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cy to show them, why should I show them any? Since they are forsaken, and doomed by yourself to this place of eternal torment, all the misery which I can inflict, is only executing your decrees concerning them.

"As to the whole of those saints in heaven, saved by your Son, though great in number, yet you have not bruised my head, according to your own promise; but I live and shall live as long as you can, to torment those, who were no worse by nature, and many of them less vile by practice, than those saved saints. Yea, many of those saints now in eternal happiness, through their covetous disposition, and sordid love of money, in preferring their gold to the souls of sinners, by their bad principles and still worse example, have added much to the number assigned to me, as their tormenter forever. Let them think of all this, and a thousand things more which I could name, and let them enjoy heaven! My pleasure here, and your pleasure there, arise in part, at least, from the eternal torment of the beings of your own creation, and this gives a zest to all the other pleasures of your saints, by whose means, or neglect, many here have come into this place of torment. Though we are in torment, and you are enjoying happiness, our pleasure and intentions from the first, respecting my subjects, have been the same, and all the measures which we have adopted, have resulted alike in making my subjects miserable." I shudder thus to write: but no one who is acquainted with the religious doctrines which have been held, will deny that such remarks, from such a being as the devil is represented to be, are rational inferences from them. They might be extended to no ordinary length, but enough of this.

To conclude. We are either too blind, or too perverse, to perceive how the objector can prove that his doctrine is a good doctrine, either to live or to die by. We should

be glad to see it shown, if it can be done, how eternal misery in hell can be to any man a good doctrine, in life, or at death; in time or in eternity.

It is a very popular objection brought against my views of Gehenna,—“If you are correct, we must believe that the most learned, and many good men, yea, most Christians, for a great many ages, have been in a great error. Do you think yourself wiser than any of them?" See some remarks in answer to this objection, p. 217-220. In further answer to this objection, let it be remarked

1st, That I make no pretensions to superior learning, or wisdom, or goodness, about this. I only profess to have paid some attention to the scriptures on this particular point, which those persons, taking the subject for granted, have inadvertently overlooked. This all men are liable to. So far from thinking myself more learned, wise, and good than those men, I sincerely think the very reverse. It will be granted, that no man is perfect in knowledge. And it will be seen, that those learned and good men from whom I differ, very unfortunately took it for granted that Gehenna was a place of endless misery for all the wicked. Had they not done this, but as I have attempted to do, examined into the truth of this doctrine, they would have given a very different account of Gehenna or hell, from what they have done. From their superior learning, talents, and means of information to which I have no access, they would have placed this subject in a much more luminous and convincing light, than I have done. Were those very men alive, they would be the last men, who would blame me for my inquiry on this important subject.

2d, This objection was urged at the Reformation against the reformers, and indeed may be urged against all reformation and increase in knowledge to the end of

time. It will serve a Jew, a Mahometan, or a Pagan, as well as a Christian. If it has any weight against me in the present case, it is equally strong against every man, who advances any thing from his Bible, contrary to what learned and good men have believed in past ages. Those very men whom I am blamed in differing from, were blamed in the same way, in dissenting, in some things, from learned, wise and good men who preceded them. They did not scruple to dissent from, or go beyond those who went before them, and assigned their reasons for so doing. And why should not we do the same thing? If this is not done, knowledge would be perfectly stationary, and an end is put to advancement in Biblical knowledge and improvement in every thing else. Had the reformers regarded such objections, urged in their day, and all others since, we had been at this day all good Catholics, or perhaps idolaters, worshipping the works of our own hands.

3d, So long as such learned and good men are allowed to be fallible men, it must be admitted, that they may have been mistaken. We ought not to receive their opinions about Gehenna, or any other doctrine, without examination. We ought to bring them to the Bible for trial, and be satisfied, that they are not the mere opinions of men, but the faithful sayings of God. This I have done, with respect to the common opinion entertained about hell, and I request every man to try what I have advanced, by this infallible standard. If those men have been mistaken, it is certainly high time that the mistake was corrected. If they are correct, and the common opinion concerning hell or Gehenna be true, much good must result from the present discussion, in leading men to examine more carefully, the ground on which their faith is built. It will not be denied, that a great many

who are believers in the doctrine of hell torments, have received this doctrine by tradition from their fathers, without any personal and scriptural examination of it for themselves.

4th, In other cases it is allowed, that those learned and good men, lived and died in many errors, and some who may bring this very objection against me, take the liberty to dissent from their opinions in other things. Why may they not have been in an error in thinking that Ge- . henna was a place of endless misery; and why have not I as good a right to dissent from them in this, as some have done in other things? All we wish is, let the subject be impartially examined, and truth will be brought to light by the investigation. Can any Calvinist, Hopkinsian, Baptist, or Methodist, urge such an objection with a good grace, when they all, each in their own way, dissent from the doctrines of so many learned, wise and good men, who lived before them? Before they open their lips against me, let them return to the doctrines of their forefathers, and confess how greatly they have departed from the good old way. But each of these sects thinks, that their departure from the doctrines of their fathers, is a nearer approach to the doctrine of the Bible. This is just what we think concerning the departure we have made, from their views of hell or Gehenna. In propor tion as we have receded from them, we think we have approached the truth in the Bible concerning this subject.

If we are just to believe as learned and good men have taught in past ages, many things now most surely believed, must be renounced, for men have very greatly departed from their views of many scripture doctrines. You hear men every day call themselves Calvinists: but Calvinism now is a very different thing from what is found in the works of John Calvin. You also hear of

orthodoxy, but orthodoxy is not the same now that it was twenty years ago, and what is true orthodoxy in America would not be orthodoxy in Scotland. The truth is, men every where are beginning to search the scriptures for themselves, and are taking the liberty to dissent from their fathers, however learned, or good they may have been. The Reformation was the dawn of day, after the long night of ignorance and superstition. But were the reformers to rise from the tomb, who were chiefly engaged in it, they would be surprised to see some good, and wise, and learned men, contending that we must advance no further, but must sit down satisfied where they left us. Happy for us, that we live in an age and in a part of the world, where it would not be in the power of man to stop the tide of inquiry and investigation.

Another popular objection against my views of Gehenna, is thus stated.-"Supposing, that the evidence you have produced, showing that Gehenna is not a place of endless misery for the wicked, to be almost, if not altogether, conclusive, yet allowing a bare possibility, that the opposite doctrine may be true; those who believe it, though in an error, are still on the safest side. They can lose nothing if your doctrine be true, but you may lose both soul and body forever, if their doctrine is true." I have stated this objection with all the force I could give it. It is predicated on a mere possibility, that the doctrine of hell torments may be true, and that in face of evidence, allowed to be almost, if not altogether, conclusive, in proving the opposite doctrine true. We shall offer a few brief remarks in reply.

1st, If there be any force in this objection, it is certain that we ought not to be regulated in our belief or disbelief of any doctrines, by evidence or the degree of evidence, which may appear in their support. No; this

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