2. In the second place, it follows that the sovl can hare no cognizance of the passaye of time while thus dis- embodied. Time consists of the sequence of events, and all means of knowing the transpiration of these are excluded by the very supposition of the present case. Time, moreover, is measured by the alternations of nat- ural objects, and these are also abnegated here. It is evidently impossible for the isolated spirit to be at all
INTERMEDIATE STATE
623
INTERNITNTIUS
aware of the flight of hours, seasons, or ages. To it " a tliousand years are as one day" — both aUke unajipreeia- ble. The only change it could experience woiUd be the succession of its own ideas, and these — if comparable for such a purpose with our present associations of thought, which are like chords played upon by every passing breeze of circumstance and touch of physical condition — furnish no fixed standard or delinite mark to our own consciousness. How seldom do we thinlv of the lapse of time during our dreams, which afford the nearest parallel to the state we are considering; and how wide of a true estimate are we when we chance to compute the moments or imaginary hours in our som- nolency. Some notable instances are on record of the egregious miscalculation of time by ilreaming persons, showing that in sleep they have no accurate means of determining it, but that they protract or abbreviate it to suit the humor of the dream. jNIuch more would this be true with the disembodied soul, which has even less opportunity or occasion to review its course of thoughts for such a purpose, or, indeed, to take any note of their rapidity or tediousness of succession. We con- clude, therefore, that the intermediate state vnll x>ass to all its subjects as an instant, and that none will be aware of the length of the interval.
This is in accordance with a remarkable passage of Scripture — about the only one where the subject is di- rectly and literally touched upon — and this but inciden- tally, in answer apparently to a query that had been addressed to an apostle on account of certain curious or captious persons; for the Scriptures are very chary of information on such abstruse points. Paul tells us ex- pressly (1 Thess. iv, 15, 17), "We [or those] which are alive and remain imto the [final] coming of the Lord shall not precede ["prevent"] them which are asleep. . . . We [or those] which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds." He is speaking, it is true, of the resurrection of the body, and it is with reference to this that he says one class of saints shall not anticipate another in that reward; but his lan- guage implies that none shall have any advantage in jioiiit of time over the rest, and this would not be true if some must pass long centuries of waiting, while oth- ers are translated suddenly from earth to heaven. No ; it Avill all be equalized : Noah, who died thousands of years ago, shall not seem to himself to pass any longer period of expectation in the grave, or, rather, in the spirit world, than the last saint that is interred just as Gabriel's trump shall reawaken his undecayed corpse, or than those who then shall be living on the globe. This theorj' meets and harmonizes all their cases, and vindicates the divine impartiality.
Some confirmation of this view may likewise be de- rived from the simultaneousness of the general judg- ment. We surely are not to suppose that any will re- main cycles of ages in the other world, whether happj' or miserable, without having their destiny as yet fixed, and their final doom awarded. To each individual's consciousness, doubtless, will be definitely assigned, at the instant he is ushered into the presence of his Maker, the awards of his irrevocable fate, and this knowledge will form the basis of his joy or despair. The only ob- ject after this of a general gathering would be to make kno\vn to the universe a sentence that has already been anticipated to the parties chiefly interested. The Scrip- tural re]ii-C'sentations of the "last grand assize" are evi- dently siriiic in their character, that is, pictures of what to those concerned shall seem to transpire substantial- ly, but not necessarily literally thus. See Judgjient, General. Be that as it may, on our theory alone a universal assemblage would be more possible and sig- nificant: to each human being the hour of death is practically, although not actually, the day of judgment, for the two events are separated only by an inapprecia- ble interval ; and as the same is true of all his fellows, and as their several days of doom are also separated l)y an inappreciable interval, they are all reduced — to ev-
ery mart's own apprehension — to the same plane of time, and consequently may justly — even with reference to individuals — be tlepictecl as judged together. The hour of Christ's three predicted comings — in vengeance on the Jews — in the article of death — in the final scone — thus, although really distinct events, become identical by more than a figure of speech, and he is justified in alluding to them all in the same breath.