motive that can now awaken such lively sympathy in the soul and then leave it in profound apathy, in contemplation of the same pitiful objects alike guilty and alike pleading, or, at least, hoping for mercy? Ay, well has Shakespeare said: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, PARAGRAPH III. The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, St. Luke, xvi. 19–26. According to the import of this decidedly judicial parable, Heaven and Hadest constitute contiguous realms in an unknown, or, at least, undefined region of the universe, and may be after all but " a Castle in the Air;" in which case, its locality must be sought somewhere within the ample bounds of stellar space. These two spirit-abodes in the future world, are divided from each other by "a great gulf," which is impassable by the airy denizens either of Heaven or of Hades. In their relative positions, the one is above the other, Heaven occupying the superior and Hades the inferior place, for the rich man could see Abraham and Lazarus only when he "lifted up his eyes." The inmates themselves of the two ghastly dominions, are sepa *The passage: "He descended into hell," is regarded by distinguished biblical scholars as an interpolation, designed to give countenance to the puerile notions of a hyper-orthodoxy. I will only add, that where so much is doubtful, it is often difficult and, sometimes, impossible accurately to define the boundary that divides the genuine from the spurious. In this parable, Hades is used instead of the orthodox Sheol, and heathen mythology begins to mingle with Jewish hypothesis. rated from each other by a vast distance, for the rich man "saw Abraham afar off." The inhabitants of Heaven and Hades seem to be in the full, normal enjoyment of their senses and mental faculties, and we find them to exercise judgment, to see each other, and to converse together.* The reason, assigned by "Father Abraham," who appears as chief interlocutor on the occasion, as the cause of suffering or happiness in the spirit-world, seems hardly adequate to so astounding a result it is, in respect to the rich man, because he had received "good things" in his life-time, and, in respect to Lazarus, because he had received "evil things," during the same period of his existence! There is a fire in Hades: it burns in a flame, and the rich man is tormented by its heat, suffering chiefly from excruciating thirst, and hence beseeches "Father Abraham" to send him a little water "to cool his tongue." Lazarus' blessings, on the other hand, consist, first, in being "comforted," by way of a set-off to his former sad experiences, and, secondly, in reclining "in Abraham's bosom," that is, feasting on the splendid luxuries of the celestial Paradise! The phrase: being or lying "in Abraham's bosom," is borrowed from the custom of guests among the Jews and other nations, of reclining at meals. Burder, in his Oriental Customs, thus expatiates upon this practice: "This expression-Abraham's bosom, alludes to the posture used by the Jews at table. This was reclining on couches How the spirits in Hades can carry on a conversation when they are afar off from each other and separated by a great gulf, it is impossible to conceive on recognized acoustic principles. Doubtless the physics in Hades differ from those of our globe. after the manner of the Romans, the upper part of the body resting upon the left elbow, and the lower lying at length upon the couch. When two or three reclined on the same couch, some say the worthiest or most honorable person lay first; Lightfoot says, in the middle; the next in dignity lay with his head reclining on the breast or bosom of the first, as John is said to have done on the bosom of Jesus at supper, John, xxiii. 23; and hence is borrowed the phrase of Abraham's bosom, as denoting the state of celestial happiness. Abraham being esteemed the most honorable person, and the father of the Jewish nation, to be in his bosom, signifies in allusion to the order in which guests were placed at an entertainment, the highest state of felicity next to that of Abraham himself." A comparison of the abode and fate of departed spirits, according to Jewish and Christian notions on the subject, with those of heathen nations, shows that similar experiences have led to similar hypotheses among all peoples, as the following facts will demonstrate, and that the future life of man, is in fact, mainly, only the continuation and reflection of his past existence. The articles on Elysium and Tartarus, in Chambers's Encyclopædia, will give the desired information on the question at issue, while they will put the author under new obligations to the editors of that valuable Work: "Elysium-in the Greek, Elysion, a place in the infernal regions of the ancient classical mythology, where the souls of the good dwell after death. In the Odyssey, Homer describes it as a place where the souls of the departed lived in ease and abundance among innocent pleasures, and enjoying a mild and wholesome air. In the Iliad, however, he gives a somber view of the state of the departed souls. Achilles, though in Elysium, is made to envy the life of the meanest hind on earth. By succeeding poets, the bliss of Elysium is drawn in much more lively colors. Besides the amenity and various delights of the place, diverse employments are found for the inhabitants, according to the ruling passion of each while on earth. Elysium was supposed by sonie writers to be in mid-air, by others in the sun, by others in the centre of the earth, next Tartarus, by others, in the Islands of the Blest." As to Tartarus-in Greek Tartaros, the writer observes: "The name is probably onomatopoeic, the reduplication being designed to express something terrible or disagreeable, like Barbaros, Karkaron, and many other words. According to Homer, it is a deep and sunless abyss, as far below Hades as earth is below heaven, and closed in by iron gates. Into Tartarus, Zeus hurled those who rebelled against his authority, as e.g., Kronos and the Titans. Afterwards the name was employed sometimes as synonymous with Hades or the under-world generally, but more frequently to denote the place where the wicked were punished after death-Lowest Hell, in fact. A noticeable feature about these punishments is their congruity with the nature of the offences perpetrated." PARAGRAPH IV. The First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, xv. 50–53, and 1 Thessalonians, iv. 13-18. In these important and salient portions of Sacred Writ, St. Paul makes the following novel and momentous disclosures in reference to a future life, and the abode of de parted spirits: First, there is "a kingdom of God," which is designed for the habitation and use of the Christians, and which-as will clearly appear in the sequel, is located "in the air;" secondly, at the second advent of Christ, and "at the last trump, or trump of God," the dead that "sleep in Jesus," shall be raised incorruptible; thirdly, the living-who are entitled to the name of Christians, will undergo such preparatory metamorphosis, as shall adapt them to their future, aerial, and felicitous abode : they "shall be changed" instantly: "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye;" fourthly, all Christians, whether they are still alive or are already dead, shall-on that solemn and august day."be caught up together in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air;" and fifthly, the union of Christ and his followers shall be permanent-they will "ever be with the Lord!" It may seem strange and, at first blush, difficult to believe, that spirits either good or bad, should inhabit the air, but both Christ and the great Apostle of the Gentiles plainly inculcate the dogma, and tacitly, at least, challenge our belief in its truthfulness. Adverting-in elucidation of this theme, to St. Luke, x. 18, we hear the Savior say to the seventy disciples, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven," meaning, no doubt, by heaven, the sky or the aerial region which surrounds the earth. In Ephesians, ii. 2, St. Paul calls Satan "the prince of the power of the air," evidently believing that Satan exercised his dominion -"power," in the air, and, of course, that the evil spirits that are subject to his authority, were citizens of the same gaseous and ghastly realm. Again, the phrase "the spiritual wickedness in high places," of which the Apostle |