of their business. It was kept under a strong guard of soldiers. That place the Chaldees called "Paradise." Also the Greeks and Romans had their gardens and fields of delight in Hades, and Tartarus in the same region. So the Jews, adopting these terms, called the abode of the happy separated spirits Paradise, or Abraham's bosom; and the place and abode of wicked spirits and demons they called Tartarus. These terms were thus introduced into the teachings of Scripture.

Paul speaks of Paradise as a heavenly realm. 2 Cor. 12: 2-4. Jesus said to the converted thief, "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise," meaning the abode of the pious. And again, he clearly states that at death Lazarus was carried by the angels "into Abraham's bosom." There he was comforted. Peter, a Jew, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, says that God cast the angels that sinned down to Tartarus. 2 Pet. 2: 4. He clearly teaches that demons and wicked persons are here reserved-kept in chains of darkness until the judgment, when they will receive their full punishment. 2 Pet. 2:4, 9. This is the very place, the lowest Hades, into which Jesus declared the rich man passed at death, and then lifted up his eyes in torment. Hades then is the world of all departed spirits. During the three days Christ's body was in the tomb, his soul was in Hades: so positively teaches the Word. Acts 2: 27, 31. He and the converted thief were in Paradise. Luke 23: 43. So Paradise is in Hades.

But had Jesus not ascended to his Father in the eternal heaven of heavens? We answer, No; for after his soul returned from Paradise, after his resurrection, he said to Mary, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father." John 20:17. Nor did he ascend to the Father till the day he was taken up into heaven. There he is preparing our eternal home, and will come again and receive us to himself. John 14: 2, 3. Into that "new heaven and new earth" no one but Christ has yet entered; for Jesus positively declares that "no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. John 3:13. "For David is not ascended into the heavens." Acts 2:34. But when righteous men die they are carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom-rest-into the Paradise of God.

So the book of God, beyond doubt or disputation, clearly teaches that there is a degree of happiness and a degree of misery allotted to disembodied spirits. But it also clearly teaches that the full reward and punishment is not received until after the resurrection, beyond the judgment. In Hades, then, which is the receptacle of all the dead, there is happiness and misery, "comfort" and "torment, "rest" and unrest. There is a Paradise, a heavenly realm, where "the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest." Here the saints of all ages meet “and rest from their labors." They are in a state of blessedness; for "blessed are the dead which

die in the Lord." They are happy. They actually are consciously enjoying happiness in a state of blessedness. They are "comforted" in a more sacred nearness to the Lord, "which is far better" than to abide in the flesh.

"Oh, how blest to look from this dark prison to that shrine, To inhale one breath of Paradise divine."

But there is a "Tartarus," a "lowest Hades,' realm of perpetual darkness, where evil spirits are engulfed. Past life not forgotten, mercy forever past, with a fearful foreboding of the future, such are already in an awful state of torment. So Dives in Tartarus, and Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, were both in Hades. Jesus and the converted thief were together in Hades while they were together in Paradise. Luke 23:43; Acts 2:31. But Jesus continued in Hades but three days and nights; for "his soul was not left in Hades."

Jesus declares that between the righteous and wicked in that world of spirits there is an impassible gulf. Luke 16:26. The eternal purpose of God, formed on the principles of eternal reason, separates the persons and abodes of the righteous and the wicked. The happiness of those in Paradise, and the misery of those in the realm of dark despair, will be made complete when Hades shall be destroyed; when righteous spirits shall be united to their glorified bodies and enter the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world, and when the wicked shall be cast into hell.

MATERIALISTS' ARGUMENTS CONSIDERED.

In order to do justice to the reader, it becomes my duty to present the arguments brought forth by materialists to sustain their doctrine. In doing this I shall present their strongest points, and then apply them. Also I shall give their replies to the truths presented in the previous chapters, and then consider them.

1. Materialist. God only hath immortality. It is an attribute which belongs to him alone. If God only hath immortality, then man does not possess it. Proof: 1 Tim. 6: 15, 16.

Reply. This indeed has a show of argument, if we would simply accept their wording of Scripture without making examination. This they apply exclusively to the Father. But a careful reading of the text shows that Paul here refers directly to Jesus Christ the Son of God-"Our Lord Jesus Christ: . . . who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords: who only hath immortality." Other texts prove that it is Christ who is King of kings, and Lord of lords. See Rev. 17:14; 19:16. To take this text in an unqualified sense, as Adventists do, would deny the immortality

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of God the Father. It would also deny the immortality of angels. But we have already seen in the previous chapter that angels stand wholly upon the plane of spirit and immortal beings. See Heb. 1:7, 14; Mat. 22:29, 30; Luke 20: 35, 36.

But it may be asked, In what sense hath Christ "only" immortality? The Word answers: "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept." 1 Cor. 15:20. "Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him." Rom. 6:9. We all are yet mortal in body. We inhabit mortal flesh. The same is subject to death. But Christ has already received his immortal and glorified body. He, being already "raised from the dead, dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him." In this sense he only hath immortality. Our vile body will not be changed in the likeness of his glorious body until the final resurrection. So, since we yet inhabit a mortal body, decaying flesh, which is subject to death, and Christ the "first-fruits" has already received his glorified body, and "death hath no more dominion over him," he only can be said to be wholly immortal. This is not a feather's weight of evidence against the immortality of the soul.

2. Materialist. We are commanded to seek for immortality. Rom. 2:7. Why seek for something we already possess? If we are already immortal, it would be nonsense to seek it.