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Prophet "prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly," and said, "I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice for thou hadst cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about..... The waters compassed me about, even to the soul; the depth (D), closed me round about; the weeds were wrapped about my head : I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God!" That the Prophet really did descend into the abvoros, we dare not controvert; in which view he is a very appropriate sign of the descent of our blessed Lord into hades. Many similar passages of descending into deep waters occur frequently in Holy Writ. In Psalm xviii., "The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of hell prevented me.... The channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord!....He sent from above, he drew me out of many waters." Ps. lxix., "Save me, O God for the waters are come in unto my soul....I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.... Let not the water-flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me." Ps. xlii. 7, " Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water-spouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me." In Ezekiel we find the same allusion prevailing between death and the deep waters. Speaking of the Assyrian, "Thus saith the Lord God, In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed" (Ezek. xxxi. 15). In Habakkuk, where the second advent of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is spoken of, the following texts are certainly very striking, particularly considered in reference to those already quoted: Chap. iii. 8, 15: "Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses, and thy chariots of salvation?....Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters."

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Man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, he giveth up the ghost, and where is he?"

We have seen that He who for our sakes was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, was content to appear "in the likeness of sinful flesh," and to suffer death on the cross for our redemption: when all was accomplished, Jesus "yielded up the ghost," and he descended into hades, the enclosed place in theheart of the earth." The elect, even as their Lord hath shewn them, also pass the "gates of death" (Ps. ix. 13); and

they "dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and abide under the shadow of the Almighty;" while the reprobate, in the heart of the earth also, are separated from the godly by a great gulf, and remain in a "land of darkness as darkness itself, and of the shadow of death, where the light is as darkness: " they experience a "fearful looking-for of judgment, and fiery indignation; a dread of the "wrath to come.'

If a man die, shall he live again?" Blessed be God, death, or the mere putting off the body, is to the believer great gain; so that we are "confident, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."

It is written, "All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come; for at the "set time" it is said, “Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee thou wilt have a desire to the work of thy hands." The Lord says to Job," Have the gates of death been opened unto thee, or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof?" (Job xxxviii. 16.)

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We presume it is reserved for Him alone, who is " King of kings and Lord of lords," who hath the "keys of death and hades;" even Jesus, the "First-begotten of the dead, and Prince of the kings of the earth; to "break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron" (Ps. cvii. 16); to open the two-leaved gates" (Isai. xlv. 1); to "proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God." Possibly the words of Micah (ii. 13) may have reference to this great event: "The Breaker is come up before them: they have broken up and passed through the gate, and are gone out by it; and their King shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them." For it is written, "O death, I will be thy plague! O grave, I will be thy destruction!" The promise given in Ps. xlix. 15," God will redeem my soul ("W) from the power of the grave, for HE shall receive me," was doubtless fulfilled when the Lord Jesus rose from the dead; "Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ's, at his coming." And again, in Ps. lxxi. 20, it is said by our Lord, in his human nature, "Thou which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth." At the magnificent description of the second and glorious advent of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, given in Habakkuk (chap. iii.), we find, "God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran "—that is, "from the proper

Or, as it may be rendered, "a land where light is as thick darkness, the

image of death, rayless; its noontide light like thick darkness."

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distribution and glory, as these proper names signify *"-" His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise." The purpose of the Lord's coming in " power and great glory,' is for the "salvation of his people; " to open their graves, and to bring them up out of their graves." The 37th chapter of Ezekiel, which is applied almost exclusively to the conversion and restoration of the Jews, may probably adumbrate the rising of the saints from the " chambers of death" in the "heart of the earth." We know, from God's holy word, that "He, whose voice shook the earth, hath promised, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven;" and "the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.... All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth." Then shall the earth restore those that are asleep in her, and the secret places shall deliver those souls that were committed to them' (2 Esdras vii. 31); and the "dead in Christ shall rise first" to "life and immortality." "Then shall be brought to pass that saying that is written, Death is swallowed up of victory! O death, where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy victory!" "And it shall be said in that day, Lo! this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. For his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives (compare this with Acts i. 11, 12), which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof, toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley" (Isai. xxv. 9). And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee +." (Zech. xiv. 4, 5). "And with what body do they come?" The word of God will inform us : "We know," says the Apostle," that if our house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." 'Yes: when we put off these fleshy bodies, and our material spirit or breath goes out, we have hope that [at the resurrection of our spiritual part, our soul], we shall be clothed upon more perfectly with our [3], ael, tabernacle, or house of light, which is from Christ in heaven.' And Psalm xix. 4 may thus be rendered, according to the learned author, Dr. Holloway, just quoted: "I will give a tabernacle of irradiation, or rays of light; or, I will cover or

* Holloway.

+ Some have supposed that the rising of the saints from the "nether parts of the earth," will take place in that "very great valley." The "mountains of Bether," or division, in Canticles, may possibly allude to the cleaving asunder of the mount of Olives (Song ii. 17).

Holloway's Originals, chap. xiii. ver. 18. 257.

clothe with irradiation light." "Heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ," the risen saints will then, each individual, be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." Then will the church partake of the "eternal weight of glory" which Christ the Saviour died to purchase for her: then shall we know indeed the " hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints;" that "He hath caused those who love him to inherit substance; and he hath filled their treasures." Here is the sum and substance of revelation: it is Jesus and the resurrection! Here is the faith and patience of the saints.

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"If by any means," says the Apostle, "I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power," &c. (Rev. xix. 6.) And as the word of God is true, so true is it that "Jesus and the resurrection" is the power of God to salvation, to all holiness of heart and life. "Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him, by baptism, into death: that, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.... Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him" (Rom. vi. 3, 4, 5, 8). "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God: when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory." Through faith in Jesus, and hope in his glorious resurrection, his redeemed when on earth were enabled to crucify the flesh, with its affections and lusts; to overcome the world, to triumph over the evil one. They knew his voice and followed him, when in this "present evil world; and now they gladly hear the "joyful sound," when their risen and gracious Lord calls to them to partake of his glory.

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But here we must stop: what human hand dare attempt to trace the glories of the millennial state? "The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt up" (2 Peter iii. 10)*; but, though * Milton, speaking of the second advent, says Christ shall come "Last in the clouds from heaven to be revealed

In glory of his Father, to dissolve

Satan with his perverted world ; then raise
From the conflagrant mass, purged and refined,
New heavens, new earth, ages of endless date,
Founded in righteousness, in peace, and love;
To bring forth fruits, joy and eternal bliss."

the "heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements melt with fervent heat, nevertheless" the redeemed, according to the sure word of promise, "look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2 Peter iii. 13). "And the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind" (Isai. lxv. 17). "For the new heavens and the new earth which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord" (Isai. lxvi. 22): as we find in Rev. xxi. 1, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away." And, blessed be God, we shall all hear the "great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne, said, Behold, I make all things new."

Great and glorious Redeemer from sin, from death, and hades! we pray to be amongst those whom thou hast written "blessed," which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. We begin even here, as it is meet, our ever-new song," Allelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth" by faith in the hearts of his saints now but hereafter-glorious promise!-faith shall be exchanged for sight, "for we shall see his face," and hope for certainty. "We know, that, when Christ shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" (1 John iii. 2).

Begun in August 1826; finished March 18, 1828.

H. B.

REVIEWS AND MISCELLANIES.

ORIGIN OF HEATHEN MYTHOLOGY.

"On the Worship of the Serpent. By Rev. J. B. Deane.” "THE German theologians have for some time been distinguished for the free and liberal discussion of all opinions. For proof of the advantageous effects of their liberality we may confidently refer to the present condition of the people throughout the principal part of Germany, as to knowledge, morality, and religion. We contemplate with admiration, and we may add with delight, the immense erudition of their theologians: for, since many of them are Protestants, they furnish a triumphant

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