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With regard however, to the character of that surviving identity, it is plain, from the facts detailed in the beginning of this section, that Moses and his cotemporaries had no distinct nor definite views. The whole subject was, to them, like a prospect dimly seen under the obscurity of night that there was something of the kind, they were aware; but what it was, they neither perceived, nor indeed do they seem to have inquired. One would suppose, that they never proceeded so far as to attribute to it much, if any, activity, and that they were accustomed to regard it rather as a dull, lethargic state of being, whose torpidness was scarcely affected by motives, and enlivened by no interest. That they never

there found, that Christ quoted the text from Exodus for the purpose of proving the particular fact of the resurrection of the dead, in the Christian sense of that phrase. But in this supposition there are difficulties to me insuperable: 1st. The text itself, even when taken with our Saviour's comment, cannot possibly be made to imply a still future resurrection of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from the dead, but merely a continuance of their being; and 2dly, we no where find, in all the Pentateuch, the remotest allusion to the resurection which St. Paul, for instance, teaches. It had not been revealed in Moses' time, so that, had our Saviour quoted him as authority for it, he would have adduced him in testimony to a truth of which he was totally ignorant. It is true that the Evangelists represent Christ, on this occasion, as disputing with the Sadducees concerning a resurrection, a raising of the dead, and as introducing the text in question with the remark. but as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read,' &c. Now, this language does indeed strike us, at the present day, as fixing the reference directly to the particular idea in question, because we are accustomed so to use it. Those expressions have, with us, become like technical terms, invariable in their application. But we are told, that such was not the case with the original phrases in Christ's time, and that, on the contrary, they then had a great latitude of signifi

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thought of it as a state of rewards and punishments, appears from their profound silence, and from the fact that all the retributions which they anticipated, all which Moses proposed, are invariably assigned to the present life.13

In conclusion, we will put together, for the sake of convenience, all the expressions which we find the Jews of this time to have appropriated to their idea, such as it was, of future being. Sheol was the name by which they designated the supposed abode of the departed. To be gathered to their people, was the common phrase, and sometimes, perhaps, to sleep, or lie down with their fathers,14 was used, to signify their entrance into that abode.

II. From the death of Moses, to the Babylonish Captivity : From 1563, B. C. to 605 B. C.

13 See this fact illustrated at large, Universalist Expositor, Vol. ii. Art. xxxiii. pp. 325-339.-Prof. Stuart finds one, and but one circumstance to show that Moses had any idea of a retribution in the future state. These are his words: As it is now past all doubt, that the ancient Egyptians (of Moses' time) did believe and teach, very expressly, the doctrine in question; I am not able to comprehend how Moses," who was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," should have been ignorant of this doctrine.' (Exegetical Essays on several words relating to future punishment, pp. 107, 108.) To say nothing of the weakness of his argument, it may be well to remark, that the very fact on which he founds it, is by no means past all doubt, viz. that the Egyptians of Moses' time, did believe and teach the doctrine of future retribution. I suppose he relies, for authority, on some of Champollion's late readings of the Egyptian Hieroglyphics. How imperfect, and, in most cases, how utterly uncertain, is the imformation thus derived, may be seen by consulting, among other publications, the Edinburgh Review for July last.

14 Deut. xxxi, 14—16,

In this period, the only authorities for Jewish opinions and usages, are the following books of the Old Testament, which we shall set down in their supposed chronological order:15 Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the two books of Samuel, larger part of the Psalms, and of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Joel, Nahum, Habakkuk, Job, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel; of which the last three were written, either wholly or in part, in the beginning of the captivity. Nearly the whole of the books of Kings and of Chronicles must also be placed in this catalogue; since, though written afterwards, the facts which they relate belong here.

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From the death of Moses, till the time of David, a space of about five hundred years, we meet with no allusion to our subject, unless in a single occurrence of the significant phrase, gathered unto their fathers' and also all that generation [which entered Canaan under Joshua,] were gathered unto their fathers, '16 although their bodies were buried far from those of their ancestors. This dearth of allusion, however, for so long a space, may be owing to the scantiness of the remains which have descended to us from that time, consisting only of the books of Joshua,

15 It is well known that the date of some of these books is quite uncertain. I have arranged them in the order, which I supposed to be most generally approved, except in the case of the book of Job. In placing this, I have disregarded the common notion of its extreme antiquity, and followed Rosenmuller, who dates it between the times of Hezekiah and Zedekiah.Scholia in Job, in Compend, redact. Prolegom. § 7.

16 Judges ii. 10,

Judges, and Ruth, which contain, moreover, little but narrative of the simplest kind. That the views of the people with respect to a future state, remained about the same as formerly, is probable, from the fact that such was the case immediately afterwards, when the traces of their opinion again appear.

1056 B. C.-In the reign of Saul, the pretence of consulting the dead seems to have been common in Israel, since that monarch is said to have cut off those that had familiar spirits, the necromancers, and the wizards, out of the land.17 But he himself,before the battle in which he lost his kingdom and his life, was at length driven by despair to seek the aid of one of these impostors ; which shows his belief both in their art, and in the existence of the dead from whom they affected to extort the required information.

As the story will serve to illustrate several points in the popular notions of that day, we shall rehearse it with some particularity: Samuel, the patron and inspired counsellor of the king, was dead and buried at Ramah, about six miles north of Jerusalem. The ingratitude and transgressions of Saul had incurred the divine judgments: the Philistines were gathering their hosts against him; and he, in his dismay, felt himself forsaken by the Lord.

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He obtained no answers to his inquiries with respect to the approaching battle, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.' Overcome with fear and anxiety, he stole away, by night, to Endor, about seventy miles north of

17 1 Sam. xxv. 1; xxviii, 3, 9.

Jerusalem, where was a woman that, in the language of the day, had a familiar spirit ;' and he said to her, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whom I shall name unto thee:' that is, bring him up from beneath. Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, bring me up Samuel.' Now, Saul cannot have referred to Samuel's dead body, since he knew that that was buried at Ramah, nearly seventy miles distant. He supposed the personal existence of the prophet still to survive, in some state, and in such a place, moreover, as that, in order to bring him to the scene of consultation, it was necessary to bring him up, or through the earth. And the language of the woman, which was no doubt accommodated to the prevalent notions, recognizes this idea having cried with a loud voice, as at the sight of an apparition, she said to Saul, 'I saw gods ascending out of the earth. And he said unto her, What form is he of? and she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived, [not saw, but understood, for such is the force of the Hebrew verb,] that it was Samuel,' &c. The dead, then, were supposed on these occasions, to arise, like gods, out of the earth, probably from Sheol, certainly not from their graves. It seems, too, that they were thought to retain, like the manes of the Greek and Roman nacrology, and the ghosts of modern superstition, somewhat of the appearance that identified them while living. The narative proceeds: 'And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? Account how we may for the pretended address

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