The Immortality of the Soul, Is it a Scriptural Doctrine? - Alonzo T. Jones

then, and not till then, it is that the righteous
receive their reward; (7) and that the "unjust" are
"reserved" until that time to be punished, and are
not punished before that great day of judgment Yet,
however plain all this may be, it is equally plain
that there is not one of these propositions that the
doctrine of the natural immortality of the soul does
not tend to subvert. For if, at death, righteous men
enter immediately into their reward, and the
unrighteous go immediately to the place of
punishment, then where is there any possible room
for the judgment (unless, perhaps, the absurd idea
be adopted that men should spend hundreds or
thousands of years in happiness or misery, and then
be brought to the judgment to see whether they be
worthy of that which they have enjoyed or
suffered!!)?
For if at death men enter immediately into their
reward or punishment, as the case may be, then it
follows, if there be any judgment at all, that instead
of there being a time "appointed" "after this" for
judgment, there must necessarily be a judgment
constantly going on in the life of each individual,
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