SECTION IX.

'Agree with thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily, I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.-MATT. v. 25-26.

THE parallel place is Luke xii. 58, 59. The scope of this passage is so very obvious, it seems strange that any should have misunderstood it. It manifestly has relation to the importance of living at peace with all men; and (since offences will come) of attempting to settle amicably all disputes which may arise, before they are pushed to extremity. But some are so fond of spiritualizing, that they have forced a spiritual meaning from this passage also. And, what is rather amusing, they differ very much in relation to the person indicated by the adversary; some believing this term to represent God, others, the devil. It would be astonishing, if Jesus intended to represent either, that he should use such language, that men could not determine to which it is most applicable. The true reason for this difficulty, however, exists, not in the language of Jesus, but in the false representations men have given of the character of God. Having obscured the brightness of his glory, they find it difficult to distinguish between his countenance, and that of the devil. The following quotations will exhibit the testimony of approved writers, that this passage is descriptive of temporal affairs, having relation to earthly, human adversaries, and actions:

1. DUTCH ANNOTATIONS. 'Be quickly minded towards thine adversary; that is, bear with, or agree with him, that for debt or otherwise goes to law with thee.' Annot. in loc.

2. PEARCE. Do thy endeavour to make it up with him, as we express it. See Luke xii. 58. This (25th) and the next verse mean to show the temporal hazard which men run, when they quarrel; though perhaps

with a further view to the case between God and every sinner.' Com. in loc.

The Bishop allows the obvious meaning of this text to be its true meaning, though, contrary to his usual custom, he is disposed to search for a hidden or concealed

sense.

3. TOMSON'S BEZA. To the jayler (officer); To him that had to gather the amercements, which they were condemned unto, that had wrongfully troubled men: moreover the magistrates' officers make them which are condemned pay that, that they owe, yea and oftentimes, if they be obstinate, they do not only take the costs and charges of them, but also imprison them.' Note in Luke xii. 58, 59.

4. ROSENMUller. 'Jesus teaches that suits at law are to be avoided, or speedily settled; it is more safe for thee to pay thy creditor more than thou owest, than to have the case brought before a magistrate; for it often happens, that he who has even a good cause, is defeated.' Scholia in loc.

5. CLARKE. Adversary, properly a plaintiff in law; a perfect law-term. Our Lord enforces the exhortation given in the preceding verses from the consideration of what was deemed prudent in ordinary law-suits. In such cases, men should make up matters with the utmost speed, as running through the whole course of a law-suit, must not only be vexatious, but be attended with great expense; and in the end, though the loser: may be ruined, yet the gainer has nothing.'

The remainder of this note is exceedingly curious. Dr. Clarke, like others, was disposed to allegorize; and he proceeded thus:

'A good use of this very prudential advice of our Lord, is this: Thou art a sinner. God hath a controversy with thee. There is but a step between thee and death. Now is the accepted time. Thou art invited to return to God by Christ Jesus. Come immediately at his call, and he will save thy soul. Delay not! Eternity is at hand;

and if thou die in thy sins, where God is, thou shalt never come.'

Having delivered himself of his allegory, (if he does not curse the day in which it was born,) he condemns himself without mercy, for departing so widely from the true sense of the passage. The wonder is, that he let the allegory remain, after writing the words which immediately follow, to wit:—

Those who make the adversary, God; the judge, Christ; the officer, death; and the prison, hell, abuse the passage, and highly dishonor God." Com. in loc.

SECTION X.

And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.'-MATT. v. 29-30.

THE parallel place is Mark ix. 43-48, and a similar form of expression occurs Matt. xviii. 8, 9. On the passage here quoted, I shall again avail myself of the language of the gentleman, to whom I have more than once alluded. He writes thus:

'We have at length arrived at a text, in which all the orthodox writers, so far as I am acquainted with them, agree that the word hell means a place or state of eternal torment, in the future world. But there are certain facts, admitted by all of them, which are worthy of the reader's attention. The term here translated hell, is in the original, gehenna, of which the origin, history, and use, as now understood by the learned, may be discovered from the following definition, which I insert entire from that standard author, Schleusner :—

Gehenna, a word of Hebrew origin, which properly signifies the valley of Hinnom, is composed of the Hebrew appellative GEE, valley, and the proper name HINNOM, who was the owner of this valley. The valley of the sons of Hinnom, was a most delightful vale, planted with trees, and watered by fountains, and was close to Jerusalem on the southeast, by the torrent Kedron. Here the Jews placed that brazen image of Moloch, which had the face of a calf, and extended its hands like those of a man; and to which the Jewish idolaters, as R. Kimchi informs us from the ancient Rabbins, used to sacrifice not only doves, turtles, lambs, rams, calves, and bulls, but also their own children. (Consult 1 Kings xi. 7, and 2 Kings xvi. 3, 4.) In Jeremiah vii. 31, this valley is called TOPHET, from the Hebrew ToоPн, a drum; because that the priests in those horrible rites, beat drums, lest the wailings and cries of the infants who were burned, should be heard by those standing around. But when these horrible rites were done away by Josiah, and the Jews recalled to the purer worship of God, (see 2 Kings xxiii. 10,) it is said that they afterwards held this place in such detestation, as to throw into it not only all the filth, but also the carcasses of animals, and of those criminals who had been capitally punished. (Consult Sam. Petiti. Varr. Lect. i. 4, and Morinus de Ling. Primava p. 366.) As a continual fire was necessary to consume the substances, lest the air should be infected by putrefaction, and as there were always worms feeding on the remaining fragments, (see Braun, Selecta, sec. iv. 120,) it hence came to pass, that not only every severe punishment, and particularly every ignominious kind of death, was called by the name of Gehenna, but likewise that miserable state in which the wicked after death shall suffer condign and unceasing torments, in company with demons; so that hell itself was called by this name, not only by the Jews, (see Bartoloccium in Biblioth. Rabbin. M. T. ii. p. 128,) but also by Christ and his apostles. See the following texts; Matt. v. 22, shall be in danger of a gehenna of fire, i. e. shall be worthy of an ignominious death; ver. 29, 30, than that thy whole body should be cast into gehenna, i. e. than that thou shouldst perish in

hell; chap. x. 28, destroy both soul and body in gehenna, i. e. destroy thy soul with the body; chap. xviii. 9. Chap. xxiii. 15, two fold more the child of gehenna, i. e. worthy of the severest punishment; ver. 33, escape the damnation of gehenna, i. e. escape infernal torment. In Mark ix. 43-48, Gehenna is called unquenchable fire, fire that is not quenched. Luke xii. 5. James iii. 6, and is set on fire of gehenna, i. e. and afterwards is consumed, itself, by infernal fire. It is nowhere else found in the New Testament. Suidas defines Gehenna to mean punishment; Albertus, in his Glossary of the New Testament, p. 5, defines it, to mean the pit. See Wetstein, New Testament, vol. i. p. 299, and Glassii Philologia Sacra, p. 806, ed. Dathii.' Schleusnerii Lexicon, in voce Gehenna.

Thus far Schleusner. He mentions three things, which the careful reader will remember: (1,) that Gehenna was originally the name of the valley of Hinnom; (2,) that it came at length to denote any severe punishment, especially any ignominious death; and (3) that it was at last used to signify a state of torment in the future world. Now at what time it came to be used in the last mentioned sense, is a question of great importance, and I shall first state the jndgment of critics on this point, and then offer a few suggestions. I think it is now agreed by the learned, that it was not so used, till after the close of the Old Testament; but I think it is likewise generally agreed by them, that it had become so used in the time of our Saviour. Of this latter fact, the only proof on which they rely, (besides the controverted texts in the New Testament,) is, I think, the language of certain passages in the Apocrypha, and in the ancient Targums, which were written by the Jews, about the time, it is commonly supposed, of our Saviour's birth. Here I would remark, that if the word Gehenna were ordinarily used for a place of future torment, by those Jewish authors of the Apocrypha, and of the Targums, who lived before, and at, the christian era, the circumstance would render it very probable that the word was commonly so understood in Christ's time. But it is important to observe, with regard to the passages alluded to in the Apocrypha, that Mr. Balfour, (Inquiry pp. 273,