I have now examined the principal arguments in favor of an intermediate place; and to my own mind, they are far from being conclusive. They fail essentially in establishing the point for which they are adduced.

Let us now consider the arguments on the other side ;-those which are urged to show that the souls of the righteous, at death, go immediately to heaven, into the presence of Christ and the holy angels; and that the souls of the wicked go immediately to hell. I commence with the proof of the first part of this proposition,-the souls of the righteous, at death, go immediately to heaven.

1. As much as this seems to have been indicated to the ancient patriarchs, in the promise of Canaan. These fathers of the faithful regarded the earthly Canaan as a type, an emblem of the heavenly Canaan. In the promises of an earthly inheritance, they read their title to a better country, even a heavenly. So we are assured by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. And where did they think this heavenly Canaan was situated? Directly across Jordan-the cold river of death. They did not place it in that gloomy and horrid region, of which the dark grave was to them but a type. No; it was heaven which they looked for. Heaven had been promised them, and heaven was the object of their hopes. Nor were their hopes disappointed. They have gone to heaven. They are spoken of in the Scriptures as those who " through faith and patience, now inherit the promises." Heb. 6: 12. Now, while their bodies are slumbering in the earth, their glorified spirits possess the promised rest above.

2. Our Saviour represents the saints, in the future life, andas the connexion shows-previous to the resurrection of the body, as being "like unto the angels in heaven," and "equal to the angels." Mat. 22:30. Luke 20: 36. Indeed, it would seem, that they must be more like the angels, before the resurrection of the body, than afterwards. But if they are like and equal to the angels in heaven, why should they not dwell with the angels in heaven? Why should they be imprisoned, many of them for thousands of years, as some will have it, in the centre of the earth?

3. Our Saviour's declaration to the dying thief: "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise," is evidence, that the souls of believers go immediately from this world to heaven. The attempt has been made to use this passage in proof of the inter

mediate place. Paradise, it is said, is no other than the upper and better part of ads. But to me it is evident, that the paradise of the Scriptures has no connexion with ads at all. It is heaven-the third heaven-where are the throne of God and the Lamb. Of what, I ask, was the earthly paradise-the garden of innocence-where grew the literal tree of life,-the symbol or emblem? Not of the upper part of adrs, but of heaven, where grows the tree of life above. The Apostle Paul represents himself as having been "caught up into the third heaven”—“ into paradise," where he "heard unspeakable words." 2 Cor. 12: 2, 4. No person, I am sure, could ever have regarded the Apostle, in this short passage, as referring to two distinct visions, and as describing two different places, under the terms, "third heaven," and "paradise," unless he had first got his notions of paradise from some foreign source, and then felt it necessary to break in the passage, that it might correspond with his preconceived views. The writer of the Apocalypse, in one place, represents the tree of life as growing in the heavenly city, near to the throne of God and the Lamb. Chap. 22: 2. In another place, he represents this same tree as growing in the midst of the paradise of God. Chap. 2: 7. The conclusion is, that the heavenly city and paradise are one and the same place. Hence, the paradise, which our Saviour promised to the penitent thief, on the very day of his death, was heaven. This is the happy place, to which the glorified spirit of the Saviour went, while absent from the body, and to which all the spirits of the righteous are received, when they depart out of the present world.*

4. The case of Moses and Elias, on the mount of transfiguration, has an important bearing on the question before us. One of these personages appeared there as a disembodied spirit; the other with his glorified body. The latter, we know, when he left the earth, was taken "up, by a whirlwind, into heaven." 2 Kings 2: 11. In all probability, he came from heaven, when he met his Saviour on the mount. Is it not morally certain, that Moses came also from the same place?

5. Another case, bearing on the question before us, is that of the martyr Stephen. Just before his death, he "saw the heavens

The early Christian fathers, even those who held to the intermediate place, believed that paradise was heaven, and that the souls of the martyrs were received directly there.

opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God." And he prayed and said: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Acts 7: 56, 59. Who can believe that this prayer was rejected; and that Stephen, instead of being received up to heaven, was sent down to ads, where he remains imprisoned to the present time?

6. The Apostle Paul represents the whole church of God as being, at present, in heaven, or on earth. "Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." Eph. 3: 15. I see not how this representation can be reconciled with the idea, that a great part of God's redeemed family-and probably the greater part-are now neither in heaven nor on earth, but in ons, the dark and secluded prison of unbodied souls.

7. We are taught by the author of the epistle to the Hebrews, that in the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, there dwell, not only God, the judge of all, and Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and an innumerable company of angels, but also the spirits of just men made perfect. Chap. 12: 21-24. All are represented as dwelling together, in the same holy and happy place.

"We

8. In several passages in the epistles of Paul, the souls of the saints, while absent from the body, are represented as being with Christ in heaven. "We know that, if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved"—in other words, if the body die we know that "we have a building of God, a house not made with hands"-where? "eternal in the heavens." are willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord." 2 Cor. 5: 1, 8. "I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better." Phil. 1: 23. "Who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep," i. e. whether we live or die, "we should live together with him." 1 Thess. 5: 10. These passages of Scripture, if there were no other, are decisive. They prove, beyond all reasonable controversy, that the souls of believers, while absent from the body, are with Christ-the risen and glorified Saviour in heaven.

I know it is said, that Christ may be, in some sense, in dns, and that Paul expected to be with him there. And so is Christ, in some sense, with his people on earth; and Paul, on this ground, need have been in no strait betwixt living and dying, in order that he might be, in some sense, with Christ. But could Paul have been where he desired to be, in the personal

presence of Christ-the glorified God-man and Mediatorand not have been in heaven? Could he have gone to that "building of God"-that "house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens"—and still not have been in heaven? ought to be no question here.

There

9. The beloved John, in his visions on the isle of Patmos, saw, in a great many instances, the spirits of the just made perfect in heaven. It was these which sung that "new song saying: Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." Chap. 5: 9. None but redeemed spirits can ever sing such a song as this. On another occasion, John "saw a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindred, and people, and tongues"-of course gathered from the earth-"standing before the throne of God, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands." Chap. 7:9. On still another occasion, John saw "the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty four thousand" redeemed spirits; and they sung a new song, which no beings in heaven could sing, except themselves. Chap. 14: 1-3. At another time, John saw in heaven "the souls of them which had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held." Chap. 6: 9. I might quote many other passages from this wonderful book, proving as certainly as that there is any heaven, that the souls of redeemed saints are there.

It may be said, in reply, that the place described above-the happy abode of the spirits of the just, where they sing the new song of redeeming love-is only the better part of adns. To this I answer :

1. If the upper region of ons is such a place as is here set forth, I have no objection to the thing itself, but only to the bad name by which it is called. For this, surely, is a bad name. It is the name, uniformly, of a bad place. The cold and silent grave is the least gloomy prison to which it is ever applied in the Scriptures. In the New Testament, it is most commonly used to set forth the prison of despair. Why should the blessed abodes of the righteous in the other world be ever designated by such a name?

2. The place described by John and Paul is no part of rs. It is heaven. If there is any heaven spoken of or promised in

the Scriptures, it is here. It is " a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." It is inhabited by "an innumerable company of angels." It is near the throne of God and the Lamb. It is expressly and repeatedly called heaven by the Apostle John. In the commencement of his vision, he saw a door opened in heaven. And the vision throughout is a heavenly vision, in which the glorified spirits of the just are represented as mingling with angels, with Jehovah and the Lamb.

But it is time that I turn to the other part of the subject, and show, in few words, that the souls of the wicked at death go immediately to hell-the place prepared for the devil and his angels. It is admitted by the advocates of the intermediate place, that the souls of the wicked, when they leave the body, go immediately into punishment: but the place of their punishment, previous to the resurrection, is not hell; it is Tartarusthe lower and more miserable part of 8ns. But it is certain from the Scriptures, that Tartarus is hell-the very prison of the devils-the place prepared for their confinement and punishment. So it is represented in the only verse of the New Testament in which there is any mention of Tartarus. "God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell (Tartarus), and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." 2 Peter 2: 4. Here then is that place, prepared for the devil and his angels, into which, our Saviour has assured us, the wicked of our race shall be plunged, at the close of the judgment. "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Matt. 25: 41. Beyond all question, this place is hell-the hell of the New Testament; and if it be still insisted that this is in ads, I admit it. Ans is hell; at least, as the term is commonly used in the New Testament. In two or three instances, it signifies the grave, but much more frequently, the prison of the devils and of damned souls; in which case it has substantially the same meaning with Tartarus, and Gehenna, and with the strictest propriety is rendered hell.

Whether the righteous and wicked, after the judgment, will go to literally the same places, in which they were situated before, it is not material to inquire. But, both before and after the judgment, the righteous will be in the same place with their glorified Saviour and his holy angels; and this will be heaven; and, both before and after the judgment, the wicked will be in