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expressly said to be in 'Hades.' Still the Messianic reign and that of Sheol naturally tended to encroach on each other. It was a position of the Alexandrians, fortified by ancient authority, that those who die for God live to God; and those who die for the law are immediately received to the bosom of the patriarchs; and tho the dogma of an intermediate state is held by Tertullian and others so essential that those denying it are not to be considered Christians or even Jews, the Alexandrian doctrine supported by the legendary cases of translation seems to have exercised considerable influence at a time when the interval preceding resurrection was accounted very short," and when almost all Christians might claim the privileges of martyrs. The two views, that of bodily revival and of divine spiritual communion, coalesced also in the intermediate notion of a spiritual body.' Philo speaks of the soul as a 'divine effluence of bright essence' and as it may be said that God is light so the soul may be called a 'particle of divine fire,' made, like the celestial bodies, of that æther or elemental quintessence spoken of by Indian and other sages. When pseudo-Solomon

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talks of the 'just running to and fro like sparks among the stubble,' the ancient idea of a punishment of the heathen by the Jews mingles with that of the luminous or fiery nature of liberated spirits; Josephus too alludes to the pure bodies of the resurrection blending Pharisaism with Essenism. The body is the soul's garment, and clean or white garments were necessary to enter the kingdom of God. a The high priest Joshua, whose garments were changed before the Lord, was pronounced, according to the progressive elevation of the mediatorial ideal, a personage fit to stand among the angels. The same notion of glorification which seems to have existed in Egypt, and which Theopompus ascribes to Zoroaster (since it is scarcely possible to conceive a continued personal existence except by revival of the old body or investiture in a new one), prevailed also among Christians. In opposition to the grossness of the Pharisees, & Jesus taught that the spirits of the good revived in purified bodies would live for ever like the angels with God in heaven, partaking his felicity and glory; h while the wicked (Jews) would find in Sheol not a mere neutral resting-place, but the positive eternal [?] punishments of Gehenna. It was however impossible to blend all the phases of theory into a perfectly harmonious system. There remained inevitable inconsistencies, a spiritual futurity mixed with earthly imagery, a single and a double resurrection, a Messianic restoration of the just only, replaced or followed by a day of general reckoning for all men.

t

9 Luke xvi. 23.

4 Mac. ch. 17, end. See Gfrörer, vol. ii. p. 192. Comp. Deut. xxx. 3. s Tertull. de An. 55. Justin. Tryph. chs. 5 and 80. Irenæ. v. 31. 2. Especially over the fourth Gospel. " Rev. xx. 4; xxii. 20. ▾ Acts. 59. Philip. i. 23. Heb. xii. 23. Dan. xii. 3. wGfrörer's Philo, i. 377. Iamblich. Myst. i. 17. * Wisd. iii. 7.

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Comp. ch. ii. 2, and Gfrörer, ii. p. 257.

Rev. vi. 9; vii. 9. 15; xiv. 1. Comp. Strabo, p. 713. Aristot. De Cœlo, 2. y Zech. xii. 6. Obadiah 18. Mal. iv. 1.

a Matt. xxii. 11. Rev. iii. 4; vi. 11; vii. 11; vii. 13; xix. 8.

C

Hag. i. 13. Mal. ii. 7. Zech. xii. 8. 2 Sam. xiv. 17; xix. 27.

Comp. Wisd. v. 5.

i. 2 8.

d

e

b Zech. iii. 7. Joseph. B. I. Porphyr. Abstin. iv. 10. Supr. p 290, n. 20. Plutarch, ub. sup. Boundehesch, p. 61. Compare Burnouf on the Yashna, p. 129. It seems to have been part of the idea of a Ferver or Yazata to be clothed or capable of being clothed in a suitable body. h Matt. xix. 28. Rom. viii.

* Matt. xxii 30.

17. 19. 1. Cor. vi. 2; xv. 44. 2 Tim. ii. 12. Wisd. iii. 8.

i The figures of 'worm and fire' were ancient precedents (Isa. Ixvi. 24. Ecclûs. vii. 18. Judith xvi. 17. Mark ix. 44) adopted from the rites of sepulture, and others,

b

THE DOUBLE RESURRECTION OF THE JEWS.

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Christ's second coming was to the Christian what Messiah's advent had been to the Jew. It was an event eagerly and constantly expected, which was to close with the present age of the world the reign of Mosaism; a time of war and woe heralding the resurrection, judgment, and universal restoration. But these accompaniments, borrowed from the Old Testament typology, could not by mere postponement or transference be made to fit exactly into the new system. Hence the theory (implied indeed rather than propounded in parts of the New Testament), of a first resurrection of the just, to be followed by a second or general one. The first resurrection of the elect only, adopted in the Millennium doctrine, answers to the earthly or Messianic resurrection of pious Hebrews, which was all that was originally contemplated in prediction; the same precedent probably suggesting the Pharisaic dispensation of easy revival to the good, while to the bad Sheol was to be a prison from which there was no escape. C St. Paul connects with the impressive 'second coming,' a first resurrection of the 'dead in Christ;'d and the resurrection maintained by Jesus in the gospels against the Sadducees, is emphatically restricted to those deemed capable of becoming angelic. e On the other hand, St. Paul is made to appeal to the Pharisees as agreeing with him in regard to a general resurrection of just and unjust; f and it is not improbable that the Christian perplexity had already been felt by the Jews, as the contradictions of the Talmud prove that it was afterwards. At first the refinement of two wars of Antichrist and two resurrections had no existence, the divergence existing only in the nascent undeveloped state of a mystery or contradiction; just as the complex theoretic elements as to Messiah's person were at first blended in a sensuous notion which made the Jews incapable of acknowleging the separate impersonation of the lowly character by Jesus. Yet it was obviously more difficult to reconcile, or to contemplate in one, a partial and a general resurrection; so that on this point the synagogue appears to have been divided, some maintaining that only the just, others that all would rise, tho the revival of the wicked would be only for a short time. Þ Those who were of the former opinion must have made adjudication follow at or soon after death, and have left the wicked, according to the Pharisaic theory in Josephus, to the perpetual sleep mentioned by Isaiah and Jeremiah. There are,' said the Jews, three dooms; 1st, of the good, who immediately after death are sealed to eternal life; 2nd, the hopelessly wicked, who, according to Isaiah lxvi. 24, are cast into hell; and 3rdly, the intermediate, dismissed for a time to Hades, where they cry woe and alas!' being there for the moment consumed, but afterwards, in pursuance of a passage quoted by the Romish Church in support of purgatory, rescued by intercession of the 'saints.' Such a theory of retribution independent of resurrection is alluded to in St. Luke; yet it could not have been generally prevalent at a time when every view of futurity was Messianic. To St. Paul there was

no hope in death except from a resurrection.

a Matt. v. 18.

b Rev. XX.

Justin. M. Tryph. ch. lxxxi. p. 308. Gfrörer, Urchrist. ii. 309.
Joseph. Ant. xviii. 1. 3. Comp. 2 Mac. vii. 14.

d 1 Cor. xv. 22, 23. 1 Thess. iv 16 Rom. v. 17; vi. 8; viii. 11.

e Matt. xxii. 30; comp. xiii. 43. Luke xx. 35, 36; comp. xiv. 14. The description in Matt. xxiv. and xxv. neither mentions nor implies a resurrection. In the Gospel of St. John, the formal resurrection and judgment are nearly, tho not altogether, merged in the spiritual, unseen return, revivification and inner judgment silently effected by the 'Word.' Acts xxiv. 15. Comp. 2 Cor. v. 10. Rom. xiv. 10.

h

8 Justin. M. Tryph. ch. lxviii. p. 294. Gfrörer, ii. 277 sq.

j Gfrörer, ii. 76.

k Zech. xiii. 9.

i Isa. xxvi. 14. Jer. li. 57. Luke xvi. 23; xxiii. 43.

FROM THE OLD TO THE NEW.

THE HISTORY OF A CREED.

HANGE, without which could not be growth, or progress-is the law of life. Creeds the political or religious dogmas which rule the phases of human experience-are submitted to this necessity; advancing from birth to maturity, and onward thrö decay to death. The olden Gods have passed away; the present treads upon the heel of the Past; the Future hurries forward to its place. Dogma follows dogma; the foot-print of the first making sure the ground for the passage of the next. The hours are never resting.

When a dogma nears the termination of its reign, the change commences with indifference, an indifference which at first is neither doubt nor the disposition to doubt, but a mere consequence of the want of vitality in a creed subsisting only as a custom. When a dogma is first received, it is in virtue of its truth. Men know why they believe; they have a living faith. But those who follow take the dogma upon trust; the basis of faith is no longer conviction, but authority; the belief degenerates into a habit of assent; and, so transmitted from generation to generation, less and less understood as it gets more distant from the source, the time is reached in which the dogma only rules in seeming, the world having lost perception of its truth. Obedience is now only a matter of routine, observed none knowing why. The dogma subsists because none give attention to it.

Then arises the spirit of enquiry. Men's consciences revolt from a mere blind obedience. They begin to look more closely at the ruling dogma, not so much in opposition, as with a desire to find in it the latent truth which shall justify their past belief and be a sure foundation for the continuance of their attachment. They seek in vain. The truth which had established it, which had kept pure thröout the struggle for its establishment, is hidden by the dust of ages. Triumph induced security, then apathy; human idleness wrapt the principle in formula, trusting rather to the memory than the understanding; forgetfulness of the meaning permitted the corruption of the forms; ignorance and interest misinterpreted them: so the primitive sense, the truth and inner life, was lost, and at length the nascent scepticism perceives but a foolish jumble of useless symbols, or a set of despotic and superstitious maxims, invented by ambitious craft or supervening from the ignorance of the people. Men cease to believe, disgusted with the errors, the absurdities, and the falsehoods which meet their first examination. But a new faith rises in their minds from the ruins of the past; and tho it be but a negation, a belief in the insufficiencies of the reigning dogma, it is yet a true faith, because it is an earnest conviction, because it is the awakening of the human mind after ages of stupor, because it contains within it the living germs of a revolution.

In the emotion of their unexpected discovery the first sceptics are unable to

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keep silence, they proclaim their convictions to the world; society is shocked, and a terrible struggle commences. The inert masses are but slowly penetrated. Tho their reason would detach them from the form of faith, and tho the love of novelty attracts them, yet habit and reverence for the past still hold them back from change. It is widely different with those who govern in the name of the ancient faith, whose living depends thereon. Surprized at the audacity which questions dogmas whose meaning even they had lost and cared not to discover, unable to use in their defence the empty formulas which had contented their secure idleness, they can only oppose to their assailants Usage and Authority; they therefore attempt not to reply, disdain all reasoning, and endeavor to crush their adversaries with the material power at their command. Instead of enlightening the people, teaching them the truth of their doctrine, they persecute all who have the courage to doubt it.

Such is the first struggle: enquiry against authority, argument against prescription, moral force against material.

The martyrs perish; the people become interested in the quarrel. The universal sentiment of Justice condemns the assassination of men who have only uttered that which seems common sense and truth. Public opinion sides with the persecuted, -grows attached to their doctrines, learns to recognize their truth, seeks to obtain their realization; power becomes divided, and not only is the old dogma shaken in men's minds, but even its material force begins to tremble and pass away. Its partizans are not slow in perceiving this; they dare no longer rely upon force; they are compelled to resort to argument, to plead their cause before the tribunal they had declined. Then comes the intellectual struggle between the old and the new. But the advocate of the new has this immense advantage— he has nothing to defend. He has but to pull down a dogma weakened by the mixture of error, and whose very truth its own defenders cannot understand. Their conscious impotence enrages them; they employ sophistry and abuse in place of reason; their cause is discredited and lost; and the world passes from indignation at their former violence to contempt and derision.

But the partizans of the old are not yet beaten. Still remains an appeal to the interested fears of all who dread the name of change. A league is formed of those depending on the old beliefs, and of those who imagine that their interests are dependent on it. At the base of this league, of which fear is the promoter, there is neither faith nor moral principle; there is but interest, no matter how covered with the cant words of morality and religion, of order and legitimacy. Hypocrisy and subtlest craft, the remains of a power overthrown but not destroyed, the need of struggling for life, indifference as to means-the consequence of immoral motive, these supply a power all the more dangerous because the friends of progress look upon their enemy as beaten, and so are less careful and constant in their endeavors.

To this effective strength of the old regime must also be added an advantage derived from an inherent weakness in the advocacy of the new. Those who have thrown down, have not yet thought of building-up. During the assault upon an place of faith. It is enough But this cannot last. The must replace that which is

outworn dogma, the mere earnest denial takes the for the time, to believe that such doctrine is false. world does not live upon negations. The positive

Doubt only

Resting not

overthrown, not because it was positive but because it was untrue. satisfies us, as a momentary relief from a state of false credence. in that satisfaction, we again press forward to seek the positive, the true. But a thousand hindrances are in our way. They who were united to overthrow one giant error, split into many parties when the question arises of replacing error by the truth. New systems are proposed; divisions spring up; interests and egoisms abound. The old party now commence their re-action. In their turn they criticise and assail, even ridicule and rebuke! And as the people suffer, as they must suffer in any time of transition, the re-action makes way. Belief in the old is gone; belief in the new wavers also, the new being but a negation. Religion, morality, policy, all come to be comprized in one word -interest- -as if that alone could unite Humanity.

The men of the Past are content with this. They no longer trouble themselves to regain a moral ascendancy over the people. They do not care to be believed, or loved, or respected; they care still less that the people should be religious, virtuous, or happy; it is enough that they themselves rule. If Power should by some accident escape them, they trust to the general demoralization to recover it. They can at last afford to laugh at the victories of their opponents.

Such times are fearful. Nothing either in Government or Society maintains the dignity of human nature. Yet do not despair,-you whom Providence has thrown upon these unhappy days! The time is full of hope. Society is undergoing a crisis, painful but salutary, out of which new health shall come. The germ of the future lives in this corruption; what despair would mistake for death is but a metamorphosis. It is necessary that the race of those who overthrew the falsehood of the Old should pass away, their work completed. But their work is not in vain. They have broken chains which never shall be reforged; they have cleared away the rubbish of centuries; so that the world is free from old formulas that stood in its way. It remains for new men, standing on this vantage, to commence with fresh and vigorous endeavor the Building of the Future. During the struggle between Authority and Scepticism a new race is born, capable of judging both. For it the old dogma has no charm, and by it scepticism is seen to be true indeed in its opposition, but insufficient, powerless except for opposition. The necessity of a faith again claims recognition,-a new faith to revivify the world, of which the young generation shall be the prophets and apostles.

Here is new work to be done. And there is no lack of men to perceive its importance,―men rising above the antagonisms of the past strife, and zealous to discover the new doctrine which firmly rooting itself into the essential truth of the past, shall so grow healthily for the future harvest. Yet even these men falter. Unable to shut their eyes to the evils of their time, filled with indignation and contempt for the giant wrongs and petty meannesses of society, tho they lose not faith in the future, yet they doubt if they shall see the promised land. It shall be a triumph for their children, a heritage for succeeding generations. But for themselves-Better to brood in silence: the time is not yet ripe for change. They forget that, however strong in appearance, the inwardly corrupt is ever fragile; they forget the secret causes continually working in the world, the least of which may at any moment bring forth the occasion for action, for

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