see, for instance, 2 Kings viii. 5, "Go and say, Thou shalt surely not live; and the Lord revealed unto me that he shall surely die" (the infinitive a, die, and ', to live, here accompanies the respective future tenses). The sentence quoted here serves as a reply to the question asked by the king, "Shall I recover from my illness ?" (literally live through). The answer can only suit the question. The enquirer asks merely whether he is to live on or die (in a bodily sense), and the answer refers to the death with regard to the body only, and is given with the double verbs. Such a reduplication occurs also in 1 Samuel xiv. 4, where Saul says, ' MID, "Surely Jonathan shall die," and in the same book (xxii. 16), 2, "Surely, Ahimelech, thou shalt die. Though the threat of death is expressed with the repetition of the verb (to die) it has no other sig מות תמות אחימלך nification than bodily death. Other verbs are repeated ירה יירה נקם ינקם he pop, Spot Spo "7", “He shall surely be stoned or shot through." Genesis xv. 13, yny (knowing thou shalt know) "thou shalt surely know." On the other hand, we find in Scripture that the use of the simple unrepeated verb, , to die, is sufficient to indicate perdition of the soul, as, for instance, Eze. xviii. 20, "The soul that sinneth it shall die," non. From the preceding proofs and argument it is established that there is not the remotest allusion to hell in the lament of Jacob. Genesis xxxvii. 35, "I shall go down into the grave (Sheol) unto my son mourning." Neither in the thanksgiving or Hezekiah (chap. xxxviii. 10), where he says, "I shall go to the gates of the grave (Sheol). Thus we find also in the Psalms (xlix. 15), "Like sheep they are laid into the grave (Sheol)." Again, "Sheol cannot thank thee." In these passages, the word (maveth) 66 death might be used appropriately for Sheol (the grave). In other parts likewise Sheol is used as the resting place of the inanimate body; for instance, Job xiv. 13, "O that Thou wouldst hide me in the (Sheol);" Eccles. ix. 10, "In the (Sheol) whither thou art going;" Gen. xxxvii. 35, "I will go down into the grave (Sheol) unto my son;" and instances where Sheol means the depth of the earth are to be met with in the Psalms (cxxxix. 8), "If I make my bed in the grave (or depth of the earth), Thou art there;" and Job xi. 8, " And deeper than the grave what canst thou know?" CHAPTER XII. GENESIS iii. 15, "And I will put an enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel." The Christians attempt to strengthen their faith by maintaining that the words, "it shall bruise thy head," is a type of Jesus, who is to kill Satan, styled in holy writ" the serpent." Refutation. The interpretation is fallacious, for if the passage under consideration meant that Jesus was to kill Satan, that is to say, destroy the cause of sin, there ought not to be any sinners among his believers, but since they still continue committing sins, that opinion is overthrown both by their practical life and by the same verse on which they found this doctrine. The end of the passage (thou shalt bruise its heel) shows the unsoundness of such assertions. How could the serpent (sin) do injury after its being destroyed? Moreover, how could Satan induce the Jews and the heathen to kill Jesus and his disciples, he (Jesus) already having destroyed Satan. Paul himself affords a refutation by promising (Romans xvi. 20), "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." The same writer, in his first Epistle to the Thessalonians, states (chap. ii. 18), "Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I, Paul, once and again, but Satan hindered us." This tends to show that, even after the death of Jesus, in the times of Paul, Satan had still preserved his existence and exercised his dominion. over those who had been saved through Jesus, and that the Gospel is at variance with this symbolical interpretation. CHAPTER XIII. GENESIS xxii. 18, "And in thy seed shall the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou (Abraham) hast obeyed my voice." On this verse the Christians found the assertion, that the promise given to Abraham as to the blessing of all nations through his seed, had no reference to the whole race of Abraham's descendants, but specially and exclusively to Jesus as the pre-eminent posterity of the patriarch; that, therefore, this promise was never realized on other individuals. Refutation. Here, again, we have to treat with a palpable fallacy, because the Christians generally argue in favour of their religion from detached portions of the prophecies, without going deeply into the sacred subject and studying the context. The slightest attention to the verse which precedes the one cited, will enable us to judge that no single individual is meant by the Divine bounty. For there we see plainly predicted, "For I will surely bless thee, and multiply thy seed like the stars of heaven, and like the sand on the shore of the sea, and thy seed shall inherit the gates of his enemies; and with thy seed shall be blessed all the nations of the earth," refers to the whole posterity, which is to be abundant as the stars of heaven, and the sand on the shore of the sea. Through the entire seed, through the whole people of Israel the other nations of the earth are to be blessed. Moses gives his testimony to this in addressing the people of Israel, Deut. i. 10, "The Lord your God hath multiplied you; and behold ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude." To this effect, also, the Almighty gave His assurances to Israel and Jacob, see Genesis xxvi. 4, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed"; and Ib. xxviii. 14, the Lord says to Jacob, "And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shall spread abroad to the west, to the east, to the north, and to the south, and through thee and thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." The Divine promises of love agree with the one given to Abraham in Genesis xii. 3, " And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed"; and Ib. xviii. 18, " And Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him." The patriarchs had become a blessing to all the nations of the earth by fearlessly acknowledging the existence, unity, and omnipotence of the Lord, and by proclaiming His name in all their migrations; and they had raised themselves above all other people by their communion with the Divine Being, who awards true blessing and spiritual beatitude. An equal reward of bliss was appointed unto their children following their paths and observing the virtuous acts of their forefathers. Agreeably to this, Scripture declares, Genesis xviii. 19, "For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, that they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him." See also Isaiah li. "Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him." It is well known no spiritual blessing has ever fallen to the lot of the Gentiles, unless conveyed to them through the medium of Israel's religion. This will be borne out by the following quotations:-Numbers x. 32, "And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea it shall be, that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us [Israelites] the same we do unto thee [Gentiles]". Isaiah xiv. 1, “For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land, and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob." Ib. lvi. 6, "Also the sons of the strangers that join themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the name of the Lord to be his servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant." (Ver. 7)" Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer," etc. Ib. lx. iii., "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." Zechariah ii. 15 (English version, ver. 11), "And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto thee." Ib. viii. 23, "Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, in those days it shall come to pass that ten men out of all languages of the nations, shall take hold, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you." And Psalms lxvii. 1, "God will be gracious unto and |