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His resurrection. "Then Jonah prayed-and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell [or the grave] cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about; all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. 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, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains, the earth with her bars was about me for ever; yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my GOD. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto thee into thine holy temple." So the Psalmist, speaking in the name of Christ', says, "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows [or cords] of hell compassed me about, the snares of death prevented me. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my GOD: he heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him, even into His ears. He sent from above, He drew me out of many waters'."

i Jonah, ii. 2—7.

k See Hebr. ii. 13.

1 Psalm xviii. 4-6, 16. Hebr. v. 7.

"Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me "." "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption "."

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Thus it appears, that the first and second chapters of the book of Jonah are applicable to Christ in a figurative sense; and that the space of time during which Jonah was in "the belly of hell" (a portion of three day-nights, or nycthemera), represented that space of time during which Christ was with "the spirits in prison"." As Jonah also voluntarily offered himself to be thrown into the sea, to save the ship and the mariners, so Christ voluntarily offered Himself to be slain for the sins of the whole world.

Christ, having" yielded up the ghost"," and having thus "slain the enmity," descended into the abode of departed spirits. This place into which Christ went, and in which He remained, while His body lay in the grave, is

m Psalm lxix. 14, 15. n Psalm xvi. 10. Acts, ii. 25, 27. See Psalm xl. 2; xlii. 7; Ixix. 14, 15; lxxi. 20;

cxvi. 2; cxviii.; cxxx.
• 1 Peter, iii. 19.
P Matt. xxvii. 50.
9 Eph. ii. 16.

called, "Hades or hell," "the lower parts of the earth"," ""the pit," the place of the dead ", the abode of those who sleep".

As Christ, when He quitted the "earthen vessel," "the outward man," visited the abode of departed spirits, from which He arose at "His resurrection;" so man, when he quits "the earthly house of this tabernacle," goes into that abode also, and he there remains until "the resurrection from the dead," which will take place in the last day," "the day of the Lord," "the day of judgmenta." "David is not ascended into the heavens," "" for David after he had served his own generation, by the will of Gop, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers." The spirit of David, then, is in Hades. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are to dwell" in the kingdom of heaven;" they are yet "living";" they are in Hades. When Lazarus died, he was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom," in Hades, where he was comforted.

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Moses

and Elias (since the death of whom, several cen

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turies had elapsed) were living at the time of Christ's ministry, for they were seen conversing with Him on the mount". After the death of Christ, "many bodies of the saints which slept arose and came out of their graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto manyi." So that departed spirits are living in Hades, awaiting the general "resurrection both of the just and unjust." zarus found himself comforted in Hades; St. Paul was anxious to die that he might "be with Christ'," willing "to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord ";" for to him to die was gain "; it follows, then, that he expected to enter into a state of happiness as soon as he became "absent from the body," otherwise, as he knew that many centuries would elapse before the general resurrection, he would not have had "a desire to depart." It appears, then, that they who "die the death of the righteous," "which sleep in Jesus," are gathered into their graves in peace', they enter into peaces; "Blessed are the dead which die

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m

⚫ Philip. i. 23.

P Numb. xxiii. 10.

4 1 Thess. iv. 14. 1 Cor.

xv. 18.

r2 Kings, xxii. 20.

in the Lord." But the rich man, on entering into Hades, found himself “in torments"." So that Hades, or the abode of disembodied spirits, is, to the blessed, a place of comfort and peace; but, to the wicked, it is a place of punishment and torment". It appears, that the spirit retains a remembrance of earthly things, for the rich man remembered his brethren in his father's house; and that it has cognizance of other spirits, for the rich man saw "Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom "." It appears also, that the disembodied spirit has the power of holding communication with other spirits, for the rich man made his wishes known to Abraham, and the latter replied to the former”. Departed spirits preserve personal identity, for the rich man distinguished" Abraham and Lazarus" among the blessed; Samuel appeared unto Saul, Moses and Elias were seen with Christ on the mount", the saints which arose appeared unto many in Jerusalem. The abode of those spirits which are in peace, is kept distinct from that in which those spirits reside which are in a state of torment, for Lazarus was "afar off" from the rich man, and between

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