mination of this subject, and an examination of several able commentators, who have handled it to some extent, I am obliged to confess myself not altogether satisfied; and to say, that, hitherto, I have found difficulties on both sides. I know of no method, in which they can be removed except a direct recurrence to every scriptural passage, which relates to the subject, a thorough consideration of each, and an attentive comparison of them all. It is undoubtedly true, that the Hebrew Sheol, and

the Greek 'Aons, commonly rendered Hell, or the Grave, in our Translation, do not properly signify either; but always the world of departed spirits. As these words have so extensive a signification, and must be interpreted by every passage of Scripture referring to that world; there must be room for considerable difference of opinion*. But, whatever may be true concerning an intermediate place of existence, there can, I apprehend, be no reasonable doubt concerning an intermediate state.

Peter says of the angels that sinned, that God cast them down to Hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto Judgment. St. Jude, also, declares them to be reserved, in like manner, unto the Judgment of the great day. From these declarations it is manifest, that fallen angels have not yet received their final judgment, nor, of course, their final reward. This, indeed, seems evident from the phraseology, used by St. Peter, as well as by the declarations of both him and St. Jude. The word, which is rendered from St. Peter, cast them down to hell, is in the Greek, ragragwoas; literally rendered, cast them down to Tartarus. While this phraseology plainly declares a state of punishment; it indicates directly a different state from that, which is taught by the word yesvva; the appropriate name of hell in the Scriptures. After the rich man died, and was buried, it is said by our Saviour, he lift up his eyes in hell being in torments in the Greek, sv rw 'aon, in Hades, he lift up his eyes being in torments. This word also denotes, with sufficient clearness, a different state of suffering from that which is intended by the word γεέννα. In the same parable, Lazarus is declared to be

See particularly on this subject Dr. Campbell's Sixth Preliminary Dissertation. Part 2; and Peters on Job.

carried by Angels to Abraham's bosom. The state, in which Lazarus was placed, is denoted elsewhere by the word Paradise. To day, said our Saviour to the thief on the cross, thou shalt be with me in Paradise. But we know from our Saviour's own declaration, that, when he gave up the ghost on the cross, his spirit went, not to hell, but to Hades, or Sheol. For in the sixteenth Psalm He himself says, "Thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol;" rendered both by the Septuagint, and by St. Peter, (quot ing this passage, Acts ii. 27, and referring to it in verse 31,) by Hades, the Greek word, by which Sheol is always translated both in the Old and New Testament. Thus it is, Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades, and in verse 31, his soul was not left in Hades. The thief, therefore, went to the state, which is denoted by this word; and not to that, which is denoted by Heaven, unless this word is supposed to include heaven.

In Heb. xi. 39, 40, St. Paul says of the Ancient saints, And these all, having obtained a good report through Faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. The promise here denotes, I apprehend, the good, or reward, promised to Faith and obedience, in its full extent. This good, the ancient saints are here declared not to have received, in this extensive manner: something better being reserved for Christians under the Gospel, in which they are to share, together with those, who have gone before them, when they shall be all gathered into the Divine Kingdom, and the state of perfection shall finally arrive.

In accordance with these observations, Christ informs us, that the Righteous will possess the Kingdom, prepared for them from the foundation of the world; and the wicked depart into the everlasting fire (sis to aug to alwviov) prepared for the devil and his angels, not before, but after, the general judgment. St. John also, in the 20th and 21st Chapters of the Apocalypse, teaches us, that the wicked will be cast into a lake of fire; and that the state of glory destined for the enjoyment of the Righteous, and denoted by his vision of the New Jerusalem, will commence; after the Judgment is finished. These in both instances are the states of existence, denoted in Scriptural language by the words Heaver and Hell.

Still, virtuous men, when they leave this world, go to a state of enjoyment only; and impenitent men to a state of mere suffering. Lazarus was only comforted, after he left this world; and the rich man was only tormented. St. Paul informs us, that, when good men are absent from the body, they are present with the Lord. The favourable presence of Christ will, therefore, be afforded to all his followers; and he will begin to exhibit to them, in a glorious manner, the everlasting kindness, with which he has had mercy on them. When the bodies of mankind are re-united to their spirits; there can be no doubt, that the happiness of the Righteous, and the misery of the wicked will be rendered more complete. But, antecedently to that event, both the happiness and the misery will be entire, and unmingled. The happiness will in no degree be alloyed by suffering; the misery will in no degree be lessened by enjoy

ment.

REMARKS.

1. From these considerations, appears with strong evidence, the folly of that excessive attention, so commonly rendered to our bodies. Not a small proportion of the care, anxiety, and labour, of man is employed upon the body. So far as necessity, decency, and comfort, demand these exertions, the demand is certainly reasonable; and will be complied with, when it is in his power, by every wise man. But there are, certainly, limits to this employment, fixed by Revelation, and seen, and acknowledged, by reason. To take, even in this way, the real good of all our labour under the sun, is plainly included in that portion, which God hath given us of this labour. The allowance is certainly liberal, and sufficient. But there are anxieties experienced; there are efforts made; which are productive of no such good. Common sense continually discerns, and declares, this truth. These anxieties, and efforts, are also immensely numerous, eager, and painful. It is necessary to have food: it is desirable, that that food should be wholesome and pleasant. It is necessary to have clothes it is desirable, that our clothes should be convenient and becoming. But there may be excessive care to gratify the

palate, and to adorn the person. I know of no rational objection to that mode of life, regularly demanded by common sense, which, according with the character, and circumstances, of an individual, is pronounced by the general sense of propriety to be suited to his station. Yet the whole of life is certainly not to be consumed either in pampering, or adorning, the person. Our life is the only period of our probation; and, during that probation, eternal life is to be gained or lost. With such an employment on our hands, it is madness to waste this little period in providing the means of luxury, to pamper our palates and our pride. Would the epicure, while feasting his sight, and smell, and taste, on viands, to collect which he has, perhaps, ransacked both the Indies, remember, that he is pampering his body, merely to make it a more dainty meal to the worms of the dust; it is questionable whether the keenness of his relish would not be blunted, and his solicitude concerning what he should eat, and what he should drink, exchanged for a more becoming anxiety concerning the means, by which he might live for ever. Were the Monarch on his throne, to adorn whom the South has yielded up its gold, and the East lavished its gems, to recollect that within a few days he would be wrapped in a shroud, and lodged in the grave; would not all these splendours fade upon his eye, and pall upon his heart? Were the beauty, who swims through the dance, or sparkles in the drawing-room, with the conscious superiority of her charms, and amid the homage of surrounding admirers, to call to mind, that the form which Narcissus-like, she surveyed in the glass with rapture, must within a few days be chilled by the icy hand of Death, the roses fade from her cheeks, the splendour vanish from her eyes, and all her elegance of form be dissolved in dust; must she not be compelled to believe, that her vanity was misplaced, and worthless; that she squandered life upon objects, equally undeserv ing, and mischievous; and that to acquire beauty of mind, to become lovely in the sight of God, and to merit the esteem of angels throughout eternity, were pursuits, infinitely more wor thy of rational ambition?

The manner, in which God has exhibited his views concern. ing our bodies, is in no measure calculated to raise them in our

estimation. He formed them out of Earth. He made them so frail, as to be subjected to accident, pain, and disease, in ten thousand forms. At death he returns them to Earth again. This is their final end. Flesh and blood will not inherit the King. dom of God. How can pride, vanity, or ambition, dwell so fondly on a subject, so full of frailty, and humiliation?

2. By the same considerations, we are taught the folly and indecency of pride.

Pride is a passion, cherished, and fondled, in every human bosom. Still it is one of the most dangerous enemies to our true interests. I have formerly exhibited it as the commencing sin of man; the real beginning of human apostasy. From that time to the present, it has been a prime part of our rebellion against God. It is, also, a principal source of our injurious treatment of each other; mingles with all our love of the world, even with our devotion to pleasure; is unkind; unjust; insincere; impatient of the prosperity of others; jealous; hard-hearted; cruel as the grave; arrogating to itself the blessings of mankind, and the prerogatives of God; unbelieving; and obdurate. With these things in view, we shall not wonder to find it, in every degree, pernicious to ourselves. Pride, says Solomon, goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Both the word, and works, of God, furnish innumerable dissuasives from the indulgence of pride; all of them, however, insufficient to overcome this obstinate evil. Among them, few are more happily adapted to this end, than the truths, which have been mentioned on the present occasion. When we look around with exultation on the advantages, which we fancy ourselves to possess over our fellow-men, and let loose the pride of wealth, the pride of office, the pride of influence, the pride of taste, and the pride of reputation; when we turn our eyes upon ourselves, with all the dotage, exercised by a fond and foolish parent towards a favourite child, and become inflated with the pride of beauty, the pride of talents, or that most odious of all pride, which is customarily styled self-righteousness; we can hardly fail of being humbled, and crest-fallen, if we call to mind the end of all our loftiness, exhibited in this discourse. Go to the burying-ground, and walk over its dark, and solemn, recesses.