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a law that threatens eternal punishment for sin in the Testament, and under the gospel, that was never known nor heard of before.-(I have mentioned this subject before, but it is of importance, and worth considering again.) Then, certainly all the wicked who lived before, could not be subjects of eternal punishment, or any punishment in another world; for how unjust would it be to punish people for the transgression of a law that had never been given them, or of which they had no knowledge; therefore, none could have gone to hell before Christ. We read that life, (eternal life,) and immortality, is brought to light by the gospel, and according to the foolish doctrine of our opponents, hell and eternal punishment, is also brought to light by it.

Christ came to inform mankind of that which they never heard of before, that eternal punishment would be the consequence of sin. Then all who lived before, were under an infinitely milder law, than those who have lived since. Thus, the gospel is so far from being good news to the world of mankind, that it is the most awful, and most terrible news that had ever been heard before!! My God! what inconsistencies and absurdities result from this abominable antichristian doctrine of a hell and eternal punishment. It would require a large volume to describe all the contention, the quarreling, in short all the evil and misery it has caused in the world. If it had not become a popular and fashionable. doctrine, and had not been heard of in our day more than in the Old Testament times, and a person was to begin now and preach hell and eternal punishment, he would be considered a mon

ster, and his doctrine most horrible; and would, no doubt, be opposed by those who now oppose universal salvation. For mankind in general are not led by reason, but by education, fashion and custom; and believe, or profess to believe, that which is most popular, and most to their inter

est.

Now, some readers may wish to know, that if the doctrine of a hell and eternal punishment for sin in another world was not taught by any of the prophets, Christ, nor his apostles, from whence did it originate, as it must have had a beginning, and been believed and taught by some people at some time? This is a very natural and reasonable enquiry.

In answer to which, I will briefly state, (as the limits of this work will not permit me to be lengthy, neither will it be necessary,)

The origin of the doctrine of eternal punishment.

It is well known, that the heathens or Gentiles at, and long before, the coming of Christ, believed in two eternal principles; that is, good and evil ever waring against each other, and neither fully prevailing, that man had liberty to be governed by which he pleased, and that those who chose virtue,should enjoy endless happiness; and those who chose and adhered to vice, should ever remain under the power of evil, therefore would be always miserable. On this doctrine of two eternal principles of good and evil, the absolute eternity of sin and misery, may be easily

inferred. This, in short, is the true foundation of eternal misery. And it came from the Pagan theology.

The infernal deities being judged by the ignorant pagans to be eternal as the good God, and as powerful. They sacrificed more to the evil principle than the good out of fear, and to appease the anger of these wrathful agents. Hence the origin and frequency of human sacrifices.

The same was also taught by the magicians at Babylon, who were the most learned of the Persian empire. They believed that there exists two eternal independent principles, good and evil. That all created things, with which we are acquainted, are the result of the combination of these two. That they are in continual struggle with each other, and continually counteracting each other's designs. That where light prevails, there is the most virtue and happiness; and where darkness prevails, there is the most evil and misery. (This is true enough, but their greatest error was in believing, as many do in the present day, that the good would never overcome the evil.) The former they said conducted the affairs of heaven, and was called Orasmasdes, and the latter, presiding over hell, Arimanius. The grand outlines of this philosophy are found to lead the vulgar belief of many savage nations, especially those which are the most ignorant; and also those who are uninfluenced by priest-craft. They are found among the uncultivated tribes of Asia and Africa, between whom no communication of sentiment can be supposed to exist. Among the

wild aborigines of this country, are people who implore the protection and amity of the evil principle alone, because, say they, the good is ever disposed to befriend us, and therefore prayer to him would be unnecessary. So congenial to barbarians, and those unassisted by divine revelation, appears this philosophy, that it even affected the mythology of Greece and Rome. In those countries religion was the complicated machinery of policy and priest-craft.

A catalogue has been made of 30,000 gods of ancient paganism; as many of whom, according to heathen writers, possessed dispositions unfriendly to human happiness as otherwise. If they had their celestial, they had their infernal deities; and it was extraordinary, that this notion of two principles should give rise to that famous heresy among christians called Manicheans.

Now let us examine the consequences of this Pagan doctrine. "If there be two independent principles, and it be admitted that an eternal principle of evil hath existed aparte ante, as the schools express it, then there must exist an eternal evil aparte post. For whatever has existed from eternity, does exist from necessity; and must continue forever to exist." Now as the evil principle must operate to an equal extent with the good principle, mankind will be divided under them,some being made eternally happy,and others eternally miserable. Thus the belief of an endless hell, grounded upon the belief of an eternal principle of evil, is natural and easy. From these false principles, and these only can it be rationally proved.

The Pagan, from his first principles, may conclude with reason, that the pains of the wicked will be interminable, but the christian cannot, because he is taught by divine revelation, that there is one God over all, by whom, through whom, and to whom are all things blessed forever more."

It is well known that the doctrine of endless punishment, was generally believed by the Pagans at the time of Jesus Christ; and their opinion infected at an early period, the doctrines of the church, particularly when the christian religion was established by Constantine, the Roman emperor. And among other false doctrines, there was more eternal misery introduced into the church; which had been strongly opposed by Origen and others. But I will first go further back, to show more fully, that it was a doctrine generally believed in the Pagan world. I will begin as far back as the time Timeus, a philosopher, who lived nearly 500 years before Christ. He wrote a treateis concerning the soul; and speaking upon the remedies of moral evil, recommends philosophy to men of good minds; but for those of ungovernable and perverse dispositions, "civil law," he says, "was invented which keeps them in fear, and applauds the poets for recording all those torments and those endless punishments that are said to await the shades of wicked men. Plato, (a philosopher who died 348 B. C.) taught that the wicked would be punished after death. Also, Zeno, (who died 264 B. C.) taught the same, though neither believed what they taught, for they believed the soul died with the body.

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