{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_2847/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_2847","id":"gutenberg_2847","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2847","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Ancient","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Jews -- Antiquities","Jews -- History","Judaism"],"text":"Produced by David Reed\n\n\n\n\n\nAN EXTRACT OUT OF JOSEPHUS'S DISCOURSE TO THE GREEKS CONCERNING HADES\n\nBy Flavius Josephus\n\n\nTranslated by William Whiston\n\n\n\n1. Now as to Hades, wherein the souls of the good things they\nsee, and rejoice in the righteous and unrighteous are detained, it is\nnecessary to speak of it. Hades is a place in the world not regularly\nfinished; a subterraneous region, wherein the light of this world does\nnot shine; from which circumstance, that in this region the light does\nnot shine, it cannot be but there must be in it perpetual darkness. This\nregion is allotted as a place of custody for souls, ill which angels\nare appointed as guardians to them, who distribute to them temporary\npunishments, agreeable to every one's behavior and manners.\n\n2. In this region there is a certain place set apart, as a lake of\nunquenchable fire, whereinto we suppose no one hath hitherto been cast;\nbut it is prepared for a day afore-determined by God, in which one\nrighteous sentence shall deservedly be passed upon all men; when the\nunjust, and those that have been disobedient to God, and have given\nhonor to such idols as have been the vain operations of the hands of men\nas to God himself, shall be adjudged to this everlasting punishment,\nas having been the causes of defilement; while the just shall obtain an\nincorruptible and never-fading kingdom. These are now indeed confined in\nHades, but not in the same place wherein the unjust are confined.\n\n3. For there is one descent into this region, at whose gate we believe\nthere stands an archangel with an host; which gate when those pass\nthrough that are conducted down by the angels appointed over souls, they\ndo not go the same way; but the just are guided to the right hand, and\nare led with hymns, sung by the angels appointed over that place, unto a\nregion of light, in which the just have dwelt from the beginning of the\nworld; not constrained by necessity, but ever enjoying the prospect of\nthe good things they see, and rejoice in the expectation of those new\nenjoyments which will be peculiar to every one of them, and esteeming\nthose things beyond what we have here; with whom there is no place of\ntoil, no burning heat, no piercing cold, nor are any briers there; but\nthe countenance of the and of the just, which they see, always smiles\nthem, while they wait for that rest and eternal new life in heaven,\nwhich is to succeed this region. This place we call The Bosom of\nAbraham.\n\n4. But as to the unjust, they are dragged by force to the left hand by\nthe angels allotted for punishment, no longer going with a good-will,\nbut as prisoners driven by violence; to whom are sent the angels\nappointed over them to reproach them and threaten them with their\nterrible looks, and to thrust them still downwards. Now those angels\nthat are set over these souls drag them into the neighborhood of hell\nitself; who, when they are hard by it, continually hear the noise of\nit, and do not stand clear of the hot vapor itself; but when they have\na near view of this spectacle, as of a terrible and exceeding great\nprospect of fire, they are struck with a fearful expectation of a future\njudgment, and in effect punished thereby: and not only so, but where\nthey see the place [or choir] of the fathers and of the just, even\nhereby are they punished; for a chaos deep and large is fixed between\nthem; insomuch that a just man that hath compassion upon them cannot be\nadmitted, nor can one that is unjust, if he were bold enough to attempt\nit, pass over it.\n\n5. This is the discourse concerning Hades, wherein the souls of all men\nare confined until a proper season, which God hath determined, when\nhe will make a resurrection of all men from the dead, not procuring\na transmigration of souls from one body to another, but raising again\nthose very bodies, which you Greeks, seeing to be dissolved, do not\nbelieve [their resurrection]. But learn not to disbelieve it; for while\nyou believe that the soul is created, and yet is made immortal by\nGod, according to the doctrine of Plato, and this in time, be not\nincredulous; but believe that God is able, when he hath raised to life\nthat body which was made as a compound of the same elements, to make it\nimmortal; for it must never be said of God, that he is able to do some\nthings, and unable to do others. We have therefore believed that the\nbody will be raised again; for although it be dissolved, it is not\nperished; for the earth receives its remains, and preserves them; and\nwhile they are like seed, and are mixed among the more fruitful soil,\nthey flourish, and what is sown is indeed sown bare grain, but at the\nmighty sound of God the Creator, it will sprout up, and be raised in a\nclothed and glorious condition, though not before it has been dissolved,\nand mixed [with the earth]. So that we have not rashly believed the\nresurrection of the body; for although it be dissolved for a time on\naccount of the original transgression, it exists still, and is cast into\nthe earth as into a potter's furnace, in order to be formed again, not\nin order to rise again such as it was before, but in a state of purity,\nand so as never to be destroyed any more. And to every body shall its\nown soul be restored. And when it hath clothed itself with that body, it\nwill not be subject to misery, but, being itself pure, it will continue\nwith its pure body, and rejoice with it, with which it having walked\nrighteously now in this world, and never having had it as a snare, it\nwill receive it again with great gladness. But as for the unjust,\nthey will receive their bodies not changed, not freed from diseases or\ndistempers, nor made glorious, but with the same diseases wherein they\ndied; and such as they were in their unbelief, the same shall they be\nwhen they shall be faithfully judged.\n\n6. For all men, the just as well as the unjust, shall be brought before\nGod the word: for to him hath the Father committed all judgment: and he,\nin order to fulfill the will of his Father, shall come as Judge, whom\nwe call Christ. For Minos and Rhadamanthus are not the judges, as\nyou Greeks do suppose, but he whom God and the Father hath glorified:\nConcerning Whom We Have Elsewhere Given A More Particular Account, For\nThe Sake Of Those Who Seek After Truth. This person, exercising the\nrighteous judgment of the Father towards all men, hath prepared a just\nsentence for every one, according to his works; at whose judgment-seat\nwhen all men, and angels, and demons shall stand, they will send forth\none voice, and say, Just Is Thy Judgment; the rejoinder to which will\nbring a just sentence upon both parties, by giving justly to those that\nhave done well an everlasting fruition; but allotting to the lovers of\nwicked works eternal punishment. To these belong the unquenchable fire,\nand that without end, and a certain fiery worm, never dying, and not\ndestroying the body, but continuing its eruption out of the body with\nnever-ceasing grief: neither will sleep give ease to these men, nor\nwill the night afford them comfort; death will not free them from their\npunishment, nor will the interceding prayers of their kindred profit\nthem; for the just are no longer seen by them, nor are they thought\nworthy of remembrance. But the just shall remember only their righteous\nactions, whereby they have attained the heavenly kingdom, in which\nthere is no sleep, no sorrow, no corruption, no care, no night, no day\nmeasured by time, no sun driven in his course along the circle of\nheaven by necessity, and measuring out the bounds and conversions of\nthe seasons, for the better illumination of the life of men; no moon\ndecreasing and increasing, or introducing a variety of seasons, nor will\nshe then moisten the earth; no burning sun, no Bear turning round [the\npole], no Orion to rise, no wandering of innumerable stars. The earth\nwill not then be difficult to be passed over, nor will it be hard to\nfind out the court of paradise, nor will there be any fearful roaring of\nthe sea, forbidding the passengers to walk on it; even that will be made\neasily passable to the just, though it will not be void of moisture.\nHeaven will not then be uninhabitable by men, and it will not be\nimpossible to discover the way of ascending thither. The earth will not\nbe uncultivated, nor require too much labor of men, but will bring forth\nits fruits of its own accord, and will be well adorned with them. There\nwill be no more generations of wild beasts, nor will the substance of\nthe rest of the animals shoot out any more; for it will not produce men,\nbut the number of the righteous will continue, and never fail, together\nwith righteous angels, and spirits [of God], and with his word, as a\nchoir of righteous men and women that never grow old, and continue in\nan incorruptible state, singing hymns to God, who hath advanced them to\nthat happiness, by the means of a regular institution of life; with whom\nthe whole creation also will lift up a perpetual hymn from corruption,\nto incorruption, as glorified by a splendid and pure spirit. It will\nnot then be restrained by a bond of necessity, but with a lively freedom\nshall offer up a voluntary hymn, and shall praise him that made them,\ntogether with the angels, and spirits, and men now freed from all\nbondage.\n\n7. And now, if you Gentiles will be persuaded by these motives, and\nleave your vain imaginations about your pedigrees, and gaining of\nriches, and philosophy, and will not spend your time about subtleties\nof words, and thereby lead your minds into error, and if you will apply\nyour ears to the hearing of the inspired prophets, the interpreters\nboth of God and of his word, and will believe in God, you shall both be\npartakers of these things, and obtain the good things that are to come;\nyou shall see the ascent unto the immense heaven plainly, and that\nkingdom which is there. For what God hath now concealed in silence [will\nbe then made manifest,] what neither eye hath seen, nor ear hath heard,\nnor hath it entered into the heart of man, the things that God hath\nprepared for them that love him.\n\n8. In whatsoever ways I shall find you, in them shall I judge you\nentirely: so cries the End of all things. And he who hath at first\nlived a virtuous lift, but towards the latter end falls into vice, these\nlabors by him before endured shall be altogether vain and unprofitable,\neven as in a play, brought to an ill catastrophe. Whosoever shall have\nlived wickedly and luxuriously may repent; however, there will be need\nof much time to conquer an evil habit, and even after repentance his\nwhole life must be guarded with great care and diligence, after the\nmanner of a body, which, after it hath been a long time afflicted with a\ndistemper, requires a stricter diet and method of living; for though\nit may be possible, perhaps, to break off the chain of our irregular\naffections at once, yet our amendment cannot be secured without the\ngrace of God, the prayers of good men, the help of the brethren, and our\nown sincere repentance and constant care. It is a good thing not to sin\nat all; it is also good, having sinned, to repent; as it is best to have\nhealth always, but it is a good thing to recover from a distemper. To\nGod be glory and dominion for ever and ever Amen.","title":"An Extract out of Josephus's Discourse to The Greeks Concerning Hades","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":2044}