economies or ministrations; then we add, that neither the varied condition of the rich man and Lazarus previous to their decease, their mutual death as occurring at the same time; nor the immediate possession of the bodily members of each of these characters; nor the bosom of an individual termed Abraham, as a repose for Lazarus; nor the circumstance of Abraham, though a rich man himself, being situated in the regions of blessedness; nor the flames of divine wrath, as experienced by the rich man; nor the gulf that divided these parties; nor the peculiarity of the rich man's interceding for his five brethren, or Abraham's referring these characters to Moses and the prophets; nor his final decision, that if they refused their testimony, they would also refuse the testimony of one that was risen from the dead; that neither of these, nor the whole united, present any difficulty whatever, but evidently shew it to be an instructive and comprehensive parable, which in reference to the rich man, wholly refers to the character and circumstances of the Jewish priesthood as they existed under the first and second economies; and in reference to Lazarus, that we have in his character, a personification of the seed of faith who had lived in poverty and oppression under the government of that priesthood, but who had subsequently passed into another dispensation, by which translation they were now reposing in the blessedness of a covenant of peace, which resulted from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Before we finally dismiss our observations on this parable, I would just notice the translation of Mat. v. 22, in reference to the term hell fire, as given by critics of high respectability; and which reads as follows, Whoever is vainly incensed against his brother, shall be obnoxious to the sentence of the judges, (the court of twenty-three.) Whoever shall say to his brother, (in the way of contempt) shallow brains, shall be obnoxious to the Sanhedrim; and whoever shall say apostate wretch, (the highest expression of malice) shall be obnoxious to the Gehenna of fire, or vale of fire. The term Gehenna being a compound word, ge, valley, and hinnom, the name of a person, is supposed to allude to that of being burned alive in the valley of Hinnom.

By which our Lord taught his audience that anger in the heart, anger expressed in the way of contempt, and anger expressed with manifest malice, would under his reign, subject men to such diversities of punishment as they were wont to apportion to atrocious actions, according to their views of criminality. In further analyzing then our Lord's meaning, both in reference to the term hell fire, and its application under the gospel dispensation, we propose that this phraseology is expressive of the extreme punishment which would finally be awarded to those, who through manifest malice would condemn their brethren in the flesh, as being apostates of God, in consequence of forsaking Judaism and embracing the faith of christianity. Isaiah also uses similar language in referring to the judgment of the persecuting seed, under the new economy; he saith, chap. xxxiii. 11, 12, You shall conceive chaff, you shall bring forth stubble; your breath, as fire shall devour you; and the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. Now we find by the connection of this prophecy, as well as that of chap. Ixvi. 24, that it wholly refers to the revealed wrath of God, as manifested towards the disobedient under the gospel economy, whether it is that of being burned, consumed, or destroyed, without any reference whatever to a supposed future state of animal existence. In examining the various terms of Hebrew and Greek, which our translators have rendered hell, we shall find that they are neither in agreement with themselves, nor with the record of divine truth. Hence the term sheol, hades, and gehenna, are all applied to denominate hell; but the same Hebrew word sheol, and the Greek word hades, are both occasionally used to denominate the grave, and that, too, from necessity, because they were sometimes constrained to depart from the term hell, in the common acceptation of it, and translate the same term by that of the grave; as when Jacob says, You will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. I will go down into the grave mourning. O grave, where now thy victory? In these places it would not do to have translated it hell; yet it might as well have been translated by the

term hell in these passages, as in many others, Hence to say as the common version says, that death and hell were both cast into the lake of fire, is both absurd and unintelligible, because it holds out the idea that one hell is to be destroyed in another, if by the term a lake of fire, is supposed to be meant a place of eternal torment. Nevertheless if by the terms death and hell, we understand it as applying to a carnal seed who rigidly adhered to that economy, termed a ministration of death, and which otherwise was termed the heavens and earth which fled away, and there was found no place for them; then as these had realized their judgment day by experiencing the full manifestation of divine wrath, termed a lake of fire, or the second death, the subject can easily be understood. In applying the term hades, which means hidden, invisible, or obscure; and that of gehenna to express the same meaning, as that of hell has occasioned much perplexity to some individuals. And some have objected to the term hades, as meaning the same thing as that of gehenna, although our translators have uniformly adopted it. Hence Dr. Campbell says in reference to the rich man in the parable, who is represented as being in torment in hades, that this is the only passage in holy writ which seems to give countenance to the opinion, that hades sometimes means the same thing as gehenna. My own opinion is, that these two distinct terms have a distinct signification; and as such, are intended to represent a state of death and condemnation for the disobedient, under the two ministrations of the law and the gospel. That is, hades to that intermediate state of the Jewish economy from the resurrection of Christ, to that period when in judgment it passed away. And gehenna to that final state of revealed wrath, as manifested by its eternal destruction, never to be found again, because we find that death and hades were both cast into the lake of fire, which is termed the second death; and all whose names were not written in the book of life were cast into the lake of fire; that is, were eternally excluded as objects of divine wrath, from that salvation which was only realized from an obedience to the testimony of Jesus.

THE END OF THE WORLD AND THE END OF TIME.

The next subject we propose for our consideration is that of the eternal duration of the material universe.

Having in the former treatise applied the import of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, as referring to the character and circumstances of the Jewish priesthood,and that of the seed of faith, as the result of their distinct relationship to the old and new economies, we now proceed to notice a common but great mistake, which arises from the application of various other scriptures, which as a dispensation matter wholly refers to the dissolution or end of the Jewish age or world, but which is generally supposed to refer to that of the dissolution or end of the material universe.

It affords a matter of surprize that our translators should have rendered the Greek reading as we have it in our common testaments; The consummation of the age; The end of the world; and which occurs five times in the testimony of Matthew, (see the parable of the tares and wheat, Mat. xiii. 38, 40) and once in the plural form in the epistle to the Hebrews. Nor can one account for such an unwarrantable liberty with the original, but that it favoured some theory of their own predilection. I find that Dr. Campbell has translated it in every instance, The conclusion of this state; and though it is not exactly the literal translation, which is, The consummation of the age; is, nevertheless, in agreement with the intended signification. But suffice it to say to those who only understand the common version, that as it is there rendered, the apostle saith, Heb. ix. 26, But now once in the end of the world hath Christ appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself; and again, 1 Cor. x. 11, That upon them the ends of the world were come. Therefore if it did not refer to the conclusion of the Jewish state, or the consummation of the age, and which was about to terminate, it is evident that the apostle was either wrong in his statement or the world must long since have passed away.

Having from our infancy been taught to apply (or rather I presume to misapply) the intended signification of the terms heaven and earth, as connected with the testimony of being a perishable state, and the end of all things, as referring to the annihilation of the literal heavens and earth, it requires more than an ordinary degree of evidence, and oftentimes more than truth itself can supply, to produce a conviction that this first and early impression, which is always powerful is founded in error.

Therefore in order to prove that we have a solid foundation for the scriptural signification of these terms, and that our application of them is of divine authority; the the first scripture of many we intend to notice on this point, is that of the prophet Haggai, the object of which, is first to shew that the terms, The heavens and earth, as indited by the holy spirit in his prophecy, are cited and applied by the same holy spirit in the epistle to the Hebrews, as exclusively referring to the Jewish economy, therefore as such, the propriety and import of the applied phraseology in both scriptures is so confirmed, as will admit of no mistake.

The scripture then to which we have adverted, is found in Haggai ii. 6, For thus saith the Lord of hosts: yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. Now in order to show by the comparison of an infallible exposition, that these terms, the heavens and the earth, are applied as denominating the Sinaitic dispensation, we shall cite at length their connection. The apostle then in addressing the believing Hebrews, says, chap. xii. 18, For you are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard, intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more, for they could not endure that which was commanded; and if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust