The Doctrine of the Last Things (de novissimis) is so called because it treats of that which is "the last," namely, that "with which the present world comes to an end" (Schmid). Of the last things Baier writes: "They are called the last things (novissima), in Greek ui loxara, because some both are, and are called, last with respect to men as individuals and others with respect to men collectively and to the whole world. To the former class belong death and the state of the soul after death; to the latter, the resurrection of the dead and the corresponding change of the living, the final Judgment, and the conflagration of the world" Doctr. Theol., p. 625.
We shall discuss the subject of Eschatology under the following heads: 1) Temporal Death; 2) the Condition of the Soul between Death and the Resurrection (status medius); 3) the Second Advent of Christ; 4) the Resurrection of the Dead; 5) the Final Judgment; 6) the End of the World; 7) Eternal Damnation; and 8) Eternal Salvation.