 
 blage of systems as the sun does to his surrounding 
 planets. And, since our sun is five hundred times 
 larger than the earth and all the other planets and 
 their satellites taken together, — on the same scale, 
 such a central body would be five hundred times larger 
 than all the systems and worlds in the universe. 
 Here, then, may be a vast universe of itself — an ex- 
 ample of material creation exceeding all the rest in 
 magnitude and splendour, and in which are blended 
 the glories of every other system. If this is in reality 
 the case, it may, with the most emphatic propriety, 
 be termed the throne of God.” 
 
 That there are movements and indications in the 
 heavens which favour a supposition like this, all the 
 most learned astronomers agree. “ Within the last 
 hundred and fifty years it has been found that the 
 principal fixed stars have a certain apparent motion, 
 which is nearly uniform and regular, and is quite per- 
 ceptible in the course of thirty or forty years. The 
 star Arcturus , for example, has been observed to 
 move three minutes and three seconds in the course 
 of seventy-eight years. Most of the stars have moved 
 towards the south. The stars in the northern quarter 
 of the heavens seem to widen their relative positions, 
 while those in the southern appear to contract their 
 distances. These motions seem evidently to indicate 
 that the earth, and all the other bodies of the solar 
 system, are moving in a direction from the stars, in 
 the southern part of the sky, toward those in the 
 northern. Dr. Herschel thinks that a comparison 
 of the changes now alluded to, indicates a motion of 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN? 
 
 87 
 
 our sun, with his attending planets, towards the con- 
 stellation Hercules. This progressive movement which 
 our system makes in absolute space is justly supposed 
 to be a portion of that curve which the sun describes 
 around the centre of that nebula to which he belongs ; 
 and that all the other stars, belonging to the same 
 nebula, describe similar curves. And, since the uni- 
 verse appears to be composed of thousands of nebuloe , or 
 starry systems, detached from each other, it is rea- 
 sonable to conclude that all the starry systems of the 
 universe revolve round one common centre, whose 
 bulk and attractive influence are proportionable to the 
 size and the number of the bodies which perform their 
 revolutions around it. We know that the law of gra- 
 vitation extends its influence from the sun to the 
 planet Herschel, at the distance of eighteen hundred 
 millions of miles, and to the remotest parts of the 
 orbits of the comets, which stretch far beyond this 
 limit ; and there is the strongest reason to believe 
 that it forms a connecting bond between all the bo- 
 dies of the universe, however distant from each other. 
 This being admitted, the motion of the different sys- 
 tems now alluded to, and the immensity of the central 
 body, — from which motion of every kind originates, 
 to produce the order and harmony of the universe, — 
 appear to be necessary, in order to preserve the ba- 
 lance of the universal system, and to prevent the 
 numerous globes in the universe from gradually ap- 
 proaching each other, in the course of ages, and be- 
 coming one universal wreck. We are mechanically 
 connected with the most distants stars visible through 
 our telescopes by means of light, which radiates from 
 
88 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 those distant luminaries, mingles with the solar rays, 
 penetrates our atmosphere, and affects our optic 
 nerves with the sensation of colours, similar to those 
 produced by the rays of the sun. And we have equal 
 reason to conclude that we are likewise mechanically 
 connected with these bodies by the law of gravitation. 
 So that the idea thrown out above, however grand 
 and overwhelming to our feeble powers, is not a mere 
 conjecture, but is founded on observation, and on the 
 general analogies of the universe.” 
 
 According to this theory, the scriptural idea of 
 three heavens would be retained, only in a somewhat 
 different form. The planets would constitute the first 
 heaven ; rising higher, the suns around which these 
 planets move, would be the second; and the great 
 central wmrld around which both planets and suns 
 revolve, would be the third, or highest heaven. Into 
 this the apostle w r as permitted to enter when he was 
 “ caught up into the third heaven, into paradise, 
 where he heard unspeakable words, which it is not 
 lawful for a man to utter.” Into this place the Sa- 
 viour entered when he ascended “far above all hea- 
 vens ;” and in this place we expect, when this earthly 
 house of our tabernacle is dissolved, to find “ a build- 
 ing of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in 
 the heavens.” 
 
 “Next to God himself, this is the grandest of all 
 conceptions ! This is the most sublime and magnifi- 
 cent idea that can possibly enter into the mind of 
 man. We feel oppressed and overwhelmed in endea- 
 vouring to form even a faint representation of it. 
 But, however much it may overpower our feeble con- 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN ? 
 
 89 
 
 ceptions, we ought not to revolt at the idea of so glo- 
 rious an extension of the works of God ; since nothing 
 less magnificent seems suitable to a Being of infinite 
 perfections. This grand central body may be consi- 
 dered as the capital of the universe. From this 
 glorious centre, embassies may be occasionally dis- 
 patched to all surrounding worlds, in every region of 
 space. Here, too, deputations from all the different 
 provinces of creation, may occasionally assemble, and 
 the inhabitants of different worlds mingle with each 
 other, and learn the grand outlines of those physical 
 operations and moral transactions, which have taken 
 place in their ‘respective spheres. Here may be ex- 
 hibited to unnumbered multitudes, objects of subli- 
 mity and glory, which are no where else to be found 
 within the wide extent of creation. Here, intelli- 
 gences of the highest order, who have attained the 
 most sublime heights of knowledge and virtue, may 
 form the principal part of the population of this mag- 
 nificent region. Here, the glorified body of the Re- 
 deemer may have taken its principal station, as 4 the 
 head of all principalities and powers :’ and here, like- 
 wise, Enoch and Elijah may reside;’' and, according 
 to the general tenor of scripture, where God’s throne 
 is, where Christ in his glorified body is, in this royal 
 holy city of the King of kings, there is also the 
 home of the sainted dead. 
 
 To those blissful regions the Christian’s heart as- 
 pires, with holy and unquenchable ardour ; nor does 
 he hope in vain. “ Father, I will that they also whom 
 thou hast given me be with me where I am : that they 
 may behold my glory.” Filled with gratitude for a 
 
90 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 prospect so full of bliss, our hearts exclaim : “ Blessed 
 be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begot- 
 ten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection 
 of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance in- 
 corruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, 
 reserved in Heaven.” 
 
 Farewell then, earth, thou land of the curse ! My 
 aspirations are towards the fountain of uncreated 
 light. Farewell ! ye lamps of heaven, ye shall not 
 Stay my freed spirit’s upward flight. Far — 
 
 Far from these narrow scenes of night, 
 
 Unbounded glories rise; 
 
 And realms of infinite delight, 
 
 Unknown to mortal eyes. 
 
 Borne upon the wings of faith, we might attempt 
 to follow the track of the Saviour’s ascension, or that 
 of the chariots of Israel in which Elijah went up — 
 but alas ! let us not attempt it in the body. 
 
 Here, then, we rest in the patience of hope, and in 
 the assurance of that faith which is the evidence of 
 things not seen. This, however, we know, that when 
 once the signal for our departure is given, our eman- 
 cipated spirits shall cleave th$ air, as Christ and Eli- 
 jah did; passing through the first heaven, the earth, 
 its sinful abode, shall dwindle into nothing behind us. 
 The second heaven, also, with its planets, suns, and 
 systems, stretching far beyond the reach of human 
 thought, will soon fade back into dim space. Now, 
 the third heaven will stretch before us, onward and 
 upward, its eternal plains ! Faint and far before, but 
 drawing nearer and nearer, appears the Holy City: 
 
WHERE IS HEAVEN? 
 
 91 
 
 soon its twelve shining foundations, from which tho 
 battlements of blazing jasper tower upwards, are 
 scaled — the portals of light are crossed — and now to 
 the soul’s enraptured gaze the heaven of heavens 
 stretches broader and higher its boundless realms, 
 through uncreated light ! 
 
 Amen — Hallelujah ! Come, Lord Jesus, comb 
 
 QUICKLY. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Du ij* # Hints nt'llnttJj pass immiMntiiii 
 intn IniHEtt? 
 
 Tread softly ! bow the head, 
 
 In reverend silence bow ! 
 
 No passing bell doth toll 
 Yet an immortal soul 
 
 Is passing now. 
 
 0 change ! 0 wondrous change ! 
 
 Burst are the prison bars ! 
 
 This moment there — so low 
 In mortal prayer — and now 
 Beyond the stars ! 
 
 O change ! stupendous change ! 
 
 Here lies the senseless clod; 
 
 The soul from bondage breaks, 
 
 The new immortal wakes — 
 
 Walks with his God ! 
 
 In yonder quiet room, shaded with the mellow twi- 
 light of mourning and sorrow, lies a dying saint. 
 Weeping friends crowd around, with hearts that know 
 to feel a parting anguish, waiting for the last breath — 
 the last word has already been heard. Though patience 
 does not permit the utterance of even a sigh or look 
 of complaint, yet the lineaments of exquisite bodily 
 
 ( 92 ) 
 
IMMEDIATE ADMISSION INTO HEAVEN. 93 
 
 agony are drawn upon the face. But see ! the last- 
 ebb of life begins to recede from mortal shores. The 
 pulse and breathing are feeble and slow — he dies! 
 The features, before distorted with pain, relax and 
 sink into a sweet pleasantness. The spirit has gone ! 
 — Where is it ! 
 
 Has it plumed its wing for heaven, and is it now — 
 the moment after death — soaring away on its shining 
 track toward the fountain of uncreated and imperish- 
 able light and bliss ? Will this child of God, thus set 
 free from its earthly captivity, stop in its way before 
 it reaches its Father’s house? Is it in any W'ay, or 
 for any time, detained ? — The spirit of my dear friend 
 which has just now waved me his last earthly farewell, 
 whose tenantless body lies motionless before me, must 
 be somewhere — oh where ? I look around me and all 
 is silent. The hearth, the room, the accustomed walks 
 of life, all mourn his absence. I feel as though that 
 form must meet me again, which met me before ; and, 
 forgetting, I hold my breath, and place my finger upon 
 my lips, to hear that voice once more, or to be joyfully 
 surprised by his coming footsteps. In the dreadful 
 stillness of the twilight hour, I close my eyes, and 
 fancy brings him, but when I open my eyes the sweet 
 delusion flies. I look toward the radiant heaven in 
 the star-lit hour, and still my heart inquires, Where 
 is that spirit now ? 
 
 Who will forbid me these earnest inquiries ? Who, 
 that can, will refuse to answer them ? It is not in the 
 nature of refined social being, neither does the spirit 
 of Christianity allow it, that our interest in those we 
 learned to love should cease when they die. If the 
 
94 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 Marys committed no sin in seeking the tomb of their 
 beloved Lord “very early, when it w r as yet dark,” 
 with “sweet spices,” to anoint his body, asking, with 
 tears, where they had laid him, it cannot be sinful for 
 us to ask, even with tearful anxiety, where are the 
 spirits of our departed dead ? 
 
 On this subject, as on the question, Where is heaven? 
 there have been many bewildering theories. It is ne- 
 cessary to review these, give their history, the ground 
 on which they rest, and the objections which are seen 
 to stand against them, when view r ed from the scriptural 
 ground. After this is done, we shall be better pre- 
 pared to see what the Spirit has said in answer to this 
 interesting inquiry. 
 
 The land which lies between these mortal shores 
 and our eternal home is, to the eye of reason, a misty, 
 twilight region, in which the earnest imagination of 
 man has located many strange scenes. It is a land 
 of dubious paths, and of gloomy and cheerless confu- 
 sion, as long as the day-spring from on high does not 
 shine upon it. If the reader has never travelled much 
 through it, let him stick close to his guide ; for he 
 will often, in deep bewilderment, be induced to ex- 
 claim, “Watchman, what of the night?” It is, then, 
 a gloomy road ; yet gloomy as it is, it will not be in 
 vain to travel in it. We will walk in the radiant 
 highway to Canaan more pleasantly and more grate- 
 fully after we have wandered long in the wilderness. 
 After we have tried in vain to make the journey by 
 the unsteady Bickerings of human reason and unsanc- 
 tified imagination, we will try again, taking for our 
 journey “ a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.” 
 
THE ANCIENT UNDER WORLD. 
 
 95 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 THE ANCIENT UNDER WORLD. 
 
 A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of 
 death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness. 
 Job x. 22. 
 
 Where are those who die and are gathered to their 
 fathers ? The first and simplest ideas on this subject 
 are characteristic of the childhood of the world in 
 which they are found. The place of the dead was 
 conceived of by those who lived in the morning of the 
 world as a dark, indistinct, and dreamy under world. 
 On the subject of their eternal homes, as on all other 
 subjects, their ideas were vague and undefined. As 
 childhood is a time of hope and longing, in which 
 realities are not closely scanned, so in the earlier ages, 
 or childhood of the world, men hoped and longed for 
 a future life by a kind of spiritual instinct, but did 
 not much inquire what was the foundation of their 
 hopes, or the nature of that good for which they 
 longed. We cannot now easily conceive how con- 
 tracted and floating the ideas of men must have been 
 in that early age, when there was no philosophy to 
 require accurate connexion and consistency in their 
 thoughts. They were children not only in simplicity 
 of manners, but in all their reflections. 
 
 The under world was called, in Hebrew, Sheol, 
 which means a dark region, where one sees nothing. 
 It was supposed to be a place under the earth, or in 
 some unknown region, away from human reach. Here, 
 amid darkness and silence, the dead existed in the 
 
96 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 form of mysterious shadows ; hence they are called 
 Manes, or shades. This idea rose in their mind in a 
 perfectly natural way. Their friends died, and they 
 put their bodies into caves of the earth, or in vaults 
 constructed by their own hands. Thus the place of 
 the dead was a dark place, and they accordingly called 
 it Sheol — Hades — darkness, where nothing is seen. 
 When they looked into these subterrene caves, they 
 saw not the spirits of the dead, it is true, yet they felt 
 as if the dead were there. The darkness and silence 
 which reigned there were the proper elements for the 
 imagination, and it was easy to people these abodes 
 with spirits. 
 
 It was natural, then, in those simple ages, when 
 hope, desire, and imagination were strong and uncon- 
 trolled, and judgment and reason weak, that the mind 
 should conceive of these caves as the inlet to an under 
 world, which naturally also became peopled with the 
 manes of the dead. Thus the patriarch Jacob, mourn- 
 ing for his son, whom he supposed to be dead, says, 
 “ I will go down into the grave (Sheol,) unto my son, 
 mourning.’ ’ Gen. xxxvii. 35. Job, also, in that early, 
 patriarchal age, speaks of the grave whither his grief 
 should bring him, in a similar way. “ I go down to 
 the land of darkness, and the shadow of death ; a land 
 of darkness itself ; and of the shadow of death, with- 
 out any order, and where the light is as darkness.” 
 Job x. 21, 22. Their ideas of heaven, as a place of 
 happiness, and of hell, as a place of misery, not yet 
 having received distinctness in their consciousness, 
 their minds would not go farther into their future 
 history than to these dark and silent regions of the 
 under world. 
 
THE ANCIENT UNDER WORLD. 
 
 97 
 
 It is well known that in this early age of the Jewish 
 religion, their ideas of immortality, and consequently 
 of a place of happiness and misery, were very obscure. 
 If at this time the idea of an under world was firmly 
 fixed in their minds and mingled with their hopes, and 
 was longed for as a place where they would again meet 
 their departed friends, and be for ever free from the 
 troubles of earth, it is easy to see how it would keep 
 such a long and firm hold on the human mind in this 
 form. W e know how long impressions and associations 
 of childhood remain, and how hard it is to dislodge 
 them in after life. In like manner, the light of ma- 
 ture reason, and even of revelation, could not, for a 
 long time, disperse the agreeable twilight in which the 
 first simple thoughts of man had located the lonely 
 kingdom of the dead. Not only the Hebrews, but 
 other nations also, adopted, loved, and clung to the 
 sweet and innocent delusion. Who would rob them 
 of it without giving them something better? — God 
 did not. The desire by which it was at first created 
 was sweetly prophetic; and the shadows of which it 
 was formed, like all the Jewish typical divinity, was a 
 shadow of good things to come. Is the morning twi- 
 light evil because it is succeeded by a bright, rising 
 sun? — Is the shadow evil because it is not as good as 
 the substance? Yerily, no. So, also, these shadowy 
 ideas were good in their time, and in their place, and, 
 being good, they are not to be despised simply because 
 they are not better. It is the shadow that leads to 
 the substance ; it is the shadow that gives not only 
 the best idea of the nature and form of the substance, 
 but it is also the best evidence that the substance ex- 
 9 
 
98 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 ists. The beautiful words of the poet, when altered 
 in one word, will still contain one of the deepest of all 
 truths. 
 
 ’Tis the twilight of life gives me mystical lore, 
 
 And coming events cast their shadows before. 
 
 How sweet the reflection that thus early, and 
 through so many ages of the world’s darkness, the 
 pious hopes of men had visions, though it was darkly, 
 of a better land ! “ 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. For they that say such things declare plainly 
 that they seek a country.” They saw not, but they 
 believed and longed. The blind beggar turned his 
 sightless balls towards the Saviour ; though he does 
 not see him, yet he turns them not that way in vain ; 
 for, directed towards the Sun of Righteousness, they 
 are soon filled with light and joy. “ We are saved by 
 hope!” 
 
 The great entrance to this under world was supposed 
 to be in the extreme west ! Accordingly, in Homer’s 
 Odyssey, the descent of Mercury and the suitors into 
 the shades is thus described : 
 
 u And now they reach’d the earth’s remotest ends ; 
 
 And now the gates where evening Sol descends, 
 
 And Leucas’ rock, and ocean’s utmost streams ; 
 
 And now pervade the dusky land of dreams, 
 
 And rest at last, where souls unbodied dwell 
 
 * In ever-flowing meads of Asphodel. 
 
 The empty forms of men inhabit there; 
 
 Impassive semblance, images of air!” 
 
TIIE ANCIENT UNDER WORLD. 
 
 99 
 
 Here, where “ evening Sol descends, ” was the great 
 entrance into the world of spirits ; though, no doubt, 
 as before observed, each cave of sepulture was also 
 supposed to stand with it in some mysterious under- 
 ground connexion. That this grand inlet should be 
 located in the west, is easily accounted for. The 
 world, at that time, was not known as a globe, but 
 only as a vast plain, and even as a plain it was known 
 only to a limited extent. Beyond the world, it was 
 thought, the sun rose and set. As the rising sun was 
 the forerunner of cheerfulness and life, so the setting 
 sun was associated with melancholy thoughts of death 
 and decay. “ Where the sun goes down, and his light 
 and fire are extinguished, there, it was naturally sup- 
 posed, is the place where all things perish, and where 
 darkness reigns.” At the close of day, also, men 
 naturally sink into reflection ; the tumults of exciting 
 passion are quieted, thoughts come home, and the 
 longings of the spirit struggle earnestly after the 
 loved and the lost ! Hence, how easy it is for the 
 imagination to find its way through the yellow vista 
 of evening into the spirit land ; and, as sensible objects 
 sink more and more into the gray twilight, how natural 
 to follow them into that dreamy indistinctness, where 
 all we love come at once around us, and where airy 
 nothing finds a local habitation and a name. 
 
 At this time, then, men did not give clear and dis- 
 tinct forms to their thoughts of the place and state 
 of the dead. They spoke and thought in the most 
 general way of Sheol, as the place of departed spirits. 
 As this idea continued for a long time, and was adopt- 
 ed by the early Greeks, they applied to it the Greek 
 
100 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 name Hades, which corresponds in meaning with the 
 Hebrew Shook Let it be distinctly remembered that 
 these two terms are alike in meaning, and that they 
 are general terms. They signify, in their primary 
 sense, the place of departed spirits, without any refer- 
 ence at all to their condition , as happy or miserable . 
 It is only necessary to keep in nind this simple fact, 
 in order to avoid that endless confusion into which so 
 many have fallen, who have either not known, or have 
 not attended to, this distinction. The words Sheol 
 and Hades are words of the same general import as 
 the words eternity or the grave. We say, for instance, 
 that one of our friends has gone to eternity, and, by 
 saying so, we do not intend to express any opinion as 
 to whether he has gone to a place of happiness or 
 misery. We only say, in general, that he has gone 
 to eternity. So the ancients used the terms Sheol 
 and Hades, without having their ideas at all defined 
 as to the place. Sheol was “ the place and state of 
 those who are out of sight, out of the way,” and to 
 be sought for ; and Hades had a similar meaning. If 
 the terms were intended to give a specific idea, it must 
 be put into them by the context. Just as if, after 
 speaking of a wicked man who died in some sudden 
 and awful way, I say, “ He was called into a dreadful 
 eternity,” you at once understand me to mean that he 
 went to the place of the lost. If I say, of a good 
 man, “ He has suffered much on earth, but now he 
 has gone to eternity,” you at once understand me to 
 mean that he went to the inheritance of the blest. So 
 these terms are primarily general, and only convey a 
 specific idea, when it is forced upon them by the context. 
 
THE ANCIENT UNDER WORLD. 101 
 
 In time, however, as the world advanced, and when, 
 by successive revelations, eternal things became clearer 
 to the consciousness of mankind, a separation was con- 
 ceived in this under-world, the good from the wicked. 
 Sheol or Hades still continued, but in two parts, a 
 place of happiness and misery. This separation of 
 the good from the wicked in the realms of the dead 
 is seen in the discourse concerning Hades in Josephus, 
 as also in the history which the Saviour related of the 
 rich man and Lazarus. The rich man and the beggar 
 were both in the same place and in sight of each other, 
 yet the beggar was happy and comforted in Abraham’s 
 bosom, while the rich man lifted up his eyes, being in 
 torment. 
 
 The meaning of the term Hades, as well as the 
 Jewish ideas concerning the place of the dead about 
 the time of the Saviour, will be best seen from the 
 following extract from Josephus. Josephus wrote 
 about fifty years after Christ. 
 
 “ Now as to Hades, wherein the souls of the right- 
 eous and unrighteous are detained, it is necessary to 
 speak of it. Hades is a place in the world not regu- 
 larly finished ; a subterraneous region, wherein the 
 light of this v T orld does not shine ; from which cir- 
 cumstance, that in this region the light does not shine, 
 it cannot be but there must be in it perpetual dark- 
 ness. This region is allotted as a place of custody 
 for souls, in wdiich angels are appointed as guardians 
 to them, who distribute to them temporary punish- 
 ments, agreeably to every one’s behaviour and man- 
 ners. 
 
 “In this region there is a certain place set apart. 
 
102 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 as a lake of unquenchable fire, whereinto, we suppose, 
 no one hath hitherto been cast, but it is prepared for 
 a day predetermined by God, in which one righteous 
 sentence shall deservedly be passed upon all men; 
 when the unjust and those that have been disobedient 
 to God, and have given honour to such idols as have 
 been the vain operations of the hands of men, as to 
 God himself, shall be adjudged to this everlasting 
 punishment, as having been the causes of defilement; 
 while the just shall obtain an incorruptible and never- 
 fading kingdom. These are now indeed confined in 
 Hades, but not in the same place wherein the just are 
 confined. 
 
 “For there is one descent in this region, at whose 
 gate we believe there stands an archangel with a host ; 
 which gate when those pass through that are con- 
 ducted down by the angels appointed over souls, they 
 do not go the same way, but the just are guided to 
 the right hand , and are led with hymns, sung by the 
 angels appointed over that place, unto a region of 
 light, in which the just have dwelt from the beginning 
 of the world, not constrained by necessity, but ever 
 enjoying the prospect of the good things they see, 
 and rejoicing in the expectation of those new enjoy- 
 ments which will be peculiar to every one of them, 
 and esteeming those things beyond what we have 
 here ; with whom there is no place of toil ; no burn- 
 ing heat, no piercing cold ; nor any briers there ; but 
 the countenance of the fathers and of the just, which 
 they see always, smiles upon them, while they wait 
 for the rest and eternal new life in heaven, which is 
 to succeed this region. This place we call the bosom 
 of Abraham. 
 
TIIE ANCIENT UNDER WORLD. 108 
 
 “But as to the unjust, they are dragged by force 
 to the left hand , by the angels allotted for punish- 
 ment, no longer going with a good will, but as pri- 
 soners, driven by violence ; to whom are sent the an- 
 gels appointed over them to reproach them, and 
 threaten them with their terrible looks, and to thrust 
 them still downwards. Now these angels that are set 
 over these souls drag them into the neighbourhood of 
 hell itself; who, when they are hard by it, continually 
 hear the noise of it, and do not stand clear of the hot 
 vapour itself ; but when they have a near view of this 
 spectacle, as of a terrible and exceeding great pros- 
 pect of fire, they are struck with a fearful expectation 
 of a future judgment, and in effect punished thereby; 
 not only so, but when they see the place (or choir) of 
 the fathers and of the just, even hereby are they 
 punished ; for a chaos deep and large is fixed between 
 them ; insomuch that a just man that hath compassion 
 upon them cannot be admitted, nor can one that is 
 unjust, if he w'ere bold enough to attempt it, pass 
 over it.” 
 
 This extract is exceedingly interesting. It show's 
 to what extent of distinctness the Jewish ideas of the 
 future state had attained. The dream-like under 
 world is here considerably illuminated. The righteous 
 and the wicked are separated, and already share the 
 first-fruits of their eternal reward. The righteous are 
 surrounded with intimations and shadowy promises of 
 better things to come, in the expectation of which 
 they are already happy ; the wicked are surrounded 
 with tokens and forebodings of more fearful ill, much 
 of which they already suffer in awful expectation. 
 
104 
 
 IIEAYEN. 
 
 Through this picture, we see in faint but terrible glim 
 merings, in the distance, the region of eternal fire, 
 which awaits the wicked, when the judgment day shall 
 remove them from Hades ; on the other hand, we see 
 also the dawning of an eternal day for the just — “ the 
 rest and eternal new life in heaven which is to suc- 
 ceed this region. ” This kingdom of the dead, beyond 
 which the thoughts of men in the early ages did not 
 wander, is considered only as a place of detention to 
 the judgment, while the idea of a final state, both for 
 the righteous and the wicked, is believed to exist be 
 yond it. 
 
 The new dispensation which was now ushered in 
 with clearer light, shed increased light upon “ life and 
 immortality.’ ’ In its light, though the shades of this 
 under world or middle region, do not at first entirely 
 disappear, yet heaven and hell are clearly separated ; 
 and in the New Testament they are always spoken of 
 as separate and distinct places, the one down, the 
 other up. Here different and specific names are also 
 introduced and applied to them. Hell is now Ge- 
 henna, Heaven is Ouranos. The word Hades still 
 remains with its general sense — it is the grave, or in- 
 visible state in general, when the context shows it to 
 have reference to the good, or does not determine its 
 sense ; it is hell when the context requires it to be 
 applied to the wicked. “ Whenever the place of tor- 
 ment is spoken of, the word hell in the original is al- 
 ways Gehenna ; but whenever the state of the dead, 
 in general, is intended, it is always expressed by a 
 quite different name, (Hades,) which though we render 
 
TIIE ANCIENT UNDER WORLD. J 05 
 
 by the same word, hell , yet its signification is, at 
 large, the invisible state/’* 
 
 The fathers of the church still held to the idea of 
 an under world, in some form, until into the fourth 
 century, dividing it into Paradise and Gehenna. It 
 is said that even Irenaeus declared the idea that the 
 souls of the saints pass immediately, at death, to 
 Christ into heaven, to be heresy. From the fourth 
 century on, the idea of an under world, in its ancient 
 form, vanished more and more from the consciousness 
 of the church, and the idea that the saints, completely 
 justified, pass immediately into heaven, took its place. 
 The under wo;dd remained only as Gehenna, hell ; — 
 as a place of punishment for the wficked, into which 
 they entered immediately after death. Some modifi- 
 cations, however, of this under world, as standing re- 
 lated to heaven, were still retained ; the most promi- 
 nent of which was the idea of purgatory, where, it 
 was supposed, that some who are not altogether pre- 
 pared’ for heaven at death, and yet too good for hell, 
 are detained for a time, to endure a kind of atoning 
 and sanctifying punishment. 
 
 It is not necessary now to combat this idea of an 
 under world, in its ancient misty form, as it has of 
 itself passed aw T ay. It was prophetic, and since im- 
 mortality, with its blessed contents, has been brought 
 to light by the gospel, this darkness has perished from 
 the minds of men. Only where the simple ignorance 
 of children still prevails, and where the illuminating 
 contents of revelation have not been fully lodged in 
 
 * Dr. Samuel Clark. 
 
106 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 the consciousness of men, can this idea still he at 
 home. God, in great grace, has spread out clearer 
 and brighter objects before our ardent hopes, let us 
 enjoy the light and be thankful. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 TIIE INTERMEDIATE ABODE. 
 
 0 see ! an awful world is this 
 
 Where spirits are detained. J Tis half a heaven 
 And half a hell ! What horrid mixture here ! 
 
 1 see before me, and along the edge 
 
 Of rayless night, on either side, the shades 
 Of spirits move * as yet unjudged, undpomed 
 Or unrewarded. Some do seem to hope ; 
 
 Some sit in gloom 5 some walk in dark suspense ,* 
 
 Some agonize to change their state. Oh ! say 
 Is all this real, or but a monstrous dream ? 
 
 What has now been said on the subject of men’s 
 first ideas of an under world, as the abode of the 
 dead, may be considered as the unconscious, or half- 
 conscious dreams of the world’s childhood. Or it may 
 be considered as the spiritual night-time of the human 
 mind. In the night all is dark, or at least obscure, 
 and if there is order it cannot be seen ; in childhood 
 there is life, but it is an indistinct and floating kind ; 
 so are the early impressions of men on this interesting 
 subject. Intelligence was not alive and active, and 
 therefore faith required neither definiteness nor con- 
 sistency. Hence they were satisfied in believing in a 
 future life, and hoping for it, without being concerned 
 as to its particular character or nature. They were 
 willing that it should be a dark, under-ground, dreamy 
 
TIIE ANCIENT UNDER WORLD. 107 
 
 region, only so that they might there he “gathered 
 to their people,” and enjoy their society for ever. 
 In time, however, when intelligence was cultivated, 
 and when the contents of divine revelation began to 
 be subjectively apprehended by the human mind, 
 something more definite was required. 
 
 Here we enter the second historical stage of this 
 subject. Here, instead of the obscurity of night, we 
 have visions in the twilight. Here, there are objects 
 seen with some distinctness, and in a certain kind of 
 order, too, but still in the mist of twilight, so that 
 what seems to be order and beauty, will still be seen 
 to be distorted and incongruous, in the clearer light 
 which will follow. 
 
 This twilight age dawned with the new dispensation 
 upon the world. In it, shadows gave way to substance ; 
 and immortality, which was heretofore shrouded in the 
 darkness and obscurity of the typical age, was brought 
 to light — not, however, as yet fully into the light. 
 The Sun of Righteousness which arose over the world, 
 as its light, shone also into the. darkness of the Old 
 Testament under-world. Joyfully did the hopes of 
 men, long dwelling in cold gloom, come forth to the 
 light. Smiles, illuminated with heavenly light, began 
 to play upon the cold and clammy cheek of death ; 
 and the joy of Eden began gradually to take the 
 place of the cheerless Hades. 
 
 No sun, however, rises without being preceded by 
 the dawn and the gray twilight ; and even after its 
 rising, it does not at once pour upon the earth a per- 
 fect flood of noon-day light ; it casts its rays aslant, 
 and illuminates, at first, only the high places of the 
 
108 
 
 IIEAYEN. 
 
 earth, and the rest by degrees. The objects upon 
 which it shines will also be only partially illuminated, 
 standing still in part, and with one side in the shade. 
 So also was it in this case. The light which dawned 
 upon the world with the New Dispensation did not 
 brighten all at once, and place the wdiole subject of 
 man’s future life at once into the full and lear light. 
 Those whose spiritual knowledge w r as clearest, and who 
 stood on the highest Tabor of faith, saw its rising glory 
 first, and had their consciousness first illuminated by 
 it. Others, just wakening out of sleep, saw men like 
 trees walking. The ideas concerning the future abode 
 of the righteous, which the Jews had in the later ages 
 of the Jewish economy, were much more clear than 
 those possessed by them in the earlier ages. So in 
 the new dispensation, men had at first indistinct, and 
 even distorted ideas, which became, afterwards, more 
 and more consistent and clear. 
 
 It is not strange, but altogether natural, that this 
 should be so. Divinely revealed truths, in their re- 
 lation to the human mind, are first objective, and 
 afterwards they become subjective. Objective truth 
 is truth as it really is ; subjective truth is truth as it 
 seems to us to be, or truth as it is apprehended by 
 our minds. The difference between truth in these two 
 forms is clear, and very important. The contents of 
 divine revelation were made to the world when the 
 human mind was obtuse, dull, and darkened by sin — 
 indeed this is the case in every age, more or less ; — 
 these truths, though clearly revealed, were only par- 
 tially apprehended at first. This fact is clearly illus- 
 trated in the history of the Saviour’s ministry. He 
 
THE INTERMEDIATE ABODE. 109 
 
 was the truth — he taught the truth to his disciples in 
 public and in private, in the plainest words, and illus- 
 trated it by the most striking figures, symbols and 
 parables ; and yet they did not see the truth as he 
 saw it, as he revealed it, or even as we see it now. 
 Let any one just open the gospels, and see how clearly 
 he tells them of the object and nature of his mission, 
 of his coming sufferings, and of the temple of his 
 body, which, if destroyed, he would raise up in three 
 days. Yet his mission, to the very last, they believed 
 to be temporal, at least in its most important charac- 
 ter : his sufferings astonished and stunned them ; and 
 the report of his resurrection, by the women, v r as 
 looked upon as an idle tale ! This shows us beyond 
 a doubt, that the contents of divine revelation are ap- 
 prehended and made subjective slowly and by degrees, 
 imperfectly and in a distorted manner at first, but 
 gradually more and more, until at last they are in our 
 mind, subjectively, what they are in their objective 
 and ideal character. 
 
 The same relation which truth sustains to the indi- 
 vidual mind, separately, it sustains also to the general 
 mind of the church, or the world as a whole. Divine 
 revelation finds the world divided in sentiment, under 
 the influence of a thousand systems of corrupt and 
 false philosophy and religion. These prejudices which 
 shut the mind, must and can all be overcome, not at 
 once, by a general open field attack, but by quietly 
 lodging the regenerating contents of divine revelation, 
 as a deeper, more central, and stronger leaven, into 
 the general mind. This process we have in the history 
 of the church. All that church history relates of 
 10 
 
110 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 heresies, controversies, councils, schisms, &c., is but 
 an exhibition of the process by which the objective 
 contents of divine revelation are made subjective in 
 the human mind. This process will go on still in fu- 
 ture, until all systems founded upon a partial concep- 
 tion or a misapprehension of divine truth shall be 
 overcome by the true contents of revelation. Then 
 the facts of revelation will be apprehended by the 
 general consciousness of the church, as they truly and 
 really are in themselves. Then the human mind, 
 cleansed and clear, like a clear mirror, will reflect the 
 truth when held up before it, without obscurity or 
 distortion. 
 
 As it is with regard to the whole system of divinely 
 revealed truth as a whole, so it is in regard to any 
 one fact separately taken. Thus, in the case of the 
 doctrine of the saints’ future abode, which we are 
 contemplating, we find that it is one thing in its ideal 
 or objective character, as it is known to God, and as 
 it will be known to man when it has once become to the 
 human mind what it is really in itself, but it is another 
 thing as it has been apprehended subjectively by the 
 human mind from age to age. Taking this view of 
 the matter — and is it not a correct one ? — we need 
 not be surprised that the doctrine of the future abode 
 of the righteous should have exhibited so many phases 
 in the history of religion ; and that it should be at 
 first, and for a long time, so imperfectly apprehended. 
 
 With the New Testament, then, commences a new 
 historical age of this question. Some of the old 
 ideas, however, are still retained, but modified, sys- 
 tematized, and improved by means of the new light. 
 
TIIE INTERMEDIATE ABODE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Much of the ancient drapery is also retained. Hence 
 we have still, in the first period of the Christian 
 church, a Hades as a third place, between heaven and 
 hell : this idea continues with more or less authority 
 even down to the present day, and is still held in 
 respect, in one or other of its forms, in the Popish and 
 Episcopal communions. Among the former it is held 
 as purgatory, and among the latter, as a place of de- 
 tention for the spirit, till the resurrection of the body 
 — a kind of ante-chamber to heaven and hell, where 
 the spirit undergoes some necessary preparation for 
 final re-union with the body and entrance upon its 
 final state and abode. With some, the idea of proba- 
 tion, in a certain way, is also connected with this 
 middle abode. 
 
 It may not be amiss to state more particularly the 
 different modifications of this idea. It is necessary, 
 however, to keep in mind that these views are held in 
 forms more gross or more refifred, philosophical and 
 consistent, according to the piety and learning of 
 those who hold them. 
 
 Purgatory, as a middle place, is held by the Roman 
 church. Purgatory, as held generally in the Roman 
 church, is a place “ under the earth, near to hell.” 
 Or, according to some, its locality is not known, nor 
 the exact character of the place ; but it is considered 
 to be a place where the souls of such of the faithful 
 as are not at death entirely fit for heaven, tire de- 
 tained and purified — some say by fire— -so as to be fit 
 to enter the final inheritance of the saints in light. 
 They are kept there a longer or a shorter time, ac- 
 cording to their sins, and according to the efforts that 
 
112 
 
 IIEAYEN. 
 
 are made use of by their friends or the church, for 
 their deliverance ; for they are assisted in getting out 
 “ by the suffrages of the faithful, chiefly, however, by 
 the acceptable sacrifice of the altar.” 
 
 This doctrine took hold upon that church at an 
 early age, and gradually unfolded itself in its con- 
 sciousness. The hint which led to it was received 
 from the pagan philosophy. In Homer and Virgil its 
 glimmerings are to be found. The Platonic philoso- 
 phical ideas of good and evil naturally led to it. The 
 Platonic idea that matter is essentially bad, and spirit 
 essentially good, that evil is the result of their union, 
 and that by a violent austerity and severe onset upon 
 every thing gross and material the spirit is purified, 
 was easily entertained and nurtured in man’s self- 
 righteous spirit, adopted into the church, carried over 
 the grave, and constructed into a purgatory. The 
 growing importance of works in the Roman system, 
 and the merit attached to them, was well adapted to 
 nurture this error. The merit of Christ’s blood gave 
 way to the merit of human works. Thus in propor- 
 tion as the blood of Christ, the true purifier, was set 
 aside and disparaged by penance, meritorious works 
 and monkish austerities, in that proportion did purga- 
 tory gain respect and settle itself in the faith of men. 
 It was felt by them that after all their austerities, 
 when continued even to their last breath, they were 
 still, in part at least, under the influence and power 
 of corruption ; and as the blood of Christ was made 
 of none effect by their traditions, it was necessary 
 that a place of purification should be devised to re- 
 medy the deficiency. 
 
TIIE INTERMEDIATE ABODE. 113 
 
 The philosophy under which the church stood, as 
 already said, was favourable to the conception of such a 
 place. Origen deduced from the eastern Platonism a 
 philosophy semi-pagan, and semi-Christian. It was 
 the pagan notions evolved in Christian light. “ The 
 fallen world is subject to a law of restoration, which 
 is fulfilled in a long series of periods. Spirits pass 
 successively through different states, till they are all 
 purified. The object of Origen was to deduce from 
 this philosophy a Christian doctrine for universal sal- 
 vation, or the final restoration of all fallen beings. 
 Augustine, however, afterwards took from it a hint 
 for a purifying abode after death, which hint was, at 
 a still later period, developed into a doctrine by Gre- 
 gory the First, in the sixth century, who is considered 
 as the father of the church’s idea of purgatory.” 
 
 Plato held that all punishment was medicinal. The 
 fathers, of the Alexandrine school, especially, under 
 the influence of this philosophy, taught, in the second 
 century, that the punishment of the wicked in a future 
 life was finite. This idea the church, overpowered with 
 the weight of positive scripture against it, was com- 
 pelled to yield and abandon. Still, not willing to yield 
 their hopes for the salvation of men who were moral 
 and yet had not grace, the idea of purgatory was na- 
 tural to them, and accordingly found favour. Thus, 
 while the doctrine of eternal punishment was still held, 
 it was only supposed to be the lot of such as were 
 grossly and perseveringly wicked. 
 
 Thus, after this doctrine was once conceived, and 
 made a part of Christian philosophy, it was not long 
 until it became also a part of Christian faith. That 
 10 * 
 
114 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 in favour of which we are prepossessed, and which we 
 desire to believe, is soon believed. By the aid of 
 apocryphal books, which had been composed under 
 the influence of the same philosophy, and by obscure 
 passages of scripture, this doctrine w T as set forth with 
 some kind of scriptural sanction. Finally, at the 
 Council of Florence, 1439, it was fixed fast, as a uni- 
 versal doctrine of the universal church, and afterwards 
 reaffirmed by the Council of Trent. Since that it 
 stands infallibly settled, in the opinion of the Romish 
 faith, and “let him be accursed” vrho shall call it in 
 question. 
 
 It is not necessary to give a more detailed statement 
 of this doctrine, as the sources of information on this 
 subject are so richly at hand to all ; neither is it ne- 
 cessary to enter into an earnest examination of those 
 passages in scripture upon which its claims are rested. 
 
 * The origin and history of this doctrine are its best 
 refutation. No true Christian need have his prospects 
 darkened or his hopes troubled by purgatorial fears, 
 for he knows that Jesus has “ by himself purged our 
 sins.” He who has a clear and full conception of the 
 doctrine of God’s word, that Jesus has made a full 
 satisfaction for the sins of his people, and brought in 
 for them an everlasting righteousness, which is theirs 
 by grace only, has an argument sufficiently strong to 
 withstand the strongest pretensions of this strange 
 conception. 
 
 We proceed to another modification of this idea of 
 a middle abode. 
 
 According to the Romish idea of purgatory, no 
 change is there effected on such as have not on earth 
 
THE INTERMEDIATE ABODE. 115 
 
 believed and been baptized into the church — such go 
 immediately and without hope, to hell. An idea has, 
 nowever, to some extent, prevailed from an early age, 
 that probation is extended to this middle abode ; and 
 that persons who die unjustified may, in certain cases, 
 and under certain circumstances, even there, become 
 interested in the blessings of salvation. “ Clemens 
 Alexandrinus was so clearly of that opinion, that he 
 thought the soul of Christ preached salvation to the 
 souls. in hell,” after his crucifixion, during the time 
 his body was in the grave. “ At an early age,” says 
 Dr. Knapp, “men were foolish enough to imagine 
 that there is room to obtain an alteration in the yet 
 undecided destiny of departed spirits.” Hence there 
 were prayers offered for the dead. This idea conti- 
 nued, in the fourth and fifth century, to have advo- 
 cates and opponents. It was afterwards merged into 
 the common doctrine of purgatory — the universal his- 
 tory of error, from bad to w T orse. 
 
 In modern times this view has been held by some. 
 It is perseveringly defended by the celebrated Hein- 
 rich Yung Stilling, whose writings have exercised a 
 great influence on the popular mind. He supposes 
 that souls in Hades will be in an undecided state, and 
 are to some extent under the influence of good and bad 
 spirits, by which they are operated upon for good or 
 for evil. Thus, in some cases it may be possible, he 
 thinks, for good spirits to win over the undecided into 
 an acceptance of salvation. Still later it has been 
 believed by some that the heathen who never hear the 
 gospel in this life, and who consequently have no op- 
 portunity either to receive or reject it, will have it 
 
116 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 published to them in Hades, and that, in some cases, 
 conversion may be effected. 
 
 In regard to this theory of a probation beyond the 
 grave, where change is possible, it is only necessary 
 to say, that it is flatly contradicted by the whole tenor 
 and spirit, as well as by many direct passages of scrip- 
 ture. Such passages as these forbid such a belief: 
 “ Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy 
 might ; for there is no work, nor device, nor know- 
 ledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest.” 
 (Ecc. ix. 10.) “ The dead praise not the Lord, neither 
 any that go down into silence.” (Ps. cxv. 17.) “ For 
 the grave 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.” (Is. xxxviii. 18, 19.) “ Behold 
 
 NOW is the accepted time ; behold now is the day of 
 salvation.” (2 Cor. vi. 2.) “ To-day, if ye will hear 
 
 his voice, harden not your hearts.” (Heb. iv. 7.) 
 Besides this, the whole spirit of revelation makes, on 
 every page, the solemn impression that 
 
 Life is the time to serve the Lord, 
 
 The time V ensure the great reward. 
 
 There is still another modification of this theory of 
 a middle abode of considerable prominence in the his- 
 tory of opinions. 
 
 According to this theory there is a middle abode, 
 but it is not, like purgatory, a place of punishment, 
 nor is it, like the last, a place of probation, where it 
 is still possible to pass from a state of sin into a state 
 of justification and life ; but still there is something 
 
THE INTERMEDIATE ABODE. 
 
 117 
 
 remedial connected with this place. The soul, when 
 it is separated from the body, is supposed still to have 
 some imperfections which it received chiefly from its 
 connexion with the body — something like abuse — from 
 which it can only free itself by a process of recovery 
 under genial, sanative influences. These, it is said, 
 are afforded to it in this intermediate abode, under 
 the power of which the soul is prepared for a union 
 with a glorified body, and for the habitation of the 
 saints in light. 
 
 This idea is held most extensively in the episcopal 
 communion. Lest I should give a wrong idea of the 
 faith of that respectable portion of the church of 
 Christ, I will give it in the language of a minister* 
 of that church who has written on that subject, and 
 who, it may be supposed, was careful to give the true 
 view, as held in that communion. After having argued 
 that there is such an intermediate place, he comes to 
 discuss the condition of those who are there, and the 
 advantages of the place to them. He says : “ It has 
 already been stated that this intermediate state and 
 place of abode appears not to have formed any part 
 of the original plan of man’s existence, and the Divine 
 economy by which he was to have been governed, if 
 he had not fallen from his original state ; but that 
 they have been devised and introduced by Divine 
 goodness, mercy and wisdom, to remedy , in the case 
 of the righteous, certain evils and disadvantages re- 
 sulting from sin and its consequences.” — u That the 
 souls of human beings have suffered in various ways 
 
 * “ The Dead in Christ.” By Rev. J. W. M’Cullough, A. M. Some objections 
 having been offered to the prominence we have given to Mr. M’C.’s views it is 
 proper to state that a large portion of the Episcopal church repudiate them. 
 
118 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 in consequence of the fall, of personal sins, of bane- 
 ful influences from without, and of their connexion 
 with these frail, vitiated, and carnal bodies, cannot be 
 denied or reasonably doubted.” 
 
 “ Not only is it deprived of that healthful develop- 
 ment, and improvement, and preparation for a higher 
 state of existence, w T hich it would have secured during 
 a corresponding period of probation in its original 
 state and condition, but it suffers great injury and dis- 
 paragement, from which it does not entirely recover 
 and repair itself in this life, even under the remedial 
 influences provided for the truly pious.(!) The intel- 
 lectual faculties are impeded and injured. The social 
 affections are marred and corrupted. But the moral 
 powers and affections — the religious nature and char- 
 acter — suffer most essentially and irremediably. The 
 influence of “the world, the flesh and the devil,” not 
 only prevents such a use of the means and aids of 
 grace as w^ould fit the soul for a higher and more de- 
 sirable state of being ; but during the whole of mortal 
 existence tends powerfully to unfit it for that state ; 
 and often does the soul leave this probationary state 
 fit only for the abode and the society of lost and ac- 
 cursed spirits.(!) The soul, when penitent, believing 
 and obedient, is justified or pardoned, and received 
 into favour, through the passion and death of Christ, 
 and if faithful to the end, comes no more into con- 
 demnation ; and the idea of its being punished for its 
 sins after this, is both unscriptural and absurd. But 
 besides its original depravation, corruption and alien- 
 ation from God, essentially corrected and repaired by 
 regeneration, repentance, renovation, and sanctifica- 
 
THE INTERMEDIATE ABODE. 119 
 
 tion, its connexion with the body; its residence in 
 such a world as this, and all the other disadvantages 
 of our fallen state ; so affect it during the whole of 
 the present life, that nothing seems more reasonable 
 than the idea of an intermediate state and place of 
 abode, where it may recover from the effects of these 
 evils, become more perfectly developed, and better 
 prepared for reunion with a pure and glorious body, 
 with which it is to enter upon the possession and en- 
 joyment of its eternal inheritance. The body goes 
 down into the grave, is dissolved into its elemental 
 dust, and at the resurrection comes forth purified, glo- 
 rious, and immortal, having escaped all the evil effects 
 of sin ; and is advanced to that eternal habitation, 
 which, without this process, would have been its ever- 
 lasting state, if man had not fallen. The soul, also, 
 in its state of separation from the body, passes, at 
 death, into a place prepared for it by infinite wisdom 
 and goodness, in which it recovers its balance and 
 health, is developed more perfectly in the image of 
 Him that created it, and becomes perfected and fitted 
 for reunion with its renovated and glorified body, and 
 having thus attained the consummation of their being, 
 the saints are advanced to their place of eternal 
 abode.” 
 
 From these extracts this idea will be understood by 
 the reader. This idea, too, is of ancient origin, and 
 may be traced to the pagan philosophy as its legiti- 
 mate parent. It is easily seen that the above views 
 of the connexion of soul and body are entirely Pla- 
 tonic. The following extract from the learned Dr. 
 Knapp will convince the reader of the truth of this 
 
120 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 assertion. Indeed the doctrine of the above extract 
 stated in a diffuse way, with many repetitions, is here 
 stated in a few words as the doctrine of Plato ! 
 “Souls,” according to Plato, “are a part of the 
 divine nature, which, however, are confined in the 
 body, as in a prison. Now, even after the soul of 
 man is disembodied, there still cleaves to it much sin 
 and impurity, acquired from its contact with the body, 
 and this impurity is regarded by Plato as a natural 
 sickness. It cannot, therefore, immediately on leav- 
 ing the body, return again to its original source. 
 With some, the disorder is incurable , and these are 
 the lost , who go at once to Tartarus ; with others, it 
 is curable; and these are purged and purified in 
 Hades.” 
 
 This theory, like the Platonic, holds that the body 
 and matter are essentially evil — the body is the enemy 
 of the soul, and not its proper companion. The bad 
 “affections and lusts” are even said to have their 
 “seat in our carnal nature.” By carnal nature the 
 author seems to mean the body ; for he says the im- 
 mortal soul is “ absolutely subjected and enslaved by 
 the flesh with the affections and lusts which have their 
 seat in our carnal nature, and through them by the 
 world and the Prince of darkness. Even they who 
 by the grace of God gain the victory over the flesh, 
 are all their life long clogged, and annoyed, and im- 
 peded by connexion and sympathy with this baser 
 constituent of our being.”* The whole tenor of the 
 argument seems to rest upon the idea that the body is 
 the primary seat of sin, and that it is the source of 
 
 * The Dead in Christ, p. 102. 
 
THE INTERMEDIATE ABODE. 
 
 121 
 
 evil and abuse to the soul. Whereas the scriptures 
 represent, that disobedience and transgression, which 
 are acts of the soul, brought sin ; and sin, which is a 
 moral disease, brought death into the world, and with 
 it all the debility of the body. The remedy is re- 
 generation, which affects the soul first in order, and 
 also then the body, as a consequence, until the process 
 becomes complete in the resurrection. It is the soul 
 and body united, which constitute the man, and these, 
 in their union, respectively share in the power of 
 Christ’s regenerating life ; and there can, therefore, 
 be no such antagonism between the soul and body as 
 is represented in this Platonic idea. 
 
 If the connexion of soul and body is so unfavourable 
 to the development of the regenerated maii, God 
 would more successfully carry on the work of sancti- 
 fication in his people by removing the soul to the 
 intermediate abode immediately after regeneration. 
 That place would answer better as a 4 nursery’ in which 
 to cultivate celestial plants than his church on earth ! 
 — Now, the scriptures teach just the opposite of this — 
 that these light afflictions of the body, and the warrings 
 of the flesh against the spirit, the fierce attacks of 
 temptation and the smugglings of the spirit against 
 them, are the very means by which the soul is exer- 
 cised and made strong in grace. The mightiest oaks 
 are those which have been cradled in storms. The 
 Lord shakes the cedars of Lebanon that they may 
 strike their roots deeper. 
 
 There is something in the above idea not only very 
 effeminate and sentimental, but also very suspicious. 
 It seems to us next to profane to drag out of the 
 . 11 
 
122 
 
 IIEAYEN. 
 
 superstitious dreams of the world’s childhood, and out 
 of the foolish conceits of pagan philosophy such a 
 fanciful remedial economy, and to say of it “ this state 
 is one which has been devised by the w T isdom and 
 goodness of the Creator and Redeemer, as a means 
 of remedying the evils of the fall.”* Christians are 
 taught, in God’s word, to hope in a remedy for the 
 ruins of the fall quite different from this ; union with 
 the life of Christ is a remedy which “ abounds much 
 more” than the evils of the fall. Christ is our eternal 
 life — in him we have wisdom, righteousness, sanctifi- 
 cation and redemption ! What more is needed ? 
 
 Where he displays His healing power, 
 
 • Death and the curse are known no more ; 
 
 In Him the tribes of Adam boast, 
 
 More blessings than their father lost. 
 
 Yet all this is not sufficient. We must have a Hades ! 
 since even the regenerate soul often “ leaves this pro- 
 bationary state, fit only for the abode and the society 
 of lost and accursed spirits !”f Rut in this middle 
 place, “ under genial and sanative influences, it repairs 
 its losses and injuries, recovers its balance and tone, 
 becomes thoroughly developed, and fully prepared for 
 another and still higher stage of being — whether the 
 last, or only one of the first, we do not know.”J 
 As this idea of a middle place or state, in one or 
 other of its forms, has been, and is still tolerably ex- 
 tensively held, it will be proper to examine still more, 
 and in regular order, the arguments upon which it is 
 built. Let us see whether the clear light of truth,' 
 
 * The Dead i n Christy p. 54. f Ibid. p. 96. t Ibid. p. 100. 
 
TILE INTERMEDIATE ABODE. 
 
 123 
 
 which has already shone away much of its gloomy 
 drapery, when brought to bear fairly upon it, will not 
 shine away the rest of the superstitious w r eb-w T ork which 
 has been spun between this and the future world, to 
 obscure the vision and to entangle the aspiring hopes 
 of God’s saints. 
 
 We think it will be seen that there are in the future 
 world only tw r o places, a place of happiness and of 
 misery, in accordance with the plain and constant tes- 
 timony of divine revelation ; and that all attempts to 
 find a middle place have their origin in that corrupt 
 philosophy by which the church has in all ages been 
 afflicted. Hades, in all its forms and features, is a 
 pleasant device to allay the fear of condemnation which 
 arises from a sense of guilt in such as do not embrace 
 Christ at all, or such as do not embrace him fully. 
 It is but another attempt to effect in the future world 
 what has so often and so vainly been attempted in 
 this, —to afford man an opportunity of becoming, at 
 least to some extent, his own Saviour. It is also ad- 
 mirably adapted to that spirit in man which leads him 
 to idle away present opportunities, in vain and wicked 
 presumption on others, which he vainly expects still 
 in future to enjoy. 
 
 1. It is argued by some that the word Sheol, in 
 Hebrew, and the word Hades, in Greek, designate 
 such a place. It has, however, already been shown 
 that these are general terms, like the w^ord grave and 
 eternity, and are used to designate the future world, 
 without any direct reference to the condition of its 
 inhabitants, as happy or miserable. Of the truth of 
 this, more evidence still is at hand. The term Hades 
 
324 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 was used among the ancient Greeks 66 as comprehend- 
 ing all the souls both of the wicked and the just — 
 hence they did send the best of men to Hades, there 
 to be happy, and taught rewards to be received there 
 as well as punishments. ” * This shows that it was 
 with them a general term, not designating a third 
 place, but comprehending in this term the worlds of 
 the blest and the lost. There was, with them, one 
 Hades for all that died ; but this one place had two 
 receptacles, one for the good and the other for the 
 wicked. This same idea of Hades, as comprehending 
 in it the two abodes, heaven and hell, is also set forth 
 in Josephus’ “ Discourse with the Greeks,” and by 
 our Saviour, in his history of the rich man and Laza- 
 rus. Even when they do not intend to affirm or teach 
 any thing as to the condition of those in Hades, they 
 speak of a gulf fixed in it, on the one side of which is 
 happiness, and, on the other, torment — but both in 
 Hades. When they enter, the righteous are said to 
 go to the right hand, as denoting acceptance and ho- 
 nour, and the wicked to the left hand, as denoting 
 rejection and shame. Thus, then, heaven and hell 
 are in Hades, and yet Hades is to be a third place, 
 distinct from the two! We can say with propriety 
 that heaven and hell are in eternity , because it is a 
 general term, comprehending both ; so -also we can 
 say, that a place of happiness and of torment is in 
 Hades , because this also is a general term, compre- 
 hending both — but we can no more say that Hades is 
 
 Bishop Pierson on the Creed, page 361. 
 
THE INTERMEDIATE ADOBE. 125 
 
 a third place, distinct from the other two, than we can 
 say that eternity is such a place.* 
 
 The very etymology of these words shows that they 
 are taken to denote general and indefinite ideas. The 
 word Sheol signifies “the place and state of those 
 who are out of sight, out of the way, and to be sought 
 for.” The word Hades is compounded of tw T o Greek 
 words, which, together, signify an indistinct, dark, 
 invisible region. 
 
 If we take these words to designate a particular 
 place as the abode of spirits after death, we must, 
 upon like authority, hold that that place is under 
 ground, for there it was believed by the ancients to 
 be located ; and the same evidence, which is to con- 
 vince us that it is a distinct place, ought also to lead 
 us to locate it under the earth. Into what strange 
 contradictions do the advocates of this middle place 
 fall. They argue, first, that there is a middle place, 
 because the Jews believed in such a place as a dark, 
 doleful, mysterious, under-ground kingdom ; but when 
 
 # “ It is a genera] term for the place of departed spirits : as if 
 we should say, such an one is gone to the invisible world: he 
 is dead: he is gone to the world of spirits. This expression 
 leaves it undecided whether the soul is gone to heaven or 
 hell.” — D r. Alex. McLeod. 
 
 So clearly is this the sense of the terms Hades and Sheol ; 
 that almost any number of authorities might be quoted in proof 
 of it. No one who is familiar with the history of this subject 
 will for a moment pretend the contrary. Why then, we ask, 
 in the name of all honest learning, are our religious feelings 
 still tormented with pictures of this ghost-like region between 
 earth and heaven ! u When I became a man, I put away child- 
 ish things.” 
 
 II * 
 
126 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 they come to describe the Hades in which they be- 
 lieve, then it is “ a celestial nursery,” — “ a garden of 
 delights and holy joys,” — “ a region upon which shines 
 the light of God’s countenance, and where we breathe 
 celestial airs !” How different is this modern Hades 
 from the ancient one, and yet, from the existence of 
 that one in the mind of the Jews, w r e are to be con- 
 vinced that one still exists in reality ! 
 
 It is said that Hades must mean a place separate 
 and distinct, and is not a general name for the future 
 v r orld, because the ancient Greeks spake of some who 
 were dead and in the state of the dead, whom they, 
 nevertheless, did not believe to be in Hades. Such 
 they believed to be the case with those wdio died be* 
 fore their time, in some unnatural way, and those 
 whose bodies were unburied. The reason, however, 
 why they spoke thus of those who died in a violent 
 and untimely manner, and of those whose bodies re- 
 mained unburied, was, because they believed that the 
 souls of such are doomed to wander about on the earth 
 — the first, until the time arrives which would have 
 been their proper time to die ; and, the second, until 
 the body receives sepulture. Thus the soul of Poly- 
 dorus v T as said to have wandered, and only obtained 
 rest when his body had been honoured with funeral 
 rites.* This same superstition has come down to our 
 time. It is still believed among ignorant and simple- 
 hearted peasants, that the spirit of the suicide wanders 
 about the place where it was violently caused to leave 
 the body before its time. By Stilling, it is taught, 
 
 * See Bishop on Creed, note, page 354. 
 
THE INTERMEDIATE ABODE. 
 
 127 
 
 that such as have died a violent and unnatural death, 
 and have not received decent and* orderly burial, are 
 doomed to wander around the place where their re- 
 mains are, or at least, that they often return and visit 
 them, and are often seen. Holding this view, the 
 Greeks could, with propriety, speak of some of the 
 dead as not being in Hades; and the term Hades 
 could still stand, as it universally did among them, to 
 mean the spirit w T orld in general, as distinct from the 
 earth. 
 
 By taking this view of the subject, too, we avoid 
 that endless confusion in which we find ourselves 
 whenever we attempt to make Hades mean a third 
 place. Upon this strange confusion of terms, a host 
 of errors have been built. Universalists vainly try to 
 make the terms Sheol and Hades mean the grave only, 
 and some who oppose them as vainly try to make them 
 mean hell only, and a third class are equally unsuc- 
 cessful in interpreting them to mean a middle place ; 
 they try to make them mean neither the grave nor 
 hell, in violation of the context, and the testimony of 
 antiquity. Now, when we adopt the view here taken, 
 all is plain, harmonious, and consistent. We have 
 terms which signify heaven and hell as the final abode 
 of spirits, and we have a general term, Hades, which 
 signifies the spirit-world, without any reference to the 
 condition of those who go thither as happy or miser- 
 able. 
 
 From this point of view all the passages in which 
 these words occur, become at once intelligible to any 
 careful reader. To take up each passage here, and 
 give of it an exposition, would lead me too far out of 
 
128 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 my course*; but that this view of the matter is correct, 
 will still farther appear as we examine other arguments 
 which have been urged in favour of a middle abode, 
 and especially when we come to the positive proof in 
 favour of the doctrine that the souls of the saints pass 
 immediately at death into heaven. The reader is, 
 therefore, invited to follow patiently on. 
 
 2. It has been argued, that there are those on the 
 earth, who, at the moment of their death, are not 
 sufficiently wicked to be thrust into hell, nor yet suffi- 
 ciently good to be taken into heaven ; and that it is 
 therefore reasonable to believe that God has made a 
 transition place where the soul is fully ripened for its 
 final abode. 
 
 This argument takes something for granted which 
 the Scripture^ flatly condemn. It takes for granted 
 that there is in religion a neutral ground, whereas 
 that idea is strongly repudiated by the direct lan- 
 guage, as well as by the steady tenor and spirit of the 
 holy scriptures. The Bible knows only of two classes 
 of persons. Those who are out of Christ and not re- 
 generated, are carnal, at enmity with God, and in a 
 state of condemnation. Those who are in Christ are 
 regenerate, spiritual, in favour with God, justified, 
 and shall never come into condemnation. He who has 
 faith small like a mustard seed, hope like a bruised 
 reed, and love like the smoking flax, is a justified 
 saint, a child of God, and an heir, not of Hades, but 
 of the inheritance which is with the saints in light. 
 He who is not united to Christ by a living faith, 
 though he break only one of the least of the com- 
 mandments, is guilty of them all; not that he will 
 
THE INTERMEDIATE ABODE. 
 
 J29 
 
 receive equal damnation with the chief of sinners, but 
 that the spirit in him which violates the least, is the 
 same spirit in kind, though less in degree, which vio- 
 lates the whole, — is against God, and, consequently, 
 # on the side of Satan. No one can serve two masters. 
 Christ and Belial, light and darkness, have no fellow- 
 ship with each other. There are only two gates, the 
 straight and the wide — only two ways, the narrow and 
 the broad ; and two goals are at their end ; for the one 
 leads to destruction, and the other into life. To this 
 general tenor of divine truth on this subject, is to be 
 added the plain declaration of Christ, “ He that is not 
 with me, is against me ; and he that gathereth not 
 wdth me scattereth abroad.’ ’ 
 
 This idea also sins against the atonement. It inti- 
 mates that the work of salvation is no’t fully and finally 
 done in the sufferings and death of Christ, and in the 
 application of the benefits of his death to our souls by 
 the Spirit. The Bible tells us that the blood of Christ 
 cleanses the soul from all sin, and fits it by its blessed 
 sprinklings to enter into the holy place, whereas, ac- 
 cording to this theory, part at least of this is to be 
 accomplished by means of the middle state. In like 
 manner, is it derogatory to the work of the Holy Spirit ; 
 He is the sanctifier, under his influence the soul is to 
 be made ripe for a transit, at death, into glory ; but 
 according to this idea, part of this, at least, is to be 
 done in the middle abode. “ There under genial and 
 sanative influences, it (the soul) repairs its losses and 
 injuries, recovers its balance and tone, becomes tho- 
 roughly developed, and fully prepared for another and 
 still higher stage of being.”* 
 
 # Dead in Christ, p. 100. 
 
IIEAYEN. 
 
 180 
 
 It sins also against the church. She is the nursery 
 of the saints — “the mother of us all.” “ Christ also 
 loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might 
 sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by 
 the word, that he might present it to himself a glori- 
 ous church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such 
 thing ; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” 
 Eph. v. 25 — 27. Here the Saviour proposes to do 
 by the church what the abettors of the middle abode 
 propose to do by the genial and sanative influences 
 of Hades. The church, which is the body of Christ, 
 and the depository of his life, grace, word, Spirit, and 
 ordinances, has genial and sanative influences far more 
 effective than any to be found in this dark and dreary 
 kingdom of shades. To one who has proper views of 
 Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the church, the following 
 language in reference to the advantages which the 
 soul derives from a temporary abode in Hades, sounds 
 absolutely wicked: “Thus, after a long and severe 
 process, and victory over many enemies, and at infinite 
 cost, the disadvantages of the fall are at length re- 
 paired, and the original destination attained!” And 
 again : “ When the pious soul has reached this state 
 and habitation of the dead in Christ, it is freed from 
 whatever hinderances and disadvantages arise out of 
 intimate connexion and sympathy with these imperfect, 
 sluggish, sensual and diseased bodies, except so far as 
 former connexion and sympathy may extend their 
 baneful influence beyond the grave!”* Is this the 
 doctrine of the Episcopal church, of which the author 
 of the little work from which these quotations are 
 
 *Dead in Christ, p. 101. (See note on p. 117.) 
 
TIIE INTERMEDIATE ABODE. 
 
 131 
 
 made is a minister? We hope not. If it is, it is still 
 more under the influence of the Platonic philosophy 
 and the Romish theology than we are willing to be- 
 lieve. If it is, we hold our own faith in the holy ca- 
 tholic church far more precious than theirs. 
 
 Just extend, according to some, a certain kind of 
 probation or preparation for heaven beyond the hour 
 of death, and you open a flood-gate through which the 
 church and the w T orld will soon be completely deluged 
 with error. Admit the existence of this intermediate 
 abode, and one will erect in it a purgatory ; another 
 will extend the day of probation into it ; another will 
 have the gospel there preached to the heathen ; another 
 will make in it a “ celestial nursery, ” to take the place 
 of the church ; another will have it as a place where 
 all will be punished for awhile, and from which all men 
 shall finally be restored to complete salvation ; another 
 will extend its wonderful remedial powers even to 
 devils ; — thus its power to redeem and restore will go 
 far beyond the blood of Christ, the influence of the 
 Spirit, and the tender and holy care of the church. 
 
 3. It has also been argued, that heaven, w T hich is 
 a place adapted to be the residence of the saints after 
 they are replenished with bodies, cannot be a suitable 
 place for the souls of the saints before they are united 
 again to their bodies ; and that therefore it is reason- 
 able to think that God will not place them there till 
 after the resurrection ; and that he will, in the mean 
 time, detain them in an intermediate abode, where 
 they shall enjoy a place suited to their disembodied 
 state. This argument will be answered fully, when 
 we get to the statement and proof of what we consider 
 
132 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 the true theory of the final abode of the righteous, and 
 of their immediate entrance upon it at death. 
 
 In the mean time it may be remarked, that in our 
 “Father's house are many mansions,” all prepared 
 by Christ, and there will, therefore, be no want of 
 adaptation to the case of those whom the Father calls 
 home to live with him. In the house of an earthly 
 parent there are .often full-grown children, and babes 
 in the cradle, but the same house is adapted to each, 
 though their circumstances and conditions vary much. 
 The parent has food for each adapted to their peculiar 
 wants, and knows how to employ their time pleasantly 
 and profitably. It may be said that this world in 
 which we live is adapted for the residence in it of full- 
 grown men, but is it not equally adapted to children ? 
 It is adapted even to beasts, as well as to men. It is 
 a fit abode alike for flying fowls and fishes ; for the 
 mightiest leviathan and mastodon, as well as insects 
 and creeping things. Yet it is but one world, though 
 it be of such various capacities. So heaven ; because 
 it is a suitable abode for the Saviour in his glorified 
 body, and will be adapted to our renovated bodies : 
 it is not, therefore, necessarily a place unfit for angels 
 and the spirits of just men made perfect. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS. 
 
 “For I was a witty child, and had a good spirit. Yea, 
 rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled. 57 — Wis. of 
 Sol. viii. 19, 20. 
 
 The theory of the transmigration of souls, princi- 
 pally, though not altogether pagan, is peculiar, and 
 
TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS. 
 
 133 
 
 worthy of a brief notice, as exhibiting a mode by 
 which the soul is supposed to be detained in its way 
 to its final and blessed abode. Those who hold this 
 doctrine, believe that there is a final place or state of 
 complete felicity, but that this place is not reached 
 immediately after death, but by the soul passing 
 through many successive stages of being. 
 
 According to this doctrine, the soul, when it leaves 
 this body at death, enters immediately into some 
 other body suited for its reception. Sometimes it 
 enters into another human body, sometimes the bodies 
 of animals, and sometimes even of plants and trees. 
 The kind of body into which it enters depends upon 
 its disposition, and the degree of virtue and moral 
 culture which it has previously attained. The angry 
 and malicious are sent into serpents, the ravenous 
 into wolves, the audacious into lions, the fraudulent 
 into foxes — the souls of the cowards and effeminate 
 are thrust into the bodies of women ; those of mur- 
 derers into the bodies of savage beasts ; the lascivious 
 into the swine, the vain and inconstant into birds, 
 and the slothful into fishes.* Thus it is ordained by 
 the law of fate that every spirit shall enter into a 
 body congenial to its character, at the time it leaves 
 its own body. 
 
 This doctrine has been common among almost all 
 the rude and uncultivated nations and tribes of the 
 earth in all time. It runs through all the philosophy 
 of India and the east generally. It was held in one 
 or other of its forms by Pythagoras, Plato, and their 
 
 # Leland, Neces. of Divine Rev., vol. 2, p. 304. 
 
 12 
 
134 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 disciples. It is found in the theology of the ancient 
 Egyptians. It is said to have been held in more 
 modern times by many of the Jews. Even since the 
 seventeenth century it has, says Dr. Knapp, been held 
 and advocated by Helmont, Edelman, and Lessing. 
 
 The doctrine of transmigration has also been held 
 in various forms. In some systems it is connected 
 with the doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul ; it 
 is supposed that as the soul has existed previous to its 
 entrance into its present body, so it will continue to 
 exist in another after it leaves this. Some held that 
 the human soul is a part of God, or of the “ universal 
 soul,” every where diffused, and that it will, through 
 successive transmigrations, finally be absorbed again 
 into divinity. In every change it will come nearer to 
 its original purity, till it is perfectly pure, when it 
 will be again a part of God as it originally was before 
 it was carried captive by a union with matter. Some 
 held that these changes were for the purpose of puri- 
 fication, while others believed them to be for the pur- 
 pose of retribution ; and some, that by these means 
 the soul was elevated gradually to higher stages of 
 enjoyment. Some held again, contrary to this, that 
 these transmigrations are of physical, fatal, and eter- 
 nal necessity, and that there was no deliverance from 
 it. This was a doctrine of the early Egyptians, and 
 W’as from them, to some extent, imbibed into the east. 
 It belongs to the doctrine of fatalism in general, and 
 finds favour in connexion with it. Later, the Egyp- 
 tians believed that it is compelled to pass through' all 
 terrestrial and marine animals, that it completes this 
 circuit in three thousand years, and after that enters 
 again a human body. 
 
TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS. 
 
 185 
 
 Some supposed that some privileged souls would not 
 be required to submit to this law of transmigration at 
 all, but having been prepared by severe discipline, 
 and by constant virtuous and divine contemplation, 
 they were taken immediately into their final abode. 
 Some were supposed immediately to become demons 
 and heroes. Pythagoras, in his golden verses, pro- 
 mises to him wdio should obey his precepts, that when 
 he leaves the body he should go into the free ether, 
 become an immortal God, incorruptible, and be no 
 more subject to die. The object of philosophy and 
 religion was held to be to procure fewer and more 
 favourable transmigrations, to abridge their duration, 
 or to secure even a complete exemption from them. 
 
 It may here be remarked, that the doctrine of suc- 
 cessive conflagrations and purifications which some of 
 the oriental systems of philosophy taught, which sup- 
 posed that this earth wmuld thus by degrees become a 
 holy habitation, and that its inhabitants wmuld become 
 holy with it by the same process, is plainly related to 
 this idea of transmigration. It rests on the same 
 philosophy in part. The theory of the earth’s purifi- 
 cation by fire as the future abode of the saints, is also 
 the same in its ground, only baptized into the Chris- 
 tian system. The idea, held by some, that the souls 
 of saints pass from planet to planet, and are thus en- 
 nobled by each ascent, rests also upon the same pagan 
 notion. Purgatory, too, the intermediate state, and 
 the idea of final restoration, by whatever means it is 
 supposed to be secured, are all legitimately traced 
 back to their parentage in the dreams of oriental phi- 
 losophy. There is not, let it once for all be known, 
 
186 
 
 IIEAVEN. 
 
 any purification but by tlie blood of Christ, and by it 
 alone ; we need no successive stages of purging, but — 
 u Sinners plunged beneath that flood, 
 
 Lose all their guilty stains.” 
 
 And as there are no successive stages of purification, 
 except progressive sanctification by the Holy Ghost, 
 so we need no other mode of ascending to the realms 
 of blissful light but the chariots of Israel and the 
 horsemen thereof, or that convoy of angels which 
 carried the poor beggar's ripe spirit from the steps of 
 the rich man’s door into Abraham’s bosom. 
 
 The ancients may have received the first hint to 
 these views of transmigration from observing the ana- 
 logies of nature. It w^as seen that when organized 
 matter is dissolved, it does not perish, but only 
 changes its form. It was seen that after the flower 
 of the plant fades, and the seed falls to the earth, it 
 is only to spring up in a newly constructed form. 
 Following on the course of upward life, it was seen 
 that the chrysalis perishes only to free its enclosed 
 life, which bursts into a butterfly, and thus in a new 
 form continues its old life. Thus it was natural for 
 them, finally, to come to the idea that when the human 
 body ceases to be pervaded by the spirit, and crumbles 
 into its elemental dust, the spirit assumes a new form, 
 and thus continues its existence upon earth. 
 
 This idea may, however, have a ground deeper than 
 mere observation. It rests, perhaps, upon a deep re- 
 ligious feeling, and was first suggested by a deep want 
 in the spirit. It felt that it could not return to its 
 Creator and enjoy the holiness and perfection of his 
 presence in its imperfect and impure state. With the 
 
TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS. 187 
 
 scripture mode of justification by the blood of Jesus, 
 and of sanctification by the Holy Spirit, they were 
 not acquainted, and hence the spirit, made earnest by 
 a sense of its wants, constructed by its own wisdom a 
 ladder by which to ascend to the great First Cause as 
 its final rest. “ At the bottom of this whole belief 
 lies the deep and (in a certain sense) just feeling, that 
 after man has wandered so far from God, in order to 
 approach him again, he must travel with great labour 
 through a long and dreary way ; and also the convic- 
 tion that nothing which is imperfect or stained with 
 sin, can enter into the pure world of blessed spirits, 
 or be for ever united with God.”* 
 
 How little power has this doctrine to restrain evil 
 doers ! Their punishment is to consist in this, that 
 they shall at death be thrust into bodies more suitable 
 to the exercise of their wicked natures, where they 
 can, in a way more free and full than before, give 
 vent to all their corrupt and wicked passions. This 
 is a kind of punishment in which they delight. Give 
 them the reins of their lusts, and an element suited 
 to their natures to revel in, a,nd they ask no better 
 heaven. This itself is a sufficient condemnation of 
 this theory. 
 
 What cold consolation also does this doctrine afford 
 to a soul which piously and ardently longs to enjoy 
 the blessed vision of God, and to partake of the pure 
 joys of a sinless world ! Is it, then, by this long and 
 dreary way that the tired soul must ascend to God 
 and its final rest ? Must the spirit which longs and 
 
 * Knapp’s Theology, vol. 2, p. 603. 
 
 12 * 
 
138 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 faints to see the abode of the blest, be doomed to sub- 
 mit to such long and comfortless changes ? Ah, no ! 
 God has raised our souls to better hopes. The same 
 day when the penitent thief expires on the cross, he 
 is with Christ in paradise. Those who die in the 
 Lord are blessed from henceforth , saith the Spirit, 
 and as soon as they afe absent from the body they 
 are present with the Lord. 
 
 One gentle sigh their fetter breaks; 
 
 We scarce can say “ They 7 re gone ! 77 
 
 Before the willing spirit takes 
 Her mansion near the throne . 75 
 
 How thankful ought we to be for that blessed revela- 
 tion from heaven, by which the hopes of the good are 
 so sweetly confirmed, and by wdiich the fears of the 
 wicked are more and more increased ! Our religion 
 is indeed a terror to evil-doers, and a praise and joy 
 to those who do well. May God pity the nations 
 who sit in darkness, enable them all soon to arise and 
 walk in the blessed light of his truth, and rejoice in 
 the hopes of the gospel of his Son ! 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 THE SLEEP OF THE SOUL. 
 
 <( He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he 
 live. 77 — Jesus. 
 
 In discussing the question, whether the souls of the 
 saints pass immediately at death into heaven, the doc- 
 trine of the sleep of the soul deserves particular notice. 
 According to this theory, the soul, at the moment of 
 
THE SLEEP OF THE SOUL. 
 
 139 
 
 death, sinks into an unconscious lethargy and pro- 
 found insensibility to all things. In this state it re- 
 mains, like the body, in the grave, until the final 
 resurrection, at which time it is awakened to con- 
 sciousness and life again by the power of God. 
 
 This idea, no doubt, originated from the ancient 
 idea entertained of the under world, as a dark, lonely, 
 desolate and silent place, the land of deep forgetful- 
 ness, and unmolested quietude, wdiere the manes of 
 the dead repose. When the body was seen to become 
 quiet in death, and lie in insensibility, it could easily 
 originate the suggestion that the soul, which had con- 
 stituted the activity of the body, slept or reposed in 
 a similar way. 
 
 In later times the hint thus received was strength- 
 ened by deductions from the philosophy of the Mate- 
 rialists. This w r as a school or sect of philosophers 
 which arose in the ancient church, and their doctrines, 
 with various modifications, but still resting on the 
 same general ground, have been perpetuated to this 
 time. They believed that the soul is a result of the 
 physical organization of the body, and is itself mate- 
 rial. The inference was, that when this physical or- 
 ganization ceases its activity in death, then the soul, 
 which was a result of it, becomes Inactive also, and 
 that, in fact, it has no existence at all separate from 
 the body of which it is a result, just as motion results 
 from a machine. The soul, therefore, has no real po- 
 sitive existence again, until it is reproduced with the 
 reconstruction of the body in the resurrection at the 
 last day. Infidels who held the doctrine of Material- 
 ism did not, of course, believe that the soul would 
 
140 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 ever again be reproduced, but with the body shared a 
 like hopeless fate. Such were the Sadducees, who 
 believed not in the “ resurrection, nor in angels, nor 
 spirits.’ ’ Those of the Christian faith, who adopted 
 this philosophy, believed that it imparted a true value 
 and importance to the doctrine of the resurrection. 
 
 In the fifth century, according to Dr. Knapp, Hie- 
 ronymus accused Yigilantius of holding this opinion, 
 though it is believed unjustly. In the twelfth cen- 
 tury it was held by some, as appears from the fact 
 that it was condemned by Innocent III. In the six- 
 teenth century it was believed and advocated by some 
 Anabaptists and Socinians ; and in the seventeenth, 
 it was taught and defended by Christopher Artobe, 
 John Heyer, and others. Since then, by Dr. Priest- 
 ley, and by the Unitarian and Socinian Materialists 
 generally. In reference to this doctrine, it is written 
 upon the tomb-stone of Dr. Priestley, “ Return unto 
 thy rest, 0 my soul ; for the Lord hath dealt bounti- 
 fully with thee.” 
 
 This doctrine was, no doubt, first invented as a pro- 
 per mode of disposing of the soul between death and 
 the resurrection. It was felt that the soul must be 
 somewhere during the time that the body sleeps in the 
 grave. It was supposed that it could not be in hea- 
 ven proper, until after its re-union with the body, be- 
 cause if that is a suitable place for the abode of the 
 saints with their bodies, it could not, it was thought, 
 be adapted to the soul in its denuded state. The dif- 
 ferent theories of an intermediate state and abode, 
 were also thought to want ground in truth, hence the 
 conclusion was attained that, as the body rests in un- 
 
TIIE SLEEP OF THE SOUL. 
 
 141 
 
 consciousness in the grave, so the soul also rests -with 
 it in lethargus until the resurrection. This doctrine, 
 thus suggested by a supposed theological difficulty, 
 was strengthened by the philosophy of the Materi- 
 alists, of which it was a necessary and unavoidable 
 deduction. After it had thus found access to the 
 minds of men by the way of philosophy, it an 
 easy task to find scripture that would, at least in 
 sound, establish it. For this purpose resort was made 
 to figurative passages, and especially such as speak 
 of the dead as sleeping in the grave and as knowing 
 nothing. It was common among the ancients, as it is 
 still, to speak of the history of the body as the his- 
 tory of the whole man. Hence those who firmly be- 
 lieve in the existence of the soul in a conscious state 
 after death, commonly speak of their departed friends 
 as sleeping in the grave, as knowing not, and as feel- 
 ing not, and as reposing in the peaceful and dreamless 
 slumbers in the lonely city of the dead. 
 
 The argument, in favour of the sleep of the soul, 
 derived from -the philosophical supposition that the 
 soul is the result of corporeal organization, and that 
 it is, therefore, not capable of existing in a state of 
 separation from it, has evidently no good ground. The 
 argument is false in the premises. This a few consi- 
 derations will show. 
 
 Facts and reason prove that the body is not thus 
 over and above the soul, the source and reason of its 
 activities, and its master. Yet this would be the case 
 according to the theory of the Materialists, just as a 
 machine is master and ground of the energy and mo- 
 tion which result from it. How often do we see that 
 
142 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 the soul, in the intenseness of its activities, forgets 
 the body entirely, and stands superior to it ! It is 
 capable of becoming so absorbed and swallowed up* in 
 its own operations as to become entirely insensible to 
 pains and weaknesses in the body, however great they 
 maybe. This has often been seen at the stake of the 
 martyr, as well as in 
 
 “The chamber where the good man meets his fate.” 
 
 The will is master of the body, and moves it at plea- 
 sure ; but if the will, as part of the soul, is a result 
 of the organization and the operations of the body, — 
 if the body is its cause and ground, then we would 
 have the strange contradiction that the effect is master 
 of the cause ! 
 
 The soul is capable of activities that are far higher, 
 more free and more unconfined than the body. In 
 the abstractions of its reasonings, in the flights of 
 imagination, in the ecstacy of its joys, as well as in 
 the deeps of its sorrows, the body is left far behind. 
 The inspirations of which it is capable, by its contem- 
 plations of the sublime, beautiful, and lovely in poetry 
 and in art, are entirely such as the body cannot share. 
 The soul makes a wake which the body is too tardy 
 and weak to follow, and it feels that which the body 
 cannot reach with its sympathies. The poet and the 
 artist often exceed themselves. We have an instance 
 of inspiration which far exceeds any of those now 
 mentioned, and which proves strongly the independ- 
 ence of the soul. It is the blessed ecstacy of Paul, 
 by which he was caught up into the third heaven. So 
 vastly absorbed was he in the powerful operations of 
 
THE SLEEP OF THE SOUL. 
 
 143 
 
 his spirit, that he could not tell whether he was in the 
 body or out of it. If he was in the body at the time 
 he was caught up, and heard in heaven unspeakable 
 words, then it proves that the soul can act without 
 being conscious of the body, and that it is conse- 
 quently superior to it. If he wus out of the body , 
 then it proves that the soul is capable of existing in a 
 separate state. (2 Cor. xii.) 
 
 Instances have been produced of persons who have 
 had the operations of the mind for a length of time 
 crippled or suspended in their activities, by an acci- 
 dent happening to the body. This has been the case 
 with persons w T ho received wounds in the head which 
 affected the brain. This is supposed to prove that the 
 existence of the mind is absolutely dependent upon 
 the regular organic activity of the body, and that, 
 therefore, when the body is entirely destroyed, of 
 course, the soul can have neither consciousness nor 
 activity. This, however, proves nothing in favour of 
 the Materialists’ theory. We can readily admit that 
 the connexion of soul and body, during life, is such, 
 that an abuse of the body may derange or suspend 
 the operations of the mind, and yet this does not prove 
 that the soul, when regularly and entirely freed from 
 the body by death, is not capable of independent ex- 
 istence. The reason why the soul, in such cases, does 
 not act rightly, is not because it is separate from the 
 body, but because it is connected with the body in a 
 diseased state. This does not prove that the soul is 
 not capable of right action when entirely free from 
 the body ; it only proves that it will not act aright 
 when connected with a body whose organism is sickly 
 
144 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 and deranged. Restore the body to its health and 
 regular condition, and the soul will resume its func- 
 tions ; separate the soul entirely from it, and it may, 
 for all this argument proves to the contrary, do the 
 same. The body, in this case, can, at most, be con- 
 sidered only as a clog or impediment to the soul’s 
 operations, either to hinder entirely, or at least to 
 distort, its regular activities ; and it is just as probable 
 that an entire separation would restore its healthful 
 action, as that this should be accomplished by bring- 
 ing again the soul and body into their regular relations. 
 I am aware that what has now been said does not 
 positively prove that the soul is capable of separate 
 existence ; but it does prove that the above argument 
 of Materialism does not prove the contrary. The 
 way is thus open for the positive Scripture proof, that 
 the soul is capable of such separate existence. 
 
 The Scriptures teach plainly, that the soul and the 
 body are not necessarily united, and that the soul is 
 capable of separate existence. In the creation of man, 
 we are told God formed him, as to his body, out of 
 the earth ; but he did not become a living soul until 
 He “ breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” 
 Thus while his body came from the earth, the activity 
 of it was a consequence of that energy which God put 
 into it by his breath ; and what was that, if not the 
 soul? We are also told, (Zech. xii. 1,) that the Lord 
 “ formeth the spirit of man within him.” The Saviour 
 also says to his disciples, “Fear not them which kill 
 the body, but are not able to kill the soul ; but rather 
 fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body 
 in hell.” Matt. x. 28. This he spoke to them, when 
 
THE SLEEP OF THE SOUL. 
 
 145 
 
 he sent them out, in reference to the persecutions to 
 which they would be exposed. He intimates that 
 these persecutions might be so severe as to bring death 
 to the body, but he comforts them with the assurance 
 that though they kill the body, the soul would still 
 live on. There would be no force in this language, as 
 the language of comfort, or any other supposition, than 
 that the soul is independent of the body, and will 
 mount upward, unscarred and unscorched from the 
 flames of the martyr’s fire. Solomon also tells us that 
 the course which the soul and body take at death, are 
 not only independent, but opposite to each other. 
 “ Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was ; 
 and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.” Eccl. 
 xii. 7. 
 
 These considerations from Scripture are not only 
 sufficient to prove that the soul can exist independently 
 of the body, but they go far to prove that the soul 
 does so exist immediately after death, and while the 
 body is sleeping in the grave. Having thus confuted 
 fairly and completely, as we suppose, the arguments 
 of those who hold the sleep of the soul, let us now 
 proceed to offer a few additional arguments which 
 prove, most directly, that the soul is conscious when 
 separated from the body, between death and the re- 
 surrection. 
 
 The doctrine of the sleep of the soul is unreasonable 
 and unphilosophical. It is exactly contrary to what, 
 from a careful exercise of our reason, we would ex- 
 pect ; especially after we have once admitted the soul’s 
 immortality. There is something too abrupt, violent, 
 and unnnatural, in the idea that the soul, at a certain 
 12 
 
146 
 
 IIEAVEN. 
 
 point in its history — at death, — should be suddenly 
 arrested, extinguished, or at least rendered entirely 
 unconscious, and remain thus for a long time, to be 
 awakened or called into life again, to commence its 
 course anew. The soul is evidently intended, in its 
 nature, to be ever progressive towards its state of per- 
 fection. It is regularly progressive in this world, and 
 it will be also in its history in the future world. 
 Now, why should it be abruptly arrested in its pro- 
 gress of endless evolution and development? Has 
 God no place into which he can call the spirit at 
 death, where its enlargement and growth can go regu- 
 larly and uninterruptedly on ? What can be gained 
 by this cold, torpid, and cheerless interlude of sleep ? 
 The soul also strongly desires this constant progress 
 in improvement, and, consequently, great joy and 
 happiness flow from it. The ever active spirit is not 
 satisfied with a merely negative state, its nature ex- 
 cites it constantly to positive being. God will not, 
 without great reason, arrest it in its progress in the 
 knowledge of himself, his w r orks, and his grace. If 
 such a reason exists, it ought to be clearly exhibited 
 by the advocates of the sleep of the soul. That God 
 who seems so to delight in life, that he peoples the 
 smallest pores of the solidest substances with animal- 
 cule, thus passing not over the smallest part of space 
 without making it swarm with miniature life, will no 
 doubt act similarly in reference to time ; so that every 
 moment of time, as well as every nook of space, will 
 be the bearer of conscious life, happy in the constant 
 evolutions by wdiich it is carried uninterruptedly for* 
 ward in the direction of its wonderful destiny. 
 
TIIE SLEEP OF THE SOUL. 
 
 147 
 
 Again, the nature of our union with Christ as be- 
 lievers, is such as to forbid the idea, that the soul 
 should ever sink into such a state of unconscious sleep. 
 44 Because I live ye shall live also,” says Christ. 
 That is not a moral union merely, or a union, by 
 which he becomes the defender and protector of hi3 
 people, but it is a living union. He that believeth 
 hath — in this world already — eternal life. It begins 
 here, and as it is eternal life, it must live on through 
 death and the grave. Hence, it is said, 44 he that 
 liveth and believeth on Him shall never die.” Death 
 shall not interrupt that life, it will only admit him 
 into a higher state or stage of life. 44 He that hath 
 the Son hath life.” This union is also taught in 
 figures. We are in him, as the branch is in the vine, 
 — as the members of the body are in the body, — by a 
 living connexion. Even where the apostle speaks of 
 the saints as united to Christ, as the stones are in a 
 building, he calls them 44 lively” or living stones, and 
 represents them as 44 growing” up a spiritual house. 
 Here he does violence to the laws of figurative speech, 
 for the purpose of teaching this life-union between 
 Christ and his saints. He is the head, we are the 
 members ; and the same life which is in him is also 
 in us. 
 
 Now this union commences in regeneration, and can 
 never end, no more than the life of Christ can end, 
 or be suspended. It continues to the end of life, — is 
 mightier than the grave, through Him w T ho is the 
 resurrection and the life, — and stretches itself over 
 death into the future world in which it lives on eter- 
 nally the same eternal life. The reason why the saint 
 
IIEAYEN. 
 
 348 
 
 lives in divine life in this world is because Christ lives, 
 and the saint lives in him ; and the reason why he 
 shall live uninterruptedly on, is the same reason con- 
 tinued. Blessed truth ! We are planted into the 
 source of eternal life, how can our life be interrupted 
 as long as the source flows ! 
 
 This furnishes us with the reason why this doctrine 
 of the sleep of the soul stands so firmly, and is 
 received so freely among Unitarians and Socinians. 
 It can flourish in no other soil. By them, this life- 
 union with Christ is denied. They make religion con- 
 sist merely in imitating Christ’s example, believing 
 and following his doctrines, acting under the better 
 motives which he revealed, and thus becoming morally 
 united to him. In their scheme this doctrine is con- 
 sistent. They receive the Saviour as the way and 
 the truth, — as example and teacher ; but not as the 
 LIFE. Materialism in philosophy, and Socinian and 
 Unitarian rationalism in theology, are necessarily 
 united vdiere they are intelligently and consistently 
 held. Here, alone, the sleep of the soul can find fa- 
 vour. In divinely illuminated philosophy, and in 
 evangelical theology, it finds no comfortable resting- 
 place. To enlightened evangelical minds, it is both 
 philosophically and theologically inconsistent ; and to 
 less intelligent, but humble and pious minds, it is 
 coldly repugnant ; even though the ground, on which 
 the cheerless error rests, be not understood, yet pious 
 feeling and holy hope instinctively start back from 
 this chilling clime, to breathe and live in air more 
 genial to the renewed spirit’s deep wants. 
 
 As sound reason and Christian philosophy forbid us 
 
THE SLEEP OF TIIE SCHJL. 149 
 
 to believe the sleep of the soul, so also does scrip- 
 ture. 
 
 Paul says, “ That to be absent from the body is to 
 be present with the Lord.” (2 Cor. v. 8.) The Sa- 
 viour lives, and to be present w r ith him, after death 
 separates us from the body, is certainly to enjoy con- 
 scious being. For this reason also, he had a desire 
 to depart from the body, that he might be with Christ, 
 which he knew would be far better. (Phil. i. 23.) 
 The Old Testament saints were not sleeping at the 
 time when the Saviour was upon earth, for he proves 
 to the Sadducees that they were alive at the time, 
 from the fact, that God proclaims himself to be the 
 God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and how could he 
 be their God if they w T ere not alive ? “ for he is not a 
 God of the dead, but of the living.” (Luke xx. 38.) 
 The same is evident also from the fact, that when the 
 Saviour was transfigured on the mount, Moses and 
 Elias appeared with him, and were seen by the dis- 
 ciples. The penitent thief on the cross had the pro- 
 mise given him of the Saviour that he should have 
 his life and consciousness continued through death, 
 and should even, that day, be with the Saviour in pa- 
 radise. (Luke xxii. 43.) The history of the rich 
 man and Lazarus affords an unanswerable proof that 
 the soul is conscious after death. (Luke xvi. 19 — 31.) 
 Its testimony can only be hushed by the wildest and 
 most unnatural suppositions, and by the most cruel 
 tortures, such as never would have been resorted to, 
 if they had not been necessary to support a theory. 
 In the Revelation of John, who, on the Isle Patmos, 
 had presented to his vision “ a door opened into hca- 
 13* 
 
150 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 ven,” the blessed are represented continually as liv 
 ing, acting, singing, and praising God. (Rev. v. 29 ; 
 vi. 9, 10; vii. 9.) This was all before the resurrec- 
 tion, for the resurrection is first mentioned in the 
 twentieth chapter. 
 
 This doctrine of the sleep of the soul is also con- 
 demned by the foretaste of future joys, which the 
 saints are often permitted to enjoy at their death. 
 God is pleased to grant to his saints in their last 
 hours the first-fruits of heavenly felicity as an earnest 
 and pledge of more blessed things to come, so that 
 they often feel, while yet in the flesh, the strong beat- 
 ings of the pulse of immortal life. 
 
 a Quite on the verge of heaven. 
 
 Of this we have instances in scripture, and in the ex- 
 perience of God’s people in the church. Stephen, 
 who fell a martyr to the truth which he preached to 
 the betrayers and murderers of the Lord Jesus, had 
 these sweet foretastes. While they, being cut to the 
 heart by the truth he uttered, gnashed their teeth in 
 anger, “he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up 
 steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, 
 and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And 
 said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son 
 of man standing on the right hand of God.” This 
 enraged them still more, and they ran upon him and 
 stoned him, until the spirit was forced from the body ; 
 but he, in joyous prospect of soon entering that hea- 
 ven which had been so graciously opened to him, and 
 of flying to the arms of that Saviour whom he saw 
 standing at God’s right hand, breathed out his life 
 sweetly, as in sleep, saying, “ Lord Jesus, receive my 
 
THE SLEEP OF THE SOUL. 
 
 151 
 
 spirit.” Who can believe that these bright visions of 
 the dying martyr were the dark shades of a long and 
 dreamless sleep, which was just then settling upon his 
 spirit ? Who can hear him commending his spirit to 
 that Saviour who was then so clearly before him, in 
 his dying visions, and then believe that Stephen has 
 been for eighteen hundred years, and is still, reposing 
 in profound unconsciousness ? 
 
 It seems that the lovely and joyful borders of hea- 
 ven sweetly intrude themselves into this world. There 
 is, on this side of Jordan, in the wilderness, not only 
 a tall Pisgah which affords to the eye of elevated faith 
 a transient glimpse of the Canaan of promise, but 
 there is also, right on the border of the stream, a de- 
 lightful low-land, to which the soft breezes of Canaan 
 come ; where the perfume of her vineyards is wafted 
 pleasantly, and where angels themselves present the 
 pilgrims with some ripe clusters, as a foretaste of the 
 coming vintage. This land lies quite on the verge of 
 heaven, to refresh the dying saints. It is called by 
 Bunyan “the country of Beulah,” and beautifully 
 described in his Pilgrim’s Progress. “Now I saw in 
 my dream, that by this time the pilgrims were got 
 over the enchanted ground, and entering into the 
 country of Beulah, (Is. lxii. 4 — 12 ; Cant. ii. 10 — 12;) 
 whose air was very sweet and pleasant, the way lying 
 directly through it, they solaced themselves there for 
 a season. Yea, here they heard continually the sing- 
 ing of birds, and saw every day the flowers appear in 
 the earth, and heard the voice of the turtle in the 
 land. In this country the sun shineth night and day : 
 wherefore this was beyond the valley of the Shadow 
 
352 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 of Death, and also out of the reach of Giant Despair ; 
 neither could they from this place so much as see 
 Doubting Castle. Here they were within sight of the 
 city they were going to : also here met them some of 
 the inhabitants thereof ; for in this land, the shining 
 ones commonly walked, because it was upon the bor- 
 ders of heaven. ” 
 
 What a description is this ! Every image in it 
 needs to be carefully considered to fix the idea full in 
 the mind. This land is not fanciful ; in instances in- 
 numerable, Christians, before dying, have felt that 
 they were in it. It is worthy of notice that it is 
 placed beyond the valley of the shadow of death. 
 We are prone to think that after the last breath is 
 breathed then the spirit passes through this valley ; 
 but it is not so. All the pains and fears, all the gloom 
 and bitterness of death is often past, for some time, 
 before the spirit leaves the body. How often has this 
 been found to be the experience of dying Christians ! 
 They, shortly before they die, emerge as out of dark- 
 • ness and fears, into light and calmness, as though 
 their very faces were radiant with heavenly light, and 
 as though the spirit were basking already in seas of 
 joy and love. When this is the case, they have 
 reached the land of Beulah, on the borders of heaven, 
 and the shadow of death is passed ! 
 
 It is related of an intelligent and pious lady, that 
 when she drew near to death, she got into great doubt, 
 darkness, and fears. Her husband believed that it 
 was the shadow of death into which she was entering, 
 and he requested that if her spirit became brighter 
 even after she could speak no more, she should give 
 
 V 
 
THE SLEEP OF THE SOUL. 
 
 153 
 
 him a token of it by pressing his hand. After having 
 lain for some time speechless, and her countenance 
 covered with quiet gloom, her eyes suddenly became 
 bright, and her face kindled into unearthly smiles ; 
 she turned towards her husband, and pressed into his 
 hand her joyful farewell ! Blessed triumph! happy 
 conqueror ! Was she just then falling asleep ? 
 
 This lady was but a short time in Beulah, but still 
 it threw its light in heavenly smiles upon her counte- 
 nance. Others of Zion’s wayfaring men have a longer 
 tarrying time in this valley of delights. Dr. Payson 
 was in it for some weeks before his death. “When I 
 read Bunyan’s description of the land Beulah, where 
 the sun shines and the birds sing day and night, I 
 used to doubt whether there was such a place ; but 
 now my own experience has convinced me of it, and 
 it infinitely transcends all my previous conceptions. 
 I think the happiness I enjoy is similar to that en- 
 joyed by glorified spirits before the resurrection.” 
 In a letter which he dictated to his sister some time 
 before his death, he says, “Were I to adopt the figu- 
 rative language of Bunyan, I might date this letter 
 from the land of Beulah, of which I have been for 
 some weeks a happy inhabitant. The celestial city is 
 full in my view. Its glories beam upon me, its breezes 
 fan me, its odours are wafted to me, its sounds strike 
 my ears, and its spirit is breathed into my heart. 
 Nothing separates me from it but the river of death, 
 wdiich now appears but as an insignificant rill, that 
 may be crossed at a single step, whenever God shall 
 give permission. The Sun of Righteousness has been 
 gradually drawing nearer and nearer, appearing larger 
 
154 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 and brighter as he approaches, and now he fills the 
 whole hemisphere ; pouring forth a flood of glory, in 
 which I seem to float like an insect in the beams of 
 the sun ; exulting, yet almost trembling while I gaze 
 on this excessive brightness, and wondering with un- 
 utterable wonder, why God should deign thus to shine 
 upon a sinful worm. A single heart and a single 
 tongue seem altogether inadequate to my wants : I 
 want a whole heart for every separate emotion, and a 
 whole tongue to express that emotion. 0, my sister ! 
 my sister ! could you but know what awaits the Chris- 
 tian ; could you know only so much as I know, you 
 could not refrain from rejoicing, and even leaping for 
 joy. Labours, trials, troubles, would be nothing: 
 you would rejoice in afflictions, and glory in tribula- 
 tions ; and, like Paul and Silas, sing God’s praises in 
 the darkest night, and in the deepest dungeon.” 
 
 When this ripe saint was still nearer his end, he 
 said, “ My soul, instead of growing weaker and more 
 languishing, as my body does, seems to be endued 
 with an angel’s energies, and to be ready to break 
 from the body and join those around the throne.” 
 Still later, he said, “ It seems as if my soul had found 
 a pair of new wings, and was eager to try them, that 
 in her flutterings she would rend the fine net-work of 
 the body to pieces!” 
 
 I add no comment; but would ask the reader, whe- 
 ther all this was but the beginning of the spirit’s going 
 to sleep ; and whether Stephen and Payson, whose 
 spirits were thus floating and basking in the bright 
 and joyful dawn of immortal life, at the hour of death, 
 were at the time sinking into profound unconscious- 
 
THE SLEEP. OF THE SOUL. 155 
 
 ness, in which they are still sleeping on ! Who can 
 believe it ? 
 
 The last argument I shall offer against the sleep of 
 the soul is, that it is too cheerless and gloomy to find 
 place in a gospel so much abounding in consolations 
 as does the gospel of Jesus Christ. It may be said 
 that it cannot be cheerless, because the soul will lie in 
 deep repose, and be insensible to pain ; but what makes 
 it cheerless is that it is insensible also to joy. After 
 God has, by the revelation of a blessed heaven, excited 
 the hopes of his saints, and has granted to them the 
 beginning of its joys in this life, it is cheerless to think 
 that the full fruition of its bliss must be so long de- 
 ferred, and that the very beginnings of it, by which 
 they were often filled with joy unspeakable, must be 
 interrupted by unconscious years, and perhaps ages. 
 “ Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.” If the idea 
 of complete annihilation is cheerless, this is also, for 
 it is, for a time, the same in effect. No Christian 
 could meet death as cheerfully, and be as happy in its 
 near approach, if he held this view, as if he believed 
 that he should, immediately after the soul leaves the 
 body, live in conscious and positive enjoyment. 
 
 If, however, it w T ere not cheerless to the person 
 dying, it would be to his weeping friends, whom he 
 leaves behind. The scriptures abound in comforts to 
 the bereaved, and the sweetest source of comfort is 
 that they “are blessed” who die in the Lord “from 
 henceforth ;” and that henceforth there is laid up for 
 them a crown of life. The scriptures make the im- 
 pression on our minds that our departed ones are with 
 Christ in heaven, and not in the deep silence of the 
 
156 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 grave. Hence they are represented as coming with 
 him from heaven, at his second coming. (1 Thess. iii. 
 13.) It is our sweetest consolation, that they are 
 completely blessed. We only become fully reconciled 
 to consign them to the grave, because we believe that 
 they are happier now, than we could possibly make 
 them. It is true, that submission to God’s will, who 
 is wise and good, is the chief stay to us in the day of 
 trial and sorrow; but it must be remembered that 
 God does not require us to submit to his will in an 
 arbitrary way, but he is merciful to our infirmities, 
 and to this end he stoops to us with such consolations 
 as will not only lead us to submit, but to submit cheer- 
 fully, knowing that our loss was their gain. 
 
 We desire that those whom we love, while they are 
 with us on earth, should not only be free from misery, 
 but that they should be positively happy, and to make 
 them so is our highest diligence and concern. To be- 
 lieve, therefore, that when dead, they sleep in uncon- 
 sciousness, in a state entirely negative, is something 
 we cannot endure. If w^e desire that while they are 
 with us, they should share with us in positive joy, 
 how can we be satisfied with the idea that such posi- 
 tive joys are not continued to them ? If I must return 
 from the grave where I laid my dearest friend, whose 
 happiness it was the object of my life to promote, with 
 no other comfort than that he is unconscious of pain, 
 and that his spirit is as dead as his body until the re- 
 surrection, — if I must believe this, then I will weep 
 on. Like Rachel, weeping for her children, I cannot 
 be comforted, because he is not. I bend over the 
 stone which marks his resting-place, and am told that 
 
THE SLEEP OF THE SOUL. 
 
 157 
 
 <.he spirit which was part of my own is dead, for the 
 time being, like the body which is decaying beneath. 
 They tell me, that the heart which loved once is now 
 incapable of loving ; that those affections which were 
 set so strongly, and with imperishable freshness on 
 my heart, and which even had their only life in the 
 love of God and holy beings, now love nothing! I 
 thought love had something of divinity in it, and was, 
 therefore, itself undying ; but they say not. I thought 
 love was 46 strong as death, 7 ’ and that it could neither 
 be quenched by the waters, nor drowned by the floods, 
 (Songs viii. 6, 7 ;) but they say that in the damp, dark 
 charnel its light is extinguished. But I will not hear 
 them. Miserable comforters are they all ! 
 
 u How can this bleeding heart beat on, 
 
 While thine responds no more ? 
 
 How can this bitter agony be borne — 
 
 This desolation at Life ; s core ! 7? 
 
 When I read that the rich man, even in hell, took 
 an interest in his five brethren who were still on the 
 earth, I have hopes that those in heaven are not less 
 under the power of benevolent feelings and sympa- 
 thies, and that, therefore, they do even still love those 
 whom they loved on earth, and take an interest in 
 them ; but they tell me it is not so. I love them still, 
 and have thought that the power which draws me sor- 
 rowing after them, was the power of their affection 
 toward me ; but they say my love is not returned. 
 This is cheerless ; for what can make us more unhappy 
 than the thought that those we love do not, and can- 
 not return our love. They tell me that as the grassy 
 grave over which I weep drinks up my tears, and re- 
 14 
 
158 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 turns them not again, so the departed return no affec- 
 tion that is lavished upon their memories ; they heed 
 not our tears, they hear not our sighs, and they feel 
 not the warmth of our continued love for them. Oh ! 
 ye cold philosophers, do not insult our feelings thus in 
 the day of our sorrow ! 
 
 Twenty long years ago, I buried my dearest friend, 
 after for a long time we had smiled and wept along 
 life’s way together. Then I comforted myself with 
 the hope that he had gone to be with Christ, which is 
 far better. Now I hear that he has all the while 
 been sleeping in death’s dreary embrace. I go to his 
 grave to refresh his memory in my heart ; and, after 
 having, through twenty long years, thought much, felt 
 much, endured much, hoped much, enjoyed much, and 
 wept much, I am told that all this while my friend 
 has thought, felt, hoped, and enjoyed nothing ! I am 
 soon to die, and be buried by his side, and there, 
 ages on ages, perhaps, until the final resurrection, 
 our spirits, which once loved so ardently, shall lie 
 together in dreary lonely silence ! Abraham, Isaac, 
 Jacob, Moses, Elijah, Daniel, Paul, John the lovely, 
 and all whom we loved that are dead in Christ — all — 
 are lying, soul and body alike unconscious, in the 
 dreamless slumbers of the grave ! Away with this 
 cheerless dream ! I cannot hear it. It does violence 
 to my spirit, which God has created for conscious 
 enjoyment ; which Christ has redeemed by giving it 
 eternal life ; which the Holy Ghost has cultivated to 
 hope more warmly than it could otherwise have done 
 for the very thing w'hich this unbaptized philosophy 
 denies it ; and which the Bible declares shall, at the 
 
SPIRITS OF THE DEAD NEAR TIIEIR GRAVES. 159 
 
 time the body sinks into dust, “ return unto God who 
 gave it.” Eccl. xii. 7.) Out into the cold world, ye 
 cheerless Materialists ; as cold as matter itself is your 
 philosophy. It cannot live near the warm beating 
 heart of that Saviour who is the life of all his people, 
 and who, by living in them, makes it as impossible 
 that their life should be suspended as it is that he 
 himself should die. 
 
 SECTION Y. 
 
 THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD LINGERING ABOUT THEIR 
 GRAVES. 
 
 There is a dreamy presence every where, 
 
 As if of spirits passing to and fro : 
 
 We almost hear their voices in the air, 
 
 And feel their balmy pinions touch the brow. 
 
 We feel as if a breath might put aside 
 The shadowy curtain of the spirit-land ; 
 
 Revealing all the loved and glorified, 
 
 That death hath taken from affection’s band. 
 
 Lydia Jane Pierson. 
 
 Some who do not believe that the souls of the saints 
 pass immediately, at death, into heaven, have held the 
 opinion that their spirits linger about the grave where 
 the body lies, until the day of resurrection. 
 
 Socrates, vdiile he believed that those who are culti- 
 vated by the study of wisdom and philosophy to lives 
 of abstraction from the body, ascend at death to that 
 which is divine and immortal, believed, also, “that 
 they who only minded the body, and its appetites and 
 pleasures, having something in them ponderous and 
 
160 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 earthy, shall, after their departure out of this life, be 
 drawn down to the earth, and hover about the sepul- 
 chres.” Dr. Knapp says of the ancients, “Many be- 
 lieved that departed souls remain in and about the 
 graves or dwellings of the dead, either for ever, or for 
 a long time : so do many nations of different degrees 
 of cultivation. The opinion was formerly very widely 
 diffused, that departed spirits linger for a long time 
 around the dead body, or, at least, sometimes return 
 to it from the kingdom of the dead ; and hence, in 
 part, the belief in spectres. These ideas prevailed to 
 some extent among the Jews and early Christians; 
 and even in the Concil. Iliberit., in the year 813, it is 
 forbidden to kindle a light in burying ground, lest the 
 spirits of the saints should be disturbed.” 
 
 That the dead, whose bodies were not decently 
 buried, could not enter the world of spirits, but had 
 to wander about on earth, was the general belief in 
 Homer’s time, as may be seen in his Iliad. After 
 the death of Patroclus, whose body, 
 
 “Soiled with dust, and black with gore, 
 
 Lies on broad Hellespont’s resounding shore,” 
 
 Achilles is represented as retiring to the sea-shore, 
 where, falling asleep, the ghost of his friend appears 
 to him, chides him most mournfully, and asks com- 
 plainingly for a burial of his body that he may be 
 permitted to enter into the land of spirits. 
 
 “And sleeps Achilles'?” thus the phantom said; 
 
 “Sleeps my Achilles, his Patroclus dead 1 
 
 Living, I seemed his dearest, tenderest care, 
 
 But now, forgot, I wander in the air. 
 
SPIRITS OF TIIE DEAD NEAR T1IEIR GRAVES. 1G1 
 
 Let my pale corse the rites of burial know, 
 
 And give me entrance in the realms below : 
 
 Till then the spirit finds no resting-place, 
 
 But here and there, th ? unbodied spectres chase 
 The vagrant dead around the dark abode, 
 
 Forbid to cross th ? irremeable flood.” 
 
 Iliad , Bk. 23, line 83. 
 
 The idea that the spirits, of at least some, linger 
 about the place where their bodies are, is also advanced 
 by Stilling, that master in the regions of superstitious 
 twilight. He held the idea, which is also held by 
 Drew, and many others, that there is, and remains in 
 the body even after death, and while it decays in the 
 grave, an imperishable substance, called the germ of 
 the resurrection (Auferstehungskeim ;) and that this 
 will form the basis of the resurrection body. This 
 being in the grave with the body, the spirit is drawn 
 towards it as its home, by a mysterious attraction ; 
 and though the spirit is not always there, yet it feels 
 a particular interest in that place, and is, in a manner, 
 bound to it by anxious expectation and hope. Hence 
 it was concluded, that the place where the dead are 
 buried is the particular home of the spirit, and the 
 centre of its attractions, as though it could not leave 
 the world without its companion the body. 
 
 Even now there is a general feeling, if not a general 
 faith of this kind. Among simple-hearted peasants, 
 ghosts are seen where one was murdered, where one 
 murdered himself, or where one lost his life in some 
 violent or extraordinary way. To them, grave-yards 
 are hallowed places, made awful by the supposed pre- 
 sence of the dead. There are many even among the 
 14 * 
 
162 
 
 * HEAVEN. 
 
 more intelligent who feel as though the spirits of the 
 departed were near the cold sepulchral remains, though 
 they do not really believe it. Hence it is common for 
 persons, of all grades of cultivation, to seek beneath 
 the willow where they lie, a kind of lonely fellowship 
 with their beloved dead. There is a sweet hope, at 
 least, that there they are nearer to them than in all 
 the world beside ; and he is regarded as a cold and 
 heartless intruder who would argue away from them 
 the cherished dream. “She goeth to the grave to 
 weep there.’ ’ Sweet mourner ! Though we would not 
 rudely drive her away from the spot which has em- 
 bosomed all she held dear on earth, or forbid her with 
 tears to water the earth, which she expects will some 
 day yield her back her own again ; yet we would 
 whisper softly, “ He is not here. Why seek ye the 
 living among the dead?” 
 
 Many of the arguments that were urged against the 
 sleep of the soul in the previous section, bear with 
 equal force against this idea. It is not necessary to 
 array them anew specially against this theory. If it 
 can be done without making the spot where our friends 
 sleep less hallowed and endeared, it might b.e well for 
 us to dislodge from our minds a little the idea that 
 the spirits of our departed friends are to be sought 
 and communed with at their graves. Respect for 
 their memories, and for their bodies, ought to be suf- 
 ficient to embalm in our hearts the spot where they 
 lie in perpetual remembrance, and lead us often to it, 
 to pay there the devotions of love. 
 
 We find it, therefore, much to our comfort, while it 
 is no insult to the memory of the dead, to banish from 
 
SPIRITS OF THE DEAD NEAR THEIR GRAVJES. 163 
 
 our minds the idea that they are peculiarly there. 
 Mourner ! why do you desire to think your departed 
 friend there ? Do you really wish and hope that the 
 spirit you love w’ere there ? The idea, in proportion 
 as you realize it, will increase your sorrow. The place 
 is so cold and lonely. The night winds sigh so dole- 
 fully there. How dreadful in the dead of night is 
 that dreary and dreamless silence ! The snow lies so 
 cold upon the grave, and fiercer, than even the cutting 
 anguish of your bereaved heart, are the wintry storms 
 that rave, and drift, and whirl around the monumental 
 marble. Do you then wish them there, the sainted 
 dead ? No, no. They are not there, it is only inani- 
 mate mortality. It feels not its loneliness, and is not 
 chilled by the coldness of the place. 
 
 You think of their spirits as vigiling the body lying 
 in moveless silence, as listening to the night winds, or 
 as making a tender and mournful lament over their 
 lonely condition, and thus thinking, you are sad ; but 
 banish the thought from your mind, for they are not 
 there. In happier society than that in the city of the 
 dead, they live ; to sweeter sounds they listen ; to the 
 music of angelic choirs they bend an enraptured ear. 
 In genial and stormless climes they have found a 
 home. 
 
 Far from this world of toil and strife, 
 
 They 7 re present wdth the Lord. 
 
164 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 SECTION Yl. 
 
 THE TRUE DOCTRINE. 
 
 One gentle sigh their fetter breaks ; 
 
 We scarce can say u They ? re gone !” 
 
 Before the willing spirit takes 
 Her mansion near the throne. 
 
 The different theories by which the souls of saints 
 are supposed to be detained from entering heaven 
 immediately at death, have now been exhibited. They 
 have led us a long and dreary chase. The groundless- 
 ness of these theories has been, in part, shown in 
 connexion with a statement of them. They will, how- 
 ever, be more completely overthrown by a statement 
 of the true doctrine, and by the arguments that may 
 be adduced in its support. Various arguments that, 
 in passing along, were offered against these false 
 views, will also substantiate the true doctrine ; thus 
 the same implements that have been used to tear 
 down the old building, may be employed to erect the 
 new. If, therefore, anything should be presented in 
 this section, among other things, which may seem to 
 have been presented before, it must be remembered 
 that though they are the same tools, they are now 
 used to do a different kind of execution. 
 
 We consider the true dootrine of God’s word on 
 this subject to be this : The saints do immediately, at 
 death, enter that place which is called heaven, where 
 the body of the Saviour now is, where the divine 
 manifestations are most clearly and gloriously made, 
 where angels have their proper home, and where all 
 
THE TRUE DOCTRINE. 165 
 
 the heirs of Christ shall finally and for evermore be 
 assembled. 
 
 That the saints pass iiiimediately at death into 
 heaven, is taught in the symbols in some of the most 
 pious and learned denominations in the church. We 
 grant that this does not prove it absolutely true ; but 
 it has much weight, as showing how the scripture on 
 this subject was understood by many pious and learned 
 men who had the same interest in, and motives to the 
 truth as we have, and were, we may therefore suppose, 
 just as sincerely anxious to be led into the truth as 
 we can possibly be. The conclusions, therefore, to 
 which they have come, and which have been adopted 
 by their numerous successors for centuries, are valu- 
 able. Besides furnishing us with the testimony of so 
 much learning and piety, it serves to show that this is 
 no new idea, and that it is not the faith of a few, but 
 is the testimony of the church. 
 
 The first symbolical testimony we produce is the 
 Heidelberg Catechism, published first in 1563. This 
 symbol has been the embodiment of the Reformed 
 faith for more than three centuries. Its influence has 
 been very extensively respected and felt. It has, 
 since its publication, been translated and read in, at 
 least, fourteen different languages ; and it is said that 
 half a million of editions of it have been published in 
 Germany alone. In this country it is received as a 
 symbolic book, both in the Dutch Reformed and in 
 the German Reformed churches. In the fifty-seventh 
 question it is asked, What comfort is afforded to us 
 by the doctrine of the resurrection of the body ; and 
 the answer is : “ That not only my soul after this life 
 
166 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 shall be immediately taken up to Christ its head ; but 
 also, that my body, being raised by the power of 
 Christ, shall be re-united with my soul, and be made 
 like unto the glorious body of Christ.” Here the 
 doctrine is plainly taught, and has been responded to 
 with a joyful amen by millions during three hundred 
 years. 
 
 The next is from the Shorter Catechism, received 
 as a symbolic book, in the different branches of the 
 Presbyterian communion. It is in answer to the 
 thirty-seventh question: “What benefits do believers 
 receive from Christ at death ? — The souls of believers 
 are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do 
 immediately pass into glory ; and their bodies, being 
 still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the 
 resurrection.” In the eighty-sixth question of the 
 Larger Catechism, this same doctrine is taught in 
 more words. The following quotation is from the 
 Westminster Confession of Faith: “The bodies of 
 men, after death, return to dust and see corruption ; 
 but their souls (which neither die nor sleep) having 
 an immortal substance, immediately return to God 
 who gave them. The souls of the righteous, being 
 then made perfect in holiness, are received into the 
 highest heavens , where they behold the face of God in 
 light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of 
 their bodies.” The declaration that they are u then 
 made perfect in holiness,” is no doubt directly aimed 
 against the idea of a process of purgatorial or medi- 
 cinal preparation, mentioned in a previous section. 
 The declaration that they are then “received into the 
 highest heavens ,” is intended to stand in opposition 
 to the idea of a middle abode in all its forms. 
 
TIIE TRUE DOCTRINE. 
 
 167 
 
 The hook of “ Doctrines and Discipline of the Me- 
 thodist Episcopal Church” is silent on this subject; 
 but so far as I have been able to learn, the proper 
 Protestant doctrine on this subject is held in that 
 large communion. Their views of the nature of jus- 
 tification and sanctification, would admit of no other 
 to be consistently believed among them. It is be- 
 lieved that this is also the prevailing sentiment among 
 Baptists and other Congregationalists. 
 
 What is here presented from symbols as the united 
 faith of so many learned and pious men living in dif- 
 ferent ages, and in different parts of the world, is also 
 founded on holy scripture. By no wresting and vio- 
 lence has the church in the general stream of its theo- 
 logical views been turned aside from this faith. It is 
 in vain that men* hope to annul, by means of violent 
 and unnatural interpretations, the plain declarations 
 of scripture, to serve a theory. 
 
 u Truth crushed to earth will rise again, 
 
 The eternal years of God are hers.” 
 
 The Saviour said to the penitent thief on the cross : 
 “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Now 
 the question arises, Where and what is that paradise 
 in which the Saviour promised the dying penitent that 
 he should be with him that day ? This can be seen 
 by referring to other passages in the scriptures, where 
 the word paradise is used, and where its sense cannot 
 be mistaken. This can be seen by reference to 2 
 Cor. xii. There it is said that Paul was caught up 
 into paradise ; and in the same passage the place into 
 which he was taken is called the third heaven — the 
 
168 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 highest and holiest place in the universe. In Revela- 
 tion ii. 7, we are told that the tree of life stands in 
 the midst of the paradise of God ; and in Rev. xxii. 
 2, we are told that that same tree of life stands by 
 the side of the river which flows from the throne of 
 God and the Lamb. From this it is evident that pa- 
 radise is the heaven where God dwells and the Lamb. 
 Is then the middle abode. Hades, the kingdom of 
 shades, the peculiar abode of God and the Lamb ? 
 
 The objection that the Saviour himself did not go 
 to heaven that day, but was for forty days afterwards 
 on the earth, and that therefore he could not be with 
 the penitent thief in paradise, has no force. During 
 the three days that intervened between his death and 
 resurrection, he could as well be in heaven as in 
 Hades. Indeed it is evident that he was in heaven 
 during those three days, from what he says to his dis- 
 ciples shortly before his death: “A little while, and 
 ye shall not see me : and again, a little while, and ye 
 shall see me, because I go to the Father .” Moreover, 
 his tarrying on the earth and appearing among his 
 disciples, does not conflict with the idea that he was 
 also in paradise. When he was yet in the flesh on 
 earth, he could say: “And no man hath ascended up 
 to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even 
 the Son of man which is in heaven .” In the same 
 way that he was in heaven at that time, he may have 
 been in heaven with the penitent thief during the forty 
 days between his death and ascension. 
 
 The history of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 
 xvi.), plainly teaches that both the righteous and the 
 wicked, at death, pass into a fixed and eternal abode, 
 
TIIE TRUE DOCTRINE. 
 
 169 
 
 where no change is possible. No comment on this 
 passage is necessary. This portion of scripture has a 
 thousand times been tortured out of its meaning by 
 errorists of various kinds, and as often has its testi- 
 mony fallen back into the church’s healthful stream 
 of sound views. As a sheep, carried away from the 
 fold, returns when set free, so this passage always 
 comes back again; for the voice of a stranger it 
 heareth not, nor followeth ! 
 
 In the Revelation, John, in his visions, saw the 
 souls of departed martyrs and saints “in heaven,” 
 “under the altar,” “before the throne of God,” &c., 
 and in the company of each other, of God, of Christ, 
 and of angels, in the central and highest heavens, and 
 in that place where the saints go no more out for 
 ever. Let it be remembered, also, that all this is 
 before the resurrection , and if the following passages 
 are carefully considered, they will leave no doubt on 
 any candid mind that the saints are, immediately after 
 death, admitted into heaven. To quote them all 
 would be too tedious, a reference to them is sufficient. 
 Rev. v. 6-14 : vi. 9-12 : vii. 9-17 : xiv. 1-6 : xiv. 
 12, 13. 
 
 For farther proof still, the reader is referred to Acts 
 vii. 59 : 2 Cor. v. 1-9 : Phil. i. 21-24 : 2 Tim. iv. 
 6-9 : Eph. iii. 15. In this last passage, the whole 
 family of Christ is represented to be at two places, in 
 heaven and on earth ; but according to the other 
 theory, there ought also to be some in Hades, or the 
 third place. 
 
 It may also be remarked, that the misery of the 
 wicked commences, according to the scripture, imme- 
 15 
 
170 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 diately after death, and before the resurrection, and 
 that their condition is unchangeably fixed. This is 
 evident from Luke xvi. ; and also from that passage 
 in Jude where he says that those who had died impe- 
 nitent in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, 
 were, at the time he wrote, “ suffering the vengeance 
 of eternal fire.” In like manner it is said of the 
 righteous at death, that they are blessed “ from hence- 
 forth and of those who were clothed in white robes, 
 having come up through great tribulation, it is said, 
 “ therefore are they before the throne of God.” 
 
 These passages are plain, and it would, in all pro- 
 bability, never have been attempted to make them 
 mean any thing different from their plain sense, were 
 it not for some difficulties, which, it is thought, stood 
 in the way of the doctrine that the souls of the saints 
 pass immediately at death into heaven. Let us look 
 at these, and see whether they are not fancied diffi- 
 culties, which one glance at the truth ought to remove. 
 
 1. It is said that the soul, in a state of separation 
 from the body, cannot be in the same state, nor pro- 
 perly in the same place, as it will be after the resur- 
 rection ; and as heaven is to be the eternal abode of 
 the saints after the resurrection, it cannot be a proper 
 abode for them before. This objection has, however, 
 no force. There is, for instance, in this world, a 
 great difference between a person in childhood and 
 old age, yea, before he is born and after, or between 
 his sleeping and waking state, and yet he- is in all 
 these in the same world, in the same place, and is the 
 same person. The state and condition of the Saviour 
 differs widely from that of any saint or angel, and yet 
 
THE TRUE DOCTRINE. 
 
 171 
 
 both are in heaven. So angels and human spirits 
 differ, and yet both are in one company and in one 
 place. So in heaven, the condition of the saints be- 
 fore and after the resurrection may differ much, and 
 yet they may be, in both cases, in the same place. 
 
 2. The saints cannot enter heaven, it is said, be- 
 fore they are judged, and as the day of judgment is 
 represented to be after the resurrection, the saints 
 cannot enter heaven until after that, and consequently 
 not immediately at death. We may, however, con- 
 sider, as is generally done, that the day of judgment 
 is only a public and final consummation of the decision 
 of man’s destiny. Although God can, and no doubt, 
 does, for himself, judge and decide for each one when 
 he dies, yet it seems necessary for the glorious praise 
 of his justice and righteousness, that all other intel- 
 ligences should see the propriety of his decision. This 
 is necessary, that every mouth may be stopped; and 
 in order to do this he has appointed a day in the which 
 he will judge the world in righteousness by that man 
 whom he has ordained. 
 
 3. It is also said that the condition of many is re- 
 presented in that day to be undecided. Thus many 
 are said to be disappointed ; coming to be judged, they 
 find that their expectations of heaven are vain, and 
 they say, “ Have we not prophesied, cast out devils, 
 and done many wonderful works in thy name ?” Now, 
 it is said that if these persons had been in a fixed state 
 before, they could not have been in doubt on this 
 matter. The force of this objection is only apparent. 
 The representations of the judgment are after the 
 manner of men, and consequently our conceptions of 
 
172 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 it must bo more or less according to what we are ac- 
 customed to see on earth. The Saviour is warning his 
 hearers not to delay preparation for death ; and, in 
 order to impress his solemn exhortation, tells them 
 that many will find themselves disappointed in their 
 expectations in reference to the final decision of their 
 Judge, and that their hopes of heaven, being built on 
 the sand, w T ill fail at last. It does no more exclusively 
 refer to that day than the many warnings to prepare 
 to meet the Son of man refer to the time of his second 
 coming. He is always coming, and to prepare for 
 death, is to prepare to meet him. So to find ourselves 
 deceived at the day of death, is the same as to find 
 ourselves deceived at the day of judgment. 
 
 4. Again, it is said, that in some cases the full 
 effects and consequences of persons’ actions are not 
 fully worked out when persons die. Thus, for in- 
 stance, it is known that the labours and writings of 
 many infidels, who are long since dead, are still work- 
 ing for evil ; and on the other hand, the labours and 
 writings of many good men are still working out good. 
 These consequences must, in a certain sense, come 
 into the consideration of their punishment or reward. 
 Hence it is thought their destiny cannot immediately 
 be decided. But to this it may be replied, that God, 
 who judges, knows how these consequences will work 
 themselves out, and is able, therefore, to give a just 
 judgment as well at the day of death as at the end 
 of the world. At the last day, when all consequences 
 have run out their history, it will be proper that they 
 should be exhibited in a solemn public judgment, that 
 all may see for themselves that all his ways are just 
 
THE TRUE DOCTRINE. 
 
 173 
 
 and right. Besides, there is nothing unreasonable or 
 unscriptural in the belief that the happiness of the 
 righteous in heaven, and the misery of the lost in 
 hell, will increase in exact proportion as the'conse- 
 quences of their actions on the earth are developing 
 themselves, until the day'of judgment, when the cup 
 will be full, and then the full draught of happiness or 
 misery will be taken finally and for ever ! Oh ! what 
 a moment will that be ! 
 
 Some additional considerations will serve more com- 
 pletely still to answer these and other objections, and 
 reconcile the serious and thoughtful mind to the idea 
 that the souls of the saints are in heaven before the 
 resurrection of the body. 
 
 We shall only gain proper ideas in reference to this 
 interesting subject, when we have corrected our ideas 
 of heaven, for many of them are evidently wrong. 
 We are inclined to think of heaven as affording to the 
 saints a fixed or stereotyped condition, without attach- 
 ing to it the idea of degrees and progression. When 
 we maintain that the saints pass immediately at death 
 into heaven, we do not mean that they enter then 
 upon their final condition, or into their highest state 
 of perfection ; but only that they enter into that place 
 which is their .final abode. When, for instance, a child 
 is born into the world, it is in the world ; but it is 
 limited in its observations, actions, ideas, capacities 
 and enjoyments, and yet all these are in their state 
 perfect ; all its faculties occupy their place symmetri- 
 cally, and w r e have in the child a uniform, but not a 
 perfect being. Analogous to this, may be the primary 
 stage of our future celestial history. The child is in 
 15 * 
 
m 
 
 IIEAVEN. 
 
 the world before it is born, and during its infantile 
 years, but how different is it, and how different is the 
 world to it, from what it will be when all its faculties 
 are ripe ! So in heaven. TJre child before self-con- 
 sciousness, appears to enjoy v an indistinct and floating 
 life, but happy too ; so may it be with our future con- 
 dition before the resurrection of the body. The con- 
 dition of the disembodied spirit will, no doubt, be 
 somewhat isolated and lonely, (in a pleasant sense ;) 
 its happiness being derived much, though not entirely, 
 from the flow of its own harmonious existence, and 
 not from its connexion with things external. Its fu- 
 ture connexion with its body will arrest its floating 
 condition, and connect it again more consciously with 
 locality and materiality. Thus it will become more 
 capable of social relations and joys ; just as the child 
 emerging from its floating state in infancy, has its 
 social powers developed by being furnished with self- 
 consciousness and speech, by which it learns intelli- 
 gently to separate and distinguish itself from the 
 general mass of being, which makes its enjoyments 
 higher in their nature, and more acute and sensible in 
 their quality. 
 
 Perhaps the state of the saints previous to the re- 
 surrection of the body, and in the first stage of their 
 future being, may be analogous to (but of course higher 
 than) a state of ordinary sleep, with active, pleasant 
 dreaming. In dreams, the spirit acts and enjoys, 
 unconscious of the body ; and may we not suppose 
 that the spirit after death may, to a certain extent, 
 act and enjoy without the body ? Perhaps it may in 
 this state pass profitably and pleasantly through the 
 
THE TRUE DOCTRINE. 
 
 175 
 
 first stages of its future history. It may, so to say, 
 become habituated to eternal things, and develop its 
 spiritual capacities to such a degree as to be prepared, 
 at the time of the resurrection, to enter upon a more 
 tangible and positive state of existence. It may thus, 
 also, become acquainted with purely spiritual beings, 
 and with the modes of purely spiritual existence. This 
 will be useful, because the saints after the resurrec- 
 tion will be required to hold communion with things 
 material and immaterial. While the saint is in this 
 world, in the body, he becomes conversant with mate- 
 rial things, and habituated to them ; now, in the other 
 world, in a disembodied state, previous to the resur- 
 rection, he will become conversant with and habituated 
 to purely spiritual existence, so that after the resur- 
 rection, when soul and body are again united, he will 
 be able to hold converse and communion with either 
 material or immaterial existences, at pleasure. 
 
 To this it may be objected, that while, those who 
 lived in the early ages of the world, would have a long 
 time to remain in this state of celestial pupilage, those 
 who live in later ages would have less, and those in 
 the last days scarcely any. 
 
 This objection, so far from militating against this 
 idea, most beautifully illustrates and confirms it. 
 Thus, the souls of men are more developed in spiritual 
 things now, and will be still more in future than they 
 were in the earlier ages of the world. Those who 
 lived in the morning of the world, had very limited 
 and indistinct ideas of divine and eternal things 
 Their views of a future world, especially, w T ere exceed- 
 ingly misty and obscure. As the church advanced, 
 
176 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 life and immortality were more and more brought to 
 light. Revelation passed from types, shadows, and 
 ceremonies, into brighter and clearer realities ; and 
 spiritual conceptions gained a firmer and more distinct 
 hold upon the consciousness of men. The new dis- 
 pensation was an advance upon the old, as under the 
 old the age of prophecy had been upon the law, and 
 the law upon the simple twilight of the patriarchal 
 age. In what a different light those who lived after 
 the new dispensation dawned, stood from those under 
 the Old Testament, is clear from what the Saviour 
 says : “ Among those that are born of woman, there 
 is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but 
 he that is least in the kingdom of God,” (in the new 
 dispensation,) “ is greater than he.” 
 
 At the present day, clearer views are enjoyed than 
 were enjoyed in the early history of the Christian 
 church. Let any one read the history of the patristic 
 controversies, and he will see how the most learned 
 stumbled among propositions in search of truth which 
 are now clearly comprehended by intelligent Sabbath- 
 school children. And so it will be on into the future. 
 Spiritual ideas, which are as giants to us, and the na- 
 ture and relations of which we do not see, will be 
 apprehended by our successors at once. Thus, under 
 the tuition of the Spirit, revelation will show itself 
 progressive, and new things, as well as old, in reference 
 to the spiritual world, will be constantly and succes- 
 sively brought out of the treasure of God’s word, of 
 which the divine Spirit is the commentator. How, 
 you ask, does all this apply to the subject in hand? 
 Thus, the earlier a saint lived in this world, the longer 
 
THE TRUE DOCTRINE. 
 
 177 
 
 time for this heavenly pupilage he will have in the 
 next before the resurrection, and he needs more : — 
 the later he lived in this world, the less will he have 
 in the other before the resurrection, and he needs less. 
 Thus, those who enjoy in this world superior advan- 
 tages on account of living under the clearer dispensa- 
 tion of divine truth in the last ages of the church, 
 shall not have any advantage over those who had less, 
 on account of living in the first ages, since those who 
 had less will have longer time in the future world 
 before the resurrection. 
 
 With this idea in view, the passage, in 1 Thess. iv. 
 15, becomes beautifully intelligible, “ 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” (that is, shall not go before, anticipate, 
 or have any advantage over,) “ those which are asleep 
 — the dead in Christ shall rise first : then ’ (when 
 they have risen,) “ 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 be ever 
 with the Lord.” Those who shall live in the last 
 moment, having had their spirits fully enlightened and 
 prepared for a future existence in the brightness of 
 the latter-day glory before death, shall not “ sleep” 
 at all, for there will be no necessity for it ; but “ shall 
 all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an 
 eye, at the last trump.” “ The dead shall be raised 
 incorruptible,” having been prepared for their incor- 
 ruptible body, but u w T e shall be changed.” 1 Cor. 
 xv. 51, 52. 
 
 This theory may be seen in the same way to illus- 
 
178 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 trate itself consistently when applied to those who are 
 lost. Those who live last in the world, when superior 
 light is around them, sin against greater light than 
 those who lived earlier, and are therefore sooner pre- 
 pared to have their doleful station fixed finally in hell, 
 in the union of soul and body. 
 
 The doctrine we present in reference to the condi- 
 tion of the spirits of the saints in heaven, differs from 
 the idea of a middle state, in a third place, in several 
 important particulars. It excludes the idea of a 
 middle place entirely ; and of course all idea of pro- 
 bation, which is generally attached to it in some form 
 or other. The state of the spirit in heaven, though 
 imperfect, being the celestial childhood of the spirit, 
 is nevertheless final, and not probationary. Our 
 enjoyments there will be in exact proportion to our 
 capacity ; and as fast as our spirits are unfolded will 
 our joys increase. 
 
 “The more our spirits are enlarged on earth, 
 
 The deeper draughts they shall receive of heaven.” 
 
 What an interesting moment to the spirit will be 
 the moment after death ! What scenes will open up 
 before it ! The friends will stand weeping over the 
 now tenantless body, but the spirit is — oh ! 
 
 My thoughts pursue it where it flies 
 And trace its wondrous way ! 
 
 The Christian need have no unpleasant anxiety 
 about what scenes will open to him, for he knows 
 that the glory which will then break upon his 
 astonish/ )d spirit will exceed his keenest anticipations. 
 But the wicked, alas ! for him at that awful moment ! 
 
THE TRUE DOCTRINE. 179 
 
 Oil ! my soul, come not thou into the secret of his 
 sorrows ! 
 
 How shocking must thy summons he, 0 Death ! 
 
 To him. — 
 
 In that dread moment, how the frantic soul 
 Raves round the walls of her clay tenement ; 
 
 Runs to each avenue, and shrieks for help ; 
 
 But shrieks in vain ! How wishfully she looks 
 On all she ; s leaving, now no longer hers ! 
 
 A little longer; yet a little longer; 
 
 0 ! might she stay to wash away her stains ; 
 
 And fit her for her passage ! Mournful sight ! 
 
 Her very eyes weep blood ; and ev’ry groan 
 She heaves is big with horror. But the foe, 
 
 Like a stanch murd’rer, steady to his purpose, 
 
 Pursues her close, through ev’ry lane of life; 
 
 Nor misses once the track ; but presses on, 
 
 Till forced at last to the tremendous verge, 
 
 At cnce she sinks to everlasting ruin ! 
 
CHAPTER IY. 
 
 qmjiatjnj totmm Mnnu unit #artjr* 
 
 11 1 have seen 
 
 A curious child, that dwelt upon a tract 
 Of inland ground, applying to his ear 
 The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell, 
 
 To which, in silence hushed, his very soul 
 Listened intently ; and his countenance soon 
 Brightened with joy; for, murmuring from within 
 Were heard, sonorous cadences ! whereby 
 To his belief the Monitor expressed 
 Mysterious union with its native sea — 
 
 E ? en such a shell the universe itself 
 Is to the ear of faith.” 
 
 The spirit-world is inhabited by beings of a social 
 order, which communicate with each other ; do they 
 also communicate with earth? We know of at least 
 three distinct order of beings who dwell together in 
 heaven in the highest and holiest fellowships — divine, 
 angelic, and human. Do they sympathize with mor- 
 tals ? May the footsteps of their presence be seen on 
 earth ? Does the light of their social influence fall 
 upon the path of human life ? and is the animating 
 power of their sympathy felt in the sphere of human 
 experience ? In short, in what relation does the 
 
 church militant stand to the church triumphant, and 
 
 ( 180 ) 
 
SYMPATHY BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH. 181 
 
 what fellowship and sympathy is there between 
 them ? 
 
 These are interesting questions; they are often 
 asked, and still oftener do they silently employ the 
 •minds of men with the deepest meditations. They 
 are, moreover, questions which are prompted in us by 
 a pious spirit, and by a feeling that Is inseparable 
 from the life of a pilgrim. The generation in which 
 we live passes on around us towards the world of spi- 
 rits; among them are many of our dearest friends 
 who fade from our sight almost daily ; in the earnest- 
 ness of grief w T e follow’ after them to the verge of these 
 mortal borders, and when they are gone entirely be- 
 yond our sight, w T e ask, Are they now entirely gone 
 and separated from us, or do their sympathy and love 
 remain with us as fresh and warm as the remembrance 
 of them is treasured up and cherished in our hearts ? 
 We know that if they died in Christ they are in hea- 
 ven, but that does not satisfy our feelings, even if it 
 should satisfy our faith. Though our minds may be 
 quiet, yet our hearts cry out, Do they remember us 
 and love us still ? 
 
 Tbe impression exists at the present day among 
 many, and it seems to be gaining ground, that the 
 present world and the w’orld of spirits stand at a cold 
 distance from each other, with little or no living sym- 
 pathy. It seems to be the idea of some, that just as 
 a man who, by some sudden and fortunate change, 
 has been elevated to a higher stage in society, forgets 
 all beneath him, so the saints v r ho die, being elevated 
 higher, forget in this happy change all the relations 
 in which they formerly stood, take no more interest 
 16 
 
182 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 in tlie friendships of earth, and would find it a check 
 upon their upward aspirations even to think of those 
 they once loved, but have now left behind. Thus it 
 is supposed that though we look after them with the 
 intensest interest as they go up, they look not back 
 on us : though we love them still, they love us no 
 'more ! 
 
 It is acknowledged that the two worlds did once 
 stand in very tender communication with each other, 
 and that the earth once shared very largely and warmly 
 the sympathies of the heavenly world. This is ad- 
 mitted to have been the case during the old Jewish 
 economy, and also during the time of the Saviour and 
 his apostles at the commencement of the new dispen- 
 sation. Then not only angels appeared among men, 
 but also departed saints, as in the case of Moses and 
 Elias during the transfiguration on the mount. Since 
 then the gates of the heavenly world are supposed to 
 be closed, and all communication to have ceased. 
 Even angels, it is thought, because they are no more 
 seen , have retired from us. The sentiment of the 
 poet that “ angel visits” are 
 
 ‘‘Few and far between,” 
 
 has become so popular that it has passed into a mu- 
 sical proverb, which flows in cold eloquence from the 
 lips of all ! Even the pulpit has endeavoured to bap- 
 tize this poetical infidelity, and accordingly it has 
 been set as a gem into many an eloquent sermon. 
 The declaration of the Psalmist that the angels have 
 charge over us to keep us “in all our ways,” is not 
 bo beautiful as the chiming “ few and far between” 
 
SYMPATHY BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH. 183 
 
 of the poet ! It may be beautiful poetry, but it is 
 cold theology ; and it is a sentiment that could only 
 become popular in a rationalistic age. 
 
 There was a time when heaven “ for a little while” 
 withdrew its sympathies from the earth, and in a 
 manner spurned it from its presence. 0 ! what a 
 night of despair was that ! It was when man had 
 sinned, and was driven, in consequence of his sin, 
 from the presence of God. Not only did God retire, 
 but all heaven put frowns of anger on. The angels, 
 which had no doubt before been the companions of the 
 happy pair in paradise, were commissioned with orders 
 and power to banish them from Eden. See heaven 
 and earth separate ! See God retire ! See Adam and 
 Eve, now fallen, the other way 
 
 ie With wand’ring steps and slow, 
 
 Through Eden take their solitary way .’ 7 
 
 Alas ! was ever an hour like that ? Eden lost ! God’s 
 favour lost ! Communications with heaven closed ! 
 Paradise guarded with the flaming sword of the che- 
 rubim turning every way, forbidding man to return to 
 that place late so lovely, so full of heaven. How 
 dreadfully do their countenances reflect the holy dis- 
 pleasure of that God, w T hose will they are executing 
 against man ! But oh ! how dark and dreary to Adam 
 and Eve is a world without a God ! They look, first 
 upon the wilderness before them, deepening in gloom 
 as their despairing hearts sink within them, and then 
 they cast a last wishful, but almost hopeless glance 
 back upon the Eden from which they are nov r banish- 
 ed. A sad farewell ! 
 
184 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 God, however, only retired and made the heavens 
 black between him and fallen man for a time, to give 
 him a faint idea of what the earth is without the light 
 and sympathy of heaven. Soon, however, God began 
 gradually to visit the earth again in its night time. 
 Soon heaven began again to dawn some rays of hope 
 upon the world, and to promise a restoration of that 
 sympathy which had been lost. Though the way to 
 heaven through paradise remained barred, yet some 
 intimations of a “new and living way” were early 
 given. The promise that the seed of the woman should 
 bruise the serpent’s head, though it afforded not much 
 light, as its import must have been but little under- 
 stood, yet it was one star upon which the eye could 
 rest in a world where all else was dark. Abel received 
 a smile upon his sacrifice. Soon the intimations of 
 returning sympathy on the part of heaven became so 
 encouraging, that men looked with confidence upward, 
 and “began to call upon the name of the Lord.” 
 Enoch and Noah found grace in his sight, enjoyed his 
 favour, and “ walked with God !” Abraham was visited 
 with glorious promises in the midst of the idolatry of 
 Chaldea; he besieged heaven for favours and won 
 them ; and he entertained some heavenly visiters in 
 his tent in the plains of Mamre. Lot was favoured 
 with angelic visits, and shared their warmest interest 
 in his behalf. Isaac received assurances of heavenly 
 sympathy, protection, and favour. Thus all along, 
 and in various ways, did signs appear that heaven and 
 earth w r ere again approaching each other. Happy 
 prospect ! 
 
 Most beautifully, most clearly, and most sw r ectty 
 
SYMPATHY BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH. 185 
 
 prophetic, however, was the sympathy which should 
 again be established between heaven and earth, repre- 
 sented to Jacob in a dream when flying before his 
 angry brother Esau towards Haran. Oh ! what a 
 vision was that — in the wilderness, and at night ! 
 Weary in his journey, and in loneliness of spirit, “he 
 lighted upon a certain place — and he took of the 
 stones of that place and put them for his pillows, and 
 lay down in that place to sleep !” Is that a place for 
 visions ? No doubt the highest blessing, after the 
 sense of God’s favour, for which Jacob hoped, was 
 that he might find oblivion for his troubles, and 
 strength for his weary limbs in 
 
 ee Tired nature’s sweet restorer, balmy sleep!” 
 
 God, however, had his eye upon the outcast pilgrim. 
 Was Jacob alone? He thought so, for he felt for- 
 saken, and it seems not to have entered his mind that 
 God was in that place, and that it was the gate of 
 heaven. How similar are the circumstances of lone- 
 liness which surround him, to those which surrounded 
 Adam and Eve when they spent the first night outside 
 of Eden ! The wrath of Esau, like the flaming sword 
 of the cherubim, forbade return. Like^ them, Jacob 
 was lingering with feelings of indescribable anxiety 
 . and suspense upon the dreadful border between hope 
 and fear. Like them the wilderness is around and 
 before him. “Thou hast visited me in the night, ” 
 exclaimed David, when light from the smiling presence 
 of the Lord dispersed the darkness of his soul ; and 
 so, soon after, could Jacob exclaim with joyful sur- 
 prise. Under weariness and trouble, in spite of his 
 
 16 * 
 
18 G 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 hard, cold pillow, the spirit of sweet slumbers spread 
 its wings over him, dispersed his cares, and calmed 
 his soul. As he slept, “he dreamed, and behold, a 
 ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached 
 to heaven': and behold, the angels of God ascending 
 and descending on it ! And behold, the Lord stood 
 above it!” And what delightful promises he spake 
 to the lonely sleeper ! but not to him alone, to all his 
 posterity. Here, in a vision of the night, God made 
 known to Jacob that there was a communication open 
 between heaven and earth, that the angels of God 
 ascended and descended continually, and that tins 
 should continue until through his seed all the families 
 of the earth had received heavenly blessings. When 
 Jacob awoke out of his sleep, he found that, instead 
 of being alone, as he supposed, God had been in that 
 place, and he knew it not. Instead of lying in a for- 
 saken wilderness, he had been lying at the gate of 
 heaven ! 
 
 This communication between heaven and earth which 
 w r as thus shadowed forth in Jacob’s prophetic dream, 
 was realized in part during the history of the Jews 
 down to the time of the incarnation. We feel, when 
 we read the history of the Old Testament, that God 
 and the heavenly inhabitants visited the earth, sym- 
 pathized and communed with men in the freest and • 
 most natural way. The same was the case during the 
 time the Saviour sojourned on earth, extending also 
 over that period occupied by the ministry of the 
 apostles. That this communion should afterwards 
 continue, is declared by the Saviour when he says, in 
 evident allusion to the vision of Jacob, “Hereafter 
 
SYMPATHY BETWEEN IIEAVEN AND EARTH. 187 
 
 shall ye see heaven open, and the angels of God 
 ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” 
 John i. 51. He would take the place of Jacob as his 
 antetype, the head of a new seed, and continue his 
 presence on earth in the church which is his body ; 
 thus he would ensure to them the continued sympathy 
 of heaven, and constant visits from the upper world. 
 That they have, from that time till now, been minis- 
 tering spirits to saints on earth, none but an infidel 
 can doubt. 
 
 It is sin which separates man from God, and which 
 consequently hinders that intimate and. conscious com- 
 munion between heaven and earth which existed when 
 man was in a state of holy innocence, and which is 
 again restored, in part, in the economy of salvation. 
 When our .first parents were in their holy state, God 
 was their companion ; he v T alked in the garden in the 
 cool of the day, and no doubt as long as their hearts 
 were right toward him, they met him with confidence 
 and sought his presence with great delight. But sin,- 
 that great evil, separated them from God. As soon 
 as they had sinned, a consciousness of guilt and a sense 
 of shame and unworthiness took possession of their 
 hearts, and they 44 hid themselves from the presence 
 of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.” 
 If angels before had been visiters to that paradise of 
 delights, they too retired, for what fellowship has light 
 with darkness, and what communion can holy beings 
 enjoy with such as are defiled with sin ? Although 
 God had not entirely cast them off, yet they had no 
 more confidence in his presence ; shame and guilt be- 
 gat fear, fear cast out love, and when love is gone no 
 
188 
 
 HEAVEN, 
 
 desire for communion remains. Thus when a person 
 whom we have befriended has treated us despitefully 
 in a secret way, though we show no signs of hatred 
 towards him, yet he will avoid us and separate him- 
 self from us. 
 
 Sin is still the same. The prodigal still loves a far 
 country more than the tender endearments of his 
 father’s house. The farther he removes from God, 
 the less communion will there be between them ; the 
 less he loves him, the less will he see his footsteps in 
 the earth or hear his voice. So far from delighting 
 in the presence of God, the wicked man would rather 
 have rocks and mountains to fall upon him and hide 
 him from his presence. Is it a wonder, then, that 
 heaven and earth have taken such a sad farewell of 
 each other ? When heaven makes a gentle approach 
 to seek fellowship with man, he closes his eyes, ears, 
 and heart, falls upon the earth, hides his face in the 
 dust from God, and cries, 66 Depart from me, for I 
 desire not the knowledge of thy ways !” 
 
 That some men do not desire such an intimate fel- 
 lowship between heaven and earth to exist, and that 
 they do not seek after it and love it, is no evidence 
 that it does not exist. “ The secret of the Lord is 
 with them that fear him,” and he reveals himself to 
 them as he does not to the world. Neither is the fact 
 that Christians themselves are so little conscious of it, 
 an evidence that such communion is not possible : it 
 is only an evidence that they do not live up to their 
 privileges. We may live in the midst of a community 
 in which the most excellent and refined society exists, 
 and yet we may not share in its advantages ; we may 
 
SYMXATHY BETWEEN IIEAYEN AND EARTH. 189 
 
 not even be conscious of its existence. The reason 
 simply is, that we have not been introduced into it ; 
 and the reason why we are not introduced into it, is 
 either because we are not worthy of it, or because we 
 have not sought it in the proper way. So here. We 
 are surrounded with spiritual beings, they are not only 
 ascending and descending from heaven to earth, and 
 from earth to heaven, but they also encamp around 
 us, attend us in all our ways with their holy ministra- 
 tions : we are capable of feeling and enjoying their 
 presence, and of being introduced into their mysterious 
 companionship ; but our affections are too gross, our 
 conceptions too dull and earthly. 
 
 We saw in a previous chapter that heaven, as to its 
 locality, is at a distance from the earth, so that the 
 Saviour, in ascending to it, ascended far above all 
 heavens. In space, therefore, and as a part of God’s 
 physical universe, heaven is removed from the earth. 
 This distance in space, however, is no more a hin- 
 derance to the existence of social sympathies than it 
 is to the existence of physical dependence. It is not 
 improbable, as has been supposed, that heaven is 
 located on the central orb of the universe that all 
 systems with their subordinate planets revolve around 
 and are balanced by it, as our earth and- the other 
 planets of the solar system revolve around and are 
 balanced by the sun. All the orbs in the universe, 
 and our earth with them, must be united to that cen- 
 tral orb by the laws of gravitation, and are kept in 
 balance by centripetal and centrifugal force. Here 
 is mutual relation, connexion, and dependence, as 
 mysterious as any social sympathy would be at the 
 
190 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 same distance. The existence of such physical de- 
 pendence, on the supposition that heaven is such a 
 central orb, is sure. Indeed, whatever place heaven 
 may occupy in the physical universe, our globe, as 
 part of the great whole, must be united to it by secret 
 mysterious connecting laws. Why then should we 
 doubt the existence of a medium through which the 
 living beings which dwell on these orbs can communi- 
 cate with each other ? Even embodied spirits, as 
 among men, are capable of annihilating space, as in 
 the case of the magnetic telegraph, and of instituting 
 almost momentary communion between the greatest 
 distances. Suppose death should invade a family at 
 one end of the magnetic line, a related family at the 
 other end, thousands of miles off, could be invited to 
 mingle their tears of sympathetic sorrow with those 
 bereft at the dying moment, before the first gush of 
 their grief had subsided ! 
 
 If the physical world can furnish such astonishing 
 media of communication, how shall a proper medium 
 fail in the world of spiritual existence ? The physical 
 connexion which we know to exist by laws of attrac- 
 tion and gravitation between the different orbs in the 
 universe, affords a strong presumptive proof that there 
 is also a moral and social connexion. Or shall we 
 make the strange and unnatural supposition, that 
 these worlds are physically united and dependent on 
 each other, but that no social sympathy is possible ? 
 It is much more reasonable to conclude, that God has 
 created this physical universe, and connected it by 
 laws of mutual dependence as a platform for a vast 
 social economy, constituted by the intelligences of 
 
SYMPATHY BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH. 191 
 
 these different worlds. If the introduction of sin into 
 our world has so long hindered us from realizing this 
 blessed fact, it is no evidence that this must always 
 be the case. In and by the Church, our fallen world 
 must again be restored into proper sympathy with the 
 unfallen universe — especially with heaven. When we 
 enter her mysterious and holy communion, then we 
 “ are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the 
 living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innu- 
 merable company of angels, to the general assembly 
 and church of the first-born wdiich are w T ritten in hea- 
 ven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of 
 just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of 
 the new covenant.” 
 
 It has been already remarked, that heaven is inha- 
 bited, so far as we know, by three orders of intelli- 
 gences — divine, angelic, and human. We come now 
 to inquire in what relation we stand to each of these, 
 while we are here on earth, and what is the nature 
 of their sympathies with us, and of ours with them. 
 Have we any communion with them ? and if we have, 
 What is its nature ? and in what way do we enjoy it ? 
 Are these beings present on the earth, and how? 
 Reflections on these subjects cannot fail to bring us 
 consciously near to the awful world of spirits ; and 
 will have a tendency to make us feel that heaven and 
 earth are not so coldly related as cold and unreflect- 
 ing hearts are ready to imagine. 
 
192 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 SECTIONT I. 
 
 DIVINE SYMPATHY. 
 
 u The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, 
 and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen/' 
 — Paul. 
 
 “ There are three that bear record in heaven, the 
 Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these 
 three are one.” These three communicate with earth. 
 They are one in essence, but three in person ; they 
 are one in object, but diverse in their operations. 
 Each one’s presence on the earth, and each one’s com- 
 munion and sympathy with us, has something in it 
 peculiarly his own. Hence says the apostle, when he 
 assures the saints at Corinth of the sympathy of these 
 divine persons, “ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy 
 Ghost, be with you all.” Let us see what is the na- 
 ture of each one’s presence on the earth, and what is 
 the nature of each one’s sympathy with us. 
 
 “ Truly our fellowship is with the Father.” God 
 the Father dwells in heaven. Though he is every- 
 where present, yet the Bible conveys the idea that he 
 is present in heaven in a peculiar way, in such a way 
 as he is present nowhere else. He dwelt of old at 
 Jerusalem in the awful cloud between the cherubim, 
 as he did not in all the earth beside ; so also he dwells 
 in the holiest of all in heaven as he does not in any 
 other part of the universe. Behold “ heaven is his 
 throne, the earth is his footstool.” Heaven is the 
 centre of his operations, and perhaps we might say 
 
DIVINE SYMPATHY. 
 
 193 
 
 of liis being. If God is thus peculiarly in heaven, 
 and we are upon the earth, how can it be said that 
 our fellowship is with the Father? There must be a 
 mode of his presence on earth. Proper views of his 
 omnipresence will at once solve this difficulty. From 
 heaven his presence, and with his presence his tender 
 mercies, extend over all his works. Every part of the 
 universe is bound to his throne, and looks towards it, 
 and all is transfused with the power, the love, the 
 light, and the joy of his presence. His presence is 
 therefore really upon earth in all places ; and between 
 all beings to which his presence extends, and the great 
 central throne of his being, there must be a living 
 communication. In this sense, it is truly said, in him 
 all things live, and move, and have their being. The 
 earth, then, as the sphere of human life, stands in 
 the radiant circle of his presence. How awfully near 
 him are we ! 
 
 What is near ? God. He is near in that which 
 constitutes his essential nature, and that is love. “ The 
 love of God,” says Paul, “be with you.”* God is 
 love. His love, therefore, is omnipresent. Of his 
 presence in this way, we may be the most sweetly 
 conscious, even by observing the presence and opera- 
 tions of his plastic hand in the world around us. It 
 is not Pantheism on the one hand, nor poetry on the 
 other, when we say that God is in everything around 
 us. We may safely say of the seasons in nature — 
 
 “ These, as they change, Almighty Father, these 
 Are but the varied God. The rolling year 
 Is full of Thee. Forth in the pleasing spring < 
 
 Thy beauty walks, thy tenderness and love,” 
 
 17 
 
194 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 Every germ that is evolving, every flower that blooms, 
 presents to us the moving presence of God. God is 
 not the grass, neither is the grass God, but it is God 
 that “ clothes the grass.” God is not the flower, 
 neither is it a part of God, but it is God which “ ar- 
 rays” it with colours of loveliness far exceeding Sojo- 
 mon in all his glory. If it is God who clothes the 
 grass and paints the flower, then his presence is there 
 where the grass is clothed, and where the flower is 
 painted. It may be said that this is done by the laws 
 of nature, and that God’s actual presence there is not 
 necessary to produce such effects. I ask, has God 
 then made of these laws of nature independent gods, 
 who create by their own power ? Is it not rather his 
 presence, which filleth all, that animates these laws 
 and makes them operative ? where they are operative, 
 therefore, there is his presence. Whenever we con- 
 ceive of the operations of the laws of nature in the 
 world, as disconnected with the power of his imme- 
 diate presence, at the place v T here such operations 
 take place, we deny practically his omnipresence. 
 The omnipresence of his power is the basis of all be- 
 ing. The omnipresence of his love is the ground of 
 all our fellowship with him ; and it is because God is 
 love, and omnipresent in that love, that, even here on 
 earth, our fellowship is truly with the Father. 
 
 We read of a traveller who lost himself amid the 
 arid sand deserts of Africa. He sought long, but in 
 vain, for a path by which to find again the habitations 
 of man. Struggling amid hot and yielding sand, he 
 ^became at last so weary and so parched with thirst 
 that he despaired. He prayed to Heaven for help, 
 
DIVINE SYMPATHY. 
 
 195 
 
 but it seemed to him that he was entirely cut off from 
 heaven. He felt as if the divine presence did not 
 extend to that desolate place. At last, looking around 
 for a place where he might lie down and die forsaken, 
 as he supposed, alike by heaven and earth, his eye fell 
 upon a solitary flower that hung beside a stone in that 
 waste of sandy desolation. u God is here !” he ex- 
 claimed, “ God is here P He had now a proof that 
 even that place was not cut off from heavenly sympa- 
 thies. His heart became buoyant, and his limbs 
 strong ; he took heart to go on with fresh hopes, and 
 soon he reached an oasis where he refreshed himself 
 with water, and rested in the shade: he was after- 
 wards taken up by a passing caravan, and reached 
 safely his home and his friends. Was lie mistaken 
 when he said, on seeing the flower, “ God is here !” 
 That blooming flower was hiS manifestation there ; it 
 was the evidence of his life-giving presence there in 
 the desert. He felt, and properly so, that if that 
 flower stood in living connexion with Him in heaven 
 who made it bloom, that he too might be assured of 
 the presence of heavenly sympathy. Under a 
 sense of this fact, ever cheerful, the Christian may 
 sing — 
 
 il Should fate command me to the utmost verge 
 Of the green earth, to distant barbarous climes; 
 
 Rivers unknown to song; where first the sun 
 Gilds Indian mountains, or his setting beam 
 Flames on th 7 Atlantic isles : 7 tis naught to me : 
 
 Since God is ever present, ever felt, 
 
 In the void waste as in the city full ; 
 
 And where He vital breathes there must be joy.” 
 
196 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 He who firmly believes in the omnipresence of God, 
 as exhibited in the cxxxixth Psalm, can have no diffi- 
 culty in believing the possibility of saints on earth 
 having fellowship with the Father. “ Thou compassest 
 my path and my lying down — Whither shall I go from 
 thy Spirit ? or whither shall I flee from thy presence ? 
 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there : if I make 
 my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the 
 wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts 
 of the sea ; even there shall thy hand lead me, and 
 thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the 
 darkness shall cover me ; even the night shall be light 
 about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee ; 
 but the night shineth as the day : the darkness and 
 the light are both alike to thee.” 
 
 Proper views of God’s providence will no less aid 
 us in getting proper ideas of God’s omnipresent love. 
 By the providence of God, we understand “ the al- 
 mighty and everywhere present power of God; 
 whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and go- 
 verns heaven, earth, and all creatures ; so that herbs 
 and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, 
 meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and po- 
 verty, yea, all things come not by chance, but by his 
 fatherly hand.” We are the subjects of this provi- 
 dence, and so far as we share in it, we share the sym- 
 pathy and fellowship of the author of it. His provi- 
 dential presence is clearly seen and warmly and 
 joyfully felt on the ’’earth. 
 
 The providence of God is employed in upholding, 
 and also in governing, not only the physical world, 
 but also all living creatures. In upholding the phy- 
 
DIVINE SYMPATHY. 
 
 197 
 
 sical world, it must extend to the smallest atom ; for 
 in an atom itself there can be no inherent power to 
 sustain itself. If God weighs the hills in a balance, 
 he must weigh every particle of sand of which it is 
 composed ; if he sustains the mighty orbs of heaven, 
 he must sustain also the smallest material particle in 
 them. If all the atoms of the universe together, as a 
 whole, can generate no sustaining power, but need 
 themselves as a whole to be sustained, how can any 
 one atom generate such power ? In this respect, the 
 whole is as helpless as the least atom of which it is 
 composed. As the providential presence of God in 
 the earth must extend to the smallest particle of matter, 
 so must it also extend to all life, and comprehend the 
 smallest event in the history of man. In each event 
 of life, however insignificant it may seem, we must 
 trace the moving hand of God. Even the hairs of our 
 head are all numbered, and one falls to the ground 
 only when God permits. The giving of a cup of cold 
 water in the name of a disciple, God marks for a re- 
 W T ard ; and when a bow is drawn at a venture, the un- 
 erring hand of Him who rules, the universe takes charge 
 of it, and directs it to the place where it will accom- 
 plish its purpose. 
 
 Thus every event, however insignificant, which gives 
 the least turn to the current of our life, is the beckoning 
 hand of God. Every adversity which starts up in our 
 way to check us, is like the angel who stood with 
 drawn sword in the way of Balaam. Yes, every joy 
 and every sorrow that meet us in life, may be looked 
 upon, the former as the smile, and the latter as the 
 loving reproof of our heavenly Father. Having a 
 17 * 
 
198 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 clear and true conception* of God’s providential pre- 
 sence in the world, we shall feel ourselves beset on all 
 sides with the whispers, and the wooings of Him whose 
 presence fills immensity. This is to us a conscious 
 evidence of God’s nearness to us on earth, and a plain 
 proof that we, who are the subjects of his providential 
 government, share in the sweetest manner in his divine 
 sympathies. A dear friend who attends us with his 
 kindness and with his counsel, is not more really near 
 us than our heavenly Father with his providential 
 sympathies. We may feel his nearness as really and 
 as sensibly as we feel in sickness the cooling hand of 
 a fellow-being upon our fevered brow*. 
 
 When Count Zinzendorf, the pious Moravian mis- 
 sionary, went up the North Branch of' the Susque- 
 hanna to preach to the Indians, the country was yet a 
 waste howling wilderness — 
 
 Where nothing dwelt but beasts of prey, 
 
 And men as fierce and wild as they. 
 
 One evening he struck up his tent on the banks of the 
 river in the valley of Wyoming ; he kindled a fire in 
 it, spread his blankets on the ground, and sat upon 
 them absorbed in thought. That same night the In- 
 dians of the valley had laid a plot to kill him. They 
 went in a band to his tent. Silently they creep up 
 and look in between the folds into the tent. Murder 
 is in their hearts ! But what a sight ! There he sits, 
 the holy man, in deep thought, his time-honoured 
 locks hanging upon his shoulders, and a heavenly 
 serenity playing upon his face. A huge serpent, at- 
 tracted by the fire, is crawling over his leg ; but he 
 
DIVINE SYMPATHY. 
 
 199 
 
 heeds neither the serpent nor the Indians. Why 
 should he — “ There shall no evil befall thee, neither 
 shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling!” There 
 he sits ; how easy it would be for the Indians to ac- 
 complish their murderous intentions, for he is not 
 aware of their presence. But they do not, for the 
 presence of God’s providential love is there, and will 
 operate in its own way. See ! they are whispering to 
 each other outside of the tent, after they have long 
 stood in breathless silence and astonishment — “ That 
 man is protected by the Great Spirit, and w T e cannot 
 injure him!” They retire, and not until some time 
 afterwards, did the missionary find out that they had 
 been there. When they became his friends, they told 
 him. — Now was not God’s presence really there in the 
 wilderness? Yes. As sure as the mouth of that ser- 
 pent was closed, and as sure as the hearts of those 
 Indians were changed from the daring deed of murder, 
 so sure w T as the cause there by which these effects 
 were produced. And what was that cause ? It was 
 the same God who closed the mouths of the lions, 
 when Daniel was cast in among them ; it was the same 
 God, which opened the heart of Lydia, that disposed 
 the hearts of those murderous Indians with pity to- 
 wards the Lord’s anointed. Zinzendorf, like Jacob, 
 could say, “ Surely the Lord is in this place!” His 
 presence was there as really as was the deliverance 
 which was effected by it. 
 
 Such is our fellowship with God the Father; — but 
 our fellowship is not only with the Father, but also 
 “with his Son Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is a 
 mediator not only between God and sinners, but be- 
 
200 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 fcween heaven and earth, between God and the world, 
 between the finite and the infinite, between the crea- 
 ture and the Creator. In his mediatorial person all 
 these meet in the most complete harmony. Such is 
 his mysterious being, that he unites in himself heaven 
 and earth. When he was on earth, he could say, 1 
 am “the Son of man which is in heaven. ” And after 
 he has ascended into heaven, he can say to his people 
 on earth, “ Lo, I am with you always, even unto the 
 end of the world/’ He is now in heaven as the proper 
 home and centre of his existence, but not in such a 
 way as to forbid his presence on the earth. He is the 
 one “ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth 
 is named,” and in him they are all one family. He 
 is head over all things to the church, which is his 
 body. His church is a family, part of which is in 
 heaven, and part on earth ; but his presence is alike 
 with those who are coming up out of* great tribulation 
 in the militant church, and with those who through 
 faith and patience have already inherited the pro- 
 mises. This is a great mystery ! 
 
 The presence of the Son in the world is different 
 from the presence of the Father. Though we cannot 
 separate the operations of these two divine persons, 
 yet we can distinguish between them. As w r e can 
 distinguish their persons, so we can distinguish their 
 operations. God the Father is in the world as creator 
 and upholder; the Son, as preserver and redeemer. 
 The doctrine of divine providence stands related to 
 both. To the Father as upholder, to the Son as pre- 
 server and redeemer. Hence God’s upholding power 
 extends to the evil and the good, but Christ’s preserv- 
 
DIVINE SYMPATHY. 
 
 201 
 
 ing and redeeming power extends effectively only to 
 the saints. But as God created the world by Christ, 
 so he also sustains it by Christ, for out of Christ God 
 is, to this fallen world, a consuming fire. The Father 
 is in the world then, sustaining it as a platform, on 
 wdiich the Son carries on his economy of saving grace. 
 God upholds the world for the sake of Christ. As a 
 fallen -world God could not sustain it without reference 
 to Christ, for as fallen it stands in rebellious opposi- 
 tion to him, and he cannot, consistently with his cha- 
 racter, sustain that which stands in an attitude of re- 
 bellion against his order, except “in hope.” Thus 
 then, although the Father has not withdrawn himself 
 from the world, as to his omnipresence and power, 
 and although it still rests on him as the source of cre- 
 ating and sustaining power, and is still the object of 
 his love, yet the preserving and redeeming of it, he 
 has placed in the hands of the Son as the mediatorial 
 God-man. 
 
 God the Son, then, is in the world as its Hope. 
 As such he was made knowm to the fallen pair in Pa- 
 radise ; as such he was held up to prophetic vision 
 under the Jewish economy ; as such, in the fulness of 
 time, he really appeared ; as such he is now on the 
 mediatorial throne ; and as such we look for his second 
 appearing, when he shall come finally to put the last 
 enemy under his feet. He is the only warrant on 
 which creation, animate and inanimate, leans in hope. 
 On his mediatorial virtue alone the Christian rests his 
 hopes for heaven ; on its account alone the penitent 
 hopes for pardon ; on its account alone can a sinner 
 hope for another merciful moment ! To him all things. 
 
202 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 even in the natural world, are “ subjected in hope/' 
 On his account alone the new-fledged bird can hope 
 to mount upward and sing ; on his account alone the 
 rising sun can hope to shine on its way and set in 
 glory ; on his account alone, spring, when she draws 
 her first pencillings, can hope to finish the picture of 
 her loveliness. In short everything bending forward 
 into its future history , leans on him in hope ; take 
 him away as the hope of the world, and all will tumble 
 momentarily into a hopeless wreck. Look, then, out 
 into the world, see nature reigning in joyous life, see 
 the pulse of animated existence beat with the liveliest 
 hope, and know that for all this Christ is the only 
 warrant. In it see his presence. The whole world 
 is a barren fig-tree, which stands, on his intercessions, 
 only in hope ! Wherever, therefore, we see the pulse 
 of hope beating, there we see his presence as the cause 
 and ground of these pulsations. 
 
 Here we can see one point of difference between the 
 mode of the Father’s presence in the world, and that 
 of the Son. We might suppose the Son, as the war- 
 rant of the world’s hope, to withdraw, so that all 
 would sink into wreck, and yet the Father’s omni- 
 presence would be as much in the place of that wreck, 
 as it was before it was a wreck. In this way he is 
 present even in hell. Of his presence in the world, 
 in the way of hope, we may be the most sweetly 
 conscious. Do we feel the joyful beatings of hope? 
 there is the lively consciousness of fellowship with 
 the Son. 
 
 It is not enough, however, that God the Son should 
 be in the world as its hope, he must also be in it as 
 
DIVINE SYMPATHY. 
 
 203 
 
 that which this hope involves and promises, and which 
 we expect in this hope to realize. What is that? 
 When the world is taught to hope, it is taught to look 
 for a restoration of that which it lost in its fall. It 
 lost life. For life it hopes. Life it must receive. 
 The life of Christ must therefore be in it. He is the 
 life of the world. He is not only in heaven to give 
 life to those who shall enter there at last, but he is in 
 the world as its life. This life is in his church. 
 “ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning 
 Christ and the church/ ’ 
 
 In order to get a still clearer idea of the manner 
 of the Saviour’s presence in the world, and of our 
 fellowship with him as Christians, it is necessary that 
 we get a clear idea of what w 7 e receive of him as the 
 basis of our salvation. Some look upon his appear- 
 ance in the world as having been transient and phe- 
 nomonal ; they think that he left the w T orld in his 
 ascension as to his mediatorial person, and is now 
 only in the world in his spirit, whose influence is im- 
 parted to us. This idea, however, does not answer 
 the full import of the many passages of scripture 
 which speak of him as the life of his people, nor of 
 the passage where he says, “ Lo I am with you 
 always, even unto the end of the world.” Neither 
 does it explain the strength of those passages which 
 speak of the church as his body, and of believers as 
 living in him. It* will hereafter be seen, that the 
 manner of the Holy Spirit’s presence in the w T orld 
 can be clearly distinguished (not separated), from the 
 manner of the Son’s presence,- as the Son’s is from 
 that of the Father, 
 
204 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 If we look upon the incarnation of the Son as a 
 transient event, and not as an abiding fact in the 
 world, which is to be continued in the church as his 
 body to the end of time, we will also have superficial 
 and imperfect ideas of the resources of salvation which 
 he brought into the w T orld. Hence some say that he 
 was in the world merely as a pattern and teacher, and 
 that we are saved by following him just in the same 
 way as Plato and Socrates were followed by their dis- 
 ciples. Some say that he came only to make salva- 
 tion possible, by satisfying in some way the demands 
 of the law for our past transgressions, and by his 
 doctrines conforming our lives to the law of holiness, 
 and thus rendering us assistance to live righteously in 
 future. Some, not satisfied with these representa- 
 tions, look upon the case in this way : — the Son 
 satisfies the law for us, and thus we are pardoned ; 
 the Holy Ghost gives us life and sanctifies us. This 
 last alone comprehends the true wants of man, but it 
 mistakes in the manner in which it supposes the gospel 
 view of salvation to meet these wants. It ascribes 
 the giving of life to the Spirit, whereas that is the 
 prerogative of the Son, it being the office of the Spirit 
 to quicken that life, the ground and source of which 
 is in Christ. Christ is in the world what the above 
 schemes represent him to be, but he is more . He is 
 the way, and the truth, but he is also the life. 
 (John xiv. 6.) He was given for tfce life of the world, 
 and he remains in it as such always. In the first 
 chapter of John, we are told that grace and truth came 
 by Jesus Christ, and *by this grace is our salvation 
 What was this grace which came ? In the verse pro- 
 
DIVINE SYMPATHY. 
 
 205 
 
 vious, we are told that it is his “fulness.” “ Of his 
 fulness have we all received, and grace for grace.” 
 That this fulness was his life, we are told in a pre- 
 vious verse, “In him was life; and the life was the 
 light of men.” 
 
 It is plain that the fall, which divided and separated 
 heaven and earth, affected man soul and body ; it af- 
 fected, therefore, the physical world, with which the 
 body stands connected, as well as tjie moral world. 
 As salvation by Christ affects soul and body, so it 
 must also affect the moral and physical world as their 
 basis. Christ is the life of both. For this reason, the 
 incarnation was necessary ; not only that, as the hu- 
 man and divine are united in his person, so might the 
 physical and moral world find their harmony in each 
 other ; but also, as his mediatorial life was in a union 
 of the divine and human, so that life might pervade, 
 unite, and harmonize the moral and physical world. 
 
 It is plain that it is life which is needed to surmount 
 the ruins of the fall. Death w^as threatened as the 
 consequence of Adam’s sin. Paul tells us that it fol- 
 lowed, for “ by one man sin entered into the world, 
 and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men.” 
 The experience of the world teaches us the same, for 
 generation after generation, since Adam has sinned, 
 have been pressed into the grave. The fact is before 
 us ; not only as to its physical phenomena, but death 
 in a moral and spiritual sense. 
 
 What the precise nature of death is, we do not know, 
 but it no doubt consists in a separation of the immortal 
 spirit from God, in whom alone it can live. It is only 
 a superficial view, to make death consist in a separa- 
 18 
 
206 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 tion of the soul from the body. Death is to W 
 “ alienated from the life of God.” Neither is death 
 a cessation of existence, for Adam, still continued to 
 exist after his fall in soul and in body, and in these 
 two in union ; even eternal death is not an eternal 
 cessation of life. Death is rather a continuation of 
 the spirit’s existence, in such affinities, and under such 
 laws, as run counter to his nature, in which its being 
 can never perish, and yet with which it can never fully 
 and freely sympathize. Into such laws and affini- 
 ties, human life seems to have fallen by the sin of 
 Adam. 
 
 It must farther be understood, however, that sin 
 and death did not merely enter into the individual at 
 the fall and affect him in an isolated way, but the evil 
 affected the world , as comprehending the whole sphere 
 of his being. It affected no human life merely, but 
 the basis of human life ; not human beings, but hu- 
 manity, as the general of which Adam and all his 
 posterity are the individual and particular. When we 
 say that death is in the world, we do not mean merely 
 that men die, but we mean that the power which pro- 
 duces their death is in the world. The event or phe- 
 nomenon of death is only the effect of a deeper cause. 
 This cause pervades the moral and physical world, 
 through which it affects soul and body ; mysteriously 
 does it reign in the sphere of human existence. Of 
 this cause we can' only get a correct idea when we get 
 a clear idea of the difference between human beings 
 and humanity. Human beings are exhibitions or 
 manifestations of individual life, having their basis in 
 humanity. Individual life is the particular, humanity 
 
DIVINE SYMPATHY. 207 
 
 is the general, in which the individual stands, and on 
 which it is dependent. 
 
 When Adam fell, he fell not alone, but humanity 
 fell — death invaded its vitality, and having affected 
 the general, it necessarily affected the individual, and 
 so passed upon all men. Having affected the basis 
 of the race, it must, consequently, affect each indivi- 
 dual that is born of that race; thus that which is 
 “born of the flesh is flesh,” and we are “by nature” 
 the children of wrath. This is the seat of natural 
 depravity. 
 
 The fall then brought sin, which is an opposition to 
 divine law — a law of its own. This law is not con- 
 nected with God, and is disowned by him, consequently 
 it is a law of death. It will thus give us a correct 
 idea of the state of the world since the fall, when we 
 say, that the fall brought into the sphere of human 
 life, and has pervaded that sphere with death-laws 
 and death-affinities, in which all human beings stand, 
 and in which they must all perish, unless they are 
 raised out of them. 
 
 To do this, the Incarnate, Mediatorial, God-man is 
 in the world. He connected himself with the world 
 and with humanity, through the incarnation, that he 
 might introduce into the world a new humanity, a 
 new basis of human life. Hence he became the second 
 Adam, a quickening Spirit, and the first-born among 
 many brethren. He was born into the world of a 
 virgin, that he might be truly human. “ When the 
 fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, 
 made of a woman, made under the law , to redeem 
 them that were under the law.” He was “ made under 
 
208 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 the law” of a fallen humanity. Because we “were 
 in bondage under the elements of the world,” he, to 
 redeem us, must cast himself under the same bondage, 
 not to be subdued by it, but to triumph over it. He 
 cast himself under the power of these death-laws of a 
 fallen humanity, was borne down under them into the 
 grave, but rose over them and out of them, surmount- 
 ed these elements of bondage by the elements of 
 liberty and life. By the power of his resurrection, he 
 sprung new laws of life through the realms of death 
 which had pervaded the whole sphere of humanity. 
 As the fallen Adam was the centre in which all these 
 death-laws and death-affinities met, and from which 
 they pervaded the whole race ; so the risen Christ is 
 the centre and source of life-laws and life-affinities, 
 from which the streams of saving vitality flow out 
 through all space and time, as the basis of a new life 
 to individuals. 
 
 These life-laws proceeding from him who is the re- 
 surrection and the life, constitute the church. It is 
 this divine vitality, proceeding from the life of Christ, 
 born anew from the grave, and out of the elements of 
 Adamic bondage, that makes the church a life-bearing 
 and life-giving constitution in the world. The church 
 is his body. To be saved, is to be united to his body 
 as a living member of it. Just as human life pervades 
 and animates a human body, so the life of Christ per- 
 vades and animates his body, the church. These life- 
 laws in the church pervade all space and all time, for 
 they are the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. As 
 a confirmation of this idea, and as a clear exhibition 
 of it, let the following language be carefully studied. 
 
DIVINE SYMPATHY. 
 
 209 
 
 “ That ye may know what is the hope of his calling, 
 and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in 
 the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his 
 power to us-ward who believe, according to the work- 
 ing of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, 
 when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his 
 own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all 
 principality, and power, and might, and 6 dominion, and 
 every name that is named, not only in this world, but 
 also in that which is to come : and hath put all things 
 under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things 
 to the church, which is his body, the fulness of Him 
 that filleth all in all.” (Eph. i. 18-23.) The fulness 
 of Christ is certainly his life, and this fulness filleth 
 all in all. 
 
 We have said that the incarnate Saviour is in the 
 world as its life, and that this life constitutes the 
 church, and becomes thus the basis of all individual 
 piety and salvation. Lest this should be passed over 
 as mystical on the one hand, or as mere cant on the 
 other, we will endeavour to settle it more definitely 
 in our minds. To do this, it is necessary to get some 
 idea of the nature of life itself. We speak much of 
 life, but do we form in our minds a clear idea of its 
 nature while we speak ? 
 
 What is life ? It is not motion ; it is not influence. 
 These are effects of life, and not life itself. It is no- 
 thing material. It is not heat. In the tree it is not 
 root, sap, bark, wood, limb, leaf, flower, fruit, nor all 
 these combined. Is it not the power which combines 
 and animates them ? In the animal frame it is not 
 skin, muscle, flesh, bone, nor all these together. In 
 18* 
 
210 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 intellectual being, it is not understanding, will, affec- 
 tions, passions, nor the union of all these. What then 
 is life ? It is deeper than all effects. It is an invi- 
 sible general law, lying beneath and behind all 
 manifestations ; the hidden, quiet, powerful, and mys- 
 terious basis of all tangible being. It extends through 
 all time and pervades all space. 
 
 Taking this view of the nature of life, we can easily 
 conceive of Christ being in the world as its life, and 
 how his life can really form the basis of the life of 
 every individual Christian. The subject loses much 
 of its mystery. That a law of death has been intro- 
 duced into the world’s constitution by the fall of Adam, 
 and that under the power of that law generation after 
 generation sink into the tomb and into spiritual death, 
 is a fact; why may not the resurrection triumph of 
 Christ have introduced life-laws equally as powerful 
 and extensive, in which the saints shall stand, live, 
 and grow with the vigour of eternal youth. 
 
 We have facts in nature which are equally myste- 
 rious, and yet we know them to exist. These are the 
 laws of gravitation. These laws pervade the universe. 
 Wherever matter exists, there they are to influence it. 
 These laws extend from system to system, from planet 
 to planet, from atom to atom. An orb sailing through 
 space, is guided by these laws ; and a stone cast up 
 into the air, at any spot in space, is brought down to 
 the earth by them. Are these laws, though unseen, 
 less real than the planets which they sustain, move, 
 and direct ? Who believes this ? 
 
 Again, look at organized matter ; it all rests in a 
 law. The grain of wheat, or the acorn, or any seed, 
 
DIVINE SYMPATHY. 
 
 211 
 
 is only matter; why then does it grow’? Because, 
 though it be only matter, it is matter in certain rela- 
 tions and affinities which constitute an organization. 
 This organized matter rests in a certain law, and this 
 law, like the law of gravitation, pervades all space, 
 and, according to its own nature, brings matter into 
 an organization which will manifest this law in the 
 form of a grain of wheat, an acorn, and afterwards a 
 stalk of wheat or a tree. It is in this case again the 
 unseen which is the real ; what is seen is only the 
 manifestation of the unseen, the real, and the true. 
 This living law of organization is not simple, but very 
 complex, for it takes as many forms as there are dif- 
 ferent manifestations of it in the different germs of 
 plants, and races, and orders of animals. Do not 
 such laws exist and pervade the whole realm of na- 
 ture ? If not, how have we these uniform and con- 
 stant manifestations of them ? 
 
 Why should we doubt then, that the Saviour in 
 rising over the law of sin and death in the resurrec- 
 tion, sprung through the sphere of human life, laws 
 of divine vitality, in which to stand is eternal life. 
 Why should we doubt that these life-laws are in the 
 church, where contact with them is possible, and where 
 the manifestations of them are the new birth of souls 
 from death into eternal life ? Why should we doubt, 
 that the believing spirit comes in contact with that 
 life, and under its power, when it comes in contact 
 with the functions of the church, through which this 
 life is communicated. These functions are all the 
 means of grace, the ministry, the sacraments, and all 
 subordinate ordinances of the church. To be in the 
 
212 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 church really, is to be under the power of these laws 
 of life. IJy being introduced into the church vitally, 
 we escape the laws of sin and of death, which is the 
 consequence of sin. And now, “how shall w T e, that are 
 dead to sin, live any longer therein ? Know" ye not 
 that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ 
 were baptized into his death ? Therefore we are buried 
 with him by baptism into death : that like as Christ 
 was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Fa- 
 ther, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 
 For if w r e have been planted together in the likeness 
 of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his 
 resurrection : Knowing this, that our old man is cru- 
 cified with him, that the body of sin might be de- 
 stroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For 
 he that is dead is freed from sin. Now, if we be 
 dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live 
 with him : knowing that Christ, being raised from the 
 dead, dieth no more ; death hath no more dominion 
 over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: 
 but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise 
 reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, 
 but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” 
 How deep ! “ Understandest thou what thou readest ?” 
 Here we have exhibited to us the transition of 
 which we speak, not only from death to life, but from 
 the power and basis which produce death into the 
 power and presence of that which produce and sus- 
 tain life. That such a transition should take place, 
 is not more mysterious than some things which we 
 find in nature. Take, as an illustration, the laws of 
 crystallization. We find scattered over the face of 
 
DIVINE SYMPATHY. 
 
 213 
 
 the earth, crystals of smooth and polished sides and 
 regular angles. These are composed of quartz. This 
 quartz may and does exist in nature, in a separate and 
 elementary state, and, consequently, different in form 
 from its crystallized state. When it exists thus with 
 its particles in a state of separation, those particles 
 are under the ordinary law of gravitation, like all 
 matter. But when these particles are brought into 
 certain relations, conditions, and affinities, they are 
 seized upon momentarily by a stronger law, that of 
 crystallization, which changes their previous form and 
 affinities, makes them free from the law of gravitation, 
 and forms them into a regularly formed crystal ! This 
 law of crystallization mysteriously pervades all na- 
 ture, and wherever it finds matter under certain con- 
 ditions, it seizes upon it, forms it into a crystal, and 
 holds it firmly under that form in a crystallized state. 
 Now, let matter under the common law of gravitation 
 represent man under the Adamic law of death, and 
 matter in a crystallized state represent man changed 
 into the life-law of Christ, and the idea will be clearly 
 seen. One is not more mysterious than the other, 
 why should it be less possible ? the one is a fact, why 
 may not the other be ? As the law of crystallization 
 can seize upon matter in another form, and under an- 
 other power, and change it into a regular and beauti- 
 ful crystal, so the human spirit “in bondage under 
 the elements of the world,” is seized upon by that 
 law of life which sprung from the grave in the resur- 
 rection of Christ, and which now pervades the sphere 
 of human life in the church, which is his mystical 
 body, and is by its power transformed into a new 
 
214 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 creature in Christ Jesus. He can say truly, “ for the 
 law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, hath made 
 me free from the law of sin and death/' (Rom. viii. 2.) 
 
 The foregoing observations and illustrations, will 
 give us some idea of the mode of the Saviour’s pre- 
 sence in the world. With less it could not have been 
 done. This will open the way for us to see what are 
 the sympathies of heaven and earth in him , and in 
 the church , his body. This enables us to feel the 
 reality and force of his promise, “Lo, I am with you 
 alwavs, even unto the end of the world.” Here we 
 see, that, though he is incarnate still, and as to his 
 person as such confined to a place, yet it is possible 
 for him to be really in the world. # Though as head 
 of the church he is in heaven, at the right hand of 
 God, above all principalities and powers, filling the 
 church above with the fulness of his divine life, he can 
 be also on the earth as really and truly as he is in 
 heaven; and saints on earth may as truly feel his 
 nearness, and enjoy his divine fellowship and sympa- 
 thy. Thus he unites in his mystical person the whole 
 redeemed family in heaven and on earth, and makes 
 them one in himself, and one in each other, by the 
 highest and holiest of all communions — the communion 
 of a divine life . 
 
 He manifests himself in each believer on earth, and 
 dwells really in him, as a member of his sacred body, 
 so that each saint on earth may say without a figure, 
 “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the 
 life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith 
 of the Son of God.” “For we which live, are always 
 delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also 
 
DIVINE SYMPATHY. 
 
 215 
 
 of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. ,, 
 Thus, in every believer on earth, his life, and conse- 
 quently his presence, is manifested, so that the com- 
 munion of saints is a communion in him. He is in 
 . heaven as the great life-giving heart, the beating pulse 
 of which vibrates in every Christian’s heart on earth. 
 The head, and the body, and the members, are all 
 one ; but the head is in heaven, the body and mem- 
 bers partly there, and partly here, but — 
 
 “All joined in Christ the living head.” 
 
 The bride and bridegroom are one, but the bride is in 
 heaven, and the bridegroom on earth, there also must 
 he be. Truly heaven and earth are brought together 
 in the most blessed nearness and sympathy in Christ 
 and the church. This is a great mystery — but a 
 blessed one. Of Christ it may be truly said — 
 
 “0 ! wondrous truth to fabling fiction given, 
 
 Of one that walked on earth and hid his head in heaven; 
 Whose stature is eternity, 
 
 His crown the living sky ! 
 
 Or rather like a spirit’s love, 
 
 Whose form to mortal sense is ail invisible; 
 
 Yet still around doth dwell and move, 
 
 Around, yet how we cannot tell.” 
 
 This brings heaven and earth into near and sweet re- 
 lation. While, in reference to the Father, we recog- 
 nise his presence around us in the world, we find the 
 Son in the w^orld in us , as the mysterious but precious 
 basis of our life and comfort as Christians. Is here 
 no sympathy? We are partakers of the divine na- 
 ture! We are in him as he is in the Father I We 
 
216 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 are children, sons, brethren, heirs, with him ! Yes, 
 these heavenly things are ours while here on earth. 
 We feel it! Every conscious beating of the pulse of 
 eternal life in us, and every foretaste of heavenly 
 joys, is an evidence of his presence and sympathy in 
 the world, and a eeal communion with his divine life. 
 “ Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with 
 his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we 
 unto you, that your joy may be full.” 
 
 It is, however, not only in the love of God the 
 Father, and in the grace, or life, of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, that heaven and earth commune with each 
 other, but also in “the communion of the Holy 
 Grhost .” (2 Cor. xiii. 14.) As “there are three that 
 
 bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the 
 Holy Ghost,” so there are three modes of manifesta- 
 tion of their sympathies on earth with men. In the 
 communion of the Holy Ghost, heaven and earth reci- 
 procate in the fellowship of one influence , or quicken- 
 ing spirit, as in the grace of Jesus Christ they are one 
 in the fellowship of one life . The Spirit, too, is in 
 heaven, as his peculiar home, but also on earth as the 
 sphere of his divine operations, thus uniting both in 
 him. As there is “one body,” the church, so there 
 is “ one Spirit” influencing and quickening all. 
 
 The mode of the Spirit’s presence in the earth, is 
 clearly to be distinguished from the mode of the 
 presence of either the Father or the Son. The Son 
 is in the world as the source or basis of divine life to 
 the church and believers, the Holy Ghost as the con- 
 dition on which the manifestations of this life depend. 
 Just as in the natural world, the heat of the sun, the 
 
DIVINE SYMPATHY. 217 
 
 rains, and the dews, and the richness of the soil, are 
 the conditions of vegetation, while the seeds and grains 
 in the ground are the cause ; so in the sphere of spi- 
 ritual life. Christ’s life-presence in the church is the 
 ground or germ of life to all believers, wdiile the Holy 
 Spirit is the all-comprehending, all-overshadowing, and 
 all-pervading condition. As He at first moved and 
 brooded over the embryo and chaotic world, evolving 
 order, life, and beauty, so he moves over, the church 
 as the new creation in Christ Jesus, implanting in the 
 souls of men the regenerating life of Christ, and 
 evolving that life, as a quickening Spirit. As the 
 spirit of spring calls forth every germ of life from the 
 earth, and clothes the natural world in beauty, so it 
 is the office of the Holy Spirit to labour in the church, 
 by his influence clothing believers with the fruits and 
 graces of the Spirit, wdiich are love, joy, peace, long- 
 suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tem- 
 perance, purity. As a silent monitor, he warns and 
 reproves ; as a quickening Spirit, he enlivens and 
 cheers ; as a comforting Spirit, he allays and soothes. 
 Wherever, therefore, these fruits appear, there must 
 be the communicating presence of the Spirit. If 
 there be in love, which is one of his fruits, a real com- 
 mingling of the heart that loves with the object which 
 begets that love, then a saint on earth has real com- 
 munion with the Spirit. If there be in joy a real con- 
 scious and wakeful contact of the soul with the source 
 which has waked that joy, then the soul which expe- 
 riences joy in the Holy Ghost is in felt communion 
 with the third person in the Trinity. That peace in 
 the soul which passes understanding, must have a true 
 19 
 
218 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 and living cause, and the soul must come into actual 
 contact with the power that caused it. Equally cer- 
 tain is it, that purity is effected in the heart by the 
 operating contact of that pure Spirit which is the only 
 sanctifier. So of all the other fruits of the Spirit, 
 begotten in the heart by the Spirit. If the fruit of a 
 tree is in living contact and communion with the tree 
 itself, then the fruits of the Spirit in us must stand 
 in real and living contact and communion with the 
 Holy Spirit which has called them forth. Hence, 
 also, it is said that the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and 
 that our bodies are his temple ; and when we pray, he 
 is said to make intercession for us with “ groanings 
 that cannot be uttered.” 
 
 There was once a careless, wicked, and daring 
 young man riding through a lonely place in the woods. 
 Suddenly the passage came into his mind, “ Prepare 
 to meet thy God.” He tried to banish it from his 
 thoughts, but could not; it raised its trumpet-voice 
 louder and louder in his now troubled soul. It gave 
 him no rest until he dismounted his horse, kneeled 
 down, and prayed for the pardon of his sins in deep 
 penitence. He became a Christian. That passage 
 was one he had heard in Sabbath School. The Holy 
 Spirit had called it up to his mind. This is part of 
 his office, for he shall “ bring all things to your re- 
 membrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” Now, 
 was he not, I ask, as really present there as the effect 
 which was produced by his operations ? There was 
 an actual communion between him and that soul. 
 Heaven and earth met in that spot and exchanged 
 their sympathies. 
 
DIVINE SYMPATHY. 
 
 219 
 
 There, in yonder quiet room, or it may be in a 
 lonely garret, lies a dying Christian. Though racked 
 and torn in body by unyielding disease, yet there is a 
 smile on his cheek, the light of joy in his eye, 
 
 “And heavenly peace with balmy wing” 
 
 lies serene on his brow, like sunlight upon the autumnal 
 landscape. There is nothing in his circumstances that 
 can be the source of his peace, rather all looks lonely 
 and fading. It is the Comforter in him ! He is surely 
 there working at his spirit, and as one after the other 
 of his heart-strings break, jarring the whole body, He 
 allays their trembling motion, so that the spirit does 
 not feel the pangs of sundering. Is He not there ? 
 If not, why then is he called the Comforter whom the 
 Father will send to abide with his children for ever ? 
 If he is not there, then what power is it that produces 
 such peace, at a moment and under circumstances, 
 when nothing else could? Has such an effect no 
 cause ? and if it has, does not that cause stand in 
 living connexion with its effect while it is producing 
 it ? As sure as the heat of the sun is in the expand- 
 ing germ or swelling bud ; as sure as the li^ht of the 
 sun is on the object which it enlightens, on the grass 
 which it makes green, or on the petals of the flowers 
 which it paints with such Eden-like beauty, so sure is 
 the Holy Spirit in actual contact and communion with 
 the heart around which the fruits of the Spirit are 
 clustering. 
 
 We have now exhibited the mode of the divine pre- 
 sence in the world, in the persons of the Father, Son, 
 and Holy Ghost, and endeavoured to illustrate the 
 
220 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 fact and manner of their presence and communion 
 with saints on earth. From these considerations, it 
 will be seen that there is a sympathy between the 
 saints on earth, and the divine beings in heaven. I 
 have not spoken of the thousand details in which these 
 sympathies express themselves. This would be to 
 write a history of Christian experience, which would 
 make as many huge volumes as there have been chil- 
 dren of God from the beginning of the world to this 
 day. He manifests himself to his own as he does not 
 to the world, and the secret of the Lord is always with 
 them that fear him. A blessed, a soul-transporting, 
 a heavenly secret ! 
 
 It is not therefore cant, meaningless and idle as the 
 wind, vdien the Psalmist says, “ The Lord is nigh 
 unto them that are of a broken heart. ” There is a 
 world of joy and comfort in such language as this, 
 “ For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth 
 eternity, whose name is Holy ; I dwell in the high 
 and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and 
 humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and 
 to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” It means 
 something, when the Saviour declares that his presence 
 should be with his disciples on the earth to the end 
 of the world; and when he says, “ Behold I stand at 
 the door, and knock : if any man hear my voice, and 
 open the door, I will come into him and sup with him, 
 and he with me.” “For where two or three are 
 gathered together in my name, there am I in the 
 midst of them.” Paul speaks not empty words when 
 he declares the mystery hid for ages to be “ Christ in 
 you, the hope of glory.” It means something when 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 221 
 
 the Saviour says, on the eve of his visible departure 
 from earth, “I will pray the Father; and he shall 
 give you another Comforter, that he may abide with 
 you for ever ; even the Spirit of truth ; whom the 
 world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither 
 knoweth him : but ye know him ; for he dwelleth with 
 you, and shall be in you.” “What! know ye not 
 that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which 
 is in you ?” 
 
 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love 
 of God, and the communion of the Holy* Ghost, be 
 with you all. 
 
 SECTION- II. 
 
 ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth 
 Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep. 
 
 All these with ceaseless praise his works behold, 
 
 Both day and night. How often, from the steep 
 Of echoing hill or thicket, have we heard 
 Celestial voices to the midnight air, 
 
 Sole, or responsive each to others 7 note, 
 
 Singing their great Creator ! Oft in bands, 
 
 While they keep watch, or nightly rounding walk 
 With heavenly touch of instrumental sounds, 
 
 In full harmonic numbers joined, their songs 
 Divide the night, and lift our thoughts to heaven. 
 
 There are in heaven not only divine beings, the 
 Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, but also an- 
 gelic. Angels are created beings, having natures dif- 
 fering from God on the one hand, and from man on 
 the otlier. Being created, they are not of divine na- 
 19 * 
 
222 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 ture, for that is uncreated. That their na tures differ 
 from human, is evident from -what is said of our Sa- 
 viour, that when he took our nature, u he took not on 
 him the nature of angels. ” 
 
 When these angelic beings were created, is not 
 known. We find them, however, from its earliest 
 history, interested in this world, and employed in 
 connexion with it. We are told that when God laid 
 the foundations of the earth, the morning stars sang 
 together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. 
 Though from the earliest ages employed in the history 
 of this earth, yet the scriptures represent them as 
 having their proper home in heaven. Their employ- 
 ments and enjoyments are chiefly about the central 
 throne of God’s universal kingdom. There, in the 
 royal Salem of heaven, they gather around him with 
 the deepest reverence and love ; there they praise his 
 name, and “ do his commandments, hearkening to the 
 voice of his word.” 
 
 As these angels dwell in that place where God more 
 immediately resides, where the mediatorial person of 
 Christ is, and where is heaven, as their proper home, 
 and as they are continually “ about him,” and being 
 holy beings, sympathize with him in all his schemes, 
 it is natural to conclude that they enter, with active 
 interest, into all the merciful movements of Heaven 
 towards this fallen world. Like obedient and loving 
 children in their father’s house, they love what he 
 loves, and poise on waiting wing to do what he desires 
 to have done. What seems thus to be a reasonable 
 deduction, is confirmed by both scripture and the ex- 
 perience of the church. 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 223 
 
 It has already been remarked, in a previous section, 
 that by the fall, heaven and earth were separated, and 
 their mutual sympathies for a “ little while” de- 
 stroyed ; but God soon returned again to cheer the 
 hopes of man with a promise ; and man, thus graciously 
 visited, looked up again towards God. The “ seed of 
 the woman shall bruise the serpent's head” — this was 
 the first ray that darted into the gloom. Thus God 
 showed himself propitious ; but how is it with the an- 
 gelic hosts who seem too to have blest the first pair 
 with their presence in the garden in the golden times 
 of paradisean innocence ? They too had placed them- 
 selves at the gate in an attitude of frowning displea- 
 sure, forbidding them to return into their communion. 
 This is another evidence that these holy beings stand 
 in complete sympathy with God, for as soon as God 
 was offended by sin, they were too. When God, how- 
 ever, again exhibited a gracious and merciful disposi- 
 tion towards unfortunate and sinful man, the angels 
 too became once more his friends, and turned their 
 holy sympathies towards him. 
 
 The returning sympathies of God and angels to- 
 wards man, are beautifully pictured to us in the glo- 
 rious vision which Jacob had at Bethel in the wilder- 
 ness. What a vision wns that ! What a beautiful 
 symbol of heaven and earth united ; or, at least, seek- 
 ing union with each other. God, at the top of the 
 ladder, speaking promises ; Jacob, at the bottom, 
 hearing them with a spiritual ear ; angels going up 
 and down on it. This ladder represented to Jacob 
 the new and living way back to the heavenly paradise, 
 up which the church must ascend in its future history 
 
224 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 until it reaches the top of Mount Zion, on which 
 stands the heavenly Jerusalem, w r here God* dwells, and 
 of wdiich he is himself the light. Here - Jacob could 
 
 see, at the same time that he was receiving promises 
 for himself and his seed, the steep path which they 
 must ascend to realize them ; but also the comforting 
 fact that this gradually ascending highway to heaven 
 had God at the top looking down with interest, and 
 was all along lined with angels, who should be to him 
 and his posterity ministering spirits. 
 
 Jacob, there in the wilderness, and his vision, is 
 evidently a type of Christ and the church. As he 
 was travelling through the wilderness, so should Christ 
 and the church ! The covenant there made between 
 God and Jacob, was a covenant between God and his 
 church. This covenant is consecrated, and shall stand 
 like the pillar which Jacob set up, and the place where 
 it stands shall be called Bethel — that is, the house of 
 God — the church ! The Son of man, driven by our 
 sins, as Jacob was driven by the wrath of Esau, shall 
 leave his father’s house, and make a journey through 
 the wilderness of this sinful world. He shall at length, 
 weary and exceeding sorrowful even unto death, light 
 upon a certain place, where he shall sleep for a little 
 while the sleep of death, but he shall rise again. Then 
 he shall plant the true pillar of his church, and, pour- 
 ing out the Spirit, anoint it with the Holy Ghost, of 
 which the oil that Jacob put on the stone at Bethel is 
 only a type ; and thus shall be completely fulfilled 
 those “ greater things” which the Saviour, in evident 
 allusion to Jacob’s vision, declared his disciples should 
 see, “ Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 225 
 
 angels of God ascending and descending upon the 
 Son of man.” 
 
 We love to think of those ancient times of quiet 
 patriarchal life, and of those after ages of Jewish 
 theocracy and of mysterious ceremonial solemnity, 
 when God’s voice w~as heard out of the awful cloud, 
 and when angels walked on earth in every day life, 
 and were the companions of men. We sometimes, — ■ 
 because past mercies, though smaller, are more appre- 
 ciated than present ones, though greater, — wish a re- 
 turn of those palmy days of the world’s childhood. 
 Who has not in those still and thoughtful hours of 
 life which God grants us so graciously, breathed forth 
 his lament in the beautiful words of the Poet — 
 
 Why come not spirits from the realms of glory, 
 
 To visit the earth as in days of old — 
 
 The times of ancient writ and sacred story ? 
 
 Is heaven more distant ? or has earth grown cold 1 
 
 Oft have I gazed when sunset clouds, receding, 
 
 Waved like rich banners of a host gone by, 
 
 To catch the gleam of some white pinion speeding 
 Along the confines of the glowing sky. 
 
 AncJ oft when midnight stars in distant chillness 
 Were calmly burning, listened late and long; 
 
 But nature’s pulse beat on in solemn stillness, 
 
 Bearing no echo of the seraph’s song. 
 
 To Bethlehem’s air was their last anthem given 
 When other stars before the One grew dim? 
 
 Was their last presence known in Peter’s prison ? 
 
 Or where exulting martyrs raised their hymn ? 
 
 And are they all within the veil departed ? 
 
 There gleams no wing along the empyrean now ; 
 
 And many a tear from human eyes have started, 
 
 Since angel touch has calmed a mortal brow.” 
 
220 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 This is a truly pathetic complaint, and one to which 
 few hearts have not returned an ardent echo. But 
 there is no need of making it. It is true, if we look 
 for angels with our bodily eyes, or even with the eyes 
 of a poet, we shall not see them. We shall not see 
 the gleam of white pinions speeding along the confines 
 of the glowing sky ; we shall not hear their songs as 
 the shepherds of Bethlehem heard them. Yet they 
 have not all retired for ever behind the veil of the 
 visible. They may still be seen and heard by the eye 
 and ear of faith, though 
 
 “ There gleams no wing along the empyrean now.” 
 
 It has been supposed by some, that since the Holy 
 Spirit is on the earth as the comforter and guide of 
 the saints, it would be a disparagement to Him if we 
 believed still in the ministrations of angels. Hence 
 it is said that with the passing away of the old Jewish 
 economy, the ministry of angels came to a close ; that 
 W'e have a better ministry in the enlightening, leading, 
 and comforting influences of the Spirit, and that con- 
 sequently we have no need of angelic services. It is, 
 however, no disparagement to the office of the Spirit 
 to share in angelic sympathies and services, for their 
 ministrations are of course under the Spirit’s direction. 
 The Saviour’s work of redemption was not disparaged 
 by having angelic services connected with it. These 
 heavenly attendants are rather to be looked upon as a 
 glorious train attending, to proclaim his dignity, and 
 to swell his triumphs. 
 
 11 These heavenly guards around him wait, 
 
 Like chariots that attend his state.” 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 227 
 
 So far, then, from being a disparagement, it is an 
 honour ; as it was with Christ, so it is in reference to 
 the Holy Spirit. Moreover, this idea is condemned 
 by facts. Angelic ministrations were enjoyed by 
 saints after the gift of the Holy Ghost had been 
 granted. Cornelius, Peter, Philip, Paul, John, and 
 others of the disciples had angelic visits, and received 
 blessings at their hands. To wicked Herod also an 
 angel appeared, armed with judgments ; — from such 
 a visit may God protect us ! In addition to this, it 
 may be remarked, that the writer of the epistle to the 
 Hebrews says, u Are they not” — not they have been 
 — “ ministering spirits?” It is not true, therefore, 
 that the introduction of the Spirit’s dispensation was 
 intended to shut out angelic sympathies from man. 
 
 It has, also, strangely enough, been imagined that 
 in the new dispensation saints are angels to each other. 
 In the old economy, because saints were few, and their 
 path to heaven dark and obscure, it was necessary, it 
 is said, that angels from above should come down to 
 attend them; but now as the communion of saints is 
 extended, and the path to heaven lies through the 
 brighter fields of gospel light, it is no more necessary, 
 that angels should come from the realms above, but 
 saints are left to the sympathies of each other ; and 
 each one filled with more light and benevolence than 
 the other becomes to him a ministering angel. 
 
 This theory is somewhat beautifully measured off 
 in the following lines. I quote them gladly, not be- 
 cause they prove the theory which they seek to 
 exhibit, but because they exhibit in beautiful language 
 a beautiful truth. Saints are to each other angels.in 
 
228 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 a blessed sense, — though their services and sympathies 
 no more shut out those of angels than the light of the 
 moon is destroyed by the light of the stars -which 
 attend him and mingle their light with his, to lessen, 
 if they cannot entirely disperse the earth’s darkness. 
 ‘•No,” exclaims the poet with emphasis, against the 
 idea that earth has no angels, because their wings are 
 not seen, and their songs are not heard — 
 
 “No : earth has angels, though their forms are moulded, 
 But of such clay as fashions all below; 
 
 Though harps are wanting, and bright pinions folded, 
 
 We know them by the love-light on their brow. 
 
 I have seen angels by the sick one’s pillow ; 
 
 Theirs was the soft tone and the soundless tread, 
 
 When smitten hearts were drooping like the willow, 
 
 They stood ‘ between the living and the dead.’ 
 
 And if my sight, by earthly dimness hindered, 
 
 Beheld no hovering cherubim in air, 
 
 I doubted not — for spirits know their kindred — 
 
 They smiled upon the viewless watchers there. 
 
 There have been angels in the gloomy prison ; 
 
 In crowded halls; by the lone widow’s hearth; 
 
 And where they passed, the fallen have uprisen — 
 
 The giddy paused — the mourner’s hope had birth. 
 
 I have seen one whose eloquence commanding, 
 
 Roused the rich echoes of the human breast ; 
 
 The blandishments of wealth and ease withstanding, 
 
 That hope might reach the suffering and opprest. 
 
 And by his side there moved a form of beauty, 
 
 Strewing sweet flowers along his path of life, 
 
 And looking up with meek and love-blent duty: 
 
 I called her angel, but he called her wife. 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 229 
 
 O ! many a spirit walks the world unheeded, 
 
 That, when its veil of sadness is laid down, 
 
 Shall soar aloft with pinions unimpeded, 
 
 And wear its glory like a starry crown. 
 
 Yes ! this is all most sweetly true ! Earth has 
 ministering spirits in human form. They walk along 
 the Babel of this world to comfort those disconsolate 
 strangers who are weeping there under the willows. 
 They walk not without balm in their hands through 
 the world, and they apply it w T herever they see 
 wounds. At the bed of death they are, with soft 
 tones and a soundless tread. In the huts, and at the 
 hearths of widowed want and sorrow, and in the habi- 
 tations of vice and ignorance the tread of their feet is 
 no strange sound. The tender, and faithful wife too, 
 twining her mysterious self, like a green and flowery 
 wreath, around every stern and rugged duty which 
 rises in the path of her husband’s life, may with a 
 most thankful emphasis be called an angel. While 
 we believe all this, w T e do not refuse to believe more, 
 when God has warranted us to do so. While we are 
 thankful for the communion of saints in Zion, we are 
 also thankful for the “ innumerable company of an- 
 gels” to which we “are come;” and we hail them 
 with joyful welcome, as ministering spirits to all who 
 are heirs of salvation. 
 
 From the declaration of the Saviour to his disciples, 
 that, “ Hereafter they should see heaven open, and 
 the angels of God ascending and descending upon the 
 Son of man,” it is evident that it was not intended 
 that angelic communications and sympathies, which 
 were so abundant in the Jewish dispensation, should 
 20 
 
280 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 cease at the introduction of the gospel dispensation, 
 hut rather that they should continue more free and 
 frequent than before. Instead of heaven and earth 
 receding from each other at the coming of Christ, 
 they were brought more closely together. As sub- 
 stance is more real than shadow, so the New Testa- 
 ment church is more really in sympathy with heaven 
 than the Jewish economy. As the soul, in a wakeful 
 state, is more conscious than it is in dreams and 
 visions, so is the sympathy between heaven and earth 
 more wakeful and real now, than it was among the 
 Jews. “If the ministration of death, written and 
 graven in stones, was glorious, so that the children 
 of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of 
 Moses for the glory of his countenance ; which glory 
 was to be done away : how shall not the ministration 
 of the Spirit be rather glorious ? For if the ministra- 
 tion of condemnation be glory, much more doth the 
 ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For 
 even that which was made glorious had no glory in 
 this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. 
 For if that which is done away was glorious, much 
 more that Avhich remaineth is glorious. ” 
 
 We may ask, then, does this superior glory of the 
 New Testament dispensation consist in this, that hea- 
 ven and earth are farther apart in their sympathies, 
 and communicate less with each other ? Is the spi- 
 ritual ladder empty, and is the lonely pilgrim, when 
 lying like Jacob at the gate of heaven, no more visited 
 by ministering spirits who go out and in there as in 
 days of old ? No : they are still the servants of the 
 saints, and those who are come into the church as the 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 231 
 
 gate of heaven and the true Bethel, may there have 
 fellowship with an innumerable company of angels. 
 
 There would be no difficulty in believing the minis- 
 try of angels, if they appeared in a visible manner 
 as in former times; but, “ where are they? we see 
 them not;” is the faithless cry of such as have no 
 eye to discern spiritual things, and no faith which is 
 the evidence of things not seen. In this case, too, 
 it may be replied, that we look not to the things 
 which are seen, but to the things which are not seen ; 
 the things which are seen are temporal, the things 
 which are not seen are eternal. The outward is al- 
 ways but the shell ; the inward and hidden is the 
 reality. That which is seen on earth is gross, and 
 therefore perishing and transient. The gross mani- 
 festations of angelic beings under the old dispensa- 
 tion, like that dispensation itself, were destined to 
 pass away to give place to that which was better — 
 more spiritual. 
 
 That they do not now appear to us in visible bodies, 
 is no evidence that they do not appear at all. If we 
 suppose with some that they are in their nature pure 
 spirits, and that they assumed bodies for the sake of 
 convenience only, we can have no difficulty. If we 
 suppose with others, which is the most probable opi- 
 nion, that they are embodied spirits, there is just as 
 little. “ The vehicles or bodies* of angels, are doubt- 
 
 * This extract is from Dick’s Future State. The following 
 remarks by the same author, in opposition to the idea that an 
 gels are pure spirits, are in place here : “ It will, doubtless, be 
 objected, ( that these intelligences are 'pure spirits . and assume 
 corporeal forms only on particular occasions.’ This is an opk 
 
232 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 less of a much finer mould than the bodies of men ; 
 but, although they were at all times invisible through 
 such organs of vision as we possess, it would form no 
 proof that they are destitute of corporeal frames. 
 
 nion almost universally prevalent ; but it is a mere assumption, 
 destitute of any rational or scriptural argument to substantiate 
 its truth. There is no passage in scripture, with which I am 
 acquainted, that makes such an assertion. The passage in 
 Psalm civ. 4, 1 Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers 
 a flame of fire,’ has been frequently quoted for this purpose ; 
 but it has no reference to any opinion that may be formed on 
 this point ; as the passage should be rendered, 4 Who maketh 
 the winds his messengers, and a flaming fire his ministers. 7 
 Even although the passage were taken as it stands in our trans- 
 lation, and considered as referring to the angels, it would not 
 prove that they are pure, immaterial substances; for, while 
 they are designated spirits, which is equally applicable to men , 
 as well as to angels — they are also said to be 4 a flaming fire, 7 
 which is a material substance. This passage seems to have no 
 particular reference to either opinion ; but if considered as ex- 
 pressing the attributes of angels, its meaning plainly is, that 
 they are endowed with wonderful activity , — that they move 
 with the swiftness of the winds, and operate with the force and 
 energy of flaming fire ; — or, in other words, that He, in whose 
 service they are, and who directs their movements, employs 
 them with the strength of winds, and the rapidity of lightnings. 
 
 u In every instance in which angels have been sent on em- 
 bassies to mankind, they have displayed sensible qualities. 
 They exhibited a definite form , somewhat analogous to that of 
 man, and colour and splendour , which were perceptible by the 
 organs of vision — they emitted sounds which struck the organ 
 of hearing — they produced the harmonies of music , and sung 
 sublime sentiments, which were uttered in articulate words, 
 that were distinctly heard and recognised by the persons to 
 whom they were sent, Luke ii. 14 — and the}^ exerted their 
 power over the sense of feeling. * * * In these instances, 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 233 
 
 The air we breathe is a material substance, yet it is in- 
 visible; and there are substances whose rarity is more 
 than ten times greater than that of the air of our at- 
 mosphere. Hydrogen gas is more than twelve times 
 lighter than common atmospheric air. If, therefore, 
 an organized body were formed of a material substance 
 similar to air, or to hydrogen gas, it would in general 
 be invisible ; but, in certain circumstances, might re- 
 flect the rays of light, and become visible, as certain 
 of the lighter gaseous bodies are found to do. This 
 is, in some measure, exemplified in the case of ani- 
 malcule , whose bodies are imperceptible to the naked 
 eye, and yet are regularly organized . material sub- 
 
 angels manifested themselves to men through the medium of 
 ihree principal senses, by which we recognise the properties 
 of material objects; and why, then, should we consider them 
 as purely immaterial substances, having no connexion with the 
 material universe? We have no knowledge of angels but 
 from revelation : and all the descriptions it gives of these 
 beings, lead us to conclude that they are connected with the 
 w'orld of matter, as well as with the world of mind, and are 
 furnished with organical vehicles, composed of some refined 
 material substances, suitable to their nature and employments. 
 
 “When Christ shall appear the second time, we are told that 
 he is to come, not only in the glory of his Father, but also in 
 ‘the glory of his holy angels , 7 who will minister to him and in- 
 crease the splendour of his appearance. Now, the glory which 
 the angels will display, must b e visible, and, consequently, mate- 
 rial ; otherwise it could not be contemplated by the assembled 
 inhabitants of our world, and could present no glory or lustre 
 to their view r . An assemblage of purely spiritual beings, how- 
 ever numerous, and however exalted in point of intelligence, 
 would be a mere inanity, in a scene i®tended to exhibit a 
 visible display of the divine supremacy and grandeur . 77 
 
 20 * 
 
234 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 stances, endowed with all the functions requisite to 
 life, motion, and enjoy ment.” 
 
 Whether, therefore, they are purely spiritual, or 
 organized with refined bodies, or whether they are 
 capable of both modes* of existence at pleasure, it 
 throws no difficulties into the way of the belief that 
 they dwell at times on earth, and communicate with 
 men. The Saviour is no more on earth in a visible 
 body, but he is, nevertheless, with us always even 
 unto the end of the world. That the divine and 
 heavenly manifestations under the old dispensation 
 w T ere gross, was because the state of the human mind, 
 and the modes of society required it. The New is 
 under the form, and in the element of the Spirit, and, 
 consequently, deeper and more removed from all that 
 is visible, gross, and tangible to the senses. The 
 inward and spiritual consciousness, being now more 
 awake, communications can be made without being so 
 much recognised by the outward and sensual. Under 
 the old dispensation, the Holy Spirit was not yet in 
 the world , and consequently his communications had 
 
 * Milton, in his Paradise Lost, has the following remarkable 
 passage : 
 
 For spirits when they please 
 Can either sex assume, or both ; so soft 
 And uncompounded is their essence pure; 
 
 Not tied or manacled with joint or limb, 
 
 Nor founded on the brittle thread of bones, 
 
 Like cumbrous flesh; but in what shape they choose, 
 Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure, 
 
 Can execute their airy purposes, 
 
 And works of lovfc or enmity fulfil. 
 
 Par. Lost , Boole I. lines 423 — 431 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 235 
 
 to be transmitted to us; for this a sensual medium 
 was needed ; but now He is in the world, and in the 
 saints, by his mysterious indwelling power, and, con- 
 sequently, when he makes use of subordinate spirits, 
 finding a spiritual basis in us, they need no more 
 exhibit themselves to our senses in order to gain, 
 through them, access to our spirits. For this reason 
 it is no more necessary that angels, in order to com- 
 municate with us, should clothe themselves in visible 
 bodies, and need also no organs of speech. 
 
 In confirmation of this, it may be remarked, that 
 the manifestations of angels after the Holy GSost was 
 given, seem not to have been of a visible character. 
 The angel that Cornelius saw, he saw “in a vision,” 
 and the communications he received of him must have 
 been of a purely spiritual kind. Peter, in prison, 
 though he was roused up and followed the angel, yet 
 while he was following the angel out of prison, so 
 little had his senses to do with it, that “ he wist not 
 that it was true which was done by the angel ; but 
 thought he saw a vision.” In Acts viii. 26, it is said 
 that “the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip,” com- 
 manding him to go in the direction where he would 
 meet the Ethiopian eunuch, to give him instruction, 
 and when he met him, “ the Spirit said : Go near and 
 join thyself to this chariot.” Was this spirit the same 
 as the angel? If so, does it not seem probable that 
 his first speaking was also in a spiritual manner ? It 
 does not appear that Philip saio the angel. The angel 
 which Paul saw during the storm on the sea, seems to 
 have appeared to his spirit in a dream, when the senses 
 were inactive ; for he says, “ There stood by me this 
 
286 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 night the angel of God.” The angel also which ap- 
 peared to John on Patmos, appeared in a vision, while 
 he was “in the Spirit.” Even if this point could not 
 be positively proven, and it should seem that there 
 were visible appearances after the Holy Ghost was 
 given, yet this consideration would not be invalidated ; 
 for the days of the apostles were the twilight period 
 of transition, when they may have found it necessary 
 yet to appear in a more sensible way. After the new 
 dispensation was once fully introduced, it may no 
 more have been necessary; there is no good proof, 
 at any fhte, that they appeared visibly after the apos- 
 tolic age. 
 
 It is a mistaken notion that angels cannot commu- 
 nicate with our spirits in any other way than by pre- 
 senting themselves visibly to our eyes, or tangibly to 
 our touch, or speaking to us in an audible way through 
 the medium of the air. We might urge the philosophic 
 consideration that there may be even material media, 
 of which neither of our five senses is conscious, which 
 might constitute an element in which spiritual beings 
 might commune with each other. But we need only 
 go to scripture facts to prove that such communion 
 has actually taken place. It has already been remark- 
 ed, that the angels which appeared to Cornelius and 
 to Peter did it “in a vision.” They did not make use 
 of their bodily organs or physical sensations, as a 
 medium. It was a vision of the Spirit. Peter was 
 asleep at the time, and consequently unconscious of 
 the outward world through the senses, yet his spirit 
 was capable of vision and of action too, under th8 
 operation of the angel. The angel raised him up, 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 237 
 
 spcke to him ; Peter, according to the angel’s direc- 
 tions, girded himself, bound on his sandals, cast his 
 garment around him, and followed him, and yet he 
 66 wist not that it was true which was done by the 
 angel” — that is, he was not conscious through his 
 senses of the reality of all that was done, “ but thought 
 he saw a vision ! ” It was not until they had passed 
 the first and second ward, and were come to the outer 
 iron gate that led to the city, that “ Peter was come 
 to himself.” Then, for the first time, he knew “of a 
 surety” that God had sent his angel to deliver him. 
 Here, then, we see that a human spirit can be moved 
 to action by an angelic spirit, without the body being 
 conscious of it. 
 
 The body is useful to communicate with the outer 
 world, and for this it is the proper and indispensable 
 medium ; but its use can be dispensed with, when we 
 “ come to visions and revelations of the Lord.” Paul 
 was caught up into the third heaven, even into para- 
 dise, where he heard unspeakable words, and yet, 
 whether in the body, or out of the body, he could not 
 tell. It seems that in this case the spirit heard, and 
 saw, and felt, “visions and revelations of the Lord,” 
 without the medium of bodily senses, or at least with- 
 out their conscious use, which is all the same to the 
 argument. If such communications were ijot possible, 
 then the spirits of the saints would be in a lonely and 
 forsaken condition, when separated at death from the 
 body. Lonely would they pass through the dark val 
 ley of death, and lonely would they remain even in 
 heaven, without the power to communicate with other 
 spirits, until they receive their bodies in the resurrec^ 
 
HEAVEN. 
 
 238 
 
 tion. But we are encouraged to believe, from the 
 dealings of the angels with the soul of Lazarus, the 
 beggar, that our souls will not pass the shades of death 
 alone, but will be conveyed in the sweet company of 
 angels through death into Abraham’s bosom. And 
 from the vision of John in Patmos, it appears that 
 angels and saints w T ere, in his time, worshipping to- 
 gether in the most intimate fellowship around the 
 throne in heaven. 
 
 What we have thus far seen as possible and proba- 
 ble — yea, and much more — in reference to angelic 
 sympathy, we see by the light of God’s word as real. 
 The eye of faith roving through the pages of divine 
 revelation, sees the angelic world living and moving 
 on the earth, constantly descending from heaven to 
 earth, and ascending from earth to heaven. Let us 
 see still farther in what relation heaven and earth 
 stand to each other, by seeing what is revealed in the 
 Bible concerning angelic sympathy, and the mode' and 
 object of their presence on the earth. It is by seeing 
 how they are serviceable to man, and what are their 
 employments on the earth, that we shall be able to 
 discern their footsteps. To do this aright, it is ne- 
 cessary that we put away cold, unbaptized philosophy, 
 and put on simple, child-like faith. The declaration 
 of the Saviqur, when he touched the eyes of the blind 
 man, is deeply and mysteriously true, “ According to 
 your faith, be it unto you !” “ There are more things 
 
 in heaven and earth,” known to simple faith, than are 
 dreamed of in skeptical philosophy. The same quali- 
 fication which is necessary to be led into any truth, 
 is also necessary to be led into the mysteries of the 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 239 
 
 hidden world: it is this: “In thy light shall we see 
 light.” “ The Yneek will he guide in judgment : and 
 the meek will he teach his way.” “ The secret of the 
 Lord is with them that fear him ; and he will show 
 them his covenant.” An inward sympathy with the 
 mysterious and awful kingdom of spirits, is an indis- 
 pensable qualification to him who -would understand 
 its constitution, and inquire into its operations. Faith- 
 less skepticism robs the soul of all its contents, and 
 makes to it the world, physical and spiritual, empty 
 and unreal; but faith is the “substance” of all those 
 things for which the soul hopes, and the “ evidence ” 
 of things not seen ! He who would win truth, must 
 w t oo it, he who would woo it, must love it, and he who 
 would love it, must believe it, and be favourably dis- 
 posed towards it. 
 
 Angels, according to scripture, are intelligent beings. 
 The wise woman of Tekoah, in speaking of the wisdom 
 of David, compares his wisdom, in the way of praise, 
 to the wisdom of an angel: “My lord is wise, accord- 
 ing to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all 
 things that are on the earth.” (2 Sam. xiv. 20.) The 
 last clause of this passage implies that angels are well 
 acquainted on the earth. “ They are,” says one, 
 “intimately acquainted with the springs of life, and 
 the avenues by which they may be interrupted ; for 
 an angel slew’, in one night, one hundred and eighty- 
 five thousand of the Assyrian army. They are per- 
 fectly acquainted with all the relations which subsist 
 among mankind, and can distinguish the age and cha- 
 racter of every individual throughout all the families 
 of the earth ; for one of these powerful beings recog- 
 
240 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 nised all the first-born in the land of Egypt, distin- 
 guished the Egyptians from the children of Israel, and 
 exerted his powers in their destruction. And as they 
 are 4 ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation/ they 
 must have a clear perception of the persons and cha- 
 racters of those who are the objects of the divine fa- 
 vour, and to wdiom they are occasionally sent on em- 
 ba^pies of mercy.” 
 
 Why should holy beings, for they are holy, not be 
 intelligent ? Their minds have never been enervated, 
 debased, or clouded by sin. They have always lived, 
 as their proper home, near the eternal throne, in those 
 high and holy regions, where the radiance of the 
 Supreme Wisdom shines continually upon them. In 
 such pure and clear regions, should not their minds 
 be pure and cloudless? Then, too, the development 
 of their minds is not interrupted by death, but they 
 have for thousands — perhaps many thousands of years, 
 been expanding in knowledge. When we consider 
 what a vast compass of knowledge some human spirits 
 are able to embrace in a short life-time, we are over- 
 whelmed with the calculation of what must be the 
 capacity and the acquirements of angelic minds. 
 “They dwell in a world where truth reigns triumph- 
 ant, where moral evil has never entered, where sub- 
 stantial knowledge irradiates the mind of every in- 
 habitant, where the mysteries which involve the 
 character of the Eternal are continually disclosing, 
 and where the plans of his providence are rapidly un- 
 folded. They have ranged through the innumerable 
 regions of the heavens, and visited distant worlds for 
 thousands of years ; they have beheld the unceasing 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 241 
 
 variety, and the endless multitude of the works of 
 creation and providence, and are, doubtless, enabled 
 to compare systems of worlds, with more accuracy and 
 comprehension, than we are capable of surveying 
 villages, cities, and provinces. Thus their original 
 powers and capacities have been expanded, and their 
 vigour and activity strengthened; and, consequently, 
 in the progress of duration, their acquisitions of wis- 
 dom and knowledge must indefinitely surpass every 
 thing that the mind of man can conceive.” 
 
 Being thus intelligent, it is natural and reasonable 
 to conclude that in ministering to us on the earth, 
 they should bring their own intelligence into contact 
 with our minds, and that thus the communion of their 
 minds with ours should have on us a stimulating, 
 quickening, and elevating effect. There is, even 
 about the presence of intelligent minds among men, 
 an element in which we cannot exist without feeling 
 its elevating power. Though these, our intelligent 
 associates, may not be directly and formally instruct- 
 ing us, yet we feel the enlightening and elevating 
 power of their presence in indescribable ways. So our 
 fellowship with angels in the enjoyment of their minis- 
 trations, has the same effect, though we should not be 
 able to point out the precise way in which they in- 
 struct us, or be able to recognise and designate any 
 particular light springing up in our minds as having 
 been imparted by them. 
 
 That they have been engaged in communicating 
 intelligence to men, is abundantly evident from the 
 Bible. Their very name, which means a messenger 
 or bearer of news, designates their office in this r© 
 21 
 
242 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 spect. The intelligence that God would destroy So- 
 dom, was communicated to Lot by two angels. They 
 announced the coming of the Saviour, and of his fore- 
 runner, John the Baptist. To the Marys, who went 
 early to the tomb to seek Jesus, they brought the 
 information that he had risen. Even the law is said 
 to have been “ ordained by angels in the hands of a 
 Mediator,” and Stephen says that the Jews received 
 it by the “ disposition of angels.” The Revelations 
 which John received on Patmos, in a vision of those 
 things which must shortly come to pass, w^ere “ sent and 
 signified” by an angel. Cornelius, who was a devout 
 man, “and prayed to God always,” received from an 
 angel the comforting intelligence that his prayers 
 w T ere heard. “ Thy prayers and thine alms,” said the 
 angel, “are come up as a memorial before God.” 
 Daniel also received notice in the same way that his 
 prayer was heard ; for the angel Gabriel, being caused 
 to fly swiftly, reached him about the time of the 
 evening incense, before his prayer was ended, clothed 
 with authority to answer his prayer, and to assure him 
 of his acceptance before God. 
 
 It is neither unreasonable nor unscriptural to be- 
 lieve that angels communicate with our minds and 
 beget thoughts, or at least that they give such motion 
 and tendency to the mind as will beget thoughts. If 
 evil spirits can excite and allure our thought to evil, 
 by making use of our indwelling depravity, why can- 
 not good angels incite the Christian’s mind to useful 
 and holy thoughts, by making use of indwelling 
 grace ? That evil spirits do in this way operate on 
 wicked hearts, is beyond a doubt ; why should the 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 243 
 
 other not be equally credible ? Wicked men cannot 
 always distinguish between what is the motion of their 
 own minds, and what is the effect of Satanic opera- 
 tions ; why should this be required of saints in refer- 
 ence to the operations of God’s angels on their minds? 
 It is not, certainly, in the outward manifestations of 
 the spirit’s operations, but among the hidden springs of 
 its activities, that the motions of angelic influence are 
 to be sought. Our souls are also susceptible of being 
 operated upon by human spirits, why not as well by 
 angels? We communicate with this world through 
 our bodily senses ; by the medium of flesh, as in the 
 case of touch, taste, smell ; through the medium of 
 air, as in the case of hearing ; through the medium 
 of light, as in seeing ; but has the soul no senses 
 which are not called into action in our communica- 
 tions with the outward world, which are capable of 
 more refined communication? We know that there 
 are media in the world more subtle and refined than 
 any of those mentioned : may not our spirits through 
 these hold communion with the spiritual intelligences 
 of a higher order ? Who, in observing the operations 
 of his own mind, has not discovered that there are 
 movements in it, which seem in no way to be depend- 
 ent upon its association with the outer world ? The 
 history of mental phenomena furnishes abundant ma- 
 terials for evidence on this point, as, for instance, in 
 cases of presentiments. There are well established 
 cases, where the mind seems to have acquired a kind 
 of prophetic capacity. This is the case especially 
 with some quiet and lonely spirits, whose sympathies 
 seem to have no affinity for those things, which, to 
 
544 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 the majority of men, seem most real. This is also 
 the case often with old persons, who, wandering in the 
 evening twilight of life, manifest a certain kind of 
 prophetic mysteriousness, which makes us quiet in 
 their presence. Thus the popularity which the fol- 
 lowing sentiment of the poet has gained, shows how 
 well known is this truth — 
 
 a 7 Tis the sunset of life gives me mystical lore, 
 
 And coming events cast their shadows before. 77 
 
 Iieason does not forbid, on the contrary it encou- 
 rages us to believe that angels are constantly around 
 us on the earth, that the spirit is capable of hearing 
 their mysterious whispers through the mortal veil, and 
 that they stand with our spirits in constant sympathy 
 and communion. 
 
 They, on account of their superior intelligence, 
 know better than we the devices of those wicked 
 spirits which surround us, and are engaged for our 
 ruin. If they are ministering spirits, it seems cer- 
 tain that a great part of their ministering consists in 
 communicating to us wisdom to carry out our warfare 
 successfully against evil spirits. They point out to 
 us the path in which our safety lies. Thus Joseph 
 was warned by an angel in a dream to flee into Egypt 
 with Mary and the holy child, because Herod was 
 seeking to destroy it. When Herod was dead, and 
 the danger was over, he was invited by the angel to 
 return again into the land of Israel. They go before 
 us and open the way in which the providence of God 
 intends to lead us. When Abraham sent his servant 
 into the land of his kindred to seek out a wife for his 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 245 
 
 son Isaac, he said, “ God shall send his angel before 
 thee.” And so he did. And well did he open the 
 way ; for as fast as the servant went, so fast was every 
 thing arranged as by an unseen hand. So also did 
 the angel go before Peter when he brought him out 
 of prison, and delivered him “ out of the hands of 
 Herod, and from all the expectations of the people of 
 the Jews.” Into such straits do Christians often 
 come ; when the future is dark, and their way is 
 hedged in ; then they need ministering spirits to open 
 up their way, and set their feet in the path of safety 
 and success. There are few Christians who cannot, 
 in their experience, refer to times when circumstances 
 of difficulty, where no way seemed possible, yielded 
 mysteriously, and permitted them joyfully to pass on. 
 It is God’s pleasure that the way of his saints shall 
 be prepared, and that their paths shall be made 
 straight ; but who is it but his angels, that fulfil his 
 pleasure, do his commandments, and hearken to the 
 voice of his word? 
 
 God, for wise purposes, suffers his people at times 
 to get into circumstances of dark and terrible trial, 
 such as that in which Abraham was, when he stood 
 with uplifted hand before the altar to offer up his 
 only son, the child of the promise. But as God deli- 
 vered him by the voice of an angel, so he bids angels 
 minister to us, under similar circumstances, still. 
 Thus far, and no farther, he suffers the fiery trial to 
 proceed : when he sees that it 'is enough, he sends an 
 angel messenger to deliver us out of the furnace of 
 fiery trial, and speak to us through him the comfort- 
 ing words which he spake to Abraham, “Now I know 
 of * 
 
246 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 that thou fearest God.” It was an angel that deli- 
 vered the three faithful witnesses, Shadrach, Meshach, 
 and Abednego, out of the fiery furnace ; and it was 
 an angel that shut the lions’ mouth, that they should 
 not hurt Daniel, when he was cast in among them. 
 After the devil had spent the fulness of his tempting 
 power upon the Saviour in the wilderness, “ behold 
 angels came and ministered unto him.” In the garden 
 of Gethsemane, when his exceeding sorrow had reached 
 its acme, then “ there appeared an angel unto him 
 from heaven, strengthening him.” 
 
 Every Christian’s experience will enable him to 
 refer to instances in his own life, when circumstances 
 seemed to have hedged him completely in, when he 
 seemed to stand in such terrible trial and fearful con- 
 flict, that the very foundations beneath him seemed 
 to tremble. In such circumstances he feels that he is 
 in the power of an evil spirit, for his own disapproves 
 of his position ; yet is he borne on in the direction he 
 would not go, by a power deeper, broader, stronger 
 than himself. He sees the course which his destiny 
 is about to take, and his wakeful spirit most bitterly 
 disapproves of it ; but he has no more power to deliver 
 himself from the fatal downward current, than one 
 who is in the draught of Niagara can deliver himself 
 from its sweeping power. Suddenly the spell is 
 broken ! — but not by his own hand ! Like a bird 
 released from the power of the charming serpent into 
 whose jaws it was about to fly, he escapes in freedom, 
 looking back with trembling delight upon the danger 
 from which he has escaped. You say God delivered 
 him ; and so he did ; but he delivered him through 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 247 
 
 tlie ministry of angels ; for this is their employment 
 — are they not ministering spirits ? They interest 
 themselves -in our salvation, as evil spirits do in our 
 ruin ; hence they rejoice in heaven over one sinner 
 that repents. In their earnestness in our behalf, they 
 press hard upon the confines of mortal life, and why 
 not reach through with unseen hand to break the 
 snare in which evil spirits have entangled us ? why 
 not whisper through the veil that separates us from 
 them, which a moment may lift, to direct and animate 
 us in the battle with sin and hell ? 
 
 Angels are animating spirits. The enchanted ground 
 which Bunyan represents as lying on the way to the 
 celestial city, is real. Every Christian knows some- 
 thing of it from experience. Saints come, sometimes, 
 “ into a certain country, whose air naturally tends to 
 make one drowsy.” Every duty becomes a burden, 
 and the heart, weak as water, seems to have no 
 strength to bear up, and he sinks into drowsiness and 
 discouragement. In such a condition, not only duty, 
 but often life itself, becomes a burden, which it seems 
 sometimes impossible, sometimes foolish, to bear. 
 
 Under this drowsy influence Elijah was, when he 
 fled from before the wrath of Jezebel. “ He himself 
 went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came 
 and sat down under a juniper-tree : and he requested 
 for himself that he might die : and said, It is enough ; 
 now, 0 Lord, take away my life ; for I am not better 
 than my fathers.” All was discouragement with him, 
 and he had no heart to lay his hand to duty, or to 
 take one step forward in the track, which God had 
 laid out for him. Here a monitor is needed to give 
 
248 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 him an animating whisper! “And as he lay and 
 slept under a juniper-tree, behold, then an angel 
 touched him.” Touched him ! What a gentle admo- 
 nition was that ! “ And said unto him, Arise and 
 
 eat.” The prophet obeyed, but did not seem to un- 
 derstand the hint which the angel was thus giving him 
 to arise, strengthen himself, and go on in the way of 
 duty. So after he did eat and drink, he “ laid him 
 down again.” That was enchanted ground, where 
 Elijah could say, in the language of the Pilgrim, “I 
 begin to be very dull, and heavy to sleep : I do now 
 grow so drowsy, that I can scarcely hold open mine 
 eyes; let me lie down here and take one nap.” It 
 was necessary that he should again be gently roused, 
 and admonished to duty, and for this purpose the angel 
 was still near him. “And the angel of the Lord 
 came again the second time, and touched him, and 
 said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great 
 for thee.” This second hint he seems to have under- 
 stood : the words which the angel added, “ because 
 the journey is too great for thee,” conveyed to Eli- 
 jah’s mind the angel’s meaning — that he should hasten 
 on in the path of duty. So he arose and “ went in 
 the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights, 
 unto Horeb, the mount of God.” 
 
 How gentle are the footsteps of angels ! How ten- 
 der their touch ! How soft their whispers ! How 
 courteous their hints to dull and weary pilgrims in the 
 wilderness ! Dull sense often fails to recognise their 
 presence. God was at Bethel where Jacob slept, but 
 he knew it not until he was fully awake ; so if our 
 spirits were not so drowsy, we would be more con- 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 249 
 
 scious of angelic ministrations. The touch of the 
 angel would have been enough, if Elijah had been in 
 proper spirits, to remind him of the fact, that one 
 who had such a mission before him ought not to be 
 sleeping in the juniper shade. But the prophet was 
 drowsy, and his perceptions dull, so it required hint 
 after hint before he understood it. The angel, how- 
 ever, does not leave him, until he has started him on 
 towards Horeb. Equally slow to perceive the pre- 
 sence and hints of the angel was Peter in prison. 
 Though the angel raised him up, took off his chains, 
 and spoke to him — although he obeyed the angel’s 
 commands, girded himself, put on his sandals, cast his 
 garment around him, and followed the angel out, yet 
 “ he wist not that it was true which was done by the 
 angel ; but thought he saw a vision.” How willing 
 the spirit, how dull and weak the flesh ! How often 
 are we animated and roused up when we lie dozing 
 and sleeping in the way of duty under the enchanted 
 juniper shade! We think, after we are roused, that 
 it was our own reflections which brought us to a sense 
 of duty, and that it was our own resolution which 
 broke the drowsy spell, and set us on anew in the path 
 before us, when we ought to “know of a surety, that 
 the Lord hath sent his angel,” as he did to Peter in 
 prison, and to Elijah in the juniper shade. Elijah did 
 mal$e use of his own reflections, but it was the hint 
 of the angel that moved him to these reflections. The 
 angel does not tell him plainly to journey, he only 
 tells him that the journey before him is too great to 
 be made without eating. Upon this hint of a “jour- 
 ney,” Elijah’s reflections improved, till he saw his 
 
250 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 duty ; his own reflections evidently were more on 
 sleeping than on journeying. And when he was once 
 entered upon his way, it was rather “ in *the strength 
 of that meat” which the angel gave him, than in the 
 strength of his own resolution, that he reached Horeb, 
 the mount of his destination ! Thus angels do not 
 only arouse the sleepers, but afterwards help them on 
 in the way. 
 
 Why should w’e doubt this ? Is not one saint capa- 
 ble of operating in this way on another, and why not 
 an angel on a saint? We have seen in the case of 
 Peter’s deliverance from prison, that angels can ope- 
 rate on the mind without making use of our bodily 
 senses, and without our being conscious of it through 
 the senses. The fact that angelic revelations were 
 made to the mind of Joseph in a dream , on four 
 different occasions, proves the same fact. Why should 
 we doubt that they can so communicate with our 
 spirits still ? If the notes of distant music wafted on 
 the air to the ear can reach and melt the heart, and 
 lift it from earth to heaven, as they often do, w T hy 
 cannot angelic whispers do the same ? If the sighing 
 of the evening zephyr can move the strings of the 
 heart, and produce, a concord of the tenderest and 
 loveliest feelings, why cannot unseen angelic influence 
 do what is thus done by 
 
 a The viewless spirit of a lovely sound V* 
 
 Yes, there is a music, like that of the spheres, which, 
 though unheard by dull, mortal ears, is nevertheless 
 the deepest harmony of the universe. There is an in- 
 fluence like the “ sweet influence of the Pleiades,” of 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 251 
 
 which Job speaks, which cannot be bound, but felt ; it 
 is the sweet and blessed influence of the angelic minis- 
 try. If it be still asked by some that we would show 
 them these spirits, that they may believe them to be 
 on the earth, let such be reproved for their grossness 
 by the language of the Saviour, 44 a spirit hath not 
 flesh and bones !” Can we not as well believe in that 
 wdiich we feel, as in that which we see? 66 Blessed 
 are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” 
 Angels are the executors of God’s judgments and 
 mercies. God sometimes punishes the wicked in this 
 world. Wherever, therefore, the marks of his judg- 
 ments are seen, there are seen the footsteps of angels 
 that walk on earth. 44 He maketh his angels spirits ; 
 his ministers a flaming fire.” Who could better exe- 
 cute his just judgments, and overcome the wrath of 
 raging men, than his angels 44 that excel in strength ?” 
 It makes no difference how mighty are the hosts of 
 his enemies, his angels are sufficient to execute God’s 
 judgments upon them. 44 The chariots of God are 
 twenty thousand, even thousands of angels.” 44 And 
 I beheld,” says John, 44 and I heard the voice of many 
 angels round about the throne ; and the number of 
 them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thou- 
 sands of thousands !” These are always ready and 
 near the place where they are needed. When the 
 Saviour was taken, he says, 44 Thinkest thou that I 
 cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall 'presently 
 give me more than twelve legions (60,000) of angels?” 
 It was not necessary that some time should intervene 
 during which, like the angel Gabriel, they should 44 fly 
 swiftly” from heaven to earth, but just one word would 
 
IIEAVEN. 
 
 252 
 
 have started up angelic legions around the spot where 
 he was. Thus, in the days of Scottish warfare, my- 
 riads of warriors lay concealed in the ravines, but one 
 blast of the clan-pipe would start them up, and in a 
 moment the hills were lined with determined faces and 
 glittering swords. Thus was it also when the Syrian 
 hosts arrayed themselves so mightily against Israel at 
 Dothan. So great was the enemy's host, that the 
 servant of Elisha cried out in discouragement and 
 fear, “Alas, my master! how shall we do?” But 
 Elisha said, “Fear not; for they that be with us are 
 more than they that are with them.” The young 
 servant, however, was blind to the meaning of the 
 prophet's declaration ; so Elisha prayed that God 
 would open his eyes, and let him see the secret army 
 which should fight for Israel. So the Lord opened 
 the eyes of the young man, and oh ! what a vision ! 
 “ He saw : and behold, the mountain was full of horses 
 and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” These are 
 God’s hosts upon the earth, ready to be called up at 
 any moment to do his pleasure. 
 
 That angels are employed in the earth to execute 
 God’s judgments upon his enemies, is abundantly evi- 
 dent from the Bible. The two angels that came to 
 Sodom, said, “ For we will destroy this place, because 
 the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the 
 Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it .” An 
 angel of the Lord smote Herod, “because he gave not 
 God the glory.” They make use of different instru- 
 mentalities to accomplish their purposes. In the case 
 of Herod, it seems the angel touched him with a loath- 
 some and horrid disease, so that he was eaten by 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 253 
 
 worms until he gave up the ghost. In the judgment 
 which came on Israel in the time of David, an angel, 
 by means of pestilence, smote seventy thousand men 
 that died. When the Assyrian army under Senna- 
 cherib went up against Hezekiah and the city of Da- 
 vid, by night, as the Assyrian hosts lay encamped, 
 “ the angel of the Lord w T ent out, and smote in the 
 camp of the Assyrians a hundred four score and five 
 thousand : and in the morning, behold, they were all 
 dead corpses.” 
 
 11 Like the leaves of the forest, when summer is green, 
 
 That host with their banners at sunset were seen : 
 
 Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown, 
 
 That host on the morrow lay withered and strown. 
 
 « 
 
 For the angel of death spread his wings on the blast 
 And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed ) 
 
 And the eyes of the sleeper waxed deadly and chill, 
 
 And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still.” 
 
 What instrument the angel used in this case is not 
 known ; perhaps, as the above lines suggest, some 
 pestilential breath. 
 
 No doubt w T hat one says “ happened,”, and what 
 another says was “ providential,” though it both hap- 
 pened and wtis providential, yet is directly to be re- 
 ferred to angelic ministrations. Angels are the execu- 
 tors of God’s providence in the way of favours, as well 
 as of judgments. The springing of a leak in a ship 
 which sinks a hundred into a watery grave, the break- 
 ing of a limb which falls upon the passing traveller, 
 and a thousand ether events of daily occurrence around 
 22 
 
*254 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 us, called accidents, may be, and doubtless are, ef- 
 fected in the government of providence by angelic 
 instrumentality. God gives them power over life, and 
 when he wishes to call one away from the earth, he 
 sends an angel to execute his purposes. The angeJ 
 does it in a way that seems to us perfectly natural, 
 and we do not therefore look for the track of an angel. 
 When a wicked man is called away by what is called 
 an accident, an angel smote him because he gave not 
 God the glory, and that he may do no more evil in 
 the w^orld. Many a poor Balaam, who is suddenly 
 stopped short in his journey of life, wonders what is 
 the matter ; but he need only lift up his eye to see 
 the angel standing before him, with drawn sword, 
 upon which is written, in, letters of terrible fire, 
 “thus ear and no farther !” Like the ominous 
 tekel upon the wall of Belshazzar’s palace, the fin- 
 gers which write, and the words which are written, 
 are seen, but the one who writes stands in the shade ! 
 When it is a good man who is thus called away as by 
 accident, then it was an angel which touched him, to 
 call him away from some coming evil. Even in those 
 cases where persons die in what is called a natural 
 way, it doubtless is the angel of death who touches 
 and puts out of place some spring of life, and thus 
 sets the current of death in motion. And oh ! what 
 a soft touch will do it ! Thus angels are always 
 abroad in the earth, binding the tares in bundles to 
 burn, and gathering home into eternal barns, God’s 
 fruitful sheaves. 
 
 If angels are God’s agents to carry out his provi- 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 
 
 255 
 
 dences in the way now mentioned, then they have in 
 charge, in a very especial way, God’s people, to pro- 
 tect and attend them. The Jews believed that each 
 saint had a good angel attending him constantly as 
 his guardian. It has been supposed that the Saviour 
 gives countenance to this idea, when he says, speak- 
 ing of young and weak believers, “Take heed that 
 ye despise not one of these little ones ; for I say unto 
 you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the 
 face of my Father which is in heaven.” See also 
 Acts xii. 15, from which also an argument has been 
 derived by some in favour of the Jewish theory of 
 guardian angels. It has been well remarked, that it 
 makes no difference whether each one has a guardian 
 angel, when we know that each one has a guard of 
 angels? “For he shall give his angels charge over 
 thee to keep thee in all thy ways.” The writer of 
 the Epistle to the Hebrews, says to those who entered 
 the communion and fellowship of the New Testament, 
 “Ye are come to an innumerable company of angels.” 
 This is the reason why they rejoice over every newly 
 converted sinner, and why with such eagerness they 
 desire to look into the mysteries of the church. Why 
 then should we feel it a particular consolation to have 
 one guardian angel, when we know that they are all 
 ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation ? 
 
 “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about 
 them that fear him, and delivereth them.” What a 
 blessed truth is this ! Could we only realize the fact 
 by faith that wherever we set our tent in our wander- 
 ings as pilgrims in this wilderness, the angel of the 
 Lord will throw his encampment around us ! 
 
256 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 “Not walls nor towers could guard so well 
 Old Salem’s happy ground ; 
 
 As those eternal arms of love, 
 
 Which every saint surround 
 
 He shall give his angels charge over us to keep us in 
 all our ways ! In all our ways ! In this changing 
 life we are led in many ways, but in all these his an- 
 gels, which excel in strength, have charge to keep us. 
 There is a way of temptation — there is a way of af- 
 fliction — there is a way of prosperity and of adversity 
 — there is a way of duty and of toil — there is a way 
 that winds along among the sorrowing willows of life’s 
 Babel — there is a way also, oh ! how checkered, that 
 we know not — and there are a great many other ways 
 which make up the Christian pilgrim’s path, for God 
 leads him about, as he did Jacob of old, in a waste 
 howling wilderness ; but in all these ways we are kept 
 by his angels who have charge over us. 
 
 But ah ! there is one more way ; the — at least it 
 seems so at a distance — gloomiest and loneliest of all ; 
 it is that which lies through the valley of the shadow 
 of death. In this way too angels will attend us. 
 This is evident from the case of the beggar who died 
 on the steps of the rich man’s door; he “ was carried 
 by angels into Abraham’s bosom.” We are told, 
 also, that at the end of the world, Christ “ shall send 
 his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they 
 shall gather together his elect, from the four winds, 
 from one end of heaven to the other.” From this it 
 is plain that angels are employed in gathering home 
 the spirits of the saints. It was the opinion of the 
 Jews, according to Josephus, that angels conducted 
 
ANGELIC SYMPATHY. 257 
 
 the souls of the dying from the gate of death on to 
 the place of their final abode. When they pass the 
 gate of death, there are two ways, one to the right, 
 and the other to the left. “ The unjust are dragged 
 by force to the left hand by the angels allotted for 
 punishment. The just are guided to the right hand , 
 and are led with hymns, sung by the angels ap- 
 pointed over that place, into a region of light, in 
 which the just have dwelt from the beginning of the 
 world.’ ’ 
 
 If heaven is a place distant from the earth, the de- 
 parting spirit will need a guide to conduct it thither. 
 Who are the guides of the saints in this untried way, 
 if not those ministering spirits which have charge 
 over them in all their ways ? No wonder then that 
 they are often seen hovering around, in the dying 
 visions of the saints. Eager to receive the struggling 
 spirit, they press through the veil, or lift it gently up 
 to the dying Christian, and look from behind it upon 
 him with smiles of winning welcome. There they are, 
 unseen by those who stand weeping around the bed, 
 but seen by him whose vision for spiritual things is 
 becoming bright in proportion as it becomes dim to 
 earth. No wonder that the dying saint is often seen 
 to throw up his arms with unearthly energy, crying, 
 in joyful triumph, “ They come ! they come !” Yes, 
 they have come ! The vision is no phantom of a reel- 
 ing brain. It is real. It is the “ chariots of Israel 
 and the horsemen thereof,” waiting at the bed of 
 death. They have come, the heavenly convoy ! They 
 have come ! they have come ! 
 
 22 * 
 
258 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 Bright angels are from glory come 
 
 They ’re round his bed, they’re in his room : 
 
 They wait to waft his spirit home — 
 
 All is w r ell — all is well ! 
 
 Farewell, earth ! See they cleave the heavens ! “Lift 
 up your heads, 0 ye gates ; and he ye lifted up, ye 
 everlasting doors !” 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 SAINTLY SYMPATHY. 
 
 When once we close our eyes in death, 
 
 And flesh and spirit sever : 
 
 When earth and fatherland and home, 
 
 With all their beauty sink in gloom — 
 
 Say, will it be for ever ? 
 
 Will we, in heaven, no more review 
 Those scenes from which we sever? 
 
 Or will our recollection leap 
 O’er death’s dark gulf, at times, to keep 
 With earth acquaintance ever ? 
 
 In life we love the blessed past, 
 
 It clings upon us ever : 
 
 The songs of childhood and of home, 
 
 Like music when the minstrel ’s gone, 
 
 Live in our hearts for ever ! 
 
 The child ’s included in the man, 
 
 And part of him for ever : — 
 
 The Past still in the Future lives, 
 
 And basis to its being gives, 
 
 Not it, but of it, ever ! 
 
 Will death completely and for ever shut from de- 
 parted saints this present world? Will sympathy 
 
SAINTLY SYMPATHY. 
 
 259 
 
 with it, and the remembrance of it perish from their 
 minds ? or will the home of their childhood, the paths 
 of their wanderings, and all that they loved and lost 
 on earth, be still remembered by them in heaven? 
 Have the dead in Christ forgotten us ? Do they think 
 of us and love us no more ? Are they interested in 
 our behalf still as they were on earth ? Do they know 
 anything of our fortunes or misfortunes — are they, to 
 any extent, aware of our joys and sorrows — do they 
 sympathize with us in our temptations and triumphs — 
 and are they sensible of our love to them ? 
 
 Answers to these interesting questions will be at- 
 tempted in this section, and maybe gathered from the 
 observations which are made on the following propo- 
 sitions. In this form, for the sake of order, we shall 
 say what we can find, in reason and scripture, to say 
 of saintly sympathy between heaven and earth. 
 
 1. We have communion with the saints in 
 heaven. This communion is, of course, only between 
 SAINTS on earth and saints in heaven. Between an 
 unconverted soul on earth, and the spirit of a just one 
 made perfect in heaven, there can be no sympathy. 
 Between a saint and a sinner, even on earth, there is 
 no spiritual communion. The fellowship which they 
 enjoy with each other is grounded merely in flesh and 
 nature ; it can rise no higher, and, consequently, as 
 these perish in death, the fellowship based on them 
 must come to an end. “What fellowship hath 
 righteousness with unrighteousness ? and what com- 
 munion hath light with darkness?” The answer is, 
 most emphatically, none ! “ Indeed,” says the learned 
 and pious Bishop Pierson, “the saint departed, before 
 
260 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 his death, had some communion with the hypocrite, 
 as hearing the word, professing the faith, receiving 
 the sacraments together ; which being in things only 
 external, as they were common to them both, and all 
 such external actions ceasing in the person dead, the 
 hypocrite remaining loseth all communion with the 
 saint departing, and the saints surviving cease also to 
 have their farther fellowship with the hypocrite dying. 
 But being the true and unfeigned holiness of God, not 
 only remaineth, but also is improved, after death; 
 being the correspondence of the internal holiness was 
 the communion between their persons in their life, 
 they cannot be said to be divided by death, which had 
 no power over that sanctity by which they were first 
 conjoined.” 
 
 I BELIEVE IN THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS. This has 
 been the voice of the church for many centuries. This 
 voice comes to us through the quiet medium of by-gone 
 ages, not in the upstart impulse and hurry of heated 
 passion, but with ever-increasing strength and calm- 
 ness, as the sober confession of the Christian conscious- 
 ness. It is not a confession objectively seen and coldly 
 proclaimed, but it is subjectively felt and uttered. It 
 is not the language of youthful hope and longing, 
 which trusts in, and rests upon, fancies ; but it is the 
 language of aged truthfulness and sagely experience. 
 While, in the history of the church, many enthusiastic 
 and superstitious dogmas have started up, lived an 
 ephemeral life, and died away only to be revived and 
 repeated with similar folly and disappointment in after 
 ages, this article of our precious faith has lived in the 
 church with uninterrupted power and consolation 
 
SAINTLY SYMPATHY. 
 
 26 1 
 
 through the deep floods and fierce flames of her trials 
 and triumphs. The martyr at the stake, when about 
 to be sundered from the visible fellowship of the church 
 on earth ; the pious monk in his deep solitude ; the 
 missionary, self-exiled for Christ’s sake ; the perse- 
 cuted and banished, when strangers in a strange land 
 — all repeated, in their darkest hours, and in their 
 fiercest trials, with joyful unction, “ I believe in the 
 communion of saints !” 
 
 What so precious now as this article ! We see the 
 saints separated by difference in views, by party pecu- 
 liarities, by distance in time and space, yea, and by 
 the dark stream of death which separates earth from 
 heaven, — yet we can rise by the mysterious power of 
 faith above time and space, above feeling and thought, 
 above prophecy, tongues, and knowledge, which must 
 cease, above the distinction of earth and heaven, and 
 realize consciously, in the element of eternal life, the 
 communion of saints. 
 
 Let us see what the church means by the com- 
 munion of saints, and how this article of our catholic 
 undoubted Christian faith is derived from the sacred 
 scriptures. 
 
 The particulars involved in the communion of saints 
 are briefly but ably discussed and stated by Bishop 
 Pierson in his exposition of the creed. After a critical 
 and historical discussion of it, and after having forti- 
 fied every point by reason, scripture, and the testi- 
 mony of the church, he sums up the whole thus: 
 “ Every one may learn from hence what he is to un- 
 derstand by this part of the article, in which he pro- 
 fesses to believe in the communion of saints; for 
 
262 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 thereby he is conceived to express thus much : I am 
 fully persuaded of this as of a necessary and infallible 
 truth, that such persons as are truly sanctified in the 
 church of Christ, -while they live among the crooked 
 generations of men, and struggle w T ith all the miseries 
 of this world, have fellowship with God the Father, 
 God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, as dwelling 
 with them, and taking up their habitations in them : 
 that they partake of the care and kindness of the 
 blessed angels, who take delight in ministrations for 
 their benefit : that beside the external fellowship which 
 they have in the word and sacraments with all the 
 members of the church, they have an intimate union 
 and conjunction with all the saints on earth as the 
 living members of Christ : nor is this union separated 
 by the death of -any, but as Christ in whom they live 
 is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, 
 so have they fellowship with all the saints which from 
 the death of Abel have ever departed in the true faith 
 and fear of God, and now enjoy the presence of the 
 Father, and follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. 
 And thus I believe in the communion of saints.” 
 
 We have already, in a previous section, considered 
 the subject of divine and angelic sympathy. It re- 
 mains only now to consider that which pertains to 
 saintly sympathy. Even here we need only consider, 
 as proper to our present subject, that part of saintly 
 communion which has reference to the sympathy of 
 saints on earth with saints in heaven. 
 
 Our conceptions of this communion will be much 
 conditioned by, and receive their complexion from, 
 9 ir ideas of the church, as its basis and medium. For 
 
SAINTLY SYMPATHY. 
 
 2G3 
 
 this reason, the article of the communion of saints, 
 immediately follows the article of the church: “I be- 
 lieve in the holy catholic church : the communion of 
 saints.’ ’ It is idle to speak of communion between 
 earth and heaven, if a medium cannot be found in 
 which a living contact between the two is possible. 
 Every other conception of the communion of saints is 
 but the mockery of an indefinite, unsubstantial, and 
 powerless dream. This sympathy can realize itself, 
 not through the clouds, or more refined ether, but 
 through the church, which unites heaven and earth 
 with living power and fellowship. 
 
 If we consider the church merely as an organization 
 for convenience’ sake ; or as a society built upon the 
 Bible, as its charter or constitution; or as a collected 
 crowd of all the saints ; or as an invisible nothing , — 
 our ideas of the union of these saints with each other 
 and their mutual sympathies, will be correspondingly 
 mechanical and superficial. How, upon such a basis 
 of union, those in heaven and those on earth, can be 
 really in sympathy with each other, cannot intelli- 
 gently be conceived. If, however, we look upon the 
 church as the living body of Christ, continued mysti- 
 cally but really in the world, our ideas of the com- 
 munion of saints in heaven and earth, as members in 
 this body, will be accordingly deep and real. 
 
 As the communion of saints is based in the church ; 
 and as the sympathy which it involves is only possible 
 through her, as its medium, it is necessary that we 
 get correct ideas of her nature before w^e can under- 
 stand the nature of saintly sympathy in her between 
 
264 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 heaven and earth. A few considerations will, it is 
 believed, open this subject to the view of the reader. 
 
 The church is a divine and real constitution. By 
 constitution, I do not mean a code of articles for the 
 regulation of conduct, but a substantial organic exist- 
 ence. It is not an abstraction to think of, and reason 
 about, but a fact to believe and rest in. It is just as 
 much a really constituted entity as the world, the 
 laws which bear animal and vegetable life, or the con- 
 stitution of Christ’s person. In short, think of any 
 real thing in the real world, and the church is more 
 real. The laws of attraction and repulsion, the cen- 
 trifugal and centripetal forces, which pervade, sustain, 
 and move the physical universe, are a constitution 
 more emphatically real than the material globes them- 
 selves, which they sustain, move, and direct ; so, the 
 church, pervading all space and time, bearing in her 
 bosom the truth, the spirit, and all the resources of di- 
 vine life, is more deeply and gloriously real than all the 
 visible effects Which she is seen to produce in the world. 
 Her visible effects are only an evidence of herreal con- 
 stitution, by and from which these effects are produced. 
 
 This conception of the church receives abundant 
 confirmation from scripture. The Jewish church it- 
 self, which was only a shadow of good things to come, 
 was a constitution not dependent for its existence on 
 individual faith, but had power to produce it. The 
 Jews were not to believe and become pious else- 
 where, and then come and attach themselves to the 
 altar, but they were taught to go to the altar as 
 being the channel of gracious efficacy to make them 
 pious. They were not taught to put efficacy into the 
 
SAINTLY SYMPATHY. 
 
 265 
 
 service of the altar, by their own faith, but they were 
 to approach it to get gracious virtue from it for the 
 purposes of faith and salvation. 
 
 Such w T as the church proclaimed to be by its sha- 
 dow. In the New Testament, where we have its sub- 
 stance, it is called the body of Christ. (Eph. i. 23.) 
 As his body was a real constitution, so is the church. 
 As the head is over the body, so Christ is head of the 
 church, and head over all things to the church. That 
 is, on the one hand all her resources are from him, as 
 the members are supplied from the body ; and on the 
 other hand, the kingdoms of nature, providence and 
 grace, are all governed by him in reference to the 
 church, and for her sake. In her all these end, and 
 find their meaning and accomplishment. The consti- 
 tution of the body is before the members, if not in 
 point of time, yet in regard to order. The members 
 are in the body as their basis or ground. It is not 
 the members that constitute the body, but the body 
 as a previous generic constitution produces the mem- 
 bers. So the church is first, and then her members. 
 An assembly of members cannot make the church, 
 but the church makes them, — is the basis and ground 
 of their spiritual life, as livingly united to Christ her 
 head. “ The body is one , and hath many members, 
 and all the members of that one body, being many, 
 are one body: so, also, is Christ.” (1 Cor. xii.) 
 Christ’s body, the church, is one — a constitution hav- 
 ing organic unity, in which, by which, and out of 
 which, the members of that body are produced. This 
 same idea of the church the apostle gives us when he 
 calls her “the mother of us all.” (Gal. iv. 26.) It 
 23 
 
266 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 would be worse than silly to speak of children as 
 being before their mother, and as constituting her 
 Just so improper is it to speak of the church as being 
 constituted by individual believers. Rather “of Zion 
 it shall be said, This and that man was born in her.” 
 Yes, in her are the fountains of life, streaming into 
 all her members, as the veins of the body pervade its 
 members. Beyond the reach of her beating pulse, 
 and outside of her warm embraces, there is neither 
 life, communion, nor consolation. 
 
 Egypt and Tyre, and Greek and Jew, 
 
 Shall there begin their lives anew : 
 
 Angels and men shall join to sing 
 The hill where living waters spring. 
 
 When God makes up his last account 
 Of natives in his holy Mount, 
 
 J T will be an honour to appear 
 As one nevi-born and nourished there ! 
 
 We are told in Eph. ii. , that those who had been 
 afar oif have been brought nigh by the blood of Christ, 
 so that they are of the household of faith — that is, 
 members of his church. Now, how was this done ? 
 “ They are built upon the foundation of the apostles 
 and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief 
 corner stone. In whom — that is in Christ — all the 
 building — that is, the church, his body — fitly framed 
 together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord : in 
 whom ye also are builded together, for a habitation 
 of God through the Spirit.” 
 
 The church also, according to Paul, is the “pillar 
 and ground of the truth.” (1 Tim. iii. 15.) This 
 
SAINTLY SYMPATHY. 
 
 2G7 
 
 declaration is directly reversed by those who deny the 
 real organic constitution of the church as now pro 
 sented. According to their theory, the truth is the 
 pillar and ground of the church. They say the truth 
 works faith by the Spirit, faith makes Christians, 
 Christians unite, and thus the church is formed as a 
 result of faith, not as the cause of it. But this idea 
 is false ; according to Paul, the church is the pillar 
 and ground of the truth, and consequently, also of 
 faith and salvation. Its ground — for it is Christ’s 
 mystical body, and he was the truth ; the church is 
 his presence in the w T orld in the form of truth and 
 life. Its pillar — for it is in and by the church that 
 the truth is sustained, preserved, perpetuated, and 
 unfolded to men for the use of faith and eternal life. 
 
 In perfect consistency, too, with this conception of 
 the church, the ministerial power received in ordina- 
 tion is represented as coming not from the collected 
 faith of believers, but from another source. Paul was 
 an apostle, “not of men, neither by man,” but “by 
 Jesus Christ,” (Gal. i. 1.) It was Jesus Christ, and 
 not the saints, that “counted him worthy,” and that 
 put “ him into the ministry.” (1 Tim. i. 12.) Paul 
 left Titus in Crete, that he might “set in order the 
 things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every 
 city,” (Tit. i. 5.) Timothy also is exhorted to use the 
 gift which was given him by the laying on of hands. 
 (1 Tim. iv. 4.) This gift was evidently the authority 
 and grace to minister ; this gift he received, not from 
 the saints, but it was a gift from the church, given by 
 prophetic unction through the laying on of presbyte- 
 rial hands. Ministerial power and grace was for the 
 
268 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 people, not from them. It is still felt, and properly 
 so, that ordination is not mere designation, but that 
 it is a solemn investment of the ministerial power and 
 grace, which constitutes the person ordained a func- 
 tionary of the church. Who would be baptized and 
 receive the communion at the hand of one who had 
 not been ordained by such as hacl received ordination 
 themselves, although the consent of a thousand be- 
 lievers had called and designated him to the ministe- 
 terial office ? Why is this so, if the church is not 
 beneath and before all private faith a constitution 
 towards which all look for help, and grace? “ This 
 is a g*eat mystery : but I speak concerning Christ 
 and the church.” Eph. v. 82. 
 
 I have been thus particular on this subject in order 
 that we may have clear and scriptural ideas of the 
 church as Christ’s body, of the relations of the mem- 
 bers to the body, and of their consequent communion 
 with each other. Thus, then, we have Christ the 
 divine head, the church his body, the saints his mem- 
 bers, all mystically united in the power of a common 
 life. Is this so ? and shall there be no living sympa- 
 thy between all the members of this mysterious body ? 
 Verily there will: and this sympathy will not consist 
 merely in outward nearness, and not even in an inter- 
 change of thought And feeling in the way of commu- 
 nication, but ijtouTlTO the joy-giving tremor of Christ’s 
 divine heart, beating out into the hearts of all his 
 saints, uniting them to him, and to each other, and 
 filling them with his own fulness, of which they all 
 receive. John i. 16. 
 
 That such an inward mysterious basis for true 
 
SAINTLY SYMPATHY. 
 
 269 
 
 saintly fellowship and sympathy is needed, is well 
 illustrated thus : “ There is a story told of a man, 
 who, wishing to keep bees, set himself to catch as 
 many as he could among the flowers, and then shut 
 them up together in a hive. None can deny but that 
 they precisely resembled one another in appearance 
 and nature; there was similarity, but yet, notwith- 
 standing, there was no bond of unity existing among 
 them; they were not a stock.’' Thus, in a hive of 
 bees, it is not the number thus brought together, nor 
 their outward similarity that makes them one swarm 
 or kingdom, but it is their mysterious union in one 
 head or king, which makes them live together in the 
 most delightful harmony, and which makes them work 
 together for the same object, and with a greater 
 interest for the body as a whole, than for each one 
 separately. Wherever they are scattered abroad, tra- 
 versing fields, or buried in flowers, they are still one, 
 by a deep sympathetic necessity, which we cannot un- 
 derstand and explain, but which we must believe and 
 admire, and which we know they consciously feel. So 
 in the communion of saints — there is a mysterious 
 power which dwells first in the Head, and from him 
 in each member, pervading and binding all as one 
 mystical life. 
 
 We are but several parts 
 Of the same broken bread ^ 
 
 One body hath its several limljsj’ 
 
 But Jesus is the head. 
 
 If there were no deeper basis for the communion 
 of saints than an interchange of thought and feeling 
 in the way of common social reciprocation, this com- 
 
2Y0 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 munion would have to be confined to this world ; there 
 could be none between the church militant and the 
 church triumphant. More than this, it would have to 
 be ‘dependent on time and space ; it could not embrace 
 the saints who lived in past ages, nor even those who 
 now live separated from us by earthly distance. This 
 would be a communion with some saints, but not the 
 communion OF saints — that is, one communion of all 
 saints. The union, however, which we enjoy with 
 Christ as the living head of the church, and with all 
 saints as living members of his mystical body, forms 
 a basis for saintly communion which is independent 
 of time and space, which consequently takes in the 
 saints of all time, which extends over and across the 
 grave, and embraces the whole family of Christ in 
 earth and in heaven. “ Indeed,” says Bishop Pierson, 
 66 the communion of saints in the church of Christ 
 with those which are departed, is demonstrated by 
 their communion with the saints alive. For if I have 
 communion with a saint of God, as such, while he 
 liveth here, I must still have communion with him 
 when he is departed hence; because the foundation 
 of that communion cannot be removed by death. The 
 mystical union between Christ and his church, the 
 spiritual conjunction of the members to the head, is 
 the true foundation of that communion which one 
 member had with another, all the members living and 
 increasing by the same influence which they receive 
 from him. But death, which is nothing else but the 
 separation of the soul from the body, maketh no se- 
 paration in the mystical union, no breach of the spi- 
 ritual conjunction; and, consequently, there must 
 
SAINTLY SYMPATHY. 271 
 
 continue the same communion, because there remain- 
 eth the same foundation.” This is conclusive. 
 
 The well-known passage in the epistle to the He- 
 brews, teaches the communion of saints in the way 
 now exhibited. “ But ye are come unto mount Sion, 
 and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Je- 
 rusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 
 to the general assembly and church of the first-born, 
 which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of 
 all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and 
 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the 
 blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than 
 that of Abel.” This language is evidently too strong 
 to be confined, as some have done, to the church on 
 earth. The heavenly Jerusalem, the general assem- 
 bly and church of the first-born which are written in 
 heaven, and the spirits of just men made perfect — 
 these are expressions which plainly refer to the hea- 
 venly country. To it, the apostle says, Ye ake come. 
 These saints, to whom he writes, were then still on 
 earth, but such is the oneness and inward sympathy 
 between the church on earth and heaven, that he who 
 enters the fold on earth in faith, and by the power of 
 a divine life, has entered, in fact, the fellowship of 
 angels and of all saints. This social economy to which 
 they are said to have come, is also called, in the 28th 
 verse, “a kingdom which cannot be moved,” which 
 plainly determines the passage to have reference to 
 the heavenly church and kingdom. The exhortation 
 to brotherly love, which follows as the conclusion of 
 the epistle, also adds testimony that the apostle in 
 this passage speaks of the communion of saints. What 
 
272 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 could be more natural, and more in place, than that, 
 after he had told them of the fellowship into which 
 their profession had introduced them, he should exhort 
 them to see that brotherly love continue among them; 
 for this would be a practical exhibition of this commu- 
 nion on earth, and a preparation for its future, final, 
 and complete consummation in heaven. 
 
 “ This communion of the saints in heaven and 
 earth,” to quote once more from Bishop Pierson, 
 66 upon the mystical union of Christ their head, being 
 fundamental and internal, what acts or external ope- 
 rations it produceth, is not so certain. That we com- 
 municate with them in hope of that happiness, which 
 they actually enjoy, is evident; that we have the 
 Spirit of God given us as an earnest, and so a part 
 of their felicity, is certain. But what they do in hea- 
 ven in relation to us particularly considered, or what 
 we ought to perform, in reference to them in heaven, 
 besides a reverential respect and study of imitation, 
 is not revealed unto us in the scriptures, nor can be 
 concluded by necessary deduction from any principles 
 of Christianity. They which first found this part of 
 the article in the Greedy and delivered their exposition 
 unto us, have made no greater enlargement of this 
 communion, as to the saints of heaven, than the so- 
 ciety of hope, esteem, and imitation on our side, of 
 desires and supplications on their side.” 
 
 It is true that it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to 
 define the nature of this communion, and the mode 
 of its manifestations. The fact, however, that we are 
 not able to define it for the understanding, is no rea- 
 son why we should not make it a matter of faith, and 
 
SAINTLY SYMPATHY. 
 
 273 
 
 thus feel its power, and enjoy its consolations. We 
 may feel heat even when we do not see light. We 
 know' that food strengthens us, though w T e may know 
 nothing of the nature and process of assimilation by 
 which the food received into the body comes in con- 
 tact with the springs of life to replenish them. There 
 is an unseen, as well as a seen world. Things which 
 are true and eternal are all unseen — have their ground 
 in a mysterious power, which lies behind the sensual 
 world, and are therefore the only proper objects of 
 faith. That which we know and understand, is an 
 object of knowdedge, but cannot be of faith. Faith 
 is the evidence of things not seen. “ Blessed are 
 they that have not seen, and yet have believed. ” 
 
 The ancient church cultivated, with lonely delight, 
 and with pious diligence, the memory of their dead. 
 To them, “ sweet was the savour of their names.” 
 They longed after them as beloved ones who had gone 
 on a journey, and whom they expected again to meet. 
 Their separation from them locally by death, seemed 
 only to make them more conscious of the existence of 
 a deeper tie, by which they felt that they were bound 
 to them. It was a want of their spirits, and that 
 want had been made greater by their having become 
 Christians, that their beloved dead should not be 
 separated in spirit from them. Would Christian ty 
 increase this want only cruelly to disappoint it ? This 
 they did not, and could not believe. Their language 
 w T as: “We who live in hope, we who believe in God 
 and trust that Christ suffered for us and rose again, 
 we who abide in Christ , and rise again by Him and in 
 Him, wdiy should we ourselves be unwilling to depart 
 
274 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 from out of the world, or why should we lament and 
 sorrow for those among us who are departed? Christ 
 himself, our Lord and God, exhorts us, and He says : 
 C 1 am the resurrection and the life; whosoever be- 
 lieveth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live ; 
 and he that liveth and believeth in me, shall never see 
 death!’ Why hasten we not to see our country, to 
 salute our parents ? There a vast multitude of them 
 that are dear to us, await our arrival, a multitude of 
 parents, brethren, and children, who are now secure 
 of their own salvation, and anxious only about ours . 
 What a mutual joy will it be for them and us, when 
 we come into their presence and receive their em- 
 brace !”* 
 
 “From this turn of mind,” remarks Dr. Neander 
 on this passage, “the Christian custom arose, that the 
 remembrance of the dead should be celebrated on the 
 anniversary of their death by their relations, husband 
 or wife, in a manner suited to the nature of the 
 Christian faith and hope. The supper of the Lord 
 was celebrated on this day, in the consciousness of 
 an inseparable communion with those who died in the 
 Lord ; a gift was brought to the altar in their name, 
 as if they were still living members of the church ; 
 and it was hence, probably, that the prayer for peace 
 to the souls of the departed was interwoven with the 
 prayer of the church, preceding the communion. 
 
 “As individual Christians and Christian families 
 celebrated in this manner the remembrance of their 
 near relations, tvhole churches also celebrated the re* 
 
 # Cyprian, quoted by Neander. 
 
SAINTLY SYMPATHY. 
 
 •275 
 
 membrance of those who had died in the midst of them 
 as witnesses of the faith : the day of their death was 
 looked upon as their birth-day, the day of their birth 
 into a glorified existence. The remains of their bodies 
 were carefully buried, as the holy organs of holy souls, 
 which should hereafter come again into their service, 
 when called into another more glorious form. There 
 was a congregation formed round their graves on the 
 anniversary of their foWA-day,) in the sense above 
 mentioned,) and the story of their confession of the 
 faith and of their sufferings was told, the Lord’s sup- 
 per was celebrated, in the conviction of a continued 
 communion with them in union with Him, of whom 
 they had given witness by their death!” 
 
 This extract shows what was the feeling of the 
 ancient church, in reference to communion, and sym- 
 pathy with the saints departed. That this feeling 
 afterwards degenerated into papal superstition, such 
 as prayers for the dead, and undue reverence towards 
 them amounting almost to worship, is no proof that 
 the feeling itself is not a proper one. These errors 
 themselves serve rather to point us to the truth out 
 of which they sprung, and from which they have de- 
 generated. All the comforts which are, in various 
 places and in various ways in the Scripture, given to 
 the bereaved saints on earth in reference to their 
 pious dead, proclaim this communion and sympathy 
 in which they still stand to them. It is this sympathy 
 which, like a golden cord of love, draws us sorrowing 
 after them when they die, and which yields us a kind 
 of melancholy pleasure, when we linger near their 
 graves. It is the consciousness of this sympathy 
 
276 . 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 which strengthens the mourner to bear the loneliness 
 of life, in the sure prospect of a happy and eternal 
 reunion in heaven, while he sings, 
 
 Yet again we hope to meet thee, 
 
 When the day of life is fled; 
 
 There in heaven with joy to greet thee, 
 
 Where no farewell tear is shed. 
 
 Though, as already said, we cannot particularize 
 and say exactly what is the nature of this sympathy, 
 how far we can be sensible of it, and what are its 
 manifestations, yet some additional considerations may 
 increase our light, and aid in giving more definiteness 
 to our thoughts and firmness to our feelings, in refer- 
 ence to this interesting subject. We pass, then, to 
 another proposition. 
 
 II. The saints in heaven remember this world, 
 
 AND THINK OE US. 
 
 If the first part of this proposition can be shown to 
 be true, the truth of the second will follow as a legiti- 
 mate inference. It cannot be supposed, if they re- 
 member this world, that they do not think of us. 
 
 That we shall remember this world in heaven is 
 evident from the intimate and necessary connexion of 
 our being in this and the future life. This and the 
 future life stand evidently in close and living relation 
 to each other. Like cause and effect ; like premises 
 and conclusion ; like life and action ; yea, like child- 
 hood and old age. The future life is a living continu- 
 ation of this. So close is this connexion, that what- 
 soever a man soweth in this life, that shall he reap in 
 the other. The very character of our souls is formed 
 
SAINTLY SYMPATHY. 
 
 277 
 
 by the various impressions received in the past. These 
 impressions live in us, and are part of our being ; we 
 can no more be severed from them and from their 
 connexions and sources in this world, than w r e can be 
 severed from our own life. They are part of it. 
 
 The child’s included in the man, 
 
 And part of him for ever; — 
 
 The Past still in the Future lives, 
 
 And basis to its being gives, 
 
 Not it, but of it, ever. 
 
 Separate a man, if it were possible, from his child- 
 hood and early life, take away all that the spirit has 
 brought from thence, and he will no more be the same 
 being, but a monster. The spirit must have the roots 
 — springs — of its life in the past. It must live in the 
 past by recollection and association, as necessarily as 
 it lives in the present by consciousness, and in the 
 future by hope. What the spirit has enjoyed or en- 
 dured in the past, and especially what has made an 
 impression on it, is called up, and drawn after it, as 
 by a constant resurrection power. Even in dreams, 
 when the body is forgotten, the spirit roams backward, 
 and employs itself in calling up past scenes, and liv- 
 ing them over again. In the past, it acts, enjoys, 
 suffers, hates, and loves. Any event without its his- 
 tory is monstrous, a riddle, and an astonishment ; to 
 understand it, we must know its connexion with the 
 past. Then, all is intelligible. So the spirit, in the 
 future world, as well as in this, must stand in living 
 union with the past. 
 
 If, at the transit of death, all recollection of the 
 past were blotted out, we would stand on the eternal 
 24 
 
278 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 shore as a new creation, rather than as a being that 
 had a previous life and history, and that had just en- 
 tered upon another stage of being. If this world is 
 the soul’s probation, and the future world its reward, 
 then the soul must see the reason of that reward, and 
 this it can only see by a review and recollection of 
 its probationary state. There is no meaning to me 
 in a crown, when I know of no victory won ; no mean- 
 ing in a recompense when memory tells me of no ser- 
 vices ; no meaning in gratitude when I remember no 
 grace. 
 
 “ Some suppose,” says Stilling, “ a certain kind of 
 continuance of their thinking faculties after death, 
 but do not believe that with these faculties they will 
 remember their earthly existence. They dream of an 
 existence that is entirely new, which is better than 
 the present, but upon which this life has no influence, 
 and with which it has no connexion. This whole idea 
 amounts to just the same as entire annihilation at 
 death ; for if I cannot recollect this life — its fortunes 
 and misfortunes, my wife and children, my friends, 
 my weaknesses and my good deeds, — in short, nothing 
 at all, then I am no more the same /, no more the 
 same person, but I will be a being entirely new ! 
 The Lord in mercy preserve us from such a future 
 state ! But thanks to his name for ever, that the 
 Bible, and the common sense and feeling of men in 
 all ages and in all places, teach directly the con- 
 trary.” 
 
 We have a strong presumptive proof that saints in 
 heaven remember the earth, from the fact that the 
 rich man in hell did. When he called out of torment 
 
SAINTLY SYMPATHY. 
 
 279 
 
 upon father Abraham for mercy, he was requested to 
 “ remember” that he in Ms life-time had received his 
 good things, and likewise Lazarus, evil things. Be- 
 sides, we are told that the rich man remembered his 
 five brethren, who were then still upon the earth. 
 He remembered also, that they were in danger, and 
 hence his concern for them. He must, therefore, 
 have remembered their characters, their conduct, their 
 wickedness, and consequently, their exposedness to 
 God’s displeasure. This involved particulars. In- 
 deed, there is reason to believe that memory in the 
 future world becomes keener and more faithful than 
 ever it is here. We sometimes see that wicked men, 
 in their dying moments, when the soul has almost 
 asserted its independence of the body, have their 
 memory exercised with great vividness. The mind 
 seems to acquire a fearful capacity at that hour ; 
 memory, like a sun-glass which gathers the sun’s rays 
 into one point, gathers the deeds of a long life into 
 one moment, and throws them with burning fury upon 
 the guilty spirit. This may be but a horrid prophecy 
 of what the spirit will be capable of, when once it is 
 in the midst of those scenes of black and eternal 
 despair which it now only dreads at a distance. 
 
 That the saints departed remember the earth is 
 evident from scripture. Let the reader refer to 
 Matt. xxv. 34, et seq. There the Judge, after having 
 pronounced them blessed, reminds the righteous on 
 his right hand, of the deeds of love which they had 
 performed towards him on the earth. “Lor I was an 
 hungered, and ye gave me meat : I was thirsty, and 
 ye gave me drink : I was a stranger, and ye took me 
 
280 
 
 IIEAVEN. 
 
 in : naked, and ye clothed me : I was sick, and ye 
 visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” 
 The righteous, not recollecting that they had ever 
 done these things to him on the earth, inquire when 
 this was done. Some, perhaps, had not been on the 
 earth when he was, and could not, therefore, have 
 ministered unto him. Then, when they are inquiring 
 with holy wonder, he points them to those saints 
 standing by, and says, “ Inasmuch as ye have done it 
 unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have 
 done it unto me.” These deeds of charity had been 
 done upon the earth, and how could they be reminded 
 of deeds done on the earth, if all memory of the earth 
 V'ere blotted out at death ? Not only must they have 
 remembered the earth, but the intercourse which they 
 theie had had with these fellow saints ; else there 
 would be no propriety in this reference. 
 
 In the very nature of the judgment transactions, a 
 reference to this state and abode of probation is ne- 
 cessary. The judgment is always represented as a 
 transaction in which the reason of the reward of the 
 righteous, and the reason of the condemnation of the 
 wicked, shall be made known to the consciousness of 
 the persons to be judged. Their lives of probation, 
 their privileges, and their abuse of them, must all pass 
 in such graphic review before the wicked in that day, 
 as to constrain them to acquiesce fully in the final 
 decision of their state — “that every mouth may be 
 stopped, and that all the world may stand guilty be- 
 fore God;” and that the condemned sinner himself 
 may stand “speechless,” making mute acknowledg- 
 ment that the sentence is righteous. In the case of 
 
SAINTLY SYMPATHY. 
 
 281 
 
 the righteous, for some reason, no doubt to increase 
 their happiness, a similar review is necessary, as is 
 clearly to be seen from the above passage. 
 
 It seems not only that the earth is remembered in a 
 general way, but that this review and recollection will 
 extend to particulars. The remembrance of the earth 
 and this life must be as particular as the judgment 
 itself — descending, in the case of the lost, to every 
 idle word w r hich was spoken, and in the case of the 
 righteous, to the giving of a cup of cold water in the 
 name of a disciple. How could we give an account 
 of our stewardship, if we did not remember the parti- 
 cular connexions and relations in which we stood upon 
 the earth ? How could the pastor give account of his 
 ministry ; and how could he bring his sheaves with 
 him, if all memory of the reaping field were lost ? 
 True, the righteous might be rewarded, and the wicked 
 punished, without any reason but that which existed in 
 the mind of God ; but how then could they feel it to 
 be either to the praise of his glorious grace, or to the 
 glory of his justice ? Paul, as a faithful minister, 
 expected to rejoice in heaven, in the sheaves of his 
 ministry, “ in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 
 How could he do this without remembering the toils 
 of his ministry among these converts at Thessalonica, 
 whom he would meet in heaven, to present them be- 
 fore his Father’s throne with exceeding joy. John, 
 in his vision on Patmos, saw in heaven, “ under the 
 altar, the souls of them that were slain for the word 
 of God, and for the testimony which they held.” 
 These remembered the earth, for “ they cried with a 
 loud voice, saying, How long, 0 Lord, holy and true, 
 2t* 
 
282 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them 
 which dwell on the earth?” (Rev. vi. 9, 10.) 
 
 The song of redemption which the glorified saints 
 sing, shews that the departed remember the earth : 
 “ Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the 
 seals thereof ; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed 
 us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and 
 tongue, and people, and nation.” Rev. v. 9. Here 
 they remembered that he was slain; they remembered 
 also, the kindred, tongue, people, and nation, out of 
 which they had been redeemed. In like manner, also, 
 must they remember the horrible pit and the miry 
 clay out of which they had been taken, as well as the 
 blood shed, by which they were washed. Yes, as long 
 as they see before them in heaven the Lamb which 
 had been slain, their adorable Jesus, so long will they 
 remember the earth which was the scene of his suffer- 
 ings and of his triumphs. Bethlehem, Gethsemane, 
 Olivet, and Calvary, will rise in grateful remembrance 
 before the saints for ever. While memory, in the 
 hours of heavenly quiet, retires to these sacred re- 
 treats upon the earth, their hearts will swell in deeper 
 gratitude, and their tongues will speak a louder 
 praise. 
 
 III. The saints in heaven know more of us 
 THAN we DO of them. — That we know nothing 
 directly of them, is no evidence that they know no- 
 thing directly of us. They, having been raised higher, 
 possess capacities which we do not. The intelligent 
 naturalist looks down upon the lower orders of living 
 beings, sees their movements, and understands their 
 habits, though they know' nothing of him. 
 
SAINTLY SYMPATHY. 
 
 283 
 
 That the saints do thus look down upon us, seems to 
 be evident from Ileb. xii. 1 ; where the ancient saints 
 are represented as surrounding us, and bending over 
 us with intense interest, like the spectators did at 
 the Olympian games, over those who strove for mas- 
 teries. “ Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed 
 about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay 
 aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily 
 beset us, and let us run with patience the race set be- 
 fore us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of 
 our faith. ” Now, this cloud of witnesses is evidently 
 the Old Testament saints, of whose faith he spoke in 
 the preceding cnapter. In what way does he mean 
 that these saints surrounded those to whom he wrote 
 as witnesses ? It may be taken in tw~o ways. He 
 either meant that they w^ere surrounded by the exam- 
 ples of these saints, which should animate them, or, 
 that they did actually from heaven look down with 
 interest upon their struggles. When we keep in 
 mind the apostle’s reference to the games, we will be 
 forced to take his meaning in the latter sense. The 
 allusion evidently presents them around us, not as ex- 
 amples , but as spectators . 
 
 The saints in heaven are in constant communion 
 wdth angels. These angels are ministering spirits to 
 us, and are, consequently, well acquainted with our 
 condition and circumstances. It seems scarcely pos- 
 sible that they should not communicate to the saints 
 intelligence in reference to their friends in Christ 
 upon the earth. The more certainly must w T e be con- 
 vinced of this when we consider — of which there can 
 be no doubt — tkat the saints departed feel a deep in* 
 
284 
 
 HEAVEN, 
 
 terest in their friends on earth. Such an interest could 
 not exist without expressing itself in an anxiety to 
 hear from those who are still entangled in the tempta- 
 tions and dangers of a probationary life. Their bene- 
 volence and affection toward us would not admit of 
 such indifference. Having escaped the perils of the 
 world themselves, they look back with inextinguish- 
 able longing to draw us after them. Every returning 
 messenger of the angelic ministry brings news, which 
 they no doubt hear with the same eagerness with 
 w T hich we hear news from a far country, in reference 
 to interests which lie near our hearts. 
 
 In this benevolent and affectionate concern a great 
 part of their happiness may consist. It is happiness 
 both to love and to sympathize, and if this love and 
 sympathy be pure, it is a joy fit to fill the hearts of 
 the just made perfect in heaven. Inasmuch as they 
 themselves, as that part of the church which is above, 
 are not perfect without us, (Heb. xi. 40,) our strug- 
 gles are their own. And as it is in this world a great 
 source of happiness to the saints to concern themselves 
 in the welfare of other saints — and as the members of 
 that part of the church which is most advanced, are 
 anxious to make themselves acquainted with that part 
 which is still more in the wilderness, that they may 
 extend to them their sympathy, so the church above 
 is happy in knowing our wants and our triumphs. If 
 this would be a source of happiness to the saints, will 
 it be denied them in that world where all their wants 
 are to be supplied ? 
 
 That part of the body which is healthy and whole, 
 knows the members that are labouriiag under imper- 
 
SAINTLY SYMPATHY. 
 
 285 
 
 fection and pain ; though the members in pain may 
 be so benumbed that they do not feel sensibly their 
 connexion with the better part of the body. We, on 
 earth, being dull and weary under the stupefying ef- 
 fects of sin, and remaining imperfection, are not 
 aware, consciously, of the streams of life and love 
 which flow towards us from the members which are in 
 heaven, and yet the vigour of their life and sympa- 
 thies received from Christ the head, is constantly 
 flowing into our wounds and members ; their sympa- 
 thy with us is life-transmitting and supremely anima- 
 ting. 
 
 IY. The saints in heaven love us and are 
 interested in US. That they love us is evident 
 from the nature of pure love itself. It is in its nature 
 undying, and cannot be interrupted. “ Charity never 
 faileth.” Love that has its ground in passion or self- 
 interest, as is the case with much of earthly love, will 
 die, whenever the basis upon which it rests is re- 
 moved : this is the case, sometimes before, but always 
 at death. As soon as the end ivhich it was made to 
 subserve is gained, it is no more useful, and like every 
 other instrument which has done its work, it is cast 
 away. But it is not so with that divine charity which 
 binds the hearts of saints. Love to Christ and union 
 with him is its basis, and as that abides for ever, so 
 will it abide. 
 
 We sometimes see affection wdiich is not founded in 
 grace present something of an imperishable character, 
 but still it is of the earth, earthy, and must, in due 
 time, share the fate of all that passeth away. It is 
 not so, however, with that love which may seem to a 
 
286 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 superficial eye less ardent, if it has its source in grace. 
 This is infinitely higher. The Saviour declares plainly 
 that the love which unites his members to him, and 
 consequently to each other, is more imperishable than 
 the nearest of earthly ties. Hence he says that they 
 can lay no claim to union with him who love father or 
 mother, more than him. Matth. x. 37. All these 
 ties, though not destroyed in him, are nevertheless 
 perishable out of him, but in him complete and 
 eternal. 
 
 It is of this divine love that Solomon says: “Love 
 is strong as death ; jealousy is cruel as the grave : the 
 coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehe- 
 ment flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither 
 can the flood drown it : if a man would give all the 
 substance of his house for love, it would utterly be 
 contemned.” As this love “beareth all things, en- 
 dureth all things,” it will not suffer hurt by the deso- 
 lation and wreck of death ; it will live on with undis- 
 turbed vigour, freshness, and beauty, in the midst of 
 decay. Why should the elevation of the spirit at 
 death, into a higher, clearer, and purer world, destroy 
 it? Rather it will thereby be refined, perfected, and 
 strengthened, still clinging with increasing tenderness 
 to its object. Thus, of those saints w T ho lived, loved, 
 and struggled together, though one depart beyond the 
 veil before the other, the cord which unites them is 
 not broken. Like Saul and Jonathan, lovely and 
 pleasant in their lives, and in death not divided. We 
 cannot endure the thought that they do not love us. 
 Brutish hearts may be satisfied with the idea that the 
 nearts of their dead are the same to them as a stone, but 
 
SAINTLY SYMPATHY. 
 
 287 
 
 this is not tolerable to a heart which the Holy Ghost 
 has refined and taught to love. Just as much as we 
 desire that they shall live hereafter, so much do we 
 also desire that they should love us. 
 
 If vie consider it as established that the departed 
 saints love us, we shall find no difficulty in believing 
 that they are interested in us. That they are in- 
 terested in us ought not to be doubted. We desire 
 that they should, with such a strength of feeling that 
 almost refuses to be denied. The idea that they care 
 not for us is unnatural, ‘violent, and shocking to our 
 heart, especially in the tender hours of fresh bereave- 
 ment and sorrow. In proportion as our feelings are 
 piously cultivated does this desire increase. If a de- 
 sire after immortality is considered a proof of it, why 
 is not this desire to share the continued interest of 
 the departed a proof that we do share them ? When 
 we read of the interest wdiich the rich man in hell 
 manifested for his five brethren, we have assurance 
 that the saints in heaven are not less benevolent and 
 tender ! Our dear sainted friends, therefore, are still 
 bound to us by an internal tie. The lively conscious- 
 ness of this fact is not the smallest of those influences 
 which, like an irresistible current, are steadily bearing 
 us on towards the better land. 
 
 I feel them with their rustling pinions sweeping 
 The damp dew gathered on my brow : 
 
 I see them in their lonely vigils keeping 
 Their midnight watch beside me now. 
 
 I know that chainless spirits in their love, 
 
 Are gazing on me from their homes above. 
 
 J. L. Chester. 
 
288 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 In the Revelation we are told, that “ the Spirit and 
 the bride say, Come.” The bride is the church, part 
 of which is in heaven. Those, then, who are in the 
 triumphant church say, Come. Just as the Spirit is 
 interested in us, and woos us continually from evil 
 ways, and from earth, whispering, Come, so does also 
 the bride. Her voice, like the voice of the Spirit, is 
 a “ still small voice,” but the ear of faith hears it, and 
 the heart, powerfully animated by the hope of hea- 
 venly reunion, obeys her voice with the sweetest 
 delight. * 
 
 That the saints departed are interested in us, w r as 
 fondly believed by the ancient church. This they 
 intended should be included in their faith when they 
 said, “ I believe in the communion of saints.” Cyprian 
 said to his church at Carthage, when he was comfort- 
 ing and animating them on the occasion of the death 
 of their brethren by pestilence, “Why hasten we not 
 to see our country, to salute our parents ? There, a 
 vast multitude of them that are dear to us, await our 
 • arrival : a multitude of parents, brethren and children, 
 who are now secure in their own salvation, and anxious 
 only about ours.” The passage, Heb. xii. 1, also affords 
 proof that w^e share in saintly sympathies. If this be 
 so, it is right to feel much submissive sorrow and ten- 
 der love for the pious dead. It serves as a chain to 
 draw us after. It is true the Saviour ought to be to 
 us the chief source of heavenly attraction, and his in- 
 terest the chief source of animation ; but, in our weak- 
 ness, is he ? He is merciful even to our infirmities ; 
 and hence will not be displeased, when we make his 
 saints, whom he loves as w t c do, a prominent object to 
 
SAINTLY SYMPATHY. 
 
 289 
 
 guide and strengthen our upward longings. Besides, 
 the saints, as members of his body, cannot in our 
 minds and hearts be separated from him, and form 
 therefore, properly, a part of the heavenly attraction. 
 The loved and lost on earth, are emphatically our 
 treasures in heaven; and where our treasures are, 
 there will our hearts be. 
 
 I have enlarged somewhat on the subject of sym- 
 pathy with the unseen world, for the purpose of break- 
 ing up, to some extent, that cold barrier which a ra- 
 tionalistic age and philosophy have erected between 
 the two worlds. The common feeling on this subject, 
 I feel convinced, is better than the chilling abstrac- 
 tions of the schools. The common feeling still lingers 
 with awe, reverence, and adoration, on the awful bor- 
 der of the spirit- world, in its loneliest, soberest, and 
 loveliest hours. Many fear, even though they would 
 not believe it, that spirits are near them. Lonely 
 places, the consecrated silence of the church, and 
 church-yard, are still in our feelings, if not in our 
 philosophy, the temporary habitations of visiters from 
 the unseen world. That there is much superstition 
 in this way, none will deny ; but that there is skepti- 
 cism in another, which is worse, is equally plain. 
 
 It is neither unreasonable nor unscriptural to be- 
 lieve that even human spirits are permitted to come 
 close up to the borders of mortal life, and bend their 
 ears up to the material veil ; and in their anxiety for 
 our welfare, break through the affinities of spiritual 
 existence into the sphere of human life, as Moses and 
 Elias did on the mount of transfiguration, or like the 
 dead saints that rose,, and came into Jerusalem after 
 25 
 
290 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 the resurrection of Christ. Perhaps they are often 
 unseen around us, for 
 
 11 Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth 
 Unseen, both when we walk and when we sleep.” 
 
 Presentiments, which are so common, and through 
 which such marvellous deliverances from danger have 
 been effected, may be whispers from the spirit-world. 
 There have been presentiments which could not be 
 acccounted for on natural principles, and why should 
 we think it necessary so to account for them, when 
 we are thus warranted, from actual Bible facts, to be- 
 lieve that spirits may be the authors of them. Per- 
 sons of a lonely and deeply spiritual character are 
 most likely to have presentiments ; may it not be be- 
 cause their home-sick spirits, always living on the 
 verge of the unseen world, hear whispers which the 
 dull ear of sense, and worldlings, hear not ? 
 
 <( And may we then indeed believe you nigh, — 
 
 Ye whom we loved and wept so long?” 
 
 Here I lay down my pen— but here do I not end 
 my meditations on the heavenly land. My thoughts, 
 and feelings, and hopes, crowd onward still. Along 
 the misty Jordan, which bounds the future side of this 
 mortal life, I continue to walk up and down, crowding 
 upon its awful confines, and looking anxiously across, 
 till the fog breaks. “ Blessed are they that are 
 home-sick, for they shall come to their Father’s 
 house.” 
 
 THE END. 
 
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 If REE VOLUMES, NEATLY BOUND IN CLOTH. WITH GILT BACKS, AND A PORTRAIT 
 OF THE AUTHOR. PRICE $2 50. 
 
 ysgg* Copies of the above Books, handsomely bound for presentation, in cloth, 
 full gilt. Prico of the first and second volumes, $1 25 each ; of the third $1 50. 
 
graolVs Christian Jiff. 
 
 LINDSAY & BLAKISTON, PHILADELPHIA, 
 
 PUBLISH 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 BY 
 
 THOMAS ARNOLD, D.D., 
 
 AUTHOR OF i( LECTURES OX MODERN HISTORY, ” u THE HISTORY OF ROME,” &C. f Ac. 
 
 In two volumes, 12mo. 
 
 Vol. L contains “ ITS COURSE, ITS HINDRANCES, AND ITS HELPS.” 
 VoL II. contains “ ITS HOPES, ITS FEARS, AND ITS CLOSE.” 
 
 PRICE, FOR THE TWO VOLUMES, $2.00 
 
 The Publishers give below a few only of the very many flattering 
 notices they have received of this work : — 
 
 We will venture to affirm that with the single exception of Bisnop Butler’s, no sermons have ever 
 been printed which contain so many “ seeds of thought.” No unthinking man can read them without 
 being benefited. Our obligations to Arnold are so great that we cannot let this opportunity pass with- 
 out recommending his works. Now that the American publishers have printed this work so well and 
 so cheaply, let them be encouraged. We hope every clergyman and every intelligent layman will pro- 
 cure this volume, and thus encourage the publishers to print all of Arnold’s sermons, which in the 
 English edition are in six volumes, and cost to import upwards of twenty dollars. — Southern Church- 
 man. 
 
 His aim is to make his readers acquainted with themselves ; to impress them with the necessity of 
 controliing their passions; to unfold to them the principles by which they should be governed; to 
 exemplify the nature and the difficulties of piety; and prompt them to a virtuous, a religious, and a 
 useful life. He is never common-place nor prolix. His thoughts are clear and fresh, ofteti unfolding his 
 subjects in new aspects, and leading the mind into fields never before explored, and glowing with objects 
 of unexpected interest and beauty. — Lord's Review. 
 
 The Christian life is set forth in these volumes with all that delightful fervor r nd force which charac- 
 terized the late admirable author. They contain an exhibition of principles ths. are of universal interes 
 to the religious reader. — Harpers' Magazine. 
 
 Dr. Arnold was one of those men who make their mark upon the age m which they live. To great 
 experience of life and knowledge of character, he united sound common sense, and, with erudition, he 
 possessed what may be termed a capacity for practical generalizing. As a teacher of youth and as r* 
 clergyman, he ‘‘magnified his office,” and his writings carry the evidence of the respect in which he 
 held his vocation, and of the thorough manner in which he prosecuted it . — North American. 
 
 We would earnestly counsel all parents to study this book, and to place it in the hands of their 
 eons. — Criterion . 
 
 We honor the boldness of the man, we admire his scholarship, and we love his piety .—Evangelist. 
 
LINDSAY &, BLAKISTON'S PUBLICATIONS 
 
 THE SEPULCHRES OF OUR DEPARTED. 
 
 BY THE REV. F. R. ANSPACH, A.M. 
 
 •* As flowers which night, when day is o’er, perfume, 
 
 Breathes the sweet memory from a good man’s tomb.” 
 
 Sir E. L. Bulwer. 
 
 Third Edition. In one Vol., 12mo. Price $1. Cloth, gilt. $1 50. 
 
 Thw is a volume to comfort and to cheer ; to render the grave familiar, and to detive from it* co©> 
 temptation the most encouraging hopes. A fine tone pervades the volume, and it abounds in just sea 
 aments ornately expressed. We should be glad to see that general seriousness of feeling which woull 
 oake such a volume popular.— Presbyterian. 
 
 All Christians who are looking forward to the bliss of heaven, by passing through the tomb, will be 
 trengthened and comforted by glancing over the lessons here inculcated as addressed to the pilgrim 
 a search of that better country .— Christian Chronicle. 
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 
 
 1 Beautiful Presentation Volume. By the Bey. Theophilus Stork, D. D. f 
 Pastor of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Philadelphia. 
 
 12mo., Cloth, 75 Cents ; in full gilt, $1 00. 
 
 “ How oft, heart-sick and sore, 
 
 I’ve wished I were once more 
 
 A little child/’— .Mrs. Southey. 
 
 The general contents, the devotional and lovely spirit that pervades it, the flowing, lucid, and rich 
 fiction, the sound sentiments, the encouragements to parents to bring up their children in the fear of 
 the Lord, the abounding consolations for those who in God’s providence have been called to yield up 
 their little ones to Him who gave them, these and other characteristics, render this book one of the 
 most interesting and valuable of the kind that has for a long time been presented to the public.— 
 Lutheran Observer. ' 
 
 STRUGGLES FOR LIFE, An Autobiography. 
 
 In One Vol., 12mo. Price $1 00. 
 
 What Sunny and Shady Side are, as descriptive of American Pastoral Life, this delightful volume i a 
 as descriptive of the Life of an English pastor. It describes, in a most felicitous style, his labours, 
 trials, sog-ows, pleasures, and joys. But, perhaps, its chief value consists in the vivid views it gives 
 of human nature as illustrated in the leading characteristics of EngLsh society, manners, and customs. 
 Spectator. 
 
 THE POETICAL WORKS OF JAMES MONTGOMERY. 
 
 The only complete edition ; collected and prepared by him just prior to his death. 
 With a Portrait. One Volume, octavo. 
 
 Price, in Library style, $2 00 ; Cloth, full gilt, $3 00 ; Turkey Morocco, $4 00 
 
 The poetry of the Sheffield bard has an established reputation among serious readers of every class. 
 The spirit of the humble Christian and the pure Philanthropist, breathes through it all ; and few win 
 rise from the perusal of Mr. Montgomery’s poems without feeling the elevating power of his chaste 
 nod beautiful lines. We are glad to see such a favourite poet in such graceful attire. The type 
 paper, and entire ‘'getting up” of this volume, is in tasteful accordance with the precious gems »* 
 e»- twns, and reflects great credit ‘he publishers. — Recorder. 
 
LINDSAY AND BLAKISTON 
 
 PUBLISH 
 
 A MANUAL OF SACKED HISTORY; 
 
 OR, 
 
 A GUIDE TO THE UNDERSTANDING 
 
 tfct $ilntu fhn of Sal bid ton 
 
 ACCORDING TO ITS HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN HENRY KURTZ, D.D., 
 
 PROFESSOR OP CHURCH HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OP DORPAT, EVO, 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE SIXTH GERMAN EDITION, 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES F. SCHAEFFER, D.D., 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 4i A very comprehensive, accurate, and methodical digest of the Sacred His- 
 tory — done with genuine thoroughness and scholarship. There is nothing 
 am*ng our manuals of Biblical History that corresponds with this. It is sim- 
 ple in style, and orthodox in sentiment.” — N. Y, Evangelist . 
 
 “ The Observations (introduced by the author) are replete with the result* 
 of extensive research — meeting objections and cavils, solving difficulties, ex- 
 plaining obscure passages, reconciling apparent discrepancies, pointing out 
 connectious, exposing and rectifying errors, unfolding the nature and design 
 of sacred institutions and ordinances, and showing the relation of events, per- 
 sons, institutions and prophecies, to the great central fact and theme of Scrip- 
 ture, man’s redemption through the incarnate Son.” — Evangelical EevU 4c, 
 April , 1855. 
 
 “ This is the best hook of the kind we have ever examined, and one of the 
 best translations from German into English we have ever seen. The author 
 makes no parade of learning in his book, but his exegetical statements are 
 evidently founded on the most careful, thorough, and extensive study, and can 
 generally be relied upon as among the best results, the most surely ascertained 
 conclusions of modern philological investigation. We by no means hold our- 
 selves responsible for every sentiment in the hook, hut we cordially recommend 
 It to every minister, to every Sunday school teacher, to every parent, and to 
 every intelligent layman, as a safe and exceedingly instructive guide, through 
 the entire Bible history, the Old Testament and the New. It is a book which 
 actually accomplishes more than its title promises,” Ac. Ac. — ( Andover ) Biblu 
 »theca Sa&ra, April, 1855. 
 

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