Beside questions concerning the nature of the
happiness of heaven, there have also arisen questions concerning the
state of the soul in the interval between death and the general
resurrection. If we believe, with Dr. Priestley, that the soul is not a
substance distinct from the body, we must believe with him that the
whole of the human machine is at rest after death, till it be restored
to its functions at the last day; but if we are convinced of the
immateriality of the soul, we shall not think it so entirely dependent
in all its operations upon its present companion, but that it may exist
and act in an unembodied state. And if once we are satisfied that a
state of separate existence is possible, we shall easily attach credit
to the interpretation commonly given of the various expressions in
Scripture, which intimate that the souls of good men are admitted to the
presence of God immediately after death, although we soon find that a
bound is set to our speculations concerning the nature of this
intermediate state. But when we leave philosophical probability, and
come to the doctrine of Scripture, the only ground of certainty on all
such subjects, a great number of passages are so explicit, that no
ingenuity of interpretation has been sufficient to weaken their evidence
on this point. One branch of the opinions that have been held concerning
an intermediate state is the Popish doctrine of purgatory; a doctrine
which appears upon the slightest inspection of the texts that have been
adduced in support of it to derive no evidence from Scripture; which
originated in the error of the church of Rome in assigning to personal
suffering a place in the justification of a sinner; and which is
completely overturned by the doctrine of justification by faith, and by
the general strain of Scripture, which represents this life as a state
of probation, upon our conduct during which our everlasting condition
depends. The holy Lazarus is carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom; and
the rich and careless sinner lifts up his eyes in hell, and is separated
from the place of bliss by an impassable gulf. This at once disproves
the doctrine of purgatory, and demonstrates an intermediate conscious
state of happiness and misery.
happiness of heaven, there have also arisen questions concerning the
state of the soul in the interval between death and the general
resurrection. If we believe, with Dr. Priestley, that the soul is not a
substance distinct from the body, we must believe with him that the
whole of the human machine is at rest after death, till it be restored
to its functions at the last day; but if we are convinced of the
immateriality of the soul, we shall not think it so entirely dependent
in all its operations upon its present companion, but that it may exist
and act in an unembodied state. And if once we are satisfied that a
state of separate existence is possible, we shall easily attach credit
to the interpretation commonly given of the various expressions in
Scripture, which intimate that the souls of good men are admitted to the
presence of God immediately after death, although we soon find that a
bound is set to our speculations concerning the nature of this
intermediate state. But when we leave philosophical probability, and
come to the doctrine of Scripture, the only ground of certainty on all
such subjects, a great number of passages are so explicit, that no
ingenuity of interpretation has been sufficient to weaken their evidence
on this point. One branch of the opinions that have been held concerning
an intermediate state is the Popish doctrine of purgatory; a doctrine
which appears upon the slightest inspection of the texts that have been
adduced in support of it to derive no evidence from Scripture; which
originated in the error of the church of Rome in assigning to personal
suffering a place in the justification of a sinner; and which is
completely overturned by the doctrine of justification by faith, and by
the general strain of Scripture, which represents this life as a state
of probation, upon our conduct during which our everlasting condition
depends. The holy Lazarus is carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom; and
the rich and careless sinner lifts up his eyes in hell, and is separated
from the place of bliss by an impassable gulf. This at once disproves
the doctrine of purgatory, and demonstrates an intermediate conscious
state of happiness and misery.