their sons shall be slain, when they shall see the perdition of their beloved, bind them for seventy generations underneath the earth, even to the day of judgment."

Then the angels besought Enoch to intercede for them, which he did; when, suddenly, he fell asleep, and a vision of punishment or judgment was shown him, at the close of which the Lord said to him:

"Go, say to the watchers of heaven who deserted the lofty sky, and their holy everlasting station: You ought to pray for men, and not men for you. Wherefore have you forsaken the lofty and holy heaven, which endures forever, and defiled yourselves with the daughters of men; and taken to yourselves wives; and acted like the sons of the earth, and begotten an impious offspring!"

It is easy, from these extracts, to see what was the tradition, current among the Jews regarding the fallen angels; and it is plain enough that Peter and Jude quote this tradition from the Book of Enoch, where it had been put into dramatic form. Note the following correspondences :

1. Jude says the angels "kept not their first estate," and Peter says they "sinned." The author of the "Book of Enoch" says they kept not their "holy and everlasting station," and "sinned" and did wickedly.

2. Jude says they "left their own habitation," not that they were driven out, or cast out, as Milton has it. It was voluntary. This agrees perfectly with Enoch, who says, "they deserted the lofty sky," and that they had "forsaken the holy heaven"-i. e., of their own accord.

3. Peter and Jude say they were bound in "chains of darkness, reserved unto the judgment of the great day." This is almost the exact language of the book of Enoch, which says, "Bind Azazyel hand and foot, and cast him into darkness," and there leave him, "even to the great day of judgment." And where Jude has "everlasting" the apocryphal book has "forever."

4. Peter says they were "cast down to hell," (tartarus,) the prison of the pagan hades or underworld. The author of Enoch has it "underneath the earth," which is precisely the same thing, hades, which includes tartarus.

These resemblances are too many and exact to be the result of accident; and consequently it is agreed by some of the best critics that the apostolical passages are quoted from the Book of Enoch in the way of illustration.' Of course this is done without endorsing the authority-of the book, or the truth of the tradition. Peter does not adopt the absurdities, nor accept the doctrine of the heathen tartarus or "hell," any more than Christ did in the Rich man and LazaHe simply enforces his exhortation by reference to a popular tradition; just as we do at the present time in multitudes of cases.

rus.

'JUDE makes another quotation from this book in verses 14, 15. "And Enoch also the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, "Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all," &c. The passage in the Book of Enoch reads thus: "Behold, he comes with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon them, and to destroy the wicked," &c. The fact of quotation was allowed by many of the ancient fathers, CLEMENT, ORIGEN, HILARY, &c., who were inclined to think the book canonical for this reason. Professor STUART, Bib. Repos. for January, 1840.

And Jude has done the same thing in verse 9, by quoting from another apocryphal Jewish work, called the "Assumption of Moses." This book contains a ridiculous story about the burial of Moses, the substance of which, in few words, is this: The archangel Michael was busily engaged in burying the body of the great Lawgiver, bestowing suitable funeral honors; when suddenly the devil appeared, and endeavored to prevent his burial, on the ground that he was a murderer, having killed the Egyptian, and was not therefore entitled to honorable burial. The result is a violent dispute between Michael and Satan, which, on the part of Michael, is conducted in a very gentlemanly and respectful manner, probably in consideration of Satan's former rank and dignity. To this absurd fable of the Jews, Jude alludes as follows: "Yet Michael the arch-angel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, the Lord rebuke thee." And the object of this quotation is obvious from the context, where he argues from it that those who "deny the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ," ought not thus to "speak evil of dignities." For if, as your traditions say, Michael would not bring "a railing accusation" even against the devil, how much less should scoffers speak evil of heavenly dignities.

It would be an outrage on the inspiration and the common sense of Jude to suppose, because he quotes this story, that therefore he adopted it as the truth of God, believed it himself, or sanctioned its belief by others. And it would equally outrage the inspiration of both Jude and Peter to suppose, be

cause they quote the popular fable about the fallen angels from the Book of Enoch, that therefore they accepted the story as true; and believed in their deserting heaven, their marriage with the daughters of men, their wickedness, and their being cast down to Tartarus or the heathen hell!

The plain fact is that these citations are introduced for the purposes of illustration —just as we refer to the fictitious characters, the ghosts and witches of Shakespeare, and to the popular traditions and superstitions of the past, to illustrate an argument or narrative, without at all endorsing the truth of the stories, or the actual existence of the persons.' The Old Testament contains similar references and quotations from uninspired books, as in Joshua x. 13, from the "Book of Jasher ;" and in Numbers xxi. 14, from the "Book of the Wars of the Lord." And Paul in 2 Tim. iii. 8, quotes the account of Jannes and Jambres withstanding Moses, from tradition; or as Origen says, from a Jewish book. No such persons are named in the Old Testament records. He repeats the popular story simply to compare with them those of his day who "resisted the truth, men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith."

1 LAWRENCE's translation of the Book of Enoch, chapt. vii., et seq. of sec. ii. MARSH's Michaelis, vol. iv. 378-393. Dr. SAWYER's article on Fallen Angels, in the Universalist Quarterly for July, 1844, is an excellent and conclusive treatment of the subject. LARDNER inclined to the opinion that Peter and Jude refer to persons and events in the Old Testament; and that the "angels," or messengers, were wicked men. Works, vol. vi, 309-314. Mr. BALFOUR adopts this view of the text in his "First Inquiry." ADAM CLARKE's preface to Jude is special pleading; for it is not pretended that the "Assumption of Moses;" and "The Death of Moses," or the Phetirath Mosheh, are the same work.

CHAPTER XIII.

ORIGIN AND USAGE OF METAPHORS AND FIGURES OF SPEECH, WITU SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE BIBLE.

I have thought that a chapter concerning the origin and usage of figures and metaphors in the sacred writings, with brief observations on figurative language in general, would serve to illustrate some portions of Scripture not coming legitimately within the scope of this volume, yet having more or less relation to the several subjects discussed in it. At the same time, a knowledge of the facts will add greatly to the pleasure and profit of reading the Bible, and show that the difficulties in the way of understanding its meaning, lie rather in our ignorance than in the strangeness and obscurity of the Book itself.

Every language has its periods of infancy, growth, maturity and decline; and at the two extremes of infancy and maturity, it abounds in figures and metaphors; in the first case from necessity, in the second from choice. In a state of barbarism, or of savage life, man's wants are few, the range of his thoughts and desires is narrow, and his life is mostly