of eternal life will develop out of the present female body. Womanhood has been more perverted than manhood and of smaller capacity. But from its intrinsic and natural goodness it is more likely, so far as we may judge, to be developed by the Spirit of God into the Divine and eternal humanity. And this development will be assisted by women applying themselves to wider spheres of work for mankind. They will through labour acquire continually more physical and mental strength, and also wider and intenser and purer love. They will grow in all the essential human qualities, far exceeding the former manliness and womanliness. Their whole being, physical and mental and spiritual, will evolve more and more, in preparation for the life that is beyond birth and sex and death-the Kingdom of God.

Such appears to be the resurrection of humanity to eternal life. We have had in this inquiry to take account of several facts: the physical, the mental, the spiritual; birth, the period of bodily life, death; the indestructibility of the ego; the hope of immortality that springs from the spiritual; the constant renewal of humanity through birth and death; the collective evolution of humanity; corporeal existence and incorporeal existence; the qualities of human nature to which the established manner of generation has given rise. Each of these has its bearing on the problem of the resurrection. They are closely interrelated in the great progress of mankind to immortality.

The outcome of our meditations is as follows: Mortality attaches to souls till they have attained to a certain growth of spiritual life. They pass through many births and deaths before they become capable of immortality. Immortality is the fruit of spiritual life, but the conditions of it are prepared by the collective evolution of humanity. The physical body is not abandoned, but transformed so as to become suitable to eternal life. The present existence in the flesh and

the present existence out of the flesh coalesce as immortality is gained. With the attainment of immortality sexual generation comes to an end. From the body of the sex which is more concerned with the life of others is developed the body of eternal life.

CHAPTER XI

THE JUDGMENT

LET us trace very briefly the growth of the idea of Divine judgment in Judaism and Christianity.

The expectation that God will some time signally punish the wicked and reward the righteous was engendered by the spectacle of the prosperity of the former and the adversity of the latter. The state of the world appeared to call urgently for the intervention of the Almighty to render justice. And the Hebrew prophets, beholding the rampant iniquity of the nation, predicted a Day of the Lord, in which He would destroy the sinners and form a new Israel of the righteous

remnant.

At first this judgment day was regarded as one among others in which the Lord from time to time meted out justice to the children of men. Gradually, however, it came to be thought of as unique and far transcending any previous Divine intervention. By the apocalyptists it was magnified into a mighty catastrophe which would close the present order of existence: the wicked would be destroyed in a place of fire called Gehenna, and the servants of the Lord would enter into a blessed and immortal life. Since the reward of the righteous was to be eternal, it was natural to think of the punishment of the wicked as eternal also. Ordinary judgments of the Lord were known by experience to be frequently sudden and to destroy entirely the bodily existence. Accordingly, the supreme world

judgment would be none the less sudden and destroy both body and soul.

The expectation of a sudden world-wide judgment near at hand, through which the righteous would live an eternal life, and the wicked die an eternal death, passed over into Christianity. Christ would return in glory with angels before the living generation had gone, would bring the present world-order to an end, and would consign the true believers to Heaven and the wicked and unbelieving to Hell.

But there are additions to and variations of this in the New Testament. There are lesser judgments on individuals before the end-for instance, on Ananias and Sapphira, on Herod, on Simon Magus. More noteworthy is the judgment depicted in the parable of Dives and Lazarus, according to which the righteous enter into bliss and the wicked into torment immediately after death. The intimation put in the mouth of the disciples that Judas had gone to his own place seems to imply the same.

According to the Gospel of John, Jesus disclaims the office of Judge of mankind: "If any man hear My sayings, and keep them not, I judge him not for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My sayings, hath one that judgeth him : the word that I spake, the same shall judge him." Or, rather, the judgment that Jesus performs is that which arises out of His work of revelation and takes place quietly, as this saying implies: "For judgment came I into this world, that they which see not may see; and that they which see may become blind."

In the Apocalypse of the New Testament the Judgment is greatly extended. There are to be two resurrections, separated from each other by a considerable interval, during which the hosts of Heaven make war against the Devil and his followers.

But there is one very important complement in the

New Testament to the Divine judgment-namely, the Divine forgiveness. Jesus represented God as the loving Father of men, ready to forgive the offences of His children, and eager to redeem from sin and misery each single one that goes astray. God is not content simply to exalt the good and destroy the bad, but wishes to save and exalt both good and bad.

It is interesting to note-leaving aside the actual mind of Jesus-in what way in early Christianity the doctrine of the mercy of God was allowed to affect the doctrine of the judgment of God. The doctrine of judgment, being the more primitive, was left practically undisturbed: God would one day judge mankind according to their deeds and dispense eternal reward and punishment. The doctrine of mercy had accordingly to fit itself into the room not definitely assigned to the doctrine of judgment. God was conceived as just according to the original apocalyptic scheme, and as merciful so far as was compatible with the integrity of that scheme. God would be merciful till the Day of Judgment, and severely just then and afterwards. This is highly illogical, but the result reflects the order of the formations. Such was the natural conservatism of the religious mind, that the new could only by degrees radically transform the old.

But the doctrine of the mercy of God underwent a different sort of transformation in early Christianity. In the mouth of Jesus the mercifulness of the Father in Heaven meant that God will bestow His higher blessings on any one who sincerely desires to do the Divine will, however great his offences may have been. God is ready at any time to overlook past evil conduct, and will judge rather according to the disposition. Consequently many who were guilty of flagrant immorality, being more apt to listen to the Gospel, would enter the Kingdom of God sooner than the majority of those who carefully observed a code of moral and religious law.