the New. The substance of this examination of the texts in the Old Testament, I shall now briefly state.

Gehenna of the New Testament, is, according to Dr. Campbell and others, " a compound of the two Hebrew words 'ge hinnom, the valley of Hinnom, a place near Jerusalem." I find upon examination of all the passages, that this valley of Hinnom formed one of the boundaries in the division of the land among the tribes of Israel, Josh. xv. 8. and xviii. 16. This valley was in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem, Jer. xix. 2. It was in this valley the cruel and abominable sacrifices of children were made by fire to Moloch, 2 Kings xxiii. 10. It was here Ahaz, Manasses, and others, made their children pass through the fire to this idol god, 2 Chron. xxviii. 3. and xxxvi. 6. Jer. xxxii. 35. and vii. 31, 32. In Isai, xxx. 31. tophet is not only mentioned, but allusion is made to the fire kept up there.* The Jews were expressly forbidden to let their children pass through the fire to Moloch, Levit. xviii. 21. It was commanded by God, that such as did so should be punished with death, Levit. xx. 1—6. Notwithstanding this, the law of the Lord was disregarded, and kings and subjects were guilty of such unnatural crimes. The following texts may also be consulted, which have some relation to such horrid abominations. Amos v. 26. comp. Acts vii. 43. 1 Kings xi. 4-8. Ezek. xvi. 20, 21. and xxiii, 37-39. and xx. 26-31.

This last text is often quoted to prove that tophet is a place of eternal misery for the wicked. But how it does so, it is difficult to perceive. If it does, it also proves, that "the pile thereof is fire and much wood." But is this true of hell, or the place of endless misery? Parkhurst, on the word peteh, gives us the following translation of this passage. "For the furnace is already set in order; for the king (of Assyria, namely) it is prepared," &c. Was hell or eternal misery set in order and prepared for the king of Assyria? This follows from what Mr. Parkhurst says, who was not a Universalist.

I have not quoted any of these texts at length, nor was this necessary, for the following things will not be disputed. It is evident that Gehenna, or the valley of Hinnom, was in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem. It was in this valley the children of Israel sinned greatly in their cruel and abominable sacrifices offered to the idol god Moloch. A constant fire was kept up in this place, and it was a place of wretchedness and abomination. Indeed, no place to a Jew, could convey such a lively view of misery and wretchedness as the valley of Hinnom.

2d, Let us now inquire what the Old Testament writers make Gehenna, or tophet, an emblem of. Dr. Campbell avers, that in process of time, it was made an emblem of hell, or the place of torment reserved for the punishment of the wicked in a future state. He denies, however, as we have seen, that it is used in this manner in the Old Testament. The question then is, do the Old Testament writers use Gehenna or tophet as an emblem of any thing, and what is that thing, concerning which they use it as an emblem? Permit me then to quote the two following passages, which show this clearly, and at great length. The first 1 quote is the whole of Jer. chap. xix. I also quote chap. vii. 29. to the end.

"Thus saith the Lord, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests;

"And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee;

"And say, Hear ye the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the Lord of hosts; the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which, whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle.

"Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;

"They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:

"Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter.

"And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hands of them that seek their lives; and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.

"And I will make this city desolate, and an hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and hiss because of all the plagues thereof.

"And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.

"Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,

"And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again and they shall bury them in tophet, till there be no place to bury.

"Thus will I do unto this place, saith the Lord, and to the inhabitants thereof, and even make this city as tophet:

"And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods.

"Then came Jeremiah from tophet, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord's house; and said to all the people,

"Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words."

Chap. vii. ver. 29-34.-" Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.

"For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the Lord: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.

"And they have built the high places of tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.

"Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter; for they shall bury in tophet till there be no place.

"And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.

"Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride: for the land shall be desolate."

No one can doubt, after reading these two quotations, that the Old Testament writers made the valley of Hinnom or tophet, an emblem of something. It is our duty candidly and carefully to consider what that thing is. I shall attempt briefly to do this.

1st, Then, it is evident that they made tophet an emblem of punishment, and of future punishment, but, not of future eternal punishment in another state of existence. This all will admit without any hesitation.

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2d, It is equally evident that they made it an emblem of future temporal punishment to the Jews as a nation. Not a word is dropped, that this punishment was to future state of existence, or of eternal duration. is a punishment of a temporal nature, in this world. It is a prediction of miseries to be endured by the Jews, for their sins. It is not mentioned as a punishment for wicked men generally, or for Jews and Gentiles indiscriminately. No; the Jews, and they as a nation, were to suffer this punishment. In this prediction they are reminded of the crimes they had committed against the Lord, in the valley of Hinnom, and it is used by the spirit of God, as an emblem of the punishment he was to inflict upon them. This is very apparent from the following verses in the above quoted passages, Jer. chap. vii. 20, 21. and xix. 4, 5. No man, we think, can read these predictions of the prophet, without recognising that our Lord, in the following texts, referred to the same punishment. "That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous