whether it be good, or whether it be evil. IIell and destruction (saith the same writer in the Proverbs,) are before the Lord, how much more then the hearts of the children of men? Withhold not (he urgeth) correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall NOT die: Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell*. Her house (saith he of the harlots,) is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death; the dead ARE there, and her guests ÅRE in the DEPTHS of hell, none that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life; so difficult is it to return from lust, to purity. Again, urging the sore travail, the extreme difficulty of repentance, he saith, the man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the DEAD. Turn you, then, (preached he) at my reproof, My son, keep sound wisdom and discretion, so shall they be LIFE unto thy SOUL. The spirit of the beast indeed goeth downward to the earth, but the spirit of man goeth upward; the righteous tendeth unto life. righteous is a TREE OF LIFE, immortality) and he that winneth souls is wise †. In the way of righteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof there is No death, for righteousness delivereth from death §. The wicked is driven away in his wickedness, but the righteous hath hope IN his death. For the way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from HELL beneath ¶.

for the labour of The fruit of the (conferring that is

* xxiv. 13. § X. 2.

+ xi. 30.
|| xiv. 32.

txii. 28. ༈xv.24.

because he is at my Therefore my heart my flesh also shall

Precisely the same spirit breathes through the instructions of the Psalmist. The wicked (it is written) shall be turned into HELL, and all the nations that forget God*. But, reasons he, I have set the Lord always before me; right hand I shall not be moved. is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave MY SOUL IN HELL, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of LIFE; in thy presence is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand there are pleasures for EVERMORE†. Life and death æternal are here indisputably preached, as are they again in these words. Like sheep (saith he of the wicked) they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume away in their dwelling. But God (saith he, contrasting the fate of the righteous) will REDEEM my soul FROM the power of THE GRAVE. He shall receive mes. Teaching Israel thus to look beyond all earthly redemption, he proclaims the destruction of the earth, and bids them fix their hope upon the Rock of ages; Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of thy hands. They shall PERISH, but thou shalt endure, yea, all of them shall wax old as a garment, as a vesture shalt thou change them, and

↑ LXX. O'Davalos mosμar avlous. The Hebrew signifies watching over and pasturing sheep like a shepherd.-Hammond.

|| xlix. 14, 15.

they shall be changed*. But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. We will not fear (triumphantly exclaims he elsewhere to his people) though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the seat, for the Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our REFUGE. Complaining to his God of the happiness of the wicked in this world, of the adversity of the righteous, and of the misery which they were called upon to endure, notwithstanding their obedience to His law, he justifies, in these conclusions, the ways of Providence: How are they brought into desolation in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory! ‡ One other instance, directly affirming the revelation of life æternal, may be selected. Comparing the unity of brethren in the cxxxiii. Psalm, to the ointment that was poured on Aaron's head, and to the dews on Hermon and on Zion, he saith, it is as the dew that descended on the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded THE BLESSING, even LIFE for EVERMORE.

* Ps. xcvi. 13.

+ xlvi. 2.

lxxiii. 19, &c. || LΧΧ. Οτι, εκεί ενετείλαίο Κυριος την ευλογίαν, ζώην εως του αιώνος. Interp. Syriaca: Nam, ibi mandavit Dominus benedictionem et vitam usque in sempiternum.

Translatio Hebr. Hieronomi (the Vulgate): Quoniam ibi mandavit Dominus benedictionem, vitam usque in æternum. Chald. Parap. Quoniam illii præcepit Dominus benedictio. nem et vitam usque in æternum.

Two examples of belief in a future state, differently expressed indeed, but each confirming the fact, which occur casually in the books of Samuel, should not here be overlooked. In the xiv. ch. 2 Samuel, we find the woman of Tekoah, whom Job had suborned to obtain the recall of Absalom, thus asserting the doctrine as well known and generally understood before David: We must needs die, and are as water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth He devise MEANS, that his BANISHED (that is those who have undergone the universal decree of natural death,) be not expelled from him. The other is where Saul, after the death of the prophet, confiding thoroughly in the immortality of the soul, causes the spirit of Samuel to be called up to foretell his own and his sons future fate. The simple fact that Saul did take these means, forbidden as they expressly were in the law of Moses, to procure information of his destiny, and the existence of necromancers in Israel, prove how well known this doctrine was, even amongst the unbelieving and transgressors, as well as amongst the faithful. One other instance may be selected from the commencement of the books of Samuel, where Hannah, the mother of the prophet, thus expresses herself nearly in the words of Moses: The Lord killeth *, AND

The Shemoneh Eshreh, or eighteen prayers of the Jewish Church. These are said to have been composed by Ezra, but at all events the Mishnah makes mention of them as old settled

K

maketh alive; He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up; here the latter clause is but the explanation of the former, and most clearly refers to a future resurrection.

Throughout all the prophets, then, from Malachi even unto Samuel, the doctrine of life æternal evidently existed. Where is the fountain head? From whence has this mass of varied evidence clearly proving the knowledge of this momentous fact, descended? The mighty scheme of man's redemption was indeed unfolded slowly, and by degrees, but the obscurity which did prevail seems to have prevailed more as to the great means and time, than as to the end which was to be accomplished. By the imagination of man's heart, that end had been indeed perverted by a singular infatuation, considering the light yielded forms, and they are used to this day as the most solemn parts of the Jewish service:-II. "Thou, O Lord! art powerful for "ever! Thou raisest the dead to life, and art mighty to save: "thou sendest down the dew, stillest the winds, and makest the "rain to come down upon the earth, and sustainest with thy "beneficence all that live therein and of thy abundant mercy "makest the dead to live again. Thou helpest up those that "fall, thon curest the sick, thou loosest them that are bound, and MAKEST GOOD THY WORD OF TRUTH, TO THOSE THAT "SLEEP IN THE DUST. Who is to be compared to Thee, O thou "Lord of might? And who is like unto Thee, O our King? who KILLEST AND makest ALIVE, and makest salvation to spring 'up as the herb out of the field. THOU ART FAITHFUL TO <s MAKE THE DEAD TO RISE AGAIN TO LIFE. Blessed art "Thou, O Lord! WHO RAISEST THE DEAD AGAIN TO LIFE."— Prid. Conns. part 1st, p. 447.

66