INTRODUCTORY ESSAY.

EVER since the early ages of the Christian church, it has been generally believed that there is a place of woe, to which the wicked are consigned forever. Its tortures have been a fruitful theme of pulpit declamation, and have had a powerful influence on the minds of the old and the young. There are four words in the original language of the Scriptures, all translated hell (though not invariably), each of which, it has long been supposed, denotes this place of woe. Of late, however, that opinion has been discarded. The most learned writers of the present age have conceded that three of them · Sheol, Hades and Tartarus. - do not mean such a place. But while they concede these words, they are positive that Gehenna does have such a meaning. The history, therefore, of the opinions in regard to the place, and of the word by which its existence is supposed to be proved, becomes a matter of much interest.

Ages before Christ there was a very general belief in an eternal prison for the wicked. It is a fact, however, of great significance, that we find no trace of it in the Old Testament. Jahn, in his Biblical Archeology,—a work in high repute among the Orthodox, translated and published at the Andover Theological School, with the approbation of the Professors, has given us the following as the doctrine of the Old Testament on the condition of man after death. Let it be remembered that he was a believer in future retribution. He says:

"That the ancient Hebrews, that the Patriarchs themselves had some idea of a future life, although we must acknowledge

their information on the subject to have been limited and obscure, is evident,

"I. From the distinction which is made between the subterranean residence denominated SHEOL, 3 and in, and the grave or place of interment of the body, denominated Gen. 25:8: 732, 37: 35; 49: 33; 50: 2—10 ́; Num. 20: 24-26: Deut. 34: 7; 31: 16; 1 Kings 11 : 43.

"II. That they believed in the existence of the spirit after the death of the body, is evident likewise from the credit which they were disposed to give to the art of NECROMANCY, by means of which the Jews believed that the spirits of the dead, niin, ix, q7, were summoned back to the present scene of existence. Lev. 19 : 31; 20: 6, 7, 26, 27; Deut. 18: 11; 1 Sam. 28: 3-10; 2 Kings 23: 24; 1 Chron. 10: 13; Isai. 19: 3; 29:4; 57. Com. Zech. 13: 2-6.

"The objection which is sometimes made, namely, that persons whose minds are under the influence of superstition, are very inconsistent with themselves and in their opinions,' does not avail anything in the present case, for it would in truth be a miracle of inconsistency, if those persons who believed that departed spirits were no longer existing, should nevertheless give full credit to the ability of such non-existent spirits to reveal the mysteries of the future.

"The belief of the ancient Hebrews, therefore, on this subject, was, that the spirits of the dead were received into SHEOL, which is represented as a large subterranean abode, Gen. 37: 35. Com. Num. 16: 30-33; Deut. 32: 22. Into this abode we are told that the wicked are driven suddenly, their days being cut short, but the good descend into it in tranquillity, and in the fulness of their years.

"This very spacious dwelling-place for those who have gone hence, is often described as dark, as sorrowful and inactive,― Job 10:21; Ps. 6:5; 88: 11, 12; 115: 17; Isai. 38: 18; but in Isai. 14: 9, et seq., it is represented as full of activity; and in other places, as we may learn from Job 26: 5, 6, and in 1 Sam. 28: 7, more than human knowledge is ascribed to its inhabitants,

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which is indeed implied in the credit which was given to necromancers. In this abode, moreover, the DEPARTED SPIRITS rejoice in that rest so much desired by the Orientals,- Job 3: 13; and there the living hope to see once more their beloved ancestors and children,— Gen. 37: 35, comp. Gen. 25: 10; 35: 28; 49: 29; Num. 20: 24-26; 1 Kings 2: 10, 11, etc.; and there also the servant is at length freed from his master, and enjoys a cessation from his labors. Job 3: 13-19.

"That the ancient Hebrews believed that there was a difference, in their situation in SHEOL, between the good and the bad, although it might indeed be inferred from their ideas of the justice and benignity of God (Matt. 22: 82), cannot be proved by direct testimony. The probability, however, that this was the case, seems to be increased, when it is remembered that the author of the book of Ecclesiastes, who, in chapter 3: 18, speaks somewhat sceptically of the immortality of the soul, says, in chapter 12: 7, that the spirit shall return to God who gave it.'

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"We have not authority, therefore, decidedly to say that any other motives were held out to the ancient Hebrews to pursue the good and to avoid the evil, than those which were derived from the rewards and punishments of this life. That these were the motives which were presented to their minds, in order to influence them to pursue a right course of conduct, is expressly asserted in Isai. 26: 9, 10, and may be learnt also from the imprecations which are met with in many parts of the Old Testament.

“The MEHESTANI, who were disciples of Zoroaster, believed in the immortality of the soul, in rewards and punishments after death, and in the resurrection of the body; at the time of which resurrection, all the bad would be purged by fire, and associated with the good. Zend Avesta, P. I., pp. 107, 108, P. II., pp. 211, 227, 229, 124, 125, 173, 245, 246, comp. Ezek. 37 : 1—14.

"There is some uncertainty respecting the passages in Daniel 12: 2, 3, 13; but it is possible, at any rate, that they may be a confirmation of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and it is very clear that Haggai (2 : 23) speaks of some state of glory after the termination of this present life. Compare Zech. 3 : 7. These sentiments of the later prophets, which are perfectly in

unison with what is said of the justice and clemency of God, in other parts of the Old Testament, were at length adopted by the Jews generally, with the exception of the Sadducees, against whom they are defended in the following passages of the Apocryphal Books, namely, 2 Mac. 7: 9, 11, 14, 23, 29, 36; 12: 40-44, and Wisdom 3: 1—11; 4: 7-16.

"Thus the Jews were gradually prepared to receive that broader and fuller light which Jesus shed upon them. 2 Tim. 1: 10."

From the foregoing, it is certain that the idea respecting a place of endless woe did not originate with the inspired writers; its origin, therefore, must have been among the heathen. This, in the mind of every candid person, must awaken much suspicion in regard to it; for we cannot avoid the conviction that if God had prepared an eternal prison for the wicked, he would have declared the fact by his inspired servants. Their silence is an unanswerable argument against the existence of the place. Why did they withhold knowledge of infinite interest to the soul? And how did it happen that the heathen were in advance of revelation, respecting one of the most important arrangements in the government of God? These considerations can never be harmonized with the idea that there is a place of endless woe; for if there were, God certainly would have revealed it. Justice required it, for how could he withhold knowledge affecting the eternal interest of the soul? And may we not ask, also, how he could be just in dooming men to an endless torture of which he had never spoken ? Were a human government to keep its penalties a secret, we should all say it had no right to inflict them. And yet, according to Jahn, Campbell, Stuart and others, God kept hell a secret for four thousand years, and that, too, when he was making constant communications to his chosen people!

Though the Old Testament is acknowledged to be entirely silent respecting a place of endless misery, the heathen notion was adopted by the Jews during the time between Malachi and the coming of Christ. When in this period it began to be embraced we cannot fully determine, though probably it was introduced among them by the Pharisees, who took their rise some two

hundred years before Christ. The influence of this sect, in his time, was very great; and it is quite certain that it had brought over to its opinion on the subject of punishment nearly all except the Sadducees. On the fact of the general belief among the Jews in a world of woe at the coming of Christ, no authorities are deemed necessary; and we therefore pass to an inquiry in regard to the popular idea respecting that world. This is a subject of great moment, for it has a direct bearing on the question, whether Gehenna, during Christ's minority, was used for hell. We wish, therefore, to direct attention to the following points: First, What was the prevailing opinion respecting hell among the Jews, in the time of Christ? Second, What was the prevailing opinion respecting it when Gehenna was applied to it?

It might, perhaps, be sufficient in answering our first inquiry, to give the popular opinions concerning hell, at the time of Christ; but it may be more satisfactory to go back to the time when the Jews adopted this heathen idea. The first trace of it is found in the Wisdom of Solomon and the second Maccabees. The second book of Esdras teaches the opinion, but that, it is now conceded, has been forged by some Christian since the New Testament was written. All the other Apocryphal books are silent on the subject of a future existence. Dr. Ballou says:

"The rewards of virtue and the punishment of sin they place expressly in the experience of this life, in the reputation that one leaves behind, and in the prosperous or adverse fortune of his descendants. And here the writers drop the subject, notwithstanding they had frequent occasions to carry it forward into another life, if such were the tenor of their views."

In a note he directs the reader to the following passages, as an illustration of his statements:

"On the subject of rewards and punishments, see Tobit 3: 10; 4:5—9; 12: 8—10; 14: 9-11; Ecclus. passim, particularly 39: 9-11, 25-31; 40: 1-14; Baruch 3: 13, 14; 4:1; 1 Mac. 2: 50-64; 6: 44. On the state of the dead, Tobit 3:6; Ecclus. 14: 15-19; 17: 27-30; 22: 11, 12; 38: 16-23; 41: 1—4; Baruch 2: 17, 18.”—Universalist Expositor, vol. II.

As the date of the Wisdom of Solomon and the second Macca