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<\/a>Edward Josiah Stearns (1810-1890) was an Episcopal clergyman from Maryland and author of several books<\/a>. His volume,\u00a0The Faith of Our Forefathers<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(New York: Thomas Whittaker, 1879), was a reply to\u00a0The Faith of Our Fathers<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>(1876), by\u00a0James Cardinal Gibbons<\/a>\u00a0(1834-1921), one of the best and most well-known Catholic apologetics works, with an emphasis on scriptural arguments and replies to Protestant critiques of Catholicism. It had\u00a0sold over 1.4 million copies<\/a>\u00a0by the time of its 83rd edition in 1917 and was the most popular book in the United States until\u00a0Gone With the Wind<\/i><\/a>\u00a0was published in 1939. This volume highly influenced my own development as a soon-to-be Catholic apologist in the early 1990s: especially with regard to my usual\u00a0modus operandi<\/em>\u00a0of focusing on \u201cbiblical evidence\u201d for Catholicism.<\/p>\n The words of Rev. Stearns will be in\u00a0blue<\/span>. I use RSV for biblical citations.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n In Rev. Stearns\u2019 Chapter XIII (\u201cThe Invocation of Saints\u201d<\/span>) he makes various arguments against the practice of invoking saints, after freely conceding that \u201cintercessory prayer is availing, and . . . the dead in Christ pray for those still in the flesh. This is what all Christians admit\u201d<\/span> (p. 188). The first way he attempts to do this is by appearing to deny the particular judgment<\/em>. In other words, if the saints are not yet in heaven before the Second Coming, then they couldn\u2019t be asked to pray for us, since they would be unable to do so, lacking the extraordinary capabilities that heaven grants (so his faulty reasoning goes). Thus he uses a denial of the particular judgment as a (futile) means to undercut the invocation of saints, as he states outright:<\/p>\n The foundation of the Roman doctrine, that \u201dthe saints reigning together with Christ are to be venerated and invocated,\u201d being thus taken away, the superstructure would seem likely to go with it. (p. 191)<\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s how he argues his point:<\/p>\n I suppose it will be admitted that if there are any saints now reigning with Christ, St. Paul must be one of them. Is St. Paul, then, reigning now with Christ? In other words, has he already got his crown? Let him speak for himself (2 Tim. 4:1, 8): \u201dWho shall judge the quick and the dead<\/em> at his appearing<\/em> and his kingdom<\/em>, . . . Henceforth there is laid up for<\/em> me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge<\/em>, shall give me at that day<\/em>: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing<\/em>.\u201d Words could not assert more plainly that the crown is to be given to all Christians at one and the same time, and that time the \u201cday\u201d of his \u201dappearing,\u201d to \u201d judge the quick and the dead.\u201d When, therefore, the Apostle elsewhere speaks of the departed as being with Christ, he means, not that they are in heaven reigning with Him, but that they are in paradise (that part of hades<\/em> (St. Luke 16:23) where Abraham and Lazarus were) enjoying the manifestation of Christ\u2019s presence, \u201cresting from their labors\u201d (Rev. 14:13), and waiting for \u201cthe glory which shall be revealed\u201d (Romans 8:18). So St. Paul says, and so says \u201dthe Prince of the Apostles\u201d: \u201cAnd when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away\u201d (1 St. Peter 5:14). And so says our Lord Himself to His Apostles (St. Matt. 19:28), \u201cIn the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.\u201d<\/span> (pp. 188-189)<\/span><\/p>\n Catholic apologist Tim Staples explains the Catholic belief in the particular judgment:<\/p>\n Each man receives his eternal retribution in his immortal soul at the very moment of his death, in a particular judgment that refers his life to Christ: either entrance into the blessedness of heaven\u2014through a purification or immediately\u2014or immediate and everlasting damnation.<\/p>\n This truth is attested to in texts of Scripture like Hebrews 9:27: \u201cIt is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment.\u201d And it is implied in Luke 16:19-23, when Jesus gives us his famous parable of Lazarus and the rich man. The rich man lived lavishly in this life, whereas poor Lazarus languished in poverty, but upon their respective deaths, they each went immediately to their eternal reward. Poor Lazarus entered into paradise [Hades: 16:23], whereas the rich man entered into eternal damnation (CCC 1021, footnote 593). The particular judgment of each is a necessary inference in order to make sense of the text. . . .<\/p>\n 2. We must also acknowledge as Catholics<\/strong>\u00a0that there will be what the Church refers to as the\u00a0Final Judgment<\/em>\u00a0at the end of time, in which all will be judged corporately and publicly. According to Sacred Scripture, this is clearly separate and distinct from the particular judgment, as CCC 1038 declares:<\/p>\n The resurrection of all the dead, \u201cof both the just and the unjust\u201d (Acts 24:15), will precede the Last Judgment. This will be \u201cthe hour when all who are in the tombs will hear [the Son of man\u2019s] voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment\u201d (John 5:28-29).<\/p>\n Then Christ will come \u201cin his glory, and all the angels with him. . . . Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. . . . And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life\u201d (Matt. 25:31, 32, 46). (\u201cJudged, Then Judged Again,\u201d<\/a> Catholic Answers<\/em>, 5-13-24)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n The Catholic Encyclopedia<\/em>, in its article, \u201cParticular Judgment\u201d (1910) elaborates:<\/p>\n The Scriptural arguments in defence of the particular judgment must be indirect. There is no text of which we can certainly say that it expressly affirms this dogma but there are several which teach an immediate retribution after death and thereby clearly imply a particular judgment. . . . To the penitent thief it was promised that his soul instantly on leaving the body would be in the state of the blessed: \u201cThis day thou shalt be with me in Paradise\u201d (Luke 23:43). St. Paul (2 Corinthians 5 [esp. 5:7-8]) longs to be absent from the body that he may be present to the Lord, evidently understanding death to be the entrance into his reward . . . other texts that have been quoted are sufficient to establish the strict conformity of the doctrine with Scripture teaching. (Cf. Acts 1:25 [\u201cthis ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside, to go to his own place\u201d] . . . ).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n See also, Catholic Encyclopedia<\/em>, \u201cGeneral Judgment.\u201d<\/a> Another Catholic article adds:<\/p>\n Hebrews 12:23 presents \u201cthe assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and \u2026 the spirits of just men made perfect\u201d \u2014 a very clear indication of the eternal life already received by worthy Christians who have passed on. (\u201cA Scriptural Defense of the Saints in Heaven,\u201d<\/a> The Lonely Pilgrim<\/em>, 9-15-13) [cf. also, 1 Cor 13:12; Phil. 1:23]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Rev. Stearns then attempts to argue (by citing relatively obscure Catholics) that the particular judgment was denied by the Church fathers Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clement of Rome, Origen, Ambrose, Chrysostom, Augustine, Lactantius, and Theodoret. Rev. Stearns then triumphantly declares that all that can be found in favor of the doctrine of particular judgment is Dionysius of Alexandria and a \u201cdoubtful\u201d<\/span> statement of St. Cyprian, and that \u201cThis is absolutely all that I have been able to find, and I challenge the Archbishop to produce any more\u201d<\/span> (p. 190).<\/p>\n Anglican Church historian J. N. D. Kelly (Early Christian Doctrines<\/em>, HarperSanFrancisco, 1978 edition) thinks differently. He notes \u201cgreat uncertainty, not to say confusion, seems to have prevailed among the Greek fathers\u201d (p. 482) but then mentions several major fathers who did<\/em> indeed believe in the doctrine. Keep in mind that Rev. Stearns claimed that only<\/em> Dionysius of Alexandria accepted it. But Kelly writes:<\/p>\n Chrysostom<\/strong> . . . explicitly allows for [In 2 Tim. hom<\/em>. 3, 3] two moments of divine retribution, one at death and the other at the resurrection. So he can speak [In 1 Cor. hom<\/em>. 42, 3] of a \u2018tribunal\u2019 before which the dead are instantaneously haled, and he reads [De Laz. hom<\/em>. 1, 11; 2, 2 f.; 5, 3; 6, 6; 7, 4] the parable of Dives and Lazarus as implying that sanctions are applied to good and bad immediately [after] they depart this life. . . . The righteous, according to Hilary<\/strong>, [Tract. in ps<\/em>. 51, 22 f.; 57, 5; cf. ib. 2, 48] rest in Abraham\u2019s bosom, while the wicked begin to pay the penalty which the Last Day will ratify. Ambrose<\/strong> is quite clear [De hom. mort<\/em>. 45-7] that there are \u2018storehouses\u2019\u00a0 . . . where the souls will await the doom which will be pronounced at the judgment, and while they wait will receive a foretaste of its quality. . . . Jerome<\/strong> . . . stated [In Ioel<\/em> 2, 1] that \u2018what is in store for all at the day of judgment is fulfilled in individuals on the day of their death\u2019 . . . Augustine<\/strong>\u2018s\u00a0 explicit teaching [De praedest. sanct<\/em>. 24; cf. enchir<\/em>. 109] was that in the intermediary period between laying aside the body and later resuming it human souls either undergo torture or enjoy repose, according to their previous conduct in this world. His language [E.g. serm<\/em>. 109, 4; de civ. dei<\/em>. 20, 1,2] indicates that he regarded this as the consequence of the divine judgment, while reserving [De civ. dei<\/em>. 20, 1, 2] the term \u2018day of judgment\u2019 in the strict sense the the great assize at the end of the world. (pp. 482-483; bolding my own)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Tertullian<\/strong> made an exception for martyrs, whom he thought were immediately received into heaven (De anima<\/em> 55; De carnis resurr<\/em>. 43). St. Cyprian<\/strong> thought that the just souls enter the kingdom of heaven and attain to Christ (De mortalitate<\/em> 26). St. Caesarius of Arles<\/strong> also directly taught the particular judgment (Sermo 5, 5).<\/p>\n *\n
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