remarkable passage, Rev. xix. 17-21, which represents the fowls of
heaven as being called together to feast on the flesh of the slain,
after great slaughter had been wrought by "the sharp sword" which
proceeds out of the mouth of him who is called "The Word of God." This
sword represents the cutting and destructive effect of the words of
judgment and condemnation which the Son of God will pronounce on
sinners when he comes to judge the whole world. It is not necessary
for my purpose to interpret particularly the symbolism {57} contained
in the passages just quoted; it suffices to draw from them the general
inference that, as regards _all_ men, trouble and pain and death in the
present age of the world are the beginnings of an [oe]conomy for
forming spirits for immortality, which is destined to be consummated in
the age to come.

To complete the argument from Scripture it only remains now to take
into consideration those passages which expressly reveal the effect of
the general judgment, and to ascertain what relation the revelations
have to the question of immortality. These passages are of two kinds,
some being composed entirely of symbolic language requiring
interpretation, while others are expressed in terms that may be readily
understood. The former must be supposed to admit of being interpreted
consistently with the plain meaning of the other kind. Accordingly,
for the purpose above mentioned, I proceed now to offer an
interpretation of Rev. xx. 11-15, this passage evidently giving a
synoptical account, in symbolic terms, of the process and the effect of
the general judgment.

I have already adverted (p. 48) to the contents of _vv._ 11 and 12, so
far as they refer to the Person of the Judge, and to His judging the
dead, according to their works, "out of the things written in the
_books_." "The great _white_ throne" (_v._ 11) is evidently the seat
of righteous judgment. The inspired writer, in order {58} to account
for his seeing in vision the dead, "small and great, standing before
the throne," reveals, besides, that "the sea gave up the dead that were
in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them" (_v._
13). Now, the context hardly allows of taking "the sea" here in its
literal objective sense, requiring rather the interpretation that the
natural sea symbolizes by its invisible depths the incognizable state
of the dead before resurrection. In the "new heaven and earth," which
is the end