was devoured by an evil beast, he was greatly grieved, which his sons and his daughters having perceived, they rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and said, "For I will go down into sheol (in Greek into hades) unto my son mourning." Gen. xxxvii., 34, 35. Jacob therefore believed that Joseph was then in hades, and that when deceased he would be there with him. In the English version sheol is rendered the grave, which prevents many from understanding that scripture. And in the Douay version it is rendered hell. Both versions err in so rendering sheol, as does the English version err in also rendering it hell. For neither sheol or hades ever signify hell or the grave.*

Samuel also is spoken of as being in hades. For when Saul went to the witch at Endor, he said unto her, Bring me up Samuel. And while he was speaking to the woman, the Lord brought up Samuel out of the earth, "to prophesy and show the king his end." Ecclus. xlvi, 13-20. And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up? Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the Lord done this thing unto thee this day. Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines, and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me. And so it came to pass. For the next day the host of Israel was delivered into the hands of the Philistines, and Saul and his sons were slain, whose spirits then went to their appointed place below in the earth (i. e. in hades), Samuel having previously returned to his place. See 1 Sam.

The Hebrew word for grave and sepulchre is kever, from kavar to bury; and tophet is the word used to signify the place for the punishment of the wicked after the day of judgment. In the Greek, the words for grave and sepulchre are taphos from thapto to bury, and mneema from mnaomai to remember, the grave and the sepulchre being to the living memorials of the dead. And gehenna is the Greek term for the final habitation of those that died in their sins, which is also likened to a lake of fire and brimstone, to signify that it will be a place of endless suffering. Sheol, and its corresponding Greek term hades, always signify the place of departed spirits below in the earth, and are singular in meaning as well as in form. The words for grave and sepulchre are often plural, and admit the possessive pronouns, which sheol and hades do not, being the receptacle of the congregated dead. By the Jews and the Greeks those terms were therefore never confounded with each other. In the English version they are confounded with each other by incorrect translation, to the perverting of the scriptures, thereby obscuring the light of the gospel from many.

xxviii, and xxxi. Josephus states that the Jews believed that Samuel was brought up out of sheol.

Job also believed that when deceased he would be in hades. For when he was persecuted by his friends, he said, “As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down into sheol (in Greek into hades) shall come up no more. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more. Therefore will I not refrain my mouth, I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. O that thou wouldst hide me in sheol (in Greek in hades) until thy wrath be past, and remember me. There the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary be at rest. There the prisoners rest together, they hear not the voice of the oppressor. The small and the great are there, and the servant is free from his master. If I wait, sheol (in Greek hades) is mine house (oikos house, or place of habitation). All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come. For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that in the latter days he will bring me out of the earth.* And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet out of my flesh shall I see God."†

And David believed that when deceased he would be in hades. For he said, "As sheep the wicked are reserved in sheol (in Greek in hades). But God will redeem my soul from the power of sheol (in Greek of hades): for he shall receive me." Ps. xlix, 14, 15. And he believed that his deceased child by Bathsheba was there. For when he was told that the child was dead, he said, "I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." 2 Sam. xii, 23. In that respect David's faith was as Jacob's, when speaking of his supposed to be dead son, he said, "I will go down into sheol (in Greek into hades) unto my son mourning." They therefore knew where the dead were, and that they did there recognize each other. And as with the just, so with the unjust. For speaking of the wicked, David said, "Be not afraid when one is made rich, and the glory of his house is increased: for when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend

* Dr. Adam Clarke so translates Job xix. 25.

In the margin of Job xix, 26, Umibessari is rendered "out of my flesh;" for so it signifies in the Hebrew. And that agrees with 1 Cor. xv, 50. In the English version all those scriptures are perverted by sheol being rendered the grave.

after him. His soul shall go to the generation of his fathers: they shall never see light." Ps. xlix, 14—19.

All these scriptures show that from the beginning of the world until the first resurrection, all the families of the earth were brought together in hades; the just to where the just were, and the unjust to where the unjust were, where parents and their children met each other in weal, or in woe. For there the righteous were separated from the wicked by an impassable gulph or chasm. The wicked tormented in their place,* knowing they are reserved there, as their prison, until they shall thence be called forth at Christ's appearing to give unto all the reward of their deeds in this life, whether they be good or bad. And the righteous comforted in their place, in the hope of the promise made of God unto them, that when Christ would be raised they should be raised, evermore to live with him in heaven, partakers of his joy and glory. Those therefore used to say to each other, "After two days will he revive us in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." Hos. vi, 2. David speaking of Christ and them, therefore said, "Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led a multitude of captives (eekmaloteusas aikmalosian, a multitude of captives): thou hast received gifts for men, that the Lord God might dwell among them." Ps. lxviii, 18. For so the apostle Paul interpreted that scripture to the saints at Ephesus, saying, "Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, Having ascended up on high, he led a multitude of captives (eekmaloteusen aikmalosian, a multitude of captives), and gave gifts unto men." And then he stated where they and Christ were raised from, saying, "Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fulfil all things." See Eph. iv, 7-10, and the corrections in the margin. By the lower parts of the earth he meant hades, where the dead in Christ were previous to his resurrection. That was the first resurrection, which some in the church at

That was the place whereof it is that he might go to his own place." "a place of torment." Luke xvi, 28.

said, "Judas by transgression fell, Acts i, 25. By Luke it is termed

Corinth denied, retaining their heathenish notion that hades was to be the eternal habitation of all the dead. For they did not believe that those that fell asleep in Christ were raised to live with him in heaven, as the apostles testified in their preaching. See Acts iv, 1, 2; xvii. 32. To prove that resurrection, and that the dead in Christ do rise in spiritual bodies like unto Christ's spiritual body, the fifteenth chapter of Paul's first epistle to the church at Corinth was written, and the fifth chapter of his second epistle.

In that resurrection all believers of the gospel unto the end of the world have part. And on their departing this life they are therefore taken by their angels to where those are with Christ that first partook of that "better resurrection;" but not until after Christ was raised, that he should be the firstfruit of them that slept in him, the first born of many brethren, that among all he should have the pre-eminence in being the first raised from the dead. A doctrine which none can understand but those that know where Christ was in the interval between his death and resurrection. And none can know that without a previous knowledge of where all the dead were from the beginning of the world until the resurrection of Christ, and those termed his "captives," because taken by him in his war with Satan, so "dividing the spoil with the strong."

That was the resurrection concerning which Hymeneus and Philetus erred, saying that the resurrection is past already (eedee gegonenai already fulfilled), and overthrew the faith of some. 2 Tim. ii, 17, 18. For their notion was that when those were raised by Christ from hades, to live with him in heaven, none others would be received up into heaven; they not believing the testimony of the apostles concerning Christ, that whosoever believeth on him, and is baptized, shall be saved.

For when Christ was about to leave this world and return to his Father in heaven, he said to his disciples, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house (oikia house or place of habitation) are many mansions (monai pollai many places of abode): if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place (topon a place, a place of habitation) for you. And if I go and prepare a place (topon a place, a place of habitation) for you, I will come

again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, ye may be also." John xiv, 1-3. For in heaven, God's place of habitation. there are many worlds as places of habitation for the angels, created by Christ before his manifestation in the flesh as the Son of God. And therefore it is written, "By whom also he made the worlds. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. Heb. i, 1, 2; xi, 3. And previous to the resurrection of Christ, one of those worlds was inhabited by Satan and his angels, of whom it is said, "The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation (oikeeteerion place of habitation), he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." Jude 6. For when Christ was caught up unto God and his throne, he cast Satan and his angels out of heaven unto the earth, and their place (topos place, place of habitation) was found no more in heaven. That is to say, their world then passed away, as will this world pass away at Christ's appearing in the glory of his Father, as the Judge of quick and dead. See Rev. xii, 7—9; xx, 11; xxi, 1. Then shall Christ give unto all his saints the world to come as their final habitation; both those that shall be with him in the place he had prepared for them in his Father's house, and those that shall be alive at his coming. See 1 Thes. iv, 13-17.

Those whom Christ led up from hades after his resurrection, and those that since died in the Lord, have therefore not yet gone to their place of final habitation, termed the world to come. Nevertheless, they are with Christ in heaven, partakers of his joy and glory, as his apostles have certified as his witnesses unto all men. And therefore John said, "Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them." Rev. xiv, 13.

That the dead in Christ (as those that die in the Lord are called to distinguish them from the rest of the dead) are raised on their departing this life, to live with Christ in heaven-and therefore no more go down into hades as before the resurrection of Christ is clearly proved by the apostle Paul.

For when Paul was writing to the church of God which was at Corinth, he said, "We having the same spirit of faith, do