Isaac, and Jacob, the oath which I sware unto you, I have

(3) Another example may be given out of a host of others

performed unto your children'." Note that 'Go thou and say to

(Midrash on Ruth, fol. 44, 2; and Midrash on Coheleth

Abraham', etc.

(Ecclesiastes) fol. 86, 4). "There are wicked men, that are

Then follows a story of a certain pious man that went and

coupled together in this world. But one of them repents before

lodged in a burying place, and heard two souls discoursing

death, the other doth not, so one is found standing in the

among themselves. "The one said unto the other, 'Come, my

assembly of the just, the other in the assembly of the wicked.

companion, and let us wander about the world, and listen behind

The one seeth the other and saith, 'Woe! And Alas! There is

the veil, what kind of plagues are coming upon the world'. To

accepting of persons in this thing. He and I robbed together,

which the other replied, 'O my companion, I cannot; for I am

committed murder together; and now he stands in the

buried in a can mat; but do thou go and whatsoever thou hearest,

congregation of the just, and I, in the congregation of the

do thou come and tell me'," etc. The story goes on to tell of the

wicked.' They answered him: 'O thou foolish among mortals that

wandering of the soul and what he heard, etc.

are in the world! Thou weft abominable and cast forth for three

(5) There was a good man and a wicked man that died; as for

days after thy death, and they did not lay thee in the grave; the

the good man, "he had no funeral rites solemnized"; but the

worm was under thee, and the worm covered thee; which, when

wicked man had. Afterward, there was one who say in his dream,

this companion of thine came to understand, he became a

the good man walking in gardens, and hard by pleasant springs;

penitent. It was in thy power also to have repented, but thou dist

but the wicked man "with his tongue trickling drop by drop, at

not'. He saith to them, 'Let me go now, and become a penitent'.

the bank of a river, endeavouring to touch the water, but he

But they say, 'O thou foolishest of men, dost thou not know, that

could not". (Chagigah, fol. 77. Treatise on Exodus 23:17).

this world in which thou are, is like a Sabbath, and the world out

(6) As to "the great gulf", we read (Midrash [or Commentary]

of which thou comest is like the evening of the Sabbath? If thou

on Coheleth [Ecclesiastes], 103. 2), "God hath set the one

does not provide something on the evening of the Sabbath, what

against the other (Ecc. vii. 14) that is Gehenna and Paradise.

wilt thou eat on the Sabbath day? Dost thou not know that the

How far are they distant? A hand-breadth". Jochanan saith, "A

world out of which thou camest is like the land; and the world,

wall is between", but the Rabbis say "They are so even with one

in which thou now art, is like the sea? If a man make no

another, that they may see out of one into the other".

provision on land for what he should eat at sea, what will he

have to eat?' He gnashed his teeth, and gnawed his own flesh".

The traditions set forth above were widely spread in many

(4) We have examples also of the dead discoursing with one

early Christian writings, showing how soon the corruption

another; and also with those who are still alive (Beracoth, fol.

spread which led on to the Dark Ages and to all the worst errors

18, 2 ­ Treatise on Blessings). "R. Samuel Bar Nachman saith,

of Romanism. The Apocryphal books (written in Greek, not in

R. Jonathan saith, How doth it appear that the dead have any

Hebrew, Cents. i and ii B.C.) contained the germ of this

discourse among themselves? It appears from what is said (Deut.

teaching. That is why the Apocrypha is valued by Traditionalists,

xxxiv. 4), And the Lord said unto him, This is the land,

and is incorporated by the Church of Rome as an integral part of

concerning which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob,

her Bible.

saying" What is the meaning of the word saying? The Holy

The Apocrypha contains prayers for the dead; also "the song

Blessed God saith unto Moses, 'Go thou and say to Abraham,

of the three Children" (known in the Prayer Book as the