A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion/Chapter 38
XXXVIII. The Intermediate State, or World of Spirits.
THE world of spirits, or that world into which every man passes immediately on the death of his body, is an intermediate state and place between heaven and hell. That there must be, in the nature of things, such an intermediate state, is plain from a due consideration of what it is that constitutes heaven, and what hell; and how rare and uncommon it is for either of those states to be perfected in the present life. Now as good and truth, together with their conjunction in man, constitute heaven both within him and without him; and as, on the other hand, evil and falsehood, together with their conjunction in man, constitute hell both within him and without him; and yet neither of these two opposite states can be supposed to be completed in this life, every man (with few exceptions, if any,) being partly in good and truth, and partly in evil and falsehood; it therefore necessarily follows, that man dying in this mixed state is, on his first entrance into another life, neither fully prepared for heaven, nor fully prepared for hell, but stands as it were in the mid-way between both.
The good and virtuous, or they in whom the love of good predominates over the love of evil, are then, by means of instruction suited to the capacity and peculiar disposition of each, by degrees delivered from the various imperfections, infirmities, and errors, which adhered to them in their natural state; and are thus prepared by the Lord for an actual entrance into some of the heavenly societies, wherein they enjoy, in common with angels, all the happiness of which their love and faith have rendered them susceptible. But the wicked, or they in whom the love of evil predominates over the love of good, are gradually divested of the real or apparent good and truth, which they may possess; and, after being reduced both internally and externally to a full conformity to those principles of evil, which they had adopted in the world, they are consigned, or rather voluntarily betake themselves, to such of the infernal societies as make one with their life, and with them experience all the misery, which is inseparable from their ruling love, and their delight in evil.
This instruction of the good, and vastation of the evil, after death, is understood by the Lord's words in the Gospel, where he saith, "Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath" Matt. xxv. 29.
The doctrine of an intermediate state and place being with difficulty received by those, who have heretofore imagined, that man, the moment after his death, is either elevated into heaven, or cast down into hell, it may be proper to refer to a few passages in the Sacred Scriptures, wherein that doctrine is plainly taught.
1 Sam. xxviii. 11 to 19. Samuel, after he was dead, first appeared to a woman who had a familiar spirit, and afterwards to Saul, whose spiritual eyes were opened on the occasion: during which interview Samuel was neither in heaven nor in hell, but in the world of spirits between both.
2 Kings vi. 17. A mountain full of horses and chariots of fire was seen in the world of spirits, or intermediate place between heaven and hell, by Elisha's young man, when his spiritual eyes were opened for the express purpose.
Ezekiel, chap. ii. iii. viii. ix. x. xxxvii. xl. xli. xlii. xliii. xliv. xlvi. xlvii. In all these chapters the prophet speaks of what he saw in vision, or in the world of spirits: but particularly in chap. viii. he states, that, while he was in the spirit, he was lifted up between the earth and the heaven; and in chap, xxxvii. that the spirit took him, and set him down in the midst of a valley full of dry bones, which afterwards received life. Now this valley was neither in heaven, nor in hell, and yet it was in some part of the spiritual world; for the prophet expressly says, that he was taken there in the spirit. Whence it clearly follows, that there is an intermediate state and place between heaven and hell, which being inhabited by spirits of a mixed quality, not yet prepared either for the one or the other, is therefore called the world of spirits.
Daniel, chap. vii. 3 to 8, being in spiritual vision, saw four great beasts come up from the sea. He saw likewise, chap. viii. 3 to 12, a ram and a he-goat, the former of which prospered for a time, until the latter smote him, cast him to the ground, and stamped upon him. And again, chap. xii. 7, being still in the vision of his spirit, he saw a man clothed in linen, by the side of a river, who lifted up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven; and he heard him swear by him that liveth for ever and ever. In each of these cases Daniel himself was, as to his spirit, in the intermediate world between heaven and hell; and the various things, which he then saw, were evidently in the same.
Zechariah, chap. i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. In these chapters Zechariah describes what he saw, when his spiritual eyes were opened to discern the things of another life; among which was an ephah with a woman sitting in the midst of it, and a leaden weight on it's mouth; the whole lifted up between the earth and heaven by two women, who had wings like the wings of a stork, chap. v. 6 to 9.
Luke xvi. 26. Abraham in heaven said to the rich man in hell, "Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed." This great gulf is that intermediate state and place between heaven and hell, of which we are speaking.
Matt, xxviii. Mark xvi. Luke xxiv. John xx Chap. xxi. By each of the Evangelists we are informed, that our Lord, after his resurrection, was in a spiritual state previous to his ascension into heaven; and that, while in this state, he at different times appeared to his disciples, by opening their spiritual eyes, and thereby enabling them to see his person, now no longer material as before. In the Acts of the Apostles, chap. i. 3, we also read, that he continued no less than forty days in that part of the spiritual world, which lies between heaven and hell, and that at length he ascended towards heaven, until a cloud received him out of their sight, ver. 9.
Apoc. i. 10. Chap. iv. I. Chap. vi. 9. Chap. vii. 1. Chap. viii. 10. Chap. ix. 1, 2. Chap. x. 1, 2. Chap, xi. 12. Chap. xii. 5. Chap. xiii. 1, 11. Chap. xvi. 16. Chap. xvii 3. Chap. xviii. 1. Chap. xix. 17 to 21. Chap. xx. 1,2,3,7,8,9. Chap. xxi. 10. From the passages here referred to, and many others in the book of Revelation, the doctrine of an intermediate state, place, or world, between heaven and hell, is so plainly set forth, as to admit of no reasonable doubt. For the Apostle John first declares, that he was in the spirit, or in spiritual vision; and then that he saw heaven above him, and the bottomless pit beneath him: that he saw a star fall from the one, and smoke ascend from the other: that he saw the souls of martyrs under the altar, who were not as yet elevated into heaven, but were to remain for a season in the place they then occupied, until the number of their brethren should be fulfilled: that he saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth; and another angel standing with his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth, with his hand lifted up towards heaven: that he saw a beast rise up out of the sea, and another from the earth: that the name of one of the places in the intermediate world is called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon, and is the seat of spiritual war between the powers of heaven from above, and the powers of hell from beneath: that he was carried in spirit to another place, called the Wilderness, where the woman, who had brought forth a man-child, and was persecuted by the dragon, was to be nourished for a time, times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent; and where also he saw another woman sitting upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy: that he saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great chain in his hand, who laid hold of the dragon, that old serpent which is the devil and Satan, and cast him into the bottomless pit for a thousand years; after which he was again to come forth out of hell into the intermediate state and place, called the world of spirits, where he would stir up a war against the saints, lay siege to the beloved city, but, on the first attempt to storm it, would be devoured by fire from heaven, and with his partisans again cast into hell, there to be tormented forever and ever. Immediately after which great events John adds, that the first heaven and the first earth, together with the sea, passed away; that a new heaven and a new earth succeeded; and that being carried in spirit to a great and high mountain, he saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.
We have been thus particular in adducing proofs from the Sacred Scriptures of the actual existence of an intermediate state and place between heaven and hell, because many have conceived it to be a mere device and groundless fiction, invented by the Romish church, for purposes of worldly gain; not considering that a revealed truth is one thing, and the perversion and abuse of it another. We have therefore only further to observe on this subject, that it is good to keep the mind always open to conviction.
