statement, however, would have been contrary to known truth; for in every past age multitudes have neither believed nor been baptized. Why should Christ say any thing about damnation or perdition, if it is certain, in his mind, that all will be saved? Why should he have said, "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" Matt. xxiii. 33. The damnation of hell surely does not mean the salvation of heaven: and had Christ, who as God knows all things, known any way of escape from hell for the hypocrites to whom he addressed the interrogation, his interrogation would have proved himself a deceiver. "Ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation," ver. 14. These same persons Christ accuses of not entering the kingdom of heaven themselves, and of not suffering others to enter. Would you, sir, dare to accost Christ and say, “You knew well enough how that generation of vipers would escape the damnation of hell, and enter the kingdom of heaven! You knew also, that none will be prevented from entering the kingdom of heaven; for all shall enter and be saved." On the supposition that all are to be saved, one of these vipers might have replied, "Who will not escape the damnation of hell?" Will you attempt to prove that damnation does not mean damnation, but something tantamount to salvation?

“He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy,” Prov. xxix. 1. Here sudden destruction is denounced against some; and it is declared that there is no remedy for that destruction. This passage cuts off all hope from those who assert that there is a remedy, and a restoration ultimately, to be expected in the future life. If the hardened sinner spoken of is to be destroyed merely in the present life, and then is to be restored to Divine favour, the declaration is not true, that he shall be destroyed without REMEDY.

I cannot but think this passage in Proverbs refers to the same destruction which Christ spoke of when he said, "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to

kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell," Matthew x. 28. This is a destruction after the dissolution of soul and body; a destruction of the whole man in hell. How, then, say some among you, that there is no hell; or that there is no evil experienced by any of the human family after the present life? If there is no such thing as God's destroying both soul and body in hell—that is, in some state after the termination of our earthly course by natural death, we must regard our Saviour as resorting to imposition, when he exhorted men to fear unreal objects of dread and alarm. Would any honest person warn a man to fear that which is not to be feared; or to avoid an evil to which none are exposed?

În Ezekiel xviii. 31, 32, God remonstrates with sinners, saying, "Why will ye die ?". -" for I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." Natural death, or the dissolution of soul and body, is inevitable. It would be mockery to approach a gasping mortal and ask him, Why wilt thou cease to breathe? It is of a death, that may be avoided; of a spiritual, second, and everlasting death in sin and to all holiness, that Jehovah demands, Why will ye die? Had I the sentiments of Universalists, I might very lawfully and consistently with myself reply to my Maker, "Do not trouble yourself to expostulate with me, nor endeavour to excite groundless alarms; for my Lord is well assured that NONE WILL DIE. ALL WILL BE SAVED; and be saved by himself too! Why, then, should he take the trouble to swear by himself, saying, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked?" Ezek. xxxiii. 11.

On the supposition that there is no death after natural ́ death, every such solemn and tender warning of our merciful God must be regarded as a solemn farce. That there is a second death, which consists in an everlasting separation from the enjoyment of God and the society of the good in heaven, is clearly taught in Revelation xxi. 7, 8; He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will

be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." Here the pen of inspiration has drawn a contrast between the future state of one who overcometh this sinful world, and persons of a different character: but if all men will be saved immediately after leaving the present state of being, there is no second death, and then he who overcometh, and all who die impenitent, liars, murderers, idolaters and unbelievers, shall alike inherit all things; and none have their part in a state of punishment symbolized by a lake of fire unquenchable. Poetry I know proves nothing; but the sentiment expressed in the last cited text of Scripture is admirably expanded in the following

stanzas:

"Far from the utmost verge of day
Those gloomy regions lie,

Where flames amid the darkness play,
The worm shall never die.

The breath of God-his angry breath
Supplies and fans the fire:

There sinners taste the second death,
And would, but can't expire.

Conscience, the never dying worm,
With torture gnaws the heart;
And wo and wrath in every form,
Is now the sinner's part!

Sad world indeed! ah, who can bear
For ever there to dwell?
For ever sinking in despair,

In all the pains of hell!"

It is my prayer that you may never have personal experience of the truth of these lines.

Were there no other passage of the Bible on the subject of controversy between us than the parable of the good seed and the tares, I should think that sufficient for the refutation of your opinion: for Christ, in explaining

his own meaning, said, "The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of the world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father," Matt. xiii. 38-43. Here our Saviour tells us what shall take place in the end of the world: that then there shall be among men two sorts of children;-the children of the kingdom of God and the children of the wicked one, the devil; that the children of the wicked one having grown like tares in God's kingdom of this world, the field, shall be gathered out of it;-that the glory, honour, and happiness of the righteous, who are the children of God, shall then be comparable to the clear shining of the sun; and that the sufferings of those who have done iniquity, and have continued tares to the end of the world, are fitly described by wailing, gnashing of teeth, and the tortures that would result from casting persons into a furnace of fire.

All this I believe as firmly as that there is any future state for man; and I affectionately and respectfully, therefore, entreat you, dear sir, and all who may read our letters, to flee from the wrath to come on all who die the second death. Make your calling and election sure, and then while many perish in their sins, you will be glorious with our God.

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Other proofs of the future punishment of persons, who die unpardoned, and NOT meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light," will be presented, if the Lord permit, in some subsequent letter.

Yours respectfully,

EZRA STILES ELY.

TO MR. EZRA STILES ELY.

Philadelphia, Feb. 22, 1834. Dear Sir-In attempting to prove any particular doctrine by the Bible, due caution should be observed in the selection of the testimony. Such passages only should be quoted as are supposed unequivocally to prove the doctrine in question. And I have little doubt, that in endeavouring to establish the doctrine of endless punishment, you have cited the passages which to your mind appear most conclusive.

Before I proceed to an examination of your proofs, allow me to observe, that it would not be courteous in either of us to charge the other with a denial of the Scriptures. I am satisfied that our differences in sentiment arise, not from a rejection of the Bible on either hand, but from our different apprehensions of the import of its language. And it should be remembered that my opinions do not more widely differ from yours, than yours do from mine. An intimated charge of infidelity by either party would, therefore, be equally indecorous and unjust.

As it is understood to be mutually conceded that the parties to the discussion accredit the testimony of the Bible, according to their respective apprehensions of its meaning, the simple quotation of a Scripture passage should not be considered sufficient proof of a position. An attempt should, in all cases, be made to show, that the passage establishes the point to be proved.

In proof of endless punishment, you quote John iii. 3, 5: Except a man be born again he cannot see-he cannot enter the kingdom of God." But you assume that the kingdom of God here mentioned, appertains to a future immortal existence. This is the point to be proved. LIGHTFOOT, whose general orthodoxy you will not question, says: "That the kingdom of God, or of heaven, are terms convertible in the evangelist, is obvious to every one that will take the pains to compare them; and that by the kingdom of God, or of heaven, is meant the kingdom and times of the Messiah, is so plain, that it