n is not death, but "the
Day when the Lord shall appear," _e. g._, "That ye may be saved in the
Day of the Lord," "The Day of the Lord is as a thief in the night,"
"Looking for and hasting to the coming of the Day of God," "Keep the
commandment till the appearing of our Lord," "To be found with praise
at the appearing of Jesus," etc., etc. Warning, reproof, exhortation,
encouragement are all directed to that great day at the end of the
Waiting Life--the Judgment at the second coming of the Son of Man.

Naturally this belief passed into the thought of the early church.
"The souls of the godly abide in some better place and the souls of the
unrighteous in a worse place expecting the time of judgment.... These
who hold that when men die their souls are at once taken to heaven are
not to be accounted Christians or even Jews" (Justin Martyr, A. D. 150,
_Dialogue with Trypho_). "The souls of Christ's disciples go to the
invisible place determined for them by God and there dwell awaiting the
Resurrection" (Irenaeus, _Against Heretics_, A. D. 180). "All souls
are sequestered in Hades till the Day of the Lord" (Tertullian, _De
Anima_, A. D. 200). "Let no man think that souls are judged
immediately after death; all are detained in one common place of safe
keeping till the time when the Supreme Judge makes His scrutiny"
(Lactantius, _Div. Institutes_). "During the interval between death
and resurrection men's souls are kept in hidden receptacles according
as they severally deserve rest or punishment" (Augustine).

Does it not all give a fuller meaning for us to the words of our Lord,
"In My Father's house are many mansions" (or abiding places).

This whole teaching about the Intermediate Life has been obscured in
our day by the fact that most people read the Authorized Version of the
Bible where the word Hades has been unfortunately translated "Hell,"
just the same as the darker word Gehenna. At the time of the
translation of the Authorized Version the old English word _hell_--the
hole--the unseen, had not yet stiffened into the awful meaning that it
has attained in our day. It was not then a word set apart to designate
the abode of the lost. It simply meant the "unseen place," "the
covered place." In the south of England still a thatcher who _covers
in_ a house is called a "hellier." Even in games it was used. In the
old English games of forfeits, on the village green, the "hell" is the
hidden place where the girls