PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE STATE. A Series of Sermons. Delivered in Emmanuel Reformed Episcopal Church, Ottawa, Ontario. BY WILLIAM H. COOPER, A.M. D.D., OFFICIATING MINISTER. 1 s a 2 . OTTAWA. Printed by C. W. Mitchell, 6, 8 and lO Elgin Street. »>i, *■!■ ■'i /\ff 1^ ^. /!' jy-' I /3 74^ PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE STATE. I A Series ot Sermons. Delivered in Emmanuel Reformed Episcopal Church, Ottawa, Ontario. \ WILLIAM H. COOPER, A.M. D.D., ! - OFFICIATING MINISTER. X 8 8 2 OTTAWA. Printed by C. ^A/^. Miiohell, 6, 8 and lO Elgin Street, Ottawa, Nov. 14th, 1882. Rev. Dr. Cooper, Dear Sir : IFe, your friends, who have xvith great pleasu:e heard your Sermons on (he "Problems of the Future Stofe" respectfully request timr publication in pamphlet form. We know that they did much good, and excited much interest : and we wish to have them preserved. Rev. J. J. Johnson. George May. R. W. Maktin. Francis Hunter. J. Hervey Sjpencer, Robert Switzer. ^ E. B. Botterell. Thomas Taylor. John B. Simpson. Saml. Thompson. T. D. KiRBY. Ottawa, Nov. 16th, 1882. Dtar Brethren : In the trust that, with the Divine blessing, the Sermons alluded to may prove conducive to prayerful searching of the Scriptures, and profitable meditation, I cheerfully put them, forth ; and remain. Yours, in tht love of Christ, W. H. Cooper. PROBLEiS OF THE FUTURE STATE. A Series of Sermons. Delivered in Emmanual Reformed Episcopal Church, Ottawa, Ontario. -BT- WILLIAM H. COOPER, A.M. D.D., . OFFICIATING MINISTER, 1882. HADES: OR, THE PLACE OF DEPARTED SPIRITS, And it came to pass that the bej^i^ar died, and that hs was carried away by the angels into Abraham's bosom : and the rich man also died, and wa« buried ; and in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and leeth Abraham afar oft, and LaEarus ia his k< snm. And he cried and eaid. Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send I^azirus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue : for I am in anguish in this dame. But Abraham »aid, son, rrmem- ber that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things, and io kke manner Lazarus evil things : but now he is com- forted and thou art in anguish. And besides all thii, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed : that they who would pa^s from hence to you may rot be able : and t hat none may rross over from thence to us. (Revised Veraicm) Lnke XVI, 22-26. The future destiny of the soul is a sub- ject in which we cannot all but feel interested. It should not be treated crudely or rashly, but only with our beat thought No idle discussiiin is that upon :which I propose to enter ; no question of fancy naetaphysics or of purely specula- tive theology — although, with the latter we shall have, probably, somewhat to do. Indeed, no discussion can properly be regarded as an idle one w hich has to do, seriously and soberly, with our eternal destinies Fortunately, we have a sure word of Xrod — a written and Divine Revelation — wbeteunto we shall ever do well ti take heed : and consistency demands of thos-e of us wio profess to believe in tha*; Word that our opinions should be made to har- monise with its clear and explicit decla- . rations, and by '*ci*ar and orpUcit " I would be understood to mean such rend- -erings of i:he original Scriptures as the best scholarship of the day will accept -and sanction. I holdthose Scriptures to be 4he final standard of appeal as to all ques- tions of Christian doctrine ; and that no view should l)e held or maintained, either from press and pulpit, which to say the least, fs out of harmony therewith. At the same time, I would enter a sc^ienin demurrer against the claim of infallibility for any man's private interpretations. It is evident to the thoughtful observer that great confusion of idea exists in re^rd to the state after death. And I thmk that a most reprehenpible loocenest of eiipression has been indulged m from the pulpit. . Views have been enunciated, with the greatest confidence, which would not bear the test, forope moment, of even our English version of the Scrip- tures. In proof of this apparently some- what wholesale statement, I need only remind you that it is very extensive^ taught that the soul, at death, paeaee immediately to heaven or hell, the interme- diate state of Sfieol amongst *,he Hebrewt, and Hndee amongst the Greeks, both signifying the invisible p^ace, or abode, of the disembodied (^ead, being entirely ignored. And thi'« leaching prevails, it seemn to me, for fea' of tlie bug bear of Purgatory — an idea in no wise connected, of U'^cessity. with Hades. Souls are not purified through the instrumeutality of material fire : the conception is too gross to be believed ; and has no warrant in Inspired Scripture. The spiritual man is often purified thr ' the pucess of afflie- tion, and is cleansed and sanctified Ihro' the operation of the Hvyly Ghost. It is evident furthermore, that the immediate transfer of the soul, at death, to either Heaven or Hell, cannot be taught in t* e scriptures ; and for this . reason— that it involves the grossest inconsistency, in that it would call dowa fr«m Hraven, and place at the bar -of judgment, the saints of Ood who for ages have been enjoying the everlasting rest ! With what propriety — it might well be asked — could the Redeemer say to thofe on his right hand, " c(»ne ye blessed of my Fisher, inherU the Kingdom prepared JT Problem* of (he Fufiire Slate. n i for yon," they having alreattv, aD<l lout; bfifon;. on*e'tMl upofi thf hliss of that inheritance ? Th« 8.)h1, it should l)e remeral»erecl, i8 not the ni»n, neither, of course ia the bo<ly. 77«'f/ {)r(>[)(mition metis no argu- ment. \N e are duplex in na ure, if not triplex. VVe consiHt of iw* ly, mind and soul, as some discriminnti-. VVe consiat not of soul alone, nor of body alone, but of both in union, or combined, ^tdea h, a Sf-pantion tak>'H plsee : thn body returni to the earth ; sinks into ocean's deajtths ; or is scatterod br adcast as ashes to the four winds rf Hraven ; the soul separated, for a time, from it-i tene- ment, enters into }{adts, the Invisible World, or. as St. Fetp*" calls it, the prison, (2 Peter, III I!)), or p/aceof safe-ko' ping, of sppirate or departed spirits, tht-re to await the morning of the Resurrection. I tavestid that tlie body i» not the man ; neither is the soul, but "Christ TiiK FIRST FRUITS." What means this •xpression ? When, early on the morning of the first day of the week, the two fiithful Marys went to the sepulchre, ex^>ecting there to find the Lord, they encountered, in the place of the dead two shiuing ones, who said to them, "why seek ye the living among the dead ? He is not here, but is risen. (Luke XXIV, 5.) And afterwards, when he cnme and stood in the midst of the disciples, they were afraid, thinking it a spirit, when, to re-aesure them, be «aid. " htndle me for a ppirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have." (v. 39.) That same body, after dwelling amongst them the mystic forty days, ascended op to heaven, and now dwells, in figure, at the riglit hand of God, — i.e, in his unspeakable glcry. "Christ the first fruits!" So also shall we dwell with him — if faithful — our bodies and souls alike immortal. At sound of the archangle's trump will occur the General Jail Delivery. That is to say. Hades will be empHed of its tenants of disembodied souk, both bad and good alike ; and those souls will be united again, each to their correspond- ing bodies, now prepared, by a nurade ©f the Almighty power ef God, for that new and entirely different state of exist- ence, either of weal or woe, upon which they are about to enter. The itlentity of the man again complete, but lost while suspended by death, we shall stand before the great white Throne, there to receive the award of the Judgnoeat — ^the wicked to receive tneir sentence of pun- ishment, in company with the devil and h 8 angels ; the righteous to join the (J»'n"raT Assembly and < hurchof the tirst born whose nuniei tiro wra<t n in lltuven. I know that men deny thiH d<»otrine ot the resurrection of tho body, and aU > this other one of the General Judgment. Rut for my part, I cani<ot otherwist^ under- stand the scriptures. If St. Paul, in particular, does not tf ach of such artsur- rection (for instance in 1 Cor., XV') I am at a lo^s to know what he does teach there. Nor is thefe auythii g uniihil- isophical in his doctrir e. He brniply (It dares that a^ a givtu time, figuratively spoken of as the sound iug of tho arch- angel's trump, the bcuiea of th« sheeted dead shall rise again, changed as to their xuhtifitnre, unchanged as to their r^neufial iUeiitUi/ : the corraptihie having i>ut on incorrupt oil, the mortal imtnort ility. Thereupon the soul iw ets tho body, and the body the soul, ar d thus the integrity of the m^n is consunuuated ; and that not, as bef> re, f r a limited period of 20, 50 or 70 years, but/or all Etn-nUt/. VVe shall die no more, if fortunut^ enough to escape the '* Meeoiut" death, but be etjual to the artge's. And thi- reunion mus' tvi- dently be thut of eaih soul to its covres- pocding body, as existing here < n earth» lor otherwise it wou'd not he a resnrrec- • tif n bnt a new creation The Apo->tle — with as Inspired authoriry — is mrjst explicit on this point. He silences at once all cavil. ing against the ResurreC' tion of mankind declaring that < bri«t shall change our vile bodies — not abolish the present one, nor substitue another, but, " shall ch <nge tlis vile Ixidy that it may he fashioneil like unto kis <ilorioti» bodi/." (Ihlipp III, 21.) Wf xhnll there/ore know our bodiea, notwithstand- ing the change as to quality which will have pa.'ised upon them. Our own, still, not as to numerical particles, all of which the g^erm alone excepted, may have been transmuted again and again into other organisms, they will be etherialized, to fit them for the new and permanent habi- tation which God has provided for them. And that there is not even a physical impossibility iu the case is d«raonscrated from the fact that, even in this life, not- withstanding the constantly recurring changes in the substance of our bodies, identity is still preserved. But it will be, perhaps, objected that this doctrine dots not harmonize with the teaching of the parable constituting the text ? To my mind, on the contrary^ it does harmonize most perfectly. Let it be observed that the rich man. and Lazarus were fto^Ar in Hades, though not in immediate contiguity. It should Ilmlcii : or, the Place qf Departed Sp'riU be rcmerpbtT'-d thnt there was a (jrent giil/tif' Hffmnitlofi betwien thtin— a gulf a* Miilu iiii«l us (1l'. p uH thiit which iioir moral ly afiKin tea hetwet'ii the trae sona of (Jul and the children of the Kvil One They could converse together ; but, with out, poHsihle interchange of 1' cation. And th' ir ^utfering, as well iw joy, was but (iiifirijintori/. Their bouIh were, aa yet, in a separate crndilion ; and 8< rtlence either of cundenination or ac(|uitlal had not yet bee i finally pronounced upon them. At death, doubtless, a [larticular I'udgment, so tu sp'ak, 'had b.en made :nown t<) them. (Jrd, in his love and mercy, had spiken peace to the one : Conscience, in ton' s of ierto»-, had spokeu to the other. They thus knew rf the de-tiny 'U store f( r Ihcm. 1 would em- Ehiisizt! t\,e fact that, as already stated, oth Dives and Lazirua were, acordng to ihe (ireek, in Hades. I is signiticant that the word is not (iKiiENNA— the term always used in the New Testament when 8ptakn_' of the place <f the lest. True, th«" wo d is " hell " in o^r ptes nt autho' ized. but it i:* H ides in the Revised Ver '< n : it is sulficienl to know howtver that will n the former versi<-n was made, the t rui had a double signification, ai,d not a- now, one exclusively. Exj re.^sions chin;.e, in language', with the lapse of time sc that a sense good in one ajje becomes ol solete in another. Take, for instance, the marriage service of the Church ( f Euijiand. I that strvice the bride^iroom is made to expres^shis " wor- sh p' of the womin, in the now obsolete aense of honor. " The word Hell "—says Dr. Adam Clarke (on Matt. xi. 2li) — " ufaed in the common tr^iiislation, conveys vow an im- proper n ei' ing of the original word ; Dccaui*e Hell i O' ly used to signify the place of the Hamned. Bu*', as the woid Hell comes fn m the Anglo-Saxon htlan, to ci'ver or hide, hence the tylinif or sliitiiiL' of a h> use is called liellrKj to th s day, .>nd the covers of books (in Lane ister) by the same name , so he literal import ©I th- oiiginal word Hades was formerly well expressed by it. So far. then, aa the text is concerned instead of contirmii g the theory of an imnudiate transition from this state of exis ei ce to either heaven or hell, as we now u derstand the ialter, it is undoubt- edly opposed to it. Ar^d liere I would quote the eminf nt Dr. Chalmers. " 1 th.nk it very impres- Biv< " — he remarks — *■ when Samuel com- plains o* having been disquieted, and wht n he tells Saul that he and hia sons should be with him on the morrow — ali in harmnuy with tlif iloctrine of auintermedi- atr llwlrn, irfifrr fJif iliMf)iihinlifil ^piritHt)/ inrii iliif/l nil the iluji uj tin' n shrrxtioii." On rtfle>i< n, it wdl liave to be luucvded . that the panics in t|ue»tion weie in the same p'ace or region, iua much as that tilt y ronrrrnfd tiiijrther. It wdl turdy not be inaintaiuMl that a soul in heavin cnuld by any possdjiiity, hold intercourse with a soul in hell ! They are in th.? same place a< the or'ginal also compels ui to understand, but in »epnratf. tlirinlons of that place. Tdere could be no passing Irom one part of the common i)naou, or plavf o/n(t/f kfcpiiiij, to the i thur. Tne expres lou "Abraham's bosom," ia evidently, to my m nd, a tignre di not- ing a dger.i of happihess. grtat ui doubt- • edy, but inferior to that of Heiven. Abraham was. a ter all, a man ; a weak one 111 H< iiK respects, judg'i^it from our btand-poii t, and therefure not allog ther a titling t\pe of that glo.ious abode herein believers shall enjoy th ■ more immediate presence of tii d hereafter. Lazarus then, 1 apprehend, was in the enjoyment of a sweet and comfort Ui,', but withal impeifect andantn ipa ory lea.iza- liou of the coming bliss of ILavtii. Uivcs, on the other hai d, lifted up his »yes in t. rments. Tne original word is a i-tr. nj^ one meaning tortuied, as it were, I think, by r. ub ouj reco.b ctions of the pa^t and sore appreh* nsions cf the future Comfort, then, and it» reveise : peace, bappimss, bliss, although in liiintcd deg'ee, and their ojjpos.tes, are all in- volved in the Scriptuie idea of liie place in which tne soul-< of Lazarns and the rich man wert^ conhned, in expedition of the Resuriectiim. In that sectii n, so to speak, «f the invisible w>iH in which was the soul of Lazarns, — and w ich may be dencminate \ the Paradise oj the hlcnt — repose the sou s of all who have died in the Lord trom ihe days of ligh'eoiis Abel even u> til now, Enoch anc! El jah most pn bab y n t exce[.ted — most probably, I say, for, as we are reminded by Bishop Hobart, (p 52), "no man "— sa s our bless' d Lord — "hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the son of man who is in heaven." " Er.och and El jah were trans- lated accoidintj to the foiegoing d' clara- lion ( f our Lord, not to that heaven to which Christ hath ascended, and to which he will fi ally exalt his eaints ; but to some separate abode of bhsHedness and peace." Peter a'so in his great apeech at Jerusalem on the da\ of Pentecost used this remark- ab'e expression : David is not ascended into the heaveiiH (ActsIL 34); where, then, was his soul if not in Hades ? Prohlrm$ qf tfie Future StaU. ■ Paradiae it not Heaven, altboas^h very oommnnly •upiWMd to be, bat an inter- mfilinte plncf of htUa thnianiuaa " Abra* ham's bosom.'' Thi^ mav, perhip*. •eein to some a startling propusition. We will examine it, thertforo. "TiiiH DAY," said our Lord to the dving thief, " Shatt thou he with me in Pnraili^i'. That was "Oood Friday," or the day of the Crujiflxion; and yet, after he had arisen, he said to Mary. " touch me not, for I am not yet oAreiuled to my Father." His departure into Huaven diil nnt take place un^.il f'>rty days after bis Resurrection. What became, then, of his promise, and how was il fulfilled, for assuredly it was not violated ? A daring theologian he must nee is be, who in view of this fact should athrm that Paradise is Heaven, and notnw intermediate condition. Well a'ks my frieaH the Rev. Jos. D, Wilson, in a recent treatise on Hades, " Was the Saviour's gracious promise nothing more than that both He and the thief should be buried ? Certainly not! Ho must have referred to some condition of the soul." (p 93 ) I shall show, hereafter, that during the interval betwe-in his Crucifixion and Resurrection, — or, as we should say, on the Saturday, the soul ol the Redeemer, he taking with him in fulfilment of His prom se, the soul of the penitent thief, visited Paradise—in other word"*, that Sart of the nether regions or place of eparted spins which in the interpolated Creed is signified by the word *' hell," and fromMhieh Laxarus conversed with Dives as we see from the text. The reason of his visit there may form the subjeot of a future discourse. We tthould always let Scrip' ure speak, and not s«-ek to force our own construe* tiooo upon the Inspired Word. It is not our Revelation to eaeh other, but that t>f (rod to uf. It teaches God's truth : and if we would but divest ourselves of pre- conceived notions, opinions and preju- dices, we should find that its revelations are fre((uently, and in reality, the very ouposite of what we had expected. No Church tradition should be allowed for one moment to set itself up in rivalry with the Word of God. Whilst, however, I s^and for corr-ct- ness of phraseolofzy in teaching of so im- portant a subject as that of the Future State and deprecate the looseness of ex- pression which has been indu'ged in by not a few , I would remind you, in sum- miog up, that after all, the presence of the Saviour is that which, to the h<»l ever, will constitute the bliss of our hereafter. "I am going to Heaven soon " said a little boy, " and then I shall gpe Jesus, and be with Him forever," " But." said the missionary, who was visiting him on his death-bed. " if Jesus were to leave Heaven, what would you do?" "I would follow Him." " But if he went to Hell, what would you do then ?" rejoined his interrogator, to me, as it seems, not wisely, " Ah ! " was the reponse, "there is no Hell where Jesus is : His presence is Heaven." PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE STATE. II. Th« l^Mipanr, Worship, Md BlUi oriIeaT«a. After these things I saw, and behold a great miiltittide which no man could number, nut of every nation, of all tribes and peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white roben, and palma in their hands ; and they cry with a great voice, saying, Salvation to our <»od who sitteth on the throne, aad unto the Lamb. And all the angels were standing round about the throne, and about the elders, and the four living creaturefi ; and they fell before the throne on their faces, and worahip{)ed God, saying, Amen : Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be unto our (iod for ever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying to nie. These which are arrayed in the white robes, who are they, and whence came they ? And I say uuto him. My Lord, thou knowest. And he said to me. These are they which came out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God ; and they serve him day and night in his temple : and he that sitteth on the throne snaU spread his tabernacle over them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore ; neither shall the sun strike upon them, nor any heat : for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall be their 8he|)- herd, and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of lite : and God shall wipe away ail tears from their eyes. (Revised Version) Rev. VII, 9-17. We bury the hodif, but not the soul. When we lay away our friends in the repulsive grave, and heap sods on the cotfin, we do not cover up the t:fiaracter, nor do we hide from the exp* rience of mankind the blessed example of a consis- tent and beaatiful (Christian life. I like not that word death as commonly applied to man, for it is so apt to prove misleading. When we speak of dying, we speak of but a part, ard ^hat an infe- rior part, too, not by any means of the entire man. The flesh and blood, the bone and sinew, die and become dast ; not so the spirit' That lives on. Nor does the body even, perish : for, a6 I reau the Scriptures, we are taught therein to held and believe that so much of this fleshly body of ours shall survive dissolu- tion as to constitute the germ of that infinitely nobler spiritual body which shall be given to us at the Resurrection. What the changes may be to constitute that spiritual body out of the remains of this, is not revealed. But identity vriW be preserved. That much we know. I shall treat th« text as having refer- ence to neither the past nor lo the present, but to the futtirr condition of the Lord's saints. It is through attributing to it a present rather than a prospective sense that many interpreters, as I conceive, have erred. I hold that the departed in Christ are in a separate state of blissful expectancy, rather than positive enjoy- ment, of the glory to be revealed. Their spirits are in Hades now, — or Paradise, if you like that word better — for the simple reason that the assumption of their res- urrection bodies is a necessary precursor ef their entrance into Heaven. And it were the sheerest anach ronism for our Ijr rd to say, .as we are premonivshed he shall say at the General Judgment, to those on His right hand, " come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom," upon whose blessedness they Aarf entered years before. Either we must give up the doctrine of the resurrection of the body as alto- gether a misconception of the teachings of Revelation, or we must hold to the doctrine of an intermediate Hades, or place of blissful repose of God's saints, wherein they await, as the Apostle speaks, the adoption, to wit, the redemp- tion of their bodies. And I would have you remember that the inspired Apostle in speaking of that redemption, or re-as- suming, or more literally, buying back, far from speaking nonsense, must have known full well whereof he did affirm. Nothing short of unmitigated ignorance could lead us to suppose that those who for ages have enjoyed the supreme bliss of that place which the fScriptures denom- inate Heaven, shoulu, after the lapse of those ages, come down to earth for the purpose of carrying their bodies back to Heaven ! At sound of the Archangel's trump, I hold, the cerements of the grave will be unlorsed, the gates of Hades will be unclosed, and then the throne set, the books opened, and J udgment pronounced, those on the right hand will enter the mansions prepared for them by the Father, to be thereafter forever with the Lord. Now, I am not willing to yield 'he doctrine of the Resurrection of the boay, despite the ridicule* and contempt which have been poured upon it by would be Scientists and would be Theologians. Prollems of the Future Slate. Witboiit that key, the Apostle I'aul's grand I Cor.. XV, were to me an unmpan- ins; riddle. So the expression, "Christ tlie iirst-fruita" in particular. And the words of our Lord recorded by St. John, (v. '_'!>), and the corresponding passage in I>aniel,XlI.2 stating that "th-y that are in the tombs shall come forth, some to the resurrection of life, others to the res- tirrpr i in of Judgment, or condemnation," can hare no meaning other than a resur- rection of bodies sepulchred, since souIh ea.not be buried. The dry bones in Ez'ikiel's vis'on symbolize undoubtedly, in my judgment, the same great truth. •* It is time indeed," I say with Dr. Ebrard, " that this biblical doctrine of the state after death were again prea hed to congregations : for the common, hard and truly u^c^iptural doctrine '' — as he well styles it — "whieh knows nothing fnrlher after death than happiness or comlemn'ition, is, in its practical effects, equally mischievious with the Roman doctrine of Purgatory, in which .a trace of the doctrine of Sheol, but only a cari- catured trace of it, is contained." Notes on Heb., p. 347. Audit were well, that if but occasionally, the clause, " He descended into the pla^e of departed spirits," be repeated with the creed, as sanctioned by our Church. " Death," — says Bishop Burgess, — no mean authority — "leads the just thro' the intermed ate Paradise, through the joyful reunion of the Resurrection, and thro' the blessed award of the last day, to all which we are taught to name most fully Heaven and the life eternal." Last Enemy, p. .S25. But to proceed to the text. I remark, in the first place : L THAT THE RKDEEMED IN GLORY ARK A :WCrLnTCDINOUS COMPANY. *' I saw a great company which no raan could n>imber, out of every nation, and of all tribes and peoples and tongues stinrljng before t}\°r throne and l^efore the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, a' d palms in their hands." Of cour.se we should as'^id too great literality in the consideration of this des- eripti'>n. The ceulral idea is that vast will bo the host of God'S redeemed. The whito robea may symbolize the righteoHsnes? of the saints. And gorge- ous indeed will be that assemblage. I suppo-sa that, to add to its splendor, there will be the angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, those shining ones, the Jjord'a winged niessen-iters. In the context, or rather the 14lh cnap., the multitude of the sealed are called an hundred and forty-four thousand, that is, twelve thousand members of cash of the twelve tribes of Israel ; but that would be the merest fragment of the heavenlj' host — for there a'-e so many more that it is said "no man could number them." I do not know how to reconcile our Lord's description of his own as a "little flock " to whom it is the Father's good pleasure t.) give the Kingdom with thi» description of ihe bos'; of Heaven, unles» he is to be undertaood as instituting » compa'isoi between the sef-mingly few who accepted and the multitude who rejected him. But nevertheless, and with a 1 that sad di-count, the numbers of the redeemed will be not a few. Many will be there whom we in our short- sightedness, expected not to see. All along the ages God has had a Church ; and by His Spirit has been constantly gathering members into the fold. How many He will yet gather iu before the end shall come, we are not told, nor is it necessary that we should know. From Abel to Abraham ; from him ta Malachi ; from Christ to Juhn. and from John till HOW, what a mighty stream of the Lord's saints have been sweeping onwards and upwards from amongst every kindred and tongue and nation under Heaven ! And they will all be there. Oh, what a mighty phalanx of patriarchs and prophets, apostles and. evangelists, martyrs and confessors shall we behold, my brethren, when we get to Heaven ; and what mighty volumes of praise shall roll upwards from that v.ist throng, to the throne of God ! Timid women who for Christ alone were valiant ; strong-minded, noble men, who endured reproach and contumely in the Master's cause, and thought not even, their lives dear unto them, it only by their sacrifice they might finish their course acceptably and win their crown, oh, what hosts oi the.^e shall we behold f Confessors of whom the world was not worthy ! True men and women who endur- ed with patience ail that the ingenuity of the wicked, prompted by Satan, could do to their hurt — all the fiery darts that could be burled against them ; those barbed arrows ef ealmnny, detra- ction a d persecution that must bring the quivering fiesh away whenever you woiild extract them ! There shall we see crowds horn the poor and despised of earth — those who slept upon wretched pallets, dwelt in miserable hovels, who day by day ate the bread of poverty, and by n'ght watered t>'eir eoueh with tears, but whose sins were washed away in the ocean of the Redeemer's blood — their hearts stead- fast with God. There we shall Sfe the atiiicted and distressed, though no longer Tilt Coriqinni/, Woiship, and Bliss of ILaven. Kick ; the forloru and the fri€n(Iles«i ; the despised and the outcast, but not of God — men and women 'vho waded through the waters and forced their way through the fires to reach their crown, or who endured the biting pangs of penury and want, rather than accept the glittering wages, together with the dread retribu- tions of fiin. And fain would I trust that we shall see there also not a few of the high and raighty, the rich and the noble, the illus- trious and the talented of earth : for the^e, too, are all God's children. Kings have been bad, and nobles profligate, and the wealthy wicked : but there have been some to reliere their class from execration. Not all are vile, 1 trust, no ! not even the great majority. There was an Edward VI amongst the Kings ; and there is a Victoria. There wasaColigny amongst the nobles, and there are a Cavan and a Shaftsbury There was an Anios Lawrence amonj^st the wealthy ; and there are — I will no sy who or hoiv many, who I trust, nay know, give largely and freely to the L rd's Tre tsury. Rank and influence, weal' hand talents, are not, nor ought they to be, in them- selves, a bar to any man's advaucemciit, nor the means of such advancement to a seat in the Kingdom of Heaven. God forbid that we should seek to narrow its portals to exclude either rich or poor, even though it were within our power. Let what is oT the earth p' rish with the earth, whilst he who has employed his means, talents, influence, be they great or small, for the advancement of the Master's cause, will meet due reward in the day when the Redeemer siall come to make up His jewels. And then, I doabt not, will be brought to li<j;lit many a. secret deed of love and nieicy of which the world has hitherto known nothing. Then will be acknowledged in the open light of day, by the Re- deemer Himself as administered to Him, maay a cup of water given to moisten fevered lip of suffering martyr, in noi- some dungeon, or at the fearful stake. It will be a mighty host, thst ci >mpany of the Redeemed ! To say nothing of the babes who have died in infan y, uutasted by them the cup of sin « hich thewi>rld administers to its votaries — U' t counting those cherubs numerous as the stars of the milky way, what crowds shall be there of those who had repented thfm of their sins ]>efore their day of grace was past and gone ; and Oh, what greetings and congratulatings of long separated friends ! And the boys and girls of our Sunday Schools, the young in years and not old in sin, and the pati- ent Belf-sacrificing Ttacheis, how many shall be there ? A grand army of Chris- tian soldiers, a glorious band ! But amid the whole, conspicuous above all the rest, I think we shall see Abel and Noah, Enoch and Elijah, Abraham and Isaac, Jacob, David, Daniel, and many more of God's Old Testament saints. And of the New, there will be the blessed evangelists, and ardent Peter, and the magnificent Paul, but pre-emin- ently the beloved apostle John. And of a later day, there will be a grind procession filing heavenward, of men leaders in the camps of Israel who will t/(en see eye to eye ; but who could not, or would not, walk together when here on earth. And they wdl then, I think, feel ashamed of the trifles which separ- ated them in the Church below, There we shall see Latimer, him of the coat of frieze ; and Ridl<^y, of the courtly robe. And Jerome, also ; and good old Wickliff, "the morning stai ; " Me'an- thon, the gentle ; and Huss, and Cn»nmer, and Ridley, all of wh m so bravely endured the fire. Pas-irg along, we shall' catch sight of the Sixth Edward, and Simeon and Cecii!, Bickersteth and Chalmers, John Newton and Cowpcr, of the 8 eet Oliiey Hymns ; and also Venn. There we shall see Wilberforce and Hal- dane, Owen and Richard Baxter, him of "The Saints' Rest;" Duddridge and Scott, Cummins and Mcllvaine, the judicious Hooker, and the saintly Beveridge, and the VVebleys, and g^and old Whitfield, and Jndsun, and Brainerd, and Henry, Martin that other sainted one : but I can not stop to name other than the few, not Protestants alone, but Romanists too, notwithstanding the corruptions of their Church, will contribute of their numbers to swell the grand total of the heavenly host — Feuelon and Massiilon not amongst the least. That is a jaun* diced medium through which we too often view things now. Bigotry and exclusiveness, prejudice a d intolerance — those wretched barriers between C^hr stians ! will all be swept away ; and we shall see things and men as they were aini are, not as they seemed. The quest'on will be then, not who has had most zeal for sect, but who most love for Clirist, most zeal for souls, most care for the g'ory of God and wel- fare of his fellow men, I borrow the language of one of the m st eloquent wri era of hia day: " Dwellers on the Mississippi and Mis- souri, and in the back woods of Canada and the prairies of the West, are there. Millions from the Andes and the isles of the Pacific, from the mountains of Problems of the Future State, Thibet and the cities of China, from every jungle of India and from every , pagoda of mndostan, the untutored Arab ana the uncultivated Druse, and the * tribes of the weary fool,' the children of Salem are there, * * and ^ugustine and Luther are there alao, and many we in our uncharitablenesa, or bigotry, or excluaiveneas, or ignorance, excluded from Heaven, will be there alao ; and our aires and sonn and babes and parents will be there, completed circles never again to be broken, and their united voices will give utterance to their deep and enduring gratitude " Vnto Him that loved va, and ^cashed us from our sinx in his own blood, and that hath made us kings and priests unto God, even the Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.*' Cumminga Apoc Sketches, Ist series, p.p. 28, 9. II, BUT SOME WILL BE ABSENT ! And here the Theologian is confronted "with a dffionlty the most tremendous which conld possibly beset him. The difficulty is this. Perhaps when we shall come to look around in the courts of Heaven, should we in God's mercy ever reach them, same of ua may miss a parent, father, brother, siater, or child, from amongst the glorified. We look again and again with painful eagerness, but we look, alas ! in vain. The loved one is not there ! Now that conviction, we might think, ca'inot but give us pain. But in Heaven there can be no pain, for the text asserts that there will be no tears there. How reconcile this contradictim ? How can one be man and not mourn the lost oon dition of i baent friends ; and where mourning is how can there be perfect bliss ? The thoughtful Burgess attempts to meet this difficulty, but lo my mind unsuccessfully, with the suggestion of " simple, humble faith in that aH-provid- ing wisdom which can enable the human soul to forget all which it might be dis- tressed to remember, can Jill it with all joyous and holy meditations and can in a thousand tvays preserve the flowers of memory without it" thorns.'^ Last Enemy, p. 289. •' The Flowers of Memort Withottt ITS Thorns ! " A solution, I fear, more beautifully poetical than soundly theo- logical. Have we any rpaso" to believe, from Scripture, that God will work such a tremedous change in our moral nature as is here suggested, on our transfer- ence to the Eternal World ? On the contrary, have we not reason to think tnat as we are here, we shall be very much there — but iimji^Y improved editions, not essentially other wom^n or other men ? We shall moat certainly carry our natural affections with us into the Eter- nal World, or Heaven were no Heaven to us. Shall we all who have fought the good fight together here below, meet agam as strangers on the golden streets ? Are theiy to be no rapturous recognitions there ? Shall Luther not know Melanc- thon ? Shall Ridley not recognize Lat- imer? Will that sorrowing mother who wept such scalding tears when they hid away h-r little darling with face of marble beneath that cold, dank mould, not clasp it to her arms again on reaching the farther shore ? Shall I not meet my children ? This is either fact or rhetoric, scripture or poetry. Which ? And if mere fiction— if, after all, there are to be no recognitions of friends in Heaven, what mean those consolations which the minister of religion profi^sses to adminis- ter in the Master's name to bursting hearts, in their hour of sorrow ? If nothing, then he too is a sham and a fraud ! but if not auch, there muat in bis Cistimate be recognition. And if recognition of friends, then a cognizance of their absence. There is no avoiding that conclusion. I have a theory, to me clear, distinct and satisfactory, on this most important subject : but shall leave you to form your own. III. I pa?8 on to notice briefly, the OCCUPATION OF THE REDEEMED. For doubtless t'lere will be occupation, and that of the highest and noblest char- acter of which we can possibly conceive. The metaphorical language of the 'axt is proof of that. " Fiaurea," sr.ys some one, "have no vaiue except as they express realitied. " That there will be mus c in Hea.'en, I doubt not, and a'so that there will be worship — and such music as we have never heard, auch wcTship as we have never rendered. What mean those mysterious words of the Redee-rer : "/ will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until I driuk it new with yon in My Father's Kingdom."^. I think Mith the author already quoted, that " He surely pointed forward ti some scene of holy joy from which they might look back to that sacramental east, and recognize the unity of the cup on earth with the cup above." Th5 anthems of Heaven ! The new song of the Redeemed ! The throne, the Lamb, the vast army of the saved ! Shall we chant those anthems ? Shall we i^ing that song? Let us look well to it betimes, brethren beloved, that our names be written in the Book of Life ! PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE STATE. , For the earnest expectation of the crea- ture waiteth f(jr the manifestation of tlie «pns of God.— Rom. Vlli 19, ,. Various and conflicticg are the con- atructioDs which have l^een put ujjon this passage. Perhaps there are few more difficult, aod in regard to which there exists greater difference of opinion. The trouble arises out of the varying opinions of the Commentators as to the right interpretation of the term 'creature' in the text. Some understand by it tlce uHwle vhihk creation^ including both the Kingdoms of aiimate and inanimate nature, and coneeuuently under the former head, man alike in his civilized and savage, in a Christian and Heathen state, together with all the lower animals ; and under the the latter, every variety of form of matter. This is the opinion held by Olshauseu, Bloomfield and others, and for which the former has been rather severely handled by one our soundest commentators. — Turner. Others, again, maintain that the Apnstle speaks oi JX moral creation, i.e., of Christians, or the Christian Church converted from Judaism to Heathenism: but to this view there are, to my mind, insuperable objections. Lastly, there are those who would compromise and understand by the " creature " or " creation " of this passage, all intelli- gent and sentient creation — all who are capable of the passions spoken of by the Apostle, and so of course the whole human race. Of these various interpretations, and they can all show illustrious names in their support — I hold, with Chalmers, to the first. The Apostle, by a bold figure or metonymy, speaks of inanimate nature as of an intelligent or sentient being in a state of bondage, gro. ning and travailing for its redemption. This style is not unknown to Scripture. " The morning stars sang together " we read in Job, and the Psalmist calls upon the floods to " clap their hands, and the hills to rejoice before the Lord. " • " The creature " — says the Apostle — " was made subject to vanity " — that is, if we understand him of man, to "a frail, unhappy, miserable condition ; " and if The Futura Reeognttlon of God's Children. '1, •%ti l«i(!i of inanimate mattor, "to do.r?ngement- and disorder. Tlie idea seems to be that this eprtb is not what it was, nor what it was' designed to be. Sin has cnrked. it :. everywhere, in storm and earihouake^. volcanoe and miasma, we seem to per- ceive the consequences of that curse. It yields only to labor ; hereit isobstin- , ately barren ; yonder it gives briars ar;d thorns. Everything has its ei:emy, both in the kingdoms of animate and. of inanimate nature. The beasts, fishes--, and reptiles prey upon each other. And in the vegetable world, blight and mildew, the worm, the drought, the flood, seem continually on the watch to ruin and destroy. Nature ap]iears at war- with nature. Beautiful though it be, it is a beauty which has been marred ;. and from this marred condition I can understand the Apostle as re]iiesentiug' the whole, in his magnificent rhetoirc,. as groaning to be redeemed. And that it will be redeemed, restored to its' pristine beauty and perfection, I think- there ia good teason to believe from' Scripture. That the curse will be re- moved, the earth yield spontaneously and become even yet more beautiftil' than before the fall of man, seems fore-, shadowed in more than one text. That a time shall come when nothing shall hurt nor destroy in the Lord's holy, mountain, is the declaration of an. inspired prophet. And St. Peter,, quoting that i)rophet, speaks of Chris- tians as " looking for new heavens and' a new earth in which dwellieth right- eousness," My subject now is, however, and' more particularly, Ihe Future recognitvm^ of the Lcvd's saints. And this recognition' " 1 think we may safely argue from the' declarfc-ion of the Apostle that "the earnest expectation of the creature Waiteth for' the manifestation of the sons of God." 1. I need scarcely attempt to prove that we shall know our friends in Heaven. And yet, strange to say, there is a wonderful obtuseness of per- ception in regard to this subject. People are constantly found who seem to doubt it. One woi^d think it must be eyident if ; //{• Prohlemt of the Future State. thi.t we can not be divested of our identity, by the mere fact of trans- lation hence to the world of spirits. The casket may be destroyed ; but the jewel it contained remains imperish- able. 2. The very general prevalence of a doctrine may, I think, be regarded as a strong presumption in favor of its truth. Of course given the condition that the doctrine itself shall not be in conflici with either sound reason or inspired Revelation. That a belief in Future Recognition has been .leld in all agb^i by the great majority of man- kind, seems beyond dispute. — See Ap- pendix A. The faith, strong and simple, of many heathen men in the reality of a future state of existence, I am constrained to say might well put to shame some who live in this day of superior illumination, because gospel truth [ 4. W®. ^^^ the same idea of future recognition amongst Mohammedans, Jews, Christians and our own North American Indians of by gone days. The Hindoos, we know, believe this doctrine : in the davs of iMtee the wife was immolated on the funeral pyre, in hope of rejoining her departed husband. Amongst the ancient Danes, it was a practiee for slaves, subjects and friends of the deceased, to destroy them- selves, in order that they might serve in the other world those whom they loved and respectwi in this. Harbaugh p. 34. 5. The belief in a future re-union with the departed in the woiid of spirits was, in fact, and is, a universal bebef. How it came to be so, unless founded in truth, I most leave others to determine. Let us now see whether the doctnne meets with any countenance from the JSacred Scriptures. As deduced from the Bible,,however,.it is rather inferen- tial than dogmatical. On this point I quote Bishop Burgess : "That it should evBr have been doubted whether the inhabitants of the spiritual world recognize each other in lliat abode, is but an example of the •wide influence of unbelief, suggesting the strangest dimness wherever the Scriptures had not spoken in the most explicit words, even though the obvious reaaun for which the words bad not been spoken was, that to speak thfem was needless. Why should not the departed recognize and be recognized ? How can tlu;ir very nature and being be so utterly changed that they should be able to exist in the same world, to remember, and to be a general assembly^ a church, a society, without recognition f If the future life is the sequel, and re- . suit, and retribution of the present, how can recognition foil ? Not a step can we proceed, not a conception can we form, not a statement of divine revelation can we clearly embrace in our contemplations of the future iife^ without admitting or involving the necessity of mutual recognition as well as mutual remembrance and affection. Were Moses and Elias unknown Uy each other? Did the Martyrs below the altar utter the same cry, without knowing the history of their com* panions, each a stranger amongst strangers? Was Abraham a stranger to Lazarus, or was Lazarus seen and known by the rich man only ? Oould those who watch for suuls render account for them with joy or grief, and yet not know their doom ? Could Christian converts be the "glory and joy " of an Apostle at the coming of the Lord if He knew them not ? Could the Patriarchs be seen in the kingdom of God by none but those who should be shut out ? All proceeds on the sup- position of just such knowledge there as here. It is probable, indeed, that the human soui must always clothe itself with form, even in the separate state ; and such a form would bear the same impress which had been given to the mortal body. There is no extra- vagance in the wish of Dr. Randolph to know Cowper above from his picture here, or in the same thought as express- ed in the verses of Southey on the portrait of Heber." Last Enemy p,p 287,8. One has written thus : — " I count the hope no day-dream of the mind. No vision fair of transitory hue, The souls of tlioee whom onee on earth we knew. And loved, aud walked with in communion kind. Departed tience, again in heaven to find." Mant. p. 96. Tea ! it is no " day-dream," no fond delusi(/n,. that which tells us that our departed friends are not lost to us, though, as we are accustomed to say. "dead.*' We shfdl see them again in the spirit worM ; know tbem, and be known. They have disappeared, for the time, from view ; but we shall be- hold them again, in a higher and better atmosphere than this. 6. There is no great truth which has VA^ The Future Recognition ((f Oocfa Children. fl not been perverted, and no good thing which has not been counterfeited. It is often difficult to discriminate between paste and diamond ; the genuine bank- note, and the spurious. Almost every- thing is imitated in this age of shams. Wooden houses are brick faced ; brick houses stone faced ; and even " The Church " has fallen into the habit of deception, with her ship-loads of wood of the true cross, and nones of Saints and of the Virgin, her winking Madon- nas, and her St. Januarius liquefactions ! And so with modern Spiritism. It iiaa seized hold of, and perverted, and Abused, and made ridiculous, a great truth, to such an extent that, by a natural revulsion, men are nearly ready to deny the spiritual factor in religion altogether. S&j more, it is even dan- gerous for the pulpit to advocate the rweet, 'comforting, and enobling doctrine of these sermons, lest the mad- dog cry of "Spiritualist!" should be raised incontinently. Neverthelesa, the truth must be spoken. What it that truth ? is a question of the deepest interest to intelligent Christians. _ 7. A sober authority, aroues the jMjssi- bility of the nearness, and even some- times the actual apparition, of our departed friends, from the universality of the persuasion. And I have thought when reading of Christs' walking on the sea, when the disciples "supposed," we are told, "that they had seen a Spirit," and of hia tefiing them to handle him, " because a spirit has not flesh and bones as they saw H^m have " —l have thoiTghf that were such appari- tions an impossibility, the Holy Spirit would not have permitted the saered writers to set these impressions down without some mark of censure actual or implied. " It is his angel," said the frightened disciples^ when Peter stood before the gate, after his miraculous escape from prison. If this be super- stition, men may make the most of it I Were it not that necromancy is so plainly forbidden in God's Word, I should be willing even to inve?tigate the phenomena of so-called "Spiritism.'* ** An universal belief like this "—says the able v :- already quoted— "ia not sufficieuuj explained by an univer- sal Jongiug for communion with the d^pirted. Its foundation is rather in tsdi! actual discourse which our spirits 'hold with the dead, and which they ieem to hold with us, when their images are before us in our solitary contem- plations, our reveries andourdreaius.'^ "Thoughts of a deceased friend" — he goes on to say —"become sometimes and in some mental constitutions, so vivid for a moment, that the difference between recollection and present reality is all but imperceptible. The departed spirit seems even present to the inward eye ; his influence is actually and most powerfully felt ; may he not be indeed near, thouj^a invisible 7 " This is strongly put — perhaps too much so ? For my part, Mrithout cast- ing any reflection upon the soundneat of the bishops judgment, I freely con- fess to a want of such experiences. But, to proceed : " Wesley," he re- marks, "who knew Swedenborg, and believed him insane, has spoken of his own clear conviction that the strong impression on his own mind of the images of deceased friends at particular momeui^, was produced by their actual invisible presence. Oberlin supposed that for manv years he enjoyed intimate communications with the dead." And he continues thus : " that the appear- ance, visible as well as invisible, of the dead, is possible, the instances related in the Bible are decisive^ That ther ' have ever appeared to the outward eye, except in those instances, can scarcely be proved from history, to the satis- faction of the i>keptical or even of the indiflerent. That, however, the strong- est sense of their influence, as if they were present, has often been impressed upon the mind, in those st&tesin which visible objects have least control, is con- firmed by ten thousand testimonies." "There is no difficulty in believing," —flays Mr. Harbaugh, who has written well and beautifully on this subject — " that, on the part of saints in Heaven^- an acq,uaintance with us is kept up.- We have lost them for a time, but they have not lost us. As they have gone higher, they have capacities and privil- eges which we, who are still beneath them, have not ; and this may extend to a oonstant oversight and interest Ir us, This sense is as natural as any other to the passage. Then shall I knov everk as I amknmm. * * * Wie_ have reason, and' also intunations of Scripture, to confirm us in the' l}elief' that our sainted friends are bending an interested eye of love over us in all our earthly pilgrimage— that they keep up a tender and affectionate acquaintance 12 Prohlems of the Future State. •\ -Jit with us. and stand ready when we fail on eaitn, to receive us into the arms of holy and eternal love at the very gates of * * Paradise. Or mast we believe that they are less interested in us than the rich man was for his breth- ren ? " "We live in the midst and under the constant power of myterious unseen influence.-", which strongly declare the fact, that we are in a sphere of existence influenced by a higher world, and undei the attention of higher intelligences, who are ever drawing us to themselves ; and soon as the separa- tion of soul and body — the natural and finite from the spiritual and infinite — ahall take place iu death, we shall dis- cover at once how awiully and sweetly near we have always been to the dead, and how much we shared their atfection- ate sympathies." 1 iiave drawn thus copiously from the writings of others, and those of no mean reputation, that my own opinion might not stand alone ; and now, in conclusion, I would speak a few words to the bereaved, who form the great majority of most congregatio ^s. 8. Our friends live, my dear brethren ; and we shall see them again, having departed in Christ, on the instant of our casting off the garments of the flesh. "The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifesta- tion of the sons of God." Thus would i interpret that text : their manifesta- tion to our (j^uickened vision after we too have passed through the grave and gate of death. Our spirits long for that reunion. From the innermost depths of our souls there is ever gushing up a flood of desire for their companionship, which cannot be ({uenched short of actual fruition. Our departed friends! Our sainted dead ! Yes : we shall see them again, embrace them again, love them again in that land where separations shall be no more, and where all tears shall be wiped away. The Holy Spirit has enjoined us " conerning them that fall asleep," that we sorrow not as those who " have no hope ; " and that, I think, lie would not have done, were we not to meet our loVed ones in the bright spirit land. ' Weep not, then, for your friends' who Wve died in the Lord. Separated '' are they from us, but onlv lor a time. " Separated," I said. Perhaps not even that? Who shall say that the all-wise disposer of events may not have removed them hence un purpose that they should min-. ister tu and help us onward on our pil- grimage to the better world? Who knows but that their spirits still surround and hover near us, a glorious hapj y band of " witnt'sses," to cheer us on our way to Heaven, to pour the soothing balm' of comfort into the troubled spirit, and to animate with the hope of tnat glori- ous rest of the saints of God ? Ye mothers bereaved ! dry up your tears : weep for yourselves — if weep you must, but not for your departed little" ones. The Christ hath told us that, " their angels do always behold the face' of our Father who is in Heaven." Surely you would not withdraw them from that august presence? A lady,; sober-minded and Christian, once told, me "it seemed as though the spirit of ' ^ her darling daughter never left her — so conscious was she of its presence ! " And she was thereby comforted. Brethien, one and all, not lung shall, we be separated from those dear ones" of our kindred who have gone before us to the spirit land, and entered into rest. We shall recognize and be recog- nized, should we continue faithful, at the marriage supper of the Lamb, And we shall know them not as strangers, but as tee knew them ivften ori earth. Every faculty of thesoul^iuick- ened ; every bright feature of the char- acter, and for aught I know, of the person even, improved and beautified ; ' brighter, holier, better editions of what we knew them here, superior every way to what once they were, and mara now. . Infirmities of the flesh and spirit all. left behind, and yet identity preserved ! I am not quite sure but that grief may still find place, though chastened and submissive, because of the conscious absence of those not in Christ : as to . that, let us trust in God. 'We shall know our friends, then, for what can hinder ? Weep not therefore, \ 1 say, to the mourning and bereaved. We shall meet again in that bright land of pure delight : . r* Where Saints immortal reign (where) T Infinite day excludes the ni^t, «^ -i And pleasures huiush pain. •; Let us prepare to meet them i^^^, deeds of holiness, and lives of faith;,, '1/ ;v;* g.: PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE STATE. IV, NinUtering Spt-'ta. '»".- Therefore let us also, seeing vx are com- paused about irith so great a cloud of witucsAiS, lay usiile every v:eiqht, and the sin ^ehiijl doth .so easily beset us, and let us run xcith patience tJie race that is set before us. — ^Revised version), Heb. xii. 1. Are they not all ministerinij spirits, sent forth to do service for the sake of thern, that sJtall inlierit Salvation -. — Ibid i. 14. That the Pulpit is dull is often charged ; and perhaps the charge is not altogether without foundation ? There are debates in Parliament, or in Con- gress, and political harrangues, which are also dull ; and legal arguments, and news-paper editorials ! Let their auth- ors throw the stones ! In regard to the first named, people say that it is ever the same old, old story ; and this is sometimes made a pretext for non-atteudp.uce in the Sanc- tuary. But this ca.n be only true, in the sense of a lack of interesting topics, when the rich mine of inspired truth is suffered to remain un worked by him who is set to " divide " it to the Lord's people. There are subjects almost innumer- able, and which come j^roperly within the province of the preacher, and yet are seldom or never discussed in the Christian Pulpit. The text treats of one such, and in regard to which I do not remember ever listening to a sermon within the whole range of my experi- ence. Assuredly if some wells run dry, it is not through lack of water, but the will to use it. I do not advocate sensationalism. " There was much grass in the place : " " Old shoes and clouted," are poor texts for sermons. All terts should contain something as a key-note which shall lead the congregation to expect a season of profi^taW e meditation. Solcmyi trifling sliould, of all kinds of trifling, be most earnestly deprecated, It were almost the assertion of a truism to say that the themes of the Eternal World, the great mystery of man's future, as well as the many mysteries of his present, the actual condition and future occupation of the Saints of God, with their correla- tives, — it were superfluous almost to say that topics such as these should never be treated v/ith other than the profoundest . everence, when not with awe. There is a habit of explaining away the Scriptures, metaphorizing the plainest statements, and glossing the most express declarations of the Word, and with which I have but little patience ; for which I have no respect. The text has fared thus at the hands of this class of would be expounders of the Lively Oracles. We have been gravely told that the " cloud of wit- nesses " here spoken of means the band of inspired writers of the Old Testa- ment, and with about as much warranty as had the surgeons in attendance upon the late martyred President of the United States who pronounced that terrible pus-pocket, or cavity, the original wound ! The autopsy revealed, however, how greatly they were mis- taken : just as will the autopsy of sound judgment and of a correct Bib- lical ex egesi?, the great error of those who forget the wholesome Canon that, when not opposed to reason, Revelation, or common sense, the Scriptures should always be received in their plain, hleral and grammatical acceptation. What right have we, for example, to take the prophecies in which future blessings are distinctly promised to the present outcast Israel, and make Zion signify the Christian Church, and then cooly appropriate to the Jewish people the curses and denunciations?'^ And what more right have we to say that the " cloud of witnesses " of this inter- esting text does not mean what the words seem evidently intended to ex- press — a vast host of departed saints, but a cloud of testimony, the record of their example? Surely the Apostle Paul, who was a scholar, not an igno- ramus, could have found words to express his meaning ? he would never have confounded " testimony " with the witnesses themselves ! I grant, and candidly, that I find here a difficulty so strong as to forbid my enforcing the interpretation of this sermon with any the least approach to dogmatism. If the doctrine of Hades, advocated in this series of discourses. 14 X. ^.. Probkms of Uie Future State, be the true one : that in to say, if it l)e true that the spirits of the dejiarted in Christ do not immediately at death enter into Heaven, but are detained in Paradise awaiting the remmption of thxir bodies at thv. Resurrectioi: then how could they b*- so far nresent as to sur- round us V o are till here on earth ? This is the difficulty stated in all its force ; and I can not solve it even to my own, and probably therefore not to your entire satisfaction. The truu scientist, however, will always be ready to recognize a fact, no matter how stub- bornly it may bear upon any precon- ceivea theory of his own. And he will yield his theory, in the face of plain and unanswerable demonstration. So should the Theologist. He is not piit to state theorems, or to establish hypo- theses, but to "rightly divide," so far as in him may lie, " the word of truth." The two ideas in q^uestion may not be antagonistic, after all. Who shall say that the Hades of Scripture may not be an expression so wide of signiti- cation as to include the possibility if not the absolute fact of spirit communi- cation, at least that of spirit supervision of the career of such of us as remain still on earth ? It is a sweet and com- forting idea, to say the least. And we shoula beware, I think, of reducing our religion to the level of a cold, dry, hard, unfeeling materialism. WhUst avoiding superstition and fanaticism, we can not yield our hold of the Poetical. We know that Moses and Elijah appeared to the Lord on the Mount uf his transfiguration, and we know from the record that Samuel was called up 1 -y the witch of Endor, after his decease ; and that he actually appeared before Saul. By what means he manifested himself to the guilty monarch we are not informed ; but certain it is that it was a bad man and a bad woman who did the necromancing, and that such practices are forbidden by God in His Holy Word. (Is. viii. 19, 20.) In this Epistle to the Hebrews the Apostle Paul — presumably the author —-devotes the wnole of his first chapter to angels and their ministry. Why do we hear so seldom about this subject of angelic ministration from the Christian Pmpit 1 Why must it be ever the same hard, dry, didactic teaching ? Should men be so anxious to preserve a repu- tation for orthodoxy that they must needs be ev<'r harping upon dogma, and treading in the same old groove, to the neglect of topics of the deepest interest, as all those (juestions are which relate to the spiritual life of man ? Is not all or eveiy Scripture inspired of God profitable for instruction in righteous- ness ? Why, then, should we harp upor some, and overlook others / '• We are compassed about," or sur- rounded " with a cloud of witnesses," says the Apostle, in one place ; and there are " ministering spirits " — or angels, (from the context) " sent forth to do service for the heirs of salvation," he tells us, in another. The question arises : are these two separate and dis- tinct classes of beings ; or are they one and the same ? I think ttiey are not the same ; and for the reason that the one class is represented as in the passive act of K-itnessiiKj how we acquit ourselves in the conflict with sin, whilst the other class occupy the attitude of helpers, or ministrants — as doing service. I shall speak of them accoraingly, as different individuals. The Apostle speaks of a cloud — a classical metaphor for a vast assembly, a great multitude, a mighty host of witnesses, — "martyrs," it is literally, the martyr being one who has sealed with his blood his witness or testimony to the faith. We are surrounded with this host of sainted confessors of God's truth. Not necessarily by any friends or relatives of ours according to the flesh : I do not say that, for which the passage does not seem to afford war- ranty, but a cloud of martyrs or wit- nesses, whatever this may mean. It does seem to mean, beyond reas- onable controversy, the saints of God ! The Apostle devotes considerable portion of the preceeding chapter to the enumeration of a portion of the glorious host of the Lord's redeemed, whom He represents, by a figure drawn from the Olympian games, as standing upon the race course intent upon the efforts of the competitors for the prize ; a crowd pressing in upon the racers, so to speak, in their anxiety, just as we see now on occasions of equestrian or pedestrian games. But he only names a few, for time would fail, he says, to tell of all of them— those invisible spec- tators of the conflict being waged by their brethren who are still in the flesh. Mini^ering Spiritg* IS The paaaagft clearly indicates, to my mind at I'^aut, tUal we of the Church militant, we >vho ire still runners in the Christian . ", v" \\'ho have yet to win the heavenly c iwn, arc surround- ed by an innumerable iiott — albeit indistinguishable by mortal ye — of the spirits of the just made perfect ; the spirita of men and women who have toiled and fought, and sutfered oblo (uy and derision, i)ain aud jiersecution, in the good Mas^ter's cause, many of them sealing ultimately their unswerving tes- timony with thfiir blood ! Thej^e encom- pass us as though a cloud ; they look upon us with an interest the most intense. They watch our every move- ment ; see every muscle-strain as we press onward, every relaxation of the thews and sinews, as, discouraged or losing faith, we, for the time, draw back. Aud watching us so inteutly, in the nature of things, they are cheered by our successes, saddened by our de- fections. But these are not the only spectators of our trials and suflerings, our strug- glings and our victories. Tiie inspired writer tells us also, in, terms unmis- takable—although interrogatively put, as is often the fashion of Scripture when implying an affirmative, — that God's angels are charged with the duty of ministering to or doing service for God's children — for those, that is to say, who "shall inherit salvation." Ask me not concerning the nature of those ministrations, for, on that point, God's word is silent ; and we may not be wise above what is written. The fact of angelic ministrations towards the human race is a fact indubitable. They watch over us, I doubt not, from the cradle to the grave ; in our hours of gladness and in our hours of sorrow ; in sickness and in health ; in prosperity and in adversity. They stand by us —those blessed " messengers " of God ! to strengthen and sustain in the fierce hour of temptation, to comfort and support in the trying moment of dis- solution ! We wonder at the faith and constancy of the martyrs : and seem to think that, because the love of so many waxes cold in our day, this age would prove barren of victims for the Master, were it to become one of fierce and fiery persecu- tion. But we should not forget those ministering spirits — those angelic mes- sengers commissioned from the throne of Jehovah. Invisible to the eye of flesh, it wa-> their mission, as I believe, to give strength and support to the vlrooping hearts of those otherwise weak men and women who were called, in the ali-wiae Providence of God, aud in the defence and confirma- tion of the faith, to pass through the lires of martyrdom, What but such an influtmce could have imparted to its victims, strength to endure the dark- ness and the daiapiie.s«, the chains aud hunger ol the oolls of the Inquisition ? Who but an angelic visitant could have inspired tl "> soul to resist the tempting bribe of liberty, aud to suffer willmgly the excruciating agonies of the rack, the wheel, or any other of the manifold and most devilish forms of torture ? Had not the blessed Christ sent His messengers, would they not have counted their lives dear and refused to .surrender them, when, seemingly, all was to be lost, and nothing gained, by that surrender? And are there not times, in our own •experience, when the spiiit seems moved, as by an exterior power, to meet some extraordinary emergency ? Are you not conscious, fr»^,quently, of an influence which you can not account for? au ihlluence warning, almost, as it were, in audible tones, of impending danger, and urging to its avoidance ? Never was liiere a greater fallacy than that of the [lopular proverb, " second thoughts best.'' For my part, I have generalTy found that my first impulse was apt to be the true one. Whence come those impulses ? Say you they are the original product of one's own mdependent mind ? And what is that reply but a mere begging of the q uestion ? God carries on His work in the human soul through the instrumentality of means of His own providing. Un- doubtedly He has endowed each soul with certain powers of volition or free agency, in order to that soul's responsi- bility. But He has made it responsive to the touch of His own divinely appointed agents, just as the chords of the harp or the lute respond to the touch, when not almost the breath, of the skilled practitioner ; or as the flower opens its petals to the sun-beam ; or, as the electric current flashes across a continent, at will of its manipulator. 16 ProbUfAA of thf Fufttrf Stale. angels, of " not sent But I shall perhaps be told this theory of angelic ministration contlicts with the doctrine of the Holv Spirit ^ that it would supersede that fepirit's agency in the hearts of men in the great work of the aoul's salvation ? I need only say, in renly, that if the objection be valid, the onjector must be wiser than was the inspired Apostle ! "Are they "— t. f., the whom He is discoursing, forth to do service " — as the Revised Version renders " for the sake of them that shall inherit salvation ; " God works by means, alike in his Kingdom of nature and of grace : and he can -therefore^ and does, employ subordinate agencies in the accomplishment of His purposes of mercy and of goodness towards the world. I come, lastly, in this connection, to consider a point of the deejiest interest to thoughtful Christians — the nuestion oi whther our frumfls depart) d have any knowltdge of wriat is taking place liere on earth ? Speculation on religious subjects is not wrong, provided it be k». )t -within due bounds, and do not degenerate into dogmatism. I am impatient of those, as already intimated, who would alto- gether eliminate the poetical from oxir theology, and especially of those who are so rigidly ortnodox as to bcjid back- wards, forgetting that they are not in- fallible, and that wtiat to one servant of the Master may seem althogether the right view, to another equally devoted may not be so. Tho legitimate Freedom of the Press has been already secured to us. The Freedom of the Pulpit, which ought to be no less dear, is yet a thing of the futiirr.. I know of more than one Minister in the " ortho- dox " ranks, of various denominations, who confess to the holding certain views on mooted points, but say they " dore not preach them I " Is there one single sentence in all Scripture which would warrant the belief that at death our be- loved departed cease from all interest in us ? And is there a single scripture which would authorize the statement that they know nothing of our hopes and fears, our joys and sorrows ? And if the Bible teaches no such negation, is not the subject legitimate matter of discussion ? Surely the presumption is not unreasonable that, unless simul- taneously with the death of the body, the soul or spirit also Incomes insensi- ble — and no Scripture that I know of gives sanction to thit idea — a conscious redeemed soul must, in the disem- bodied state, take not only interest, but a most deep and tender interest in the progress heavenwards of the dear ones left behind it in tho flesh ? Selfish in- deed must the heart be, which, its own felicity assured, should feel no earnest concern in regard to tho felicity of others ! We stand in the midst of a world of awful mystery. Could the veil be with- drawn, I do not doubt we should find the material — wondrous though that be — but as nothing in comparison of the immaterial or spiritual. There are more chariots and horses of fire than those which carried Elijah the Erophet in that whirlwind up to [eaven ! This circumambient atmos- phere. Oh, could we but penetrate its mysteries ! Should it be Hades, huw peopled with innumerable throngs of God's redeemed, and what le«'ions of angelic ministants flying to and fro on their errands of love and mercy ! However that may be, it is not suppos- able that our Heavenly Father, who loves His redeemed children with a love which is inexpressible, should deny them the sweet consolation of knowing the progress in Christian grace and heavenly meetness which is being made by the friends whom they have left behind on earth. I do believe they know of it ; and cannot but take com- fort in the thought. — Sd- Appendix B. To believe that those who nave enter- ed into rest, and who therefore know its blessedness, mi\y be permitted to watch over us and help as, can do no hanu ; and may be productive, under the Divine guidance, of no little good. That conviction may inspire to • deeds of love and mercy — to the foisaking all that may grieve the Holy Spirit, or bring reproach upon the sacred cause of our dear Master. That thought may lead us to desire pleasures which are not of earth, but which are at God's right hand forever more. Wherefore, then, my brethren, " see- ing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin whicn doth 80 easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE STATE. Th« Nea*«>ii of Rfttvenut Wt«t %ni Wknr* U lit uil Who Mlmll Inhabit it I Sincf the fifi/innintf d/ Ihe imrli/ m*u hnri' ikA hfiinl, nor fwrvflt^d ft// thf >ar, tteil/nr ImIIi ttiK <ij^ Hfi'H, O (iixi, iHHul'e Th'f, what lie haUi pri/mrnl /or hinilhiU triii/'th/ur Iliiu. I«. Ixiv. 14. This i« iiuoted lo 1 Cur, n. 9; and the Eavisfd Vnriion retd-ra the quuUtioa tbuH : T/iiiKjM whkh eye naw not, atid ear heard not. And which entered not info the heart of iiiiin. WhiilMocivr thiiii/n Ood pn'ipared for tJieiii that lore IJlm, We all wish to ^et to Heaven; nay, we all hope to reach its bleaaed ahorca. We know that we iruat traverae the ohill watera which fl )W between ttiis world and that one yoDd»^r; and that aooDer or later wa nhall be called to make the pluDfiie into their dread depthn : and I venture to auy there is not one here pre- •ent who would not recoil with horror from the tboaght that he or ahe ehould fail of ultimately reachiog the bliseful land "Whero saints immortal reiif n." And, thanka to God, we all may reach it if we but will, for Chriat came co brine; life and incorruption (2 Tim., i. 10) to li^ht through the Goapel. There ia do ancertainty about this thing. St. Peter, Writing by inapiration, told thr^se whom he addreagf>d that when the Chief Shep herd shall be manifested t* ey shoald rec'ive the crown of ahry that fadeth not away (I Pet , v. 4). Ani Su- Paul, that lerandeat of men, rejoiced in the oonvictitn that there was laid ap for him a crown of righteoDRnees, which the Lord, the righteoufi jndge, should give to hi n at that day, and not riy to him, he adds, but also loall the,mthit love His appearing {2 T m, \v 8). Therelore I siy we all may reach Heaven wha will, but on certain «pecifio and not unreasonable conditions The crown of plory will furmount the brows et all who shall comply with the terms of ita attainment, for obvieualy there must be terms and conditions. Heaven, it ehould he remembered, is the reward of the faith and patience and perseverance of the Lord's Miinta. It is no cage of unclean birds. Clearly, the principle of selection must obt'<in in regard to Its Inhabitants. Bains;, as it is, the more especial abode of God, speaking after the manner of men, for God is everywhere, filling immensity with His presence, M that the very heaven of heavens oannot uuotaiu Him; but. never* theleas, beinu the eipeoial place ot the Lord's habitation, there will not be gathered there an indisuriminate uompaoy of the pure and of the impure, of the rit{iiteoua and the wicked, of thu anrvanta of God, and of those who arrve Him not, tor that fact would destroy iti blia^, and no constitute it hell in a de- gree. Heaven i* the /lurchatied jtOKnennioH of Chriat'anun blood boU|/ht ptiopie. I ahall perhaps be a^ked, then, and kbail endeavor to answer the (luestioo. 1. What is Hkavkn ? Js U a filare ' or a ittute ? one or loth 7 I, As already remarked, it is sp ken of in the iScriptures aa an ioheritanre — "the lot of our inheritanoe"— a posae^aioB to be bestowed by Chrii-t upon his sanc- tified ones. Heaven bngirs here, on earth. Its peat ia the human loul. We are prepared (or it through the impartation to us by the Holy Spirit of heavenly desires, thouehta, and affectiona. That which is esaentiaily of the earth, in its sinful sense, is taken away. The Lotd puts a new spirit within his children, as speaks the prophet Ezekiel, He takes the stony heart out of our lleeh, and gives us a heart of fle«h. We are renewed after the image and likeness of Christ. A different nature is cummunicat d; old things pass away, and all things become n«w. This is heaven begun, begun it may be, at the v ry outs<jt of our earthly career, as in the case of Samuel, or of Timothy who from a child had known the scripturts, or of many a devoted young person in our churches and Sunday Schools. And so imperceotible is thiH change sometimes — for the spirit of God works variously — th»t it is imoossible to fix the day or date of its commeniement, whilst in others, ag«iR, it has come with the surldf-nnes of the liphtoing'e flatih, or aa with the vio« It-nce of the tornado. 2 We carry our heaven with us whither- noever toe </o. The foul which realizes the enjoyment of the Saviour's presence experiences a foretaste of the bliss of the heavenly sanctuary, no matter whether in marble halls, in forest wilds, in no'some dungeon, or on the trackless 00 an. Thanks to His holy name, no bolts nor bars can shut me off from com- munion with that B'essed One whom truly to know ia life eternal ! On stormy watch, or even amid ha<l of battle, or pestilential fumes, the Christian oftD, and will hold convene with his l'n>hlrm» of thi' Futitrt Htate^ Lord. Nothing md (apArAla him from tat lov* of Ohritt. Lot p«ra<Kiotioa do it* Witrit ! KvoQ thoutth a boatile world •h< uld UQitd to oMt oat our naino m t-vil, the Lord woald ■till, »nd b«vorth«leii, kuow aad rtoognizo them that ar« hit. 3 A great tniataliM, Iheo, it la to atao- cikta the idea of h«!av«io, aa of uticaa- •itf, with that of tb« period of ddito It were the mereat Intiam to aay that tb« bo<ly ia not the Heat of the sMotioaa. I hare aeeo men aod womea raakud with paia whoae apirita wore ia the full at aad mont oom- plHte oDJoymcDt of the Haviuur'a poaoe. Rtady they were and williog to depart an I be with Chriat, nay, lorgiog even for th9 hour of their tranaition. To think that the diaB'>Iution of thia Qeihly frame baa neceatiarily auK^t to do with oar ■oala' heaven ia moat prepoaterona. Tr«e, the animal spirita are often %nd atrinaaly afT'iuted by the ilia which athict the body, but the aoul which )xw% a well founded hope oo Chriat the Rook of Auos, will oot be affeotfld even by the thaudera of the jalginent day itaelf. The bodyorumblea into dtiat ; tbe aoul livea oo in anbroken oontinuity. Again: II. WhkreisUeavkn? itmaybeaaked, halt it locality f 1. That it ia HOiuwhe^re in space cannot, I think, b«) doubted, for we read of it aa occupied, aad oooupied by apirita, and theae have form and identity by which they may be known, which were impoaai- ble apart from apace. Bat if it l>9 ob- jected that God cannot be localized, I answer that the objection ia bat in p«rt legitimate, for, while Ood ia everywhere in Hia o^n aniverse, even in the very caxrema of Hell, we read of him aa *' dwelling in the Heavena " That ia a very different idea from the anperatition belonging to a paat age, but utterly nnwortby of the present, which would looaliza Him in a few orumbe of bread or drops of wine, at t'ae beck of a so-called " priest," standing before a so-called "altar." Oar fathers repudiated that fantasy centuries ago; altbOQgh, shame to eay it t there are those to-day who woald again fasten the exi^oded dogm) upon the venerable Anglican Chareh. I am at a loss to nnderstacd why there should be difficulty in receiving the idea of Heaven a locality — a fact of material- ity, within the domain of physios, equally positive with the existence of Jupiter or Satarn, Venus or Uranns. The telescope, it ia most true, has given wondrons reve- lations of the magnitude and the magni- ficence of God's glohoQS universe; but even that has not been able to reveal the secrets of the milky may, nor to oaloolate the distanofs of the nearsat of the Hitd atara, aa the attronnmfr will tell you. Hut when wn curne to think, %» ia moat prohtbly true in faot, that with all the wonder* thaa laid op<<n to oar view — and t'h'iy are mn<it a''.ap«nd na — we stand aa yet Hut withio the veitit>ole oftrod'a threat tern ule. Lik** Newton, we aaunter along piokmg uu Here and there a pnhble from the shore, ths ureat oooan of troth meanwhile lyini{ ail aneiplornd boyond ua. I doubt not that. oouM >ve V-^it aee tittim, as in prophetio viaion, we ahoqid behold myriaia upon myriads of ahining orbt p^oplmg the infinitudes of siiaoe and of which the most aecurate of all the soienovs has not oonoeived the m')at rem ite idea. Inasmuch, then, as we 09 yet know nothing in oompariHou of what yet remains to be revealed to the eye of science, Sow dare we presume to say that the idea of Heaven as a lootlity is a b tnpian figment of the imagination — a mere poetic creation ? We have picked up a aand or two from the beach, and aay th^taa are all there is of them \ We have hej'>n>e slightly acqnainted with the wonders of thia. our own aolar univerae, and from that premiae attempt the im> poasible feat of proving a negatire, predi- cating the nen-exintenoe of any other ! Moat assureiily, since God hai found place for the world» we do aee, He is of might anlfioient to the finding of room in the vast depths of spa^e for the heaven or heavens which at present we do not see* 2. Again, be it remembered that God ia personal, and not a mere abatraotion aa some would make Him. Therefore, we cannot divest ourselves of the convictioD that there mast he an intimate reUtioo between personality and locality. God's children nhall be l<ke him, we are told, and see. Him as He. m; and how that scripture could be verified unless there be place and gtrrious manifestation, I cannot conceive. And what place mora fitting for such a rerelationof the Divine presence than the "Heaven of Heavens'" those who disbelieve may tell, 3. Who an tJieif that shall inherit Heaven^ is a further question which it well behoves us to consider. And fortn* nately there is a " sure word'* of God oo which we can depend for an answer to this enquiry. I wish to bespeak your intelligent consideration of this d^fi- aition : I. They are those who have truly re- pented them of their stna, and washed their robes tn the Uood of the Lamb: the great host of Gad's redeemed oat of every nation and kindred and toogae ander the whole Heaven. Their names will b« Th^ Ifntitn ((fIfeavtMi What aiui ff'here itU? ami Who thill fn/uihil it f \9 foaod writtno in thai record of riMbtcooi- OBM— thn Lkinb't hiolk of life. They »re the lauotitiud ia heart; the men and women, who, whdei pMtina thr Bt{h th«t Irtali and Mtorme o' life, in faith and fatien e poeieM^d their eoaU. Through he iipirit'i itflaence they hare beon made " meet for the inheritaoue of the •aioU in li^ht " They bare aooept«d the Lord Jeiaa aa their Matter "Klitnt'd are the dead who die in the Lord," waa the legend recorded ag»init their oamea iu the boolia of lleavoD'e Chmoery, in the moment of their departure h«noe; and of all aaoh it ie written that they ■ball attain a part in the firat Re«arreo tion; and upon them the " •eoond death" •hall harx no power. 2 Rot there are who perhape will aay " that ia a very exoluaive kind of Hea> ▼en!" Snrelr yoQ would not limitjk to the oompuratively few whom you hare indi- o»tf>d ? W hat of the Jewa, Mohamnedana, Hindoos, and all others of the aat boat of heathens and unbelierera generally ? Shall the maltitudes with whom we daily associate, and who make no profession whatever of any other than a purely iifitnral reliKion, be forever excluded from tie heavenly inheritance ? Brethren : let os nek seek to be wise above what ia written. We are not the judgea of oar brother. It ia not for me to aay what will Lj the Ste of the unbeliev- ing Jew, or of him '«i ose mind has been steeled by education against the icfluence of Christianity, or of the man to whom the Saviour baa not been revealed ;o all hia gloriona faltneas. To hia own Master each n ill stard or fall. All will not be )ud({ed by the same rule ; that w* do know; and we are told, furthermore, that he to whom muoh is given, of him much will be required, and be to whom little, of him little. Heaven is not so much a negative as it is a positive revelation. That is to say, we are informed not so much of those wbc shall not, aa of those who ahall enter therein. In oar Father's house are many mansions, and Ood h^s a place for all according to their merits or demerits. It is a blessed truth that "the Lord knoweth them that are hia;" and that He will make due allowance where ve, in onr sbort-eightedness, might be intolerable and uncharitable. 3. But this we ito Know, on the author* ity of Scripture, that Heaven is essentially where Christ is; and that none but those who love and serve him can enter therein. And this in the eternal fitness of things, for obviously there must be harmony of feeling and of temperrment in orier to the enjoyment of the L>ivine presence, and adaptation of apirit to the surroundings of bsaven. Lacking these, it were no longer heaven— the beatific abode of the Saiota uf ('od. The irbabitanta of that place airve and «or- «hip (iod; they rajoioe in the aaunhine [ of His orinotenanoe; they rejoio in the j ft lluwahip of the Redeemer; they all aiD)( , the new vend. Tb<t harmony ia ui (|iiali« I tied for ; they caat onitedly their crowns iK-fore the throne, "nd chant, in heareu'a own mntio, ' unto lliin who hnlh l-iteU m« and wanhnl un from our hihh in hi» own IiIoihI. a bad man would himaelf deaire that the doors of I caven thonld be closed agatnfct him. The harmony of the upper sanctuary is, I have stid, nnquali' Ked ; for, wherA discord ia, there cannot, in the nature of things, be pfrfect happi* neas. But there ia nothing to mar the aereaity ef the acene. Aod how toch perfection of content could poaaibly ohtaio amongst other than the followers of the Lamb when called to aiog bis prai»es !>«• fore the throne, I cannot conceive. In this ie>4()ect the church on earth cannot be regarded as the counterpart of the church in glorv, for here alas! we have difTtreooes aid recrimiuatiunf, alai!toa cften Litter ones. Here we have jeal- ouiies, mistakes, short comiigf: the aervants uf Christ, owing to the corrup> tion of the tiesh, are too like other tren, but thfre. ah! there, there will be noce of that. Seeing, as we do, through a glass darkly now, we mis> conceive and misapprehend each other; we are intolerant and overbenrii k; we take wrong views of each other's doo- trine, and do not iu£Bciently comprehend each other's motiv<)s, and so, too fre* quQDtly judge harahly and erroneously; but yonder all that is obscure will be made plain, and each Christian saved by grace will regard his brother Chrittiaa as equal to himself, equally acceptable to the same beloved Maater, none will seek pre-eminence over the other, all hearts filled to overflowing with gratitude and love. In view of the supreme delight of that most holy place, weil may we sing : "Therr* are depths of lore that I cuiBot know. Till I eross the narrow sea, There are heights of joy that I may not reach Till I rest iu peace with Tt^«e. Ob, the pure and nnsallied happiness of that blest abode of the saints of God I who but must wish that it may be his ? As stated in my opening remarks, it may most assmredly be yours and mine, pro* vided we oomoly with the conditions. If fail we shall, the fault will be oars alone— the fault of oar rebelliousness or indiffer> enoe. God is willing, and Christ is will* ing, and the Holy Spirit is willing, that we all shoald enter io. 20 Problems of the Future State, 4 Rat remember there must be fi'^ne«>B — % titoeaa of im jntatioD, and aUo of personal holiness, for without these no man can see the Lord The first hncome^ ours in the moment when we believe, the Saviour's unsullied holi nesR being acoounted unto nn for right- eousness, and th» latter eff<?cted in us throush the daily sanctifying graoe of the HoU' Sjirit. Without these requisites entrance within the sates of the New Jerusalem were no privilege to you. Yon could not be happy there, for just as the wicked man will carry his hell with him in his own bi'om, so shall the saved take with them their heaxec. Surely you will not think it mordly right thit God should compel ynu, if unoreoared. to enter heaven ? The very fact of unfitness would i iduce you to seek your own exclusion ; and this is a thought that I would recomme.'d to your most serious and prayerful consideration. Take a reso- lutely ungodly man, and set him in the midst of an assembly of Christ's worship- ping people here on earth, and he will find himself out of his element, prayer a burden, praise an unwelcome exercise, and therefore his wandering footsteps are seen so seldom wending their way towards the sanctuary; and just so would it be in regard to heaven. We shall take with us into the eternal world the predispo- sitions and antipathies we entertained in this, and therefore the man who loved not God here will not love Him there; he who hatei holiness and piety and virtue here will bate them there. The elements of each one*s moral constitution will continue tT be precipita*:ed by a law which is fixed and invariable. The right- eous, therefore, will shine as the stars in the midst of heaven's pure glory, whilst the wicked shall go to their own place — that which they themselves have chosen. It is just such a heaven as God's word reveals, and I have feebly endeavored to pourtray, which the soul longs for as the fitting compiemect, the satifying com- pensation of this world's life of bo much ' misery and wretchedness. Hearts sick I of itx hollnwness and deceit are longing ' for it every where ; and without some such { rounding off as that it would look as I though G'^d's plans of happiness for the race wer ^ marred by a power he could not control, but that we know could never be. There are some in this congregation who are longing ts know what shill be their future ; and for that reaoon I have chosen the subjects of these aermons. In the words of a gifted preacher of the day ; "To-day there rises before me the vision of the world's struggle and need and of God's great fulness — a fulness like the sea, like the plenty of th<) land, whilst all about is the hunger, the thirst, the cry of the multitude Oh. how I long to bring this fulness and this W'irt together ! I think of Jesus as he stood by Galilee or on the Mount.as He mingled with the joy in Cana, as He talked by the well, as He comforted the widow of Nain, as He blessed little children, as He wept by the grave, and I wish that I might know His love and repeat His words and live His life, and that His ministers and His churches everywhere would open wide their hearts and their doors to welcome the multitude. I know of the passion, the sin, the hardness and blindDesp of hearts, but I know that God is the Father of all, that where sin hath abounded grace h^th abounded much more, and that He calls all and is able lo save all." And I close with the closing lines of one of our finest poems — "Yesterday, To-day "ind Forever" : * * * Zion is our horae; Jenisa'em, the City of rur God. O happy hoLis ! i» happy^ eb'ldren here ! O blissful iLansions of our Fa'h t's house ! O wilkssurpas ing '-den for Ipl'aht ! Here are the harvests rr a >'il ouce sown in tears: Here is the rest by mi ■ i-tr enhanced: Her? is the bAnquet rf the wint of heaven. Riches of tlory iiicorriiptii'le, Crowns, amarantliine e own- of victory, The voice of harjers hari'inar -^n their harps, The anthems of the holy cherubim, The c'.vstal river of the pirii's joy, The Bridal pa'ace of ihe Prince if Peace, The Ho leit of Holiea— Gol is here. *4i. .i .if PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE STATE. VI. Hearen'fl Many Maiinlons. In my Fat)ier^s hmise an nutny mansions — John xiv. 2. There U no truth on which my soul more dehghta to dwell — paradoxical though it may seem to say it — than that of God'.s intiexible justice. When Abra- ham pleaded with the Lord on behalf of guilty Sodom, he said, as fearing not to be contradicted, "shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?" — dm. xviii. 25. The position has been taken by some, to avoid certain theological dilliculties, that God's idea of justice is different from man's, — in other words, that He has one standard of justice for himself, another for us ! But that seems most unreasonable : for surely our sente of the right and the just, the good and the true, must have been implanted within us by the Almighty Creator : and therefore He neither would nor could sanction two contrary or oppos- ing measures of these properties. Such a supposition were entirely unworthy of an all-wise Being, as is our heavenly V Father. ^ Now I hold it as utterly at variance "'with all right principle, as alike un- V scriptural and unphilosophical, that •> there should be a sameness of rewards and punishments ; ihat equal felicity should, on the one hand, be conceded J to the long-tried faithful servants of I God, and to the " scarcely saved ;" and flCin the other, that equal punishment ' should be meted out to the poor weak ft victim of temptation, and to the man s who, all his life-long, has "worked 'wickedness with greediness." In the «. distribution of the awards of Eternity, : tinder the government of a righteous God, one would think regard must surely be had to the respective grades * of merit or demerit characterizing the individual. In perfect harmony with this view is the declaration of our Lord in the text ; " In my Father's house are miny mansions " — not wig mansion, then, but " many ;" not one house with but one room, but many rooms in the same house, and those many rooms hlled with diversified classes of occupants. Let us take a view of human society as existing at present in our world. There are diversified elements which go to the make-up of that society. Men are drawn together by the attractive force of similarity of feeling, by con- geniality of disposition. It were a trite remark to say that antagonistic char- acters cannot dwell together side by side in harmony. One man has a taste for high art, the beautiful, the poetical; the other is all plain matter of fact, utterly unromantic and unpoetical. One has a keen and appreciative ear for music ; the other is utterly un- moved by any " concord of sweet sounds." This Christian man delights to worship God beneath fretted arch and in vaulted aisle, surrounded by magnificent designs in architecture, the rich gorgeous light, rainbow tinted, streaming in upon him thro' painted window : and &il this, we may well say instead of detracting from, acts as adjunct to his devotional feelings and perceptions — it does to mine ; whereas that other one, utterly devoid of taste or poetry or sentiment, can worship God more pleasurably to himself, in a Barn or a Church resembling one, utterly devoid of any the least preten- sion to the comely or the beautiful. One man, again, thrives upon food which to another man would be little short of poison. This one longs for tJae frozen regions of the Arctic ; that one pines lor the latitude of the Torrid Zone. This mans genius is mechanical and practical ; thai one's suberbly un- realistic and ideal. Here we have a devotee of the classics of ancient Greece aud Kome, buried in the tomes of Homer, Thucidydes, Cicero, or Juvenal. Yonder is on<i absorbed in the mysteries of the Differential and Integi-al Calculus, Quadratic equations, Algebra, or Conic Selections. Now it were obviously useless to attemp', to fuse all these infinitely dis- cordant elements. Their happiness consists in their sepai'ations. Tliey must agree to differ, otherwise their insur- mountable antagonisms would give rise to calamities incalculable. There would be danger of constant and fatal explo- sions. When cloud comes in contact with cloud, there follow the fiadbdag of 1» Probltrtii qfthe Future Staie. the Lightning and the reverberations of the Thunder. Can two walk together except they be agreed ? Their only safety consists in living in different habitations. And 80 in things heavenly. 1 appre- hend there must be different spheres or " mansions " in God's glorious King- dom, that each of the redeemed in Christ may he as happy as his or her capacity shall admit of. On earth all Christians have not, by any means, the same experiences. There are degrees of faith and hope and love. Some rejoice in manifest tokens of the Divine fa7or ; they have the comforting wit- ness of the Spirit to their Divine Son- ship ; the precious assurance of pardon and forgiveness. They know whom they have believed ; and are firmly persuaded that he shall give them a crown of rejoicing at the last day. Ac- cepted in the beloved, they can " sing songs in the night." The Comforter speaks peace to their souls . They have entered within the vail ; have been hidden in the cleft of the rock. They \yalk bv faith, and not by sight ; and 30 walking, have laid hold on the promise of salvdtion which God has made to the believer in Christ Jesus. Others there are, again, who have embraced the gospel in the love of it, but are nevertheless devoid of that rich joy- ousness of hope and consolation which is the privilege of their more favored brethren. Their faith is like the grain of mustard seed ; so weak and tender is it that it needs careful tending, or it will be overgrown with weeds and brambles. The lamp flame quivers in the socket so that the rough wind may puff it out at any moment. No soar- ing aloft is there on the wings of faith and love — nothing but a faint and feeble fluttering of the pinion, so that instead of, Eagle-like, attaining the mountain crag, their place is low down in the valley of humiliation. I know Christians of this kind, who, instead of the white garb of joy and gladness, are forever clad in the sombre Dabiliments of mourning. If a believ- ing friend is taken from them, instead of thanking God that his toils are over, his warfai-e ended, and his soul at rest on the bosom of the Saviour, they sel- fishly bewail his loss; and talk hesi- tatinglv and doubtfully of his .salvation. Instead of " Soldier of Christ well dons 1 " they chant doleful Misereres and lamentations. They hang their harps upon the willows, and refuse to sing the songs of Zion : forgetful, the while, that all this is dishonoring, be- cause a refusal to take God at His word, and to believe the precious assurances he has given us of pardon and forgive- ness Now, is it not clear as the noon-day that those weak ones, to be hapyy in glory — for not only do they live, but they also die in this condition — must needs have a place by themselves in the mansions of the Father ? Surely they would not be at home in the company of such saints of God as Abraham, and Moses, and David, Samuel, Isaiah, Job or Ezekiel ? Matthew, and John, and Paul, and James, would not be, for these weakling Christians, most assur • edlv, fitting associates in the Kingdom of glory. Such men as Wickliffe, and Huss, and Jerome of Prague, and Leigh- ton, and Wesley and Whitfield, and Scott and Chalmers, and Cecil and and Simeon ; Oh, would they not grow weary of the doublings and staggerings of those I have been describing ? Bye and bye, when they shall have pro- gressed upwards — for I trust — nay I feel crnfident — there will be progressing in heaven ; it is -scarcely conceivable that the dissolution of the body shall put an end to the progressive capacity of the soul — when they shall have attained a fitness for the higher seats in the kingdom, God will admit them there ; and then shall they praise Him with more gladsome Ups, and with louder bursts of adoring gratitude than heretofore. Oh ! there is, it seems to me, a depth of meaning in those words of the Saviour " In my Father's house are many mansions," for, if "many," there must be a purpose in them. This is not like the language of metaphor : or, if metaphor it be, then ii must be significant of distinction. 1 like that idea of Mr. Faber, that the " many mansions "of the Father are the many planets of God's Universe. Of course it is speculation only ; and yet, as it enlarges our conception of a possible meaning of this text, it is surdy deserving of our respectful considera- tion, His words are : " the true im- port of the passage," i.e. my text : " is, that as there are many mansions in the vast mundane House of the Father, so Christ will go to prepare (ms of them, as thtt place allotted for th« fatur« Heaven's Many Man$ion$. 2S permanent abode of His Disciples ; and that, when the preparation shall have been completed m the Day of Final Judgment, He will come again at His Second Advent, and receive them unto Himself, that, where he is, there they may be also," "The result is," — he continues— "that, as one of the many mansions is the des- tined future Heaven of the redeemed human race, the other numeroub man- sions must be other Heavens, severally allotted to those armies of angels over all of whom, though each army be immediately subjected to its own special commander, the great archangel pre- sides, and is thence congruously re- vealed as the Captain of the Host of Jehovah. "But the particular mansion allotted to the redeemed human race, is this very planet of ours when the dissolved first earth shall have passed away so far as its present organization is con- cerned, and shall have been succeeded by a new earth framed out of the pres- ent dissipated materials. "Hence, if our future Heaven be one of the innumerable orbs which are all the handiwork of the Almighty Creator, analogy requires that the other Heavens sHould be the other orbs : and thus we have a consistent explana- tion of the many mansions which our Lord declares to be in the House of His Heavenly Father." Now this theory mav be true, or it may not. If true, it throws a flood of light upon that much discussed question of where is Heaven ? But it is not alto- gether in harmony with the view which I have presented for your considera- tion—the view, viz : that in Heaven, wherever that may be, there are vari- ous habitations, representative of various degrees of happiness, various degrees of happiness, various grades— if I may so speak— of glory. This latter idea seems preeminently that of the Apostle Paul, as expressed in that familiar chap- ter, the 15th of his first Epistle to the Corinthians, and particularly the 4 1st verse : " There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars ; for one star dififereth from another in glory. " So also ," he adds, " is the resurrection of the dead " — not as to form, for all will be raised at once and alike — but as to results. It seems to me that, insensibly, we are too much in the habit of localizing God, and also, oi contradicting our owu theory or doctrine. We say, and that truly, that Jehovah "fills immensity with hii presence," — that God is every- whtre, both in the Heavens above, and on earth beneath : nay, were I to use so strong an expression as to say that the very Hell of Hells is open to Hia inspection, and at His command, you would not deny it, for the Almighty must surely be omnipotent also in His own universe ? He could not have created it, to be thereafter excluded from any part of portion of it, by foiee of any unimagiiiable circumstances, or agencies, independent of His control. Now, thi' being true, both in theory and in fact, and supported as it un- doubtedly is, by Holy Scripture, and therefore no mere speculation, we find that God is not far off, but v^ry nigh to every one of us. He has not retired to a distance ; but is constantly with us in our homes, in our business, and in our daily walks. And, if we only hold communion wilh hiui, there is, to us, our Heaven. He is with us, whilst stretched upon our beds at night wrcpp- ed in unconscious slumber, dreaming sweetly, it may be, or else taking un- knowingly that refreshment so much needed by the weary o'er- worked frame. He is with us in our hours of sicknes : and in our bereavements the Angel of His presence is at hand to comfort and uphold, so that we shall not give way to hopeless sorrow and despair. That vision of Jacob's ladder at Padan Aram had a meaning in it, not for him alone, but for every child of God living in these latter days. Oh yes ! the believer does hold communion with the God and Father of his spirit without waiting for his hereafter. We need not to die and be buried, and we need not await the glorious morn of the Resurrection before being admitted to His presence, and being made partakers of the peace-giv- ing influences of His blessed Spirit. Perhaps there is somewhere a throne of God ; Bomewhere in the vast universe, a place more transcendently beautiful thaii any other of His many mansions : a place where He may be said to make His home, where Christ stands in all the splendor of his glorified humanity, as our tender elder brother — for He took with him hiBphysical body when he as- cended to Heaven — where the holy angels and the va^t host of the redeem- 2*. Problems of the Fntnre Slate. ed chant unending praises : and into that place shall be gathered all the vast host of the redeemed — the General As- sembly and Church of the first-born — but this Is, perhaps, only ideal after all ; an accomodation of language to our limited capacity ; a formula of expres- sion suited to the comprehension of the limited human understnnding, and not plain, palpable, actual fact. This we know however, :— that the very Heaven of Heavens cannot contain God: and we do know, furthermore, that " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." The place of the Lord's feet is glorious. (See also Is. Ixiv, 4.) "In My Father's house are many mansions " — said our blessed Lord : and hence .we deri /e an argument in favor of putting forth every possibie effort for the soul's greater sanctifica- tion. We are co- workers together with God in this matter : and therefore I say putting forth every effort, whilst depending, at the same time, upon the grace of God. It should be for us a powerful incen- tive to the cultivation of personal holi- ness to know that in our Father's house are '' many mansions," for it will largely depend upon where we stand upon the the ladder^ of sanctificatiou here on earth as to which of these mansions we shall occupy hereafter. The man who barely gets within the gates of pearl- - who is saved only "just as by fire " — cannot expeet to attain a position of ]:)re-eminence in the heavenly king- dom. And while it would seem true that every saved soul shall be accorded just the degree of felicity of which it is capable, in the better world, undoubt- edly the higher we rise in the scale of Christian grace, and the nearer we ap- proach the imasie and likeness of the Master, so much nearer shall we get to Him, and so much more intimate shal! be our communion with him in the world hereafter. r Oh, for a more increasiug and pro- gressive holiness ! Oh for greater ardor of desire after increasing sanctificatiou ! The future wiil be a world of com]ien- sations, alike to the righteous and the wicked. Every act ajid labor of love performed here on earth in the cause of the Saviour, and from love to Him, will be remembered by Him in His glory and in His kingdom, Not a tear of penitence we shed ; not a longing after holiness we experience ; not a lust subdued ; not a sm abandoned and . forsaken ; not a child of sorrow helped and relieved ; not a pilgrim aided on the heavenward journey ; b it will be noticed by the Master, and by Him . placed to our account, and made con- ducive to our happiness in the day whea : He shall come to make up His jewels. The Lord is looking on, my brethren : not umindful is He— no, not for a mo- ment ! of what is passing in His vin- -. yard. A life sp«^nt for Christ, and in ; the interests of a true philanthrophy, is a life spent to good advantage, and will , not have passed without its compensa- tions. The nearer we get to God on earth in heart and affections, the nearer shall we get to Him in H^s dwelling place hereafter. And on the contrary, the further we wander away from God, the more diffi- cult will that make our reclamation. Some think — but I take, for one, no pleasure in the thought — that in the Eternal world there will oe a constant, progression in evil, and that, therefore, the alienation of the wicked from God will become constantly more intensified. But this would make sin eternal ; and:, thus, a power which God is either un- able or unwilling to controul ; an idea, to me, most repugnant. Certain it is, however, that it is both unwise and unsafe to trust to any pos- thumous amelioration of the soul's condition, inasmuch as we have no Scripture warranty for believing, but only at most a cliaritable ho-pe, that such amelioration may be possible. The only wise way, therefore, the only prudent, safe way is to make assurance of our salvation certain , if that be possible ; and possible it is, since Christ Jesus came into our world, for the very pur- pose of saving sinners. God would surely not tantalize His creatures by oflering them a salvation which is unattainable. The adorable Redeemer would not have told us of mansions of the Father which are un- reachable. These are set before us to stimulate our desire--, and to intensify our ambitions. Crowns we shall have, and harps, and palms, if only faithful : not crown* material, I need not say, but metaph- orical. And we shall sing heaven's new song of joy and gladness. Oh may it be ours — every one of us — to realize that blessedness I PROBLEMS OF THE FUTURE STATE. VII. The Xethemont Hell, and its Eiii4>iitlal RIpmcnt«. Thf miiitki' ofthpSr torruuni axcfiidcth up fmr fi^r anil fi'T. [Jcv. xiv, 11. 8ome there are who say that those who die in their aioH shall be the labjects of endless conscions puDishment io Hell; others that,after enduring their due meed of retribatioD, they «h«!l be restored; and yet others that, having anfferrd in the eternal world according to their misdeeds and conti&uing still impenitent and re- belltcoB, they will be blotted out of ex- istence, and 80 become as though they bad never been. To thne may be added a fourth class, who, combining the ▼iewi of the last two, hold that, a further probation being etill allowed them in the fatare world: — (I.) Those who avail of it and become tmly penitent will eveotaally be re- stored; and f (2.) Those who still continue obdurate thall be tiaally blotted out of existence by the Almighty power of God, and thus ■in universally abolished, and the king- dom restored to the Father, Christ shall be "all in bll." In this sermon I shall discuss neither of these propositiont, each of which has more or lees able advocates iu its favor, bnt will simply take the ground that by "heil"— the 'Nethermost hell," rathar — we may understand that dark abode to which the tiaally impenitent shall descend after the Resurrectian and Gen- eral Judgment. And my theme to-night will be no pleasing one, though necessary to this series of discourses, yet I trust that, with God's help, it may prove profitable. I — IS THERE A HELL THEN ? AND IF SO, WHERE, AND WHAT IS IT ? To this question, often asked, I will en* deavor, in the first place, to give an answer: 1. There are two terms :n the New Testament, indifferently translated. Hell in King James' version, but properly dis- criminated in the new or revised eaition. The one used always when the inteneer form of suffering is indicated, being Gehenna, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, the other Hades, or the place of departed spiiits, without regard to condition. That valley, outside the walls of Jerusalem, was a place In which tires were continually kept burning, and so in process of time it came to be in the popular mind, a symbol of the place of the lost. " Whore their worn dieth not, and the fire is not qnecched." 2. Now that there I't snch a place, can I think no more be doubted than that there is a Hearen, and for precisely the Mme reasons. It is evident that there most be retribution after death, for otherwise the monatrons villains of the world need but to commit a painless suicide, and so escape " nnwhippad of jantice." And that the Knffericgs of "Hades" ace but anticii:'atnry, will, I thick, be evident when we rt fleet that as yet there ha"< been no rceurrtction of Ihe body. As the rightncui will nred their bodies in order to the fiill eri'-yment of their blijs, so will the finally impenitent need theirs to the compler^ient of the- measure of their wretchedne'S. 3. It is equally true that met:phori- cally ap'aking 8om« men cirrv their own hell with tbem. Before defith even, :t« baleful firtp fl^me up within t^eir scu1b> That Jh a teiriiile Scripture of the Apostle Paul; "some men's sinp a-e open before- hand, or evidont, coing befvre to judg- ment;" 1 Tim. v. 24; a warr.ir.g wh'ch might well RflTr'ghc the wrong-doer; and Milton craphiot.lly writes: — " Whidi waj I t1; i* hell; myself am hell '" Such are described by the Apostle, in- his Epistle to the Romans, as " given over by God to a reprobate iTsitsd" — Rom. I. 28— following wickedness with greedi- ness. 4. Bnt there is something more tbac metaphor, or the figures of Scripture are overstrained, which we may not aflBrm. We read that the Devil's rebellicus acgela are confined " in chains under diirkness unto the judgment of the last great day." Jade 6. What means that declaration, if there be no placa of penal confinement, and that, one too horrible to contemplate ': I grant that the expres- sions "fire and brimstone," "undying wsrni," " smoke of torment," and such like, are but figures of cspeech; but yet, and nevertheless, th-y are figures which certainly must represent certain awe- inspiring and most tremendous realities: Who shall undertake to limit them ■; We shall see, I think,* before I close, that they have a meaning the most stu- pendous. May none here ever realize that meaning in an awful exoerience I The question of precise lora'if'j is cne of not the smallest coHsequeiice, and it were but trifling to dwell upon it; we have far irtore important matter to attend to-night than thaf, unless as connected with the second member of our enquiry. 5. Hell, then, it may be stated, is that most horrible of all places in God's crea- tion in which shall be confined the sonle of the persistently rebellious against the uivlne commands — those who shall, not- withxtandiug God's patience with theut and the imploring entreaties of His spirit, have died in their sins, filled up the mea- SKre of their iniquity, and upon whom, at the last day, the Jndge shal! have pro*. 2b Rrohitinu fj Che Pu'.Hrtt SiiUe. M n&uncsi the dread fltntenoc: "Drpart fM'n mft, ye cursed, into the etern<I fira Nvhi .h is pre;j'irel for the devil aiivi hia Anjjele." Matt, xxv, 41, R.vd. Vtrsioa. l\, la a pU u ia which ah:ill bo gathered thd :no'-!»l siiiun and offdjoutijgs of ea. th; thjabjiaof the aoholy, th^' »J auionc 1, thd IcvvJ, and th • ptofai^e- The ni n and woman who hav;; paid dd hetd to th < re- quirements of G.id upon thein; who have Worked wickedutsa with greet^iaeej'; who ii:ive triuiiifiht^d over dowu-troddnu vir- tu'i; wallii.< (d in t!;e mire of sin; tura;;d a /ieaf car to the warninga acd rmiioabtrAU- vj-'s of the Gutpi'I, the oonstrainiag en- :< 'catiea of the Hoiy Spirit. Heil will s\r.v'' for its inhabitants those who in iK^r daj aa I j:;tneratiou might have fouud ,^r;ijtj acd mercy, but would not; whom the Uiiaistry of the Lord Jesus would !l^ve suatchud aa braada from the burn- .'D;*, aud opened for their acccptauct* the aa.ea ol salvation, but who pers'sUntly ru-ited upon their deutruotion, and turned th ir backs upoa the Saviour. In hell will be Been congregated those who have heretofore made meroy impo«. 5tb!e beeausc; inconeintaab with the Divine tru'hful.-iess and justice — "ru-hfulaees in the execution of threat tnod p.!ii.'\Ity, and ju^tii'.e to thoae who 'have I bediei:t!y cjinplie 1 with thd law's re^uireniects; cU, in short, who ))av» ■Wi.utonly and fooliohly sjoued away their d3,y vt grace, and so put it cut of the power of Gcd to forgis e thw-m, becaupc wilfally, dtliberately, and persiatently obdurate and inipFcitent •1. The^^" is a 'vide-spread incredulity, jaoie or loss forcible , in regard to the fXPteiice (f a hell, o*ini,' probably iu 5otae degree to the txsgtjeratecl reproseu- tntiona of t^e pulpit. But zlv.n I will say that if there Ve not one, there surely bv.:/hi to ba, for I see not how God's mural government could be sustained with.-.ut it. W.'.y do we, genorally, in clote rtlitirn to our Te.v.'ples of Jusiice, sorat'timea utidef the same roof, invariably build priiona or penitet>tiarie&? Bscau'ie law irithout its saacijcns were oowerl'BS, and socifcty would eocn become imrme- iible, being everrun by its villains and murderers. A few days since, one movmg in what .are called, /icr fxctlhnce, the •"Society" oirclea of a western metropolis was ar- rested on a charge of embezzlement. He had been hading a fast life, as many such people do to their sorrow. Living in a fashionable quarter, keeping up a sump- tuous establishment, his expenses oat- stripped bis means, ani to supply defi- ciencies, he squandered the fortune en> trusted to the safekpeping of his honor (!) by the presumably now beggared widow ^l a former employer. Nor was that all: fie had reckleady expended in idle pomp add sensuous grafeitioation the funds of vaiiout oiiints, which he bad collected ia his professional capacity. Should there cot be a hell for such men, uader a ri^tht* (una government ? Again: the papers constantly tell ns of murderous house-breakings. Indeed, th^y aro'too numerous and sickening t« partioular'ze. A lazy scoundrel, lubting for the wealth whioh he would not earn, invades your domi -ile at dead of eight, br'^^itiS wife or children sleeping by your Elide, then, on your awskonin;,', mortaily woucida yourffelf, and, in the Rcullltf, ha hiiijcielf i- sent i?ito Kteru'ty. Now, shcali there not be a Uoll for all such mocHters? Would that be heaven to you in whick you should behold the wretch, bis handa still re'iking with the bbod of your mur- dered innocents ? He had not repented : no tirae was given him for that. In proper self-defence, ^ ou sent him to bis own place. Could that pla 'e, by the tensest ttretchiog (f iin«2mation, be Heaven to a child of God ? Go aomewhere ha must; if not to H»;aven, the abode of God'a siints alone, then obviously to hel!: and hut, and deep, and foul, and dark, shoald that pbice be ! 7. Hell muy be described as a sort of moral Vesuviu'j — a bo'linj/, up'aeAvitig cra'ier of iniquity and pollution! Thera will ba tie li^rods, the Neros, the Cali- «uUs, the Bor^iai, the Wolst-ys, the Robfc^pi. rrts of tho world's history— mea who ishould have bean a bless ng to the race, but who have proved themselvea a curse. "Sinners cf every ai^e and every type; The proud, de-pitefiil, fierce, implaLal)le, I'tithankful, and unholy, an I Huciean." I'^nlerday, etc. No ray of sunlight can ever reach its darksome caverns from the Throne of God : Its datkL<esa, itk-like, pitchdike, only relieved by the lurid glare of the emoke ff tornicot. No word of purity is heard; nothing but the bowlings of re- norre; the groans of anguish and despair. Such, brethren, is the picture which the Scriptures draw of the Infernal pit. There are some prisons on this earth which ir.i^hl eervT to give a faint idea of vvhat hell muEt be. because of the wretches who are there oonfiopd. I have seen seme such. Villains whose conn* tenances bespeak their character at a alanoe — thieves, cut-throats and assassina ! Monsters so depraved by seusualityan d vice, that crime has cea<<ed to be crime to them ; death in ignomy the only future they look forward to — the place of the lost, their habitation in the hereafter. Not that all have sinned alike, for some there are bnt neophytes ia crime; brt all, more or le^s, are bad — the very atniospheie pollution, Ooos Tkf NfJhj-rnuitf Ifffl, ami «/« K»»fniinl. KlrmrtUn, those men might h»ve been snved, per- sbaace, it is now too late! Hardened in sin have they become! They prefer dark- aea» to liG^ht.becsuje their deeds are evil. Now I want to make this point with yon. Not one of those wretched prisoners need have occupied that loathsome place without his own consent. I mean by this that his own consent was necessary Xm the perT>etratioi. of the crimes which sent him there. Conscience will force him to exclaim: ''Myself alone am i^usa of al! luy woe!" The law would not have iikid hold uprin him had he not ▼iolatpd its tnactmentfl, Rubbery, mur- der, arson, were d^f'da to which he was r>ot forced, And he sinned wilfully and deliberately with eyes open to the corae- qucrcea. Therefore he may be said to have made electioa of his own desperate fate, Juat so in regard t^ hell. Were God's laws kept, tho place would be abolished — none would be condned therein: and he who perwistently break<< that law does so of his own accord. God created him a free agent, and ao invested hi:n with the responsibility of choice. Here it may be enquired: n. wii.\T co.NSirruiEs the essintial ELE.MtNT OF HBLL IN THE HCMAX SOCL ? Firs»:: adaptation ot Hplrit. He that .^oes thither goe? to "h'mouni fjlacc," like Jnias, He goe?, because he has virtually choaeM it in defiance of ■warning and admonition, in preference to Heaven. For that a choice wa^ ofifercd kiva in th^ gospel cannot be denied. "Evil, be thou my good '. ' was his reply. The bad man unfits himself for Heaven by tculneas of tora'ie.impurity of life and oonducc, and by deUberate self-will and hardness of heart. The door of mercy et lod wide open ir.vitins; him to enter in; bat he slammed it to, as it were, in the very face of Ood 1 His heavenly Father ' (lUl not sf'id him to perdition. He went there, because to the abode of kindred spirits. Un6tted for the companionship ot the redeemed because of hia wicked works, juat as wster will seek its level, he sought the companionship of the de- praved, and so found his leyel in the ziether world. There was nothing abnor- mal in this, but, in perfect correspond* ence with the processes of natnie. sowing to the wind he reaped the whirlwind ; exactly according to the tree which he planted, he gathers fruit. "The mind is iti own place, and in it»cU Can make a heaven ot hell, a hell of heaven." —^Paradise Lost; Book I., 235, i>. Take a filthy man ..nd set him in the midst of the JParadise of God. bis heart unchanged, it were no Paradise to him. Talk of God's not beincr so cruel as to «xclade any from hia Kingdom ! The charge is uroundleia, in that the wicked are self-exuluded — excluded by virtue of their own incapacity for the t njoyments and purfuits of Heaven. I sec nok iiow it could be justly otherwirie. Put a pure and virt'touu man into a prison, such as that I spoke of, it were a hill to him; because repugnant to every feeling of his own nature. Place an im uru and develishman inheaven : that, to him.wera virtual bell, because out of harmony with his every destre and aspiration. Eack in /lis oicti place, then, becomes a demand of justice — a first prinoipl'», 80 that you sea tho wicked must herd with the wicked, such being thoir de* libera^'e choice, the natural and titting sequel to a life of wickedness. It needs no %3t of God to acoomplish this. Nxturt ■ifelcM tin m'lUihriun ; and so, by the law of spiritual gravitation, will wicked and ungodly men and wcrr.en gravitate to* wards each other th^^re (just as they do in thib W(rld,) aiid conformably to the awards cf the fioal judgment. And just as the magnet ia attracted by the load- stone, and as the pious, the God-fearing and Chriittlo^inE; draw near to each other here on earth, so will they enjoy tht'reaiter. but in h(>roic degree, tLe de- light) of heavenly interconrst and com* rauuion This in the eternal fitness of things, from which I see no rdason to exp'jct any the least 'Ipviation. Second : Thf convid Ion rf the forfeiture of hx'avtn will form, I think, an essential ' and moat aggravating ingredient in the wret-chedneta of the lost When a soul created after the image of God shall come to consider in the eternal world what it mi^ht have been but for sin — sin wilfully and delibcrattly indulged— it appeafs to me th.^t it were mare than enough to drive that soul mad if such a thing might be For cne in torment to look upwards to those gates of light, and to realize in all its horror that the pri- vilege of treading the solden ttreets is re- served for otherx, not for him or her; that, whilst enchained a prisoner in that awful place which he has chosen, more than by apy act of the Almighty Father who might have cruahed him in the days of his impotent rebelliousnE&s. but simply in compassion would not, his hands shall not be allowed to strike the chords of the heavenly harps, nor his voice attune to the heavenly music ; to think that, instead of a white robed saint, partaker of the marriage supper of the Lamb, his garments are those of filthiness, curses his clothina;, his associates murde-ers. adulterers and all liars--bis|fate"the stcond Derth," oh what horror that ! who shall attempt te depict its awfnlness ? In- spiration alone could do it ; and Inspira- tion hai expressed it in that terribU 28 PrM'iiis «*/■ tht Fufurf S(nU.\ formnU of ** Where the worm dieth not aod *:he fire ia notqnenchn'l !" ill. Rut \o\ p'-rbspi will »k m9,'ix there no pitxtibilifi/ of fdC'ipe ' itJinll thf ptinUh- mf-nt Iff the wickeil he eternal ' uliall they not rntlwr he hlottrd out * Let me sfty here that I have on nym- psthy with that tnrt of Christianity which la ever reafly to def^d the awfnl- Beta and tV'" eternity of Hell f r othn-x, but which je zealot would not for one moment t'>lerite for himself. Le»; as not fori^et t> at ttie measure wp would mete •nt to others will be meted to uf again. In regard to the first interrogatory, 1 am willing to say that w Inii'j ox xiti nhnll Uwt, so Ioh'J there muat nti'f nil/ he puialty; and penalty means suffering — suffering in the ratio of guilt, Sin eternr^ so will be retribution. Now suppose we read the text, as some would render it, the smoke of their torment ascepdcth up "for ages and aijes" instead of "for ever and evei," would j'ou be any the more reconciled to its endurance '! "Perhaps a little," you leply, "but only just a little." "Age- long suffering !" Is fhaf the extent of your ambition ? Anything, so i*- be not eternal! Ob what quibbling ! Bewake, and deal frankly with your souls. You don't want even "ages" of agony; and yet these are denounced against the im- penitent trau8grei>sor. Oh '. See to the stronghold while yet there is time. See ! The avenger of blood is behind you; es- cape for yonr life — haeten and tarry not 1 Furthermore, as to the 2tid snd 3rd en quiry: but no ! before proceeding farther, 1 too must ask a question, and it is this: yy/iy do ijou v:ii*h to hno"- whether the retributions of the future shall or shall not be eternal ? Becaase of a prurient curiosity — an idle prying into the great aearets of the future ? or because yon are weighing in your own m-'nd whether it will pay or cot to defy Omnipotence, and spurn the gracioua offer of mercy and forgiveness ? Asisuredly if you have determined, as is your manifest duty, to renounce your sins and to walk henceforth in newness of life, through Divine grace, it c<»n be a matter of small personal concern to you whether the punishment of sin shall or shall not be eternal. You have laid hold upon the horns of the altar. Y'ou havp accepted the salvation of the Gospel. You have enlisted as a Christian soldier; iled to the stronghold as a prisoner of hope. For yon, then, there is now no con- demnat on. Why need you, therefore, be anxious to secure the eternal condemnation of ynur brother ? Can you Bot leave that to his Master, before whom he standeth or falleth ? You can surely believe that the Judge of all the earth will do only whi^t Is right, that bia punishments will be ^uch a>* men (Unerve and His Word declares. If it be Gud'a will that any soul of man shall "perish." perish he will, whatever that may mean; that "his root shall be a<i rott^nnris and his blossom ihall be aa dast," (Is. v. 24) I — that a so shall happen to him. This I we koiw : that the pernetentiy winked, "who know not God and obey not tte ' Gospel," shall "be punished with ever- lasting (Icstructiob from thb presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.'g (2 Tbess. i, 9.) Go home, then, my brother, and think and pray over this. Lay the matter before God in your secret heart; then search His Word, and pray to be guided aricht and led to choose the good part:; and then, if still unsatiatied, unable to decide between Christ and Belial, Heaven and Hell, come tiack to me and we will talk it over; bnt you must 6r8t pledge me to make and 8»v yon have made an honest and determined ejJoTt to escape the condemnar,ion of Hell and to dnd, the way to the glory everlasting. And finally, brethren, one and all.let me entreat you to beware how yon do aught which shall dieqaalify you for the realms of glory, for if you do, the choice you make must, in tbe nature of ihicgs, be that awarded yon, I have endeavored to set before you, in these sermons, Life and Death, Heaven and Hell : may God enable you to choose the better part which shall never be taken from you. And to choose without delay. The sands ot time are ebbing fast away. " And everj beatinjj pulse we tell Mikes but the number less." '< Not long will Balvsi.tionbe in our option. That door is open yet The Savicur stands there inviting all to enter in. The Spirit and the Bride say come. The pitcher IS not \pt broken at the fountain nor the wheel broken at tbe cistern. The mar- riage feast ts prepared, and all things are ready for the invited guests. Let there, then, be no dallying with iniquity; no trifling pondering of "the chances." Heaven is within your reach; H<3ll may be shunned and avoided. What, then, hinders you from making the better choice ? Make it, in the btrength of Gtxi, and you are safe. And to you, brethren beloved, whe are walking by faith and not by sight, let me say, be encouraged and press oo. You have girded on the Christian armor: Keep your weapons burnished, and I stand with loins girded and lamps bnm- I ins; and yonrs shall be tbe glad welcome, "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foaadation of tbe world." . APPENDICES PrMemt oj the PiUurt State. 29 APPENDIX A— Paoe 10. The philoBophers of ancient Greece and Rome did not look upon their departed friends as lost. They believed that death only separated them from each other fur a time : that soon they should meet, in more happy re-union, in the reahiis of Hades. How ihey became imjtressed with this notion, it were useless to enquire : as to the /oct, no one actjuainted with cla8.-ic story will deny it. The poets frec^uently alluded to it. Homer, the great Grecian, for example, re{)re8ent9 the shades of his heroes a.s retaining all the charac- teiibtics, di^!position8, habits, stations and peculiarities which belonged to them before death. (Book ll, line 48, &c). The Elysium and the Tartarus of the poets correspond respectively to the Paradise and the Hell of our Sacred Siiriptures, or rather, accordini' to Dr. Campbell, as quoted by Bishop Hobart, Pa<^'e 100), " the prison of Hades wherein criminals are kept until the General Judgment." The sentiments of Socrates, probably the greatest Grecian philosopher who ever lived, are so well known as to need but the bare allusion. It is evident from the language used in conversation with his frieiidf, after being sentenced to drink the fatal hemlock, that altho' he spoke with apparent doubting, he neverthe- less in tne main believed that bis spirit would meet and recognize, and in turn be recognized by the great and good of former times. "If" — says he — "the common expression be true that death conveys us to those regions which are inhabited by the spirits of departed men, will it not be unspeakably nappy to escape the hands of mere nominal judges to appear before * * such as Minos and Rhadamanthus, and to associ- ate with all who have maintained the cause of truth and rectitude ? * * Is it nothing to converse with Orpheus, and Homer, and Hesiod ? ♦ * With what pleasure could I leave the world to hold communion with Palamedes, Ajax and others, who, like me, have had an unjust sentence pronounced against them 1 " Now hear Cicero : " glorioui day ! when I shall retire from this low and sordid scene, to associate with the divine assembly of departed sbirits ; and not with those only whom I have just mentioned, but with my dear Cato that best of sons and most valuable of men ! " APPENDIX B— Paoe 16. There is one departed — Bishop Bur- gess, late of tho Diocese of Maine - who v>'ill not be accused of intemperate en- thusiasm by those who knew nim when here below, whose words I shall ask no indulgence for quoting here. He says : " 'Ihose we loved on earth may be spectators at this moment of those they left behind them. The partition wall that separates Time fromlEternity may be so thin that those on the other side may hear the voice of music and prayer lifted up to God from those on this side ; the eye of saints in glory may have that penetrating power that it can see through the partition, and witness the countless races that are on their course to immortality and glory." Voices of the Dead, p. 435. To me there is an inexpressible sweetness in the thought that our friends who are asleep m Jeims may not be so distant from us as we had perhaps conceived. Should this be ir- reconcileable with the idea of confine- ment in a separate place, in expectation of the Resuirection, then will I give up that idea for the sake of this. To thint that not only are we ministered to by God's angelic agents, and compassed about with that vast cloud of Old Tes- tament witnesses of whom the Apostle makes mention, but that our own dear friends, a sainted mother or wife, for example, or a loving father, may be also with us in out sleeping and in our waking hours, suggesting thoughts — for aught I know— of purity and peace, oh ! what harm can there be in that belief ? Men may call it the romance, the enthusasim, the exaggeration of religion, if they will. I do not think any will dare to call it " superstition." IsrOTES- 1. For reasons of expediency alone I do not state my own solution of the difficulty alluded to under Heading ii. of Sennun I., page S. 2. I should also have said that just as there will be various degrees of happiness in Heaven, so by parity of reasoning, will there undoubtedly- be differing (degrees of v. retchedness in Hell.