The Life of the Waiting Soul in the Intermediate State | Page 7

never seen nor ear ever heard,
nor heart of man ever conceived,--called him back to mingle in the
griefs and sorrows, the pains and failures, the doubts and fears, the
mists and confusions of this earthly life. Was this the act of Him Who
loved Lazarus? Was there no other way of consoling the living sisters,
than by so great a loss to the vanished brother? Was it not to call him
from life to death, rather than from death to life?
One more passage must be quoted, the force of which cannot well be
missed. In the sixth chapter of the Book of the Revelation, S. John
describes the vision which he saw at the opening of the fifth seal. He
saw, he said, "under the altar the souls of them that had been slain for
the word of GOD,--and they cried with a great voice, saying, How long,
O Master, the holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood
on them that dwell on the earth?--And it was said unto them, that they
should rest yet for a little while, until their fellow-servants also and
their brethren . . . should be fulfilled." {28} Plainly these souls were not
in heaven, for they bemoaned the long delay, and were bidden to wait
for awhile until some great fulfilment. Where then could they be, if not
on earth, nor yet in heaven? They must have been in the Middle State
between the two, these martyred souls, in Paradise. But they are not
spoken of as in Paradise, or in Abraham's bosom, but as "under the
Altar." Where was this? The Jews spoke of departed souls not only as
in Paradise, and in Abraham's bosom, but also as "under the throne of

Glory." By all these expressions they meant the same thing. S. John,
however, uses a different expression in describing the Intermediate
State, yet one so similar as to lead us to think that in the change he
substitutes a Christian formula for the Jewish, giving it a Christian
shape. As "the throne of Glory" was associated with the Presence of
GOD in the mind of a devout Jew, so the Altar would be as naturally
associated with the Presence of GOD in the mind of a devout Christian.
What, therefore, the "Throne of GOD" was to the Jew, that "the Altar
of GOD" would be to a Christian. For the Altar was to Christian
thought the Throne of GOD. There, at the Christian Altar was
commemorated the one great sacrifice to which all former sacrifices
had pointed, and in which they were all fulfilled. There the communion
of Saints was, as in no other way on earth, realized. There, as by one
simultaneous vibration thrilling through the saintly dead, and the living
communicants, the spiritual bond unites together in one unbroken
living Communion, those of the Church expectant who are departed in
the true faith of Christ's Holy Name, and those of us who are still
striving in the Church militant on earth to perfect our probation. These
souls "under the Altar" were still waiting, and their waiting wearied
them. "How long?" they cried. They were not in the flesh, their bodies
had been slain. They were absent from the body and present with the
Lord, with Christ, as the crucified thief is still with Christ, in Paradise.
The consummation for them is yet to come. They are waiting for it. It is
postponed. GOD'S work on earth is yet uncompleted. The number of
the elect is not yet made up. The Second Coming of Christ is yet
delayed. All things are not yet ready. A little while longer must they
wait, that they without us may not be made perfect.

III.
"To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and
peace."--ROM. VIII. 6.
So far we have examined the witness which the Bible affords in support
of the truth that there is such a sphere as the Intermediate State, in

which the spirit dwells alone, apart from the body, awaiting the Day of
Judgment. We have now to see what can be known as to the condition
of the spirit in that disembodied state. It is one thing to be assured on
good grounds that there is such a life, and quite another thing to be
assured what sort of life it is. Can we fully understand what is meant by
the life of the spiritual part of our being when it is separated from the
body? We cannot. We cannot understand that of which we have had no
experience. In speaking, therefore, of the disembodied spirit, we are
speaking of that which we cannot explain. Yet it does not in
consequence follow that it is impossible to believe it