DEPARTED SPIRITS.*

The preceding chapters of this book present clear and unmistakable evidence of the position that mau does not at death pass into unconscious slumber and remain so until the resurrection; and the Scriptures uniformly point to Christ's second coming, the day of resurrection and general judgment, as the time when final rewards and punishments will be meted out. It is then that the wicked will be cast into the lake of fire, be sentenced to that everlasting punishment which was prepared for the devil and his angels. It is then that the righteous will hear the joyful words of welcome, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world," and enter their place and state of final reward.

No fact of Holy Scripture stands out with greater clearness than this. Over and over again it is stated in the most positive terms. "The Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels: and then he shall reward every man according to his works." Mat. 16:27. "Christ shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing." 2 Tim. 4:1. And the Revelator informs us that "the time of the dead, that they should be judged," is the time when God will "give reward unto his servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear his name, small and great." Rev. 11:18. Again, the Lord

This chapter was written by F. G. Smith.

himself announces: "Behold, I come quickly: and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:12. 2 Thess. 1:7-10 shows most positively that both the reward of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked will be "when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels." Peter declares that God has "reserved the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." 2 Pet. 2:9. Christ affirms that "when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another." To one class he will say, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels"; to the other class he will say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Mat. 25.

What, then, is the state of man between death and the resurrection? This is an important subject and one upon which we naturally desire information. I might refer to the various ideas held by the Greeks and the Romans concerning the state and condition of the dead, but these conceptions are unauthoritative, hence may be dismissed from our consideration. Since this subject relates to things which lie beyond the realm of our present surroundings, it is evident that satisfactory light can be given by divine revelation alone.

In the Bible the abode of man between death and the resurrection is expressed by the Hebrew word Sheol or by its equivalent, the Greek word Hades. The literal meaning of Hades is the unseen world, or that which is in darkness. According to the doctrine held by the Jews, Sheol, or Hades, is a vast place in which the souls of the dead exist in a separate state until the resurrection of their bodies. This region, the Jews supposed, is divided into two parts, the upper division-Paradise-being the abode of the righteous, and the lower division-Tartarus-the place where the souls of the wicked are detained. This is also the view held almost uniformly by the early church fathers.

Since Hades literally signifies the unseen world, the word is sometimes used in a broad sense, embracing everything that lies immediately beyond death itself; hence is applied both to the grave, the receptacle of the body, and to the abode of the soul beyond the grave. Sheol is thus applied to the grave in Gen. 42:38; 1 Sam. 2:6; 1 Kings 2:6; Job 17: 13, 16. But the regular Hebrew word for grave is geber, while the regular Greek word is mneemion.

In the strict sense Sheol, or Hades, applies to the abode of the soul after death, rather than to the place of the body, and in the following texts Sheol is thus applied: Gen. 37: 35; Deut. 32:22; Psa. 16: 10; 49: 15; 86: 13; Prov. 7:27; 9:18; 23: 14; Isa. 5:14; 14: 9, 15; 28: 15, 18; Ezek. 31: 16, 17; 32: 21.

In the following New Testament texts Hades can

not refer to the grave, but to the dwelling-place of the soul beyond the grave: Mat. 11:23; 16:18; Luke 10: 15; 16: 23; Acts 2:27, 31; Rev. 1: 18.

The translators of the Authorized Version of the Bible understood that Sheol, or Hades, designated the intermediate place, or the abode of departed spirits between death and the judgment; but for lack of a proper English word by which to convey the true idea, they could not adopt a uniform translation; therefore they sometimes rendered the term "grave," and sometimes "hell." The American Standard and some other versions simply use the original words Sheol or Hades, without attempting to translate them. But in the strict sense Hades is neither the grave nor hell. The grave is properly the receptacle of the body and, as I have shown, is expressed regularly by another word in Hebrew and in Greek; while the proper word for hell, the place of final punishment is Gehenna. This is shown by the following texts, in which reference is made to the final place of punishment, and is described by the word Gehenna: Mat. 5:22; 29: 30; 10: 28; 18:9; 23: 15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12: 5, et al.

Now, as Hades properly describes the abode of human spirits between death and the resurrection, let us inquire more particularly concerning the place or places of their abode during this time. In 2 Pet. 2:9 we read that God has "reserved the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.' There must be a place, then, where the spirits of wicked

men are kept, or reserved, until Christ's second coming to earth. Where has he reserved them?

“The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Jude 6. "God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [Greek Tartaroo Tartarus], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." 2 Pet. 2:4. "For if messengers that sinned God spared not, but consigning them to the lowest Hades, to pits of glcom delivering them up, for judgment to be kept."-Rotherham. "Plunging them into Tartarus, delivering them up in chains to be kept in darkness until the judgment."-Sawyer. "Confirming them in Tartarus."-Campbell McKnight.

In these texts we have two facts clearly stated: (1) That God has reserved unjust men to the day of judgment to be punished; (2) That he has reserved fallen angels in Tartarus, "the lowest Hades," "in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." So the place of confinement is Tartarus, the lowest Hades. These texts do not positively state that wicked men are reserved there, but other texts are sufficient to establish that point. Mat. 25: 41 shows that the final place of punishment of wicked men and demons is the same; for in the last day the unrighteous will hear the words, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." Now, since