and Aaron, Num. 16: 3, with a view to their own preeminence. They sought the priesthood also v. 10. Certainly, the passage applies much better to them than Angelic Spirits, who sinned in heaven, and were cast out of it. People, are more indebted to Milton's paradise lost, than to their bible for the information, that angelic Spirits sinned in heaven and were cast down to Tartarus. 3d, The connexion in which the passage is introduced, favors this view of the subject. Peter, in verses 1-4, speaks of false teachers, and the troubles which their heresies gave to the congregation of Christians. At the close of verse 3, he says of them, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." Was it not then very natural for him, in verse 4, to refer to Korah and his company, who produced similar troubles in the congregation of Israel and the judgment which came on them? He then from verse 5-9, mentions God's judgments on the Old world and the cities of the plain, confessedly inflicted on human beings, and of a temporal nature. It is very incongruous then to suppose, that in verse 4, he referred to Angelic beings, and punishment of endless duration in another world. But the connexion of the parallel text in Jude, is still more clearly in favor of the view I have given. Jude, verse 4, also speaks of false teachers, and the pernicious effects of their teaching on othHe adds, by way of warning verse 5, "I will therefore put you in rememberance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not." And what could be more natural, than for him in verse 6, to refer to Korah and his company, as a signal example of God's destroying such unbelievers? It is certainly more rational, than to suppose, he immediately breaks off, and introduces an example of God's judgment on Angels who sinned in heav ers. en. He also refers in verse 9, to God's judgments on the cities of the plain. But if verse 6, refers to Angelic Spirits, we must conclude, that he first gives an example in general of God's judgments on men v. 5, then in v. 6, starts off and gives an example of his judgment on angelic Spirits in heaven, and then comes back to his judgments on men in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. But if my views are admitted, it makes both writers, refer to temporal judgments on men, uniformly throughout both passages. Certainly all will allow, it is not the custom of the sacred writers, to blend in this way, examples of God's judgments on men and angels together. If it is done here, another example of the kind, cannot be produced from the bible. 4th, It will be admitted, that all the other examples mentioned in the contexts of these passages, of God's judgments on men, were adduced as a warning to ungodly men. They are all of a temporal nature, and are calculated for this purpose. But, if we understand by Angels in these passages angelic Spirits, how could God's casting them out of heaven down to Tartarus, be any warning to ungodly men? No man had seen this done, or had any means of knowing the fact, if it was true. It rested entirely on Peter and Jude's statements in these passages, for no other sacred writer ever mentions such a remarkable event, as angels' sinning in heaven and being cast down to Tartarus. But the case of Korah and his company, is detailed at length in the Jewish Scriptures, was well known, and calculated to be a warning to those who lived ungodly. But it will be asked, what Tartarus did God cast them down to ?— Further evidence of my views will be then given by considering this. viz. 3d, The punishment here said to have been inflicted on them. Peter says, God "spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to hell, (Tartarosas), and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved and Aaron, Num. 16: 3, with a view to their own preeminence. They sought the priesthood also v. 10. Certainly, the passage applies much better to them than Angelic Spirits, who sinned in heaven, and were cast out of it. People, are more indebted to Milton's paradise lost, than to their bible for the information, that angelic Spirits sinned in heaven and were cast down to Tartarus. 3d, The connexion in which the passage is introduced, favors this view of the subject. Peter, in verses 1-4, speaks of false teachers, and the troubles which their heresies gave to the congregation of Christians. At the close of verse 3, he says of them, whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not." Was it not then very natural for him, in verse 4, to refer to Korah and his company, who produced similar troubles in the congregation of Israel and the judgment which came on them? He then from verse 5-9, mentions God's judgments on the Old world and the cities of the plain, confessedly inflicted on human beings, and of a temporal nature. It is very incongruous then to suppose, that in verse 4, he referred to Angelic beings, and punishment of endless duration in another world. But the connexion of the parallel text in Jude, is still more clearly in favor of the view I have given. Jude, verse 4, also speaks of false teachers, and the pernicious effects of their teaching on others. He adds, by way of warning verse 5, "I will therefore put you in rememberance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not." And what could be more natural, than for him in verse 6, to refer to Korah and his company, as a signal example of God's destroying such unbelievers? It is certainly more rational, than to suppose, he immediately breaks off, and introduces an example of God's judgment on Angels who sinned in heav en. He also refers in verse 9, to God's judgments on the cities of the plain. But if verse 6, refers to Angelic Spirits, we must conclude, that he first gives an example in general of God's judgments on men v. 5, then in v. 6, starts off and gives an example of his judgment on angelic Spirits in heaven, and then comes back to his judgments on men in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. But if my views are admitted, it makes both writers, refer to temporal judgments on men, uniformly throughout both passages. Certainly all will allow, it is not the custom of the sacred writers, to blend in this way, examples of God's judgments on men and angels together. If it is done here, another example of the kind, cannot be produced from the bible. 4th, It will be admitted, that all the other examples mentioned in the contexts of these passages, of God's judgments on men, were adduced as a warning to ungodly men. They are all of a temporal nature, and are calculated for this purpose. But, if we understand by Angels in these passages angelic Spirits, how could God's casting them out of heaven down to Tartarus, be any warning to ungodly men? No man had seen this done, or had any means of knowing the fact, if it was true. It rested entirely on Peter and Jude's statements in these passages, for no other sacred writer ever mentions such a remarkable event, as angels' sinning in heaven and being cast down to Tartarus. But the case of Korah and his company, is detailed at length in the Jewish Scriptures, was well known, and calculated to be a warning to those who lived ungodly. But it will be asked, what Tartarus did God cast them down to?— Further evidence of my views will be then given by considering this. viz. 3d, The punishment here said to have been inflicted on them. Peter says, God "spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to hell, (Tartarosas), and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment." Jude says, "He hath reserved them in everlasting chains of darkness, unto the judgment of the great day." Let us here inquire, 1st, What Peter meant by Tartarus? Mr. Stuart says, as "to the usus loquendi of the classics, in Greek, the word Tartarus is employed to designate a supposed subterranean region, as deep down below the upper part of Hades, as the earth is distant from heaven. It is the place where the distinguished objects of Jupiter's vengeance are represented as being confined and tormented. It is placed in opposition to, or in distinction from Elysium. Ì remark moreover, that the heathen had no apprehension of deliverance from Tartarus. Tantalus, Sisyphus, Ixion, and all others sent there, were doomed to endless punishment, in view of the Greeks and Romans." Such are the views given us of Tartarus by Mr. Stuart; and it is commonly supposed, that in this sense Peter used the word Tartarus in the passage before us. But, in the preceeding section it has been fully shown, that Tartarus and the punishment there, were heathen fictions, and were originally of Egyptian origin. The Egyptians furnished the first hints, and the Greeks and -Romans manufactured a tremendous hell out of them. But Mr. Stuart is obliged to confess, that the above is not the exclusive sense, in which classical writers use the term Tartarus. He says "it is occasionally employed, in the later classic writers, for the underworld in general; but in such a connexion as to show, that it is only when writers mean to speak of the whole as a region of gloom, that they call it Tartarus." This concession of Mr. Stuart, is enough for our purpose, together with his explanations of Sheol and Hades. concedes, that "the later classic writers," use Tartarus for the under-world in general, "which is his general sense of Sheol and Hades, as seen above. And he also concedes, that they use it in this sense, when they mean to speak of the whole as a region of He |