ation of Jesus by a lively faith, are sentenced according to their works, and cannot complain that they are excluded from every benefit and interest in Christ, whose salvation they neglected. But those who accepted the Gospel invitation to repentance and faith in the atonement and redemption of Jesus Christ, and abode in him, are found recorded in the book of life, as heirs of eternal bliss. What the final fate of the Gentiles may be before this tribunal, is not clearly determined in Scripture, which only treats of the future happiness and misery of christians. But there can be no doubt, that charitable, well disposed and virtuous Pagans, who had no opportunity to hear the Gospel of Christ, or to enjoy the benefits of the christian dispensation, will find mercy and futher instruction in the world to come; but their happiness will for ever be far below that of true Christians. The actual degree of purity in our motives and intentions, from which all virtuous actions flow, will there decide our future measure of felicity.

Verse 13. And the sca gave up the dead which were in it ; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works.

14. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

15. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

From the order of relation here observed by the apostle, it would seem, that those who live to see the day of judgment, are judged first; and during the time in which their fate is decided, that great and awful event, the general resurrection of the dead takes place throughout the whole world. All the dead shall be raised up from their graves or repositories to a state of immortality; first the dead in Christ, 1 Thess. IV, 16, and after them all who ever lived, 1 Cor. xv. 53. We often read of the day of resurrection, and of the day of judgment, and persons

unacquainted with the meaning of this term on the lips of Eastern sages, have been induced to believe that this great eveut will be over in a natural day. Modern infidels have hence taken occasion to revile religion. Because it is but justice in the eye of reason; and Scripture promises, that every man should be judged by himself, according to all his works, and that his trial should be conducted in such a manner, that he may have an opportunity to be himself convinced of the justice of his sentence. Though we are all ready to believe that the Lord requires no time on his part, and that the light of that great day will represent the whole life of every person in quick succession; yet the capacities of finite beings, who can only think in succession of thoughts, require time for comprehension. Now reader, consider the myriads and millions, who have lived on earth from the creation of the world to that day, and who shall all be judged, each according to his works, and say, whether a day, or even a century will be sufficient. I will only add that the orientals use the term day, to signify any period of time in which a certain event takes place, or an achievement is accomplished. There are some passages in the book Lurdehesch, annexed to the Zend Avesta, on this subject, which I will here translate from "Herders Erläuterungen zum N. Test. aus Morgenlændishen Quellen" because they are worthy of note. Zoroaster asked Ormuzd, "How shall the bodies of the dead be raised up? Wind and earth take away bodies, how shall they be restored? Ormuzd answers, By me was the starry firmament made, which shows its countenance above, and illuminates the night. By me the earth was produced out of nothing, upon which the Lord of the earth moves. I have created seed, which renews itself and multiplies in the earth. In trees, roots, and in all veins of things, I have put an unconsuming fire, by which they

†See Biel Specim, lexic. nuɛga.

live. I am he, who fashions in the womb, each after its kind; from me they obtain skin, nails, blood, ears and eyes. I created man, whose eye has sight, and whose life is breath. If the evil one should attempt to raise the dead, he is incapable; but I &c. &c."

"The word, (i. e. the will of Ormuzd!) shall cause the dead to live; first their souls, and then their bodies. The resurrection and judgment will be completed in fifty seven years.”

"Sosiosch shall come and raise them up; he shall sit in judgment on a throne; all the Izeds of heaven are with him, and all the earth assembled around. A radiant light will shine about them, and every soul will know her body. This is my father, mother, sister, brother, wife, all my family! Every one in the assembly will see what he has done, good or bad. The unrighteous will appear as a black beast among a white flock, and say to his righteous friend or neighbour, why did you not teach me, while on earth, to act with pure intentions? now I must depart from paradise. They will be separated, the righteous from the wicked, father and mother, sister and brother, friend from his friend; every one will be judged according to his works. They must all pass the bridge Tschinevad, sinners in great fear, the righteous with joy. Those who did not pray, not fulfil the law, who would not clothe the righteous in poverty, will there themselves be naked; those who did, the heavenly Gah's will enrobe them. Sosiosch will give them of the sap of life to drink, and they can die no more. They are with him in paradise while beings exist, and exalt Ormuzd." These sentences are valuable for their antiquity, and because the majority of them express sterling sense in such a simple style.

The sea, death and hell are here considered as three large repositories of the dead; of which the sea is again,

†Zend Avesta-Book Bundehesch, see index resurrection.

distinguished by the clause annexed, "it gave up the dead which were in it," and death and hell joined by a repetition of the same clause, as having a particular relation to each other, distinct from the sea. The literal or superficial meaning of these words seems to be, that the sea and all waters, in which innumerable persons found their grave since the flood; fire and air, which consumed those who were burnt, or remained unburied; and the earth, which has been the common receptacle of all that were interred; that these elements, which have become the great repositories of the dead, delivered up what they had received since the beginning of the world. I am certain, however, that the text conveys a far more comprehensive meaning from the words following, in which it is said, that after the day of judgment, also death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire, where Satan, the beast, the false prophet and all the wicked are; which cannot signify merely the grave and state of our dead bodies, or a general conflagration of the elements. I have considered those passages of the Old Testament, which refer to the mysterious state of man after death, and in particular, where the following words occur in the original and the LXX, or in the New Testament.

1. Scheol, adas, Hades, which signifies a place of separate spirits, whether good or bad, where the souls long, wish, or desire a higher state of existence, and the unraveling of their final destiny. It is described a great deep below, as the periphery between earth and heaven above us. Notat eum locum ; inferiores partes terræ. Ads seems to be derived from the Hebrew CHADASCH, to renew, becanse in that state all are desirous of a new formation; and should never be rendered hell. According to Acts 11, and Ps. xvi,

†The Hebrew rood of scheol is schaal which signifies to intreat desire, long, request.

the soul only is in scheol, and the body moulders away in the grave. Ps. cxv, 17. xx11, 30. LXXXVIII, 13. Isa. XVI, 9-19. Job. XXVI, 5. X, 20-22. Prov. v, 5. Isa. v, 14. Gen. xxxvII, 35. Isa. xxxvIII, 10. Matt. XVI, 18. Luk. XVI, 24.

II. Bor, fetag Bogos, pit, which sometimes signifies the grave, but more generally a large opening into the earth, a prison Exod. x11, 29. Deut. XXIX, 19. Isa. LXI, 1. LV, 1. Jer. xxx1, 14. 25. XXXVII, 16. XXXVIII, 6. 7. 9. Zech. IX. 11. Bor is put in opposition to scheol, Isa. XIv, 15.

III. Alemavet, sxia dararo, sometimes adrs, the shades

of death, Job x, 22. XII, 22. XXIV, 17. Ps. xxIII, 4. Amos v, 8. Ps. XLIV,20, the shadow of death.

IV. Geber Tapos, sepulcrum, the grave, Gen. XXIII, 4. The place in which the bodies of the dead are reposited.

It cannot be denied, that the inspired writers of the Old Testament believed a certain place in creation, where all the souls of the dead are assembled, after they are separated from their bodies; and this place The Hebrews called scheol, and the Greeks ads. In that world of spirits, they seem to have believed distinct regions for the wicked, and different regions for the just; to which the souls were removed after their arrival, according to certain degrees of guilt, or of righteousness. The wicked are represented, some merely in a state of imprisonment without any further pain, and some in a state of torment; and the righteous are said to be in Abrahams bosom; in Paradise, or in a state of pleasant rest.

But the redemption of Christ, undoubtedly, brought about as great achange in the regions of the dead, as the introduction of the Christian-Economy in the visible world among the living. For scheol, Hades in the place to which our Lord descended, Acts 11, 24. 28. Matt. x11, 40. and exhibited himself, the great Conqueror, to his