15. 8. And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom unto the south side of the Jebusite, the same is Jerusalem.' For further confirmation of this important truth, see the 7th and 9th chapters of the prophecy of Jeremiah. The word gehenna is found in the New Testameut twelve times only, it was always addressed to the Jews. Nothing is said of gehenna to the Gentiles. This word is found Matt. 5. 22-30; Matt. 18. 9; Mark 9. 43-47; Luke 12. 5; Matt. 10. 23; Matt. 23. 15, 33; and James 3. 6.”

The above extract, we think, contains a brief view of what universalists generally believe concerning hell. The substance of the whole is, that there is no place of punishment in the future world, called hell. It is said plainly, "Christ never taught that hell is beyond the grave." To sustain this position two grounds are taken, viz. first, the words sheol, hades, and tartarus are improperly translated hell; and secondly, the word gehenna is expressive of a place in the valley of Hinnom, near Jerusalem, where a fire was kept for the purpose of burning the filth of the city, &c. Now, on both these points we join issue. We will first notice Mr. M's brief method of disposing of three of the words rendered hell. He says, "Critics now generally agree that neither the words sheol, hades, nor tartarus was ever used by any sacred writer to communicate an idea of endless suffering and therefore should not have been translated hell." Now, to this dexterous method of disposing of so weighty a matter we offer the following reply:

1. When Mr. M. says that "Critics generally agree that neither sheol, hades, nor tartarus was ever used by any sacred writer to communicate an idea of endless suffering-and therefore should not have been translated hell," he, in effect, admits that the word which is properly translated hell, must have been used by sacred writers "to communicate an idea of endless suffering." It is too plain to be overlooked, that if as Mr. M. states, these words ought not to be translated hell, because they were not used by sacred writers to communicate an idea of endless suffering, then, any word which may be properly rendered hell, must communicate an idea of endless suffering. Now as he has told us in the above extract, that there are but four words in the original

languages which are rendered hell, three of which he says should not be so rendered, because they were not used by the sacred writers to communicate an idea of endless suffering; it follows that the fourth word, which is gehenna, to the translation of which he makes no objection, must have been used by the sacred writers to communicate an idea of endless suffering. This testimony in favor of future and endless punishment, though from a universalist, is good as far as it goes. But the reader will please to bear in mind, that the question in this place is not whether hell is a place of endless suffering, but whether or not there be any such place as hell, where sinners will be punished after death.

2. When Mr. M. says that critics are generally agreed that the words sheol, hades, and tartarus are never used by the sacred writers to communicate an idea of endless suffering, he states what we think can never be shown, unless "critics generally" have thus far escaped our observation. Had he stated that critics generally agree that these words are not always used to communicate an idea of endless suffering, or a place of future punishment, he would have come nearer the truth; but that critics are agreed that they are never used in this sense we deny. On the word sheol, of the Old Testament, which is sometimes rendered grave, sometimes pit, and sometimes hell, Dr. A. Clark has made the following remark in his notes on Job vii. 10. "The word which we, properly enough, translate grave, here signifies also the state of the dead, hades; and sometimes any deep pit, or even hell itself." On Job xxiv. 19, the Dr. remarks again, "I have elsewhere shown that sheol signifies not only hell and the grave but any deep pit." On Samuel ii. 6, the same critic remarks thus: "The Hebrew word sheol which we translate grave seems to have the same meaning in the Old Testament with hades in the New, which is the word generally used by the Septuagint for the other. It means the grave, the state of the dead, and the invisible place or place of separate spirits."

Mr. Henry remarks on Psa. ix. 17. "In the other world the wicked shall be turned into hell."

Again, on Psa. xlix. 15, he paraphrases thus: "God shall redeem my soul from the sheol of hell the wrath to

come, that pit of destruction into which the wicked shall be

cast."

Again, on the expression "Hell, (sheol) and destruction are before the Lord," Prov. xv. 11. Mr. Henry remarks thus: "The place of the damned, in particular, and all their torments which are inexpressible, the state of separate souls generally and all their circumstances, are under God's eye."

Mr. Cruden says, "This word sheol is sometimes put for hell, the place where the wicked are damned or tormented." We trust we have now shown that critics do not generally agree that the word sheol is never used to communicate an idea of endless suffering, or what is more properly the question in this place, punishment in the future state. But before we dismiss this word we will offer a few remarks which may serve to convince the plain reader, without any reference to critics, that it is properly translated by our English word, hell. From the above authorities it appears that the word sheol signifies the grave or any deep pit or cavity in the earth; that it also signifies the state of the dead in general, and sometimes hell, or a place of future punishment. Now we maintain the correctness of the latter application in certain cases, from the fact that some of the instances in which it occurs, the connection will not admit of either the former renderings. Job xi. 8. "It is high as heaven what canst thou do; deeper than hell what canst thou know." The subject of discourse in this text is the unsearchableness of God. The preceding verse inquires, "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection? It is as high as heaven it is as deep as hell." The simple meaning is, that man can no more find out God than he can scan heaven and explore hell. Now, understand hell to refer to the future world and the comparison is not only correct, but is awfully sublime! As hell, (sheol) is in the yet unseen and unknown world; in the bosom of undeveloped eternity-remote from the light of time and the scrutiny of man, so God is unsearchable. But suppose hell to be in this world; that in this text, it is the grave or some dark cavity or pit in the earth, and the text is not only stripped of its sublimity, but of its common sense also. Men are capable of exploring subterraneous caverns, and graves are the work of mens' hands, and they are capa

ble of opening vaults and charnel-houses, and marble tombs, and of exposing the mouldering dead, and the darkness of the grave, to the gaze of the noon-tide sun-beams; hence, there is no force nor sense in the text if its object be to assert that the mystery of the divine nature is as deep as the grave.

Psa. ix. 14. "The wicked shall be turned into hell." It cannot be denied that this text distinguishes the wicked from the righteous by the punishment they endure; hence, being "turned into hell," distinguishes the wicked from the righteous, who consequently cannot be turned into hell. Now, we ask by what English term the word sheol should be rendered, if not by the word hell? By what other term could it be consistently rendered, and have the text still distinguish the wicked by the punishment they endure? It will not answer to render it grave, for then it would express nothing peculiar to the wicked; it would affirm nothing which might not be affirmed of the righteous: the righteous are turned into the grave as well as the wicked. Nor will it obviate the difficulty to render it pit; for if by this term any thing is meant less than hell, it is not true of the wicked any more than of the righteous.

Psa. cxxix. 8. "If I ascend up to heaven thou art there: If I make my bed in hell thou art there." The Psalmist is here treating of the divine omnipresence, showing that God is every where present, filling all in all. With a warmth perfectly becoming the inspiring character of his subject, he exclaims, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up to heaven, thou art there if I make my bed in hell, thou art there." Now, suppose hell to mean no more than the grave, or some pit or cavern in the earth, and the sublimity, beauty and propriety of these high wrought strains disappear.

Such an exposition destroys the parallel between heaven and hell: "If I ascend up to heaven thou art there; if I make my bed in hell thou art there." Here heaven and hell are referred to, as places of equal distance in opposite directions, to illustrate the divine omnipresence, by affirming that God is alike in the one and in the other. If the grave be understood, it forms no parallel to heaven, which must be in a future world, if it is to be the eternal abode of all souls,

as universalists contend. But should heaven be understood, in this place, to mean no more than the starry regions, still the narrow limits of the grave, which are formed by man, and by him may be explored, form but a poor illustration of the divine omnipresence, in contrast with the heavens, where the Almighty's goings are marked by the sweep of revolving worlds.

We have now done with the Hebrew word sheol, which our translators have rendered hell, in some instances, and in others grave, and pit. Other quotations, it is true, might be added to the above, but probably enough has been said, and our intended limits forbid to say more.

But Mr. Morse also asserts that critics are generally agreed that the word "hades was never used by any sacred writer to communicate an idea of endless suffering." Let us then listen for a moment to the voice of some of the critics and compare their language with the above declaration.

Mr. Groves, in his Greek and English Dictionary, gives the following exposition of the term in question. "Hades, (from a, negative, and eido, to see) a dark, obscure place; a place unseen or not to be seen by mortals; the receptacle or region of the dead. According to the christian doctrine, the invisible place of spirits, the unseen place of souls; the place of the dead generally, but vulgarly a place of torment; the abode of the damned. With the above, accord the remarks of Dr. A. Clark. In his note on Matt. xi. 23, he has given the following criticism: "The original word is hades, from a, not, and ideim, to see-the invisible receptacle or mansion of the dead, answering to sheol in Hebrew, implying often, 1st, the grave, 2ndly, the state of separate souls or unseen world of spirits, whether of torment or in general." Again, on Acts ii. 27, the Dr. remarks thus: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; in hades, that is, the the state of separate spirits, or the state of the dead. Hades was a general term among the Greek writers by which they expressed this state: and this HADES was tartarus to the wicked, and elysium to the good." To the above we will add the testimony of a more modern critic still. Dr. Chapman, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in his sermon on "Hades," has given the following criticism; the object of