CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Mrs„ Mack Swearingen 
 
Cornell University Library 
 BX9941 .C58 
 
 Theological views, cornprlsing the substa 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 029 481 466 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029481466 
 
THEOLOGICAL YIEWS, 
 
 OOMPRISIirO 
 
 THE SUBSTANCE OF TEACHINGS 
 
 A MIMSTRY OF THIPJT-FIYE YEAKS, 
 
 IN NEW ORLEANS. 
 
 BY THEODORE CLAPP. 
 
 BOSTOI*;?' 
 PUBLISHED BY ABEL TOMPKINS, 
 
 38 AND 40 COKNHILL. 
 1859. 
 
Entered according to AcfM>f Congress, in the year 1859, by 
 
 ABEL TOMPKINS, 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 
 
 '•.SAZIH h CHANDLER, 
 '^eatrtv^peta and Priatera 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 The Existence and Attributes of God 13 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 The Bible. 49 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 Christian Miracles 118 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Objections to the Miracles of the New Testament 
 answered 141 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Thoughts on the Subject of Sin 168 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Teachings of Scripture concerning Punishment 209 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Examination of the doctrine of Future Retribution 231 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Exposition of Matthew 25 : 41 253 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Parable of Divers and Lazarus 274 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Teachings of Jesus and his Apostles concern- 
 ing THE Resurrection and a Future State 308 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 On Grace 325 
 
PREFACE 
 
 I AM well aware that the following pages on the 
 Rudiments of Christianity, must strike, as devoid of 
 novel and original thoughts, those readers who are 
 famiUar with the Unitarian and Universalist books, 
 which, since the commencement of the present cen- 
 tury, like stars rising one after another in a beautiful 
 evening, have broken forth in such rapid succession. 
 I feel and acknowledge their immense superiority in 
 reasoning and eloquence to this or any other produc- 
 tion which my best powers could put forth. 
 
 An especial reason for publishing, however, has 
 influence in my particular case. 
 
 I am constantly receiving letters from various parts 
 of the South, expressing a ■ desire that the discourses 
 of mine which have appeared -from time to time in the 
 New Orleans Picayune, during the last ten years, 
 should be published in the form of a book. The fol- 
 lowing pages will be able, partially, at least, to meet 
 this demand ; for they contain the sum and substance 
 of all my former preaching on the various topics therein 
 discussed. 
 
 I am not so vain as to imagine that any words of 
 mine can effect a material change in the stereotyped 
 
Vm PREFACE. 
 
 opinions of sectarian ministers, on the subject of Chris- 
 tianity. I do not publish with the hope of making 
 converts to my peculiar creed. The strongest induce- 
 ment that sways my mind in this particular, is an earn- 
 est desire to help those who already sympathize with 
 me as to general principles ; to interpret the Scriptures 
 aright ; to explain thenf in harmony with that ennobling 
 faith which teaches the eternal progression and ever- 
 lasting happiness of entire humanity. 
 
 The attenMve reader of this book cannot fail to notice 
 that the same words of Scripture or proof-texts are 
 brought forward to establish points of doctrine which, 
 in some respect, are widely different from each other. 
 For example, all those passages which aflSrm that there 
 will be a resurrection of all mankind, both just and 
 unjust, and also that in said resurrection state there will 
 be no sin nor suffering, are employed to disprove the 
 usual and popular interpretation of Matt. 5 : 22 ; 11 : 24 ; 
 Mark 9 : 44, the parable of the sheep and the goats, of 
 Dives and Lazarus, and many other parallel texts ; that 
 these words — "For as in Adam all die, even so in 
 Christ all shall be made alive," most explicitly declare 
 the final resurrection of the entire human race, is a 
 position which, in our day, is universally acknowledged 
 by theologians of every school. It is also admitted by 
 all, that the phrase to be "in Christ," invariably means 
 to be holy and happy. It follows by necessity, that if 
 all mankind beyond the grave will be made alive in 
 Christ, then they will be eternally happy. Hence, 
 1 Cor. 15 : 22, furnishes irresistible demonstration that 
 every text in our Bible which, in its plain, most obvious 
 import asserts eternal punishment, is either mistrans- 
 lated or misinterpreted. If partialists adduce a hun- 
 dred passages to prove the doctrine of endless woe, it 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 is enough to meet each and all of theni .with the positive 
 declaration of Paul — " For as in Adam all die, even so 
 in Christ all shall be made eternally happy." Hence, the 
 necessity was imposed upon me of repeating often and 
 often those unambiguous teachings of the New Testa- 
 ment, which relate to man's future destiny. 
 
 According to Scripture, God is infinite, unbeginning, 
 unending and immutable love. Love delights in order, 
 beauty and perfection. Consequently, it is certain that 
 in the universe of our Father, there is nothing abso- 
 lutely and intrinsically evil, disproportioned, disorderly, 
 discordant, gross or deformed. Now, the inspired vol- 
 ume truly interpreted, represents the Creator as orig- 
 inating and permitting nothing but what is good — all 
 things considered. The Bible teaches that all God's 
 doings, in the several departments of Nature, Prov- 
 idence and Grace, with respect to each member of his 
 intelligent empire, are the best, the only and the infal- 
 lible means of his eternal progkession in knowledge, 
 virtue and happiness." Whoever lays down the contrary 
 proposition, that our Heavenly Father either designs, 
 accomplishes or permits the everlasting ruin of his own 
 children, applies to Supreme Perfection, the most irrev- 
 erent and blasphemous terms which the blindness, folly 
 and arrogance of man combined can possibly utter. 
 And what are called the evils of time "are reconcilable 
 with infinite wisdom and benevolence, only on the 
 ground that they are the necessary, indispensable means 
 of a greater good, -r:J;hat is, a good which, without 
 their instrumentality. /could never have been realized. 
 I hav£ not been able'td find a single text which is relied 
 up'ftn by sectarian ministers to prove the endless dura- 
 tion of sin and suffering, which is not a gross perver- 
 sion of the true Scriptures, and a positive denial of our 
 
X PHEFACE. 
 
 Saviour's declaration, that he laid down his life to 
 redeem all mankind, and that not one, for whom his 
 blood was shed, can be finally and forever lost. 
 
 The quotations from Trinitarian divines, that appear 
 in the following work, though for the most part second- 
 hand or derivative, are nevertheless equivalent in weight 
 of evidence to original authorities. For they are to be 
 found in Paige's " Selections," — a book of established 
 reputation, which was published in Boston, by Thomas 
 Whittemore, in 1840. This work proves conclusively, 
 that from the eleventh century down to our day, the 
 most eminent commentators, who have believed in ever- 
 lasting woe, have also agreed with Universalists in their 
 interpretation of those words and phrases which the 
 original Scriptures employ to express Divine truth con- 
 cerning the subject of punishment. This interesting 
 fact is a suflScient reply to the insinuation that the Uni- 
 tarians of the North use a peculiar Bible of their own 
 inventing, essentially diEFcrent from the common version 
 of King James, and unsanctioned by the venerable the- 
 ologians of other lands and antecedent ages. In point 
 of fact, our peculiar interpretations of Scripture have 
 been received by the most learned expounders of differ- 
 ent denominations, reaching back to the time of Origen 
 and the earliest of the Christian fathers. He who reads 
 the En^sh only, may be easily convinced of the truth 
 of this assertion, by looking into those portions of 
 Adam Clarke's Commentary,' which relate to this subject. 
 
 I Tepeat it, the lovers of original thought and pro- 
 found research, will find nothing in this volume, lofty, 
 deep and wide enough to repay them for the time and 
 trouble required for its perusal. It is not intended for 
 them — but for the earnest and sincere inquirers after 
 truth, who have not hitherto enjoyed the means of 
 
PBEFACE. XI 
 
 becoming acquainted with those great principles and 
 leading facts of sacred literature, the knowledge of 
 which is essential to a right understanding of the Bible. 
 The Scriptures, when first written, were indeed plain ; 
 but ignorance of the peculiar circumstances under which 
 they were originally composed, has led some to de- 
 nounce the Word of God as countenancing, in certain 
 instances, flagrant injustice, cruelty and licentiousness. 
 No genuine text of the Bible can be mentioned, which, 
 interpreted correctly, is not harmonious with the prin- 
 ciples of our Lord's Prayer, the Sermon on the Mount, 
 and our highest conceptions of the morally pure, grand 
 and beautiful. 
 
 Illustrations will be found in some portions of this 
 ^ork, drawn from the events and scenery of the place 
 where I now reside ; but they are substantially the same 
 as were often employed during my ministerial career in 
 New Orleans. 
 
 Louisville, Jan. 1st, 1859. T. CLAPP 
 
THEOLOGICAL VIEWS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE EXISTENCE AKB ATTBIBUTES Or 60S. 
 
 It is thought by some of the ablest divines and 
 scholars, that there is no good reason for the 
 difference which the pulpit generally makes between 
 natural and revealed religion. They contend that 
 aU the religious truth in the world is unmixed with 
 the smallest particle of the miraculous ; — one drop 
 of the supernatural would spoil the whole com- 
 pound ; — and consequently correct ideas of the 
 great First Cause come to us through a perfectly 
 natural revealment. Ministers of every Christian 
 name use the phrase '' natural religion," to mean the 
 spiritual truths that^e learn from the contemplar 
 tion of the outward,'pliysical universe, and the study 
 of ourselves : the words " revealed religion " are 
 employed to signify whatever is inculcated in the 
 Sacred Scriptures. 
 
 Perhaps it would be better to say that all the true 
 religion which mankind enjoy may be divided into 
 2 
 
14 EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OP GOD. 
 
 that which is written, and that which is unwritten. 
 In the science of jurisprudence, gentlemen of the 
 legal profession speak of an unwritten law. By 
 this, they understand a body of rules, customs and 
 principles, not created by edicts, nor statutes of 
 legislation, but which have existed from the begin- 
 ning, and are antecedent to, land independent of all 
 literature. These rules are supposed to be founded 
 on sentiments and perceptions inseparable from hu- 
 man nature ; belonging to every intelligent, and 
 accountable being on earth. They have been hand- 
 ed down by one age to another, through an un- 
 known, immemorial period of time. Now, it seems 
 to me,j^t there is an unwritten theology emanating 
 from tn? same source, tested by the same proofs, 
 aggrandized by the same antiquity, anterior to alpha- 
 bets, and coeval with the earliest stages of civilized 
 society. It is inscribed by an Almighty hand upon 
 the tablets of teyer-y. human heart. 
 
 Touchingj this ' siifeject, the most pious and en- 
 lightened men may be ranged in two great classes. 
 The first hold that the natural, or unwritten religion, 
 is a system of instruction so easy, plain, simple, full 
 and definite, as to supersede entirely the use of that 
 which professes to be founded on miracles. They 
 allege that it is not only universal, but intelligible to 
 the most untaught and unreflecting minds. We are 
 referred to the following words, familiar to almost 
 every school-boy : — 
 
 " Lo the poor Indian ! -whose untutored mind 
 Sees God in clouds, or hears Him in the wind ; 
 His soul, proud science never taught to stray 
 Far as the solar walk, or milky way ;, 
 Yet simple nature to his hope has given, 
 Behind the cloud-topped hill, an humhler heaven ; 
 Some safer world in depths of woods embraced, 
 Some happier island in the watery waste." 
 
 Beautiful lines ! Glorious fact I There is a iini- 
 
EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OP GOD. 15 
 
 versal religion ; a religion that pervades all nations, 
 the most barbarous, as well as the most civilized. 
 It is inwoven with the classic, polished fables of 
 Oriental, Grecian, and Roman mythologies ; and 
 breathed forth in the rude, wild notes of the savage 
 minstrel in his forest-home. Yes, every human 
 being has a God of some kind or other. The most 
 benighted, and illiterate inhabitants of our globe in 
 their instinctive musings, look out upon brighter 
 visions than those of earth, and anticipate the hour 
 when released from the limits and trials of mortality, 
 they will enter upon some better world, on whose 
 successive eternal scenes and ages, the mysterious, 
 appalling clouds of sin and suffering will never be 
 permitted to rest. What a complete demonstration 
 that man is every where, endued with a religious na- 
 ture ! But conceding all these statements, does it 
 follow that the Bible is useless, or non-essential ? I 
 think not. 
 
 The second class of wise and good men referred 
 to above, take the position that we should have no 
 dealings with natural religion ; the pulpit cannot 
 touch it without being polluted. They repudiate, 
 abhor, and tread upon the dictates of unhallowed, 
 unrenewed reason. Their motto is, The Bible, the 
 whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible. ! natural 
 religion, they say, will do very well for a Quarterly 
 Review, a Monthly Magazine, the editorial of a 
 news-paper, a poem, a romance, or the latest novel. 
 It is to be expected in the namby-pamby discourses 
 of that minister who preaches simply for a salary ; 
 whose highest aim is> to spread before an earth-de- 
 lighted and earth-seeking audience the gems of 
 literature, and the fascinating pictures of a rich, 
 warm, original imagination. But let not the sound, 
 sober, staid, humble, evangelical minister of Christ 
 contaminate the sacred desk by uttering a syllable 
 of this unholy and unsatisfying theme. 
 
16 EXISTENCE AND ATlEIBlTTEg- OP GOD. 
 
 Now, it Strikes me that the truth lies in thendd' 
 die region between these two extremes. Is not this 
 apparent ? Why do we come together in church on 
 the Sabbath? Professedly to worship Jehovah. 
 The capacity to do this is the snblimest endowment 
 of our nature. It bespeaks something divine, most 
 glorious in our origin and chi.racter. It points to a 
 destination inexpressibly grander than that of the 
 brute which peffshes. The simple fact that we can 
 love, adore and 'obey a Supreme Being, proves that 
 we are not mere worms* of the dust ; that we are 
 allied to the infinite ; that when we sink beneath the 
 horizon of time instead of being extinguished, like a 
 setting, star, we shall brighten in another hemis- 
 phere, and emit the rays of a higher wisdom, and a 
 purer bliss, than those of earth. 
 
 The belief in a God of some kind, is a natural, irre- 
 sistible propensity of the human mind. It is not 
 confined to those only on whom the light of the 
 Bible shines. The most skeptical, and uninformed, 
 however low, rude, or erroneous the ideas which 
 they may cherish concerning the Divine attributes, 
 and man's accountability, cannot help feeling their 
 dependence on a Supreme Power. The wicked 
 mail by an inevitable law of his mental constitution 
 lives in hopes that to-morrow may be happier than 
 to-day. He also fears that this future wiU be more or 
 less inauspicious. Consequently whatever may be 
 his peculiar state, occupation, or fortune, he is com- 
 pelled by the " Divinity that stirs within him," to 
 realize that an agency superior to man teigns in na- 
 ture — in winds, Weather, tides, seasons, friends and 
 family ; in all the mingled events and 6ircumstance§ 
 of his life from birth to death. This remark is 
 applicable to sinners of evei-^.age and characterj 
 through their entir&, journey to the grave ; in child- 
 hood ; in the giddy, thoughtless season of youth ; 
 in the headlong indulgences of a dissipated career ; 
 • amid the delusive pursuits of avarice and ambition, 
 
EXISTENCE AND ATTEIBtTTES OF GOD. 17 
 
 and in the decrepitude and infirmities of advanced 
 years. Yes, let men declaim as much as they please 
 in favor of atheism, they cannot free themselves 
 from the deep, instinctive, innate conviction, that 
 there is a power above them, " that shapes their 
 ends, rough-hew them how they will. " 
 
 Christian ministers, therefore, should be very 
 careful in their encomiums on the Bible, not to say 
 a word that may seem to detract frum the force and 
 authority of natural religion. " An enlightened 
 clergyman wiU be able to (tescern and unfold the en- 
 tire consistency of revealed rehgion with aU the 
 lights which break in upon mankind from nature ; 
 and will avail himself of every opportunity to draw 
 from aU men's discoveries in the outward world, and 
 in their own souls, arguments, illustrations and analo- 
 gies in support of Christianity. We have reason to be- 
 lieve, that God, the author of nature and revelation, 
 had established a harmony between them, and that 
 their beams are intended to mingle and shed a joint 
 radiance ; and consequently, other things being 
 equal, that teacher is best fitted to dispense Chris- 
 tianity, whose compass of mind enables him to com- 
 pare what God is teaching in his works and in his 
 word, and to present the truths of religion with 
 those modifications and restraints which other 
 acknowledged truths require. Christianity now 
 needs dispensers, who will make history, nature, and 
 the improvements of society, tributary to its eluci-' 
 dation and establishment ; who will show its adapta- 
 tion to man as an ever progressive being ; Tsrho 
 will be able to meet the objections to its truth, 
 which will naturally be started, in an active, stirring, 
 and inquisitive age ; and though last not least, who 
 will have enough of mental and moral courage to 
 detect and renounce the errors in the Church, on 
 which such objections are generally built." Glo- 
 rious declarations ! 
 
iff EXISTENCE ASB ATtElfitTtES 6f SflB.. 
 
 "We read in Scripture aS foUowe ; " Ask ftoW the 
 beasts, and they- shall teach thee ; and the fowls of 
 the air, and they shall tell thee ; or, speak to th0 
 earth, and it shall teach thee ; and the fishes of the 
 sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in 
 all these that -the hand of the Lord hath wrought 
 this ? The heavens declare the glory of God, and 
 the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto 
 day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth 
 knowledge.' There is no speech nor language 
 where their voice is not heard. Their line, is gone 
 out through all the earth, and their words unto the 
 end of the world. 'Because that which may be 
 known of God is manifested to the Pagan, heathen 
 nations. For his invisible attributes, even his eter- 
 nal power and Godhead, though not discernible to 
 the eye of the body, ever since the creation of the 
 world, are clearly seen by the eye of men's minds, 
 being understood by the things which he hath made, 
 . so that they are inexcusable. The apostle means that 
 the Greek legi^tors and philosophers were inexcu- 
 sable. Because though they knew God, they did 
 not glorify him as God, by teaching the people what 
 they knew concerning him; neither did they give 
 him thanks, by making him the object of their wor- 
 ship, but became foolish by their own reasonings 
 concerning the worship fit for the vulgar ; and their 
 imprudent heart was darkened, so as to relish idol- 
 atry equally with the vulgar." (Macknight's Com^ 
 mentary on Romans 1 : 19, 20 and 21.) 
 
 " Reason and feeling if they be not the same thing 
 in different degrees of strength, are yet so intimately 
 connected, that no man ma,y ever expect, on any 
 subject, to feel deeply and habitually, who does not 
 feel rationally. The slight sometimes thrown upon 
 reason in religion, is an invasion of the first law of 
 the mind, the first law of heaven. This law is 
 ' elder Scripture,' and no more designed to be abro- 
 
|«!StE»CE' AND AMRIBPIES OF GOD. . 19 
 
 ^tsd by the written word, than the law of griwita- 
 tion is designed to be superseded by the Bible. 
 Seripture proceeds upon the assumption, that the 
 intellect is to be addressed: it actually, and every- 
 where, addresses it. The grandest theoretical mis- 
 take of all in religion, is that by which feeling is 
 divorced from the mtelleot." 
 
 When it is said, as is often the fact, that certain 
 preaching is too intellectual for a- plain congrega- 
 tion, or too rational for an * humble audience, I 
 must think, that either the meaning is false, or 
 that the terms are used in a false sense. There never 
 was too much intellect, too much reason, yet put 
 into a sermon. There may have been too little feel- 
 ing ; but it does not follow that there was too much 
 knowledge. There may have been too much dry, 
 abstract, metaphysical, barren, recondite, and useless 
 speculation, but not too much intellecti Some of 
 the most plain, simple, popular,* practical and devo- 
 tional books in the world — such as Law's Serious- 
 Call, Baxter's Saint's Rest, the Sermons of Bishop 
 Butler, and Dr. f aley — are admirable specimens of 
 the closest reasoning. A genuine, just, and powerful 
 discourse has need to be one of the keenest, closest 
 and most discriminating compositions in the world. 
 Such were the discourses of our Saviour. Nothing 
 could be farther from loose, rambling, common-place 
 exhortations. Nothing could be farther from that 
 style, which says, " my dear hearers, you must be 
 good ; you must be good ; you must be truly pious, 
 or be lost forever.'-' No, his hearers by close, resist- 
 less, home-thrust argument were made to "feel, and 
 they said, " never man spake like this man." 
 
 " I verily believe, that in the ministrations of the 
 pulpit at this day, the grand defect is not so much a 
 defect of feeling, as it is a defect of sound and dis- 
 criminating argument ; and that higher powers of 
 Jfeateonihg are precisely what are wanted in such 
 
20 EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OP GOD. 
 
 ministrations to make them weighty, useful, and 
 impressive. And it is not the intellectual hearer 
 that most needs this, but the plain hearer who is 
 perplexed, misled, and stupified, by the want of 
 clear, just, instructive, and discriminating thoiights. 
 I have that respect for human nature in its humblest 
 forms, as to think that the highest powers of man or 
 angel would not be thrown away upon it : and I 
 cannot believe that nothing but truisms and common- 
 places, vague generalities and unstudied exhorta- 
 tions, are required to teach religion to a being so 
 nobly endowed as man." (Dr. Dewey.) 
 
 Let it be remembered, then, that faith in the real- " 
 ity of the Divine existence is, in every instance, 
 derived from reason, or the light of nature. The 
 Sacred writers do not attempt by logical reasoning 
 to prove the being of God. They simply assert 
 that "we have been created to reverence and wor- 
 ship, , honor and adore, love and serve that all- 
 glorious Creator,, whom we see, as he has made him- 
 self known in yon firmament, sun, stars, earth, con- 
 tinents, mountains, oceans, days, times and seasons ; 
 in our bodies with their wondrous mechanism, and 
 powers of action, and enjoyment, and the divine fac- 
 ulties of our souls, enstamped with their Maker's 
 image, and endowed with the hope and capacity of a 
 never-ending existence. It is the invariable lan- 
 guage of Scripture, that because we are capable by 
 nature of seeing God, the most imperative obliga- 
 tions are laid upon us to love him, with all the heart. 
 It is only by seeing God that we can commune with ' 
 him, reflect his moral brightness, and receive the 
 illuminations of his spirit. Seeing God is the door 
 that admits us to the percepfion and enjoyment of 
 those higher beauties which can raise us above 
 mortality, sin, sorrow, death, and the grave. It is 
 the real source of all the true happiness accessible 
 to man on earth, or that awaits us in the boundless 
 range of an approaching eternity. 
 
EXISTENCE ANB ATTRIBUTES OP GOD.. 21 
 
 It is iiliportaiit to observe what is meant by the 
 Scriptural phrase " seeing God." Of course he is 
 not perceptible to the bodily eye. I am acquainted 
 with but two methods of interpreting this language. 
 First, it is said that we cannot see God except 
 through the medium of proofs that demonstrate' his 
 existence to the eyes of the understanding. We 
 must prove that there is a God before we can 
 rationally love, honor, and serve him. This remark 
 was often made to me by my venerable instructors 
 in the Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass. I 
 would not utter anything on a theme so solemn 
 that might seem, in the slightest degree, to savor of 
 irreverence, or even inconsiderateness. But I will 
 venture to assert that we can no more prove a God, 
 than we can make ,one ; no more than we could 
 move this globe in its annual path about the sun. 
 Ah logicians thus define that process of the mind 
 which we call proof. It consists in laying down 
 two admitted, well-established propositions, from 
 which a third one is fairly and necessarily deduced. 
 Take the following example : Whatever violates 
 morality is not honorable. Duelling violates moral- 
 ity ; therefore duelling is not honorable. 
 
 Now to establish a God, that is an in:^ite conclu- 
 sion according to the rules of strict logic, we must 
 state at least, two infinite propositions, or premises, 
 from which another infinite is necessarily inferred. 
 The merest tyro in argumentation may see that this 
 is impossible, for no finite reason can stretch itself 
 across the area of infinitude — the expanse of the 
 boundless, uncreated and incomprehensible. Canst 
 thou by searching find ont God ? Canst thou find 
 out the Almighty to perfection? It is high as 
 heaven ; what canst thou do, deepefrBan the under- 
 world ; what canst thou know ? The measure 
 thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than 
 the sea. (Job.) If proof, in logical strictness of 
 
22 EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. ' 
 
 speech, be the. only aveuue to the realization of a 
 God, then all mankind would be as incapable of reli- 
 gion as a tree or a bird, and live and die amid the 
 gloom and despair of utter atheism ^ poor, be- 
 nighted, trembling orphans, upon a wide, bleak, 
 boundless waste, destitute, deserted, forlorn, and 
 forsaken. But do not the tomes of theology and 
 philosophical writings contain what are styled argu- 
 ments in support of the proposition that there is a 
 God. To this it may be replied, that in all the 
 writings on this subject which have appeared from 
 the time of Socrates to the present day, what are 
 dignijEled with the imposing title, " demonstrations of\ 
 the Divine existence," are indeed, after aU, nothing 
 more than mere assertions, that our nature in con^ 
 junction with the various objects and circumstances 
 with which we are surrounded, compels us to believe 
 in the reality of a Supreme Being, independently of 
 what logicians denominate proof. The celebrated 
 argument of Dr. Paley, in his Natural Theology may 
 be given as an example of what I mean. The 
 essence of what he has written may be thus ex- 
 pressed. " There cannot be design without a de- 
 signer; contrivance without a contriver; order 
 wi]tl|out an ordainer; arrangement without an ar- 
 ranger ; subserviency or relation to a purpgse — 
 that is, means perfectly adapted to a certain end, 
 without that end ever having been contemplated 
 and the means accommodated to it by a Being of 
 adequate wisdom and power." 
 
 Now all this is nothing but a formal, scholastic 
 assertion that when we think of ourselves and the 
 objects around us, we cannot help referring these 
 phenomena to an Author or Creator of perfect, 
 supreme, and boundless knowledge and benevolence. 
 Dr. Chalmers, in his Evidences of Christianity tells 
 us, that revealed religion, like all merely human 
 sciences, has intuitive truths for its basis. The first 
 
':f±ISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OP GOD. 23 
 
 and most important of these intuitions is the senti- 
 ment of a God. In the course of my reading I have 
 somewhere met with the following statements. I do 
 not know who originated them. They are hot my 
 own but may serve as a beautiful exemplification of 
 the principle I am attempting to illustrate. 
 
 Aristotle, one of the profoundest minds of ancient 
 Greece, declares, that, although we cannot prove a 
 God, yet we are so organized as to, feel certain of 
 his existence. Suppose all .men to be just what 
 they now are with the exception of eyes, and the 
 additional faculty of sight to be imparted to them at 
 precisely the same moment. Smitten with unutter- 
 able emotions by the beautiful and sublime appear- 
 ances of nature in the earth and heavens, would not 
 the idea of a God be simultaneously awakened in 
 their bosoms? Cicero in his Tusculan Questions 
 takes similar ground. Montaigne, one of the most 
 powerful authors that France has produced, remarks 
 that an impression of Deity in the human mind 
 exists by necessity ; that it can neither be created 
 nor destroyed by any reasonings of which we are 
 capable. Imagine an atheist in a debating society 
 to have pronounced a most eloquent speech in sup- 
 port of his favorite theory, and that at the very 
 instant of its conclusion, some enemy should plunge 
 a dagger into his bosom, causing immediate death, 
 looking up to heaven his last words would be these, 
 " 0, God, have mercy upon me." 
 
 I have often seen this supposition verified in my 
 own experience. During a long residence in that 
 modern Golgotha, New Orleans, the melancholy 
 duty has often devolved upon me to minister at the 
 death-beds of skeptics. And I believe that, without 
 a single exception, when in the exercise of reason, 
 they have asked me to pray with them. In sorrow, 
 trouble, sickness, and approaching death, when the 
 present world seems to be receding forever from 
 
24 EXISTENCE jiND ATTRIBUTES OP GO^- 
 
 their view, the most irreligioTia are compelled by the 
 impulses of an heavenlj-derived nature to cast them- 
 selves on some higher Power to soothe and protect 
 them. 
 
 Vanini, a distinguished divine who flourished in 
 Italy and France about two hundred years ago, was 
 tried for heresy because he advocated the doctrine 
 above mentioned. In his defence he took a straw 
 from &e floor, and holding it up to his judges, said, 
 " this stfaw is just as unaccountable without a God 
 as the globe itself. The wild flower that blossoms 
 in our path to-day, requires an eternal Author as 
 much as the corolla of that celestial flower whose 
 petals are worlds upon worlds, stretching onward 
 throughout infinitude." His denying that the eixisi> 
 ence of G-od could be logically proved subjected 
 him to the charge of atheism. He was accused, 
 tried, and condemned to the flames. Being drawm 
 to the place of execution, after his tongue had been 
 torn out, he was strangled and burnt, at the age of 
 thirty-four years. How much of the beautiful and 
 good belonging to the dark ages has perished under 
 the blighting touch of a cold, stern, and withering 
 hierarchy ! How many fountains of joy in the 
 human heart have been closed up forever by the 
 paralysing powers of ignorance, and gloomy supdf- 
 stition ! How many noble, bright spirits, hay| 
 struggled all their days with undaunted, unshak^' 
 and unwearied energies, and breathed their last 
 amidst the agonies of martyrdom to bring about the 
 blessed era of religious freedom which now illumines 
 the Christian world. 
 
 Whatevp'- may be thought concerning the piety 
 of Napoleon I., the superiority of his intellect is uni- 
 versally acknowledged. In the famous expedition 
 to Egypt he took with him a corps of the most 
 learned men that France could furnish. When in 
 the Mediterranean one lovely (evening, surrounded 
 with a circle of philosophers, who were engaged in 
 
EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 25 
 
 discussing the merits of- atheism, after a sUent att.en- 
 tion for some time, arising from his seat with that 
 style of majesty for which he was distinguished, and 
 pointing to the iirmament filled with stars scattered 
 in countless numbers, and with such splendid pro- 
 fusion, he said, " gentlemen, you may reason as 
 much as you please against the existence of God; 
 the awful and striking magnificence of yon canopy, 
 the wonderful order and exact harmony of its sub- 
 lime phenomena, proclaim in most impressive ac- 
 cents, the reality and infinitude of a wise, ever-pres- 
 ent Idaker and Ruler. There cannot be orderly 
 movements in any department of natupp or art, 
 which are not the result of an intellige"ht cause." 
 This illustrious man frequently and openly avowed 
 his undoubting faith in the Creator of all things, and 
 immortal happiness for the race of man in a future 
 state. I was told when in Europe, by those most 
 competent to give testimony on the subject, that 
 atheism was no longer common or fashionable 
 among the scholars of the Old World. True science 
 perceives, as an elementary principle, that great 
 First Cause, in obedience to whose mandates all 
 things exist and move, without the intervention of 
 other ideas ; that is without what savans call reason- 
 ing and deduction. 
 
 Bishop Berkeley in his Minute Philosophei', con- 
 tends that we see God in precisely the same manner 
 in which we behold our fellow-beings. All my 
 acquaintances know that there is within me some- 
 thing that is called a finite mind — something that 
 thinks, perceives, reasons, remembers, imagines, 
 loves, beheves, hopes, and fears. This principle 
 denominated / or me, or my soul, they .Can no more 
 see Avith the bodily eye, than they can see the infi- 
 nite spirit with the same organ. They hear my 
 woi'ds and see my actions. These words and 
 actions by an unavoidable law, are referred to an 
 3 
 
26 EXISTENCE AND ATTEIBUTES OP GOD. 
 
 intelMgent and invisible cause. Alao, they listen to 
 the glorious, significant voices, spoken by the out- 
 ward, physical universe — "the music of nature, the 
 winds that stir the mountain pine, the wailing storm, 
 the soft-falling shower of spring; the rustiing of 
 autumnal leaves ; the roar of ocean as it breaks 
 upon the lonely sea-beach ; the thundering Niagara 
 that lifts its eternal anthem to the skies ; even the 
 bleating of flocks, the lowing of cattle, and the song 
 of birds," &c. And as we are certain that finite 
 minds around not only speak to us but also act — 
 that they plant, sow, reap, build, write and fill the 
 world wit^'- their various exploits, even so we ase 
 forced to feel the presence of an Infinite Mind, con- 
 stantly sustaining in order and beauty the innumer- 
 able orbs that float throughout the illimitable fields 
 of space ; causing the Hfe-blood to flow in our veins, 
 manifesting itself in every blade of grass, flower, 
 shrub-tree ; in the skilful and exquisite adaptations 
 of each animal frame to secure its sustenance, 
 strength, speed, and beauty ; in the events of each 
 passing day ; in the history of former ages ; in the 
 vicissitudes of days, nights, seasons, winds, weather, 
 tides ; in all the grand harmonious phenomena of 
 eternal nature, and the mysterious movements of 
 our inward, higher, and spiritual being. The ideas 
 of Bishop Berkeley are strikingly expressed in the 
 following familiar lines of Pope : 
 
 " All are but parts of one stupendous whole, 
 Whose body Nature is, and God the soul ; 
 That changed through all, and yet in all the same, 
 Great in the earth, as in the ethereal frame ; 
 Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, 
 Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees, 
 Lives through all life, extends through all extent, 
 Spreads undivided, operates, unspent j 
 Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part, 
 As full, as perfect, in a hair, as heart ; 
 As full, as perfect in vile man that mourns. 
 As the rapt seraph that adores and burns : 
 To him no high, no low, no great no. small j 
 He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals «U." 
 
EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 2T 
 
 We kave arrived, then, at the following conclu- 
 sion : the sentiment of a God is a necessary, inher- 
 ent, innate conviction of the human mind : enforced 
 upon us by the same evidence that obliges us to 
 admit our own existence, as w»ll as that of our fel- 
 low-beings, and the various objects of the outward 
 universe which address themselves to our senses. 
 Reasoning, in the logical sense of that term, can 
 neither create, nor cancel, nor add to, nor improve 
 this sentiment. But it is vitalized and deepened in 
 the soul only by faith, prayer, and a holy, consistent 
 life. No man can sincerely, and habitually strive to 
 do his whole duty without seeing God. Such is the 
 declaration of Jesus in his sermon on the Mount. 
 He will daily commune with his Father in heaven : 
 reflect some rays of Divine purity in his heart and 
 life, and feel the kindling beams of that supernal 
 wisdom which is destined to shed forever upon his 
 spirit the eifulgence of an immortal day. 
 
 Father Buffier, a Eoman Catholic author, who is 
 read and admired by theologions of every school, in 
 his Treatise of Elementary Truths, and the Sources 
 of our Judgments, says : " We are certain of the 
 Divine existence, but cannot prove it. It is not 
 susceptible of what proud, vain, and uninspired 
 science calls absolute demonstration." The princi- 
 ples of this work, first published in 1724, are the 
 same with those adopted by Drs. Beattie, Keid, 
 and Oswald, of Scotland, under the denomination of 
 "COMMON SENSE." The late Professor Stuart, 
 of Andover, often expressed the opinion, that Father 
 Buffier's Treatise was more original, and more valu- 
 able than any other book on the same subject, which 
 was ever written. 
 
 I would say, then, to those who adopt either of 
 the extremes above mentioned, strive to rise supe 
 rior to the narrow, blighting, formulas and technics 
 of sectarianism, whether within, or outside of the 
 
28 BXISTENCE 4HD ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 
 
 Church. Natural and revealed religion are notalways 
 distinguished by very distant boundaries, but in 
 innumerable instances they approach each other 
 and fraternize, like light and shade in a well-wrought 
 and beautiful painti]?%. Yes, the scene of thought 
 unfolded to the enlightened minister by the sacred 
 Scriptures is Buperlg,tively grand, and uncircum- 
 scribed. In the language of Job, " It is higher than 
 the heavens, deeper than hades, longer than the 
 earth, and broader than the sea." It goes forth 
 with the astronomer in his journeyings through the 
 celestial systems ; accompanies the chemist into his 
 laboratory; attends the geologist and philosopher, 
 as they trace the wonders of organic and inorganic 
 creations ; everywhere illustrating the wisdom, 
 power, and goodness of that great Being, whose 
 pleagureltealled the physical universe into existence, 
 and OL tantly sustains it in order and beauty. No 
 fact, no art, no science, no literature can be named, 
 which does not display to the eye of a devout man 
 numerous moral aspects, bearings, and affinities. 
 No object whatever, embraced in the vast circum- 
 ference of Nature's works, can be thought of, whose 
 character and teachings do not fall within the legit- 
 imate range of pulpit ministrations ; which, in the 
 view of an enlarged and discerning spfrit, do not set 
 off and magnify the compass, wealth and charms of 
 divine, eternal truth — the truth both of natural and 
 fevfealed religion. 
 
 ^ But it may be thought, that these sentiments mili- 
 tate against the importance, generally ascribed to 
 the Bible, by Christian teachers. I think not. Nat- 
 ural religion, indeed, discovers the existence of a 
 Grod, but it is utterly silent in regard to the revela- 
 tions of the Grospel. ' It does not assure us that the 
 Almighty Cause is our Father, that he looks upon 
 one soul as of more value than all the material 
 worlds which his hand has formed, and that conse- 
 
bhs3:ence and atteibutes op god. 29 
 
 quently, a soul can no more be finally, and forever 
 loat, than his own existence could be blotted out. 
 It does not tell us on what condition sinners can be 
 pardoned, redeemed, protected, and blessed through 
 the ages of eternity. It affords no perfect rules to 
 guide us in the way of a happy, holy, and useful life 
 on earth. Without a revelation, the world never 
 could have arrived at just conceptions of the high- 
 est virtue, nor unshaken hopes of a brighter exist- 
 ence beyond the grave. The late Daniel Webster, 
 once, said: "We have derived, from the Bible all 
 the countless refinements, institutes, comforts, and 
 blessings of civilized life, and the cheering prospect 
 of ever-progressive glory in a future state." Natu- 
 ral religion does not supersede .that which is re- 
 vealed. Both conspire in shedding a necessary 
 light upon the only path which can conduct us to 
 an heavenly immortal kingdom. iyis: 
 
 In conversation with all classes of unbeli^ers, I 
 have observed that the incomprehensibleness of a 
 Supreme Being, is considered a weighty and suffi- 
 cient reason for not giving their assent to this fun- 
 damental doctrine of religious faith. But let it be 
 remembered, that if we were not to believe in the 
 reaUty of anything, which is beyond the reach of 
 human intellect — inconceivable to us, or by us; 
 then we should sink down, and be swallowed up in 
 the abyss of utter, universal skepticism, and wretch- 
 edness. For example, Sir Isaac Newton says, that 
 gravitation is the bond which holds together all nat- 
 ural bodies however great or small ; which keeps 
 the different systems from rushing into ruinous col- 
 lision, so that the whole creation of matter is afloat 
 in space, suspended and sustained by the energy of 
 some Almighty power. He also says, that gravita- 
 tion is only the name for an unknown cause, which 
 cannot be comprehended, or understood, yet of its 
 reality it is not possible to entertain a doubt. Wp 
 3* 
 
30 EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 
 
 look through a telescope, in a fine night, and con- 
 template with delight the mild lustre of the evening 
 star, the fiery face of Mars, the silver orb of Jupiter, 
 his belts and his satellites, and the mysterious rings 
 of Saturn. Yet the nature of what we see, and the 
 very process of seeing are as inscrutable to us, as the 
 God whom we lovp,. honor and adore. 
 
 It has been proved that the same power which 
 causes the moon to revolve, floats a ship of the line 
 on the sea ; the feather and balloon in the air ; ena- 
 bles a narrow column of water, sustained in a tube, 
 to raise a weight many thousand times greater than 
 its owft ; pours the cataract of Niagara ; makes the 
 pressure of the atmosphere the means of obtaining 
 water through our pumps, thus producing, at the 
 same instant, apparently opposite, contradictory 
 effects — the simultaneous descent and ascent of the 
 same element. Who can fathom, or explain these 
 phenomena ? Who can tell what is the tie which 
 unites our minds with our living bodies. Still we 
 know that it exists. It is a matter of science, that, 
 on the retina of the eye, are painted distinctly, in 
 all their varieties of form and color, houses, fields, 
 groves, the sky, the faces of men, the forms of ani- 
 mals, and all the objects which we behold. How 
 can so small a space take in such a multitude of 
 exact, and definitely formed images? For it is cer- 
 tain from the wonderful illustrations of the eye, 
 when uncovered by dissection, or imitated by art, 
 that in the act of looking on an edifice, a tree, a 
 bird, the firmament, or any visible thing, the mind 
 sees not the external object itself, but only a picture 
 of it on. the expansion of the optic nerve, over the 
 bottom of the visual organ. How inexplicable is 
 the real essence of every object with which we are 
 acquainted ? 
 
 To me it is plain, that what Lord Bacon has said 
 of science in general, is applicable to the existence 
 
EitSTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 31 
 
 and attributes, the ways and doings of the Great 
 Unknown, " Science," he tells us, " is built upon 
 and encompassed on every side by problems, inscru- 
 table to the human mind, this side the grave." So 
 theology may be compared to a monument lifting its 
 spire to heaven upon the very boundaries — the in- 
 tersecting line between the visible and invisible, the 
 finite and infinite. Imagine the circumference of 
 our knowledge to be ever so far extended — sup- 
 pose it were, this moment, to become commensurate 
 with even tha,t of angels — then to our eye as now 
 all beyond this enlarged horizon would be shrouded 
 in the darkness of the unfathomed, the bo«ndless, 
 and incomprehensible. Dictionaries define the word 
 bmwledge, by saying that it means " the just and 
 full comprehension of the real nature of things, phy- 
 sical, intellectual, and moral." Proud and imposing 
 exegesis ! For knowledge, as thus explained, is co- 
 extensive with the universe of being ; reaching back 
 to the dawn of time, and forward to its consumma- 
 tion. It is inseparable from the existence of the 
 Creator, who alone intuitively surveys the whole. 
 
 In strictness of speech no man, however great or 
 enlightened in intellect, can be said to know what is 
 the real essence of any object in creation. Further, 
 no person ever performed a single act upon l^e 
 principle of absolute knowledge. The source of all 
 human conduct is faith. Faith is that process or 
 operation of the mind, whereby we admit and enter- 
 tain what seems to us to be true with respect to 
 persons, beings, things, events, facts, or propositions 
 of any kind whatever ; except thoser which are 
 proved by mathematical evidence. And concerning 
 this last named class of objects, the learned Cud- 
 worth asserts, that we are so formed as to be obliged 
 to have recourse to faith in order to realize their 
 first principles. In the relations of magnitude and 
 number, we believe there are units, lines, angles, 
 
32' EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OP GOr^." 
 
 squares, cubes, circles, hexagons, &c., but the abs©fv 
 lute existence of these objects is as insusceptible of 
 proof as that of a God. 
 
 Faith, as above defined, is a principle common in 
 some degree to all mankind. To exercise faith ia 
 just as natural as it is to breathe ; it is no less essen- 
 tial to man than the faculty of speech, reason, mem- 
 ory, imagination, joy, or sorrow. For the sake of 
 illustration, think of the case of a little boy, who is 
 going to school. By the help of an instructor he 
 learns the alphabet. Even this first attainment could 
 never have been made without the instrumentahty 
 of faith. The child by the authority of parent, or 
 teacher was brought to believe, that certain marks 
 called letters, are the representatives of particular 
 sounds. In the same manner he becomes acquainted 
 with spelling, reading, grammar, history, &c., — the 
 higher branches of knowledge — the subUmest ele- 
 ments of the arts, sciences, and literature. After fin- 
 ishing his education he enters upon some profession 
 or employment for life. To whatever business he de- 
 votes himself, whether that of planter, physician, 
 lawyer, divine, politician, mariner, or mechanic,- 
 every action that he performs, from the beginning 
 to the close of his days, is prompted and determined 
 1^ those unbending laws of faith, which operate 
 with as much uniformity as ■ gravitation, caloric, 
 or any other principle of the physical universe. 
 Without that kind of faith which constrains us to 
 admit a God, a child would be no more susceptible 
 of education than a log of wood, or a block of mar- 
 ble. 
 
 Suppose again, that at fifty .years of age this indi- 
 vidual becomes an invalid. He has never been out 
 of the place in which he was born. The physicians 
 persuade him to travel. He embarks at Boston, 
 New York, or Baltimore, for a foreign port. Now, 
 it is by faith alone that he undertakes and prosecutes 
 
EXlSTigsrCE AND ATTRIBUTES OP GOD. 33 
 
 tKis voyage. He believes in the necessity of a 
 change of climate, in the skill of the doctors, the 
 soundness of the vessel, the capacity of its master, 
 the immutableness of those laws which govern the 
 magnetic needle, the sun, stars, weather, seasons, 
 tides and tempests. All the instances of faith exem- 
 plified in such an enterprise could hardly be unfolded 
 in the compass of a volume. Imagine that all those 
 entrusted with the management of this vessel were 
 to become suddenly incapable of exercising faith 
 when in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, the inevit- 
 able result of such a deprivation would be doubt, 
 uncertainty, trouble, disappointment, disaster, and 
 destruction. 
 
 Most persons are quite unconscious of the impor- 
 tance and universality of this principle with respect 
 to the temporal affairs of mankind. It is an irresis- 
 tible faith that leads us to expect another day, week, 
 month, or year. This impels us to toil in order to 
 procure a maintenance or fortune for ourselves and 
 families. Faith has originated the various produc- 
 tions of art. It has made the canvas glow with 
 hfe, and the marble breathe. It has shed upon the 
 pages of literature the light of a superlative, and un- 
 dying genius. Faith keeps us from attempting to 
 walk on water, or sleep in a furnace of fire. J£| 
 prompts the merchant to act in harmony with the 
 most recent and authentic intelligence concerning 
 the st^te of markets in distant lands and emporiums. 
 It is the basis of all contracts between man and man. 
 Of all the capabilities of the soul, that of faith is one 
 of the most simple, important, grand, and divine. 
 Every moment of our accountable existence, is a 
 moment of faith, and every action that we perform 
 is dictated by this principle. Indeed, without it, the 
 whole business of civilized life would cease to be 
 carried on, and we should be shrunk up within 
 boundaries as narrow as those which limit the mule, 
 the horse, or the ox. 
 
34 EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 
 
 Now this faculty of faith, which ia universal to and 
 inseparable. /?'om the human mind, (not knowledge 
 scientifically so called,) is the basis of all religion. 
 No person "can doubt the reality of those external 
 objects that come under the cognizance of the 
 senses. The senses awaken within us the con- 
 sciousness of a soul. Our souls, by virtue of their 
 innate and essential endowments, cherish belief in a 
 Being of infinite wisdom, power, and benevolence. 
 Concerning the mode in which the Supreme Divinity 
 exists and acts, many different theories have been 
 broached; but the doctrine that there is an un- 
 created, intelligent, boundless, and omnipotent Cause 
 of all things in themselves limited and dependent, no 
 enlightened atheist even has presumed to deny. 
 
 "We cannot, therefore, help believing that there is 
 an Infinite Creator. We cannot avoid feeling our en- 
 tire, absolute dependence on him for life, and all 
 that is requisite to make life desirable. It is certain 
 that we can neither escape from his presence, nor 
 resist the determinations of his almighty will. In 
 the emphatic language of the Bible, He holds us in 
 the hollow of his hand. The Divine perfections 
 wrap us about more intimately than the garments 
 with which we are clad ; than the atmosphere that 
 m^ momently inhale. " For in him we live, and, 
 m)ve, and have our being ; since we are his off- 
 spring." Nor can we put an end to our existence. 
 Though we may destroy the body, yet the soul is 
 uphold, and preserved by the eternal, irresistible 
 decree of its ever-present Author. What a myste- 
 rious, awful,, solemn, and startling fact is our exist- 
 ence ! It is equally apparent that the final purposes 
 for which we have been created, must be ultimately 
 accomplished. If every design of God be not fully 
 and completely carried out, then he would experi- 
 ence the pain of disappointment, and there could be 
 no adequate foundation for entire confidence in his 
 
iXrSTENCE AND ATTEIBUTBS OF GOD. 5 
 
 jvernment. Everything which exists or talS.s 
 ace must be on the whole, in exact accordaLf ce 
 ith the will of Heaven. To assert the contrary 
 
 the same with saying, that the plan of the 
 hnighty may in some respects be thwarted, by 
 )ntingences which he either did not foresee, of 
 reseeing had no power to prevent, or make sub- 
 srvient to the promotion of benevolent purposes. 
 
 Seeing things are thus, the following questions 
 •e those in which all reflecting persons must take 
 le deepest interest. What is the true character of 
 od ? What are the principles, motives, or policy 
 Y which his universal administration is governed ? 
 rith what feeling does he regard the children of 
 en ? What are the ties which unite us forever to 
 is throne ? It is obvious that to the mass of man- 
 ind no answers to the above interrogatories can 
 e satisfactory, which require profound research, 
 larning, or philosophy in order to be understood, 
 hey should present truths as plain, palpable, and 
 ;riking as the meaning of the terms sun, moon, 
 ;ars, firmament, earth, sea, light, darkness, times, 
 sasons, pain, or pleasure. Now Jesus Christ came 
 ito the world to solve these problems in language 
 itelligible to all mankind however low, fallen, ign^^ 
 mt or wicked. He announces the glorious trut!^ 
 lat God sustains the relation of a Father to every 
 Dn and daughter of Adam, irrespective of character 
 r conduct. He also teaches that this relation ^•ill 
 ist forever. It cannot be abrogated or destroyed. 
 
 Sublime announcement ! We belong to the First 
 lause not by creation, property, and preserving 
 ower alone, but also by inefiable love. He cher- 
 shes for man, though in the lowest depths of guilt 
 nd debasement, an affection boundless as his Divin- 
 ;y — an affection infinite and un originated — an 
 ternal, unchanging, inherent, and essential prerog- 
 tive of the incomprehensible One. According to 
 
36 EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF bOD. 
 
 the teachings of Christ, the most heinous sins 
 which men commit, cannot diminish the paternal 
 kindness of God towards them — cannot cause him 
 to look upon them with an alienated heart — with 
 coldness, aversion, indifference, hatred, or wrath — 
 cannot place them forever beyond the reach of re- 
 deeming mercy. He addresses to his disciples the 
 following words : " Love your enemies, bless them 
 that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and 
 pray for them who despitefuUy use you and perse- 
 cute you, that ye may be the children of your Father 
 who is in heaven, for he maketh his sun to rise on 
 the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the 
 just and on the unjust." These texts declare in the 
 most unambiguous terms, that God has infinite, un- 
 mingled love for sinners, and can never cease to 
 exert his utmost power to emancipate them from 
 ignorance, degradation and suffering. What is too 
 hard for Omnipotent love to achieve ? " What man 
 is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he 
 give him a stone ? Or it he ask a fish, will he give 
 him a serpent ? If ye then, being evil, know how to 
 give good gifts unto your children, how much more 
 shall your Father who is in heaven give good things 
 J;o them that ask him ? " God so loved sinners that 
 Jbe sent his only begotten Son, that they might be 
 saved. Almost innumerable are the passages of 
 Scripture bearing a similar import. 
 
 God then is not a Being distant, distinct, foreign, 
 and separate from ourselves — a Being with whom 
 we have no common properties, but an ever-present, 
 all-communicating Spirit; whose infinitude is but 
 the infinitude of the human soul; whose sympathies i 
 for us are the same in kind, though infinitely more ! 
 tender, than the purest, fondest mother cherishes 
 for a beloved child. As the good earthly parent can 
 neither hate, nor intentionally hurt his own off- 
 spring; so the Supreme Father can neither abhor, 
 
EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OP GOD. HI 
 
 t injure any creature whom he has called into 
 istence. As the sun constantly imparts light, life, 
 d warmth to the physical globe, so God commu- 
 3ates, without intermission, to the moral world — 
 B world of mankind — those influences which are 
 quisite to make it more and more like himself — 
 unfold and enlarge those mental and moral powers 
 lich constitute his own glorious image. Jesus 
 irist tells us that the Father sent him into the 
 )rld to make aU mankind ultimately partakers of 
 erlasting life — the life of God — of boundless 
 sdom, order, beauty, and beneficence — that they 
 
 might become warmed by beams from the inex- 
 ustible Fountain of Light, and feel from the im- 
 Ises of his Spirit in their breasts that they are 
 lead his ransomed, redeemed and forgiven chil- 
 en. We cannot cherish the sublimest form of 
 iristian love so long as we suppose that God can 
 
 anything himself, or allow anything to happen, 
 lich will conflict with our final, supreme, and high- 
 t good, both for time and eternity. 
 Suppose a son could be made absolutely certain, 
 it his earthly father would be permitted by a Mer- 
 Til Providence to see him breathe his last. Let 
 is parent possess all the great and glorious attri- 
 tes which can adorn humanity — wisdom, piety^ 
 temal kindness, the most generous sympathies — 
 d in addition the resources of inexhaustible 
 salth. To complete the imaginary case, let this 
 Q be perfectly assured that his father could never 
 come an enemy, could not harbor indifference, 
 Idness, hatred, nor anger towards him, whatever 
 ght be his misdoings and follies ; but, that on the 
 ntrary his utmost skill and energies would be per- 
 ireringly employed to supply his wants, relieve his 
 ibarrassments and promote his highest welfare, even 
 len plunging into the lowest depths of guilt, un- 
 )rthiness, and degradation ; and to the closing hour 
 4 
 
39 EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OE GOD. 
 
 of his mortal existence ; tinder stich,iCiraumstance8> 
 what on earth would appear so precioaifto his son 
 as that father's love? How unspeakably dear to 
 him would be the thought, that he had one. friend to 
 lean upon whose deep and tender affections were 
 life-long and immutable? Could he hate such a 
 father?' Impossible! Now such a parent, _ freed 
 from imperfections, and raised to infinitude, is the 
 Father whom Jesus has unfolded, that we might be 
 soothed and sustained by an unfaltering trust in his 
 infinite, eternal, and unchanging love. 
 
 " The greatness of the Deity, when separated in 
 our thoughts from his parental character, tends 
 especially to crush our hopes, and fill us with de- , 
 spair. We do not honor God when we think of 
 him with servility, and dread of his displeasure on i 
 account of our sins. The most hardened, selfish, 
 and contemptuous of transgressors may do this.' 
 Tndeed, it is almost impossible to convince a bad 
 person that the Supreme One is not an omnipotent 
 and avenging Creator. But when we realize that 
 God looks upon us with infinite forgiveness ; that 
 he has made and placed us here to be partakers of 
 his own perfections; to be the representatives and.^ 
 ministers of his boundless benevolence : that nothing | 
 1^ more dear to him than to commune with, beautify ; 
 and enrich our souls — such views make their recip- 
 ients holy, raise man from earth to heaven, and bind 
 him by the most pure and ennobling ties to the 
 throne of his Maker. Such views fill the soul with 
 refining awe, wonder, and admiration, as well as the 
 most exquisite and transporting delight, and nothing 
 else can accomplish these results." (Channing). 
 
 Jesus taught incessantly, that the knowledge of 
 God is the only avenue to genuine happiness. " This 
 is eternal life to know Thee the only true God." Im- 
 agine a community in which no vices nor immoral- 
 ities prevailed — in which reigned unmingled moral 
 
EXffiTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 39 
 
 :cellenc© ; piirity, truth, justice, and kindness for 
 ,ch other, but, at the same time, entirely devoid of 
 ith in a Supreme Being. Could they be happy in 
 is state without religious hopes and prospects ? 
 mswer in the words of the Gospel, " they could 
 it hve by bread alone." Though well fed and well 
 Dthed, and surrounded with the highest blessings 
 
 physical civilization, their minds would long for 
 mething more satisfying than the frail, limited, and 
 msitory enjoyments of earth. Without God the 
 Drld in its best state is vain, inadequate and ineffi- 
 int — filling its votaries with unrest, care, weari- 
 ss and anxiety. We want a greater, better, and 
 Dre permanent inheritance — a spiritual inherit- 
 ce that can meet and replenish the essential aspi- 
 bions of our ever-widening and immortal minds, 
 it let the members of this fancied society cease to 
 
 prayerless, and atheistical — let them become 
 quainted, and deeply impressed with the attributes 
 their Creator, as manifested in the departments of 
 iture, Providence; and Grace ; and cherish the 
 blime hope of enjoying his presence and protec- 
 in, when this outward world — its wealth, its 
 ihions, and its pleasures shall have vanished for- 
 er, — then would their happiness be substantiaL 
 d complete ; then would they soar as on eagle^P 
 aions above ennui, sorrow and temptation ; then 
 )uld they become daily more and more assimilated 
 the perfections of an infinite Father, and be able 
 
 centre on him their strongest sympathies, and 
 blest hopes. 
 
 The Hon. Henry Clay, near the close of his life, 
 ent a winter in New Orleans. One evening 
 len he had no company in his room but myself, I 
 d the pleasure of listening to his sentiments on a 
 bject, which to reflecting minds is of all others 
 B most interesting — a future state of existence. 
 i had just heard of the death of an intimate friend. 
 
40 EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 
 
 With reference to the melancholy in^tligence' he 
 spoke in terms nearly like the foUowiig : — "My 
 friends are fast falling around me. What shadows 
 we are, and what shadows we pursue ! I have tried 
 the world and found its emptiness. My own expe- 
 rience bears testimony to the truthfulness of Scrip- 
 ture that assures us we were created subject to un- 
 avoidable cares, trials, frailties, and suffering. My 
 dear sir, how utterly disconsolate should we be with- 
 out something better to hope for beyond the grave. 
 Here we are destined to know delight but by her part- 
 ing smile. If there be no succeeding existence, .we 
 shall soon be dashed from these beetiling cliffs of 
 time, and sink in a fathomless abyss to be seen no 
 more. Nothing appears to me so precious as the 
 Cross of that Redeemer who declares himself to be 
 the resurrection and the life ; who enables the be- 
 liever to look away beyond the ruins of the grave, 
 the boundaries of time, and the visible creation, to 
 gaze upon the ineffable, divine, beauteous, and ever- 
 progressive scenes of a land immortal. ReaUy, sir, 
 I do not see any use of a God with respect to man, 
 unless it be his good pleasure, in infinite mercy, to 
 make these vicissitudes of mortality, pain and disap- 
 
 S ointment preparatory to our final introduction to 
 le joys of another, and better world." 
 Instructive spectacle ! Here was a man remarka- 
 bly prosperous, and powerful, great in genius and 
 achievements, whom this nation had fairly idolized 
 for half a century — whose fame had crossed oceans 
 and continents, and reached the remotest boundaries 
 of the civilized world — solemnly proclaiming in the 
 most expressive language, that all merely terrestrial 
 glories appeared to him less than nothing in com^ 
 parison with the boundless love of. that Eather, 
 whom the Son of God has revealed, as the ever 
 living Friend and Benefactor of the human race, 
 How sad and mournful is the condition of those 
 
EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 41 
 
 ho have passed through threescore years and ten, 
 id have to God to lean upon, as earth is receding 
 rever from their view. At every step they drag a 
 lain more galling, heavy, and oppressive than that 
 hich visibly restrains, and degrades the unhappy 
 )nvict. The friends and companions of their ear- 
 sr and later years are gone. The retrospect of life 
 ■esents to their view a dark, desolate expanse — a 
 )nfused, disorderly, discordant assemblage of remin- 
 cences both painful and mysterious — a mere 
 ass of rubbish — the rubbish of cares which 
 •ought no peace, and follies the recollection of 
 hich settles like a freezing damp upon their spirits, 
 tieir prospects of the future are as cold and nar- 
 iw as the tombs to which they are hastening. All 
 hich they have known, loved and doted on, has either 
 ready disappeared, or is rapidly crumbling around 
 em. There is no outward prop on which they can 
 st ; in the widest circumference of their . thoughts 
 ere is no object which can awaken hope and en- 
 usiasm ; no asylum to which they can betake 
 emselves in trouble, disaster, sickness, or death. 
 The supreme object of Christ's mission into this 
 orld, was not to proclaim the existence of God, but 
 communicate to mankind correct views of his 
 laracter, government, and purposes. To use tfee, 
 ords of Mr. Clay, I would say that Jesus came " to 
 ake us certain that the works of creation, the inde- 
 ribable vicissitudes of a mortal life ; these strange 
 enes of want, weakness, pain, privation, and disap- 
 )intment are the inscrutable unfoldings, and coun- 
 Is of infinite love — and are working to the pro- 
 iction of results only great and good, only glorious 
 id beneficent." I repeat it, Jesus Christ appeared 
 1 earth to make it certain that God is eternal, infi- 
 te, unchanging life, light, truth, wisdom, power, 
 stice, love, beauty, beneficence, gentleness, tender- 
 )ss, mercy, forgiveness, forbearance, long-suffering, 
 4* 
 
42 EXISTENCE AND ATTEIBUTBS OP GODi 
 
 and compassion — to demonstrate how iimpossible it 
 is for either " death, or hfe, or angels,- c^principali- 
 ties, or powers, or things present, or things to come, 
 or height, or depth, or any other creature, (any finite ' 
 being, law, or influence), or any amount of guilt, 
 finally and forever to separate us from the love, and 
 presence of that Father, who created us that, through 
 an immortal being, we might approximate nearer, 
 and nearer to the standard of his boundless perfec- 
 tions. 
 
 It is self-evident, that the Creator is alone res^pon- 
 sible for the ultimate results and consequences of 
 what he has been pleased to create. He could no 
 more share this responsibility with others, lian he 
 could share with another the original act of creating. 
 We cannot ascribe to the Almighty one more flagrant 
 injustice and folly, than to suppose he has created a 
 race of beings, on purpose to render them sinful and 
 miserable, or whom he has invested with a free- 
 agency which he cannot control, and make harmoni- 
 ous with the order, beauty, and wisdom of- a perfect 
 universe* No position is more obvious, than that 
 the final, everlasting condition of man must be in 
 accordance with the will of him who is their sole 
 Creator, and only Governor, and is therefore obli- 
 ^ted to take care of them, and make them good 
 and happy. Whatever God wills, or wishes, must 
 be accomplished, because he is the only Potentate, 
 doing his whole pleasure in heaven and earth. 
 
 The single text, "Our Father, who art in heaven: 
 thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for- 
 ever," expresses at it seems to me all the vital, essen- 
 tial doctrines of the Christian system ; the attributes 
 and providence of God ; redemption through his 
 Son; man's strict accountability; the bestowment 
 of forgiveness on all sincere penitents ; the neces- 
 sity of holiness in heart and life ; our common 
 brotherhood, and common destination beyond the 
 
EXISTENCE AND ATTEIBUTES OF GOD. 43 
 
 grave. Mgre of moral and spiritual truth than is 
 conveyed by these words, I suppose we shall not be 
 able to receive, till we become familiar with the 
 objects, wonders, scenery, and dialect of the world 
 eternal. I could quote numerous authorities if 
 there were space, to show that this view has been 
 sanctioned by eminent divines in every age' of the 
 church. That celebrated professor. Dr. Alexander, 
 of Princeton Theological Seminary — (one of the 
 most pious and learned ministers ever known in the 
 United States) — when in a dying hour uttered the 
 following words : " The only thought that now sup- 
 ports me, is the simple teaching of the Gospel, that 
 the Father sent his Son to redeem man from sin, 
 death, and eternal ruin." The peculiar doctrines of 
 that theology to the defence of which his life had 
 been devoted, faded away and were forgotten, as 
 the glories of a higher state of existence were open- 
 ing before his spiritualized, and strengthened vision. 
 Professor Stuart, of Andover, made a similar confes- 
 sion in his last moments. So did Dr. Channing. 
 Indeed,'itis the common sentiment breathed forth by 
 the most sainted disciples, as the cold shadows - of 
 the grave deepen around them, and they are per- 
 mitted to catch some glimpses of that sublime world 
 to which death is the avenue. 4^ 
 
 The doctrine that God is our Father solves the 
 problem of human life. It is a pledge that an infi- 
 nite friend ordains our respective allotments how- 
 ever dark, or sad they may seem to be ; that our 
 whole life, through all its stages and fortunes, its 
 mingled web of events, incidents and vicissitudes ; 
 its alternations of health and sickness, joy and sor- 
 row, prosperity and adversity; and even our sins 
 and foUies will be made the means of an everlasting 
 progress in knowledge, virtue, and bliss. If God is 
 the Father of mankind he cannot help loving them ; 
 he cannot tread upon and sink them into the pit of 
 
44 EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OP GOD. 
 
 ruin, because they are vile, disobedient, /oolish, de- 
 ceived, and debased. To me the most glbrious reve- 
 lation of the Gospel is the certainty, that the Crea- 
 tor cherishes towards the most proud, self-willed, 
 haughty, contemptuous, hard-hearted, reckless, and 
 impenitent sinners, the spirit of inextinguishable 
 mercy and gentleness ; an all-subduing sympathy ; 
 an omnipotent, unchanging love — a love that min- 
 gles with disapprobation of the offence, that pure, ' 
 divine, eternal, triumphant pity which cannot fail in 
 due time to reform and save the offender, however 
 dark, stern, stubborn, and savage may be his char- 
 acter. 
 
 We are told in the sermon on the Mount that God 
 is determined to exercise beneficence in behalf of 
 the erring, just in proportion to their actual necessi- 
 ties — just in proportion to the depth of their fall, 
 wretchedness, and debasement. Throughout the 
 New Testament the doctrine is inculcated, that no 
 soul can become so utterly corrupt and steeped in 
 iniquity as to be beyond the reach of recuperation ; 
 that redeeming mercy through Jesus will, some time 
 or other, enable all sinners to be emancipated from 
 their guilt, weakness, and mortality, to enter upon 
 a higher, and nobler existence — an existence vast 
 ^ their wishes, permanent as their being, and bind- 
 ing them to the throne of the eternal with ties that 
 can never be dissolved. No persons can receive 
 this Bublime faith without becoming holy and happy, 
 and nothing else can make them so. Yes, let the most 
 ignorant and erring be brought fully to believe that 
 God looks on them with an infinite love ; that he is 
 doing all in his power to secure their highest good ; 
 that it is as impossible for him to allow them to be 
 destroyed forever, as it would be to -annihilate him- 
 self, or the universe over which he presides; and 
 that moment they would begin to cherish genuine 
 piety ; become enamored of the charms of virtue ; 
 
EXISTEHCB AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 45 
 
 cease to indulge and obey the body ; be freed fi'om 
 all painful doubts, distracting fears, guilty and dis- 
 honorable passions ; enter into a union of love with 
 all mankind ; and realizing and adoring the Su- 
 preme Intelligence that directs the beautiliil though 
 evanescent scenes of this mortal state, they would 
 have no fears of being crushed out by the forces of 
 time, nature, death, or the grave, but be soothed and 
 sustained by an immovable assurance that they were 
 made to explore through eternity, with ever increas- 
 ing delight, the wonders of their Creator — the won- 
 ders of his vast, boundless, and magnificent empire. 
 
 They who hold that God can overlook, forget, 
 hate, despise, or consign to hopeless ruin one of his 
 own creatures, do not understand the peculiar glory 
 and attributes of that Father, whom Christ has re- 
 vealed for our hope and encouragement.. To me it 
 is plain, that it is just the same thing for God to 
 destroy his children by a direct influence of his own, 
 as to permit them to destroy themselves. It would 
 be utterly impossible for me to adore and reverence 
 a Creator who could even expose me — render me 
 liable to a pain or evil from which no benefit could 
 possibly accrue to myself or others. 
 
 Let me believe that all the creatures whom God 
 has made are the objects of his continual, and merci' 
 ful care ; tiat the entire universe is embosomed in 
 his infinite goodness ; and that all the evil and suf- 
 fering around and within me are overruled by him, 
 and made, the means indispensably necessary to the 
 greatest good. Let me believe that not a breath of 
 air moves ; not a withered leaf falls to the ground ; 
 not a single pang is endured ; not a sin is commit- 
 ted ; not the most inconsiderable thing occurs with- 
 out the permission, knowledge and appointment of 
 our Heavenly Father. Let me believe that^^ every 
 moral agent, whether good or bad, whether just or 
 unjust, has an Almighty Friend, who is ever present 
 
46 EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 
 
 with him, who never for a moment remits his love, 
 who is continually directing upon him the eye of 
 omniscience, and the care of unerring wisdom — 
 who cannot be deceived as to his real interests, and 
 is infinitely disposed, and able to promote those 
 interests, and will do so through endless ages ; then, 
 and not till then shall I have the power to form 
 some faint, shadowy, and distant conceptions of that 
 exalted character ascribed to the Supreme Parent in 
 the teachings of the New Testament. Standing on 
 the lofty pinnacle of such a faith, I look out upon a 
 boundless prospect. The glories and distinctions of 
 earth vanish. Its evils let go their grasp on nay 
 mind. I am emancipated from their thraldom. 
 Sources of joy are opened in my soul such as an- 
 gels have — a joy calm, gentle, serene, placid, and 
 immovable. With patience and cheerfulness I sub- 
 mit to my allotments however humble and trying. 
 In one scale of the balance I put the events and ex- 
 periences of this transitory life, in the other that 
 exceeding weight of glory, which is to be continu- 
 ally expanding through eternal ages. Every day I 
 resist and renounce the false, and triumphing over 
 the vile, sordid and selfish, rise in those higher 
 attainments of wisdom and worth which will cross 
 the grave, and ever grow more beauteous amid the 
 scenes, and experiences of immortality. 
 
 Science has discovered a law by virtue of which 
 every particle of matter in the universe gravitates 
 towards every other ; every mass, however large, is 
 attracted by every particle however small : and this 
 law keeps all the heavenly bodies in their proper 
 orbits as they revolve in everlasting space, and 
 makes a happy, orderly, harmonious creation. ". The 
 sun attracts the waters of the earth ; and if it be 
 those of the stagnant pool, foul with the contagion 
 of death, the very process .of its attractions so puri- 
 fies them, that when they fall in dew or rain upon 
 
EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OP GOD. 47 
 
 the flowers and grass,; they become pure as the fra- 
 grant bosom of the rose itself. So the moral govern- 
 ment of God attracts, and wins, and will eventually 
 purify all his intelligent creatures by the silent, life- 
 giving, resistless influences of his Holy Spirit. 
 
 " The sun cannot be made to repel the waters of 
 the earth. To render this possible, its present 
 nature must be destroyed, and an opposite one 
 given to it. So God can never repel the souls that 
 have been made by him, of him, and for him. To 
 do so, the law of his nature must be completely, 
 changed, and attributes antagonistic to those which 
 he now possesses be placed on the throne of univer- 
 sal empire. Wherever there are worlds visible or 
 invisible, God created them, with ah which they 
 contain. Whatever worlds God has created, he 
 governs ; and whatever he governs he must attract, 
 purify, and make obedient to his will ; and the very 
 process by which they are upheld and directed, will 
 * bring theni into a oneness with the spirit of their 
 Author. God could not uphold the wicked forever 
 without making them good. The very act of sus- 
 taining them in existence must produce finally their 
 sanctification. 
 
 " Banishment, then, from the presence of God, who 
 created all accountable beings of himself, and for 
 himself, and maintains them in life, and blesses them 
 only because he loves them, whether here or here- 
 after, is a moral impossibility. How can the Creator 
 banish the spirits that are the out-growths of him- 
 self? How can his nature, law, or government 
 repel them ? They may try with all their power to 
 forsake God, and cast off allegiance to him, but as a 
 particle of dust must, of necessity, always feel the 
 law of gravitation binding it to the great whole, so 
 by virtue of an immutable law, all moral beings must 
 be foreyer drawn towards divine purity and godli- 
 ness, here and hereafter, in all worlds visible, or 
 
48 EXISTENCE AND ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 
 
 invisible, mortal and immortal, so long as God is 
 God — so long as he sustains to intelligent oreatures 
 the relation of their intelligent Creator." 
 
 This, then, is the sum of our Saviour's teaching 
 with respect to the fatherhood of God. Because he 
 is the universal Father of the children of men, it is 
 impossible that he should allow them to perish ever- 
 lastingly. Natural reason and religion proclaim the 
 existenc© of a great First Cause. They teach his 
 universal government and providence. But they do 
 not inform us definitely what are his feelings towards 
 sinners; for what purpose they were created, nor 
 what disposition will finally be made of them. Here 
 the parable of the Prodigal Son, and other discourses 
 of Jesus come to our aid and teach us that sinners 
 are as precious in the sight of God as those pure 
 immaculate spiritg. before the throne; who have never 
 transgressed ; and that they are bound to him by 
 the ties of an incomprehensible, almighty love — a 
 love that can never change, waver, tire, or fail — 
 never intermit ■ for a moment its depth, fervor, 
 strength, or tenderness — a love which sent forth 
 the Son of God to seek and save every son and 
 daughter of Adam, and confer on them the blessing! 
 of everlasting life. " Thanks be unto God for his 
 unspeakable gift ! For God hath concluded all in 
 unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. the 
 depth of the riches both of the wisdom and kndwl- 
 edge of God ! How unsearchable are his judgments 
 and his ways past finding out ! For who hath 
 known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his 
 counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it 
 shall be recompensed unto him again ? For of him, 
 and through him, and to him are all things: to whom 
 be glory forever. Amen." '. 
 
• CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE BIBLE. 
 
 , In this cliapter I shall endeavor to give a aumma- 
 ry of the views which I hav§ formed concerning the 
 authority, usefulness, and inspiration of the Sacred 
 Writings. It is the peculiar glory, of man that the 
 Creator has made him capable of endless improve- 
 ment in knowledge, moral excellence, and happiness. 
 "And it is the distinguishing privilege of those who 
 dwell in this land of freedom, that they enjoy in the 
 greatest variety and exuberance, the means of intel- 
 lectual and spiritual growth. Among these means, 
 b<)oks hold if not the very first, at least a very im- 
 portant and prominent place. 
 
 Our Savffur enjoins upon us an habitual, syste- 
 matic, thorough, most attentive perusal of God's 
 Word. " Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye 
 think ye have eternal life." In the original the word 
 rendered "search" means to examine, to scrutinize a 
 subject with the utmost diligence, impartiality, and 
 carefulness. Now, it may be asked, what is the use of 
 reading the Bible in such an attentive, and discrimi- 
 nating spirit ? Can it afford any help as to our tem- 
 po^ral affairs? "Can it shed a light to facilitate' the 
 progress of the jnerchant, banker, agriculturist, 
 physician, lawyer, statesman, artist or any other class 
 of mankind, in their respective schemes, and en- 
 5 
 
50 THE BIBLE. 
 
 deavors to obtain the temporal advantages of inda-. 
 pendence, wealth, luxury, learning^: power, or ag- 
 grandizement ? These questions have often been 
 propounded to me by the most sincere and honorable 
 inquirers after truth. Let me, if possible, give theip 
 a fair, and candid answer. j 
 
 The claims of any volume whatever to a thor- 
 ough perusal depend entirely on its~character. The 
 reading of a bad book may do us unspeakable hurt ; 
 may corrupt our hearts, and our lives. Quintilian, 
 one of the most distinguished educatprs of his time, 
 remarks, that " in the training of youth, no object 
 has appeared more important to wise men of every 
 age than to excite in them an early, deap, and strong 
 relish for useful reading. Prom this, to the dis- 
 charge of the higher and more important duties of, 
 life, the transition is easy and natifral. Of those 
 minds which have this elegant and liberal turn, the 
 most pleasing hopes may be entertained. On the 
 contrary, insensibility to the charms of literature 
 may justly be considered a bad symptom in the 
 young, and supposes them inclined to grovel and 
 lose themselves in low, vulgar, and debasing gratifi- 
 cations, or at the best, to drudge through the world, 
 engaged only in the ordinary, common, and least en- 
 nobling pursuits of life." Beautiful extract 1 
 
 A good book on any science, an historical work 
 ably composed, a treatise on philosophy, as well -as 
 the pages of poetry, eloquence and fiction; the 
 newspaper, the periodical and lighter forms of liter- 
 ature^ continually exhibit in a greater or less de-^ 
 gree, those thrilling sentiments and lofty examples, 
 whose natural effect is to nourish in our souls a gen-' 
 erous spirit ; love of true glory ; contempt of what- 
 ever is mean, base, and wicked, and admiration for 
 every thing really great' noble, and illustrious. Yes, 
 the habitual reading of such productions, by an 
 almost imperceptible, unconscious influence dilates 
 
THE BIBIiE. 51 
 
 a man ; lifts him upward ; makes him better and hap- 
 pier. Literature has been called the handmaid of 
 religion, whose office is to dress her charms, and 
 make them more beloved. It illustrates and adorns 
 spiritual truth, adding immensely to its attractions, 
 and to the clearness and power of its communications. 
 Who has not often heard the sublimest doctrines, to 
 a degree, lowered, and deformed by beiflg expressed 
 in a coarse, arid sloTenly style, and delivered with- 
 out beauty and appropriateness of elocution ? 
 
 It is worthy of notice, that our Saviour rests the 
 duty of reading the Scriptures on this identical basis 
 -^ its tendency to elevate, refine and spiritualize the 
 mind. Let me repeat the following paraphrase of 
 his words. " Make yourselves well acquainted with 
 the Bible. Such an acquaintance will enrich your 
 intellects with the trea8^;ires of heavenly wisdom, 
 open and purify your consciences, improve your good 
 affections, exalt your aims, rectify your taste, enno- 
 ble your character and lives. It can tell you who 
 God is; what he intends to do with you; why you 
 have been created ; what is your eternal destination. 
 It can free you from all distracting doubts, and 
 gloomy apprehensions about a future state ; subdue 
 your depraved, boisterous, ungoverned passions, and 
 fiU your bosoms with the tranquilizing influences of 
 a hope which sti»tchlng beyond the horizon of time, 
 lays hold of an iiiheritance incorruptible, undefiled, 
 and unfading." For all these rich blessings are 
 comprehended! in the New Testament phrase "eter- 
 nal life." 
 
 What a wonderfiil invention is a book! It takes 
 the precedence of all other means of mental im- 
 provement, though famiharity has made us almost 
 blind to its pre-eminent and distinguishing glories. 
 If I may be allowed the metaphor, it is a machine 
 by which we can embody the invisible, etherial ex- 
 ercises of the humaa' soul, and set them up like an 
 
52 THE BIBLE. 
 
 outward, unwasting monument of marble or braSs, to 
 be gazed upon, analyzed, admired, and followed, as 
 our refuge, guardian and guide on the journey of 
 life. Yes, it is a material instrument by which true 
 thoughts and noble feelings may be preserved, and 
 transfused from soul to soul, from parent to child, 
 from preceptor to pupils, from friend to friend, and 
 from age to age. In this way the rich and con- 
 stantly accumulating wisdom of the world is laid up 
 as in a magazine, an immense, inexhaustible store- 
 house for the benefit of all mankind. Each who 
 chooses can take from this common stock, what- 
 ever is wanted to feed, and nourish his intellectual 
 and moral nature. When I read the Bible, what a 
 long train of saints, prophets and sages, come forth 
 from the dim mists of an antiquity, reaching back at 
 least thirty-five hundred years, to communicate to 
 me the noblest thoughts which have ever been ex- 
 pressed concerning God, man, nature, time, the 
 charms of moral excellence, and the destinies which 
 await us in a future state. 
 
 Considered merely as a human .composition, the 
 Bible is unquestionably the most interesting book 
 on earth. ■ The illustrious Sir William Jones (a more 
 competent judge never lived) says, "I have care- 
 fully and habitually perused the Scriptures, and am 
 of opinion that this volume, indepentlent of its divine 
 origin, contains more grandeur, purer morality, more 
 importiant history, and finer strains of eloquence, 
 than can be collected from all other books in what- 
 ever language they may have been written." I once 
 heard Dr. Dwight, of Yale College say, "If the 
 Bible had no divinity, if it were simply the creation 
 of superior, uninspired genius, even then it would 
 be better worth reading than any other volume with- 
 in our reach." 
 
 History is a source of invaluable knowledge. It 
 spreads before us the prominent facts and events 
 
THE BIBLE. 53 
 
 which have occurred in distant times and lands ;; it 
 introduces us to the most eminent characters that 
 have lived, and enables us, as from a lofty mountain, 
 to take a comprehensive view of the general course 
 of human affairs. Now the Bible is the oldest classic 
 in human literature. It travels over forty, or fifty, 
 perhaps sixty centuries of man's eventful story. In 
 it as a mirrdr, we behold the origin, advancements, 
 and retrogressions of states, and nations from the be- 
 ginning. It presents a beautiful panorama of the 
 rise and fell, fates and fortunes, opinions and cus- 
 toms, manners and erudition, religion and philosophy, 
 arts and government^ which belonged to the genera- 
 tions that have acted their parts before us on the 
 theatre of mortality, and have passed into that world 
 from whose bourne no traveller returns. Destroy 
 this book, and the most brilliant Jights of history 
 would be extinguiahed, and it would be* impossible 
 for us to form a correct, connected, and cheering 
 view of Divine Providence. 
 
 Scripture gives us the most pure and lofty ideas 
 of moral -beauty.- And were there no other use in 
 the writings of the Old and New Testament, thaii 
 the clear, striking principles of ethical science which 
 they reveal, this would justify the most extravagant 
 encomiums which have been bestowed on them by 
 Christian theologians and philosophers. The com- 
 pass, grandeur, and refinement of the delineations 
 which they have recorded on this theme, strike my 
 mind as divine, wonderful, and superhuman. All 
 the inspired writers, from Genesis to the Apocalypse 
 concur in telling us that the essence of virtue is a 
 deep, intense, absorbing and disinterested love. In 
 this they place the highest good of man, and the 
 intelligent universe. One might be inclined to ask, 
 in what consists the superlative wisdom of this doc- 
 trine ? I reply, in its truth, its simplicity, its all-sub- 
 duing power ; and especially the fiicf that it repre- 
 
54" THE BIBLE. 
 
 sents evangelical holiness to be within the reach of 
 every man, whether high or low, learned or un- 
 learned, rich or poor, Pagan or Christian, Jew or 
 Mahometan. If true morality depended on rare 'and 
 difficult attainments, accessible to only the erudite, 
 and philosophical few, then all could no more acquire 
 it, than all could draw the highest prize in a lottery. 
 But the faculty of loving others sincerdy is a univer- 
 sal endowment of the human mind, as much so as 
 speech, reason, memory, hope, fear, love of pleasure, 
 or aversion to pain. 
 
 Another fact is worthy of notice ; all the inspired 
 writers from Moses to St. John, give us the same 
 definition of virtue, or morality. It seems to me, 
 that such a harmony can b£_axfilaine£Liialy by sup^ 
 posing that they derived their ideas from a common 
 source ^divine inspiration. For these authors were 
 characterized by all possible diversities of age, 
 genius, culture, tastes, pursuits, cuietoms, manners, 
 and allotments in life. Further, they were so separ 
 rated by time and place, that it was not in their 
 power to have conspired together to palm upon the 
 world'a fabulous system of ethics. When we exam- 
 ine heathen moralists, j)riests, and philosophers, run- 
 ning on the same parallel of history, it is almost 
 impossible to find any two authors entirely unani- 
 mous on *this subject. In general they present to 
 our view, a gross, unlovely, confused, discordant, 
 self-contradictory, and chaotic mass of conceits and 
 speculations. The most enlightened writers of 
 Greece and Rome, sanctioned many moral princi- 
 ples and practices which are repudiated by all Chris- 
 tian nations as corrupt, and abominable. " But the 
 morality of the Bible has stood the scrutiny of 
 ages ; and in proportion as men's moral sentiments 
 have been re^ed, its beauty has been more seen 
 and felt. To'suppose it invented, is to suppose that 
 its authors outstripping their age, had attained to a 
 
THE BIBLE, 55 
 
 singular delicacy and elevation of moral perception 
 and feeling. But these attainments are not recon- 
 cilable with the character of its aiithors, supposing 
 it to be a fiction ; that is, with the character of ha- 
 bitual liars, and deliberate, impious deceivers." 
 
 The celebrated Rosseau, who is usually classed 
 among Deists, asserts that the only perfect character 
 which can be found in human literaftiire, is that of 
 the Son of God as delineated in the Gkjspels. Accord- 
 ing to his statement, it is radiant with every form 
 of intellectual and moral excellence, which man can 
 possess, or conceive of. " If Socrates lived and died 
 like a philosopher, Jesus Christ lived and died like 
 a God." Take his life as a whole, there is nothing 
 in it defective — nothing wanting, and nothing su- 
 perfluous ; yet, this character was neither understood 
 nor admired by the great men of antiquity, either 
 of Jewish or Gentile origin. Judged of by their 
 standards it had» neither grandeur, nor comeliness. 
 We are told that wise men, poets, philosophers, and 
 orators, in every age, have understood, and extolled 
 the charms of real goodness. For myself I have 
 never been able to find an author outside of the 
 Bible, existing before the advent of Jesus, or con- 
 temporary with him, whose tfieory of virtue is not 
 essentially erroneous. AU languages, from the re- 
 motest antiquity, that have come to our knowledge, 
 possess indeed words to signify what is just, true, 
 good, and immaculate. Yes, from the beginning, cer- 
 tain persons have been called moral, pure, righteous, 
 and honorable, in every community under heaven. 
 But no epic, no poem, no drama, no history, no biog- 
 raphy, except the Bible, as is now universally ac- 
 knowledged, contains even the description of an 
 absolutely perfect man. It is unspeakably impor- 
 tant, that the world shoilld be able to gaze upon 
 the ideal of a person, supremely, trans'bendantly, and 
 completely good. Such an ideal, is enough to 
 
56 THE BIBI/B. 
 
 regenerate mankind, and raise them to millennial 
 glory. 
 
 Rationalists may declaim as much as they please 
 concerning certain incongruities, and imperfections 
 discoverable in the life of Jesus as drawn in the 
 Gospels ; yet, as I think, no candid, unprejudiced, 
 well-informed man, can read the New Testameni 
 for himself, without the most decided, overwhelming 
 conviction, that the character of the Son of God as 
 therein • portrayed, shines with all the enrapturing 
 and diversified charms of moral excellence. I have 
 studied this book daily, and with all the discriminai 
 tion in my power for the last forty years. Repeat- 
 edly, have 1 read through the evangelists to see if 
 I could not detect some flaw, inconsistency, or short- 
 coming in the narratives which they have given of 
 _the sayings and doings of Jesus — narratives open, 
 frank, simple, natural, unlabored, unostentatious, and 
 bearing all the marks which critics say invariably 
 distinguish truth from fiction. I have looked at the 
 criticisms of Strauss, Newman, Theodore Parker, and 
 others of the same school, in relation to this topic, 
 and were my salvation dependent on doing so, I 
 could not name a single defect, fault, weakness, or 
 deformity — a single item of the incongruous, die- 
 proportioned, unsuitable, or imperfect in the life and 
 character of the author of our religion. "On the 
 contrary, throughout all the circumstances of un- 
 paralleled tria,ls, perplexities, and temptations, he 
 never, for a moment, loses his identity: always shows 
 the same great and extraordinary mind acting in har- 
 mony with itself, always displays those moral beau- 
 ties which command the unqualified admiration of 
 the world ; and which the illiterate Jews who wrote 
 the Gospels, could no more have invented, than the 
 most uncultivated savage in the forests of America 
 could have cooBaposed the Hebrew Scriptures, or 
 Homer's Iliad, or Newton's Principia ! 
 
THE BIBLE. 67 
 
 Suppose a distinguished author of our own or 
 some foreign land, should this year publish a novel, 
 containing a simple, natural, beautiful picture of 
 some tried, suffering, tempted man, who never in a 
 single instance yielded to a base, sinful indulgence, 
 who was always, and only noble and virtuous in 
 thought, word and deed — always upright, unsullied, 
 true, faithful, self-sacrificing, and disinterested in his 
 principles and conduct. Let the literature of the 
 book possess the highest order of attractions. Let 
 not one low, improper, unhallowed thought, or feel- 
 ing pollute its fascinating pages. And, especially, 
 let its hero be exhibited to us not by words and 
 epithets only, but by setting him before us in the 
 various scenes and acts of a remarkable, and glorious 
 life. Let him speak, and act with perfect wisdonr, 
 propriety and loveliness in the several relations of 
 childhood, youth and maturity — the relations of son, 
 brother, parent, friend, neighbor, fellow-citizen, pat- 
 riot, saint, martyr, and philanthropist, — ever display- 
 ing that unblemished excellence which commands 
 universal admiration, and embraces the chief welfare 
 and exaltation of humanity. Would not such a work 
 be undoubtedly popular ? Would it not give pleasure 
 to all classes, high and low, learned and unlearned ? 
 Would it not interest the imagination and touch the 
 heart and ennoble the life of every person who pe- 
 rused, understood, and appreciated its consummate, 
 ineffable beauties ? Could any mind form a just es- 
 timate of the value of such a composition ? - It would 
 do more to promote the happiness of a people, than 
 inexhaustible treasures of silver and gold. 
 
 Now the biography of Jesus resembles in essential 
 features, and characteristics, the volume whose ex- 
 istence I have imagined. As to its morahty, it 
 stands alone in the world, and is incomparably supe- 
 rior to that of the loftiest characters described in the 
 pages of uninspired literature. The habitual perusal 
 
58 THE BIBLE. 
 
 of it opens the highest and noblest sources of enjoy- 
 ment, sanctifies the heart and the life, and present* 
 the strongest inducements to enter upon that coura& 
 of improvement here, which is to run on brighteaing 
 in glory and bliss, through the ages of eternity. No 
 one can habitually read the evangelists, without 
 loving and confiding in Jesus Christ; without making 
 his spotless character, and heavenly life, the model 
 of his own ; without becoming inspired with those 
 principles and hopes which fortify the soul agaanst 
 the assaults of external evils, — the vicissitudes of 
 time, and nature ; the terrors of sickness, want, pain, 
 persecution, death, and those gloomy anticipati«Mis 
 of future woe that embitter the souls of the weak, 
 ignorant, superstitious, and unbelieving. ! who 
 can believe that such a moraUty as is exemplified in 
 the life of Jesus, emanated from the most ignorant, J 
 debased, and wicked persons that have ever disgracedlis 
 the name of man ? The vilest, coarsest, most vulgar 
 imposters, deceivers, and hypocrites? Could such 
 persons have invented Christ ? No more than they 
 could have invented sun, moon, and stars. Let us 
 be consistent and acknowledge then, that the Christ 
 of the Gospels is an effect of which the only adequate 
 cause is G-od. As Rosseau says, to suppose the New 
 Testament false, is to admit what is infinitely more 
 incredible, than any thing which is implied in the 
 proposition, that it is true and divine. 
 
 Once more, the Bible sheds more light on the sub- 
 jects of political science than all the other books 
 I have seen. Twenty years ago. Dr. Spring of New 
 York, published some lectures, to illustrate the obli- 
 gations of the world to the Bible. Among other 
 things he endeavors to prove a doctrine, which 
 Madame De Stael has asserted in her " Influence of 
 lAterature," that had it not been for the introduction^ 
 of Christianity, all nations, long ere this, would have 
 relapsed into utter barbarism. In his judgment, to 
 
THE BIBLE. 59 
 
 this book -we are indebted for all the Bciences, arts, 
 inventions, institutes, advantages, and refinements 
 of our present civilization. He affirms that the per- 
 sonal, s^ocial, and political rights of man, are much 
 better defined, and laid down by Moses and Jesus, 
 than by any uninspired writers of either ancient or 
 modern times. The Declaration of American Inde- 
 pendenGe, which is the basis of all our free institu- 
 tions was derived from the preaching of Jesus, who 
 solemnly and repeatedly declares, that all mankind 
 are children of the same Heavenly Father, and are 
 under imperative obligations to obey the rule of life 
 expressed in the following text: "Therefore all 
 things whatsoever ye would that men should do to 
 you, do ye even so to them ; for this is the law and 
 the prophets." 
 
 " Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," 
 is the teaching of Jesus. One of the most un- 
 founded objections to Christianity that has ever 
 been made is that it is designed, and adapted to sub- 
 ject the many to the few. So far from this, it is the 
 only religion which honestly and effectually consults 
 the interests of all mankind, without distinction. It 
 is the only religion by which the poor can defend 
 their rights, and resist the encroachments of the 
 proud and oppressive. " The cultivated heathen," 
 safs Tholuck, "were offended at Christianity precise- 
 ly for this reason, that the higher classes could no 
 longer ha.ve precedence of the common people." 
 Montesquieu wrote the following sentence : " Chris- 
 tianity is a stranger to despotic power." " The reli- 
 gion," says De Tocqueville, " ^vhich declares that all 
 are equal in the sight of God, will not refuse to ac- 
 knowledge that all citizens are equal in the eye of 
 the law." The Abbe de la Mennais, one of the most 
 powerful minds in Europe, though a Deist, speaks 
 of the Author of Christianity, as the Great Bepuhli 
 can of his age. The late DeWitt Clinton, of New 
 
•J 
 
 60 THE BIBLE. 
 
 York, in a public address, once uttered the following 
 words : '-Christianity in its essence, its doctrines, and 
 its 'forms is, strictly- speaking, republican. It incul- 
 cates the natural equality of mankind ; and it points 
 to our common origin, and our end, to our nativity 
 and our graves, and to our immortal destinies beyond 
 the grave as illustrations of this impressive truth." 
 The late President Pierce has said : " Although in 
 our political institutions there is no union of Church 
 and State, yet the religion of our divine Saviour is 
 not the less an all-pervading principle of the laws, 
 the sentiments, the moral and social existence of the 
 people of the United States. The Christian religion 
 animates our nationality; it is the true spirit of 
 good government ; it is the characteristic and pecu- 
 liar quality of modern civilization ; it is the noble 
 bond of connection, which, by community of reli- 
 gious connections, attaches together, and elevates 
 into relative superiority of intelligence and power, 
 the sovereign States of Europe and America. And 
 whenever Christianity diifuses itself among all the 
 nations of the earth, it goes to be the herald of civ- 
 ilization, as well as to point out the way of everlast- 
 ing life." Quotations of a similar import might be 
 indefinitely extended. 
 
 For myself I believe that the principles and prac- 
 tice of revealed religion are indispensably necessary 
 to perpetuate the existence, peace, welfare, happi- 
 ness, and temporal prosperity of any nation. In all 
 printed works on political science, either of olden or 
 later date, the position is assumed, that a perfectly 
 good government faitkfuUy administered, furnishes 
 ample means for preserving, and promoting the wel- 
 fare of communities, states, and empires. In my 
 humble judgment, this sentiment is an error, which 
 has a most inauspicious bearing on the social inter- 
 ests of mankind. Let us reflect, that a civil govern-- 
 ment, under the most favorable circumstances, is"^ 
 
THE BIBLE. 61 
 
 Bothing but a system of external means or instru- 
 mentalities, designed to prevent and suppress the 
 commission of actions, which in the view of said 
 government are detrimental to the public good. 
 Reflect, again, that mental philosophers and divines, 
 of every name, agree in admitting, that the outward 
 conduct of men is invariably the consequence or 
 efiect of their leading, predominant desires and pas- 
 sions. As by an inevitable necessity water drowns, 
 fire burns, cold freezes, poison kills, and rivers de- 
 scend, so a man's external life is unavoidably deter- 
 mined by the strongest thoughts and feelings of his 
 soul. It is impossible, therefore, to control the 
 social conduct of men, except by means which have 
 power to reach and determine the dictates of their 
 hearts or predominant affections. Legislators are 
 just as unable to direct the wild, boisterous passions 
 of the human soul as they are to govern Arcturus, 
 Orion, or Pleiades. A perfect system of civil law 
 could no more suppress immoral actions, than it 
 could extinguish a volcano, or keep the tides from 
 fl.owing and ebbing. Solemn, melancholy fact ! 
 
 In addition, there is a multitude of actions that 
 operate injuriously, which no civil government can 
 so much as attempt to prohibit and suppress. For 
 example, ingratitude to parents, crueltgffo children, 
 intemperance, innumerable forms of fraud, oppres- 
 sion, falsehood, and injustice, in defiance of the 
 restraining power of law, may become so prevalent 
 and aggravated in a community, as toi cause its utter 
 remediless destruction. 
 
 Once more, civil government must ever be unable 
 to detect and punish, a large proportion of those 
 offences which it presumes to define, and condemn. 
 Why? Because it is not possessed of the attri- 
 butes of omnipresence, and omniscience. Legisla- 
 tive enactment can exercise no protection over our 
 rights, persons, and property, any further than its 
 6 
 
62 THE BIBLE. 
 
 executive pfflcers have power to distinguish the 
 guilty from the innocent, by legal and conclusive 
 evidence. This power is much more circumscribed 
 than at first sight it may seem to be. It is not prob- 
 able that under the respective governments of the 
 United States for instance, more than one ofi"ence 
 out of a thousand is found out, and dealt with ac- 
 cording to the recjuirements of civil and criminal 
 law. 
 
 But let us proceed a step further. Supposing 
 that every civil offence in any community were de- 
 tected, and rigi(fly punished; even then, the utmost 
 that mere law could do, with all its terrors and pen- 
 alties, would be to erect a temporary, feeble barrier 
 to the egress or commission of crime, in some par- 
 ticular form or way ; or in other words, by law you , 
 may change the mode or fashion of sin, but cannot 
 destroy the principle itself. Imagine every form of 
 that vice called theft in our statute book, now exist- 
 ing in the United States, to be completely destroyed 
 by improvements, or an increased efficiency in our 
 municipal regulations ,• yet, the depraved desire re- 
 maining unextinguished in the bosoms of the people, 
 would invent some new form of commission, not 
 contemplated by the present provisions of our laws. 
 The waters of a river will descend in spite of all the 
 obstructions which may be put in their way; so 
 the dominant passions of the human heart wiU break 
 out into action, in defiance of the prohibitions of 
 human governments. 
 
 Finally, civil law, as an abstract, independent 
 agent, unaccompanied by any concurring influences, 
 tends surely to increase the identical evils it was 
 intended to suppress. An English statesman of dis- 
 tinguished reputation, remarks, that in Great Britain, 
 the laws for centuries past, have been constantly 
 changing, in order to meet the ceaseless modificar 
 tipns of crime. But, he adds, " In proportion as law 
 
THE BIBLE. 63 
 
 has abounded, crime has much more abounded." So 
 it has been in all lands and ages. Just in propor- 
 tion to the refinement and multiplication of law, 
 have been the refinement and multiplication of trans- 
 gression. Vice is a proteus ; it can change itself 
 into any form that may be requisite to meet the 
 ever-varying aspect of external circumstances. 
 
 In the seventh chapter of Romans, similar senti- 
 ments are recorded by the pen of inspiration. It 
 is there affirmed that no system of mere law, how- 
 ever perfected, is able to accomplish the salvation 
 of a community. It is a proverb that children in- 
 dulge an unaccountable propensity to induJge in 
 prohibited actions and amusements. To attempt to 
 enforce upon young persons the observance of the 
 Sabbath by pains and penalties, generally ends in 
 inspiring them with a hatred of this blessed day, 
 and all the collateral ordinances of the Christian 
 system. It is almost universally admitted, that the 
 Maine Liquor Laws, which have been passed of late 
 years, with so much boasting expectation and prom- 
 ise, have signally failed. Intemperance is more 
 rife, and fearful to-day in our loiBd, than it ever was 
 before. Madam Sevigne, a celebrated French lady, 
 on a certain occasion, after drinking when very 
 thirsty a glass of cool water, said, " How delightful 
 would this indulgence be, if it were only unlawful." 
 Passing laws against alcoholic drinks creates an in- 
 tense and unquenchable longing for them. Yet, how 
 many in the plenitude of their wisdom, recommend 
 legislative enactments to prevent the extension of 
 Intemperance and Slavery ! 
 
 The Saviour assures us that the whole of his reli- 
 gion is comprised in one great divine principle — 
 the principle of love. Men are naturally inclined to 
 do what is agreeable to their ruling affections. 
 So long as they dislike religion, no terrors and no 
 punishments can lead them to perform its external 
 
64 THE BIBLE. 
 
 duties even, in a manner acceptable to God. It may- 
 be thought that if these views be correct, our social 
 welfare rests, indeed, upon a very precarious foot- 
 ing. Terrible, to be sure, and hopeless would be 
 our, condition, wf>re there nothing to restrain men 
 from the commission of crime, but the arm of civil 
 government. This agent, solitary — by itself — 
 would not be able to maintain the peace and order 
 of any community a single month ; but as it exists 
 in our world, it is always blended with numerous 
 other influences, which give it an efficiency for 
 good. The effect of pure, unmixed law, as already 
 remarked, tends only to corrupt man and awaken 
 illicit desires. 
 
 In the department of physical nature there are 
 elements, which alone and unmingled, exert a dele- 
 terious effect upon the human system ; but when 
 united with other substances they become pleasant 
 and salubrious. It is weU known that the atmos- 
 phere is composed of two iitgredients, one of which 
 we cannot inhale by itself, without being destroyed ; 
 but mixed with another body, it forms a compound 
 which is the pabulum of life, for the whole animal 
 and vegetable creation. So government, which by 
 itself is a stern, harsh principle, blended with the 
 family influence, the church, the school, the press, 
 the gentle, soft, mild and refining spirit that never 
 entirely abandons humanity however depressed, 
 contributes an important quota towards accomplish- 
 ing the peace, order, and imprqvement of society. 
 
 Some philosophers think that civilization, without 
 the Bible, is sufficient to secure and build up the 
 happiness of a nation. We often hear the sentiment 
 expressed that it is unwise to attempt to Christian- 
 ize the heathen nations, before they become civil- 
 ized, as if civilization of itself were, by necessity, a 
 moralizing process. Every one admits the superi- 
 ority in many respects, of cultivated above barbai^ 
 
THE BIBLE. 65 
 
 ous communities. Civilization, if I may be allowed, 
 the figure, builds our houses, provides our tables, and 
 wardrobes, makes our streets, roads, bridges, and 
 vessels, and throws around us, in their innumerable 
 forms, the material comforts, luxuries and accommo- 
 dations of life. It removes from the exterior of 
 man, those rude, vulgar, disgusting habits and man- 
 ners that characterize savages. But the same re- 
 marks which were made concerning the peculiar 
 and exclusive influence of government, are also ap- 
 plicable to the agent of which we are now speaking. 
 It cannot reach and control those passions of the 
 heart, whence aU human conduct emanates. Sup- 
 pose every man in a particular community to be a 
 perfect gentleman in outward deportment, and every 
 woman completely refined in external appearance, 
 and manners. Suppose that we all lived in palaces 
 of splendor, with the resources of a boundless wealth 
 flowing around us, having nothing to do but spend 
 our time amid smiles and gaiety, the forms of ele- 
 gance and fashion, the charms of music,' letters, and 
 voluptuousness. Even then, it is plain that our 
 hearts might be given up to tb© unrestrained grati- 
 fication of pernicious appetites and passions. In 
 the sight of God, we might be corrupt and unprin- 
 cipled, selfish and hard-hearted, and at the same 
 time display to the eyes of man, an outside smooth 
 as a marble statue wrought into the expressions and 
 harmonies of the human form divine. 
 
 All admit that the laws of the highest civilization 
 may be directly antagonistic to the requirements of 
 a lofty - and unbending rectitude. They in reality 
 tolerate aU actions which bear the stamp of fashion 
 
 of the best and most established usage. Fashit)n 
 
 erects her altar, and its votaries fall down before it, 
 with a blind, implicit, and unscrupulous homage. 
 They would rather break every command of the 
 decalogue than be regarded as vulgar, coarse, inele- 
 6* 
 
66 TBE BIBLE. 
 
 gant — the stupid violators of the laws of etiquette. 
 Such persons are as really degraded below every 
 just standard of morality, as the open avowed sen- 
 suaUst and profligate. And if they are not sensual- 
 ists and profligates in truth, it is simply because 
 licentiousness does not happen to be the reigning 
 folly of the place where they live. But abstract 
 arguments are not needed to settle this matter. 
 
 Let me present one item of instruction touching 
 this theme, derived from the pages of authentic his^ 
 tory. It is well known, that Athens, in the time of 
 Pericles, had reached the acme of civilization. In 
 this particular she has never been surpassed by any 
 nation before or since. There the genius of beauty, 
 descending fresh from heaven, imparted to her en- 
 thusiastic admirers, the tastes arid habits of inde^ 
 scribable refinement. There political freedom was 
 bom, and hurled defiance, even when in the morning 
 . of life, at the banded hordes of Oriental despotism. 
 There the arts and graces danced around man to 
 protect him from the cold storms of barbarism — 
 filled his hosse with comforts, bordered his path 
 with roses, bound his browsi with laurel wreaths, 
 bade the statue to breathe and the canvass glow 
 with life, built the majestic temple, and erected the 
 mausoleum to throw over his finaj sleep the veil of 
 architectural loveliness. There poets, orators, and 
 scholars displayed powers of intellect and fiuacy 
 which have never been excelled, and will captivate 
 the souls of men till time shall be no more. Now 
 every reading child has learned, that not long after 
 reaching this culminating point, the Athenian State 
 began to decline, and soon sank down, crushed by 
 moral corruptions to be submerged in the abyss of 
 irreparable ruin. Civilization could not save her; 
 and now nothing but desolateness is seen along 
 those ever memorable shores, once thronged with 
 the most gay, enlightened and pohshed inhabitants 
 of the ancient world. 
 
THE BIBLE. 67 
 
 Others have advocated the theory, that the re- 
 moval of ignorance — the universal diffusion and 
 advancement of knowledge are all that is necessary- 
 tot perpetuate the peace and welfare of nations. 
 Everybody is sensible that knowledge is " power of 
 the most efficient and comprehensive kind," and that 
 it can multiply to an indefinite extent the means of 
 temporal prosperity. Witness the railroads, tele- 
 graphs, and other inventions which reflect so much 
 glory on our day. But no amount or variety of 
 learning can renovate and purify the heart — the 
 prolific fountain of all virtues and vices. Mankind 
 have certain necessary wants, which must be sup- 
 plied, in order to secure their happiness this side 
 the grave. They may be classified in the following 
 manner : First, suitable provisions are requisite for 
 their physical sustenance. Secondly, they need 
 knowledge to expand and gratify the intellect. 
 Truth is to the soul,' what food is to the body. 
 Thirdly, they require a good civil government. 
 Fourthly, they cannot get along well here without 
 the ennobling elements of a sound, religious faith. 
 This last mentioned blessing can be derived only 
 from the Bible. 
 
 Let us see what there is in the Bible which ena- 
 bles it to produce such comprehensive and magnified 
 results. In what manner, or by what influences has 
 the Good Book power to supply what always has 
 been, and is still a grand desideratum with all legis- 
 lators, statesmen, divines, and philanthropists, the 
 suppression of social evils by the annihilation of 
 their causes ? On this question I will not take the 
 trouble to offer the speculations of uninspired phi- 
 losophy, but simply state the oft repeated declara- 
 tions of the Son of God in regard to this subject. 
 3y him we are taught that all the practical laws of 
 the Bible are comprised in two leading, prominent 
 affections. First — a heart beating in unison with 
 
68 THE BIBLE. 
 
 that of our heavenly Father — a heart that finds its 
 supreme happiness in communing with him — that 
 is enriched in some humble degree with his own 
 mental and moral splendors — a heart on which the 
 infinite Fountain of all good constantly pours the 
 life-giving influences of his love and presence, as 
 the kindly zephyrs breathe upon and animate the 
 opening buds, blossoms, and beauties of the vernal 
 season-^— a heart enamored of all that is true, good, 
 beautiful and great. Such a heart the Saviour 
 teaches us is the foundation of all genuine moral ex- 
 cellence, and the source of all the highest blessings 
 enjoyed by spirits on earth or in heaven. In the 
 next place, inseparably connected with the above 
 mentioned sentiments towards the Creator, the Chris- 
 tian has a heart beating in unison with his fellow- 
 men, and that prompts him on aU occasions to love 
 a neighbor as himself.* 
 
 The G-ospel finds the natural man wholly absorbed 
 in selfish and sinful pursuits : his own personal in- 
 terest is the object of every movement, and the 
 motive of every action. Jesus puts forth his regen-i 
 erating hand, and immediately the scales fall from 
 his eyes ; he is li^ed out of the horrible pit and 
 mify clay of an ofedurate, degrading selfishness ; he 
 is placed on a higher plane of being ; breathes a 
 mcfre salubrious atmosphere ; treads the sweet, ver- 
 dant fields of an heavenly landscape ; looks out upon 
 the enrapturing, boundless vistas of a godlike and 
 immortal philanthropy. No longer making his in- 
 significant self the undivided object of his care, 
 efforts' and solicitude, he soon learns to regard the 
 whole "pommunity of which he is a member with the 
 pureTintense, divine feelings of fraternal attachment. 
 He deeply realizes that his own interest and welfare 
 are identified with the interests, welfare and happi- 
 ness of his neighbors — that they must fall or rise 
 together. He, therefore, becomes willing to make 
 
THE BIBLE. 69 
 
 great sacrifices, if necessary, to promote the good 
 of those around him, and feels more than compen- 
 sated for these contributions to the public weal, by 
 the I'efluent tide of augmented happiness which 
 flows back upon his own soul in thirty, sixty, or an 
 hundred-fold increase. 
 
 " Self-love forsakes the path it first pursued, 
 And finds the private in the public good. 
 Self-love thus pushed to social, to divine, 
 Gives thee 1o make thy neighbor's blessing thine. 
 Is this too little for thy boundless heart ? 
 Extend it, let thy enemies have part ; 
 Grasp the whole world of reason, life and sense, 
 In one close system of benevolence ; 
 Happier as kinder, in whate'er degree. 
 And height of bliss, but height of charity." 
 
 That process termed by sectarians regeneration, 
 the new birth, conversion, repentance, renewal to holi- 
 ness, (fee, is nothing more than a transition from a 
 state of habitual selfishness to that of disinterested 
 benevolence; from dark, sullen, violent, cniel, un- 
 scrupulous passions, to mildness, meekness, and sub- 
 mission ; from indifference, insensibility, or aversion 
 to God, to the profoundest sentiments of reverence, 
 worship and trust ; from mean, sensual, earthly hab- 
 its to the exercises and aspirations of a spiritual, 
 heaven-derived, and deathless nature. And there is 
 a time in the life of every devoted Christian, when 
 this change takes place ; which is brought about 
 only by the conjoined influence of the Bible, and 
 the Holy Spirit. This last named agent proffers 
 effectual aid to the weakness of human endeavor, in 
 the great enterprise of working out our salvation. 
 
 Eepeatedly does the Son of God affirm, that the 
 essence of true religion is the spirit of love. Now, 
 it is self-evident, that if this affection were the reign- 
 ing, predominant motive in any community, its in- 
 habitants regarding each other with only pure, gen- 
 
70 THE BIBLE. 
 
 erous, expanded Byrapathies, would be incapable of 
 hatredj distrust, envy and uncharitableness. " Love 
 worketh no ill to his neighbor ; therefore love is 
 the fulfilling of the law." For there is no command- 
 ment of Scripture, which is not briefly comprehended 
 in this saying, namely, " Thou shaU love thy neigKbop 
 as thysdf." Gospel love is mild, meek, gentle, mer- 
 ciful, of a forbearing and forgiving temper, inciting 
 to no actions but those which are just, useful, and 
 beneficent. It is plain then, that if love to God, and 
 love to men controlled every individual, every fam- 
 ily, schoolj church, legislature — every class and 
 description of persons in society — then all that is 
 wron^ and licentious in morals, all that is unjust, 
 tyrannical, or oppressive either in private life, or in 
 governmental plans, policies and regulations, would 
 soon flee away from the dftght and hearing of a 
 world's redeemed, emancipated and rejoicing mil- 
 lions. 
 
 Granting the premises, nobody can deny this con- 
 clusion. But will the time ever arrive when people 
 in general wiU be actuated by the principles just 
 mentioned. "What evidence can be adduced that the 
 Bible is adequate to the production of such a glo- 
 rious result ? There is no room here, for a full re- 
 ply to this question. It is admitted that mankind 
 are capable of being pious, and charitable in the 
 sense above explained. It is known from ample and 
 oft repeated experiments, that in communities where 
 the Bible is maintained, taught a,nd revered, there is 
 a degree of order, peace, morality and refinement, 
 never found among those by whom the Scriptures 
 are derided, anathematized and abjured. Besides, 
 Jesus Christ expressly teaches, that the principles 
 of the Gospel will one day be brought to bear on all 
 the complex and multifarious classes and interests of 
 our race — reclaiming the wanderers from rectitude; 
 softening all that are cruel j subduing the rebellious ; 
 
THE BIBLE. 71 
 
 enlightening the ignorant ; expelling injustice, fraud, 
 idleness and impurity from all human habitations ; 
 and infusing into every bosom the sublime disposi- 
 tion to do unto others, whatsoever they would that 
 others should do unto them. 
 
 To my mind, reason and experience furnish ar- 
 guments in support of the doctrine, that our race 
 is constantly urged forward in the career of improve- 
 ment, by laws as irresistible as those which create 
 the flowers and foliage of .each returning spring. 
 Every human mind contains the germ or element of 
 an unUmited progression. The same remark is ap- 
 phcable to civilized societies of every description, 
 however circumscribed or extended be the orbits in 
 which they revolve. The pages of authentic history 
 demonstrate the general advancement of mankind in 
 sound philosophy, knowledge of the useful arts, and 
 the various attainments of social, moral, and spirit- 
 ual excellence. Let the work of reform in govern- 
 ment be carried on with all possible skill and dili- 
 gence. Let education, schools, and literature do 
 their utmost. They all have their appropriate 
 sphere, and are instruments of usefulness which 
 God himself has ordained. But something more 
 than all these combined, is absolutely necessary to 
 perpetuate .and bless the nations — something that 
 is forever beyond the reach of their mightiest and 
 best directed energies. This is the subordination of 
 the human heart with all its dark, wild, wayward, 
 desperate, ungoverned passions to the spirit and 
 laws of Christian philanthropy. A nation may pos- 
 sess boundless resources of physical prosperity, yet, 
 estranged from the guiding, guardian genius of re- 
 vealed religion, as above explained, it will become 
 only a more shining mark for the shafts of destruc- 
 tion, like a gallant ship, the pride and glory of some 
 princely merchant, launched upon the stormy main, 
 and richly freighted, but without compass, rudder, 
 
72 THE BIBLE. 
 
 pilot, star in the sky, or lighthouse on the coast to 
 guide her way through perilous and unknown 
 waters. 
 
 If the Bible is indispensable to national existence 
 and prosperity, no words can exaggerate its worth 
 and importance. To me it seems that one of the 
 greatest errors of the age in which we live, is a dis- 
 position to disparage and undervalue the Sacred 
 Writings. We see its gloomy manifestations in all 
 classes. To say nothing about the philosophers and 
 learned men in general. Christian divines do not, in 
 many cases, appear- to think highly enough of in- 
 spired truth. Theologians have sometimes thrust; 
 the Bible one side, and substituted in its room, 
 works and formularies invented by frail and fallible 
 instructors. Cannot the infinite intelligence com- 
 pose a better book on religion than any uninspired 
 man, or body of men? The scholar in his researches 
 through heaven and earth, fancies that he has made 
 acquirements which cast a dim eclipse upon the 
 lights of revelation. And, even, some teachers of, 
 religion represent the discoveries of Scripture as 
 ■ having become obselete, antiquated and useless. 
 As if it were possible for the world to outgrow the 
 revelations .of Moses and Jesus. The Sacred Vol- 
 ume can no more become obsolete, as^to its spirit, 
 than could the sun, moon, and stars ; the principle 
 of gravitatioUj or the throne of the Supreme Father. 
 The last, chapter of tho' Bible was composed nearly 
 eighteen hundred years ago. Sincctbat time what 
 efforts have been made to annihilate the book? The 
 whole power of man has oftea been engaged in 
 attempts to consummate this work of ruin. By 
 similar zeal, energy, skill, and perseverance, any 
 other book extant might have been struck out of ex- 
 istence. How Bjany thousands of the noblest spirits 
 have laid down their lives in the enterprise of honoi> 
 ing and diffusing the Scriptures ? Where are the 
 
THE BIBLE. 7S 
 
 material professions and glories of earth, which 
 were the objects of man's idolatrous attachment 
 when Rome, or Greece was in its zenith. " Like a 
 baseless pageant," they have faded away. 
 
 But the Bible stiU Hves. To-day it looks forth 
 upon the world, with the same divine, immortal 
 strength and beauty, which it had at first. Prom- 
 that glorious orb, heavenly splendors constantly 
 beam upon our ignorant and unhappy race. The 
 wisest and brightest of mankind rejoice to conse- 
 crate their highest powers to the service of revealed 
 religion. The preservation of the Scriptures is one 
 of the most remarkable and interesting facts in the 
 circumference of human knowledge. They are 
 many centuries older than Homer's Iliad. One 
 army of opponents after another have tried their 
 best to expunge them from the annals of literature. 
 Kings, empires, kingdoms, hierarchies, learning, with 
 eloquence, wealth and fashion, through a long suc- 
 cession of ages, have put forth all their combined 
 efibrts to accomplish their ruin. But in spite of per 
 secution, bars, bolts, fetters, torture and death, 
 shame and hatred, the Bible with unseen, silent, all- 
 subduing energies, has been constantly swaying the 
 human mind, and building therein a spiritual domin- ' 
 ion, which will last long as the universe itself. Yes, 
 in defiance of the numerous and powerful enemies 
 that have plotted its destruction, the Good Book 
 remains immovable, like*sorfle majestic promontory, 
 whose base, through an unknown, incalculable dura- ' 
 tion, has breasted the utmost fury of boisterous 
 waves and tempestuous storms. 
 
 If, then, we are actuated by an enlightened regard 
 to the welfare of ourselves and families ; if we 
 cherish the noble pulsations of patriotic attachment 
 to our glorious republic ; if prompted by Christian 
 philanthrophy, we long to see the burden of a 
 world's wretchedness rolled ofi" into the gulf of ob- 
 7 
 
74" THE BIBLE, 
 
 livion — we shall do all in our power to give a 
 wider diffusion, and greater efficiency to the princi- 
 ples of the inspired volume. For this object it will 
 be our greatest pleasure to live, toil, suffer, and die, 
 if need be. The most dangerous, and hurtful men 
 in society, whatever may be their motives, are those 
 who are emj^oying all their genius, together with 
 the resources of a vast and various erudition to 
 lower, traduce, and disparage the holy Scriptures in 
 the public estimation. Many wise men say that 
 political freedom will be enough of itself to build up 
 and perpetuate the nationaJl^ glory of this Union,! 
 But, is there no ground for indulging gloomy appre? 
 hensions with regard to our ultimate fates and for- 
 tunes ? To be sure, we shall soon be filled with a 
 crowded population, and all the physical advantages 
 required to make a nation great and illustrious in a 
 temporal point of view; but, notwithstanding, if 
 devoid of the genius of true religion, a deadening 
 oj^ression — a moral incubus will settle upon the 
 heart of this mighty republic ; quenching forever 
 its light, life, hope, heroism and happiness. Yes, no 
 matter how high we may soar as to material wealth, 
 luxury and accommodations, without the vitalizing 
 power of Christianity we shall soon expire, andlie 
 down to sleep the sleep of death in the .magnificent 
 mausoleum of departed States, Empires and Repub- 
 lics. 
 
 An heathen poet has said, "No truly good man 
 can be destroyed." This doctrine is inculcated in 
 our Saviour's sermon on the Mount. In the conclu- 
 sion of this discourse he says to his hearers, " Though 
 storms of external distress may sweep over you, 
 though you may suffer the wreck of all terrestrial 
 possessions ; though you may be hated and perse- 
 cuted by the world, yet, possessed of tri^e religion 
 nothing will hurt you. The rains may descend, and 
 the floods may come, and the winds blow and beat , 
 
THE BIBLE. (5 
 
 tipon your house, but it will not fall, because it is 
 founded upon a rock." As to individuals, there is 
 only one real calamity to which they are exposed — 
 that is a mind impoverished, mean, and desolate — a 
 mind filled with the shame, unrest and anguish, in- 
 separable from the indulgence of guilty, dekasing, 
 and unhallowed passions. He whose heart is warmed 
 and replenished by the love of God, is of necessity 
 happy — hapj^ in want — happy in a cabin or a 
 dungeon — happy amidst the heaviest adversities 
 which can possibly cast their dark shadows upon the 
 landscape of human life. The same laws, precisely, 
 are applicable to communities. Sin unrestrained is 
 just as certain to destroy a nation, as an individual. 
 To secure a perpetuity of a nation, every child born 
 therein must enjoy the inestimable benefits of a com- 
 plete, thorough education. It must be delivered 
 from abject, down-trodden, starving, hopeless, and 
 desperate paupers. All its laws must be just, impar- 
 tial and beneficent in their ends, policies, and regti- 
 lations. It must be kept free from the indescribable 
 evils of fraud, falsehood, excessive selfishness, liber- 
 tinisn, gambling, intemperance, and all kindred vices 
 and immoralities. Nothing but the spirit of the 
 Bible seated in the heart of a nation, sending spirit- 
 ual life through all its veins and arteries, actuating, 
 controlling, and subordinating the majority; recti- 
 fying whatever is wrong, arid healing whatever is 
 diseased in the public mind, conduct, and character, 
 can impart to it everlasting union, strength and har- 
 mony, and bind all its component parts together by 
 the indissoluble ties of love, sympathy and benevo- 
 lence. The Bible, if these things are so, is just as 
 necessary to keep a nation alive, as are food, sleep, 
 and air to preserve the life of our bodies. 
 
 When the Hon. Edward Everett was President of 
 Harvard University, it was proposed to exempt from 
 the regular course of studies prescribed in that col- 
 
76 THE BIBLE. 
 
 lege, the Greek and Latin classics ; leaving it op- 
 tional with the students to read them or not. " No," 
 said Mr. Everett, " good literature is one of the most 
 useful instruments that can be employed in the for- 
 mation of a young man's intellectual taste and char- 
 acter. By good literature, I mean the very best 
 thoughts on "any interesting subject, expressed in 
 the most beautiful, impressive and appropriate words. 
 Such a literature we have in the immortal produc- 
 tions just referred to. To youth it is of incalcula^ 
 ble advantage to be early initiated into the beauties 
 and wonders of those ancient writings. We must 
 never allow them to lose their present position in 
 our systems of academical training. We shall sus- 
 tain an immense loss by giving them up." The rea- 
 soning of this distinguished scholar is strictly appli- 
 cable to the inspired books of Scripture. The liter- 
 ature of Job, the Psalms, and Isaiah are as much 
 superior to Homer and Virgil, as heaven is higher 
 than earth. Their loss would be an irreparable 
 calamity. Destroy them and you would take out 
 of our hands the sublimest compositions the world 
 has ever seen, or that ever wfll be read this side 
 the grave. 
 
 " If the Bible be of human origin, it must certainly 
 be regarded as the most wonderful eflFort of created 
 intelligence. That there should be so perfect a 
 book in so early a state of the world ; that no vol- 
 ume, either ancient or modern, though written in 
 the most advanced and cultivated condition of human 
 society, can be compared with this primeval record 
 originating in a compartively rude age, is to my own 
 mind, a facf not easily accounted for on the princi- 
 ples of infidelity. The world is filled with the books 
 that are the product of the mightiest sons of genius; 
 but they are sterile and jejune, deformed and un- 
 gainly, in comparison with the riches of thought, 
 the extent of research, the accuracy, grace and gran- 
 
THE BIBLE. 77 
 
 deur which distinguish the Bible. If it were for 
 nothing but their literary merit, therefore, the Scrip- 
 tures claim the most earnest attention of the young. 
 There is no standard by which the character of liter- 
 ary and scientific men, may be so safely and success- 
 fully formed. The more he reads, the more I am 
 confident an accomplished scholar will study the 
 Bible. There are no finer English scholars than the 
 men educated north of the Tweed. And there are 
 none who, from childhood are so well acquainted 
 with the Scriptures. It has been said that the char- 
 acteristic loit of Scotchmen is attributable to their 
 early and constant familiarity with the Proverbs of 
 Solomon. No well informed man, no well educated 
 family is ignorant of the Bible. We can better 
 afford to part with every other book from our family 
 libraries, our schools and colleges, than this finished 
 production of supernatural genius !" (Dr. Spring.) 
 
 The late Daniel Webster the very winter before 
 his death, when entertaining a small select party of 
 friends at his own table, in the city of Washington, 
 topk the opportunity to expatiate at some length, 
 with respect to his peculiar views concerning the 
 Bible. The Sacred Volume was a favorite theme of 
 remark with this extraordinary man. I once heard 
 the late Dr. Bphraim Peabody, of Kings Chapel, 
 Boston, say that Mr. W., possessed a more profound 
 and critical knowledge of St. Paul's Epistles, than 
 any divine in the whole circle of his acquaintance. 
 And this sort of knowledge contributed much, no 
 doubt, towards those masterly strains of eloquence 
 which will immortalize his name. I rejoice that he 
 expired with the words of Christian prayer on his 
 lips. "Heavenly Father, forgive my sins and re- 
 ceive me to thyself, in that glory where the Son of 
 God lives and reigns forever." Some of his enemies 
 have said this was " acting merely." Impossible ! 
 " Death is an honest hour, and faithful to its trust." 
 7* 
 
78 THE BIBLE. 
 
 No man ever did, no man ever conld play the hf^b- 
 crite in this solemn crisis. JJow delightful to belisTe 
 that his prayer was answered ; that " he still lives ! " 
 How incredible the supposition that such a mind as 
 he had at the period of his departure — enriched to 
 an unsurpassed degree by the various elements of 
 science and learning ; an infinite storehouse of ideas, 
 shedding such a brilliant hght not only throughout 
 the horizon of America, but also, that of all civilized 
 lands — is now no more, cold, lifeless, senseless, 
 thoughtless, passionless — and destined to remain 
 forever 1 
 
 " Who can think that such a one was but the pilgrim of a day, 
 Spouse of the worm, and brother of the clay, 
 Frail as the leaf in autumn's yellow bower^ 
 Dust in the wind, or dew upon the flower ; 
 A friendless slave, a child without a sire, 
 Whose mortal life and momentary fire, ^ 
 Lit to the grave his chance created form, 
 As ocean wrecks illuminate the storm." 
 
 But I am wandering. The name of Mr. Webster 
 was introduced, to quote his authority on the sub- 
 ject of biblical literature, by referring to his conver- 
 sation at the dinner table abave mentioned, as it was 
 related to me by a distinguished gentleman of New 
 Orleans, who was one of his guests on that occasion. 
 Mr. Webster said that he had never read a compo- 
 sition of any age or dialect, so simple, grand and 
 impressive, as the last chapter of Habakkuk. To 
 illustrate the superiority of its literature merely, he 
 narrated the following anecdote : A French skeptic, 
 and a finished scholar, when atheism was all the 
 fashion in Paris, happened one morning as he was 
 rummaging a library, to come across a copy of the 
 Old Testament prophecies in his vernacular tongue. 
 He had never seen the book before ; had never read 
 a syllable of it. In utter ignorance of the true char- 
 acter and history of the volume, opening it at raj>- 
 
THE BIBLE. 79 
 
 dom, his eyes by chance first lit upon this identical 
 portion of Scripture — Habakkuk, 3d chapter. He 
 perused the second and third verses. They ap- 
 peared to his imagination most striking and magnifi- 
 cent. As he went on his admiration rose to the 
 highest pitch, till he was completely transported. 
 Shutting up the book without the remotest idea of 
 its real origin, he hastened away to announce the 
 discovery to some of his companions. "I have 
 found to-day,^' said he, " the most eloquent and re- 
 markable production which I have ever seen." "In- 
 deed" inquired they, " who is the author ? " He 
 replied, " it is one Monsieur H&bakkuk ; " supposing 
 him to have been a French writer. " My taste " con- 
 tinued Mr. W., " is precisely coincident with that of 
 this skeptical philosopher. And, my friends, if we 
 could peruse this page of Sacred Writ, for the first 
 time, this very hour, we should be equally smitten 
 with its simple, divine, and superlative grandeur." 
 
 The great statesman proceeded to say further, " I 
 should like to have a picture of the prophet drawn 
 by a master hand, representing him as standing in 
 the midst of the appalling desolations which he saw 
 in vision ; in a wide desert, once blooming with veg- 
 etable glories, but now stripped of every verdant 
 and living beauty ; and kneeling down at the foot of 
 a tree leafless and bare, its trunk and branches shat- 
 tered by the thunderbolts of heaven, as he is offer- 
 ing up to God the touching ejaculation of the 
 following text: "Although the fig tree shall not 
 blossom ; neither shall fruit be in the vine ; though 
 the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields yield 
 no meat ; though the flocks shall be cut off from the 
 fold, and there shall be no herds in the stall ; yet 
 will I rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of my 
 salvation." 
 
 Our powers of perceiving and relishing the beautiful 
 in some particular writings, are often blunted and im- 
 
80 THE BIBLE. 
 
 paired by familiarity. An object which has no rttfaer 
 merit than that of being new, by this quahty alone 
 makes an agreeable impression on the mind. Objects 
 and ideas with which we have been long intimate, 
 though their intrinsic charms are great and numer- 
 ous, may almost cease to interest us, and scarcely 
 receive our attention. The fine variation of colors 
 shown by the sky, at the rising and setting of the 
 sun, do not appear as striking and attractive to most 
 persons as the pyrotechnic exhibitions of some gala 
 night on a public square. Mankind in general almost 
 need a new sense to enable them to realize the 
 beauty and magnificence of the outward world. So 
 the Sacred Writings though so noble, strike multi- 
 tudes as trite and common-place. Things so familiar 
 fail to arrest their attention. Few ministers possess 
 sufficient genius to infiise that freshnesa and vivid- 
 ness into their descriptions of divine truth, which 
 are requisite to bring out its peculiar features, to 
 point men to its higher beauties, and inspire them 
 with a just admiration for its surpassing harmonies 
 and magnificence. 
 
 Rehgious worship is an inherent, essential, univer- 
 sal want of our nature. Hence in all ages and lands, 
 whether civilized or barbarous, mankind have turned 
 their souls towards some divinity or other ; ofifered 
 worship at its shrine, and invoked its aid and protec- 
 tion in the trials of life and in the agonies of death. 
 Now, it is an unbending, eternal law, that men must 
 resemble, to a certain extent at least, the object of 
 their supreme adoration. If this be great and ex- 
 alted, the worship thereof will tend to expand, refine 
 and ennoble their character and conduct. If it be 
 low, mean, and base, its worshippers will be con- 
 formed to the same degraded standard. No man 
 can be better than the God whom he venerates, hon- 
 ors, and trusts in. Consequently the human heart 
 requires a God worthy of the whole treasure of its 
 
THE BIBLE. 81 
 
 ■■»■ 
 
 love ; " to whom we may consecrate our whole ex- 
 istence ; in approaching whom, we enter an atmos- 
 phere of purity and brightness ; in sympathizing 
 with whom we cherish only noble sentiments, in de- 
 voting ourselves to whom we espouse great and 
 enduring interests, in whose character we find the 
 spring of an ever enlarging philanthrophy, and by 
 attachment to whom, all our other attachments are 
 hallowed, protected and supplied with tender and 
 sublime consolations under bereavement and blighted 
 hope. Such a being is the God of the Bible." 
 (Channijjg.) 
 
 Yes, the Bible is the only book that furnishes us 
 with a sublime object, and rational mode of religious 
 worship. All nations unpossessed of this guide, 
 however cultivated as to arts and sciences, have 
 been idolaters. The greatest curse that man has 
 ever endured is idolatry. What has delivered us 
 from this curse ? AU good and competent judges 
 concur in answering, the Bible has done it. And it 
 was given to the world for this express purpose. 
 Before the superlative grandeur of the infinite One 
 as therein portrayed, the idols of Paganism were 
 compelled "to hide their diminished heads," and 
 take refuge in their primeval darkness. Those 
 simple, earnest, impassionate prayers, which David 
 uttered three thousand years ago, when hunted 
 through the forests of Palestine by bitter persecu- 
 tors ; those sweet, celestial hymns that touch a 
 chord in every soul, and breathe forth his unfalter- 
 ing trust in Heaven, when forced with his few fol- 
 lowers to flee to the rocks and caverns of the moun- 
 tains ; those sublime, rapturous odes and anthems 
 which he subsequently composed, to be chanted in 
 the tabernacle service on Mount Zion, are the very 
 prayers, odes, hymns and anthems which are used 
 to-day in every congregation throughout Christen- 
 dom, from St. Peter's Cathedral at Rome, down to 
 
82 THE BIBLE. 
 
 the humblest dissenting chapel. These fixed, Ster- 
 nal, stereotyped liturgies of praise, gratitude, peni^ 
 tence, trust, hope and joy have been translated into 
 all tbe languages of the civilized world. Their music 
 resounds from land to land, and encompasses the 
 globe. 
 
 Its heavenly strains enchant our hearts, make 
 beauteous and divine the hfe within us, adorn our 
 homes, support, soothe, gladden and sanctify our 
 bosoms in the hour of affliction and bereavement; 
 deliver us from the pain and wretchedness, the sor- 
 row and solitude, the gloom and melancholy, the 
 ennui, weariness and dissatisfaction of a merely 
 worldly life, and give us foretastes and glimpses of 
 that serener, brighter, happier world, to which we 
 shaU be introduced when the cares, disquietudes, con- 
 flicts and storms of mortahty can assail us no more. 
 I hesitate not to say that a single psahn, the nine- 
 teenth for example, or thirty-seventh, or seventy- 
 third, or the one hundred and third, (and many 
 others might be mentioned,) shed more hght and 
 glory on the world, than aU the books extant, which 
 treat of cities and empires that have passed away — 
 that tell us of the crumbling pyramids, tombs, tem- 
 ples, arches, obelisks, paphyri, hieroglyphics, and 
 manuscripts of Egyptian, Assyrian, Chinese, Grecian 
 and Roman antiquities combined. The latter mighi^ 
 be annihilated completely, and we should scarcely 
 feel the loss. But without the former how dark 
 would the ages of time roll on ! How soon should 
 we be lost in a bottomless gulf of debasement and 
 barbarity I The Roman Catholic or Episcopalian 
 prayer book contains what is more important to the 
 temporal happiness even of mankind, than all other 
 literature ancient or modern, because it is chiefly 
 composed of selections and abridgements from the 
 Holy Scriptures. 
 
 But the Bible has still, higher claims. It is the 
 
THE BIBLE. 83 
 
 record of a revelation from God to man. I mean 
 that in this book are words which were uttered by 
 the authority of our heavenly Father, and under a 
 supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit. God has 
 been pleased to make himself known in Nature and 
 Providence. Also he has communicated truth to us 
 orally, in human language — in literature. The word 
 inspiration is used in a great variety of senses. 
 Hardly any word in our dialect has a more vague 
 and undetermined signification. It is applied to 
 music, painting, sculpture, romance, poetry, sermons, 
 orations, conversation, the performances on the stage 
 of a theatre, &c. I accept with pleasure this broad 
 and comprehensive import of the term. Every hon- 
 est, faithful mind enjoys a certain kind of inspiration, 
 or communion with God. Every composition that 
 displays superior genius, extraordinary power of 
 intellect in any department of knowledge, was dic- 
 tated by a divine spirit, which co-operated in a 
 greater or less degree, with its author. In God we 
 live, and his life constantly penetrates our souls. 
 He acts or exerts an influence in everything which 
 is true, good, and beautiful. We behold God in 
 every object that we lawfully admire and love. 
 Whatever is fair and harmonious in the world with- 
 out ; whatever is dear and delightful in the character 
 and excellence of our fellow-beings ; if heaven from 
 its majestic heights, if earth from its innumerable 
 beauties, sends one pure, sweet, sublime thought or 
 feeling into our minds — that is a form of inspirar 
 tion breathing upon us from the ever-present, ever- 
 living, all-beautiful, and all-glorious Creator. The 
 whole outward universe of splendor and beauty — 
 the fertile valley, the rich plain, the verdant meadow, 
 hiUs, and mountains, flowers, fragrance, forests, 
 springs, rivers, lakes, seas, continents, &c., — are a 
 revelation of God. They were given to nourish 
 and kindle in our souls, a moral effulgence, and 
 
84 THE BIBLE. 
 
 beauty, which are but the images of a Father's un- 
 created, unbounded grandeur and loveliness. 
 
 The human mind itself is a Bible — " elder Scrip- 
 ture writ by God's own hand," proclaiming in clear, 
 unmistakable accents the divine perfections, the laws 
 of duty, and the immortality of the soul. I accept 
 all these intuitions, without which the words of 
 Scripture would be unintelligible. The doctrine of 
 an endless existence after death is inscribed on the 
 heart by the finger of the Almighty. Without the 
 hope of such a destiny, the most capacious and dig- 
 nified powers of our nature would tend to make us 
 dissatisfied and unhappy. We are apt to suppoaif 
 that persons of superior genius and attainments M^ 
 learning, must, of course, possess an extraordinary 
 share of enjoyment. Although it be admitted that 
 knowledge, abstractly considered, is a source ot 
 happiness, yet all experience shows that no intellec- 
 tual culture, unaccompanied with those religious 
 hopes which lay hold on eternity, is Sble to gratify 
 to any considerable extent, the inherent wants and 
 desires of the human mind. Eosseau, Byron, Burns, 
 and many others might be cited as instances of the 
 tinith of this observation. They became more and 
 more wretched as they rose in learning and mental 
 power. Suppose any living scholar, this very day, 
 to become enriched with a stock of science and lit- 
 erature sufficient to produce a work equal to New- 
 ton's Principia, Homer's Iliad, or Shakspeare's 
 plays — at the jOnd of a single week, this mighty 
 range of thought and acquisitions, would seem to 
 him but as ordinary, familiar, common-place attain- 
 ments — the mere rudiments which school boys 
 study. New, distant, unexplored fields of wonder 
 would open to his view, forcing upon him the same 
 sensations of ignorance which he feels at the present 
 hour ; and so, such is the organization of our minds, 
 we should be constantly miserable without the pros- 
 
THE BIBLE. 85 
 
 pect of everlasting advancement in knowledge and 
 wisdom. This fact is a sublime revelation. It ren- 
 ders certain the doctrine that our faculties will go 
 on unfolding and ripening forever ; that our mental 
 excursions will constantly grow more wide and 
 grand; our acquirements become more extended 
 and refulgent, and that, hence, we must ascend from 
 one height to another, without reaching the acme — 
 the final summit of moral and intellectual attain- 
 ments. 
 
 The same Idnd of illustration is applicable to the 
 highest power which we possess — that of being and 
 doing good. Suppose that this very hour, in an 
 instant, we were emancipated completely from every 
 sin, moral stain, and imperfection. Suppose that we 
 were now exalted to the sublime standard of angels 
 before the throne. And imagine again, that we 
 were destined to stop there — to advance no further, 
 but become absolutely stationary, and look out 
 henceforward and forever upon the same undiversi- 
 fied scene of truth and beauty. jTow, I ask, could 
 we be happy in such a fixed, unvaried state of being, 
 although entirely exempted from the blight and 
 calamities of sin ? I answer, no ! Our very exist- 
 ence would become a grevious, intolerable burden. 
 For such is the nature of a good mind, that, always 
 looking away beyond present attainments, it will feel 
 confined, imprisoned, wretched, unless it can send 
 out its thoughts in anticipation of a purer, loftier, 
 nobler standard of excellence, which is yet to be 
 realized, at some future period of an ever-unfolding 
 destiny. What a proof is thus afforded, that our 
 minds not subject like the body to a limited growth, 
 were created for infinitude — an endless progress, 
 endless advancement ? 
 
 Yes, a nature like ours unsupported, uncheered 
 by a religious hope, would necessarily render us in- 
 capable of full, complete enjoyment. This fact again 
 
09 THE BIBLI 
 
 is another revelation. It corroborates the teachings 
 of Jesus. It harmonizes with his assertion that 
 beyond the grave there is a land of spirits — a land 
 where the evils of time will exist only in the mem- 
 ory — where instead of trials, there will ber only 
 triumphs; instead of darkness, only light; instead 
 of pain, only pleasure ; instead of the bitter tears of 
 bereavement and sorrow, the beamings of an un- 
 mingled, ever-increasing joy in the eternal kingdom 
 of our Father. It may seem to some an unwar- 
 ranted, extravagant assertion to say, that the powers 
 of knowledge and virtue, without the hope of future 
 development, would be an evil — an unmixed evil — 
 an evil more severe and terrible than words can ex- 
 press, yet to my mind, it is a self-evident proposi- 
 tion. 
 
 I agree also with the Eationalists that the history 
 of mankind is a revelation of God. When we read 
 the records of past events whether j)ertaining to 
 larger or smaller communities, we see that what to 
 a superficial observer may seem to be merely an 
 assemblage of confused, insulated, unassorted phe- 
 nomena, is in reality a perfect drama, illustrating the 
 wisdom, power, and goodness of that Great Being, 
 whose pleasure called the moral universe into exist- 
 ence, and momently sustains it in order, beauty, and 
 harmony. The catastrophe of this sublime drama 
 which history presents, is the perfection of our com- 
 mon humanity, and its final exaltation to eternal 
 glory beyond these scenes of earth and time. Now 
 this natural revelation is the basis of inspired truth. 
 Without it the Bible would be an unintelligible, use- 
 less book. 
 
 But I maintain in addition to all this-, the old fash- 
 ioned, (and in some circles) obsolete idea, that the 
 writers of the Sacred Volume enjoyed a peculiar 
 gift of inspiration, above and beyond that which is 
 generally bestowed on good and great men in their 
 
THE BIBLE. 87 
 
 literary efforts. Let me develop my meaning. Sup- 
 pose that a clergyman in his pulpit at the close of a 
 sermon, should inform his hearers that the words 
 which had just fallen from his lips, were of divine 
 authority ; because in uttering them he had been 
 enabled by an unseen, supernatural power from God 
 to set forth the truth free from essential error. Im- 
 agine further that to prove his statement, he were 
 to perform extraordinary works, called miracles — 
 sssh for example, as going through the wards of a 
 hospital, and by a wish, instantaneously restoring 
 their sick, wounded and disabled inmates to perfect 
 health and soundness ; or walking into a cemetery, 
 and causing the graves to open, and the dead to 
 come forth, and move again among the living. 
 Under these circumstances, would not every one of 
 his congregation, however skeptical by nature or 
 habit, be fully convinced, that the aforesaid minis- 
 ter had been empowered by a supernatural influence 
 to utter doctrmes that came from God? The incom- 
 prehensibility of the fact would be no hindrance to 
 its reception as true. Now, the votaries of Chris- 
 tianity affirm, that an inspiration similar to this was 
 enjoyed by our Saviour and his Apostles., Indeed, 
 it is impossible to prove the reality of an alleged 
 inspiration except by miraculous works of knowledge 
 or power. 
 
 It is, indeed, a fact that aU the priesthoods in the 
 world claim to be inspired. The Mormons have a 
 book, which they affirm came from God ; the same 
 is true of the Mahometans, Chinese, Hindoos, Per- 
 sians, &c. Such pretensions from whatever source 
 they emanate, do not deserve credence, unless they 
 rest upon convincing and conclusive arguments. 
 The alleged inspiration of every book that I know 
 of, except the- Bible, is not sustained by what lo- 
 gicians call sound reasoning. " We contend that a 
 great variety of universally acknowledged facts be- 
 
88 THE BIBLE. 
 
 longing to the Christian religion — such as the char- 
 acter of its founder, its peculiar principles, the^style 
 and character of its records, its remarkable progress; 
 the condition, circumstances, and sufferings of its 
 earliest propagators; the reception of it from the 
 beginning, on the ground of miraculous attestation; 
 the prophecies which it fulfilled and which it con- 
 tains ; its influence on civilized society and numer- 
 ous other facts connected with it, are utterly inex-. 
 plicable by the powers and principles of human 
 nature under the circumstances in which it wasplaeed 
 at the time of Christ's birth. Every effect must have 
 an adequate cause. The New Testament is an effect 
 that can be accounted for only by the interposition 
 of that Being, to whom its first preachers universally 
 ascribe it, and with whose nature it perfectly agrees." 
 I have brought forward this quolation to give an 
 instance of what I mean by the assertion, that the 
 inspiration of the Bible is established by legitimate 
 arguments, which are not applicable to any other 
 book in the world, that is regarded by its advocates 
 as having had a supernatural origin. 
 
 The question is often asked, why was not this in- 
 spiration made irresistibly evident to all, like the sun 
 in the heavens, so that no one could doubt, or deny 
 its existence ? In reply I would say, that then re- 
 vealed religion would not have rested on faith, but 
 mathematics. It is not pretended that the evidence 
 appertaining to our religion, is strong enough to 
 preclude the possibiUty of a doubt as to its genuine- 
 ness, for then the reception of it, though universal, 
 like the movements of a clock, or a steam engine 
 would be constrained, mechanical and unavoidable. 
 In the matter of faith, then, mankind would be mere 
 automatons, or machines. There'would be no noble- 
 ness in believing Scripture, if by an absolute neces- 
 sity, we were obhged to receive it as divine, just as 
 we are compelled to feel that the addition of four to 
 
THE BIBLE. 89 
 
 four ►makes precisely eight. The ground which I 
 take is simply this, that the evidence in behalf of 
 divine inspiration, is sufficient to satisfy every sin- 
 cere, honest, candid, impartial, unbiassed inquirer 
 after truth. I am well aware that ignorance, fash- 
 ion, the desolations of pride, passion, prejudice, self- 
 interest, false learning, and debasing sensualities may 
 so darken and paralyze the mind, as to render it 
 -blind, insensible to moral arguments, and to the most 
 affecting displays of the Creator's power, wisdom, 
 and glory. Let no one fancy that his want of faith 
 in inspiration arises from deficiency of evidence. 
 Let no one imagine that unbelief, in any case, is 
 caused by superior genius and powers of reasoning. 
 The skeptic is a wanderer in the land of shadows, 
 chaos, disorder, and vain imaginings. It is by an 
 honest, enlightened exercise of faith alone, that he 
 can arise from the horrible pit and miry clay of ma- 
 terialism to tread the broad, healthy, verdant and 
 shining regions of virtue, hope, peace, and true 
 philosophy. 
 
 Once more, many say the Bible is not entitled to 
 hold the place of a divine standard as to matters of 
 religious faith and practice, because it contains nu- 
 merous sentences which are universally acknowl- 
 edged to be erroneous or untrue. The most formid- 
 able weapon ever wielded against the Word of God, 
 was manufactured for the armory of the church by 
 theologians themselves. This is the doctrine of 
 plenary inspiration, as it is usually styled. The ad- 
 vocates of this theory take the ground, that there is 
 not a single erroneous statement in the Sacred Yol- 
 ume, from the first verse of Genesis to the last of 
 the Apocalypse. They contend that the whole, as it 
 reads in our English version, is perfect, unmixed, 
 infallible truth — as true in point of fact as the ele^ 
 ments of Euclid, or the Multiplication Table. 
 
 Now , it is worthy of notice, that neither the 
 
90 THE BIBLE. 
 
 writers of the Old or New Testament, claim to-have 
 composed under such an influence as the above hy- 
 pothesis implies. Tn one place Paul says explicitly, 
 "what I am now writing is uninspired — is not in- 
 culcated by Divine authority — I only express my 
 private judgment touching this matter." There are 
 many parts of Scripture Avhich fall under the same 
 category. 
 
 I will here present the views concerning this sub- 
 ject, adopted I believe by a large majority of Trini- 
 tarian divines, of every name throughout the Pro- 
 testant world. Scripture may be divided into two 
 parts — one of which is the work of man : a human 
 production — the other is the work of God : a divine 
 emanation. From heaven came all its moral, reli- 
 gious, spiritual instructions, and they must conse- 
 quently be received as true. Point out a single 
 doctrine or precept of the Bible that is false, or en- 
 courages tinrighteousness, and we will never utter 
 another syllable in favor of its inspiration. Take 
 any single copy of the Good Book now extant, in 
 any language, whether dead or living. Look on it. 
 -Analyze it. It is certain that uninspired men made 
 the lids, the paper, the leaves, the types, the inkused 
 in its fabrication, dtc. They printed and bound the 
 volume, and sent it abroad to fulfil its mission. 
 Human energies created every copy of the Scrip- 
 tures now in existence, as truly as they have con- 
 structed all the steam-engines, telegraphs, rail-roads, 
 or chronometers now extant. And in accomplish- 
 ing this work they were not kept from committing 
 errors or mistakes by a supernatural, or miraculous 
 influence which rendered it impossible for any imper- 
 fections, surreptitiously or otherwise, to enter into 
 and impair their doings. " Whoever thinks a fardt- 
 less piece of writing to see, thinks what never was, 
 nor is, nor ever shall be." One Trinitarian critic of 
 the highest reputation for fairness, acumen, and 
 
THE BIBLE. 91 
 
 learning, asserts that there are, at least, fifty thou- 
 sana mistakes in St. James' translation of the Scrip- 
 tures, which is regarded as authoritative, wherever 
 our vernacular tongue is used. Others make the 
 number somewhat less, but aU competent judges 
 admit, that thej' amount to many thousands. Neither 
 is it contended by any writer, that a copy of the 
 Bible can now be found which was composed by 
 inspired hands. According to the theory, the auto- 
 graphs only, or original manuscripts were inspired, 
 and aU these ages ago were expunged from the an- 
 nals of literature. What, then, becomes of the doc- 
 trine of plenary inspiration ? It is but a dream. 
 
 Some think that when God chose to give to man- 
 kind inspired ideas, it would have been in accbrdance 
 with his mercy and goodness to have clothed them 
 with infallible words. To this view. Archbishop 
 Whately, of the Church of England has replied, "that 
 the Deity could not have bestowed on us such a 
 favor without violating his own laws, and destroying 
 our accountability. God could no more create an 
 infallible dialect for our use, than he could make a 
 human body to be mortal, and immortal at the same 
 time. Besides, such a literature to us would be per- 
 fectly unintelligible, and therefore useless. All the 
 means of light, improvement, and happiness which 
 fallible beings can use to advantage, must themselves 
 be fallible." 
 
 But, it is thought by some, that these literary im- 
 perfections, as they may be called, are a dark cloud 
 upon revelation, and render it altogether uncertain 
 what part of the Bible is divine, as distinguished 
 from that 'Which is merely human. I think not. On 
 all sides, among theologians, it is now admitted, that 
 the various errors in the letter of Scripture, do not 
 hide, pervert, or detract in the least from the import 
 of the spiritualities which it contains. They do not 
 overshadow, compromit, bring into doubt or dispute 
 
92 THB BIBLE. 
 
 a single doctrine or precept essential to our present 
 or everlasting welfare. They relate simply to' the 
 rules of grammar, dates, ancient geography, the cus- 
 toms, manners and idioms, and the state of the natu- 
 ral sciences, as they existed among the Oriental 
 nations of remote ages, and cast no imputation or 
 obscurity of any kind upon the moral and religious 
 instructions communicated to the world by in- 
 spired teachers. 
 
 This is a wonderful |fact. The most illiterate 
 reader, if faithful and industrious, can ascertain 
 what God says to him in Scripture with respect to 
 any important duty, with as much clearness and pre- 
 cision, as a surveyor, with his chain and compasses, 
 can point out the boundary line between your farm, 
 and that of your neighbor. When a child comes 
 across such phrases as these : " God is a sun, a rock^ 
 a fortress, a shield, or a husbandman, &c.," he under- 
 stands their import as easily and thoroughly as the 
 profoundest of philosophers. Indeed, the imperfect 
 literature of the Bible is a great advantage to it in 
 many ways. It does not overshadow, pervert, or 
 corrupt its divine truths. The cloud that interposes 
 between us and the setting sun, sends out a thou- 
 sand beauties of color and form, that without such 
 an interposition, mortals could never have perceived 
 and admired. So the clouds that cast reflections 
 upon the pages of sacred literature, soften down and 
 modify the otherwise too glaring beams of the spir- 
 itual sun, and accommodate them to our feeble and 
 defective powers of vision. " God never made his 
 works for man to mend." No other form of the 
 Bible that can be imagined, would be as well adapted 
 as the one which we now have to all classes, learned 
 and unlearned, high and low, rich and poor, young 
 and old, civilized and barbarous — to the multifarious 
 endlessly diversified wants, condition, character and 
 circumstances of mankind. It is alleged that the 
 
THE BIBLE. 93 
 
 Hehye.w literature of the Old Testament contains 
 instances of romance, fable, impassioned poetry, le- 
 gends, and stories, addressed not to human reason, 
 but to our wildest fancies and imaginations. This 
 is true. But it was unavoidable. Such is the case 
 with all literature ancient and modern. Our Saviour 
 in his discourses dealt largely in fables, romance, 
 and stories, which every one knows have no foun- 
 dation in historical reality. Yet, by each of them 
 he inculcates some beautiful and interesting moral. 
 The same remark is applicable to the legends, fables, 
 i^ths, and poems of the Jewish Scriptures. 
 
 There is not a scientific or literary work in our own 
 language which, literally interpreted, is not liable to 
 the same objection. In common conversation we 
 speak of a " smiling day," " a raging storm," " a de- 
 ceitful disease," '' a cruel disaster," though such 
 things in themselves are absurd, and impossible. 
 Figurative language pervades all literature. But 
 such language is in every instance, the assertion of 
 something in itself false in order to assist conviction 
 and impress the truth with greater loveliness and 
 force. " When we dip too deep in pleasure," says 
 Dr. Young, " we always stir a sediment which ren- 
 ders it impure and noxious." Now understood lit- 
 erally this is a lie, yet it teaches a moral of surpass- 
 ing beauty and importance. Had we space, innu- 
 merable instances of the same kind might be ad- 
 duced. Now, this criticism is a key by which we 
 may explain what infidels call the fables of the Old 
 Testament. These fables, properly interpreted, are 
 full of divine instruction, and happily impress upon 
 our minds great doctrinal and practical truths, better 
 than any other forms of speech could do. It is, in- 
 deed, a fable, that G-od has a body like ours, that he 
 gets angry, is sorry and jealous ; that he lives in a 
 palace, rides in a chariot, has a sumptuous table, 
 drinks the best wine, wears a sword by his side. 
 
04 THE BIBLE. 
 
 uses a bow and arrows, bathes his weapons in the 
 blood of his enemies, becomes weary, takes a'%)ell 
 of rest, or lies down to sleep for refreshment, hard- 
 ens the hearts of the wicked, and thousands of things 
 of a similar sort which might be mentioned. Yet 
 every one of these fables, if rightly understood, 
 teaches the most sublime and interesting truths, in a 
 more forcible manner than could be done by any 
 terms or metaphors known to nian at the time of 
 their utterance. 
 
 . The most ingenious and potent assaults made ify 
 the deniers of inspiration have been directed againSt 
 the Pentateuch, or five first books of the Old Testa- 
 ment. I have somewhere met with the saying, (I 
 have forgotten in whose works) that the writings of 
 Moses like a human being, have a soul inhabiting a 
 frail, weak, erring body. By the soul is meant spir- 
 itual light concerning God, his providence, our ac- 
 countability, a future, immortal state of existence, 
 the duties of piety, purity, and disinterestedness. 
 Why, Moses without the aid of inspiration, could 
 not have written the decalogue, any more than he 
 could have created Horeb, Sinai, the Nile, or the 
 Red Sea. Now these religious truths are ever 
 young, ever fresh, and undecaying. They are as 
 glorious to-day as when first uttered. Their lustre 
 never has been, and never can be eclipsed. By the 
 body is meant the style in which Moses expressed 
 these great eternal ideas. This was Hebrew, hu- 
 man, and earthly in its origin. It could not have 
 been otherwise, by any possibility whatever. 
 
 Consequently, it contains many errors. There 
 are in it misstatements with reference to geography,, 
 the. shape of the globe, astronomy, dates, names, and 
 the natural sciences in general. They were una- 
 voidable — being inherent and essential in the struc- 
 ture of the language which he used. It was not the 
 commission of Moses to teach Physics, Mineralogy, 
 
THE BIBLK. 95 
 
 or Botany, but religion. If he has committed fun- 
 damental error "with respect to this topic^ then, I for 
 one, am ready to acknowledge that his claims to in- 
 spiration are unfounded. The progress of science, 
 through the long period of thirty-five hundred years, 
 has made it apparent that Moses was not initiated 
 into the principles of chemistry, natural philosophy, 
 and the construction and relations of the celestial 
 systems, which have, of late, been unfolded to an 
 admiring world by Newton, Herschel, LaPlace, Lar 
 Lande and others. Now, future researches may 
 imiltiply these mistakes to any extent, without pre- 
 jadicing, in the slightest degree, his pretensions to 
 the character of a divine teacher. To ignore these 
 we must prove that his spiritual teachings are in 
 fault — are untrue, unjust, cruel, oppressive, or in 
 some other respect unworthy of Him in whose name 
 he professed to speak and act. The errors alleged 
 against the inspiration of Moses, were inseparable 
 from the literature of the age in which' he lived, and 
 instead of discrediting, they confirm by many unan- 
 swerable arguments, the genuineness of his writings. 
 Botanical writers tell us, that the plants which grow 
 in mountains indicate, with great accuracy, the cli- 
 mates that belong to the difierent elevations ; the- 
 vegetables and fruits of tropical regions may flourish 
 at the foot, and the stunted evergreens of the polar 
 circle may crown the summit. So enlightened critics 
 are able to distinguish by the peculiar prevailing 
 character in the compositions of an ancient author, 
 the country in which he flourished, and the period 
 of literature to which he belonged. The style of the 
 English poet Chaucer, points out with unerring cer- 
 tainty the day in which he wrote. Dr. Lardner ex- 
 presses the opinion, that the peculiar style of the 
 four Gospels, demonstrates that they could not have 
 been composed much earlier, nor much later than 
 the period in which they are generally supposed to 
 
96 THE BIBLE. 
 
 have originated. Michaelis has published a similar 
 criticism in regard to the Pentateuch. 
 
 Those scholars, then, who have been laboring with 
 a zeal worthy a better cause, to subvert the author- 
 ity of the Old Testament, have signally failed of 
 accomplishing their end. They really have achieved 
 nothing more than the proving, that its literature is 
 not faultless. No Protestant divine, now-a-days, pre- 
 tends to assert the contrary. A perfect literature 
 will never be realized this side the grave. The crit- 
 icisms made against the Bible in our time, would ex- 
 cite only the smile of wise persons, did they not 
 involve consequences so serious in their bearing on 
 the spiritual welfare of mankind. In all grammars, ' 
 dialects, and philologies extant among men, both 
 sacred and profane, there are unavoidable blemishes^ 
 which immemorial usage has sanctioned, and which 
 no art of man will ever be able to expunge. These 
 may be fairly wielded, and with prodigious effect in 
 opposing the' absurd dogma of plenary inspiration, 
 and proving indeed, that there never was a book on 
 earth whose diction was absolutely true and infalh- 
 ble. Such a wonder mankind will never behold. 
 But as to disproving the inspiration of Moses, they 
 are utterly impotent. I commend to the notice of 
 these gentlemen the following lines of Pope : — 
 
 " O, sons of earth ! attempt ye still to rise, 
 B J" mountains piled on mountains to the skies, :j 
 
 Heaven still with laughter the vain toil surveys, 
 And buries madmen in the heaps they raise." 
 
 But let me descend from the general and abstract, 
 and give an illustration of my meaning by adducing 
 a particular instance. Take for an example the first 
 chapter of Genesis. Dr. Chalmers has said some- 
 where, that it contains all the essential germs and 
 elements of both natural and revealed religion ; for 
 it teaches that mankind, yon canopy, and this earth ' 
 
THE BIBLE. 97 
 
 with all therein, were called into existence, and are 
 kept up by a Being who is all-wise, all-powerful, all- 
 just, and all-good : consequently we have not been 
 made in vain, and all our essential aspirations must 
 be gratified. Eternal life is an inherent craving of 
 our nature, the All-Good will therefore supply this 
 want. He says the entire Gospel is admirably sum- 
 med up by Tennyson in the following lines : 
 
 " Thou wilt not leave us in the dust ; 
 Thou madest man for endless life ; 
 All Jiope they were not made to die." 
 
 The simple fact that we have an infinite Maker is 
 the proof and pledge that we shall enjoy the immor- 
 tality for which we sigh. Such is the divine part of 
 this chapter. The words, the cosmogony, the six 
 days' work, the figures &c., are htiman, and with all 
 their errors, do not in the least weaken or obscure 
 the momentous spiritualities which they signify. 
 Moses does not so much as express an opinion as to 
 the date of creation ; he simply asserts that, " In the 
 beginning God created the heaven and the earth." 
 Now, suppose geology has proved that this begin- 
 ning took place more ages ago than figures could 
 express, or than there are drops of water in the 
 ocean, this deduction of science would not militate 
 in the least against any statement found in the Bible. 
 When I was at Andover Theological Seminary, Pro- 
 fessor Stuart taught, in the year 1816, that the 1st, 
 and the 3d chapters of Genesis, and the first part of 
 the 4th chapter of Matthew, should be interpreted 
 as myths — that is, as fictitious or imaginary narra- 
 tives, designed to inculcate certain great facts and 
 leading principles belonging to the spiritual uni- 
 verse. The Unitarians are abused without stint for 
 interpreting so many passages of Scripture as figures 
 of speech. But the aforesaid Professor has pub- 
 lished more of this kind of exegesis, than all the 
 9 
 
98 THE BIBLE. 
 
 Unitarians that ever lived in the United States. Of 
 course, his influence has been most deleterious to 
 the peculiar interest of orthodoxy. He was a noble 
 man, and so honest that he would not utter untruths 
 as to the Hebrew and Greek grammars, to save the 
 creed even of his own denomination. And yet, he 
 considered the first chapter in the Bible as a gift 
 from heaven of surpassing, inconceivable worth and 
 glory, because it makes us certain that we live in 
 the bosom of an infinite Creator, Preserver, and 
 Benefactor. 
 
 Now I affirm that with two exceptions, all the 
 arguments which are urged by the Eationalists both 
 of Europe and our own country, to ignore the claims 
 of Sacred Writ to supernaturalism belong to t]|e 
 inevitable, necessary imperfections of its literature. 
 God is not accountable for the bad grammar of the 
 inspired penmen ; nor for their errors touching 
 chronology and the natural sciences ; nor for those 
 many other things bearing an aspect of inconsist- 
 ency, extravagance, or absolute incredibility, (which 
 are capable of easy explanation to such as under- 
 stand the customs of those ancient ages, or the phy- 
 sical history of those remote countries, or the pecu- 
 liarities of their languages), than he is to be held 
 responsible for the defects of the pages which I am 
 now writing. These must be ascribed partly to my 
 want of taste and knowledge, and partly to the gen- 
 erally received errors of the day in which we live. 
 To overthrow the Bible, it must be proved to be 
 sjpiritually untrue. Literary imperfections in the 
 style make nothing against it. In one sense, the 
 more of these there are the better, because they 
 show the great antiquity of the Sacred records. 
 
 But I must say a word as to the exceptions above- ; 
 mentioned. It is said that if an inspired book is 
 wanted by one, it is wanted by all. But not one 
 quarter of the human race have ever been favored 
 
THE BIBLE. 99 
 
 with what is called the light of a supernatural reve- 
 fotion. This fact implicates, it is alleged by objec- 
 tors, the goodness and impartiality of the Supreme 
 Being. How so? Will any reflecting man assert 
 that it is unjust for God toirgive to one what he 
 withholds from another. Consider how circum- 
 scribed is the knowledge of reading, writing, and 
 numbers ; how narrow the range of good education, 
 law, medicine, commerce, railways, telegraphs, free 
 government, telescopes, and the mechanic arts in 
 general. Did they not come from God ? Are they 
 not his truth ? The distinctions which prevail 
 among men are founded on reasons that we can 
 neither fathom nor sit in judgment upon. The reli- 
 gion of the Bible is, after all, quite as enlarged and 
 liberal as that of Nature or Deism. For it assures 
 us that no one can be finally and forever lost, 
 because he had no knowledge of the Bible. Paul 
 lays down the doctrine, that the enjoymen^, of the 
 Bible will not be imputed to any man for m^it, nor 
 the want of it be considered as a fault ; but in judg- 
 ing men God wiU consider the advantages and dis- 
 advantages which result from the nature of the 
 dispensation under which they lived, and will pass 
 sentence upon them accordingly. 
 
 A Calvinistic divine is the author of the para- 
 graph which foUows : " When one takes a view of 
 fe,lse religions, they seem to make no less an impres- 
 sion on the heart of those who are sincere in them, 
 than the true religion does on the hearts of the 
 faithful. In the one and the other, we see the same 
 good intention, the same zeal, the same readiness 
 to do everything they believe will tend to the glory 
 of God ; they love according to the idea they form 
 of him ; they worship him in their own way ; and 
 through fear of him endeavor to live irreproachably 
 among men. Between them, indeed, there is this 
 difference ; the conceptions of the one are true, but 
 
100 THE BIBLE. 
 
 the notions of the other are in many partictilars 
 false ; and the service which one pays to God is a 
 rational service, whereas the worship of the other is 
 mixed with darkness and superstition." So in the 
 opinion of this distinguished man, the poor Pagan 
 who honestly worships the sun, moon, or stars, or a 
 tree, and leads a conscientious life, is as acceptable 
 to God as the most eminent Christian. I rejoice in 
 being able to state, that this liberal doctrine, which 
 must give the highest pleasure to every benevolent 
 mind, is distinctly and most emphatically taught by 
 Jesus Christ and his Apostles. 
 
 As an acquaintance with the arts of civilized life 
 would augment the temporal advantages of the 
 savage, so a knowledge of Scriptiire would tend to 
 meliorate his spiritual condition on earth. This is 
 the utmost for which the Bible advocate contends. 
 Our Saviour teaches that God gives to one nation 
 one talent, to another five, to a third ten, and 
 expects from each a degree of improvement propor- 
 tionate to this dirersily of gifts. The argument 
 before us boldly asserts that such a policy of 
 administration is partial, cruel, unjust — that all 
 should have precisely the same number of talents, 
 and that no other theory is consistent with the doc- 
 trine of God's universal love. The sophistry of 
 this kind of reasoning is self evident. 
 
 Again, it is affirmed, that because every man has 
 a principle of conscience, or power of discerning 
 between the right and the wrong, implanted in his 
 bosom by the Divine hand, he does not need 
 the light of an inspired book to guide him in the 
 path of duty. I reply, the Bible is not to be con- 
 sidered as a substitute for conscience, but as a 
 system of superior means adapted to promote its 
 development and efficiency. Conscience is certainly 
 one of the most improvable faculties of our nature. 
 What a difierence between its decisions among the 
 
THE BIBLE. 101 
 
 cultivated and well-informed, and the rude, vulgar, 
 and illiterate. Without training, an honest con- 
 science might betray us into the most heinous viola- 
 tions of rectitude. There is hardly an abominable 
 act recorded in church history which was not perpe- 
 trated with the approbation of conscience. A dark, 
 perverted, moral sense, is the most formidable 
 enemy to human peace that our world has ever 
 seen. The Bible provides the only effectual panoply 
 against this foe. Suppose it should be said by some 
 fe,ther, " God has given to my sons a principle of 
 iatelligence which wiU lead them spontaneously to 
 the attainments of wisdom, iJaerefore I need not be 
 at the trouble and expense of getting books and 
 teachers for them. They will be able, when they 
 grow up, to become accomplished artisans, lawyers, 
 statesmen, physicians, divines, or legislators, as they 
 may happen to choose, without g(#ig through the 
 usual routines of education." What would be 
 thought of the sanity of such a parent ? Equally 
 absurd to imagine that conscience can become a 
 true, steady, and undeviating guide to glory, with- 
 out enjoying the light and advantages of careful 
 discipline. 
 
 I: will offer a few words in regard to the pre- 
 ponderating weight of authority concerning the 
 divinity of the Scriptures. Many seem to think 
 that the most eminent scholars have generally 
 belonged to that class of reasoners called Deists. 
 Among the men of profound thought and feeling, 
 among the most intellectual and gifted, among the 
 greatest minds of the Christian era, a large majority 
 have avowed their belief in the inspiration of Moses 
 and Jesus. Conspicuous at the head of these stands 
 that illustrious name, Sir Isaac Newton : with him 
 concur Locke, Bacon, Johnson, Addison, Grotius, 
 Erasmus, and a host of others belonging to the 
 brightest luminaries in the literary and scientific 
 9* 
 
102 THE BIBLE. 
 
 horizon of Europe. In onr o"wn land the pre- 
 ponderance of authority is on the same side. Allow 
 me to mention the name of the younger Adams, who, 
 as he was rising to make a speech, fell in an apo- 
 plectic fit, and expired on the floor of Congres^j 
 Once, in the course of an address before a meeting 
 of the American Bible Society, in the city of 
 Washington, he uttered these memorable words : — 
 " Mr. President, — No person can be happy in the 
 present world without a Grod, a Bible, and a hornifi. 
 Take away the Bible, and all that is most glorioHS, 
 both in the first and last-mentioned objects, would 
 fade away from the gpeat heart of humanity." 
 
 I have named Sir lBaa,c Newton as a firm believer 
 in revelation. It is recorded in his biography that 
 the last ten years of his life were devoted to a taost 
 diligent and thorough study of the Scriptures. We 
 are told that he Vas so completely absorbed in this 
 employment that he could not be persuaded to sus- 
 pend it for the purpose of solving some important 
 and interesting problems belonging to natural 
 i5cience. He gave to the world, as the result of 
 his investigations, some of the most valuable 
 writings, which have ever been published on the 
 sacred books. Yes. After more than forty years 
 passed in exploring these outward systems that 
 Btretch onward and onward forever, he declared 
 that he saw. more afiiecting displays of the infinite 
 One in the Bible than in the countless orbs around 
 us, which roU their everlasting courses in the 
 illimitable fields of space. What an eulogy upon 
 the inspired volume, when we consider how great, 
 strong, original, and enlightened was the mind which 
 pronounced it : 
 
 " Nature and all her •works lay hid in night, 
 God said let Neirton be — and all was light." 
 
 But against all this, the fact is urged that a long 
 1 ist of men of pre-eminent genius and learning can ■ 
 
THE BIBLE. 103 
 
 be adduced who doubted and denied thie inspiration 
 of Scripture. It will not do to say, as many have, 
 that the skepticism of these distinguished scholars 
 was the consequence of their sinful and depraved 
 hearts, so that their intellects were not able to 
 perceive the realities and beauties of the spiritual 
 world. It is an easy, but poor way of answering 
 an argument, by saying that it cannot be sound and 
 ;«4ogical because it was dictated by a corrupt and 
 sinful disposition. I have no doubt that many of 
 the Rationalists are as eminent in moral qualifications 
 as they are in literature and scientific acquirements. 
 I think their unbelief is to be ascribed to other 
 causes than want of piety, and especially to erro- 
 neous hypotheses concerning the true nature of the 
 inspiration enjoyed by the writers of Scripture. 
 
 To illustrate this I will refer to some facts in my 
 own personal experience. When I first read the 
 Bible through in course, at a very early period of life, 
 I was told by my parents and other venerable be- 
 loved instructors, that every thought and word of 
 the book came from God. All other books, I was 
 taught to beheve, were made by human hands ; but 
 this was produced by that infinite Being who created 
 the heaven and the earth. I received this doctrine 
 with an implicit undoubting confidence in its cor- 
 rectness. From the dawn of childhood I have been 
 in the habit of reading G-od's word every day. At 
 first all that I found therein was looked upon as 
 free from the slightest taint of error; but as my 
 reasoning faculties grew stronger, and the range of 
 my experience more expanded, I began to feel, in 
 spite of myself, that there were some things in the 
 Good Book which could not have emanated from 
 the Supreme Intelligence. Doubts and misgivings 
 arose in my soul which caused me great distress ; 
 for I thought they were sinful, and if I died under 
 their dominion, it might involve me hi eternal ruin. 
 
104 THE BIBLE. 
 
 Happily by the teachings of learned men at Yale 
 College and Andover, 1 was enabled to take larger 
 views of inspiration — views which were not shocl& 
 ing to my reason — which relieved me from a heavy 
 burden of anxiety, and -filled my heart with the 
 intensest emotions of joy, hope, and gratitude ; 
 though, in both of these places, some of the pro- 
 fessors were the most rigid, uncompromising de- 
 fenders of plenary inspiration. Professor Stuartj 
 however, taught boldly, without mincing the matter, 
 that the literature of the Old Testament-^its idioms, 
 peculiar phrases, tropes, and figures were of human . 
 origin, ,and consequently fraught, as all the best of 
 man's works are, with many imperfections. I shall 
 never forget one illustration, which he gave us in 
 a lecture on Hebrew idioms and philology. He 
 said — " It has been urged that the Bible presents 
 views of the divine character which imply falsehood 
 and blasphemy. For example, it teaq>hes that the 
 bosom of our Creator harbors bad passions, such as 
 wrath, hatred, jealousy, revenge, (fee. Now, these 
 revolting representations of the Deity must be 
 interpreted in harmony with the great principles 
 and prominent laws of the Hebrew grammar. The 
 Orientals were in the habit of ascribing all the 
 modes of human suffering, caused by sin, to the 
 anger of God, idiomatically or figuratively. This 
 phraseology is simply what- to us seems a strange, 
 roundabout way of expressing the beautiful senti- 
 ment admitted by every Deistical writer or Ea- 
 tionalist in the world, that a sense of guilt is 
 necessarily subversive of our happiness, and affects 
 us precisely in the same manner in which we should 
 he affected were the Creator to pour out upon us 
 the vials of his wrath as a recompense for wrong 
 doing." The same statements as to this topic may 
 be found in " Campbell's Dissertations on the Pour 
 Gospels," " Dr. Maoknight's Commentaries," "Home's 
 
THE BIBLE. 105 
 
 Introdtiction to the Study of the Holy Soriptures," 
 and numerous other Trinitarian works of the highest 
 repute. I am more indebted to the memorable man 
 just named (Professor Stuart) than to any other 
 person whom I remember for correct views con- 
 cerning the divinity of the Sacred Books. I admire 
 the superlative genius, abilities, and moral worth of 
 those far-famed scholars who deny the particular 
 hypothesis touching inspiration which is advocated 
 in these pages. Let me not dogmatize on any dis- 
 puted topic of theology — 
 
 " Let not this weak, unknowing hand, 
 Presume thy holts, to throw, 
 And deal damnation round the land, 
 On each I judge thy foe." 
 
 " If I am right, thy grace impart, 
 Still in the right to stay ; 
 If I am wrong, O, teach my heart 
 To find that better way." 
 
 No superiority of genius and learning can, of 
 itself, enable a man to discern and appreciate the 
 beauties of revelation. This sublime attainment 
 requires three qualifications which a very plain, 
 uneducated person may possess — reading ! praying ! 
 living ! habitual meditation on the Scriptures, ac- 
 companied with prayer, and a pure, consistent, con- 
 scientious life. " If any man will do his will," says 
 Jesus, " he shall know of the doctrine, whether it 
 be of God," &c. Suppose a simple, unscholastic 
 man, to have followed that sacred volume, which 
 was the sole legacy bequeathed to him by poor 
 and pious parents, and with the utmost faithfulness, 
 from childhood till he has reached fifty years of 
 age. It has been the book of his heart during all 
 the ups and downs of his earthly pilgrimage. He 
 has perused, prayed over, and enjoyed it, every 
 day. All the time he has endeavored to act 
 
106 THE BIBLE. 
 
 supremely with a reference to God, Jesus, and 
 immortality. Now, let some scholastic neighbor, 
 equal in acumen to Voltaire or Strauss, if you please, 
 go and tell him what he has never thought of 
 before, that the book is not true, " that it is a 
 cunningly devised fable, imposed upon the fears 
 and credulity of the ignorant, and upheld by the 
 frauds and influence of a crafty and interested 
 priesthood." It is but fabulous nonsense from 
 Genesis to the end, which none except the unlearned, 
 children, and those in their dotage — in second child^? 
 hood — can regard as the word of God. And let 
 him bring forward the most formidable array of 
 arguments and criticisms which Infidelity can com- 
 mand to make out his case. What could this 
 unlettered Christian say in reply ? Could he scru- 
 tinize, by a logical process, the reasonings of his 
 neighbor, and refute them? No more than he 
 could calculate an eclipse, or take the dimensions 
 of the planets. Still, he would say to this^ erudite 
 friend, that he could not help believing in the truth 
 of the Bible ; that it was the book which his de- 
 parted parents loved, that soothed and sustained 
 them in their trials and conflicts to the last ; that 
 ever since their decease it had been his constant 
 companion, guide, consolation, and support ; that 
 there was something within him by which he was 
 assured that it was true, useful, and divine ; that it 
 was adapted to his wants, and had made his 
 humble life a scene of discipline, improvement, 
 peace, beauty, hope, and joy. 
 
 Now, the pulsations of such a man's heart are 
 worth more on the subject than all the logical argu- 
 ments in the world. So long as good men can 
 repeat the decalogue, and the Lord's prayer, they 
 must venerate and love the Scriptures. In the 
 instance justt named, the taking the Bible as the 
 practical directory of his life — that is, the mere act 
 
THE BIBLE. 107 
 
 and influence of living as if it were true — has 
 built up in his soul that intimate, unwavering con- 
 fidence in divine truth ; that adamantine firmness 
 of faith which no power of genius and learning 
 merely can give, and which, thank Heaven, no wit, 
 sneers, sarcasm — no resources of infidel philosophy 
 whatever are able to overthrow. You could no 
 more break down this man's love for the gospel 
 than by a scornful laugh or cruel witticism you 
 could expel from the heart of an intelligent, fond, 
 devoted mother, her afiection for that . smiling, 
 innocent babe, who is dearer to her than her own 
 life. So long as mankind love the grand, har- 
 monious appearance of nature in the heavens and 
 the earth ; so long as they feel a partiality, fond- 
 ness, or attachment for pictures, statues, music, 
 literature, the novel and the glorious, so. long will 
 they cling to the Bible, if for no other reason, 
 because it makes such constant, overwhelming ap- 
 peals to their sense of the beautiful and sublime. 
 The only door to the beauties of Scripture is the 
 living as if they were true. If a man leads a prayer- 
 ful, conscientious, immaculate life, each passing week 
 he will become more attached to these living ora- 
 cles, tiU finally they will seem to him infinitely, 
 unspeakably precious and exalted. 
 
 Whatever be the genius and abilities of a dis- 
 believer in Scripture, his opinions to me are not 
 worth a straw, if he be a man of immoral, dissolute 
 habits. Such a one can no more understand the 
 word of God than a little child that has not yet 
 learned the alphabet could understand the glories of 
 Homer. If the principles of revelation condemn a 
 man's private habits and course of life, he will 
 surely hate the Bible, and breathe out against it 
 the bitterest denunciations. There was once a 
 young man of high culture connecte,d with my 
 congregation in New Orleans. He was a regular 
 
108 THE BIBLE. 
 
 attendant at church, and professedly a firm believer 
 in the Christian revelation. He called on me one 
 Saturday, in my study, to state certain difficulties 
 which he had recently met with in reading th© 
 Scriptures. All of a sudden he had discovered 
 that the miracles were incredible, that the goBpel 
 was full of contradictions and absurdities. In a 
 word, he was very unwillingly compelled to adopt 
 the platform of the Deist. I was grieved, and sur- 
 prised, and strongly suspected that there was some 
 screw loose in the life of my -friend. A few months 
 afterwards the enigma was solved. A little before 
 this interview, the young man had set up an estcA- 
 lishment, as it is sometimes called, in the Crescent 
 •City. From that time onward, his mode of life, his 
 associates, his pleasures were low, grovelling, licen- 
 tious, and dishonorable. X)f course his invigorated 
 optics saw, intuitively, the imperfections of the 
 Bible. He was astonished that he could ever have' 
 believed in such a mass of crudities and supersti- 
 tions! It may seem uncharitable to say that the 
 change of his creed was brought about by the change 
 in his mode of life just mentioned. I do not say 
 this, but he himself confessed that such was the 
 fact, in a conversation that I had with him when he 
 was dying, and had no motive to deceive me or the 
 world by any misrepresentations touching his per- 
 sonal history and experience. 
 
 The more thoroughly great and wise men peruse 
 the Scriptures, the more they admire and love 
 them. This fact is utterly irreconcilable with the 
 supposition that they are not true. Lately I passed 
 an evening in a literary and rehgious circle, where 
 one topic of conversation was the usefulness of 
 liturgies, or prayer books. Some person present 
 remarked, that going over the same forms of devo- 
 tional exercises every week, must, at length, render 
 them dull and tiresome from the unavoidable effect 
 
THE BIBLE. 109 
 
 of constant familiarity. An elderly lady of the com- 
 pany, distinguished for wisdom and piety, replied, 
 " I am standing upon the verge of the grave, and 
 have used the Episcopalian prayer-book ever since 
 I can remember, and my interest and pleasure in it 
 have been constantly increasing, and are greater 
 now than at any former period of my life." She 
 said this with a glow, an animation and pathos 
 which made a deep impression upon the minds of 
 the listeners. Significant fact ! For this prayer- 
 book, except a few theological words and formulas, 
 contains only selections from the Bible. 
 
 For the last forty years, when at home, I have 
 never failed, unless when sick, of reading portions of 
 the original Scriptures, and along with them some 
 of the most striking passages from the classical 
 authors of Greece and Rome, early every morning, 
 immediately after finishing my toilet. At the close 
 of the day, in the room of Virgil, Homer, Cicero, 
 Horace, I substitute our own classics, Shakspeare, 
 Milton, Oowper, Bacon, or Webster, and the like. I 
 have done this not so much from a sense of duty, as 
 a gratification of my taste — because it makes me 
 happy, raises me to heaven, and fills me with thrilling 
 emotions of love, wonder, hope, and ecstatic rap- 
 tures. Every passing week I have become more 
 attached to the Good Book. Every passing week I 
 have felt more deeply its immense, indescribable 
 superiority to the finest portions of the uninspired 
 literature just named. The genius of the former 
 seems to me infinite, that of the latter I can com- 
 prehend. The suggestion that a work which makes 
 such overwhelming appeals to my intellect, con- 
 science, taste — all the noblest aspirations, and high- 
 est capabilities of my spiritual nature — is an impos- 
 ture, the production of ignorant and wicked men — 
 strikes me as one of the most preposterous proposi- 
 tions which can enter the human mind. It is more 
 10 
 
110 • THE BIBLE. 
 
 absurd than to assert that the Apollo Belvidere, 
 Venus de Medici, and the most interesting composi- 
 tions of ancient and modern times, were created by 
 untutored barbarians, who had never learned to read, 
 write, or cipher. 
 
 Let the greatest scholastic infidel now living com- 
 mence the same process to-morrow. Let him as 
 soon as he awakes, read some interesting portion of 
 the Old or New Testament, and then kneeling down, 
 offer fervent and earnest prayer, tbat he may have 
 grace to pass through the events, trials, and employ- 
 ments of the day, in harmony with the divine wis- 
 dom, just read and pondered. Let him do the same 
 the second day, and every subsequent morning for 
 one year. At the expiration of this term he would 
 find his mind enriched with an undoubting conviction 
 of the truth of Christianity. He could not help feel- 
 ing that it is true, divine, noble, perfectly adapted 
 to his wants ; that it has power to confer happiness 
 which the outward world can neither give nor take 
 away ; that it is, indeed, " a ray from the Everlasting 
 Light — a stream from the inexhaustible fountain of 
 Heavenly Wisdom and Love." The above process 
 is an infallible cure for the disease of infidelity, in 
 its most dark, severe, stubborn, inveterate, and 
 threatening form. No unbeliever, with the habits 
 just described, could retain his skepticism. By 
 moral influences absolutely irresistible, the demon 
 would be expelled from his bosom. 
 
 My hopes for the ultimate triumph of the Bible are 
 founded entirely on the superiority of its spiritual 
 power, charms, and attractions. Dr. Dewey once 
 said, " The longer a-talented man is acquainted with 
 Scripture, the more he will love it." This fact is in 
 harmony with nature. Whatever is the object of 
 our supreme affections, grows dearer by time. The 
 longeE the miser doats upon his treasures, the more 
 he is attached to them. The patriot and the philan- 
 
THE BIBLE. Ill 
 
 thropist do not grow dull, as they advance in years, 
 to the objects of their long solicitude and affection. 
 Our native soil and our homes become dearer, the 
 more familiar they are. In the same manner, one 
 who has made the divine principles of Sacred Writ 
 the home of his affections, will constantly see new 
 charms in them. No matter how rude the struc- 
 ture, how fantastic the forms and styles which the 
 taste of by-gone ages has given it_; how numerous 
 the marks and foot-prints of time upon its venerable 
 aisles and hallowed recesses — it will be to him the 
 dwelling place of his soul — where he continually 
 holds communion with the ravishing forms of celes- 
 tial wisdom and immortal beauty." Who is there 
 living, except Dr. Dewey, capable of breathing 
 ing forth such surpassing, almost superhuman elo- 
 quence, as that presented by the above extract? 
 
 One fact relating to my experience has made a 
 deep impression on my mind. I have often been 
 called to visit dying men, who had lived the open, 
 avowed, notorious advocates of Deism. On asking 
 them whether they would like to hear a portion of 
 Scripture read, invariably they have replied in the 
 affirmative. I used to carry in my pocket a few 
 verses selected from different chapters of the Old 
 and New Testaments, which seemed particularly 
 adapted to such occasions. On hearing them they 
 have sometimes exclaimed, " Are these indeed, the 
 words of Scripture which you have just rehearsed ? 
 I never heard them before. I would give the whole 
 world were it mine to feel certain of their truth." 
 Yes, whatever men may have believed in the period 
 of health and prosperity, when the sun of their tem- 
 poral existence is sinking below the horizon, the 
 messages of the Bible appear to them unspeakably 
 precious. They inspire consolation and hope as the 
 world of sense is receding forever from their view. 
 Yes, the Bible speaks to the poor sinner as he stands 
 
112 THE BIBLE. 
 
 on the verge of another state, — and the dark shadows 
 of unbelief that had settled down upon his soul flee 
 away. His mental vision catches glimpses of that 
 better, sublimer, and more satisfying inheritance, 
 which awaits us in the land of the deathless. The 
 haggard features of remorse and despair often as- 
 sume a cahn, bright, and smiling expression, as the 
 sufferer gazes upon the perspective of,. an existence 
 which is opening before him, resplendent in all the 
 glories of immortality. Is it credible that a book, 
 (I repeat the question) which, as is universally ac- 
 knowledged, can fit us for the duties and trials of 
 active life ; can fortify us against its assaults and 
 temptations ; can support and enliven our hearts in 
 the hour of bereavement and death, and enable us to 
 look forward to the brilliant scenes of a glorious 
 hereafter — is it credible that a volume of such 
 amazing power originated in the bosoms of igno- 
 rant, base, and unprincipled impostors and deceiv- 
 ers ? We live in an age whose watch-word — whose 
 motto is, Beforra, Bepent. The sublime conception 
 is entertained by Christians and philanthropists of 
 every name and clime, that the era will soon begin, 
 when the sins and sufferings which now afflict man- 
 kind win be known only in the dark histories of 
 other times. But what can bring about a consum- 
 mation so devoutly wished? I reply, God's Holy 
 Word, and nothing else. This engine has power to 
 batter down the monstrous corruptions which op- 
 press humanity. For, consider faith in revelation 
 makes God, providence, accountability, and a future 
 state, solid, substantial, and unquestioned realities 
 in the view of its cordial, heartfelt recipient. l!'hey 
 become as real to him as a bank-note, the house he 
 lives in, his counting-room, his ledger, his cotton 
 bales, or hogsheads of sugar. Of course his religion 
 is a -v^arm, living, practical, ever-present, and tri- '. 
 umphant reality. All the evils which afflict society 
 
THE BIBLE. 113 
 
 have their beginning in the soul. The spirit of 
 Scripture is the onlj power which can enter the 
 inmost, secret recesses of the mind ; purify it from 
 pollutions ; soften its obdurate, deep-seated selfish- 
 ness, and by the inspirations of truth and the Holy 
 Spirit, turn men from the embrace of outward evil ; 
 strengthen them against allurements to sin ; and 
 cause their dail^lives to emit the beams of right- 
 eousness and love. 
 
 Happy would it be for *us, if we could receive the 
 Bible as the richest boon of a Bountiful Father to 
 the children of men — as an inexhaustible store- 
 house of divine and life-giving truth. Then, we 
 should strive chiefly not for the attainment of mate- 
 rial possessions, but for the glory of a character 
 enriched with the never-failing strength and beauty 
 of intellectual and spiritual excellence. He who 
 feels and acts in accordance with the truth of reve- 
 lation breathes the atmosphere of a higher world, 
 and espouses the noble principles and sympathies 
 that glow in the bosoms of angels. He cannot be 
 permanently discouraged by the adverse allotments 
 which befal him. Beyond the storms and darkness 
 of mortality — beyond this mysterious drama of sin, 
 disappointment, toil, privation, sorrow, and the 
 grave, he beholds the transporting scenes of that 
 spirit-land, destined to be the final inheritance of all 
 the countless iBillions, who have been, or will yet 
 be created subject to misery and death here, that 
 they may be trained up for the more exquisite en- 
 joyment of God hereafter. A believer in the Bible 
 feels himself identified with eternity; his desires 
 disdain all boundaries ; he rejoices that, although 
 his body must fade away like a flower, he has a safe, 
 everlasting home in the bosom of a Father's all-em- 
 bracing and immutable benevolence. His daily ex- 
 periences whether prosperous or adverse, render 
 his tastes and affections more refined, his character 
 10* 
 
114 THE BIBLE. 
 
 more noble, his hopes more bright, and lift to sub- 
 limer summits his confidence in the perfect, divine, 
 and immortal. 
 
 Many contend that the communications of th© 
 Bible are not as important in our day, as formerly^ 
 in consequence of the discoveries vrhich mankind 
 now enjoy through the instrumentalities of Modern 
 Spiritualism, as it is nsually style d#. lately we are 
 told the dead have come back from the " undiscov- 
 ered country," and given us more clear, definite and 
 interesting information concerning it, than can be 
 found in the Christian revelation. 
 
 Are we not explicitly assured, that departed spirits 
 cannot return to us, but that we must die and go to 
 them, before we can enjoy their society? It is 
 affirmed that the spirit land can exist or be seen 
 with reference to those on this side the grave, only 
 through the medium of anticipation or hope. We 
 hope for it but are unable to see it. " Flesh and 
 blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God," — cannot 
 behold it. Such a vision while in the body is im- 
 possible. We must lay aside these material garments 
 before the light of immortality can break in upon 
 our ransomed, redeemed and glorified spirits. Not 
 while sojourning in tabernacles of clay shall we be 
 permitted face to face, to commune with those de- 
 parted ones who now tread the verdant, happy, 
 unfading fields of a higher existence. We must 
 pass through the avenue of the grave in order to be 
 able to behold their lovely forms, hear again their 
 sweet voices, and hearken to the octaves and anthems 
 that resound in the temple not made with Iffinds. 
 And if it were in our power to converse with them, 
 what could they communicate for our good, which 
 we have not already learned from Jesus and his 
 Apostles. ? 
 
 " I have read somewhere of a French vessel sent 
 on a voyage of discovery, that was detained by ice- 
 
THE BIBLE. 115 
 
 bergs and various disasters so long that it was sup- 
 posed to be lost. But at length it returned, and 
 drew near to the little town where the officers and 
 crew had left their families. As soon as they per- 
 ceived distinctly the cottages, gardens, orchards, 
 meadows, and other objects endeared to them from 
 childhood; their wives and children hastening to 
 the beach, with outstretched arms and rapturous 
 cries of welcome, the effect was so overpowering 
 that the sailors could notswork the vessel into port, 
 but losing their self-command they leaped over- 
 board to swim ashore." So if we saw distinctly, as 
 with the bodily eye, the shores of the spiritual world 
 thronged with those beloved friends whose bodies 
 have been laid in the grave, and basking in the sun- 
 shine of immortality, should we not become too 
 much excited to meet properly the trials, scenes 
 and duties of an earthly pilgrimage ; should we not 
 lose soundness of mind, and sink into a state of 
 utter recklessness, and wild, pitiable fanaticism? 
 Should we not in all probability become suicides ? 
 I cannot but think that reason and revelation have 
 already told us as much as we can bear — as much 
 as it is best for us to know about the glories of a 
 future state. 
 
 I have read most attentively the periodicals and 
 other publications of the Spiritualists, which of late 
 years have been circulating through the United 
 States. I have, time and again, conversed with 
 some of the most enlightened members of this sect, 
 and attended on their preaching and lectures. I 
 doubt not the purity of their motives, nor the supe- 
 riority of their genius and learning. But, in justice, 
 I am compelled to say that they have not told me 
 anything new — anything which I had not before 
 learned from Jesus and his Apostles. Nor have 
 they presented to my mind a particle of evidence, 
 that disembodied spirits have sensibly communicated 
 
116 THE BIBLE. 
 
 to the world a single sentence of those compositions 
 whose origin is ascribed to spiritual influences. For 
 the rappings and kindred phenomena about which 
 so much noise is made, and the instances of alleged 
 clairvoyance and healing mediums, are easily ex- 
 plained upon those philosophical principles, which 
 operating in a mysterious way, and under various 
 forms, are, although invisible, everywhere active 
 around us. Cuvier expresses the opinion " that all 
 the particles of matter in the world, whether belong- 
 ing to organic, or inorganic bodies, are constantly 
 under the influence of galvanic attractions and 
 repulsions, (that is, electricity or mesmerism), and 
 are therefore producing, without cessation, decom- 
 positions and new arrangements." 
 
 After all the ado and fuss about Spiritualism, then, 
 I am compelled to adhere not only with unshaken 
 faith, but with a confidence increased, thirty, sixty, 
 and even an hundred-fold — to the timp-hallowed 
 and time-honored system of the Bible — that system 
 which was an ample support ta our fathers ; a lamp 
 to their feet; consolation in trouble, sickness and 
 • death ; and an all-sufBcienl proof and pledge of their 
 immortality. This system contains not only aU the 
 doctrines, precepts, hopes and promises which we 
 need, but is also the ever-present, active medium of 
 those spiritual manifestations which can be of any 
 service to us this side the grave. I admit that man 
 wants spiritual directions and influences every day 
 of his tried and tempted life. Whoever daily reads 
 the Bible has access to the best Medium the world 
 has ever seen or ever will see. Yes, if we will con- 
 stantly lift up our hearts to God, (according to the 
 directions of Scripture) in earnest prayer and strong, 
 holy resolutions to do his will; then in our chambers, 
 family circles, and most secluded hours ; also when 
 abroad in the street, bank, office, counting-room, or 
 any other scene of lawful enterprise — we shall be 
 favored with beatific visions, which the unholy can 
 
THE BIBLE. 117 
 
 never see ; we shall hear sweet voices and music- 
 notes entrancing the soul, filling the whole atmos- 
 phere ; and that come not from some disembodied, 
 faUible spirit which once dwelt with us in a house 
 of clay, but from the depths of eternity, the centre 
 of infinitude, the bosom of that Father in whom we 
 hve ; who created and sustains a boundless universe. 
 
 And none of Adam's race can listen to thosfe 
 sounds of heavenly truth and eldquence without 
 partaking of God's own life. As soon as they reach 
 the ears of a sinner, however weak, prostrate, im- 
 poverished, fallen or corrupt may be his condition, 
 he will instantly renounce every bribe of earth, all 
 moral evil, every unlawful indulgence, every unhal- 
 lowed thought, affection and habit ; and clothed 
 with the white robes of innocence, faith, wisdom 
 and piety, ascend to take a place with angels and 
 the spirits of the just made perfect ; and his long 
 agitated, care worn, agonized heart will begin to 
 enjoy true peace and rest — a plenitude of unal- 
 loyed, unending bliss, derived from communion with 
 his God and Saviour, and a transporting sense of 
 the glories belonging to a future and everlasting . 
 existence. 
 
 " The devices of man originate in fancy, and ex- 
 pire with his breath. Devoid of power they play 
 around depravity, like shadows round a mountain 
 top, and vanish without leaving an impression." 
 But the word of Ood is quick and powerful, sharper 
 than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the divid- 
 ing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and 
 marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents 
 of the heart. By two immutable things in which it 
 was impossible for God to lie, we have a strong, unfail- 
 ing hope, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon 
 the Gospel — a hope which the combined agency of 
 all the spirits that have departed from these mortal 
 shores, since the death of righteous Abel, could 
 neither inspire nor invigorate. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 CHBISIIAir MIBACLES. 
 
 I AM aware that it is common for the pulpit to 
 lay down certain views concerning the character 
 and works of Christ, the belief of which it enjoins 
 as absolutely essential to forgiveness and salvation. 
 To me it appears that such a style of address is 
 neither reasonable nor in accordance with Scripture. 
 So long as one's strongest feelings in regard to 
 Christianity relate to its bearings on his personal 
 safety here and hereafter, he cannot be in a proper 
 state of mind to investigate it with a calm, candid, 
 impartial, and independent weighing of the evidence 
 on which the system of revealed religion is built. 
 Dr. Chalmers, of Scotland, belonging to the Presby- 
 terian church, in a letter addressed to a lady, and 
 published since his death, says : — " That a man, who 
 after the most thorough and strenuous investigation 
 of which he is capable, is unable to discover the 
 truth of the gospel, cannot be justly considered as 
 being to blame for his unbelief." I rejoice that the 
 influence and authority of this great name have 
 given currency to a sentiment so pleasing to every 
 just and expanded mind. " An honest man is the 
 noblest work of God," is a doctrine derived from 
 Scripture. Can the noblest man render himself 
 liable to condemnation for the very quality which 
 most exalts and ennobles him. 
 
CHRISTIAIJ MIEACLKS. 119 
 
 Let US proceed at once to the question. Are the 
 miracles recorded in the New Testament credible ? 
 In replying to this query, I would begin with the 
 remark that, in my judgment, Christianity may be 
 called a science with as much propriety as any other 
 branch of knowledge with which we are conversant. 
 The science of natural philosophy, for example, is a 
 collection of general truths, established by inductive 
 reasonings upon obvious, undeniable, or universally 
 acknowledged facts. Prom particular phenomena it 
 ascends to general principles, and finally lays down 
 laws or conclusions co-extensive with the immense 
 circle of the physical universe. Thus, Sir Isaac 
 Newton, by the aid of a few simple facts familiar to 
 every child, discovered the sublime law of gravita- 
 tion. He ascertained that every material body 
 gravitates towards every other; that every mass, 
 however large, is attracted by every particle, how- 
 ever small ; that every member of the Copernican 
 system, and every system in the great system of 
 systems is affected reciprocally by every other ; 
 and that the agency of this law, combined with 
 another too well known to need a description, keeps 
 all the innumerable worlds afloat in space, and 
 causes them to move through their destined circuits 
 in eternal order, beauty, and harmony. Just so, 
 revealed religion is a system of truths established 
 by legitimate reasoning upon undoubted, universally 
 admitted facts. Yes, he who investigates Chris- 
 tianity aright, as truly deals with clear, definite, 
 unquestionable phenomena as the chemist in his 
 laboratory, the anatomist in his dissecting-room, the 
 geologist who directs his researches into the mine- 
 ral history and constitution of our planet, or the 
 astronomer who looks through his telescope to 
 examine the laws, bearings, and wonders of those 
 celestial orbs which crowd the fields of space. 
 Pacts strong as any truths in natural science, as 
 
120 ' CHRISTIAN MIRACLES, 
 
 strong as any which are employed in arithmetic, 
 geometry, or the infinitesimal -analysis, constitute 
 the immutable, eternal basis of our holy religion. . 
 
 Let me offer an example of what I Have intended 
 to express in the foregoing remarks : — We know 
 that the New Tesjp,ment exists ; we see, feel, handle^ 
 and read it. Here, then, in the beginning we take 
 our stand upon an absolute certainty. We are just 
 as certain that there is a New Testament as that 
 the sun shines. By a chain of infallible proofs we 
 trace the existence of this book back, from century 
 to century, to the very age of the Apostles. We 
 find numerous quotations from the gospels scattered 
 throughout the literature of the last eighteen hun- 
 dred years. Multitudes of these are collected an(^ 
 examined in " Lardner's Credibility," and similar^ 
 works. By these meansi it is demonstrated that the 
 New Testament was the production of a few rude^ 
 ignorant, untaught fishermen and publicans, who 
 were born and bred in Galilee of Judea. They 
 could neither read nor write, except by supernatural 
 aid, and, upon the supposition that the gospel is 
 not true, were the vilest of the vile in moral char« 
 acter. Now, we know that every effect must have 
 an adequate cause. Could a half dozen of the most 
 illiterate and vicious operatives now living in New 
 Orleans, New York, or London, compose a book 
 that anybody would read, on the grandest themes of 
 moral and religious science ? Could such men pro- 
 duce a work infinitely more true and beautiful on 
 ^vine and spiritual subjects than any of those 
 numerous writings of the last three thousand years, 
 which have emanated from the greatest scholars of 
 their respective lands and eras — scholars whose 
 intellects were disciplined and enriched by all the 
 various elements of science and literature ? I repeat 
 it, could such men have written the Sermon on the 
 Mount (which Napoleon pronounced the sublimest 
 
CHRISTIAN MIRACLES. 121 
 
 composition in the world), the Parables of the Good 
 Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, and the other discourses 
 ascribed to our Lord ? No more than they could 
 have made the whole stellary . system, with its 
 myriads of planetary worlds, destined to revolve 
 through eternity in the boundless realms of space. 
 I say with Eosseau, that the wisest men contem- 
 porary with Jesus were just as inadequate to the 
 invention of the gospel as they were to the raising 
 of the dead, whether of Jewish or Pagan origin. 
 Under the circumstances the invention would have 
 involved a greater miracle than is implied in its 
 reality. As the sun points all eyes to an infinite 
 author, so does the New Testament show to candid, 
 unprejudiced inquirers, by its universally acknowl- 
 edged history and inherent attributes, the super- 
 human character of its origin. Look at the following 
 undisputed and indisputable facts : — The personal 
 reality of our Saviour who was born in Palestine 
 about eighteen hundred years ago ; his crucifixion 
 under Pontius Pilate ; his assertion that he came 
 forth from God, and was empowered by him to 
 work miracles and utter prophecies ; his peculiar 
 teachings ; the character, conduct, and sufferings of 
 the earliest Apostles ; the peculiar style in which 
 the gospels are written ; the mighty revolution 
 which they produced in the world, reaching through 
 so many ages, extending to all the institutes of 
 civilized life, and originating new, loftier, and nobler 
 forms of social order, refinement, learning, and 
 philanthropy. Upon definite and certain phenom- 
 ena like these, Christianity is built — phenomena 
 as undoubted as the facts and principles of astro- 
 nomical science or natural philosophy. 
 
 The astronomer tells the world how many miles 
 
 off the planets are from the suii, and from each 
 
 other ; he presumes to state the dimensions of their 
 
 orbits ; their periods and the rapidity of their revo- 
 
 11. 
 
122 CHRISTIAN MIRACLES. 
 
 lutions ; and even what are their absolute and 
 relative weights, (fee. But there is not an item of 
 this noble science that rests upon clearer, stronger, 
 or more conclusive evidence than the proofs by 
 which the truth of the New Testament is estab- 
 lished. Now, all these numerous arguments co- 
 operate in demonstrating the reality of the miracles 
 recorded by the Evangelists. To illustrate what I 
 mean, let us fix our attention on a single instance — 
 the resurrection of our Saviour from the dead. 
 Paul saySj " If Christ is not risen, then we are 
 found false witnesses of God, because we have 
 testified of God that he raised up Christ." AU that 
 has been said or written on this topic, by friends or 
 foes to Christianity, may be reduced to these three 
 propositions : — First : it is alleged by some, that 
 those contemporaries of our Saviour who asserted 
 that he rose from the dead were impostors and de- 
 ceivers. Secondly : others have maintained that the 
 original apostles and witnesses of the resurrection 
 were upright and conscientious men, but enthusiastic 
 devotees, who were led by some, kind of infatuation 
 to believe in a fact which never reaUy occurred. 
 They thought that they uttered a solemn truth in 
 announcing to the world that Jesus had risen from 
 the dead. But they were deceived by the influence 
 of ardent and disordered imaginations. Thirdly: 
 it is contended that Jesus actually died and rose 
 again ; and the testimony of Scripture is sufficient 
 evidence of the fact to satisfy the enlightened, sin- 
 cere humble inquirer after truth. Let us briefly 
 examine these propositions in the order just speci- 
 fied. I shall not attempt so much to spread out 
 particular arguments as to exhibit some of the 
 general principles of reasoning which the advocates ] 
 of Christianity rely upon to prove the resurrection 
 of Jesus Christ. I shall endeavor to use the 
 plainest words — words, the meaning of which must 
 be obvious to the most uncultivated ininds. 
 
CHRISTIAN MIRACLES. 123 
 
 Can the proposition he maintained that those 
 contemporaries of Jesus, who bear witness to the 
 fact of his resurrection, were bad men, intentional 
 deceivers and impostors ? I think not. All writers 
 on mental philosophy, without an exception, teach 
 the doctrine that there is in human nature an in- 
 herent love of veracity so strong that the worst 
 men always choose to tell the truth when it promises 
 to answer their ends as well, or better, than false- 
 hood. In other words, unprincipled men never try 
 to deceive without a motive. It is morally im- 
 possible for them to do so. But the proposition 
 before us supposes the apostles to have embarked in 
 a profound scheme of imposture without any clear 
 and adequate inducement. Oh, no, it may be re- 
 plied, like other fanatics and innovators, they might 
 have hoped by deception to become the founders 
 of a new sect, which would ultimately subject mul- 
 titudes to their sway, and exalt them to temporal 
 wealth, power, and -glory. I answer, the circum- 
 stances in which the apostles were placed preclude 
 the possibility of their having been actuated by any 
 such vulgar, unhallowed motives of personal ambition. 
 
 Reflect that Jesus was a notorious, most distin- 
 guished personage. He was well known to the 
 inhabitants of Jerusalem, having often visited their 
 splendid temple in his official capacity, as well as 
 the synagogues, villages, and towns generally, 
 throughout Palestine. He was apprehended by 
 the civil government, openly tried as a malefactor 
 before the highest tribunal in the land, and con- 
 demned to suffer a capital punishment. All admit 
 that this sentence was carried into execution in the 
 most public manner by the authorized agents of the 
 government. They nailed him to the Cross on 
 which he expired. By their orders the body was 
 taken down, and laid in a new tomb hewn out of 
 the solid rock. Then they placed an immense stons 
 
124 CHRISTIAN MIRACLES. 
 
 against the door, and stationed a strong band of 
 soldiers around the tomb to prevent a surreptittons 
 removal of the body. Shortly after the crucifixion, 
 a half dozen of poor, despised, persecuted men, who 
 were without friends, science, wealth, power, and 
 temporal resources of any description, came for- 
 ward, and proclaimed in the most public manner 
 that the sepulchre of Jesus was emptied ; that he 
 was not there, and had . been seen by his disciples 
 alive. Let it be observed that they solemnly 
 affirmed, in the very presence ot the soldiers who 
 guarded the tomb, before the rulers that had or- 
 dained the crucifixion, with all their satellites and 
 admirers, and in the hearing of all the inhabitants 
 of Jerusalem, that the Son of God had come to life 
 on the third day after his decease. Now, upon the 
 supposition that they deliberately uttered a false^ 
 hood, must they not have foreseen with absolute 
 certainty that the body would ha,ve been forth- 
 coming upon the spot, in less time than it took 
 them to announce the forgery, with .the prints of 
 the iron in the hands, feet, and side, to overwhelm 
 them with complete, and instantaneous discomfiture? 
 Since the world began, was it ever known that im- 
 postors have attempted to palm upon those around 
 them, a fiction which they knew beforehand, with 
 intuitive certainty, no person living could be made 
 to believe, and which, consequently, would expose 
 them to scorn, derision, contempt, perhaps imprison- 
 ment and death ? Impostors never act in this way. 
 No. Had the apostles been intentional deceivers, 
 they would have located the scene of the resurrec- 
 tion far off, in some distant, unknown part of the 
 globe, and in some remote epoch of time concealed 
 from the view of criticism by the thick mists of 
 antiquity. 
 
 I will illustrate the force of this argument by 
 adducing an instance or two. I am now writing in 
 
CHEISTIAN MIBACLES. 125 
 
 Louisville, (Ky.) A short time ago a gentleman 
 (Mr. B.) died here, who was universally ^own and 
 beloved. A large concourse followed his remains 
 to their final resting place in the Cave Hill Ceme- 
 tery. Hundreds of those long acquainted with him 
 saw the corpse, attended his funeral, and beheld 
 the closing of his tomb. There are men living in 
 this place as wicked as were any of the contem- 
 poraries of Jesus. But are there any among us 
 silly, weak, mad enough to fell the following story : — 
 " This morning, the 26th of July, 1857, at sunrise, 
 we were standing in the Cave Hill Cemetery by the 
 tomb of Mr. B — . All at once the ground trembled 
 beneath and around us, the grave opened, and Mr. 
 B — came forth alive, and unharmed. We conversed 
 with him several minutes, took him by the hand, 
 and are sure as to his identity. Besides, he stepped 
 into the carriage and rode to the city with us, and 
 we left him at his late dwelling on Chesnut Street." 
 Could any sane men, I repeat it, be found in this 
 city weak and wicked enough to originate such a 
 vile fabrication ? Why ? Because no conceivable 
 motive could possibly operate on their minds to 
 induce them to practice such consummate folly. 
 But human nature was the same in the time of 
 Christ as it is to-day. No bad men lived then who 
 could have been persuaded to act in the manner just 
 specified. The known, universally recognized laws 
 of the human mind render such a supposition 
 ridiculously absurd. 
 
 Besides, it would be almost impossible for us to 
 believe in the resurrection of Mr. B — , under the 
 circumstances imagined, upon the bare assertion of 
 the men above mentioned, however high their 
 standing and spotless their character. We should 
 all exclaim, if Mr. B — is actually alive, let us see 
 him taking his former place in the church, the 
 counting-room, the bank, the exchange, the family 
 11* 
 
126 CHRISTIAN MIRACLES. 
 
 circle, and miDglirig again in the scenes and recrea- 
 tions of this mortal state. Nothing but such an 
 appeal to our senses would completely satisfy us. 
 Let it be that the whole number of those personally 
 acquainted with Mr. B — before his death amounted to 
 five hundred ; each of these behold, and converse 
 with him, and testify to the fact of his resurrection. 
 Would not their testimony spread belief in the ex- 
 traordinary narrative throughout Louisville, through- 
 out all Kentucky, throughout the United States, 
 and the whole civilized world ? Nothing could re- 
 sist such an appeal to the senses. Now, the inhabit- 
 ants of Jerusalem, at the time of the alleged 
 resurrection of Jesus, were in circumstances very 
 similar to those above mentioned, yet three thou- 
 sand received the miraculous fact in one day, and 
 among them some who aided in the crucifixion. It 
 is obvious that nothing but- irresistible demonstra^ 
 tion, overpowering evidence, could have created 
 such a faith. 
 
 But the theory before us supposes the apostles 
 to have acted, not only without any assignable 
 motive, but also in defiance of the strongest in- 
 ducements which ever swayed the human mind. 
 Imagine that the individuals whom I have just set 
 before you, in the attitude of asserting the resur- 
 rection of one of our neighbors recently deceased, 
 knew beforehand that it would be impossible for 
 them to make sxich an affirmation without being 
 immediately apprehended as culprits, loaded with 
 irons, dragged to the criminal court, and thence 
 carried out to suffer a painful and ignominious 
 death. In the face of a doom so certain and so 
 terrible, would it be in their power to utter the 
 forgery in question ? But such was the condition 
 of the apostles when they first bore testimony to 
 the resurrection of Jesus. 
 
 This is not all. After the apostles began to en- 
 
CHEISTIAN MIRACLES. 127 
 
 counter persecution and all the bitterest forma of 
 punishment which their enemies could inflict, at any 
 moment they might have obtained deliverance and 
 exaltation to the highest glories of earth, by a 
 recantation of the erroneous statement which so 
 exposed them to excruciating sufferings and death 
 itself But all the original confederates in the 
 Christian fraud, as it has been styled, although the 
 scorn, hatred, and fiercest wrath of a world were 
 constantly beating upon them, persisted through 
 life in declaring that the Lord was risen indeed, and 
 at last sealed their testimony with their blood. 
 Could impostors have acted in this manner ? 
 
 These indubitable facts, it seems to me, are a 
 species of evidence sufScient to convince the most 
 skeptical. Could a few impoverished, ignorant, 
 prostrate and imbecile deceivers of Galilee have 
 originated the magnificent project of establishing a 
 pure, beneficent, and universal religion which was 
 to last to the end of time ? How passing strange, 
 after the conception was formed, that for the means 
 of carrying out this sublime plan, they should have 
 relied entirely upon the eflScacy of a single, extrav- 
 agant, unparalled, audacious and incredible false- 
 hood! Yet their efforts were crowned with suc- 
 cess. They actually befooled the whole world into 
 a belief of a monstrous fiction, if Christianity be not 
 true. An absolute, foolish imposition triumphed 
 over aU the religioiis establishments of the age, and 
 in the third century, as Mr. Gibbon remarks, " the 
 banners of the Cross were planted on the palace of 
 the Csesars." In addition, these vile, stupid men 
 invented the best system of ethics which the world 
 has ever seen. The new Testament contains a 
 scheme of truth and duty, in which the most scruti- 
 nizing minds can detect no error — can point out 
 nothing wanting, and nothing superflous. Besides 
 they lived in harmony with the precepts which they 
 
128 CHRISTIAN MIEACLE8. 
 
 laid down. Their conduct was only divine, lovely, 
 peerless, and immaculate. There is not then the 
 shadow of a reason in support of the first position 
 that the original witnesses to the resurrection of 
 Christ were corrupt and unprincipled men. The 
 circumstances above mentioned are not imaginary. 
 They may be found substantiated in Paley, Chalmers, 
 Lardner, and other accredited writers on the sub-* 
 ject. It is important to observe that the sufferings 
 to which the early Christians submitted, are not 
 referred to for the purpose of proving the truth of 
 their religion, but simply the fact of their sincerity. 
 I will now look at another form of unbelief touch- 
 ing the resurrection. Many of the ablest writers 
 against miracles take the ground, that the original 
 witnesses of the resurrection were most upright, 
 conscientious devotees, who firmly beheved what 
 they said was true. We are told that they were 
 inspired with such a belief by the power of religious 
 enthusiasm. This phrase is used to denote the in- 
 tensest kind of sentiments and feelings, with respect 
 to what a person regards as the true — the divine 
 faith. Now it is an invariable law, that when enthu- 
 siasts of any description fancy that they see visions 
 and have revelations from God, these visions and 
 revelations are always in favor of the system which 
 they most love and admire. This is admitted by all 
 writers on the subject. Suppose an honest, purer 
 minded member of the Roman Catholic church to 
 be led by the strength of his religious feelings, to 
 regard a mere figment of the imagination as a reality, 
 would not the fancied fact, of course, harmonize 
 with his predominant and estabUshed belief at the 
 time ? So if the evangelical writers had been made 
 to believe in dreams by the influence of a morbid 
 and excessive enthusiasm, these dreams would have 
 been in accordance with that peculiar system of 
 faith in which they had been trained, and to which? 
 
CHRISTIAN MIRACLES. 129 
 
 they devoted themselves with the strongest, most 
 absorbing convictions and attachments, that can 
 sway and interest the human mind. I will give a 
 single instance of the application of this principle. 
 X Paul, as all know, was a Jew of the strictest sect 
 at the time of his conversion. He assures us that 
 he verily thought nothing could be more pleasing 
 to God. than his conduct in persecuting and slaying 
 the disciples. When in the act of carrying out what 
 he actually believed to be the noblest enterprise in 
 which he 'could engage, in one moment, a vision, 
 arising from a diseased, enthusiastic mind — a mere 
 fancy, a picture of an excited imagifiation, so 
 wrought upon him, that he renounced the religion 
 which of all others he most loved, and took up with 
 one that he most hated, despised, trampled upon, 
 and was in the act of putting forth his highest efibrts 
 to annihilate. To make this idea more striking I 
 win present an illustratioii. One of the most dis- 
 tinguished of those preachers belonging to the 
 Spiritualists in the United States, has announced to 
 the public, that he will deliver a discourse on Spirit- 
 ualism this evening, in Mozart Hall, oh Jefferson 
 street. The spacious room is filled. At the ap- 
 pointed time the preacher walks from the recess 
 and takes his seat on the platform. After a few 
 moments of profound silence, we will suppose that 
 he arises and pronounces something like the follow- 
 ing address : " Ladies and Gentlemen, — I have this 
 moment had a special revelation from Jesus Christ, 
 assuring me that the modern doctrine of spiritual 
 manifestations is not true — it is a most wild, ground- 
 less delusion. Heretofore I have looked upon this 
 system of faith as supremely divine, beneficent and 
 beautiful. For years I have been doing all in my 
 power to build it up. I would most sincerely ask 
 the pardon of all those who may have been deceived 
 on this topic by my tongue, or pen. Henceforth I 
 
130 CHRISTIAN MIBACLES. 
 
 shall labor as far as possible, to undo the evils that 
 may have been caused by the strange hallucination 
 to which I have been subjected. I shall now attempt 
 to convince you how false, gross, weak and deformed 
 are those doctrines which, till a moment since, ap- 
 peared to me supernal, grand, harmonious, and lovely 
 as heaven itself." 
 
 Now, I ask, can a sensible man believe, that there 
 is any law of imagination which could completely 
 metamorphose the profoundest,most maturely formed 
 and cherished views of this spiritual preacher in an 
 instant of time ? A child may see, that under the 
 circumstaiices, a fancied revelation, could no more 
 achieve such a result than it could erect a palace, 
 make a railway, or build a bridge across the Ohio 
 river, to connect LouisvUle with the State of Indi- 
 ana. So neither could a similar cause have insta^ 
 taneously changed sincere, accomplished, persecut- 
 ing Saul, into a warm, devoted, magnanimous, and 
 self-sacrificing apostle. 
 
 Moreover, follies of this kind are in general short- 
 lived, and transitory. Time, of necessity, soon over- 
 throws th# illusions of mere opinion. But the en- 
 thusiasm of Paul, as it is styled, lasted forty years — 
 till he was put to death. His parents, relatives and 
 revered friends made every effort to induce him to 
 return to the faith and fold of his ancestors — to 
 renounce the folly and madness , of travelling over 
 the world to preach a wretched, unpopular super- 
 stition. He did not respond to their entreaties in 
 harsh, proud, or fretful terms, but meekly and mildly 
 replied, " Would to God, ye were all such as I am 
 this day, except th^se bonds." To him those chains 
 seemed like the. wreaths and diadems of angels. He 
 saw through the pomps and vanities of earth. He 
 felt " what shadows we are and what shadows we 
 pursue." Jesus had shown him that true peace 
 comes not from tables of abundance, from soft-bed 
 
CHRISTIAN MIRACLES. 131 
 
 ded comfort, from the delights of wealth, or the 
 breezes of popular applause. He had learned that 
 nothing else can satisfy the human heart but God, 
 truth, honor, duty, conscience, and that higher im- 
 mortal life which awaits us beyond the grave. 
 Buoyed up by such unearthly convictions, he ex- 
 claimed, " I thank God that I am appointed to labor 
 amid the severest persecutions, to kindle up on the 
 altars of Paganism that fire from heaven which will 
 burn brighter and brighter to the end of time — to 
 drop link after link of that chain of celestial magnet- 
 ism destined finally to encompass and vivify a lost 
 world." 
 
 Then it is admitted that enthusiasm has a peculiar 
 style of speaking and writing, by which it can easily, 
 always, and certainly be recognized. The most em- 
 inent Eationahst of the present century has pub- 
 lished the following critici^ : " The epistles of Paul 
 must be genuine, because the style is so natural 
 that no imposter could personate it, however great 
 his resources of genius, inventive talent, or learn- 
 ing." In my judgment this remark is applicable to 
 the entire New Testament. But with them contrast 
 the writings of enthusiasts of any age or clime. 
 How unspeakably diiferent ! I am familiar with 
 some of the most celebrated of these productions. 
 They abound with strong pictures of the imagina- 
 tion, far-fetched eifusions of fancy, uncommon, poly- 
 syllabic words, and rounded, harmonious periods. 
 Their rhetorical flourishes " amaze the unlearned, 
 and make the learned smile." To use common par- 
 lance, the enthusiastic authors delight in high-flown, 
 pompous, imposing, inflated, unintelligible words and 
 phrases. They utter nothing wittf directness and 
 simplicity. They cannot stoop to the vulgarity of 
 a plain, homely, every day dialept. Hence, they 
 are always on stilts, dealing in transcendentalisms, 
 ftill of that frippery — that tinsel, foppish, showy 
 
132 CHRISTIAN MIRACLES. 
 
 eloquence, which charms sciolists and sophomores 
 only. In every sentence we see marks of artistic 
 contrivances, and nothing of the nature and ease 
 which characterize thoughts that come warm, riqhj 
 and living from the inspiration of the soul. Their 
 figures and ornaments are sometimes splendid, bu* 
 in general they display a taste, as extravagant, ultra 
 and morbid, as the minds whence they have ema- 
 nated. If Jesus, Saul, ' and their coadjutors had 
 adopted such a style we never should have heard of 
 them. Long since their names would have been 
 obliterated from the records of literature. Of this 
 kind of style we have a most perfect exemplification 
 in the sermons, lectures, books and periodicals of 
 the modern Spiritualists. A few days ago I came 
 across an addi;^ which purports to have been 
 uttered by Daniel Webster since his death. If the 
 composition was really h^g, then that wonderful, im- 
 mortal man must have lost the fine literary taste 
 which he uniformly displayed on earth. His loftiest 
 flights now, according to the document just referred 
 to, consist of the rodomontade, the jejune, flimsy, 
 unnatural rhapsodies of wretched superstition. 
 
 Every man of cultivated taste knows that there is 
 a most intimate connection between a man's thoughts 
 and mental character, and his peculiar mode of ex- 
 pression. An author's style is a picture of the ideas 
 and principles that reign in his soul. If these ideas 
 and principles are really noble, they will sponta- 
 neously clothe themselves in corresponding majesty 
 of language. The vast majority in Christian lands 
 have neither the leisure nor the means to investigate 
 the credibility, upon exegetical principles, of what 
 the Evangelists have told us about the resurrection 
 of Christ. Nor is such an investigation at all re- 
 quisite to a sound, lively, and supporting faith in 
 this prominent point of the Christian system. He 
 who has an unprejudiced mind can hardly take his 
 
OHKISTIAN MIBACLE9, 133 
 
 Bible, and sit down ajone in his room, and peruse 
 the simple, touching, impressive, unadorned narra- 
 tives of our Saviour's death and resurrection, con- 
 tained in the New Testament, without realizing the 
 teuth of the words — Ihe Lord is 7-isen indeed — 
 without feeling- a thrill of joy and transport rushing 
 through every avenue of his soul -^ lifting his 
 thoughts to God, heaven, and the life immortal. 
 
 The habitual perusal of the gospels, with earnest 
 prayer and rectitude of conduct, wiU inspire a more 
 immovable faith in the resurrection than any amount 
 of study and scholarship could produce, unaccom- 
 panied with a good life — a faith, thank Heaven, 
 which no destructive criticisms, as to the mere letter 
 and records of Scripture, can ever weaken or de- 
 stroy. Grant that all which Strauss, Parker, and 
 others have published concernmg the verbal inac- 
 curacies, contradictions, ,^nd incredibilities of the 
 different accounts which the Evangelists have given 
 of the resurrection of Jesus be true, it could not 
 jn the slightest degree discredit or diminish the 
 j^onfidence of mankind in their general incor- 
 ruptibility. These accounts are so fraught with the 
 mien, spirit and genius of truth, that fair, unbiassed 
 minds cannot doubt their veracity. When I read 
 the gospels touching the resurrection, I feel their 
 truthfolniess just as I feel the beauty of a star, a 
 rose, a tree, a rivulet, a poem, a picture, a statue, 
 the melody of birds, or the notes of an orchestra — 
 just as I feel the truth of arithmetic, Euclid, trigon- 
 ometry, algebra, or the differential and integral cal- 
 culus. There is a soul infiised into the narratives, 
 by Almighty God, which interests and touches the 
 hearts of allreaders, and whichno criticisms, however 
 erudite and ingenious, will ever be able to extin- 
 guish, any more than they could blot out sun, 
 moon, and stars. I never had any fears as to the 
 mithl^ss attempt? of the Eationalists to overthrow 
 12 
 
134 CHRISTIAN MIBACLES. 
 
 the miracle of our Saviour's resurrection. They 
 have been of great service to Christianity. The 
 more closely truth is examined and sifted the 
 brighter will it shine. The only wonder to me is 
 that any weU-informed person can doubt the doctrine 
 of a divine and supernatural agency in the produc- 
 tion of the miracles and revelations recorded in the 
 New Testament. The most inexplicable phenomenon 
 which I have ever witnessed is the mind of Strauss, 
 Parker, or Emerson — a mind so large, so noble, and 
 so rich, and, at the same time, insensible to what I 
 consider the most peculiar, distinguishing glories of 
 the gospel. 
 
 Yet, in justice I must remark that a belief in the 
 miracles of Scripture should not be considered as 
 an attribute indispensably necessary to a Christian 
 character. For the inspired writers assure us that 
 genuine piety is a prerogative of the heart, not of 
 the head. The intellect may be in error when the 
 affections beat in unison with the will of Heaven. 
 Are there not as many wise and excellent persons 
 among the Jews, in proportion to their whole num- 
 ber, as among the Christian sects? Yet they dis- 
 believe and deny the truth of the New Testament 
 history. I cannot say that a man must adopt any 
 particular set of opinions in order to be saved, 
 because in the Bible the terms religion and goodness 
 are synonymes. Whoever has a right temper, a 
 benevolent spirit, the sunshine of a good conscience, 
 the deep, but placid, serene, and soothing affections 
 of reverence, and gratitude for the Supreme Parent, 
 will be accepted, whether his belief be Hebrew, 
 Christian, Pagan, or Mahometan. 
 
 I believe as strongly in the resurrection of Jesus 
 as I do in the existence of a God. Now, I have a 
 neighbor who rejects this prominent article of my 
 creed, and I rejoice to confess that he is greatly my 
 superior in intellectual and moral attainments. He 
 
CHRISTIAN MIEACLES. 135 
 
 is more wise, more learned, more pious, more charit- 
 ible, and more like Christ in his disposition and life. 
 Still, with all my inferiority, it is both a duty and 
 privilege to follow the dictates of my own judgment 
 a,nd conscience, though they move on a plane, com- 
 paratively low, grovelling, and narrow. No man has 
 1 right to set up his own mind as an exclusive and 
 aniversal standard on this or any other topic of 
 Christianity, to assume that he enjoys a monopoly 
 jf light, sanctity, and the influences of God's holy 
 spirit. It is a sickening, most offensive, and criminal 
 3igotry to assert that our neighbor is estranged from 
 ;he first principles of Christianity, because he does 
 lot concur with us in opinion as to certain contro- 
 irerted articles of belief. 
 
 To me it is plain that the scheme of reconciling 
 ivhat is told us in the gospels about the- resurrection 
 )f Jesus, with the integrity of the apostles, although 
 ;hey testified to an absolute chimera, is only and 
 grossly absurd. According to the theory referred to, 
 I mere myth, a fable — and a fable to which no en- 
 jouragement was afforded by any form of supersti- 
 ;ion then existing, and which could not be received 
 IS truth without sacrificing all that man holds dear 
 Du earth — rose to such a prodigious influence in the 
 short space of thirty or forty years all over the 
 ;ivilized world, as to be looked upon in the Kght of 
 I well established and accredited item of veritable 
 listory. For, in the lifetime of the apostles, and im- 
 nediately after, no enemies of the gospel, either 
 Tewish or Pagan, ever presumed tg call in question 
 ;he reality of the miracles, which it was alleged 
 Dhrist had performed. The only point of discussion 
 ivith them was whether the miracles, supposing 
 ;hem to have been actually performed, were a 
 iemonstration of his divinity. Some contended that 
 Fesus did his wonderful works by a superior knowl- 
 jdge of Nature's- laws, magic art, diabolism, mes- 
 
136 CHRISTIAN MIRACLES. 
 
 merism as now called, or what in our day Would be 
 denominated spiritual influences. But it was uni- 
 versally conceded that the supernatural deeds were 
 really accomplished, as set forth in the New Testa- 
 ment This fact has most important bearings on 
 the subject of this chapter. Yes, upon the groun^ 
 that Jesus was not raised from the dead, in defianc^ 
 of legislative influence, armies, navies, priesthoods, 
 literature, philosophy, fashion, religious prejudices, 
 education, popular predilections, and every other 
 kind of antagonism conceivable, or possible, in the 
 compass of a few years, a mere myth, or rather a 
 collection of myths, took complete possession of the 
 judgment, intellect, heart, faith, hopes, and affections 
 of the human family. This is the most fashionable 
 form of infideliiy prevailing in our day in regard to 
 that fundamental point — the resurrection of the 
 Son of God. Yet, it seems to me so wild, romantic, 
 far-fetched, extravagant, and incredible, as hardly to 
 deserve the respect of this hasty notice. 
 
 The two first propositions named above, being 
 abandoned, the only remaining one that calls for 
 our notice is that which asserts the actual resur- 
 rection of Jesus from the dead, and that the gospels 
 furnish evidence of the fact sufficient to satisfy 
 every honest, and impartial inquirer after truth. 
 And this evidence is a great deal stronger than 
 most persons imagine. I will offer an illustration of 
 this remark. Suppose that at the expiration of the 
 next hundred years, some one, in the plenitude oi 
 his wisdom, should write a book to prove that no 
 such man as Gen. Washington ever lived, and that 
 aU which biographies say about this distinguished 
 person are only myths. What reply, if any, would 
 be made to a position so extraordinary? Why,' 
 simply this, that the uniform, consistent, and unani- 
 mous testimonyoi the contemporaries of Washington, 
 establishes his reality upon an immovable basis. 
 
CHRISTIAN MIEACLES. 137 
 
 Precisely the same argument demonstrates the ex- 
 istence of Jesus and his miracles. It is a complete 
 and triumphant reply touching the impossibility of 
 supernatural works, and the alleged discrepancies 
 of the Evangelical historians. 
 
 Let me present a synopsis of the reasoning on 
 this point, used by Paul in the 15th chapter of first 
 Corinthians. He asserts " that Jesus rose from the 
 dead, and that, after his resurrection, he showed 
 himself aKve in different places, and on different 
 occasions, to his apostles, who having accompanied 
 bim during his ministry, were perfectly acquainted 
 with his form, his visage, his voice, his manner of 
 speaking, and every other circumstance by which 
 the identity of any person can be ascertained, and 
 who, for that reason, were well qualified to judge 
 whether the person that appeared to them was 
 really their Master risen from the dead. He was 
 seen by above five hundred brethren at one time, 
 ind by Paul himself, in different places and at 
 iiiferent times. And as these witnesses had no 
 private interest to serve by testifying Christ's 
 resurrection, but, on the contrary, exposed them- 
 selves thereby to innumerable evils, their testimony 
 merits, in every respect our most cordial reception." 
 
 " This argument of Paul not only shows in what 
 nanner the belief of the resurrection of Christ was 
 Driginally established in the world, but it makes 
 nankind sensible that the prevalence of that belief 
 n the first age was well founded ; and that we 
 likewise, who at this distance of time entertain the 
 same belief, have good reason for- so doing ; and 
 ;hat our Master, by his resurrection from the dead, 
 s powerfully demonstrated to be the Son of God, 
 md our religion is shown to be divine. He goes 
 )n to say, if Christ is not raised, then he is an 
 mpostor, who hath deluded the world with false 
 lopes ; and also his apostles are found to be false 
 12* 
 
i3S CHRISTIAN MIEACLES. 
 
 witnesses, because we have testified, to' ttie infinite 
 dishonor of God, that he hath raised an impostor 
 from the grave. Further, to show you the absurdity 
 of imputing to us apostles, the crime of deliberate 
 falsehood, in testifying that God hath raised an im- 
 postor from the dead, whom he hath not raised, 
 consider that, if there is to be no resurrectioB,i 
 consequently no future state, our only motlTe to 
 commit the awful crime charged upon us must be 
 some advantage which we expect to reap from it in 
 this life. Yet, instead of any advantage, we have, 
 by preaching Christ's resurrection, drawn on our- 
 selves from every quarter, the greatest temporal 
 evils ; insomuch that if in this life only we have 
 hope of advantage from Christ, we are of all men 
 the most miserable. This reasoning demonstrates 
 that the witnesses of Christ's resurrection were 
 themselves fally persuaded of the truth thereof. 
 Wherefore, being perfectly qualified for judging, 
 and having had the best opportunities to form a 
 correct judgment, they could not possibly be de- 
 ceived as to the matter of the resurrection of Jesus, 
 and had no motive whatever to deceive the world." 
 (Macknight's Conmientary.) 
 
 To me the resurrection of Christ is the only sure 
 basis on which to build the hopes of immortality. 
 " Because he Uves, we shall live also," reasons an 
 apostle. Before the advent of Jesus the wisest 
 men expressed their doubts as to a future statet. 
 The general creed of the ancients on this topic was 
 described by a Greek poet, who flourished more 
 than two thousand years ago, in the following lines: 
 
 " Alas ! the tender herbs, and flow'ry- tribes, 
 Though crushed by winter's unrelenting hand, 
 Revive and rise when vernal zephyrs c^l; 
 But we the brave, the mighty, and the wise, 
 Bloom, flourish, fade, and fall — and then succeeds 
 A long, long, silent, dark, oblivious sleep ; 
 A sleep, wHeh no propitious power dispels. 
 Nor changing seasons, nor revolving years." 
 
CHEISTIAS MIRACLES. 139 
 
 Jesus Christ appeared to scatter ihe clouda which 
 from the beginning had concealed the fiiture from 
 the view of mortals. He came "to deliver them 
 who through fear of death were aJI their lifetime 
 subject to bondage." The essence of Christianity is 
 the fact of Christ's resurrection, 
 t Yes, this is that rock of ages against which the 
 (.'gates of Hades, that is destruction, can never pre- 
 vail. The waves of skepticism may roll over it; 
 the storms of unbehef may beat thereon, but it will 
 never be moved out of its place. It is a pyramid 
 towering with indestructible glory ; the bond which 
 unites earth and heaven, time and eternity, the mor- 
 tal and immortal. It is a spiritual light-house, that 
 sends a cheering beam to every point on the tem- 
 pestuous ocean of life. It dissipates the night of 
 the grave ; it illumines the dark valley and shadow 
 of death. 
 
 " Thou art gone to the grave ; but we ■will not deplore thee ; 
 Though sorrow and darkness encompass the tomb ; 
 The Saviour has passed through its portals before thee ; 
 And the lamp of his love is thy guide through the gloom." 
 
 It presents the cup of hope and joy to the lips of 
 the dying man, gently wipes the tear from his eye, 
 and points him to glories unalloyed and unending in 
 the Paradise above. The resurrection of Jesus is 
 the only clear, absolute, conclusive proof of an here- 
 after. Without this, no matter how great, prosper- 
 ous or powerful we might be in a worldly point of 
 view, all our prospects would be limited to the nar- 
 row scenes of earth and time. We should live only 
 to be broken by toil : to be wasted by sickness ; to 
 be racked with pain ; to be desolated by one wave 
 of sorrow after another, till absorbed and swallowed 
 up in the dark gulf of annihilation — till merged in 
 a common destiny with the brute that perisheth. 
 But saying from the heart, " Because Jesus lives, we 
 
140 CHBISTIAU MIBACLES. 
 
 sJidJIl live also," a Christian faith enables us to triumph 
 over all that is vile and polluted in our present 
 allotments. Standing upon a lofty summit we look 
 out upon a land where there is no night — 
 
 " Where everlasting spring abides, 
 
 And never-withering flowers ; 
 Death like a narrow sea divides, 
 This heavenly land of ours." 
 
 There we shall be permitted to see that time, nature, 
 and death, with all their vicissitudes and wonders, 
 were but the means which Providence employed to 
 expand our intellects, refine our taste and afiiections, 
 ennoble our characters, and make us finally meet to 
 be introduced to the unimaginable fates and fortunes 
 of the inheritance, which is incorruptible, undefiled 
 and unfading. " Thanks be unto God for his un- 
 speakable gift ! '•' 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 OBJECTIONS TO THE MISACLES OF THE NEW lESTAUENT 
 ANSWEKED. 
 
 It is alleged by the Rationalists that miracles 
 are unnecessary and superfluous ; they accomplish 
 nothing which could not haye been as well, or even 
 better, done without their instrumentality. A mer- 
 chant residing in Louisville employs agents to trans- 
 act business for ' him in New York, Liverpool, 
 London, tfcc, because he cannot be in all these 
 places at the same time. But, He who is omnipotent 
 and omnipresent, occupying every moment of dura- 
 tion and every point of space, who, by wise, eternal 
 laws, governs suns, seasons, winds, weather, tides, 
 tempests, atoms, planets, and systems, might have 
 ruled the human family, and conducted them to 
 eternal life by similar means, without having re- 
 course to the costly, complicated, strange, incredi- 
 ble, and supernatural proceedings recorded in the 
 gospels. All could comprehend such a plan, and 
 would be smitten with its beauty. Then God's 
 moral department would have been in glorious 
 harmony with the wide realms of nature ; then 
 human souls would have been opened and beautified 
 by laws as resistless and eternal as those which 
 produce the foliage, verdure, and flowers of spring. 
 
 I will not say that this objection betrays an entire 
 absence of those qualities which distinguish the 
 most sound, enlarged, and philosophical minds, but 
 
142 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.^ 
 
 I have the deepest conviction that it would be very 
 foolish in me, or any writer, to attempt its explan- 
 ation. The objector presumes to ask why the 
 great Parent was pleased to adopt a certain set of 
 measures in regard to man's salvation in preference 
 to others ? Who can answer such a question ? It 
 is just as absurd as to inquire, why do suns rise, 
 seasons succeed each other, the earth spin on its 
 axis, tides ebb and flow, or rivers descend ? Why 
 are things ordained as they are ? 
 
 " He who through vast imirifesity can pierce, 
 See worlds on worlds compose a universe ; 
 Observe how system into system runs, 
 What other planets circle other suns, 
 What varied being peoples every star, 
 May tell why Heaven has made us as we are ; 
 But of the wisdom of a boundless frame. 
 Can thy pervading soul look through. 
 Or can a part contain the whole ? " 
 
 " 0, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom 
 and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are 
 his judgments, and his ways past finding out. For 
 who hath known the mind of the Lord ? or who 
 hath been his counsellor? or who hath given to him, 
 and it shall be recompensed to him again ? For of 
 him, and through him, and to him are all things ; 
 to whom be glory forever." Amen. 
 
 Again, I would reply, " that God's ways are not 
 our ways, nor his thoughts our thoughts." Through- 
 out the natural world all human interests are deter- 
 mined and controlled upon the principles of a 
 mediation, or agency, which involve as much of 
 the mysterious as the miracles of the New Testa- 
 ment. The Creator does not bestow upon us any 
 favors directly, but always by the hands of some 
 agent. Yon luminary in the skies is a mediator 
 between God and men, and pours out upon us the 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 143 
 
 inestimable blessings of light and heat, without 
 which tlie whole creation would soon become cold, 
 cheerless, deformed, and desolate, and all animated 
 beings would dwindle and die. Theatmosphere is 
 a mediator which operates incessantly to vitalize 
 the blood, and send through our physical frames an 
 unintermitted current of joy, peace, and health. 
 Other intervenient agents, which cannot be men- 
 tioned, are employed to spread over our fields and 
 plantations the beauty and wealth of a luxuriant 
 vegetation ; to give us our daily bread, and the 
 refreshment of nigh-My repose. Yes, the blue, 
 broad, boundless canopy ; earth, with her mountains, 
 continents, oceans, lakes, and islands ; the flowers 
 that throw out their perfume on the vernal air ; the 
 furious blasts of winter ; the roseate, purple, golden 
 clouds of sunrise and sunset ; the constellations sweep- 
 ing in grandeur across the firmament ; the mote in the 
 sunbeam ; the Alpine summit crowned with eternal 
 snow ; the loftiest tree and the humblest blade of 
 grass ; aU natural objects and laws whatever, are 
 but mediators between God and man — channels 
 through which He is pleased to communicate to us, 
 in constant and copious streams, the emanations of 
 his own incomprehensible life, bliss, beauty, and 
 perfections. And in these ever-varying, innumera- 
 ble forms of the divine beneficence, there is quite as 
 much mystery as in the dispensations of grace 
 recorded in the Sacred Writings. 
 
 The department of moral life furnishes afiecting 
 displays of the same principle. Over the babe just 
 ushered into the world so speechless, feeble, and 
 destitute, there impend hunger, cold, disease, and 
 premature death. The nurse and attendants are the 
 propitious agents, who receive the little stranger 
 on the vestibule of life, and, by a series of me- 
 diatorial offices most beautiful to think of, secure 
 its preservation and advancement. It soon becomes 
 a promising boy — the pride and hope of fond, doat- 
 
144 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 ing parents. The father, preceptors, preacher, 
 counsellors, and companions are some of the media- 
 tors who conspire together to discipline his opening 
 intellect ; to form his taste and character ; to awaken 
 in his bosom a consciousness of God, rectitude, and 
 immortality. 
 
 The blessings of science are bestowed in th^ 
 same way. Take arithmetic as an instance, without 
 whose aid none of our secular pursuits could be 
 carried forward. Who created it? Has it not 
 flowed to us through the labors and wisdom of a 
 long line of illustrious benefactors ? The same 
 remark is applicable to every branch of knowledge 
 and philosophy. There are mediators with respect 
 to all the productions of art ; the house in which 
 you live ; that piano on which your daughters -play 
 so delightfully ; all the institutes and instruments of 
 individual, domestic, social, agricultural, commer^jial, 
 and manufacturing enterprise. Thus by mediation 
 we are born, educated, prepared for our respective 
 missions in life ; and find at last a shroud, a coffin, 
 a funeral, and a tomb. Why, then, should the doc- 
 trine be thought incredible, that God has ordained 
 Jesus to be a supernatural mediator, by whose inter- 
 position we are rescued from sin and error, and 
 enriched with all those endowments requisite to fit 
 us for an approaching eternity? It is in entire 
 harmony with all which we Imow of God's ways 
 in the physical universe. And in Nature, as I shall 
 have occasion to show in the sequel, there are quite 
 as many stupendous miracles as in the department 
 of grace. And if God employs miracles to effect 
 our temporal welfare, it is in keeping with his un- 
 fathomable, universal, eternal wisdom, to make use 
 of them in accomplishing our higher spiritual and] 
 immortal wejl-bging. 
 
 Again, it is objected that all of the works of Nature 
 are impartial, and beneficial alike to every class aad; 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 145 
 
 individual of mankind, but, according to the usual 
 representations of the pulpit, the miracles of Christ, 
 instead of being a benefit to the whole race, will 
 prove an unspeakable calamity to countless millions, 
 for all who do not exercise faith in these miracles 
 before they die will perish everlastingly. I reply 
 to this monstrous dogma that it is neither taught by 
 Jesus nor his apostles. It is found only in those 
 theological systems which have been invented by 
 uninspired men. I believe in the entire New Testa- 
 ment. The Son of God himself asserts that the 
 Father sent him into the world to save all sinners 
 without a single exaction ; that he came to lay 
 down his life a ransom for aU men, and that not one 
 of those for whom he died can be finally and forever 
 lost. He who said, " Father forgive ihem," will not 
 discard and ruin any of those for whom his blood 
 was shed, because they are obstinate, unbelieving, 
 sinful, and foolish. Paul declares that Jesus will sit 
 upon his mediatorial throne till every sinful mind, 
 whether in this or the spirit world, shall be con- 
 verted, redeemed, sanctified, and introduced to the 
 glories of an everlasting life. Repeatedly we are 
 assured, that every child of Adam who dies sinful 
 and polluted, will, in some unrevealed epoch of a 
 coming eternity, be admitted to that immortal land 
 where wiU be no death, sin, nor suffering through 
 the unwasting ages of an endless duration. 
 
 Why, in a work recently put forth by one of the 
 ablest defenders of a limited atonement in the United 
 States, it is estimated that now there are ten hun- 
 dred millions of inhabitants on our globe. Of these, 
 the calculation made by the same author, supposes 
 that not more, on an average, than one out of a 
 hundred thousand will ever see the kingdom of 
 heaven. What is the mediation of Christ worth, if 
 such are to be its insignificant results ? Did the 
 s angels who sang that hymn to the shepherds of 
 13 
 
146 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 Bethlehem, on the eve of Jesus's nativity, tell the 
 truth when they said, " Behold we bring you glad 
 tidings of great joy, which shall he to aU people ? " 
 Glad tidings, that for every one who is raised jim 
 heaven, ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and 
 ninety-nine are sent to the regions of eternal woe? 
 This is a plan of mediation over which demons 
 might rejoice ; it is so dreadful, gloomy, repulsive, 
 and diabolical ; but it cannot appear beauteous in 
 the sight of those immaculate spirits who, as our 
 Saviour assures us, tune their golden harps to 
 strains of seraphic praise to celebrate the return of 
 a single sinner to the bosom and embrace of an 
 infinite Father. I would sooner preach downright 
 Atheism than stand in the pulpit as the advocate 
 of some poor, j^jtine, mean, meagre, exclusive, 
 narrow, theological scheme of redemption, whose 
 awful ultimatum will be but a mere fraction of 
 mankind saved, and all the remainder consigned to 
 the wailings of everlasting perdition, I am aware 
 that good and sincere men have been, and are still 
 engaged in urging the claims of this forbidding and 
 Satanic faith. 
 
 Paul tells us that good men, whose hearts are 
 right before God, may be found among idolaters. 
 And it is plain to me that faith in the dhimerical 
 mythologies and fabulous traditions of Paganism is 
 not a thousandth part as hurtful as a belief in the 
 vile, blasphemous doctrine of endless woe. Our 
 religious periodicals, as well as sermons, are filled 
 with glowing, impassioned declamation concerning 
 the evils of intemperance, slavery, and infidelity 5 
 but all these combined are not doing as much hurt 
 to the bodies and souls of men as the single j 
 heathenish doctrine of Almighty wrath. Those 
 ministers who teach, that because some men are 
 low, fallen, debased, and unholy at the moment of; 
 death, they will be forever lost, have not yet learned] 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWEEED. 147 
 
 the alphabet of the Christian religion. Sin is never 
 remunerated by G-od with vengeance, either here or 
 hereafter. 
 
 Jesus assures us that the Father does not hate 
 the wicked, but simply their wickedness ; that he 
 will bring to bear upon them the power of infinite 
 gentleness, the all-subduing influence of his pity, 
 and t^e might of his boundless love through Christ, 
 till they will finally be raised to penitence, faith, 
 wisdom, sanctity, glory — raised to the enjoyment 
 of that ineffable bliss which unchanging, omnipo- 
 tent, and boundless love has provided for our pres- 
 ent and never-ending welfare. There is not a 
 member of the human family, past present, or to 
 come, who wiU not receive everlasting and im- 
 measurable benefits from the miracles recorded in 
 the gospels. Like the sun, air, rain, and all Nature, 
 they bestow their blessings, not upon a part of man- 
 kind only, but on the entire race. 
 
 The Rationalists of our day, although they deny 
 the miracles, profess to be great admirers of the 
 New Testament. They call it one of the most wise, 
 holy, beautiful, and instructive works which the 
 world has ever seen, with respect to the grandest 
 themes of human thought — God, providence, duty, 
 and our everlasting destiny beyond the grave. 
 Further, they admit that Jesus and his apostles were 
 upright, truth-telling men, that they most conscien- 
 tiously believed in the correctness of the statements 
 which they have made. The Son of God said to 
 the unbelieving Jews : — " I am the way, the truth, 
 and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but 
 by me. If ye had known me, ye would have known 
 my Father also ; and from henceforth ye know 
 him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, 
 ' Lord, show us the Father, and it sufiiceth us.' Jesus 
 saith unto him, 'Have I been so long time with you, 
 and yet hast thou not known me, PhUip ? He that 
 
148 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 hath seen me hath seen the Father ; and how sayest 
 thou, then, show us the Father? Believest thou 
 not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me ? 
 The words that I speak unto you I speak not of 
 myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth 
 the works." " When John sent two of his disciples, 
 and asked, saying, ' Art thou he that should come, 
 or do we look for another?' Jesus answer^ and 
 said unto them, ' Go and show John the tilings 
 which ye do hear and see ; how that the blind re- 
 ceive their sight, and the lame walk ; the lepers are 
 cleansed, and the deaf hear ; the dead are raised up, 
 and the poor have the gospel preached unto them.'" 
 In these and numerous other places, Jesus appeals 
 to the superhuman works which he performed as 
 his distinguishing credentials ; so that his works of 
 divine power demonstrated the divine authority of 
 his teachings. If our Saviour did not work mira- 
 cles, then in all his public discourses he uttered 
 falsehood and blasphemy. Now, in view of the 
 argument just named, I say to the Rationalists, be 
 consistent. There is no middle ground between 
 the two alternatives presented ; whichever of them 
 you may choose, it is equally conclusive against 
 you. From the dilemma into which you have been 
 brought by your own reasonings, no resources of 
 art, skill, logic, genius, critical acumen, or eloquence 
 can extricate you. If you deny that Jesus was an 
 impostor, you must grant the reality of his miracles. 
 I have heard a minister in Boston, whose reputation 
 for learning is very great, deny the miraculous 
 power of Christ. In the same discourse he asserted i1 
 that Jesus was a very good man — a sincere, noble," 
 generous, high-minded Hebrew youth, of the most 
 brilliant intellectual and moral accomplishments — 4 
 a light, charm, ornament, and blessing to humanity, 
 whose lustre would shine undimmed through all the 
 ages of time. It is impossible for me to imagine ! 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 149 
 
 how Jesus could be even a good man, unless we 
 admit his claims to being endowed with supernatural 
 power. To say that any man of fair, natural powers, 
 now living, may become a Jesus, by far-reaching and 
 comprehensive attainments of knowledge and moral 
 excellence, is a puerility which, it seems to me, no 
 sound, philosophical mind could advance. If intel- 
 lectual ^and moral training is adequate to endow any 
 human mind with those extraordinary gifts and 
 powers which Jesus possessed, how is it to be ex- 
 plained, that our world has hitherto seen but one 
 Christ — only one visible representative of the living 
 God on earth — only one image of his boundless 
 perfections ; his active, universal, and benevolent 
 providence ; his paternal, unfailing, iniinite love and 
 kindness to our tallen, afflicted, and unhappy race ? 
 Upon the theory of the Rationalists, every house- 
 hold, almost every church, and every neighborhood 
 in our land should have a Jesus in it. And Boston, 
 the Goshen of the United States, should be abso- 
 lutely filled with them." 
 
 " To say that Jesus Christ was but a common 
 man, and rose to his sublime eminence through 
 application to study in the ordinary way as a lover 
 of learning, and by remarkable attainments of holi- 
 ness, is simply to set aside the Christian record, and 
 introduce another Jesus. When his kinsfolks and 
 the acquaintances of his youth heard his teachings 
 and saw his mighty works, knowing that he was not 
 learned in the sense of the schools, they were 
 astonished, and said, ' Whence hath this man this 
 wisdom, and these mighty works?' And whence, 
 indeed, had he all these things ? It is plain, then, 
 Lthat the only Jesus whom we, as Christians, know, 
 ' or can know — the Christ of Christian history — is the 
 Immanxtel, God with us. The primitive Christian 
 IPiurch was built upon the name oi Jesus of Nazareth, 
 a man approved of Ood by signs and miracles, which 
 13* 
 
150 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 God wrought among the people hy him. Being sent 
 into the world to manifest to the children of men 
 the presence and power of God,miraoulous energies 
 were given him to be his, as our ordinary powers 
 are our own. As we can perform our ordinary 
 works, so he could speak health to the sick, and 
 even life to the dead. His own testimony is, ' thus, 
 as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given 
 to the Son also to have life in himself.' He hath a 
 power and an energy of life to communicate the 
 vital flame to the cold remains of the dead. Through 
 him, then, we attain a conscious nearness to God, 
 a filial affection for him, and a child-like, peaceful 
 confidence in- him, which could never have been 
 imparted to us by any other means." — (S. Cobb.) 
 
 " Once more, it is affirmed that the miracles of the 
 New Testament are useless, because their authors 
 have communicated to the world no new ideas or 
 truths concerning the practical duties of religion 
 and morality. The miracles are barren phenomena 
 fitted only to awaken the wonder of an ignorant, 
 gaping crowd like the arts of conjuration, legerde- 
 main or mesmerism, which have been practiced in 
 an ages, and in all countries, both barbarous and 
 civilized. The precepts of Jesus, (the only valua- 
 ble parts of the gospel) had been put forth in some 
 form or other by law-givers, poets, prophets and 
 sages, many of whom lived a thousand years before 
 the birth of Christ." 
 
 In the reply, I am compelled to deny the fact that 
 Jesus has given us no new ideas or truths on the 
 subject of religion. I have been familiar with Deist^" 
 ical writers, from my boyish days. At one time| 
 just before entering Yale College, I was quite enam-d 
 ored of these productions. I read with attention*! 
 LordHerbert, Hobbes, Shaftesbury, Tindall, Morgail 
 BoHngbroke, Hume, Voltaire, Volney, Thomas Pain^ 
 Mirabeau's Laws of Nature, &c. Each of these 
 
OBJECTIONS^ ANSWEEKD. 151 
 
 writers undertakes to describe those religious doc- 
 trines which are derived from the hght of Nature, 
 and which furnish a complete proof that mankind 
 do not need a supernatural revelation. It is to me 
 self-evident, that what these learned, and I doubt 
 not sincere men, call Natural Eeligion, has been 
 borrowed, perhaps, unconsciously from the Bible. 
 Now, indeed, that our whole duty is clearly put 
 forth in the Sacred Scriptures, we are enabled not 
 only to see its entire harmony with reason, but also 
 to employ reason in deducing its obligations from 
 the light of nature ; but if mankind had never been 
 favored with a supernatural revelation, it would 
 have been impossible for them to have ascertained 
 the way of truth and honor on many subjects inti- 
 mately connected with their highest temporal, and 
 eternal happiness. It is one thing to perceive that 
 the rules of life, which are laid down in the Bible 
 are in accordance with reason, and quite another 
 thing to discover those rules by a legitimate process 
 of reasoning and discussion, conducted by the mere 
 light of nature. 
 
 " I admit that in Deistical books we find, some 
 of the principles contained in the Bible, but clouds 
 and shadows rest upon them. Now Jesus Christ 
 separated these principles from the mass of errors, 
 contradictions and corruptions, with which the wis- 
 dom of the world had aUoyed and obscured them ; 
 embodied them in a perfect system, and vitalized them 
 by the energy and power of a living example. Besides 
 the great doctrine of divine love — love not as a re- 
 turn of benefits received, but as a spirit of good will 
 to universal being — the doctrine of love even to the 
 bitterest enemies, overcoming evil with good — this 
 he brought out, and gave such a prominence in his 
 system of morals, as to make in fact a new doctrine 
 in the world. Did Confucius, Socrates, Plato, Sen- 
 eca, or Cicero inculcate anything like the beatitudes 
 laid down in the Sermon on the Mount ? 
 
152 OBJECTIONS ANSWEEED. 
 
 " But, suppose that a few profound scholars and 
 philosophers were capable, by a long course of dili- 
 gent and painful application, to demonstrate some 
 of the leading principles of ethical science, what 
 just rules of Ufe could the ignorant masses, with no 
 opportunities of study, and no aid from books, have 
 found out on a thousand interesting questions, 
 clearly solved in the Bible, had they been left 
 alone to the light of nature, and to be cheated by 
 the blind impijlse of animal appetites and passions, 
 " in wandering mazes lost ? " But here stands the 
 accredited ambassador of God — of him who mad© 
 us, and who constituted all our desires, wants and 
 relations — of him to whom we are accountable, and 
 in whose hand are our lives and destinies — here he 
 stands with the credentials of his divine commis- 
 sion, and speaking from God and for God, he tells 
 us what is our duty, and bids us do it. It is the 
 communication of the creating to the created mind. 
 It is decisive authority, and we are filled with a rev- 
 erence for it as Jehovah's counsel. And then temp- 
 tations may assail us, and the syren voice of worldly 
 policy may allure — but here is the word which the 
 Son of God hath spoken, this is the infallible stand- 
 ard of right, and we will mind it. And we know 
 that where God's counsel lead us, his blessing shall 
 be with us. In this point of view we have the re- 
 velation of Jesus to his moral precepts. He brings 
 them to us clothed with Divine authority and infal- 
 lible truth. He inspires us with reverence for, and 
 confidence in them, to know that, in circumstances 
 most adverse to human policy, our obedience to 
 the law of Christ shall yet conduce to the greatest 
 good." (S. Cobb.) 
 
 When we read the advice and recommendations 
 of those men who posessed only the light -of nature, 
 we feel at liberty to adopt or reject them as we 
 choose. But the injunctions of Jesus come to us 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 153 
 
 clothed with an authority which we dare not dis- 
 obey, because we know from his works, " that he 
 speaketh the words of God, that God hath not given 
 the Spirit by measure unto him ; that he came from 
 heaven, and is above all, and what he hath seen and 
 heard from God, he testifieth." " When we look 
 upon the works of Christ we feel, that although they 
 are the works of a man in every sense essential to 
 us as an example of purity and benevolence, yet, at 
 the same time we are compelled to acknowledge 
 that they are superhuman — the works of Qod. If 
 it be asked, of' what consequence to us is this fact, 
 I would reply, it enables us to feel that when we 
 work the works of love, and do good to the children 
 of men, we imitate God and become identified with 
 Mm. It is a blessed consciousness, a sweet percep- 
 tion, an ennobling thought ! And this is not all. It 
 enables us to see what is the disposition of God 
 toioardus as sinners. When we contemplate Jesus in 
 his labors of love in the world, love to all, both 
 friends and foes ; when we trace him to the Cross, 
 and hear his dying prayer, and see him seal with his 
 blood his changeless benevolence to our race — be- 
 holding here the presence and the spirit of God, we 
 know that God is the friend of man — that he would 
 be willing to die for us, if it were possible and ne- 
 cessary to effect our salvation — that in all worlds, 
 in time and eternity, he will love all his intelligent 
 creatures, and accomplish their final and everlasting 
 good. Now these supporting assurances rest en- 
 tirely on the supernatural manifestations which 
 Christ made of the being, wisdom, and love of the 
 eternal Father, of the duties which we owe to God, 
 and to one another, and the certainty of a future 
 state of bliss for man beyond the grave." (S. Cobb). 
 " Take away the supernatural feature of his mis- 
 sion, and we destroy the historical Christ of the 
 New Testament. Deny the miraculous in his char- 
 
154 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 acter and works, and you take away his authority as 
 the infallible teacher of the ultimate religion. Even 
 the grandeur of his moral life is thus destroyed, for 
 when you oarve out all his works which are re- 
 corded as miraculous, there is but a dim speck left, 
 even of the life of Jesus. And if you find anything 
 left of his works, there is no exhibit in them of the 
 Father, nothing to inspire reverence and truthful- 
 ness, more than there is in every good deed which 
 we see performed around us. And thus do we re- 
 duce Jesus as a moral teacher, to a level with the 
 Grentile philosophers — nay, lower — we make him 
 either a Jewish impostor, or a weak-minded enthu- 
 siast — either dishonestly pretending to works he 
 never did, or else thinking that he could do wonders 
 which he had no power to perform." (S. Cobb's 
 discourse on the Mission and Authority of Christ). 
 
 Yes, take away the miracles of Christ, and the 
 New Testament in a moment would be stripped of 
 its distinctive and most shining glories — the out- 
 ward world would become dark and cheerless — the 
 universe would be, to my eye, disrobed of its splen- 
 dors and we should be like stars struck from their 
 orbits, wandering in the regions of space and night, 
 without harmony, attraction, and destination or end. 
 We might, indeed,"even then, feel certain that there 
 was a great First Cause — a great Moving Power of 
 the physical universe — that has called us into ex- 
 istence and spread around us these scenes of ineffa- 
 ble beauty and gladness, but we never could have 
 known without the light of the Gospel, that God is 
 our immutable, omnipotent friend, and that he wiU 
 certainly accomplish our forgiveness, reformation,; 
 holiness and everlasting life. It is by the miracleij 
 only, that we are made certain that God can never 
 hate, despise, forget, injure or destroy the children 
 of men — that by no misconduct is it possible to! 
 alienate his affections from us. Without his abs ' 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 155 
 
 lute assurance, we should be devoid of hope in the 
 world. We should have no outward material prop 
 to lean upon ; no inward reliance ; no adequate 
 object for our ever-expanding affections ; no asylum 
 to betake ourselves to in want, sickness, sorrow, 
 persecution or dBath. 
 
 But the Rationalists take the bold position, that 
 a real miracle is an absolute impossibility. " No 
 evidence of any kind," they say, " no human testi- 
 mony however strong, can substantiate a reported 
 fact, whose existence obviously implies a violation 
 of the eternal, immutable laws of nature. If all the 
 inhabitants of London, or Boston, should testify that 
 they saw a person rise from the dead, this testimony 
 would "be idle, because the alleged fact is contrary 
 to the laws of nature, and therefore no such thing 
 ever did, nor can occur." 
 
 Surely this is taking strong ground. But has any 
 proof been adduced to establish the correctness of 
 such a doctrine? None that I have seen. I do not 
 concur with those divines who define a miracle by 
 saying that it is " an event, or effect contrary to the 
 estabHshed constitution and course of things, or a 
 violation of the known laws of nature." But I con- 
 sider a miracle an event which is supernatural, that 
 is, an effect of some law lying outside of human knowl- 
 edge, and obviously coming from the supreme, infi- 
 nite Intelligence. Yet no one can prove that it is 
 not within the compass of Almighty power to sus- 
 pend a known law of nature, with reference to a 
 particular emergency, without interfering in the 
 slightest degree with the orderly, harmonious, and 
 beneficent course of events throughout the universe 
 generally. He who made the laws of nature is su- 
 perior to them, and can if he chooses, oppose, sus- 
 pend or modify them. The Almighty Parent cer- 
 tainly could cause water not to drown, nor fire to 
 bum in a single house in Boston, at the same time 
 
156 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 that these elements in every other part of the city 
 operated in their usual manner. T» say that it is a 
 thing which even God could not do, is a most bare- 
 faced, and gratuitous assumption. 
 
 Can any mortal say with propriety, "I know 
 there are no natural laws in the universe adequate 
 to the production of those ■miracles recorded in the 
 Tl^ew Testament? " I cannot imagine a declaration 
 more absurd and atrocious. Is man's feeble intel- 
 lect able to fathom the deep ocean of Divine won- 
 ders? Are there no truths lying beyond the re- 
 motest boundaries of our mental horizon? Shall 
 we make our limited reason the measure of universal 
 knowledge, and our poor narrow experience the 
 standard of all that is possible throughout the im- 
 mensity of creation ? We do not know all the natu- 
 ral laws of the simplest objects around us. We 
 have not yet found out all the natural laws of air, 
 earth, water, light, heat, electricity, magnetism, life, 
 or death ; nor of our own bodies, a tree, a flower, 
 the lifting of a hand, walking, nor the articulate 
 sounds which convey the thoughts and feelings of 
 a speaker through the viewless atmosphere, to the 
 bosoms of his audience. For aught we can say to 
 the contrary, the theory of the Rev. Mr. Purness, of 
 Philadelphia may be true: "that if my mind were 
 simply freed from all sin, made perfectly holy, there 
 is a law in my nature which would, in that case, en- 
 able me by a touch, or a word, to restore the blind 
 to sight, the deaf to hearing, make the lame to walk, 
 or raise the dead." 
 
 These would be, perhaps, little more wonderful 
 than the well-known facts of mesmerism, now re- 
 ceived as true by all scientific men throughout the 
 world. Some years ago there was no natural law 
 known in Siam adequate to the formation of ice. 
 Its inhabitants had never heard of the congelation 
 of water, and when English missionaries told thi 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 157 
 
 king of that land, that the surface of the rivers 
 sometimes became solid in Great Britain, they were 
 regarded and treated as impudent liars and unprinci- 
 pled deceivers. A scientific gentleman in New 
 York, says, in regard to modern Spiritualism, " that 
 some of its phenomena cannot be denied, and that 
 when they shall have been thoroughly explored, it 
 will be found, simply and only, that a new page 6f 
 natural science has been turned over. The Spirit- 
 ualists think the celestial spheres have intersected 
 the orbit of this world, and let in new light upon us. 
 We believe that men are finding out some physical 
 laws that have always existed, and been variously 
 active, but which have hitherto been unknown to 
 science." Man will never be able this side the grave 
 to sound the depths of psychology — that is, all the 
 laws which reign over our immortal spirits. The 
 Rationalists, without an exception, believe that there 
 is a law, which, when the body dies, will keep the 
 soul alive, and carry it forward upon the line of an 
 existence that will never terminate. This in reality, 
 implies as great a miracle, as any which we read of 
 in the New Testament. Every man believes in mir- 
 acles. He cannot help it any more than he can help 
 believing in the existence of the sun. The man who 
 denies their possibility assumes virtually, that he is 
 omniscient and infinite — that he can teU, on ab- 
 stract principles, everything which it is in the pow^r 
 of God to perform. 
 
 I repeat the remark, everybody believes in mira- 
 cles. Geology has proved that the earth on which 
 we tread, with its tribes of pjants and animals of 
 every order, ascending in a beautiful scale of per- 
 fection, has come to its present state by a slow pro- 
 cess of improvement, which has been going on no 
 one knows how long. Researches into its structure 
 prove, that before it was brought out of the chaos 
 > mentioned in the 1st chapter of Genesis, it had 
 
158 OBJECTIONS AKSWEEED. 
 
 been already more than enee inhabited and de- 
 stroyed. It is fact, it is science, it is certainty that 
 th,e dust we trample under our teet was once ani^ 
 mated life. From the deepest and most rooky foun- 
 dations of the globe, up to the loftiest summits ©f 
 mountain ranges, there is one unbroken succession 
 of graves. There is not a particle of matter belong- 
 ing to the vegetable and animal departments, which 
 has not lived aad died times innumerable, and 
 through unknown, unreckoned lapse of duration, 
 before the human race began to be. A great natu- 
 ralist has said, " that such a globe as ours could 
 never be made except by constant successions of 
 life and death. Moreover, Geology teaches that 
 when the innumerable antecedent periods, or epochs 
 of the world's history began, the old inhabitants, 
 whether plants or animals, were successively, de- 
 stroyed, and new ones of differ&nt nature, of a 
 higher and more perfect organizatioBi, were intro- 
 duced to act their parts, for a time, on this strange 
 theatre of being. At length, these shared the fate 
 of their predecessors, and retired to mingle forever 
 with the elements whence they were taken, and to 
 be followed by new, higher, and nobler races than 
 any which had gone before. Man, the most perfect 
 of all creatures on earth has existed but a few 
 thousand years. 
 
 further, it is proved by geology, that the first of 
 each new genus or species of living things was not 
 produced by any of the genera or species that pre- 
 ceded it, but was literally a new creation not resolv- 
 able into any laws or influences, that existed pre- 
 viously. For example, it is granted that the human 
 race had a beginning -^ that this beginning was 
 miraculous or supernatural ; for the first man and 
 woman were never babies, had no father or mother. 
 Here then is a miracle which no infidel even, denies : 
 it i& a matter of uaiversal iaith. The same remark 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWEBED. 159 
 
 is applioable to all the tribes of plants and animals 
 HOW flourishing on earth. There was a time when 
 they had no existence. Their introduction into life 
 was a supernatural event — a creation effected by 
 the direct agency of the omnipotent one. If all the 
 objects of the physical world began in miracles, why 
 should it be deemed incredible that Christianity 
 should have had a supernatural origin ? God from 
 eternity has been working miracles, if he is the 
 Creator of all things. 
 
 " No man hath seen G-od at any time ; the only 
 beg^otten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he 
 hath declared him." " Here we have the purpose of 
 Christ's mission most clearly explained. It was de- 
 signed that mankind should be enabled to see and 
 feel, by the manifestation of God in his Messiah, 
 (God with us), that he is not merely force — the 
 great moving power of the physical world, without 
 a mind ; and also that he is not a mere over-looking 
 mind, which originally planned and acted once in 
 the production of the world; and then left it to be 
 governed ever since by established laws, without 
 further concern of his own, and without moral affec- 
 tions or active interests, and ever-present sympathy 
 for his children. Although God has seen fit as the 
 best plan adopted to the present state of man, to 
 subject our common interests to fixed and uniform 
 laws in the constitution of things, that we might 
 calculate for ourselves the relation between cause 
 and effectj yet he who had the power to establish 
 these laws for our good, can extend to us the wit- 
 ness of himself, and the favoi% of his love, without 
 their aid, when he has a special and sufficient reason 
 for so doing. He does not contradict those laws, 
 but he manifests himself in Christ as behind and 
 above them, and as able and willing to work also by 
 other means for the good of his children, whenever 
 his wisdom shall choose it as best." 
 
160 OBJECTIONS ANSWEEED. 
 
 " The Bationalists, therefore, rest their cause 
 upon two assumptions. First, the Almighty Parenife*, 
 3annot suspend the established laws of the physigial 
 universe in order to commune with the children of 
 men, and bestow upon them peculiar blessings. 
 Secondly, there are no fixed natural laws in the uni- 
 s^ersal cr.eation, adequate to the production of those 
 3vents recorded in the New Testament, which are 
 oalled miraculous. Upon this theory those laws 
 (vhich Grod has made, are an over-match for himself, 
 ar what is the same thing, in this case, creatures 
 ire more potent than their Creator. He cannot 
 change, modify nor interfere with them in any way, 
 Qor pass them by, nor oppose them, nor act without 
 their aid, even if he is ever so desirous of doing it. 
 A.S was before asked. Can tlft finite grasp and compre- 
 [lend the infinite ? Yet, the argument which I am 
 considering implies this possibility. The truth is, 
 that what are called the laws of nature are merely 
 the modes in which God is pleased to put forth his 
 energies, and he can at any moment change them 
 with the same ease with which he said in the, be- 
 ginning, ' Let there be light : and there was light.' " 
 
 The accounts of the miracles contained in the 
 Gospels have been scrutinized and dissected word 
 by word, in numerous volumes written by the skep- 
 tical critics of Europe and the United States, for the 
 last thirty years. They have discovered many ver- 
 bal differences and contradictions in the statements 
 of the Evangelists, which, as they allege, are a com- 
 plete refutation of their genuineness and authen- 
 ticity. I once perpsed a translatiibn of the cele- * 
 brated Strauss. I have looked at the leading argu- 
 ments of his coadjutors on this side the water. I 
 will give as strong an example, I believe, as any 
 which could be adduced, of those discrepancies, 
 which it is affirmed, are sufficient to destroy the % 
 credibility of the Gospels in the judgment of all ■ 
 sound, impartial, and enlightened scholars. 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 161 
 
 It is found that Matthew describes the healing 
 of a cert-ain leper, as having taken place when 
 Christ was entering the city of Capernaum, while 
 Mark and Luke represent it as occurring after he 
 left that place; One Evangelist mentions that a de- 
 moniac was healed on a certain occasion, another 
 says demoniacs — differingly only in this ; one uses 
 the singular number, the other the plural. In the 
 account of the resurrection of Jesus, one historian 
 gays that the women came to the sepulchre while it 
 was yet dark ; another that they came at dawn, and 
 yet another says at sunrise. These are as good 
 samples as can be foUnd, perhaps, of the alleged dis- 
 crepancies which should lead us to repudiate the 
 Gospels. In reply to such reasoning, the Rev. Mr. 
 Thayer, in his work on Infidelity, makes the follow- 
 ing remarks : 
 
 " If these statements were absolutely irreconcilar 
 ble as to verbal diflferences, it does not follow that 
 the events which they relate did not take place. 
 For it is a rule laid down in every scientific treatise 
 on testimony, that diversity of evidence as to the 
 incidentals of a fact, so far from proving the fact un- 
 true, increases its probability. Smooth, rounded 
 stories, each tallying with the other in every partic- 
 ular, present an aspect of fabrication. If the testi- 
 mony of the Evangelists had harmonized exactly as 
 to all the minutest circumstances, this fact might 
 have been urged as presumptive evidence of con- 
 cert and collusion. Men never see things precisely 
 alike in all particulars. Two witnesses in a court 
 of justice of the Sighest veracity, in testifying to an 
 undoubted fact which happened in their presence, 
 will still differ as to incidental facts. Suppose it 
 relate to a personal encounter between A and B, in 
 which the latter was killed. One witness affirms 
 that A commenced the assault, the other is equally 
 positive that B struck the first blow. But this dif-. 
 
162 OBJECTIOKS ANSWERED. 
 
 ference does not in the least invalidate their testi- 
 mony, for both concur in asserting that the two men 
 quarrelled, and that one of them was killed. So,' in 
 the cases above mentioned, the discrepancies in the 
 Evangelists do not impair their credibility, but just 
 the reverse establishes it upon an immovable basis." 
 " Stretch any^ history," says Mr. Thayer, " upon 
 the same rack;, and apply to it the same reasoning, 
 and there is not a single -liarrative of ancient or 
 modern times, which .would not be resolved into a 
 fiction, or a myth. Take for example the history of 
 Alexander the Great. One biographer asserts that 
 he reigned twelve years, another thirteen, another 
 thirty-five. Now, according to the Rationalists' 
 mode of arguing, we must conclude that the illus- 
 trious Macedonian never lived excepting in a myth. 
 In the same way we can prove that aU which is told 
 us about Julius Caesar, or any other distinguished 
 man of earlier or later times, is nothing but romance. 
 Milton never lived ; Shakspeare never lived ; Wash- 
 ington never lived, carrying out the requisitions 
 above mentioned, and all historical documents must 
 be given up and stamped as forgeries." 
 
 "Are these the pompous tidings ye proclaim, 
 Lights of the world, and demagogues of fame." 
 
 One historian says that Gen. Warren was engaged 
 in the battle of Bunker Hill, another of equal repu- 
 tation asserts that he was not on the ground at all. 
 According to these profound critics, what is the 
 inference to be legitimately drawn from this dis- 
 crepancy? Why, that there was no such battle 
 ever fought. All accounts of it handed down to us 
 are myths. This would be just as reasonable as to 
 argue, that because the accounts of miracles in the ; 
 Gospels difier as to unimportant incidentals, thereforel 
 those iniracles were never performed, the narratives 
 
OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 163 
 
 of them must be regarded as fabulous. In deter- 
 mining whether a history ought to be received as 
 credible, learned men have agreed upon a certain 
 standard whereby to test its truth. No fictitious 
 lastory can bear this test. I wish there was room 
 to describe it. It may be found in a little work 
 called Leslie's Short Method with the Deist. Its 
 application is as definite and unerring as the multi- 
 plication table, or the iaws of trigonometry. We 
 may apply it to all the historical documents ex- 
 tant, and discriminate with certainty between the 
 real and fictitious. Indeed, no arguments in behalf 
 of any profane history, are half as strong as those 
 which substantiate the narratives of Scripture. This 
 is granted by every scholar in the world. Why 
 then does he not accept these narratives ? Simply 
 because they imply what is supernatural. So do all 
 the natural sciences. No man can consistently re- 
 ceive the established facts of Astronomy, Zoology, 
 Mneralogy, Geology or Botany without believing 
 in the supernatural. 
 
 To me there is nothing so strange', or unaccount- 
 able, in the New Testament, as the assertion of 
 astronomers, that this ponderous globe, nearly eight 
 thousand miles in diameter, and twenty-five thou- 
 sand in circumference, moves in its annual path 
 around the sun more than sixty thousand miles 
 every hour, and at the same time spins on its axis 
 about a thousand miles an hour. But it is said these 
 stupendous phenomena admit an easy explanation. 
 They are the result of the great law of gravitation 
 by which all bodies are attracted to each other. 
 But what does the word attraction in this case sig- 
 nify? Sir Isaac Newton could not answer this 
 question. He tells us that attraction is only the 
 name of an unknown cause of which we have no 
 other knowledge than that it depends on the will of 
 God. Who can limit this will ? Who can say, upon 
 
164 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 abstract principles, that it could not give a miracu- 
 lous birth to a human being, like that in the New 
 Testament ascribed to the Son of God? It seems 
 to me blasphemous to assert that the Almighty One 
 could not confer upon Jesus those extraordinary, 
 powers which the Gospels affirm that he possessed.'' 
 
 Up to the present day I have not been able to 
 find a valid argument against the extraordinary 
 works that attest the divine authority of Jesus. 
 The weapons which Deists generally use are ex- 
 clamations like the follo#ing : " Bdieve in the supef- 
 naturoL ! Nonsense I Folly ! WretoheS superstition ! 
 It is as plain as a sun-beam that there never was, 
 and never can be such a thing as a miracle in our 
 world. It is high time to give up old wives'' fMes, 
 and settle down upon the self-evident principles of 
 a pure, beautiful, consistent. Natural Religion." And 
 all this is said with an air of gravity and wisdom, 
 quite sufficient to put to the blush the simple, plaiflj 
 and unlearned believer in the Son of God. 
 
 But in spite of all opposition, the miracles still 
 exist. They have lost none of their original might 
 and beauty. Celestial glory beams around them. 
 Bars, bolts, dungeons, bonds, tortures, death, learn- 
 ing, wit, ridicule, and sophistry have often tried in 
 vain to extinguish their influence.- But they still 
 live, and, thank Heaven, are destined to live " long 
 as the earth bears a plant, or the sea rolls a wave." 
 
 Suppose we were to rid the world of every par- 
 ticle of faith in the Christian miracles, what good 
 results could such an achievement accomplish ? I 
 have often proposed this question to those who are 
 kindly laboring to free men's minds from the domin^ ' 
 ion of the supernatural. The invariable answer has 
 been : " In no other way can we put an end to the 
 numerous forms of error and superstition which fill 
 the world with doubts, gl()om, sorrow, and dark- ' 
 ness." t 
 
' OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 165 
 
 To this I reply, that, take away Jesus and his mir- 
 acles, what panoply should we have against the 
 most aggra-s^ated assaults of credulity and fanati- 
 cism ? Here we are drifting down the " mist-wrap- 
 ped stream of time," and without the teachings of 
 Jesus we know not who we are, whence we came, 
 or whither we are going. Blot out the light of mir- 
 acles, then we could not tell whether we are in the 
 hands of a Father, or under the control of demons ; 
 we should not know but that before another day 
 closed, we might be called to lie down in the same 
 ditch with the Erute to exist no more ; or according 
 to Pythagoras breathe out our spirits, that we might- 
 be metamorphosed into a horse, mule, dog, bird, 
 fish, insect, or some of the vegetable tribes. This 
 luminary of Pagan wisdom, we read, was afraid to 
 eat any of the leguminous plants, lest he might be 
 swallowing the souls of departed friends and rela- 
 tives. Take away the Gospel, we do not know but 
 Calvinism is true, and that death will conduct us to 
 in eternity of unimaginable and ever-increasing 
 inguish. Then, the destroying of faith in the mira- 
 cles, would unsettle the basis of Christian morals. 
 What without them would be left to guide mankind 
 in the paths of peace ? The ethical codes promul- 
 gated by uninspired men are various, contradictory, 
 fluctuating and uncertain. One denies the essential 
 iifference between virtue and vice. Another advo- 
 cates the unlimited, unrestrained enjoyment and 
 gratification of the animal appetites and passions. 
 A. third maintains that self-denial, self-mortification, 
 humility and forgiveness are not virtues, but useless 
 md mischievous — tending to stupify the intellect, 
 30ur the temper, and harden the heart. But the 
 naorality sanctioned by Christian miracles is ever 
 the same : intelligible to every mind ; cheerful and 
 joyous ; prompting to no deeds but those of piety, 
 purity and benevolence ; strict in its demands, yet 
 
166 OBJECTIONS AN 
 
 roercifiil; fitted to beings of an earthly mould, yet 
 of an immortal destiny. 
 
 If hope in Jesus and his miracles be a delusion, 
 let it never be dispelled from my bosom. Eob me, 
 if it must be so, of property, health, reputation and 
 friends, but leave me, 0, leave me the Gonsola,tion3 
 of the Gospel. Byron was a strong-minded, man, 
 with all his sins and foUies. In a letter to a clergy- 
 man he says, " I would give more for a firm Chris- 
 tian hope, than all the wealth, fame and pleasures of 
 earth: for it is the only thing that has power to 
 make me happy here ; and though I may be finally 
 doomed to annihilation, I shall, at least, never 
 know that I have been mocked." So I would say, 
 let me harbor this hope among my strongest laffec- 
 tions and fancy, as I travel through this vale of 
 tears, that I look out upon the fascinating perspec- 
 tive of a future life, rising in all the glories of im- 
 mortality from the dark ruins of earth and time, 
 where the skeptic sees only darkness, confusion, 
 nonentity, gloom, and despair. 
 
 , It is a prevailing sentiment that Unitarians in the 
 United States do not fully comprehend nor appre- 
 ciate the perfections and glories of Jesus Christ 
 But we profess to receive as true everything which 
 the New Testament teaches on these topics. We 
 take the liberty to reject those theories in regard to 
 the philosophical nature and relations of the Father 
 and the Son, not sanctioned by reason and the Word 
 of God. To us there is no significance in the Gos- 
 pel apart from the life of Jesus. We prize beyond 
 all comparison the fact expressed in John 1 : 14 — ■ J 
 " And the Word was manifested in flesh, and dwelt I 
 among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of| 
 the qnly begotten of the Father full of grace and| 
 truth.") Without the illumination of Christ, to u^ 
 the moral world would be disrobed of virtue, faithp 
 and charity. Take away Jesus, and the charm of 
 
OBJECTIONS AXSWERED. 167 
 
 existence would set to rise no more. We should 
 become mere animals — Lopeless and aimless wan- 
 derers through the regions of space and night. 
 Pake away Jesus and you blot out even the hope 
 of immortality, and we should be poor, fearful, 
 trembling orphans, cast out upon a wide, bleak, 
 boundless waste, destitute, deserted, and ready to 
 perish. But by the mission of Jesus it is made cer- 
 tain that we are not acting our parts in a fatherless 
 ind forsaken universe. Now, it is known that we 
 ire the children of God. " The blood of martyr- 
 dom is precious, but to us the blood of Jesus is the 
 blood of a holier sacrifice ; that" of divine innocence 
 pleading for a guilty world," — " the blood of a lamb 
 without spot and blemish, slain from the foundation of 
 ',he world." 
 
 We know of no Christ but the Christ of the New 
 Testament, who testified by miracles, that his origin 
 svas divine, and that his doctrines came from God. 
 The Unitarians most firmly believe in the Trinity as 
 taught by Jesus and Paul, while they reject the 
 doctrine of scholastic theology that there are three 
 Gods in one. They teach that God has revealed 
 himself through his universal Fatherhood, through 
 bis Redeeming Son, and through his sanctifying 
 Spirit. The Trinitarians blend the Father, the Son, 
 md the Holy Spirit together. The Unitarians can 
 Qo more consider the Jesus of Nazareth as in all 
 respects equal to the eternal Jehovah, because God 
 was revealed through him, than they could adopt 
 the Pantheistic error of confounding God with 
 Nature, by and through which his invisible attri- 
 butes have been made known. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THOUGHTS ON THE SITB^TECT OF SIK. 
 
 What do the Scriptures mean by the word sin ? 
 Simply a wrong action. The first instance of sin 
 mentioned in the Bible is the feelings and conduct 
 of Cain with respect to his brother Abel. We read 
 as follows : " And the Lord said unto Cain, why art 
 thou wroth ? and why is thy countenance fallen ? 
 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted ? and 
 if thou doest not weM, sin lieth at the door." No 
 different definition of sin from this can be found in 
 the Sacred Writings. The numerous texts touching 
 this point are so generally known, and so often 
 quoted, that it is unnecessary to produce them. 
 
 The above description of sin is as plain as words 
 can convey. It is just as intelligible as the terms ■ 
 earth, water, air, fire, sky, ocean, rivers, trees, 
 flowers, an apple, orange, cherry, or peach. Yet 
 theologians in general, represent it to be a profound 
 and inexplicable mystery. I remember, when a 
 child, to have heard a man of the highest reputation 
 for his piety, use the following words in conversa- ' 
 tion : He said, " that his heart was a profound,! 
 fathomless abyss of depravity ; that he verily be| 
 lieved there was not, in the sight of God, a worsd 
 person on earth than himself; that he had in his 
 own nature no more ability to perform an evang4| 
 ically good action than he had to make a worl^ 
 and that if strict justice were meted out to him, he 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP BIN. 169 
 
 should deserve for the sin contained in the holiest 
 prayer he had ever made, to suffer an eternal 
 punishment in the world of perdition." 
 
 Now, I knew that this man was regarded as one 
 of the most pure, amiable, useful, and unoffending 
 persons living in my native village. His language, 
 therefore, was in my view perfectly incomprehensi- 
 ble. After the company was dispersed, I asked my 
 fether for an explanation. What does he mean, I 
 anxiously inquired, by calling himself the most 
 wicked man in the world ? Is he, indeed, worse 
 than that neighbor of ours (mentioning his name) 
 who for his crimes has been confined in the State 
 Prison ? He replied thus : " My son, you do not 
 understand the subject of sin. The gentleman was 
 not speaking of his outward actions which have 
 been quite exemplary and excellent, but of those 
 abominations of his heart, that no mortal eye can 
 see. You muait be born again in order to be capa- 
 ble of realizing that your spiritual character is in- 
 finitely odious in the sight of Heaven, and deserving 
 of his eternal reprobation." In accordance with 
 these sentiments, I was uniformly taught that I 
 could not feel my sinfulness, and look upon it with 
 godly sorrow and true penitence until I had ex- 
 perienced a change of heart. This change I was 
 solemnly assured could be effected only by the 
 arbitrary, supernatural influences of the Holy Spirit, 
 that I was utterly unable to bring it about by my 
 own endeavors, however honestly and perseveringly 
 employed. Everywhere, during my childhood and 
 youth, in the nursery, the school and the church, 
 the sentiment was inculcated upon me that human 
 nature, in consequence of an innate, necessa,ry, and 
 total corruption, was incapable of leading a life in 
 conformity with truth and rectitude. 
 
 I believe that my father, who held and taught 
 ■this doctrine to his children, is a truly good man — 
 
170 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 
 
 a humble and sincere Christian. Fur there are 
 hardly any dblusions that prevail in the world on 
 religious topics to which the sincere and true- 
 hearted may not be enslaved by ignorance, autho- 
 rity, fashion, and the almost irresistible influence 
 of parental example and early training. The people 
 inhabiting that part of New England where I was 
 born, not excepting the clergy, though generally^ 
 intelligent, enterprising, and industrious, were hard, 
 dry, and stern Calvinists. Their peculiar faith 
 breathed a spirit as unlike Christianity as possible. 
 " One is all love and tenderness, the other all bitter- 
 ness and denunciation ; the one is gentle and 
 tolerant, the other fierce and intolerant ; the one 
 careless of forms, so that the life and soul of charity 
 are preserved, the other is all form and doctrine- 
 doctrine harsh, metaphysical, rigid, and damnatory." 
 The sermons to which I listened were dry, duU, 
 cold disquisitions on abstract and speculative dog- 
 mas, unrelieved by any refinements of polite litera- 
 ture, or allusions to the beautiful, sublime objects 
 and scenes of nature, human life, and civilized so- 
 ciety. The delivery of these homilies was as un- 
 attractive as their matter was repulsive. The 
 ministers had a gravity of manner which was so 
 unvaried — so devoid of nature, warmth, and sym- 
 pathy with their hearers, as to be absolutely chiUirig, 
 deadening, and oppressive. 
 
 I repeat it, these clergymen were pious, hard- 
 working men ; but of all the beautiful sayings and 
 doings of Jesus, of all the rich consolations which 
 he brought down from heaven to support and 
 strengthen the afficted and unhappy, of aU the 
 deeds and expressions of a Father's boundless love 
 that shone in his life and character, they dealt out 
 nothing to us. Sunday after Sunday, year afteri 
 year, our thirsty, yearning souls received nothing 
 but the constant asseverations, that we were the 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF SIN. 171 
 
 object of God's infinite wrath, that we were dead 
 in trespasses and sins, that we had no power to 
 raise ourselves from the depths of ruin to spiritual 
 light and holiness, and that without such an exalta- 
 tion this side the grave, we should be forever lost. 
 
 The greatest and most predominant error with 
 respect to sin is that we are born with a corrupt, 
 sinful natiire. Man has a depraved nature ! To 
 me it is plain there never was, there never can be, 
 a sinful nature in this or any other part of the 
 boundless universe. For the nature of any finite 
 existence — be it sun, moon, stars, earth, water, 
 plants, animals, man, or anything else which can be 
 named — has been made by God himself But the 
 Bible affirms that every object or being which the 
 Creator has formed is good, and only good. Every 
 catechism used in the Christian world teaches ;that 
 our nature is the work of onr Heavenly Father. 
 To assert, then, that it is sinful, virtually impeaches 
 his moral perfections. Besides, it involves a most 
 glaring absurdity. It implies or supposes that sin, 
 which is an efiect, is the cause of itself. 
 
 Again, this fallacy tends directly to subvert the 
 doctrine of man's accountability. It casts the dark- 
 ness of a wide-spread, necessary, eternal evil on the 
 moral prospects of our misguided, erring, and 
 afSicted race. Because, if man's nature is sinful, 
 then worldliness and vice — then the most de- 
 plorable and dreadful crimes are nothing more than 
 the acting out of the principles of that moral con- 
 stitution which God has given us — nothing more 
 than a natural, and inevitable conformity to a divine 
 law. Indeed, I have often heard bad people, who 
 were giving themselves up to the unrestrained in- 
 dulgence of guilty passions, deliberately trampling 
 upon the most sacred dictates of reason, conscience, 
 and honor, excuse themselves by the plea that they 
 «ould not be to blame, for they were only gratifying 
 
172 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF SIN. ' 
 
 their natural propensities, and following the behe^. 
 of Providence. 
 
 To obviate this reasoning, it is contended that, 
 admitting God gave to man, originally, a good 
 nature, yet our first parents transformed this nature 
 into a diabolical one which, by a necessary law of 
 generation, descends to all thsir posterity. I r^ply 
 that no such doctrine concerning original sin can 
 be established by Scriptural proofs. Moreover, the 
 analysis of human nature demonstrates that it con- 
 tains no inherent principle of sin. It is worthy of 
 remark that no writer, in defence of the imputation 
 of Adam's sin to all the race, attempts to support 
 the sentiment by arguments derived from reason. 
 No theologian asserts that an infant actually commits 
 sin as soon as it is born. But the usual position 
 taken by divines is, that as the young rattlesnake 
 comes into the world with a venomous nature, 
 which makes it certain that its bite will be pes- 
 tiferous at a certain stage of development, just so 
 the infant is bom with a moral nature which will 
 infallibly cause it to commit sin and only sin, when- 
 ever it reaches the period of free agency. 
 
 What then ? Suppose an infant to be bom with- 
 out eyes and ears, and to grow up blind and deaf. 
 Is that child liable to be blamed and punished for 
 not seeing and hearing? On the contrary, it is 
 deserving of commiseration only on account of 
 these constitutional defects. So, if one has brought 
 into the world with him such a moral nature, that 
 by necessity it becomes sinful as soon as capable of 
 sinning, he is most eminently an object of pity, but 
 not of blame. In all those human actions that take 
 place by necessity of nature, such as the movements 
 of the lungs and the palpitations of the heart, there 
 can be nothing moral because they are not under 
 the power of the will. In the same manner, if 
 human beings, in consequence of an uncontrollable 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 173 
 
 ^w»of their mental constitutiou, break the divine 
 precepts, you cannot justly blame them for it any 
 more than you can blame the clouds, the weather, 
 the wind, or the lightning for the manner in which 
 they operate. 
 
 The late Professor Stuart, of Andover, Mass., 
 who was regarded as the Coryphaeus of Trinitarian- 
 ism in the United States, says in his commentary on 
 the Epistle to the Romans, that, " The fictitious 
 process of accounting for human depravity on the 
 ground of imputed sin, which in this way becomes 
 our own, is not what the Bible asserts or seems to 
 maintain. There is not in all the Scriptures an 
 instance in which one man's sin or righteousness is 
 said to be imputed to another. The very reverse 
 is declared, that the child, under the government of 
 Heaven, shall never be made to bear the guilt of a 
 parent. It may suffer from his misconduct, but 
 cannot partake ©f his guilt, unless it perform the 
 same sinful acts, and thus becomes guiltj' in propria 
 persona.'' This view of the matter is now insisted 
 upon by most of the so-called orthodox pulpits 
 throughout the New England States. No wonder 
 that their Presbyterian brethren south and west, 
 look upon them as wanderers from the ancient and 
 venerable standards of the Calvinistic church. I 
 respect and admire the professors of the Princeton 
 Theological Seminary for their consistency and un- 
 flinching avowal of old-fashioned Calvinism. He 
 who denies the imputation of Adam's sin to his pos- 
 terity, has in reality abjured the faith which our 
 Puritanical forefathers brought with them to these 
 (vestern shores. 
 
 St. Augustine, about fifteen hundred years ago 
 ^and who has exercised an almost unlimited sway 
 jver the belief of Christendom ever since), gave to 
 ihe world the following definition of sin : — " Sin is 
 I corruption of human nature, produced by imputing 
 
174 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 
 
 the guilt of the first transgression committed by 
 Adam and Eve to all their descendants." And the 
 consequent, essential, inherent depravity of human 
 nature would involve our complete, eternal ruin, 
 without an atonement, even if we were polluted 
 with no actual transgression, should never perform 
 a siiifiil act ourselves. And this great man defines 
 imputation by saying " that it is ascribing to an 
 individual, guilt not reaUy his own — not contracted 
 by the obliquity of his personal volition and doings." 
 Moreover, he illustrates his meaning by the follow- 
 ing statement : — " If an infant die only one day old, 
 devoid of an interest in the vicarious atonement 
 made by Christ, it will sink down forever under the 
 weight of almighty, infinite, and eternal wrath "-^ 
 the wrath of its own Creator. 
 
 The same divine undertakes to show where sin 
 originated"— all the sin on earth — all the sin which 
 now operates in so many ways and so many forms 
 to darken and depress the fortunes of mankind. 
 And where do you think the first sin was born? 
 Why in heaven itself. The earliest sinners the 
 universe ever saw appeared among those exalted, 
 immaculate spirits who "rose unfolded andblossomed 
 in the uncreated beam, on the banks of the river of 
 life," who, through an unknown, unreckoned series 
 of ages, had chanted the octaves of that temple not 
 made with hands. According to this theory, sin 
 can boast, indeed, of an illustrious pedigree. And 
 we so weak, so little, blind, and debased, can trace 
 our ancestry far back — backwards beyond all the 
 geologic ages, beyond the birth of time, of planets, 
 suns, and systems, upon a line that is lost in the 
 fathomless abysses of an eternity passed. 
 
 Some time or other, he tells us a portion of thej 
 angels became ambitious and discontented. Toj 
 gratify unhallowed passions they entered into a 
 conspiracy to dethrone the omnipotent, and possesii 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 175 
 
 themselves of the reins of universal government. 
 Failing in this strange, unaccountable, audacious 
 enterprise, after a gallant assault on the battlements 
 of heaven, the hot thunderbolts of an offended Deity- 
 drove them maimed, wounded, and blackened, out 
 of Paradise. These apostates and rebels were 
 loaded with irons and shut up in that famous prison- 
 house (situated nobody can tell where) called hell. 
 Had not the omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent 
 One the means requisite to keep those wicked spirits 
 where they could do no harm ; after having once 
 caused " the infernal doors to, be opened for their 
 confinement, with impetuous recoil and jarring 
 sound, and on their hinges grating harsh thunder?" 
 Yet, He permitted some one to let them out from 
 their penitentiary, to engage again in scenes of 
 mischief — to tempt and pollute the innocent. Yes, 
 they were allowed to go forth and accomplish the 
 ruin of beings whom God loved " as the apple of his 
 eye" and whom he had created for the enjoyment of 
 everlasting happiness and glory in his blissful 
 presence. 
 
 Does not the rule hold equally good in theology 
 
 as in civil law, that what one does hy another is 
 
 really his own acti Yes, according to the theory 
 
 above-named, God permitted Satan and his satellites 
 
 to assail Adam and Eve, when they were enjoying 
 
 the health, life, vigor, and beautj' of Paradise — 
 
 " those happy walks and shades, fit haunt of gods." 
 
 Instigated by the devil, led astray by his specious 
 
 and flattering falsehoods, and without the thought 
 
 , or intention of any wrong, by one solitary sin they 
 
 lost communion with God, incurred his wrath and 
 
 curse, and were instantly metamorphosed into 
 
 , demons — and demons so utterly bad as to be in- 
 
 t capable of a good thought, word or deed. More, 
 
 t'this original sin introduced all the physical evils 
 
 f which mankind endure in this world — such as mor- 
 
176 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF SIN. 
 
 tality, disease, paia, sterility, briars, thorns, poison- 
 ous reptiles, beasts of prey, earthquakes, volcanos, 
 floods, conflagrations, the boisterous ocean, the 
 tempestuous storm, the inclemencies of weather, 
 thunder, lightning, all destructive violence of 
 the elements, sick-rooms, hospitals, death-beds, 
 graveyards, &c. All this is suggested by that 
 striking personification of Milton, upon Eve's eating 
 the forbidden fruit : 
 
 " So saying, her rash hand in evil hour, 
 Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she ate ; 
 Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her seat. 
 Sighing through all her works, gave signs of woe, 
 That all was lost." 
 
 Beautiful poetry! But just as chimerical and 
 fabulous as anything which can be found in the 
 mythology of Greece ox Rome. Indeed, this story 
 originated in Pagan literature. It is not sustained 
 by one text of the Bible truly interpreted. To 
 speak plainly, I know nothing in the legends of 
 Paganism more shocking to reason than the idea 
 that the Deity can justly pursue with hatred and 
 curses through eternity, countless millions of his 
 children on account of an ofience committed before 
 they were born. This doctrine ascribes to our 
 Creator a character infinitely more odious and awful 
 than that which the imaginary Jupiter of the 
 heathen world was supposed to possess. For it 
 declares that the Being whom Jesus represented as 
 our Father is actuated by boundless and immutable 
 wrath — a wrath that will never for a moment inter* 
 mit its power, intensity, and destructiveness. But, 
 according to Hesiod, Homer, and other authors, 
 Jupiter is not always angry. Sometimes, indeed, , 
 he loses his temper, becomes clothed with terrors, ; 
 and vents his bad passions by shaking Olympus to 
 its centre, scattering abroad his lightnings, and i 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 177 
 
 desolating poor, helpless mortals with floods, con- 
 flagrations, earthquakes, and volcanos. But his 
 fury is soon exhausted ; the better principles of his 
 nature resume their sway ; and he once more smiles 
 with unclouded benevolence, and, in consultation 
 with the other gods, contrives vast schemes for the 
 advancement of empire, knowledge, and happiness 
 aniong men. This divinity is, to my mind, incom- 
 parably more amiable and attractive than the God 
 whom Calvin professed to love, honor, and obey. 
 
 It is a melancholy reflection that the absurd 
 notion of infinite, unbending vengeance, has, in a 
 greater or less degree, darkened and corrupted all 
 law, all art, all literature, all government, all sys- 
 tems of education, all forms of religious worship, 
 all that bears the names of piety, morals, and refine- 
 ment throughout the civilized world. Yes, he who 
 is styled Infinite Love in Scripture, has been por- 
 trayed as our dreadful, irresistible, omnipresent 
 enemy — an enemy that for the last six thousand 
 years (we know not how much longer) has been 
 performing among men "as upon a darkened stage," 
 the most strange and fearful tragedies — tragedies 
 that veil in midnight the annals of time gone by, 
 and also cast a thick cloud upon our future and 
 everlasting prospects. There is nothing in Atheism 
 itself half so appalling as that mysterious evil which 
 theologians describe sin to be; and for the sup- 
 pression of which there are so much praying, and 
 preaching, and church -going — such prodigious 
 efi'orts made, and so much money expended every 
 jrear. The false views to which I allude, have in- 
 fected persons of the greatest genius, worth, and 
 merit — the loftiest minds that have lived — the 
 Dantes, Miltons, and Shakspeares of all lands. The 
 thought of an incensed Creator has been set up, 
 like the abomination of desolation spoken of by the 
 prophet Daniel, in the most holy places of human 
 society. 
 
178 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF SIN. 
 
 It overshadowed the cradle in which our infancy 
 reposed. In the nursery, the first lesson which fell 
 from the lips of maternal tenderness embraced the 
 doctrine of an endless hell. It overshadowed the 
 church, the school, and all the paths that we 
 traversed in " life's morning march, when the bosom 
 was young," blighting and crushing our ingenuous 
 hearts, and the noblest, most generous affections of 
 which human nature is capable, and covering heaven 
 and earth with gloom and horror. 
 
 What is sin? What are its natural, legitimate, 
 and necessary consequences ? By what means can 
 we be deliverad from it ? In the wide range of 
 these inquiries lies all the information that we ..really 
 need, and which (thanks to our Heavenly Father): 
 we actually pBssess. And these questions have 
 been ably, warmly, and eloquently discussed among 
 divines in every pericfd of the Christian era. The 
 contest is still going on, but with far less bitterness 
 and exasperation of spirit than were manifested of 
 old. Since my memory, pamphlets, sermons, reviews, 
 and larger works on this subject have been pub- 
 lished in the United States, sufficiently numerous to 
 fill a small chapel. And it is matter of joy that 
 divines do not sin as much as they once did in 
 discussing the point — What is. sin? 
 
 Among most religious societies, " What do you 
 think about sin ? " is looked upon as an interroga- 
 tory of the highest consequence. And the answer 
 which any clergyman may give to it, in the public 
 opinion, fixes the rank which he occupies in the 
 scale of theological science, and even the attain- 
 ments of piety. He is called very good, or so so,;; 
 or middling, or below mediocrity, or quite indifferen4| 
 and inferior, or utterly devoid oif those acquirement^ 
 essential to the proper discharge of clerical duties-, 
 according to the peculiar views which he inculcates 
 with respect to human depravity; I am not dis* 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF SIN. 179 
 
 posed to find fault with this s^Rndard of ministerial 
 qualifications. Let it be everywhere recognized. 
 It is best, however, under such circumstances, for 
 every minister to define his position. It is best for 
 himself, for the congregation over which he presides, 
 and for his general usefulness in the community 
 where he lives. 
 
 There is not a clergyman in the United States, 
 who has the moral hardihood to stand up in his pul- 
 pit and say with St. Augustine, that without the 
 interposition of the atonement made by the death 
 and suiFerings of Christ, an infant dying but one day 
 old, would be doomed to eternal pinishment an 
 account of Adam's sin. He dare not teach such a 
 horrid dogma in explicit terms. But he avows what 
 is tantamount thereto that infants 'bring into the 
 world with them a nature so sinful, that were it not 
 for the intervening grace oP God through Jesus, 
 they would, by a law of absolute necessity, sink 
 down into the pit of endless perdition. And what 
 becomes of those ministers who are frank and honest 
 enough to disavow these sentiments? How are 
 they treated by the great majority of those who call 
 themselves Christians? These questions suggest 
 their own answers. 
 
 Discarding then all theological figments, I cor- 
 dially subscribe to the definition of Bin given by 
 Bishop Butler,, in his discourses on the Constitution 
 of Man. This prelate belonged to the church of 
 England, was «Df course a Trinitarian, and is admit- 
 ited to have been among the most pious and learned 
 pivines of his day. He wrote that celebrated work 
 Snown to every educated clergyman in Christen- 
 dom, styled, " The Analogy letiveen Natural and Ee- 
 vfiled Religion." He stoutly denies that sin is an 
 i^ate, inherent, essential attribute of human nature. 
 Or in other words, he affirms thq,t men are not born 
 sfltoers any mora than they are born scholars, af- 
 
r 
 
 180 THOUGHTS pN THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 
 
 tists, painters, scialptors, poets, musicians, or philos- 
 ophers. But they come into the world with certain 
 intellectual and moral capacities, in themselves good, 
 such as the love of food, love of rest, love of happi- 
 ness, love of property, power, knowledge, society, 
 reputation, beauty, virtue, <&c. 
 
 Now, it is self evident that these principles are not 
 in themselves sinful — abstractly considered. Let 
 us scrutinize for a moment, the precise nature of 
 that process by which We transgress the laws of 
 God. It is a duty to satisfy the feelings of hunger 
 and thirst. But when one allows himself in intem- 
 perance, he becomes a sinner by not subjecting 
 these appetites to the restraints dictated by.ireason 
 and conscience. Both assure us in language, which 
 cannot be misunders'tood, that it is wrong to injute 
 ourselves or our fellow-beings by the gratification 
 of animal appetites and propensities. There is not 
 an inclination that the Creator has given us, which 
 is not in itself, a good. It becomes an evil only 
 when it is exercised in an improper manner. The 
 love of property is a noble and necessary passion, 
 and when confined within proper limits is entirely^ 
 consonant with the will of God. But if allowed to' 
 gain a dangerous preponderance, it becomes a blind, 
 iatense, unscrupulous' desire, hardening the finer 
 sensibilities of the' soul, and producing unspeakable 
 degradation and wretchedness. The same remarks 
 are applicable to the love of power, and all the other 
 active principles with which we have been endowed. J 
 The love of religion is the loftiest sentiment which 
 we possess, but when unenlightened and uncontrol- 
 led by reason and conscience, it degenerates into- 
 bigotry, hate, acrimonious zeal, persecution and mut- 
 der. -^^ 
 
 Admitting the validity of this statement, it follows 
 that all which is denominated sin in the ScriptuifS, 
 is nothing essentially, but a misuse of some facitfty 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 181 
 
 ortalent conferred on us by God, and that in itself 
 it is good, and only good. This definition embraces 
 all that is possible for us to know about the nature 
 of sin in the present world. We may easily be con- 
 vinced of the truth of this assertion, by one days' 
 cateful watching of the movements in our own 
 minds. For myself, it is not in my power to name 
 a single violation of the decalogue, which is any- 
 thing more than a misuse of some gift or blessing 
 bestowed on us by our Creator. Bishop Butler 
 takes the ground that malice and revenge proceed 
 from an improper indulgence of resentment, by 
 which he means a " lively perception of the injuries 
 and injustice inflicted upon us." He contends that 
 the mind of Jesus sometimes felt resentment, as 
 abov^ explained. For we read, that on a certain 
 occasion, he looked around upon an assembly of bit- 
 ter opposers with anger, (or a holy displeasure 
 against sin, as an old expounder explains it), ieing 
 grieved for the hardness of their hearts. St. Paul 
 says, " Be angry and sin not." " Let not the sun 
 go down upon your wrath." From which passages 
 we learn, that the springing up of resentment in the 
 mind is sometimes unavoidable, and in that case 
 there is nothing unhallowed in it. 
 
 Dr. Channing somewhere uses the following wordis: 
 " Our desires are to be denied or governed ; by 
 which, I mean not exterminated, but renounced as 
 masters, guides, lords, and brought into strict subor- 
 dination to our moral and intellectual powers. It is 
 a false idea that religion requires the extermination 
 "of any principle, desire, appetite or passion, which 
 .our Creator has implanted. Our nature is a whole, 
 a beautiful whole, and no part can be spared. You 
 might as properly and innocently lop off a limb from 
 the body, as eradicate any natural desire from the 
 mind. All our appetites are in themselves innocent 
 and useful, ministering to the general weal of the 
 16 
 
182 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF SIN. 
 
 soul. They are like the elements of the -physical 
 world, fire, air, water, &c., parts of a wise and benefi- 
 cent system, but like those elements are beneficent 
 only when restrained. Our minds are so organized 
 that we cannot serve God and Mammon both. Let 
 a person renounce the guidance of reason and con- 
 science, and yield himself to any inordinate, ungov- 
 erned passion, and his heart will soon become dark, 
 desolate [and corrupt. The proportion, order-land 
 harmony of one's nature are subverted without self- 
 denial, and his soul becomes as monstrous and de- 
 formed as the body would become, were all the 
 nutriment it takes, to flow into a few organs, and 
 these the least valuable, and to break out into loath- 
 some excrescences, whilst the eye, the ear, and the 
 most important limbs should pine and be palsied and 
 leave us without guidance — without the powers 
 requisite to enjoyment and usefulness." 
 
 Look at the condition of a confirmed voluptuary 
 who gives himself up to the unrestrained indulgence 
 of his bodily appetites and passions. His nature is 
 well enough if he WouM only use it aright. But 
 his creed, and consequently his doings are in fault.. 
 He maintains, that as the bee goes forth to suck the 
 means of life from the aroma of the flowery world, 
 so man's true mission on earth is to explore the 
 realms of nature, that he may extract from them the 
 largest possible amount and variety of sensual de- 
 Mghts. lie stands here looking forth upon this 
 majestic array of worlds and systems, not to be the 
 interpreter, as he might be of the Creator's works^ 
 and his vicegerent — his best likeness below, but M 
 common with his fellow-brute to pass his- hours in 
 drinking the cup of earthly pleasure, ad liMfum^^ 
 without caring for consequences. He disdains ta 
 enquire whether any particular course of life of 
 action is right or wrong, lawfiil or unlawful, guilty 
 or not guilty. He lives only to pander to his- lustB 
 
THOUSHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 183 
 
 and appetites — be surrenders himself to this igno- 
 ble ministry in vouth, in maturer years, perhaps in 
 advanced age, till his race is run ; his sun is about 
 setting, and at last he sinks down to be lost forever 
 in infamy, and in the darkness and oblivion of the 
 grave. 
 
 I have been personally acquainted with many of 
 this description; and attended them as a clergyman 
 in their dying hours. Invariably they have uttered 
 ,the strongest language of self-condemnation, and 
 acknowledged that they might and should have led 
 lives of self-denial, honor and usefulness. " Death 
 is an honest hour and faithful to its trust." I have 
 listened to many a death-bed confession of the fol- 
 lowing kind. I use my own words. 
 
 " may God have mercy upon me. Can he for- 
 give and save a creature so fallen and guilty as I 
 am ? Like the prodigal son I have wasted my days 
 and nights, my talents, and my fortune in the pur 
 suit of ruin and unhallowed pleasures. I have been 
 unfaithful to the most solemn and interesting rela- 
 tions of life. By my excesses and follies I have 
 carried desolation into the bosoip of domestic life — 
 into the crushed and bleeding hearts of wife, chil- 
 dren, relatives and friends. I have ruined young 
 men by my pestiferous, seductive conversation and 
 example. And I have no excuse to offer by way 
 of extenuation. I have destroyed myself on the 
 one hand, by the most deliberate, wilful gratification 
 of pernicious appetites and passions, and on the 
 other by a fond, foolish, thoughtless indulgence, 
 doating with a mixture of idiocy and madness. In- 
 stead of steeping my soul in besotting sensualities, 
 .bowing down my divine, immortal faculties below 
 the level of the brute, I might have clothed myself 
 with celestial beauty; in the grandeur of moral ex- 
 eellence — as the rocky promontory that repels the 
 waves of ocean — I might have beaten back the 
 
184 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 
 
 dark surges of earth's sins and temptations, and lived 
 so as to have been a light and blessing to all around 
 me. Oh ! is it possible that such a wretch as I am, 
 should ever be forgiven," <£c. 
 
 I have noticed that the views which dying men 
 express concerning sin, always coincide with the 
 representations of Scripture on this subject. They 
 never attempt to cast the blame of their wrong 
 doing on the perverseness and imbecility of human 
 nature. On the contrary, in spite of the temptations 
 and bad influences that allured them from the right 
 path, they invariably confess that "their derelictions 
 were utterly inexcusable." The truth is no man 
 ever chooses sin as such, but he naturally hates it. 
 Take the vilest man that lives ; if he could obtain 
 the gratifi^cation on which his heart is set — be it 
 property, office, or sensual pleasure — honestly and 
 innocently he would greatly prefer it on such terms. 
 But despairing of success by honorable means, he 
 wilfully tramples upon the dictates of his conscience 
 and the waves of guilt sweep him away. I have 
 heard a father say in this trying hour, that he would- 
 give the whole world if he had it, for the assurances 
 of forgiveness, and the supporting hopes of Chris- 
 tianity. " ! " I have heard him exclaim, " that 
 my sons could be brought up religiously, and escape 
 the wretchedness and horrors of the debasing life 
 which I have led." 
 
 To persons in this condition I have often put the 
 following question : " Could any inducement have 
 persuaded you to have entered on the course of a 
 dissolute life, if you had foreseen its terrible conse- ■ 
 quences. ? " The reply has always been a strong* 
 negative. " T thought that sin would give me the 
 greatest pleasure, therefore I pursued it." 
 
 " Pleasure or wrong, or rightly understood, 
 Our greatest evil, or our greatest good." 
 
THOUiSHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF SIN. 185 
 
 ; In the proper sense of the word, we were created 
 for pleasure, which is the synonyme of happiness., 
 But how many mistake the way to it ! What a mul- 
 titude of delusions blind and deceive us 1 Innumer- 
 able " ignus fatwi," draw us from the plain ground 
 into ruin. Perhaps from sheer ignorance of what is 
 requisite to tru© happiness, the majority launch their 
 frail barks upon a wide, tempestuous, destructive 
 sea, only to be dashed against the rocks, or sub- 
 merged in the overwhelming waves. Happiness, 
 that sacred, divine possession, free from all taint of 
 pollution, comes from the normal, healthy, harmo- 
 nious development and exercise of all our faculties 
 both of body and mind. Astronomers have proved 
 that if a planet, moon, asteroid, or comet were to 
 stand stiU, or deviate an hair's breadth from its 
 present orbit, this, eccentricity would spread ruin 
 through every portion of the celestial empire. So, 
 if a single power of human nature is allowed to 
 remain unimproved, or go wrong, it hinders or de- 
 stroys the healthy action of the whole soul. If there 
 were one man on earth . who had always used his 
 entire nature aright, he would be as exempt frora 
 sin as an angel. I believe that every child would 
 grow up virtuously, if it could clearly see before- 
 hand what would afford the highest pleasure. But 
 such knowledge alas, children do not possess. And 
 many pleasures appear to them wonderfully alluring 
 and flattering in the prospect, the possession of 
 which brings upon them shame, sorrow, want and 
 guilt, when they vainly imagined they were on the 
 road to peace and prosperity. Ignorance after aU 
 is, perhaps, the most frequent source of misconduct. 
 Suppose for a moment that the skeptical argumeijbt 
 is correct; that man's only and highest good is 
 physical pleasure — that death is an eternal sleep — 
 and that of course it is mere twaddling for one to 
 stand up in the pulpit, to speak of the worth and 
 16* 
 
186 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 
 
 dignity of the immortal mind, the superiority of the 
 soul to the body ; the worthiness, delicacy and re- 
 finement of mental delights ; and the meanness, 
 grossness, and deleterious results of those gratifica' 
 tions which belong pre-eminently to the body. Still 
 letting myself down to the low plame of mere animal- 
 ism, even then, I would contend that to make the 
 most of the body — to secure to it the largest 
 amount of pleasure which it is capable of receiving 
 between this, and the moment when it shall be smit- 
 ten by the hand of death — it must be subjected to 
 the salutary restraints and laws of Christian virtue. 
 For aU experience has demonstrated that when one 
 disobeys the dictates of rectitude and honor in the 
 management of bodily appetites, by his own suicidal 
 act, he takes a key and locks fast the doors of all 
 his senses against the visitations of sweet and blessed 
 peace. He does more than this negative injury to 
 himself, he makes his very senses the instruments 
 of acute pain — avenues to sorrow and suffering 
 beyond the power of words to express. If aU real- 
 ized this fact, all would become true Christians. 
 Yes, the strongest motives to immediate repentance 
 are not those which are drawn from the most vivid, 
 starthng descriptions of the future woe alleged to be 
 in store for those who die unreformed. The most 
 powerful dissuasive from a wicked life which the 
 pulpit can urge, are just representations of the 
 dreadful, unavoidable consequences that flow from 
 the wide-spread, unchanging, eternal laws of our 
 present existence — especially that law which ren- 
 ders it impossible for us to enjoy the temporal 
 blessings of this day, to-morrow, or any future time, j 
 unless we cast ourselves upon the benefaction, 
 lights and resources of immortal goodness. This is 
 the only element in which we can breathe freely -r- 
 have freedom, elastic spirits, and supporting hopes. 
 To the enjoyment of each passing day, virtue is as 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF SIN. 187 
 
 necessary as sunshine for the eye, air for the lungs, 
 or the refreshment of nightly repose, or food to sat- 
 fefy the cravings of hunger. But more on this topic 
 will be presented in the sequel. What I wish to 
 insist on particularly here, is the fact that in the 
 hour of death, those who have led the most depraved 
 lives freely confess their guilt; freely admit that 
 they might have done better, and that they violated 
 the faculties of a divine and noble nature by plung- 
 •mg into excesses and profligacy. . They have often 
 told me that the memory of a misdirected and dishon- 
 ered life weighed upon them like mountains, crush- 
 ing them down to unutterable anguish. Now, if 
 Providence had never spoken to us by a supernatu- 
 ral revelation ; if the Gospel were but a fable, these 
 confessions of dying offenders to which I have 
 alluded, demonstrate that upon the supposition of 
 no future existence beyond the grave, true religion 
 is more important to our peace, than all things else 
 ■attainable on earth. 
 
 There is one argument against the innate corrup- 
 tion of our nature which seems to me unanswerable 
 — sufficient to convince the most stubborn of skep- 
 tics. The New Testament teaches that every active 
 principle of our nature, was possessed by our Lord 
 Jesus Christ himself. His physical constitution was 
 precisely like ours. He had all our mental and bod- 
 ily propensities, because we read that he was a per- 
 fect man. In him were the love of food, the love of 
 drink, love of rest, love of sleep, love of property, 
 love of knowledge, pleasure, reputation, power, 
 fame, society, friends, relatives, &c. Of course, 
 they cannot in themselves be sinful, for Jesus was 
 absolutely immaciilate. Besides, we are assured 
 that the Son of God was tempted in all respects 
 -just as we are, and yet he was never drawn into the 
 practice of wrong by any of these temptations. 
 Mere inducements or temptations to sin cannot of 
 
188 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 
 
 themselves make one a sinner. -It is by yielding to r 
 temptations that we fall into guilt and wretched- 
 ness. But Jesus Christ never obeyed a sinful sug- 
 gestion. He was invariably loyal to his sense of 
 duty. And the Apostle says, that it • was in this 
 point only, that he differed from us, so far as mere 
 moral excellence i& concerned. In our common 
 nature, then, with all its infirmities, abstractly con- 
 sidered, it is certain that there is no sin. 
 
 But, it is asked, why have we been so made as to 
 be capable of being tempted to the commission of 
 evil — the misuse of our powers ? This is an idle, 
 not to say stupid question. The Son of God, as 
 just stated, was made like us. Was not his nature 
 kindly and gloriously constituted ? Why have all 
 things been created just as they are ? Why are 
 two-thirds of the earth's surface covered with 
 water ? Why is the diameter of this globe so much 
 less than tihat of Jupiter ? Why is a rose different 
 from a lily ? Why is the majestic oak taUer than 
 the peach, apple, or cherry tree ? These inquiries 
 display just as much wisdom as the question, why 
 has the human race been constituted weak and 
 fallible ? 
 
 " God," says Dr. Channing, " has given us strong 
 desires of inferior things, that war against duty, 
 that we might assert the supremacy of conscience 
 over them, and thus impart to this high faculty the 
 dignity and joy of dominion and triumph. He haa 
 surrounded us with rivals to himself that we may 
 love him freely, and by our own unfettered choice 
 erect his throne in our souls. He has endued us 
 with ardent desires of inferior objects that the | 
 desire of spiritual excellence may grow stronger 
 than all. Let not appetite or passion (as the 
 objector wishes) resist God's will, nor come in com- 
 petition with duty ; and where would be the reso- - 
 lijtionand energy, and constancy, and effort, and? 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 189 
 
 purity, the trampling tinder foot of low interests, 
 the generous self-surrender, the heroic devotion, all 
 the sublimities of virtue, which now throw lustre 
 over man's nature, and proclaim his heavenly origin 
 and immortal destination. If conscience and desire 
 were always coincident, and prescribed the same 
 path, man would move upon the same plane of ex- 
 istence with the brute creation, be incapable of 
 self-sacrifice and that renunciation of desire essential 
 to our moral power and greatness." 
 
 If we had nothing but appetites and passions, 
 there would be no. such things as virtue and vice in 
 the world. We should be mere automatons. Our move- 
 ments would be constrained, necessary, and me- 
 chanical, like those of a watch. There would be no 
 room in our nature for moral excellence, truth, 
 wisdom, integrity, candor, faith, benevolence, and 
 other principles which constitute our likeness to 
 God, and fit us for an everlasting progress in a 
 future state. 
 
 Dr. Chalmers, a Calvinistic divine of great emi- 
 nence, asserts that no sentient being can act out 
 his nature truly, and be at the same time miserar 
 ble ; for God could not create a living being of any 
 kind, the sound, healthy, and natural exercise of 
 whose faculties would, by necessity, make it misera- 
 ble. But sinful actions always, and by an inevitable 
 law, lead to wretchedness. They must, therefore, be 
 ►unnatural, against nature, or a perversion of man's 
 nature. Whait a simple, incontrovertible argument! 
 Writers on mental philosophy tell us that man- 
 ; kind could not admire any beauty or excellence, 
 physical or moral, unless they had the germs or 
 elements thereof in their own bosoms. But the 
 worst person living can understand and appreciate 
 noble, virtuous actions. Yes, thank Heaven, in the 
 darkest, most desolate mind, there is a chord — a 
 string which never can be broken, in the lyre of 
 
190 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 
 
 the deathless spirit, no matt«r hew deptaved — that 
 responds to the charms and glories of immortal 
 virtue. This position is undisputed and indisputa- 
 ble. Could a person admire virtue unless he had a 
 virtuous nature ? could one admire music unless he 
 had a musical nature? or a picture, statue, and 
 landscape, unless he had an artistic nature, or what 
 is commonly called taste — a natural power to per- 
 ceive the beautiful ? When we see a man do a base 
 act, prevaricate, falsify, deceive, defraud, oppress, 
 or plunge himself into mean, besotting indulgences, 
 we censure and condemn him. We reprobate his 
 course of conduct. We declare that he is to blam@^ 
 or deserves punishment. Why to blame, unless h© 
 had power at the same time to practice the opposite 
 virtues — to have done the pure, true, good, and 
 beneficent? So, in every instance, when we thoft 
 oughly scrutinize the subject, we shah find that 
 sin is nothing more than the misuse of a good 
 faculty — the perversion of a natural ability to do 
 ' right — ^the perversion of a glorious nature. The 
 opposite dogma, that we are born without power to 
 perform the duties which we owe to God, to our 
 fellow-beings, and ourselves, is a &llaey alike de- 
 rogatory to our Creator, and deleterious to the best 
 interests of mankind. Not all the infidel books in 
 the world; not all the social evils that abounds 
 pauperism, profaneness, intemperance, desecration 
 of the Sabbath, crimes and immoralities of every 
 species, impede the progress of Christianity so muek 
 as the inculcation of this monstrous, unreasonable, 
 unscriptural sentiment. 
 
 I repeat it, men naturally love what is good, and 
 can practice it if they choose. The human will is 
 a sublime and comprehensible power. An illus-i 
 tration of its inscrutable and wondrous agency may^ 
 be drawn from the department of learning. Whqjj 
 in the successive ages of the civilized world, have 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 191 
 
 shone the brightest in the circles of art, literature 
 and science? Not those with respect to whom 
 wealth and station threw around them libraries, 
 consummate teachers, and the amplest means of 
 literary advancement. But, eminent scholars gene- 
 rally started upon the career of improvement amid 
 the greatest disadvantages of want and obscurity. 
 Among them, many of the most conspicuous in- 
 herited nothing but orphanage and destitution. 
 Condemned, in the beginning, to perform the most 
 menial offices to procure a bare subsistence, they 
 begged or borrowed a candle and a boob, over 
 which they spent those hours of the night that were 
 so much needed for repose, after the exhausting 
 labors of the day. They rose on the pinions of an 
 indomitable wiU. This found or created for them 
 the requisite means and opportunities. This made 
 them strong and invincible. This disarmed difficul- 
 ties, and in some cases turned them into helpers and 
 friends. In Scripture language, with this they . 
 levelled mountains, filled up valleys, made the 
 crooked straight, and the rough Mnooth. Thus, 
 eventually they became stars in the intellectual 
 firmament, enlarged the boundaries of truth, carried 
 the lamp of discovery into the recesses of God's 
 works, and brought back acquisitions which will 
 enrich and illumine the world even to the latest 
 generation. 
 
 A hundredth part of the mental energy which 
 they exerted in the pursuit of learning, directed 
 towards the attainment of religious excellence, 
 would have made them equal to the apostles — 
 models of every virtue belonging to the Christian 
 character. It is easier to be a true disciple of 
 Jesus than to become a distinguished artist, painter, 
 eculptor, poet, or philosopher. One half of the 
 llfforts which a boy ten years old makes to learn 
 %s lessons at school wotjld imbue his soul with the 
 
192 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 
 
 graces and genius of genuine piety. A smaU portioa 
 of the industrious exertion put forth by the inhabifr 
 ants of Boston, or New York, in carrying on theit 
 temporal enterprises would elevate them to the 
 glorious standard of Evangelical perfection. Tito 
 greatest reprobate in either of these cities, though 
 now a pitiable, deformed, loathsome outcast, by the 
 mysterious power of will, could rise from degrada- 
 tion to consummate honor, renounce his follies, put 
 on the robes pf worth and wisdom, and shine forth 
 in the loveliness and acconsplishments of angeljc 
 virtue. Yes, the general obstacles to any one's be- 
 coming good are expressed by the phrase he iviU 
 not rather than the words he cannot. Men do not 
 try to honor God with all their might and main, and 
 this is the true reason of their failing to do so. I 
 was once in the company of a man exceedingly ad- 
 dicted to intemperance. Next to this vice, his 
 strongest passion was the love of money. He hap- 
 pened to remark that it was not in his power to 
 reform and become sober, that his unfortunate pro- 
 pensity was too mighty to be controlled by his 
 volition. In reply, I said to him, " If you knew, 
 with absolute certainty, that by total abstinence 
 from all intoxicating drink for the space of one 
 month, or one year, you could gain a million of 
 dollars, would it not be in your power to abstain 
 from the favorite indulgence that length of time?" 
 He answered promptly and frankly in the affirma- 
 tive. This, of course, settled at once the mooted' 
 question of his moral ability to be temperate. -^ 
 
 It is certain that Jesus Christ did not recognize, 
 the doctrine that human nature is totally corruptij 
 and absolutely incapable of obeying the divine law^^ 
 until it has experienced a supernatural chang^ 
 effected by the resistless influences of the Holy 
 Spirit. Look at and scan the discourses which our; 
 Saviour addressed to as vile and hardened sinneraj , 
 aa ever lived. What is the character of these dis-i 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF SIN. 193 
 
 courses ? They consist of the most solemn and 
 affectionate appeals to the good principles contained 
 in the bosoms of the sinful — theirlove of rectitude 
 — their love of truth — their spontaneous apprecia- 
 tion of the beautiful and grand in nature and morals — 
 their attachment to relatives and friends — their 
 generous and disinterested sentiments — and, above 
 all, to their inborn love of the infinite One. The 
 teachings of Jesus Christ would have been abso- 
 lutely unintelligible to his hearers had they been 
 devoid of the elementary principles just named. 
 
 ;- When the sternest, most rigid Calvinistic minister 
 preaches to sinners, what is the tenor of his remarks 
 to them ? Why, he tells them that they are guilty, 
 hell-deserving offenders in the sight of God, because 
 they cast off prayer to him, and have no reverence 
 for his character — because they utter slander and 
 falsehood, or are fraudulent in their business trans- 
 actions, or steep themselves in the indulgences of 
 the inebriating bowl, &c. Now, these are tremen- 
 dous charges, and well-sustained by reason and 
 Scripture. But, allow me simply to a^, would these 
 sinners be deserving of such reprdEfcchful epithets 
 — ^would they be to blame at all for leading prayer- 
 less, profane, unthankful, and profligate lives, when 
 they had no power to do better — when they had no 
 ability to abstain from such practices ? Is it not 
 self-evident that a sinner ought not to be punished 
 Sfor any particular offence, unless at the time of the 
 said commission, he had power to restrain himself 
 and exercise the opposite virtue ? You pay the 
 highest comphment to the nature of a man by 
 calling him a sinner. This, if true, implies that he 
 is, indeed, but a little lower than the angels — has 
 divine faculties which enable him to beat back the 
 surging tide of external allurements — keep the com- 
 mandments inviolate, suWdue and deny his sinful 
 desires, and do the will of Heaven. 
 17 
 
194 TflOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 
 
 If the most depraved person were to open his 
 intellect to receive the beauties and sublimities of 
 religious trufti, the mists of error and ignorance 
 would no longer cloud his spiritual vision ; his con- 
 science would instantly become animated and 
 effective ; he would bid farewell to corruption and 
 folly; abstain from sinful indulgences; and cherish 
 the immaculate principles of Christian worth. Yes, 
 the most poor, prostrate, and imbecile sinner has 
 power to break the fetters of degrading habits, and 
 rise to the enjoyment of freedom, penitence, sanctity, 
 love, and the life immortal. For without these pre- 
 rogatives sinners would be as irresponsible, as in- 
 capable of being moved by the exhortations of the 
 pulpit as the tombstones in a cemetery. 
 
 I heard a clergyman preach a sermon not long 
 since, in which he,,labored to show that our natural 
 propensities must be corrupt, because no one could 
 adopt them as the guide and standard of his actions 
 in life without inevitable guilt and destruction.' 
 This argument is most shallow and defective. A 
 (;hild can see" through such sophistry. A child 
 knows that it is improper — wrong — to make his i 
 propensities the supreme and only law of his conduct. 
 Desire or propensity is, indeed, a correct principle 
 of human action, but being in itself blind and in- 
 discriminating, it cannot perform the office of a 
 moral law. For example, the love of property is, 
 in itself, an innocent impulse, but cannot suggest! 
 the sentiments of justice, honor, doing as we would«, 
 be done by, &c. But, unless controlled by these 
 higher principles of our nature, the desire of gain,, 
 though abstractly good, may contaminate and de- 
 stroy us. This remark is applicable to all our con^j 
 stitutioual impulses. The cravings of hunger an^ 
 thirst unrestrained by reason and conscience lead to' 
 baneful excesses. In brutes, desire is a law^j 
 standard and guide of action, and never inclines 
 
"Thoughts on the subject of sin. 195 
 
 them to wliat is improper or hurtful to them. They 
 always stop at the right place, and are not capable 
 of pernicious indulgences. But, in man, desire does 
 not cease of itself, when further gratification tends 
 to injure health and destroy happiness. " In brutes, 
 the animal appetites impel to a certain round of 
 simple gratifications, beyond which they never pass. 
 But man, by the aid of imagination and reflection, 
 is iable to expand his sensual desires indefinitely. 
 He is able to form unnatural combinations of animal 
 pleasures by artificial stimulants. Whilst the ani- 
 mal finds its nourishment in a few plants or a single 
 blade, man's table groans under the spoils of all 
 regions ; and the consequence is that not in a few 
 cases the whole strength of the soul runs into appe- 
 tite, just as some rich soil shoots up into poisonous 
 weeds, and man the rational creature of God, de- 
 generates into the most thorough sensualist. The 
 powers which ally us to the Creator, when pressed 
 into the service of merely sensual desire, enlarge it 
 into unnatural excess, and irritate appetite into a 
 morbid fury. Then all the nobler attainments and 
 products of the soul die. The lower principles of 
 our nature not only act blindly, but, if neglected, 
 grow indefinitely, and overshadow, blight, and de- 
 stroy virtue, honor, religion, hope, faith, and cha- 
 rity." — (Channing.) 
 
 Unrestrained by reason, a propensity though in 
 
 : itself good, will subvert the proportion, order, and 
 
 fharmony of our spiritual constitution, and' fill the 
 
 "soul with disease, pain, and deformity. Everybody 
 
 virtually admits this. Go to the lowest, most 
 
 obtuse sinner, and ask him if he thinks it right to 
 
 follow all our natural propensities without restraint? 
 
 He would exclaim at once, " Do you mean to insult 
 
 Die? Do you suppose that I am a brute — -that I 
 
 have no ideal of the great, sublime, and excellent ? 
 
 And such a fact shows, that in the most fallen man 
 
196 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF Sis'. 
 
 there is a germ or element of divinity wliich was 
 designed to control his lower nature — that his soul 
 was not created simply to revel for a few hours in 
 the joys of time and sense — like a bird, to find its 
 sole gratification in picking up a few grains of dust 
 on these dark shores of time, and then to become 
 nothing ; but that it has been called into existence 
 to soar upwards when the body goes back to its 
 original elements ; to span unlimited space and 
 measure endless ages ; to tread the broad and bound- 
 less pathways of a destiny that has no end. Cic-' 
 ero in a treatise on morals affirms, that the doctrine 
 which makes it right to follow our feelings and de- 
 sires, without regard to justice, would destroy not only 
 civilization, literature and the temples of the gods, 
 but even the human race itself Then follow these 
 memorable words : "Thieves and robbers must have 
 a moral code to regulate their several relations and 
 interests, or no society could subsist among them." 
 Surely Christian teachers should not let their prin- 
 ciples down below the standard of heathen morality. 
 The natural slate of man is not like that of the 
 brute, exclusive subjection to animal appetite and 
 passion ; following blindly a mere impulse — a feel- 
 ing without any regard to morality. But he is so 
 constituted that his propensities, in themselves be- 
 neficent, unguided by reason and conscience, will 
 inevitably sink, prostrate, and almost destroy his 
 soul. And such a life is not nature, but a perver- 
 sion and abuse of it. 
 
 Let us then bear in mind that sin is not an innate, 
 intrinsic corruption of man. We cannot entertain 
 too exalted views of the dignity, and capacity, and 
 destination of the soul. If all really understood 
 and appreciated their mental superiority^, they would 
 soar above all gross, debasing, sinful indulgences. 
 It is a great mistake to suppose that a low estimate 
 of the worth of human nature is favorable to virtue 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF SIN. 197 
 
 of any kind. Directly the reverse is the case. 
 Make one believe that he is totally depraved, inca- 
 pable of real goodness — not a whit better than a 
 fiend or a demon, — fill his mind with a deep and 
 undoubting conviction of the truth of this doctrine, 
 and you will inflict upon him a great, terrific, and 
 irreparable injury. Tell little children all the time — 
 " that they are bad — very bad and naughty," — and 
 you will spoil them. Millions have been ruined in 
 this way. Incentives requisite to good in the young 
 are by such inculcations prevented or | -destroyed. 
 When a person thinks meanly of his endowments — 
 looking upon himself as equally abject, vile and des- 
 picable with the worm under foot, he must of course 
 be destitute of those inspiring hopes and elevated 
 sentiments, without which no one can successfully 
 resist the allurements of time and sense. Noble 
 conduct can only spring from noble views of one's 
 talents and destiny. 
 
 In the discourses of our Saviour, sinners are con- 
 tinually reminded of the grandeur of their origin 
 and spiritual nature. Jesus made his hearers feel 
 that they had been created for something better 
 than unsatisfying possessions of an outward world. 
 Whilst drinking in his beautiful words they realized 
 that wealth, rank arid fashion were not the brightest 
 things in man's horizon ; the splendors of earth faded 
 away from their sight, and the realities of a spiritual 
 existence filled and absorbed their thoughts. And 
 whilst he spread before them the glories and mag- 
 nificence of that immortal state which awaits us all, 
 and contrasted it with the insignificance of earth — 
 the idea of eternity in all its amplitude and so- 
 lemnities, seized upon their imaginations — and they 
 looked out upon new, vast, unbounded prospects ; 
 scenes and wonders, stretching along in interminable 
 prospective beyond the clouds, darkness, shadows 
 and Yiciseitudes of this mortal life. 
 7* 
 
198 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 
 
 Why do so many labor for this world only ? Why 
 are all their hopes and fears bounded by the grave ? 
 Why is it that time, the most effective and eloquent 
 of all preachers, utters his impressive warnings and 
 exhortations to them in vain ? Why do they sink into 
 ennui and despair, when they behold the objects of 
 their heart's highest love mouldering into the dust ? 
 Because they underrate, and have no just percep- 
 tion of their own glorious nature. Because they do 
 not realize that the image of God is stamped on 
 their souls ; that they are identified with his own 
 eternity ; that they have not been made merely for 
 the present state ; and that the hours are fast bear- 
 ing them to the sublimities of a future and boundless 
 existence. If all sinners could to-day be brought to 
 realize that God loves them : that they have been 
 created to live, think, feel, act, and improve forever ; 
 that- their relations to earth are a shadow and a 
 dream, but their relations to eternity are unspeak- 
 ably momentous, enduring, and indissoluble, they 
 would instantly bid adieu to sin with all its soul- 
 destroying influences — shrink with horror from 
 whatever tends to degrade natures that bear the glo- 
 rious likeness of the Divinity,, and soar on the wings 
 of faith, hope, joy and sanctity, towards those illim- 
 itable heavens, for which they believe themselves to 
 have been created. Yes, if the worst man could 
 but ciatch a faint glimmering of his superlative 
 grandeur by nature and destination beyond the 
 grave, he would immediately rise to the enjoyment 
 of that spiritual life which infinite, omnipotent, un- 
 changing love has provided for our present and 
 everlasting inheritance. Whilst we cannot have too 
 humbling views of our own unworthiness in the, 
 sight of God, we are in no danger of forming too 
 high an estimate of our original endowments, nor of 
 the excellence of human nature in general, nor of the 
 character of our fellow beings at large. Fenekm 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 199 
 
 says, '•' there is no one who thinks well enough of his 
 neighbors, but all entertain too exalted an opinion 
 of themselves." Noble sentiment ! Though we may 
 discern many defects, and weaknesses in those 
 around us, yet we should always go upon the ground 
 that they are ia the main actuated by honest inten- 
 tions, unless there is absolute, conclusive proof to 
 the contrary — or in other words, that their errors 
 and short-comings proceed from ignorance, thought- 
 lessness, want of education, inadvertence, or some 
 sudden outburst of passion, which, when it passes 
 off, they are sincerely sorry for. Absolute proof 
 that a person means wrong, when he actually 
 wrong us, is almost impossible. We never had such 
 proof in a half dozen cases during our entire 
 lives. 
 
 What a happiness to be able to look upon those 
 with whom we daily associate as essentially good — 
 good in reality — in the recesses of their hearts — 
 in their private, most retired, as well as public de- 
 portment ! It is terrible when greeted by our 
 acquaintances in the various walks of life, to suspect 
 that the cordial grasp and the smiling face are dic- 
 tated, not by pure, generous sympathies, but by a 
 cold, narrow, selfish, mercenary, designing heart. If 
 we imagine that those whom we daily meet in the 
 intercourse of Kfe are fundamentally bad people, in- 
 sincere, or worthless, this persuasion may prevent 
 us from treating them with Christian courtesy, or 
 even with the common civilities which are due from 
 man to man in every department of secular life. 
 In spite of ourselves, without intending it, we shall 
 foften be unjust to a neighbor — cold, distant, forbid- 
 ding and oppressive in our manners. Such a state 
 of mind also will interfere with our personal improve- 
 ment and peace. Generous, enlarged, charitable 
 sentiments, with respect to our fellow beings, are 
 among the most important means of our own steady 
 
200 THOUGfHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF SIN. 
 
 advancement in knowledge and virtue. But such 
 feelings we cannot possess, so long as we harbor 
 disdain and contempt for our fellow beings — so 
 long as we have a disposition to deny and disparage 
 their apparent excellences, to put the worst con- 
 struction upon their doubtful actions, and consider 
 them as reduced to the lowest degree in the scale of 
 worth and respectability. We should cultivate even 
 towards those whe are confessedly sinners, the same 
 sentiments of love which led Jesus Christ to under- 
 take the redemption of a lost world. 
 
 If we, indeed, cherished Christian benevolence, no 
 feelings of grudge or resentment would lurk in our 
 bosoms, nor hang a cloud upon our faces, nor give 
 an aspect of coldness to our words or actions. We 
 should study to imitate his sublime example, " who 
 left the glory which he had with the Father before 
 the world was," and having assumed human nature, 
 taught us the lessons of heavenly wisdom ; became 
 impoverished that we might be enriched ; suffered 
 that we might be happy ; wept that we might have 
 joy forever; submitted to a painful, ignominious 
 death upon the Cross to unbar for our admission the 
 gates of everlasting life and glory. Jesus loves all 
 sinners, we read, even the vilest and most loathsome. 
 Can we not then, most cheerfuUy do the same, and 
 be willing to make any sacrifices in our power to 
 promote their welfare ? Nay, if we really had the 
 spirit of our Master, we should rejoice, if it were 
 necessary, to die for their salvation. 
 
 I repeat it, let us bear in mind that sin is some- 
 thing which we can define, weigh, measure and per- 
 fectly understand. We carry in our own bosoms 
 that line, square and compass, by which we can 
 always ascertain the moral character of our motives, 
 principles, and conduct. Xt any instant we can look 
 upon the purposes that govern us, with an intuitive 
 perception gf the right and the wrong which they 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF SIN. 201 
 
 contain. Tes, we are able to ascertain the good and 
 the evil in our hearts and lives, to become acquainted 
 with our particular sins and defects, and see what 
 proportion thej' bear to our whole character. We 
 have the power not only to see and understand our 
 transgressions, but also to escape from their domin- 
 ion. Thank God we have power to meliorate our 
 characters, to resist temptation, subdue sin, and 
 build up in our souls the kingdom of holiness. If 
 we wait to have God transform and renew us by a 
 sudden and resistless agency of the Divine Spirit, 
 we shall inevitably be disappointed. If we do not 
 reform and renew ourselves, we shall never enter 
 the kingdom of heaven. All moral good, indeed, 
 comes from God, but it comes through our natural 
 powers, and through his blessing on the faithful use 
 of them. 
 
 A distinguished man in his autobiography tells us 
 that he adopted the following plan to improve his 
 character. He divided the leaves of a blank book 
 into eight compartments, by drawing lines from the 
 top to the bottom of each page. In th,e first column 
 he wrote the names of the principal virtues. At 
 the head of the others he inscribed the days of the 
 week. Beginning with Sunday, he set down in the 
 appropriate place black marks to denote the faults 
 which he had committed during the day. He did 
 the same for all the remaining days of the week. 
 In this way, he assures us, numerous defects of life 
 and character were brought to his knowledge of 
 whose existence he had not previously entertained 
 even the remotest suspicion. At the end of the 
 first Saturday night, the page of the week was very 
 jblack. Ho felt the beauty and force of those lines 
 in the 19 th Psalm : "Who knowethhis own offenc- 
 es ? 0, cleanse thou me from secret faults ?" He 
 began to understand himself,and gradually as months 
 rolled away, to gaze upon fairer and fairer records 
 of his daily doings. 
 
202 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 
 
 By constant supervision, by resolving, praying, 
 and striving, by unremitted and persevering en- 
 deavors, he was enabled to rise to comparative 
 peace — to the worth, wisdom, and varied beauties 
 of the Christian character. By following the in- 
 junction of our Lord, " Ask, and it shall _ be given 
 you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it shall be 
 opened unto you " — we might all do the same things 
 for ourselves, and adorn our minds with those 
 attainments of intellectual and moral excellence 
 which Avill cross the grave and grow more beauteoais 
 forever. Religion does not consist in going to 
 church, though this practice is auseiul one ; it does 
 not consist in an easy, cold, mechanical round of 
 ceremonies on the Sabbath; but in a constant, 
 patient, and prayerful endeavor to do our whole 
 duty during each hour and day of our waking ex- 
 istence. The putting forth of our utmost energies 
 and resolution is essential to the leading of a holy 
 life. It is the noblest enterprise in which man can 
 engage, and cannot be successfully prosecuted with-v 
 out the most undaunted, unshaken, unwearied pur^? 
 poses and efforts. If men would work for their 
 moral advancement with the same zeal and perse- 
 verance which they evince in carrying forward thea* 
 respective schemes of temporal ease, profit, pleasui^ 
 or aggrandizement, they would all very soon be 
 emancipated from the bondage and illusions of sin, 
 and become the earnest, consistent, and rejoicii^ 
 disciples of the great Master. 
 
 One of the most fatal and wide-spread errors on 
 the subject of human depravity, is the popular, 
 stereotyped opinion that sin is an infinite, and conse- 
 quently insurmountable evil, so far as our o'^vu 
 exertions are concerned. The Scriptures nowhere^ 
 teach this doctrine. It is repugnant to the dictates 
 of common sense. Man is in every respect a finit,^ 
 being. It is the necessary result of the relatiod 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF SIN. 203 
 
 ■which he sustains to the Creator that all his powers 
 and their effects are circnmscribed. The Author of 
 the human mind could not have made it without 
 limits, without fixed allotted boundaries, unless he 
 had disrobed himself of illimitable perfections, and 
 conferred them upon the en ature ; unless he had 
 made man the source and centre of infinite power, 
 wisdom, and goodness, and been willing to assign 
 to himself an inferior and subordinate station in the 
 universe. There must, then, be boundaries to the 
 moral capacity of man, though we may not be able 
 to describe them in clear and definite terms. Even 
 the advocates of infinite evil admit that the merit of 
 any man, however good he may become, must be 
 limited. How, then, can his demerit be unbounded? 
 Seeing things are thus, it is absolutely certain that 
 sin is not an infinite evil. That Being only who 
 possesses boundless attributes has sufficient power 
 to contract an infinite amount of unworthiness. 
 That feeble man should do it does not lie within the 
 range of possibility. If sin be infinite, it can never 
 be destroyed. Upon this theory no atonement, how- 
 ever precious and magnificent, could be of any 
 avail. Whatever is boundless is incapable of in- 
 crease, diminution, or end. The resources of an 
 Almighty Father can never deliver us from sin, if it 
 deserve an eternal punishment. We cannot, in this 
 case, even suffer the penalty due to a single trans- 
 gression, for eternity has no end. Upon this plat- 
 form not a solitary member of the human family 
 will ever receive the punishment which his iniquities 
 call for; and the doctrine taught in the Bible, that 
 God will judge every one according to his deeds, is 
 false and impossible. 
 
 , We believe in the serious and saddening fact of 
 human depravity. The world taken in the mass, is 
 in many respects a very bad world, and also in many 
 respects it is a very good world. When we look 
 
204 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF SIN. 
 
 abroad upon society, we are pained with the sight 
 of the dreadful miseries inflicted by hard-hearted, 
 invincible, obdurate selfishness, by fraud, falsehood, 
 strife, war, intemperance, libertinism, gambling, crime 
 &c. But a great part of these aberrations is to 'be 
 ascribed to ignorance and want of proper systems 
 of education rather than to the essential depravation 
 of human nature. The words sin and guilt, though 
 often confounded, are of very different import. 
 They are, for the most part, used indiscriminately 
 for each other, and indeed are very intimately 
 allied. 
 
 An important distinction however obtains between 
 them ; for a man may commit bad actions without 
 bad intentions: — from ignorance, inadvertence, fash- 
 ion, prejudice, or authority — nay from motives that 
 are in themselves upright and honorable. Among 
 the Pagans, the fond mother sends her most beauti- 
 ful and beloved child to be butchered by a priest, 
 in order to appease the wrath of an imaginary God. 
 Who can doubt the sincerity of the offering ? How 
 many Christian mothers give as strong proof of 
 their devotedness to the principles which they 
 profess. All over the world men are opposing the 
 requirements of the divine law, with an entire hoq-r 
 esty of purpose. On the contrary the best persons 
 do much which they know to be wrong. Dr. Chan- 
 ning, a man of "extraordinary conscientiousness and 
 purity, tells us, " that his course was often devious; 
 that he was not always true to God and his own 
 mind ; that he had cause for humble acknowledg- 
 ment, and that a deep sense of unworthiness formed '■ 
 a part of his habitual tone of feeling." 
 
 Now contrast with this distinguished divine, one 
 of his contemporaries, occupying if you please, the j 
 lowest degree in the scale of morality. His whole 
 life was, perhaps, at war with goodness. Grant that 
 he had done the dreadful deeds of an incendiary, 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 205 
 
 pirate and murderer ; yet it is quite possible that in 
 the sight of God his guilt is not more heinous, or 
 aggravated than that of the eminent man just namdd. 
 For it is a universally acknowledged principle in 
 ethical science, that the degree of criminality jljstly 
 imputed to any transgressor, is proportionate to the 
 light and advantages which he has enjoyed and 
 abused. Dr. Channing had a noble nature to begin 
 with. His parents were superior in intellectual and 
 moral endowments, and guarded him in early life 
 from the pollution of evil ; watched and disciplined 
 his opening faculties with the utmost assiduity ; un- 
 folded to his wondering and delighted spirit by 
 every means in their power, the various beauties of 
 truth, nature, art, literature and science ; cultivated 
 his spiritual capacities, and trained them to perceive 
 and admire the radiance of moral loveliness arid im- 
 mortal progress. Indeed, his physical organization 
 of brain, and all the circumstances of his life were 
 of the most propitious character. 
 
 But the other was born with inferior phrenologi- 
 cal developments. His brain was small, stinted, de- 
 'fectiye and unbalanced. He became an orphan, 
 being bereft of both father and mother, when but a 
 few days old. He was poor. There was no rela- 
 tive to look after him. All the associations of his 
 early life were of the most unfortunate description. 
 From the beginning he was familiarized to the most 
 terrible, odious forms of vice ; not only so, but in 
 'Edition, accustomed and taught to look upon them 
 as manly, correct and honorable. He grew up en- 
 tirely destitute of the advantages of a rudimental 
 education — understood neither reading, writing nor 
 
 i; arithmetic — was bred to no useful employment. 
 With a scorned, blighted name — an utter outcast 
 from respectable society ; his good affections unde- 
 
 *%eloped; his fortunes utterly dark and desperate, 
 he became a fallen, ruined one from absolute neces- 
 18 
 
206 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OF SIN. 
 
 Bity. And though his character was so depraved ; 
 though he did dreadful deeds, waged war against 
 God and man, and at last perished on the gallows, 
 and was laid rejected and dishonored by his fellow- 
 beings in the grave with felons, it is not impossible 
 that, in the sight of heaven, he was no more guilty 
 when he died than the eminent saint whose name 
 has just been mentioned, at the moment of his de- 
 parture for the spirit land. 
 
 What motives do such considerations suggest 
 to cultivate tender and humane sentiments with re- 
 spect to the most fallen and dreadful victims of sin 
 and degradation. Human nature in the bosom of 
 an infant, is entirely exempt from the stain of sin. 
 There belongs to it the capability both of good "and 
 evil. All mankind, says Paul, are created subject to 
 pain, disease, frailty, error, sin and suffering, but he 
 does not teach the depravity of their essential, inher- 
 ent nature. When I remember how imperfect are 
 our systems of education, what inadequate means, if 
 any at all, are employed to enable children to realize 
 the being, presence and love of the great Father, 
 what exposures to evil they generally encounter at 
 every step of their progress as they pursue the 
 journey of life, T feel an intense conviction that 
 they are much more deserving of pity than blame. 
 It is easy to denounce the sinful, to call them out- 
 casts, wretches, reprobates, &c. In early life one is 
 apt to be indignaflt and angry at the faults and sms 
 of those arduttd him. But when he has lived lon^mf 
 and by a wider experience become more thoroughly 
 acquainted with the World, with human nature, and 
 with his own shoi'ircomings and deficiencies — when 
 he has imbibed inore deeply the spirit and genius ofi 
 Christianity, no resentments ever ruffle his mee¥ 
 and subdued temper; no scorn, hatred, anger oil; 
 indignation is ever expressed either "by his counte4 
 nance, words or actionfe,on account of the offences 
 
THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN. 207 
 
 of his neighbors. And while the truly good man, 
 as he advances in years, grows more tolerant, for- 
 bearing, and forgiving, at the same time he is pene- 
 trated with a deeper, and deeper sense of the evil 
 of sin. He mourns over it most of all in himself, as 
 the only real calamity in the world ; the only Upas 
 tree flourishing in the garden of life ; the only 
 enemy that can blast our hopes and peace ; the only 
 clotid that can cast sombre, portentous shadows 
 upon the otherwise charming landscape of human 
 Ufe. 
 
 We read in the gospel that God pities the sinner ; 
 that Christ has died for him ; that the Holy Spirit 
 strives with him ; that the inhabitants of heaven 
 yearn over him, and are ready to welcome him back 
 to their blest abodes. Shall we then, when the poor 
 miserable victim of vice, the shattered remnant of a 
 once noble and respected man, passes before us, 
 treat him with scorn, indifference, railing and de- 
 nunciation ? He may be the meanest of knaves, a 
 loathsome profligate, a reveling, disgusting, bloated 
 sot, if we have the spirit of Christ we shall weep 
 over him, while we think of his crushed hopes, his 
 blighted powers, his wasted opportiinities, his base- 
 ness, treachery and dishonor. Especially in such 
 cases wUl our heart be softened into pity, when we 
 reflect that if we had been born with the same 
 nature, and placed in the same circumstances, we 
 should have been precisely what they are. We 
 omht to feel, and I say it in the most unqualified 
 la^uage, that however good we may be, it' is 
 nothing but the grace of G-od that makes us to dif- 
 fer from the worst persons Hving. 
 
 Good men, as they are called, are often puffed up 
 with the feeling that they are better before God 
 than their wicked neighbors. They occupy a high 
 position in society, and have preponderant weight 
 and influence among their fellow men. No one can 
 
208 THOUGHTS ON THE SUBJECT OP SIN, 
 
 say anything to their dishonor. Their robes are 
 unstained. Therefore, perhaps, in consequence, 
 they look down with scorn upon a poor, degraded 
 neighbor; "pass him by with a lofty step, and draw 
 up the folds of their garment around them, that it 
 may not be soiled by his touch." Nothing can be 
 more offensive to God, than this spiritual pride that 
 says, " Stand by, I am holier than thou." An en- 
 lightened Christian will always feel, that in the 
 sight of God, the universe does not contain a sin- 
 ner that needs more mercy and grace than himself. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE TEACHINGS OF SCBIPIURE CONCEBinNG FUNISHUENT. 
 
 The doctrine that God will recompense men for 
 all the moral evil which they commit in the present 
 life, some time or other, and in some way or other, 
 is universally admitted. A being endued with the 
 power of perceiving and choosing what is right, is 
 of course accountable for his actions. A belief in 
 punishment, therefore, must be deeply founded in 
 human nature. It is as essential to man as the 
 attributes of thought, speech and reason. Expe- 
 rience and' observation make it certain, that the 
 different periods of human life — childhood, youth, 
 mature years and old age — sustain to each other 
 the relation of cause and effect. Or to vary my 
 language, each successive act in this eventful drama 
 of existence is so connected, that every after period 
 of life, is colored and affected by every earlier 
 period. Success in manhood is materially deter- 
 mined by one's ajitecedent conduct. Domestic hap- 
 piness depends upon parental and conjugal wisdom, 
 care and faithfulness. Character in its entire and 
 
 • most intimate nature, carries with it the principles 
 of retribution, and works out weal or woe for its 
 possessor. By character I mean the peculiar quali- 
 ties which distinguish one person from another, 
 whether said qualities have been acquired by habit, 
 or impressed by nature. Indeed throughout eter- 
 nity, the degree of happiness which we shall enjoy 
 
 ,, will depend upon our respective characters. 
 ' From time immemorial, in all climes as well as 
 ages, it has been a proverbial saying that good 
 people are happy; but that bad people however 
 18* 
 
210 SCEIPTUEE CONCERNING PUNISHMENT. 
 
 prosperous in external condition and circumstances, 
 are by the eternal laws of their mental constitution 
 -wretched. The principle of gravitation, or the air 
 we breathe; does not press upon us more constantly 
 and inevitably, than that moral government of God, 
 which "renders to every man according to his 
 deeds." The law of retribution, though we may 
 not be aware of the fact, like an invisible spirit, fol- 
 lows us through all .the vicissitudes, ways, walks, 
 fates and fortunes of our earthly career, with a step 
 that never tires nor falters ; with an eye that is 
 never closed — " neither slumbers nor sleeps." " If 
 we ascend into heaven it is there. If we make our 
 bed in the recesses of the earth, behold it is there. 
 Should we take the wings of the morning, and dwell 
 in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there its hand 
 would be laid upon us. If we say surely the dark- 
 ness shall conceal us, even the night shall be light 
 about us. There is no darkness nor solitude where 
 the workers of iniquity can hide themselves." 
 There is no such thing as escaping the punish; 
 ment of sin in the present life. The soul by repent- 
 ance and faith, may find pardon and cleansing, and 
 final salvation, but the consequences oiF its misdoings 
 will pursue it even to the grave. 
 
 I heard these truths presented in a sermon not 
 long since, nearly in the following terms : The State 
 builds a prison for its criminals. It piles up the 
 massive granite, and constructs its dismal cells, with 
 narrow iron-grated windows. It hangs their iro% 
 doors with ponderous locks and hinges. And whei^l 
 the dreary abode is completed, it apprehends the 
 transgressors of its laws,, and shuts them up there. 
 This is the best thing which the State can do. 
 
 But suppose now that the State had the. power to > 
 cause the criminal's own house where he dwells with 
 wife and children, to be transformed into a prison^? 
 and to become more and more a prison in proporsj 
 
SCBIPTUEE CONCERNING PUNISHMENT. 211 
 
 tion to his accumulating guilt. Suppose the win- 
 dows gradually to contract, and the iron gratings to 
 form over them, and the cheerful rooms to become 
 cold, damp, and dark cells, and the criminal to have 
 no power to escape therefrom after this dismal met-, 
 amorphosis ! How much more perfect would be 
 the government, and how much more awful the 
 penalty ! 
 
 "Now this is just what Providence does in regard 
 to sinners. The body is the soul's dwelling place. 
 And when the soul, by abusing and perverting the 
 bodily or mental faculties, has incurred the penalty, 
 it is self-inflicted. The beautiful dwelling, framed 
 by the Infinite Architect, gradually changes into a 
 filthy and miserable prison for the soul. It cannot 
 escape from it. It must stay there, loathsome and 
 dark as the dungeon is. 
 
 How many such prison-houses of human souls 
 does one meet in the daily walks of life — beautiful 
 structures — modeled with infinite skill to be pleasant 
 and comfortable abodes of the indwelling spirits, 
 but now how changed into dreary prisons I And 
 how many among the young of a thronged city, are 
 gradually changing the habitations of their souis 
 into just such cheerless prisons ! The glutton, the 
 drunkard, the debauchee, if there were no retribu- 
 tion beyond the grave, are bringing upon themselves 
 daily, an awful retribution here. The State never 
 built a dungeon so dismal as that into which the 
 man may be introduced by depraved passions. 
 
 Young man look at one of these transformed 
 human bodies — one on which unrestrained vice 
 has done its appropriate work, and say for what 
 earthly consideration would you have your soul 
 shut up in such a prison-house ? Would you not 
 prefer to go with a pure and healthy body to the 
 cell of a granite prison, rather than be compelled to 
 move about under the free light anfl air of heaven 
 
212 SCRIPTURE CONCERNING PUNISHMENT. 
 
 in such a prison-house as is the body of the inebriat^, 
 or libertine? Behave it, the penalties which follow 
 the commission of sin on earth are fearful and inev- 
 itable. No fugitive escapes the police of Divius 
 Providence here. In a foreign land, in the throngs 
 of a crowded city, and in the deepest solitude the 
 moral government of the gredt Father searches out, 
 seiaes, and punishes all offenders. None of its laws 
 are ever violated with impunity either here or here- 
 after. Even atheistical writers admit that, as a gen- 
 eral fact, there is an elevation or depression among 
 men in harmony with their intrinsic character and 
 habitual conduct. But with respect to the nature, 
 time, place, degree, and duration of punishment, 
 almost innumerable, widely different and contradic- 
 tory theories prevail. This is not a matter of sur- 
 prise. For the wisest and best of men are not en- 
 tirely unanimous in opinion with respect to any of 
 the great and principal topics of law, education, re 
 ligion or morals. 
 
 Is the doctrine of endless punishment taught in 
 the Old Testament? Bishop Warburton, in his 
 Divine Legation of Moses, affirms, " that the only 
 sanctions spoken of, or alluded to in the Hebrew 
 Scriptures, are temporal rewards and punishments 
 merely. They make not the slightest reference to 
 any future, or jiost mortem retribution for the sins 
 committed this side the grave. Endless punishment 
 is not taught in the Old Testament." This position 
 is undoubtedly true. The idea is no where incul- 
 cated in the Pentateuch. 
 
 " Begin with the first sinner, and follow the long 
 procession of transgressors downward, and you will ■ 
 iiot find a single intimation that any of them de- 
 served, or were exposed to endless punishment.^' 
 When our first parents sinned, we are assured that 
 they suffered the punishment due to their dis^ 
 obedience on the very day of their wrong doing. 
 
SCRIPTURE CONCERNING PUNISHMENT. 213 
 
 The ptmishment of Cain, the first murderer, was 
 expressly confined to the present state of his being. 
 When the antediluvians were swept from the earth 
 in consequence of incorrigible wickedness, there is 
 not the slightest hint that the billows of everlasting 
 suffering would roll over them. We read in Ezekiel 
 16th, that the captivity of Sodom itself shall cease, 
 and she even shall be restored. In the 28th chapter 
 of Deuteronomy, Moses professes to enumerate all 
 the penalties which God himself had threatened the 
 Israelites in case of stubborn disobedience and the 
 most protracted unbelief and impenitence. But, 
 we examine this eloquent discourse in vain to find 
 any hint of a penalty extending beyond the present 
 life. This is tme as to every threat mentioned in 
 the Old Testament." 
 
 The position above stated is acknowledged by the 
 most learned Trinitarian Commentators. Milman 
 says, " Moses maintains a profound silence on that 
 fundamental article, if not of political, at least of re- 
 ligious legislation — rewards and punishments in 
 another life. He substituted temporal blessings. 
 " In the Jewish republic," says one of the greatest 
 Biblical critics of the English Church, ",both the 
 rewards and pum'shments promised by Heaven were 
 temporal only. In no one place of the Mosaic 
 Institutes is there the least mention, or any intel- 
 ligible hint, of the rewards and punishments of a 
 future state." Arnauld, one of the luminaries of the 
 Roman Catholic Church, declares : " It is the height 
 of ignorance to doubt this tmth — that the promises 
 of the Old Testament were temporal and earthly, 
 and that the Jews worshipped God only for earthly 
 blessings." Dr. Paley afBrms, " that the Mosaic 
 dispensation dealt in temporal rewards and punish- 
 ments only." To these I could append a long list 
 of the ablest orthodox, Trinitarian divines of every 
 denomination in Christendom, and all believers in 
 
214 SCEIPTUEE CONCERNING PUNISHMENT. 
 
 endless punishment who have expressed the samq 
 decision. Not long since, in conversation with an 
 American Bishop of the Catholic Church, he said,, 
 " that it is susceptible of absolute demonstration 
 that punishment aft6r death for the sins committed 
 here is not once threatened in the whole compass of 
 the Old Testament." 
 
 When I mentioned these facts to a Presbyterian 
 gentleman, a few days ago, he remarked thus : " In 
 the Old Testament, which I daily use, are to be 
 fpund many passages like the following : ' The 
 wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations 
 that forget God. Her house is the way to hell, 
 going down to the chambers of dea*h, cfcc' " I 
 replied : " All such texts are gross mistranslations. 
 The corresponding word in the original is Sheol, 
 and is, indeed, rendered hell in your Bible thirty- 
 two times. But every Hebrew scholar in the world 
 concedes that this term^S'Aeo? was never used by the 
 Old Testament writers to signify a place of punish- 
 ment for sinners after death. In Hebrew literature, 
 the word, understood literally, always means pit, 
 grave, or the world of the dead. In a figurative sense, 
 it ofteu signifies temporal ruin, calamity, or desola-. 
 tion. It is never employed in any other acceptation 
 throughout the Old Testament. Moreover, the' 
 original word translated everlasting, eternal, or. 
 forever, is not connected in a single instance, I 
 believe, with the word Sheol by the Old Testament'* 
 writers. They never speak of an eternal Sheol. ^, 
 
 Both in Europe and the United States I have had^ 
 frequent opportunities of conversing with the most ' 
 learned Rabbis of tlie Jewish persuasioji. They 
 have told me invariably that in their sacred bookgj 
 Sheol bears no other meaning than those just men- 
 tioned. What a conclusive fact I Suppose the i 
 English had ceased to be a living language — to be:*! 
 preserved only in books. Suppose, fiirther, that injj 
 
SCRIPTURE CONCERNING PUNISHMENT. 215 
 
 all the dictionaries and writings of this language, 
 both. sacred and profane, the word hell in the ordi- 
 nary acceptation of the term could not be found — 
 would it not follow as an infallible inference that 
 the people who once used this language as ver- 
 nacular, never entertained the idea, or belief in the 
 reality of a place of endless punishment. The same 
 remarks are applicable to the Septuagint, a Greek 
 translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, made by the 
 most distinguished Jewish scholars of their day, 
 about two hundred years before the commencement 
 of the Christian era. 
 
 ^Further, the Hebrew Bible has not a single text, 
 which (fairly interpreted) under any form of phrase- 
 ology, addresses to the finally impenitent the 
 menaces of everlasting perdition. It speaks of 
 terrific curses which await those children of Israel 
 who will not forsake their follies and disobedience 
 to the laws of Moses, but they all consist of earthly 
 pains and penalties. We cannot find so much as 
 an allusion to the punishment of a disembodied 
 sinner from Genesis to Malachi. Dr. Campbell, of 
 Scotland, and Professor Stuart, of Andover, both 
 avowed firm believers in the doctrine of future, 
 interminaljle misery, pronounce it to be very plain 
 that neither in the Hebrew Old Testament, nor in the 
 version of the Seventy, nor in the New Testament, does 
 the word Sheol, or the corresponding Greek term 
 Hades, convey the meaning which the present English 
 word hdl, in the Christian usage, always conveys to 
 our minds. So far as I know there is not a divine 
 or critic of any sect or nation familiar with the 
 original Scriptures who does not concur in opinion 
 on this subject with these distinguished scholars. 
 at. On hearing these remarks my Presbyterian friend 
 said, with much warmth, " Then the Bible which I 
 ifead and teach to my children is not to be depended 
 upon as an unerring guide in religious matters. It 
 
216 SCBIPTUEK CONCEBNING PUNISHMENT. 
 
 does not contain unmixed truth — the whole trutlj, 
 and nothing but the truth. Our minister tells me 
 that I must follow it impHcitly. But, in that case, 
 if what you say is true, I shall fall into fatal, essen- 
 tial, and fundamental errors. The book which I 
 have prized so highly may deceive and mislead me 
 as to the most important interests of my immortal 
 soul." 
 
 He then propounded to me the following ques- 
 tion: "If the doctrine of endless punishment is not 
 taught in Scripture, how did it happen to become 
 so extensively prevalent in the Christian world? 
 If it is not in the Old Testament, where did it come 
 from?" I answered these questions by quoting from 
 memory, as nearly as I could (not having the book \ 
 at hand), a sketch of the Revr T. B. Thayer's state- 
 ment in that admirable work, " History of the Origin 
 of Endless Punishment." 
 
 This gentleman shows, by most authentic and 
 copious references, that Christian divines have , 
 borrowed or stolen their principal ideas on this 
 subject from Heathen writers, poets, and philoso- 
 phers. Virgil and Horace contain numerous fables o 
 concerning Tantalus, Ixion, the fifty daughters of | 
 Danaus, Sisyphus, and many others whom they ; 
 represent as experiencing pains in Tairtarus (the j 
 world assigned for the abode of departed sinners), -| 
 which exactly resemble those ascribed to the damned = 
 by the Christian poets Dante, Milton, Pollock, 
 Trappe, Young, &c., and by such theologians as 
 TertuUian, St. Augustine, Calvin, Turretin, Edwards, 
 Flavel, Vincent, and a host of other men considered ■ 
 as luminaries in their day, and whose word had ^ 
 muQh authority as the Bible itself. , 
 
 But, it may be asked, where did the heath6n 
 obtain these notions? Inasmuch as they could. not 
 have procured them from the Hebrew Scripturegj 
 had they enjoyed access thereto, and inasmuch as 
 
SCRIPTURE CONCERMNG PUNISHMENT. 217 
 
 there was no other divine revelation in existence at 
 the time these views originated, we require no 
 plainer^proof to show that they were human inven- 
 tions. Undoubtedly this is the truth. An endless 
 hell — ^positive suffering after death is a Pagan doc- 
 trine. It is matter of demonstration that it was in 
 "Ijeing — among the heathen — at least fifteen hundred 
 years before the time of Christ. It originated with 
 the heathen ; it was exactly suited to them. Its 
 aspect is dark, stern, cruel, and malignant enough 
 to suit their depraved taste and habits. 
 
 Dr. Good, in his "Book of Nature," says : " Egypt 
 is supposed to have been the inventress of this 
 important and prominent part of tradition." The 
 same opinion is established as true by the declara- 
 tions of the most eminent heathen writers. Polybius 
 says : " Since the multitude is ever fickle, full of 
 lawless desires, irrational passions and violence, 
 there is no other way to keep them in order but by 
 the fear and terror of the invisible world, on which 
 account our aiicestors seem to me to have acted judi- 
 ciously when they contrived to bring into popular 
 hdief these notions of the gods, and of the infernal 
 regions. Livy praises Numa for inventing the fear 
 of the gods. Strabo says: "The thunder, the regis, 
 the trident, and the torches are all fables, as is the 
 ancient theology. These things the legislators used 
 as scarecrows to terrify the childish multitude." 
 He also declares that " Plato and the Brahmins of 
 India invented fables concerning the future judg- 
 ments of hell." Plutarch calls them " fabulous 
 stories, and tales of mothers and nurses." Seneca 
 styles them " vain terrors." Another calls them - 
 J4 poetic fancies," and Cicero " silly absurdities and 
 ables." Aristotle gives the following unequivocal 
 testimony : "It has been handed down, in a mythical 
 form, from earliest times, to posterity, that there are 
 gods, and that the divine encompasses all nature. 
 
218 SCRIPTUBB CONCERNING PUNISHMENT. 
 
 Ml besides this has been added for the ^^urpose of 
 •persuading the rrmMitude, and for the interests of the 
 law, and the advantage of the State. These and a 
 great many kindred facts, too numerous to be men- 
 tioned, show that the doctrine of hell or future 
 punishment is a heathen invention. 
 
 " But," my friend replied, " in a sermon preached 
 by our pastor last Sabbath, it was stated that the 
 Pharisees and Scribes, and the great majority of the 
 Jews, who were the contemporaries of our Saviour, 
 believed in future everlasting woe." To this I re- 
 turned the following answer : " Tout pastor, in this 
 particular, is right. But, what does the Son of God 
 himself say concerning these same Pharisees and 
 Scribes. He rebukes them for having made the 
 Bible of none effect by substituting in the room of 
 it the traditions of men. From his Sermon on the 
 Mount we might collect a long list of these, 
 wretched superstitions. He condemns their theology! 
 in the strongest terms. How absurd, then, for 
 Christian ministers to refer to it as authority." 
 
 " During the Babylonish captivity, and at other 
 times when they had intercourse with the heathen, 
 it is certain that they imbibed many of their errors.; 
 This is admitted by Prideaux, Lightfoot, Whitby/ ■_ 
 and many other Trinitarian divines. As it is a 
 universally acknowledged fact among competent 
 judges that the Old Testament, the only source of* 
 inspired truth, does not contain the doctrine, of" 
 course the Jews of our Saviour's time must, some 
 how or other, have obtained it from their Pagan 
 neighbors. There are four hundred years, at leafet, 
 between Malachi, the end of the Old Testament, and 
 Christ's nativity. During all this period there wa fl i 
 no prophet in Israel, and the Jews were constantly 
 , minghng with Egyptians, Greeks,- Romans, &Q,: 
 It was at this time that they became so thoroughly 
 corrupted as to need imperatively a new dispensa- 
 
SCEIETUEE CONCEENING PUNISHMENT. 219 
 
 tion of truth. The reader of Guizot, Tyler, Gibbon, 
 and Enfield, cannot help seeing how gradually the 
 Jewish theology acquired heathen notions, until, at 
 the time of Christ, the belief in hell and endless 
 punishment became very general among them. They 
 did not get it from the Old Testament — the New 
 was not in existence — the oral teachings of Jesus 
 they utterly repudiated; they either obtained it, 
 therefore, from the heathen, or it was an invention 
 of their own gross and unhallowed minds. Hence, 
 Christ declared, " Beware of the Scribes and Phari- 
 sees, because they teach for doctrines the command- 
 ments of men." This solemn declaration was often 
 reiterated in the warnings addressed to his disciples, 
 from time to time. And yet our orthodox friends 
 do not hesitate to quote the traditions of these 
 corrupt reprobates, as furnishing arguments in sup- 
 port of their peculiar faith." 
 
 Now, Jesus Christ repeatedly assured these Jews, 
 of whom, it is affirmed, that they avowed and taught 
 the doctrine of a post-mortem hell, that their Scrip- 
 tures — the Old Testament — contained all that it was 
 necessary for them to know, believe, and do, in 
 order to attain eternal life. But we have seen that 
 it utters not a syllable about hell, or a place of 
 everlasting torture for the finally impenitent ; that 
 the only punishment it ever speaks of, or alludes to, 
 consists of those sufferings which sinners endure 
 this side of the grave. If there be such a place as 
 hell, must it not have been mentioned in the volume 
 which Jesus declares to be a complete, ample direc- 
 tory or guide in our endeavors to reach the mansions 
 of immortal bliss? This question requires no 
 answer. For thousands of years before the advent 
 of^our Saviour, the Jews enjoyed a divine com- 
 munication from God himself, in which the Supreme 
 Father professes to furnish them with a catalogue 
 of all the evils to which they could expose them- 
 
220 BCKIPTUEB CONCERNING PUNISHMENT. 
 
 selves by leading wicked lives. In this enumeration 
 of evils no noticw is taken of hell ; consequently, if 
 there be such a place, the authors of the Jewish 
 Scriptures have imposed upon us a tremendous fraud 
 — a fraud which must involve countless millions of 
 our misguided race in eternal ruin. Moses connived 
 at this suppression of important realities. 
 
 The fact is entitled to greater weight, on account 
 of the universally acknowledged opinions of all the- 
 learned Egyptians on future retribution, among 
 whom the Jewish legislator was born and reared^ 
 In his teachings he ignored the faith which was 
 upheld by all the authority, wealth, rank, fashion, 
 religion, literature and philosophy of his contempo- 
 raries throughout the most civilized nations of that 
 age. If the Jews, dying in impenitence, were ex- 
 posed to endless punishment, he should have told 
 them BO. But he said nothing about a penalty so 
 awful, and the Son of God sanctioned his silence 
 touching this matter. If there be a hell, then the 
 Pentateuch must be one of the most deceptive, false 
 and dangerous books that has ever been published.- 
 Yet, Jesus Christ calls it tnie, beneficient, holy,' 
 divine — an inspiration from God. Has the immac- 
 ulate Redeemer connived at, sanctioned an amazing, 
 most atrocious imposture ? 
 
 But, in our day the advocates of this doctriniO 
 rely chiefly for its support upon the New Testament 
 Scriptures. Yet the clergy of every name, who) 
 read the original New Testament, admit that there 
 is but one word employed therein, to denote the 
 place of future punishment, prepared for the dey||" 
 and his angels. This terra in the original; 
 Gehenna, in our English version translated heU. 
 is not a Greek word. It cannot be found in any 
 the Greek classics. All agree that it is a proper narn^ 
 or noun, composed of the two Hebrew words Ge and." 
 HiNNOM — which signify the vale or valley of Einnom. 
 
SCEIPTUEE CONCERNING PUNISHMENT. 221 
 
 So we see- the phrase is derived from the geography 
 of ancient Palestine, and was applied to a dell in 
 the neighborhood of Jerusalem, through which ran 
 the brook Cedron, and had no more reference to a 
 future state, than the phrases, valley of the Hudson, 
 or, valley of the Connecticut, have at the present 
 day. ■ _ 
 
 The J^st mention of this place in the Bible is 
 in Joshua 15 : 8. It was there that the cruel sacri- 
 fices of children were made by fire to the heathen 
 god Moloch. The same place was sometimes called 
 Tophet, (2 Kings, 23 : 10,) as is supposed, from the 
 noise of drums, raised to drown the cries of help- 
 less infants, as they were burning alive. Toph is 
 the Hebrew word for drum. When king Josiah 
 purged the land of idolatry, he desecrated this 
 place; and it subsequently became the common 
 receptacle of the rubbish and filth conveyed out 
 of the city of Jerusalem; and the carcases of 
 brutes, and the dead bodies of the most notorious 
 criminals, were cast into the common heap. Fires 
 were kept perpetually burning in this valley, that 
 the mass of putrefaction accumulated there might 
 be partially consumed; the worms, in the mean- 
 time, reveling in their luxurious repasts, until driven 
 away or destroyed by the heat. It is obvious that 
 to the mind of a Jew, in our Saviour's time, noth- 
 ing could convey such a lively idea of utter wretch- 
 edness and abomination as this valley of Hinnom 
 or Gehenna. (See Professor Stuart.) 
 
 It is worthy of remark that all the learned believ- 
 ers in endless misery concede the fects just stated. 
 flfaey all say that in the old Testament, Gehenna, 
 
 t Tophet — (synonomous words) is used as em- 
 imatical of three things. 1st. Literal punishment 
 inflicted upon criminals who were put to death, and 
 their corpses thrown into this awful place, to be 
 destroyed. 2d. It was employed figuratively to- 
 19* 
 
222 SCRIPTURE CONCERNING PUNISHMENT. " 
 
 express any great calamity or suffering. To be in 
 Gehenna, in this sense is, to endure any great trouble 
 or affliction in this world. 3d. It was made by the 
 prophets, an emblem of the final destruction of the 
 Jewish nation, and their expulsion from Palestine. 
 But never, throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, does 
 it refer to suffering after death, in the unseen, eter- 
 nal state of existence. With regard to these facts 
 there is no dispute among learned divines. I could 
 give authorities that would fill a volume, if it were 
 necessary. Parkhurst, an orthodox Trinitarian com- 
 mentator, says, on the text, Where the worm dieth 
 not and the fire is not quenched. " Our Lord -here 
 alludes to the worms that continually prey on the 
 dead carcases which were cast out into the valley 
 ' of Hinnom or Gehenna, and to the perpetual fire 
 there kept up to consume them." Lightfoot thus 
 testifies, " Gehenna, where the worm dieth not and 
 the fire shall not be quenched, is not a place of 
 eternal misery in a future state, but in the valley 
 of Hinnom, near Jerusalem." This accomplished 
 scholar was a firm believer in endless punishment. 
 Authorities of the same description might be multi-^ 
 plied to any extent. s 
 
 Now all agree that our Saviour in his entire dis- 
 courses and conversations on the subject of religion, 
 adopted the idioms and usages of the Old Testa- 
 ment writers, except in those cases where a declar- 
 ation to the contrary is made, either by implication 
 or in express terms. That is, in other words, it'i^ 
 conceded on all sides that when Jesus spoke ■*eM 
 Gehenna, he used the terra in the Old Testamei 
 sense of that word, to signify calamities, or suffei'ih^ 
 this side the grave, unless he himself^ by expUci^^ 
 language, changed the import of the term so as to ' 
 make it an emblem of eternal punishment." ■ • is 
 
 It is contended that he did so by declaring, ths^f' 
 the punishment of the wicked- will continue through 
 
SCEIPTDEE CONCERNING PUNISHMENT. 223 
 
 an everlasting duration — or that it, will last forever. 
 So our translators have rendered the original word 
 aionios which our Saviour applied to punishment. 
 But the argument is defective on two accounts. 
 First. The term aionios cannot be depended upon to 
 prove the endless duration of anything, whatever. 
 Trinitarian and orthodox critics, without an excep- 
 tion, say that when the subject to which the adjective 
 AIONIOS is affixed, is not from its nature absolutely 
 et&rnal, it must he understood as implying a limited 
 duration. This settles the whole dispute, for no 
 one has ever undertaken to prove — no one can 
 prove, that the punishment of sin is endless in the 
 nature of things — by an absolute necessity. 
 
 It is said that the rebellious prophet was in the 
 whale's belly forever, ( Jonah 2 : 6,) or as our trans- 
 lators would have it, throughout eternity. Now 
 Jesus Christ tells us that this eternity was only 
 three days in duration. Paul in his epistle to 
 Philemon, speaks of Onesimus as an everlasting or 
 eternal slave ; meaning by the language, simply, 
 that he would be in bondage to the day of his death. 
 Here the term might designate a single hour only, 
 or even but one moment. Instances of a similar 
 usage abound in every part of the Bible. But it is 
 superfluous to adduce them, for every divine in 
 Christendom, who reads Scripture in the original, 
 admits that the mere force of the word olam and 
 aionios can never prove the interminable existence 
 : of anything. Be pleased to remember that Jonah 
 endured an eternal punishment in the space of 
 seventy-two hours. Literal suffering in the valley 
 of Hinnom is often called everlasting. This fact is 
 indisputable. I refer, of course, to the usages of 
 •^nguage which prevail throughout the Hebrew and 
 5^reek Scriptures. Those who peruse the word of 
 God in the English language only, are led astray on 
 this subject, unless their ministers are honest enough 
 
224 SOBIPTURE CONCERNING PUNISHMENT, 
 
 to keep them from being, deceived^ " If we would 
 imderstand the Scriptures aright," says Bishop 
 Lowth, " we must throw ourselves back to the time 
 in which they were written, and as far as possible 
 enter into the views and feelings and habits of the 
 people to jwhom they were written, and become 
 acquainted with their modes of speaking and the 
 many qualifications and extent of the phraseology 
 which they used." Almost aE the errors in the 
 theological world at the present day, are undoubt- 
 edly to be ascribed to the want of a thorough, 
 complete acquaintance with the dictionary of the 
 original Bible. 
 
 Second. The most conclusive arguments show that 
 the New Testament writers could not have applied 
 the term aionios to punishment, to express the idea 
 that it will be eternal. I will mention some of them. 
 1st. Jesus Christ himself declares that the Father 
 sent him into the world, not to condemn the world, 
 but that the world through him might be saved. 
 Commentators admit universally that the term world, 
 in this text, means the whole human race. Again, 
 he says that God has given him power over all 
 mankind, that he should give unto them eternal life. 
 The apostles, invariably teach that Jesus suffered 
 death to effect the salvation of every man. Can 
 the purposes of our Saviour's mission fail? Must 
 he not accomplish the whole work which God has 
 given him to do? Can the counsels of the eternal 
 one be frustrated? Does he not often say, "The 
 designs of my heart shall stand forever, and I will 
 do all my pleasure?" Does he not solemnly declare : 
 " It is my pleasure that all mankind should come to 
 the knowledge of the truth and be saved?" Jesus - 
 Christ told the Jews that he came not to do his- 
 own will, but the will of his Father, and that it- was 
 the Father's will, that not one of those who had been 
 given to him should be lost. How many were* 
 
SCRIPTURE CONCERNING PUNISHMENT. 225 
 
 given to him ? He tasted death for every man. Thou 
 hast given me power over all flesh, (all mankind.) 
 
 2d. The New Testament affirms that all mankind 
 shall be raised from the dead, both jrist and unjust, 
 good and had; and that in the resurrection state 
 there wiU be no sin, no death, or pain. It asserts 
 that after death, (some time or other, sooner or later,) 
 all the race shall be changed from sin to holiness ; 
 from dishonor to glory ; from weakness to power ; 
 from the natural to the spiritual state ; from corrup- 
 tion to incorruption ; from the earthly to the 
 heavenly ; and from mortality to immortality. (Acts 
 24: 15. Mark 12: 24th to the 28th. 1 Cor. 15th 
 from 22d verse to the close of the chapter. Ro 
 mans 8 : from 19 to 23. Romans 5 : from 15th 
 verse to the end. Phili. 2: 6 to 11.) Many other 
 texts of a similar character might be cited. These 
 and numerous parallel passages assert in plain, simple, 
 literal, natural, obvious, direct and most unequivocal 
 phraseology, that all the human family shall one day 
 be raised to a state of immortal holiness and happi- 
 ness. What then becomes of the doctrine of eterpal 
 woe? 
 
 3d. The word Gehenna occurs but twelve times 
 in the whole Gospel. All concede that in two of 
 these instances the term had no reference to a future 
 state. So that, strictly speaking, there are but ten 
 texts containing the word rendered hell, on which 
 the advocates of endless misery can pretend to rely 
 to substantiate their favorite dogma. These were 
 all uttered by our Saviour, and are recorded in 
 Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Eight of them are ad- 
 dressed to the twelve disciples- exclusively. Only 
 twice did the Son of God use the phrase gehenna in 
 all those discourses and communications addressed 
 to the Jews at large ; and in each of these cases, as 
 I. believe he employs the word as an emblem of the 
 temporal calamities, which were about to be visited 
 upon their metropolis, temple, and nation. How- 
 
226 scEiFruEE conceeking punishment. 
 
 ever this may be, it is agreed on all sides thai from 
 Luke to the end of the New Testament, the word 
 gehenna is found but once, and that there it has no 
 reference whatever to future retribution. During 
 the first forty years after the crucifixion of Jesus, 
 the apostles preached the Gospel, and .established 
 churches all over the populous parts of Asia, 
 Africa, and Europe. We have a history of Paul's 
 prayers, letters^ discourses, and conversations among 
 the ignorant and corrupt inhabitants of Ephesus, 
 Athens, Corinth, Rome, and other ancient cities of 
 the same age. In this history, the word hell does 
 not occur in a single instance, nor any synonymous 
 terms and phrases, that plainly teach the dogma of 
 future, everlasting wrath. But if there is in the 
 unseen world a place of endless misery to which 
 those who die impenitent are to be sent, he should* 
 have announced the fact in every sentence which 
 he uttered, as is the case with modern preachers of 
 eternal vengeance. 
 
 4th. All grant that our prayers in the closet, in 
 the family, as well as in the church should be har- 
 monious with our actual belief, as to the teachings 
 and spirit of Christ. It is beyond dispute that our 
 Saviour and his apostles prayed for the salvation of 
 the whole human race. Who will take the ground , 
 that they offered daily prayers for what they taught 
 and knew absolutely was repugnant to the will of 
 heaven? Is it not our duty as Christians, perpetu- 
 ally to offer the petition — Thy will he done. "What- 
 soever is not of faith, is sin," affirms Scripture. 
 
 Let me present an imaginary case. You are a father.w*' 
 Last week you lost an only son — a notorious profli-| 
 gate — cut down amidst the perpetration of an enor- ' 
 mo us crime — in the very act. He had not a 
 moment for repentance. His last breath was em- 
 ployed in uttering a most horrid, impious oath. 
 You say that you believe in the endless misery of 
 
SCRIPTURE CONCERNING PtTNISHMBNT. 227 
 
 all those who die in impenitence. Could you this 
 morning, after leaving church, go out to yonder 
 cemetery, and kneeling down at the fresh grave, 
 utter the following prayer : 
 
 " Heavenly Father, if my dear child died unre- 
 generate, I beseech thee that he may be punished 
 forever ; let him be a wretched outcast • from G-od 
 and paradise throughout eternity ; let no ray of 
 hope ever reach him ; let no night afford him re- 
 freshing repose ; let no returning morn of beauty 
 bring him peace, respite or gladness ; let unavailing 
 sighs pierce the silence of his dungeon ; and from 
 beneath the smoke of his unending torment, let 
 wailings, weeping, and gnashing of teeth be heard 
 forever and ever ! These infinite favors I implore 
 in the name of Jesus Christ, our most blessed Lord 
 and Saviour. Amen." 
 
 If you cannot offer this prayer from the bottom 
 of your heart, then your profession of faith is false- 
 hood, sin, and hypocrisy. Be pleased to reflect 
 upon this test attentively. To see your only, and 
 tenderly beloved son, however wicked he might 
 have been, stretched for one night on the rack, or 
 over the slow fires of an inquisitorial vengeance, 
 would be an insupportable trial — would be enough 
 to destroy your reason and life itself. Let your 
 imagination dwell on one such night. "What to the 
 agonized victim would be its horrors ? What its 
 duration? What? Like ages would appear its 
 moments. The wheels of time would seem to move 
 not; the morning star to stand still; and the sun, 
 which brings back the day, to have set to rise no 
 more. Yet this is not hell. Nor are' these the 
 pains of hell. What are twelve hours compared 
 with an unwasting eternity? Interminable suffer- 
 ings ! All the nameless and aggravated miseries 
 which the universe has yet endured are nothing in 
 comparison. We might count the sands, we might 
 
228 SCRIPTURE CONCERNING PUNISHMENT. 
 
 estimate the rays of light which proceed from the 
 stars and number them, but the dreadful sum of 
 eternal pains no finite minds could number, if they 
 were to be employed forever in solving the problem. 
 It swells beyond our powers of comprehension. It 
 displays dimensions that mock our most vigorous 
 efforts. It assumes a vastness that absorbs our 
 largest thoughts. Can any one pray sincerely that 
 such evils may be inflicted on the worst sinner that 
 has gone down to the congregation of the dead? 
 Impossible I Do you really believe, reader, that 
 any person in " this frail and feverish being of an 
 hour" can contract guilt enough to deserve such 
 an unimaginable, terrific retribution. Again, I say 
 impossible ! Do you believe, reader, that the all- 
 glorious Creator, who is infinite love, could place 
 a child in such a world, with such a nature, and 
 under such circumstances, as would expose him to 
 the peril of endless pain, either bodily or mental? 
 Impossible ! There is not a minister within the 
 wide pale of Christendom who can pray for endless 
 damnation. Impossible I The demonstrations of 
 Euclid, then, are not more certain than that no 
 minister can believe this doctrine, however strenu- 
 ously he may advocate it in his preaching. A 
 clergyman is in honor and consistency bound to 
 pray for the advancement of the truth which he 
 inculcates. And if he announces doctrines which 
 he himself cannot even wish to be true, is not his 
 course as a teacher utterly inconsistent and pre- 
 posterous ? 
 
 If the doctrine of eternal woe is not taught in 
 Scripture, why do so many preachers enforce it as^ 
 an essential item of Christianity? I would reply- 
 that a vast majority of those ministers in the United 
 States who are styled orthodox, have never gone 
 into a thorough and elaborate investigation of the 
 Scriptures relating to this topic. They have gene- 
 
SCRIPTURE CONCERNING PUNISHMENT. 229 
 
 rally, been trained under sectarian influences, and 
 feel under solemn obligations to support the senti- 
 ments of some particular denomination. Indeed, 
 they are impelled to do so by the imperative influ- 
 ence of a most sacred oath, which young candidates 
 for the ministry should never be required to take, 
 for it is a virtual promise that they will uphold 
 certain theological views through life, although they 
 may become fully convinced that such views are 
 fal^e, dangerous, and unscriptural. A clergyman 
 once said to me, " I believe as you do on this sub- 
 ject, but I cannot say so from the pulpit without 
 sacrificing my good name ; my standing in the 
 ehurch ; even the very means of subsistence for 
 myself and family." It demands a greater sacrifice 
 than some ministers are willing to make, to venture, 
 with free, unprejudiced, and unembarrassed minds, 
 upon the pursuit of pure Biblical truth, and upon 
 the rejection of what human philosophy has wrongly 
 added to the Sacred Writings. It is, indeed, a 
 severe trial for a minister to be placed where he 
 cannot express his honest convictions of truth and 
 duty without exposing himself to the bitterest 
 persecution. But, if so situated, he should bei 
 encouraged to pursue the tight course, by reflecting 
 on the example of JesuS Christ, who endured a 
 world's scorn, wrath, and hatred) and at last thfef 
 agonies of an ignominious death to seal the truth 
 which he taught. 
 
 There is another class of ministers who are most 
 good, true, faithful, and conscientious men, entitled 
 to the most cordial respect and confidence of their 
 several congregations, that admit the dogma of 
 fuj;ure everlasting punishment for all dying in a state 
 of impenitence, because they honestly think that it 
 is laid down in the most explicit, unequivocal terms, 
 in inany texts scattered throughout the New Testa- 
 ment. Within the last thirty years I have repeatedly 
 20 
 
230 8CRIPTUEE CONCBENING PUNISHMENT. 
 
 examined every passage and paragraph which has 
 been adduced in support of endless punishment ija 
 the original, and I am prepared to assert, with per- 
 fect confidence, that the countenance which they 
 seem to give to the doctrine in question, arises 
 entirely, from what, to my mind, are undoubted mis- 
 understiindings and perversions of the Hebrew and 
 Greek Scriptures. In our translation, some texts 
 seem to assert that those who die in their wicked- 
 ness will never be reformed and made happy. But, 
 in reality, all these passages are misinterpreted. 
 We have seen that the Word hell, in the sense of a 
 place of suffering in a future state, does not occur 
 in a single instance, either in the Hebrew of the 
 Old, or the Greek of the New Testament. Of course 
 the term is wrongfully inserted fifty-five times in our 
 English Bible. Correct these errors, or only leawe 
 the momentous words Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna 
 untranslated, and the delusions which prevail on 
 this solemn theme would soon be banished from the 
 religious world, and honest minds be no longer 
 deceived as to the true import of Scripture. In my 
 next chapter I shall notice some of the mistrans- 
 lations alluded to, and commend them to the atten- 
 tion of those clergymen who would not knowingly 
 and deliberately keep up a system of theology by 
 the help of ^us frauds. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 AN EXAKINATION OF SOME OF THE EBBONEOUS IHIEBFBE- 
 
 TATIONS OF SCBIPTtTKE WITH EESPiiCT TO 
 
 FUTUEE EETEIBUTION. 
 
 Of these misinterpretations I shall have space to 
 review only such as are deemed to possifess the 
 greatest importance, and convey the strongest evi- 
 dence in support of the doctrine of future and eter- 
 nal woe. 
 
 As preliminary to this part of my discussion, I 
 must notice the peculiar meaning of two forms of 
 phraseology which pervade the New Testament. 
 First, the phrases " kingdom of heaven," or simply 
 " kingdom," and " heaven," are synonymous in the 
 discourses of our Saviour and his apostles. Each of 
 these phrases was used to signify the time of the 
 Messiah, or the reign on earth, of that spiritual 
 kingdom which Christ established, and of which he 
 was the head. It is generally called at this day, the 
 mediatorial reign of Jesus. For example: Christ 
 says, " Be ye sure of this that the kingdom of God 
 has come nigh unto you." "I must preach the 
 kingdom of God to other cities also. Repent for the 
 ^-kingdom of heaven is at hand " — that is, the introduc- 
 Son of that reign which Christ came to institute 
 over his disciples, who were to obey him as good 
 and loyal subjects obey a temporal monarch. Cru- 
 den, a rigid Presbyterian, defines the phrase as fol- 
 lows : " The state of the church, or gospel in this 
 world," — or, " the grace of God in the soul." 
 
232 EXAMINATION OP FUTURE EETEIBUTION. 
 
 " The kiijgdom of heaven is Kke a grain of mus- 
 tard seed which becomes a great tree ; " it is " hke 
 leaven which a woman put in two measures of meal, 
 until the whole was leavened;" it is "like a treasure 
 hid in the field," or, " like a goodly pearl of great 
 price, which a man finding, he goes and sells all that 
 he has and buys it." " The kingdom of heaven is 
 like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, ' &c.; it is 
 "like unto a man which sowed good seed in his 
 field," &c. "Many shall come from the East and 
 the West, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob in the kingdom of hteaven," c&c. When 
 shall this happen ? " For the Son of man shall come 
 in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then 
 he shall reward every man according to his works. 
 Yerily I say unto you, there be some standing here, 
 which shall not taste of death, tiU they see the Son 
 of man coming in his kingdorn" 
 
 It is indubitable, therefore, that the state called 
 the " kingdom ; " " kingdom of God ; " " kingdom of 
 heaven ; " " kingdom of Jesus,'' or simply " heaven," 
 in the New Testament, commenced when some of 
 the contemporaries of our Saviour were living 1800 
 years ago. This kingdom is still flourishing, and 
 Paul teUs us in 1st Cor. J5, from the 22d to the 
 28th inclusive, that it will not cease until all man- 
 kind shall be redeemed from sin and death ; be made 
 holy, happy, and immortal. Beza, Calmet, Georgf 
 Campbell, Doddridge, Gill, Grotius, Home, Lardner, 
 Leighton, Lightfoot, Mackpi^ht, Poole, Theophylact, 
 Adam Clarke, Wetstein, Whitby, Professor Stuart, 
 with others too numerous to be mentioned — all 
 Tripitarians and believers in endless misery, — give 
 that interpretation of the phrase " kingdom of heav- 
 en," which has been just specified. 
 
 Wherever then, good men live, who obey God 
 and see him and enjoy the blessedness of commun- 
 ion with him, they are in heaven — the only 
 
EXAMINATION OP FtTTURB RETRIBUTION. 233 
 
 hea^n, as I think ever spoken of in the Gospel. 
 Wherever purity, truth, love, obedience prevail, 
 there is God and that is heaven. Heaven accord- 
 ing to Christ's use pf the term, is not distinctively 
 a future world situated somewhere in illimitable 
 space, but a purely spiritual experience, which may 
 be attained on earth. It is the state of the soul, or 
 state of society, under the rule of divine truth, and 
 governed by God's will through Jesiis in the present 
 life — this side of the grave. It is not a bounded 
 place of abode, but a true condition of character, a 
 virtuous mode of life. Jesus said to the young 
 ruler who had faithfully obeyed the decalogue, and 
 whose beautiful traits drew forth his love : " Thou 
 art not far from the kingdom of God." " My king- 
 , dom is spiritual." " Every one that is of the truth 
 heareth my voice " — that is, " my kingdom is the 
 realm of truth, the. dominion pf Go^'s will ; and all 
 good men are my subjects. It is not material, but 
 moral, and therefore extending through all the 
 epochs and eras of time. Wherever God is, there 
 is the kingdom pf heaven. But He is an Omnipre- 
 sent Spirit, the Infinite Holy One, whose perfections 
 pervade illimitable space and endless duration. He 
 is on the very dust we tread, he is the very centre 
 of our souls, and breatli of bur lives, if we will only 
 keep our minds in a state that is fitted to recognize, 
 and enjoy him." 
 
 " He that hath sent me is with me ; the Father 
 hath not left me alone, for I akvays do the things 
 which please him." Memorable words I Glorious 
 the sentiment they enforce ! They teach indubita- 
 bly, that they who with conscious adoration and 
 love endeavor to do those things that please God, 
 although on earth, are at the same time in heaven, 
 and enjoy the communion and blessedness of eternal 
 life. 
 
 I repeat it, let all bear in mind that the " kingdofii 
 20* 
 
234 EXAMINATION OF FUTURE EETEIBUTION. 
 
 of heaven," — " the better djspepsation which ^rist 
 came to establish, is the humility of contrite bearts, 
 the innocence of little children, the purity of unde- 
 filed consciences, the fruit of good works, the truth 
 of universal laws, and the conscious experience of 
 an indestructible, blessed existence, this side the 
 grave. Those who enter into these qualities in 
 iaith, in feeling, and in action,, are full citizens of the 
 eternal kingdom; all others are alienated froju it. 
 Hence, the New Testament phrases, " To be bom 
 again, both of water and the spirit;" "to be saved;" 
 " to taste of everlasting life, " ",to enter into life; " 
 " to have life abundantly;" "to become members of 
 the kingdom," and all analagous forms of speech, is 
 simply to renounce all impurity and wickedness, tp 
 be brought into a new and divine life of holiness ; 
 to be awakened to a conscious experience of purity, * 
 truth and love — the great prime elements in the 
 reign of God.* Jesrrs s'ays, "he that believeth op 
 me now hath everlasting life," — is now in heaven. 
 
 Jesus addressing the Pharisees uses these words, 
 " The children now in the kingdom (the Jews) shall 
 be cast into outer darkness," The sense of this 
 text has been thus paraphrased : " God is now offer- 
 ing unto you, through me, a spiritual dispensation, 
 a new kingdom ; but unless you faithfully heed ii,, 
 and fulfil its conditions, you will be discarded and 
 lose the divine favor. Although by your position 
 as the chosen people, and in the liue of revelation 
 you are its natural heirs, yet unless you purify 
 your hearts, and live by its commands, you shall 
 soon see the despised Gentiles enjoying all the priv- 
 ileges your faith secure^ to the revered patriarchs 
 of your nation, while you yourselves are shut out 
 from them and overwhelmed with shame and anguish. 
 Your pride of descent, haughtiness of spirit, and 
 reliance upon dead rites, un^t you for the true kirig. 
 dom of Go4 — ittie inward reign of humility and 
 
EXAMINATION OP FUTURE RETRIBUTION. 235 
 
 riglpeousness — and the very publicans and harlots 
 (the worst of sinners) will become my disciples 
 before you." 
 
 A person ignorant of the above-n9.med exegesis 
 cannot understand the discourses of Christ and the 
 apostles, and his views of Christianity will be mate- 
 rial, childish, gross, erroneous and contradictory. 
 As " to be born again," '■ to enter into life," or " to 
 be saved," in the New Testament, always desig- 
 nates the happiness which accrues to us in this life, 
 from receiving, obeying, and loving the truth of 
 Christ, so the antithetic phrases, to be in " gehenna," 
 (or hell) "to be cast into outer darkness where are 
 weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth ; " " to be 
 placed among the- goats on the left hand ; " " to be 
 devoured by an everlasting fire," denote the mise- 
 ries of unbelief, darkness and sin in the present life. 
 They are never in a single instance applied to sig- 
 nify "post mortem suffering in a future immorta,l 
 world. The proof of this position will be noticed in 
 the sequel. 
 
 There is another phrase of great importance, not 
 understood by those who. read the Bible- in our 
 English version only. In the Gospel these forms of 
 speech — "Neither in this world, nor in that to come," 
 are never of the same import with the words, "Neither 
 in time,, nor in eteinity" yet, they are so understood 
 by a vast majority of unlettered Christians. The 
 Jews called the Mosaic dispens|ition, when our 
 -Saviour was alive, the "present world," or " state." 
 By the phrase " future, world," or "world to come," 
 the time or reign of the Messiah on earth was ex- 
 pressed. Jesus Christ employed this language in 
 its usual, or popular acceptation. When it is said 
 such and such things shall take place at the end of 
 the " world," this term means at the end of the Jew- 
 ish dispensation. That the word often bears such 
 an ixnport in the Gospel, no one denies, who reads it 
 
236 EXAMINATION OP FUTURE RETRIBUTION.;-. ,_ 
 
 in the original tongue. The Son of God in 
 telling the coming destruction of Jerusalem, in con- 
 flagration and massacre, with the irretrievable over- 
 throw of the old dispensation, uses words like the 
 following : " When the Son of man shall sit upon 
 the throne of his glory, with his holy angels, and 
 all nations are gathered before him, then shall he 
 sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast 
 them into a furnace of fire, there shall be weeping 
 and gnashing of teeth." 
 
 Now this picturesqTie passage, with two or three 
 others ot a resembling character, has led to the gen- 
 eral belief in a great world-judgment at the end of 
 time, after which the condemned are to be thrown 
 into the tortures of a perdition where " the worm 
 dieth not, and the flame is unquenchable." But 
 here our Saviour is not speaking of what shall hapr 
 pen at the end of time, literally understood, but at 
 the end of the Jewish age. His coming in the clouds 
 of heaven, with power and glory, was when, at the 
 destruction of Jerusalem, the old age closed and the 
 new began; the obstacles to his religion were re- 
 moved, and his spiritual throne established on the 
 earth. This is certain, because Jesus says to his 
 hearers, " There are some of you standing here who 
 shall not taste death till this judgment be fulfilled" — 
 till you see that I am indeed, the Messiah, and that 
 through the eternal principles of truth which I have 
 proclaimed, I ahajl be seated upon a throne of glory, 
 Wnot literally in person, as you thought, blessing 
 all the {Jews and cursing all the Gentiles, but spirit- 
 ually, in truth, dispensing joy to good men, and woe 
 to bad men, according to their deserts. ThrougB^ 
 out the Old Testament, the temporal calamities to be' 
 infiicted by heaven upon the wicked, are foretold' 
 under the same imagery employed by the Saviour 
 to' predict the destruction of the Jewish nation, 
 with their city and temple, by the Roman armies. 
 
EXAMINATION OP FUTUBE EETBIBDTION. 237 
 
 Ev^j^fFhere tb© Hebrew Scriptures use tbe words 
 "being judged by God," "being cast into a fiery 
 furnace/' " being tbrown into a world where tbe 
 worm dieth not, and tbe fire is never quenched," &c., 
 to signify suffering brought upon the ungodly, 
 which begin and end this side the grave. In the 
 New Testament they must be construed as bearing 
 the same import. 
 
 Our Saviour spoke to the Jews in their own lan- 
 guage — a language which to them was plain and 
 intelligible enough, but which in our day has, in 
 some respects, become obscure and needs explana- 
 tion. The Bible is an ancient book ; parts of it 
 have come down to us from a remote antiquity ; and 
 the most recent portions of it ate now nearly 
 eighteen hundred years old. It was written, too, 
 not only in languages foreign to us, with oriental 
 figures and idioms which appear in our eyes strange, 
 affected, extravagant, and lar-fetched, but also under 
 another sky, amidst scenery unlike our own^ — amidst 
 circumstances, customs, and habits, both of thought 
 and life, unfamiliar to occidental literature, and with 
 which we must make ourselves acquainted before 
 we can fuUy understand and appreciate the teachings 
 qf the New Testament. 
 
 With these prefatory remarks, I shall now pro- 
 ceed to the main subject of this chapter — the 
 erroneous interpretations relied upon, to establish 
 the doctrine of endless' punishment. I begin with 
 Mark 16: 16^ "He that belieyeth shall be saved,' 
 but he that believeth not shall be damned." There 
 is not, I am fully persuaded, another text supposed 
 to refer to the destinies of the human race, so gene- 
 rally misunderstood as this, by all those who are 
 acquainted with the Bible only through the medium 
 of our English translation. Go and ask a little boy, 
 eight or ten years old, belonging to any orthodox 
 Sunday school — What is the meaning of Mark 16: 16? 
 
238 EXAMINATION OP FUTURE EETSIBUTION. 
 
 He will reply without the slightest hesitatieS^for 
 he has learned the answer by rote), " It means that 
 all those who die without faith in Christ will be sent 
 to, hell, and doomed there to suffer an eternal punish- 
 ment." . Learned, eloquent, and pious divines in the 
 sacred desk, coincide with the little boy in their 
 ' exegesis of this passage. The apostle Paul says, 
 " When I was a child, I spake as a child, I under- 
 stood as a child, I thought as a child ; but when I 
 became a man, I put away childish things." # Happy 
 would it be for the cause of Christianity, if all 
 clergymen were to follow the example of Paul in 
 this particular — if, on arriving at mature years, they 
 would repudiate the nursery tales and absurd fables 
 which they received for truth, in the undiscerning 
 period of childhood. It is sad to see a full-grown, 
 fine-looking man, dealing out from the pulpit those 
 puerilities which should have been abjured forever 
 in the period of youth. 
 
 Our standard of faith is the teaching of Jesus 
 Christ — his whole teachings, and nothing but his 
 teachings. To me there is scarcely a more melan- 
 choly sight than that of a minister of great learning 
 and power laboring in his pulpit, intentionally, to 
 throw a cloud over — ^to conceal, dilute, or fritter 
 away the simple, plain, and solemn declarations of 
 the gospel, in order to gratify a sin-loving and 
 pleasure-seeking audience. It is a deplorable state 
 of things, also, in that society in which a minister 
 cannot be honest in expounding Scripture — cannot 
 point out a popular misapprehension as to the Bible 
 without being set down as one of its notorious 
 enemies — as being no better than an infidel, or Dei^ 
 in disguise. Although it is admitted by all educatefca 
 divines in the land, that King James' translation of 
 the Bible contains thousands of errors, yet, if a minis- 
 ter ventures to say so in the pulpit, the whole body of 
 the clergy combine to assail and destroy his reputa- 
 
^EXAMINATION OP FUTURE EETRIBUTION. 239 
 
 tion. '' They immediately sound the tocsin of alarm, 
 and endeavor to persuade ignorant and prejudiced 
 votaries that the preacher who asserts that our 
 English Bible is erroneous in a single jot or iota.is 
 stealthily attempting to subvert Christianity itself — 
 to weaken, and finally to efface the strongest mo- 
 tives which persuade men to repent and become holy. 
 
 But, in the face of all these perils, I must deny 
 the very popular doctrine that our Saviour intended 
 to lay 4own in Mark 16 : 16, the only and immutable 
 conditions of eternal life, or eternal death for all 
 mankind. A sound interpretation of Scripture is 
 one of the most important and arduous duties which 
 devolve upon the teachers of Christianity. Such an 
 interpretation is not an arbitrary procedure, subject 
 to the wild fancies, whims, or theories of sectarians, 
 but is directed and determined by laws as definite 
 as those of the English grammar, or any lother 
 spoken language of the present day, These laws 
 are agreed to and recognized by aJl the %ducated 
 clergymen of every denomination in Christendom. 
 
 One of the first and most obvious of these rules 
 is the following : " In explaining a single, detached, 
 insulated text, we must take care not to give it an 
 import which will make the Bible contradict itself, 
 or which clashes with the universally acknowledged 
 and undisputed doctrines of revealed religion." Let 
 us apply this rule to the case before us. It is con- 
 ceded by nearly every school of divines that the 
 mission and atonement of Jesus Christ have placed 
 all mankind in what is technically called a solvable 
 state ; that is, all the obstacles to their final and 
 everlasting happiness have been thereby so far 
 removed that heaven is now accessible to each of 
 %he human race ; or, in other words, it is explicitly 
 and repeatedly affirmed in Scripture, that all man- 
 kind through Christ can be delivered from sin, 
 suffering, and mortality. But that interpretation of 
 
240 EXAMINATION OP PUTUEE RETRIBUTION. 
 
 the text which I deny, declares, virtually, that a 
 large part of mankind cannot he saved by Christ; 
 Here we have a flat contradiction. How so? one 
 mp,y inquire. I reply, the usual exegesis of Mark 
 16 : 16, makes the Son of God say that none will 
 ever reach heaven but those who exercise faith in 
 him this side eternity. Now, it is admitted that at 
 least one-third of our race die in infancy. Multi- 
 tudes are born, live, and die idiots. But none of 
 these can believe in Christ any more than a bird; 
 tree, or flower could. But, it is suggested that the 
 mercy of G-od will save the above-named classes, 
 thottgh'they enter eternity without faith. So I most 
 fully believe. Yet this is contrary to the theory 
 which says the present world is the only probar 
 tionary state allotted for man, and that no one will 
 ever be prepared for admission to the kingdom of 
 heaven beyond the grave. Again, let us call to 
 mind the terrible fate which the aforesaid interpret 
 tation assigns to the innumerable Caillio.ns belonging 
 to the Pagan world, who, like successive wavesj 
 have crossed this strange theatre of being between 
 Adam and the flood, and during the subs^uent ages 
 up to our day. Think how many more "are destined 
 hereafter to share a similar destiny. Let us ponder 
 the highest Evangelical authority on this point. 
 
 It is asserted in an article lately published by 
 the most enlightened Trinitarian clergymen at the 
 north, composing the American Board of Commis- 
 sioners for Foreign. Missions, that six hundred miU 
 lions of heathen go down to eternal death every thirty 
 years, or thereabouts ; seventy-three thousand every 
 day ; about three thousand &oeiry hour; thirty-fiv©:; 
 every minute; and one every two seconds. According 
 to this horrid, blasphemous estimate, thousands of 
 our fellow beings are every hour thrust upon that 
 damnation to which there is no end, by an omnipo- 
 tent Father, and simply for not believing in a 
 
EXAMINATION OP FUTURE RETRIBUTION. 241 
 
 Savioiir of whom they had never heard. Could the 
 wildest inmates of a lunatic asylum conjure up a 
 phantasy more monstrous, more repugnant to the 
 perfections of the great Creator ? And yet this 
 shocking representation is pronounced from Dan 
 to Beersheba, a sound and wholesome doctrine — 
 the most glorious feature in the gospel of the meek, 
 loving, and merciful Saviour. And every fledgling 
 in the orthodox ministry is held to rise in the 
 attainments of piety in proportion to the vehemence 
 with which he thunders forth the anathema — He 
 that believeth not shall be damned. 
 
 "Besides, we are assured in the same document 
 that in the most enlightened, favored portions of 
 Christendom, not more than one in ten, or at least 
 one in eight of those who have arrived at the com- 
 petent age, make a credible profession of religion. 
 The remaining nine-tenths .sink down to endless 
 sorrow. More, we are informed by the same autho- 
 rities, that a great many bad people get into the 
 church and assume the garb of religion merely as a 
 cloak to hide their wickedness with. All these, 
 too, must be deducted from the sum total of the 
 finally saved. How inconsiderable, on this theory, 
 is the fraction left ? If these things be so, who has 
 triumphed, God or Satan ? Is there a man living 
 who can look this appalling conclusion fairly in the 
 face, and reason himself into the belief of it ? 
 
 Once more, the New Testament affirms that the 
 redemption of the world through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, is the most afiecting display of divine be- 
 nevolence which the intelligent universe will ever 
 behold. The angels of heaven peal their loudest 
 anthems of gf aise when contemplating and admiring 
 the wondrous scheme of redeeming mercy. But, 
 if -.the view of Mark 16 : 16, which I am criticising, 
 be the true gospel, then it ignores completely the 
 words announced by an angel, to the shepherds of 
 21 
 
242 EXAMINATION OF FUTURE RETRIBUTION. 
 
 Bethlehem, on the eve of our Saviour's nativity^ 
 "Behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy, 
 which shall be to all people — to all mankind." Yet, 
 according to the usual, popular exegesis of this 
 text, no one can look upon it with joy — for amid the 
 almost ' universal wreck and hopeless ruin of our 
 common humanity, no reflecting person can feel 
 anything like a coipfortable assurance that he him- 
 self will ultimately reach the realms of immortal day. 
 
 Is this, indeed, a display of matchless grace, to 
 ordain a remedial system for -the recovery of man, 
 which, by its necessary, inevitable laws, must fix the 
 vast majority of the human race in eternal oppo^ 
 sition to Heaven and happiness ? Should the master 
 of a vessel pass by a perishing ship at sea, and 
 rescue but one soul out of the hundred on board, 
 when he might with perfect ease have saved the 
 whole, Would he not be justly considered in the 
 light of a murderer ? God, in pity, beheld the race 
 of man tossed on the billowy sea of ruin, and, for 
 relieving an inconsiderable portion of them when he 
 could have delivered all, the intelligent universe is 
 called upon to celebrate in loftiest strains of wondery 
 delight, and thanksgiving, the riches of his boundless 
 love. Positively, I can see nothing glorious, nothing 
 godlike, in such an interposition as this. 
 
 The position that none will be admitted to im- 
 mortal happiness but those who exercise true faith 
 in Christ before they die, is also inconsistent with 
 another class of texts, with respect to whose -im- 
 port there can be no controversy: viz — "We see 
 Jesus, who was crowned with glory and honor^j 
 that by the grace of God he should taste death for> 
 every man." " He is the propitiation jiot only forf 
 the sins of believers, but also /o?- the sins of the 
 whole world — all mankind." The Father loveth the 
 Son and hath given him power over oil flesh," — 
 all mankind, ^— -for every commentator concedes that 
 
Examination of future EETRifiuTiON. 243 
 
 ftesh here means mankind. "All that the Father 
 hath given me shall come unto me, and he that 
 Cometh unto me IwiU in nowise cast out." "Be- 
 cause the creature" (all mankind,, according to Pro- 
 fessor Stuart, of Andover, and other Trinitarian 
 critics,) " shall be delivered from the bondage of 
 corniptioE into the glorious liberty of the children of 
 God." "As in Adam all die, even.so all shall be made 
 alive in Christ." The phrase to be in Christ through- 
 out the New Testament, always means to be holy — 
 to be one of the Saviour's blessed, immortal friends 
 and followers. " If any man is in Christ, he is a 
 new creature," — a saint. " There is, therefore, no 
 condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." 
 
 In these and numerous other passages of a 
 similar import, which are so well known, that it is 
 unnecessary to produce them : we are told in the 
 most unambiguous terms possible, that the Son of 
 God will make forever holy and happy all for whom 
 he died : and with equal explicitness, that the object 
 of his death and mission was to deliver the entire 
 race of man from mortalitj'^, sin and suffering. The 
 work which Jesus came into the world to do, must 
 certainly be accomplished. This is undeniable. It 
 is agreed on all sides, that no one can be finally 
 happy without faith in Christ. It follows as a neces- 
 sary consequence, that those interpretations of. 
 Scripture, by whatever arguments, eloquence, or 
 ingenuity supported, which consign all who die un- 
 renew^ed and impenitent to hopeless and endless 
 unbelief, are directly at variance with the most 
 undoubted teachings of the New Testament. " I 
 came down from heaven not to do mine own will, 
 but the will •of the Father who has sent me ; He 
 hath given me all mankind, and it is his will, that of 
 al^which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, 
 but .should raise it up again at the last day." But 
 he cannot possibly accomplish the Father's will, if 
 
244 EXAMINATION OF FUTUEB EETRIBUTI0N. 
 
 all who die sinners are doomed to eternal perdition. 
 " We should never," say all interpreters, " make a 
 figurative expression used in the most figuraim 
 book extant — the Bible — the foundation of doc- 
 trines essential to the laith and hope of the Christian 
 world." And " when literal and figurative expres- 
 sions are applied to the same subject, the literal 
 must always be allowed to determine the import of 
 the figurative, or take precedence of it." That is, 
 the figures of the Bible must never be so explained 
 as to contradict those texts which are universally 
 understood in their plain, simple, literal, natural, 
 most direct, obvious and original import. Paul 
 asserts " that there shall be a resurrection of all the 
 dead, both of the just and unjust." This is plain 
 language, and no figurative expressions of the Gos- 
 pel can be justly so interpreted as to contradict it. 
 Jesus Christ affirms that in the resurrection state 
 "all shall be the children of God, and as the angels 
 which are in heaven " — free from sin, pain, and death 
 This is literal, and no figures of speech can cancel, 
 modify, or subvert its natural and most obvious import. 
 With these facts before me, I am compelled to 
 reject that interpretation of Mark 16 : 16, which is 
 adopted by orthodox Christians generally. " He 
 that believeth shall be saved : but he that believeth 
 not shall be damned." It is self-evident that the 
 sentiment of the whole passage depends on the 
 meaning of the two words " savkd," and " damned." 
 Now let us see what significations these terms beaa? 
 in the Greek Dictionary of the New Testament, the 
 only conclusive authority, recognized by all Protes;: 
 tant divines in their discussions with respect to thc| 
 doctrines of Christ. In Eobiuson's Lexicon, the 
 work of a Trinitarian, and which is of the highsst 
 repute at Andover and Princeton, the Greek word 
 rendered saved in our New Testament is often used 
 in the original to denote deliverance from merely 
 
EXAMINATION OP FUTURE EETRIBUTION. 245 
 
 temporal evils. Let us look at some of its different 
 meanings. 
 
 First, It is employed to express preservation from 
 any outward, physical destruction or peril whatever. 
 Thus, the narrow escape of a person from being 
 burnt to death, from drowning, shipwreck, or similar 
 casualties, is called a salvation. Secondly, it serves 
 to express the idea of convalescence — restoration 
 from sickness to health. When the diseased and 
 infirm were miraculously cured by our Saviour, it is 
 said in the original that they were saved; meaning 
 simply that they were healed or delivered from 
 bodily infirmities. Thirdly, it designates the con- 
 dition and the happiness enjoyed in this world by 
 those who sincerely believe the gospel and live 
 accordingly. Throughout the Greek New Testament, 
 the disciples of Christ are called the saved ones. In 
 Acts 2 : 47, we read : " And the Lord added to the 
 church daily such as had been saved." This is the 
 true rendering according to Adam Clarke, Rosenmul- 
 ler, Professor Stuart, and many other expounders of 
 the most distinguished abilities, in sacred criticism. 
 So in Titus 3 : 5, Paul says, " According to his mercy 
 he saves us, — makes us believers in Christ. In Acts, 
 10th and 11th chapters, it is reorded that Peter was 
 sent to Cornelius, a devout man, who was already 
 pious and accepted of God, to tell him words where- 
 by he might be saved; that is, introduced to the 
 noble principles, sublime, unbounded benevolence 
 and transcendent hopes of the Christian system : not 
 to deliver him from a future endless woe, with re- 
 gard to which he was already saved. In the Greek 
 Scriptures the word saved in some of its grammatical 
 forms occurs, I believe, more than fifty times. Yet 
 the mere English reader of the Bible refers them all, 
 without a doubt or scruple, to express the final 
 destinies of men in the world eternal. Not in a 
 single instance, as I feel assured, is the Greek verb, 
 21* 
 
246 EXAMINATION OP FUTTJEE EETEIBUTION. 
 
 corresponding to our term saojed used by Jesus or 
 his apostles, except in one of the three senses just 
 named. But, however this may be, the facts above 
 mentioned prove conclusively that the term saved in 
 Mark 16 : 16, does not, necessarily and absolutely, 
 signify immortal happiness in the resuiTection state. 
 For Jesus Christ says frequently, " He that believeth 
 is already saved — has passed from death and con- 
 demnation unto life. Indeed, in our Saviour's time; 
 these words, the saved and the damned, were often 
 synonymous with the phrases believers and unbeliev- 
 ers ; though most commonly the term saved, signified 
 the happiness of those who received and loved the 
 truth of Christ, and tiie term damned, the sufferings 
 endured by those who were estranged from the 
 principles of evangelical faith, without any direet 
 allusion to a future state. 
 
 Let us now direct our attention to the principle 
 word in the last clause of Mark 16 : 16, damned. 
 According to the nomenclature of Christians gene- 
 rally, to damn means to sentence a sinner to ever- 
 lasting punishment after death. But the correspond- 
 ing Greek verb katdkrino never bears such an import 
 in the New Testament. No ! not in a single in^ 
 stance. I will quote a few Trinitarian authorities of 
 the most convincing, unexceptionable character. 
 Dr. George Campbell, of Scotland, a firm believer in 
 endless misery, and one of the best scholars of whom 
 any church can boast, says of Mark 16 : 16, " This is 
 not a just version of the Greek. It cannot be af- 
 firmed with truth that the Greek verb, katakrino^ 
 which corresponds to the English word condemM| 
 ever relates to the doom which shall be pronounc^ 
 upon the wicked at the last day." Bishop Home, of 
 the Episcopal Church, and a believer in eternal 
 punishment, expresses himself on this text as follows : 
 *' The sanctions mentioned by our Lord in Mark 16: 
 16, though generally applied to a future state^ do not 
 
EXAMINATION OP FUTUEE RETEIEUTION. 247 
 
 appear to have any relation to it, but only to the 
 admission of converts into the Christian Church, 
 after Christ's ascension, upon the same terms as he 
 admitted them himself. Jesus here, upon leaving 
 the world, gives his apostles the same power which 
 he himself exercised, and orders them to use it in 
 the same manner." 
 
 Cappe, another learned divine of the English 
 church, remarks — " The salvation spoken of in this 
 text, is not salvation in a future life, but exemption 
 from the wrath about to come on a large part of the 
 Jewish people of that generation, for their unbelief. 
 It is to faith that this salvation from temporal evil is 
 promised ; and on unbelief that this temporal con- 
 demnation is denounced. It has no relation to 
 moral merit, and is addressed to the people of that 
 age, and of that age only. The condemnation here 
 expressed by the word katahrino or damned, was a 
 present, temporal and national, punishment merely, 
 and has no reference to salvation in eternity." 
 These were all staunch believers in endless punish- 
 ment, yet they frankly acknowledge that the text 
 before us, fairly interpreted, cannot be adduced in 
 support of their favorite dogma. What follows in 
 the 17th and 18th verses of Mark^ 16th chapter, 
 demonstrates that the terms saved and damned, which 
 we are considering, have especial application to the 
 men of that age, during which miraculous powers 
 were bestowed on believers. For, it is alleged that 
 those believmg ones mentioned in the text, should 
 be able to cast out demons, speak with new tongues, 
 take up serpents and drink poison with impunity, 
 and lay their hands on the sick and heal them. Now 
 it is universally acknowledged that no such powers 
 were ever bestowed upon any believers, except those 
 who lived in the apostolic age. Consequently the 
 text had reference to them alone, and cannot be 
 
248 EXAMINATION OP FUTURE BETEIBUTION. 
 
 considered as descriptive o£ the ultimate destinies 
 of mankind in general, beyond the grave. 
 
 One of the. distinguished authors above alluded 
 to, gives the following paraphrase of this portion of 
 Scripture. Jesus just before his ascension, address- 
 ing the small number of his disciples, (none besides 
 them were present,) says : " Though I am now to be 
 separated from you for a season, yet if faithfal to 
 the principles in which you have been instructed, 
 you will be saved — be as safe and happy as you 
 could be were 1 to remain personally present with 
 you, instead of ascending to my Father ; but if you 
 repudiate the counsels which I have given you, and 
 discard my authority, you will be condemned, (or 
 damned, as our translators have rendered the Greek,) 
 you too will be involved iii the unparalleled ^ilt 
 and calamities, which will soon sweep with the besom 
 of destruction the Jewish city, temple and nation. 
 But although spoken particularly to the disciples, 
 these words, doubtless, were intended for believers 
 generally, belon^ng to that age." 
 
 So that in reaHty the famous declaration of Mark 
 -16 f 16, hasti'© more relation to the fates of men in ; 
 the unseen world, than the first verse of Genesis : 
 " In the beginning God created the heaven and the 
 earth." If such are the facts of the case, should 
 they not be stated from every pulpit in Christendom ? 
 I have heard some good men question the expediency 
 of such a course, on the ground that it is dangeroTO - 
 to disturb the old, time-hallowed opinions of the 
 common people concerning the threats of Scripture. 
 But such are my views of clerical fidelity and honor, 
 that the most sacred, imperative obligations rest 
 upon me, to tell my hearers plainly all that I know 
 about the teachings of Christ and his apostles. I 
 do not doubt the sincerity and goodness of those 
 ministers who pursue a different course. But I 
 
EXAMINATION OF PUTUEE EETEIBUTION. 249 
 
 caBTiot adopt their HQtions of expediency. They 
 judge it best to give to every text relating to pun- 
 ishment an interpretation as alarming as it will 
 possibly bear, though in some respects it be hyper- 
 bolical and erroneous, on the ground that sinners 
 can be led to repentance only by exciting their fears 
 of future woe. To appal the impenitent, texts are 
 often quoted by the pulpit, as belonging to Scripture, 
 which cannot be found in the Bible. For example : 
 " As death leaves us, so the judgment will find us ;" 
 "After death there will ^e no room for repentance ;" 
 and many others of a similar import, that have been 
 manufactured to keep up one of the most absurd 
 and debasing superstitions which human ingenuity 
 has ever devised. But, supposing the words " he 
 that believeth not shall be damned" were to be ex- 
 plained according to the iisual, common, popular 
 acceptation, still it would be of no avail towards 
 proving the doctrine of endless punishment — rfor if 
 one do not disbelieve forever, he cannot be punished 
 forever. ^ So admit the advocates of the popular 
 theology. To accomplish their end, they must pro- 
 duce a class of texts which affirms, in tha^mostlitSral, 
 plain, positive and unambiguous terms, that all who 
 die in unbelief will continue hopelessly in a state of 
 sin and unbelief throughout eternity — as long as 
 the throne of God shall endure. I am fully persuaded 
 that no such texts can be found in the Bible. I 
 have never yet seen one. It is the summit of folly 
 and presumption to rest a doctrine of such tremen- 
 dous import on some figurative expression — on the 
 gflj-ange, bold parables, or hyperboles of Oriental lit- 
 erature. It must be derived, if made out at all, from 
 language which is of a signification perfectly clear, 
 explicit, undisputed and indisputable. 
 _ iOne of the greatest mistakes as to Evangelical 
 faith is the idea that it consists in a peculiar intel- 
 lectual exercise, logical deductions, or subscription 
 
250 EXAMINATION OP FUTURE RETRIBUTION. 
 
 to a set of opinions called a creed. It is comniOH 
 for a teacher to say from his pulpit, after having 
 proved, as he thinks, the' correctness of certain 
 doctrinal reasons and conclusions with respect to 
 Christianity : " My dear hearers. — listen to the awfuit- 
 declaration of the Son of God, ' he that will not 
 embrace these truths which have -been presented tc 
 you shall be damned.' " Now, I find nothing in the 
 Bible to justify appeals of this kind. The uniform 
 language of the Old Testament, as to the qualifica- 
 tions requisite to secure the approval of our 
 Heavenly Father, runs thus : " What doth the Lord 
 require of thee but to do justly, and to love mercy^ ' 
 and to walk humbly with thy God," making faith to 
 be an attribute not of the head but the heart. In 
 the same style our Saviour speaks : " The pure in 
 heart shall see God." In Mark 7 : 21, and onward, 
 he teaches us that before God, all sin and all holi-; 
 ness are but states of the heart. So Paul declares : 
 " With the heart man believeth unto salvation." 
 Throughout the New Testament the same tenor of 
 instruction prevails. Who needs to be told that ' 
 one's head may bg full of ignorance and errors as 
 to theology, while his heart is enriched by divint^s 
 grace — love of God, and love of man? "* 
 
 An old Pagan, who never heard of the gospel, 
 says, in a letter which he wrote when over eighty 
 years of age, " I can look back upon a long life * 
 devoted not to pleasure, wealth, or fame, but to the ' 
 pursuits of a just and honorable life, and the im- 
 provement of my mind. I cannot remember the 
 time when I would, intentionally, have done a wrong 
 act, though certain that it were not possible for thefft 
 punishment thereof to be inflicted upon me either 
 by men or gods." How many exist in the Christian 
 world, who have a standard of action equally pure 
 and lofty ? If this venerable heathen recorded a 
 fact; he must have had that purity of heart in which 
 
EXAMINATION OF FUTURE EETEIBUTlON. 251 
 
 consists the essence of Evangelical faith. It is said 
 m the Acts, "that in every nation under heaven 
 there are those who fear God, and work righteous- 
 ness, and are accepted of him." Paul teaches the 
 same doctrine in his epistle to the Eomans. Yes, 
 Evangelical faith is not a creed — a mere belief in 
 dry dogmas — but a living, practical admiration of 
 whatsoever things appear to any one to be just, 
 pure, honest, lovely, and of good report." 
 
 How refreshing to turn away from the dry bones, 
 the hideous, skeleton-like formulas of the dogmatic 
 faith taught by theologians, to that which is incul- 
 cated by Christ and his apostles. The former is 
 cold, abstract, metaphysical, absurd, and deformed. 
 But what the New Testament writers call faith is 
 simple, easy to be understood, noble, and godlike. 
 Essentially it is the disposition to obey the follow- 
 ing words of our Lord : " Therefore all things what- 
 soever ye would that men should do to you, do ye 
 even so to them : for this is the law and the proph- 
 ets," — that is the whole of practical Christianity. 
 Faith is moral beauty. It is, therefore, commensu- 
 rate with the vast extent of the .Creator's mighty, 
 amazing attributes and works. Like his own omni- 
 present Spirit, it cannot be confined within the walls 
 of a church, the lids of a book, or the narrow bound- 
 aries of some inconsiderable, meagre, bigoted, starved, 
 famishing sect. In the sublime language of inspirar 
 tion, true faith " makes the clouds its chariot, and 
 rides upon the wind." "It warms in the sun, spark- 
 les in the stars," looks in beauty from the flower ; 
 runs in every stream ; is instamped on every page 
 of Nature ; on every man's heart and conscience ; 
 on his intellectual and moral faculties, his spiritual 
 nature, his undying sympathies, and everlasting 
 hopes. 
 
 The fact is, theology on this and many other 
 topics, is equally at variance with Nature and the 
 
252 EXAMINATION OF FUTURE RETRIBUTION. 
 
 Bible. From the days of St. Augiistine it has 
 ignored the dictates of reason, and denied the in- 
 nate, the universal, and necessary convictions of our 
 spiritual nature. It has always frowned upon im- 
 provement of every kind. It commanded Galileo 
 not to believe nor teach the facts which he had 
 learned by studying the heavens through the light 
 of the telescope. This great man was loaded with 
 irons, shut up in a dungeon, and treated like the 
 worst of criminals, because he affirmed that the 
 earth was of a globular shape, spun on its axis, and 
 rolled round the sun. Theologians decided that 
 this was a species of that unbelief ib Christ, which 
 exposes the soul to damnation. Yes, it was heresy 
 then, to believe that our world revolves through 
 the regions of space, in obedience to the mandate of 
 its infinite Author. Nature affirmed that the earth 
 rolled round the sun, the church, assembled in 
 solemn conclave, declared that it stood still. But 
 Nature has triumphed. It always will triumph 
 sooner or later. 
 
 " Truth crushed to earth shall rise again, 
 The eternal years of God are hers, 
 But error wounded writhes in pain, 
 And dies a.mid£t her worshippers." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 EXPOSITION OF MAIIEEW 25 : 41. 
 
 When the New Testament was first written, it 
 was not divided into chapters and verses, and what 
 are now the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth of Mat- 
 thew, formed one continued, unbroken, and uninter- 
 rupted discourse. The subject of this discourse is 
 stated in the clearest terms. We are told by the 
 inspired historian, that on a certain day, the Saviour 
 with his disciples stood gazing upon that magnifi- 
 cent edifice — Solomon's temple. It was so massive 
 and built of such unwasting materials, that it seemed 
 capable of enduring forever. But Jesus said unto 
 them, within a few years this temple will be over- 
 thrown, and so completely destroyed that not one 
 stone shall be left upon another. 
 
 When they had retired to the Mount of Olives, 
 the disciples asked him privately, " when shall these 
 things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, 
 and the end of the world?" It is important to 
 observe that the term world, respecting the end 
 of which the disciples inquired, is not in the original 
 '*Ikosmos" which means the material world, but aion 
 which signifies age, era, or dispensation. So that a 
 correct translation of the question propounded, 
 would run thus, " Tell us what shall be the sign of 
 thy coming, and the end of this age, or the, Mosiac 
 
 22 
 
254 EVBELASTINO PIBB. 
 
 dispensation ? There is no reference here to the end 
 of the human race, and the dissolution of the physical 
 globe, as is very generally supposed. This is not 
 denied by any clergyman who reads the Eible in 
 the original. In reply to this question, Jesus uttered, 
 without pausing, the entire discourse reaching from 
 the^ourth verse of the twenty-fourth, to the last 
 vei^;of the twenty-fifth chapter in Matthew's gos- 
 pel. Of course, if Matthew has not deceived us, the 
 parable of the talents, the parable of the ten virgins, 
 and that of the sheep and the goats refer to the ter- 
 mination of the Jewish age, the destruction of the 
 temple, city and na,tion of the Jews, and the events 
 which were to precede, accompany, and follow the 
 ending of the Mosaic economy. Matthew does not 
 intimate that any other subject was treated of in 
 these two chapters, which in the original constitute 
 one consecutive, uninterrupted strain of observar 
 tions. 
 
 But Jesus Christ himself tells us in the most ex- 
 plicit language, both the time and place of the judg- 
 ment represented in the parable of the sheep and 
 goats. In the 34th and the 35th verses of the 
 twenty-fo:urth chapter he uses these words: "Verily 
 I say unto you this generation shaU not pass away,- 
 till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth 
 shall pass away, but my words shall nat pass away.j' 
 In the portion of Scripture immediately preceding 
 these verses, our Saviour says, " In those days shall 
 the sun be darkened, and the moon, and the stars 
 shall, fall from heaven, and all the tribes of the earth 
 (the land of Judea) shall mourn, and see the Son pf 
 man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power 
 and great glory. Apd he shall send his angels with^ 
 a great sound of a trumpet, and they shal^, gatheij 
 together his elect from the four winds, from one end 
 pf hpav^en to the.other." Then he adds, " This gen- 
 eratiofi shall not pass away till all the things wlli<|k 
 
EVERLASTING FIRE. 255 
 
 I am now uttering shall be fulfilled." In a parallel 
 passage he says, " Verily there are some standing 
 here, which shall not taste of death till they see 
 the Son of Man coming in his glory," &o. Can 
 any one pretend that the judgment here spoken 
 of relates to a general day of trial for the whole 
 human race in the eternal world ? Here we have 
 the word of Christ himself, that his coming toj|B|ge, 
 reward, and punish, as described in the parablfe of 
 the goats and sheep, took place during the life-time 
 of some who were listening to his words. Conse- 
 c[uently they who assert that it is yet in the future, 
 contradict the Son of God himself If men will not 
 believe Christ's own words, of what avail will be the 
 voice of history, the laws of exegesis, the concur- 
 rence of a thousand probable circumstances, or the 
 most powerful arguments that uninspired men can 
 adduce ? " Such persons would not be persuaded 
 though one rose from the dead." 
 
 Now I will glance at the answer which the be- 
 lievers in endless misery give to the above-named 
 reasoning. "Piey concede that Jesus must be un- 
 derstood as s jinking of temporal judgments, in this 
 portion of Scripture, from the beginning of the 
 twenty-fourth chapter, to the thirty-first verse of the 
 twenty-fifth chapter. But, there it is asserted he 
 introduces a iiew topic,* — about which the disciples 
 had made no inquiries — the general judgment of 
 the human race, beyond the ages of time, in the 
 eternal world. " But in reply I would ask, what evi- 
 dence is there that the Son of God, wjthout the 
 slightest intimation, here suddenly and abruptly 
 passes from speaking of things that were to happen 
 itf his day, to a consideration of occurrences which 
 are yet future, and will not take place till time 
 shall be no more? Not a particle of evidence 
 in support of the supposition can be elicited from a 
 faar^nterpretation of Scripture, found in this or any 
 
256 ETERLASTINifl FIRE. 
 
 other part of the Bible. Can a transition similar to the 
 one above imagined be pointed out in the whole 
 compass of the Gospel? If our Saviour was in the 
 habit, without the slightest notice, of making such 
 leaps in his discourses, what reliance can be placed 
 upon his teachings ? In this case they would be 
 too vague, rambling and undetermined, to settle any. 
 important question of morals, or theolggy. But we 
 have the strongest proof that the subject of our 
 Saviour's discourse is not changed at the commence- 
 ment of the thirty-first verse. For it begins thus: ' 
 " When the Son- of Man shall come in his glory." 
 This naturally and irresistibly suggests the question, 
 When was he to come " in the clouds of heaven 
 with power and great glory ? " He has already told 
 us. The time of the judgment described in the par- 
 able of the sheep and goats, is fixed by Christ him- 
 self. " Verily I say unto you this generation shall 
 not pass away till all these things be fulfilled." 
 (Williamson.) 
 
 This view of the subject is strongly corroborated 
 by what are called parallel passages. Take for 
 instance the twenty-seventh verse in the sixteenth 
 chapter of Matthew. " For the Son of Man shall 
 come in the glory of his Father, with his angels, and 
 then he shall reward every man according to his, 
 works." There can be no doubt thajt the coming 
 of Christ with his angels, to reward every man ac- 
 cording to his works, here spt)ken, refers to a tem- 
 poral judgment only. Because in the twenty-eighth' 
 verse of the same chapter Jesus says, " Verily-I- 
 say unto you, there be some standing here which,, 
 shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man : 
 coming in his kingdom." Take another paralletl 
 passage, the whole of the twenty-first chapter mi'- 
 Luke. All admit that in this chapter nothing.fls,' 
 spoken of but the overthrow of Jerusalem, of ^the 
 Jewish nation and the Mosaic economy; yet thee 
 
EVERLASTING FIEB. 257 
 
 language is as bold, sublime, figurative, and as easily 
 appJicable to a general judgment beyond the scenes 
 of earth and time, as that made use of in the parable 
 at the close of the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew. 
 Besides, in the parable of the sheep and the goats, 
 tjie condemned are represented as doomed to pun- 
 ishment for one species of sin onl/y — the wilful re- 
 jection of our Saviour. Those who receive Jesus 
 are saved — enter into life — those who do not re- 
 ceive him, are condemned and punished. Of course 
 this cannot be a description of the general judgment 
 at the end of the world, when the destinies of the 
 whole human race are to be fixed for all eternity. 
 For but a very small part of the innumerable mil- 
 lions, who have died, or are now living, ever heard 
 of Jesus Christ, or had proffered to them the bless- 
 ings of everlasting life in his name. They cannot 
 therefore have incurred the guilt of rejecting him. 
 They cannot have any part in this judgment. There- 
 fore it must be a partial, local, limited, temporal, 
 and particular dispensation of justice — not generaL 
 The description of sinners represented as judged in 
 the parable before us, corresponds precisely with 
 the well-known character of the inhabitants of Pales- 
 tine in the time of Jesus. And they are the only 
 persons alluded to in the discourse of our Lord, re- 
 corded in the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth chap- 
 ters of Matthew. 
 
 These arguments conclusively prove that the 
 words " to be sent into everlasting life," do not 
 mean to be doomed to endless misery beyond the 
 grave. " Let the man who contends for the future 
 application of this text, take heed that he be not 
 found joining hands with infidels ; by being unwil- 
 ling to accept the Avord of Christ, and to believe 
 that he did come as he said he would, before that 
 generation passed away. We affirm that he came 
 ste he said, smd appeal tp his word,^ and to authentic 
 22* 
 
258 EVEELASTING FIKB. 
 
 history for the proof. And yet we are denonnced,' 
 and those who falsify the words of Christ, and make 
 him a false prophet, are regarded as his true disci- 
 ples. To such lengths does the blind zeal of infate 
 uated bigotry run." (I. D. Williamson, D. D.) 
 
 It is certain then, that the judgment spoken of in 
 the parable of the sheep and goats, was to have ^ 
 its fulfilment in the generation in which our Saviour 
 lived. We now inquire, who were they that were 
 to go into " everlasting fire ? " " Keeping close to 
 the Scriptures, there is not the least imaginable dif- 
 ficulty in finding the true answer to this question. 
 They were the unbelieving Jews — the persecutors 
 of our Saviour^the same people over whom, but 
 one short hour before, he had wept, saying, ' Oh ! 
 Jerusalem ! Jerusalem ! thou that stonest,' &c. 'Be- 
 hold your house is left unto you desolate,' &c. 
 Accordingly the event corresponded with the pre- 
 diction. A few years passed away, and Jerusalem 
 was as the Saviour said it should be — encompassed 
 with armies. There the nations were assembled: 
 there and then the great city fell ; the Jewish age or 
 dispensation (called world in our translation) came 
 to an end ; the power of Israel was humbled ; heir 
 sons apd daughters were driven into exile, enslaved, 
 and destroyed. Hitherto they had been exalted at 
 God's right hand, but now they were banished from 
 Palestine, and sent away into a long-enduring, bitter 
 punishment, where they and their children hiave 
 been irom that day to the present — eighteen hun- 
 dred years." - 
 
 But it is alleged that the phrase " everlasting firef^ 
 fairly interpreted, musti, mean^ endless punishment. 
 Let us see. There is a science called Biblical Critfei 
 cism. It consists of a set of laws, which Divinis' 
 and Theologians of every school have agreed;?to 
 follow in explaining and interpreting the BibJe. 
 Two of these rules bear immediately' upon the 
 
EYERLASTING FIRE. 259 
 
 point before us. First, the peculiar idioms and met- 
 aphors of the New Testament were derived from 
 the Hebrew Sciptures. Secondly, when the same 
 metaphors and figures are found in both Testaments, 
 we must give to them both the same meaning, un- 
 less evidence can be adduced that their ancient 
 import was changed by Christ or his apostles. The 
 basis of this rule is the fact that in our Saviour's- 
 time there was no Bible — no standard of faith and 
 practice in use, but the Hebrew Old Testament. 
 Therefore, we must suppose that he employed figu- 
 rative words, in the sense which they bore in the 
 Sacred "Writings of the Jews, or his discourses 
 would have been calculated to mislead and deceive 
 his hearers. Now the language "everlasting fire," is 
 of common occurrence in the Old Testament, and in 
 every instance it is used to denote some temporal 
 evil — some calamity belonging to this world — 
 which can exist and be endured this side the grave 
 only. Look into the thirty-fourth chapter of Isaiah. 
 It contains a prediction of the overthrow of the 
 ancient city and land of Idumea, and the phrase 
 '* everlasting fire" is there used to signify national 
 desolation — of course a limited, temporal evil. 
 
 A merely English" reader of the Bible is led 
 
 astray by the adjective " everlasting" affixed to 
 
 po many nouns in Scripture. The word in the 
 
 original Greek is aionios. The Rev. Mr. Goodwin, 
 
 a learned Unitarian clergyman of Boston, having 
 
 access to all the libraries in that vicinity, and the 
 
 most erudite scholars to help him, examined the 
 
 usages as to aionios in all the classical Greek, prior 
 
 ; to the time of our Saviour, stretching through a 
 
 Space of one thousand years. As the result of his 
 
 investigations in regard to this word, which were 
 
 published in the " Christian Examiner" about the 
 
 year 1830, Mr. Goodwin says, that in all the Greek 
 
 ^ profane classics, it " never expressed positive eter- 
 
260 EVEBLASTING FIRE. 
 
 nity," neither in the form of a substantive nor 
 adjective. His statements have never been refuted^' 
 The Unitarians of New England have in our day- 
 done more to elucidate and establish the correct 
 import of Scripture than all the Trinitarian divine*, 
 and scholars that have lived since the Reformation^ 
 either in Europe or the United States. All honor 
 be to these noble and intrepid men, who with a 
 moral greatness, surpassed only by that of their- 
 Divine Master, have dared to find out and proclaim- 
 Scriptural truth, in defiance of the anathemas, scorn, 
 and disparagement poured out upon them by the : 
 united sects of Chri-stendom. They have passed 
 through an ordealj almost, perhaps, quite as severe 
 as that endured by the martyrs of the primitive 
 ages. Posterity will appreciate, and do justice to 
 the labors of these true-hearted, self-sacrificing men. 
 Their memories will be preserved, grow, and flourish 
 through unknown ages, among the children of those 
 who now hate and denounce them. Calmly and 
 honestly to pursue the investigation of religious 
 triith, to avow partiality and attachment for it when 
 in elisgrace and unpopularity, to bear contempt and 
 ridicule for the cause of Jesus, and suffer for it with 
 unflinching constancy — these require that elevation, 
 that magnanimous independence of thought, that 
 superiority to ail personal, selfish considerations 
 which belong only to a mind that has been cast in 
 the divine, noble mould of Evangelical piety. I 
 thank God, that by his providence, I was broughti 
 acquainted with the Unitarian writings of New 
 England, when stationed in New Orleans, and com- . 
 peUed, all alone, to struggle against a thousand 
 opposing influences and discouragements. 
 
 In the days of Christ, when the Jews desired to 
 express the idea of endless duration, they used 
 words widely difl"erent from those which our Saviour 
 applied to punishment, and which have been ren- 
 
EVERLASTING FIRE. 261 
 
 ^ted forever and eternal in our English Bible. The 
 two most distinguished Hebrew authors of that age 
 were Josephus and Philo. The former, when speak- 
 ing of endless punishment, always uses the terms 
 cddios or adialeiptos, or some other word which, in 
 classical Greek, signifies a positive absolute eternity. 
 But, in speaking of things limited in their duration, 
 he invariably employs aionios, or some other word 
 of a similar import. Thus he speaks of the aionios 
 name of the Hebrew Patriarchs — the aionios glory 
 of the Jewish nation and heroes ; the aionios reputa- 
 tion of Herod ; the aionios monument which he 
 erected ; an aionios fire that was already extin- 
 guished ; and aionios imprisonment to which John 
 the Tyrant was condemned, (fee. 
 
 " In all these cases a child can see that aionios 
 expresses a limited or indefinite space of time, show- 
 ing the indubitable fact that such was its usual 
 signification in the days of our Saviour, and that he 
 never gave the least countenance to the doctrine' of 
 endless punishment by calling it aionios. Philo was 
 an avowed believer in punishment without an end, 
 and he expresses this endlessness by using the 
 words athanatos, ateleutetos, &c. At the same time 
 he was in the habit of using aionios to signify 
 limited duration. Speaking of the hurt which an 
 offended neighbor might do to us, he demonstrates 
 that injury,, which can be but temporal, an aionios 
 holasis, the identical phrase in the parable of the 
 sheep and the goats, translated everlasting punishment. 
 In the " Sibyline Oracles," which were certainly 
 extant in the second century, the doctrine of uni- 
 versal salvation was distinctly taught ; yet they 
 Inculcated a belief in an aionios punishment, im- 
 -■•'i^lving the term, of course, to designate a duration 
 which can be measured. Clemens, Alexandrinus, 
 Origen, and other celebrated fathers, who were well 
 known and open defenders of the ultimate salvation 
 
262 BVEBLASTING FIRE. 
 
 of all mankind, at the same time avow their fall 
 belief in cdonios punishment — that is limited disci- 
 pline — but they deny the aiddos or athanatos — that is, 
 endless punishment. Now, these men, living so near 
 the time of Jesus, must have need aionios in the 
 same sense which it really bears throughout the 
 New Testament. In the oldest Greek lexicon of 
 either the fourth or sixth century, that of Hesychius, 
 Mr. Goodwin says that the definition of aion makes 
 no allusion whatever to any sense of eternity in this 
 word. (The facts above stated are taken from 
 " Austin and Holmes' Debate on Universalism," a 
 very valuable work.) 
 
 There is a translation of the Hebrew Old Testa- 
 ment into Greek, which was made by Jewish schol- 
 ars, about two thousand years ago. They, of 
 eourse, understood their own Scriptures. It is 
 admitted by all Biblical critics that in this version, 
 called the Septuagint, the signification of aionios 
 is indefinite. It may mean an hour, a day, a month, 
 a year, a century, or a cycle. The actual duration 
 which it expresses can never be determined by the 
 mere force of the word itself, but must be derived 
 from the connection, or from the nature of the sub- 
 ject, or some other argument besides its mere dic- 
 tionary import. As in the phrases " a great book," 
 " a great mountain," the nature of the case shows 
 that greai in the former instance has a difi'erent 
 meaning from what it bears in the latter. The most 
 extended sense of aionios is " age-lasting, or long- 
 enduring." In this sense it is applied to God and 
 heaven — the long-enduring Jehovah, the long- 
 enduring bliss of saints and angels. One may say, 
 if he choose, that in these instances it signifies un- 
 limited duration. What then ? The argument foF- 
 the endless duration of God is not, in this case, 
 founded on the force of aionios, but on the nature 
 of the subgeot to which it is applied, as in the 
 
EVERLASTING PIEE. 26'3 
 
 example just referred to — a great hook, a g^-eai 
 mountain. God will exist forever, we believe, not 
 because aionios is applied to him, but because he is 
 infinite and boundless in his nature. " There is no 
 educated clergyman of the Calvinistie school who 
 would risk his reputation as a scholar by attempting 
 to deny these views of aionios. Yet, after ad- 
 mitting them he will stand up in his pulpit and quote 
 the words, These shall go away into everlasting 
 punishment, as conclusive proof that those who 
 die impemtent will suffer an eternal condemnation. 
 The word in the original here rendered everlasting, 
 is aionios, and the word rendered punishment, is 
 kolasis. This minister knows that in Greek litera- 
 ture, the whole phrase is indefinite, and cannot, 
 therefore, by any fair and logical process, be ad- 
 duced to prove endless punishment. 1 will not 
 descend by applying to such a course of conduct 
 appropriate epithets." 
 
 In strictness there is no more proof of post 
 mortem or future punishment, in the twenty-fifth ot 
 Matthew than there is in the first chapter of Genesis. 
 Some divines make doleful lamentations about being 
 robbed of amnios, the strongest term in Greek to 
 prove the eternity of God and Heaven. But, their 
 fears and complaints are without the slightest 
 foundation. Nobody relies upon this adjective to 
 demonstrate the endless duration of God, virttie, 
 and happiness. The ministers who wish to make 
 out that evil will run on, spreading its ravages wider 
 and wider, long as the throne of the Creator shall 
 last, have the whole Greek literature at their 
 service — a literature singularly rich and copious, 
 most beautiful and expressive. It abouiids with 
 &uch words as aidios, cdhanatos, ateleutetos, adialeip- 
 tos, apthartos, and the like^ which literally and appro- 
 priately signify endlessness. These are employed 
 ia Bcriptiire to eatress the teteEaity «f tha jGreator 
 
264 EVERLASTING FIRE. 
 
 and his blessed kiDgdom, but are never applied in: a 
 single instance that 1 can find, to the punishment of 
 wicked men. Though, perhaps, some of these terms 
 may be employed figuratively, to denote a long 
 duration, which is not absolutely endless, I cannot 
 cite an instance of this kind. It is ajnelancholy 
 thought that any clergyman can be sorry that these 
 terms cannot be legitimately employed to prove the 
 infinite wrath of God, and that this'wrath will be 
 exercised in dooming countless millions of his own 
 children to unending, remediless perdition. Is there 
 a minister living who can rejoice in the belief that 
 a large portion of his fellow-beings, and among them, 
 perhaps, his own wife, children, and friends, will;, be 
 finally and forever lost ? If there is, such a person 
 cannot be like God in this particular, for the Bible 
 assures us that God has " no pleasure in the death 
 of the wicked." It seems to give pain to some 
 people to hear the tenet of a final restoration of all 
 mankind adverted to. . They cling to the comforting 
 doctrine of endless perdition ; and would, I suppose, 
 if robbed of it, exclaim with Micah of old, " Ye 
 have taken away my gods which I have made, and 
 what have I more ? " How transporting and god- 
 like the opposite faith, that in the mighty roll of 
 future ages, the time is coming when the last 
 wandering prodigal will be brought back to hm , 
 Father's house, amid the rejoicings and hallelujahs 
 of the whole intelligent creation ! 
 
 It is said that the, fire prepared for the deml and 
 his angds can exist in an eternal state only. But, if 
 this language be understood literally, we must be- 
 lieve in a material hell-r-a doctrine which the clergy ; 
 at this day of every denomination have repudiated. ' 
 The truth is, these words, " The devil and his angels,^' 
 designate the persons of our Saviour's age who 
 were his enemies and persecutors. Jesus himself 
 caUs one of his own disciples a devU or aatan^. that 
 
EVERLASTING FIRE. 265 
 
 is, an opposer, an adversary to certain views of truth 
 which he was inculcating. According to the same 
 sense, men and women are often styled devils in 
 different parts of the New Testament. The term 
 fire here is used figuratively to denote the calamities 
 inflicted upon these opponents, or devils, at the 
 time of the destruction of their city, temple, and 
 nation. All orthodox and Trinitarian critics of the 
 highest reputation and learning agree that fire is 
 symbolical of temporal judgments inflicted upon the 
 wicked, in many parts of the Bible. 
 
 To set this subject in a proper light, I will now 
 record a prediction concerning the United States, 
 couched in the prophetical style used by our Saviour, 
 in common with the sacred writers of the Jewish 
 nation, who were before him. 
 
 " In the year 1900, our republic will be destroyed 
 by invading armies. Then the Son of man will ap- 
 pear in the clouds of heaven, with his holy angels 
 in great power and glory. And being seated upon 
 his throne of judgment, before him shall be assem- 
 bled all the people of the United States — and they 
 shall be judged every one according to their 
 works. They who submit to his authority will be 
 admitted to everlasting life ; they who reject him 
 will be sent away into everlasting punishment. 
 Then, also, the sun shall be blotted out, and the 
 moon shall cease to shine, and the stars of heaven 
 shall fall like seared leaves, in the time of autumn. 
 Our mighty rivers, the Connecticut, Hudson, Ohio, 
 Mississippi, &c., will be turned into streams of glow- 
 ing brimstone. Our mountains, plains, hills and 
 valleys, shall become burning pitch, and send up 
 grpetually thick volumes of smoke, darkening the 
 'hole heavens. And this fire shall burn forever. 
 It will be unquenchable. No man shall pass through 
 these sulphurous regions again forever and ever." 
 Now, the above is a fair sample of the Oriental 
 23 
 
266 EVERLASTING PIKE. 
 
 iiuagery, by which the Hebrew writers and prophefeg 
 foretold the temporal destruction of nations, and aH 
 the evils which follow and overwhelm the inhabitants 
 of captured and demolished cities and empires. 
 Bishop Lowth in his lectures on the Hebrew Bible, 
 (an eminent Trinitarian belonging to the Church of 
 Engla.nd,) remarks, that although this kind of imagery 
 seems to us so strange and extravagant, it was 
 perfectly familiar and intelligible to the Jews in 
 olden times ; and that they invariably understood it 
 in the sense above expressed as relating to temp®ral 
 calamities only. If any reader have doubts as to 
 ttie accuracy of this representation, let him read and 
 prepend attentively the twenty-first chapter accord^, 
 ing to the Gospel of St. Luke. It is admitted by 
 Newton, in his work on the prophecies, and all the 
 most distinguished Calvinistic expounders, thaj;. 
 there is not a verse or image in this whole chapter 
 which does not relate to the destruction of the 
 Jewish temple, city and nation. But it is precisely 
 the same style, type of imagery, figures and thoughts, 
 also, which characterize the twenty-fifth of Matthew,, 
 and other parallel passages. 
 
 There is scarcely a theologian of any name, acr;': 
 quainted with the Hebrew and Greek languagep^si 
 who does not grant that the descriptions in, the 
 twenty-first of Luke embrace temporal events only. 
 Indeed, the supposition that these words of our 
 Lord, have especial reference to transactions in the; ■ 
 eternal world, is confined almost exclusively to those 
 ministers and laymen who read the Bible in no other- 
 language but the English. I wish there was more 
 space for authorities. It is certain, to my mindj^ 
 that the doctrine of future, endless woe is founcU 
 ed on popular ignorance of the true import of God's 
 word. As soon as the general spread of sound 
 biblical knowledge shall have chased away this igno^ 
 ranee from the religious iiorizon, the doGtirine will, 
 
EVERLASTING FIRE. 267 
 
 exist no longer, except in the dark histories of other 
 times. 
 
 But, it is alleged that the Son of God, in several 
 places speaks of the " fire" of hell, and asserts pos- 
 itively that it shall never be extinguished. " Where 
 their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." 
 (Mark 9 : 46.) Hell ! In what part of the original 
 Bible is this word to be found ? I answer it does 
 Aot occur once in the whole volume. I mean, of 
 course, the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures rightly 
 Understood ; and understanding by the term " hell" 
 a place where the wicked will be punished forever 
 after death. The idea of eternal punishment is not 
 advocated by any form of phraseology in the whole 
 Compass of revelation. Where, then, did the word 
 and its belongings originate ? Thank Heaven 1 it 
 does not in a single instance soil the pure, unadul- 
 terated truth of in&piration. Walk along the streets, 
 wharves and thoroughfares of our large cities and 
 towns, and we shall hear it falling from the lips of 
 the low, vulgar, profane and abandoned, as if it were 
 etie of their most familiar, household, cherished 
 words. It was first used by dark and wicked Pa- 
 gans, thousands of years before the coming of Christ. 
 Its origin is absolute pollution. It breathes only 
 of pollution. Its appropriate home is the veriest 
 slough of vice, ignorance and infamy. Sad spectacle, 
 indeed, to see a Christian minister in the pulpit, try- 
 ing to elevate and sanctify this vile word, as if it 
 descended from the regions of celestial sweetness, 
 peace and purity ! But it is all in vain. No eiforts, 
 however learned or ingenious, can make it expres- 
 sive of divine, harmonious, beautiful truth, any 
 more than they could transform the Satan of popular 
 faith into an angel of light and loveliness. I grant 
 that the term hell is found in the English Scriptures. 
 But it has no lawful right there. It has been thrust 
 upon the sacred pages by usurped, unfounded author- 
 
268 EVERLASTING PIBE. 
 
 ity — the authority of uninspired men. Sixty-four 
 times this word is used in our Bible, and in every 
 instance conveys falsehood and blasphemy to those 
 who understand only English literature. The cor- 
 responding terms in the original are never employed 
 to signify punishment after death. 
 
 Dr. Lightfoot (orthodox) says," the Old.Testament 
 must be consulted in order to find out the peculiar 
 meaning of our Saviour's words, idioms, phrases and 
 figures." Turning over this dictionary we see that 
 the terms " fire of hell, or hell fire, unquenchable 
 fire, the worm that never dies, everlasting fire, Ge- 
 henna or hell, (so rendered by our translators,) 
 tophet, &c.," are all figuratively descriptive of 
 calamities inflicted upon individuals and nations in 
 time — this side the grave. Thus in Isaiah 34th 
 chapter : and Jeremiah 17 : 27, the temporal over- 
 throw of Idumea and Jerusalem are foretold by 
 saying that they shall be burnt with unquenchable, 
 everlasting fire, (the severest fire,) whose smoke 
 shall go up forever and ever. Dr. Graves, Home, 
 Bishop Warburton, of the Church of England, Dr. 
 Jahn of the Roman Catholic Church, Palfrey, in his 
 learned work on the Hebrew Scriptures, and every 
 other biblical critic of eminence in our day asseft ; 
 that there are no rewards nor punishments mention- 
 ed, or even alluded to, in the Old Testament, except 
 those of the present life. Hence, it is clear that 
 Jesus did not use the words " everlasting fire" to 
 mean eternal sufi'ering, because when speaking to the 
 Jews, he must have addressed them in the style of 
 their own Scriptures. And the Son of God assures 
 them that their Scriptures contained every motive 
 that could be presented to their minds, in order_ to 
 induce them to pursue a right course of conduct, 
 and secure their salvation. He tells them that if 
 " they would not listen to Moses and the prophet% 
 neither would they be persuaded though one rose 
 
EVERLASTING FIRE. 269 
 
 from the dead." Yet, it is conceded by all, that 
 neither Moses nor the prophets utter a syllable con- 
 cerning interminable punishment after death. But 
 if the Jews had been actually exposed to such a 
 fearful doom, would they not have been told so most 
 explicitly, in a divine revelation which solemnly 
 pifofessed to enumerate all the dangers and penalties 
 of a sinful life ? If such an awful doctrine was not 
 needed then to keep man froili evil ways, can it be 
 wanted in this more improved and enlightened age 
 of the world? A child can see the decisive bearing 
 o"f this question. 
 
 It is asked what is the true interpretation of the 
 words " eternal life," into the enjoyment of which 
 those on the right hand entered ? I 'answer in the 
 language of the unerring Master, " This is eternal life 
 to know thee, the only living and true God, and 
 Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Life eternal is 
 g^ospel Hf6, consisting in the knowledge of God and 
 his Son. Into this life the Gentiles entered, when 
 the Jews were cast out, and the messengers of 
 Jesus turned to them to preach the words of eternal 
 truth. In various passages of the New Testament 
 those who believe in the gospel are said to be in 
 the enjoyment of eternal life here, before they die. 
 That the phrase often bears this import is not 
 denied. To enter into eternal life, often means to 
 be introduced to the perception and love of divine 
 tfuth in the present world. The phrase is not em- 
 pltjyed in thes6 instances to signify immortal blessed- 
 ness in a future state, but the happiness which a 
 sihcefe believer possesses this side the grave. 
 Neither does the antithetic phrase " everlasting 
 ^uiiishment" mean an endless suffering beyond time, 
 but those temporal calamities to which the trails^ 
 grg^sors referred to in the parable, were to be 
 subjected in the present World. Many eminent 
 coutthentators of the TrittitArian school, have thus 
 23* 
 
270 EVERLASTING PIEE. 
 
 explained these words. We see, tihen, how utterly 
 futile is the popular reasoning that as " everlasting" 
 when applied to the fate of those on the right hand 
 signifies eternal bliss in heaven, it is an unavoidable 
 conclusion, that in its application to the antagonistic 
 class, it expresses a directly the opposite destiny — 
 eternal suffering. For neither the reward nor pun- 
 ishment spoken of here is expressive of the con- 
 ditions of any body in the spiritual, ever enduring 
 world to come. This is affirmed by the Son of God 
 himself, for he declares that this parable should be 
 fulfilled before the death of some persons who were 
 then living. 
 
 But, even conceding that the word in one instance 
 meant eternal happiness, it would not follow that in 
 the other it denoted eternal misery ; for throughout 
 Scripture, in the same verse, the same adjective is 
 often employed in totally different senses, as in the 
 text. " Let the dead bury their dead." In Romans 
 16 : 25, 26, " everlasting in one clause signifies a 
 limited duration, in another it is expressive of an 
 endless existence. So that in either case, the text in 
 Matthew twenty-fifth does not conclusively prove 
 the point in debate. It has been thought by some 
 that the clause, " And before him shall be gathered 
 all nations," demonstrates that a general judgment 
 of the entire human race is described in the parafeji^ 
 of the sheep and the goats. But in the original the 
 phrase " all nations" simply means all the inhahitaaii 
 of Palestine ; as in the thirtieth verse of the twenty- 
 fourth chapter of Matthew, " all the tribes- of tl^ 
 earth or globe," signifies, by universal concession, 
 all the people of Judea only. 
 
 Now, there are several classes of texts so altered;! 
 throughout the New Testament, which make lit' 
 absolutely certain that our Saviour did not introduce 
 the parable of the sheep and the goats to teach 
 tlie doctrine of eternal woe. Though referred, to in 
 
EVERLASTING FIRE. 271 
 
 the preceding pages, I must here repeat them. The 
 first is composed of those in which Jesus affirms that 
 he was raised up, and sent forth by the Father to 
 redeem entire humanity — " to make a propitiation 
 for the sins of the whole world ; to taste death for 
 every nian." Will he notaccompHsh, ultimately, the 
 enterprise that he has undertaken ? The celebrated 
 John Calvin, who was one of the closest reasoners 
 that have figured in the theological world of the last 
 three centuries, somewhere remarks, " That if Jesus 
 died for the redemption of all mankind, then it fol- 
 lows, by necessity, that all mankind will sometime 
 or other be redeemed ; for not one' drop of the 
 Saviour's blood has been shed in vain. He did not 
 interpose for a purpose which some contingency 
 might frustrate. He has all the resources requisite 
 to carry into complete execution the sublime scheme 
 of redeeming mercy." Hence, this great man taught 
 that there is no Saviour for the non-elect. No 
 matter how good or noble their lives may be, they 
 cannot escape that destruction for which they were 
 ordained by the immutable, eternal decree of repro- 
 bation. In my poor judgment, this is the only 
 logical ground on which the doctrine of endless 
 woe can be maintained. For, if Jesus came to save 
 all men, it is self-evident that he will never send 
 any portion of them to everlasting ruin. 
 
 There is a second class of texts in which Christ 
 declares that the Father has given all men — literal- 
 ly all — into his hands ; that all who have been 
 given to him wiU come unto him, and that no one of 
 those who come unto him can be lost. A; third 
 class of texts affirms that the number of the finally 
 saved will be exactly equal to the number of the 
 
 - human race. As many as are lost through Adam will 
 
 - be redeemed by Christ. In the fifth chapter of Eo- 
 mans we are taught that it is the unchangeable, eternal 
 
 'purpose of the Father to deliver the entire race of 
 
272 EVERLASTIIf^ FIRE. 
 
 man froid inoftality, sin and suffering. A fourth 
 class of texts teaches that all mankind, without 
 eiSception, good and bad, jtist and Tinjust, will be 
 raised from the dead, — will siirvivie the dissolution 
 of the body, or be immortalized. We are not only 
 told that all mankind will live forever, but also that 
 they will one day become as the angels of God in 
 heaven ; die no more ; sin no more ; and suffer no 
 iflbte. A fifth class commands us to pray for the 
 salvation of all mankind ; " Because this is good 
 aUd acceptable to God our Saviour, who will have 
 all meh to come to the knowledge of the truth 
 and be saved." It seems like blasphemy to suppose 
 that God would require us to pray for a consumma- 
 tion which was not in accordance with his will ; 
 a&d equally so to imagine that what he really de- 
 sires will nevef take place. A sixth class of texts 
 asserts that after Jesus shall have subdued all our 
 Enemies ; after he shall have destroyed death, the 
 l6M enemy, and converted every sinner, he will 
 resign his mediatorial cotnUiission into the hands of 
 his Father, and become subject himself also to the 
 oiie undivided, and indivisible Jehovah, that God 
 iflay be ALL IN ALL. Is it possible to devise language 
 more precise, beautiful, or magnificent, to express the 
 doctrine of the ultimate exaltation of entire hu- 
 manity to the glories of ati heavenly state ? 
 
 There is not one of the above-named classes of 
 texts which does not demonstrate the great fundai 
 ilieiital error of Supposing that the parable of the 
 sheep and the goats, or any other parable, or figure 
 of speech uttered by our Lord, were intended to 
 teach the final condemnation of any part of the 
 human race. For, if any go away at last into evet- 
 lastihg punishment, then it cannot be true that " all 
 aeb will come unto Christ ; " " that none of those 
 #hd coine linto him will be cast dilt ;" "that the num= 
 ber of the finally saYed ^ill include Adam and all 
 
ETERLASTING FIRE. 273 
 
 his posterity;" " that in the resurrection state to 
 which all men will be raised, there will be no more 
 death, sin, nor suffering;" "that the last enemy, 
 death, shall be destroyed ;" " that the Father really 
 desires the reformation and everlasting happiness of 
 all his erring, fallen children," &c. If the doctrine 
 of endless misery be taught in Scripture, all these 
 glorious assertions are downright, palpable false- 
 hoods and blasphemies. In this case, we must con- 
 cede that the New Testament is what its enemies 
 represent it to be — not only the invention of un- 
 inspired men, but an invention full of puerilities, 
 contradictions, and things impossible to be received 
 as the word of God. Let it be remembered that the 
 Scriptures teach the final restoration of all mankind 
 in language so explicit that it cannot be misunder- 
 stood. . The sublime sentiment is expressed in terms 
 so plain, simple, literal, obvious, direct, and varied, 
 that no art, no ingenuity of learned expounders can 
 reconcile them with the doctrine of eternal punish- 
 ment. But, the opposite texts adduced in support 
 of the popular idea of hell, as all agree, may be so 
 explained, without violating a single law of grammar 
 and sound interpretation, as not to conflict with the 
 class of passages which aflSrm that all mankind will 
 become, eventually, holy and happy ; or, in other 
 words, upon the principles of liberal Christianity, 
 the teachings of Jesus and his apostles in regard 
 to the future destination of man, are uniform and 
 harmonious, but upon the Calvinistic platform, they 
 are hopelessly inconsistent, contradictory, and sub- 
 versive of all just claims upon our reception as true 
 and divine. Concede the ■ correctness of those 
 interpretations of Scripture upon which the advo- 
 cates of endless misery insist, and the Bible, as a 
 necessary consequence, must cease to be regarded 
 as an inspired volume, containing the words of God 
 and eternal life. It must be surrendered into the 
 hands of the Deist. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PABABLE OF DI7£S AND LAZABTTS. 
 
 It is said that in the parable of Dives aivd Lazarus, 
 our Saviour, in the most unambiguous terms, speaks 
 of a rich man, who had departed this life, and "Was 
 lifting up his eyes in hell, being in torments." Pray, 
 what does this language mean? This question 
 opens a vast field of discussion, which might well 
 adcupy a volume. But, I shall confine my present 
 remarks to a single object — the faithful exhibition 
 of those views concerning Dives and Lazarus, which 
 ha,ve been held by learned orthodox, Trinitarian 
 believers in endless misery, for the last nine hundred 
 years. 
 
 And first allow me to introduce to your acquaint- 
 ance, that great and good divine — Theopylact, who 
 li^ed in the tenth century, and Was one of thei 
 brightest luminaries in the theological horizon of 
 that age. All the clergy of Christendom acknowl- 
 edge his superior abilities, and integrity. He 
 was by birth a G-recian, and most thoroughly ac- 
 quainted with his vernacular tongue. He left behind 
 him a commentary on the New Testament, com- 
 posed in his native language. It is held in the 
 highest estimation by the biblical scholars of the 
 present day. Dr. Lardner says, " that his work is 
 one of the most reliable, which the olden times have 
 bestowed upon us. Its value is enhanced by the fact 
 
RICH MAN AND LAZAECS. 275 
 
 that he is a very cautious, and discriminating author. 
 He never quotes spurious books, or forgeries -r^ 
 such as the Apocryphal Gospels, c&c. Besides, 
 he has given us nearly all that is extant, belonging 
 to the commentaries of Origen, Chrysostom, and 
 other Fathers of the earlier ages-" Indeed we learn 
 from this venerable man what were the prevailing 
 opinions in the Church, on the most prominent points 
 of doctrine, from the apostolic days up to the time 
 in which he lived. 
 
 Now what view does Theophylact take of Bives 
 and Lazarus. He affirms that this portion of Scrip- 
 ture contains not one particle of real, absolute, his- 
 toric truth. Observe that,, ibr the sake of brevity, 
 I use my own words, but they convey an accurate 
 statement of his thoughts: and arguments. He df- 
 clares in the most explicit terms that the entire nar- 
 rative is a fancy sketch. It is a fiction — a story 
 feigned, invented, imagined, in order to convey to 
 his hearers an important and interesting mor^l. 
 AHow me to be particular on this point. Theophy- 
 .lact teaches that we must not suppose that Dives 
 actually lived ; carried a body with him ijjto the 
 eternal world, in which he was tormented for the 
 sins committed previous to his death; nor that 
 Lazarus was once a beggar on earth, who, on awak- 
 ing in the land of spirits, found himself reclining on 
 Abraham's bosom ; nor that such a dialogue was 
 literally held between the patriarch and the rich 
 man, (&c. In other words, all the facts here stated are 
 imaginary, and are put forth to impress certain in- 
 structions which will presently be noticed. To this 
 point too much importance cannot be attached, that 
 according to the distinguished divine just named, 
 the narrative about Dives and Lazarus is a mere 
 romance, — as truly so as the Vicar of Wakefield, 
 Eobinson Crusoe, Bunyau's Pilgrim's Progress, or 
 the incidents in MMixo-'a Pftxadiae Loe.t. The &rg»- 
 
276 RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 
 
 menta upon which this ancient theologian rests an 
 interpretation, which to many may seem visionary 
 and unwarranted, are distinctly specified. The sum 
 of his reasonings is based upon the following laws 
 of exegesis. Whenever a text or portion of Scrip- 
 ture literally understood, implies or asserts what is 
 in the nature of things absurd, impossible or wicked, 
 then we must give to it a figurative import. For 
 instance, when we read that " God has a body pre- 
 cisely resembling that of man : that he wields the 
 weapons of a warrior — sword, bow and arrows — 
 .with which he puts his enemies to death; that he 
 keeps a sumptuous table, rides in a chariot, is some- 
 times angry and jealous, and even sorry for what he 
 has done," we receive such declarations as meta- 
 phorical, because literally explained, they ascribe 
 the grossest imperfections to our Creator. The 
 Bible says, that as a servant in the kitchen washes 
 a dish clean, wiping it, and turning it upside and 
 down, even so will God do with the city of Jerusa- 
 lem. Literally this is low, vulgar and disagreeable. 
 In the shape of a figure it exhibits refined, beautiful 
 and exalted truth. (See Bishop Lowj;h's Lectures). 
 In the future world there are no bodies, and conse- 
 quently no one there is capable of being tormented 
 with fire. Nor are the remaining facts asserted in 
 the description, literally understood, within the lim- 
 its of possibility. 
 
 Let us remember that according to the report of 
 the four evangelists, our Saviour uttered many 
 fictions or parables. It was with him a favorilse 
 mode of inculcating divine truth. It is universally 
 admitted, that so far as their narrative parts are 
 concerned, the gospel parables are entirely allegori- 
 cal, with the exception (as some allege) of Dives 
 and Lazarus. No one supposes that in the parables 
 of the sower, the good Samaritan, the tares and the 
 wheat, d:c., that the persons and scenes there intro- 
 
RICH MAN AKD LAZARUS. 277 
 
 duced, were really matters of fact. Why then, 
 should not the parable we are considering, fall within 
 the sweep of the general law ? 
 
 The parables of onr Saviour present sublime and 
 important spiritualities in a simple, definite, and 
 intelligible shape. By their help he was able, as it 
 were, to draw aside the veil which hides the future 
 state, and impart to its vast, ethereal and magnificent 
 scenes the substance, coloring and sensible qualities 
 of the material. objects around us. Allegories ex- 
 hibit the truth on which they are employed in a 
 picturesque form — bring the most abstract concep- 
 tions wijiin the reach of the obtuse, ignorant and 
 unreflecting. They surround a doctrine with adven- 
 titious circumstances of a tangible character, by, 
 which the dullest, weakest minds can laj"^ hold ol 
 aiid contemplate it steadily, without confusion or 
 embarrassment. I do iiiot see how Christianity 
 could have been taught to the mass of mankind 
 without their instrumentality. The story of the 
 good Samaritan is a more impressive exhibition of 
 the duties of benevolence, than all which the elo- 
 quence of uninspired man has ever uttered on this 
 theme. As we can never forget the sensible picture 
 or image, neither can we become insensible to those 
 charming principles which it inculcates. Jesus 
 deceived no one, for the fictitious part of his dis- 
 courses was understood by his hearers, and were 
 in harmony with the taste and literature of that day, 
 and that part of the world. How simple, beautiful, 
 and fascinating would the pulpit now be if its teach- 
 ings were in the style which characterized the 
 discourses of Christ ? 
 
 Prom the time of Theophylact, (who asserts that 
 his exegesis had been the prevailing one since the 
 days of Origen,) down to the middle of the seven- 
 teenth century, there seems to have been no dispute 
 about the parabolic aspect of Dives and Lazarus. 
 
.278 RICH. MAN AND LAZARUS. 
 
 But the Puritans of England had revived the idea, 
 perhaps, as long ago as John Banyan's time, that 
 this portion of the Bible should be regarded in th« 
 light of a real history. It was a leading object with 
 them to make the popular views of a future state as 
 terrific as possible. Strange men ! They threw a 
 funeral pall over all that is naturally bright and 
 beautiful in this world, and endeavored to shroud 
 our prospects beyond the grave in the thick dark- 
 ness of eternal night. Their reasonings were 
 successfully resisted by the celebrat^d Lightfoot, 
 Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, England, 
 and one ot the profoundest biblical scholars belong- 
 ing to modem times. Though a firm believer in 
 endless punishment, he took the same ground with 
 Theophylact, and for the same reasons. Indeed, he 
 fairly ridicules the credulity of his puritanical oppo- 
 nents. He says, " That €he persons who received 
 Dives and Lazarus as real history, can believe also 
 those little friars, whose trade it is to show the 
 curiosities of Jerusalem to travellers, and who pro- 
 fess to point out exactly the place where the house 
 of Dives stood. Most accurate keepers of antiquity I 
 truly, who after hundreds of years, amid the changesj 
 overthrows and devastations of Jerusalem, can rake 
 ont of the rubbish of by-gone ages and scenes, the 
 site of a dwelHn^ that never had an existence^, 
 except in the regions of imagination." He then^ 
 declares that not only the consent of all the ablest 
 . expositors, hut also the nature of the description 
 itself, assures us that it is a parable. 
 
 Whitby, a Trinitarian,. and a believer in eterrife 
 woe, who lived about a hundred and thirty yeara 
 ago, uses the following words: "That this account of 
 Dives and Lazarus is only an allegory, and not a 
 real history of what was actually done, is evident." 
 He enumerates these evidences, "which are substan- 
 tially the same with thbse just mentioned. Also it 
 
RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 279 
 
 is said by Whitby, that Jesus did not invent this 
 parable, but took it from the Jewish legends, which 
 were familiar to the minds of his hearers. It is 
 found in the Gemara, a work belonging to the 
 ancient literature of the Hebrew nation. Jvightfoot 
 argues, with great force, the utter impossibility of 
 explaining many of the circumstances here mention- 
 ed — (such, for instance, as the supposition that 
 human bodies, fire, water, and other material ele- 
 ments exist and act in the spiritual world,) without 
 considering them as figurative or parabolic in their 
 character. But, it will not do to take the ground 
 that one part is parable, and that the rest must be ac- 
 counted as real history. The whole narrative is 
 either entirely allegorical or entirely literal. But, on 
 the ground that it is literal throughout, it. becomes 
 absolutely absurd and inexplicable. This plan of 
 interpretation, therefore, inust be abandoned. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Nathan, for some time settled over 
 the Jewish synagogue, Canal street, New Orleans, 
 an accomplished Hebrew scholar — told me that he 
 had read this story in the Gemara, and that, in his 
 judgment, it had no reference to the actual condition 
 of disembodied spirits in the future world. To men- 
 tion all the authorities bearing on this point, is not 
 now possible, for want of space. I must not omit, 
 however, the names of the two most celebrated 
 critics, as to biblical literature, in the United States, 
 the late Professor Stuart, of Andover, Mass., and the 
 Rev. Dr. Banjes, a Presbyterian clergyman, of Phila- 
 delphia. The eminent genius and vast learning of 
 these gentlemen are universally acknowledged. "We 
 may judge of their integrity from the fact that, 
 although subscribing to the doctrine of endless 
 punishment, yet they adopt, in the main, the same 
 principles of interpretation as to this parable, with 
 Theophylact and others of the olden times. 1 doubt 
 not that at least nine in ten of the most competent, 
 
280 EICH MAN AND LAZAKUS. 
 
 judges, for the last one thousand years, have repu-- 
 diated the idea that Dives and Lazarus should be 
 considered in the light of historical, authentic facts. , 
 But in reply, it is urged that nothing can be more 
 explicit than the words of Christ, for he positively, 
 asserts, " That the rich man died, and after that lifted 
 up his eyes in hdl, being in torments." A distin-, 
 guished author has remarked that this text is the 
 spiritual sling and stone with which any untaught, 
 evangelical stripling in the ministry can easily pros- 
 trate the Goliaths of heresy, in defiance of their 
 utmost ingenuity and resources of sacred lore. But 
 there is a radical defect in this sling. It is power- 
 ful, only in the imagination of the ignorant. For all 
 the critics, without an exception, above named, 
 deny that Jesus says that the rich man was in hell — ; 
 meaning " hell in the common acceptation of the 
 term, as it is now used throughout the Christian 
 world," 
 
 " A little learning is a dangerous thing ! 
 Drink deep, or taste nof1;he Pierian spring ;" 
 
 The Greek term here rendered hell is Hades. This, 
 they all affirm, never signifies hell in any author, 
 sacred or profane. Dr. George Campbell, of Scot^, 
 land, a Presbyterian divine, and an avowed believer 
 in the endlessness of future punishment, declares, 
 " That Hades ought never in Scripture to be rendered 
 hell, supposing hell to signify a place of punishment 
 after death." The rich man and the beggar, ani. 
 Abraham, are all represented as being together in 
 the same place. It is not intended that one was in 
 hell, and the other two in heaven, but that they were 
 all neighbors, enjoying each other's company, inhabit- 
 ants of the same world. Professor Stuart says, " That 
 the literal hades receives all mortal men Avhen they 
 die, without distinction of character. All the gopd 
 who have died are now, according to the Bible, in 
 
RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 281 
 
 hades, but not in hell, of course." Besides, Scrip- 
 ture teaches that all men will be raised from Jiades 
 to an incorruptible and immortal inheritance. The 
 time is coming when hades will be emptied ; when 
 not one soul will be found residing there. It can- 
 not, therefore, be what they designate by the word 
 Gehenna, — the place usually denominated hell, for 
 the tenants of that prison-house, it is held, will 
 never be set free. Or, in other words. Scripture 
 aflSrms unequivocally, that hades will come to an 
 end, win be shut up finally and forever. It follows, 
 therefore, by a necessary consequence, that Jesus 
 did not say that the rich man was in hdl, meaning 
 by the word a place of everlasting punishment. 
 
 This, then, is the sum of what has been advanced 
 by orthodox clergymen, and divines, and critics — 
 to prove that Dives and Lazarus is a parable. Para- 
 bles, as all know, are a species of figurative language. 
 According to their concession, therefore, the facts 
 here mentioned are not to be understood as realities, 
 but as the symbols or similitudes only of spiritual 
 things. Literally explained, the parable involves 
 what is absurd and impossible. If hades is a place of 
 punishment, Jesiis should have told us so plainly, 
 unequivocally and repeatedly. This he has never 
 done, even by allusion, implication, or figure of 
 speech. If the apostles had understood their Mas- 
 ter as teaching that hades was a place of torment, 
 they would have preached the doctrine continually 
 and everywhere. This they never did in a single 
 instance. Professor Stuart says that the Hebrew- 
 word corresponding to the Greek hades, never sig- 
 nifies hell or a place of future punishment, in the 
 Old Testament; nor is the idea of such a place sO: 
 much as hinted at, even, in the sacred books of the 
 Jewish nation. 
 
 But our Saviour tells us virtually that these booksr 
 eive us all the information which it is necessary to 
 ^ 24* 
 
282 EICH MAN AKD LAZARUS, 
 
 have in regard to our future destiny. Who can 
 assert that it was morally right for Moses and Jesus 
 to say nothing about punishment after death, if, in 
 fact, we are exposed to a doom so awful? The 
 suppression of this truth, under these, circumstances, 
 would be enough to prevent our having the slightest 
 confidence in either their character or teachings. 
 Indeed, a supposition of this kind^lls the reflecting 
 mind with horror, for it is tantamount ^o saying that 
 the Son of G-od saw us plunging down to eternal 
 ruin, and gave us no warning of our danger, nor 
 lifted a finger for our salvation therefrom. These 
 consideratidhs are perfectly decisive. It is ndi 
 necessary to add another syllable to show that Jesus 
 never actually spoke of a rich man's being torment- 
 ed after death. 
 
 What, then, is the real meaning of the parable ? 
 It is said that no one at this day believes in a ma- 
 terial hell — that the fire mentioned in Dives and 
 Lazarus is not to be understood as literal fire. It 
 is simply an emblem. What then ? Are the pains 
 which it indicates less real or less terrible on that 
 account. Ah ! me, what are the severest sufferings 
 which material agents can inflict, compared with 
 those torments. of which to dwell in eternal burn- 
 ings is but an emblem, a symbol, or exponent ? The 
 truth is, mental sufferings are infinitely more to be 
 dreaded than those which are corporeal, however 
 aggravated. 
 
 I return to the question Can any mortal tell what 
 this parable teaches ? I will present the general 
 features of its interpretation as laid down by 
 Theophylact, and all critics of the same school. Hp 
 says that by the rich man is signified the Jewish 
 nation, and he refers to numerous passages in the 
 Old Testament, where the Jews are spoken of under 
 
 this figure. Lazarus means the poor Gentiles, 
 
 poor spiritually, because excluded from the advan- 
 
RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 283 
 
 tages which God's covenant people enjoyed. The 
 Jewish nation was destroyed by the Romans, died, 
 and was buried. The poor man died to sin and 
 darkness, (glorious death !) and went to the kingdom 
 of light, truth, and hope — or was introduced into 
 the church of 'Christ, — which fact is expressed by 
 saying that after this metaphorical death, he was 
 permitted to repose in the bosom of Abraham. 
 Throughout Scripture the moral declension of indi- 
 viduals and nations is described figuratively, by 
 speaking of them as dead and buried. On the con- 
 trary, their reform and exaltation are represented by 
 saying that they have been raised from hiAdes to the 
 enjoyment of another and better life. (See Ezekiel, 
 37th chapter, Romans 6 : 11, (fee.) So that hadeS) 
 (falsely rendered hell in this parable) signifies the 
 moral condition of certain parts of mankind this 
 side the grave, and contains not so much as an allu- 
 sion to the unseen, disembodied state of the soul in 
 future existence. The fire which tormented the 
 rich mat, symbolizes the temporal sufferings that 
 resulted to the Jews from their unbelief, and which, 
 in a greater or less degree, they have endured 
 since the overthrow of their temple, city, and polit- 
 ical existence. In their distress th&y turn to Abra- 
 ham for comfort-^ long for cool water to alla,y 
 their thirst — or some refreshing evidence from 
 him that the Messiah whom they look for, will 
 speedily come to their rescue. The gulf represents 
 the various circumstances by which they have been 
 separated so long from the Gentile nations, resisting 
 -all the influences which tend to promote or bring 
 about their amalgamation. What is said about their 
 refusing to hear Moses and the prophets, &c., signi- 
 fies their pertinacity in rejecting the evidences of 
 Christ's divine mission — or their extreme bigotry. 
 Some one has said, " That the mind of a bigot is 
 like the pupil of the eye : the more light you throw 
 upon it, the more it contracts." This is simply 
 
284 RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 
 
 what our Saviour meant when he said, " If thej 
 hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they 
 be persuaded though one rose from the dead." 
 
 I cannot undertake to say that there is not a 
 single error in the above principles of exegesis, but 
 to myjudgment, they appear easy, simple, natural, and 
 perfectly harmonious with the universally acknowl- ^ 
 edged laws of Biblical interpretation. It is the 
 exegesis adopted by a great majority of those 
 divines who believe in endless punishment. If it 
 had been in their power to have explained this 
 p8!,rable, in harmony with their cherished creed, 
 they, most assuredly, would have done so ; but the 
 obstacles ju the way of this appeared to them in- 
 superable. Again, it should be observed that the 
 plan of Theophylact is consistent with the character 
 of God, as the Father and Friend of mankind. It 
 leads clear of the difficulties which beset those who 
 use this portion of Scripture to p:fpve the horrid, 
 revolting doctrine of eternal and infinite wrath. 
 
 Another thought has, to my mind, the character 
 and force of absolute demonstration. If there be a 
 place where the wicked will be tormented after 
 death, the Son of God should have told us so in 
 terms so plain and explicit that they could not pos- 
 sibly be misunderstood, or explained away and re- 
 solved into metaphors merely^ In every discourse, 
 in every communication with those around him, he 
 should have made this declaration — " VerUy, verily, 
 I say unto you, they who die in their sitis will be! 
 doomed to suflfer eternal torments." But how stands 
 the fact? We opfen the Bible at the beginning; of. 
 Genesis^ and read attentively the five books of 
 Moses. They are entirely silent on the subject of 
 hell. If the antediluvians were exposed to il, they/ 
 did not know it ; and it is admitted that a more 
 wicked people never existed- since time began. 
 The whole body of orthodox critics and expounders 
 
RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 285 
 
 admit this fact. In our version of the Old Testar 
 ment, the phrase hell— to go to hell— or to he sent to 
 hdl — means, always in the original, according to 
 Professor Stuart, either the death of the body, or 
 the being involved in some temporal calamity. 
 Never, is it there used, even once, with reference to 
 punishment after death. (See one of his last works, 
 a new translation of the Book of Proverbs, with 
 riotes). All our clergy of every name, who read the 
 original Bible are familiar with this fact. They Imow 
 that heU in the Hebrew Scriptures never signifies a 
 place of future, eternal woe. 
 
 The first time that the phrase "hell-fire" occurs 
 in the New Testament is in our Saviour's Sermon 
 on the Mount,_Matt. 5 : 22. The Rev. Albert Barnes, 
 the niost distinguished of Presbyterian commenta- 
 tors in the United States, paraphrases the whole 
 verse thus : " He that hates his brother without 
 cause is guilty of the violation of the sixth com- 
 mandment, and,, shall be punished with a severitj'' 
 similar to that inflicted by the court of judgment. 
 He that shall suffer his passions to transport him to 
 still greater extravagances, and shall make his 
 neighbor an abject of derision and contempt (by 
 saying Raca,) shall be exposed to still severer 
 punishments, corresponding to that which the San- 
 hedrim, or great council inflicts. But he who shall 
 load his brother with odious appellations and 
 abusive language, shall incur the severest degree of 
 punishment, represented by being burnt alive in the 
 horrid and awful valley of Hinnom." The Jews 
 perfectly understood the Saviour to tell them that, 
 as according to their own law and custom certain 
 offences were punished by the verdicts of the court 
 of judgment, and graver crimes by the decisions of 
 the Sanhedrim, while the worst acts were expiated 
 by ignoble death in the vale of Hinnom, or Gehenna, 
 or Hell (these three words being synonymes) ; even 
 
286 RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 
 
 SO all sin should now, under the Christian dispensa-. 
 tion, be punished correspondingly. When and 
 where? Not after death^ but whenever and where- 
 ever the act of sin was committed, there shall the 
 penalties be received." " The righteous shall be 
 recompensed in the earth, much more the wicked: 
 and the sinner." 
 
 So throughout the gospels, when the original 
 term rendered hell, is Gehenna or valley of Hinnom^ 
 it invariably refers to temporal judgments of some 
 kind or other. There is no proof that the con- 
 temporaries of our Saviour understood by it a place 
 of punishment or suflFering after death, either limited 
 or unlimited. " Gehenna fire is kindled in every 
 sinful breast. Its roar is heard in the sound of the 
 various woes which pervade the world. Its lurid 
 flame flashes in the angry eye, and its effects are 
 inscribed on the brow of hate. But when the evils 
 it denotes shall have spent their force, the sin-worn, 
 unhappy children of men shall remember and turn 
 unto the Lord, and worship him in the beauty of 
 holiness." 
 
 It is admitted by all orthodox critics, that Gehenna 
 is the only word in the New Testament that is ever^ 
 used to designate^ a place of endless punishment. J^ 
 Now, the apostle Paul has never once named this 
 word in all his epistles. Nor have we any account 
 that he ever mentioned it in his preaching, or his 
 conversation during the long period of forty years, 
 devoted to the teaching of Christianity to as wicked . 
 people as any now in existence. What is the iui 
 ference ? It is this, that Paul knew nothing, and 
 believed nothing of eternal torments in a future 
 state, for had he embraced this truth, he could not 
 have been utterly silent about it. What would be 
 thought of a minister in our day, by all orthodox 
 Christians, who should preach,' and write, and con- 
 verse upon the character and purposes of God, the 
 
RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 287 
 
 present and future condition of mankind, and their 
 obligations to repent and be holy, during the space 
 of forty years, and should never, in a single instance, 
 speak of hell as a place of future disciphne or 
 punishment ? Would they not, at once, pronounce 
 him to be a Universalist of the most ultra type ? 
 
 But some say that, though Paul did not, indeed, 
 use the term hell in his preaching, yet he employed, 
 in superabundance, synonymous words and phrases, 
 to inculcate on his hearers the doctrine of ever- 
 lasting woe beyond the grave. The same remark 
 has often been made concerning the other New 
 Testament writers, but it seems to me without any 
 good reason. It is a gratuitous, unsupported asser- 
 tion. Within the last -thirty years, I have examined, 
 again and again, every text and paragraph of Scrip- 
 ture which have been adduced in the different ages 
 of the church, to prove the endlessness of punish- 
 ment. Now, I think it is easy to convince every 
 honest and unprejudiced inquirer, that in the origi- 
 nal writings called inspired, from the first verse ot 
 Genesis to the last of the Apocalypse, there is not 
 one sentence fairly interpreted, which affirms the 
 appalling sentiment that all who die impenitent, will 
 continue to grow more impenitent, corrupt, and 
 wretched through an absolute eternity. In our 
 English Bible a few texts may, indeed, be quoted, 
 which, according to the usual, and obvious, and 
 literal import of words in our language, might be 
 insisted upon to support such a doctrine. But, 
 they are all perversions — either misunderstandings 
 or misinterpretations of the original. We have 
 already stated that the phrase hell, understood as 
 signifying a place of punishment after death, cannot 
 be found in either the Hebrew or Greek Scriptures, 
 yet it occurs in our version fifty-five times. Correct 
 these erroneous -translations, and the shocking 
 theories that prevail on this solemn theme would be 
 
288 RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 
 
 banished from the religious world. Or, even leave 
 the momentous words 8heol, Hades, and Oehennd 
 untranslated, and then no one, it is probable, would 
 be led astray on this subject. Surely, no clergyman 
 should wish to build up his peculiar system of faith 
 by the help of pious frauds, by giving a wrong sense 
 to any part of Scripture. 
 
 Let me present the facts and reasonings which 
 have been presented .on the Bible doctrine con- 
 cerning punishment in a condensed form — in the 
 fewest words possible. First. There is no word or 
 form of speech in the original Scriptures which 
 denotes a place of suffering after death. Secondly. 
 In the New Testament, the phrases everlasting life 
 and everlasting punishment are used to signify certain 
 allotments which God has ordained for the children 
 of men this side the grave ; thus, " These shall go 
 away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous 
 into life everlasting." Everlasting punishment here 
 means the long-continued evilsT which the Jews 
 endured in the loss of their temple and city, in their 
 national destruction, and the almost unparalleled 
 woes which ensued. Eternal life in this verse 
 signifies the happiness which Christians enjoyed on 
 earth in the reception of divine truth, and in be-ing 
 exempted from the terrible calamities which were 
 inflicted upon the Jews, the disastrous consequences 
 of which have reached through more than eighte^ 
 hundred years. This we know from the words of 
 the Saviour himself, for he declares that this ever- 
 lasting punishment, and this eternal life should begin 
 in a few years from the time when he was then 
 speaking — before many of the persons who were 
 among his hearers should go down to their graves. 
 Thirdly. Those words in the Greek language which 
 denote an absolute eterniteare never applied to 
 punishment. They are aphihartos, aphtharsia, akata- 
 lutos, athanasia, &c. These terms the sacred writers 
 
KICK MAN AND LAZARUS. 289 
 
 usually employ when speaking of God's endless 
 existence, the immortality of men, and the eternity 
 of heaven. Aionios, or everlasting punishment, 
 throughout the Scriptures is a formula, jised to 
 ^express limited or temporal calamities. Never, in a 
 single instance, does it mean eternal suffering — 
 suffering that is literally endless. 
 
 Fourthly. The phrase " The end of this world," so 
 often occurring in the parables of our Saviour — as 
 in those of the tares and the wheat, the net that was 
 cast into the sea, (fee. — never refers to the ending 
 of this physical globe, or the world itself literally 
 understood, but invariably to the end of the Jewish 
 age, or Mosaic dispensation. In the original the 
 word rendered world is aion, or age, era, epoch, c6c. 
 The term in the Greek for world is kosmos. There 
 is not a passage in the New Testament that speaks 
 of the ending of the kosmos. Suppose the people 
 in general knew this, would they not doubt~ either 
 the discernment or the fairness of our translators? 
 
 Fifthly. The following language, ,the ." world to 
 come," or the " future world " in the gospel, never 
 means the state of existence after death. Among 
 the Jews of our Saviour's day, it signified simply 
 the age of Christ, or the Christian dispensation, 
 which to them was future, and was called the aion 
 to come, as distinguished from the one under which 
 they were then living — the Jewish or Mosaic aion. 
 
 Sixthly. The threatenings of Scripture are, in 
 almost every instance, couched in figurative, hyper- 
 bolical language, and are to be understood with 
 such qualifications and limitations as are necessary 
 to harmonize them with the promises of the Bible, 
 and the undeniable attributes of the infinite and all- 
 perfect Father. For example take Jer. 23 : 39, 40 — 
 " Therefore, behold I, even I, will utterly forget 
 you, and forsake you, and the city which I gave 
 you and your fathers, and cast you out of my 
 
^90 RICH MAN AND LAZABtTS. 
 
 presence. And I will bring an: everlasting reproach 
 upon you, and a perpetual shame which shall not be 
 forgotten." Please observe the terms " utterly 
 forget,'' " forsake,'! " cast out of my presence," " an 
 everkjiting reproach," " perpetual shame," cfcc. Did 
 God mean all this, concerning stubborn, foolish, 
 degraded Israel and Jerusalem, in the literal, direct, 
 extreme, and most obvious sense of the language 
 used? This question is answered in the following 
 words : " For thus saith the Lord> after seventy 
 years be accomplished in Babylon, I will visit you, 
 and perform my good word towards you, in causing 
 you to return to this place. For I know the 
 thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, 
 thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an 
 expected end- Then shall ye call upon me, and ye 
 shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto 
 you. And ye shall seek me, and find me when ye 
 shall search for me with all youT heart. And I will 
 h& found of you, saith the Lord ; and I will bring 
 you again into the place whence I caused you to be 
 carried away captive" (Jer. 28 : 10 — 14.) Thus it is 
 certain that the prophet used the terms, " utter 
 forgetfulness," " utter abandonment," " everlasting 
 shame and reproach," in the import of Oriental 
 byperbole, merely to designate a punishment which 
 continued only through the space of seventy yearsi 
 Notice seventy years is an everlasting period, accord- 
 ing as the word' is employed by the Sacred Writers. 
 Are not both of the passages above quoted from 
 the book of Jeremiah true ? But can they both be 
 true in their most plain, literal, simple, natural, obvl' 
 ous, direct and original import ? Did God utterly 
 forget and forsake the Jewish people ? Yet after 
 seventy years, did he not remember them in mercy? 
 Did he cast them and their city out of his presence 
 forever, and bring literally an everlasting reproach 
 upon them ? Yet, we read after seventy years,- did 
 
RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 291 
 
 he restore them, their eity, temple, and nation to 
 favor and honor. And Paul says, speaking of the 
 Jews in his day, or rather speaking of the future 
 fortunes of the Jewish people — "The deliverer 
 shall come out of Sion, and shall turn away ungodli- 
 ness from Jacob, and so aM Israel shall be saved." 
 Yes, Paul asserts that the very persons, who in the 
 parable of the sheep and the goats, are said to go 
 away into everlasting punishment, will one day be 
 delivered from sin and wretchedness, by the merci- 
 ful Saviour of all mankind. Ponder these indubitar 
 ble facts, ye who render the threatenings of Scrip- 
 ture in their most literal sense in order to prove the 
 doctrine of endless, merciless, unnecessary, and use- 
 less eufferipg. 
 
 I will present two more passages from the same 
 book, further to illustrate this point: "Thussaith 
 the Lord, -thy bruise is inourai)le ! But I will 
 restore health unto thee, and will heal thee of 
 thy wounds; saith the Lord." Was the "bruise" 
 of Israel literally i^cfiraJie.'' Did God promise to 
 heal wounds absolutely incurable ? A child can see 
 that here occurs a flat -contradiction unless we have 
 recourse to the laws of figurative language to help 
 us out of the difficulty. 
 
 " Whoso readeth let him understand," says the 
 Bible. If men would do so, they would no longer 
 take for granted, that the following passages are to 
 be taken in the extreme, unbendingj rigidly literal 
 sense of the words which they contain. " These 
 shall go away into everlasting punishment. He 
 that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath 
 NEVER forgiveness neither in this world, nor in the 
 gworld to come, — that is, neither in the Jewish 
 nor Christian dispensation. For it is impossible 
 for those who were once enlightened, &c., if they 
 fall away, to renew them again unto repentance. It 
 is IMPOSSIBLE for a rich man to enter into the king- 
 
292 EICH MAN AND LAZAEUS. 
 
 dom of heaven. Who, then, can be Baved? Jesus 
 answered, with men this is impossible, but with God 
 all things are possible." Yea, though I have said 
 that " it is easier for a camel to go through the eye 
 of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the king- 
 dom of heaven, yet, God is able to accomplish this 
 difficult enterprise — he is able to convert and save 
 the soul of a rich man. It was a common figure of 
 speech in our Saviour's time, among the Jews, to 
 say of any diflScuIt performance, that the thing was 
 IMPOSSIBLE, meaning thereby simply that it was im- 
 probable, or the hardest thing to be achieved within 
 the range of divine power. So we say it is impossi- 
 hie to reform a drunkard, meaning only that it is 
 very difficult to accomplish his salvation. It is cer- 
 tain, then, that the threatenings of Scripture are 
 expressed in those figurative terms, which, fairly 
 interpreted, never signify eternal ruin in the spirit- 
 ual world. 
 
 Seventhly. But the promises that everlasting life 
 shall be finally bestowed on all men, and that ;God 
 is incapable of resting in the incurable sinfulness 
 and destruction of his erring children, are conveyed 
 in language of the most literal, plain, obvious, direct 
 and unambiguoT^ import. " The Lord will not cast 
 off forever ; but though he cause grief, yet he will 
 have compassion according to the multitude of his 
 mercies : for he doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve 
 the children of men. Thus saith the High and Lofty 
 One that inhabiteth eternity — I will not contend 
 forever, neither will I always be wroth; for the 
 spirit would fail before me, and the souls which i 
 have made. He is gracious and full of compassion : 
 infinite, eternal, and unchanging in his mercies. He 
 doth not punish forever, because he delighteth in 
 mercy. As high as heaven is above earth, so great 
 is his compassion. As far as the east is from the 
 west, so far will he remove our transgressions from 
 
RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 293 
 
 Tis. Even as a father pitieth his children, so doth 
 the Lord pity sinners. For he knoweth our frame, 
 he remembereth that we are dust." 
 
 " Love your enemies, that ye may be the children 
 of your Father in heaven, for he so loveth the whole 
 world (all mankind) that he sent forth his Son to 
 save them. Be ye perfect therefore, (in goodness 
 to the evil and unthankful,) even as your father who 
 is in heaven, is perfect (in his goodness to them). 
 Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came 
 upon all men to condemnation ; even so by the 
 righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all 
 men unto justification of life. For as by one man's 
 disobedience all men were made sinners, so by the 
 obedience of one, all shall be made righteous. That 
 as/ar as sin hath reigned, even so far might grace 
 reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. For the whole human race 
 shall finally be delivered from the bondage of cor- 
 ruption into the glorious liberty of the children of 
 God. As thou hast given me power over all man- 
 kind, that I might give unto them eternal life. And 
 all which thou hast given me shall come unto me, and 
 none of those who come unto me shall be cast out. 
 For God hath concluded all in uWbelief, that he 
 might have mercy^ upon all. He Js able even to 
 - subdue all things to himself. When all things shall 
 be subdued unto him, (for death the last enemy of 
 man shall be destroyed,)) then shall the Son also 
 himself be subdued unto him that put all things 
 under him, that God may be all in all. For as in 
 Adam all die, so also all shall be made alive in 
 Christ (in holiness). There shall be a resurrection 
 of all the dead, both just and unjust. Every knee 
 shall bow to him, and confess . that he .is Lord to the 
 glory of God the Father. God is love. Love 
 worketh no ill," (no real, final, absolute injury to its 
 object). Such clear, precious promises are ifound 
 25* 
 
294 RICH MAN AND LAZAUUS. 
 
 on almost every page of the Bible. I have presented 
 a few merely as Samples. No art of exegesis, no 
 metaphysics, no logic, no learning, no eloquence 
 can make them teach anything less than the eventual 
 holiness and happiness of all mankind. And I woa- 
 der, that any Unitarian clergyman with these pas- 
 sages before him, can say that the New Testament 
 has left the final destiny of the wicked in " a state 
 of awful uncertainty." Their ultimate restoration 
 is affirmed in Scripture, in texts much more numer- 
 ous, and equally explicit with those which are ad- 
 duced to prove the unity of the Divine Nature. 
 
 But gentlemen have often put to me the following 
 question : " If you speak habitually, openly, and 
 without reserve, of that glorious future destiny in 
 store for our race — if you make it a prominent 
 topic out of the pulpit, in conversation in the social 
 circle ; when ministering by the beds of the sick 
 and dying, and in your funeral services, is there not 
 great danger that the careless, and impenitent will 
 derive therefrom encouragement to go on in their 
 transgressions with utter unconcern and reckless- 
 ness ? Is there not a probability that 4hey will say 
 within themselves, ' If I am to be made a happy im- 
 mortal at some* future period, no matter how dis- 
 tant, — two hundred millions or billions of years 
 hence, why should I impose upon myself the re- 
 traints of a religious life. It is better now, to give 
 myself up to *the unrestrained indulgence of my pas- 
 sions, and revel in the jo3's of sense, till I sink into 
 the tomb. All will come right at last, for in the 
 unimaginable evolutions of a future existence, I 
 shall be exalted to the possession of angelic excel- 
 lence and bliss.' " I have presented the objection 
 in its fullest strength. 
 
 In reply, I would say first, supposing the criticism 
 to be just, against whom does it really bear testi- 
 mony. Not the humble author of these lines, nor 
 
RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 295 
 
 any living teacher within the bounds of Christen- 
 dom. But, it assails the inspired writers themselves 
 — the Son of God, and his apostles. More than this 
 it impeaches the perfections of our Creator, for 
 Jesus assures us, that the promises which have just 
 been quoted are not his promises, but that they 
 were given to him by his Father. They came forth 
 from the depth of eternity, the centre of infinitude, 
 the heart of the universe, the bosom of Him in 
 whom we have our existence. Can they, thea, be 
 in favor of licentiousness ? Shall mortal man affect 
 to be more wise and just, than his Maker ? Shall we 
 prefer the dim, feeble, flickering rush -light of 
 earthly wisdom, to the meridian effulgence of 
 heavenly day? Does not He, who made the human 
 mind, know best what words wiU reach most effec- 
 tively its hidden springs of action, and stir with an 
 healing influence, the deep fountains of its spiritual 
 life? 
 
 Fortunately, we can appeal to an apostle for con- 
 clusive arguments n-.specting tliis point. On one 
 occasion, when Paul preached the certain and 
 glorious character of man's final destination, an 
 objector said, " Will not wicked men, emboldened by 
 your doctrines, continue in sin; because divine grace 
 is so superabounding?" How did the apostle reply? 
 " Ye do err," he says, " for whoever believes fully 
 in the riches of God's mercy, as unfolded in the 
 Gospel, must of necessity be sanctified. Sin can no 
 longer reign over him. He bath passed from death 
 uuto life." 
 
 This is reasonable. Take the hardest case imag- 
 inable. Suppose we could put into the soul of the 
 worst sinner living, a realizing sense of the sublime 
 revelation, that we shall live forever — that after 
 more years, ages, centuries and cycles shall have 
 rolled off, than there are drops of water in the ocean 
 or sands on its shores, we shall still live, and cast- 
 
296 EICH MAN AND LAZARUS- 
 
 -iug our eyes backwcard through the long vista ol 
 the past, look forward upon scenes of joy, improve- 
 ment and glory succeeding each other, tbrough the 
 fresh, divine, and beauteous wonders of an ever- 
 opening -etearnity ! Contrasted with a prospect' so 
 magnificent and inconceivable, would not the most 
 tempting allurements of earth fade away from his 
 eight, shrink into nothing and vanity — be despised 
 or forgotten ! They would appear to him like 
 contemptible trifles - — lees than the playthings and 
 gewgaws which little children mse in the sports of a 
 summer's afternoon. Yes, a firm, undoubting faith 
 in this glorious truth, would cause :him to become 
 in a > single day, an earnest, consistent, happy, and 
 rejoicing disciple of Jesus. Instantly would he 
 exchange the garments of deformity, for- the bright, 
 heavenly robes of immortal worth and wisdom. 
 His soul would be nerved with divine energies, 
 enabling him to resist every form of depravity and 
 corruption. With holy scorn and indifference, he 
 would without a moment's hesitation dash to the 
 ground the most sparkling cup of unlawful indul- 
 gence. Never, ; again, would that man : grovel, or 
 plunge into the mire of moral debasement. No sin- 
 ner can truly, with ,all his heart, renounce this 
 world, till another is presented to his sight infinitely 
 more winning and attractive to his affections than 
 anything which he beholds within the narrow hori- 
 zon of time audi sense. 
 
 It may be asked, does the Gospel, in order to 
 induce sinners to repent, exhibit nothing to their 
 view but scenes of hope and love, beauty and bliss? 
 :Does it make no appeal whatever to their fears ? 0, 
 yes. It presents to them those dark and terrific 
 forms of retribution this side the grave, which no 
 transgressor ever did or can escape. It tells them 
 that the inevitable wages of sin is death. Let me 
 -describe experiences which I have often witnessed. 
 
RICH MAN AND LAZAEUS. 297 
 
 Set before you the picture of a young man just set- 
 tling in New Orleans. He has noble and promising 
 endowments. The fire of genius flashes in his eye ; 
 the best resolutions nerve and animate his bosom. 
 But at length the syrens that pervade all cities, 
 more or less, triumph over him, and he is drawn into 
 forbidden ways. He falls, and 0, what a fall ! It is 
 superfluous to describe it, even were it possible. 
 Suffice it to say, that in a short time he is bereft of 
 health, virtue, reputation, property, business, and 
 lastly the means of subsistence. His most intimate 
 friends and acquaintances desert him, which I admit 
 is wrong. Soon we see him before the Criminal 
 Court, in tatters and pollution. Next I am called to 
 visit him in the Police prison, amid horrid oaths, 
 blasphemies, and the most revolting spectacles. As 
 I have clasped his cold hand, and knelt down by his 
 pallet of straw, to commend his departing spirit into 
 the hand of God who gave it, no words could ex- 
 press my emotions, when contrasting the dark scene 
 around me, with that calm, beautiful home where 
 he was bom and nurtured — where a father's wisdom 
 was his protection — where he listened to the gentle 
 tones of a mother's undying love, and the sweet 
 music of a sister's kindly voice. I have seen him 
 breathe his last, and his pale, emaciated form not 
 laid with many tears by surviving relatives, beneath 
 the fresh, green sods of his native hills, but like the 
 carcass of a brute, thrown roughly into a cart, to be 
 carried back to the Potter's Field, and huddled 
 among the confused remains of the fallen, unwept, 
 unhonored, and unblest. Oh ! who can worthily 
 describe or conceive of such a hell as this ! 
 
 If by conversation, by preaching, or by pictorial 
 representations like those of Hogarth, or any other 
 means, young men could be brought to see the heU- 
 fire that is constantly burning in New Orleans, 
 Boston, New York, and similar places, and which is 
 
298 EICH MAN AND LAZAEU8. 
 
 sure to eonsnme all those who tread, impeDitentJy, 
 the delusive ways of transgression, they wonid 
 shrink with .horror from all moral contagion, and 
 walk only on the solid ground — th^ terra firma of 
 sound reason, of good sense, of Christian faith, and 
 heavenly wisdom. A single glimpse of this temporal 
 hell would do more to reform and save young men 
 than all the threats of vengeance in a future, un- 
 imaginable existence, which the pulpit has uttered 
 for th« last fifteen hnndred years. Indeed, such 
 threats only serve to render sin more unyielding, 
 and sinners more incorrigible. 
 
 With regard to sin and its awful consequences, 
 if a clergyman, instead of preaching the gospel 
 faithfully, substitute in its room the theories and 
 philosophy of uninspired doctors, he will exert a 
 very bad influence on his hearers. Such a pulpit 
 is undeserving of the patronage of good people. 
 Jt is an evil, seductive, corrupting institute, which, 
 under a sacred and venerated name, sows broadcast 
 among men the seeds of spiritual death, when it 
 professes to be difiusing the principles of sound 
 morals and undefiled Christianity. Deep, dark, and 
 rapid is the current of depravity which sweeps 
 through every lairge city. What a dreadful thoughjb 
 that Christian pulpits should be reared and main- 
 tained, which only help to swell this ominous tide 
 that is hurrying so many mortals to. destruction ! 
 
 What does the Son of God say to persuade 
 sinners to repeat,? He tells them that they conld 
 as easily make the mountains sink down to tl® 
 level of the plains at their base, or standing on the 
 sea-shore, by speaking a word, to cause the incoming 
 tide to recede, or stretch forth their arms and 
 grasp the planets, and arrest their course, as to find 
 real hajipiness in the pursuits of a sin-loving and 
 pleasure-seeking life. He solemnly iproclaims that 
 there is no isolid peace this side the grave without 
 
RTCH MAN AND LAZARUS. 299 
 
 the attainments of holiness. He assures ms that 
 devoid of these we shall be miserable every hour, 
 day, week,, month, and year of our waking existece. 
 His language runs thus : " If thou art a sinner, thou 
 must be born again; if thou art tempted to do 
 wrong, thou must resist, and overcme this tempta- 
 tion ; if thou harborest guilty passions in thy bosom, 
 thou must deny and eradicate them ; if thou art a 
 bad man, thou must become a good man, or never 
 enter the kingdom of heaven." These words have 
 been thus paraphrased : '< Depend upon it the mind 
 of man is so builded, so fashioned, so exactly 
 balanced, and so exquisitely touched, that sin intro- 
 duced into it, is the direct misery ; that every unholy 
 thought falls upon it as a drop of poison ; that every 
 guilty desire operates to spread through the deli- 
 cate texture and frame-work of the soul, the plague- 
 spot of evil, and the blight of death. The mind ot 
 man has been so constructed by the Almighty Archi- 
 tect that it can find rest and peace only in the love 
 and practice of immortal virtue." (Dewey.) 
 
 If these views of the wants inherent in human 
 nature were fully embraced by all tke inhabitants ot 
 earth, there would not be an impenitent sinner in 
 our world. " Righteousness would run down the 
 streets of every city like a mighty river." No 
 edifices would be built th,erein, no commerce carried 
 on, no business transacted, no recreation even in- 
 dulged, but in strict subordination to the purifica- 
 tion and welfe-re of the soul, as the great, ultimate, 
 and paramount end of existence. In that case, all 
 would feel that without Evangelical piety, life has 
 no noble, wise, worthy, or adequate object ; that 
 human existence unblest with religion, sinks below 
 the level of the brute ; that to the eye of the un-. 
 believers not a single ray of light can shipe upon 
 the darkness of the tomb; no effulgence beam forth 
 
300 RICH MAN AND LAZARUS.. 
 
 from the perspective of that eternity upon which 
 we shall all soon enter. 
 
 Yet if the Saviour's preaching concerning present 
 retribution were understood and appreciated by all 
 mankind, then all would hear the voice of God 
 speaking to them from heaven and earth — days, 
 times, and seasons — from all that mingled web of ordi- 
 nances, appointments, fates, events, trials, and vicissi- 
 tudes which fill up the short span between the 
 cradle and the grave. Yes, they would hear the 
 voice of Grod through every nerve, fibre, power, 
 faculty, and element of their moral and physical con- 
 stitution, as well as through the lips of Jesus, assur- 
 ing them that in order to be happy for a single 
 week, "they must live soberly, righteously, and 
 godly, in this present world. I repeat it, if men 
 paid due heed to the solemn and sublime instruc- 
 tions of the gospel, as to the inevitable results of sin 
 this side the grave, they would all become good- 
 would all make the interests of true, vital, experi- 
 mental rehgion the grand, urgent, instant, intense, 
 unuttersible, and all-absorbing concern of their life 
 and their being. Then, these mysterious scenes of 
 time, these affecting experiences, these momentous 
 interests, these objects of affection, precious as our 
 own souls, would contribute surely, and in ways 
 beyond t-he ken of mortals, to prepare them for the 
 happy hour, when they will be ushered into the 
 higher wonders, joys, and glories of an inheritance 
 incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, 
 reserved in heaven for them. I cannot find in all 
 the teachings of Christ so much as an allusion to a 
 condition of suffering in a post-mortem state of 
 existence. 
 
 I am aware that it is said by many learned, wise, 
 and good men, that the minister who does not hold 
 out to sinners the awful danger of interminable 
 
RICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 301 
 
 punishment for the finally impenitent, fails to address 
 to his hearers the most powerful and persuasive 
 motives to repentance and holiness. But was not 
 the preaching of Jesus Christ a perfect model of 
 that sort of appeal best adapted to promote the 
 conversion of the wicked ? Yet he never hinted 
 that they were exposing themselves to endless 
 punishment by their contumacy and disobedience. 
 In my judgment, the fear of such a doom hereafter, 
 has never converted a sinner — has never prevented 
 a single sin. In the nature of the case, it is im- 
 possible that it should produce such results. As an 
 inducement to avoid sinning, it is utterly powerless. 
 " However formidable the appearance which the 
 preacher's vivid imagination, or the printer's ink 
 may give to this hell of theology, the hardened 
 sinner looks upon it as unconcernedly as the little 
 child gazes upon a caged and chained lion in a 
 menagerie, with the perfect certainty that it cannot 
 come forth to hurt any one — to bite and devour. 
 It is out of the question to make obdurate sinners 
 anxious about what may overtake them at a period 
 so remote as the ages of a world eternal. When he 
 is charged with a villainous resolution, and the 
 nerves are braced for the executing of crime, the 
 thought of a hell to be endured ages hence, in the 
 state eternal, cannot stay the hand of the trans- 
 gressor." He can be restrained by nothing but the 
 well-grounded apprehension of the judgment or 
 suflferings that misconduct may draw upon him in 
 the present world. Besides, the threat of future 
 woe is rendered entirely nugatory by the doctrine 
 which its advocates universally preach, that he 
 who through his whole life has been an open, reck- 
 less, hard-hearted sinner, may at the last gasp, by 
 one moment's sincere regret and reliance upon the 
 vicarious atonement, escape the punishment which 
 his transgressions deserve, and have his polluted 
 •26 
 
302 RICH MAN AND LAZAETJS. 
 
 soul instantaneously invested with celestial loveli- 
 ness. A more atrocious, abominable, demoralizing 
 sentiment cannot be found in all the dark annale 
 of Atheism and Infidelity. 
 
 Let it be remembered that if a person were to 
 abstain from every sinful thought and deed, say his 
 prayers habitually and earnestly, read his Bible 
 every day, keep the Sabbath holy, attend punctually 
 on the church and its sacraments, merely from the 
 fear of hell after death, in the sight of the Om- 
 niscient One, he would be just as low in the scale 
 of true rehgion as the most worthless vagabond in 
 the streets. An infinitely better member of society 
 he would be, of course, than the unscrupulous 
 reprobate, but equally removed from the kingdom 
 of heaven. A religion based upon fear merely, 
 united with corrupt desires, is the lowest degree of 
 moral debasement to which man can sink this side 
 the grave. Suqh is the teaching of inspiratioij. 
 " There is no fear in love (real religion) ; it casteth 
 out fear, because fear hath torment, (is hell). We 
 love him because he first loved us." 
 
 I go further. It is not simply a fact that the 
 preaching of infinite wrath has done no good ; it 
 has, done immense hurt — it has operated beyond the 
 power of words to express; to degrade and debase 
 the human mind — ^to fill the world with crimes an^' 
 sufiFerings. It has tul-ned a beautiftd and heaven- 
 descended religion into a system of horror and 
 absurdity. It has given to what is called Christianity, 
 dark, harsh, revolting, and malevolent features. It 
 has tracked its course sometimes with blood an# 
 fire, and always with the worst passions and conse- 
 quences. A queen of Spain, when the Inquisition 
 was first ordained, said, " Since God will butti 
 heretics forever in hell, it is right for the Church-to 
 bum them to death here." ..She reasoned right, 
 conceding the truth of her premises. If God in- 
 
EICH MAN AND LAZARUS. 303 
 
 flicts torment on his enemies, why may we not treat 
 ours in a similar manner? Should we be more 
 noble and forgiving than our Creator? Yes, this 
 doctrine has turned the hearts of Christians (so 
 called) into adamant. It has armed the human 
 tongue with the sting of vipers. It has caused the 
 press to pour forth rivers of gall and wormwood. 
 It has led the pulpit to suppress the messages of 
 peace and good will, and in their room to substitute 
 the bitter denunciations of the polemic, and the 
 horrid menaces of everlasting woe. It has broken 
 up families liiat had been united by the tenderest 
 ties of affinity and affection. It has alienated friends 
 and neighbors. It has sundered the dearest bonds 
 of society. It has caused the best men to be hated 
 and persecuted through life, and at last to be con- 
 signed to the wheel, the rack, the gibbet, or the 
 flames. It has darkened, desolated, and ruined the 
 ^ J5t precious interests of humanity. It has done 
 more hurt than all the forms of infidelity on earth. 
 
 Dr. Channing says : " This doctrine has caused 
 a religion which was given to fill us with generous 
 hopes, to become an instrument of servile and 
 torturing fear. What was designed by God to 
 produce universal benevolence, has reared the in- 
 quisition, kindled the fires of the martyr, broke men 
 into subjection to priesthoods, ministers, and human 
 creeds, and so turned the revelations of mercy into 
 engines against the child, the trembling female and 
 the ignorant adult, that the skeptic has been em- 
 boldened to charge on religion, the chief miseries 
 and degradation of our race. The religion which 
 Christ sealed with his blood, rightly viewed, frees 
 the mind from aU fear of outward penalties — from 
 every fear but the fear of doing wrong. 
 
 I lately read a discourse whose object was to 
 show that the dread of eternal misery exerts such 
 a salutary, efficient restraint upon the ignorant and 
 
304 RICH MAN AND LAZAEUS. 
 
 vicious masses, that without it no form of civil 
 government even could be established and main- 
 tained among men — that the fear of hell is the basis 
 of science, social refinement, and civilization — that 
 the good "conduct of the majority everywhere de- 
 pends on their undoubting belief in the reality of 
 eternal retribution. What a preposterous senti- 
 ment? Nobody has respect or confidence for a 
 person who is restrained by wrong acts only by 
 means of terror — whose conduct is dictated by no 
 higher considerations than those embraced in the 
 fear of pains and penalties. Persons of this de- 
 scription, instead of helping to keep civil society 
 together, exert a direct, positive influence to dis- 
 tract, weaken, and debase it ; but the men who love 
 virtue for virtue's sake, religion for religion's sake, 
 and a good life for a good I'^e's sake — these are the 
 individuals who are the soul and support of every 
 well-regulated community. 
 
 Yoii desire a servant; and there are set be- 
 fore you, we will suppose, two of the same age, 
 of the same mental and physical energies — A. and B. 
 But you are informed that the good conduct of A, 
 depends entirely on his fear of punishment, while 
 B, is a person who is actuated by the principles of 
 honor and conscientiousness. To whom would you 
 give the preference ? You would hardly take A, on 
 any terms. But such a servant as B, would be worth 
 a great deal more than the gold requisite for his 
 service. You are about to erect a building. Two 
 architects are accessible, of equal ability; one of 
 whom is governed only by the fear' of law, the 
 other is noble and upright in his motives and prin- 
 ciples. Would you not prefer vastly to deal with 
 the latter ? So it is in every department of secular 
 life. With respect to the dullest man, he would 
 regard it as a downright insult to be charged with 
 being influenced in his religious conduct solely or 
 
BICH UAK AND LAZABUS. 805 
 
 chiefly by the hope of escaping the torments of hell 
 hereafter? In the scale of moral turpitude, we can 
 hardly imagine a more degraded character than that 
 pf one who abstains from doing wrong merely from 
 policy, and not from inherent taste or affection. 
 
 The doctrine of future punishment is more ex- 
 tensively believed in Mexico, Spain, Austria and 
 Russia, than in any other portion of the civilized 
 globe. If dread of endless misery is so salutary in 
 its influence on the human character, why are not 
 the people there better than we find them to be? 
 Why are the masses in those lands so degraded, 
 poor, and down-trodden? What mean the almost 
 unheard of oppression and cruelty of their rulers 
 and priests? God have mercy on the people who 
 rely upon the fear of endless punishment for that 
 bond of union and good fellowship essential to civil 
 society. Imagine a child brought up, if it were 
 possible, under this principle of action, would he not 
 be as thoroughly depraved as it is possible to be- 
 come this side the grave ? Go all over the United 
 States, and you will find as a general fact, that 
 among all classes, those who are stimulated to relig- 
 ious action only by the object of shunning the 
 deleterious consequencess of sin in a post mortem 
 state of existence, belong to the most cold, narrow, 
 ^elfish, and unprincipled portions of Society. A 
 community fiUed with such persons would be a 
 thousand times more fallen and depraved, than a 
 community of absolute atheists. 
 
 Well, then, what shall be said to sinners to effect 
 their conversion ? I answer, speak to them the same 
 words which Jesus and his apostles did. They 
 have laid down the great fundamental, universal law 
 of divine retribution. It is that aU the sins com- 
 muted in this world wiU he exactly and perfectly pun- 
 ished in this world. Aside from considerations 
 relating to the love of principle, of justice, and. 
 26* 
 
306 RICH MAN AND LAZAEUB. 
 
 benevolence, in the extended sense of those terms, 
 the certainty of an adequate punishment for sin in 
 the present world is more efficacious than all the 
 heUs which the human imagination can conceive of, 
 as destined for the finally impenitent in a future 
 state. 
 
 The object of all men is happiness, and they will 
 take the road which in their view leads to the 
 greatest good. Jesus and his apostles teach that 
 the only and infallible means of happiness on earth 
 is right conduct — holiness of heart and life. A 
 person who cordially receives this teaching, morally 
 speaking, cannot be tempted to do wrong. For 
 how can he do that which he knows of necessity 
 will make him miserable ? Why should he not be 
 virtuous when he regards such a life as indispensa- 
 bly requisite to secure his immediate, and largest 
 temporal happiness ? If all understood and appre- 
 ciated the instructions of Christ, without delay, all 
 would become his earnest, consistent, triumphant, 
 and rejoicing disciples. Human society is best 
 where the highest degree of love is exercised to- 
 wards God, as the Father and Friend of all men, 
 and the purest sentiments of benevolence unite 
 neighbor to peighbor, and where mankind fully 
 realize that present happiness is strictly identified 
 with noble and righteous conduct. 
 
 The theory that sin produces pleasure as to this 
 world, and all its deleterious consequences may be 
 escaped by repentance any time previous to the last 
 breath, is most destructive to the interests of mo- 
 rality and religion. It is a carte blanche permitting 
 the sinner to do what he pleases, with the conviction 
 that by one mental act of contrition before he dies, 
 he will be able to expunge, or wash out all the stains 
 of his heart and character, and clothe himself with 
 the robes of wisdom and worth which angels wear. 
 Was a more dangerous sentiment ever broached? 
 
niCH MAN AND LAZAEUS. 307 
 
 Go to any Penitentiary, ask each of the inmates if 
 he would have committed the oflFence for which he 
 suffers, if he had known beforehand that the punish- 
 ment would have certainly, and so soon followed 
 the commission? They will all confess that it was 
 the hope of impunity which led them into trans- 
 gression. So it is under the government of the 
 Most High. Sinners are led to imagine that they 
 can sin without exposing themselves to the merited 
 penalty. The New Testament destroys this illusion, 
 and convinces those inclined to evil, that wrong 
 doing will inevitably involve them in suffering here, 
 this side the grave. If all men thoroughly believed 
 in this truth, all would strive to be immaculate, love 
 their Creator, subdue their passions; make attain- 
 ments in holiness, and live as becomes the children 
 of God, and the disciples of his Son. 
 
CHAPTER X, 
 
 THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS AND HIS APOSTLES CONCEBNDra 
 THE BESUBBECTION AND A FUTVBE STATE. 
 
 Op late, the religious world has been inundated 
 with books and sermons on Spiritualism, Future 
 Retribution or Discipline, Future Repentance, 
 Future Moral Progression, an Intermediate State 
 or Purgatory, and other topics relating to the ulti- 
 mate destination of mankind. I have read many of 
 the ablest, and most celebrated of these productions, 
 and have been much gratified with their profound 
 learning, ingenious arguments, and captivating liter- 
 ature. But their premises seem to me, in general, 
 to be hypothetical — assumed merely, not proved. 
 Human theories, philosophy and speculation on the 
 subject of death and its consequences, however 
 pleasing and magnificent, will not satisfy our deep- 
 est spiritual wants and aspirations. Because they 
 are at the best conjectural. They may or may not 
 be true. I propose to devote a few pages to the 
 question, " What does the Divine Word teach con- 
 cerning the resurrection and a future life ? 
 
 First, it affirms that all mankind, both the good 
 and bad, will be raised from the dead and exist for^ 
 ever in a future world. *" This doctrine has been the 
 universal belief of Christendom in every age. The 
 New Testament abounds with texts declaring its 
 truth, which are so often quoted, and so well known, 
 that it is unnecessary to produce them. The phi- 
 
RESUERECTION AND FUTURE LIFE. 309 
 
 losophers of Paul's time often propounded to him 
 this interrogatory: How can the dead be raised? 
 How is it possible ? The apostle showed the possi- 
 bility of the resurrection by appealing to the opera- 
 tions of the divine power around us, which we daily 
 behold. What rational person can doubt that He 
 who created heaven and earth, the sea and all that 
 is therein ; whose pleasure called the physical uni- 
 verse into existence, and constantly sustains it in 
 order and beauty, is able if he chooses, to raise the 
 dead? It is self-evident that the great Being who 
 bestows on us this temporal existence, can cause 
 our intellectual and moral life to cross the gulf of 
 death, the line of time, and the boundaries of the 
 visible creation, and to continue on forever. To 
 deny the possibility of the resurrection is a puerility 
 undeserving ot serious notice. The same power 
 that sustains us in life a single day, is competent to 
 Bustain us therein throughout eternity. Now, the 
 chief glory of the Gospel is the revelation of the 
 Father's almighty and immutable purpose, to abcdish 
 death by Christ, and make the race of man immortal. 
 The arguments drawn from reason to prove a future 
 life are very well in their place. They answer many 
 important purposes. But the believer in the Son 
 of God rests his faith as to the resurrection entirely 
 on divine authority. He wants no other proof of 
 the doctrine but that which is derived from the 
 universally acknowledged facts and teachings re- 
 corded in the New Testament. 
 
 It may not be irrelevant to remark here, that the 
 philosophers who flourished eighteen hundred 
 years ago, in Eoman and Grecian countries, em- 
 braced the theory lately put forth in that famous 
 work called the "Vestiges of Creation." They 
 held that the world had existed from eternity, in 
 obedience to blind and unintelligent laws, or fate, 
 and that there exists nothing in the universe distinct 
 
310 RESURRECTION AND FUTURE LIFE. 
 
 from matter. They taught that an event like the 
 resurrection of Jesus was impossible, because the 
 present course of things, the revolutions of the 
 heavenly bodies, and the successive generations and 
 destructions of all animals and vegetables, can 
 neither be interrupted nor modified by anything 
 extraneous, but must be perpetuated forever. 
 
 The miracles of Christ and his apostles completely 
 ignored this atheistical system. They demonstrated 
 from experience that there exists a supreme, invisi-. 
 ble power, independent of, above, and superior to 
 all the known properties of matter, and the physical 
 laws by which they were then governed. The- old 
 philosophers saw at once that if the miracles of 
 Christianity were true, they must have emanated 
 from a controlling power invested with the attributes 
 oi freedom and inteUigence, a power which in the 
 Bible is called God. Therefore, they stoutly re- 
 sisted the strongest evidence by which the resurrec- 
 tion of Jesus is supported — evidence that caur 
 not be denied without destroying the credibility of 
 all historical documents, and overturning the only 
 foundation ot belief in human testimony as to past 
 events. The same ground is taken by scientific 
 opposers of miracles in our day. No evidence, they 
 assert, can prove the reality of our Saviour's resur- 
 rection, because it is a supernatural event. It is an 
 assumption, an axiom in their philosophy, that such 
 an event is not within the limits of possibility^ 
 Concerning this description of reasoners, it has 
 been sa:id, "What they want in knowledge, they, 
 supply by suflSeiency and pride. When they have 
 looked about them as far as they can, they conclude- 
 there is no more to be seen ; when they are at th^* 
 end of their line, they are at the bottom of the 
 ocean ; when they have shot their best, they feel 
 quite sure none ever did, or ever can shoot better or 
 beyond it. Their own reason they hold to be th^ 
 
RESURRECTION AND FUTURE LIFE. 311 
 
 Certain measure of truth, and their own experience 
 the standard of all that is possible in nature." 
 
 In the next place let us see whether revelation 
 defines plainly the general characteristics which all 
 ■mankind will possess in the resurrection state. 
 Most clergymen teach that the grave is a gate, or 
 door-way, through which man steps or passes from 
 one room or apartment of our Father's house into 
 another, without undergoing any essential change 
 as to memory, consciousness, moral endowments, or 
 moral character. Dr. Channing, in his discourse on* 
 Future Retribution, expresses the opinion, that 
 whatever of sin, guilty dishonor, shame, sorrow, and 
 weakness a man has at the moment of death, they 
 will go along with him across the line of time, and 
 cling to him, and make him wretched after his res- 
 urrection into the deathless, immortal state of being. 
 The Doctor also says, that we are not told in any 
 part of Scripture, that these post mortem sin- 
 ners will ever be reformed, and admitted to eternal 
 happiness. Most all the ministers with whom I 
 have conversed coincide with Dr. Channing on this 
 subject. But nothing is clearer to my mind than 
 the repugnance of this theory to the word of God. 
 
 Christ and his apostles have set the subject in a 
 very different light. They say in the most plait, 
 emphatic words, that all mankind without exception, 
 both just and unjust shall be raised from the dead. 
 This doctrine no believer in Jesus denies. Even 
 Calvinism admits that all the wicked will exist for- 
 ever beyond the grave. But our Lord declares that 
 " in the resurrection," (not at some future time 
 after its commencement) " all men will be as the 
 angels in heaven : they will be the children of God, 
 because they are the children of the resurrection." 
 In. addition he alBrms, that " all the dead live unto 
 G-od^" — to him they are living, (not dead), to him 
 they arte in the resurrection state. " In the resur- 
 
312 RESURRECTION AND FUTURE LIFE. 
 
 rection aM men will be angels." No one pretends 
 to say that angels sin. No one believes that angels 
 in heaven are the subjects of moral imperfection, 
 shame, and sorro\vr. It is self-evident that the 
 word Angd in the remarks of our Saviour, de- 
 signates a character of the highest state of purity 
 and perfection. It is also taught in the same dis- 
 course with the Sadducees, that the resurrection is a 
 process which metamorphoses sinful men into angels. 
 For, Jesus says expressly, they are the children of 
 • God, because they are the children of the resurrec- 
 tion. In other words the resurrection made them 
 holy, godlike. A man by faith, repentance, and 
 good deeds this side the grave, could no more turn 
 himself into an angel — a sinless being, than he 
 could create a world. Whatever he may be here 
 on earth, he must nevertheless pass through the 
 resurrection in order to be freed from moral imper- 
 fections. 
 
 The Apostle Paul expands and illustrates this idea 
 of the resurrection set forth by Christ, in his first 
 letter to the Corinthians, i5th chapter. How beau- 
 tiful, sublime, clear, comprehensive, and thrillingly 
 important is this portion of the Bible ! Paul begins 
 by saying that death the last enemy shall be de- 
 stroyed. "Death can be destroyed," says Adard 
 Clarke, " only by making all men immortal." Fur- 
 thermore, the apostle teaches that all who enter the 
 future state will be changed from sin to holiness, 
 from dishonor to glory, from weakness to power, 
 from the natural state to the spiritual state, from the 
 earthy to the heavenly, from corruption to incbr' 
 ruption, and from mortality to immortality. He 
 affirms that as all men here bear the image of the 
 earthy, so hereafter all shall bear the image of the 
 heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, " that flesh 
 and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. For 
 this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this 
 
HESUREECTION AND FUTURE LIFE. "313 
 
 mortal must put. on immortality," (fee. That the 
 law laid down in the last named text comprehends 
 entire humanity, nobody denies. 
 
 But it is contended, that, although the finally im- 
 penitent will be raised from the dead, and made to 
 live forever, yet their bodies in the future world, 
 differing essentially in nature or organization from 
 those of the saints, will be susceptible of ever-in- 
 creasing sin, sorrow, and degradation through eter- 
 nity. The strongest text which they refer to in 
 support of this theory, is John 5 : 28, 29. It reads 
 thus : " Marvel not at this : for the hour is coming 
 in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his 
 voice, and shall come forth : they that have done 
 good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have 
 done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." 
 
 A celebrated doctor of divinity preached in a 
 qhurcb close by me a few days ago, who explained 
 these words in the following terms. " The Son of 
 God, here, speaks of a resurrection from the grave 
 to damnation, and bases a resurrection to life on the 
 condition of having done good ; and therefore as all 
 men are not virtuous at the time of their death, it is 
 certain that all men will not be raised to spiritual 
 life, and consequently Universalists are wrong in 
 teaching that there is no damnation after the resur- 
 rection." At first sight, this argument may seem to 
 be fair and conclusive, but in my opinion it is 
 sophistical and inconclusive. The reasons which 
 induce me to think so are as follows : 
 
 To understand the words in question it is neces- 
 sary to notice the occasion which prompted their 
 utterance. Our Saviour had just healed a man on 
 the Sabbath-day, and his cure had produced a great 
 sensation among the people. -The Jews, as was 
 usual on such ocasions, were exceedingly disturbed, 
 and, it is said, persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him, 
 because he had done this wonderful work on the Sab- 
 27 
 
314 BESURBECTrON AND PUTCBB hlVB. 
 
 bath-da^. Jesus replied by saying : " My Patheir 
 worketh hitherto, and I work." In the exercisd oi 
 a cavilling spirit, his enemies construed this declara- 
 tion into the claim of an absolute equality with G-od. 
 This sophistry he answered thus. Verily, verily, I 
 say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, 
 but what he seeth the Father do : for what things 
 soever he doetb, these also doeth the Son likewise ; 
 for the Father loveth the Son, showeth him all things 
 that himself doeth ; and he will show him greater 
 works than these, that ye may all marvel. For as 
 the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth 
 them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will, for 
 the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all 
 judgment unto the Son, that aU men should honor 
 the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that 
 honoreth not the Son, hofloreth not the Father 
 which hath sent him. Verily, verily, I gay unto you, 
 he that heareth my word, atid believeth on hiri that 
 sent me hath now everlasting life, and shall not come 
 into condemnation, but is passed from death uUto 
 life (is already raised from the dead.) Verily, verily, 
 I say unto you, the hour is coming, a,nd noiv is, when 
 the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, 
 and they that hear shall live. For as the Father 
 hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to 
 have life in himself, and hath given him authority to 
 execute judgmentjalso, because he is the Son of man. 
 Marvel not, then, at this, for the hbUr is coming 
 and now is," &c. 
 
 Here the Saviour refers to the quickening in- 
 fluence of faith in him, and its power to free the 
 soul from condemnation ; to the fact that he had re- 
 ceived from God the right to execute judgment up- 
 on the wicked ; " and lastly that such judgment 
 would be' inflicted immediately — now, whilst that 
 generation was alive. This announcement he often 
 madfe, as we learn from the other Evangelists. It is 
 
EESUKBECTION AND PUTUEE LIFE. 315 
 
 certain to my mind, therefore, that the above quota? 
 tions are applicable only to events, which. are not 
 fa-ture to us, but which occurred about eighteen 
 hundred years ago, juet before, and at the close of 
 the Jewish dispensation. I will give the views on 
 this portion of Scripture expressed by several Trin- 
 itarian expounders, who believed the doctrine of 
 endless torments, in the future life. 
 
 Lightfoot has written thus : " These words, John 
 5 : 28. 29, might be appUed to a spiritual resurrec- 
 tion, as were the former, (for so, coming out of graves 
 meaneth in Ezek. 37 : 12,) the words of the verse 
 following being only translated and explained thus : 
 And they shaM come forth, they that do good, after 
 they hear his voice in the gospelj to the resurrec- 
 tion of life, and they that do evil, after they hear the 
 gospel, unto the resurrection of damnation." 
 
 Rev. Newcome Cappe, of the English Church, a 
 Trinitarian, and firm believer in future punishment, 
 gives the following paraphrase of John 5 : 28, 29. 
 " Let not what I say amaze you ; suffer not your- 
 selves to be lost in groundless hesitating and un- 
 profitable wonder ; believe me, for it is true, not 
 only that the hour is very near at hand, when some, 
 who are now perfectly inattentive and inseijsible to 
 my call, shall hear the voice in which I will address 
 them from my ,approaching state of exaltation, and 
 being obedient thereto shall live ; but it is alike 
 true, that though yet further off, the time is at 
 no great distance, within the compass of this pres- 
 ent generation, when all that are in their graves 
 (morally considered,) who at present sit in darkness, 
 and the shadow of death — the whole body of the 
 Jewish people — shall hear the voice of the Son of 
 God, summoning them to judgment ; and being then 
 at length all awakened to perceive who and what he 
 is, shall come forth out of their graves, their present 
 state of darkness and ignorance, to a new state of 
 
316 EESUREECTION AND FDTURE LIFE. 
 
 mind — to a resurrection, which to those who have 
 been obedient to the calls of Providence, shall issue 
 in the preservation of their lives, amidst the calami- 
 ties which shall overwhelm their country to those 
 who have refused to hearken to them, shall issue in 
 their condemnation, to fall among them that fall, and 
 to take their share in all the bitterness of the disas- 
 ters that are hastening to involve this country. 
 (Matthew 25: 10 — 13, and other places.) Though 
 I am now low and undistinguished, yet I am appoint- 
 ed to execute judgment upon this untoward genera- 
 tion." 
 
 He then refers to numerous texts of Scripture to 
 show that the word resurrection, throughout the 
 Bible is applied figuratively to designate certain 
 changes which individuals and communities expe- 
 rience in the present world ; I will mention some of 
 them. " In the graves, among the tombs, sitting in 
 darkness, and in the region and shadow of death, 
 Matthew 4: 16. Luke 1 : 79. See John 3: 18—21." 
 He that believeth on him is not condemned, &c., 
 (Comp. Eph. 2: 1.) " And you hath he quickened, 
 who were dead in trespasses and sins." Isa. 24 : 
 19. " Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead 
 body shall they arise," &c. (Comp, Deut. 32d chap.) 
 " His doctrine shall enliven men, as the dew the 
 herb." Hoaea 6:2. " After two days shall he revive 
 us, in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall 
 live in his sight." (Exek. 37) — taken in a spiritual* 
 sense by the apostle, Eom. 11 : 15. What shall the 
 receiving of them be, but life from the dead. Eze-t 
 kial says to the Jewish nation when in captivity s^ 
 " Thus saith the Lord God, I will open your graveSp 
 and cause you to come out of your graves, and ' 
 bring you again into the land of Israel, and ye shall 
 know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your 
 graves, 0, my people, and brought you out of your 
 graveSi" 
 
EESUKK^TION AND FUTUEE LIFE. 317 
 
 " Then, we ask, if Ezekiel could, with- propriety, 
 use such terms to foretell the rising of the Jews 
 from a lower to a higher state of natural existence, 
 cfould not the Saviour, when the nation was again 
 depressed in a similar manner, with the greatest 
 propriety, use the language we are considering, in a 
 fig%m-aitwe sense ? Metaphors taken from the Old 
 Testament were perfectly familiar and intelligent to 
 his hearers. Morally, religiously, and politically, 
 the nation were in their graves. The number among 
 them was extremely limited, who had any proper 
 regard for virtue. Out of this state of degredation 
 the Saviour called them : and they that had done 
 good came forth to the resurrection of life — to be 
 elevated to a higher civil and social condition, to 
 enjoy the peace and the security of the Saviour's 
 kingdom : but they who had done evil came forth to 
 damnation — to suffer the calamities which for ages 
 had been accumulating against them. They could 
 not shield themselves behind the battlements they 
 had erected ; they could not hide themselves in their 
 graves tiU the overflowing scourge was passed, but 
 were compelled to come forth to the resurrection of 
 daimnetiion. The word damnation here signifies all 
 the woes to which, as a nation, they were doomed 
 by being taken and subjected to the dominion of the 
 Komans." 
 
 In Rev. 20 : 5, the calling of the Gentiles is termed 
 the first resurrection. " It would," says Lightfoot, 
 '' have prevented a multitude of errors, if the phrases 
 the last day, the day of the Lord, the end of the world, 
 the new heavens and new earth, the dead raised up, 
 &e., had been understood according to their real 
 import in the discourses of our Lord." In the Jeru- 
 salem Gemara it is said, " The righteous in death, 
 even, are still alive, (with respect to the righteous 
 there is no dying,) but the wicked, even in life, may 
 be said to- be dead." " Awake thou that sleepest, , 
 27* 
 
3!l8 EESUEEECTION AND FUTURE LIFE. 
 
 and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee 
 light," or life. So we learn from Matthew 24 : 15, 
 that the sleep spoken of in Daniel 12 : 2, is ex- 
 pressive of that moral death from which the Jews 
 were awakened by the coming of Jesus to over- 
 throw their city and temple. 
 
 Doddridge admits that the resurrection which we 
 are considering may mean an awakening which took 
 place eighteen hundred years ago. Professor 
 Stuart used to say, "John 5 : 28, 29 may, in perfect 
 accordance with the rules of the Greek Grammar, 
 and the universally acknowledged laws of Scripture 
 exegesis, be interpreted as referring only to events 
 which happened in the first century of the Christian 
 era." Whitby says, " There is nothing in, or con- 
 nected with this passage which requires us to apply 
 it to a literal resurrection from death : for in Scrip- 
 ture the word dead doth often signify not those who, 
 in a natural sense, are dead by the dissolution of the 
 soul and body, but those who are spiritually so, as 
 being alienated from the life of God, and dead in 
 trespasses and sins." "'(See 1 Tim. 5 : 6. Rev. 3 : 1. 
 Matt. 8 : 22.) He then quotes Maimonides, Philo 
 and other Jewish doctors, to show that it was a 
 proverbial expression in our Saviour's time, that 
 " He who lives a life of sin, is dead as to a life of 
 happiness" — the true life. He also admits, that in 
 the sacred writings the phrase coming out of their 
 graves, or being raised from the dead, is applied to 
 the transition of a community or nation from one 
 condition of social order to another. 
 
 This list of authorities might be much further ex- 
 tended. But a sufficient number have been men- 
 tioned to accomplish my purpose : to demonstrate 
 that we do no violence to the words of Scripture, 
 by making John-5: 28, 29, signify the awakening of 
 the Jews, some to gospel life, and others, who refus- 
 ed to hearken to Jesus, to be condemned, and swept 
 
EESUEEECTION AND FUTURE LIFE. 319 
 
 into ruin by the calamities which utterly destroyed 
 tiieir nation. 
 
 It can be proved by incontrovertible arguments, 
 that Jesus did not speak in this passage, of the 
 literal resurrection of all mankind from the dead as 
 preparatory to the generial judgment, which it is 
 supposed will take place in a future state. For the 
 Son of God prefaces John 5 : 28, <fec., by saying, 
 " Verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and 
 now is, when the dead shall hear my voice and come 
 forth," &c. Jesus himself, therefore, assures us that 
 this coming forth of the dead does not refer to the 
 general assembly of all mankind at the end of the 
 world, in order that they may be judged for their 
 past deeds, and receive a sentence to endless happi- 
 ness or misery, as they have done good or evil, but 
 to something which was then on the eve of being 
 accomplished, which was impending over the people 
 that were then alive. We cannot deny this without 
 denying Christ's own words. It is a curious fact 
 that there is not a place in the New Testament in 
 which a judgment is spoken of connected with the 
 rewarding or the punishing of the persons judged, 
 which can be fairly referred to the immortal state of 
 existence. 
 
 We are told in many texts that Christ will execute 
 judgment upon mankind, when he shall " come to 
 establish his kingdom." Do these words indicate a 
 distant, future judgment, or do they refer to one 
 then on the point of taking place ? There can be 
 no doubt how this question should be answered, if 
 we duly heed the words of inspiration. Jesus came 
 to judge the world when the Jewish nation and 
 temple was destroyed. Here is the proof. Luke 
 9 : 27, " But I tell you of a truth, there be some 
 standing here which shall not taste of death till they 
 see the kingdom of God." Matt. 16 : 27, 28, " For 
 the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father 
 
320 ipiSXJEEECTION 4iNI? FUTURE LIFE. 
 
 with his ang&ls, and then shall he reward every man 
 according to his works. Verily, I say unto yon, 
 there be some standing here which shall not taste 
 of death till they see the Son of man coming in his 
 kingdom." So throughout the New Testament, the 
 last day, and the day of judgment, the day which God 
 hm appointed to Judge, the world by Jesm Christ, are 
 phrases used to signify the Gospel day, or Christian 
 dispensation, during which Christ reigns in his 
 kingdom, and judges the world. This reign com- 
 menced near eighteen centaiies ago, and is still 
 in progress, and will continue till universal homage 
 be gi^en to the Saviour. " For to him every knee 
 shall bow, and every tongue confess, that Jesus 
 Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." In 
 Matt 10: 15; Acts 10: 42; Matt. 12: 36; Rom. 2: 
 16 ; 2 Tim. 4 : 1 ; 1 Peter 4 : 5, and every other text 
 where Jesus is represented as judging mankind, 
 such judgment is declared either expressly or by 
 inference, to be in this world. The Son of God 
 himself fixes the time when these judgments should 
 commence by saying that they would come " before 
 the generation then living, should pass away." 
 
 Can it be that Jesus represents hiflaself as coming 
 here on earth with his reward " to give every man 
 according as his work shall be," and that eighteen 
 hundred years ago, when, in point of fact, every 
 man is to pass into another world — into an immor- 
 tal state for his reward, at the close of Christ's 
 mediatorial reign, — perhaps thousands of a,ges 
 hence? Yet it is caUed the genuine doctrine of 
 the Scriptures. It is asked what is the proof that 
 all ihe instances of the judgments to be exeroisei^i 
 by Christ, spoken of in the New Testament, are to 
 take ptace in the present world ? 
 
 This proof is simple, clear, direct, and perfectly 
 conclusive. It stamps glaring falsehood upon the 
 prevailing theory on this subject. For we are ;told 
 
EESUEHECTION AND FUTURE LIFE. 321 
 
 in 1 Cor. 15 : 22—29, that after the close of Christ's 
 mediatorial reign, there will be no judgments, or ret- 
 ributions inflicted upon the children of men. Paul 
 here asserts that the dominion of Christ shall be 
 universal. J.Z? enemies shall be pufunder his feet. The 
 last enemy, death, shall be conquered. The general 
 resurrection abolishes this last enemy, consequently 
 there can be no judgment after this grand consum- 
 mation. The apostlie teaches that, through Jesus, 
 the good will triumph over all evil. All evil wiU be 
 abolished with the general resurrection, which will 
 annihilate death, the last enemy. Beyond the resur- 
 rection, no enemies to Christ, no sinners will be 
 found ? Where can sin be, then ? For then all who 
 die in Adam, will be made alive in Christ — all raised 
 up to be endued with an angelic, incorruptible nature. 
 It is then that Jesus having accomplished the work 
 which God gave him to do — that of redeeming all 
 • mankind from sin, and thus proving that he was sent 
 to be " the Saviour of the world," will deliver up 
 the kingdom to the Father, and become himself sub- 
 ject unto Him that God may be all iu all." 
 
 How then is the force of these plain declarations 
 in favor of the universal restoration of mankind, to 
 be avoided ? Why, we are told that this is not a will- 
 ing, obedient, but a forced subjection. It is a tread- 
 ing under foot of contumacious, and stubborn foes, 
 subdued by an exercise of superior power. How 
 ingenious ! What a mistake ! The word translated 
 " Subdued,'? "Subject," "Put under feet," is appHed 
 to all men — to saints as well as sinners. Of course 
 voluntary obedience must be meant. If it is obe- 
 dience in any, it is in all. All are trodden under 
 foot. All are treated in the same manner. Hence, 
 if any are saved, all will be. In the New Testament, 
 the original word here, rendered subjection is hupo- 
 tasso, which is often used to signify voluntary obe- 
 (ffience. It is the word employed to express the obe- 
 
322 EJiSUBEECTIOJI AND FUTUEE LIFE. 
 
 (Jience of a citizen to his government, Rom. A3 : !• 
 of the church to Christ; Eph. 5 : 22 ; and of men 
 to God in order to live; Heb. 12: 9. Could any- 
 thing be more conclusive,? It also is used to ex- 
 press the obedience of the Son to the Father. All 
 subdued to Christ, and subjection meaning a full obe- 
 dience, and then Jesus subject to the Father, that 
 Gpd may reign" aU in all I How irresistible the 
 ^.rgument ? It ip self-evident, that an enemy is not 
 truly subdued tUl he is converted into a friend. The 
 victory of Christ here spoken of cannot be an ex- 
 ercise of superior power over his enemies, for that 
 he possessed and exercised before, — always, every 
 moment of his mediatorial reign. It is declared that 
 his dominion over his enemies shall be, absolutely, 
 universal at the time of their resurrection. But 
 this is impossible, if, then, the second death or any 
 other death shall continue to maintain its dominion 
 over any part of the creation of God. Words could 
 not more plainly and strongly express the grand 
 doctrine of the eventual hoBness and happiness of 
 all%nankind. And is not this a consummation infinite- 
 ly desirable ? Will it hurt or grieve anybody to be- 
 lieve that all sinners will one day be converted, and 
 be made the willing, happy, rejoicing children of the 
 universal Father ? 
 
 Paul says that at the end of Christ's mediatorial 
 reign, all mankind, (literally all, as no one attempt? 
 to deny,) "shall be maide cdivein Christ." The 
 phrase to be " in Christ " is employed throughout 
 the New Testament to signify the being like Christ 
 — the being his pure and obedient disciple. " If 
 any man is m Christ he is a new creature." ' There 
 is, therefore., now no condemnation to them who 
 are in Christ Jesiis," &c. That is, all will be raised 
 from the dead to live forever. In that future, 
 immortal state all will be free from sin. At the end 
 of the world then, there will be no such thing as 
 
RESURRECTION AND FUTURE LIFE. 323 
 
 the resurrection of a part of njankind to suffer an 
 endless damnation. Never was a doctrine taught 
 more manifestly false and unscriptural, than this 
 idea of eternal, hopeless ^ despair. Human creeds 
 affirm, that at death we are to go hence into a future 
 state of rewards or punishment; but the Son of God 
 affirms that he will judge men in this world, and ren- 
 der unto every one according to his deeds on earth. 
 Human creeds say that the punishments connected 
 with the immortal state, will be endless in their 
 duration. Jesus Christ says that all mankind in the 
 resurrection state, "neither marry nor are given 
 in marriage. Neither can they die aily more : for 
 they are equal unto the angels, and are the children 
 of God, in consequence of their being the children 
 of the resurrection." Hurdan creeds assert that 
 those Jews to whom our Lord said in the parable, 
 " Depart from me ye cursed, iiito everlasting fire," 
 were sent away to endure a punishment that will 
 never end. Nevertheless, there is nothing in the 
 Bible susceptible of clearer proof, than the final gal 
 vation of these very Jews, whose punishment is 
 called everlasting (like the covenant of circumcision, 
 the priesthood of Phineas, the possession of land of 
 Canaan, and numerous other things that have long 
 since come to an end). 
 
 * ". For the apostle aisserts, that " God hath concluded 
 all the Jeivs in unbelief that he might have mercy 
 upon all. And so all Israel shall be saved : as it is 
 written, there shall come out of Zion the deliveTer, 
 who shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, and 
 all of them shall know the Lord from the least to 
 the greatest." And " to know God is eternal life." 
 Scattered throughout the Scriptures are such de- 
 clarations as the following: "The Lord doth not 
 chide forever. The Lord will not cast off forever. 
 He doth not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children 
 of men. He wiU not retain his displeasure forever, 
 
324 ,|tE8UEEECTI0N AND FUTURE LIFE. 
 
 because lie ddlighteth in mercy." Jlsus says to the 
 Father, " Thou hast given me all flesh, (mankind) 
 that I might give unto them eternal lile. All that 
 the Father giveth me shall come to me ; and him 
 that cometh to me Iwillin no wise cast out. For I 
 came down from heaven, nott to do mine own will, 
 but the will of him that sent me. And this is the 
 Father's will who hath sent me, that of all which he 
 hath given me (all mankind) I should lose nothing, 
 but should raise it up again at the last day." Paul 
 says, "All mankind shall be delivered from the 
 bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of 
 theehildren of God." (See Professor Stuart's Com- 
 mentary on Romans 8 : 21). Also, " Therefore as 
 by the offence of one judgment came npon all men to 
 condemnation ; even so by the righteousness of one, 
 the free gift came upon all men unto justification of 
 life. For as by one man's disobedience all were 
 made sinners, so by the obedience of one, all shall 
 be made righteous. Moreover the law entered that 
 sin might abound. But where sin abounded, grace 
 dSi much more abound : That as sin hath reigned 
 unto death, even so might grace reign through right- 
 eousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 (See again Professor Stuart's Notes on the 5th chap- 
 ter of Romans. 
 
 Texts enough, of the same import might be quoted 
 to fill an octavo volume. Admit that there is,\ 
 anotjier class of passages in the Bible which flatly 
 contradicts the above quotations, and you subvert 
 at once the authority of revelation, and reduce it to 
 the level of other wretched superstitions, which in 
 different ages and lands, have taken possession in 
 turn, of the popular belief. It is impossible, there- 
 fore, that the damnation mentioned in John 5 : 28, 29, 
 should refer to a punishment which is to be inflicted 
 upon the wicked in the future, immortal state of 
 existence. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 ON 6BACE. 
 
 Grace is a term very commonly used in the New 
 Testament, and in all the writings and conversations 
 of the Christian world. This word has many differ- 
 ent acceptations both in Scripture and theology, a 
 particular statement of which, is not necessary to 
 my present purpose. 
 
 ■' Every writer that I have looked into, from the 
 earliest ages of the Church to the present time, 
 among other definitions of that grace revealed in the 
 gospel, lays down the following as the most promi- 
 nent of all: "The grace of God through Christ, is 
 his eternal, almighty, wise, and immutable purpose 
 to bestow eternal life, final salvation, or future, 
 immortal holiness and happiness upon mankind irre- 
 spective of their, merits." " Salvation by grace,'' says 
 Locke, " must be resolved wholly into the absolute, 
 resistless, and irrespective will of God." By this 
 last phrase he means a divine will, " which does not 
 allow any form of guilt, unbelief, or obstinacy — 
 any circumstances whatever — to prevent, or suc- 
 cessfully oppose the renewal, and sanctification of 
 all the sinners whom Jesus came to redeem." "When 
 it is said salvation is of grace," asserts Calvin, " we 
 understand by the language, that the immortal lie 
 which God will bestow upon his children, is a bless- 
 ing entirely unmerited, undeserved by them. If 
 they had what they most justly deserve, eternal, 
 29 
 
326 ON GRACE. 
 
 inevitable ruin would be their destination." This 
 idea he repeats in every form of the most explicit, 
 and emphatic phraseology. 
 
 Dr. Doddridge teaches, " that a title to the king- 
 dom of God cannot be earned, purchased, bought, 
 or secured by any exercises, doings or possessions 
 within our reach. Heaven is offered to us simply 
 as a free gift, a present, or a gratuity. Continually 
 do the inspired writers remind us that we cannot 
 claim the happiness of a future existence, as a 
 reward, compensation, or consequence of any good- 
 ness, any ambiint or kind of moral excellence which 
 we can acquire, or any actions which we can per- 
 form this side the grave." 
 
 So taught the Son of God. " Likewise ye, when 
 ye shall have done aU those things which are com- 
 manded you, say, we are unprofitable servants — we 
 have only done that which was our duty to do." 
 (Luke 17: 10.) True it is that although the obe<: 
 dience of man is not profitable to God, and imposes 
 on him no obligation to render a reward as of debt, 
 still it is in the highest degree profitable to ourselves 
 here on earth. The good nian enjoys peace, happi- 
 ness, the testimony of an approving conscience: the 
 bad man brings upon himself innumerable forms of 
 trouble and sorrow, in time. And these are the 
 only rewards or punishments ever referred to in 
 Scripture. For in all those formulas which speak 
 of the good as enjoying the reward of happiness not 
 only here, but hereaftei', there is no allusion to the 
 immortal existence: In jthe New Testament here 
 and hereafter do not mean tiTne and eternity, but the 
 present or Jewish dispensation, as contrasted with 
 the GhrisUan dispenscdion, which was then future. 
 Uniformly among the Hebrews of our Saviour's 
 time, these words : " The present world," and the 
 " world to come," were employed to express different 
 eras of time. That such was the meaning of Jesus 
 
ON GRACE. 327 
 
 is evident from the fact, that he declared in his dis- 
 course with the Sadducees, that all mankind, irre- 
 spective of character, would enter the resurrection 
 -state, and there be equal to the angels, and become the 
 children of God. 
 
 The instructions of Paul on this subject are 
 strictly in accordance with the statements above 
 made. He teaches, that if future immortal happi- 
 ness is, in strictness, a bestowment of grace, then it 
 follows as a necessary consequence, that it will not 
 be conferred on any one on account of the good 
 works which he- has done. For, if it be given in 
 consideration of performances by which it has been 
 merited, then there is no grace displayed in its 
 bestowal — it has been earned and is due to the 
 recipient, on the principle of justice, as a reward. 
 Paul argues, Rom. 3 : 23, &c., thus : "All mankind 
 have sinned, and consequently are equally helpless 
 ^and guilty ; and as God is no respecter of persons, 
 aU human creatures being equally his offspring, and 
 there being no reason why one should be preferred 
 before another, therefore his boundless mercy has 
 embraced all. He declares the inability of man to 
 save himself by works. For all have failed of ren- 
 dering to God that glory which was so justly his 
 due, and since salvation is wholly the fruit of divine 
 mercy, no one can lay claim to it on the ground of 
 0quity, or merit. It is conferred upon men/reeZy, 
 not of obligation, or as a reward for anything which 
 they had earned." 
 
 The divine grace is the only legitimate ground 
 for the assurance of salvation. ,Such is the manner 
 in which Paul uniformly represents its bestowment. 
 Human exertions on the platform of merit, are 
 entirely inadequate. Such exertions had never 
 been successful, up to the time when the apostles 
 wrote. They have been equally unsuccessful until 
 now. There is no good reason to expect a different 
 
328 ON GRACE. 
 
 result, while the world standeth. But the' grace of 
 God through Christ is superabounding and infinite, 
 and will secure the desired result. As a just God, 
 our Father will "render to every man according to ^ 
 his deeds." As a Saviour, his grace will be mani- 
 fested in causing " all men to be saved, and to come 
 unto the knowledge of the truth." For this pur- 
 pose the " Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of 
 the world ; " and he exhibited " his love toward us, 
 in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for 
 us." In the divine grace alone we may securely 
 trust. The Father is greater than all, and none 
 shall be able to pluck us out of his hands. Nothing 
 can separate us from that love manifested in his 
 Son. 
 
 Men's attempts at obedience in this world, through 
 the natural and necessary result of faith in Jesus, 
 are not the procuring cause of any blessing which 
 awaits them beyond the grave. Our Lord came not 
 to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He 
 assures us that if a man could be found on earth 
 perfectly free from sin, during his whole life, he 
 could not even then claim immortal happiness on 
 account of his good deeds, but simply as a recipient 
 of divine mercy. For the virtues which he might 
 exercise previous to his death, he would receive a 
 perfect recompense in the body. Wherefore, the 
 apostle teaches, that the Father will save men, 
 without regard to the works of the law previously 
 performed. He does not mean to say that Chris- 
 tianity does not produce good works, or that real 
 Christians will not obey the holy, and be holy : but 
 that no righteousness of their own will be the ground 
 of their justification. They are all sinners, and as such 
 can no have no claim to be treated as righteous. 
 Paul urges the importance of good works as much 
 as any other writer in the New Testament, but 
 affirms repeatedly, and in the strongest terms, that 
 
ON GRACE. 329 
 
 they are not to be relied upon as a ground of justifi- 
 cation. 
 
 These statements are in accordance with the 
 written creeds of all Christendom; yet every Sun- 
 day we hear ministers declare from their pulpits that 
 faith, repentance, and the forsaking of all unright- 
 eousness on earth, are indispensably necessary to 
 entitle us to the blessings of everlasting^ life. In 
 their creeds they say that good works can have no 
 efficacy in procuring our salvation: in their sermons 
 • they assert directly the reverse of this, that without 
 good works performed on earth, no one can be saved. 
 It is self-evident that these propositions are incon- 
 sistent, and mutually subversive of each other. Only 
 one of them can be true. " If salvation be by works, 
 then it is no more grace," says Paul, "but if it be by 
 grace, then it is no more works." 
 
 I heard a clergyman, a few days ago, explain 
 this subject to his congregation in the following 
 manner : — " Although the grace of God is the only 
 efficient cause of men's salvation, yet it is promised 
 to none but those who exercise jEaith and obe- 
 dience in the present life." But remember that 
 faith and obedience are nothing but good works. 
 Upon this theory, then, eternal life is bestowed upon 
 men on account of what they have been and done, 
 and not on account of grace, irrespective of works. 
 Let me offer an illustration: Suppose a certain 
 father has a young son who dislikes the study of 
 arithmetic. As a stimulus he says to him — "My 
 son, if you wiU learn the multiplication table, so as 
 to repeat the whole of it without making a single 
 mistake, in one week, I will give you fifty dollars." 
 Excited by a promise originating in mere grace, or 
 love, the little boy applies himself with all his might, 
 and accomplishes his task on the terms prescribed. 
 Can he not, in that case, claim the fifty dollars as 
 a debt, upon the principles of equity ? The father 
 29* 
 
33Q ON GRACE. 
 
 was not bound in strict justice to makethe aforesaid 
 promise, but its conditions being complied with, 
 the fulfilment of it is not a matter of grace, but of 
 justice. He cannot withhold the stipulated reward 
 without committing an act of the grossest iniquity. 
 If heaven is bestowed on men conditionally, then 
 all who comply with the conditions can claim it as 
 an equitable reward for such a comphance. There 
 is no more grace in this than there is in paying 
 your hired man the wages which you promised him. 
 
 Now, it is alleged that the teaching which repre- 
 sents God as saving men by his grace alone, opens 
 the very floodgates of iniquity, and throws up the 
 reins loose upon the neck of every wicked passion 
 that the vicious may choose to indulge. " If God 
 will overlook our transgressions, though we die 
 disobedient ; if our good works this side the grave 
 contribute nothing towards the certainty of our 
 final salvation, then, it is said, religion is useless and 
 piety a burden. In that case we had better enjoy 
 the pleasures of sin, and take our fill of iniquity.?^ 
 Even Dr. Channing has asserted : " To suppose that 
 one who is an utter reprobate when he breathes his 
 last is destined infallibly one day to enter the 
 mansions of the blest, is a teaching more than, ab- 
 surd ; it is glaringly licentious. It tends to subvert 
 all those wholesome restraints and good moral 
 principles on which the peace, welfare, and very 
 existence of society depend." 
 
 The Jews in Paul's time made this same objection 
 to the doctrine of a free salvation by grace only. 
 How did he answer the objection ? Simply by 
 asserting that faith in the universal love of God 
 so far from encouraging men in sin is the only 
 principle which can efiectually restrain and sanc- 
 tify them. This argument he unfolds fully in Rom. 
 6th chapter. Let.the vilest man on earth imbibe 
 a correct, , strong peixjeption of saving grace through 
 
ON GRACE. 331 
 
 Jesus, that moment he would be inspired with a 
 divine life, and be regenerated. He would imme- 
 diately cease from deliberate transgression, resist 
 all moral evil, dash to the ground the most spark- 
 ling cup of unlawful pleasure, and rise to the enjoy- 
 ment of that spiritual good which infinite love has 
 prepared for our present and everlasting inheri- 
 tance. This answer was perfectly conclusive, then, 
 and wiU serve to sweep away all similar objections 
 to the end of time. " The goodness of God leadeth 
 to repentance." This sentiment is reiterated on 
 almost every page of the gospel. 
 
 The apostle commands every Christian to esteem 
 others as better than himself. At first sight this pre- 
 cept may seem to inculcate what is wrong, and even 
 impossible.. Can one who is pre-eminent in wisdom 
 and worth regard, the vile and degraded around 
 him as superior to himSelf in moral excellence ? Can 
 he bring himself to feel that the intemperate malij 
 and the sober, the licentious and self-governed, the 
 mean and the noble, have an equal claim to God's 
 favor and blessing? Could he so pervert his 
 mental constitution — his natural sense of justice as 
 to regard the .vicious as highly as the virtuous ? 
 Can the Creator himself do so ? I reply, it may be 
 in the power of the good man to cherish essentially 
 the sentiment recommended by the apostle. He 
 may reflect that possibly the worst person in the 
 circle of his acquaintance, who has cast off all the 
 restraints of reason and conscience, and is so im- 
 measurably below him in the social scale, is no more 
 guilty iu the sight of God than himself. Is it not 
 plain that such a view of the lost and fallen around 
 him would tend to nourish in his bosom the liveliest 
 sensibilities to their wants, sins, and sorrows ? 
 . But, again, persons ask, is it reasonable for a 
 Christian to suppose that the worst person whom he 
 knows is no more unworthy in the sight of Heaven 
 
g3J2 ON GEACB. 
 
 -than he is himself? I answer this question in -ihe 
 .affirmative. To those who may donbt the correct- 
 ness of such a position, I would address the fol- 
 lowing reflections : — It is admitted, universally, that 
 there is an essential difference between the com- 
 mission of sinful acts, and what is termed guilt. 
 To be sure they are very nearly allied, yet they 
 must not be confounded' as absolutely identical. 
 To adopt a conversational style, I would say that 
 a small amount of . sinning may involve a large 
 share or amount of guilt. On the contrary, a per- 
 son may spend a long life in performing sinful 
 actions, and thereby contract very little guilt — 
 -under certain circumstances none at all. 
 
 I must give an explanation. It is a maxim among 
 all moralists, divines, and ethical writers, that the 
 actual guilt or criminality of a sinner, other things 
 sbeing equal, is in exact proportion to the oppor- 
 tunities of virtue with which he has been favored. 
 The Bible ttJls us that when the unenlightened 
 heathen do wrong acts, the Omniscient Judge im- 
 puteth to them a degree of criminality in accordance 
 with the light which they have enjoyed and abused. 
 But for doing the same things we , are .regarded as 
 unspeakably more to blame than they, because we 
 have the principles of Christianity, science, refine- 
 ment, and the highest forms of civilization. Nobody, 
 I presume, will deny this position. It is easy, then, 
 to see that the criminality of one whose life has 
 been marked by extraordinary excellence, may be 
 so enhanced, or aggravated by the superior morai 
 advantages allotted to him, as to preponderate over, 
 or outweigh that of the most fallen and forbidding 
 sinner in the community. ■J'or the actual guilt of 
 this degraded man is proportionate to the moral 
 helps and appliances bestowed upon him. 
 
 Perhaps these were singularly small. His mind 
 was originally very inferior. "The intellect of a 
 person," says Dr. Rush, in one of his celebrated 
 
ON GRACE. 333 
 
 medical works, " may be so weak that he cannot be 
 considered an accountable agent." Besides, the 
 circumstances of his life have been most unpro- 
 pitious. In the beginning he was thrown upon the 
 world an helpless orphan, grew up amidst physical 
 sufferings of the severest kind, and was familiarized 
 to every form of vice. More, he was bred to look 
 upon many sins as the climax of honor and wisdom. 
 He was not so much as initiated into the rudiments 
 of knowledge — could neither read, write, nor cipher. 
 All his mental capabilities have been crushed by the 
 iron hand of want, folly, and misfortune. Now, 
 under such circumstances, is it not possible that 
 although he has trampled on the most sacred laws 
 of God and man — done the most revolting things^- 
 that his actual guilt before the Omniscient Judge is 
 less than that <jf the most eminent saint among his 
 cotemporaries ? 
 
 I have not the slightest doubt that there have 
 been frequent occurrences like the following : — A 
 poor man, really guilty, has been arraigned, tried, 
 condemned, and executed for murder, when, in the 
 sight of Heaven, there was less guilt in his bosom 
 than that belonging to the best member of the 
 court, jury, or counsel, by whose instrumentality 
 his fate was sealed — less, it may be, than any of the 
 crowd which followed him with hisses and execra- 
 tions to the scaffold — even less, perhaps, than that of 
 the clergyman who addressed the throne of grace 
 in his behalf as he was being launched into eternity. 
 Solemn and admonitory reflection ! 
 
 Let me not be understood as advocating that 
 mawkish sentimentality which would exempt the 
 unfortunate culprit from legal punishment. The 
 civil law cannot entertain those apologies for sinners 
 above mentioned. They can have no place except 
 before the bar of God. The head of that man, who, 
 with a sane mind, takes the hfe of a fellow-being, 
 must, as the laws now stand, pay the awful penalty 
 
334 ON GRACE. 
 
 of his traDBgression. Yet it will do us no hurt to 
 remember that if his lot had been different — if from 
 early years he had been surrounded with the means 
 of intellectual and moral improvement, instead of 
 ending his life on the gallows, h© might have been 
 a luminary, an honor, charm, and blessing to society. 
 TTi&n he might have desc^pded to his grave " fuU 
 of days and honor." A city, state, nation, or a 
 world might have mourned over his decease. His 
 memory, in 4hat case, instead of being accursed, 
 might have been handed down to posterity, watered 
 by the tears of joy and gratitude, gr«eii, flourishing, 
 aad fragrant through the long succession of ages. 
 Paul says, "that whatever may be our superiority 
 over others, it can be no legitimate ground of 
 boasting. It is the gift of God, and entitles us to 
 no peculiar privileges. He alone has made us to 
 differ from the most fallen and unhappy of those 
 around us." 
 
 At any rate such refleetions are fitted to soften 
 the heart; to lay the axe at the root of pride, 
 vanity, conceit, and Pharisaism ; and to breathe 
 into the soul the kind, gentle, loving spirit of angels, 
 that long-suffering, forbearance and tender syip.- 
 pathies which constitute the life, soul, essence, and 
 crowning ornament of the Christian character. The 
 Son of God requires us to cherish the most lively 
 and intense sensibUities to the wants, sufferings, and 
 welfare of all in the circle of our intercourse, irre- 
 spective of their characters, because thej^^'a're 
 infinitely dear to our Heavenly Father. The' best 
 are full of frailty and sin. The gospel teaches in 
 the most unqualified manner that it is nothing but 
 the grace of God that saves the greatest saint on 
 earth from being as bad as the worst of criminals. 
 It was the wise, merciful providence of God that 
 ordained for him a more favorable lot, and threw 
 around him the various circumstances which secured 
 his superior exaltation and blessedness. 
 
ON GRACE. 835 
 
 Paul declares, that salvation by grace tbrotigh 
 Christ, is founded upon the fact, that all have sin- 
 ned, and come short of the glory of God ; and, 
 therefore, no one can truly say, however pure he 
 may be, that he is more deserving of future happi- 
 ness, than the most wicked of his neighbors. Let 
 men believe that they can purchase the divine favor, 
 or become entitled to pd§uliar privileges after death, 
 or obtain some vantage-ground over others, by their 
 good works here : then they will inevitably cherish 
 the pride, boasting, and conceit of those Phari- 
 sees in the parable spoken by our Lord, " who trust- 
 ed in themselves that they were righteous and des- 
 pised others." Let mfen consider themselves worthy 
 of higher honor and a richer reward hereafter, in 
 consequence of their present holiness, of course 
 they will regard with feelings of the strongest re- 
 pugnance, and perhaps anger, the suggestion that 
 the finally impenitent will be treated with as much 
 favor as themselves, in a filture state. 
 
 But, our Lord Jesus Christ in the parable of the 
 prodigal Son, in Matt 20 : l-^lj), and many other 
 places, represents all as entirely devoid of merit in 
 the sight of God, and entirely dependent on his 
 grace for the bestowment of eternal life; He 
 teaches that for all our good works, we are fully; 
 completely rewarded this side the grave, and beyond 
 we shall all be equally the recipients of divine mer- 
 cy ; and unable to say concerning a single item of 
 Wiss which we may receive, that it had been^earned 
 or merited by our own previous achievements. In 
 the coming world we shall see and feel our indebt- 
 edness to the mercy of God for all our enjoyments, 
 of every kind. We shall have the spirit of the 
 apostle when he exclaimed, " By the grace of God 
 I am what I am, and his grace which was bestowed 
 upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abund^ 
 antly than they all ; yet not I but the grace of God 
 
336 ON GBACE. 
 
 which was with me, 1 Cor. 15: 10. So the 
 Psalmist expresses it. " Not unto us, Lord but 
 unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy 
 truth's sake." . 
 
 If I am a truly enlightened Christian, I shall not 
 lead a religious life with the expectation that it will 
 better my condition, at all, after death, and shall 
 rejoice in the belief that tire most unhappy and des- 
 titute around me, will finally be made partakers of 
 celestial glory, instead of congratulating myself on 
 account of a supposed superiority, as if I could do 
 anything towards attaining immortal happiness by 
 my imperfect obedience. A moment's reflection 
 might convince the most superficial thinker that this 
 is the true position. For Paul assures us that in or- 
 der to be admitted to the heavenly world, '-We 
 must be changed from sin to holiness, from dishonor 
 to glory, from weakness to power, from the natural 
 state to the spiritual, from the earthy to the un- 
 earthly, from corruption to incorruption, from mor- 
 tality to immortality." He also teaches that, at 
 death, the best persons are only sanctified in part — 
 that to the last, in a greater or less degree, they are 
 the subjects of pain, disease, frailty, error, sin and 
 sufi"ering. These evils are removed by the resur- 
 rection — by an act of Almighty power, which by 
 our personal efforts we could no more influence — 
 aid or retard — than we can the rising or setting of 
 the sun, or the revolution of the earth on its axis. 
 And this change in man which is to be effected by > 
 the resurrection, will pervade our moral as well as 
 physical nature, will result in making, us equal to 
 the angels, and the spotless, perfectly holy children- 
 of the Most High. It is self-evident, that if all are 
 alike undeserving of admission to the resurrection 
 state, then it is entirely consistent with the perfec- 
 tions of God, to bestow this mercy upon the whole 
 race, irrespective of their condition and character 
 on earth. 
 
ON GRACE. 337 
 
 "All are his ; for he created them. All may se- 
 curely trust in him, for he is the Father of the 
 Spirits of all flesh. All may look to him with a joy- 
 ful hope of deliverance from the boiidage of sin, and 
 the enjoyment of eternal life ; for he hath given as- 
 surance that his grace superabounds over sin, and 
 that although all have sinned,- they shall be justified 
 freely (undeservedly) byliis grace, which shall reign 
 through righteousness by Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 Adam Clarke, the Methodist commentator, says on the 
 text, Rom. 3 : 28. "As God is no respecter of per- 
 sons, all human creatures being equally his off- 
 spring, and there being no reason why one should be 
 preferred before another, therefore his boundless 
 mercy has embraced all." On the same text, Dr. 
 Barnes, the Presbyterian expounder, remarks, "As 
 all had alike sinned, Jews and Gentiles, and as the 
 plan of salvation was adapted to sinners, without 
 , distinction, so God could consistently show favors 
 to all, and all might be admitted on the same terms 
 to the benefits of the plan of salvation. This is the 
 uniform showing of the New Testament, that we 
 are utterly unable by faith, obedience, or any other 
 means to do anything towards qualifying ourselves 
 for immortal happiness beyond the grave. 
 
 It is asked of what use, then, is religion in the 
 present world, upon the principle, that if the soul 
 of a sinner is not converted before death, it will be 
 reclaimed in some of the years, ages, centuries, or 
 cycles of a coming eternity. With this view*objec- 
 tors inquire, what consequence can we attach to the 
 immediate reformation of a sinner. And this ques- 
 tion is proposed as if it were fraught with cutting, 
 and decisive reproach ; as if it convicted us of folly ; 
 as if it pointed to some radical defect in that pecu- 
 liar system of faith which we advocate. 
 
 To my mind this objection is exceedingly weak. I 
 wonder that it should have the slightest weight up- 
 30 
 
338 ON GRACE. 
 
 on any reflecting mind. Suppose as you are stepping 
 out of your house, some morning, to go to your busi- 
 ness, you were to meet a litter passing into the 
 next door, on which was borne a dear acquaintance, 
 who had just been blown up by the bursting of a 
 steamboat boiler. He is very badly scalded. His 
 wounds and bruises are terrible. He cries aloud 
 in excruciating agony. Of course, feeling for 
 him the deepest sympathy, you leave your business 
 undone, and spend the morning in doing all in your 
 power to minister to the sufferer. Now, fenagine a 
 bystander, looking on with the utmost apparent cool- 
 ness and indifference to say, "Why should you 
 trouble yourself so much about the sufferings of 
 your friend ? At the worst they will be short, and 
 ■ transitory. They cannot last through eternity. The 
 pangs and woes of this evanescent state are not 
 worthy of consideration." What anxieties and 
 prayers, what perils and treasures were expended 
 in the search for the late Sir John Franklin ? Did 
 they not reflect the highest honor on our com- 
 mon humanity. " 0, no !" some one may have said ; 
 " they were entirely misdirected, and uncalled for. 
 Because, if this nobJe, adventurous navigator suffer 
 ever so much and so long in the polar seas and ice, 
 his case is hardly worth our sympathy. For his trials 
 cannot be literally endless, and are therefore unde- 
 serving of our serious regard." Would such reason- 
 ing sound like words of wisdom, or like the words 
 of consummate folly, and hard-heartedness ? 
 
 How much more applicable is such an argument 
 to. a, case of mental suffering? What are the wounds 
 and bruises of the body compared with the pangs 
 which sin inflicts upon the soul— .a soul struck, burnt, 
 blackened, blasted, by the lightning of guilty pas- 
 sions — which crush it down to untold, and incon- 
 ceivable anguish ! He who I'ooks sympathetically 
 upon suffering does not estimate it so much hy its 
 
ON GEACE. 839 
 
 duration as severity. To save a single person from 
 even one year of sinful degradation, is an object 
 whose magnitude finite minds are unable to calcu- 
 late. In addition, think of the superabounding evil 
 that fills the world. Look abroad upon the countless 
 miseries inflicted by fraud, f|,lsehood, strife, hatred, 
 war ; upon the indescribable woes of intemperance, 
 libertinism, gambling, crime, want, destitution — up- 
 on " all the ten thousand minor diversities and 
 shadings of guilt and guilty sorrow," and then may 
 we realise the value and importance of a religious 
 faith, this" side the grave ; which if universal^ would 
 put an end to all these innnumerable and amazing 
 evils, and raise the world to the standard of mil# 
 lenial perfection and glory. 
 
 Angels have told us that Jesus Christ came to . 
 promote "Peace, and good will among men." It is 
 a reflection that often visits my mind — What a beau- 
 tiful world would this be, if Christian sympathy, love 
 and kind offices were extended to aU who need them ! 
 There is regard enough for the great, prosperous, 
 powerful, and admired. But they can get along 
 without it. ! my soul sickens when I think of the 
 fallen, and unhappy of earth, on whom no one smiles, 
 who have no help and encouragement from others 
 to break their fetters, and rise from degradation to 
 the dignity of mental and moral excellence. As I 
 gaze upon the mournful scene, I bless God that 
 through his Son, we have a religion, which was 
 given to reform, and elevate the sinful — tfeat can 
 stay the bitter waters that flow so abundantly, from 
 the fountains of scorned, and neglected vice— -ttiat 
 can soothe and calm the agonized bosoms of firose, 
 who are trodden into the dust by the iron-hand of 
 want, crime and misfortune. 
 
 In times past, we have had enough of the mere 
 announcement of beautiful truths by the pulpit, and 
 religious literature. The world now needs a new 
 
340 ON GRACE. 
 
 dispensation — a new era — an era of practical Christ- 
 ianity — an era in which the great object of honor 
 shall be in not being a hearer only, but also a doef 
 of the truth. When I reflect upon the wrongs, in- 
 justice and'^'inequalities which prevail in society, I 
 cannot but' exclaim — Would that a mighty voice 
 from Heaven might break forth on this lost, slumber- 
 ing world I Not in the tones and menaces of eter- 
 nal wrath, but in the accents of Infinite Love — in 
 melodious notes, sweeter than the music of angels : 
 reviving the " dead in trespasses and sins," inspir- 
 ing and lifting up the hearts of those who are 
 earnestly striving to promote the advancement of 
 truth and happiness. ! how beautiful are the tears 
 of Christian sympathy that fall upon the erring, and 
 grief-torn pilgrim of earth. Nothing else on his 
 foot-stool appears more glorious in the sight of God. 
 Angels bear them up to the bosom of the Father, as 
 a cheering sign that man is not whoUy abandoned to 
 evil, — that the work of redemption is steadily ad- 
 vancing, and that better fates and fortunes are in 
 store for our long misguided and unhappy race. 
 
 Throughout the New Testament we are assured 
 that Christianity is calculated, in the highest degree, 
 to glorify God, The sacred writers also teach that 
 the peculiar and distinguishing glory of our Creator 
 is a boundless sensibility to the interests, wants, 
 welfare, injuries, sorrows and distresses of all the 
 sinful children of men, without distinction. In ad- 
 dition, we are told that this divine sensibility as far 
 surpasses any feelings of kindness which the most 
 perfect of earthly parents can cherish towards their,, 
 children, as the infinite exceeds the finite. With the ■ 
 Supreme Parent it is a principle which has no limits, 
 which cannot be turned into indifi"erence, coldness, 
 or hatred ; can never, for ,a» single instant, intermit 
 its sublime intensity, strength and tenderness — 
 which can never change, waver, tire or fail, but must 
 
ON GRACE. 341 
 
 outlast, survive, and triumph over all human guilt and 
 unworthiness. In proof of this doctrine, our Lord 
 •refers us to the phenomena of the outward and 
 visible creation. All sinners have the same right and 
 interests in the great globe made for our habitation. 
 The rain and sun descend alike on tfie evil and good. 
 Jesus tells us that the I'ather actually receives more 
 pleasure in witnessing the return of one sinner to 
 the paths of peace, than in the contemplation of the 
 countless millions of the just, who have never 
 sinned. What a thought 1 It is one of the best 
 arguments for the divinity of the gospel. It is cer- 
 tain that an uninspired mind of any age or clime, 
 could never have hit upon such a wonderful, glori- 
 ous idea. The Son of God affirms that he was com- 
 miisioned to say to the worst of sinners, that it is 
 the infinite pleasure of the Father to employ his 
 amazing attributes in upholding, providing for, and 
 blessing him forever — in securing his present and 
 everlasting welfare. He constantly declares that it 
 is the supreme glory of his Father to sympathize 
 with the most debased and guilty, and to do all in 
 his power to reform and elevate them. He tells us 
 that it was to gratify the love of God that the Son 
 appeared on earth to taste death for every man — 
 the painful and ignominious death of the cross — and 
 thus to open a way through the grave to the won- 
 ders and glories of an immortal world — the destined 
 inheritance of entire humanity. Can God's love be 
 -disappointed ? 
 
 Christianity, though simple in its style and ex- 
 pression, contains the elements of a science so vgist, 
 subliine, transcendental and boundless, that very few 
 comparatively, of those who read the Bible, have 
 received into their widest and loftiest imaginings 
 the ideal even of that profound and comprehensive 
 philosophy taught by the Son of God. This is not, 
 perhaps, to be wondered at, when all things apper- 
 • 30* 
 
342 ON GHAClfe. 
 
 taining to the subject are taken into the account. 
 " Art is long, and life is short," says the old prov- 
 erb. Then, Christianity has been so narrowed 
 and vulgarized .in the general thought of mankind, 
 that it is very hard to draw general attention to the 
 true forms and proportions of its peculiar wisdom 
 and beauty. There are other difficulties in the 
 way. Imprisoned in tabernacles of clay ; moving 
 almost upon the same spot from the cradle to the 
 tomb ; surrounded by the innumerable frailties and 
 limitations of a mortal lot; enveloped from the be- 
 ginning in the thick, almost impervious mists of sin 
 and ignorance that settle down on these dark shores 
 of time ; having been brought up under circum- 
 scribed, narrow, prejudiced, perhaps, sectarian and 
 bigoted influences ; from the suitable age having 
 been devoted so exclusively to secular pursuits — 
 mankind at large have not availed themselves of 
 the requisite opportunities ; have not read enough, 
 thought enough, and prayed enough to become 
 initiated even into the rudiments of the Gospel 
 revelation. And those belonging to the clerical 
 profession have, to a great extent, it is feared, spent 
 much more time in exploring the philosophy of 
 peculiar theological systems than in the diligent, 
 faithful perusal and interpretation of the New Tes- 
 tament writings. 
 
 It seems to me that the leading thoughts which 
 pervade and characterize the discourses of our 
 Saviour are the following. First, there is only one 
 God, one uncreated Being, possessed of infinite 
 p(^er, wisdom and goodness — the undivided; indi- 
 visible Maker, Euler, and Father of all created 
 intelligences. Secondly, his moral essence is un- 
 mixed, unchanging love — a love commensurate 
 with the boundlessness of his nature, attributes, and 
 works. Thirdly, all spiritual beings are united to 
 him by ties of affection which no finite power can 
 
OK GBACE. 343 
 
 break. Fourthly, one moral, accountable being, is 
 just as dear and important in tbe sight of God as 
 another, however sinfal or insignificant he may 
 appear in the view of men. The vilest reprobate is 
 of equal consequence to himself and the universe, 
 as the loftiest angel who has never sinned. Fifthly, 
 the family of man are so bound together in origin, 
 character, sympathy, and destination, that one can- 
 not be saved unless all are saved. Or, in other 
 words, Jesus came not to save an inconsiderable 
 number, but to redeem entire humanity. Sixthly, 
 our sensibilities and kind deeds towards any person 
 should be just in proportion to the depth of his sin, 
 unworthiness, and degradation. 
 
 These are a few of the great principles, either 
 explicitly expressed or implied throughout the New 
 Testament Scriptures. " There is joy in heaven 
 over one sinner that repenteth." How different are 
 the inhabitants in that upper world from those of 
 •earth! What occasions the greatest joy among 
 unrenewed men? Enlarged means of selfish and 
 luxurious indulgence. The inebriating cup. The 
 sumptuous banquet. Wealth, rank, fashion, genius, 
 and learning, the creations of art, military triumphs, 
 and the various circumstances which flatter pride, 
 ambition or vanity. There the reformation of the 
 meanest, lowliest, '^iltiest, most despised sinner, 
 inspires the celestial hosts with the highest trans- 
 ports of which they are capable — greater, more 
 thrilling than those felt on that eventful day spoken 
 of by Job, " When the morning stars sang together, 
 and the sons of God shouted for joy, over the cre- 
 ation of a new family of planets, as they began to 
 wheel in grandeur their ever-enduring and harmo- 
 nious courses through the fields of space. Who 
 can grasp in conception, or worthily paint in words 
 such magnificent realities ? Who can offer an idea, 
 picture, fact, or argument, to illusttate and enforce 
 
844 ON GRACE. 
 
 this sublime sentiment? It is a subject that swells 
 beyond the ken of mortal minds. It rests upon the 
 simple assertion, of the Son of God, who uttered 
 only the words of truth, '' I say unto you, that like- 
 wise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner tha,t 
 repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just per- 
 sons, who need no repentance." 
 
 From these words may be derived those elements 
 or principles which demonstrate the character of 
 man's final destiny. They teach us what that sym- 
 pathy jp which Jesus enjoins on us all. We should 
 cherish a strong, lively, intense longing, accompar 
 nied with corresponding efforts to reform, alleviate, 
 Sjid bless all the sinners within our reach. This is 
 %.e noblest endowment which we can possess, tit is 
 the distinguishing attribute of God, Jesus, the Holy 
 Spirit, angels, the gineral assembly and church of 
 the first born, whose names are written in heaven, 
 and the spirits of the just made perfect. It is the 
 only source and means of a happy and useful life. 
 It is the germ and element of all true greatness. As 
 to religion, our emotional attainments are much 
 more important than the intellectual. A minister 
 may have very moderate abilities and learning, yet, 
 if his soul be imbued with the large and generous 
 spirit of the gospel, his preacMng will be more 
 effective than any amount of laere erudition could 
 mafee it, unaccompanied with the advantages of an 
 impassioned and stirring desire to promote the 
 fijHTitual exaltation of his fellow beings. If we feel 
 right towards others, all will be right. If our 
 predominant feelings resemble those of Christ, duties 
 will continually flow from us free, pure,, sparkling, 
 and salubrious as the sweet waters of a perennial 
 spring. Happy is the man whose moral sensibilities 
 are ever lively, deep, fervent, and preponderating ! 
 
 One of the severest forms of moral discipline to 
 which Christians are siifejected, arises from the fact 
 
ON GRACE. 345 
 
 that we are constantly brought in contact with those 
 faults and follies, those multifarious errors and 
 transgressions abounding among men, which tend 
 to discourage, iinpairj and even destroy the feelings 
 that have just been described. I will offer an illus- 
 tration. With many of us one of the first things 
 done in the morning is to look into a newspaper to 
 see what has been passing the last twenty-four hours 
 in the world around us. We spread out the docu- 
 ment, and find therein many shocking recitals. In 
 one place is an item of cruel murder committed 
 undef the most atrocious and aggravated circum- 
 stances. In another we see the words, ""bold and 
 daring robbery," or an adcount of incfendiarism" 
 which has destroyed a vast amount of property,' or' 
 an appalling suicide, or a flagrant breach of trust, 
 (fee. Now imagine a perfect Christian, whose life 
 has been spent in some secluded vale, surrounded 
 with none but the wise and good. He has never 
 travelled, nor so much as heard that newspapers 
 exist. For the first time one is put into his hands, 
 and he is assured that it is a picture of what is going 
 on in the great world beyond the narrow district to 
 which he is confined. *^hat emotions of unutter- 
 able horror would be awakened in his bosom by 
 reading the thifigs just named ! Would he not 
 shudder and grow ^ck at heart ? But what is the 
 effect on the minds of those of us who are dafly 
 familiar with such descriptions ? With regard to 
 myself, I am ashamed to say, that though I do not 
 read them attentively, yet as my eye glances over 
 the sad records I detect in my bosom a sort of apa- 
 thy or coldness, which says, " What is that to me ?" 
 or, " What is there in robbers and assassins in which 
 I should take any interest ?'' And, perhaps, some 
 professing Christians find these dark paragraphs 
 more agreeable and edifying than any matters else 
 which the paper contains. 
 
346 ON GBAOE, 
 
 From the same source we learn tba^ a gentleman 
 of our acquaintance, hitherto of an unblemished 
 reputation — a bri^t star in, the galaxy of men 
 deemed most eminent in society, has been guilty of 
 some astounding , misconduct, which has carried 
 desolation into the crushed and bleeding hearts of a 
 large circle of relatives ^nd friends ; ruined his own 
 family ; robbed widows and orphans ; and taken, it 
 may be, from hundreds or thousands of the poor, 
 humhle and dependent classes, their last pittance. 
 
 J need not multiply instances. The lesson which 
 they convey is obvious. These incessant experi- 
 ejtces repeated every hour, day, and week of gross 
 iniquities) and the aboiainable wrongs that darken 
 the world, and the consequent, almost inevitable 
 exasperation of our minds, tend beyond all calcula- 
 tiiji}!, to , repress, and chill, and freeze the warm 
 current pf forgiving, benevolent emotions, which 
 should ever flolw from the hearts of Christians, and 
 shed glory, upon their lives. Even good men, by 
 these means, are apt to feel that it is no matter what 
 feeoomes of the debased and slicked masses around 
 them. 'They deserve utter perdition, and the sooner 
 they receive their deserts the better. 1 h|rd it is 
 in a world like this to keep our noblest sensibilities 
 £rom waning — not to allow them under th« most 
 forbidding emergencies to intermit their strength, 
 and tenderness. It is easy to talk and rail against 
 the sinner. But without due commisseration for his 
 wretchedness, o^ what use can it be ? It even does 
 hurt. It is ruinous to our own spiritual welfare.. 
 It prevents us from making proper efforts to benefit 
 our fellow creatures. It prevents us from looking 
 with a suitable frame of mind — ,with calmness, 
 composure, hope and trust — on that dark, inscruti- 
 ble, eddying current of sin and sorrow, which is 
 hurrying along so many millions to the ocean of 
 eternity. 
 
ON GRACE. 847 
 
 Now, there is only on& way in which Christians 
 can resist the impulse to join in the general execra- 
 tion of gross offenders, and to regard them with the 
 coldness and unbending detestation which the first 
 sight of their misdoing is calculated to awaken in 
 the bosoms of all beholders. This is the deep con- 
 viction that the most guilty, gloomy, hardened 
 transgressor, whose soul has been steeped in crime, 
 bitterness, and desperation, though fallen, is not lost,; 
 that one day he will put off the mortal to be clothed 
 with the incorruptible, and rise to a higher sphere 
 of being- — to expatiate over those unimaginable 
 scenes, where all men, eventually, freed from sin, 
 will commune with angels, and bask in the fadeless 
 light and glories of that land where pains and part- 
 ings are unknown. We could not have those sensi- 
 bilities for the sinful, essential to the Christian 
 character, if we believed that God hated them and 
 was determined to banish them froln his presence 
 forever. 
 
 We are reminded by our Lord that angels walk 
 with us unseen. For, they sympathize with us which 
 would not be possible, if they lived too, far off in 
 some distant remote orb, to make us the objects of 
 constant observation and regard. Of course, they 
 behold with a clear and unclouded perception all the 
 moral evil on earth. They witness all the scenes 
 and acts of dishonesty, evasion and circumventing, 
 and reckless indulgence — all those violent struggles 
 of hate, envy, pride, malice, and ambition to which 
 reference has just been made. More, they look up- 
 on these dark doings with infinite oppugnance — .an 
 oppugnance as much greater than we can feel, as 
 heaven is higher than earth. But how do they re- 
 gard the sinners themselves, who have committed 
 such awful deeds. Why, with all that gentleness of 
 spirit which becomes an angel ; with unmixed, ten- 
 der pity ; with a deep, aJl-su^duing love ; with that 
 
348 ON GBACE. 
 
 dignified, and almost inconceivable elevation of char- 
 . acter, that mixes with the greatest disappi-obation of 
 the offence, the liveliest compassion for the offender. 
 And the strengtHbf their sensibility is in proportion 
 to the depth of sin, sorrow, and unworthiness which 
 are its object. With respect to the worst sinner liv- 
 ing—deserted by the whole world, in the sight of 
 mortals an insulated fi*agment of hopeless niin and 
 disgrace — it is certain that the tenderest yearnings 
 of .angels gather around him, as he is sitiking under 
 the weight of frightful guilt, and will never forsake 
 him till he is reclaimed, — made fit for admission to 
 the glorious abodes of the celestial world. 
 ;^ Nor are we left in doubt as to the bads on which 
 tneir sympathies rest. They cannot be actuated by 
 a weak, unfounded; morbid, sentimentalism. " Sons 
 of the Morning," they must estimate sinners accord- 
 ing to their intrinsic value. They love only what 
 ougl|t to be loved. They sympathize with those 
 only who are deserving of their sympathy. Their 
 feelings towards the poor sinner arise from the fact 
 that he is a being just as important to Grod and the uni- 
 verse as the loftiest cherubim who has never sinned. 
 They see that his destruction would work out infinite 
 ruin to others. Natural philosophers teach that the 
 smallest par|;icle of dust cannot be^spared — that it 
 is necessary to the gtiod of the whole — that if an- 
 nihilated, all the worlds which roll in space would 
 be thrown- into confusion and peiish. So in the 
 spiritual universe, there is not one intelligent being 
 however depr^ed, whose ruin would no* involve 
 that of millip6s upon millions. The vilest sinner 
 cannot be spared. He was made to^pcupy a cer- 
 tain niche. + If he be swept into notmng, the post 
 which he was ordained to fill will be forever 
 vacant. No other person can move in the particu- 
 lar circle that he was created for. Omnipotence is 
 able to preserve all, but cannot allow one thing to 
 
ON GRACE. 349 
 
 perish, without destroying all things else. In that 
 case it would be necessary to put aside the old sys- 
 tem entirely, and reconstruct a new, but imperfect 
 one. So that the ground of the sympathy between 
 angels and the sinner, is not simply the sinnei"s con- 
 sequence as endowed with a divine, immortal nature, 
 but silso the absolute, eternal necessity of the rela- 
 tion which he sustains to the glory of God and the 
 perfection of his universe. They imperatively de- 
 mand the reformation and eternal life of all corrupt, 
 and abandoned spirits. 
 
 The accomplishment of this object brought down 
 the heaven-appointed messenger from the bosom of 
 a Father's love to teach man his duty and destina- 
 tion, and to inspire him with proper sentiments of 
 regard for truth and a brother's welfare. And this 
 most compassionate Saviour was the brightness of 
 the eternal glory, the express image of the self- 
 existent and unchanging Creator. Though so great, 
 how kind were his words ! How tender his sym- 
 pathies ! Though with dignified, yet becomipg 
 severity, he reproved the proud, self-righteous 
 scribes and Pharisees ; yet he weeps in view of the 
 terrible sufferings which he foresaw they wefe 
 destined to endure, in consequence of their obstinate 
 and blind rejection of the blessed truths that he 
 taught. And when these persecutors had naSled 
 him to the cross, he prays for their forgiveness, 
 " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
 do." But the feelings of God and his beloved Son 
 are identyjal. His will is the will,,of the eternal 
 Father, for tfaey are one — otm in purpose, one in love. 
 The love of Christ was but the reflection of a 
 Father's boundless sympathy. So in the cross we 
 behold no display of divine wrath, but only the 
 triumph of immortal, never-dying love. For Jesus 
 declares : " And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all 
 31 
 
350 ON GRACE. 
 
 men unto me ; " by which words, as John asserts, 
 he signified what death he should die. 
 
 Thus the blood of Christ poured out on the cross, 
 is to be regarded as the infallible pledge that hig 
 mi«sioTi shall Be fully accomplished ; and that, as he 
 has tasted death for every man, so every man must, 
 sooner or later, by the wonders of that sympathy 
 which beam from the summit of Calvary, be drawn 
 to the perception — the enJ9yment of God and a 
 heavenly ; state. An apostle aflBirms that the death 
 and resurrection of our Saviour are the sure 
 guarantee that the divine purpose wiU, through him, 
 be ultimately fulfilled. This purpose, he goes on to 
 say, is ; to save all souls, without an exception, from 
 sin and death, and deliver those who, through fear 
 of the grave, were all their lifetime subject to 
 bondage. Such a doctrine renders the Christian 
 revelation unspeakably dear to every noble heart. 
 This redeems the- divine character from the charge 
 of cruelty in creating, as some have falsely sup- 
 posed, millions of rational beings, with the certain 
 knowledge that their existence would prove an 
 everlasting curse. What is the difference between 
 a benevolent Creator, who torments some of his 
 creatures to all eternity, and one who does the sam.p 
 thing to gratify his malevolence ? ^ 
 
 This, then, is the distinguishing glory of the 
 gospel ; it revealg to lis a life of glory, honor, peace, 
 and endless progress for all who die. It makes us 
 certain that the dead are embraced in the bosom of 
 Infinite Love ; that they are treading those verdant, 
 beautiful shores where storms and clouds are un- 
 known—where in the bloom of youth and happi- 
 ness, thf oughout the ceaseless round of revolving 
 ages, they shall continusjlly ascend to higher planes 
 of knowledge, to sublimer joys, and to brighter and 
 more glorious visions of immortal love and beauty. 
 
ON GRACE. 351 
 
 What, therefore, in the light of these truths, is the 
 nature of a Christian hope? Does that man possess 
 it, who expects only that himself and /amily, and a 
 narrow circle of intimate friends — his little church, 
 and the few churches that harmonize with It in 
 principles — ^will be saved, and all the rest of the 
 world will be consigned to helpless ruin ? Is that 
 a Christian hope which holds that the day. is coming 
 when , our Creator, in ,the ^ exercise of a stern, un- 
 relenting hatred towards sinners, will arise and cut 
 asunder the ties that unite them to his throne, and 
 allow them to drift out from the shore of peace and 
 safety upon the surge of perdition, to be driven 
 onward, onward, and onward, till finally they will 
 get forever beyond the reach and resources of even 
 Omnipotent mer6y? Is that a Christian hope which 
 denies that each person is bound to his neighbor 
 by affections so intimate, endeared^ and endearing, 
 that he cannot be perfectly happy himself so long- 
 as he sees those around him involved in guilt and 
 pain? Is that a Christian hope -which flays the 
 great body of humanity alive, and strews its rup- 
 tured, lacerated, bleeding fragments upon the wide 
 field of utter desolation ? Is that a Christian hope 
 which immures one part of mankind in the great 
 central dungeon^ pf the universe, from which they 
 are never to be let out, and forbids the remainder 
 to proffer even the boon of condolence and sym- 
 pathy in behalf of partner, children, and friends, 
 who, by a" cruel and inexplicable fate, are severed" 
 from them forever ? 
 
 I would not trouble myself about speculative 
 absurdities, the belief of which could do no hart to 
 any one. Let them be tolerated so long as they 
 leave us a God whom it is in ,our power to honor 
 and adore ; so long as they allow us to love all our 
 fellow-beings, and embrace them in the arms of 
 faith ; so long as they do iiot rob heaven of all that 
 
352 ON GEACE. 
 
 can make heaven desirable. But when theology lays 
 a rash and ruthless hand upon the key-stone of that 
 beautiful arch of mercy which spans our fallen world, 
 towering high into the golden skies; when she divides 
 the . hiiman rac'e into two parts, whose characters 
 and- interests are to be eternally antagonistic ; and 
 after narrowing "dowa the number of the finally 
 saved to an inconsiderable fraction, cuts off all com- 
 munication between earth and heaven, and holds 
 that saints and angels will cease to sympathize with 
 the sufferings of^he lost ; but that through eternity, 
 they will lift their voices in more rapturous hosannas, 
 as the waitings of woe and despair ''come up from 
 the countless millions pf their outcast brethren — 
 then I thank my Heq,venly Father that I may look 
 upon its teacWgs, ibut as the shocking dreams of 
 dark a,nd superstition^ ages forever gone by. 
 
 And what dueams!, to have them on the mind 
 but for a single ja^ht would be enough to unsettle 
 a soul — to drive reason and peace from its throne 
 forever. A true Christian hope is founded on the 
 announcement of Scripture, that the reformation of 
 a single sinner causes joy in the presence of the 
 angels of God', and consequently the final loss of 
 one soul . would fill heaven with tears, clothe its 
 inhabitaiats in sackcloth, and caitse their golden 
 harps to fall tuneless, and unstrung. Instead of 
 singing another joyous anthem they would send 
 forth the strains of anguish, and lamentation through 
 eternity. Even the Creator himself would throw 
 around his throne a thick cloud of mourning and 
 disappointment. The.universe itself would become 
 dark, cheerless, and desolate, and all finite intelli- 
 gences wciuld expire in horror, consternation, and 
 amazement. 
 
 Sublime thought ! He who turns a sinner from 
 the error of his ways, will forever partake of the 
 joys of this newborn, ransomed spirit ; their com- 
 
ON 6BACE. 353 
 
 mon joy shall vibrate throughout the intelligent 
 creation. I repeat it, sublime thought ! The con- 
 version of the lowliest, meanest, guiltiest sinner on 
 earth to-day, would send a thrill of rapture upward 
 — reaching even the millions that surround the 
 eternal throne. This revelation is the basis of "the 
 doctrine that entire humanity must be redeemed 
 before one human being can be perfectly happy. 
 Any man's weal or woe is forever identified with 
 that of the race to which he belongs. *> 
 
 The joy of heaven is not yet "complete, else it 
 were not capable, as Scripture affirms, of being 
 increased by the repentance of those not yet 
 redeemed. Hence the conclusion is irresistible, 
 that the joy^of the celestial -world will not reach its 
 maximum, so long as a single sinner in this, or any 
 other part of God's creation remains impenitent, 
 unreformed, unsaved, unblest. Thi§ then is the true . 
 gospel hope, that the system of grace revealed in 
 the New Testament wiU • go onward, and onward, 
 tiU in the mighty roll of future ages it shall reach 
 the case of the most desperate soul, and the last 
 wanderer from the paths of peace shall be brought 
 home to his Father's house, amid the acclamations 
 and rejoicings of the whole intelligent universe. 
 Consummation ineffably glorious ! 
 
 " We cannot go 
 Where universal love smiles not around, 
 Sustaining all yon orbs, and all their suns, 
 From seeming evil still educing good, 
 And better thence again and better stiU, 
 In infinite progkession." 
 
 Grace \ 'tis a charming sound, 
 
 Harmonious to the ear ; 
 Heaven with the echo shall resound. 
 
 And all the earth shall hear. 
 
 Grace first contrived a way 
 
 To save unhappy man, 
 And all the means that grace display. 
 
 Which drew the wondrous plan. 
 
354 ON GRACE. 
 
 Grace guides my wandering feet, 
 \ To tread the heavenly road ; 
 And new supplies each hour I meet, 
 ' While pressing on to God. 
 
 Grace all the work shall crown, 
 Through everlasting days ; 
 
 It lays in hpaven the topmost stone. 
 And well deserves the praise. 
 
 Since many persons are so fond of those exhi- 
 bitions or statements usually denominated creeds, I 
 will close with an abstract-of the leading articles of 
 my religious views. 
 
 1. I belie'y;e that the Bible;, the whole Bible, and 
 nothing but the Bible, is a dfVinely inspired and in- 
 fallible standard of faith and practice. 
 
 2. I fcelieve in God, the Father, and in the Son, 
 and in the'*' Holy Ghost, as they are revealed in 
 Scripture. 
 
 3. I believe that Jes^^ is the Mediator between 
 God and^man — the sacrifice for sin, arid the Saviour 
 from it, arid that the atonement which he jnade is 
 iadispensably necessary to the salvation of sinners. 
 
 4 I believe in the conversion and sanctification 
 of the heart by the influ,enoes of the Holy Spirit, 
 and that without such influences no one can exer- 
 cise supreme love to God, anS universal love to 
 man. 
 
 5. I believe that God will certainly and univer- 
 sally reward and punish men according to their 
 deserts. 
 
 6. I believe that evangelical repentance) purity of 
 heart, integrity of purpose, and a blameless, holy 
 life, are, invariably, the prerequisites to the enjoy- 
 ment of eternal happiness. 
 
ON GHACE. 355 
 
 7. I believe in constant, unremitting warfare with 
 sin and error ; growth in grace ; confomjity to all 
 the requirements of God's law, and to &J[1 the prin- 
 ciples and precepts of the Gospel. 
 
 8. I believe in one Catholic and Apostolic Church, 
 in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, 
 the resurrection of the dead, and the life eveelast- 
 
 ING. 
 
 9. I believe that he who cordially embraces these 
 truths has a Christian creed, and that — 
 
 " He who these duties shall perforin, 
 Faithful and with an honest heart, 
 Shall safely ride through every storm, 
 And find, indeed, that better part." 
 
 Amen.