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punishment after death in Tartarus was believed by the heathen generally, yet the better informed among them did not believe in the fables of hell," but turned them into ridicule, Juvenal took no part in those opinions of the vulgar; and Virgil says "it was the province of philosophy alone to shake off the yoke of custom, riveted by education." Is it not then strange, that a doctrine, which was invented by heathens, and treated with contempt by their own wisest men, should be a fundamental article in the faith of Christians?

3d, I may just add, that when the heathen were made converts to the Christian faith, all allow, that many of their previous notions were soon incorporated with it. This, together with the erroneous views held by the Jewish converts, laid a foundation for such a corruption of Christianity, which, if it were not attested by evidence indisputable, could not be believed. That punishment in Tartarus, is not a part of this corruption of Christianity derived from the heathen, deserves to be seriously considered. The evidence we have adduced, proving that it is, we submit to the read er's judgment.

To conclude this chapter. We have shown, that neither Sheol, Hades, nor Tartarus, is ever used by the sacred writers to signify a place of endless misery for the wicked. This was all we were bound to do, in opposing the common opinion on this subject. But we have also shown, that this opinion originated with the heathen; and that the Jews learned it from them. To invalidate the evidence which has been produced, the very reverse must be proved. See note in the first edition, or the improved version on 2 Peter and Jude.

CHAPTER II.

GEHENNA, UNIFORMLY TRANSLATED HELL IN THE NEW TESTAMENT, CONSIDERED AS A PLACE OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT.

We have now arrived at a part of this Inquiry, which requires the utmost attention. The New Testament is considered as teaching the doctrine of endless misery to all the wicked, and Gehenna is the place in which they are said to suffer it. The truth, or falsehood of this doctrine, is then at issue upon the decision of the question,— What is the Scripture meaning and usage of the word Gehenna?

SECTION I.

REMARKS ON DR. CAMPBELL'S VIEWS OF GEHENNA.

WE have seen, from a consideration of all the texts in which Sheol, Hades, and Tartarus occur, that these words never ought to have been translated hell, at least in the sense in which it is used by most Christians. This is confirmed by Dr. Campbell, and other writers, who were believers in the doctrine of eternal misery.

The word, and I believe the only word, which is supposed to express the place of eternal misery in the

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Bible, is the term Gehenna. As Dr. Campbell conclusively proves, that Sheol, Hades, and Tartarus, do not mean this place, he as positively asserts, that this is always the sense of Gehenna in the New Testament. He thus writes in his 6th preliminary dissertation, part ii. sect. 1.—"That Gehenna is employed in the New Testament to denote the place of future punishment, prepared for the devil and his angels, is indisputable. In the Old Testament, we do not find this place in the same manner mentioned. Accordingly, the word Gehenna does not occur in the Septuagint. It is not a Greek word, and consequently not to be found in the Grecian classics. It is originally a compound of the two Hebrew words ge hinnom, the valley of Hinnom, a place near Jerusalem, of which we hear first in the book of Joshua, xv. 8. It was there that the cruel sacrifices of children were made by fire to Moloch, the Ammonitish idol, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 6. The place was also called tophet, 2 Kings xxiii. 10. and that, as is supposed, from the noise of drums, toph signifying a drum, a noise raised on purpose to drown the cries of the helpless infants. As this place was, in process of time, considered as an emblem of hell, or the place of torment reserved for the punishment of the wicked in a future state, the name tophet came gradually to be used in this sense, and at length to be confined to it.-This is the sense, if I mistake not, in which Gehenna a synonymous term, is always to be understood in the New Testament, where it occurs just twelve times. In ten of these there can be no doubt; in the other two, the expression is figurative; but it scarcely will admit a question, that the figure is taken from that state of misery which awaits the impenitent." Such is the statement given by Dr. Campbell. It will be easily perceived, that the whole of it is assertion. Resolved, not to take this very important article on bare assertion, I have considered it as carefully as I could, and shall

submit the result of my investigation for candid consideration. It is with reluctance I dissent from such a learned and sensible writer as Dr. Campbell. But he has taught me to call no man master. He encourages free inquiry, and inculcates on his readers, that no doctrine ought to be believed because it is asserted by the learned, and professed by the multitude; but on the evidence whereby it is supported. As this quotation contains, for substance, the views of all who believe Gehenna to signify the place of eternal punishment, it is necessary to make some remarks on it in the outset. With all due respect for the memory of Dr. Campbell, I solicit attention to the following remarks on the above quotation.

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1st, Let it be observed, how differently he speaks in the first and last part of it. In the first he says,- "that Gehenna is employed in the New Testament to denote the place of future punishment, prepared for the devil and his angels, is indisputable. But in the last, he only says, "this is the sense, if I mistake not, in which Gehenna, a synonymous term, is always to be understood in the New Testament." Whether, what he had written between the first and last of these sentences, led him to hesitate about the meaning of Gehenna, I cannot say ; but sure I am, that he was too shrewd a man not to perceive, and too candid not to own, the insufficiency of the evidence adduced to convince his readers. It is not his usual mode to assert things. He generally states evidence, and seldom fails to convince

us.

But here he affords us none. In attempting to make out the proof of what he asserts, I have been led to alter my opinion about the meaning of Gehenna.

2d, Though Dr. Campbell asserts in the above quotation, that this is always the sense of Gehenna in the New Testament, yet he denies that it has any support from the Old. He says, " "In the old Testament we do not find this place in the same manner mentioned.

Accordingly the word Gehenna does not occur in the Septuagint.* It is not a Greek word, and consequently not to be found in the Grecian classics.". To me this is very strange. What! are we to believe without evidence, that the word Gehenna is taken from the Old Testament, and the sense of endless misery affixed to it by the New Testament writers, yet no intimation given of such a change? This we think ought to be indisputably proved, before it be believed by any man. Unless they explained the word in this new sense, it was impossible, in the very nature of the case, that their hearers could understand them.

3d, But Dr. Campbell attempts to account for such a change in the meaning of Gehenna in the New Testament, from that of the Old, in the following manner. "As this place was, in process of time, considered as an emblem of hell, or the place of torment reserved for the punishment of the wicked in a future state, the name tophet came gradually to be used in this sense, and at length to be confined to it." I am surprised at this statement, from such a writer as Dr. Campbell. Let it be noticed, he does not say that the New Testament writers explained Gehenna to their hearers in this new sense. Nor does he say, that any sacred writer either of the Old or New Testament, made tophet an emblem of this place of torment. How then, could tophet become an emblem of hell, the place of torment, until this place was first known by the persons who made it an emblem? But here is one place made the emblem of another, and yet it is confessed that no revelation was given about this place, of which the other place is made the emblem. Yea, it is even declared, that for this very place, the Hebrew, Greek, nor English language has no name. Is it asked how I make this appear? I answer, Dr. Campbell told us above that nei

*The word Gehenna does occur in the septuagint, as we may probably show afterwards.

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