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

148 WITH TIIK HEAVEN AND HELL OF SCRirTURE.755. The history of Lazarus and the rieli man, (says Ilarbaugh, page1G8,) '^plainly teaches that both the righteous and the wicked on deathpass into a fixed and eternal abode, where no change is possible ;" and hefurther states (pp. lGO-70) that "the misery of the wicked commencesimmediately after deatli, and before the resurrection, and theiris unchangeably fixed.''alluded to above by Ilarbaugh, we are informedconditionAccording to St. Luke, (chapter xvi.) in the pagethat the wicked, while inthe torture of hell-fire, are within the view of the righteous, (verse 23.)The righteous are near enough to converse with those in torment, and yetthere is an impassable barrier between them. The rich man is not torturedfor his sins, but simply because he had ''enjoyed good things."Abraham, who turned his son and son's mother out in the wilderness tostarve, and twice exposed his wife to prostitution, is represented as enjoyingthe reward due to the righteous.756. How little sincere, heartfelt belief there can be in the words ofChrist, may be estimated from the fact that scarcely any Christian butseeks for the good things of this life, instead of qualifying themselves forheaven by undergoing the rewarded privations of a Lazarus.757. It is utterly unintelligible to my mind why repentance and reformationshould not avail after, as well as before death, as it is representedto be in the spirit world.758. There is a coincidence between these representations of Josephusand those of the gospel, so far as that both represent the righteous as witnessingthe torments of the wicked. Would not such a situation makeheaven a hell to good-hearted angels ?759. According to Matthew, (chapter xxv. 24,) the blessed, after theday of judgment, are to inherit the kingdom 2^^'cpcircd from the foundationof the Korld. Of the joys that kingdom would afford there is nodescription. But, as usual, hell is made sufficiently horrible, (chapter xxv.41,)— " Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for thedevil and his angels."7G0. In this respect, if in no other, there is an immense superiority inthe conceptions of futurity given by my immortal advisers, in comparisonwith those attributed as above to Christ.7G1. It has been urged that human conduct is so much dependent onorganization, education, temptation, and example, neither of which arewithin the option of any soul, that the orthodox doctrine respecting sin ismanifestly wrong. But admitting the culpability which that doctrine imputes,it has been shown that the gradations of sinfulness between theextremes of vice and virtue are innumerable.a strand inYetSuppose for each gradationa ladder, like that of which Jacob dreamed, and human soulssupported severally at elevations commensurate with their respective pretensions.This adjustment being made, suppose a plane at any level todivide the vertical row into two portions, all below the plane being con-