fore shall the soul of every believer survive the body's death. Christ's disembodied soul descended into hell: thither, therefore, shall the soul of every believer in Christ descend. In that place, the soul of Christ, in its separate state, possessed and exercised active powers: in the same place, therefore, shall the believer's soul possess and exercise activity. Christ's soul was not left in hell: neither shall the souls of his servants there be left, but for The appointed time will come, when the Redeemer shall set open the doors of their prison-house, and say to his redeemed, "Go forth!"*

a season.

SECTION V.

WHEN we turn from the Old Testament to the New, on the subject of Death and Eternity," the Sun of Righteousness throws such cheering illumination over us,

* See Bishop Horsley's XXth Sermon on the III ch. 1 Peter, 18.

that we may say, "Darkness is past; and the true Light now shineth."

The first proof (in addition to what has only been noticed in a cursory manner) that the soul dies not with the body, is the one afforded by Jesus Christ, in the parable of Dives and Lazarus. Both these men are represented as dead and yet, immediately after their dissolution, we are told, that the spirit or immortal part of each of them, is in a state of vital perception: the one is comforted, for the sufferings which he bore with exemplary faith and patience; the other tormented, for his previous infidelity and hardness of heart. Nay, absolute recognition and reminiscence are asserted. Dives recollects Lazarus, and solicits the boon of his kindness: and the Father of the faithful tells him to remember one cause of the vast difference then existing between their respective destinies. He, no doubt, well remembered it, together with his impious and improper conduct for we find him actuated by such recollection, full of anxiety about the fate of his surviving brethren, “lest

they also come into that place of torment." If the spirits of the dead, therefore, forget not the living, nor past transactions, as in this instance was evidently the case, we must believe that the soul, immediately after the death of the body, is not in a state of insensibility. Here, there is evidence from Scripture, of two departed persons whose souls were in two very different states indeed!-the one in a state of happiness-the other in a state of misery: the one comforted-the other tormented.

What Jesus Christ here taught in parable, he also plainly asserts as fact. How, else are we to construe these words, where, speaking of his Almighty Father, he says, "He is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob-not the God of the dead, but of the living?" The soul of Abraham, we have just seen, in the parable, is represented as living; while his body, as the Jews truly asserted, was dead, "his sepulchre being with them unto the day" when they made the assertion. The body of Moses also is dead; yet the soul or spirit of Moses, many hun

dred years after his dissolution, was seen alive, by some of the disciples, on the Mount, conversing with Jesus, when "he was transfigured before them," in a manner too glorious for us to conceive.

Jesus also asserts it, as a fact, in his dying agonies. What other construction can we put upon these words, addressed by him to the penitent malefactor, who implored his gracious remembrance on the cross-To-day shalt thou be with me. in Paradise!"

Were this the only proof, adducible from Scripture, of the Life of the soul after death, it ought to be conclusive. It is indeed so plain as not to require illustration yet is it corroborated with such sound judgment by the excellent prélate already quoted, that the reader shall not be deprived of the gratification resulting from a perusal of his Lordship's luminous and forcible observations.

(

After demonstrating that the place to which Jesus went, immediately on dying, to preach to certain disembodied spirits, is synonymous with that in which

he promised the repentant malefactor should that day be with him, the Bishop observes that, wherever, or whatever may be the place," it was not heaven: for to heaven our Lord, at his death, ascended not, till after his resurrection; as appears from his own words to Mary Magdalene. He was not, therefore, in heaven on the day of the crucifixion; and where he was not, the thief could not be with him. It was no place of torment; for, to any such place, the name of Paradise never was applied. It could be no other than that region of repose and rest, where the souls of the righteous abide in joyful hope of the consummation of their bliss."*

In precisely the same sense are we to understand St. Paul, where he says, "Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. For, to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain ; yet, what I shall chuse, I wot not; having a desire to depart and to be with Christ." Is it likely that the apostle

Bishop Horsley's XXth Sermon, page 150.