PARAGRAPH X.

In the Messianic Era-when Christ's Kingdom shall be fully established, Death shall be no more, Isaiah, xxv. 8; Revelation, xxi. 4.

The learned Lowth, commenting upon that part of the text in Isaiah, xxv. 6-8, which treats of "the feast of fat things, which the Lord of Hosts shall make unto all people on Mount Zion," writes thus: "A festive entertainment is the most expressive and suitable acknowledgment of joy, incident to the celebration of a victory, or any other important event. The entertainment, of which mention is here made, is to be celebrated in Mount Zion, and all mankind, irrespective of their nationalities, shall be invited to partake of the feast.* Hence it can only signify the grand festival of the inauguration of the kingdom of Christ, which we find repeatedly portrayed in the Gospel, under the trope of an entertainment or banquet, to which “ many shall come from the East and the West, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven," Matthew, viii. 11; xxii. 2-14; Luke, xiv. 16-24; xxii. 29-30." This, no doubt, pertinent and satisfactory view of the subject, is further corroborated in the cheering announcement, that-in the peaceful and happy Messianic era, God will destroy the veil, Isaiah, xxv. 7: as has been already noticed and commented upon, that obstructs the

This festive entertainment, to be prepared by Jehovah, on Mount Zion, in the Messianic reign, must be joyful, and, therefore, God will destroy-remove, the veil of mourning "that is spread over all nations." The figurative language in the text, is based upon an old Jewish custom, observed in mourning, and noticed in 2 Samuel, xv. 30; Esther, vi. 12. Gesenius approves this interpretation of Isaiah, xxv. 7, while other commentators take the veil to denote spiritual blindness.-G.

mental vision of the nations, and that death-till then, so universal and irresistible, shall be finally annihilated. The removal of the veil, it must be evident, will be easily accomplished by the dissemination of the truths of the Gospel, as a diligent compliance with which will of course, guarantee a participation in the prerogatives and the fruition of Christ's kingdom, in its state of final triumph, while the abolition of death is the necessary and agreeable consequence of the immortality, which Christ-according to the generally accepted views or orthodox teaching, secured for us when, by his own death, he "destroyed him, that had the power of death, that is, the Devil," 2 Timothy, i. 10; Hebrews, ii. 14.*

A phenomenon of the complete realization of the Messianic kingdom, is the cessation of death, predicted in Isaiah, xxv. 8: "He will swallow up death in victory." On these significant words, the eminent Oriental scholar, Gesenius, thus appositely expatiates: "In the delineations of the Messianic kingdom, contained in the closing visions of the prophet Isaiah, we find the idea expressed, Isaiah, Ixv. 20, 22-23, that in the plenitude of Christ's reign, mankind should attain to the remarkable longevity of the terebinth, the oak, and other longlived trees, which pro

* Death still existing, the text must be interpreted proleptically: describing a future event as if it had already occurred; or the prophecy must be deemed a failure!

The turpentine-tree, Genesis, xiii. 18; xviii. 1; xxiii. 17, etc. Alon, Genesis, xii. 6; Judges, xix. 6, 37, is the singular for terebinth or the turpentine-tree. To dwell "in the Plain of Mamre," Genesis, xiii. 18, means to dwell in the terebinth grove, or among the terebinth trees, at Mamre, The phrase the Lord "appeared to him in the Plains of Mamre," Gene

long their existence to an almost millennial duration, and that the halcyon Messianic times would thus also-in this respect, happily revive the multiplied years of patriarchal life, and recall for ever, the golden age of the primeval epoch of man's history. Receding a little, in our contemplation, from this stand-point, we find ourselves transported into the Paradisean era, in which—according to orthodox fancies, innocent pristine man was in possession of the God-like boon of immortality, Genesis, ii. 16-17; iii. 2, 19, 22; Wisdom of Solomon, ii. 23-24. In view of this hypothetical state of innocence, celebrated by poets, coveted by saints, and as pastoral as it must have been delightful-had it ever existed, the writers of the New Testament have so interpreted the passage in Isaiah, xxv. 8, as literally to denote the immortality of the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem. Hence, in Revelation, xxi. 4, we read the thrice welcome announcement: "There shall be death no more." I may remark here in passing, that the life, succeeding the final resurrection, according to the belief of St. Paul, 1 Corinthians, xv. 54, is likewise literally to be clothed with the Divine attributes of immortality. "The Revelation of St. John the Divine," will serve to throw additional light upon this absorbing and thrilling theme.

The kingdom of Christ-it should be borne in mind, may be in different stages of development, and, therefore, either in an initial or in a mature state of growth. In the former, though the principles of Christianity, carefully car

sis, xviii. 1, again means that God appeared to him in the grove of terebinths-Alonim, or among the turpentine-trees at Mamre.-G.

ried out, doubtless greatly favor longevity, death still maintains its ruthless sway, and, hence, the Christian Church or the present adolescent state of the kingdom of heaven, is not the finished Messianic inauguration of a new state of things, which can only hereafter be realized, when a decided antagonism of Paradise-Lost, shall appear in the actualization of Paradise-Regained! Such a felicitous condition of mankind, under exclusive Messianic rule, and in the ecstatic enjoyment of the consummate Messianic blessings, is graphically and minutely portrayed in Revelation, xxi. 1–27; xxii. 1–5.

There is still a pretty numerous brood of legendary stories, which are found appended to the apocryphal writings of the Old Testament; as, the "Song of the Three Holy Children;" the "History of Susanna;" "Bel and the Dragon;" the "Prayer of Manasses, King of Judab," etc., which are either too puerile and extravagant to be regarded with respect, or too meager on the subject of eschatology, to deserve any attention in the pages dedicated to the preceding researches. Hence, as they can be only nurseries of superstition, enlightened humanity ought no longer to be insulted by their trivial and mendacious presence.

SECTION II.

THE SHEOL OF THE NEW TESTAMENT.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATION.

THE New Dispensation, being a continuation of the Old Testament, and only a further development of its psychology, it does not present that attractive novelty or striking contrast upon the question at issue, which might otherwise naturally be looked for, in passing from Moses to Christ, and from the Law to the Gospel. Nevertheless, the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles in relation to the fate of departed spirits, is not only exceedingly interesting as a subject of reflection, but eminently fruitful in grave and apparently decisive disclosures, which-viewed in the light of a Divine apocalypse, must for the present at least, forestall all further researches upon this fertile theme.

PARAGRAPH I.

The Gospel according to St. John, v. 25-29.

This decidedly salient Scripture-passage teaches in a clear and most emphatic manner, first, a resurrection of the dead; secondly, future rewards and punishments; and thirdly, an existence of the shades in the graves, at the day of final judgment. Agreeably to these various, weighty items of information, man has a future awaiting