and on earth, peace and good will towards all men. (Luke ii. 10-14.)

I cannot believe in the eternal misery of one creature till I can find a law which threatens such punishment for the violation of it, and as no such punishment was threatened for the transgression of any before the gospel dispensation. It is most certain that there cannot be such a law under the gospel; If any such law was ever given, it must have been given to our first parents, and we read not of the least intimations of such a law having been given to them. If such a law was given under, or by the gospel, it is much harder for mankind who have lived since, than before; for all who lived before, could not be condemned; no, not one of them, and punished for ever, for the transgression of a law, that was never given them, or of which they had no knowledge. This would be contrary to all our civil laws, and all our ideas of justice. In fact, nothing can be more certain, than that no such law was ever given. I am not in the least afraid to bid defiance to all the learned divines under heaven to produce a law within the lids of the Bible, or in the Old and New Testaments, that threatened eternal punishment for transgression or any sin. And as they cannot show any such law, their abominable, wicked, cruel, eternal-damnation doctrine, is clean gone forever.

We will now proceed to examine the New Testament, and first notice the preaching of John the Baptist. We read that he preached repentance, if he believed in eternal puishment after this

life, it is unaccountable that he did not preach it, to the many people that came to hear him, that if they did not repent they would be punished in hell for ever; but no, not one word did he tell them about punishment after this life.

I now pass on to the time called the day of pentecost, (Acts chap.2) when 3000 were added to the church by the preaching of Peter. We have the substance of his sermon, and not the least intimation is given of that which is so much preached in this day, and thought to be so necessary to convince people of the consequences of sin. And in the next chapter, there is another sermon preached by the same apostle; and not one word about eternal punishment: but the contrary; he speaks of the restoration of all things; and for their encouragement, he told them that they were included in the covenant that God made with their fathers, that "all the kindreds of the earth should be blessed."

And when Peter and John, were by the rulers called to an account for their preaching, and forbid to speak any more in the name of Jesus, they soon after preached again, and so powerful that the place was shaken where they were assembled, without one word of scaring the people about going to hell. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to preach; but not a word do we read of this doctrine, so common in this day.

The seventh chapter of Acts, contains a pretty lengthy sermon, preached by Stephen. He tells them of the sins they had committed from

time to time, and calls them stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart, and how their fathers had persecuted the prophets; and lastly, he told them of their murdering Jesus Christ. This cut them to the heart, because they knew it to be the truth. There are many in our day, who will not bear to hear the truth. If you tell them the truth, and that which they know to be the truth, they will be angry, like as they were with Stephen. They gnashed upon him with their teeth, and ran upon the poor innocent man and stoned him to death. And like every good man, he prayed for them, that God might not lay this sin to their charge. No: he did not wish them punished, (far from it,) nor had he spoken a word to them about going to hell for their sins. Nor throughout all the acts of the apostles, in all their conversations, disputations and sermons, to warn people of sin, and to persuade them to repentance, not one word do we read about damnation, hell and eternal punishment, which, if the doctrine was then believed, is most unaccountable. If they had believed the doctrine, as now believed, they could hardly have avoided, in their preaching, slipping out a word once in a while but no not one word; nor the least intimation about eternal damnation.

One who had never read the Bible, but had only heard preaching, and read such authors as Edwards, Bunyan, and others of the same school, then read the scriptures, he might say, as a learned writer does, when he come to examine the scriptures on this subject, "I was surprised," says he, "to find the sacred writers, so very sparing in the use of the word eternal, or ever

lasting, as refering to future punishments, upon which such vast stress is laid. I must needs say, I expected, when I began to collect this part of the evidence to set befere the reader's view, to have seen the word everlasting connected with the misery of the next state, at least, in every book of the New Testement, if not several times in each bonk: Whereas upon examination, it appears, that by far the greater part of the inspired writers have never used this word, nor any other word allied to it insense and meaning, with reference to future torments; while those who have used it, have rarely done so. It is used but thrice by the evangelist Matthew, but once by the evangelist Mark, and this in a special case only; and but once likewise by the apostle Paul, though his epistles make so considerable a part of the New Testament. It is not met with in the gospels either of Luke or John; nor in either of the three epistles of John. And, what is very remarkable, in the account we have of the preaching of the apostles from place to place, throughout the world, in the book of the Acts, there is a total silence as to their ever having used this word, or any other, importing that the misery of the wicked is endless and never ceasing. All of which is very extraordinary, if this is a doctrine of Christianity. For, if it really be so, it is a most important one; and it cannot be easily accounted for, that the inspired writers should have so strangely passed over it with such neglect. It might rather have been expected, that they should have perpetually insisted on it, and with great solemnity too, and in a great variety plain and indisputable terms. And their omis

sions upon this head, are a strong presumtive argument, that they knew nothing of this doctrine, which has been so vehemently pleaded for, in these latter days." Chauncey.

And there is something also, very unaccountable, if it was believed under the Old and New Testament times, that we never read of any fears having been expressed of a child, or any relative, or friend, or any fellow creature, or any one, however wicked in this life, having gone to such a place of misery. As it is well observed, by another writer on this subject, who truly says, and it is undeniable, that, "If their belief was the same as in our day, why do we never find them express that belief about future eternal punishment, as is now done in books and sermons and in conference meetings, and in com mon conversation. No man can possibly deny the vast difference between their language, and the common language now used upon the subject. If the language is so different, is it not a presumptive proof that the invention of a new language arose from the unscriptural doctrine that hell was a place of endless misery.

We do not read that they, under the Old or New Testament times, expressed any fears about their children, their relations, their neighbours, or the world at large, going to eternal misery.As to their feelings, I do not find a sigh, nor a tear shed, a groan uttered, a prayer offered, nor any exertions made, as if they believed men were exposed to endless misery in a future state. We see parents, and others, deeply afflicted at the loss of their children and friends by death. We see pious people deeply grieve on account