closing my remarks on all these passages, there are a few facts and observations, which have occurred in the examination of them, which deserve some notice.

1st, The word translated everlasting, eternal, forever, is never connected with Sheol or hell by any of the Old Testament writers. If they indeed believed that this was a place of punishment for the wicked, and that it was endless in its duration, it is somewhat surprising that this should be the case. Every one knows, that these words are very often used there, but not in a single instance do the inspired writers in any way use them, when speaking of Sheol, or hell. So far from this, we have seen that in some of the texts, it is said, hell is to be destroyed. We may then make an appeal to every candid mind, and ask, if Sheol or hell in the Old Testament refers to a place of eternal misery, how are we to account for this? The fact is certain. To account for it, I leave to those who believe this doctrine. We read to be sure in books, and we have heard it also in sermons, of an eternal hell, but such language, is not found once in all the book of God, nor did it ever drop from the lips of any inspired writer.

2d, Another fact equally certain is, that not only are the words eternal, everlasting, or forever, omitted in speaking of Sheol or hell, but this place is not spoken about, as a place of misery, at all. Whether Sheol is translated pit, grave, or hell, in not one of the passages, is it described as a place of misery or punishment for the wicked, or for any one else. Before there need to be any dispute, whether the punishment in this place is to be of eternal duration, we have got first to prove, that it is a place of punishment. But as this place is Sheol and not Gehenna, pass this over.

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3d, But so far from its being a place of misery, or eternal in its duration, it is also a fact, that it is described as a place of insensibility and ignorance. We are told that there is," no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave, or Sheol, whither thou goest." Eccles. ix. 10. Besides; Hezekiah, we have seen, said Isai. xxxviii. 18," the grave cannot praise thee; death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth." I ask, could those persons have spoken in this manner, if they believed that Sheol or hell was a place of punishment? Yea, I ask, could they in truth have spoken so, if their ideas about Sheol were the same as ours are about hell? we think this is impossible.

4th, It is a fact beyond dispute, that the Old Testament writers, and Christians generally in these days, are hardly agreed in a single idea about hell, if Sheol or hell in the Old Testament signifies a place of eternal misery. It would be tedious to state this at length. I shall give a specimen of this disagreement.

Notice then, 1st, How the inspired writers in those days, and good men in these, speak about Sheol or hell, in regard to themselves. Jacob, Job, and others, speak of going to hell, and expecting it as a thing of course, which they could not avoid. Yea, Job, under his trials, prays to be hid in hell. I need not be more particular, for the texts above show, what were the views and feelings of the very best of men in those days about Sheol or hell. Now I ask, is there a Christian, or good man in the world, who, in the present day speaks, and prays about hell, as those Old Testament saints did? But why not? The reason, I think is obvious. In those days Sheol or hell, did not as in these, signify a place of punishment, but the state of the dead. In these days, when Christians speak about hell, they always mean the place

of endless, misery for the wicked. Now, the obvious reason of such difference between their mode of speaking and ours about hell is, that we have affixed a very different sense to this word from what they did.

If we are to understand the Scriptures correctly, we must ascertain what sense the original writers attached. to the words they used, without regarding the sense men may have given them, since the book of Revelation was completed. What right have we, or any one else, to alter the sense of the words used by the Holy Spirit?

2d, How the inspired writers in those days, and pious people in these, speak about hell to the wicked. Not an instance, nor any thing like it, can I find where it is intimated, that any such went to hell as a place of eternal misery. Both good and bad went to Sheol, but not a word is said, that this was such a place as people now think hell to be. If the Old Testament saints entertained the same ideas about hell, as most Christians do in our day, I wish some person would rationally and Scripturally account to me for the following facts.

1st, If their belief was the same as in our day, why do we never find them express that belief about future eternal punishment, as is now done in books, and sermons, and conference meetings, and in common conversation. No man can possibly deny the vast difference between their language, and the common language now used upon this subject. If the language is so different, is it not a presumptive proof that this invention of new language arose from the unscriptural doctrine that hell was a place of endless misery. An unscriptural doctrine always gives rise to unscriptural language; for the words of Scripture are the very best which could be chosen to express the will of God to men. That doctrine is not of God or the man who contends for it, has a wrong view of it,

who thinks, that the words of Scripture are not sufficiently definite in expressing it. The man who can find similar ideas, and similar language in the Old Testament, as are in common use in our day about a place of eternal misery, must have read his bible with more attention than I have done. After repeated and careful perusals of it, I frankly confess my inability to find, either such ideas or language. I ask then, if the Old Testament writers had any such ideas, why did they not express them? I ask further, if they never expressed such ideas how do we know that they had them?

3d, How is it to be accounted for, that the fears and feelings of good people under the old dispensation, yea, their exertions also, were so different from the fears and feelings, and exertions of Christians in our day, about saving men from hell? It was no object of fear, of feeling, or of exertion in those days. In these, it is the ultimate object of the fears and feelings and exertions of the religious community. Let us glance at the conduct of men in those days about the subject of eternal punishment.

To begin with their fears; I do not find that they express any, and it is fair to conclude that they had none. If they had any fears, I have no doubt that on some occasion or other they would have expressed them. As I do not find them expressed, I cannot produce any examples of their fears about their children, their relations, their neighbours, or the world at large, going to eternal mis

ery.

As to their feelings, I do not find a sigh heaved, a tear shed, a groan uttered, a prayer offered, nor any exertions made, as if they believed men were exposed to endless misery in a future state. We see parents, and others, deeply affected at the loss of their children and friends by death. We see pious people deeply grieved on ac

count of their disobedience to God's laws, but where do we find any thing like any of the above expressions of feeling, arising from their belief, that such persons would lift up their eyes in endless misery? I find nothing of the kind expressed, either in the way of anticipation before death, or after such persons had been removed from the world. Now, is it not strange, that all this should be the state of the fears and feelings of good people, if they did indeed believe endless misery was to be the portion of the wicked? The whole race of mankind is swept from the earth by a flood, Noah and his family excepted; but, does this good man deplore, in any shape, that so many precious souls should be sent to hell? God also destroyed the cities of the plain: Abraham intercedes that they might be spared, but uses no argument with God, that the people must go to hell to suffer eternal misery. Now suffer me to ask, if Abraham believed this doctrine, is it possible he should have failed to urge it as an argument, that all these wicked persons must go to hell, if God destroyed them? No notice is taken of the very argument, which in our day, would be most urged in prayer to God, if any thing similar was to take place. All who have read the Old Testament know, what vast numbers were cut off in a day, by war, and pestilence, and other means, yet do you ever hear it deplored by a single individual, as it is often done in our day, that so many were sent out of the world to eternal misery? If, in short, this doctrine was then believed, a dead silence and the most stoical apathy were maintained even by good men about it.

Under the Old Testament dispensation, the sinful condition of the heathen nations, is often spoken about. But do we ever find the inspired writers representing those nations as all going to eternal misery, or did they use