phet and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, shall be defiled as the place of tophet, because of all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings unto other gods. Then came Jeremiah from tophet, whither the Lord had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the Lord's house; and said to all the people, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words." Chap. vii. ver. 29-34.-" Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the Lord: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it. And they have built the high places of tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter; for they shall bury in tophet till there be no place. And the carcasses of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away. Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride for the land shall be desolate."

No one can doubt, after reading these two quotations, that the Old Testament writers made the valley of Hinnom or tophet, an emblem of punishment, and of future punishment, but not of future eternal punishment. It

is equally evident, that they made it an emblem of future temporal punishment to the Jews as a nation. Not a word is dropped, that this punishment was to be in a future state of existence. No; it is a prediction of miseries to be endured by the Jews, for their sins. It is not mentioned as a punishment for wicked men generally, or for Jews and Gentiles indiscriminately. No; the Jews, as a nation, were to suffer this punishment. In this prediction they are reminded of the crimes they had committed against the Lord, in the valley of Hinnom, and it is used as an emblem of the punishment he was to inflict upon them. This is very apparent from the following verses in the above quoted passages, Jer. chap. vii. 20, 21, and xix. 4, 5. No man, we think, can read these predictions of the prophet, without recognizing, that our Lord in the following texts, referred to the same punishment. "That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except these days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled," Matth. xxiii. 35, and xxiv. 21, 22. Luke xxi. 22. Yes, the days referred to, were indeed the days of vengeance, and the things which God had long predicted, were fulfilled, and the above quoted predictions of Jeremiah, were surely of the number. But, that we may see more particularly, what Jeremiah made Gehenna or tophet an emblem of, it is necessary to point this out by going over the above predictions.

1st, The prophet predicts, that the valley of Hinnom, should be to the Jews the valley of slaughter, and that they should bury in tophet till there should be no place to bury. In proof of its exact fulfilment, I quote

the following from Macknight on Math. chap. xxiv. He says:-"besides, in the progress of the siege, the number of the dead, and the stench arising from their unburied carcasses, must have infected the air, and occasioned pestilence. For Josephus tells us that there were no less than six hundred thousand dead bodies carried out of the city, and suffered to lie unburied." It should be recollected, that the valley of Hinnom was in the immediate vicinity of Jerusalem.-We see then this part of Jeremiah's prediction literally and minutely fulfilled.

2d, Jeremiah further predicts, "that their carcasses also should be meat for the fowls of heaven and for the beasts of the earth." If the fowls of the air, and beasts of the field, did not feed on their carcasses, it was not for want of opportunity, for six hundred thousand of their carcasses lay unburied. This part of the prediction was also literally fulfilled.

3d, Jeremiah also predicts, that "in the straitness of the siege, they should eat the flesh of their children." This was also fulfilled in the siege of Jerusalem, as Josephus, their historian, testifies.

4th, He further predicts, that "their land should be desolate." This it soon became after the destruction of the city and temple, and in this state, in a great measure, it remains until this day.

5th, Again, the prophet predicts, "that their city should be as tophet. We have seen, that he said be

fore, "the valley of Hinnom should be to them the valley of slaughter, and that they should bury in tophet till there should be no place to bury." It is evident, from the prophet's prediction, that the city of Jerusalem should be as tophet or like unto tophet. Tophet, is used as an emblem, to describe the misery in which it was to be involved by the judgments of God. And why, it may be asked, was tophet made an emblem of those temporal miseries, rather than any thing else?

To this I answer, that no temporal miseries since the world began, or ever shall be, could equal them in severity, and no place known to a Jew, could be more fitly chosen by the prophet, as an emblem to represent

them.

6th, The prophet adds, that "all the evil which the Lord had spoken he would bring upon them." The following words of the apostle, I Thess. ii. 16, sufficiently explain this,-"for the wrath is come, or coming upon them to the uttermost."-And the words of our Lord, quoted above,-" for these be the days of vengeance, that all things that are written may be fulfilled." Luke xxi. 22. This part of the prediction, compared with these passages, show, that the prophet did refer to the dreadful punishment which God brought upon the Jewish nation at the end of the world, or age, and described, Matth. xxiv. For "all the evil which the Lord had spoken," he did not bring upon them, until the destruction of their city and temple by the Roman army.

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Such are the principal things contained in this prophof Jeremiah. It is then put beyond all fair debate, that Gehenna was made an emblem of punishment to the Jews; and nothing but ignorance of their own Scriptures, could prevent their fully knowing this. It was made an emblem of temporal punishment, and a very striking emblem indeed. But that it was made an emblem of eternal punishment to the Jews, or any of the human race, does not appear from this prophesy of Jeremiah, or any other part of the Bible. We hope these things will be kept in view, as they have a very important bearing on the passages about Gehenna in the New Testament. Gehenna, the valley of Hinnom, or tophet, is made by Jeremiah an emblem of the temporal calamities coming on the Jewish nation. That in this very way, it is used in the New Testament, we shall show when we come to consider the passages ·

where it occurs. Dr. Campbell, is so far correct then in saying, that Gehenna was made an emblem of punishment, but is certainly mistaken in saying, that it was made an emblem of future eternal punishment for the devil and his angels, or any other beings in the universe. Supposing, Gehenna to have been made an emblem of the place of eternal torment to the wicked, it is certain, it was not done by the Old Testament writers. Dr. Campbell assures us, that in this manner it does not occur in the Old Testament. That he is correct in this, is plain from the places in which it occurs. Is it not then deserving particular notice, that the Old Testament writers should use the term Gehenna, as an emblem of temporal and not of eternal punishment; and yet we are told, that in process of time it came to be used as an emblem of eternal punishment; but no man can tell us on whose authority this was done?

SECTION II.

FACTS STATED RESPECTING GEHENNA, THAT IT DOES NOT EXPRESS A PLACE OF ENDLESS PUNISHMENT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.

Before we consider the texts, where Gehenna occurs in the New Testament, it is of importance to notice the following facts. They have been altogether overlooked, or but little attended to in discussions on this subject.

1st, The term Gehenna, is not used in the Old Testament, to designate a place of endless punishment to the wicked. This fact is so palpable, that Dr. Campbell, declares positively, Gehenna has no such meaning there. All admit this fact; which ought to lead all, to