Page 24 - 06 The Seven Seals

DANIEL AND THE REVELATION-Uriah Smith

~The Response of History to the Revelation~

Chapter 6 - The Seven Seals
strong proof of the doctrine of the

disembodied and conscious state of the dead.

Here, it is claimed, are souls seen by John in a

disembodied state; and they were conscious,

and had knowledge of passing events; for they

cried for vengeance on their persecutors. This

view of the passage is inadmissible, for several

reasons: (1) The popular view places these

souls in heaven; but the altar of sacrifice on

which they were slain, and beneath which

they were seen, cannot be there. The only altar

we read of in heaven is the altar of incense; but

it would not be correct to represent victims

just slain as under the altar of incense, as that

altar was never devoted to such a use. (2) It

would be repugnant to all our ideas of the

heavenly state, to represent souls in heaven

shut up under an altar. (3) Can we suppose

that the idea of vengeance would reign so