view, and impressed on the minds of others,-that it appears impossible to deny that they believed in the existence of the soul in a separate state after death; and equally impossible to account for such an idea possessing their minds, and circulating through their representations, if it was merely a popular mistake.

To select a few; let us observe the aspiration of dying Jacob, Gen. xlix. 18. Feeling that his time was short, he said unto his sons (ver. 1, 2.) "gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father." He then proceeds; and having delivered his prophetic declarations respecting seven of his sons, as if wearied by his discourse, in his state of extreme weakness, he paused, glanced at his situation, as a dying man, and said, "I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord,” ver. 18. But what was the salvation which the dying patriarch expected on the system of materialism? Was he waiting for the moment when his being would be extinct, and would remain so for thousands of years? Where is such a use of the term salvation to be found?

When the Lord appeared to Moses "in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush,” Exod. iii. 2, &c. he said, ver. 6, "I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;" and we have the highest authority for stating that these words referred to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not as dead, but as living beings; for our Lord said, when quoting these words, "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living," Matt. xxii. 32. Luke adds, "for all live unto Him," chap. xx. 38. If it be said, the object which our Lord had in view, was to prove, from this passage, a resurrection, in opposition to the Sadducees, we reply, true; and we consider our Lord's statement to be an answer to their objection. By asserting from the words of God, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, lived, because God was not the God of the dead, (who, in the sense of the Sadducees, had no longer any existence) but of the living, he repelled the leading sentiment of his opponents, who denied the existence of spirit, as well as the doctrine of the resurrection. And since God had declared himself the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, not of their spirits only, but of the men, it was fully to be expected that he who was still their God, would justify the name he had assumed; so that as their spirits did live, their bodies should live, and for this purpose be raised from their graves at the last day.

Our Lord's interpretation of these words gives us a forcible view of the exclamation of Balaam, Numb. xxiii. 10. "Let me die the

death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his." The death of the righteous, considered merely as a departure from the present state of existence, was not marked by any thing peculiar; but their future condition, their latter end, was of a very different kind from that of the wicked. Hence the Proverbs of Solomon, which are a repository of the sentiments of the ancient Israelites, come forward as a striking commentary on the words of Balaam. "The wicked is driven away in his wickedness, but the righteous hath hope in his death." Prov. xiv. 32.

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The language of the prophet Isaiah, lvii. 1, 2, conveys the same idea: "The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come." But if men in general were thus heedless concerning their removal, the prophet took a different view of their departure; for he says in the second verse, "He shall enter into peace; they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness." But if they were not in a state of conscious existence, how could such expressions be with propriety used? no part of the Old Testament have we a more striking view of the opinion of the times, than in the triumphal song prepared by anticipation, for the fallen king of Babylon, recorded in Isaiah xiv. 4, and following verses. The prophet's imagery is drawn from the view of the unseen world, representing those who had been oppressed and slain by the king of Babylon, as rising up and exulting over him, when he was slain, and sent down to the shades below. "Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming; it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak, and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the sound of thy viols; the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou brought to the ground which didst weaken the nations! Thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcase trodden under feet. Thou shalt not be joined

with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evil doers shall never be renowned." Isaiah xiv. 9-12, 16-20. This long selection of verses, is brought forward for the purpose of marking that view of a future state of existence, on which the song is formed; whilst the whole of this inimitable ode displays the high talent of the prophet, and claims the admiration of every attentive reader of the Old Testament. We see here the separation of the body from the spirit, distinctly asserted. The inhabitants of hell, or the place where the dead were assembled, are all excited by the descent of the king of Babylon; the kings of the nations are raised up from their thrones; they see, they narrowly look upon, they consider this fallen monarch; they mark not simply his fall, but his degradation. The kings of the nations were lying in glory, every one in his house; but the king of Babylon, the object of their address, and present with them, was disgraced for want of a burial. Whilst his spirit was enduring these taunts, his body was "cast out of the grave, like an abominable branch." Nothing could more powerfully exhibit the imagery of a separate state of existence, nor more forcibly impress it on the mind of the reader.

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Let us now turn to the New Testament; here we find the same representations, pointedly held up to notice, and in a manner which must impress the mind, and which was clearly intended to produce this effect. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, recorded Luke xvi. 19th, and following verses, when the poor man died, he was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom," a term common among the Jews, meaning by it the place where the spirit of the righteous rests on its departure from the body. When the rich man died, and was buried, we are told that "in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom," ver. 23. In the conversation which then took place, it is clear that the enjoyment of Lazarus, and the misery of the rich man, took place instantly on the death of each; for the rich man entreated that Lazarus might be sent to his five surviving brethren, to warn them of their danger, lest they, also, should come into that place of torment. The whole construction of the parable depends on the idea of the reality of a separate state.

The same imagery is strongly exhibited in the book of Revelations. In the sixth chapter, the 9th, and following verses, the fifth seal opens with a display of "the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held," who were under the altar,-who "cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our

blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given to every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." In the succeeding chapter, after the sixth seal was opened, but before we come to the seventh, a grand introductory scene to the events that were afterwards predicted, is presented to our view; the sealing of the hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of Israel, and the acclamation of that great multitude which no man could number, that "stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and (who) cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb!" So splendid an appearance occasioned the inquiry, who these were, and whence they came? and the answer was, "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them;" and at the close of the whole it is added, “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes," Rev. vii. 13, 14-17. Here nothing depends on any peculiar system of interpretation; for on every theory these visions relate to periods of persecution, to the situation of those who loved not their lives unto death, and who not only made their escape by a chariot of fire, but the tears of their affliction were still in their eyes, when presented before the throne, and which the hand of their God, we are told, would wipe away. These representations are very forcible; they powerfully seize on our imagination, they were intended to produce this effect; but the medium of their operation is, the sentiment for which we are pleading,—a separate state of conscious existence.

But, however impressive the representations of parables and prophecy may be, there are other testimonies to be produced, which, in consequence of their plainness, and the absence of all figurative language, contain more of the power of proof than even these.

The highest authority in earth and heaven is the Lord Jesus Christ; and he speaks in terms which cannot be reconciled with the system of materialism. In his address to his apostles, Matt. x. 28, he says, "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell." Or, as it is stated more in detail by Luke, ch. xii. 4, 5, " Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear Fear Him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into

hell;” yea, I say unto you, Fear Him." In these words the distinction between the body and the soul, between the destruction of the body, which may be in the power of man, and the destruction of the soul, which is not in his power, but in the power of God only, is so clearly stated, that there is no method of fairly interpreting them on any other system.

When our Lord was hanging on the cross, and the penitent at his side offered his prayer, and said, "Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom," Jesus said unto him, "Verily, I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Luke xxiii. 42, 43. It is in vain to say, as some have done, that by the words, today, our Lord only meant an expression of this kind,—I this day assure thee, that on a future day thou shalt be with me in Paradise; for, beside the forced and unnatural construction which this interpretation would put on the words, the Jewish use of the term Paradise, settles the meaning of the sentence. Learned men who have investigated the sentiments of the ancient Jews, and noticed accurately their modes of expression, assure us that they draw their images of the state of the righteous, on their death, from the garden of Eden, and hence they are accustomed to say, that the abode of their souls on departing from their bodies is in Paradise. Such evidence clearly shews what the penitent would understand by the terms; and it is inconceivable that our Lord should intend that he should form any other idea of his future condition.

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The apostle Peter, having occasion to speak of some whose characters were very different from that of the penitent now referred to, clearly shews his belief of their existence in a state of separation from the body. He says (1 Pet. iii. 18, 19,) that Christ, who had once suffered for sins, was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient," &c. Different views are taken of these words. Some suppose that our Lord, on his death, did actually go to the abodes of darkness, and make some proclamation to spirits in prison. Others, not finding any collateral evidence of this opinion, and conceiving that they are supported by the connexion of the words, believe, that the apostle refers to the preaching of Noah, called (2 Pet. ii. 5) a "preacher of righteousness," who was directed by the same Spirit by which Christ was quickened, to proclaim to the disobedient the evil of their ways; so that through his means the Spirit of Christ "went and preached unto the spirits [which are now] in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was a preparing," &c. Our present object is