PROOFS FROM DIVINE REVELATION. 



55 



and of Chaldea, and some of them in the country 

 of Mesopotamia, which lay at a considerable 

 distance from the land of Canaan. The true 

 meaning must therefore be, that he was &quot; ga 

 thered&quot; to the assembly of the righteous, to the 

 blessed society of those congenial spirits, emi 

 nent for their piety, who had passed before him 

 into the invisible world. Hence, says the Psal 

 mist, &quot; Gather not my soul with sinners.&quot; 

 Hence, says Job, when describing the miseries 

 of the wicked, &quot; The rich man shall lie down&quot; 

 in the grave, &quot;but he shall not be gathered; 1 &quot; 

 and the prophet, when personating the Messiah, 

 declares, &quot; Though Israel be not gathered, yet 

 shall I be glorious in the eyes of Jehovah.&quot; 



These remarks may suffice to show, .that the 

 doctrine of a future state was known, and gene 

 rally recognised, by the venerable patriarchs and 

 other illustrious characters that flourished under 

 the Jewish dispensation. 



That this doctrine is exhibited in the clearest 

 Ught in the Christian Revelation, has never been 

 disputed, by any class of religionists, nor even 

 by infidels themselves. In this revelation, how 

 ever, the doctrine of immortality is not attempted 

 to be proved by any laboured arguments or su 

 pernatural evidences, nor is it brought forward 

 as a new discovery. It is evidently taken for 

 granted, and incidentally interwoven through all 

 the discourses of our Saviour and his apos 

 tles, as a truth which lies at the foundation of 

 religion, and which never ought for a moment 

 to be called in question. In elucidating this to 

 pic, it will be quite sufficient simply to quote a 

 few passages from the New-Testament writers. 



Paul, when looking forward to the dissolution 

 of his mortal frame, declares, in his own name, 

 and in the name of all Christians &quot; Our light 

 affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh 

 out for us a far more exceeding and eternal 

 weight of glory ; while we aim not at things 

 which are visible, but at those which are invisi 

 ble ; for the things which are visible are tempo 

 rary, but those which are invisible are eternal. 

 For we know, that, if this earthly house of our 

 tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of 

 God, an house not made with hands, eternal in 

 the heavens.&quot; When the time of his departure 

 from the body was at hand, he declared, &quot; I have 

 fought the good fight, I have finished my course, 

 I have kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up 

 for me a crown of righteousness, which the right 

 eous Judge shall give me at that day ; and not to 

 me only, but to all them that love his appearing&quot; 

 The apostle Peter declares, that believers &quot; are 

 regenerated to the lively hope of an inheritance 

 incorruptible, undefiled, and thatfadeth not away, 

 reserved in heaven for them.&quot; &quot; When the chief 

 Shepherd shall appear, we shall receive a crown 

 of glory, which Tadeth not away.&quot; Our Saviour 

 declares, in reference to his servants, &quot; I give 

 onto them eternal life, and they shall never per 



ish.&quot; In my Father s house arc many man 

 sions : if it were not so I would have told you. 

 I go to prepare a place for you. And I will come 

 again, and receive you to myself, that where I 

 am there you may be also.&quot; And again, &quot; Many 

 shall come from the east and the west, and shall 

 sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, 

 in the kingdom of heaven.&quot; &quot; Then shall the 

 righteous shine forth as the sur&amp;gt; in the kingdom 

 of their Father.&quot; 



While these and similar passages clearly de 

 monstrate the certainty of an eternal world, and 

 the future happiness of the righteous the apos 

 tles and evangelists are equally explicit in as 

 serting the future misery of the wicked. &quot; The 

 unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God,&quot; 

 but &quot; shall go away into everlasting punishment.&quot; 

 &quot; The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, 

 with his mighty angels, in flaming fire , taking ven 

 geance on them them that know not God, and who 

 obey not the Gospel : who shall be punished with 

 everlasting destruction from the presence of the 

 Lord, and from the glory of his power.&quot; &quot; At 

 the end of the world, the angels shall come forth 

 and sever the wicked from among the just, and 

 shall cast them into a furnace of fire, where shc l 

 be weeping and gnashing of teeth.&quot; &quot; The fear 

 ful and unbelieving, and murderers, and whore 

 mongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, 

 shall have their part in the lake which burneth 

 with fire and brimstone. There shall in nowise 

 enter into the heavenly Jerusalem any thing that 

 defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, 

 or maketh a lie.&quot; 



The way by which happiness in the future world 

 may be obtained is also clearly exhibited. &quot; Etci 

 nal life is the gift of God, through Jesus Christ 

 our Lord.&quot; &quot; For God so loved the world, that 

 he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 

 believeth in him should not perish but have ever 

 lasting life.&quot; &quot; This is the record, that God 

 hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in 

 his son.&quot; &quot; The God of all grace hath called 

 us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus.&quot; The 

 dispositions of those on whom this happiness will 

 be conferred, and the train of action which pre 

 pares us for the enjoyment of eternal bliss, are 

 likewise distinctly described. &quot; Whatsoever a 

 man soweth, that shall he also reap. He that 

 soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap cor 

 ruption , but he that soweth to the spirit, shall cf 

 the spirit reap life everlasting.&quot; &quot; To them who, 

 by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for 

 glory, honour, and immortality, God will recom 

 pense eternal life.&quot; &quot; The pure in heart shall 

 see God.&quot; &quot; He that doeth the will of God abi- 

 deth for ever.&quot; &quot; Him that overcometh will I 

 make a piUar in the temple of my God, and he 

 shall go no more out.&quot; &quot; Blessed are they that 

 do his commandments, that they may have a right 

 to the tree of life, and may enter through the gate* 

 into the city.&quot; 



