Garden of Eden' appears to have been used to denote the abode of the just. It was the highest picture of delight, refreshment, and peace; and it was out of this designation that Paradise, so hallowed in the associations of Christians, took its origin. Paradise, a word of Persian origin, was the term by which the Greek translators rendered the Garden of Eden. Hence Paradise ought not, as is sometimes wrongly done, to be identified with Heaven. It is the abode of the blessed in the intermediate state. The expression, 'Abraham's bosom,' in like manner, arose from the quaint idea that God planted Abraham in the Garden of Eden; such being the rendering given to the words: 'He shall be like a tree planted by the water side.'2 Abraham was the most prominent among the faithful departed. He was the friend of God, and the father of the faithful. And the chief recompense of the just was that they were introduced in Paradise to the companionship of Abraham. The expression, 'under the Throne of Glory,' another Jewish designation, is interesting as being, Canon Luckock thinks, identical with the phrase in the Book of Revelation 'under the altar,' altar being equiva lent to throne. All these expressions denoted in various ways the abodes of the righteous; while, on the other hand, there were for the wicked stripes and chastisements.

It might, however, be urged against this whole view that it does not carry with it authority. It confessedly origi nated-or, at least, was fixed and defined-after the canon of Scripture was closed. But to this it might be replied, in the first place, that if we take it broadly as the doctrine of a double state for the departed, one for the just and one for the wicked, it undoubtedly has its roots and its premises in the teaching of the prophets. In addition to this, it might further be urged that the doctrine of the future state had already gone through at least two phases, and that the movement by which it entered upon this, its third phase, was perfectly normal, and quite in the way of the previous movements. But the complete answer to such an objection is, that the whole of it is guaranteed to us and fixed by our Blessed Lord in the parable of Dives and Lazarus. The parable is constructed entirely on the lines of the then Jewish faith. We have the separation of the two states; we have the state of Lazarus named Abraham's bosom, just as Christ had before called it Paradise in His words of comfort to the penitent thief. Then we have the comfort, rest, and peace that accrued to Lazarus, and opposed to this the torment of

1 Εφύτευσεν ὁ θεὸς παράδεισον ἐν Ἐδὲμ (Gen. ii. 8).

2 Psalm i. 3.

Dives. The picture includes all the main points in the Jewish faith as it then existed, and it cannot be otherwise taken than as sanctioning the whole.

Such was the doctrine of the intermediate state as it passed over into the Christian Church; and we have now to consider how it may be applied to meet our present difficulties.

The first thing that strikes us is that we have a revelation bearing on the future state of which the Primitive Church was ignorant. We mean the long duration of the period of waiting. In the first instance, the period of waiting was supposed to be very brief. The earliest idea was that it would be only a few years. It was thought the Advent might occur at any moment, and most probably would occur in the time. of those then living. It was only gradually as years slipped by that it dawned upon the Church that the time might be prolonged. How different does the matter stand now, when well-nigh two thousand years have flown past and Christ has not come? No doubt even now we are to wait and expect. This must be our constant attitude. Yet we see that the time has been long beyond expectation, and we cannot help admitting that there might be a longer time than we think before the coming. Now all this has a bearing on our view of the intermediate state. In the Primitive Church, when the time was believed to be short, very short, the idea of the intermediate state was just one of waiting. Both the just and the unjust waited for the judgment. It was natural that it should be so conceived when the time was thought to be short. But can it be conceived so any longer, now that we know that the time has been long? Can we think that the departed ones have remained all this time sealed up, as it were, and in a state of stagnation? What we would suggest is, that the simple conception of waiting should be somewhat enlarged. We suggested in a previous article on Future Retribution' that there ought to be added to the Primitive idea the thought of progress. And we tried to gather together indications in favour of progress from various sources. It is a grand idea if we can admit it. We can by this idea form a magnificent picture of the future of the righteous. They are in joy, and in peace, and in refreshment awaiting the great day. But they are also ever advancing; they are ever mounting upwards and onwards to the final goal of perfection.

These considerations obviously admit of further developments into which our space will not permit us to enter. We

1

1 See Church Quarterly Review, July 1888, vol. xxvi. p. 363.

leave it to our readers to pursue the subject for themselves. It is one which will more than repay all the thought they can bestow on it.

Another point that we ventured to bring forward in the above-mentioned article, and which we are glad to see Dr. Luckock to some degree accepts, was the idea of the Church in the unseen world, organized and active, and carrying on the work begun here on earth. In Primitive times the idea seems not to have had a place, or, at least, the indications of it are faint. But the long period of waiting seems to necessitate our supposing something of the kind. Century after century has flown past, each bearing into the unseen countless hosts of souls. The numbers of the Church behind the veil are swelling day by day, and it now outnumbers inconceivably the remnant here on earth. Christ's Church is a kingdom, and we cannot conceive it otherwise than as organized; it is a body-the Body of Christ-and we cannot conceive it otherwise than as living and performing its functions. The full effect of this idea we do not take in at once; but, if we can receive it, its effect would be very great in obviating our difficulties.

Before we part from Dr. Luckock there is one remark which we should like to make. It has reference to a dangerous phrase to which he has lent some authority. It has been asserted that there are some who have no probation in this life. At least, the phrase has been used. We imagine those who have used it have in view those who are born in circles where Christian influences have never reached, or who are nurtured and live in an atmosphere of wickedness. We think, however, that the phrase is a dangerous one, and tends to diminish the Christian view of the momentous character of this life. It may be true that there are souls which have never had a chance of profiting by Christian influences. But does it follow from this that they have had no probation? Has not God permitted multitudes of heathen to exist, and yet could we say with truth that they have had no probation? The expression, we think, is rash. We know not the secret of each man's individual life. We know not the battle he may have to fight. But we are sure that his life is meted out to him in the Providence of God. Whatever his battle may be, we are sure that he has some battle to fight, and that victory or defeat may be the result. That, we conceive, is his probation, and the consequences of victory or defeat will affect his future. The issues of this present life are, indeed, most momentous.

ART. XI.-DARKEST ENGLAND.

In Darkest England, and the Way Out. By GENERAL BOOTH. (London, 1890.)

THE Salvation Army is one of the phenomena of our time. In a few years it is asserted to have grown to an extent that places it amongst the more prosperous sects of the day. People of education and culture may be repelled by the noise and irreverence of its proceedings, but it is evident that these have attractions for numbers of people, and that many who have money at their command contribute liberally to its support. In the appendix at the end of this volume we have an authoritative statement of its present position. We are there told that there are 9,416 officers, or persons wholly engaged in its work, which we suppose to mean that they are supported out of its funds as well as occupied in carrying on its operations; and that more than one-half of these are in foreign countries, amongst which the United States and Canada account for more than a thousand each. The buildings or property vested in the Army are valued at 644,618, and the annual income at 750,000l. These are formidable. figures, and it is obvious that such an organization, consisting to a great extent of persons who are alleged to be in touch. with the outcast class that it is sought to reclaim, ought to have the best opportunities of ascertaining their real condition. As this book states, the officers of the Salvation Army

'live in the same street, work in the same shops and factories, and come in contact with them at every turn and corner of life. If they don't live amongst them they formerly did. They know where to find them; they are their old chums, pot-house companions, and pals in crime and mischief. . . . They understand their pupils, having been dug out of the same pit. Set a rogue to catch a rogue,

1

Perhaps it is only fair to quote the following from Mr. Bradlaugh's paper, the National Reformer, Nov. 23, 1890:- As reference was made [in the book In Darkest England] to the audited accounts, I wrote to the sender of the book for the current balance-sheet, and received it by return of post. Possibly from some mental incapacity, I am unable to be quite sure that I understand it. The book says that the Salvation Army "has a total income from all sources of three-quarters of a million per annum." It is true that the totals of all the accounts printed in the statements do amount to three-quarters of a million, and Mr. Booth may have been thus misled as to his income; but, excluding borrowed money, the true gross income shown from all sources, including trade, is less than 250,000/. (of which the gross trade receipts are 125,4387. and the net profit is stated at 12,2867.), the borrowed money during the year being 72,854/'

they say that is, we suppose, a reformed rogue. Any way it is so with us.'

When, therefore, the chief of such an organization writes a book upon the condition of the people amongst whom his work has been carried on for a quarter of a century, and gives to us the facts concerning them which he has himself noticed, or which have been collected for him by his subordinates, and at the same time elaborates plans for alleviating, if not removing, the evils which have thus been brought to light, it is obvious that we must have before us statements that deserve the most serious and careful examination; and that whether we agree or disagree with the manner in which the Salvation Army carries on its work, whether we accept the account of its great success as given by those responsible for it, or are disposed to be more sceptical concerning it, in consequence of many incumbents in the poorer parts of London asserting that they can find no trace of good effected by it amongst their own parishioners, although the Army has long been at work in their parishes, we are equally bound, from a Christian as well as from a philanthropic point of view, to examine what has been asserted, and to do what we can to remove existing evils that are thus brought before us.

The name of the book has avowedly been derived from the successful one recently published by Mr. Stanley concerning his adventures in the dark continent. It is divided into two distinct portions, the one setting forth the characteristics of 'darkest England'-what is meant by the name, the kinds of people who form its inhabitants and who constitute the degraded mass which justifies the appellation of 'darkest' to any portion of this fair land of ours. The other part of the book describes the remedies proposed, or, as it is termed by the author, deliverance.' In addition there is an appendix containing matter from which we have already quoted, and some interesting extracts from other writers that bear upon the subject. To obtain an accurate view of what 'General' Booth holds to be the present state of a considerable portion of our fellow-countrymen, and of his scheme for rescuing them from the degradation in which they are plunged, it is necessary that we should follow his division of the subject.

In examining the earlier portion of his book, containing his diagnosis of the moral diseases of the people in whose behalf he writes, we have great help from the book on Life and Labour in East London, which was given to the world the year before last, and was reviewed in the Church Quarterly of October 1889,

1 In Darkest England, pp. 244, 245.