say, "Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, and whole as "those that go down into the pit."a

(3.) There are five places, in which it seems to exclude the interment of the body This does not appear from three of them, in which Jacob's gray hairs are represented as brought down with sorrow to sheol; except by a comparison with a fourth, in which he expected to find in sheol, his son Joseph, whom he believed to have been devoured by wild beasts, and of course, not be in the grave. The fifth is the one in which Jonah is said to cry to God "out of the belly of sheol."b and of course not out of the grave.

(4.) There are 13 other places in which, without stopping to discuss the subject I humbly conceive it signifies the intermediate state of all the dead, saints and sinners. I shall simply refer to the texts. This sheol, or state of separation, must come to an end; because at the resurrection, the souls and bodies of men must be reunited.

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(5.) There are two instances, in which it evidently means the separate state of the happy dead. "O that thou wouldst hide me in sheol! that thou wouldst keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldst appoint me a set time and remember me." "For thou wilt not leave my soul in sheol, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see croruption." As the soul of the Redeemer, after the crucifixion, went to Paradise, this is the sheol here mentioned; and there it was that Job wished to be hid.d

(6.) Although in the passages referred to, under number four, this word appears to embrace heaven and hell, until the resurrection; there are six places in which it denotes the latter in contrast with the former. Concerning God's omniscience, Job says, "It is as high as heaven, what canst thou do? deeper than sheol, what canst thou know?" The Psalmist says, "If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there, if I make my bed in sheol, behold thou art there.” mon says, "the way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from sheol beneath." "Moreover the Lord spake unto Ahaz, saying, ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God; ask it either in sheol, or in the height above." "Though they dig into sheol, thence shall mine hand take them; though

a Numb. xvi. 30, 33. Prov. i. 12.

b Gen. 42; 38, 44; 31, 29. Jonah 2; 2.

“Solo

c 1 Sam. 2; 6. Job, 7; 9, 17; 13, 16, 26; 6. Ps. 6; 5, 88; 3, 89; 48. Eccl. 9; 10. Is. 38; 18. Hos. 13: 14. 2 ice. Hab. 2; 5.

d Job, 14; 13. Ps. 16; 10.

they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.”a (7.) There are eleven places in addition to the nine mentioned in numbers two and six above, in which it is probably used to denote the place of future punishment." Let "not his hoar head go down to sheol in peace." "Norb his "hoar head bring thou down to sheol with blood." "Lord! thou hast brought up my soul from sheol : thou hast 66 kept me alive that I should not go down to the pit.” Here is a synonimous parallel, in which the latter clause of the verse explains the meaning of the former. "His soul was virtually brought up from hell, by his being delivered from the power of the devil, and preserved from going to the pit. "Thy pomp is brought down to sheol." "Sheol from beneath "is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming." As our Saviour speaks of the rich man's sufferings in another world, while his body was in the grave, so the body of this fallen hero is represented as covered with worms, while yet his soul, and the souls of "all the chief ones of the earth,"" all "the kings of the nations," are in the exercise of a sort of activity and intelligence, and suffering under degradation and punishment in another world. Again, the prophet threatens him, "Yet thou shalt be brought down to sheol, to the sides of the pit." That this is not the grave, but a place of future punishment, will appear from Job xxxiii. 24, where deliverance from going down to this pit, is said to be the end of Christ's gracious interposition, as a Ransom or Atonement; (as it is in the margin.) Now the atonement does preserve from going down to Hell, but not from going down to the grave. "We have made a covenant with death and with sheol are we at agreement." "Your covenant "with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with "sheol shall not stand." "I said, in the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of sheol." "For sheol can"not praise thee; death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth."

(8.) There are 25 places in which sheol is certainly used for hell, in the Christian sense of the word. Moses, in speaking of men, under the figures of the earth and the mountains, (language familiar to the scriptures,)a says, "For a fire is

a Job, 11; 8. Ps. 139; 8. Prov. 15,24. Is. 7. 11. Am. 9. 2.

b This is the true force of the in this and some other passages.

o 1 Kgs. ii. 6, 9. Ps. xxx. 3. Is. xiv. 9. 11 15. 28. 15. 18. 38. 10.

d See Deut. xxxii. 1. Ps. xcvi. 1. 11. 1 Chr. xvi. 31. 33. Is. ii, 2. 41.15. Ez. vi. 2.

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"kindled in mine anger and shall burn unto the lowest sheol, "and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on "fire the foundations of the mountains."a David says, "thou "hast delivered my soul from the lowest sheol ;" and the same writer says again, "The sorrows of sheol compassed "me about; the snares of death prevented me:" and again, "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of "sheol gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow." After quoting this text, my opponent speaks as follows, viz. "We there find the Psalmist declaring that the pains of hell' "had actually got hold of him. Now if the pains of hell "had actually got hold of him, will it do to say that he re"turned thanks to God that he had preserved him from going "into hell, or that he had not been there ?". In reply, I would observe that this reasoning of my opponent proves too much, and therefore will avail him nothing. The text in question has several clauses. In the first the Psalmist says,

The sorrows of death compassed me." In the second he says, "the pains of hell gat hold upon me." Now if the second clause prove that he was in hell, does not the first prove that he died before he went thither? In answer to this question, my opponent has expressly declared, that "the "sorrows of death are all experienced and felt, before death actually takes place." This is true: but it is no less true, that the pains of hell gat hold upon him, before he was actually sent to hell. These three texts are all tantamount to Ps. xxx. 3, noticed in No. 7, above, in which the latter line of the distich explains the former: "O Lord! thou "hast brought up my soul from sheol: thou hast kept me "alive, that I should not go down to the pit." The same interpretation is to be applied to Solomon's instruction for the correction of a child: "Thou shalt beat him with the "rod, and shalt deliver his soul from sheol." The Psalmist says, "Let death seize upon them, and let them go down "quick into sheol: for wickedness is in their dwellings and "and among them." Concerning the impure of both sexes, Solomon says, "But he knoweth not that the dead are there,

a Deut. xxxii. 22.

b Ps. lxxxvi. 13.

c 2 Sam. xxii. 6. & Ps. xviii. 5.

d Ps. cxvi. 3.

e Minutes p. cxli.

f Little yellow covered sermon, published in 1824, p. 24.

g Prov. xxiii. 14.

h Ps. lv. 15.

1.

"and that her guests are in the depths of sheol." "Her feet "go down to death; her steps take hold on sheol." These passages are explained by another which, says, "Her "house is the way to sheol; going down to the chambers of “death.”a To such characters Isaiah says, “thou” “ did st "debase thy self even unto sheol." Whether this hell was before or after death, may be learned from Ezekiel who says of a certain character, "he went down to sheol." "I cast “him down to sheol, with them that descend into the pit." They also went down into sheol with him, unto them that "be slain with the sword." "The strong among the migh"ty shall speak to him out of the midst of sheol with them "that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcis❝ed, slain by the sword." "And they shall not lie with the "mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are 66 gone down to sheol, with their weapons of war: and they "have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniqui“ties shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror "of the mighty in the land of the living." That this hell was not before death, is evident, because the subjects of it, though formerly" in the land of the living," were " slain with the sword," before they went to hell. That sheol here means something more than the interment of the body, appears from their speaking to one another out of the midst of sheol, as did the rich man and Lazarus. They had vainly expected that by laying their swords under their heads in the grave, they should take their weapons of war with them to sheol. Contempt is here thrown upon this expectation, by ironically asserting its truth. Instead of this, however, it is declared that "their iniquities, or the punishment of their ini"quities, shall be upon their bones." This shews that they were in torment with the rich man, whose iniquity was upon his tongue. With a view to the reception of many such characters, Isaiah says," Sheol hath enlarged herself, and open"ed her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their "multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall des"cend into it." The Restitutionists say that this mouth which is opened without measure, shall one day be satisfied. But "sheol" is declared by Solomon, to be one of those things that say, "it is not enough." They and the Des

a Prov. ix. 18. v. 5. vii. 27.

b Is. lvii. 9.

c Ez. xxxi. 15-17. 32. 21. 27.

d Is. v. 14.

e Prov. xxx. 16.

tructionists think that after "Sheol hath enlarged herself," she will nevertheless become superannuated, and die. This is correct, when applied to number four above. There will, at the resurrection, be a re-union of the souls and the bodies of men, and therefore a state of separation will be forever at an end. Thus sheol, in that sense, may be said to be "old and full of days," or satisfied with living, as Moses says Isaac was, when he was gathered to his people, and his sons buried him. But although sheol, a state of separation, will be full of days; sheol, a state of destruction, never will be full. Solomon says, "Sheol and destruction are never full: 66 so the eyes of man are never satisfied." If this destruction meant annihilation, then Solomon would not have said, "Sheol and destruction are before the Lord." If those who go to sheol, are to be annihilated, then that is the very city of refuge, to which God's incorrigible enemies would flee, after they have called in vain for the rocks and mountains to fall upon them, and hide them from his presence. But in Ps. cxxxix: 7, mentioned in number six, above; David says, "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in sheol, behold thou art there."e Dr. Campbell says, "It is plain that in the Old Testa"ment, the most profound silence is observed in regard to "the state of the deceased, their joys, or sorrows, happiness "or misery;" that sheol "is always represented under those "figures which suggest something dreadful, dark and silent." In making these remarks, he probably had his eye, upon such passages as that in which David says, "Let the wick"ed be ashamed, and let them be silent in sheol." But let it be recollected that this great man declined the "enumera❝tion and examination of all the passages in both Testa"ments wherein the word is found," as an endless task. If he had examined Ez. xxxii. 21, quoted above, in which a heathen is represented as speaking "out of the midst of sheol,"” would he have said that this was " always represented" as silent? The truth is, it is sometimes represented in one light and sometimes in the other. Its silence denotes dismay, and its utterance is the language of persevering impiety, and hopeless importunity; weeping, wailing, and gnashing of

a Prov. xxvii. 20. b Prov. xv. 11.

d Ps. xxxi. 17.

c In. No. 6. this is among the contrasts, in No. 7, it is recognised as a probable, it might be justly added to those which are deem ed certain.

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