Page:Anastasis A Treatise on the Judgment of the Dead.pdf/24

Rh the winds! But, the Lord in heaven holds all such enterprises in derision. Any other dust may do as well; the powers of identity not residing there; but in the character already formed beings flashed by the spirit upon the new creature.

But in opposition to all this, are the notions of "the prudent," who are "wiser in their own conceit than seven men who can render a reason." Their tradition is, that no such doctrine is taught in the Scriptures, as that the righteous have to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and to give account of what they have done since their adoption into the family of Christ; that upon such a principle,, nobody would be saved; because none could attain to the standard of acceptance; they repudiate the idea with scornful indignation, and say, there is no sense in it; for if such were the case, it would put them into such a state of feeling as to make them fit inmates of a lunatic asylum. They affirm that all the account, or confession, the righteous have to make is now; and that their leap from their graves incorruptible and immortal, is their judgment; upon which they are caught up into the air, where they are for ever with the Lord. This tradition they have thrown into the form of the three following propositions:—

1. Mortal resurrection is not taught, directly nor indirectly, in the Scriptures.

2. The righteous are not brought to judgment.

3. The Scriptures teach positively and without reservation, that the righteous are raised incorruptible.

These have been affirmed and argued for the purpose of setting aside the doctrine set forth in the first and second volumes of my Exposition of the Apocalypse, called ; and which is termed by them "false teaching"; an opinion unscriptural, heretical, and contrary to the gospel Paul preached! They consider that, in the second volume of Eureka, this alleged false teaching is in form more offensive than in the first: and that in the exposition given by me in said work, I have denied the faith, and endeavoured to preach another gospel, and so have brought myself under the curse pronounced by Paul upon such. Thus they charge me with "apostasy"; while they, under the banner of the aforesaid propositions, consider themselves the veritable Simon Pures! Their language is by no means complimentary. The following is a choice specimen: "The Doctor comes like the wily serpent, whispers, in the ears of his brethren with specious arguments until he poisons their minds, and thinking that what he has written will not be