state of disembodied souls, somewhat more elevated than such a representation would lead us to form.

The word paradise signifies a garden of pleasure, and is the name which is frequently given, by way of eminence, to the place where our first parents resided before the fall. Dr. Adam Clark observes, that "the Garden of Eden mentioned Gen. ii. 8. is also called in the Septuagint the garden of Paradise. Hence the word has been translated into the new testament, and is used to signify a place of exquisite delight. The word Paradise is not Greek, but of Arabic origin. In Arabic and Persian, it signifies a garden, a vineyard, the place of the blessed." This definition of the term is in perfect harmony with all that is said about the place in the holy scriptures; and the circumstances in which it is mentioned, favour the notion that it is a synonyme for heaven, the place where the throne of the Eternal is fixed. This opinion, I conceive, is strongly supported by the account which Paul gives of his "visions and revelations." In the twelfth chapter of his second epistle to the Corinthians, he says, at the second verse, "I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth ;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth ;) how that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."

It is supposed by some, I am aware, that the apostle speaks, in this place, of two "visions" or "revelations;" but the evidence on which this notion is founded is exceedingly dubious and slender. It will not escape the observation of the intelligent reader that he mentions but one period of time-" fourteen years" -that he does not add a single word about what he saw or heard till he reiterated the fact of his having been " caught up;" and that the language he employs to describe his feelings is the same in both cases. These circumstances go a great way to show that he had but one revelation. That he should have reiterated the fact is certainly no unnatural or unaccountable thing, when the nature of the case is considered. It is so unlike anything that ever occurred in the experience of any other person, that he seems to have thought a repetition necessary to evince his sincerity, and to make a deeper impression upon the minds of those to whom he wrote, respecting the truth of what he stated. These considerations seem, to me at least, to render it in the highest degree probable, that the narrative contains an account of but one event. If this be the case, there cannot be a doubt that the place he calls " paradise" in the fourth verse is the one which, in the second verse, he denominates the third heaven." That place, in the opinion of the Jews, was the special residence of the Deity. The aerial regions immediately surrounding the earth, they called the first heaven; the firmament, or space in which sun, moon, and stars, perform their revolu

tions, they denominated the second heaven; but the third heaven, or, as it is elsewhere called in scripture, the heaven of heavens, they considered to be the particular locality where, in a special manner, the glory of the divine Majesty is displayed, and where angels and principalities and powers are.

This view of the matter is confirmed by a comparison of different passages in the book of the Revelation. In the second chapter at the seventh verse, it is said, "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." This appears to be the same place which John describes in the beginning of the twenty-second chapter. "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him." It will scarcely be questioned that "the paradise of God" is the same place which Paul mentions, for it is represented as being the residence of "him that overcometh," the place where he enjoys the fruits of his conquest after his earthly conflict is at an end. Now, since "the tree of life" is said to grow either side of the river" which "proceedeth out of the throne of God and of the Lamb," and is also said

on

to be "in the midst of the paradise of God," the plain inference is, that "paradise" and the mansion of light and glory where "the throne of God and of the Lamb is situated are one and the same place."

That this is the place where the souls of the righteous go immediately after death, appears from the language of the Saviour to the penitent thief who was crucified along with him. He said to him immediately before he expired, "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." It would be difficult, I conceive, to assign anything like a satisfactory reason why we should not consider the "paradise" of which the Saviour here speaks, and where his human soul was during the time his body lay in the tomb, to be

the " paradise" or third heaven" to which Paul was caught up;" to be "the paradise of God"— the residence of the Most High, the habitation of his holiness. If these be but different modes of phraseology applied to one and the same place—and the concurrent testimony of scripture seems to warrant the conclusion that they are so-how unlike must the abode of righteous souls in the invisible world be, to the "common mansion in the inner parts of the earth" of which some speak, the place "in some respects a prison" where they suppose the spirits of the just now reside!

Against the conclusion to which these remarks have led us, it is alleged, that since the notion of a descent is frequently connected with going into hades or the invisible mansion of departed spirits, the souls of men

which have left this world must be in some region beneath the surface of the earth. This opinion is

founded, partly at least, upon the language of Paul respecting the Saviour. He says, in the fourth chapter of his epistle to the Ephesians,-" When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth." This, one should think, is but precarious ground on which to rest such an opinion. The phrase, "the lower parts of the earth" seems to be a periphrasis for the grave, and cannot, with propriety, be considered to signify anything else than the place where the dead body of the Saviour was laid after he was crucified. The language has this meaning in other parts of Scripture. For example,-" But those that seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth"-" For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." The reason why the souls of men are said to descend when they enter into another state of existence is obvious. Observing that after death the body returned to the earth, and that it was deposited in a sepulchre after the manner which has just been described, a sort of popular notion prevailed among the Hebrews as well as among other nations, that the life which succeeded the present was to be passed beneath the earth, and to this notion even the sacred prophets were obliged to allude occasionally,