titions to God.
Gabriel, however, is acquainted with it, as he taught Joseph the seventy
languages. The chief of all the angels is said to be the Metatron, who
once received fiery blows from another angel called Ampiel. With regard to
heaven, the Rabbis teach that Egypt is four hundred miles long and broad,
the Morians' land is sixty times larger than Egypt, and the world is sixty
times larger than the Morians' land; heaven is sixty times larger than the
world, and hell is sixty times larger than heaven. It follows that the
"whole world is but a pot-lid to hell." Yet some say that hell is
immeasurable, and some say heaven is immeasurable. It was a pearl amongst
the sayings of a Rabbi. "Heaven is not like this world, for in it there is
neither eating, nor drinking, nor marriage, nor increasing, nor
trafficking, nor hate, nor envy, nor heart-burnings; but the just shall
sit with their crowns on their heads, and enjoy the splendors of the
Shechinah."

Hell is said to have three doors,--one in the wilderness, one in the sea,
and one in Jerusalem. In the wilderness, as it is written, "They, and all
that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit" (Num. xvi. 33). In
the sea, as it is written, "Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou
heardest my voice" (Jonah ii. 3). In Jerusalem, as it is written, "Saith
the Lord whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem" (Is. xxxi.
9). The school of Rabbi Ishmael teaches that the "fire in Zion" is hell
and "His furnace in Jerusalem" is the gate of hell. It is also taught that
the fire of hell has no power over the sinners in Israel, and that the
fire of hell has no power over the disciples of the wise. It is again,
however, stated that the Israelites who sin with their bodies, and the
Gentiles who sin with their bodies, go to hell, and are punished there
twelve months. After their body is wasted, and their soul is burned, the
wind scatters them beneath the soles of the righteous, as it is said, "And
ye shall tread down the wicked: for they shall be ashes under the soles of
your feet" (Mal. iv. 3). Heretics--deniers of the resurrection--Epicureans,
and other sinners, shall be perpetually tormented "where their worm dieth
not and their fire is not quenched."

The doctrine of the resurrection is clearly taught in the Talmud. As for
the last judgment, the following story is told: "Said Antoninus to Rabbi,
The body and soul can free themselves from judgment. How? The body can