discover, alluded to, by our Saviour and his apostles.

A. D. 67. To return to Josephus: When he and his associates lay concealed in the cavern at Jotapata, it was proposed to kill themselvs, that they might not fall into the hands of the Romans. To dissuade them from such an act, he addressed them; and, among other considerations, introduced that of future rewards and punishments. In this part of his speech, we may see how a moderate and well informed Pharisee of that time would urge the subject on his hearers: The bodies of all men,' says he, are mortal and created of corruptible matter; but the soul is immortal, endures forever, and is a portion of the divinity, inhabiting our bodies. . . . Do you not know, that those who go out of life according to the law of nature, and who return the faculty received from God, when he who lent it is pleased to require it again, enjoy everlasting [aionios,] renown? that their houses and their posterity are sure? that pure and obedient souls survive, inheriting a most holy place in heaven; from which, in the revolution of ages, they are again sent into pure bodies? but that the souls of those who have raised their hands against themselves, are received into the darkest part of Hades; and that God, their father punishes, in their posterity, the crime of those who injure either [body or Soul]? Here we find a mixture of the ancient doctrine of a just providence in this world, with the modern notion of a future retribution

23

23 Josephus, Jewish War, B. iii. ch. viii. 5.

Resolving, at

A. D. 73.-After the destruction of Jerusalem, Eleazer, who belonged to a branch of the Pharisees, maintained the fortress of Massada against the Romans, till he and his little band were reduced to the last extremity. length, on a desperate act, he sought to encourage his men, when all other motives had failed, by addressing them, 'on the immortality of the soul.' Death, says he, 'gives our souls their liberty, and removes them into their own place of purity, where they are insensible of all pain. While souls are tied down to a mortal body, they are partakers of its miseries, and indeed are themselves dead; for the union of what is divine to what is mortal, is repugnant. . . . But when they are freed from that weight which is connected with them, and which draws them down to earth, they obtain their own proper place, and partake of that blessed power and those abilities which are then incapable of being hindered in their operations.' 24

We may here subjoin the statement which, at a later period, Josephus gave to the Jewish doctrine of rewards, while defending the character and sentiments of his nation, against Apion, the Greek Now, the reward of those who adhere to the law in all things, is not silver, or gold, or a crown of olive; &c. ; but such are conscious of a testimony within themselves. They believe, what our lawgiver, [Moses,] has predicted, and what God himself has abundantly confirmed, that as for those who constantly observe the law, and, if need be, cheerfully die for it, God has

24 Jewish War, B. vii. ch. viii. 7.

granted them to come into being again, and in the revolution of things, to receive a better life.' 25

All the notices which Josephus has left us on our subject, and indeed all the testimonies of competent witnesses of this age, have now been produced. It is unnecessary to sum up the account of the sects in Palestine, since their respective opinions have been so carefully exhibited. A distinction will be readily perceived between them and the Jews of Egypt: among the former, the doctrine of future rewards and punishments, seems to have been of very recent introduction; among the latter, of longer standing. It is important to observe, however, that in neither country do we find it connected with the peculiar representations, or expressed in the peculiar phraseology, which distinguishes the controverted texts in the New Testament. With many of these passages, it has no coincidence; so that it would not be suggested by their language. On the contrary, we have seen in a former period, that the larger part of the expressions in question, were then habitually applied, by the Jews, to the judgments and afflictions of this world. What we have said of Philo, may be repeated of Josephus we discover in him no traces of belief in a general judgment-day, hereafter, nor in a future hell of fire. He does not use the word Gehenna. The fire which burned on the altar of the temple at Jerusalem, he calls unquencha

Josephus against Apion, B. ii. 31.

ble, [asbestos.] 26 He frequently speaks of the appearing and presence [epiphaneia and parousia,] of God, on remarkable manifestations of the divine agency. 27 Aidios is the word which he commonly uses for eternal. Aionios frequently occurs; and he generally applies it to the affairs of the present life. Thus, he speaks of the everlasting [aionios,] name which the patriarchs left behind them; of the everlasting [aionios,] glory of the Jewish nation and heroes; of the everlasting [aionios,] reputation of Herod; of the everlasting [aionios,] memorial which he erected; of the everlasting [aionios,] worship in the temple of Jerusalem; of the everlasting [aionios,] imprisonment to which John, the tyrant, was condemned by the Romans, &c.28

We intended to advert to the progress of the doctrine among the Jews, during the two next centuries; but we have already protracted this article to an extraordinary length, and overpassed the bounds allotted to the present volume of our work. Suffice it to say, that after the ruin of their city and nation, their views and their usages seem to have undergone an immediate and rapid innovation; and that as early, at least, as the beginning of the third century, their doctrine of future retribution had become developed in a different form than we have hitherto discovered.

26 Jewish War, B. ii. ch. xvii. 6. 27 Antiq. B. i. ch. xvi. 3, B. ii. ch. xvi. 2, B. viii. ch. iv. 4, B. xviii. ch. viii, 6.

28 Antiq. B. i. ch. xiii. 4, B. iv. ch. vi. 5, B. xii. ch. vii 3, B. xv. ch. xv. 5, and ch. xi. 1. Jewish War, B. vi. ch. ii. 1.

B. vi.ch. ix. 4.