than for any other worthy cause;" while she at the same time declares, that her original standards, such as they were, were agreeable to the word of God." * It may be profitable to many of our readers, to refer to a few, out of many passages in the New Testament, wherein all the time that passes between death, and the resurrection, at the coming of the Lord, "the second time without sin unto salvation," is passed over in silence, as if it did not exist, See Phil. i. 6, 10; Col. iii. 3, 4; 1 Thess. v. 23; Heb ix. 27, 28. 66 We must now inform our readers, that three very different words in the New Testament, are, in our version, translated "hell;" one of these occurs only once, i. e. Tartarus, 2 Pet. ii. 4. The other two are, in Greek, Hades, which is not only not a place of punishment, but is to be destroyed at the very time, as no longer wanted, when the actual punishment of the wicked will commence (Rev. xx. 14.),—and Gehenna, which is the place of final punishment, and is not destroyed. In the following passages, the word translated "hell," is Hades: Matt. xi. 23 ; xvi. 18. Luke x. 15; xvi. 23: Acts ii. 27, 31: 1 Cor. xv. 55: Rev. i. 18; vi. 8; xx. 13, 14. In the following it is Gehenna: Mat. v. 22, 29; x. 28; xviii, 9; xxiii. 15, 33: Mark ix. 43, 47: Luke xii. 5: James iii. 6. In the important Syriac version of the New Testament, a version very little inferior to the Greek original in authority, the two words are kept distinct throughout; and any one who will compare the passages above given, will at once see the great difference between the two words. The Syriac translation of 1 Peter iii. 19, 20, literally, " And preached unto those souls which were kept in Hades, (Shiül, the Hebrew Sheöl,) which had been disobedient, (or not obedient,) before, in the days of Noah, when the longsuffering of God commanded that there should be an ark (made) in the hope of their repentance, and eight souls only went into it, and were saved by water." Note-" By which also he went," is not in the Syriac. And in other respects, this Syriac translation is not so wide a deviation from the original, as it may seem from the English translation. Note also, the various reading of the word translated " once........waited." One more consideration, before we proceed to our last authority. When the Saviour, in his ministry, made use of words and expressions, which had a definite meaning at the time, must he not have intended those words and expressions to be understood in that meaning? He adding no explanation, directly or indi * Act for the Uniformity of Common Prayer, &c. A. 5 et 6 Edv. vi. rectly, to the contrary. And if, at the time of the Saviour's personal ministry, the Jews made a clear distinction between Hades and Gehenna; and the Saviour used the same words (or their representatives in other languages, as Sheol, for Hades,) and his Apostles too so used them, not only without explanation, but ever observing the same distinction, must not both the Lord Jesus Christ and his Apostles, have used those words in the sense in which the Jews then understood them? Undoubtedly, in such a case, divine sanction was given to the sense in which the Jews used the words. We will however not hesitate to admit, that nothing decisive can be proved from the Old Testament, though, in spirit, it unquestionably favours our view of the matter. The Hebrew word Sheol for Hades, may also mean Gehenna, as it may also mean the grave; but Gehenna, as a place of future punishment, does not occur in the Old Testament, being of a later invention-to give, however, only a name to a thing, which up to the time was without a name, though a reality. The Hebrew word Sheol seems to stand, without distinction, for all that is beyond death; but when the word Gehenna came into use, as a name for the place of punishment, Sheol probably was restricted to what is in the New Testament, called Hades. Thus the same word Sheol is in the following passages translated "grave,” and "hell," Gen. xxxvii. 35; xliv. 31; Deut. xxxii. 22; Isa. v. 14; Psalm ix. 17, 18. But the same who brought "life and immortality to light," made us also better acquainted with their opposites in the other world; and the nearer the day, the brighter the dawn. The last authority which we will now bring forward, as to the sense in which the Jews understood the word "Hades", as also the expression "Abraham's bosom," at the time in question, is the great and most trustworthy Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, the greatest general, (and he a learned priest,) that the Jews had in their war with the Romans, at the destruction of Jerusalem, which took place about forty years after the crucifixion, when Josephus was no longer a child nor a youth: he was therefore contemporary with the Apostles; and it is clear that the treatise from which we are going to quote, does not give any new doctrines of the Jews, invented since the time of Christ, but those which prevailed and were fully and firmly established among the Jews at the time of the Saviour's ministry. The following are extracts from Josephus's "Discourse to the Greeks, concerning Hades." 1. Now as to Hades, wherein the souls of the righteous and unrighteous are detained, it is necessary to speak of it. Hades is a place in the world not regularly finished; a subterraneous region, wherein the light of this world does not shine; from which circumstance, that in this region the light does not shine, it cannot be but there must be in it perpetual darkness. This region is a place of custody for souls, in which angels are appointed as guardians to them, who distribute to them temporary punishment, agreeable to every one's behaviour and manners. 2. In this region there is a certain place set apart as a lake of unquenchable fire; where into we suppose no one hath hitherto been cast, but it is prepared for a day afore determined by God, in which one righteous sentence shall deservedly be passed upon all men; when the unjust, and those that have been disobedient to God, and have given honour to such idods as have been the vain operations of the hands of men, as to God himself, shall be adjudged to this everlasting punishment, as having been the causes of defilement; while the just shall obtain an incorruptible and never-fading kingdom. These are now indeed confined in Hades, but not in the same place wherein the unjust are confined. 3. For there is one descent into this region, at whose gate we believe there stands an archangel, with an host; which gate, when those pass through that are conducted down by the angels appointed over souls, they do not go the same way but the just are guided to the right hand, and are led with hymns sung by the angels appointed over that place, into a region of light, in which the just have dwelt from the beginning of the world; not constrained by necessity, but ever enjoying the prospect of the good things they see, and rejoicing in the expectation of those new enjoyments which will be peculiar to every one of them, and esteeming those things beyond what we have here; with whom there is no place of toil, no burning heat, no piercing cold, nor are any briers there; but the countenance of the fathers and of the just, which they see always smiles upon them, while they wait for that rest and eternal new life in heaven, which is to succeed this region. This place we call the bosom of Abraham. 4. But as to the unjust, they are dragged by force to the left hand, by the angels allotted for punishment, no longer going with a good will, but as prisoners driven by violence; to whom are sent the angels appointed over them to reproach them and threaten them with their terrible looks, and to thrust them still downwards. Now those angels that are set over these souls, drag them into the neighbourhood of hell itself; who when they are hard by it, continually hear the noise of it, and do not stand clear of the hot vapour itself; but when they have a near view of this spectacle, as of a terrible and exceeding great prospect of fire, they are struck with a fearful expectation of a future judgment, and in effect punished thereby; and not only so, but where they see the place [or choir] of the fathers and of the just, even hereby are they punished; for a chaos deep and large is fixed between them, insomuch that a just man that hath compassion upon them, cannot be admitted, nor can one that is unjust, if he were bold enough to attempt it, pass over it. : 5. This is the discourse concerning Hades, wherein the souls of all men are confined until a proper season, which God hath determined, when he will make a resurrection of all men from the dead; not procuring a transmigration of souls from one body to another, but raising again those very bodies, which you Greeks seeing to be dissolved, do not believe [their resurrection,] We have therefore believed that the body will be raised again; for although it be dissolved, it is not perished; for the earth receives its remains, and preserves them and while they are like seed, and are mixed among the more fruitful soil, they flourish, and what is sown is indeed sown bare grain, but at the mighty sound of God the Creator, it will sprout up, and be raised in a clothed and glorious condition, though not before it has been dissolved and mixed [with the earth.] So that we have not rashly believed the resurrection of the body; for although it be dissolved for a time on account of its otiginal transgression, it exists still, and is cast into the earth as into a potter's furnace, in order to be formed again; not in order to rise again such as it was before, but in a state of purity, and so as never to be destroyed any more. And to every body shall its own soul be restored. And when it hath clothed itself with that body, it will not be subject to misery, but being itself pure, it will continue with its pure body, and rejoice with it; and which it having walked righteously now in this world, and never having had it as a snare, it will receive it again with great gladness. But as for the unjust, they will receive their bodies not changed, not freed from diseases or distempers, nor made glorious, but with the same diseases wherein they died; and such as they were in their unbelief, the same shall they be when they shall be faithfully judged. 8. In whatsoever ways I shall find you, in them shall I judge you entirely; so cries the END of all things. And he who hath at first lived a virtuous life, but towards the latter end falls into vice, these labours by him before endured shall be altogether vain and unprofitable, even as in a play, brought to an ill catastrophe. Whosoever shall have lived wickedly and luxuriously may repent; however, there will be need of much time to conquer an evil habit; and even after repentance, his whole life must be guarded with great care and diligence, after the manner of a body, which, after it hath been a long time afflicted with a distemper, requires a stricter diet, and method of living; for though it may be possible, perhaps, to break off the chain of our irregular aflections at once, yet our amendment cannot be secured without the grace of God, the prayers of good men, the help of the brethern, and our own sincere repentance and constant care. It is a good thing not to sin at all; it is also good, having sinned, to repent, as it is best to have health always; but it is a good thing to recover from a distemper. To God be glory and dominion for ever and Amen. ever. www THE ANGEL-WATCH, OR THE SISTERS. A daughter watched at midnight Her dying mother's bed; For five long nights she had not slept, And many tears she shed; A vison like an angel came, Sweet slumber like a blessing fell Upon the daughter's face; The angel smiled, and touched her not, But gently took her place; And, ob, so full of human love Those pitying eyes did shine, The angel-guest half mortal seemed- Like rays of light the sleeper's locks A something in that angel's face Seemed sister to the girl! |