as having a body, ver. 24. It must be remembered, that hades no where means hell-gehenna—in any author whatsoever, sacred or profane; and also, that our Lord is giving his hearers a parable, (Matt. xiii. 34,) and not a piece of real history. To them who regard the narration as a reality, it must stand as an unanswerable argument for the purgatory of the papists. The universal meaning of hades is the state of death; because the term sepulchrum, or grave, is not strictly applicable to such as have been consumed by fire, &c. See ver. 30.' Note in loc.

So much it seemed proper to say, in regard to the meaning of hades, here rendered hell. It is sufficiently testified by orthodox writers, that this passage is a parable, not a history, and that the word hades, in the language of Dr. Campbell, quoted in another place, ought never in scripture to be rendered hell, at least in that sense wherein that word is now universally understood by Christians.' Prel. Diss. vi. P. ii. § 2.

In the quotations which follow, the writers suggest the circumstances to which they suppose Jesus might have had reference. When I first saw Dr. Gill's remarks, I was utterly astonished, inasmuch as it seemed incredible that a man, so thoroughly orthodox as he, should have given countenance to the notion, that this parable does not positively teach the doctrine of endless misery.

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6. GILL. Dr. Gill makes a two-fold application of this parable, through the whole of it. He understands by the rich man, the Jews in general,' and by the beggar, our Lord Jesus Christ himself.' The death and torment of the rich man, he says may mean either the natural death of the Jews, and their torment after death, or certain temporal calamities may be intended. I shall quote a few extracts, in regard to the latter meaning which he assigns to this parable :

The rich man died: It may also be understood of the political and ecclesiastical death of the Jewish people, which lay in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, and of the temple, and in the abolition of the temple

worship, and of the whole ceremonial law; a Loammi was written upon their church state, and the covenant between God and them was broken; the gospel was removed from them, which was as death, as the return of it, and their call by it, will be as life from the dead; as well as their place and nation, their civil power and authority were taken away from them by the Romans, and a death of afflictions, by captivity and calamities of every kind, have attended them ever since.'

In hell-in torments: This may regard the vengeance of God on the Jews, at the destruction of Jerusalem, when a fire was kindled against their land, and burned to the lowest hell, and consumed the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains; and the whole land became brimstone, salt, and burning; and they were rooted out of it in anger, wrath, and great indignation-see Deut. xxix. 23, 27, 28, xxxii. 22—or rather the dreadful calamities which came upon them in the times of Adrian, at Bither; when their false messiah, Bar Cochab, was taken and slain, and such multitudes of them were destroyed, in the most miserable manner, when that people, who before had their eyes darkened, and a spirit of slumber and stupidity fallen upon them, in those calamities began to be under some convictions.' Expos. in loc.

7. THEOPHYLACT. This ancient writer first applies the parable to the concerns of the next life; he then says:

But this parable can also be explained in the way of allegory; so that we may say, that by the rich man is signified the Jewish people; for they were formerly rich, abounding in all divine knowledge, wisdom, and instruction, which are more excellent than gold and precious stones. And they were arrayed in purple and fine linen, as they possessed a kingdom and a priesthood, and were themselves a royal priesthood to God. The purple denoted their kingdom, and the fine linen, their priesthood; for the Levites were clothed in sacerdotal vestments of fine linen, and they fed sumptuously, and lived splendidly, every day. Daily did they offer the morning and the

evening sacrifice, which they also called the continual sacrifice. But Lazarus was the Gentile people, poor in divine grace and wisdom, and lying before the gates; for it was not permitted to the Gentiles to enter the house itself, because they were considered a pollution. Thus, in the Acts of the Apostles, we read that it was alleged against Paul, that he had introduced Gentiles into the temple, and made that holy place common or unclean. Moreover, those people were full of fetid sores of sin, on which the impudent dogs, or devils, fed, who delight themselves in our sores. The Gentiles likewise desired even the crumbs which fell from the tables of the rich; for they were wholly destitute of that bread which strengthens the heart of man, and wanted even the smallest morsel of food; so that the Canaanite woman, (Matt. xv. 27,) when she was a heathen, desired to be fed with the crumbs. In short, the Hebrew people were dead unto God, and their bones, which could not be moved to do good, were perished. Lazarus also (I mean the Gentile people,) was dead in sin, and the envious Jews, who were dead in sins, did actually burn in a flame of jealousy, as saith the Apostle, on account of the Gentiles being received into the faith, and because that those who had before been a poor and despised Gentile race, were now in the bosom of Abraham, the father of nations, and justly, indeed, were they thus received. For it was while Abraham was yet a Gentile, that he believed God, and turned from the worship of idols to the knowledge of God. Therefore, it was proper that they who were partakers of his conversion and faith, should rest in his bosom, sharing the same final lot, the same habitation, and the same blessedness. And the Jewish people longed for one drop of the former legal sprinklings and purifications, to refresh their tongue, that they might confidently say to us, that the law was still efficacious and availing. But it was not; for the law was only until John. And the psalmist says, sacrifice and oblations thou wouldst not, &c.' Annot. in loc.

Theophylact closes by observing, that we ought to make a moral use of this parable, and not despise our servants, who stand at our gates.

I shall quote only one more authority, and that from a work entitled, a Rationale of the Literal Doctrine of Original Sin, &c., by James Bate, M. A., Rector of Deptford.' This writer, I suppose, was not a Universalist. The extract follows:

The

8. BATE. We will suppose, then, the rich man, who fared so sumptuously, to be the Jew, so amply enriched with the heavenly treasure of divine revelation. poor beggar who lay at his gate, in so miserable a plight, was the poor Gentile, now reduced to the last degree of want, in regard to religious knowledge. The crumbs which fell from the rich man's table, and which the beggar was so desirous of picking up, were such fragments of patriarchal and Jewish traditions, as their travelling philosophers were able to pick up with their utmost care and diligence. And those philosophers were also the dogs that licked the sores of heathenism, and endeavored to supply the wants of divine revelation, by such schemes and hypotheses, concerning the nature of the gods, and the obligation of moral duties, as (due allowance for their ignorance and frailties) did no small honor to human nature, and yet thereby plainly showed, how little a way unassisted reason could go, without some supernatural help, as one of the wisest of them frankly confessed. About one and the same time, the beggar dies, and is carried by the angels (i. e., God's spiritual messengers to mankind,) into Abraham's bosom; that is, he is engrafted into the church of God. And the rich man also dies and is buried. He dies what we call a political death. His dispensation ceases. He is rejected from being any longer the peculiar son of God. The people whom he parabolically represents, are miserably destroyed by the Romans, and the wretched remains of them, driven into exile over the face of the earth, were vagabonds, with a kind of mark set upon them, like Cain, their prototype, for a like crime; and which mark may perhaps be their adherence to the law. Whereby it came amazingly to pass, tìat these people, though dispersed, yet still dwell alone and separate, not being reckoned among the nations, as Balaam foretold. The rich man, being reduced to this state of

misery, complains bitterly of his hard fate, but is told by Abraham, that he slipped his opportunity, while Lazarus laid hold on his, and now receives the comfort of it. The Jew complains of the want of more evidence, to convince his countrymen, the five brethren, and would fain have Lazarus sent from the dead to convert them. But Abraham tells him, that if their own scriptures cannot convince them of their error, neither would they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. And exactly so it proved in the event. For this parable was delivered towards the end of the third year of our Lord's ministry; and in the fourth, or following year of it, the words put into the mouth of Abraham, as the conclusion of the parable, are most literally verified, by our Lord's raising another Lazarus from the dead. And we may presume, that the beggar had the fictitious name of Lazarus given him in the parable, not without some reason, since the supposed request of the rich man was fully answered, by our Lord's raising another, and a real Lazarus, from the dead. But what was the consequence? Did this notorious miracle convince the rich man's brethren? No, truly. His visit to them from the dead was so far from convincing them, that they actually consulted together, that they might put Lazarus also to death; because that, by reason of him, many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus. So much for the true sense of this parable.'

SECTION L.*

'Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'-JOHN iii. 3.

MUCH use has been made of this, and ver. 5, to prove

*For remarks on Luke xvii. 33-36, see notes on Matt. xxiv. 40, 41. Luke xviii. 17, see Matt. xviii. 3. Luke xviii. 24, 25, see Matt. xix. 23, 24. Luke xix. 11-27, see Matt. xxiv. 14-30. Luke xx. 9-18, see Matt. xxi. 33-44. Luke xx. 47, see Matt. xxiii. 14. Luke xxii. 22, see Matt. xxvi. 24.