from the wrath to come upon a large part of that present generation of the Jewish people, for their unbelief. It has no relation to moral merit, and is addressed to the people of that age, and of that religion only. It was a dispensation of the Mosaic economy. That condemnation to which this salvation has reference, was a temporal and national punishment for the violation of the law of Moses, and of the positive requisitions of God, made by the prophets of that institution. It is to faith that this salvation is promised; on unbelief, that this condemnation is denounced.' Crit. Rem. ii. 106. SECTION XLVIII.* 'I tell you nay; but exeept ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.' LUKE xiii. 3, 5. THIS is a very favorite passage with the conductors of revival meetings, anxious meetings, whispering meetings, et id omne genus; utterly regardless of the meaning of Jesus, they quote these words as belonging to the situation of men in the future life. When some passages are misapplied, there is at least the excuse of ignorance, or misapprehension, to plead in extenuation. But this excuse will not avail in the present case. Some among the laity, who have much less knowledge than faith and zeal, may perhaps honestly mistake the meaning of this text; but I think I hazard nothing in saying, that every clergyman in Christendom, worthy of the name, knows better than to apply it to the concerns of *For remarks on Luke iii. 7, see notes on Matt. iii. 7. Luke iii. 9, see Matt. iii. 10. Luke iii. 17, see Matt. iii, 12. Luke vi. 47-49, see Matt. vii. 24-29. Luke ix. 24, 25, see Matt. x. 39, and xvi. 25, 26. Luke ix. 26, 27, see Matt. x. 33, xvi. 27, 28, and Mark viii. 38. Luke x. 12-15, see Matt. x. 15, and xi. 22-24. Luke xi. 31, 32, see Matt. xii. Luke xii. 9, see Mark viii. 38. 42-48, see Matt. xxiv. 45-51. Luke xi. 24-26, see Matt. xii. 43 45. men in the future life. The context is so perfectly plain, that it seems impossible for any careful reader to misapprehend its import. Out of a great variety of orthodox testimonies, I quote a few only, as they are sufficient for my purpose. 1. HAMMOND. Ver. 3, 'If you continue in your present wicked practices, raising sedition under pretence of piety, as frequently you are apt to do, then as they perished at the day of Pascha at their sacrifice, so shall a multitude of you, on that very day, in the temple, be slaughtered like sheep, and that for the same cause-a sedition raised in the city.' Ver. 5, Ye shall all perish in the ruins of the whole city, as they in that tower.' Par. in loc. 2. DUTCH ANNOTATIONS. That is, be destroyed by God's righteous judgment, as also afterwards came to pass by the Romans.' Annot. in loc. 6 3. PEARCE. Except ye, the nation of the Jews, repent, your state shall be destroyed.' Com. in loc. 4. WHITBY. I tell you nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish, for the same cause, and many of you after the same manner.' Ye shall likewise perish: That is, saith Grotius, among the ruins of the city, of which that tower was a part, they perishing in Jerusalem, ver. 4, or rather among the ruins of the towers of the city, and the temple.' Par. and Note in loc. 5. ROSENMULLER. "This was fulfilled at the last passover, a most fatal day to the Jews. See Josephus, Bell. Jud. Lib. vi. chap. 5, § 6. In these words are contained both a prophecy and an admonition. It shall come to pass, says Jesus, that ye shall perish in the same manner; yet, by a thorough reformation, ye may escape such a fate.' Scholia in loc. 6. CALMET. Jesus Christ here predicts those calamities which overwhelmed them, when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans; for then, very many impenitent and unbelieving Jews were buried together under the ruins of their most miserable nation.' Com. in loc. SECTION XLIX.* "There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried: And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried, and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue: for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you, cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.'-LUKE XVI. 19-31. THIS parable seems to be the chief corner-stone of modern orthodoxy. In the list of proof-texts alleged in support of the doctrine of endless misery, this is never omitted. Yet there are some among orthodox commentators, and among the most eminent too, who interpret the text as a parable, not a piece of real history, and who allow it may apply to a state of things in the present world. I do not say that all who allow this to be a parable, understand it to be descriptive of events in the present state of existence; but some of them admit it may have this meaning. I shall quote also certain declarations of orthodox writers, which seem inconsistent with the application of the passage to the concerns of the future life. 1. LIGHTFOOT. "Whoever believes this not to be a *For remarks on Luke xiii. 23-30, see notes on Matt. vii. 13, 14, 21, 22, 23, and viii. 11, 12. Luke xiii. 34, 35, see Matt. xxiii. 37-39. Luke xiv. 16-24, see Matt. xxii. 2-14. Luke xiv. 34, 35, see Matt. v. 13. parable, but a true story, let him believe also those little friars, whose trade it is to show the monuments at Jerusalem to pilgrims, and point exactly to the place where the house of the "rich glutton" stood. Most accurate keepers of antiquity indeed! who, after so many hundreds of years, such overthrows of Jerusalem, such devastations and changes, can rake out of the rubbish the place of so private a house, and such a one too, that never had any being, but merely in parable. And that it was a parable, not only the consent of all expositors may assure us, but the thing itself speaks it. The main scope and design of it seems this—to hint the destruction of the unbelieving Jews, who, though they had Moses and the prophets, did not believe them— nay, would not believe, though one (even Jesus) arose from the dead. For that conclusion of the parable abundantly evidenceth what it aimed at: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, &c.' Heb. and Talm. Exerc. in Luke xvi. 19. 2. WHITBY. That this is only a parable, and not a real history of what was actually done, is evident: (1,) Because we find this very parable in the Gemara Babylonicum, whence it is cited by Mr. Sheringham, in the preface to his Joma. (2,) From the circumstances of it, viz., the rich man's lifting up his eyes in hell, and seeing Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, his discourse with Abraham, his complaint of being tormented with flames, and his desire that Lazarus might be sent to cool his tongue; and if all this be confessedly parable, why should the rest, which is the very parable in the Gemara, be accounted history?' Annot. in loc. The reader will recollect, that the word translated hell, in this parable, is hades: with this fact in his mind, he will the more fully understand the force of the following quotation. He will also recollect, that the principal portion of this parable, which is supposed to signify torment after death, is the phrase, in hell [hades] he lifted up his eyes, being in torment. 3. HAMMOND. That this is not a story, but a parable, may appear by Gemara Baby. ad Cod. Berachoth, where thus much of it is set down: that "a king made a great feast, and invited all the strangers; and there came one poor man, and stood at his gates, and said unto them, give me one bit or portion; and they considered him not. And he said, my lord, the king of all the great feasts thou hast made, it is hard in thine eyes to give me one bit, or fragment, among them." And the title of this passage there is a parable of a king of flesh and blood." Annot. in loc. In his paraphrase, Hammond seems to understand this passage as representing a state of misery in the future life. Yet it should not be forgotten, that, in a note on Matt. xi. 23, he has given his views of the word hadeshere translated hell-where, after noticing its usage in 'profane writers,' and also in the old Testament, he says: Thus every where doth this word signify a state of death, destruction, (denotes no place either of souls, heaven or hell, or of bodies, the grave, but) the aphanismos, invisible state. That the writers of the church had this notion of the phrase in the creed, may be discerned, among many, by this place in Theophylact, in Rom. iv. 25-Seeing he died, having no sin, it was reason he should rise again; for how should he that was sinless be detained by hades?-where being detained by hades is, by the opposition to rising again, explained to be no more than continuing in the state of the dead.' Annot. in Matt. xi. 23. 4. ELSLEY. In hell: This is that one passage in scripture, which has induced many to think that hades expresses the place of torment; whereas it is certain it is no more than a place (aoraton aidion,) withdrawn from sight; when speaking of the body, the sepulchre; when of the soul, any region that it inhabits without the body. Thus the rich man and Lazarus were equally en hade; i. e., in different regions of it; for both paradise and gehenna, or, as the Greeks express themselves, elysium and tartarus, are en hade,' &c. Annot. in loc. 5. WAKEFIELD. Ver. 23, 'In the grave; en to hade: and, conformably to this representation, he is spoken of |