'12
HEAVENLY THIXGS
HEIR
past idealized '). In accommodation to Jewish thought and hope, the reward is ' to sit down witli Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven' (Mt 8", Lk 13^), a hope which reaches beyond the life of earth. The final consummation must be where Jesus Himself is, and He, who came from heaven (Jn S'^ " (533.38.411.]^ ^y^g 'received up into lieaven' (Mk 16'", Lk 24=1, Jn 20". The MS uncertainty liere in Mk. andiLk. does not affect the argument, which has the testimony of the Apostolic writings). Tliis is the final reward of the faith- ful, the inheritance of the Kingdom prepared before the foundation of the world (Mt 25^* 26^, Jn 14").
2. The nature of Heaven. — As the life of the Kingdom is fundamentally ethical (Mt .1™ 7='), so is the nature of Heaven itself. It is the fulness of the eternal life, which in the Fourth Gospel is the synonym of the Kingdom. Then it is, and there, that 'the righteous shine forth as the sun' (Mt 13^), a glory certainly of character whatever else may be implied. There, too, is the perfect vision of God (Mt 5').
It cannot be doubted that Jesus meant to localize the thought of Heaven. The sharp contrast be- tween Heaven and eartlx (Mt e'""-') can ha\e no other meaning. In His teaching God is no mere all-pervading Spirit, lost in negative infinitude. God, as transcendent, immanent, infinite, alone, does not satisfy His revelation of ' the Father in heaven.' Tliat name implies that in some world beyond there is a supreme manifestation of His Presence,— a Father's House, an enduring Holy of Holies. This, for Christian faith, is the Glory of Christ (Jn 17*), and to be with Him where He is and to behold His glory is the hope set before us in the gospel (Jn 17=^).
Wliat the activities of Heaven may be is told only in part. They that are .in ..miru N.-itliy to attain to that world 'are :i _ Mix 12-',
Lk 20^''), and the ministry ni m . i 1 . , into the Gospel story. The faithful ii ^ i t over
many things,' and to 'enter into the joy' of their Lord (Mt 25-'- ^\ which, in the light of the gospel, can only mean higher service.
As to when this inheritance is entered upon, very different conclusions are drawn even from the words of Jesus. The question is considered, for the most part, from the standpoint of retribution. So far as the reward is considered, it may be said definitely that the doctrine of an Intermediate State finds no support in Christ's gosjjel. The ' farewell discourses ' of the Fourth Gospel would lose all their force by the introduction of this doctrine. So for Christian faith the highest hope of Heaven finds its confident expression in the words of St. Paul : ' absent from the body . . . at home with the Lord ' (2 Co 5').
LiTERATCRS. — This is chiefly of a devotional or sermonic char- acter, but the authors referred to above should be consulted ; also Salmond, Chrisliaii Doctrine 0/ Immortalit;/ ; and Alger. Doctrine 0/ a FtUnre Life. On the general subject, which lies outside the scope of the present article, and especially for the Jewish conceptions of Heaven, see the works on -Biblical Theologv ; Morfill-Charles, Book of the Secrets <4 F.nndt ; art. ' Heaven ' in Hastings' DB. W. 1 1 . D YSO.\ .
E.VKTllLY .\ND
-This word belongs to the vocabulary of the parables of Jesus. It occtirs in that of the Vineyard (Mt 1V^, Mk 12'), and in that of the Great Supper ( Lk 14=^).
1. Literal application. — The hedge is a detail in the outfit of a vineyard, one of many other pro- perties (Mt 21*' 11) in such a possession. It is a feature in the landscape of Palestine in the other case (' highways and hedges," Lk 14^). There is a
connexion between the uses and the associations of the word. The contour of the land is controlled by the tillage of the soil. Vines need hedges. The word (<ppayij.i)%) used for a hedge in the Gospels 'denotes a fence of any kind, whether hedge, or wall, or palings' (Hastings, DB ii. 340). Another word might rather have called up a stone wall. tppayiJi.6s includes all the different kinds of hedges to be found in a country so furrowed with hills and valleys as is Palestine.
2. The parabolical use of the ' hedge [ is rooted in the education of Israel. God made sea and desert a hedge of Palestine. Cf. EUerton's hymn— * Praise to our God, whose bounteous hand Prepared of old our glorious land, A garden fenced with silver sea.' . . . He hedged the people. He gave them individuals, institutions, the whole national economj', as hedges to protect their life and to restrain it. Enemies raided the land and broke down the hedges (Ps 79. 80). Patriots and prophets saw and sang their gaps, and did their best to repair the historic insti- tutional hedges. The tragedy of Jesus and the IiiiIl: - " I - I lilt lie wanted tliem rooted up, while till . . , liated the idea of their removal
(Mi -I I ;i!umli the tragedy gleams the /jAi/are-