for those that died in their sins was also believed by Job, who said, "Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They take the timbrel and the harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. They spend their days in mirth, and in a moment go down into sheol (in Greek into hades).* Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens? that the wicked are reserved to the day of destruction? They shall be brought forth to the day of wrath, and shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty." Those that died in their sins, do, therefore, remain in sheol or hades until thence brought forth to be judged, and sent to their final habitation. Job xxi.

Ezekiel also believed that there are places of intermediate habitation for the wicked below in the earth. For when they of Tyre rejoiced in the judgment of God upon the Jews at the hand of the king of Babylon, Ezekiel said, "Thus saith the Lord God to Tyrus, Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee? When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the lower parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit." Ez. xxvi.

There Ezekiel spake of both the intermediate and the final habitation of the wicked. The lower parts of the earth as their intermediate habitation, and the pit prepared for the devil and his angels as their final habitation. See Rev. xx, 1—3.

Like David, Ezekiel also termed the lower parts of the earth sheol. For speaking of the king of Egypt and his army, against whom God caused the king of Babylon to make war because of their oppression of the Jews, he said, "They are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit. Thus saith the Lord God, In the day that he went down to sheol (in Greek to hades), I caused a mourning for him: I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to sheol (in

In the Hebrew scriptures sheol occurs 61 times, and in the Greek, except once, it is always rendered hades. There it is rendered the grave.

Greek to hades), with them that descend into the pit. To whom art thou like in glory and in greatness? Yet shalt thou be brought down to the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down to the pit. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord God." Ez. xxxi, 14—18.

Again, Ezekiel said, "Thus saith the Lord God, Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down to the pit. The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of sheol (in Greek of hades), with them that help him."

"Ashur is there, and all her company; whose graves are round about them, set in the sides of the pit. And there is Elam, and all her multitude; and Meshech, and Tubal, and all their multitude; and Edom, her kings, and all her princes; and all the princes of the north, and all the Zidonians. All of them slain, fallen by the sword, who are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down to the pit, though they caused their terror in the land of the living.” Ez. xxxii, 18-32.

That is the condemnation of all who die in their sins. And all having sinned, we are informed by the scriptures that God, not willing that any should perish, sent his only begotten Son into the world to make atonement for sin, according to that which was written of him in the law, the prophets, and the psalms; that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life in the world to come, all their sins having been forgiven them for his sake, as is mentioned in John iii, 16, 17, 36; 1 John ii, 1, 2, 12; iii, 4, 5; iv, 9, 10; Col. ii, 12; Eph. iv, 32. All who so believe will therefore be saved, if they walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. See Rom. viii, 1-10.

The word atonement occurs only in the Old Testament, as the signification of the Hebrew word kipher, from kavar to cover, to expiate, to atone for, as in the case of sin as an offence against God, it being the transgression of his law. That the sinner might be forgiven, expiation or atonement by a sin-offering was therefore commanded by the law, as a figure of the way of salvation by Jesus Christ. And when the sin was forgiven, it

was said to be covered, and so put out of sight, no more to be remembered. Therefore David said, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.

the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."

Blessed is

Atonement, signifies satisfaction for sin, as kopher, from kavar, is rendered in Numbers xxxv, 31, 32, "Ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer" (that is to say, Ye shall make no atonement for his sin, that he should be forgiven); "he shall surely be put to death. Ye shall take no satisfaction for him that is fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land until the death of the priest."

In the Septuagint, the Hebrew word kipher, rendered atonement in the English version of Leviticus iv. 20, as in other places, is rendered exilasetai, from exilaomai, to expiate or atone for, to appease, to render propitious. And in the Greek New Testament, ilasmos, propitiation, atonement, from ilaomai, to propitiate, to make atonement for, to render propitious, or merciful, is therefore also used as is kipher, from kavar, in the Hebrew. In the English version, of Christ it is therefore written, "In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things to God, to make reconciliation (ilaskesthai, expiation, or atonement) for the sins of the people." Heb. ii, 17. "Whom God foreordained to be a propitiation (ilasteerion, a propitiatory sacrifice, an atonement for sin) through faith in his blood, that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." Rom. iii, 25, 26. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation (ilasmon, a propitiatory sacrifice) for our sins, that we might live through him." 1 John iv, 10, 11.

This explanation of the words atonement, and propitiation, is rendered necessary by the efforts of some to set aside the atonement made for sin by Christ, as the only means whereby a sinner can have the forgiveness of his sins; they imagining that by penance, or bodily infliction, they can render unto God sufficient atonement for their sins, together with other corresponding acts; or by their future good life, and deeds of charity.

How Christ was to make atonement for sin, to the saving of those that believe on him, was made known to the Jews by the

law, saying, "When any man sin, let him bring unto the Lord an offering of the herd, or of the flock, without blemish, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; and let him lay his hand upon its head, and confess over it his sin, so putting his sin upon its head; and let the priest make an atonement for his sin by the shedding of its blood, for it is the blood with the life that maketh atonement for the soul, for the life of all flesh is in the blood; and I will accept it, and will impute it unto him, and his sin shall be forgiven him." Lev.i. 1-4; iv. 20; xvii. 11-14.

Besides the continued daily expiatory offerings for sin, God also commanded that once in every year, the high priest should take of the congregation of the children of Israel two young goats without blemish for a sin-offering. And having put one of them to death by the shedding of its blood, and done with its blood as was commanded, he was to present the other goat alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and let him go for a scape-goat in the wilderness, bearing upon him the sins of all the people in all their transgressions, that their sins being therefore forgiven, they might be clean from all their sins before the Lord." Lev. xvi.

By that it was signified that as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so (or in like manner, that is, by judgment after death) in the end of that age Christ would make atonement for sin, bearing the sins of many, to the saving of all who believe on him. Heb. ix, 22-28; x, 38, 39.

For the goat slain by the shedding of its blood, represented Christ when put to death by the shedding of his blood as the Lamb of God. And the goat that was afterwards sent away alive into the wilderness, bearing upon him the sins of all the people, laid upon him by the high priest, and there let go to make an atonement with him, represented Christ, after he was put to death by the shedding of his blood, going away into the lower parts of the earth, bearing upon him the sins of all his people in all the world; that thus making atonement for their sins, they should be forgiven them for his sake, and so be made clean from all their sins, and meet for heaven. John, pointing to Jesus, therefore said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which beareth away the sin of the world!" John i, 29. He thereby meaning all unto the end of the world that believe on Christ. See John iii, 16, 17, 36.

Another sign of the way of salvation by Jesus Christ, was Jonah in the belly of a great fish three days of day and night. See Gen. i, 3-5. And therefore, Jesus said to the Jews that asked him for a sign, "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah: for as Jonah was three days and three nights (or three days of day and night) in the belly of the great fish; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights (or three days of day and night) in the heart of the earth." Mat. xii, 38-40.

By the heart of the earth was meant the nether or lower parts of the earth, in Hebrew called sheol, and in Greek hades. For by his Spirit in Jonah, when Jonah was in the belly of the fish, Christ testified beforehand of his sufferings in hades, and the glory that should follow his resurrection, saying, "I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me out of the belly of hell (in Hebrew mibethen sheol out of the hollow of sheol, in the Septuagint, ek koilias hadou out of the hollow of hades) cried I, and thou heardest my voice. Thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst or heart of the seas. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about. I went down to the bottoms (or cuttings off) of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever : yet hast thou brought up my life from destruction, O Lord, my God." Jonah ii, 1—6.

seas.

Many of the Jews must have understood that scripture. For Josephus states that the Jews always believed sheol to be an abyss in the centre of the earth, beneath the mountains and the And Tertullian de Anima, who lived in the end of the second century, says that all the Christians of his time believed that Christ was three days and nights in the heart of the earth, as mentioned by Matthew. But now not many believe it. For there are now but few who know that by the heart of the earth was meant the lower parts of the earth, where all the dead then were, in Hebrew called sheol, and in Greek hades.

In several of the Psalms, by his Spirit in David, Christ also so testified beforehand of his sufferings in hades, as an atonement for sin, when bearing the sins of many as the Lamb of God.

In the sixteenth Psalm, he said, "My heart is glad, and my