n in the best."

We see then what follows upon this false belief, that at death an instant
judgment assigns finally the destiny of all men, to men of every degree
of wickedness, without distinction, Hell; and one final and absolute
Heaven to men of every varying measure of goodness. Surely there is a
great perplexity in this. No wonder if such beliefs lead men to dread
the thought of death, of their own death, of the death of their friends.
No mere physical repulsion makes us shrink, but rather the uncertainty
and doubt of what may follow,

"The dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,"

and makes us Christian men and women turn to find relief from these
bewildering fears by plunging deeply into the waters of life's amusements
and ambitions. It is the uncertainty of things, wearing to some the
aspect of caprice, which leads to recklessness, and sometimes to
defiance.

I believe, from my heart, that Holy Scripture rightly understood solves
these confusing riddles. I believe that a more sound and Scriptural
grasp of what will be the future of each of us after death, the
restoration of a right belief in an Intermediate State, will go far to
correct these unworthy and most un-Christian fears. But it is said, at
times, that nothing can be really known about this Intermediate State,
that all that can be asserted of it is mere guess and vain conjecture,
and even that it betrays a too curious intrusion into things unseen to
speculate about the condition of souls after death. Yes! if we only
speculate, but not surely if we seek humbly to find out what the Bible
has taught us. S. Paul did not think it a too presumptuous intrusion
into things beyond the reach of our knowledge to make this enquiry. "I
would not have you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleep." He
would rather that the Thessalonians should know all that can be known, to
their edification. And something can be known, or he would not have
written this. And to know it will be to our edification also. Certainly
to ignore what can be known has led, as we have seen, to loss and offence
in these days. Therefore I propose to try and set before you not idle
speculations indeed, but what has been actually revealed in Holy
Scripture, or may be drawn from it about the Intermediate State. It is
upon Holy Scripture that we must depend for our learning. At least I
sha