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'The subject of this present volume is inexhaustibly attractive ; and many, we lines of our liturgical Church history in company pathetic a guide. ... If we have ventured to hope, will be glad to retrace the lines of our liturgical Church history in company with so accomplished and sympathetic a guide. ... If we have ventured to criticise some details in this able and helpful book, which might be reconsidered in another edition, we are not the less desirous of recommending it emphatically esirous of recommending i em Anglican communion.' Church to all educated members of the entire Anglican communion.' Church Quarterly FOOTPRINTS OF THE SON OF MAN, AS TRACED BY ST. MARK. Being Eighty Portions for Private Study, Family Reading, and Instructions in Church. With an Intro- duction by the late Bishop of Ely. New and Cheaper Edition in One Volume. Crown 8vo. 3s. Qd. ' His book is designed " for private study, family reading, and instructions in church." For one or all of these three purposes we heartily recommend it. ... The frequent references to the Talmud and Mishnah, as illustrating the Gospel record, form a peculiarly valuable feature of the book.' Church Quarterly Review. THE DIVINE LITURGY. Being the Office for Holy Com- munion, Historically, Doctrinally, and Devotionally set forth, in Fifty Portions. New and Cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d. LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY: LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. THE INTERMEDIATE STATE BETWEEN DEATH AND JUDGMENT BEING A SEQUEL TO AFTER DEATH BY HERBERT MORTIMER LUCKOCK, D.D. DEAN OF LICIIFIELU NEW AND CHEAPER EDITION LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY 1896 'I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,' Ov 6t\o(Ji.tv W fl/t&j dyvoeiv, d3eX0oJ, vepl ruv Ke i THESS. iv. 13. 1G771 THE following pages were ready for publication, dedicated to the memory of a valued friend, Henry Parry Liddon, when it pleased God to visit me with the heaviest visitation possible for man. It may be that He, Who knows the end from the beginning, has been mercifully preparing me for this mys- terious dispensation of His Providence, for at the opening of the year I was driven by a strong im- pulse to break off another book which I was engaged in writing, and to give my whole atten- tion to throwing into definite shape the thoughts on the unseen world which are here set forth. I was hoping to hear that they had brought help and comfort to others ; God has willed that I should be the first to test their power in my own soul. H. M. L. Nov. 11, 1890. IN : HAM : MEMORIAM : UXORIS : DESIDERATISSHLE : VOLUNTATE : DIVINA : PR-EBEPWE : QUAM : AUBIS : AUDIENS : BEATIFICABAT : cm : GOULDS : VIDENS : TESTIMONIUM : BEDDEBAT : SOCIETATEM : IN : STERNUM : RESTITUBNDAM ! KAGNA : CUM : FIDE : EXSPECTANS : HOC ! OPUSJULITM : DKDICO. preface* TTILEVEN" years have elapsed since I published After Death. It embodied the results of a patient investigation upon three important ques- tions connected with the Intermediate State, viz., (1) the lawfulness of praying in any way for the dead ; (2) the grounds for believing in the inter- cessions of the dead on our behalf ; and (3), as a consequence of this belief, the legitimacy of the practice of addressing appeals to the dead for their help or intercession. I endeavoured to set forth dispassionately, without prejudice of any kind, the conclusions which seemed to be forced upon us by an accumulation of evidence drawn from a variety of primitive sources. 6 vii viii Preface. The fact of the book having passed through many editions and been widely read, may be taken as some proof that I did not altogether fail in separating what has been regarded as a burn- ing subject, almost invariably provoking bitter- ness of controversy, from the sphere of party- spirit. It was probably the surprise expressed by the critics that I had been able to do this, which first drew attention to the book, and attracted readers, who would otherwise have turned away from a subject which has had so many distressing associations. The review in The Guardian dwelt much upon " the moderation, sober, calm candour, and fairness" with which the subject was discussed on its merits, and " the boldness " with which the author gave " his con- clusions on the evidence alone." If it has helped in the smallest degree to secure the result anti- cipated in the same review, it must always be a Preface. ix matter for thankfulness. "It brings with it," the writer said, " the promise that, perhaps from a more general recognition of what is of Catholic authority, our children, while they may have out- grown the danger of confounding the devotional growths of later times with the usage of earlier ones, may enjoy, without offence, a primitive liberty of prayer, which we, their fathers, could only use grudgingly and under suspicion." As may well be supposed, the publication of the book led to a large correspondence both with friends and strangers. In their letters many kindred questions were opened up. It is on these that I have attempted to deal in the follow- ing pages. Unlike the former book, the present is in part speculative. In that, there was ample evidence to appeal to ; in this, at times, there is little of a direct nature, and one is obliged to be satisfied with that which is only inferential. x Preface. Whenever there was reason to believe that the subjects were dealt with in the Primitive Church, I have had recourse to its authority, and rested upon it ; but I have no right to appeal to it with confidence, because there is rarely any such general evidence as can satisfy the Vincentian test. It is often said that very little is revealed to us concerning the future world; and many a man shrinks from all consideration of the state after death, through fear of incurring S. Paul's rebuke for "intruding into those things which he hath not seen." They regard the grave as a deep gulf fixed between the visible and the invisible, "too great to allow even thought to overleap." It tends, I believe, to foster, even in good and holy men, a spirit of the old Sadduceeism, which thrust the dead out of sight and mind with all possible speed. The frequent citations from Preface. xi Holy Scripture in the several chapters will show that much more is written in God's Word on the subject than men are disposed to imagine. It only remains for me now to express my obligations to a few friends who have helped me directly or indirectly. First, to Canon Liddon, whose loss to the Visible Church, I, in common with a multitude of others, have now to deplore. I owe much to him both for counsel in difficulty and for encouragement in face of opposition. At a time when he knew that obstacles were being interposed, he urged the continued pursuit of the study in terms so forcible that they amounted almost to compulsion. Upon the desirableness of praying for the dead, and the need of inculcating the practice, nothing could exceed the strength of his convictions. He expressed them ten years ago to me in the xii Preface. following very striking language: "Courage is needed to announce the truth in the face of the Puritanical tradition which is so disastrously prominent, generally speaking, in the high places of the Church of England. It is singular that men can go on appealing to the Primitive Church, and yet ignore or deny what was as much a part of its life, public as well as private, as the worship of our Lord and much more so than its recog- nition of some parts of our present Canon of the New Testament." I quote these words because I believe there are many who will gladly be guided by his judgment. Again, in reference to some of the most important chapters in this present book, espe- cially those touching the probation of the heathen and ignorant after death, and the absence of authority for a like probation for those who had been taught in this life, he wrote, Preface. xiii "We are clearly of one mind about the Inter- mediate State; as I cannot deprecate very natural speculations, so long as they profess themselves speculations resting on whatever basis of Theological probability ; and you are opposed to making anything de fide which is not clearly revealed as being so." I have been strengthened in my conclusions on many important points by the Eev. D. Greig, Eector of Cottenham, who has long been a student of Eschatology. To the Eev. Canon Evans I am indebted, as so often before, for a careful revision of the proof-sheets, and for calling my attention to obscurities of expression, which I have endeavoured to remove. Lastly, I would send forth this book to the public with the same prayer with which the Pre- face to its predecessor concluded: "that the Spirit of Truth will regulate its influence upon xiv Preface. the hearts of those who read it, according as its teaching may be found agreeable to the Mind of Christ." H. M. L. jFeasft of ^S. fmon ann 3JuHc. 1890. COLLEGE, ELY. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE I. $e State after >eatlj a legitimate Sub- ject of 3[nquirp, . i II. 3n Interment ate 'State iettoeen JDeatfj ann Slutigment tautjtjt fcp Scripture ann t^e JfattieriS, 14 III. Jeints^ onceptionjs of tlje State after Dear*, 27 D 7 . Different .onDitton0 erprefiscB bg t^e Different Degignationis, . . .36 V. 3ETje DisiemlioBieD >oul in a tate after 2Deatlj a legitimate A GREAT preacher * who did much to rouse --- England from the sleep and torpor of the eighteenth century was often heard to complain that his utmost efforts to kindle the interest of his hearers in the mysteries of the unseen world invariably failed. The indif- ference of It is not surprising, therefore, to find that among our fathers the large number of sermons which he, as well as Bible world" his more famous friend and contemporary, have be- queathed to posterity, there is only one extant which deals at all directly with the intermediate state. 2 They lived in an age which was strongly averse to what would then have been accounted use- less speculations on the unknown and invisible ; but in these later times a vast change in this respect has passed over the minds of men. 1 George Whitefield, the founder of the Calvinistic Methodists, was ordained priest in 1739 A.D., and died in 1770. 2 John Wesley died in 1791. He has left a sermon on the rich man and Lazarus. ;/ A 2 The State after Death a legitimate At the great Catholic Revival in England, which began about fifty years ago, the first thoughts of those who guided the action of the Church were bent on the restoration of the material fabrics for the beauty of worship, and on the reinstatement of Sacramental teaching in its rightful position. Both of these objects have been largely secured, and we are now pressing on to the recovery of other inter- ests and practices, which entered into the devo- tional life of the early Christians ; we are trying, in short, to establish a veritable communion between the Church militant here on earth, and the Church expectant now in Paradise. A revival of Unfortunately, together with this revived atten- the unseen tion to all that concerns the other world there later Klines. nas s P run g U P a strong and attractive tendency to realism, which is fraught with very dangerous con- sequences, for if left unchecked it will succeed in materialising what is spiritual, and will make heaven itself of the earth earthy. When we enter upon the consideration of the future world, we ought to start with the conviction that no man can possibly picture it as it actually is, because all the conditions of it differ essentially from anything with which we have been hitherto familiar. Our present faculties of apprehension are Subject of Inquiry. adapted for a sphere of existence of quite another The neces- kind, and are necessarily unable to grasp with any to^ur'com. degree of certitude what lies outside of it. Between. P rehension - the material and the spiritual, between time and eternity, between the finite and the infinite, there is an impassable gulf. The spiritual sphere is designed for the habitation of spirits or for bodies upon which a mighty change will have passed, " to hen thi0 .corruptible 0hall hate put on incorruption, anb this mortal shall hate yvA xm immortality " : when, after the sleep of ages in the dust of death, that which was " 0oton a natural bobg " shall " in a moment, in the ttoinkling; of an ege," be " rai0eb a 0piritual bobs-" 1 It is the realisation of this which helps to explain some perplexities connected with two important episodes in Scripture history, viz., the rapture of S. Paul and the resurrection of Lazarus. The Apostle writes thus to the Corinthians : 2 " 3 s. Paul's kneto a man in Chri0t abote fourteen gear0 ago, rapture - (tohetlur in the hobs, 5 .cannot tell : or tohether ont of the bofog S .cannot tell : dob knotoeth :) 0tu:h an one caught up 3 to the thirfo heaten. i 1 COB. xv. 44, 52, 54. 2 2 COB. xii. 2-4. 3 "Up" has no equivalent in the original. It is simply apira- ytvra and rjpirdyr) eJs. . . . 4 The State after Death a legitimate kneto such a matt, (tohether in the bobs or out of the bobg, 3E cannot tell ; dob knotoeth ;) hoto that he teas caught np into parabise, anb hearb nn- speakable toorbs, tohirh it is not yossibh 1 fox a man to ntter." S. Paul seems to have been perplexed by doubts whether he was carried away in the body and spirit, or in the spirit alone. It seems most pro- bable that it was a translation only of the disem- bodied spirit. Such a supposition, at least, helps to remove many difficulties. His spirit, then, was set free by God for a brief space from the prison- house which confined it, and as it passed within the veil there flashed upon his spiritual vision what no mortal eye had ever seen. The unearthly sounds of angel and archangel and all the host of heaven filled him with wonder ; but the moment his spirit recrossed the threshold, when his purely spiritual faculties and perceptions were superseded by those of the bodily organs, he was unable any longer to recall what he had witnessed ; there only remained a. dim vague recollection of transcendent beauty, i So it is in the margin of the A.V. In the Philopatris ascribed to Lucian there is a reference to this rapture, for the Apostle is described contemptuously as " the bald Galilean, with eagle beak, walking through the air to the third heaven." Subject of Inquiry. as when men dream in the night, but can give no shape to the vanished scene when they awake out of sleep. This is what he means when he says that in his rapture he had " hearb unspeakable torrr!b0 tohich it is ttxrt yas&ibh for a man io titter." The spiritual was incomprehensible to the material : the infinite beyond the grasp of the finite. Again, the experience of Lazarus must have been The silence of a similar kind, though S. Paul was admitted into the third heaven as well as into Paradise, Lazarus into the latter alone. 1 For four days his unclothed spirit mingled with the vast crowd of departed spirits in the place where the souls of the righteous from the murdered Abel to the latest saint are awaiting the sound of the Archangel's trumpet to open the gates of heaven and let them in. What Lazarus saw there must have been less than what delighted the Apostle's vision, but it was equally unintelligible to mortal sight when his spirit had been brought back to the body it had left. We have often imagined ourselves standing by that opening grave, and have listened with an in- terest ever fresh to the voice which bade the dead come forth ; and as we have read the sacred record we have closed the Book with a sigh of regret that i S. JOHN xi. 11-46. 6 The State after Death a legitimate not a word, not a syllable was spoken by the risen dead ; that although, as tradition tells us, he lived in that his second earthly life for thirty years, there is no recorded utterance, no related experience of the other world. Do we doubt whether he was asked for the revelation ? We fancy that we can see his neighbours and friends trying by every device to extract from him the awful secret, appeal- ing to him with almost passionate entreaty, but to all alike he turns the same unwavering look the face that, awed by the visions of the past, was never seen to smile again the silence never broken, the secret never revealed. " 'Where wert thou, brother, those four days? ' There lives no record of reply, Which telling what it is to die Had surely added praise to praise. From every house the neighbours met, The streets were fill'd with joyful sound, A solemn gladness even crown'd The purple brows of Olivet. Behold a man raised up by Christ ! The rest remaineth unreveal'd ; He told it not ; or something seal'd The lips of that Evangelist." 1 The reason of his silence is not far to seek. What sealed his lips was that which sealed S. Paul's 1 Tennyson, In Memoriam, xxxi. Siibject of Inquiry. the impossibility of telling in the body with any degree of accurate truth and reality what he had witnessed in the spirit. What then is to be our attitude towards the whole subject of the other world ? Are we to feel that " no conclusions are to be drawn as to the eternal from the phenomena of time " 1 Are we to stand on the thresh- old, taking the shoes from off our feet in fear and trembling, but not daring to enter in ? The very s. Paul's Apostle who had revealed the utter impossibility of adequately describing what he had himself witnessed, has assured us that the condition of departed spirits state> is nevertheless a subject which we are more than justified in investigating : " 3E totfttlb not hatoe J]XW to be ignorant, hr.etitr.en, rxmcerninjj them that are asleep"; 1 and after speaking of one thing that is in store for them, he bids the Thessalonians find comfort 2 in the thought of it. Yet further, it is just that one part of Holy Scripture which purports to be an apocalypse of future glory, and to portray the beauties of the New Heaven and the New Earth, to which the Holy Ghost has prefixed the promise : " is he that reaoeth, anb theg that hear the of ihi0 yxayhetQ." 3 i 1 THESS. iv. 13. 2 jud, 18. REV. i. 3. 8 The State after Death a legitimate Again, it is surely not without a cause that so much has been made known touching the nature and work of the angels. There must be some analogy to be What may drawn, for they are described as " spirits" * the very be learnt from the word which is applied in Scripture to the souls of the angels, men in their separate existence after their bodies have been laid aside. It was to the " spirits " 2 in Hades that Christ passed Himself in " spirit," while His body was lying in the Sepulchre. The analogy, however, may not be complete, for it would appear that the angels have spiritual bodies, seeing that it is promised that in the Resurrection, when, that is, we are to be clothed upon with our risen and glori- fied bodies, we shall be " equal unto the angels." 3 The difference, however, between disembodied spirits and beings with spiritual bodies, is not so great as to make us feel capable of grasping the one but not the other. Enough for purposes of reverent meditation is i HEB. i. 14. 21 3. PET. iii. 19. 8 S. LUKE xx. 36. The question of the spiritual nature of the angels was much disputed in early times. S. Ignatius and Eusebius and S. Chrysostom maintained that they were dffu^arot, but Macarius assigned to them tate betfueen 2Deatfj ant) 3]uD0:ment tauoftt bp Scripture ana tije fatljerg. A CCOKDING to the clear and explicit teaching of -*- Holy Writ, the life of man is designed to be passed in three distinct spheres, or in three widely different conditions of being. First h e lives a corporeal life in the flesh. In fallen man, it is a state of con- The three- &<&, for the higher and the lower parts of his nature rfmSX" 8 are perpetually at war with each other. By reason life> of the strong and overmastering bias, which inherited sin has given to his desires and passions, it is a state in which the spirit groans, and is in bondage under the tyranny of the flesh. 1 Secondly, he has to live an incorporeal life in the spirit. For one who has resisted successfully in the preceding stage, it is a state of peace and security. Emancipated from the thraldom of carnal affections and all that clogs and fetters his higher aspirations, i GAL. v. 17. 1* The Intermediate State. 15 the spiritual element in his being is free to prepare itself, by a course of progressive advancement, for the goal of its ambition, the Vision of God. It will be obvious, therefore, that this state, like its pre- decessor, is an imperfect one. Thirdly, he will live in the risen life, in a state of victory and triumph; one in which the whole man, material and immaterial, body, soul, and spirit, will all be transfigured and conformed to the image of the Divine Life : it will be perfect and complete in all its parts. Now, the middle state, which we have character- ised as "in the spirit," is that in which the incor- poreal exists alone, but in both its constituent elements. We lose a great deal by speaking of man's being as twofold only, viz., body and soul, for S. Paul has given us a true conception of it as triple ; " 3E ptag dbfc 20* tohxrU 0pirit mtb 0xml anlb hofcg be pr.egretb.eb blamtb00 tmto the toming xrf 0ur IP-orb Jf.e0tt0 on at man, tohich i0 in heaben." l state ' Further, after that He had passed through the grave and gate of death He said of Himself, " 3E am not get a0.cenJ>eb to JEg Jfather, httt QO to Jto brethren, anfo 0ag tmt0 them, E a0renii ttntc JEg Jfathcr, anb 20ttr Jfather." 2 It is clear from this latter declara- tion that in the disembodied state His soul had not passed into the heavens. It had, as we learn from His promise to the robber-outlaw, departed to the waiting-place of righteous souls, to the Paradise of the blessed, and it was not till after His Resurrec- tion, when His human spirit had been united again to His body, that He entered heaven. Christ again teaches us that the soul's immediate destiny is not heaven or hell, for when Lazarus died he " toa0 rar- riefc hg the anjjel0 into Jlbraham'0 bomrm." 3 It is 1 S. JOHN iii. 13. 2 S. JOHN xx. 17. 3 S. LUKE xvi. 22. 2O An Intermediate State taught told us, it is true, in the form of a parable, and this circumstance has been supposed to open a way of escape from its obvious teaching, but it must not be TheParable forgotten, that whatever doubts may hang about the man ancf details of parabolic illustration, the scope at least of azarus. mus t be indisputable. Now it certainly belongs to the scope of this parable to show what becomes of the souls of men immediately after death. If it does not teach us this, it is difficult indeed to discover for what purpose it was spoken. It has been suggested that it may have been an anticipatory picture of the final state, but the suggestion is not at all borne out by the language. The rich man clearly assumes that the Judgment has not yet come, for he speaks of his brethren as still undergoing their earthly probation, and as capable of receiving warning to avoid a similar fate to his own. The positive teaching of our Lord is accepted and its truth pre-supposed in the Apostolic Epistles. The teach- Writing to the Thessalonians S. Paul speaks of him- s! g Paul. se lf an( i others who might survive to the Second Advent in words that necessitate the existence of a middle state : " then toe tohkh are alibe anb remain 0hall be .caught wp together toith them in the tUraba, to meet the Herb in the air." 1 "With 1 1 THESS. iv. 17. by Scripture and the Fathers. 2 1 them " it is with some who have fallen asleep and are somewhere waiting to come forth at the voice of the Archangel to receive their final reward in heaven. The same is involved in the contrast which he draws between the two conditions as being, on the one hand, " at hflttie in the bxriij) " and " ab0ent frrnn the IC-orb," or, on the other, " ab0ent from tlte bofcg " and "pr.e0.ent toith the fCxrrii." 1 The latter condition can be none other than that which follows death, in which the disembodied soul is " with Christ " in Paradise. It is expressly said that the fathers of the Old Dispensation, who had died in faith, did not at once receive the promise, but were compelled to wait in an incomplete state, " that thej) toithont W0 0hott.lfo not he mafce perfect." 2 Lastly, the veil of the unseen world is partially The souls lifted in the Apocalypse, when the rapt Apostle sees martyrs the souls of the martyrs who had laid down their ^ Wc lives for the word of God. He does not see them already admitted into the courts of heaven, but wait- ing for the consummation " nnber the altar," and crying, " ^0to long, <& IDorii, \wl% anfo trtte, 1 2 COR. v. 6, 8. That this expression does not refer to being with God the Father, cf. infra, p. 63. a HEB. xi. 40. 22 An Intermediate State taught ttot jttbge attfo abenge mtr blocb 011 them that 0tt the earth ? " ! In answer to their cry they are bidden to "re0t get far a little 0ea0xm until their fellcr:to-0er:bant0 al0o . . . 0houlb he fulfilled," which is quite inconsistent with the supposition that the gate of death leads direct to heaven. 2 There is a passage which seems at first sight to support the view of those who deny the Intermediate State ; " it i0 apptrinteb untcr men 0rtce txr bie, but after thi0 the jttfcjjmettt." 3 In the original Greek the definite article is wanting, and the absence of it is very significant, for it is invariably prefixed to the noun in all the passages where that judgment is clearly spoken of, which is to decide finally the eternal destiny. What the author of the Epistle teaches is, that death is immediately followed by a judgment or crisis ; but it can only be that by which the place of the soul is determined in Hades or the Intermediate State. When we turn to the primitive Church to see wha,t interpretation was put upon the teaching of 1 REV. vi. 10. 2 It is difficult to reconcile the teaching of this passage with the Koman view of Purgatory ; for it is held that martyrs are ex- empted from the state of purification, being admitted at once to the Beatific Vision. 3 HEB. ix. 27. by Scripture and the Fathers. 2,3 Scripture on this point, we find an unbroken chain of evidence in support of the Catholic belief. Justin Martyr, in his Dialogue with Trypho, com- Patristic testimony, bats certain Gnostics who said "that there is no resurrection, but that when men die their souls are at once taken up to heaven;" 1 and he denies to Justin them in consequence the right to be accounted dr yr * Christians or even Jews. In an earlier part of the same treatise he asserted that after death " the souls of the godly abide in some better place, and the souls of the unrighteous and wicked in a worse place, expecting the time of the judgment." 2 Irenseus vindicated the Catholic doctrine against Irenoeus. some who professed the same heresy, as well as against some who, though for the most part orthodox in the faith, had fallen into error in a reaction against the prevailing Millenarianism of the time. "The souls," he says, " of His (Christ's) disciples go to the invisible place determined for them by God, and there dwell awaiting the resurrection." 3 He has been show- 1 \eyovcri #77 elvai avdyraffiv, dXXa fi/ua rq> a.irodv?iaKeiv, TCLS \ffvxcis avr&v dva\a^dvecr6ai els rbv obpavbv, /*?/ viroK&^tfre avroiis Xpwr/ai'ous wcrTrep ovdt 'lovdatovs. Dialog, c. Tryph. p. 307, ed. Paris. 2 T&J fjtiv TU>V ei} 24 An Intermediate State taught ing how our Lord observed the law of the dead, and went to the place " where the souls of the dead were," and he anticipates the same lot for them : " Jf0r the Msdple is nxrt abrroe his Jftaster, but ebers one that is perfect shall be as his JEaster." l There was an anonymous book written, some think by one of the above Fathers, others by a contem- porary, on " the Nature of the Universe," z which deals at length with the Intermediate State, show- ing that the souls of the righteous and unrighteous were detained in Hades, but not in the same place ; there was but one passage into it, but when the gate was passed the one went to the right hand into Abraham's bosom, the other to the left, to a place of misery, and that they remained there until the time appointed by God. Tertullian wrote a treatise, De Paradiso, which Tertullian. has been unhappily lost, for the express purpose of showing that " all souls were sequestered in Hades till the day of the Lord." * &irb rov GeoD, /c$Ke? /iexpi TTJJ dvaordtfews oiruffi TV &v&ffTa. Adv. Hcer. v. xixi. 2. i S. LUKE vi. 40. 8 Besides the above it was assigned to Origen and Caius. Pear- son quotes several extracts from it. Cf. Creed, Art. v. 239, notes. For the above quot. cf. Galland. BM. pp. t. 2, p. 451. 8 Quo constituimus omnem animam apud Inferos sequestrari in diem Domini. De Anima, c. 55. by Scripture and the Fathers. 2 5 Lactantius says, " Let no man think that souls Lactantius. are judged immediately after death : all are detained in one common place of safe-keeping until the time comes when the Supreme Judge shall make his scrutiny." 1 S. Hilary speaks very decidedly : " As the day S. Hilary, of judgment is the eternal award either of joy or punishment, so the hour of death orders the interval for every man by its own laws, consigning him either to Abraham or to punishment until the judgment " 2 and in another place he says that all the faithful are reserved for the interval in the safe-keeping of the Lord in Abraham's bosom, and guarded from the intrusion of ungodly souls by an interposing gulf, till the times come for their entrance into heaven. 3 Lastly, S. Augustine testifies that " during the s. Augus- interval between death and the final resurrection men's souls are kept in hidden receptacles, according 1 Nee tamen quisquam putet animas post mortem protiims judicari ; omnes in una communique custodia detinentur donee tempus adveniat quo maximus ludex faciat examen. Instit. Div. iii. 21. 2 ludicii dies vel beatitudinis retributio est aeterna vel posnse ; tempus vero mortis habet unumquemque suis legibus, dum ad judicium unumquemque aut Abraham reservat aut pcena. In Ps. ii. ad. Jin. 3 In sinu scilicet interim Abrahse collocati ; quo adire impios, interjectum chaos inhibet quousque introeundi sursum in regnum ccelorum tempus adveniat. In Ps. cxx. B* 26 The Intermediate State. as they severally deserve rest or trouble." 1 It follows upon this testimony, which might have been largely increased 2 if necessary, that the Westminster divines committed an egregious blunder in prac- tically obliterating the Intermediate State, and showed the most profound ignorance both of Scrip- ture and of primitive literature. It remains for us now to consider how far, from what has been re- vealed, we may form conceptions of the mode of life in which the souls of the faithful pass their time of waiting in Paradise. 1 Tempus quod inter hominis mortem et ultimam resurrection- em interposition est, animas abditis receptaculis continet, sicut unaquseque digna est vel requie vel aerumna. Enchirid. ad Laur. cix. 2 TERT. adv. Marc. iv. 31. ORIGBN, de Princip. iv. 23. HIP- POL YTUS, Frag. adv. Grcecos, i. S. HIERON. in Os. xiii. 14, S. AUG. de Civ. Dei, xii. 9. Epist. Ivii. or clxxxvii. CHAPTER III. Conceptions of rije fetate after TTARIOUS opinions have been held about theextent of knowledge possessed by the ancient Hebrews on the doctrine of immortality and the state after death.- The revelation of it seems to have been vouchsafed gradually from the beginning. We are able to trace it running like a thread through the The revela- pages of the Old Testament, hardly noticeable at future life first, but becoming clearer and clearer, till at last it developed. stands out conspicuous in its distinctness. The Patriarchs must have gathered from the trans- lation of Enoch, whom " (HxrJ) took" that death was not the end of all things. The Israelites in Egypt would learn something from the continued relation of God to their fathers, expressed in the title by which He revealed Himself, " the 0501) oi JVbraham, the f&olb oi I0aa.c, anb the. dxrti ot Jamb." l In the case of some favoured ones, their spiritual i Ex. iii. 15 ; iv. 5. 28 Jewish Conceptions of the instincts seem at times almost to have enabled them to anticipate the full revelation. What, for instance, could appear clearer, if read by itself, than Job's declaration of his certainty that his Eedeemer would vindicate his cause hereafter, and grant him the Vision of God? 1 What again more assuring than David's assertion that at the great awakening he would be satisfied with the likeness of God, 2 or that, though the wicked should have death for their shepherd, yet God would redeem his soul from the power of the grave ? 3 But there are signs that even these apparently positive utterances were not based on a distinct revelation ; had they been so, both Job and David were guilty of culpable disbelief: the one, when he cried in the depth of despondency, " ^hm 10 hoyt of a tut, if it b* nit totm, that it toill sjramt again, anfc that the tender branrh thmaf toil! not aa&e. . . . Jtot wan fckth ani toasteth atoag : 2&* wan gibeth up the glwst, anb tolim i0 hel" 4 the other when he complained in his sickness, " En foath thm i0 ncr rem.embran,c.e of ^{m : in the grate, tohc shall gib* ^hee thanks ? " 5 JOB xix. 25, 26. 2 Ps. xvii. 14. 3 Ps. xlix. 14, 15. A.V. "Death shall feed on them." The above is the rendering of the LXX. version, and is far more forcible. LXX. ffavarbs Troi/wwet afootis. Symm. j>ejui}<7ei cuJroiJs. Jerome, pascet eos. * JOB xiv. 7, 10. Ps. vi. 5. State after Death. 29 The prophets, who were expressly appointed to Distinct declare the Will of God, exhibit no trace of such O f the ambiguity, but speak with unfaltering voice. Hosea 1 prop e St and Isaiah 2 unfolded the truth with increasing clear- ness, till at last Ezekiel, 3 with his vivid description of the valley of dry bones, and the definite language of Daniel, 4 satisfy us that a full realisation of the resurrection-life had taken possession of the people. There is a somewhat similar correspondence in their Earliest conceptions of the Intermediate State. At fiirt those who believed that the soul would survive the shock of death, thought, for the most part, that it would pass to an invisible place of gloom and sad- ness : one, moreover, in which the condition of the disembodied soul admitted of no change or amelio- ration. Here and there, it is true, we see a ray of sun- light let in upon the darkness, when the historian records the fall of some hero of the people, such as Abraham or Moses or Jacob, and hints at the joy of reunion with his ancestry by telling that " he iua0 jjather&b to hi0 fathers." 5 David i Hos. xiii. 14. 2 I SA . xxvi> 19. 3 EZEK. xxxvii. 1-14. 4 DAN. xii. 2. 5 GEN. xv. 15 ; xxv. 8, 17 ; xxxv. 29 ; xlix. 29. DEUT. xxxii. 60. The Targum of Jonathan interprets the expression in a two- fold sense, of the body lying down with his fathers, and the soul 30 Jewish Conceptions of the again finds comfort in the thought that in death he would be reunited to his lost child. 1 But for the vast majority who died, the grave or the region to which they passed was "the lanb of forgeifttl- tte#0," where there is no " knoioleJijje nor toisfoom," Character- f or a u things %u foxQottm." Job 2 could regard ised by gloom and it as the "lattb of foarkne00 anil the 0haboto of sadness. Jbeath." To the Psalmist 3 it was a place where the voice of praise and thanksgiving was for ever hushed ; to Hezekiah 4 it was a pit of despair, where they that go down " cannot hope for ^hp truth." To others, 6 again, it was a yawning gulf, or an insatiable monster of remorseless cruelty and all- devouring rapacity. Then there is another dreary aspect in which the Jews regarded the state after death; according to the earlier belief, the region into which the disembodied soul passed was the same for all ; there was no dis- tinction between the just and the unjust ; all alike went to one place ; it was " a lanb of barkne0s . . . toithottt ang xrrfcer, arib tohere the light i0 a0 bark- being laid up in the treasury of life with his fathers : but in some cases, e.g., in Abraham's and Moses', the body was not buried in the sepulchre of their fathers, i 2 SAM. xii. 23. 2 JOB x. 22. s Ps. vi. 5. 4 ISA. xxxviii. 18. 5 PBOV. i 12 ; xxx. 16. SONG OP SOLOMON vhi. 6. ISA. v. 14. State after Death. 31 nt80." l Even when man's conscience asserted itself and protested against the possibility of an equal lot for good and bad beyond the grave, Sheol was still only a loss and deprivation compared with the happiness of their earthly life. Once and again, it is true, the candle of the Lord seemed for a moment to illuminate the darkness of their condition, for we hear David rejoicing in the con- viction that God would not abandon his soul to Hades for ever, nor suffer the saints whom He loved " to 0e," that is, perhaps, in Jewish phraseology, to abide in " rormptitfn." 2 After the Captivity the conception of the Inter- The dawn mediate State underwent an important change. Amid hopesr the troubles of their earthly lot the minds of men became more fixed on the future, and greater pro- minence was given to the idea of a judgment to come; and in proportion as the certainty of this was realised their thoughts of Hades took more definite shape. They felt that it could not possibly 1 JOB x. 22. 2 Cf. ideiv TT)V fwV not only to live, but to continue to live. It might have been said of Our Lord's Body that the process of disintegration did not even commence, but not of David's, though the Jews had or invented a tradition that it was preserved from de- cay. " Corruption" is, according to LXX., dia0opbv : a commoner meaning of the Hebrew word is "the pit," but then the prediction was not fulfilled in either case, for both David and our Blessed Lord, were buried. Jewish Conceptions of the be a promiscuous place of assembly for all who died ; if the time of probation closed with death, the result of it could not henceforth be ignored, though the final award might be still delayed. Hence arose the belief in an anticipatory separation of the good and bad, and the division of Hades into two localities, the higher and the lower. As time went on numer- ous subdivisions were created. If in the future heaven there were to be " many mansions," so it might be also in the Intermediate State. Indications of such a plurality of places were found in the language of the Old Testament ; at least it was so interpreted to meet the later views. For instance, in Isaiah : l " ^hg beab men shall libe, together, toith mg beab bobs 0hall thes ari0e. Jltoake anb 0ino,, jje that btoell in the bu0t : for thg beto i0 a0 the beto of herbs, anb the earth shall rast out the beab. Come, mg people, enter thxm into thg rhambers, anb 0hnt thji brrxrrs about thee: hibe thg0elf, a0 it toere, for a little moment, until the inbignaiion be otoerpa0t." The Jews of our Lord's time 2 understood the former part as referring to the final resurrection, and mystically interpreted the "chambers" as signifying the different receptacles of the souls of the righteous, where they awaited i xxvi. 19, 20. 2 cf. BULL'S Works, vol. i. p. 64. State after Death. 33 the day of judgment. So also in the Apocryphal Book of Esdras l we meet with the same expression, where the souls of the righteous, almost echoing the cry of the souls which S. John saw " ttttfor the altar," are represented " in their chambers " as ask- ing, " How long shall I hope on this fashion ? When cometh the fruit of the floor of our reward ? And unto these things Uriel, the Archangel, gave them answer and said, Even when the number of seeds is filled in you." The souls of men are no longer mingled as on earth, but each one goes to his own chamber or appropriate state. Then we meet in Eabbinical writings and else- where, with a variety of names for the separate localities, and to each, in a greater or less degree, there seems to have been assigned some special and befitting significance. At times it appears that they were considered, as we have said, to indicate differ- ent localities, but the truer conception is that they 1 2 ESDR. iv. 35, 36. In the lately recovered portion of this Book there is a very sharp antithesis drawn between the state of the faithful and unfaithful in the Intermediate State : " Those who have despised and not kept the way of the Most High" will be in a condition of ceaseless pain and sorrow ; but those who have observed His laws " will be kept in rest" till He shall renew the Creation. This last portion is referred to by some of the early Fathers. A MS. of it of the ninth century was discovered by Mr. Bensly, Fellow of Caius College, Cambridge, not long ago at Amiens, C 34 Jewish Conceptions of the Different were designed to express different states or conditions conditions expressed of happiness or misery. by different titles. On the one side, 1 we read of Paradise or the Garden of Eden, of Abraham's bosom, of souls under the Altar or under the Throne of Glory. On the other side, of Hades 2 or sometimes Gehenna. 3 Before any distinction was made between the receptacles of the good and the bad, the general The term for the Intermediate State was Sheol. 4 Its zi c brew Sheol. etymology implies simply that it was a hollow or low-lying place, the vault beneath, as the firmament was the vault above, hence the Latin equivalent for it is either inferi or inferna. It is used also in the more limited sense of the grave or pit, in which the body was laid. It is worthy of note that it was not employed by the Jews, after they conceived of 1 Cf. WETSTEIN and SCHOTTGEN, Heb. HOT. in IMC. xxiii. 2 Thus, the rich man lifted up his eyes "in Hades." S. LUKE xvi. 23. Often called "the depth of Hades," to indicate that all Hades was not the place of the wicked. 3 More generally regarded as the final place of torment : the scene of the " lake of fire." There is no good authority for Rabbi Kimchi's assertion that the figure of the undying worm was sug- gested from its being the place of refuse for the city. It was the scene of the cruel worship of the fire-gods. 4 Sheol occurs in the Hebrew Scriptures 65 times. In the Auth. Version it is rendered Hell, or grave, each 31 times, pit 3 times. In the R. V. it is treated as a proper name, and left untranslated 30 times ; it is translated Hell and grave, each 15 times, and pit 5 times. In the LXX., it is nearly always rendered "ASi;y. State after Death. 35 separation after death, to represent the abode of those who were in a state of happiness. It was invariably restricted to be the expression of their gloomiest belief. Its natural rendering in the English language is Its equiva- hell, which carries with it no necessary idea of English, torment or suffering; it is simply a hole that is covered over, from hellen, to cover or roof in, 1 but in modern phraseology we have taken it out of its original sphere of use, and relegated it to be the abode of lost souls, adopting the term Hades, or the unseen region, to express generally the whole spirit- world; though even here it is more commonly limited, in Christian terminology, to that part where the souls of the faithful " are in joy and felicity." We next consider the appropriate ideas of the special designations. 1 Hence, "one that covers a house with tiles or slates is called a hellier," cf. USHER'S Ans. to a Jesuit, p. 219. This use of the word is still retained in the West of England. CHAPTER IV. 2Diffet#nt ConluttonjS different "HEN the Jews conceived of the souls of the righteous as being in joy and happiness, it was not unnatural that they should designate the place in which they supposed them to abide, the Garden of Eden or Paradise. They had no higher conception of enjoyment than that which was associated with the times of man's innocence, and The Garden with the garden which the LORD had planted for Paradise? 1 his dwelling-place with His Own hand ; and though he had been excluded from it for his disobedience, there were promises handed down through the history of the nation which seemed to point to his restoration to it. In Hebrew it was the Garden of Eden, that is, the garden of delight or pleasure; but when the Alexandrine Jews made their translation of the Scriptures, finding no exact equivalent in the Greek Conditions expressed by Designations. 37 tongue, they used an expressive word of Persian origin, Paradise, 1 Henceforward, both titles were used promiscuously for the waiting-place of the righteous. In the Talmud we read that the unseen world " is called Paradise under the signification of the Garden of Eden, which is reserved for the just." 2 The Chaldee Paraphrast 3 of the Song of Songs asserts that no man is capable of admission therein but the just, whose souls are carried thither by the hands of the angels. Those who were privileged after death to see God, and ascend into the hill of the LORD, were divided into seven classes or degrees, to each one of which the Jews said "there was allotted a proper place in the Garden of Eden." * The Midrash of the Psalms interprets " the tree planted by the water side" of "Abraham whom God took and planted in the Garden of Eden, or Paradise." It was said of the next most highly esteemed of the Patriarchs, "our master Moses departed into the Garden of Eden." 5 From these quotations we see that the titles were 1 In LXX., 6 7ra/>ct5e?oul in a >tate of IT might seem to be quite unnecessary to argue at any length in favour of the belief that the soul continues in a conscious condition 1 during the interval between death and judgment, but the history of the past, as well as present experience, forbids us to assume anything like its general acceptance. Early testi- Very little was said upon the subject in the the soul's primitive Church. Tertullian, 2 in treating at length ness after" on the nature of the soul, felt impelled to vindicate iatL its consciousness after death. " What," he asks, "is to take place in the interval between death and judgment? Shall we sleep? Why, souls do not sleep, even when men are alive : it is the province of bodies to sleep." With one or two other notices of little importance the matter was not dealt with, as far as we know, by the early Fathers. 1 This subject has been touched upon in After Death in chap. iii., but it is thought necessary to enter upon it more fully here. 2 De Anima, Iviii De Resur. Carnis, 17. 46 The Disembodied Soul. 47 In the Middle Ages, however, it was so strongly maintained that the soul falls asleep in death and will not awake till the day of the resurrection, that it was brought under discussion in no less than three ' Ecclesiastical Councils. 1 Opinions differed widely as to ths nature and extent of unconsciousness. The Divers extreme form which the heresy took was that of the the sleep of Anabaptists, against whom Calvin wrote his Psycho- pannychia? in which he combated the belief that the soul lay throughout the Intermediate State in a condition of utter darkness and oblivion. The " soul-sleepers " 3 maintained that the destruction of the bodily organs reduced the soul to a state of powerlessness ; and this was very much the idea of the Socinians and Arminians, 4 who limited them- selves to denying all external activity of the soul in its separate life. The most moderate form of it was that accepted by Luther, 5 who not only maintained that there must have been numerous exceptions, such as, Elias, Moses, Abraham, Lazarus, those who had perished in the fires of Sodom, of whom S. Jude 1 Ferrara, Florence, and Trent. 2 This was published in 1534 A.D. The heresy was revived in the next century by the publication of MACE'S Mortality. Cf. PAGITT, Heresiography. 3 Hypnopsychites. 4 Cf. DELITSCH, Bill. Psycholog. vi. iv. In Germany the chief advocate of the soul's sleep was Heyne in Werder. 5 Cf. Letters (Ed. DB WETTE), pt. ii. p. 122. 48 The Disembodied Soul in a spoke as " 0af mug; ilte bwtpance xrf .eternal ft're," and " ito #pirit0 in pri0xm " who listened to Christ's preaching in Hades, but asserted that though souls were asleep, they still might be " capable of hearing the voices of God and the angels." x Now notwithstanding the fact that the theory of the soul's unconsciousness has been condemned as an heretical tenet, whenever the Church has pronounced upon the subject, and despite the assertion of the Reformers that it is at variance with "the right belief declared to us in Holy Scripture," 2 it has been revived in these later days; and the force with which it has been emphasised may be gathered from the following extracts taken from the writings of its chief advocates : 3 " It is a state of darkness, forget- fulness, unconsciousness." " The next act in the history of the believer, after he has closed his eyes in death, is opening them in resurrection to receive the reward of victory. All between is a blank." 1 Distinguishing it from a natural sleep he writes, non sic dormit sed vigilat et patitur visiones, loquelas Angelornm et Dei. Enarr. in Qen. xv. DELITSCH, vi. iv. 2 " They which say that the souls of such as depart hence do sleep, being without all sense, feeling or perceiving, until the day of judg- ment, or affirm that the souls die with the bodies, and at the last day shall be raised up with the same, do utterly dissent from the right be- lief declared to us in Holy Scripture." 40th of the 42 Articles of 1553. 8 CONSTABLE, Hades. COUBTENET, Future State, 252. POL- LOCK, Out of the Body, 108, gives numerous quotations. Stale of Consciousness. 49 It is true that the letter of Holy Scripture lends The Ian- abundant testimony to the idea : Daniel foretells Holy that at the Resurrection, " mang at them that sleep figurative. in the tet at the earth shall atoake " ; 1 and in the New Testament this language is repeated fre- quently. Beneath the storm of violence by which the Sanhedrists assailed him, the first martyr S. Stephen " fell asleep." 2 Of the five hundred brethren or more, who had seen the Eisen Lord, S. Paul told the Corinthians that some were " fallen asleep." 3 Our Blessed Lord Himself was described by the same Apostle as " the # rstfrttits of them that slept" 4 It has been said, 5 moreover, that it is because the souls of men will be bound in a deep sleep and have need to be awaked, that the Lord Himself will " fcesrenb from heatoen frith a shout, frith the bxri.ce at the Jtrxhangel aitb frith the trump- xrf (iob." 6 We have adopted the Scriptural phraseology into our common conversation and often speak of the dying as " falling asleep," and we call our burying- grounds " cemeteries," sleeping-places, that is, where i DAN. xii. 2. 2 ACTS vii. 60. a 1 COB. xv. 6. 4 1 COR. xv. 20. 5 This, however, is only a popular fancy, for generally the trumpet-call in Scripture is used to give an alarm or to call an assembly, rarely, if ever, to arouse from sleep. Cf. JEREM. iv. 5 ; JOEL ii. 1, 15. 6 1 THESS. iv. 16. 5tate. THE retention of consciousness in the Intermedi- ate State carries with it of necessity the full possession of all other faculties of the mind, for though in this life they are exercised through the medium of bodily organs, they are so far from being dependent upon these, that there is good reason to believe that they will be largely developed when freed from their restraining influence. The reten- Let us take memory and knowledge by way of tion of memory, illustration; and first, memory. There is a strong a priori argument in favour of the exercise of this hereafter, because it appears to be absolutely indis- pensable for the preservation of our personal iden- tity. It is that which connects by an indissoluble chain the past and the present, the new life and the old. Memory was the first of the faculties appealed to by Abraham in his reply to the rich man in the Mental and Intellectual Development. 5 5 parable, " <0tt, rsnrnttb.er"; 1 we have it then on the authority of our Lord that it is possible in the state after death to recall what has taken place before it. Again, we have only to realise what it is that creates forgetfulness, to understand how in the spiritual world the power of memory must become intensified. On the one hand the physical organs, How for- by which we think and reflect while we are in the is created. body, are imperfect; they are liable to fail us through disease or some other of the countless in- firmities to which flesh is heir ; so that the grasp of the mind is weakened and lets things go. On the other hand memory is placed at a disad- vantage by the manifold distractions and absorbing interests, which are the inevitable accompaniments of the life that is passed in this present sphere. We may gather something of the distracting influence of the material world upon the thinking principle by noticing how vastly it becomes strengthened, as soon as it is withdrawn from it. When we are shut out from the world, as the saying is, we find the mind becomes absorbed and wrapt up, as it were, in itself; it loses consciousness of what is passing around, and dwells more and more upon the past 1 S. LUKE xvi. 25. 56 Mental and Intellectual and the future. So it is, when a man is laid upon a bed of sickness, and loses his interest in the ordi- nary pleasures of life and its common diversions. Most of us can remember, no doubt, with what vivid clearness the past came back to us, when so cir- cumstanced, so that we seemed, as it were, to be living it all over again. Instances We have read of the prisoner, long immured of marvel- lously in a solitary cell, shut in by bar and bolt from memories, the outer world, losing all interest in the pre- sent, while the past becomes an intense reality to him. He goes over and over the days that are passed, remembers and recalls from the wastes of oblivion the long-forgotten scenes of childhood or youth, till he almost wonders at the strength of his memory. We have heard, too, of the drowning man, saved in the supreme moment, when all hope seemed to have fled, as the spirit was on the point of emanci- pation from the burden of the flesh ; we have heard of such an one telling how the scroll of his whole life was suddenly unfolded before him, and every- thing came back with an awful distinctness and with inconceivable rapidity. We have heard too how at the same time each act as it appeared before him has seemed to carry with it a consciousness whether Development in the Spiritual State* 57 it were right or whether it were wrong ; the review and the verdict almost simultaneous. It often creates perplexing thoughts, and even staggers our faith, when we try to realise how it will all be when on the great day of judgment the Books will be opened, and we shall be able, as Scripture x leads us to expect, to give an account for ourselves of all that we did amiss in our earthly life. Here is at least a partial solution of the diffi- culty. Such a marvellous review of the past as the prisoner or the drowning man has taken, is a fore- taste of that wonderfully quickened and intensified power of memory, which will make the last Assize a possibility, and enable men, who in this life cannot remember the acts even of a single day, to recall the deeds done in the body, yea, every idle word and unholy thought of three-score years and ten, and that, it may be, countless centuries after their earthly life has closed. Then look at knowledge. As one of God's greatest gifts, it is natural to expect that it will be perfected with the rest of man's being. Knowledge is the apprehension of the truth in its manifold- The in- ness, and all its unsearchable treasures are laid up in knowledge, the Being of Him Who declared Himself to be the i S. MATT. xii. 36. ROM. xiv. 12. D* 58 Mental and Intellectual impersonation of truth. In the interval, then, of absorbing contemplation, when the soul will live in the light of Jesus Christ, in Whose light " toe 0ItaU 0ee light," and drink in knowledge at His lips, from Whom nothing is hidden, there must be an ever- growing development and a more and more com- plete apprehension, because all that could " let or hinder " it will have been taken away, and the cor- ruptible body will be no longer able, as the Book of PFisdom says, to " weigh down the mind that museth on many things." 1 The evi- There is a striking testimony in the Talmud 2 to TaLmud f . tke the expectation of an ever-increasing knowledge after death, in commenting on the saying of the Psalmist, " theg go from gtrettijth to strength." These are the words : " Wise men reach forward without rest both in this world and in the world to come." Indeed, the saying was considered almost proverbial among the Jews. Irenaeus 8 echoes it when he says, " some things we can explain by the favour of God, but some will be reserved for God Himself, not only in the present world but also in that which * ix. 15. 2 b. Berakhoth, 64, a. MoSd Katan. 29, a, 8 #cia (jv iirMofiev Kari "X. 6eov, via 5 dvaKelfferat T tv ry aluvi ry vwl dXXct Kal v ry fJ,^\\ovTt, iVa del fv b Oebs SiddffKy, AvOpwiros 6 5td iravrbs eeov.Adv. Hcer. ii. xxviii. 3. Development in the Spiritual State. 59 is to come, that God may be always teaching us, and that man may be for ever learning at God's mouth." S. Paul has given us a glimpse of what will be S. Paul's possible hereafter out of his own experience. It was when admitted into the world of spiritual exist- ences that he says that he "hearb nrapeakable to.orb0 tohich it i0 not p,cr00ible (marg. A.V.) for a matt ttf utter." 1 What reached his ear transcended all earthly knowledge and finite comprehension. Again, in another passage he prepares us for a vast amplification of mental powers by drawing a contrast between the two states : " ntfto toe szt through a jjla00 barkl^, bttt then fate tcr face." The dimness of our present vision is emphasised in the original language 2 by the use of a double figure, which is obscured, if not lost, in the translation. Under the one figure he shows that here we can see things as though they were reflected in those dim metallic mirrors which the ancients used, where the likeness was always blurred and distorted. Under the other he intimates that we cannot now discern things at once, because they are put before us like an unsolved senigma, needing time and labour to unravel and interpret. But hereafter these draw- 1 2 COB. xii. 4. 2 1 COB. xiii. 12,^wo/JLfv yap &pri Si' cffbrrpov tv alvlyfMTi. 60 Mental and Intellectual backs and impediments will be removed ; there will no longer be anything either to obscure or mystify, but the unveiled brightness of the eternal truth will meet us " f ace io fare." Then he adds still further in illustration of the difference, " ncto 3E knxrto in part ; but then shall 3E knob) -etoeit a0 ai0# 3 am hnoton " ; x now, the clouds of ignorance break only here and there, and none but a few favoured ones are permitted to see the sunlit spots of the unattainable truth, but then every cloud will be swept away, and we shall gaze into the very depths of Wisdom, and look her through and through, even as the all-seeing eye of God has searched in life into every corner of our innermost being. We are not justified in asserting, with the same confidence, that this development will extend to an Uncer- increased acquaintance with the mysteries of science touching and other branches of knowledge and philosophy anceof which engage the highest intellects in this life, knowledge or that men of the greatest genius may find further hereafter. scope for the exercise of their peculiar gifts, and be able to illustrate much that was dark before, and disentangle perplexities which baffled their earthly 1 rdre 8t tiriyi>6(rofi.ai icad&s Kal tireyv&ffOrjv, then shall I know fully as also I have been known fully, i.e. with the perfect know- ledge of God, Development in the Spiritual State. 61 endeavours. There is certainly some degree of probability that it will be so ; for if we allow that the pursuit of such knowledge is inspired by God, it is most difficult to believe that it can only serve a brief and transient purpose, or to doubt that what He has given us to occupy so much of our time and thought in this sphere of probation and preparatory training, must have an eternal interest. Of course, it may be said that S. Paul, in speaking of this consummation of knowledge, travelled beyond the Intermediate State, and was contemplating his condition in the risen and glorified life. But even if this be so, there is nothing to lead to the conclu- sion that he expected such a wonderful increase of his intellectual faculties to be caused by a sudden instantaneous revelation. He understood well the general principles upon which God chooses to ac- complish His work, and must have realised that it would be more in accordance with these that it shouM be the result of gradual and progressive development through the period of waiting and un- disturbed contemplation in the disembodied state. CHAPTER VII. dj* purification of t$e TT seems almost impossible to form any other con- -* elusion than that the souls of the departed pass through some purifying process between death and judgment. By far the majority of those who die The need of are imperfect; they are not deserving of hell, but, purification after death, at the same time, are quite unfit for heaven. Our Lord Himself asserted that the Beatific Vision is reserved for those alone who are pure in heart. 1 Again, it was declared as one of the characteristics of the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, which S. John saw in vision, that there should " in no toisz .enter into it anything that fceftUih," or anything that is unclean. 2 In heaven the saints will enjoy The Divine the direct unhindered sight of God the Father in Paradise the fulness of His glory ; this, the highest blessed- different . , - . . . ... , from the ness, is reserved for the risen and glorified state, wnen ^ey will enter into the joy of their Lord, when they will see God " a0 H)& is," 3 as the angels i S. Matt. v. 8. 8 oil fjLi) elv, KEY. ixi. 27. 1 S. JOHN iii. 2. 62 The Purification of the Soul. 63 behold His face. 1 It is necessary thus to distinguish clearly what is meant by the Beatific Vision, which is reserved for the final state, whereas it is again and again implied that the souls of the righteous realise the Divine Presence in Paradise. The Vision of God, which has been vouchsafed to men, and to which S. Paul looked when he spoke of departing and being " toith th* Horfc," was that of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity; the First Person dwells, and will dwell, " in the light tohich nxr man can approach ttnt0,lthcrm no man hath 0ten nor can 0e," 2 until the full manifestation of His glory at the last great day. It follows from this that every one who dies with the blemishes and stains of a sinful nature uneffaced, even though he may have received pardon and for- giveness, will obviously require spiritual cleansing and purification. It has been authoritatively pro- nounced to be the indispensable qualification for admission to the Vision of God. 1 S. MATT, xviii. 10. 2 1 TIM. vi. 16. The Roman Church resisted the teaching of the Greek Bishops, who maintained, at the Council of Florence, A.D. 1439, that the Beatific Vision has not yet been vouchsafed to any of the saints. This belief has been stereotyped by the decree on the Invocation of Saints at the Council of Trent, Sess. xxv., but Patristic testimony, with the rarest exceptions, is adverse to the Roman view : cf. After Death, pp. 219-227. 64 The Purification of the Soul. How, then, and where, is the defiling touch of sin to be removed, and its disfigurement wholly wiped out 1 The common belief is, that at death the soul which dies in a state of grace is freed at once and for ever from all the impurity and sinfulness which clung to it in the flesh, and that it is so completely cleansed, that it may forthwith, if need be, enter upon the Vision of Him Who is "0 pttter ege0 The sup- than tcr bdtalb iniquity." But such a theory position that the invests a mere physical process with that sanctifying purified in influence which can only be exercised through the death " operation of the will. It cannot be objected that it is pardoning grace, not the act of dying, which effects sanctification, because the experience of life contradicts it. How few penitents there are whose conscience tells them that, simultaneously with a sense of remitted guilt, they have obtained deliverance also from the power of sin ! It is the common heritage of most men to have still to bear, though it may be in ever-decreas- ing force, the burden of sinful tendencies; to be found all their after-life struggling against the old temptations. We dare not, it is true, limit Purification the power of omnipotence to " fulfil a long time process. , i n a short time," 1 and to efface at once the results i WISD. iv. 13. - The Purification of the Soul. 65 of a whole life ; but general observation shows that stains which have been gradually contracted are for the most part gradually removed ; and reason sug- gests that man's cleansing after death will bear at least some relationship to his cleansing in this life. 1 Now, there is abundant evidence to be drawn alike from Scripture and Patristic writings touching some ordeal of purification through which all men are destined to pass, before they can be admitted to the Presence of God, In the Gospels it is said that "eterg xmjc 0Iwll b.e smlteb toith fir*"; 2 it is indorsed in the Epistles, " tltt fir* 0halt trg .etarj) man's toxork ot tohat 00rt it 10." 3 Neither was this the first intimation of such a purification, for A fiery the prophets had predicted it. Isaiah 4 spoke of a told In r ' " 0ptrit 0f banting " for the purgation of Jerusalem, Scn P ture - and the washing away of the filth of the daughter of Zion, in preparation for the coming of the LORD. Malachi 5 had presented the same thought under the figure of a refiner presiding over his furnace and watching the process, as the heat of the flame separated the alloy, and restored to man the re- flexion of the image in which he was created. 1 It might be nrged that the idea of sudden or instantaneous cleansing, when carried to its logical result, destroys free-will : for to be cleansed is to have the will conformed to the will of God. S. MARK ix. 49. 3 i COR. iii. 13. Mv. A, s iii. 3. 66 The Purification of the Soul. In most of these passages it will be seen that there is a generally accepted reference to the day of judgment, and in consequence, we find that the Spoken of early Fathers taught almost by common consent, Fathers, that the revelation of that day would be in fire, and that none would be exempted from the severity of its test. Clement of Alexandria, 1 speaking of the purifica- tion of sinful souls, says that it will not be by "all- devouring and common fire," but by that " discrimi- nating fire which will penetrate the soul as it passes through it." Both Origen and S. Ambrose held that, as all the Israelites passed through the Red Sea, so all men would pass through the fire of judgment ; and that as the Egyptians were drowned, while Moses and the Israelites escaped, so at the last day "the ungodly would be plunged into the lake of burning fire, but good men . . . should be able to quench the fierce flames." 2 &Hv d4 f)fj.eis a-yidfeiv rb irvp OJ) rd Kpfa dXXo. rd s d/taprwXoiI'S i"vp v ^b irafj-tpdyov ical pdvavcrov dXXd rb p6i>ifnov \yoi>Tes, rb SuKvotiftevov 5tet fax?)* T^S diepxofJ.vi]S rb irvp. Strom, vii., Bened. ed. 719. 1 Nempe in Rubrum demersus populus est jEgyptiorum, transivit autem populus Hebrseorum ; Moyses pertransivit, praecipitatus est Pharao : eo modo prsecipitabuntur sacrilegi in lacum ignis trdentis . . . sequamur ergo . . . ut in futurum nobis nebula The Purification of the Soul. 67 In another place we read there would be no exemption, but all would have to submit to the fiery trial "whether he be John the Evangelist, whom the Lord so loved as to say to Peter con- cerning him '3Ef I toill that he tarrg tohat i0 that t0 the* ? JfllJUrto thmt Jfa.' " Some, he implies, have doubted of his death ; there can be no doubt of his passage through the fire. He asserted the same again of S. John's fellow- Apostle, "or whether he be Peter, he who received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, who walked upon the sea, must still say, ' $Et.e pa00e!b thrxriujh # r* attb toatsr, attb ^hxro br.oncjht,e0t W5 out inter a Lactantius 2 expected that even the just would be tried by fire, but though it would scorch the sinful, the pure would come off with impunity. S. Hilary 3 said that the Baptism of the Holy Ghost must be " consummated by the fire of judg- ment " ; and he looked with awe and dread upon refrigeret noctis, quo sceva incendia relevare possiimis. OKIGEN in Psalm xxvi., Horn, iii., and S. AMB., in Ps. xxxvi. 26. 1 Omnes oportet per ignem probari, . . . omnes oportet transire per flammas, sive ille Johannes . . . de morte ejus aliqui dubitaverunt, de transitu per ignem dubitare non possimus. In Psalm cxviii. 12. 2 Div. Inst. vii. 21. 8 Quia baptizatis in Spiritu Sancto reliqmtm sit consummari igne judicii. Com, in Matt. Can. ii. 68 The Purification of the Soul. that day when, in giving account for every idle word, men "must undergo the unspent fire and those grievous penalties for freeing the soul from its sins." S. Gregory Nazianzen, 1 after dwelling upon divers kinds of baptism, predicts that the last baptism, that of fire, " will be more severe, and of longer duration, which will consume the material part like hay, and destroy the light substance of every kind of sin." Lastly, S. Augustine, 2 though his opinions on the subject of Purgatory were never fully formed and decided, nevertheless interpreted the expression being " saved so as by fire " of that which would be kindled on the day of judgment. These passages, as well as others 3 which might be quoted if necessary, point to a very general belief, in the earliest ages of Christianity, in the existence of a cleansing ordeal for all men. They enforce the great principle laid down in Scripture, that no soul can be fitted for the Presence of God till its defile- 1 T Te'Xevra.ltj} pa.iTTlffii.aTi T &\r)v, Kal dairdvg. Trdt>Tr}Ta. Oral, xxxix. ad fin. 2 De utroque igne . . . non solum de illo seterno qui in seternum cruciaturus est impios, sed etiam de illo emendabit eos qui per ignem salvi erunt. In Psalm xxxvii. 3. 8 S. HIERON. ad Jov. ii. n. 22. S. GREGORY NTSS., Oral, de Mortuis, iii. p. 634. Paris ed. 1638. The Purification of the Soul. 69 merits have been effaced by a process of purifica- tion. The conscience of man bears witness to the same necessity. If we were to ask the most saintly char- acter we know, what he feels touching his need of cleansing, he would reply at once that even after a life-long struggle to shake off his impurities, and with The wit- ness of the all his unwavering confidence in the pardoning mercy conscience of God, and the sanctifying influence of the Holy of purifica- Ghost, he is still sure that, when death approaches, he will be filled with a sense of utter unfitness for God's Presence. Till our spiritual eyesight has been purged from all the corrupting films of earthly desire, and trained in a clearer atmosphere, we can never stand the light which " n0 man ran approach ttnttf " : we can never bear the Presence of Him Who is " of pttrer ZQZS than to behxrlb iniquity." The primitive Fathers kept their eyes fixed on the day of judgment as the time when this purification would be effected, but it is in perfect harmony with Catholic truth to teach that it is a prolonged pro- The fire of cess, continuing, it may be, throughout the Inter- i^neces- mediate State till its final consummation at the end Jgjjf of of the world. If we could remove the many sub- duration - ordinate evils, which have made the Eoman doctrine of Purgatory a byeword, and leave only the dominant 70 The Purification of the Soul. idea, which underlies it, of a progressive cleansing commencing immediately after death and lasting on till the work is complete, a great end would be gained. There is everything to lead us to expect such a thorough sifting for the soul in its disembodied state. In this present world of sense man is neces- sarily in a kingdom of externals, which make it easy for him to escape from self-knowledge, by reason of the distracting influences, the noise and tumult of the world around him ; but at death he enters upon a condition of a totally different kind. The veil which is now spread over the stern realities of life will be violently torn aside, and he will find himself in a kingdom of pure realities. "The soul will enter into its own inmost recesses, and resort to that which is the very foundation of life, the true sub- stratum and source of all existence ; hence arises the purgatorial nature " 1 of the Intermediate State. How far it One of the chief points in the Roman theory which physical calls for correction touches the physical pains which are supposed to be endured in the course of purifica- tion. " The sloughing off of the imperfection in- grown as it were with the soul; the straining of 1 Der Mittelzustand im Todtenreich. MARTENSEN'S Christ. Dogm., 276. The Purification of the SoiiL 71 the soul to become free from all earthliness in her ; the longing for the Vision of God, from which the unbefittingness, yet cleaving to her, still excludes her; her struggle towards the full death of the evil in her, and towards the full life of the good in her ; this upstirring of her deepest and inmost self implies fire, fiery pain enough " ; x but Borne teaches that the agonies of Purgatory are intolerable, and are so terrible and agonising that they differ only from the pains of the damned in the fact that there is an appointed limit to the one, not to the other. 2 When the soul is " toith hri0t," with Him, that is, "Who is altogether lovely" ; and when, with those quickened powers which the spirit acquires by emancipation from the flesh, it reviews its earthly life, in the awful contrast which it will reveal be- tween Christ's absolute purity and sinlessness, His perfect holiness and entire self-surrender and sacri- fice, and its own uncleanness and rebellion and selfish indulgence, it cannot do otherwise than suffer in the The suffer- retrospect, but the suffering must be of a spiritual spiritual character. 1 KLEE, Dogmatik, ii. 429-430. 2 "In nothing different from these very infernal pains which the souls of castaways, together with damned spirits, do endure, saving only in this, there is an appointed limit to the one, to the other none ; but for the time they last they are equal." HOOKER, Serm. on Pride, iii. ad fin, PUSET, The Truth and Office of the English Church, p. 190. 72 The Purification of the Soul. kind, such, for instance, as the penitent experiences in the consciousness of past sin, though he may have no doubt that it has been pardoned. It is, then, the spiritual character of our future purification which needs to be emphasised ; and the enforcement of this will tend to remove that prejudice which Eoman perversions have so largely created, and give us back an important element of Catholic truth con- cerning the state of the soul after death. It was a Lutheran divine of the greatest eminence who defied the narrow-mindedness of his sect and boldly taught that " in a purely spiritual sense there must be a Purgatory determined for the cleansing of the soul in the Intermediate State." x Purifica- Then, as coincident with this purification and develops removal of the alloy of sin, there is a gradual de- velopment of the character of perfect holiness till of holiness. the q ua iifi ca ti on for the Beatific Vision is attained, and simultaneously with this those habits will be formed, and that appreciation of all that is lovely and noble and true be infused into the soul, which will make heaven hereafter a scene of unmingled happiness. It is distinctly revealed concerning the souls "ttn&*r the altar" that "tohit* uobzs torn 1 "Die Wahrheit dass der Mittelzustand in rein geistigen Sinne ein Purgatorium sein muss, bestimmt zur Lauterung der Seele." MARTBNSEN, ibid. The Purification of the Soul. 73 ttttta tbsrg ts\\z xrf them " 1 while they were waiting, and this cannot but symbolise the imparting of greater holiness than they possessed before. It is a recognised law that we grow like those we love; the more therefore we learn to love Christ, the closer the resemblance will become between us, and it is inevitable that we shall love Him when we shall see Him in His real character, not as it too often appears in this life, marred and distorted by sinful misrepresentations and perverted fancies. The analogy of all God's works, exhibiting in every part of creation the principle of gradual growth and development, points to such a result. One of the T^ test j. earliest of the Fathers expressed his belief that it 2 u s f is the ordinance of God that those who are saved should in the future state advance step by step to their perfect beatitude. 2 And herein he did but echo the teaching of the Holy Ghost, Who inspired S. Paul to cheer both his Corinthian and Philippian Of S. Paul. converts 3 with the assurance that He Who had begun a good work in their hearts would carry it on stage by stage till it arrived at perfect maturity, and they 1 REV. vi. 11. 2 Hanc esse ordinationem et dispositionem eorum qui salvantur, dicunt presbyter! Apostolorum discipuli et per hujusrnodi gradus proficere et per spiritum quidem ad Filium, per f ilium autem ascendere ad Patrem. Iren. adv. Ilcer. v. xxxvi. 2. s 1 COB. i. 7, 8 ; PHIL. i. 6. 74 The Purification of the Soul. should be found blameless and without reproach, not in the hour of death, but at the appearance of the Lord Jesus at the end of the world. It is thus that the souls of the righteous will go " fr0m strength to 0trenijth," till on the day of the Eesurrection " etoerg ant at them in Bicrn appeareth before d>. and to foe relief of those pains avail the prayers of the faith- ful, the sacrifices of masses, supplications, alms, and other offices of piety ; the souls of those who die after baptism and without actual sin, and those which after contracting the stain of sin have been cleansed either in their bodies or after they have left them, are then received into heaven and have the vision of the Precious God, one more perfectly than another according to the diversity of their merits ; while the souls of others who die in mortal sin or even in original sin only (i.e. the unbaptized) descend into hell, to be punished with unequal punishment." l It was hoped that this decision would be accepted by the universal Church, but though it was signed 1 RICHARD. Anal. Concil. iv. p. 671, quoted by Dean Plumptre in The Spirits in Prison, p. 300. the Latin Church. 83 by the Eastern Bishops, eighteen l in number, who were present, their action was repudiated on their return to Constantinople by those whom they had been commissioned to represent. This reversal of their judgment has been generally 2 supposed to have referred to the entire doctrine there denned ; and the Greek and Latin Churches are often said Wherein to be wholly at variance touching the Intermediate and Latin State ; but such is by no means the case. The agree . Orthodox Eastern Churches teach that though for the most part the souls of the faithful are at rest and in peace, yet that some among those who are "hardly saved" undergo punishment before they are fully pardoned and purified from sin ; and they agree with the Westerns in the belief that such souls are helped by the prayers of the living and the oblations of the Altar. 3 On one point, however, these two branches of the Church are and have always been at direct issue, viz., the theory of Indulgences. The Greek Church main- 1 Sixty-two Latin Bishops signed it. 2 Cf. HAROLD BROWNE, Artt. pp. 501, 502. s Cf. GEORGE WILLIAMS, The Orthodox and Nonjwrors, 47, 48. MACARIUS, Theologie Dogm. ii. 726. The Greeks shrink from using the word Purgatory, but the Confession of Dositheus and the Orthodox Catechism both teach what the Latins do concerning it. Cf. KIMMEL'S MonumentaFideiEccl. Orient, ii. 463. SCHAFF'S Creeds of Christendom, ii. 342-8, 432, 433. 84 The Doctrine of Purgatory in Wherein tains that they may be granted for the abridgment they are at _ .,. . . . ,.. . , , variance. *>f penalties in this life, but under no circumstances admits their efficacy after death. The Roman Church extends their operation to the Intermediate State, and says that they may be granted for the soul which is undergoing purification, and that God is bound to accept the payment and release the soul. 1 The power of relaxing Canonical penalties belongs by right to the Church in the exercise of spiritual discipline : 2 but Home claimed an extension of the power, which is wholly unauthorised. It was first 3 so used, at least on any considerable scale, during the Crusades, when the Church held out promises Indul- of indulgence to those who were ready to take up granted for * ne cross and march against the Saracens; and the dead. faese were declared efficacious as well for the dead as the living. Two bulls issued in A.D. 1118 and 1122 ran as follows: "Since ye have determined to expose both yourselves and what belongs to you to the greatest perils, if any one of you, having accepted penance for your sins, die in the expedi- 1 AMORT, Hist, of Indulgences, Pt. ii. s. v., 2. 8 Cf. Nic. Concil. Can. xii. Ancyra, Can. v. Chalcedon, Can. rvi. 8 Indulgences are commonly said to have been first granted for the dead by Pope John viu. in A.D. 878, but it has been doubted whether they were indulgences in the strict sense of the word. the Latin Church. 85 tion, by the merits of the saints and the prayers of the whole Catholic Church we absolve him from the chain of his sins"; 1 and again, "To those who go to Jerusalem for the defence of the Christians, and to aid in crushing the tyranny of the infidels, we grant the remission of all their sins." 2 It opened the way for mercenary traffic in con- nexion with man's highest spiritual interests ; and it is well known how rapidly the abuses developed till they reached such a height in the hands of Tetzel, that the indignation of Luther was roused, Luther's and in the face of his denunciations Eome admitted her error and prohibited the sale of indulgences for money. The Council of Trent, while upholding the right of the Church to dispense through her minis- try out of the superabundant merits of Christ and the saints for the mitigation of Purgatorial pains, and even anathematising all who should deny the said right, forbade that the treasures of the Church should be made use of for purposes of gain. 3 Such in its main issues is that which is condemned What kind in the twenty-second Article as " the Romish doctrine tory is con- demned by 1 Baronius, A. 1118, xviii. XXH. 2 Issued by Calixtus II. in Concil. Lat. A.D. 1122, Can. xi. 8 Pravos quaestus omnes pro his consequendis, unde plurima in Christiano populo abusuum causa fluxit, omnino abolendos esse. Sess. xxv. 86 Doctrine of Purgatory in Latin Church. concerning Purgatory, pardons," etc. The limitation is very significant; for, as we have shown in the previous chapter, there is a purgatorial doctrine, which has come down from Catholic and primitive antiquity, and may therefore be held with perfect loyalty to fundamental truth. CHAPTER IX. m eac* anti THE beHef that the souls of the faithful enter at death on a condition of peace and blissful security laid complete hold of the early Church. In the Book of Wisdom it had been declared that they " are in the hand of God and there shall no torment touch them." x The inspired author of the Apocalypse had heard a voice from heaven de- claring them " btetb " " tohwh iie in the ^orb, that tlup map ust foam their Iabxmr0." 2 Our faithful soul. Blessed Lord Himself too, when He would sum up in one word the condition of Lazarus, after all the privations and trials of life were over, spoke of him in Abraham's bosom as " cxrmforteb." 8 He knew the sense of deep inward peace that he was experiencing as he realised that his hard lot had been suddenly changed into entire freedom from care and anxiety. When the fact is once grasped that the spirit in Paradise is drawn into full communion with Christ, 1 iii. 1. 2 R E v. xiv. 13. 3 S. LUKE xvi. 25. 87 88 The Soul in Peace and Security. the Head of the Church, that it is " brought back from the periphery of life to the centre," away, that is, from all that disheartening environment which on earth mars so sadly all fellowship with Him Who desires to be our supreme good, it is quite impossible to conceive of its condition being otherwise than perfectly peaceful and happy. In speaking of the relationship of the saints to Christ on earth, even when it is limited by finite restriction, S. Peter was able to write: "toltom hatoittg not 0ten ge lobz ; in tohxrm, though ttcrto ge 0tc Dim not, get Mining, ge rejoice toith joy. unspeakable anb full xrf QJUrrp"; 1 what then must be the blessedness of those who are set free from such limitations, and whose faith is merged in sight ! The chief This then is the primary cause of that peace causes of the soul's which reigns in Paradise, and the sense of security Union with it necessarily inspires breathes forth in the intense longing of the Apostle 2 to be " at home toith the ," in his " fo*0ir.e to bepart " and to be " toith Chrt0t," which he pronounced to be " far better " than the life in the flesh. It was not the confession of a man who was disappointed and out of heart because his lot was a hard one ; it is true he was " in bonds " for Christ's sake and the Gospel's ; but 1 i 1 S. PET. i. 8. 2 PHIL. i. 23. The Soul in Peace and Security. 89 we have only to think of the tremendous privileges which he had enjoyed, and which must have far outweighed his passing discomforts, to be satisfied that he would have pronounced the same verdict even in regard to life at its best. He had received a direct revelation from heaven, and had been set apart as a " chxr0m to,e00el " to bear Christ's Name to the heathen ; he had been vouchsafed a glimpse of the future glories of the redeemed, and yet besides all this, he was entitled to act as Christ's delegate, giving health to the sick, sight to the blind, and even restoring the dead to life. He, if any one, had reason to be satisfied with what he had experienced ; but he knew that there was something infinitely better in store for him even than all this. It was all gathered up in the single conviction of being " .eter toith the ID-ori)," which was to him the con- summation of all possible bliss. Union with Christ was the inspiring motive of his life : he counted all things but loss, yea, he counted them as dung that he might " toin 0 0I10to them"; 2 our answer is that it is rest in far from certain that we have rightly interpreted 'aradise. latter part of the message might as fitly be trans- lated: "their works follow with them." It is so rendered in the Kevised Version. i Plato, Apolog. Socr. c. 32 ; cf. inf. ch. xi. 2 R EV . x i v . the Souls of the Faithful. 103 In the one case the words may imply either that the fruit of earthly labour is often not gathered till those who have toiled to produce it have passed from the scene of their labours ; or that the recol- lection of past labours, the consciousness of what has been done for God brings with it in after time an abiding sense of peace and restful contentment ; and both these meanings correspond to our common experience. In the other case the words involve an interpretation which harmonises with quite another line of thought, viz., that which has been suggested by this chapter. The souls of the righteous rest within the veil, but it is no idle life, for it is a wholly inadequate view of rest to identify it with inactivity. They work, but unlike all earthly labour, the work they do in Paradise is restful and satisfying. Here it matters not how willing the spirit of a man may be, his flesh is always weak, and weakness brings with it a sense of weariness, and at least some measure of disappointment ; but the whole effect upon us is changed when that consciousness of failure, which mars all earthly endeavour, is taken away, and we can feel sure that whatever we do will bear its fruit. Pascal felt the need of work to be so absolutely IO4 The Special Ministries of necessary for perfect happiness, that he did not hesitate to assert that the want of occupation for our moral energies in the future world would turn heaven into hell. Now there is one great reason why we should foster the idea of work in the Intermediate State ; it helps to redeem the future life from the character of selfishness which is usually attached to it in the pictures which men draw. Indeed, so general has the aspect of it come to be that it has been said It redeems that however diverse the roads which men may take life from in their investigations into the possibilities of the oflbeing 86 future state, they come invariably in the end to the selfish same point : " it is a state of gratified and glorified selfishness." It is, .however, an entirely erroneous estimate of those developed powers which we are led to expect hereafter to suppose that the mere possession of them will be the source of happiness. Take a single illustration mental and intellectual knowledge. Wh*ich is it that gives to the man of learning and wisdom his highest sense of satisfac- tion ? is it the conviction that he has within him- self for his own individual enjoyment the greatest of all earthly possessions ? or is it the thought that he is possessed of something which will enable him to the Souls of the Faithful 105 impart to others less favoured than himself that which will brighten and illuminate their lives 1 It is surely the latter; and not only here upon earth, for it is a maxim that reaches beyond the limits of time and space : " it i0 more bh&8tb to %ib& than to uctibK." x It has been said with no little beauty of thought and expression, that students of Divine truth, whose personal training in this world has been spent in pursuing the knowledge of God's words and ways, may well be imagined hereafter as "bending themselves to the task of tutoring the less gifted or less enlightened, perhaps utterly heathen, souls in Divine science; and finding eternally in this a deeper blessedness than the loftiest attainments of man or seraph could ever yield." 2 The more we shall be united with Christ, the more we shall catch of His spirit, and by sharing His unselfish thought and care for others, grow in conformity to the likeness of Him Who expressed the character of His Divine life in the words: "Jtts Jfather totfckeih hith.ert.cr, attb 3E 1 ACTS xx. 35. 2 Contemporary Review, No. xvii. p. 140. The idea of the un- selfishness of the future life is well worked out in the article. 3 S. JOHN v. 17. io6 The Special Ministries. " We know not ; but if life be there The outcome and the crown of this ; What else can make their perfect blis Than in their Master's work to share ? Resting, but not in slumbrous ease, Working, but not in wild unrest, Still ever blessing, ever blest, They see us as the Father sees. " 1 * BUTLEB, Things Old and New, p. 143. CHAPTER XL lEUcognitiott anti Companionship* THE idea of association forms a constituent element in our expectation of future happi- ness. That which separates and disintegrates society is sin ; but when once the souls of men have passed beyond the sphere of its influence, they will find themselves through union with the Lord drawn into closer communion with all the members of His Body, their common love for the Head cementing the ties which bind them together. " JEans," it is said, " shall cam* from the wist j > c } an!b ioest, anb shall sit totam toith Jtbraham anb to be pr6S6rv6cl. Isaac attb Jatcrb, in th^ kingbxmt at taaben." l It would be difficult to represent the existence of the social principle in the future world under a more striking emblem ; and surely if Christ teaches by these words that even strangers from most distant parts will meet hereafter in blest companionship, i S. MATT. viii. 11. io8 Mutual Recognition and the promise contains a still stronger assurance that friendships which have begun on earth will be per- petuated after death. It is subject, however, to one proviso, for they can only survive the shock of death, if they are based upon the eternal principles of truth and holiness. Hence the intense reality of the doctrine of the Communion of Saints. Now what evidence can we produce to support the conviction that personal friendships are Im- perishable that our love to man no less than our love to God is really and more than by any figure of speech, "stronger than death"? It is forthcom- ing in abundance and from every quarter ; indeed the consentient voice and hopes of humanity answer the inquiry by the strongest affirmation. The belief underlies the religion of the heathen nations; it shows itself in the language of the Aconsensus ancient Jews notwithstanding their feeble grasp of of opinion on the the future life ; and it is testified to in the Scrip- tures of the New Dispensation. Let us examine these sources of information severally in order ; and first the heathen testimony. The evi- The profane writings of classical antiquity almost theciassical teem with references to the belief. In one of the oldest poems extant the opinion of the age in which Homer. he lived is vividly depicted. Homer represented Renewed Companionship. 109 the hero of his epic as passing into the invisible world, recognising the shades of the mighty dead, and holding familiar intercourse with departed friends. Ulysses greets with delight the form of his mother, who receives him with a passionate outburst of love and affection. 1 Achilles and Patroclus, 2 the earthly types of inseparable friend- ship, are still undivided in the underworld. Then if we pass on a thousand years we find the same belief still in vogue. In the Latin epic of Virgil, hardly less renown the other world is peopled with spirits which remain constant to their earthly friend- ships, ^neas receives a cordial welcome from his old comrades in the flesh, and there is a scene of touching tenderness, where father and son fall into each other's arms. 3 Again, if we lay the tragedies of the heathen poets under tribute, we find that they embody with no less force the bright hopes of renewed intercourse in the land of spirits. The ill-fated Antigone is nerved to bear a cruel death by the anticipation of minister- ing comfort to her parents who had preceded her to the land of departed spirits : " tomb, bridal chamber, subterranean ever-watchful dwelling, r xi. 84, 151. a Id. xxiv. ^Eneid vi. 655, and 931, etc. 1 10 Mutual Recognition and whether I am going to my relations . . . the last of whom and by far the worst I go down, but I cherish great hopes that when I go I shall be welcome to my father, and dear to thee my mother, and to thee my sister." x But if the thought should arise in the mind that this after all is only the fancy of poetry, we can meet the objection by testimony equally strong from the grave and sober reflections of philosophy. Plato When Socrates is pleading before his judges in the face of impending death, he breaks into a rapture of delight in the thought of holding com- munion with the dead, and though, it is true, he does not name those whom he had known personally in the flesh, he still speaks of them as friends known and read by what they had done or said, " Will it not be unspeakably blessed, when escaped from those who call themselves judges, to appear before those who deserve the title ... or to converse with v, S> KaraffKatpfy otKTjffts &elpovpos, ol Tropetiofiai irpbs TOI)J eftavrfjs . . . &v \owOla. '7 Kal ltd/Clara d% fj.a.icp$ Kdreifu, . . . Kdpr' tv t\ir[ rptipbi war pi, irpoa^iKty dt crol, fiijrep, a.ffKovTUv SiKaffrCov elvai, etiprfffet. TOI)S wj aXrjO&s ducaffT&s . . . $ a5 'Optpei evyyeve'ffBa.i . . . eirl irdotfi &v ris 5arr' &t> {ifj.G)v ; tyfe [iv yd,p iroAAd/cty ^0^Aw re6vdi>ai el ravrd eariv a\T]OT) . , . ots 8ia\yef India. U p w ^k ^ e ^ ea o f reun j on a ft er d ea th. To take the most signal illustration ; what was it that made the Hindu widow devote herself in the very prime of life and beauty to a premature death, but a firm conviction that the funeral pyre of her husband would restore to her all that she had lost, perhaps would give her even more, so that in their reunion they might spend together happier days than they had spent on earth \ This practice of self-destruction for such a purpose is not confined to India, or to modern times : for it is as old as the time of Socrates, and, as he testified, widely adopted. " Are there not," he asks in treat- ing of the immortality of the soul, "numbers, who upon the death of their connexions and children, have chosen of their own accord to enter Hades, induced by the hope of seeing there some of the i de Senectute, 23. Renewed Companionship. 113 objects of their desire, and of associating with them 1 " 1 Again, it is the same in the "West. Among the The native of Canada, natives of Canada far above the wailings for the dead rise the excited cries of a certain hope that they will meet again " beyond the hills," and that old occupations will then be renewed and friend- ships revived under better and happier conditions. It is unnecessary to safeguard the testimony we have adduced from misapplication. It has not been used as an argument for the truth of the doctrine of future recognition, but simply on the ground that, if it shall be found that the fact is established by the evidence of Scripture, it will not have been in vain to have discovered the coincidence. It will be one more illustration of a truth so often noticed the voice of nature is the voice of God. We pass now from Pagan testimony to that which is revealed to us in the pages of Scripture. There is not much variety of evidence in the Old The witness of the Old Testament : indeed it would have been very sur- Testament prising if there had been ; but there is sufficient to prove the existence of the belief. * Quoted by Huston, Recognition in the World to Come, ch. ii. p. 30. Additional illustrations may be found in the same author, and in KILLEN, Our Friends in Heaven, Appendix. H H4 Mutual Recognition and We read the lives of the great heroes of Patri- archal times, and as one after another closes, this is the language in which the chronicler or prophet records the fact : He " bieb in a gxrob .crib age, an xrlb man anb full 0f gears, anb toas gathereb t0 hi0 people ; anb his sons bttrteb htm." x a0 gathereb unto his people that gathering was some- thing which followed death but preceded burial, and it was an event of no little moment. Look for its significance to the case of Moses. When his work was done, and he had delivered his last message in which he set forth the Divine mercy and vengeance, God summoned him to His Presence with these words : " d>et thee tip into this moun- tain Jlbarim, unto Jftonnt JJebxr, to huh is in the lanb at Jftxrab, that is 0ber a0atn0t Jericho, . . anb bie in the monnt tohither thxrtt Qoest ttp, anb be gathereb tmttf thg people." 2 If Moses had been laid in the grave of his ancestors, his bones beside their bones, then we should have said at once that the requirements of the language were satisfied by supposing that God directed him simply to be buried in their midst. But the sequel of the history forbids such an inter- 1 GEN. rxv. 8, 9, 17 ; xxiv. 29 ; xlix. 33. 2 DEUT. xxxiL 49, 50. Renewed Companionship. 115 pretation : " rjTr]S oHv virdpxw . . irpo'id&v \d\r)ffev irepl T^J dyao-rdo-ews K.T.\. vo. 30, 81. 2 "To see corruption" is the translation of the LXX., ISeiv Sia0b toill rebeem mg sonl fr0m the yotosx at the grabe." To accept this interpretation, however, would be a distinct narrowing of the real significance of which the expression is capable ; moreover, it would render the introduction of the clause, "He descended into hell," into the creed otiose and need- less, for it already contained the declaration that He "was dead and buried." There are two other passages in Holy Scripture Evidence which support this doctrine ; the first 4 was written New Testa- by the Apostle who had quoted the above prophecy of Christ's deliverance from Hades, and it appears to establish the doctrine in question ; " (Hhrist also hath once 0nftereb . . . being pttt to foeath in the fle0h, hnt qmckenei bjj the .Spirit: bg iohich al0u !)e toent anb prea.ch.eb unto the 0pirii0 in prisxrn, tohich sometime toere M00beMent, tohen 0nce the itet) in 1 Beza so translated it, Non derelinques cadaver meum in se- pulcra, but lie changed it in a later edition, because he said some persons were offended by the rendering. Ed. Test. 1582. 2 LEV. v. 2 ; vii. 25. Ps. xlix. 15. 4 1 S. PET. iii. 18, 20. to the Perfection of His Manhood. 131 This, however, like the former passage, has been ex- plained away so as to furnish no corroborative evidence of Christ's descent into hell ; but it will be shown in the following chapter that although a goodly array of divines l have been reluctant to admit it, nothing less can satisfy the strict rules of legitimate and un- prejudiced criticism. The second passage 2 is the declaration of S. Paul that Christ, before His Ascension, " b.e0.c.ettbb ffr0t irttxr the lotosr :part0 ot the .earth." It is not absolutely certain how far the descent was carried in the Apostle's mind, whether only to the earth by the Incarnation, or under the earth by the descent into hell ; but the antithesis of the following verse, "a0.cmb.eb tip far abxrb,e all h.eabtt0," at least suggests that in the first clause he intended the parts lower than the earth, i.e. Hades. It was so understood by most ancient writers, 3 and an almost identical phrase, Kare\6ovra e/5 ra KaratraTa, was made in the Greek translation of the Aquileian Creed the equivalent of the Latin descendit in inferna. Again, in the Sirmian Creed " the parts under the earth" were clearly understood as implying more 1 Pearson, Lightfoot, Hammond, and others. 2 Kar^T] eis ra Karibrepa ^p-q TTJS 7775. EPH. iv. 9. 3 Iren. adv. Boer. v. 31. Origen in Matt. Horn. 31. So also Tertullian, Jerome, and others. 132 Christ s Descent into Hell a Witness than the grave; for it is said that on Christ's de- scent thither "the door-keepers of Hades shuddered at the sight of Him." 1 It cannot, however, be denied that not a few writers of note 2 in later times have held that the language of S. Paul is fully satisfied by a reference to Christ's Incarnation, and that his thoughts were not carried further than His condescension in coming down to earth. The conclusion is therefore forced upon us that there is no incontestable evidence, or at all events none that has been suffered to pass unchallenged, in the direct statements of Holy Scripture to establish the doctrine. The absence of this led the American Church to leave the recitation of the Article optional for a hundred years. 8 Indirect proofs are sometimes the strongest ; certainly in this case they furnish all that can be needed. Let us con- sider the chief of them. The irrefutable evidence of Christ's perfect Man- hood necessitates the belief that His soul, like the souls of all men, passed to the place of departed spirits on its separation from the body, for it is an essential condition of death. The whole history of 1 Sv iruXwpol q.dov Id6vres Zpiav. Socrat. Eccl. Hist. ii. 37. 2 Beza, Calvin, Schottgen, Winer, etc. 3 The General Convention of 1889 omitted the permissive rubric, first authorised in 1789. to the Perfection of His Manhood. 133 the Life of our Lord in the Gospels sets forth the truth of His human Nature; He lived as Man among men, sharing their lot, made like unto His brethren in all things with the single exception of being without sin. He suffered, died, and was buried ; and just as He bore our nature in life, so also He bore it in death, and His human spirit entered into that place of waiting appointed by God as the habitation of disembodied souls between death and the resurrection. Before the statement was embodied in a creed that He was " perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting," the fact of the departure of His spirit to Hades was alleged again and again by the Fathers l and Doctors of the Church in opposi- tion to the false teaching of that heresy which de- nied the reality and completeness of His Manhood, by asserting that the Divine Logos supplied the place of the rational soul. 2 1 Huic legi satisfecit, forma humanse mortis apud inferos fructus. Tert. de Anima, c. 55. Legem mortuorum servare, IREN. adv. Hcer. v. 26. Ad infernas sedes, id quod homini de- bitum videtur esse, penetravit, S. HIL. Trad, in Psalm liii. Quam descensionem Domiiras ad consummationem veri hominis non recusavit, id. in Psalm cxxxviii. For the use of this fact as an argument against the heretics, cf. ATHAN. iv. Dialog, de Trinitate and de Incarn. Christi; Theo- doret. in Psalm xvi. in fine. 2 The Apollinarians began by denying that He assumed any 134 Christ's Descent into Hell a Witness There can be little doubt that the primary object for making the descent into hell an Article of the Creed, was to supply a constant and accepted wit- ness to the perfection of Christ's Manhood. Never- theless there is abundant evidence in early writings that He had other objects in view of a special kind, or that other effects were produced by His sojourn in Hades. These will be considered hereafter ; but there is one view which came into prominence at the Eeformation that may fitly be considered here, be- cause it is directly refuted by the kindred clause in the Creed, which declares the perfection of Christ's Godhead, " perfect God " as well as " perfect man." The Calvin- The popularity of the belief was due to the in- istic view J of Christ's fluence of Calvin. He maintained that " hell " must descent into hell, here be interpreted as the place in which the souls of the damned are awaiting their final sentence, and that the theory that Christ suffered as " a surety " for man necessitated the belief that He must have experienced all the pains and sufferings of lost souls. 1 part of the human soul ; thus Athanasius says of them : ffapK& Hovty Trpoaofju>\oyovvres, contr. Apoll. ii. 17 ; but afterwards they allowed to him the sensitive soul (^vx^)> ^ u * not * ne rational (wOs). SOCR. Ecd. Hist. ii. 46. In qua questione Apollin aristae testimoniis evangelicis victi, mentem, quae rationalis est anima hominis, defuisse in anima Christi, sed pro hac ipsum Verbum in eo finisse, dixerunt. S. AUG. de Hceres. 55. i Cf. CALV. Instit. i. 15. 4 ; 12. 18. ii. 3. 6 ; 10. 5. to the Perfection of His Manhood. 135 Sometimes it was held that He did this during that hour when His Father's Face was hidden from Him upon the Cross, but more generally it was taught that this awful experience was endured when His disembodied soul passed to the place of torment or descended into hell. The history of the Lambeth Articles reveals the extent to which Calvinism had laid hold of the lead- ing scholars and divines of the day. In the contro- versies which raged in Cambridge at the close of the sixteenth century, an opponent of Genevan theology excited the almost unanimous disapproval of the authorities, because he ventured among other things to censure a notorious treatise, 1 in which the Article of the Apostles' Creed on Christ's descent into hell had been expounded as expressive of His mental sufferings in the place of the damned. It was well pointed out, 2 however, that the advo- cates of the popular belief had no higher ground to rely upon than the teaching of Calvin and Bullin- ger ; while those who took the contrary side brought with them the universal consent, and all the Fathers of both the Greek and Latin Churches. 1 Barret, Fellow of Gains College, preached at Great S. Mary's, April 29th, 1595, against the prevailing Calvinism, denouncing vehemently PERKINS'S Armilla aurea, in which Calvinism was pushed to its furthest limits, 2 STRYPE'S Annals, i. ch. xxxi. 136 Christ's Descent into Hell. It is a source of satisfaction that with the dis- appearance of Calvinistic influence 1 upon modern Theology such a perverted view of the object of Christ's descent into hell has practically ceased to find any support; but it is worth while to show that there are facts which ought to have rendered it untenable from the first. Theimpos- It is inconsistent with Christ's promise to the sibility of accepting penitent thief that after death they would be to- teaching, gether "in Paradise"; and it is incompatible with His sinless Nature that He could ever have endured the torments of the lost. The chief ingredient in the pangs of hell must be the agonies of an accusing conscience. It is this that is most aptly symbolised by the figure of the undying worm. But no such sense of sin could have found a place in One Who was shielded from the inroads of sin in any form by the very Presence of His Divinity ; for the union of the Godhead with the manhood was maintained in death no less than in life. 2 1 It is said that though this view of Christ's descent was still held by Calvinists in the last century, it has now been suffered to drop out of the theology of that school. Cf. OXENHAM, Cath. Doctr. of the Atonement, p. 240. 2 Secundum Divinitatem veram, quse nee loco tenetur nee fine concluditur, totus fuit in sepulchro cum carne, totus in inferno cum anima. FULGENTIUS, ad Trasimundum iii. 34. CHAPTER XIV. to t$e >pirtt0 in nnHE passage from the First Epistle of S. Peter, *- quoted in the preceding chapter, in support of this doctrine, was used by Pearson for a very different purpose, viz., as a proof of the pre-exist- ence of Christ. From these words, he says, " it Pearson's appeareth that Christ preached by the same Spirit by the virtue of which He was raised from the dead ; but that Spirit was not His soul, but something of ^ a greater power. Christ did preach unto those men which lived before the Flood, even while they lived, and consequently He was before it. For though this was not done by an immediate act of the Son of God, as if He had personally appeared on earth, and actually preached to that old world; but by the ministry of a prophet, by the sending of Noah, the eighth preacher of righteousness." l He rested his interpretation upon the authority of no less i Expos, of the Creed, Art. ii. 112. 138 Christ's Preaching to the a person than S. Augustine, \vho said that the " spirits in prison were the unbelieving who lived in the times of Noe, whose spirits, that is, souls, were shut up in the flesh and the darkness of ignorance as in a prison ; to them Christ preached not in the flesh, for He had not yet become incarnate, but in the Spirit, that is, according to His divinity." 1 Not a few divines 2 have followed him, in under- standing S. Peter to refer to the preaching of Noah under divine inspiration to his contemporaries, and for excluding from the passage any allusion to Motives for Christ's descent into hell. This explanation, adopted, explaining away the it would seem, mainly to escape from the belief that obvious meaning, the Gospel was preached to the dead, 3 is abandoned by modern interpreters as grammatically inconsis- tent with the plain meaning and construction of the language. There is no reference in the Greek, such as the Authorised Version implies, to the action of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Blessed 1 Spiritus in carcere conclusi sunt increduli qui vixemnt teni- poribus Noe, quorum spiritus, id est, animse erant in came et ignorantise tenebris velut in carcere conclusse ; Christus iis non in came, qui nonclum erat incarnatus, sed in spiritu, id est, secundum divinitatem predicavit. Ad Euodiam, ep. 99. 2 Bede, Hammond, Barrow, Leighton. 8 It is very obvious in the case of Barrow, who shrunk from the plain interpretation, as his language clearly shows, mainly from a dread that it would appear to support the Koman doctrine of purgatory. Cf. Expos, of the Creed, iii. in fine. Spirits in Prison. 139 Trinity, 1 but simply an antithesis between the lower and higher parts of Christ's human Nature, between His flesh and His spirit ; and this is brought out in the Revised Version : " (Ehri0t ai0xr 0u:ffere}> fxir sins ontt . . . being put to ieath in the flesh, but in the 0pirit ; in tohich al00 He ioent an!) preaxheb tmtxr the 0pmt0 in ynsan." 1 S. Peter The drift of is encouraging his converts in the face of persecu- argument. tion and trial, and sets before them the example of Christ. Provided only that they suffered for righteousness' sake, as He did, they had no cause to fear, for nothing but good could result from their death, as from His. He was put to death in the flesh, but in that He died the just for the unjust, not because He deserved death, but simply for well- doing, His death was an immediate cause of good, for His human spirit when severed from His flesh acquired new powers of activity and usefulness, and went forth into another sphere to bear the message 1 The A.V. has followed the Elzevir, which inserted ry before wet par i, but it is absent from all the old MSB., and is re- jected by all modern critics. Moreover, according to Middleton on the Article, it would be necessary to insert a preposition as well as the article to justify the English rendering. 2 X/Jwrds #7ra irepl ana.pri.Civ lirade 8ticaios iiirkp dSlicuv, iva T//X.CIS irpotraydyri T$> 6ey, davarudels ftv (rapid, faoiroiyBels <5 Trveiifj.a'n, ev $ Kal TOIS ev 0t;Xa/qj irvetiiJ.a.iri iropevQels 1 Ep. iii. 18, 19. 140 Christ's Preaching to the of glad tidings to the departed spirits of men who were there detained. Even so, the analogy seems to imply, they by their patient endurance for well- doing might win souls to Christ; and it suggests the idea, which we have put forward in another chapter, 1 that the work and influence of good men do not cease with their death, but are carried on under purely spiritual conditions with increased force and energy in another world. Apart from the general scope of this passage there are several expressions which deserve careful attention. What was the nature of Christ's " preach- ing," and what is meant by the word translated "prison," and why were the Antediluvians men- tioned as the recipients of His message? If the spirits to which He preached were the spirits of men who had died impenitent, it cannot be but that He preached repentance and offered them salvation. If this be so, then we must conclude that, like the rich man in the parable, they were in a place of torment in that part of Hades which is separated from the abode of the blest and designated Paradise, Patristic or in the passage above referred to, Abraham's the deliver- bosom. Two or three of the early Fathers accept shmenf this conclusion : S. Ambrose says that " Christ de- fr mhelL Spirits in Prison. 141 scended to the lowest Tartarus and burst asunder the bars and gates of hell, and overthrowing the sovereignty of death recalled to life from the jaws of the devil certain souls that had been tied and bound with the chains of sin." S. Augustine dealt with the subject on several occasions, once in his book On Heresies condemning distinctly the tenet of those who held that Christ had proclaimed an uni- versal pardon, and emptied hell of its inhabitants ; but in another place he accepts a modification of the belief, holding that a limited number whom for some reason Christ deemed worthy of such favour, were delivered from the torments of hell. 1 S. Cyril of Alexandria says that Christ rose from the dead after three days, in which He had preached to the spirits in prison ; and he brings it forward as a most convincing proof of His love for man that He should " not only have offered salvation to men upon earth, but also to those who had already de- parted and were sitting in the caves of the abyss in darkness." 2 1 Apud inferos fuit, solutisque eorum doloribus, quibus eum erat impossibilia teneri ; a quibus etiam recte intelligitur solvisso et liberasse quos voluit. Ep. clxiii. 14. Quos ille dignos ista liberatione judicavit. 5. 2 T(f /*>? nbvov avaa-uffat ijfd, TOI)S frc fcD^ras M TTJS 7779 dXXa Kal Toto Karoixo/Jifrovs Kal tv rots T?}J ' AjSwrtroi/ pvxois Kad-nnfrovt tv oulg from TF S. Gregory was right in his assertion that the -*- Catholic Faith knew nothing of the deliverance of sinners through the descent of our Blessed Lord to the place of departed spirits, we must look for some other explanation of the persons whose release is so often associated with that act in the early Church. The requirements of the case will be fully satisfied, if we are able to establish the belief that the souls of the patriarchs and faithful saints of the Old Dispensation received at this time an accession The condi- of happiness by being translated into a better state Saints of than that in which they had been so long waiting. It was designed by God that the Old Testament p r n V edb y saints should not be perfected without us ; l that n h a e they should wait till in the fulness of time Christ by His one oblation should offer salvation alike to us and them. He descended into Hades to be to them i HBB. xL 40. 151 152 The Deliverance of Souls the herald of glad tidings, to certify to them that their spiritual disabilities were cancelled, and to admit them into the same Paradise of joy, in which the members of His Body await the consummation of bliss at the general Resurrection. We shall find Patristic abundant testimony to such an improved condition Justin i n *^ e writings of the very earliest times. Justin Martyr. Martyr not only states his own belief that Christ went to deliver the souls of the just and prophets ; but also quotes a lost prophecy of Jeremiah in sup- port of it : " The Lord God of Israel remembered His dead which had fallen asleep in the land of the grave, and went down to them to preach to them the glad tidings of His salvation." 1 This passage has not been found in any MS. of the original nor of the LXX., but there is no question that it was con- sidered genuine in these early ages, for it is cited no irenffius. less than three times by Irenaeus, 2 at the close of the second century; but, even if it is lacking Divine authority, it is manifest that the citation of it is a distinct witness to the belief of the Fathers Ktfptoj 6 Gedj &irb 'Ioy>aij\ rwv vexpuv airrov rCov Keicoi/J.i)tJL&uv eJs yty xcfymros ical Karefti] irpfa avrote e&tyyeAf- G-apay/j,bv TOV e al&vos jj.i) (TXifftf&Ta, Kal dvtffTri Kal jwifrtart irtrpas Mdi) &\i)0ws, us &v6pwos, aXXct wfrpai 8iep > pdyT) 81' atrbv, Karrj\6ev eis T& KaraxBdvia, 'iva. KaxeWev \vrpt!}(ri)Tcu robs diicatovs. l[36v\ov y&p, flirt floi, TOI/X /Jiff fcDj/ras dird\avTO irdvres ol diKaioi oCj K&reKrev 6 ddvaros, ZSet yap rbv KTjpvxJ&frTO. |8a the angels int0 Abraham's bosom." 5 As we are told that the angels throw their pro- tecting aegis over the bodies of men, so also do their " ministries " extend to the special welfare of the soul ; for it is not only written that " Ipe 0hall gibe !Ji0 angels .charge 0ber thee to keep the* in aU thg toags ; thep shall bear thee tip in their hanfos, lest th0n bash ing toot against astmte"; 6 but also, " there is j0|) in the presen.ce of the angels of (S>0!b 0ber 0ne sinner that r-cpenteth " ; r and we can- not doubt that if the recovery to the fold is a source of rejoicing to them, the subsequent condition of the recovered soul, its progressive holiness and purifica- tion in Paradise, must be an object of the keenest interest and watchfulness. Yet further, if we believe i S. MATT. ii. 13. DAN. x. 18. DAN. viii. 18; 4 Ps. xci. 11, 12 ; DAN. iii. 28 ; ACTS xii. 7, 10. B S. LUKE xvi. 22. Ps. xci. 11, 12. ? S. LUKE xv. 10. 1 68 The Constitution of that a guardian angel is attached to each individual, it follows almost of necessity that its controlling power is not bounded by the earthly life of the object of its care, but that it continues to be exerted ; and exerted with greater success, when the spirit has passed into that sphere where there is less to thwart and contradict its influence. In addition, then, to the effect produced upon the disembodied soul by the sanctifying Presence of Christ in Paradise, Whose office it is to draw souls to the Father, wherever He is, we cannot ignore the efficient' help of those spiritual beings, who stand before His throne day and night, ever ready to act for Him in the service of men. There are in the Invisible Church, besides the angels, " the spirit* oi ju0t men," those who have completed their earthly probation, whose perfect holiness x hereafter is assured to them through their entrance into Paradise. We have seen abundant 1 " Ye are come . . to the spirits of just men made perfect." Trpoffe\ri\uOa.re . . . irvejfj.affi diKaltav TereAeiw/x&'&H'. HEB. xii. 22-3. This passage has been isolated from the rest of the Epistle and interpreted as contradicting the idea of progress after death. Probably the expression is of only special application. The " perfection" of the Epistle is the being brought near to God, vii. 11, 19, the result of the fulfilment of the promised redemption. It was this state into which the Old Testament saints were ad- mitted through the Incarnation and Atonement, xi. 40. This the Invisible Church. 169 proof that they do not remain there in a state of The souls torpor and insensibility, but are ever advancing in righteous spiritual and intellectual knowledge, and in all that tends to complete sanctification. There must, then, be souls in the Intermediate State at different stages of progressive holiness, and such inequality almost necessitates the belief that the more advanced will be able to help on those who are behind and less perfect than themselves. In estimating, there- fore, the agencies at work " tat the perierting of the jeatttt attb the efcifginij of the JJxxbg of (Ehrtet " within the veil, we may not ignore the spiritual ministries of the souls of the faithful. Then in addition to the agencies of the holy angels and of just men in advancing God's kingdom in the Invisible Church, or rather in co-operation with them, there is the One informing quickening Spirit by Whom the whole life of the Body of Christ is The agency sustained. The teaching of Scripture, though it Spirit in y , ,.,.,, , . , , , the world may be only indirectly expressed, points to the O f spirits. rAos they could not receive "without us" : it was reached by both alike and simultaneously. No one can say that any of us have been " made perfect " in the ordinary sense of the word, but we have received the fulness of the promise : we can draw near to God in full assurance of faith. " The spirits made perfect " are pro- bably those spoken of in xi. 40, and if so, this expression in no way traverses the Catholic doctrine that spiritual sanctification goes on even till the judgment. PHIL. i. 6 ; 1 COB. i. 7, 8. L* 170 The Constitution of continuity of the operations of the Holy Ghost after death. There is one Body and one Spirit; and wherever Christ is, there is His Spirit ; and if in the Church on earth it is His Presence dwelling in the hearts of its individual members that justifies the apostolic assertion that they become thereby nothing less than " temples 0f Ihe H)xrlg (ihxrst" ; * if it is from this Divine source that every good and holy motive, every righteous and charitable act takes its spring ; if it is through His enlightenment that glimpses of the eternal truth are revealed to men ; or again, if the Perfect Life is rendered more capable of imitation because the Holy Spirit takes the things and the words of Christ and makes them in- telligible to men ; if all this is accomplished in a state where there is never absent the countervailing opposition of our lower nature, distorting, impeding, thwarting every right disposition, so that it has been said, " the flesh Itisteth against the .Spirit, attb the e cannot "bo the things that %z totf ulb " ; 2 then who shall be able to measure the extent of the same Spiritual Agency and operations in that state, where all such obstacles have been taken away, where it can no 1 1 COB. iii. 16 and vi. 19. 2 GAL. v. 17. the Invisible Church. 1 7 1 longer be said that " the corruptible body presseth down the soul," 1 but the emancipated spirit will be free to hold unrestrained communion with the Spirit of God and Christ? All we can say is, that " tohere the tate, "0 consideration of the Intermediate State would be at all adequate which took no account of the souls of the many millions who have died both in heathen and Christian lands without ever having learned the way of salvation. We do not purpose in this investigation to deal with the condition of those who may be regarded as lost ; the whole question of the doom of the wicked is one from entering upon which our instincts repel Untenable us> g u t there has been so much that seems to us views on the destiny to be utterly baseless and false assumed with regard heathen, to the future of the heathen, that we feel constrained to vindicate the belief of the Catholic Church from the wholly untenable position which too many of her teachers have taken up. Now, when we bring ourselves to face this great problem, two questions present themselves for consideration. First, can the heathen be judged, as it is asserted that Christians Salvation for the Heathen. 1 73 will be, by the deeds done in the body 1 In other words, will their rewards or punishments be regu- lated by the way in which they have obeyed the law of conscience that is written in their hearts ? Or, secondly, will they, as being without the pale of the Church and the consequent promises of Holy Scripture, be consigned to final and irretrievable ruin? S. Paul, in the Epistle to the Eomans, has been S. Paul's commonly supposed to answer the first question in the affirmative : " (iob, toho toill renber to etoerg man according to his btebs ; . . . for there is no UBiptct of persons totth dob. Jfor as mang * & haoe sinneb toithont lato shall also perish toithont lato ; anb a0 mang a0 habe 0inneb in the lato shall be jttbijefo hg the lato ; for not the hearer0 ot the lato are j0t before dxrb, but the Ji0er0 ot the lato shall be jn0ttfiei. Jfor tohen the dentile0, tohirh hatoe not the lato, io bg nature the things tontaineli in the lato, these, hatoing not the lato, are a lato nnto themselbes ; tohieh sheto the toork of the lato toritten in their hearts, their ronsrienre also bearing toitness, anb their thoughts the mean- tohile arnising or else exrnsing one another ;) in the bag tohen dob shall jnbge the senrets of men bg Jfesws Clhrist aaorbing to mg gospel." * i KOM. iL 6-16. 1 74 Possibilities of Salvation for the It will be observed that this declaration does not apply to all Gentiles, but is limited to those who are found, without any Divine teaching, to have been guided by the voice of conscience to do what is revealed to others by the direct voice of God ; it is those who do " the things contained in the law " of whom he speaks. We should have imagined that no one would have grudged such as these the hope of salvation ; but even our own branch of the Catholic Church at one period committed itself to their condemnation. The witness In the Homily on good works, we read, "If a Homilies, heathen man clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and do such other like works ; yet, because he doth them not in faith for the honour and love of God, they be but dead, vain and fruitless works to him. Faith it is that doth commend the work to God ; for, as S. Augustine saith, whether thou wilt or no, that work that cometh not of faith is naught; where the faith of Christ is not the foundation, there is no good work, what building soever we make." 1 But, as we said, it is only a small number of whom S. Paul speaks ; he says nothing of those who, however conscientiously, live according to principles 1 The passage alluded to in S. AUG. is Contr. Julianum, lib. iv. c. 30. Heathen in the Intermediate State. 175 which God has nowhere inculcated. What is to become of the masses of heathen who, while fulfil- ling the laws of Paganism, violate the fundamental laws of purity and holiness? Can they possibly earn salvation as the reward of their deeds 1 The salvation of the soul means the entrance upon that state in which it will enjoy the Vision of God. Now Scripture has laid down very clearly what the qualification is for this fruition. It is holiness ; The one "toiihxmt holine00 nrr man 0hall 0ee the HJ0ri>." tionforthe . , , v , , Vision of It is purity : " Jjle00e& are the jmre in heart, far GOO. iheg 0haU 0ee dob " : or again, " there 0hall enter in," that is, to the presence of God, " nothing that fcefileth." But in many Pagan religions the highest standard of life is based upon immorality ; lust and sensuality enter into the observance of their sacred mysteries ; what therefore the votaries of such systems may have conscientiously sought as their greatest good may be simply an abomination and utterly hateful in God's sight. It is quite in- consistent that a character formed upon such false and immoral practices and principles should ever be admissible to the Presence of Him, Who is " flf purer epe0 than ttf beholb inixjmig." It is in- conceivable that a probation, under which the lives of such heathen, no matter how deep the natural 176 Possibilities of Salvation for the ignorance in which they have been sunk, is passed on earth, can satisfy the all-holy God, or that the way in which they have yielded obedience to Pagan laws of right and wrong can possibly give them that reward of salvation which God has fenced and guarded from the least touch of impurity. However much the feelings of charity may dis- pose us to accept the plausible and attractive - principle that God will judge the heathen accord- ing to his conscientious fulfilment of his own laws, whatever their nature, there are insurmountable objections to it. It is distinctly condemned more- over by our Confessions of Faith. The 18th of the Thirty-nine Articles teaches decisively that obedience to the natural conscience cannot possibly entitle a man to salvation ; yea, it rejects the idea so strongly as to affix an anathema upon those who The 18th venture to suggest it : " They also are to be had accursed that presume to say, That every man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth, so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that Law and the light of Nature. For Holy Scrip- tures doth set out unto us only the Name of Jesus Christ whereby men must be saved." The second question that we propounded is this : Can the heathen obtain salvation without the pale Heathen in the Intermediate State. 177 of the Church 1 There is little doubt that the early i 3 salvation Fathers, with few exceptions, gave a peremptory extra answer in the negative. Justin Martyr, 1 Clement ecclesiam ? of Alexandria, 2 Tertullian, 3 and S. Chrysostom* spoke less despairingly than their fellows ; but the Patristic saying, extra ecclesiam nulla solus, gathered up into an axiomatic form the general belief of primitive Times. 6 It became stereotyped through the teaching of S. Augustine ; 6 and all through the mediaeval ages the very gloomiest views prevailed, till the instincts of Dante, whose mind was cast in a different mould, rose in rebellion against the prevailing indifference of the age, which could con- sign the millions of heathendom without com- punction to irretrievable ruin. But so ingrained was the belief, that it was suffered to cast a shadow ' over the Paradiso ; at least Dante hesitated to 1 Apol. i. 56. 2 irpb TTJS rov Kvplov irapovvlas e/s SiKaio avayxala L\o(TOecon& probation mcongtetent IN the preceding chapters in accordance with the fundamental principles of justice we have claimed for every man, no matter what his con- dition, that before he is judged, those laws, on the observance or breach of which the judgment will be based, should be fully made known to him : also Probation a necessary that time and opportunity be given him in which prerequisite for judg- he may make his choice for obedience or disobedi- ment. ence by the exercise of that free-will which is his inalienable birthright. We have shown that with vast multitudes of men and women such a choice has been impossible in this life, because they have died without ever having been taught the first principles of religion, or have been so placed that practically they had no freedom to choose between good and evil. For these and such as these God, no doubt, in His goodness will provide, before that great and 197 198 A Second Probation inconsistent terrible day when we must all stand before the tribunal of Christ. For them the time of probation is nowhere fixed ; the will of God concerning them has not been revealed ; but for all those whose circumstances are such that the offer of salvation has been fully and adequately presented in this life, it is limited ; and there is nothing in Holy Scripture to induce even a hope that it can ever be extended beyond the grave. The period This limitation is again and again declared, and tionnot marks God's dealings alike with nations, churches, unlimited. ,.,.., , and individuals. Take the Jews as an illustration of nations. It would be difficult to find a clearer proof that the time of trial is limited than is sup- plied by our Lord's lamentation over Jerusalem. 1 There had been a " day of visitation," in which God's lovingkindness was abundantly shown, and For nations, the choice of the things that belonged to her peace was put before her with all the persuasive power that prophets and divine messengers could exert; the day had even witnessed the Son of Man plead- ing with her in earnest and loving entreaty, but she refused to hear, and her period of probation closed. The limit of time was reached, when the offer was i S. LUKE xix. 42-44. with Scripture. 199 withdrawn, and what might have been, was hidden for ever from her eyes. Look again at Churches: at Ephesus, 1 at Thya- For Ch.urch.e8. tira. 2 Opportunities and privileges were granted, and even after they had been neglected, space was given for repentance, but the time came when God's patience was exhausted; their candlestick was for ever removed, and destruction meted out to their members in righteous retribution. It is the same with individuals. There is for all For indivi- alike a " day of visitation," an acceptable time ; and it is limited to this present life ; it is " now," it is " to-day." 3 It is taught with unmistakable clear- ness in not a few of our Lord's parables. In the The witness case of the barren fig-tree the vinedresser pleaded, parables, it is true, for an extension of the time of trial, but everything tends to prove that it was on the ground that as yet it had not had a fair chance, being placed in disadvantageous circumstances. Before it could be said to have failed, it must be shown that proper means had been taken to make the soil pro- ductive ; it had been left hard and unbroken ; whereas it was a prerequisite for successful culture i REV. ii. 5. 2 REV. ii. 21-23. 3 2 COR. vi. 2. This only refers to those who have had their offer of salvation in this life, as has been shown in the preceding chapters. 2oo A Second Probation inconsistent that the land should be digged and fertilised. Let the tree have a fair trial and no pains be spared ; then, if under such favourable conditions it should still disappoint their hopes, he would not ask for an indefinite extension of mercy, but let justice take its course and be no longer arrested ; let the tree be inexorably cut down. The same principle is echoed in the Parables of the Pounds 1 and the Talents. 2 The Lord gave to his servants a definite service to perform; their individual circumstances, their differing tempera- ments, all was carefully taken into consideration, because the fulfilment of duty may be easier in one case than another ; " he gab* to b.erj) man arorrb- ing; to his &e:b,eral abilitg ; " and in due time the reckoning came. And what was the sentence 1 He that neglected his Master's commands was offered no second opportunity; the privileges which had been granted to him were transferred to others, and he was cast " as an ttnprxrfitabU j&etbant into xmler It is the same in the Parable of the Ten Virgins ; 3 a definite time was allowed in which they might make preparations for the coming of the Bride- 1 S. LTJKB xix. 12-27. 2 S. MATT. xxv. 14-30. * S. MATT. xxv. 1-12. with Scripture. 201 groom; and though it is expressly told us that those that were foolish did their utmost to make up for their neglect and procure what was lacking after the prescribed time had elapsed, there is no hint that they met with any success ; and when they tried to obtain admission into the marriage-chamber, it is said with an awful significance, " the Jboor toa0 0httt" The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews indorses this principle ; " if toe 0in toilfttllj) after that toe hate rereibeb the knotolefcije at the truth, there remaineth no more >arriftce tax 0in0, btxt a certain fearful looking for of judgment, anb fterg indignation tohich shall fcetoonr the abtoersaries." 1 The deliberate rejection of the truth, when once it has been fully revealed, admits of no possible after-acceptance. In support, how- ever, of what we have said before about the necessity of an adequate presentation of the truth, it is worthy of notice that the writer here uses the very word which expresses this. 2 In the original it is the word which S. Paul employed to describe i HEB. x. 26, 27. 8 TJ)V lirlyiHtxrui r^y dXijfle/as. Of. &pri yivdxrKu tic ptyovs, rbre d tiriyvtbffo(j.ai /ca0 the JJame of (i0ii . . . an& theg repented not tu gibe Him ijiors," an( i again, as "theg ijttaioeb their tonQutz fox paitt," they " ola0phemei) the (Hbb of heatoen btmnsz of their paiu0 anb their 0xrre0, anb repented ttat of their This, then, is the conclusion of the whole matter ; a The con- righteous judgment presupposes of necessity an ade- f r omScrip quate probation ; if this has been withheld from any man in this life, through circumstances over which he had no control, an extension of time may be granted adequate it after death ; but wherever the choice of good has newed. been fully offered and with such force and per- suasion that a man might reasonably be expected to future punishment of the wicked, might, according to classical usage, imply correction, tut in the LXX., the Apocrypha, and the other passages of the New Testament, it indicates punishment pure and simple. There is no instance where it is used of punish- ment inflicted with a view to moral improvement. Tipupta, which is applied to the wicked, certainly conveys no such idea. i HEB. x. 29, 30. 2 RBV. xvi. 9-11. 208 No Second Probation possible. take it, if he should resist the grace of God and, trampling His offer under foot, accept the evil, the consequences are eternal. No new test, no oppor- tunity of retrieving the past, no second probation is possible : the door of repentance has been closed against him. There is, however, one ray of consolation in the midst of so much that is dark and overwhelming. No human being can tell exactly what constitutes an adequate presentment of the truth to any man ; God alone will be the Judge of that Of every one's work, his opportunity, his capacity of choice, the day of judgment will declare what sort it is. Till that is revealed, therefore, the number of the saved or lost must remain among those " stcxti thttt(j0 tohich are the ICorbV; and it is a daring presumption to say that " the doom of destruction awaits the vast mass of mankind." CHAPTER XX. Hegitimacp of prating for ttje 2Dealu ONE of the most interesting questions in connec- tion with the Intermediate State is the legiti- macy of prayer for the faithful souls that have entered upon it. We have investigated the evi- dence and set it forth at length in another treatise, 1 but it seems impossible to pass it by at the present time, and this seems the most fitting place to deal with it inasmuch as it is intimately bound up with the concluding subject, the Communion of Saints. "Without entering into details we refer the reader The evi- to four epochs of history, the consideration of which important will best reveal the mind of the Church ; they are, the time of our Blessed Lord and the Apostles : the period commonly spoken of as Primitive Christian- ity, extending from the Apostolic age down to the fourth General Council in the middle of the fifth i This is done in After Death, Pt. I. O 2io The Legitimacy of Praying century : the eventful crisis of the English Eeforma- tion : and finally, the last two hundred years. Concerning the belief which prevailed at the first epoch very little is told us in Holy Scripture, but The time of there is historical evidence to be drawn from other our Lord. sources to show that it was then a common practice among the Jews to pray for the dead. The Second Book of Maccabees, composed probably about 124 B.C., witnesses to a definite instance in which the practice was enforced, and states the grounds where- upon it rested. 1 The Jewish Service-books 2 corroborate it, and though it is dimcult to fix the dates of these, it is universally acknowledged that they embody doctrines and practices of the most remote antiquity. Indirect evidence has also been found by Jewish writers both in the Old and New Testaments. 8 Now our Blessed Lord does not seem to have spoken upon the subject. How are we to account for His silence 1 We should hesitate to lay it down dogmatically that it indicates 1 xii. 44, 45. 2 Cf. Kaddish and Haskarath Neshamoth. Hebrew tomb stones teach the same. 3 Siphre on 4th and 5th Books of Moses. DEUT. xxi. 8. The late Hebrew and Talmudic Reader at Cambridge, one of the mo?t learned Jews of modern times, never hesitated to declare his undoubted conviction that the practice was common in the time of our Lord ; and there was nothing to prejudice his judgment in the matter. for the Dead. 211 His approval of a practice of which He was fully conscious, yet we are justified in saying that it is the most probable solution of the difficulty. Passing to the period that immediately followed, we open a page of the greatest importance in its bearing upon the subject ; for one of the Apostles is found to use language which the unbiassed inter- The Apo- preter cannot fail to understand as a prayer for the dead. In speaking of Onesiphorus he said, " |D.OTJ) grant nnio him that he mag firib mmj) ot the ICxmb in that foag." 1 True, it is not written in so many words that Onesiphorus was dead, but a fair consideration of the manner in which S. Paul speaks of him and his household shows it to be the only natural conclusion to be drawn ; and such was the almost unanimous verdict of the early Fathers of the Church. 2 In the second stage of history before us, we find The Primi- overwhelming testimony. The monumental tablets taken from the Catacombs, dating from the close of the first to the beginning of the fifth centuries, give abundant illustrations; over and over again they speak of the faithful dead as being in peace, but 1 2 TIM. i. 18. 2 S. Chrysostom speaks doubtfully. Fabricius, the Biographer of Leipsic in the last century, has asserted that he was alive, but adduces no evidence. 2 1 2 The Legitimacy of Praying express prayers and petitions that they may enjoy it more abundantly. The teaching of the Fathers is uniform and pre- sents a chain of evidence which reaches from the close of the second century onwards; it does not fill up the gap of more than a hundred years between S. Paul and Tertullian, but we are con- strained to believe that this is done by the primi- tive Liturgies. The opponents of the doctrine of prayers for the dead urge that this latter source of information is not to be. trusted, because the Liturgies are full of late interpolations. But though it is perfectly true that they do abound in inter- polated matter, it in no way diminishes the value of their testimony when it comes to be tested criti- cally. Liturgical scholars are able to put their finger at once upon any part and decide whether it is original or interpolated. Now it is a principle regulating the whole character of Public Worship that no doctrine or practice ever finds its way into the Service-books until it has laid hold upon, and become deeply lodged, in the hearts of the people ; it is obvious, therefore, that the recognition of prayers for the dead in the Liturgies of the second century carries the evidence for the practice still further back. for the Dead. 213 Between the second and third epochs there is a long interval of time, during which many corrup- tions crept into the Church, and not least in regard to this and its associated doctrines. At the Ee- The period formation, in that Revision of our Service-books formation, which, as the work entirely of English Catholics, has been favourably received, unauthorised accretions were removed, and the prayers were once more clothed in primitive and Apostolic language. Then came the disastrous time when foreign Re- formers were allowed to interfere with our English worship. It is generally taught that they swept away all traces of the practice, and that as it has never been authoritatively restored, it cannot be adopted in loyalty to the Reformed Church. That they obscured it none can doubt: but that they prohibited it, is wholly untrue. The Preface to our present Prayer-book asserts that "the main body and essentials " of our Service-books have con- tinued through all the Revisions "the same unto this day." There is moreover very distinct evi- dence that the Church refused to accept the con- demnation of prayers for the dead just at that epoch when so much was done or attempted, to lower the standard of Catholic doctrine. In 1553 A.D. a body of Forty-two Articles was 214 The Legitimacy of Praying agreed upon by the Bishops and other representative men in the Church " for the avoiding of controversy in opinions and the establishment of godly concord in certain matters of religion." Among these was one, the 23d, which condemned " the Schoolauthors' teaching concerning Purgatory, Pardons, worship- ping, and adoration as well of images as of relics ... as a fond thing vainly invented and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repug- nant to the Word of God." It is by no means generally known that in the earliest draft of this Article, " Prayer for the dead " was placed in the same category with the above ; it is even said that the Article with this addition was actually signed by the six Eoyal Chaplains. 1 Moreover Hooper, whose views were almost identical with the most anti-Catholic of the foreign Protestants, took upon himself to circulate the Article in this form through- out his diocese in the year 1552 A.D. 2 When, however, the Forty-two Articles were submitted for final approval to Convocation this particular clause 1 Todd, in his Cranmer ii. 288, mentions this ; and the copy so signed is in the State-paper Office. Cf. Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, 1547-1580. 2 Hooper seems in his visitation to have added to the original number, for he issued fifty. In the 9th of these, after Purgatory and pardons, was added "prayer for them that are departed out of this world." for the Dead. 215 in the 23d was deliberately erased. It shows as clearly as possible that the matter was brought under consideration, and that, even at a crisis when the authorities of the English Church mani- fested more disregard for Catholic principles than perhaps at any other time, they nevertheless found it quite impossible to stigmatise prayers for the dead as contrary to Scripture. At the final Eevision of the Prayer-book, the sup- posed connexion of praying for the dead with Pur- gatory was still so strongly ingrained in the popular mind that the Kevisers on grounds of expediency hesitated to restore the definite forms which had been withdrawn at the second Eevision. It is satis- factory, however, to know that the leading spirit of the Church in this work, Bishop Cosin, has left it on record that the words, "that we and all Thy whole Church may have remission of sins, and all other benefits of Thy Passion " were retained in the Service of set purpose as a cumulative expression intended to include both the living and the dead. 1 Passing to the time that has intervened since the The period last act of the Eeformation period, we find that, elapsed notwithstanding the discouragements excited by fears Reforma- of Eoman error, which robbed our Public Services on * 1 Cf. Notes, 1st series. Works, v. 351-2 : Anglo-Cath. Libr. 2 1 6 Legitimacy of Praying for the Dead. of all definite teaching on the subject, there is ample testimony in the lives of many of our greatest Bishops and divines x to show that in private prac- tice this heritage of Catholic antiquity was never sacrificed. The conclusion forced upon us by a long and patient investigation is, that it would be difficult to find stronger or more uniform support for any doctrine or practice not resting upon the express direction of our Lord or His Apostles. i Barrow, Thorndike, Ken, Hickes, John Wesley, and Heber may be mentioned as examples. CHAPTER XXL popular Dbj'ection0 to t|je practice* T>EFORE we leave this subject it will be useful to J-* consider some of the chief objections which have been raised against our acceptance of the doc- trine. It is often alleged as a practical hindrance that it is so bound up with the Roman Purgatory that to accept the one is to admit the other ; " Pur- The sup- posed gatory is a consequent to the doctrine of prayers for necessary the dead." It is true that Roman Catholic divines, between failing altogether to find early testimony of a direct andlYayer kind, have appealed to the ancient custom of pray- ing for the dead, in proof of their special tenets on the Intermediate State, and assume that " whenever the holy Fathers speak of prayer for the dead, they conclude for Purgatory." Such an appeal, how- ever, ought to be entirely disallowed, on the ground that the prayers of the early Church were offered for saints whom Roman Catholics believe to have been exempted altogether from the pains of Purga- tory. For instance, in the primitive Liturgies, the 0* a7 2 1 8 Popular Objections Apostles, Martyrs, and even the Blessed Virgin are prayed for, 1 although, it is an article of the Roman Faith that they passed at death directly to heaven, having no need to undergo any further purification in an Intermediate State. S. Augustine gathers up in a pregnant sentence the principle which guided the early Church, and it is distinctly antagonistic to the Roman claims : " Who is he for whom no man prays, but only He Who intercedes for all men ?" 2 The practice therefore of antiquity, so far from sup- porting Purgatory in its late and unauthorised sense, may be fitly employed as a reason for rejecting it. There is certainly no such connexion between the two doctrines as is feared on the one hand and asserted on the other. Another objection that has often been pressed is the apparent weakness of the Scriptural sanction- one brief sentence, and that, it is said, of doubtful The alleged . . . . insuffi- interpretation. It seems not unreasonable to reply Scriptural that if the case of Onesiphorus be granted, as an rlty< unbiassed criticism demands that it should be, for the whole drift of the passage shows that he was dead, then the principle has the very highest autho- 1 Cf. Lift. Clem., S. Basil, S. Cyril. 2 Quis est autem pro quo nullus orat, nisi ille qui pro omnibus interpellat ? In Psalm xxxvi. Serm. ii. 20. to the Practice. 219 rity. The prayer was written, lite the rest of Scrip- ture, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost ; and whether it found expression twenty times or only once, it is equally in accordance with the Mind of Him Who was sent to the Apostles to guide them into all truth. But if the presence of the least uncertainty as to whether he was alive or dead creates in any mind such a difficulty, that the autho- rity of the passage must be rejected, we have surely all that is needed in the unanimous reception of the practice by the primitive Church. For any doctrine that is necessary to salvation we demand the clear and explicit teaching of God's Word ; but for what is only accounted a pious belief or practice, albeit of surpassing value, the authority of the primitive and undivided Church is amply sufficient. If it be asserted, as is sometimes done, that Scrip- ture alone is to be the guide of all our practice, and that we have no right to commend for observance anything which cannot definitely claim the litera scripta of God's Word in its favour, we feel bound to point out, that much as it is to be wished that we had such an infallible guide, yet some of the most essential characteristics of the Church's life have been formed without it. Let us take a single illustration. Upon what authority do we base the 220 Popular Objections The impos- observance of the First day of the week instead of setting up the Seventh? When we reflect what strict and ttewSe* 88 ri S i( i rules > wnat minute directions, were given by doctrines m ^ 0< ^ Himself to regulate men's conduct on the Sab- tices P not~ bath-day, we are able to form some idea of the vast- defide. ness o f t ^ e revolution, which has so changed men's minds that they never think of the seventh as in any sense a holy day. Now how do we know that this change was agreeable to the Mind of God? There is not a single text of Scripture which can satisfy us upon the point. We have no doubt that the observance of Sunday and the complete super- session of the Sabbath-day rest ultimately upon the authority of Christ, but we can only learn it from The Church the action of the primitive Church. We are told authority that during the forty days that followed the Eesur- observance rection Christ spoke to the Apostles " of the things aday ' pertaining; to thz kingdom of (icfo," 1 that is, as S. Matthew clearly shows, 2 the Church of Christ. It is quite impossible that the ecclesiastical rulers in those first centuries could ever have overthrown the sanctity of one day in favour of another without con- vincing proof that the Apostles had received Christ's 1 ACTS i. 3. 2 S. Matthew's aim throughout his Gospel was to set forth the Royalty of Christ, and to exhibit the Church as His kingdom. to the Practice. 221 directions to do it ; but we are not told it anywhere in the Books that have come down to us. Even so it is impossible to believe that the custom of praying for the dead in primitive times could have found so large a place in the Public Worship of the Universal Church, and in the private practice of individual Christians, unless those who adopted it had an undoubted conviction that it rested on the sanction of Christ, traditionally conveyed to them- selves through those who heard it from His Own lips. If we accept Church authority in the one case, it is inconsistent to reject it in the other ; and it is worthy of notice that the weight of authority is less for the supersession of the Sabbath than it is for the legitimacy of praying for the dead. There was a divided use as to the former for a time at least, 1 but an absolutely unanimous acceptance of the latter from the very first. We cannot but feel, therefore, that it is no derogation from the sovereign authority 1 This is brought out most markedly in the Apostolic Constitu- tions, in which the Lord's Day and the Sabbath are regarded nearly as co-ordinate : the Christians were exhorted to meet for praise " principally on the Sabbath-day," and "more diligently on the day of the Lord's resurrection," ii. lix. Again, "keep the Sab- bath and the Lord's day festival," vii. xxiii. ; cf. also vii. xxxvi. and viii. xxxiii. Gregory of Nyssa speaks of them as "sister- days," and Socrates says that there were solemn assemblies on both (Eccl. Hist. vi. 8). 222 Popular Objections of God's Word to accept the subordinate teaching of the Church in a matter which is not binding as " of faith," but worthy to be received for the hope and comfort it is able to inspire. Is it lawful There is yet one more point of interest that can those who hardly be passed over : for whom is it lawful to have died pray ? for those only who died in faith, or for sin- ners also ? If for the former alone, it has been not unnaturally objected that prayer for the dead is robbed of its chief attraction. In primitive times in Public Worship none but "the faithful" were accounted as eligible for the prayers of the Church ; at times they were spoken of or regarded as " sin- ners," but never as " wilful sinners." For instance, pardon was asked for what we should call sins of infirmity ; " forgive their faults and failings "... "blot out all their prevarications ; " " call not back their foolish deeds, for there is no one in the bonds of the flesh who is innocent in Thy sight." x Again, prayers were offered for the effacement of the defiling touch which sin had left upon the soul : " we pray Thee, that whatever stain he has contracted in his passage through the world may be wiped out," 2 1 Cf. Lilt. S. Joannis Evang. ; Minor. S. Jacobi ; S. Dionysii EENAUD. 2 Sacr. Leon. ; Sacr. Gelas. MURAT. to the Practice. 223 but there is hardly any mention in the Liturgies of those who died in open transgression. This is just what we should have expected, in the knowledge of what Holy Scripture reveals, that the destiny of those who have deliberately rejected Christ and His offer of salvation is fixed at death. We can, however, readily draw some distinction Distinctiou between the action of the Church in her public public and Services and that of individuals in private. In the early Church, when discipline was enforced, there was little difficulty in deciding who were qualified for her prayers ; they were all who died in com- munion, who had not severed themselves or been severed by judicial sentence from her rights and privileges. The Church claimed to decide, as far at least as she was called upon to form a judgment, who died in wilful unrepentant sin, and from those who were cut off from communion in life she withheld her prayers after death. But whatever the Church, by a right, solemnly delegated to her by her Lord, may claim to do, no such authority belongs to individuals. We know not what may pass between the soul of the transgressor and God even at the last, and in the absence of certainty which is unattainable by our finite capacity, and in the exercise of that charity which " hop.eth all 224 Popular Objections to the Practice. things," we may well shrink from condemning though we may fear the worst. If then we would pray for any of whose penitence we may have no assurance, it behoves us to accompany our petition with a recognition of the necessary condition, " if it bt in aaxrriizm toith ^hp toill." With such a safeguard as this against even seeming to traverse God's judgment upon a sinful life, we may find comfort in praying for sinners, when all other means of helping them are taken away. The same suggestion may help us, as it helped the pious Bishop Heber, if we cannot satisfy ourselves that we have Divine sanction for praying for those that have died in faith ; we should ask God's forgive- ness if unknowingly we have overstepped the boundary of what is right in His eyes. CHAPTER XXII. Communion of AS an Article of Belief this doctrine has a history in many respects almost identical with that of the Descent into Hell. It is probably the latest addition to the Apostles' Creed, 1 occurring for the As an first time in a sermon attributed to Eusebius Belief Ihe Gallus, 2 in which a creed is quoted with the words mftted'into "Communion of Saints" immediately after "tlie Holy Catholic Church." The authorship, however, of the sermon is a matter of uncertainty, some critics assigning it to Faustus the Breton, 3 who died 1 It was not in the Aquileian Creed, expounded by Kuf- finus, or mentioned by him in the Oriental or the Roman Creed ; not in the African, nor in the Sermons of Chrysologus, nor the de symbolo ad Catechumenos of S. Augustine, nor in the 119th sermon de tempore, c. 8. It was not in the old Greek Creeds, no^t cited at the Councils of Nice or Constantinople or Ephesus, nor commented upon by S. Cyril and S. Chrysostom. Cf. Pearson's Expos. ; note in loco. 2 DE. HBUKTLEY, de Fide et Symbolo, p. 59. Commonly called Rhegiensis, from Eiez, the name of his see in the province of Aix. Dr. Gaspari, following Oudin, has written a learned treatise in favour of his authorship. 226 The Communion of Saints. at the close of the fifth century, others again with greater probability to an unknown writer of the century following. It is in favour of the later date that it is found in no other Creed till 650 A.D., when it occurs in that recited in the Gallican Sacra- men tary. 1 It is worthy of notice that the doctrine must have been regarded as one of no little importance, for the Church to have altered her symbol of belief for its admission at a time when additions had ceased to be made. Such being a brief summary of its imposition as an Article of Faith, we turn to the consideration of its true significance. Now there is unquestionably a sense in which the words may be interpreted as having no refer- ence to the state after death, which is the subject of our present inquiry; and we feel bound to dwell upon it, though we are fully satisfied that the Applicable gravest objections lie against any such limitation. Saints on It will all turn of course upon the meaning of the not re- terms "Saints" and "Communion." Judged by them. 6 modern usage, the former is appropriated to those who have finished their course and gained an 1 MABILLON, Museum Italicum, i. pt. 2, p. 312, and de Lit. Gallic, p. 339. The Commimion of Saints. 227 entrance into Paradise ; but originally it was by no means restricted to the faithful dead. In Holy Scripture the title was applied not only to those scriptural who led holy lives, but to any who were condition- Sera ally holy by virtue of their dedication to God. In the Old Testament all Israelites admitted into covenant with God by circumcision were holy, and together they formed what the Psalmist called " an a00.emhlg xrr rmtgregaticrn ot 0aint0"; 1 and God Himself employed the same expression in reference to the whole people, when He said, that they should be to Him "a ktnjjbxrm ff prie0t0, an holg nattxm." 2 The fundamental idea of the word is separation, 3 or dedication to God's service. No doubt the thought of such consecration suggested personal separation from the defilements of the world, and as this thought became intensified the word acquired, as in modern usage, a wholly moral significance j but the fact that it was not considered inapplicable to a sinful and rebellious people shows that it was not always so restricted. The original usage of the word in the New Testament is analogous to that in the Old, designat- ing those who by baptism had been brought into i Ps. Ixxxix. 5-7. 2 EXOD. xix. 6. s Cf. Trench, Synonyms, 2d ser. p. 168. 228 The Communion of Saints. union with God. Saints and Christians are synonymous terms ; and S. Paul does not hesitate to address the whole body of his converts in any particular Church by the general title of " saints," 1 though he goes on in the letter to reprove them for the commission of most grievous sins. 2 Primarily, then, as far as the persons are con- cerned, the communion of saints may have indi- cated nothing more than a close relationship existing between the living members of Christ's The double Church. But the question arises whether " corn- Church munion " is applicable in Churches where dis- Commu- . . . ., . nion. sensions and divergent opinions and practices are known to have existed. The union of Churches or members of a Church may be regarded as either objective or subjective. In the ideal state it is both. It is objective by reason of the " dDtte HC0rb, xrtte Jfaith, cue $3aptt0m." 3 All are members of the one Body, of which there is One Head, and One in- breathing quickening Spirit; and, no matter how divergent their practice, so long as they hold to these fundamental truths there is an indissoluble bond of union between them. The Eastern and i EP. TO ROM. i. 7, xvi. 15 ; 1 COR. L 2 ; EPHES. i. 1 ; PHIL. i. 1 ; COL. i. 2. a 1 COK. iii. 1-3 ; vi. 15-18. 8 EPHES. iv. 5. The Communion of Saints. 229 Western Churches are both " in Christ " as every branch is in the Vine, in both cases drawing their vital principle from one and the same source of life. This union may be expressed or symbolised out- Commu- wardly and visibly by definite " acts of communion " necessarily which are very helpful in realising it; but the by" overt interruption or deliberate refusal on one side or the other does not break the bond. It destroys sub- jective unity, but objectively nothing can destroy it but the absolute rejection of that belief on which the Church is founded. Externally there may be strife and discord, but underlying all the visible and distracting confusion there is that peace which nothing can take away, resting on the eternal truth that there can be no schism in the Body of Christ. It is as when we look at the sea in the midst of a storm ; its surface is agitated and driven by the force of the wind in every direction, wave dashing against wave in angry conflict ; but we are sure all the time that, if we were to penetrate to its depths, we should find the great tides flowing on below as calm and undisturbed as though no storm were raging overhead. The existing divisions, therefore, of Churches and individuals present no real difficulty in supposing 230 The Communion of Saints. that this Article of our Creed is limited to that bond of union which exists between all the members of the Visible Church. Reasons for There are, however, abundant reasons for extend- extending the idea of ing the existence of this communion beyond the communion beyond sphere of the Church militant here on e.arth, so as lationships. to embrace the Church expectant now in Paradise. There is first the a priori consideration arising from the fact that the doctrine is set forth not as an his- toric fact admitting of demonstrative proof, but as something to be received in faith as an Article ot Belief. Yet further, all its surroundings are sugges- tive of mystery ; it has its place in that division of the Creed which exhibits the Ministry of the Holy Ghost. No doubt there are clouds and darkness surrounding all the acts of Deity, whether of God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Ghost ; but we know far less of the Third Person than of the First and the Second, and the clouds seem to thicken around us as we enter upon His sphere of operation. The mys- Take the Catholic Church which is offered for the lying all acceptance of our faith, as the firstfruits of the work the Articles TT , .~, T/ , . , 11 associated of the Holy Ghost. If it were only a visible organi- ' lfc sation with an earthly ministry and a congregation of human beings no matter how vast, with magnificent The Communion of Saints. 231 buildings and much pomp and circumstance of Ritual and Worship, witnessing palpably to its greatness, we should not expect to find the acknow- ledgment of it made an Article of Belief; the senses could take cognisance of it as an accredited fact. It is because it is infinitely more than the eye can see or the ear take in ; because from its divine origin and the indwelling of the Holy Ghost it con- tains a supernatural element, which transcends the grasp of every earthly sense ; it is for this that it calls for the exercise of our faith. Look at its Sacraments ; if Baptism were nothing more than a sign of profession or token of membership; or if the Holy Eucharist were but an ordinance instituted to quicken men's remembrance of Christ's Death, they would make little demand on our faith for acceptance ; but all is changed directly we are told that in the one, by the operation of the Holy Ghost waiting upon and sanctifying the Baptism of water to the mystical washing away of sin, the soul of the baptized is brought into living union with God, and made a partaker of the Divine Nature ; and that in the other, by the selfsame Agency co-operating with Christ's commissioned Ministry, His very Life is communicated to the faithful, and the union begun in Baptism is sustained and strengthened, then at 232 The Communion of Saints. once we pass out of the region of the senses, and are thrown entirely upon the principle of faith. It is the same with all the other clauses in this part of the Creed : the forgiveness of sins ; the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. I believe "in the forgiveness of sins; " it is not the historic fact alone that Christ died upon the Cross as a sacrifice for men's sins, that He was "the ICamb at d0b tohuh taketh atoag the 0itt0 xrf the toflrJLb," but it carries with it the acceptance of the inconceivably awful delegation of the Divine right of forgiveness, by which the ministry of reconcilia- tion was intrusted to mortal men, when on the evening of the Resurrection the Lord breathed on the Apostles, and said unto them, " Uleaibe ge the ^)01g dlhost : toho0e00eber sins ge remit, theg are remitted tmtcr them ; attb tohosesxrefcer sins je retain, theg are retained." l Human reason would shrink from accepting it, because to our finite intel- ligence it seems to infringe an inalienable preroga- tive of God ; but we know that in spiritual matters, where sight fails faith steps in, and so the assurance of present forgiveness, conveyed through human channels, is presented to us to be received in faith as an integral portion of the Christian system, i S. JOHN xx. 22, 23. The Communion of Saints. 233 The same might be repeated of the other Articles, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlast- ing ; they transcend all human experience : they are mysteries of the Faith. When, then, we find the Communion of the Saints attributed to the Third Person of the Trinity, and co-ordinated with other Conclusion , TT- n o i i L ' thatitmust works of His, all of which are wrapt in mystery, we embrace are driven to the conclusion that no thoughts can Christ as satisfy the requirements of the position, unless they Hying. 8 carry us beyond that which the eye can see or the reason grasp ; unless, in short, they suggest that there is in the members of Christ's Church, through the unbroken operation of His indwelling Spirit in the one Body, such a close relationship that even death is powerless to separate them. The first intimation that such a link would be established between the two worlds through the Incarnation is found in Christ's promise to Nathanael that hereafter, when, that is, the Holy Spirit should inspire the Church, which He was then framing, with the Divine life, the Apostle would realise what Jacob had seen in vision, a ladder of communication between earth and heaven, " the angtts xrf dxrli a0mbittg attb fosottbing; npxm the cxm at Jftan." x Christ, the Head, cannot be separated from His Body, which i S. JOHN i. 51. P* 234 The Communion of Saints. is the Church ; hence there must be a bond of union between the faithful dead and the faithful living, the one no less than the other being members incorporate in the same. Then the Apostles caught up the idea and pressed it home on their converts. S. Paul reminds the Philippians that their " conbttstdion," their citizen- ship, " i0 in heato.en" ; 1 and repeating the figure he tells the Ephesians that they are " MlxriM-dtt- Ztn0 toith th* 0aint0." 2 The language is full of significance ; it suggests at once the idea of duties and functions to perform, 3 as well as privileges to enjoy in their relationship to the other world, and it is very distinct in the assertion that they have already entered upon them. It is no future inherit- ance of responsibility or enjoyment to which they will succeed hereafter; it is a great and present reality, and an assured possession. 4 i PHIL. iii. 20. 2 EPHES. ii. 19. * Civis supernse Hierusalem: noster, inquit, municipatus in coelis. TERT. de Cor. Mil. 13. Vobis corona seternitatis, trabium angelicas substantiae, politia in ccelis. Id. ad Martyr. 3. So Polycarp, writing to the Philippians, promises them their reward if they perform their duties as citizens, t&v iroXirewrw/iefla dws airroO Kal ffVfj.pacriXtvcrofj.ev avrQ, sec. 5. 4 iro\LTevfj.a tv ovpavois viriipxei : he does not say tarl, but the stronger term inrdpxei, implying prior existence : they have it before they get there ; cf. Phil. ii. 6, where it expresses the prior existence of Christ in the form of God. The Communion of Saints. 235 Again, the same Apostle assures them that, by virtue of their conversion to Christianity, God "hath rai&eV them "tip- together, arib mafce" them " 0it together in heatoenlg plaas in (Ehrbt Jfe#tt#." x It was because through their Baptism they had been incorporated into Christ, " members of His Body, of His flesh, of His bones," that onward from the time that this mystical union was formed, where He was, there also they were. The most striking passage, however, in its bearing on the Communion of Saints occurs in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where the inspired author tells the Jewish converts that they have entered into fellow- ship with the members of the Divine Commonwealth : "3e are come tmtcr JEcrmtt Eixrn, anb wntxr the tttj) .of the gibing dxrii, the heabenlg Jerusalem, anb ixr an innumerable .companp of angels, . . . anil to the 0pirite of just men mabe perfect." 2 All this, coming to us, as it does, on the highest authority, carries conviction to the mind that between the living and the dead in Christ there is a vital bond of union and joint participation of privi- lege and responsibility. If we compare the whole Church, as we have seen it somewhere compared, to one long army on i EFHES. ii. 6. 2 HKB. xii. 22, 23. 236 The Communion of Saints. its march towards heaven, we shall be able to real- ise, though still very inadequately, how a veritable communion can exist between the different parts, though they may be prevented from holding actual converse with each other. They have the conscious- ness that they all serve under one Captain, bound to Him by the same oath of allegiance, the Baptis- mal vow ; all wearing the same uniform, the white robes of Christ's righteousness : all carrying the same standard, which is His Cross : all pursuing the same aim, the complete l conquest over sin, and all inspired by the hope of the same reward, even the Crown of life. The leading columns of the vast host are far advanced on their way ; it may be some few have actually entered the heavenly city, 2 others have disappeared from the earthly horizon, and are crossing the valley beyond at divers degrees of progress and advancement, others again are still only beginning the heavenward march ; but through all the length- ened procession there is a real sense of communion, they that are furthest on conscious of those behind, 1 Cf. supra, ch. vii. , on Purification after Death. 2 If, that is, the Martyrs are already enjoying the Beatific Vision, as the Roman Church teaches. The doctrine was put forth at the Council of Florence 1439 A.D., and again at Trent, when it was made an Article of Faith. In After Death, part u. ch. vii., this view has been examined by the light of Patristic evidence, and disallowed. The Communion of Saints. 237 those that linger with the last sensible of being drawn forwards by a mysterious attraction from those in front ; and so, though some are constantly passing out of sight, and no voice comes back to tell us either where they are or what they are doing, the bond is never broken, the unity is still intact. CHAPTER XXIIL flfllapg in toljicl) Communion map be realtgetu THE Communion of Saints can hardly rest upon a passive consciousness of unity ; for though there is no certain knowledge of it, we feel in- stinctively that it cannot be fully satisfied without some active fellowship in kindred aims and recipro- cal service, especially in a common hope and faith and praise of God, and in united acts of prayer theirs for us and ours for them. Common Hope is a very watchword of the Church on earth. The Apostles impressed upon their converts the value of it as their stay and comfort in their earthly pilgrimage ; and calls to abound in hope, to rejoice in hope, to lay hold with it as an anchor of the soul, to have the full assurance of it, are constantly re- curring notes of S. Paul's Epistles ; and when he is describing the former condition of those whom he had won to Christ, he sums up the greatest misery How Communion may be realised. 239 of it by characterising them as " hating tia itnb ioithxmt xrb in the toxrrJLb." x It must be also a watchword of the saints in Paradise, for this is emphatically a place of waiting and expectation; one in which their hopes are quickened by realising that the trials and dis- couragements incidental to their former probation are over. To be " toith Christ " and in the com- pany of angels cannot but raise their hopes to the highest pitch in expectation of the ever-nearing con- summation of all bliss, the Beatific Vision. It is revealed 2 to us that some, secure in the peace and shelter of the Altar of God, were heard to cry in passionate longing for the time to come when sin should be avenged ; and the Book of Inspiration closes with the declaration that the Church Univer- sal, the whole Mystical Body, which forms the Bride of Christ, and the indwelling Spirit, unite in the language of hope, and long for the Advent which shall fulfil all their desire ; " ^nb the (Spirit aitb the JJrtttf sajj, (tote." 3 Again, faith is a very condition of our spiritual Common being. In this life, it is true, it is liable to fluctua- tions; it is shaken and staggered by perplexing anomalies, as God's promises appear to be failing, i EPHES. ii. 12. 2 BET. vi. 10. 8 REV. xxii. 17. 240 Specific Ways in which the righteous man forsaken and begging his bread while the wicked are in power and nourish like a green bay-tree ; but it is one element in man's pro- bation that his faith and trust should be thus over- shadowed ; and in view of this he is constantly bidden by the inspired voice to be rich and strong and steadfast in faith, to hold fast the profession of it without wavering, so that nothing may take it away. It was accounted so essential to the saintly character that it was made by the early Church the one test of fitness for admission to paradise. 1 In the Intermediate State, like the kindred virtue of hope, it becomes more sublimated and pure ; the very passage of the soul from the distracting influ- ence and bewilderment of material things to a world of spiritual beings, the purging away of the elements of earthliness, the free and unhindered concentration of the highest faculties, and, above all, the nearer prospect of realisation and fulfilment, all this will combine to intensify this spiritual power of appre- hension, till the expectant saint seems almost to see before him the stable towers and battlements of the city of God ; but it will still be faith, for that can only yield to sight when the Vision of God is re- 1 None but those who died in faith were eligible for the prayers of the Church. Communion may be realised. 241 vealed, and man is admitted to see the King in His beauty. Then next there must be a community of praise Common and adoration. If death is no breach in the con- adoration, tinuity of living, then that which occupies so much of the life of the faithful saint here is carried on hereafter, only purified from earthly alloy and in- tensified by the associated influence of the angelic host. It is in the conviction of this that in our great hymn of praise we assert that "the glorious company of the Apostles, the goodly fellowship of the Prophets, and the white-robed * army of Martyrs " unite in the praises of the Adorable Lord. So too the Church Militant has an instinctive belief that in that service of praise and thanksgiving, wherein we re-present before the Father the Great Sacrifice of Redemption, all are united, the saints on earth and ten thousand times ten thousand saints in Paradise, in one common act of adoring gratitude, as they cry, " SBtftiltg i0 the ^amb that toa0 adam." 2 If, moreover, the end of all creation is simply the 1 Candidatus, clothed in white, from the custom of candidates for an office wearing the white toga. The Early English Version of the Te Deum rendered it "the white cost of martyris." In Marshall's Primer it was " the fair fellowship of martyrs." 2 REV. v. 12. 242 . Specific Ways in wkic/i glory of God ; x if the praise of Him will be the absorbing occupation of the inhabitants of heaven hereafter, if they are destined to stand, as the rapt Apostle saw them in anticipation, and heard them saying, " J5le00tng, anb hottxmr, anb glorg, anb p0to.er bt unto IJHm that 0itteth nyon the throne, anb nntxr the Ipamb iox b.er anb tbuc "; 2 if, again, many of the most saintly men testify to having found some of their highest joy on earth in singing the praises of the sanctuary, there can hardly be a question that, through the continuity of life which extends beyond the grave, they will go on to perfect themselves within the veil for their eternal service of praise and adoration. Thus we feel a strong and encouraging conviction that our feeble praises gather strength from association, as they seem to mingle in the one great stream of laud and honour that " the innumerable tompang xrf. ang.el0 " and " the 0jririt0 ot jn0t men mab^ psriert," are for ever sending up to the throne of God. Keciprocal But we believe that there is some closer bond of sympathy and union between the visible and the in- visible than can ever be created by a joint partici- pation in hope or faith or acts of praise. It is realised in the thought of reciprocal prayer; for i REV. iv. 11 2 REV. v. 13. Communion may be realised. 243 there is nothing that so completely annihilates dis- tance and bridges over intervening space between divided friends as the habit of interceding for each other. It is but a foretaste of that closer communion which will be perpetuated under the better conditions of a higher spirituality. We have shown elsewhere a how the Church on earth has never failed in her public Service and in the private practice of individual members to pray for the Church in Paradise. We know not, we cannot possibly tell, what the wants of ths de- parted may be at the time that we pray ; but there are blessings that can never come amiss to those The prayers who are not yet perfected ; they are, on the one church hand, an ever-increasing peace and light and rest Ml and refreshment : on the other, the eflacernent of the defiling touch of sin and a constant growth of sanctification, to fit the soul for the consummation of bliss in the Presence of God. We prayed for their welfare in life, and our prayers follow them also in death, even in spite of our fears ; it matters not that the use and character of the Church's prayers may be misapplied and mis- understood, that they may "have an unfortunate tendency towards dangerous progressions " ; that 1 Of. After Death, pt. I., passim. 244 Specific Ways in which some of the worst abuses of a perverted doctrine of Purgatory may at times have seemed to gather strength from an encouragement of the practice; notwithstanding all this, we are confronted by an overpowering mass of evidence in favour of it ; the natural instincts of love and friendship prompt it ; reason suggests that what has been the very breath of life to us, it may be for years, cannot possibly be stopped by the mero accident of material separa- tion; Scripture lends a Divine sanction to it, and the whole undivided Church, interpreting Scripture, adopted and cherished the habit, with but a single unworthy objection during its earliest history, 1 as an integral part of its spiritual work. Prayers of But what of the prayers of the faithful dead for the Church in Paradise, those that are militant here on earth? Just as reason pointed out the impossibility of the living ceasing to pray for the dead, so also it satisfies the conscience that they who prayed for us when they were alive in the flesh, encompassed though they were by all the infirmities and weaknesses which drag down the soul, will pray more constantly and effectively, when that which now lets and hinders them is altogether withdrawn. i Aerius]of Sebasteia: for the value of his protest cf. After Death, pp. 134-5. Communion may be realised. 245 Moreover, Scripture indorses what reason sug- gests. Three times S. John tells us that he saw in vision a presentation of the prayers of the saints at the Altar of God. It was no revelation of the final state, for there will be no room for prayer when the Judgment has been given and our destiny fixed. " ^he fonr bea0t0," he says, " anb fonr anb tio^tttg elber0 fell boton before the IDamb, hatoingeberg out of them harp0, anb golben totals fall at obonrs, tohich ate the prater* of 0aint0." 1 "Jtnb another attgtl ranw anb 0t00J) at the altar, hating a gclbm j:en0^r; anb there toa0 gitoen unto him much incense, that he shcmlb offer it ioith the jrragers of all 0aints upon the golben altar iohirh toa0 before the throne. &nb the smoke of the incen0.e, tohich came toith the yraser0 of the 0aint0, asrenbeb ny before (iob ont of the angel'0 hanb." 2 Yet further, there is a long chain of evidence in the writings of the primitive Fathers and Doctors of the Church which confirms in the fullest manner the principle of the saints' intercessions. But having established a certain assurance that the saints departed do pray for the living, we are met by the hard but intensely interesting question, Upon i EBV. v. 8. 2 KEY. viii. 3, 4. 246 Specific Ways in which The extent what knowledge do they base their prayers 1 Do knowledge they share the ignorance, which limits so largely jjossesse ^^ petitions for them, or are they endowed in the samts. spiritual state with a specific knowledge of what is passing in the world they have left ? Have they any means of communication, so that what interests the Church on earth or individual members of it, their wants and struggles, their successes and fail- ures, may find an immediate response and kindle some active sympathy beyond the skies ? There is one passage of Scripture which seems to lend a very distinct countenance to the belief. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, the writer, after gathering together the many noble deeds of faith which the history of Jewish antiquity furnished in abundance, pictures himself and his fellow- Christians as combatants in the arena, surrounded on all sides by vast crowds of spiritual heroes, rising tier upon tier above their heads, like spectators in the amphitheatre : " 0mnij toe aisrr -sat ,omtpa00.eb abxrttt toiih so Qxtzt a doitb of toittte000, let u0 lag a0tb.e .e berg tonight, aitJb the 0in tohich forth 00 -ea0iLg bz&d w0, artb let w0 run toith patima the rare that i0 0.et bzfoxt U0." 1 The figure suggests that the dead are spectators 1 roiyapovv Kal tyueij TOVOVTOV Zyovres , K.T.\ HEB. xii 1. Communion may be realised. 247 watching with eager interest the progress of the con- test in which we are engaged. If we only read the English Version there could be no room for doubt that the author intended to signify that the saints, who have entered into rest, are fully conscious of what passes amongst ourselves ; but when we turn to the original language we are surprised and dis- appointed to find that he seems almost of set purpose to have avoided the very word which would have made it absolutely certain, and adopted another which in itself throws no light upon the question. The word which is translated " wit- nesses " is nowhere used as synonymous with " spectators." There was no dearth of words in the Greek to express the latter had he wished to do so j 1 S. Luke had employed one such in speaking of those who had been the actual companions of our Lord, "tohidt fzcrm the beginning torn epe- toitnesses ani) ministers xrf the SiBorb." 2 The early Fathers and interpreters 3 seem to have 1 ain-6irrrjs, eirfnrrai, oparal and even atfro/xaprrfpes were all in familiar use. fj-dprvs is simply one who gives evidence or testimony. 2 ol air apxfy atfriirrat ical inr^rai yev6ft.fvoi TOV Aoyov. S. LUKE i. 2. 3 "The Greek expositors generally regard paprt/** as refer- ring only to their having witnessed for the faith." So CHRYS.^ t/jMfyrtpT)*av T$ TOV 9eoO (i.eya\fi{>Ti}ri. THEODORE!., frnprvpfl ry SwAfui rrjt TT^TCWS. THEODR. MOPS., ft*prtf* IrroOfti ov 248 Specific Ways in which felt very strongly the significance of the distinction, for we know of no instance where this passage is adduced to support the belief that departed saints possess knowledge of what is passing here upon earth. 1 Nevertheless we cannot but feel that the imagery of the amphitheatre does lose much of its force, if we are bound to believe that it was used to the exclusion of the idea it most naturally sug- gests, viz., that those who throng its benches are eager spectators of those who engage in the con- tests. The conclusion then which we are constrained to accept is, that while the figure of the amphitheatre suggests " eye-witnesses," the substitution of another word for one which would have fixed this interpre- tation leaves the matter in uncertainty. The saints above may be spectators of our earthly trials, we cannot tell ; but we have their testimony to the cer- tainty of success, if we follow their example and strive lawfully, as they did, in the same arena. Although then it would intensify the value of our belief in the Communion of Saints if we were ruv ireirovObnav Xyet, d\\a TUV fiaprvpotivTuv irpbs TT)V irlcmv, Cf. ALFOBD in loc. 1 I have examined the Patristic evidence as to "the extent of the knowledge possessed by the Saints " at length in After Death pt. II. ch. v. Communion may be realised. 249 sure that the departed possessed of themselves that knowledge of our trials and wants which would enable them to make these at all times a specie subject of intercession, yet in the absence of such certainty, we have sufficient encouragement in the thought that such knowledge as is needful for them may be conveyed to them in ways that we know not of, by God or by the angels, or by the spirits of those that are perpetually being added to their company. 1 Here then we have attempted, however inade- quately, to set forth some few of the ways in which the idea of communion may be realised. After all our searchings and investigations we are still con- scious that clouds and darkness are around and about us, and it must ever be so "tttttil the top hreak mb the shaixrtos We have aimed at kindling a keener interest in The practi- cal value of the condition of the faithful dead, at leading men to the doc- trine. regard death not as a violent disruption of occupa- tion and aifections, but as the appointed process by which the spirit passes with no real breach of con- tinuity into a higher sphere of activity and love. i S. Augustine especially found comfort in this thought that though the saints are in themselves incapable of knowing all that is going on in this world, yet they received information from different sources. Cf. De euro, pro mortuis gerenda, xv. Q* 250 How Communion may be realised. In proportion as we are able to grasp this happier conception we shall find strength and encouragement to strive after greater holiness and purity of life, so that when the barriers of time and space which now separate us from those we have loved and lost awhile shall be withdrawn, they may recognise at once the features which will stamp us for their own, and we may enjoy together the fulness of un- interrupted communion. Till that day arrives let the beautiful prayer which one of the most saintly men of this genera- tion used * with far greater comfort, as he said, than he deserved, be often upon our lips : " Remember Thy servants and handmaidens which have departed hence in the Lord : give them eternal rest and peace in Thy heavenly kingdom, and to us such a measure of communion with them as Thou knowest to be best for us. And bring us all to serve Thee in Thine eternal kingdom, when Thou wilt and as Thou wilt, only without shame or sin. Forgive my presumption, and accept my prayers, as Thou didst the prayers of Thine ancient Church, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." 1 Keble's Letters of Spiritual Counsel, p. 46. PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE EXPLAINED, QUOTED, OR REFERRED TO IN THE PRECEDING PAGES. Genesis iii. 24, . FAU 165 Psalms xlix. 15, . 180 xv. 15, . 29 Ixxxix. 5-7, . 287 xxv. 8, 9-17, . . 29, 114 xci. 11, 12, 16T xxviii. IT, . 12 Proverbs i. 12, . SO xxxii. 2, 164 xxx. 16, . 80 xxxii. 24, . 165 S. ofSoL viii. 6, 80 xxxv. 29, . 29, 114 Isaiah iv. 4, 66 xlix. 29, , 29 v.4, . 180 xlix. 33, . 114 V. 14, . 80 Exodus iii. 15, , 27 xiv. 9, 10, 50 iv. 5, 27 xiv. 16, . 121 xix. 6, 227 xxvi. 19, 20, 88 Leviticus v. 2, 130 xxxviiS. 18, . 30 vii. 25, . 130 Ezekiel xxxL, . 121 Deuter. xxix. 29, 13 xxxi. 16, 17, 60 xxxii. 49, 50, 114 xliv. 30, . 16 xxxii. 50, . 29 Daniel iii. 28, . 167 xxxiv. 5, 6, . 115 iv. 35, . 164 1 Samuel ii. 11, . 166 viii. 16, . 165 xxviii. 14, . 120 viii. 18, . 167 2 Samuel xii. 15-23, . 116 x.13, . 165 xii. 23, . 80 x.18, . 167 Nehemiah x. 39, . 166 xii. 1, 166 Job x. 22, . . SO, 81 xii. 2, . 40 xiv. 7, 10, 28 Malachi iii. 8, 66 xix. 25, 26, 28 S. Matt ii. 13, . 167 Psalms vi. 5, . 29,80 v. 26, . 78 xvi. 10, . 128 viii. 11, . 42 xvii. 14, . . 28 xii. 86, . 68 xlix. 14, 15, 28 xiii. 41, . 167 252 Passages of Scripture explained, quoted, MB MB S. Matt xvi. 18, . 195 Acts vii. 60, . 49 XViI.3, . 120 xii. 7, 10, 167 xviii. 10, . . 63 xx. 35, . 105 xxv. 1-12, . 200 Romans i. 7, 228 xxv. 14-80, 200 ii. 6, 181 xxv. 41-45, 203 ii. 6-16, . 173 xxviL 68, . 156 vii. 15, . 90 S. Mark ix. 49, . 65 viii. 16, . 17 xii. 18, 25, 122 xiv. 9, . 162 xvi. 15, . 192 xiv. 12, . 57 8. Luke i 2, . 247 xvi. 15, . 228 i. 19, 26, 165 1 Corinth, i. 2, 228 1.23, . 166 i. 7,8, . 73, 169 vi. 40, . 24 ii. 9, . 9 ix. 30, 81, 120 iii. 1-3, . 228 xv. 10, . 167 iii. 13, . . 65, 76 xvi. 9, . 116 vi. 15, 18, 228 xvi. 19-31, 51, 202 xiii. 12, . 59 xvi. 22, . . 19,42,167 xv. 6, 49 xvi. 23, . 34 xv. 20, . 49 xvi. 25, . . 65,87 xv. 44, 52, 54, .. 3 xix. 12-27, 200 2 Corinth, iii. 17, . in xix. 42-44, 198 iii. 18, . 171 xx. 36, . . . 8,123 v.l, . 53 xxiii. 43, . . 40, 51, 117 v. 6, 8, . 21 John i. 51, . 233 vi.2, . 199 iii. 13, . 19 vi. 14, . . . 117 v. IT. . . . 105 xii. 2-4, . 3 ix. 4. . 182 xii. 4, . . 52,59 xi. 11-40, xx. 17, . 5 19 Galatians ii. 20, . v. 17, . 89 14 xx. 22, 23, 232 Ephesians i. 1, 228 Acts i. . 18 ii.6, . 235 i.3, . 220 ii. 12, . 239 i.15, . 194 ii. 19, . 234 ii. 25-27, 128 iii. 18, 19, 51, 139 iv.12, . 182 iv. 5, . 228 or referred to in preceding Pages. 253 Ephesians iv. 9, . PAllE 131 Hebrews xti. 22, 23, PADB . 235 iv. 12, 13, . 98 1 8. Peter i. 8, . 88 v. 32, . 123 ii. 21, . 100 Philippians i. 1, . 228 iii. 18, 19, 100 i. 6, . . . 73, 169 iii. 18, 20, 130 i. 23, . . 52,88 iv. 6, . 100 iii. 8, . . 89 2 S. Peter ii. 21, . 191 iii. 20, . 234 1 a John iii. 2, . 62 Colossians i. 2, . . 228 8. Jade 9, . 165 1 Thess. iv. 13, . 7 Revelation 1. 3, . 7 49 i. 18, . 162 iv. 17, . 20 1L5, . 199 lv.18, . . 7 ii. 21-23, 190 v. 23, . 15 iv. 11, . 242 1 Timothy vi. 16, . 63 v.8, . 246 2 Timothy 1.18, . . 211 v.12, . 241 vi. 6, . . 53 v. 13, . 242 Hebrews i. 7, . 165 vi. 9, 10, 62 i. 14, . . 8,166 VL10, . . 22, 146, 239 vi. 4, 6, . . 191 vLll, . 78 viii. 2, . 166 vii. 11, . 166 ix. 27, . 22 vii. 13, . 121 x. 11, . 166 viii. 8, . 166 at. 86, . . 190 viii. 3, 4, . 246 r. 26, 27, . 201 xi.40, . 151 x. 29, 30, . 207 xiv. 13, . . 87, 102 xi. 39, 40, . 146 xvi. 9-11, 207 3d. 40, . 21, 161 xxi. 2, . . 10,12 xii. 1, . . 246 xxi. 27 . 62 iii. 22, . 164 xxii. 17, . 2 INDEX. ABGARUS, Apocryphal letter of, 153. Abraham's bosom, 41, 42. Altar, under the, meaning of, 44. Ambrose, 8., on purification by fire, 66. Angels, number of, 164. offices of, 166, 167. organisation of, 165. what they teach of the life in the spirit, 8. Apollinarian heresy, 133, 134. Aquinas, Thomas, on Purgatory, 81. Archangels, the names of, 165. Arnold, Dr., on the limitation of the application of the Scriptures, 182. Articles, the Forty-two, on Christ's Descent to Hell, 149. the Thirty-nine, on Purgatory, 85. BELLARMINE on Purgatory, 76. Butler's Analogy on the possibilities of a future state, 183. CALVIN'S view of Christ's descent into hell, 134. untenable, 136. Calvinistic Confession, 18. Catacombs, witness of the, to the peace of the soul, 97. Catherine of Genoa on Purgatory, 95. Cemeteries, meaning of, 49. Church, the, as a kingdom, 163. invisible, agencies of, 185, 186. Cicero's anticipation of the future, 111. Clemens Alexandrinus on purifica- tion by fire, 66. Communion, double meaning of, 228. Contemporary Review on the future of the Heathen, 180. Corporeity of the Soul, 121. Council of Ferrara, 47. of Florence, 82, 236. of Trent, 47, 85. Creeds, Aquilean and Sirmian, wit- ness to Christ's descent into hell, 131. Crusades, the, in connection with indulgences, 84. DEATH, figures under which it is re- presented in Scripture, 53. Descent into hell foretold in the Old Testament, 128, 129. Dormer on future probation, 184. EDEN, the Garden of, 34, 86, 87. FIRE, ordeal by, taught in Scripture, 65. taught by theFathers, 66-68. Fra Angelico, paintings by, 159, 160. Friendship, the true basis of perma- nent, 118. Future life, knowledge of the, pos- sessed by the Jews, 28. GATHERED to one's fathers, meaning of, 114. Gerontius, the Dream of, 94. Gospel of Nicodemus, the 156, 157. Gregory Nazianzen on the ordeal by fire, 68. on its harmlessness, 96. 256 256 Index. Gregory the Great on Purgatory, 78, LACTANTIUS on the peace of the soul, 80. 96. on the purification of the soul, HARROWING of Hell, 158. 67. Heathen, possibilities for, in the In- Lambeth Articles, 135. termediate State, 173. Lazarus, the resurrection of, 5, 6. the Homilies on, 174. Legum, Reformatio, 178. S. Paul's teaching on the judg- Limbus Infantium, and Patrum, 81, ment of the, 173, 174. 158, 159. the Thirty-nine Articles on, Dante on, 159. 176. Limit to our conceptions of spiritual the Fathers on, 177. things, 2. Dante on, 178. Noel's Catechism on, 178. Liturgies, Primitive, value of the testimony of, 212. Reformatio Legum, 178. Hell, meaning of, 85. Hilary on the ordeal by fire, 67. MANHOOD, Christ's perfect, 126. connection with the descent Homilies, false teaching of the, on into hell, 132, 133. the future state, 17. Hooper on prayers for the dead, 214. Mant on the happiness of the dead, 126. Hypnopsychites, 47. Marriage, our Lord's teaching on, 122, 123. IMAGERY of the Bible, 9, 10. S. Augustine on, 123. Inequality, the principle of, widely Martensen's belief in a spiritual pur- manifested, 193. gatory, 72. Indulgences granted at the Crusades, Memory, quickened after death, 55, 85. 56. Luther's protest against Tetzel's at the day of judgment, 57. sale of, 85. view of the Greek Church upon, Muller, Julius, on future probation, 184. 84. Intermediate State, Patristic views NATHANAEL, Christ's promise to, 233. upon the, 23-26. Nebridius, the friend of Augustine, Jewish conceptions of the, 43. 29, 30. Newman's Dream of Gerontius, 94. Apocryphal Book of Es- Nicodemus, Apocryphal Gospel of, dras on, 83. 156, 157. Institution of a Christian Man, 178. Numbers, perfect, according to the Jews, 10. KEBLE'S Prayer for the Dead, 250. Klee's Dogmatics, on purification, ONESIPHORUS, in connection with 71. prayers for the dead, 211, 219, 220. Knowledge, development of, after Origen, on purification by fire, 66. death, 57. Old Testament Saints, their condition the Talmud upon the, 58. ameliorated by the descent into 8. Paul upon the, 59, 60. hell, 152-155. Index. 257 PARABLE, the, of the rich man and Purgatory, Greek and Latin Churches Lazarus, 20, 202. at variance on, 83. unjust steward, 116. S. Augustine's indefinite views vinedresser, 199. on, 78, 79. pounds and talents, 200, as taught by the Schoolmen, 81. ten virgins, 200. . Catherine of Genoa on, 95. Paradise, 34, 36-40. what kind of, condemned in Patristic views of, 39. Art. xxii., 85. Preaching to the spirits in prison, 137. Bishop Horsley on, 147. Purification of the soul, as taught by Roman Catholics, 75, 76. Pearson on, 137, 138. Patristic opinions on, 141, 142. RECOGNITION of the future state, 108. Paulinus of Nola, on the ordeal bv Homer's belief in, 108. fire, 96. Virgil's belief in, 109. Peace of the soul in Paradise, 87, 88. Socrates' belief in, 110. the causes of it, 90, 91. Cicero's belief in, 111. 8. Ambrose on, 90. Restoration, impossibility of, after S. Cyprian on, 92. judgment has been passed, 205, 20C. Prayers for the dead, at every epoch Righteous souls, the ministries of, of Church history, 209. in Paradise, 169. important testimony of the Thirty-nine Articles upon, 214. SABBATH, the, observed together popularly associated with Pur- with the Sunday in early times, gatory, 217. 1. legitimacy of, in the case of sin- Saint Paul's rapture, 3, 4. ners, 222-224. encouragement to investigate Preaching of the Apostles in Hades, what is revealed of the future, 7. 101. Saints, knowledge possessed by the, Prison, use of the term by 8. Peter, 246, 247. 146. prayers of, according to S. John, Probation, no second, 196. 245. the period of, limited, 198. | the Communion of, absence of an adequate, necessary before the Article from early creeds, 225. judgment, 207. the significance of the posi- Progressive sanctiflcation after death, tion of the Article in the creed, 230. 73. the doctrine testified to by S. testified to by Irenaeus, 73. Paul, 84, 235. Punishment, future, not necessarily Scriptural usage of the terms, corrective, 206. 227, 228. Purgatory, physical pains of, 70, 71. Sleep of the soul after death, 47. according to Bellarmine, modern writers on, 48. 76. Scriptural language on, 49. defined at Trent, 75, 76. Socrates' anticipation of the future, fundamental errors of, 77. 102. Council of Florence on, 82. Sophocles on future recognition, 110. Index. Spirit, The Holy, influence of, in Paradise, 170. Spirit-forms in the disembodied state, 119. Patristic opinions on, 120. Martensen on, 121. Spirits in prison, 51, 52, 143. Spiritual character of purification in Paradise, 71. = influences and ministries after death, 99. Steward, parable of the unjust, 118. Sunday observance, 220. Suttee of India, 112. TENNYSON, quotation from In Afe- mvriam, 6. Threats of Scripture against impeni- tent sinners, 190, 191. Threats of the Athanasian Creed, 193. Tripartite nature of man, 14-16. Irenaeus on, 10. Throne of Glory, the, 43. 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