Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

THE HEAVEN AND IIKLL OF SPIRITUALISM CONTRASTED 147the expectation of those new enjoyments which will be peculiar to everyone of them, and esteeming those things beyond what wc have liere ;withwhom there is no place of toil, no burning heat, no piercing cold, nor anybriers there;but the countenances of the fathers and the just, which theysec always, smile upon them while they wait for the rest,and eternal newlife in heaven, which is to succeed this region. This place we call thebosom of Abraham. But as to the unjust, they are dragged* by force tothe left hand, by the angels allotted for punishment, no longer going witha good will, but as prisoners driven by violence; to whom arc sent theangels appointed over them to reproach them, and threaten them withtheir terrible looks, and to thrust them still downward. Now these angelsthat arc set over these souls drag them into the neighbourhood of hellitself; who, when they are hard by it, continually hear the noise of it, anddo not stand clear of the hot vapour itself; but when they have a nearview of this spectacle, as of a terrible and exceeding great prospect of fire,they are struck with a fearful expectation of a future judgment, and ineffect punished thereby; not only so, but when they see the place (or choir)of the fathers and of the just, even thereby are they punished, for a chaosdeep and large is fixed between thera, insomuch that a just man that hathcompassion upon them cannot be admitted, nor can any one that isif he were bold enough to attempt it,pass over it.'^unjust,752. So much for Josephus, Mr. Harbaugh subjoins as follows : ^^Thisextract is exceedingly interesting.the Jewish ideas of the future state had attained.It shows to what extent of distinctnessThe dreamlike underworldis here considerably illuminated. The righteous and the wicked areseparated, and already share the first fruits of their eternal reward.Therighteous are surrounded with intimations and shadowy promises of betterthings to come, in the expectation of which they are already happy ; thewicked are surrounded with tokens and forebodings of more fearful ill,much of which they already sufi'er in awful expectation.753. ^' Through this picture,'' says our good parson, '' we see in faintbut terrible glimmerings, in the distance, the region of eternal fire,whichawaits the wicked when the judgment-day shall remove them from Hades;on the other hand, we see also the dawning of an eternal day for the just,the rest and eternal new life which is to succeed this region. This kingdomof the dead, beyond which the thoughts of men in the early ages didnot wander, is considered only as a place of detention for judgment, whilethe idea of a final state, both for the righteous and the wicked, is believedto exist beyond it."754. How can any person sincerely pretend that those who rely on ahappy idea of our immortal life are indebted for it to the source fromwhich this Hebrew Pharisee derived the impressions given in the precedingquotation ? Yet the Pharisees Tvere the only conspicuous Hebrew sectwho believed in heaven. The Saddueees did not believe in immortality.