ement of the writer to the Hebrews that the
faith of Old Testament saints had in view the continuance of life after
death in "a better country, that is, an heavenly." Whether this faith
grasped the doctrine of bodily resurrection, in addition to that of the
immortality of the soul, we are not told. It is remarkable that
throughout the books of Moses there is an absence of reference to the
future life as a motive to holy living. Prosperity and adversity in this
life are set forth as the reward or punishment of conduct, leading to
the inference, either that retribution in the future life was not
revealed, or that it exercised little practical influence. As time
passed the doctrine of everlasting life for body and soul emerged in the
Psalms and in the prophetical writings, but sometimes side by side with
such gloomy views regarding death and its consequences as to leave the
impression that belief in it was weak and fitful. In the long period
that passed between the time when Old Testament prophecy ceased and the
advent of Christ, the fierce persecutions to which the Jews were
subjected appear to have strengthened their faith in a future life of
blessedness, in which the body, delivered from the grave and again
united to the soul, shall participate.

The author of the Apocryphal Book termed _The Wisdom of Solomon_ thus
records his belief:--

The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
And no torment shall touch them.
In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died;
And their departure was accounted _to be their_ hurt,
And their journeying away from us _to be their_ ruin,
But they are in peace.
For even if in the sight of men they be punished,
Their hope is full of immortality:
And having borne a little chastening they shall receive great good;
Because God made trial of them, and found them worthy of Himself.
As gold in the furnace He proved them,
And as a whole burnt offering He accepted them.
And in the time of their visitation they shall shine forth,
And as sparks among stubble they shall run to and fro.
They shall judge nations, and have dominion over peoples;
And the Lord shall reign over them for evermore.
They that trust in Him shall understand truth,
And the faithful shall abide with Him in love;
Because grace and mercy are to His chosen.[234]

Again he writes:--

The righteous live for ever,
And in the Lord is the