fusion to the youngest of intelligent readers. Not even is this the case, when in the same verse the same term is used in no less than three different senses; as when it is said of Christ, "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not." For, here the term "world" means, in the first clause, the material world; in the second, not only the material, but the irrational and rational world; and in the third, the men of the world among whom He lived.

For such reasons, and specially on the ground of Peter's well-known "love of antanaclasis," or use of the same term in two meanings," it cannot form the slightest objection to the explanation previously given concerning "Christ going by the Spirit and preaching to the spirits in prison," to understand the term "spirit" in two very different senses-first, in reference to the Holy Spirit; and secondly, in reference to human persons, and inclusive of their bodily no less than of their spiritual nature.

5.-May not the term "prison" here mentioned be understood not in a literal but in a figurative or typical sense; and, therefore, being connected not with bodily but spiritual custody or thraldom, be regarded as meaning something like "a spiritual prison?"

We are free to acknowledge, that, in a figurative and spiritual, as well as in a literal and bodily sense, the term "prison" is occasionally used in the Old Testament. Thus, while of one, as a type of Christ, Jehovah the Father said in a literal and bodily sense, of Christ, the antitype, it was meant in a figurative and spiritual sense, "I will give thee for a covenant of the people

to

bring them that sit in darkness out of the prison

house." In this twofold sense, also, the term is employed by Isaiah, when we find it written, “He hath sent me to proclaim the opening of the prison to them that are bound." In like manner, in this twofold sense, Christ, in the fulness of time, applied to Himself this latter prophecy, when at the commencement of His ministry, and on His coming to Nazareth where He had been brought up, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. *

However, it must not be overlooked, that, between these passages of the Prophet Isaiah, and that of Peter the Apostle, there exists, in various respects, the widest difference. For, while those in Isaiah were prophetical and pointed to the future, that, in Peter was historical and reverted to the past; and while those in Isaiah were typical and alluded primarily to a bodily and secondarily to a spiritual redemption, that in Peter is strictly plain and literal; while those, too, in Isaiah referred chiefly to Christ the Messiah, that in Peter, centrally to Noah the Patriarch; and while those in Isaiah related to persons connected with Christ as their Redeemer, that in Peter to persons connected with Noah as their Preserver. In short, while these passages in Isaiah have, in their truest and highest sense, nothing local or circumscribed, that in Peter is the very reverse.

It may, therefore, be safely asserted, that the term prison," whether viewed along with the words which precede or follow it, cannot, with the slightest propriety, be here taken figuratively or spiritually, but the word must be understood plainly and literally.

*Is. xlii. 6. Is. lxi. 1. Luke iv. 18.

6.-On the ground of this supposed figurative or spiritual sense of the term "prison," it is objected— may not "the spirits in prison" be regarded as signifying "captive spirits" in this world; or "spiritually captive men" from age to age; "the slaves and captives of Satan, shackled with the fetters of sin, held in the chains of their own lusts; men unregenerate and hard to be convinced; decidedly irreligious and excessively depraved?"—such as "the antediluvians in the days of Noah, and therefore the prototypes of all such in all successive ages?" To the same effect, but in somewhat milder terms, others ask, may not "the spirits in prison" simply mean the spirits of all men in a state of nature; the spirits of men enthralled by sin; but, in the case of the antediluvians, the spirits of men under the special condemnation of God, and, like men condemned for some crime, awaiting their punishment in prison?”

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Need we reply-it is no doubt true, that "he who committeth sin is the servant, or slave, of sin," and "of the Devil;" and that of "whatsoever and whomsoever, a man is overcome, by the same he is brought into bondage."* Hence, at one time the term "prisoners," and at another the term "captives" is used in Scripture in a spiritual sense to express the character of all who are in a state of nature; and, therefore, more or less under the thraldom of sin, or of Satan the Author of sin. Hence, also, in connection with the Divine remedy for this state of spiritual slavery, it was promised concerning Christ, that He should be "given to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and sent to proclaim liberty to the captives;" that He should "say to the prisoners, go forth, and send the prisoners out of the pit wherein was no water."†

* John viii. 34. 1 John iii. 8, 2. 1 Peter ii. 19.
† Isaiah xlii. 7; lxi. 1; xlix. 9. Zech. ix. 9.

However, need we add-although the spirit is the distinguishing and controlling part of our nature, the body, no less than the spirit, is the seat of sin; and, therefore, likewise in a state of bondage or captivity. Especially, it is no proper "characteristic of men in all ages," as spiritual bondsmen or captives, to designate them "spirits in prison." For, such a title would represent them as constituting a prison within a prison-the enslaved spirit being confined within the enslaved body. This would, also, in some measure still be true, even after the believer had, while in this world, been, in his spirit, "delivered from the bondage of corruption, and introduced into the glorious liberty of the children of God."

Besides, while in "the spirits in prison" mentioned by Peter we have an historical fact, in "the prisoners" intended by Isaiah we have a prophetic prediction-a prediction primarily and literally referring to the deliverance of the Jews from their bodily captivity in Babylon; and secondarily and typically to the spiritual liberty which Christ, our Kinsman-Redeemer, should bestow not only then upon all His ancient people who had “the faith of Abraham," but upon all such, whether Jews or Gentiles, from age to age. Consequently, unless the fact specified by Peter can be shewn to be the fulfilment of a prediction uttered, there can exist between the two no analogy or resemblance. In other words, between "the spirits in prison " mentioned in connection with Noah, and "the prisoners" referred to in connection with Christ, there exists no such typical and antitypical relation as that which existed between the literal prisoners in Babylon and those spiritual prisoners whom Christ came to redeem from the power of sin within, and from the practice of it without, no less than from its punishment and pollution;

prisoners whom, in these and other respects, He has delivered in the past, whom He is delivering at present, and whom He shall continue to deliver in the future, till the consummation of all things.

For such reasons, although the preceding interpretation of " the spirits in prison" was propounded by one of high ecclesiastical standing in his day, and only recently deceased, and although it is still defended by an eminent, but younger, Theological Professor, it must be discarded without the slightest ceremony or hesitation.

7.-May not the "prison" here intended be understood as meaning "the earth converted by a decree of the Eternal into a place of confinement to all its inhabitants for one hundred and twenty years immediately before the flood?"

In regard to this so-called explanation of the term "prison," reticence might be best. However, as it has been publicly advanced and advocated, we cannot do less than declare that it is the strangest and sorriest possible. For, to speak of "the earth converted into a prison-house in antediluvian times, or of "the doomed world converted into a vast prison, from which no escape could be effected," and yet, not to shew in the least that, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, it was a place of that description, is a complete perversion of language. Or, to suppose for a moment that such a metamorphosis, or transformation of the earth then existed, we may well ask what sort of custody or "durance vile," what kind of confinement or "abridgment of the liberty of the subject," not to speak of a suspension of the habeas corpus Act, was then endured? So far from any of these results taking place, was not room and verge enough," and more than enough, along with free and unfettered liberty, enjoyed?