FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD:
OR,
UNIVERSALISM
THE MORE EXCELLENT WAY.
BY REV. M. J. STTEERE.'I  have for a long times been thinking that a few years only will suffice
to sweep away the popular theology upon that subject [endless punishment],-that all our common schools are but so many volcanoes underneath it,-th it —that it must be abandoned, or we must go back to the age of
unthinliing barbarism.' — LEBBEUS BuPOOis.
" The thinking portion of the church are the doubting portion, in refer
ence to endless punishament." - IBID.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY JAMES M. USHER,
37 Cornhill,
1861.




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by
JAMES M. USHER,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.




INTRODUCTION.
Practical Questions —Object of this Volume and Origin of itLove, the way to Heaven - That way obstructed - Church must
clear it — Church's slow progress, and when it will be swifter -
Demand of Christian Civilization - Tides of Popularity changing
- Conservatives alarmed - Discussion Discouraged -Proofs demandedl - Discussion will come and is safe.
What is the condition of the dead?  With what emotions
should they be contemplated? With what feelings should
we go to join them? These are eminently practical questions,
in which interest is every day becoming more intense.  And
this, not simply in view of the fresh graves of yesterday, but
of all the desolations of mortality which have made the earth
one vast grave-yard, in which human dust is disturbed by
every furrow of the plow!
The ancient question, " If a man die shall he live," is
put beyond Christian controversy by that Scripture which
saith, " There shall be a resurrection both of the just and
the unjust."  But what of this certified resurrection life?




iv                INTRODUCTION.
Is it a blessing, or a curse? The view has long prevailed
that it is a blessing to some and a curse to others. The view
is now prevailing that it is a blessing to all. And it is to
awaken attention to the relative value of these views, that
this volume is published.
It is the outgrowth of an experience somewhat peculiar,
and may therefore at least add to the variety of Christian
literature. The material of which it is composed had been
for some time accumulating as the result of private meditations along the way of religious enquiry. Such as it is, it is
committed in humble trust to the wise providence of Him
who smiles upon every effort to clear Love's way to his
Throne.
And to that throne Love is the only way,-that Love, of
which, obedience is the outflow.  Hence Jesus makes all the
Law and the prophets hang upon Love, while his chief
apostle urges that all the obedience that lacks Love,
"profiteth nothing."
But Love is neither blind nor coercible.  And because it
must act in reference to the quality of its object, none should
grumble at its seeming obstinacy. To ask Love for what
seems unlovable, is to ask a simple impossibility; and this,
equally, whether the object be earthy or heavenly, a creature
or the creator.  Well, therefore, did an English statesman




INTRODUCTION.                      V
say, "If you would have me love my country, give me a
country that is lovable."
As then, Love is the way to heaven, that way must be
seriously obstructed by any seeming imperfections in its
heavenly object. Nor is it pleasing to him who ordained the
law of Love, that we should attempt to disregard such imperfections.  For he knows that for us to do so, were to
vitiate the fountain of our own affections, and become less
" worthy to be called his children."  So true is it, that whatever clouds the divine character, darkens the. human pathway! So true is it, that the character of the creature is
more or less elevated and depressed with the elevation and
depression of the character of the God he adores! And
hence, so sad is it for the soul to contemplate a Deity who
fails to meet its ideal of moral excellence i - all of which is
illustrated by the Spanish inquisition, as an outgrowth of
Spanish theology, and by the flames in which Servetus
perished, as an outgrowth of old Calvinism.
And thus it appears that the way to God and heaven,
not only may be, but is obstructed. Nor this alone where
the Pagan cloud hangs, but also where the Christian sun
shines.  So that, if the heathen sit where the " true light"
reaches them scarcely at all, the Christian is often found
where it reaches him, only as " the Sun through mist."  To
1*




Vi                 INTRODUCTION.
both, the way to God is obstructed, only in different degrees.
And, therefore, in preparing " the way of the Lord," the
Church has yet much to do, even in her own sanctuary.  Not
till musty accumulations of traditionary rubbish have been
removed from its threshold, shall her Lord so enter it that
she shall see his full glory and cry out as never before, " My
Lord and my God!" For not till then shall Love's way to
Heaven be clear before her face.
The progress of the Church towards her prophetic goal
has, for a long time, been so discouragingly slow, that a
miraculous breaking in of the Lord God, has been anticipated, to send it forward.*  But in view of the much by
which her course has been retarded, I see not how it could
have been more rapid. Nor so long as these obstructions remain, do I see how her progress can be accelerated. But
only let the degrading eclipse of tradition pass away from the
Bible and its light blaze forth, pure from  the Father, and
then shall the every day progress of the Church sufficiently
forestall her glorious consummation.  Nor shall good men
then be tempted to rest in their redemptive work, waiting for
Jehovah to come and do it all up at once and suddenly.
It is useless for Theology to ignore Christian civilization.
For, think as men will, talk as men may, that civilization has' Concord of Ages, p. 5, etc.




INTRODUCTION.                     Vii
now reached a point where it cannot rest in a Divine Father
who plunges his tender offspring from the very threshold of
their existence into endless woe. Permeated by the spirit of
the Gospel from which it sprang, that civilization now asks
and will ask, for a God to whom it -can commit its dead for
keeping, rather than for tormenting — for a God in whose
image man is made! In the contemplation of any other
God, it sees Heaven's way seriously blocked up, and, in attempting to pursue it, may well cry out, "all is darkl
dark! dark! and I cannot disguise it." *
Deeply and sadly impressed with considerations like the
above, the Author throws the following letters before the
public, satisfied, if the principles they advocate shall prove as
valuable to the reader as they have to the writer.
The doctrine of endless punishment has been popular from
the middle ages downward; —so popular that the people
have in time past consented to have their attention to whatever opposed it, put under complete interdict.  But not so
now.  Buttressed by reason and Revelation, an opposing
doctrine is risen up " like a strong man to run a race," and
the people will think about it.  That doctrine is Universalism; and, conquering a reluctant respect, its spirit is spreading in every direction.  Indeed, the people are coming to
* p. 77.




Viii               INTRODUCTION.
like it. And hence, in part, the unparalleled popularity of the
Ward Beechers and the Chapins.  And hence, the many
chaplains of liberal faith, now called to solace with love
ministries the battle fields, on which lies staked beneath the
eye of Heaven, all that is dear to an American citizen. And
hence, too,    but the following letters will tell the rest.
And what is the result?  Why, conservatives are of course
alarmed.  They would stay the evil they deplore. And
how, but by suppressing discussion?  Not, indeed, by suppressing ex parte discussion, or, perhaps, even set public discussion; but that varied, private discussion, which admits the
possibility of popular error, and implies a general reading,
thinking, inquiring, conversing, arguing among the people.
Hence many a good pastor will treat his flock to a sermon on
Universalism, and then be greatly alarmed to learn that a
work of Balfour, Ballou, Whittemore, Guild, Cobb, Rogers
or Thayer, is circulating freely among them.   So dangerous
do many still deem a Bible let loose!  So is the right of
private discussion, by not a few, still regarded much as the
right of "private judgment" was in old papal times.,;Y But discussion of the faith advocated in this volume is
necessary, and must prevail.  Such is the verdict of awaking
Christian thought.   Already are the  tables turning, and
* p. 263.




INTRODUCTION.                      iX
hereafter shall " orthodoxy " be holden strictly responsible,
for its every dreadful assertion and implication concerning
the dead;- and this, equally, whether stumbling among the
bones of old battle-fields, meditating in grave-yards, or
standing up in funerals. The people are discovering that
the question of human destiny has two sides, and would
hear both. Let them hear them. For though the discussion
be all the more vehement for having been so long repressed;
yet, if conducted fairly, it can hurt neither the "oil nor
the wine."  And it is in this calm  faith that the author
commits his book to the public, praying that it may serve the
cause of "our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
M. J. S.
HAYERHILL, MASS., AuG. 20, 1861.
P. S. The note at the bottom of page 21, has reference only to the
first part of the letter. Bro. T. was an able and useful man, " full of
the Holy Ghost," known only to be loved, moving only to be felt,
and dying only to ascend to the Father. His friendship was liberal,
loving, lasting!
The illustration on pages 174-5, is the substance of one I remember to have read in a work entitled " Pro and Con,"-an excellent work, which I am happy to recommend, but have not at
hand. A note to this effect was appended to the text, but failed to
appear there.
This work, swelling far beyond the author's expectation, the
Appendix, originally designed, is omitted, with other prepared matter which must " bide its time."








CONTENTS.
FIRST SERIES.
L      E T  T E  IR - -Love AND UNION............................. 15
C'   II —HoNESTY AND AGITATION......................  21
"(    III-ABUSE OF CREEDS.............................  32
IV-CHANGE OF OPINION VS. PERSISTENCE IN.......40
6  V-UNIVERSALISM MISUNDERSTOOD................ 48
VI-ERROR, JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN............... 54
s     VII-Is YoUR. FAITH SATISFACTORY....................   59
V TIII —GREAT MINDS IN TROUBLE-BARNES........... 71
c'    I~IX-GREAT MINDS IN TROUBLE-EDWARD BEECHER. 84
C'   X-X-GREAT MINDS IN TROUBLE-C. F. HUDSON.    90
6'     XI-  SAFETY.......................................  97
c    XII -UNIVERSALISM PRACTICALLY DEFINED.........108
"    XIII-DESTINY-WHIEN ABSURDITIES ALARMING......124
"C   XIV-FIRST ABSURDITY-MAN CREATED FOR ENDLESS
MISERY.................................. 129
"     XV-SECOND ABSURDITY-THE DEVIL..............136
X" VI —TIRD ABSURDITY -INFANTS  SAVED, ADULTS
LOST.....................................142
"   XVII- FOURTH ABSURDITY-CIIILD OF " FIVE POINTS".. 156
"  XViII —FIT  ABSURDITY -- MEN FIX  EACH  OTHERS'




Xii                     CONTENTS.
LETTER XIX -SIXTH ABSURDITY-ENDLESS REVENGE.......... 178
"     XX -SEVENTH ABSURDITY — THE PEOPLE AND THE
PREACHER...........................186
XXI-EIGHTH ABSURDITY-HEATHEN LOST...........197
"   XXII-OBLIVIOUSNESS TO CONSEQUENCES.............210
"   XX[II-A  POINT BETWEEN TWO MOMENTS.............221
6'  XXIV-TIHE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MENS' HEARTS....230
"   XXV —THIE ARGUMENT FROM TEMPORAL SUFFERING....240
XXVI-THE THREE STANDPOINTS-BIGOTRY, CONSERVATISM AND PROGRESS..............51
SECOND  SERIES.
L E T T E R I-THE BIBLE AND ITS MEANING............ 273
CC     II —PENTATEUCH vs. ENDLESS PUNISHMENT........279
III-JosIHUA-PSALMS.............................292
IV-PROVERBS-MALACHI....................... 301
V-NEW  TESTAMIENT EXAMINED.................... 317
VI-ORTI1ODOXY APPROACHING UNIVERSALISM......377' VI —I-EACTION................................. 398




LETTERS.








LETTE1RE I.
LOVE  AND   UNION.
Variety in Unity needed in the Church-Cudworth-Love the basis
of Union-Dwellers in God and in Ism-Union Sectional-Diversity
seeks Unity-Centripetal thought-currents —Men wonder at one
another, but no matter if they dwell in Love-Going inside-No
Pandora's Box to be feared-Where harm is-The two Shipmasters-Unmoor thy craft,
DEAR BROTHER, —--
When we joyously tread the cool forest in the
heat of summer, how interesting the thought, that
no conceivable search among its countless leaves,
were adequate to the discovery  of two, exactly
alike.  Yet, is their unity of aspect unbroken, while
they seem sweetly to enjoy the common breeze of
heaven, and harmoniously to murmur their Maker's
praise together.  So wonderful and beneficentis the
law of variety in the natural world. Why should
it be less so in the moral?  And why then should it
be remarkable that you and I differ in opinion, seeing that we come within its ample sweep.  Certainly our difference will be the less regretted, provided




16'FOOTPRINTS HEAVENSYARD.
we put on fervent charity, practically to illustrate,
in the moral world also, this beneficent law of variety
in unity; -a thing which is more needed in. the
present age, than all the sharp "points," on which
so many souls hang impaled!
"In faith and hope the world will disagree,
But all mankind's concern is charity."
" To see brethren dwell together in unity," is always "' good and pleasant." But at no other time so
good and so pleasant, as when it exists in spite of wide
disparities of belief.  Then is religion decked in
her best robe, exalted above all that is earthly, and
set off against a back ground of heavenly sky. And
hence, though we do not thank God that we differ,
I think we may thank him that our differences may
be turned to so good an account; that they afford
us opportunity to illustrate the supremacy of Love.
And as Cudworth said before the British House of
Commons, " let us express this sweet harmonious
affection in these jarring times; that so, if possible,
we may tune the world into better music. Especially in matters of religion let us strive with all meekness to instruct and convince one another. Let us endeavor to promote the gospel of peace, the dove-like
gospel, with the dove-like spirit."  And how do
these words of the old prelate come down to us,
bearing still the charm of his heart; as if the words




LOVE AND UNION.              -17
of love, like love itself, were imperishable. Love is,
indeed, "the sweet harmony of souls."  Its fervent
words are precious, and he who drops them upon
the currents of the world, is its benefactor. So also
is he who takes them up and hands them down to
posterity,  Love is the essence of the universe.
"God is Love; and he that dwelleth in Love,
dwelleth in God and God in him."  Those therefore
who " dwell in God," must, as they dwell in love,
dwell harmoniously together. In spite of all, there
must be union between them; and because union,
communion.
Not so, those who dwell in ism merely. With them
union is sectional. They know  no spirit more
Catholic than that which makes fellowship between
men of the same faith. And this is the calamity of
the ages.  Its spirit finds various development;
then, in whips, chains, and faggots; now, in reproach, shame and casting "' out of the synagogue."
Happy will it be, when all the members of the
church, whatever their favorite isms, shall no longer
dwell in them, but only in God; then, and not till
then, will she present the pleasing and sublime
spectacle of " brethren dwelling together in unity."
But it is true, after all, that in theology diversity
seeks unity. Though the Christian world, in days
of ignorance so stumble along its mazy ways, as to
provoke the smile or taunt of skepticism  and infi2,




18        FOOTPRINTS ttEAV'ENWARD.
delity, still let no one despair; for there is a divine
spirit brooding upon the chaos of conflicting opinions,
and a law of tendency pervading it, which shall at
length reduce it to order. In the moral world, all
things are, upon the whole, centripetal to a perfect
truth, and shall at length reach it; all men, though
after many irregular wanderings, shall, at length,
find the clue to the concentric labyrinth in which it
is hidden. Towards that truth, the great currents
of human thought are ever tending.  Like a river
seeking the sea, they may have many windings
among mountains, and eddyings among rocks;
like Israel in the desert, they may move very circuitously. But their general course is the same;
and he who boldly commits himself to them, though
sometime strangely carried backwards, and furiously
dashed about, shall at length reach the haven of
quiet, - the central rest of truth - loving spirits.
And, thence arrived, I think, brother, that even we
shall agree at last. And what if we shall then find
that our present conflicts of opinion, incidental to
the infancy of our being, were, under the great
Providence, but the excitements of mind necessary
to our Christian growth!
" I am a wonder unto many."  So exclaimed the
Psalmist. But in that, he was hardly peculiar. For
who is there much known, or having much character,
that is not wondered at by more or less of his neigh



LOVE AND UNION.               19
bors, — not to say by " strangers and foreigners,"for what they deem his singularities? Where can
you find two persons so alike, that the one is not, in
some respects, a wonder to the other, that there is
not a mutual wondering between them?  So it is
between you and me. You wonder that I am a
Universalist, and I wonder that you are not one,
even as I wonder that I was not one earlier. But
no matter, so long as we dwell in love. For as we
have seen they who dwell in love dwell in God, and
are united by a spiritual bond which no wonderment
can sever. But my heart grows warm, and I fear I
am detaining you too long upon the threshold. Let
us go inside; nor fear to lift curtains, open doors,
and pull drawers.
We are not heathen, treading the enchanted
grounds of mythology, that we should fear a
Pandora's Box; but we are Christians, treading the
terra firma of theology, where no hidden mystery
can be dangerous to the discoverer. Harm, never
in the way of sincere truth-seekers, delights to infest the mouldy seats and musty lounges of those,
who, too indolent or too timid to advance, try to
content themselves with their present attainment, or
even with their hereditary theological possession.
Tahese two classes of persons are like two shipmasters; the one of whom, through dread of labor
or fear of storms, or lack of hope, never weighs




20        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
anchor, or unfurls a sail, till his good ship rots away
in the haven upon which she was launched, and in
sight of the blocks upon which she was constructed;
while the other, no sooner finds his ship afloat, than
his canvas is spread and he is "far, far, at sea,"
navigating all waters, and freightinug himself for his
home-bound voyage, with the various riches of
every clime. And "which of the twain does the
will of his Master?"  "M Which of two thinkest thou"
the benefactor of his race? The latter? Then unmoor thy craft, weigh anchor from the haven of
thy peculiar Westminster, and do likewise.  So
shalt thou also do the will of God, and be a benefactor of men.
Yours truly.




LETTEIR II.
HONESTY  AND  AGITATION
Kind words acknowledged,-No compromise with duty,-Rebellious
plea,-To "Worms,"-Old friendships remembered, and to be renewed.-" Honesty the best policy,"-Honesty of Paul,-Pulpit
temptation,-Godliness and Hionesty,-Truth and Search,-Why
the Author a wonder,-More Character, more Danger,-Jesus the
wonder, - Paul,- Reformers,- The Church stagnant,- Daring
heretics,-Uses of agitation,-Agitation often unwelcome,-Not to
be feared,-Tempestous round about Jehovah,-Why the author is
sad.
DEAR BRi OTHER,I thank you for your very kind  allusion to
my past labors and associations.*  They affect me
tenderly,  I appreciate  the catholic charity which
they breathe. It is, to my soul, like a soft gale from
Paradise.  It blesses me with emotion.   For 1, too,
have not forgotten  the past; and deeply do I sympathize with you in your regrets that we cannot still
be united in our labors. Nay more. For it seems to
me, that your regrets in this matter, cannot be deep
like mine.  I have not sought my own pleasure, but
* This letter was originally written in reference to remarks of an excellent minister now in heaven-Rev. E. M. Tappan. See also appendix B.




22        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
consented to the disruption of my long cherished
denominational ties, only when the sternest necessity
laid its hand on my conscience. And what else
could I then do? Would you have had me compromise my honesty?  Ilad I not in my covenant
vows, sworn faithfulness to the God of truth?promised to "' follow  the Lamb whithersoever he
goeth? "-and all this at whatever expense of sacrifice and self denial? What then could I do when
I found myself in error, but abandon it?-when I
discovered a new truth, but embrace it?  Would
you have had me done otherwise?-and that, under
the plea of my old friends and associations,-the
greatness of the sacrifice required?  Vain plea! A
pious fraud upon the truth! The spawn of a secret
infidelity! Rebellious plea against God, such as
ever returns to curse the inventor! My heart would
have rebuked it, and one thought of Christ crucified,
silenced it!  I could not have put it in! You
would not have had me; for I am  persuaded that
you, too, have found "that it is neither safe nor
expedient to act against conscience; "-that truth,
with its consequences, though it carry us to
"W'orms," is better than error with its consequences, though it seemingly carry us to the skies. At
any rate, we must take it, consequences and all'
So did the Master and so must his disciple, as the
primary condition of discipleship. No matter though




HONESTY AND AGITATION.           23
it sadden and practically alienate a multitude of
friends,-friends with whom he had lived and labored long, on terms of the sweetest Christian amity,
and with whom it were the strong desire of his heart
to live and labor till death. All these tender considerations must go for nothing, when weighed
against duty. Though backed by all these, and
more, what is the creature that he should "reply
against God!"
You see, brother, what was my dilemma. WYould
you have chosen the other horn of it, —the earthy
one? I am persuaded not. For we have both
heard the lMaster say, "he that loveth father or
mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he
that taketh not up his cross daily and followeth after
me is not worthy of me."  We both regard conscience as the gray lock of the human soul,-G-od's
monitor in the human breast. To us both, therefore,
the only true discretion lies in submission to
Heaven!
The old friendships of which you speak-ah, I
remember them well.-they are my treasures still!
Not one of them  is renounced. Not a heart that
throbbed in them, unloved. Those friendships are
not dead, but only visibly suspended. Their light
is not quenched, but only eclipsed;-and that, but
temuporarily,-at longest, only till our " dust shall
return to the earth as it was."  And' so long we can




24         FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
afford to wait, confident that then it shall be relumed, to be dimmed or eclipsed no more, forever,
And then, we think there will be no more wondering
that either man or angel should believe in the universal and inalienable Fatherhood of God, and
brotherhood of his offspring.  Then, in the retrospect from eternity, how will man's earthly state
seem well expressed by the line,
" His time, a moment, and a point his space."
How trifling will then seem the trials which we now
suffer to annoy us,-and then, how will the soul
better understand its God, not only as the "I AM,"
but as the " ALL IN ALL! "
For the present, however, we must be content for
a season to differ. 5We are yet in this earthy world,
where objects, seen from its various stand-points,
through the dim windows of the flesh, affect us
variously. As we have said, however, we need not
despair, for the great law of unity is working.  Already we agree in many things; and among the
rest that " honesty is the best policy."
" onesty, even by itself, though making many adversaries,
Whom prudence might have set aside, or charity have softened,
Evermore will prosper at the last, and bring a man great honor."
But this "best policy" is not always easily followed.
So the tradesman sometimes finds it. So the theologian.  And so also the preacher. The word of God,




HONESTY AND AGITATION.              25
like dollars, may be handled deceitfully. It was so
handled in Paul's time, but not by Paul.  " For
"' says he," we are not as many, which corrupt the
word of God; -but as of sincerity, but as of God,
In the sight of God, speak we in Christo"  And
again he says, we'"have renounced  the hidden
things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the word of God deceitfully'"  Satan delights to assault the pulpito  And if; in this age, it is
-fieer from dishonesty than the mart, it is not because
it is less open to temptation.  In the pulpit as
elsewhere, no man is honest without an effort all
engrossing; while, even in spite of such effort, the
soul will sometimes consciously tremble  towards
some uncertain issue.  So mighty is the spirit of
"eye service," to control those who are, like clergymen, dependant both for themselves and families,
upon the continued smiles of their neighbors; and
who are placed, like them, in circumstances calculated to inflame their ambitiont
But though strict honesty, is ever the creature of
much watchfulness and effort, yet is its path the
only safe one. I am  sure, you would not have a
friend swerve from it, even to shun the brand of heresy.  Too well do you know that honesty,
G Evermore will prosper at the last."
Too  well do you appreciate that old apostlic
3




26        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
couplet, "godliness and honesty," one and inseparable; its members, each, necessarily, involving
the other; the two, constituting a twin light, the
elements of which no prismatic theology can separate; each vital to man's spiritual life;- each
" profitable to all things; " so that error holden in
righteousness, is better than "truth" holden "in
unrighteousness." For it is not for man's possession
of the truth, but for his love of it, that Heaven
gives him credit;- -so that the search without the
truth, is often better than the truth without the
search; — a little truth, searched out, better for the
substance of the soul, than much truth received by
inheritance. And this, I think, is a consideration,
which should make you less sad about your old
friend, however gross the error, into which you
deem him to have fallen.
But I presume that the more sincere you regard
me, the more you wonder at me. Had my avowal
of Universalism been preceded by an evident "c fall
from grace," all would have been as natural, as an
election sermon said it was, that "when Satan entered paradise, damnation should follow."
Moreover, such credit do I give you for broad
benevolence, that, as it were to you less wonderful,
so, I think, it were to you less sad, had what you
deem my fall into error, been preceded by such a fall
from grace. For then you could have found solace




HONESTY AND AGITATION.            27
in saying, "the disguise of his hypocricy is so thin
that he can impose upon nobody. He lacks character
to do much mischief. And though it is sad to think
that he is going down to endless pain, sadder, indeed,
it were, had he a weight of reputation by which to
sink others down with him; or by which others
should be carried down, while he, under cover of
ignorance, or something else, should, G" so as by fire,
escape into heaven."  And in this, you would be
consistent with yourself  It is right to wish that
influence weak, which seems only bad; but we
must be careful not to mistake the quality of influence, as the Pharisees mistook that of the Son of
God. Things may be strange and yet true.
The most singular and wonderful fact in history,
is the mission of the Son of God to earth. No other
ever so disturbed and agitated the religious world.
The disciples heard indeed, strange things that day
when he who was, emphatically, the " Prince of
Peace," said unto them,;"suppose ye that I am
come to give peace on earth, I tell you nay; but
rather division."  Wonderful paradox! But then
Jesus was'" the wonderfdl." And while I would not
disparage great Christian reformers, by mentioning
my name in their neighborhood, I may say that they
have ever been rare characters, standing oddly out
from  their generation, at whom  the established religion of their age has wondered,- strange persons,




28         FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWA.Do
upon whom good men of the church have looked
down with sadness, and over whose heresy, many a
tear has been piously shed. But the world has
moved on, and their honesty has prospered at the
last. Haman is hanged, and Mordecai brought to
honor!
Why, brother, the world goes very much by
wonders. Every rnow and then, as you well know,
the church stagnates under the bondage of stereotyped creeds; and as it stagnates, so it corrupts.
Its turbid waters lying, heavily, breed  infectious
diseaseo  So it was in Luther's time.  So in WTesley'so And so on a larger or smaller scale has it
been, at intervals, ever since the Christian era. And
who is it, that, from time to time, has been the honored instrunaent of breaking up this stagnation and
consequent corruption?  Who but some daring
spirit, that, regardless of every thing but his own
deep convictions, has startled the church by dashing
some rock of heresy into the sea of apathy, in
which its  religious life has lain, water-logged!
Who but some "thinker let loose,"'  some independent questioner of the religion he was reared in?
Look at the outward world.  There all things are
purified and conserved by wonderful agitation. The
winds have a mission, so have the tides. And even
the sweep of the hurricane, and the tread of the
earthquake, are  in fulfilment of a merciful pur



HONESTY AND AGITATION.             29
pose! Thus it is ill the world of matter.  Shall it
be otherwise in the world of mind? I tell you,
nay. For there, also, agitation goes before purification. The gospel is but the essence of agitation.
Its Author must be crucified before glorified. And
Saul must feel himself as in a shower of earthquakes
mingled with fire, before he will question his
hereditary religion or withdraw his persecuting
hand!  And  so it ever is, that some wonderful
agitation is made the harbinger of some wonderful
good.
We have spoken of apathy.  Of all apathy,
theological apathy seems most profound. So it was
found in Jesus' time. Nothing could stir it up,
short of electric currents, sent through it, direct
from the throne of God.  And so it often is. And
so it would ever be, but for the agitation of which
the tilid stand in awe. Let him  who will, tie up
the winds, fetter the tides, and then sit down to welcome the consequent death.  But let no man lay an
interdict upon the winds of thought or the tides of
mind. G' For these things have an end,"- a glorious
end. Nor are cross winds and whirlwinds, and tidal
inundations, exceptions. All are necessary, and all,
therefore, should be welcome; though they overturn
old temples, shatter old altars and scatter the fondest
sectarian hopes as the chaff of the summer -threshing floor. Yet are they often unwelcome, and never
3*




30    ~ FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARDmore so than to a sectarian age. Nor can they be
very welcome to this. For this age, though not a
little liberalized, is still sufficiently pharisaical to
deprecate the innovation of awakening religious
thought.
You will perceive, that I am here merely illustrating a principle; - a principle equally involved
in the ordinary and extraordinary cases of theological agitation; from the earthquake of the Reformation, all the way down to the slight tremor which
may, possibly, to some mind, result from these unpretending letters; - a principle, which, I pray you
always to bear in mind, nor fear that truth and religion can suffer under the agitation of free enquiry.
Let us leave that fear to the Romanist. For truth
always feels humiliated, when its holders are afraid
to have it freely grapple with error.  It dreads
agitation no more than Lebanon dreads the mountain tempest which expurgates its shaggy top of
withered foliage and dead limbs. Jehovah's moral
pathway is ever marked by agitation — revolution.
When he moves, it is often "'tempestuous round
about him," but never destructive of good. Though
the sea "roar and be troubled," Jehovah is there
to assure the hearts of his children, with his, "' Fear
not for I am with thee, be not dismayed, for I am
thy God."
Enough on this subject; perhaps you will say too




HIONESTY AND AGITATION.             38.
much.  But when I see the many who hold the
truth, (as they suppose) as if they thought contact
with error would smash it, I am  sad. For I say,
either they doubt whether they have the truth, or
else, confidelnt of having it, they have no faith in it.
If the former is the case, they ought to court discussion —agitation. If the latter, they surely need
not shun it. For the agitation of free discussion is,
to the truth, what fire is to gold, or the polishing
wheel to steel.  Otherwise the gospel, that great
fountain of deepest agitation, though  planned in
heaven, were an ill-devised expedient for saving the
world.
Yours truly.




LETTER III.
ABUSE   OF  CREEDS.
C'reeds should be shed when outgrown —When dangerous-Farcical
confession of —Good for life-Cause of " dead orthodoxy "Why worn patiently-An accidental property-Resisted at perilPersecution not outward- Fear to examine - Are you afraid? -
Self-conviction.
DEAR BROTHER,In my last letter, I incidentally spoke of the bondage of creeds.  Against creeds, however, we have
nothing to say, provided the church will shed them
as fast as she outgrows them.  They have their
legitimate uses.  It is their misuse that is mischievous. Tradition was well enough in the Jewish
church, till it began to "'make the commandments
of God of none effect."  So are creeds well enough
in the Christian church, till they begin to trench
upon the Scriptures, assume their authority, and
fetter free enquiry. But when this occurs, as you
know it often does, then are they to be deprecated
as a tyranny.   Then their imposition upon the
young mind, as it crosses the threshold of the




ABUSE OF CREEDS,              33
church, is an irn1osition  indeed; — the Chinese
shoe, applied to the immortal mind.  -JTow many
poor souls are wearing it to day, God only knows 
Creeds, written or unwritten, are, perhaps, well
enough, till their blind devotees become afraid of
them, or of the power that is entrenched behind
them; that is, -till they clothe them with an awful
sacredness with which they dread to meddle, or till
they see, behind them, an ecclesiastical power which
they dare not offend. But when this is the case,
and when they become mental labor-saving machines, superseding the necessity of -old plodding
methods of reaching truth,- when men reason by
saying, not, 6 For thus it is written in the prophets,"
but thus it is written in the creed; not, " thus saith
the Lord,'" but thus saith the church, then are
creeds of the very essence of evil, -dumb idols, fit
only for the iconoclast.
And this truth is not without its application. For
what multitudes of even Protestant Christians of to
day, test their theology by their creed, whether
written or oral, rather than their creed by the Scriptures.  Witness the farce of children and young
people, and even ignorant old people, confessing a
system of faith at the baptismal fount. Have these
persons thoroughly examined the Scriptures, that
they should know all about "trinity " and "' unity,"
4"perseverance " and "6 depravity," 6  heaven " and




34        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWTARD.
"' hell," —doctrines about which profound theologians
have stumbled and differed for ages! Surely, we
may well wonder at them, as did the Jews when
they asked concerning Jesus, 1" How knoweth this
man letters, having never learned?" while in our
case, unlike theirs, nothing of miracle is apparent,
that our wonder should be allayed. But these confessors have read a creed, or heard it from the pulpit, assumed its truth, and are, therefore, ready
prayerfully to subscribe to it! Whereas had they
chanced to have fallen in with a different one, very
likely they could have assumed and subscribed that
as freely. Why, brother, you know how all this is,
and need only look at it to be impressed with its absurdity. Had John Wesley been blessed with a
hundred sons, who questions but they would have
nearly all been Methodists? and that the complexion of most persons' credal theology depends on
the circumstances under which they were born,
bred, or converted? Again, I say, you know how
all this is; and that a creed, once subscribed, is
thenceforth sacred to the subscriber.  Once taken,
however ignorantly, it is ordinarily, thenceforth,
good for life.
When creeds become popular, nothing else is so
popular. They are then spoken against, only at a
great peril. And as their holders, though somewhat
suspicious of them, dare not speak against them, so




ABUSE OF CREEDS.             35
they are not likely to tehink much against them.
Hence the worst form of conservatism prevails.
The people become only nominal believers, that is,
only less than disbelievers. And so the church, filling up with persons who have no radical faith in its
doctrines, and too timid or apathetic to call them in
question, becomes but an aggregation of " dead
orthodoxy,"- a thing which an able orthodox clergyman declares to be' the worst form of infidelity;"
thus do creeds become fetters. And it would be
quite remarkable how patiently they are worn, only
that, early imposed, and so silken as the gown of
the churchman, their uncomfortableness is not appreciated by the wearer, who, regarding them as
of course necessary, contents himself with thinking
the length of their chain.
The religious bondage of Roman Catholics is proverbial. I am afraid you would start if I should intimate that a bondage scarcely less fearful,- and
tried by its light perhaps more so, —prevails extensively among Protestants. But is it not so? Have
not the masses even of New England Protestants,
descendants of the Pilgrims and of Roger Williams,
taken their faith, and are they not now holding it,
without any thing worthy to be called an examination. To be sure, there are honorable exceptions.
But are they not exceptions merely? Look and see!
Now a faith, thus received without a reason, and




36        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
holden from fashion, fear or habit, can have nothing
radical in it;- though hugged ever so tenaciously,
it is no part of a person's self, but a purely accidental property, originated and controlled by circulmstances; as the ancient theology of the Roman
people was controlled by the theology of the Roman
Throne; as, in  Macedonia, when the kings neck
was wry, the people all carried their heads on one
side.
Furthermore, when the people have, from father
to son, fallen into the habit of blind faith, and, consequently, all heads are elevated or depressed to the
fashionable dead level, ill fares it with him  who
straightens himself above it, and by the free expression of a free thought, exposes the established
faith to popular investigation.  So, when Jesus
uttered thoughts, unfashionable in his age, and
which fell like hammers upon the stereotype plates
of effete Judaism, the leading  religionists took
alarm, sounded it, and the cry was heard, "Crucify
hime!  rucify him! " Let the " robber " live; but
the Innovator die!  So, also, when Paul, led by a
divine hand from the feet of Gamaliel to the feet of
Christ, was in the very act of narrating his wonderful experience, these same religionists,- the orthodoxy of their time, hear not his words, but drown
them with the outcry, " away with this fellow from
the earth; it is not fit that he should live."




ABUSE OF CREEDS.              37
To be sure the present age has not much of outward persecution. It is, in some sense, too intensely
spiritual for that. The Pharisees do not now cry for
blood. Calvin does not now burn Servetus in literal
fire. Racks are not now made of wood and iron. But
is the spiritual connection between halters and heresy
forgotten? We complain not of our own fare. But
you know, brother, that under many circumstances,
where orthodoxy is in possession, he who, standing
in the midst of it speaks a word against it, does it
at his peril. so They feared the Jews, for the Jews
had already agreed that, if any man did confess
that he was Christ, he should be put out of the
synagogue."  " Thou wast altogether born in sin,
and dost thou teach us?"  6 And they cast him
OUt."
Nor is this all; for when, as we have before
intimated, men become afraid to deny their creed, so
do they become afraid to examine it, lest they should
feel called upon to deny it. This may seem strange,
but so it is, as I think multitudes of experiences can
testify; and this, especially, in relation to the doctrine
of endless punishment. Perhaps you are not the
person that I mean, but you will not be offended at
my asking, whether even you have not sometimes
been strangely deterred from a full examination of
the grounds and consequences of certain ugly points
in your faith, by a vague presentiment that it would
4




38        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
be likely to bring them under uncomfortable suspicion? and whether you are not, in spite of yourself, annoyed with doubts about your fellow beings
sinking into endless pain, under the Great ]Father's
eye? and whether these troublesome doubts are
not emboldened from year to year, and ever successfully demanding some more liberal construction of
the terms of your creed, so that your creed to-day
means very differently from what it did years ago?
It may not be so. But I think I understand you,';being  myself also  flesh  and  blood."  And,
if you are the person that I mean, you are obliged
to keep a sharp look-out against reasoning too impartially and too far, lest the doubts which now,
perhaps, come and go as shadows, should become
permanent and harden into absolute disbelief. But,
whether you are the man that I mean or not, you
will agree with me in what has been substantially
said,-that in an age of fashionable theology, the want
of courage to thinkl independently, or, which is the
same thing, the fear of offending against the faith in
which men have been educated, is among the worst
fetters of the Christian mind. And the man who
breaks them from his soul, is ofttimes what the comet
was to the ancients-a "' blazing scimetar," rushing
wildly-the very devil let loose! But it is now
pretty well understood, that the seemingly lawless
comet, burning athwart the planetary orbits, is,




ABUSE OF CREEDS.                39
after all, an. orderly body, and quite necessary to the
harmony of the  spheres.  Aknd so will it yet be
found that men who think outside the zodiac of
scholastic  theology, and  athwart its prescribed
circles are quite orderly, and necessary to the harmony of the moral universe.
And now, brother as I close this letter, let me
hope that you will "t think on these thinogs."  Nor,
do I doubt, that if your miud shall be thoroughly
aroused to them, however easily you may parrjr the
force of these fraternal letters, your own head and
heart will become a storehouse of arguments, before
which you shall quail, and, without shame, surrender.  For it is no shame to surrender to one's
self, even as no nman is truly convicted till he convicts himself.
Yours truly,




LETTER IV.
CHANGE OF OPINION versus PERSIST:ENiCE IN.
Change, causes of-As, constitutional weakness-Ambition-''Filthy
lucre"'-Inflexible devotion to truth-Change may argue stabilily.
Persistence, causes of-As thoughtlessness, obstinacy, cowardice,
or the love of truth-Illustrated by an incident-Theology crystallized in the nursery-Caution against being dwarfed.
DEAR BROTHER,If what we have already said is true, it must
necessarily generate in the public mind a strong
prejudice  against change  of  theological views;
while, as the natural counterpart of such prejudice,
we should expect to see men pride themselves in
their theological immutability. And so are the facts.
IMany Christians glory in a theology like L"the laws
of the lMedes and Persians," abhor change, and require that whosoever proposes change in the church,
shall do it with the rope round his neck.  Whereas,
there is neither honor nor shame, either in change
of theological views, or persistence in them, only, as
that change is considered in relation to its causes.
The former may result from constitutional instability.
There are some pretty good men, who naturally




CHANGE OF OPINION US. PERSISTENCE IN.  41
lack the ability long to do or believe the same thing.
Their desire for change is ever becoming father to
the thought that demands it. They are rather weak
than criminal, and should be judged charitably. It
is enough, perhaps, that we say to them as the dying
patriarch to his "first born;" "Unstable as water
thou shalt not excel."
But, further, change of views may result from
vanity, pride, ambition, or an eye to the loaves and
fishes. It is then pure sin,-its subject a pure sinner,
to be dealt with accordingly. And, further still,
such change may result from the best of considerations,-considerations deeply seated in a trained and
vigorous reason, and an active and healthy conscience; considerations, involving the dearest interests
of the soul, and its vital relations to its God; considerations, high as the heavens, and which may not
be put aside without the sacrifice of  Godliness and
Honesty;" that Godliness, without "which no man
shall see the Lord," and that honesty, without which
the man in the pulpit were better in the felon's cell.
And, surely, nobody will demur at change, proceeding from such causes, save those who are too thoughtless to appreciate them. For it then may argue for
its subject, not merely integrity, but stability, also;
that higher stability of virtue and divine trust,
which stoops beneath no burden, but, unawed by
frowns and unflattered by smiles, stands, firmly bal4*




42        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
anced upon its own centre of gravity, and looks
" steadfastly up into Heaven."
God " sees not as man sees."  Stability in his
sight,-stability  in prosecuting a high religious
purpose,-may be quite another thing from stability
in the sight of men. And when the one or the
other must be sacrificed, the true heart will not hesitate which to retain. It sees no desirable stability,
but in the truth, no uprightness, but in "' walking
with God;" in a steady progressive conformity to
patterns, 1" shown in the holy mount." Such aheart
says, with that old apostolic innovator, " let God be
true," and acts accordingly, whether Felix tremble,
or Festus rail, or Agrippa grow penitent. And, in
this world of increasing light, such a heart is no
more fickle than is the germ, in refusing to stay pent
up in the darkness of the bud, or the sun, in refusing
to stay in the same sign of the zodiac. It only
goes on to perfection.
Change in religious opinion, then, considered in its
moral quality, is to be judged by its causes; and so
judged, may be degrading, and may be ennobling;
nor can which be guessed out, but must rather be
judged carefully in the premises. And the same is
substantially true of persistence in the same opinion,
a quality in which the Catholic Irishman excels the
Protestant American, and the Mahometan Arab,
excels both. For the sake of vividness, let us illustrate by reference to an incident:




CHANGE OF OPINION VS. PERSISTENCE IN.  43
A Christian minister has offended, by publicly
avowing his disbelief in the doctrine of endless
misery. His brethren are in ecclesiastical council
upon his case. The offence is by many deemed
grave, and by none more so than by one who rises,
and, among other things, says, "' I have found no
occasion to change my views for more than forty
years, and the old broom sweeps pretty clean yet."
But as he stands there, with the " old broom " in
his hand, in the presence of the offender, who may
say which of the twain has shown the greater fidelity
to truth, and thereby the better served his God?
The former has indeed been unchangeable. But,
perhaps he has been so only because he has been
thoughtless. For the thoughtless Christian will no
more turn away from a bad creed, than will the
thoughtless sinner, from a bad way. Regarding his
creed as necessarily true, and of course, whatever
opposes it, as necessarily false, or, at best, under a
show of discussion, only magnifying arguments
against it, such a person finds no occasion to change.
Nor is it any glory to him that he dies in the faith
he was born with, or upon which he early stumbled.
If it be a good one, it only argues for him a lucky
nativity, or a lucky youthful accident. Now, if you
choose, you may call such a person stable, but I call
him simply stupid. And so stupid is he, that if his
creed is bad, he never will find it out, or discover




44         FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
the truth it conceals; as the stupid Mexicans never
could discover the treasures of California.
But, further, this stability of forty years unchangeableness, may be but the stability of dogged obstinacy,-an obstinacy which will neither bend before
the truth, nor advance with it,-an obstinacy which,
engrafted upon Methuselah at twenty-one, would, in
the spite of all contingencies of increasing light and
knowledge in the world, and even though he live
through a half dozen dispensations, have clearly
forestalled his exact theological status, at nine hundred and sixty-nine. Now, if men choose to dignify
this obstinacy-in which, by the way, the religionists of our Saviour's- time superabounded-as Christian stability, let it go so. There is not much in a
name. But lacking, as it does, the childlike element
of Christian teachableness, it lies quite outside the
pale of the Christian virtues. And there we leave
it, "old broom," in hand.
And, still further, this forty years of unchangableness may result from vanity, ambition, love of lucre,
or, all in one, from  moral cowardice. The subject
of it may retain the old broom, merely because he
dare  not throw  it away.  Suspecting breakers
upon either hand, he may be sailing, ever, upon the
same tack, without the least regard for the compass
of truth in the ship's binnacle. He may continue a
Jew, for fear of being cast out of the synagogue.




CHANGE OF OPINION VS. PERSISTENCE IN.  45
Not having sufficiently considered that one soul, with
God on his side, is a majority against the universe,
he may persist in a suspicious faith, rather than be
left isolated and out in the cold. You may call this,
stability, if you please. But it is not Pauline. It
is not Christian. It is human. It is cowardice, and
its subject a coward.  Nothing, knows he of the
grandeur of moral heroism and self-sacrifice, as illustrated in the life of the Crucified. Ignorant is he of
that spiritual enlargement, which the faithful feel,
and of the grand and soul-inspiring views of being,
duty, and destiny, which eternity is ever opening up
to the eye of those, who, teachably, "follow the
Lamb whithersoever he goeth,"
But there is a bright side to everything. This
forty years unchangeableness may argue, or at least
be consistent with, a commendable stability, in a progressive Christian mind. And so it is when the subject of it is studious, truth-loving, and self- sacrificing.
And so we then give him credit, but must say that
he was very fortunate to be born into, or so early to
fall into, such theological perfection.  Such fortunates must be like " angel's visits." For the Bible
is a pretty large book, in which, as Peter says, are
some things hard to be understood. So, also, is its
counterpart, the book of Nature. The teachings of
both are quite profound.  That a person should be
born to so exact knowledge of them, were not only




46        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
quite remarkable, but would overthrow the prevalent notion of no innate ideas,-thus creating a
necessity for change somewhere; and that a person
should attain to so perfect understanding of the
great doctrines of Scripture, to say nothing of
Nature, by a reading —not to say study —so cursory
and imperfect as the youth of most of these men of
forty years' unchangeableness afforded-not to say, as
often might be safely said, by almost no reading at
all-were, indeed, truly wonderful. They must indeed
have been very rapid learners, and blessed with a
wonderful discrimination for immature minds. For,
how else should they have learned so much in so
short a time, and in the general sweeping in of theological knowledge, learned nothing which maturer
years should require them to unlearn, as if the net,
broadly cast, should bring to shore no fishes, fit
only to be cast away.
And now, from the preceding general remarks,
what is the conclusion?  It is this; that neither
change of religious opinions, nor persistence in them
is, of itself, censurable. Which of the two is the
more liable to be so. I leave you, brother, to judge.
And if you take into account all the elements of the
case, and, not least, the fact that most of the theological opinion now rife in the church, was crystallized for its subjects, in the nursery or in early childhood, so that children, almost invariably follow the
doctrines of their fathers, or those prevalent in the




CHANGE OF OPINION VS. PERSISTENCE IN. 47
community in which they are reared; I cannot
doubt what your verdict will be. The former may
argue a soul intent on progress, flexile before truth
and conscience. The latter may argue a soul careless of progress, dead to live issue, stiff-necked and
inflexible. The former, may argue the Bible Christian, the latter, the Bible Pharisee.  The former,
Paul at the feet of Jesus, the latter, Saul at the feet
of Gamaliel. And if the former argue but a "living dog," the latter, only a "dead lion."
But, however all this may be, I trust you, brother, are above the moral cowardice that durst not
see, know, and do its whole duty to truth and to
God; whether it be to abandon an old position, or
to adopt a new one. Said an able man, " there is
but one word greater than the word progress,
and that is the name of Deity." Brother, let us
appreciate both these words, nor once think that we
have " attained, or are already perfect," seeing that
we find ourselves " occupying a little spot of ground,
surrounded by an immense unknown expansion."
Let us be careful, lest, with all our capacity for
"growth in grace," by refusing wholesome truth,
the proper nourishment of the soul, we shrivel into
mere Rabbinical Pharisees, and become wretched
monuments of the shame of dwarfing what, under
a more independent culture, might have been developed into a noble Christian manhood.
Yours truly.




LETTER V.
UNIVERSALISM  aMISUNDERSTOOD.
Catholic lady - Her case not peculiar - Sanctuaries shunned-Universalism misdefined - Antipathy against it subsiding - Best hated when least understood - Ignorance of it, not confined to the
laity - Instance of — Why ignorant of it - Conference room
and pulpit - The more intelligent preach less against it, and less
as though they believed in endless punsihment, and why? - Partialism wanes with the increase of light.
DEAR BROTHER,As I resume my pen, I am reminded of a Roman
Catholic lady, at a time resident within the limits
of my parish, and whom I vainly invited to attend
upon my ministry. Protestantism was, to her, the
very Beelzebub of heresies. Immovable as a rock,
she was resolved, as she said, to "continue in the
religion  she was reared in."  So I left her, saying
to myself, poor woman!  And I have no doubt, if
she still lives, that she is a Catholic still, and that
she will glory in dying in her "holy mother
church."
Cases like the above are  striking, rather than
peculiar. For multitudes of Protestants are, to-day,




UNIVERSALISM MISUNDERSTOOD.        49
no less blindly judging doctrines not their own;
and equally bound up in the peculiar faith upon
which they chanced first to open their eyes, or
which they received with their small clothes; and,
with no ear for anything else, they will doubtless
die in " the religion they were reared in."  Many
are, even now, judging Universalism, as ignorantly
as the lady referred to, judged Protestantism, and
shunning its sanctuary, as she shunned the sanctuary
of Protestantism. We do not thus write to blame
them. We take it they are sincere, as that lady
was. They know not what they do. Early wrappedin a prejudice, through which only the fewest
rays can struggle, and never hearing Universalism
preached, but only preached against, how should
they know! How can they but be as ignorant of
it, as that boy was of his lesson, who pronounced
the word frigate with a and i long, and guessed it
meant some kind of a four-footed animal. And so, in
their ignorance, like the good lady, they turn an angel from the door in the traveller they unwittingly
despise.
The above remarks, are, of course, subject to
honorable exceptions. And we are happy to know
that such exceptions are becoming more and more
numerous, as pharisaical antipathy to Universalism
subsides with the increase of light upon religious
subjects. And especially happy are we, that the
5




50        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
prospect is that they will continue to multiply, till
they shall cease to be exceptions, and become the
law. But that happy day is not yet. Nor can it
come, till the people gather independence, selfreliance, and moral courage, to look beyond those
watchmen who advise them to know of Universalism, only through its enemies,- that beyond that,
ignorance is bliss; -just as though Universalism
was best hated by being least understood. And so,
no doubt, it is. But this were a strange thing, to
be affirmed of error. Error pales under fair investigation. Whereas, I think it is generally understood to be a recommendation of a thing, that it improves upon acquaintance. But according to the
counsel of many spiritual guides, the reverse would
seem to be true with regard to Universalism. Because it improves upon acquaintance, the people are
advised that they can become acquainted with it
only at their peril.  And, brother, I think this
should be a startling consideration to those who
have been accustomed to regard it as a dangerous
heresy; — that it should raise in their minds the
enquiry, whether they or the heretics are the more
heretical; whether heresy, in this age, does not sit
in the place of true Orthodoxy, as in our Saviour's
time the Scribes and Pharisees sat in Moses' seat,
casting away the pentateuch and unrolling tradition
for law.




UNIVERSALISM MISUNDERSTOOD.          51
But the ignorance of which we speak, is by no
means confined to the laity of the dominant sects.
Many of their clergy, and especially as a general
rule, those who have most to say against our faith,
are ignorant also. Early assured that it is "a
refuge of lies," and that "the serpent was its first
preacher," they have felt no call impartially to examine it, and so "' continue in the religion they were
reared in." }'Why, said one of my good old clerical friends, as he took my arm a few months since,
"Universalism cannot be true," because nature itself
teaches that there is a difference between right and
wrong;" —just as though our faith did not recognize that difference. How many are so ignorant
I will not say. But I will say that many are so
ignorant of it that, when,- and as we think without any design of caricature - they attempt to define it for the benefit of their people, they define
something as unlike it, as the " he goat " of Daniel,
to the "Lamb" of the Apocalypse!  And why
should they not be ignorant of it. Its authors, they
have never read, or read only with the spirit of exparte criticism.  And, as to the Bible, they have
some few figurative texts, which they think condemn
it, while they are perfectly sure that it is full of disproof of the scandalous heresy. And woe to him
who affirms the contrary. You may think the above
remarks extravagant. But I think there is nothing




52        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.,
in them  overdrawn, if considered in relation to the
many opponents of our faith, whether lay or clerical,
who are hot against it. Those of our opponents to
whom they do not apply, will generally be found
those who are the more intelligent, and who look
upon us with the less disfavor. Why, brother, you
know how this is, and that you will hear more said
against Universalism, and in vindication, or rather
assertion of endless punishment, in one ignorant
conference room, than in many intelligent pulpits.
And I think you might know that among the more
intelligent of the Orthodox clergy, are not a few
who would have no objection to a free fellowship
with Universalists, but for the consciences of their
less intelligent parishioners. At any rate, certain it
is, that the more intelligent among the preachers of
endless punishment, preach it the less as though
they believe it. And I think it is equally obvious
that the studious and progressive among them,
preach it less and less, and with less and less earnestness, as they advance in years, and their minds
mature with culture, while by equal ratio the asperity of their words against our faith is softened, and
their number diminished. Whether it is because,
gradually coming to a more just conception of endless misery, and the Bible teaching about it, they
find it harder to believe, or whether, coming to a
better knowledge of Universalism, they find it to




UNIVERSALISM MISUNDERSTOOD.          53
improve upon acquaintance, I leave you to judge.
But the fact is certainly very significant.  And
what does it signify but that Partialism is to fade
away into Universalism, in just about the inverse
ratio by which light increases?
Please suspend any rash judgment upon this
letter till, in a future one, I state definitely what
Universalism is.
Yours truly,
5*




LETTER VI.
ERROR, JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN.
Man an Errorist-The Jew's great Error in spite of his Scriptures,
amazing, seeing that he was not skeptical of them-The veil upon
him-Corresponding error of the Christian —Origen —The Church
comes out of the middle ages, how —A Caution.
DEAR BROTHER, -
When we consider man, theologically, and in the
light of history, he seems little better than a mere
errorist. Thus considered, one might suppose him,
not only liable to err, but even bent on erring, wilfully, and in spite of light.  Look at the ancient
people of God, —the Jews. Though familiar with
the Old Testament Scriptures, and notwithstanding
those Scriptures are full of promises to the Gentiles, still were they certain that their own nation was to monopolize all the blessings of Messiah's
reign. What was it to them, that their Scriptures
said, " In that day there shall be a root of Jesse
which shall stand for an ensign to the people; to it
shall the  Gentiles  seek; and  his rest shall be
glorious." What though their Scriptures say of
Messiah,  "'  e shall bring forth judgment to the




ERROR, JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN.        55
Gentiles; " and what though they make the Father
say to the Son, 6" I give thee for a covenant to the
people, for a light to the Gentiles;" and what
though they make the Prophet say to the church
under Immanuel, " And the Gentiles shall come to
thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising,"
and, again, " the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness and all kings thy glory;" and what though
those ancient writings say that "a al flesh shall see
the salvation of God;" what was all this to the
Jew! WVhat was it to him, that the promises of
his Scriptures to the Gentiles, were plain, full, and
cumulative? In spite of them all, and " in erring
reasons spite," he was perfectly certain that his
hoped for Messiah shotild have no blessing for the
poor Gentile. Dives should be perpetually pampered, and poor Lazarus, with his dog-licked sores,
must lie perpetually at his gate.
Now that the Jews, and, especially, the Rabbinical
Jews should have set up and established a faith, so
plainly and directly against their Scriptures, is, indeed, amazing. We certainly should say that it implied that they disbelieved their Scriptures, did we
not know that they, not only believed them, but
clung to them with a tenacity, almost without a
parallel. They guarded their text even to its
minutest "jot and tittle," with the most faithful and
laborious assiduity. In reference to it, they knew




56        FOOTPRINTS HIEAVENWARD,
nothing of skepticism. They believed it all, and
conscientiously accepted its teaching.  And yet,
while, as we have seen, it so clearly and fully
taught, that Messiah should bring a blessing for the
Gentiles, they fully believed the contrary. So was
their mind "blinded,"- such was "the veil" upon
it, "' in the reading of Moses " "' and the prophets."
And what was that veil, which concealed from the
Jew the chief glory of his Scriptures, —as the
temple's veil concealed from the people, the most
holy place, - but the narrow prejudice, the original
product of selfishness and ignorance, which he unconsciously cherished.
But those very Jews, after all, were more human
than Jewish. Nor should we wonder too much at
the palpableness of their errors, seeing that we are
human also, and liable to be " in the same condemnation;" so that, while "we are astonished, that
they should have been so blinded to the sublime import of the Old Testament, we do well to inquire
whether we are any less blinded to the sublimer import of the New - whether we are not intent on a
mote in their eye, while a beam is in our own. And
if an exclusive spirit, gendered by prejudice, so
wrought in the very body-disciples of Christ, that,
in spite of his positive command, they hesitated to
preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, till God spoke to
them by the vision of a "sheet let down from




ERROR, JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN.         57
Heaven," it is hardly surprising, that Christians of
this later day, should, through some similar prejudice, narrowly mistake the comprehensiveness of
the  Gospel plan!   And, especially, seeing that
the popular theology of our day, has come down to
us, out of darker ages than ever brooded upon the
Jewish mind; and seeing that, long before those
ages, in the comparative infancy of Christianity, we
know that Universalism prevailed. Origen, the
illustrious Christian father, and the first real scholar
in the church, was a staunch advocate and defender
of it, nor have we the least intimation that it was
then regarded as heresy. But the church gradually
entered the cloud of the middle ages, and after
traversing vast regions of darkness, historically unexplored, she at length appears again, with her head
full of error and her hands full of blood, fierce to
set up and pull down dogmas, through councils,
backed by the sword.
The above consideration requires careful attention.
For as it is much easier to see the mote in our brother's eye, than the Leam in our own, so, also, it is
easier to see the faults of other denominations and
ages, than the greater faults of our own. We see
the folly of the ancient people of God. We wonder
that they, in spite of their Scriptures, should have
believed that Jews only were to be blest by Messiah.
They were prejudiced. But may not our folly equal




58        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
theirs, while, in the face of our Scriptures, we believe not only that almost all the Jews are lost, but
that only a small fraction of the swarming Gentiles
up to the present time, are saved. May we not also
be prejudiced. And as we think of ancient theological folly, may we not well say with the wise man,
"'that which has been is now "? And among believers of the present day, are there any more intensely Jewish in their prejudices than the many
who, making the scope of salvation, embrace only
the relative handful of the elect, are blind to all the
beauties of a more liberal faith, and deaf to all the
appeals of reason and Scripture in its behalf? Are
there not many to-day who say, "we see," whose
minds are, after all, so darkened by prejudice, that
only the fewest rays of true light can struggle into
them?  So it seems to me. But these are matters
of which I here affirm nothing. I only throw them
out that you may weigh them.  May you weigh
them well.
Yours truly.




LETTER VII.
IS YOUR FAITH  SATISFACTORY?
Are you quite satisfied?-Descent to Woe-Nominal Faith-The
sweet babe-Antediluvians and Post-diluvians-Neighbors dismissed to woe!-Earnest Question-God's image-Relief —Illustration from the " Pemberton Calamity"''-Description of itEternal Prison House-Ideal of a better Faith-Return to the
Ruins-Fire!-All over! -Application -Everywhere men descend
out of sight —Stolen Relief-Midnight Mourning-Why questions
deemed delicate-Faith for Funerals-Temporal evils explicableThey have an Afterwards-Not so endless evil-Mystery-Whence
comes the notion of endless misery-Practical conception of itWalk in the fields-The heart rebels-Jehovah only as the publicans, and worse-Earth a stepping stone to woe-Quotation from
Pope-From Thomson-Strange dissatisfaction-What is radical
in all religion-Caution.
DEAR BROTHER, —
My imagination may do you injustice; but I seem
to hear you saying with yourself, " Much of what
he writes is, perhaps, well enough; and, it is true,
as he says, that most of our theology is either
hereditary or taken on trust. The Jews were greatly mistaken, many others have been,- I may be, -
but what then?  If he thinks his faith is better,



60         FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
very well, —let him have it. But as for me, why
should I trouble myself about it, seeing that I am
satisfied with my own."
But, brother, are you sure that you are satisfied
with your own faith?  Does not its contemplation
sometimes make you shiver, as if nearing the cold
mists of skepticism? From the strained effort to
believe, against your heart, so much as your faith
requires, do you not, now  and then, find yourself
reacting towards believing nothing, and perplexed
with  expedients for relief? —modified definitions
and palliative constructions? At any rate, are you
sure that you are quite satisfied with your faith, in
view of endless misery to which it makes so many
of your fellow beings descend? - misery to which
it exposes you, yourself, every hour, and your escape
from which, it makes ever as doubtful as is your fitness for heaven?
You will perceive, brother, that I am not here
setting you down with the merely nominal believer,
whose faith, however awful, is a mere Sunday suit,
and sets as lightly upon him as fleecy clouds upon
either! I am rather assuming that you really accept your creed with all its dismal consequences.
And so, I press still the question, are you satisfied
with it. When a child is born to you, (or to somebody else) are you satisfied to feel that the sweet
little stranger, upon whose brow the fond mother




IS YOUR FAITH SATISFACTORY?         61
parts the springing locks, so lovingly, and whose infant prattle thrills to the very centre of your own
manly heart, is exposed to endless woe, and probably
shall suffer it, unless it die early; and this, too, at
the hand of the "Everlasting Father " who brought
it into being?  Are you?  And does your punitive
faith satisfy you, as " memory like a tomb searcher,"
runs through all the past, and down through your
dark world of woe, among antediluvians and postdiluvians, long lost and lost forever? Does it? And
are you satisfied with it, as from time to time it dismisses one and another of your neighbors and
friends, from their families and fire-sides, to your
woe-land of eternity?  Are you?
I am not here asking whether your creed is true.
I am only trying to put you upon examination of it,
by earnestly asking whether it satisfies you —
whether it satisfies your most Christian bosom, as it
heaves with the charity towards all men, which
Christianity bids us cherish; or whether as you contemplate its logical consequences, you are not sometimes tempted to say, " If it is true, then I am not
made in the Father's image?   then there is no
Father in Heaven?"  And, furthermore, whether,
however well you deem yourself satisfied with your
faith, it would not, on reflection, be inexpressible
relief to know that all the dead are mercifully cared
for?
6




62        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
Our city (Lawrence, Mass.,) has recently been
visited by a calamity, awful and appalling, almost
beyond a parallel. "4 In a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye," at the breaking of certain pillars, one of
its large factories fell completely down, burying
some six or seven hundred persons beneath its
ruins! It was on a winter afternoon. And, as the
slow hours passed, the sun went down, the stars appeared, and the night advanced, what agony was
there! - agony of fathers and mothers, sons and
daughters, husbands and wives, hanging tearfully
and tearlessly, over that chaotic mass of roofing,
flooring, brick, mortar and machinery, moaning
piteously for the dear ones, buried, dead or alive,
within it! And, as in the slow process of disentombment, a father saw his son, a mother her
daughter, a brother his sister, a husband his wife,
brought forth, uninjured, among the mangled and
the dead, how did his heart leap for joy, and there,
in the presence of the wild congregation, and under
the " cold light of stars, what thanksgiving then
went up to Heaven!
And now, brother, would not your heart leap for
joy also, and would not your thanksgiving be moved,
if out the eternal prison-house to which your creed
consigns so many of your dead, you could see them
all emerging, under the light of the everlasting
Father's smile? And thus, however well satisfied




IS YOUR FAITH SATISFACTORY?           63
you are with your present faith, have you not the
ideal of an infinitely better one,?
But to return to the ruins.  At midnight the cry
of'"fire!" is heard upon  them.  " Wthere?"
"' Hee e!"  The "brakes " are plied; but all in
vain!  The fire sweeps through the chaos, sutfocating and consuming numbers who were on the
very threshold of rescue! All was over!  Nor did
the vast concourse hardly know whether, more to
sorrow that all life was extinct, or to joy that all
suffering was ended.
Now, brother, had you been in the midst of that
scene, as I was, would your faith have there satisfied
you?  gould you have then been satisfied with its
while it made endless woe, seize the "' souls of most
of those poor perishing operatives, * the moment
the fire or some other element ot the calamity seized
their vital breath, —while it made all the horrors of
that dreadful night, but the agency of their transfer
to hopeless despair; so that, sad as we felt while
they were imploring our aid, sadder should we have
felt when they were silent. For then, according to
your faith, they were in deeper misery, whence aid
is not implored, because thence hope flies forever.
But why speak of sl2ecial calamity. The way of
death is everywhere, and  everywhere are  men
* The victims were mostly Roman Catholics, not unlike those ordinarily
found in such establishments.




64        FOOTPRINTS HEAYENWVARDo
descending it out of sight. And as your eye follows
them to the verge of darkness, are you not often
obliged to confess that your faith dissatisfies you,
and to try to feel as though you did not believe it,that is, holding one faith are you not obliged to
flatter yourself with hopes afforded by another, or
else be too sad for earth, with its breeze and flower?
And yet do you say that it satisfies you?
Moreover, when at some midnight hour, you are
wakeful with mourning for dear ones whom the great
Father has, by the terms of your creed, consigned
to everlasting pain, do you not find it hard to sing
with the Psalmist, "My soul shall be satisfied with
marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise thee
with joyful lips, when I remember thee upon my
bed and meditate on thee in the night-watches."
These may seem delicate questions. You may, perhaps, doubt their propriety. But they involve only
the very simpltest practical application of your penal
ftaith. And therein I apprehend lies the objection to
this plain questioning. But, surely a radical doctrine
that will not bear application, - which cannot be
carried into funeral circles and mourning midnights,
but must rather be forgotten, in the very hour when
consolation is most needed, or the sad one be sadder
still, is certainly very questionable and were better
altogether unknown. For a known doctrine so
dre adful, is not easily forgotten at will.  To every




IS YOUR FAITH SATISFACTORY?         65
real believer in it, it is sure to be kept in remembrance by its very terribleness. And do you say
you are satisfied with it?
Perhaps you will refer to temporal evils, and
reason from them to eternal evils.  But you will
perceive that the permission of temporal evils to
finite beings, destined to immortal progress, admits of
explanation. To all these there is an afterwards of
opportunity for the sufferer's reformation, when, as
disciplinary process, they nmay yield the peaceable
fruits of righteousness to all who are exercised
thereby. But who shall explain the evil of endless
misery. Who shall explain why the wages of so
short a sin, by so feeble a sinner, placed by the infinite goodness, under the wretched circumstances of
earth, should be so long a death! A death which
admits of no " afterwards," but which is all pain,
pain, pauseless, everlasting pain! Surely, such a
death, under the eye and law of the Christian's God,
is fearfully and overwhelmingly inexplicable. Jehovah's foot, forever upon a writhing worm! — are
you satisfied with your faith's contemplation of it?
Or do you sometimes feel that you could love the
Father better if you had evidence that his punishments were more paternal?
I know, brother, how you are accustomed to quiet
your troublesome heart, under these disturbing considerations. But, I beseech you, pause and care6*




66         FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
fully consider, whether the credal terrors before
which you flee into mystery, are anything more than
the gloomy creations of human theology scholastically distilled from heathen mythology, in the
alembic of darkness.
And so far as mystery is concerned, let it be here
said, that if there is any thing of which the human
mind can have a distinct practical conception, it is of
a misery  that never ends. And  of the moral
quality of no act, do I conceive that man can have
a clearer conception, than of that of an infinite
God creating intelligent beings in full view of their
endless misery, and of course keeping them alive in
it forever -forever refusing to them the coveted
boon of absolute death.  Philosophise over these
propositions as you will, they will remain in their
strength.  And if you seemingly overturn them, I
think they will still remain in your consciousness.
Why, then, talk of mystery?  Our conception of
endless death and its infliction, is as clear as our
conception of endless life, and its bestowment I!
But, further still, and on another tack; as you
walk over this fair world, listen to the melody of
birds, and the murmur of waterfalls, witness the
descent of silver showers, and joy in the genial
beams of the morning, as they glance across the
dewy  meads and gloriously transfigure the silver
lake; and as you think that all these are but the




IS YOUR FAITH SATISFACTORY?       67
universal smile of the Living Father, who " makes
his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and
sends his rain on the just and on the unjust,"
and whose very thunders are yielding up a benevolent purpose, under the keen eye of science,do you not, sometimes, have serious misgivings
whether, this Living Father has, actually, ordained
endless damnation for the creatures of his power —
creatures whom he absolutely foreknew, —for man
of whom he is'"mindful," and the son of man
whom "6 he visits "- for creatures whom he loves,
and whom, in the beginning, he was under no obligation to create, other than the self-imposed obligation of his own benevolent nature? Do you not
then find something in your best heart, rebelling
against the notion that, in the future world, the
mercies of God are to be "clean gone forever;"
- that, in that world, He is to be found like the
publicans in this, loving only those that love him,
and shutting up all the rest, by statute or common
law, in the darkness of despair forever! So that
the angels, in reference to Jehovah's acts, might well
ask, " do not even the publicans so,"' while the
saints might well reply, "' Nay, the publicans do not
so.  If so partial in their love, they are not so
terrible in their hate; " and all the lost might say,
amnen!
Ah, mny brother, as you thus read nature's elder




68           FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
Scripture, do you not suspect that you have misinterpreted her younger?  and whether it is not a
mistake that, from Eternity, it was pre-arranged in
God's foreknowledge that earth should be but a
stepping stone, by which multitudes of immortals
should pass from the shades of nothingness to the
more dimal shades of everlasting despair? In a
word, do you not then suspect whether the God of
your creed is not quite another, from him who
6' vital breathes " around, -  him  whose benignity
" Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,
Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,
Lives through all life, extends through all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unspent? "
You have, doubtless, admired the closing strain of
Thomson's inimitable hymn, -fit appendix to his
"C Seasons: "
"Should fate command me to the farthest verge
Of the green earth; to distant, barbarous climes;
Rivers unknown to song; where first the sun
Gilds Indian mountains, or his setting beam
Flames on the Atlantic isles;'tis nought to me,
Since God is ever present, ever felt,
In the void waste, as in the city full,
And where He vital breathes, there must be joy!
When e'en at last the solemn hour shall come,
And wing my mystic flight to future worlds;
I cheerfully will obey. There, with new powers,
Will rising wonders sing. I cannot go
Where universal love smiles not around,
Sustaining all yon orbs, with all their suns,




IS YOUR FAITH SATISFACTORY?            69
From seeming evil, still educing good,
And better thence again, and better still,
In infinite progression. But I lose
M yself in Him, in light ineffable!
Come then expressive silence, muse His praise."
On the margin of the leaf, in my library, containing this poetry, an orthodox friend once wrote,
"'May this be my sentiment."   And, brother, are
you not saying, "may it be mine? " But as you
admire it,-the natural outgush of the free soul, so
honorable to God, and comforting to man,-do you
not feel a strange sort of dissatisfaction with the
portion of your creed, which it so radically violates?
As you think of penal sorrow, whose endlessness
necessarily admits of no "afterwards," in which
" good," may be " educed, " from  it, —of sorrow,
eternized by the judgment flat of Jehovah, or,
which is the same thing, by a law of sin which he
himself ordained, do you not feel a very troublesome
distrust of the faith into which you have been baptized?   " Finally, " brother, " whatsoever things
are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever
things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely and of good report; if there be
any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on
these things." Deeply do I feel how worthy they
are of your attention,-how essential to your Christian perfection and usefulness. Though intended




70        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
only as suggestive of enquiry, they deeply involve
what is radical and controlling in all religions,-the
character of God! You will not put. them aside
lightly. An angel may be in the wayfarer! a son
of God in the Nazarene!
Yours truly 




LETTER VIII.
GREAT MINDS IN  TROUBLE — BARNES.
Great minds most troubled with ugly dogmas-Sad case-Quotation
from Barnes' commentary- Quotation from his published sermons
-The contrast between the two-His anguish-Cause of it, particulars noted-Reasoners for endless punishment rebuked-Barnes'
difficulties not only " real," but vitally practical-Their removal
leaves but Universalism-Beauty of the plan of salvation, unseen
-Plan of damnation, rather-Strength of the language of Barnes'
confession-General restlessness among the intelligent clergy-Intances.
Postscript.- Stuart's difficulty - Experiences suppresed - Quotation from Edward Beecher, with comment-Quotation  from
Channing-Foster-Bad for a child to lose its father, yet is there
something worse-Relief of indifference.
DEAR BROTHER,It is by no means peculiar to weak and uneducated holders of your creed, to find very serious
trouble with it.  Not with the reason and affection of
such persons does it make its chief havoc, but the
contrary. This I will now attempt to show, by
certain references, preparatory to which, I here introduce the following sad occurrence.
" Oh, if I could believe as you do, I should be one




72         FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
of the happiest men on earth." So said a Christian
lawyer, a few months ago, to one of his legal brethren, who vainly tried to raise him from a state
of deep melancholy, by presenting him with a more
cheerful faith. He was, by the common verdict of
his fellow citizens, and of his church, an excellent
and devout Christian, and yet he was wretched; for
he not only believed in endless misery, but his creed
was, to him, as it should be to every holder, like a
living reality.  Its contemplation overwhelmed him,
reason reeled under the weight of it,' And frantic driven,
He dreamed himself in hell and woke in heaven."
He died a suicide, and yet his memory was justly
blessed. And, indeed, was it not to his credit, that
his mind broke down? What mind, not stiffened up
by the most rigid theological stoicism, but must
break down before the open full contemplation of the
multitudes of fellow-beings actually in endless woe
or descending into it. 0, there is no estimating the
strength of that mind and heart, that can, intelligently sustain the weight of its pressure. To sustain it merely nominally, as many do, (that is to say,
not to sustain it at all), is indeed a small thing.
And yet, if we take Christian consistency into the
account, not very small, either, in the eyes of Him,
to whom such consistency is a jewel, though it lie in
the coffin of a suicide, and Christian inconsistency,
but rottenness, though it stalk an angel.




GREAT MINDS IN TROUBLE —BARNES.    73
I will delay you no further upon this illustratration of the workings of your creed. But, occurring as it did, in my own immediate neighborhood,
it deeply impressed my mind. I know not whether
it will yours. Give it what weight you please.
We now come more directly to our present task,
which is, to establish the proposition at the head of
this letter. And our first witness shall be a man
whose ripeness as a scholar, and profoundness as a
theologian, are beyond question, and whose excellent
commentaries are widely circulated;-I mean the
Rev. Albert Barnes. Nor is he here referred to, to
impeach his integrity, but rather, incidentally, to endorse it.  And  if, under cross-examination, he
appear inconsistent, it will not compromise his character, but only show the struggle of a good heart with
an impracticable creed.  His case, though often
before the public, we never have seen examined
with the fulness it deserves.
And that we may the better accomplish  our
design in referring to so worthy a man, let us first
ponder the following excellent extract from his commentary:
"' The effect of religion, or, of the influence of the
Holy Spirit, is to open the eyes, to show the sinner
his condition and his danger, and to lead him to look
on Him whom he had pierced. Yet, at first he sees
7




74         FOOTPRINTS HEAVENMWARD.
indistinctly.  He does not soon learn to distinguish
objects.  When converted, he is in a new world.
Light is shed on every object, and he sees the Scriptures, the Saviour, and the works of creations, the
sun and stars and hills and vales, in a new light.
He sees the beauty of the plan of salvation, and
wonders that he has not seen it before.  Yet he sees
at first indistinctly.  It is only by repeated applications to the Source of light, that he sees all
things clearly. At first religion may appear full of
mysteries.  Doctrines and facts appear on every
hand, that he cannot comprehend.  His mind is still
perplexed, and he may doubt whether he has ever
seen aught or ever been renewed. Yet let him not
despair.  Light in due time, will be shed on these
obscure and mysterious truths. Faithful and repeated application to the Father of Lights, in prayer,
and in searching the Scriptures, and in the ordinances of religion, will dissipate all these doubts, and
he will see all things clearly, and the universe will
be filled with one broad flood of light."*
These are true words,-excellent words,-" apples
of gold in pictures of silver;" well calculated to
guard the young Christian, perplexed with difficulties, against faint-heartedness and despair. None
who rightly studies the sacred Scriptures, and keeps
his conscience clean, but shall find them true. But
Com. vol. I., p. 180.




GREAT MINDS IN TROUBLE-BARNES.    75
did their author find them true in his own experience? Let the following quotation from his practical
sermons testify. And, brother, let us ponder its testimony:"That the immortal mind should be allowed to
jeopard its infinite welfare, and that trifles should be
allowed to draw it away from God, and virtue, and
heaven, that any should suffer forever, —lingering
on in hopeless despair, and rolling amidst infinite
torments without the possibility of alleviation, and
without end; that since God can save men, and will
save a part, he has not proposed to save all; that,
on the supposition that the atonement is ample, and
that the blood of Christ can cleanse from all and
every sin, it is not, in fact, applied to all; that, in a
word, a God who claims to be worthy of the confidence of the universe, and to be a being of infinite
benevolence, should make such a world as this, full
of sinners and sufferers; and that when an atonement has been made, He did not save all the race,
and put an end to sin and woe forever.
"These and kindred difficulties, meet the mind
when we think on this great subject; and they meet
us when we endeavor to urge our fellow-sinners to
be reconciled to God, and to put confidence in Him.
On this ground they hesitate. These are real, not
imaginary difficulties. They are probably felt by




76        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
every mind that has ever reflected on the subject;
and they are unexplained, unmitigated, unremoved.
I confess, for one, that I feel them, and feel them
more sensibly and powerfully, the more I look at
them and the longer I live. \ I do not understand
these facts; and I make no advances towards understanding them. I do not know that I have a ray
of light upon this subject which I had not, when
the subject first flashed across my soul. I have
read, to some extent, what wise and good men have
written. I have looked at their theories and explanations. I have endeavored to weigh their arguments; for my whole soul pants for light and relief
on these questions. But I get neither; and in the
distress and anguish of my own spirit, I confess
that I see no light whatever. I see not one ray to
disclose to me the reason why sin came into the
world; why the earth is strewed with the dying
and the dead; why man must suffer to all eternity.
"I have never seen a particle of light thrown on
these subjects, that has given a moment's ease to my
tortured mind; nor have I an explanation to offer,
or a thought to suggest, that would be of relief to
you. I trust other men - as they profess to do -
understand this matter better than I do, and that they
have not the anguish of spirit which I have; but I
confess, when I look on a world of sinners and of
sufferers; upon death-beds and grave-yards; upon




GREAT MINDS IN TROUBLE-BARNES.    77
the world of woe, filled with hosts to suffer forever;
when I see my friends, my parents, my family, my
people, my fellow citizens; when I look upon a
whole race, all involved in this sin and danger, and
when I see the great mass of them wholly unconcerned, and when I feel that God only can save
them  and that he does not,- I am struck dumb.
All is dark, dark, dark, and I cannot disguise it."
Such and so melancholy, are the words of Barnes,
as an experienced Christian preacher. And singularly and sadly do they contrast with the cheerful
words, just previously quoted from Barnes, as a
Commentator; —the former, closing up in a "6flood
of light," the latter, in three-fold "darkness."  In
the former, he assures the young Christian, perplexed with " mysteries" and " doctrinal facts," that
" if he is faithful, he will yet see all things clearly,
and the universe will be filled with one broad flood
of light." In the latter, he confesses that, to him,
no light comes, and - what is important as showing
that his difficulties are, as he says, " real, not imaginary,"-that darkness deepens with the increase
of years and knowledge. As a Commentator, he
speaks of'beauty in the plan of salvation."  As
an experienced Christian, he speaks of that plan, as
a cause of " distress," " anguish," dumbness, darkness, to his 6 tortured mind."  And all this he feels
7*




78        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
the more sensibly and powerfully, the longer he
looks upon them, and the longer he lives. The
inconsistency here involved is, indeed, strange;
but, as we have before intimated, no stranger
than often occurs between the head and heart of
a good man, holding a bad creed.
But let us note particularly the cause of our
Author's "' anguish," as by himself set forth. It is
that "any should suffer forever; "-it is that, "since
God "  *  *  *  " the God who claims the confidence of the Universe"  *  *  * "can save men,
and will save a part, he has not purposed to save
all." It is that "the blood of Christ" * * *
is not in fact applied to all." This is the cause of
his "anguish of spirit."  Because of this, all is so
"' dark," and all this might be safely paraphrased
about thus:  When I consider that the Divine
Government is not administered upon the principles
of Universalism, " I am  struck dumb! All is
dark, dark, dark, and I cannot disguise it / "
And all this, coming from so high and unexceptionable a source,-the sincere outgush of such a heart,how does it rebuke all the attempts of scholastic
theology, to prove the reasonableness of endless
misery, or the unreasonableness of Universalism.:For, whatever else may be involved in the complaint
of our author, his notion of endless misery is the
chief; so that were that removed, and the doctrine




GREAT MINDS IN TROUBLE —BARNES.   79
of the final holiness of all men put in its stead, other
causes of complaint would be little thought of, or
thought of only as spots upon the sun's disc, which
do not seriously intercept its beams. The real difficulty lies in that ugly doctrine, and as he says, "it
is real, not imaginary."  Otherwise it could not
increase with the increase of light, as he says it
does.
Notice, too, how eminently practical are the difficulties which Barnes found in grappling with this
theological hydra. They were no mere entanglements in metaphysical subtleties, - valueless abstractions! They were practical / This, our author
frankly confesses. Nor does he speak for himself
alone. For, says he, " they meet us when we endeavor to urge our fellow sinners to be reconciled to
God, and put confidence in him. On this ground
they hesitate." Mark the words, " on this ground
they hesitate!"  For 0, how eminently practical
is that dogma which stands right in the ministers
way, when he would "persuade men" to be "reconciled to God," —that dogma which makes them
then "' hesitate." Certainly, any theological system,
in which such a dogma inheres, were rendered more
efficient by its removal. For one difficulty, at least,
were then out of the way. And yet, you have only
just to remove from Orthodoxy that difficulty - the
very one which makes sinners hesitate,- and it becomes Universalism!




80         FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
There is, indeed, " beauty," as Barnes says,'" in
the plan of Salvation," —beauty which fills with overwhelming joy, the person who contemplates it from
the stand point of the Fatherhood. But Barnes could
see that beauty, only as he lost sight of his penal
creed. For in view of that creed, the whole creation and government of God, in its relations to responsible humanity, were, rather, upon a plan of
damnation. Do not start at this remark, brother,
till you have well considered whether it is not strictly true. For in the eye of that creed, what is the
mass of responsible humanity, but one vast, everlasting Sahara, relieved only by here and there a little
oasis. Certainly, by that creed, many more of the
accountable children of earth, are lost than saved.
Why, then, not call it a place of damnation, making
its name correspond with its leading feature!  And
why wonder that an intelligent believer in it, should
be sad, especially when a heart of true Christian
sympathy, throbs his breast!
Furthermore; we shall not have seen all, unless
we note the strength and significance of our author's
confessions. "I confessfor one, "- "I cannot disguise it!" "I trust other men" *            " *  "have
not the arnguish of spirit that I have," &c. These
phrases are almost infinitely expressive. They are
such as come out, only when the lips part from necessity,-whenthe struggling emotions of the heart,




GREAT MINDS IN TROUBLE-BARNES.   81
like the seething elements of earthquake, will have
way!  They suggest, how  many there may be,
who, with less moral courage than Barnes, are like
him chafed and galled and choked with the ligaments of their creed. In them, we see the deep
theological restlessness of the age,- arestlessness
well expressed by an able Orthodox clergyman,
recently ascended to the Father, who, in a note to
the author, on learning that he had become settled
in the liberal faith, said, "I am thankful if one
poor soul has found rest!" and, also, by another of
the author's old clerical friends, who said, " I find
relief from the horror of endless punishment by
thinking that the wicked will be annihilated; " and
by another of the same who said, "future punishment is no matter of faith; " and still another, who
said "no text in the Bible teaches it," and 6" I
cannot say that all who die in sin must lie
forever outside of heaven; "- a restlessness, every
where apparent among the thinking portion of the
dominant sects, but seldom so freely and intensely
expressed, as in the extract just under review. And
however it may be with you brother, can it be that
Barnes was satisfied with a creed so distressing.
Yours truly.
P. S. But Barnes did not walk this dark path-way
alone. I think we have a right to infer that Moses




82        FOOTPRINTS HIIEAVENWARD.
Stuart had not a little similar experience. For after
supposing that saints in heaven would be made reconciled to seeing "those dear as their own life perish
at last," he says "G how this will or can be done, we
may never know in the present world; nay, we may
have" many a distressing hour, while enquiring
how it can be done, unless our very nature itself is
wholly changed."
And who may say how  "' many a distressing
hour" the learned Professor might have himself
experienced on this account. For, in the language
of Dr. Edward Beecher,'" it is an experience which
men are not disposed to make public:" just as any
other experience is, which militates against the
popular creed. It is only when sorely pressed, that
such minority experiences find expression.  Few,
therefore, speak out like Barnes and Foster. "How
many," says the Beecher above quoted, 6 ever pass,
in fact, into this dark valley, I have no means of determining. But," he adds, " I knew one man of eminent
piety, and distinguished as a clergyman, who had
had trials of great severity from tendencies to such
views." It were easy to imagine who that " one
man" was, and to see in him foreshadowed, the Theological confusion of one of the noblest, and most
philanthropic families that ever honored the earth.
Channing says, "we can endure any errors but those
which subvert or unsettle our conviction of God's




GREAT MINDS IN TROUBLE-BARNES.    83
paternal goodness. Urge not upon us a system
which makes existence a curse, and wraps the universe in gloom."  But such views are often urged
upon the minds of thinking men, by the almost resistless force of education, circumstances, and established modes of reasoning out of the Scriptures.
And then it is, that the Father's glory is eclipsed and
"the universe wrapped in gloom,"- or, as Foster
says, " occupied with a lurid and dreadful shade;
and this the rather, the more the soul progresses in
Christian spirituality,- the more it is raised above
the world,- the more thorough it is brought into
sympathy with infinite love.  Sad it is, for a child
to lose its father. But infinitely more sad, is it,
when the fatherly is lost out of the father. For
then the very word,father, becomes a source of unmeasured anguish. And it is but poor relief that is
found in the vain effort to believe the father good,
while his conduct is but a rational exponent of absolute badness. That very effort does but tear and
exhaust the soul, every moment in danger of reacting into absolute skepticism.  Oh, the "distressing
hours, " relieved only by relapses into indifference,
as the tired slave is relieved by relapses into the
sleep of his cabin! Our next witness shall be Dr.
Edward Beecher.
Yours truly.




LETTER IX.
GREAT MINDS  IN TROUBLE -EDWARD  BEECHER.
Beecher and his works —His dilemma —Must do one of three things
— is discovery and relief —How great the pressure, darkness,
wretchedness, hallucination, to which such a discovery is reliefA similar dilemma awaits all educated like B. as light advancesHow many, involved like him, fall off into infidelity!
DEAR BROTHER, —
In  my  last letter I referred  to  Dr. Edward
Beecher, incidentally.  I wish now to refer to him,
particularly, as further establishing the proposition,
that it is by no means peculiar to weak and uneducated minds, to find serious difficulties with your
creed.
Born of a noble stock, reared beneath a noble
family tree, educated in the school of orthodoxy, he
is an able minister of Christ.  A  wide observer, a
profound thinker, a vigorous reasoner, and, withal,
pious and independent, his equals are, doubtless, relatively few.  He is now best known as the author
of the " Conflict of Ages," that root-breaking book,
which is, to the fallow ground of Augustinian theo



GREAT 5MINDS IN TROUBLE — E. BEECHER.  85
logy like a mighty breaking up plow, drawn
through forests by giants. His " Papal Conspiracy
Exposed" would have given him a name. So also
would his " Concord of Ages."  But he is very
much stauncher in his " Conflict," than in his 6" Concord," as Milton, in his "s Paradise lost," than in his
"Paradise regained."  It is not, however, with his
works that we now have to do. We refer to them,
only to indicate the mould of the man.
The education of Beecher was, as we have seen,
orthodox. He believed in depravity, he believed in
endless misery, he believed in a God of infinite
goodness.  But here belief clashed with belief.
That a good Father should punish forever his
sinning children of earth, seemed to him absolutely
unreconcilable with his own moral intentions,- with
the principles of "4 honor and right," which he was
deeply conscious, God's own finger had written, before all Scriptures, authoritatively upon his heart.
Hence, his dilemma.  And thus he describes it.'"For a time, the system of this world, rose before
my mind, in the same manner, (as far as I can
judge), as it did before the minds of Channing
and Foster. I can, therefore, more fully appreciate their expression of their trials and emotions.
But I was entirely unable to find relief as they
did. The depravity of man, neither Christian
experience, the Bible, nor history, would permit
8




86         FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
me to deny. Nor did reason or Scripture afford
me any satisfactory grounds whatsoever, for anticipating the restoration of the lost to holiness in
a future state.  Hence, for a time, all was dark as
night."   So here, again, as in the confession of
Barnes, darkness is the word. Marvellous is it, how
orthodoxy and darkness go hand in hand, in the experience of thinkers so profound and independent!
Must there not be a mistake somewhere? And this,
the rathler, because this peculiar affinity becomes the
stronger and more prevalent, as Christendom  becomes more enlightened.
But to return.'" For a time," Beecher found all,
"dark as night."  And then it was that he looked
for light and behold darkness, "6 for righteousness"'
on the part of God, "and behold a cry!"  What
shall he do?  He must either change his opinion
concerning the penal Scriptures, or deny his consciousness, or find some hitherto unknown method of
reconciling the two. One of these three things he
must do, or lose his confidence, either in the Scriptures or in God, and so fall off into despair. The
first of these, his education and habit of thought
forbids. The second, he finds as impossible as to
deny his eyes. The third only remains, and that
must be attempted. It is attempted, and the attempt is rewarded with a supposed discovery which,
* Conflict, p. 189.




GREAT MINDS IN TROUBLE-E. BEECHER.  87
to his mind, answers for success —a discovery which
reconciles with his reason and conscience, the notion
of endless misery as the sequel of the dying sinner's
earthy state.  And what is that disco-very which relieves him?  It is this,- that this world is but a
last and forlorn hope, for all who come to breathe its
vital air; - that the human race is but the refuse of
a pre-existent mass of beings, sent down from  a
former state; a state in which their probation, unlike the probation of earth, had been so favorab!e
and so long, that man's sense of 1" honor and right,"
approves the verdict of Jehovah, which, after this
trial, condemns the unholy to endless woe!  This is
the discovery.  And on making it, our author says,
6" it was as if when I had been groping in some vast
cathedral, in the gloom  of midnight, vainly striving
to comprehend its parts and relations, suddenly, before the vast arched window of the nave, a glorious
sun  had suddenly burst forth, filling the whole
structure with its radiance, and showing in perfect
harmony the proportions and beauties of its parts."'*
So Beecher found relief, and, in keeping with our
design in introducing his case, several things may
here be said, and,
First, who can estimate the pressure of difficulty,
upon such a mind as his, necessary to drive it, in
parsuit' of relief, through all the avenues of fact,
*Conflict, p. 191




88         FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
away back into the cloud-land of pre-existence.
Surely his supposed discovery would seem but an invention, whose alternative was despair,-whose
mother was the most terrible necessity. And,
Second, what must have been that midnight of
mind, to which a few conjectural rays, gleaming
faintly through clouds and darkness, from a land of
imagination, should seem as the bursting forth of a
glorious sun, before the nave window of a midnight
cathedral. And,
Third, what must be that theological wretchedness, to which it is such abundant relief;, to discover
that this world, with all its garniture, instead of
being a primary state, bears only a purgatorial relation to a former one, while unlike the purgatory of
the papist9 the masses of human beings who enter it,
generally, make their exit from it, more miserable
than when they entered, and to be more miserable
forever. And,
Fourth. All this but shows of what fearful hallucination, the God-like mind is susceptible, under
the distressing obscuration of a false theology. And,
Fifth. If Beecher could not find  relief as
6"Foster and Channing" did, it is, surely, no
wonder that Barnes could not find relief as Beecher
did. The experiences of both go to establish the
proposition with which we set out,- that it is by no
means peculiar to weak and uneducated minds, to




GREAT MINDS IN TROUBLE-E. BEECI-ER.  89
find serious difficulties with the hitherto popular
penal creed. And,
Sixth, This case strongly suggests, whether the
time does not hasten, when the eyes of all sincere
Christians will be so open, that, in obedience to the
absolute law of consciousness, as Beecher defines it,
they will feel obliged, either to abandon the doctrine
of endless punishment, as untaught in the Scriptures, or abandon the Scriptures themselves, or find,
also, some strange, fanciful or mysterious solution of
their difficulty.
At any rate, I hope, brother, that you will consider well why it is, that strong, educated, honest,
earnest, independent and progressive minds, should
find such occasion to struggle with difficulties, in
what has been long and widely accepted, as the
most reasonable of creeds. Beecher appears to
have made the discovery of pre-existence as the
alternative of abandoning the Scriptures. This is
plainly gathered from his book.  How many, involved in the same difficulty with him, and failing
to penetrate beyond the mysterious bourn of his
newly discovered region, and, through the force of
education, like him unable to find relief as did
"Foster and Channing," fall off, and shall fall off
into skepticism, God only knows! Evidently the
number of such is already "' legion."   Would that
we could hope that it would never be greater.
8' V~ Yours truly.




LETTER X.
GREAT MINDS IN TROUBLE -  C. F. HUDSON.
Mr. H's book —His dilemma and relief-Quotation from his bookPraying against truth -Sad adjustment —Terrible dilemma -
Wicked of no account-Conquer your prejudice!-Wicked of
some account here, and in the resurrection -Why not after it?Why their slumbers broken -Wrong time to perish! -Clinging to
the Father —Gloomy prospects —Babel of confusion-Confusion
increases -When it will subside.
DEAR BROTHER,Permit me, in this letter, to. refer to one other
person, the Rev. C. F. Hudson, as further illustrating the trial which thinkers experience with the
doctrine of endless misery.  Mr. H., formerly an
Orthodox clergyman, having repudiated that doctrine as unreasonable and unscriptural, is now well
known as the author of the very scholarly and
elaborate work, entitled, "4 The Doctrine of a Future
Life." In that work, he disproves endless misery,
and attempts to prove;' annihilation."  Involved in
theological difficulty  equally with  Barnes, Foster
and Beecher, he neither suffers on with the one, nor
finds relief as do either of the other two.  lEe loses
his burden neither in future existence, nor in pre



GREAT MINDS IN TROUBLE —IUDSON.    91
existence; but, in NON-EXISTENCE!  Speaking of
eternal misery, or as he expresses it, "'the eternal
evil that remains," he says, "Temper it as he [the
Christian] will, it still challenges  many  doubts.
Christian theology has labored for generations past,
to find the maximum of reason, and the minimum of
doubt.  This has been the Conflict of Ages.  And
the conflict could not be confined to the schools.
Filling the minds of all classes of men, and producing the various forms of false theology we have
noted, it has borne most heavily upon the engineer
of the doctrines of salvation,- the preacher of the
gospel. It pursues him in every effort to maintain
a theodicy. It pursues him in his resort to mystery,
and in his appeal to man's innate sense of duty. *
It meets him at the bedside of the dying and in the
funeral of the dead.  Whether he feels it or not, it
haunts him every where, baffling his skill or marring
his labor, in all his efforts to persuade men."- p. 407.
"But," he adds, "dispense with the doctrine as
unauthorized, and how  soon it appears needless.
Let the wicked be regarded as if no account, and,
as having no part in the world to come, and the
powers of that world find their natural adjustment."
The truth of the major portion of the above quo* We have already heard Barnes say of the difficulties of endless
misery, " They meet us when we urge our fellow sinners to be reconciled
to God and put confidence in him. On this ground they hesitate." lIow
practical the difficulties!




92        FOOTPRINTS HIEAVENWARD.
tation, what thinking preacher of endless punishment has not felt, -what observing one, has not
seen! How many, like one the author knows, have
been obliged to pray against what they have deemed a satanic temptation to abandon that doctrine —
but really, against the waking of their own consciousness, reason and affection.
But, says our author, "let the wicked be regarded as of no account, and as having no part in the
world to come, and the powers of that world find
their natural adjustment."  And just by so regarding them, he finds his own theological system, adjusted to his great satisfaction. And though this
adjustment may, to many minds, seem quite unnatural, still the contemplation of the annihilation of the
wicked is satisfactory, compared with that of their
endless woe.
But kit;;s not, after all, a miserable relief we gain,
by thus regarding the wicked as of no account in the
future world! And must not that be a most terrible
orthodox dilemma, from which the soul rejoices, to
find deliverance by the dark and gloomy way, every
where bestrown with the annihilated shades of our
fellow beings, "1 bone of our bone, and flesh of our
flesh," and soul of our soul!  What must be that
sorrow, to which it is joy to sit down in a family
sepulchre to be reached by worse than no resurrection.




GREAT MINDS IN TROUBLE —UDSON.   93
"Let the wicked be regarded as of no account in
the world to come." Ah, yes, conquer your prejudices in favor of humanity, sever all the ties that
bind you to your race, rend the delicate net-work of
the Christian virtues, chiefly interwoven with love to
all, insolate yourself from all but the pure and holy,
if you chance to belong to that class, and regard all
the rest as "of no account," and then, you are relieved - then your faith has found "$ its natural adjustment"! Sad relief! The relief of the body by
amputation of the heart! But the Bible does not
say, if thy benevolent heart offend against thy creed,
" pluck it out and cast it from thee  " In reference
to such an adjustment, we can but say, in the language of Mr. H. about endless evil, 1" Temper it as
he will, it still challenges many doubts."
But the wicked are of some account in this world.
And it is well that they are; for if they were not, it
would go ill with our race, seeing " there is no man
that liveth and sinneth not." fHere, the wicked are
loved and blessed; for here, we become perfect as our
"Father which is in heaven is perfect," by loving
and blessing our enemies; —a consideration of vast
theological importance, lying far down in the ocean
of Deity, undisturbed by the winds of contending
textual criticisms that whip its surface. Here, the
wicked are of so much importance, that God in
Christ is looking after them continually.




94         FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
In the resurrection, too, the wicked are of some account. "' For the Scriptures positively affirm, that
there shall be a resurrection both of the just and
the unjust." And if the wicked are of some account
in the resurrection, strange if they should be of no
account afterwards.  Why then are they raised up?
"6 If they have no immortality, why are their slumbers disturbed?"   This question, Mr. IH. answers
in partby saying, 6' it is as if the unjus t, hearing the
voice of God in the last call to life, should be putting
on a glorious incorruption, and perish in the act."
But surely, the act of putting on a glorious incorruption would seem  the very last to perish in;
especially, after having lain, according to Mr. H's
theory, as nought,in the grave, for ages.  And he
who tells me that the wicked are raised uil, as our
author elsewhere says, to "Ilanguish back to nought,"
must excuse me from  believing.  For still, with
God's elder Scripture in my heart and his younger
in my hand, I will fast cling to my Father's skirts,
and assure myself, not only that all his children
shall have a resurrection, but that all shall be of
some account afterwards.  I can believe that theologies, which are the product of a soul, forced by education into unnatural connexion with  monstrous
dogmna, may " languish back to nought," but not
the souls, over which they wildly speculate.
We only add the reflection, that, if the wicked are




GREAT MINDS IN TROUBLE-HUDSON.   95
of no account in the future world, our prospects, and
especially our prospects of re-union with departed
friends, are very dark. For it is then, not only exceedingly doubtful whether they shall not be executed in
the morn of the resurrection, but also, whether we
shall not then be met by the angel of annihilation, and
also stricken down to nought, while with them, in
the very act of "; putting on a glorious incorruption."
For, who are the holy on earth?
But we need not pursue our chapter of illustrations farther.  We have seen, in the cases cited in
several preceding letters, that difficulty with the
old penal theology, is felt by educated thinkers,that it is a babel of confusion, from which they are
scattered abroad, some into future existence, some
into pre-existence, some into non-existence, and some,
"G the Lord knows where."  Nor can we fail to see
that this confusion increases as light deepens upon
the world. And why must it not continue to increase?  Certainly it cannot subside, till the Scriptures are so well understood, that man can walk in
them, without trampling on the primary laws of his
nature, and violating all the finer Christian sentiments
of his heart. Then, and not till then, will the jargon be ended. Until that time, we may expect to
see many  a shipwrecked  Theologian, like shipwrecked famished mariners, resorting to desperate
expedients. And that time, I doubt not, will be,




96        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
when the universal and everlasting Fatherhood of
God shall be the greater light of all religion, and
the practical Brotherhood of man, its lesser light,
illumined by it and revolving round it.
And, now brother, if these letters shall find you
in any plerplexity with your creed, you will not
regard it as at all remarkable; but, I hope, think
your way out of it, better than have some of your
illustrious predecessors.
Yours truly.




LETTER XI.
SAFETY.
"' I am safe any way "-Havoc of Creed-A Monster-Motive and
Heaven-Heaven Lost — WThat? danger-The  Old ProphetsWhere Judgment-Lord's Prayer-Jehovah to be studied, not
in vain-Universalism has Antagonisms-God loved for his lovableness-Religion, how valued-Worshipper like the Worshipped,
illustrations-No rest from studying Jehovah-Must not be deceived in his Character, and why-Glory of" following. the Lamb"
-Sermon on the Mount-Earnest Question-Triumph of Universalism.
DEAR BROTHER, —
WE have seen how  the doctrine of endless misery distresses and confounds men of the first mental
qualities, and finest Christian mould. Perhaps, after
all, you are not quite satisfied with it; so that, while I
present you with what I deem a better faith, you
may be saying, "I have no need to examine its
claims, seeing that, if it is true, I am safe any way."
So, in substance, is it often said, though  I think
rarely by persons as intelligent as yourself. For
the demoralizing influence of creed has, indeed, made
sad havoc, when a man's notion of his religious obligations, has sunk down to the low level of mere
9




98        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
personal safety; that very degraded level, trodden
by "four-footed beasts, and creeping things."
True, safety is an element of human weal, which
it were unnatural entirely to overlook. But, that a
man should make safety his "' being's end and aim,"
so that, being consciously safe, he should make that
fact an argument for seeking no higher truth or
nobler duty, were monstrous. It were as though
in him were strangely joined, the reason of a man,
with the instincts of the brute. In such a person,
appears not a lineament of the Son of God. And,
not until he comes to him, and learns from his lips
and life, the higher lesson of self-sacrificing love,
can he find the way to heaven, though he seek it
" carefully and with tears."  Heaven is, indeed, a
place of safety, glorious safety. But its holy gates
are forever barred against all who seek it as a place
of safety mzerely. By the standard of Heaven, motive determines character, while character is the
passport to it. Not to him, therefore, does its porter
open, who is moved to seek admission only by selfishness, or the blind impulse by which a man flees
from a mad tiger, or leaps from the jaws of an earthquake. The principle here involved is of vital importance,-the very pivot of eternal life. And yet,
how blinded are the many to its practical value!
How dim the light shed upon it by many a pulpit!
Still is there abundant need of the prayer which we




SAFETY.                  99
once heard from an excellent orthodox clergyman,
in a union prayer meeting,  "Lord, save sinners
from seeking thee selfishly!  "
Man is not to be indifferent to danger. But what
danger? Or is there no danger save of endless woe?
Not so thought the old prophets, whose earnest warnincs, evidently, have no reference to such a woe.
Even Jeremiah, whose "head was waters," in all
his descriptions of the sorrows, in view of which he
lamented, makes not the slightest allusion to such
woe; nor even to woe beyond the grave. And yet,
how many talk as though there is no noticeable danger of any other. How many pulpits are impressing upon their young auditors, that there is no other
from which it is very important that they should
escape; just as though God is limited, either to
punishing none at all, or forever!-as though man
must be whipped forever, or not whipped at all i!and as though all this whipping must take place,
only when the school is over, and it is too late for it
to do any good!!! NWhether this be so, or not, it
certainly looks like the unnatural product of hallucination! It were more natural to suppose man's
danger to be where his duty is, —his sorrow to be
where his transgression is,-that the two things
should dwell in mutual vicinity, and that God should'judgle in the earth," as he says he does,-and that
Christ should rather 6' come into  the world for




100        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
judgment," as he says he did, than that man should
be carried out of the world for judgment; and this,
especially, seeing that the whole matter, according
to the popular idea, is practically settled before he
is carried out!
Again, we say, man is not to be indifferent to danger.  But what danger?  Look  at the'" Lord's
Prayer," —that wonderful comnpend  of devotion,
adapted, like the'" Golden Rule," to all time, place,
and circumstance. That prayer contains no solitary
intimation of escape and safety, as popularly taught;
no deprecation of the danger which has been so popularly proclaimed,-no suggestion of the dreadful
theme which has been so foisted into the chief place
in pulpit discourse! Nothing of the kind whatever.
But, rather, in its sublime simplicity, the simplicity
of daily life, —it regards man as chiefly interested in
his present relations and duties,-his present sorrows
and joys. It contemplates a present sanctification
of the Lord God in the heart, a present resisting of
temptation, a present deliverance from evil, as wel
as a present "' daily bread." But not a word does it
say about endless misery, or safety from it. And,
right here, we submit the question whether, if Jesus
had come into this world to save men from such
misery, he must not have recognized deliverance from
it, in the deprecatory portion of this universal pray er!
Surely, if such had been his object, it must have so




SAFETY.                 101
swallowed up all others, that any and all merely
temporal evils, though such as had not been since
the world began, nor yet should be, could not have
commanded of him a moment's attention, a thought,
or a tear! The fact, however, is far otherwise.
Jesus regards temporal sorrows as of consequence,
and bestows his labors in their removal; while the
eternal sorrows of the creed, we think he does not
recognize at all. But whether he does or not, it is
equally true, that mere safety, as a motive to action,
common to man and beast, is without a moral quality, and, therefore, without a moral value.
But further, what is man's work, as an earthly
dweller beneath the star-sown azure, but'"by
searching to find out God." And though, with all
the helps at hand, he cannot " find out the Almighty
to perfection," yet, in the exploration of the fields of
Deity, will daily search ever be rewarded with daily
discovery. Jehovah has not said,' Seek ye my
face in vain;" but, rather, 6" he that seeketh findeth; " " yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest
her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasure; then shalt thou understand the fear of the
Lord, and find the knowledge of God."  Certainly,
too much of God cannot be known.  So we agree;
and, therefore, I ask, why you would limit your
search for him, by the goal of safety, or why make
9*




102        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
your conscious safety a reason for declining to investigate the subject with which I present you,-a
subject more deeply involving the character of God
than any other ever broached among men,-a subject, the discussion of which is the discussion of that
awful character.
So true is it, that Universalism, in contrast with
all the- opposing isms of the day, has something
vastly important, for which to contend; nor can
they fail the better to enjoy the Father's smile in
the future world, who have faithfully defended his
character in this. 0, the moral grandeur of soaring benevolently and reverently to where the
highest sense of safety is compassed by completely
losing sight of it!
And, further still, "'Love is the fulfilling of the
law."  The law is perfectly fulfilled, not by outward
service, but by loving God " with all the heart."
But even God is not to be loved blindly. He must
be loved, if at all, for the lovableness of his character. There can be no other cause of true love.
Whatever springs from other cause is but base alloy.
If, then, our weal depends upon our love to God,
and our love to him  depends, as it certainly does,
upon our apprehension of the lovableness of his character, shall we not, as we would perfectly fulfil the
law, and be perfectly blessed by loving him perfectly, strive to find out his  "lovableness" to perfec



SAFETY.                 103
tion?  And yet, do you propose to give up the
search into it, merely because you feel safe against
endless woe! That, surely, were a fearful coming
down from the heights of Zion into the pagan plains
of Ono, —a most disgraceful relapse into the darkness of the middle ages. I credit your Christian
intelligence with no sentiment so gross and degrading.
And, yet further, is it not important what men
are? And is not any religion valuable, just accordingly as it makes men what they ought to be?
Nothing can be plainer. And is it not equally plain,
that men gradually become like the God, or gods,
they worship?  Of this, the heathen nations are
practical illustrations. In them, we clearly see the
working of that law of sympathy between the worshipper and the worshipped, by which the former
are gradually moulded into the character of the
latter. But this law is peculiar to no class of religionists. It operates equally upon pagans and Christians, in New  England and Hindostan; —equally
upon Stephen, praying for his murderers, and Calvkn,
burning Servetus. The dark inquisitor of old Spain,
coolly directing the tortures of his lamb-like victims, —was not he bolstered and nerved by his notion that Jesus Christ, the Son of the God whom he
served was, forever, to direct the tortures of hereties, damned to everlasting pain! Who doubts it, or




104       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
that the arm of the papal soldier was nerved by his
penal creed, when, finding Zwingle, wounded by the
wayside, he drove his bayonet to his heart, exclaiming, "' Die, heretic "  Certainly, on the other hand,
the better knowledge of God has ever brought the
world the further on towards perfection. And the
same must hold true, always. For the principle
here involved lies at the basis of all true progress.
It is the true stimulus to all true missionary religious operations. What are Christians sent to the
heathen for, if not chiefly to improve their knowledge of God?
And now, brother, in the light of the above remarks, where is the point in the knowledge of God,
which, being reached, I may say, "Now I need
seek no further? " There is no such point. But
do not a person's words imply that there is, and
even that he has reached it, when he declines
searching into a doctrine, so vital as that with which
we present him, merely because, if true, he is safe,
any wcay. Does he not, virtually, then say,'I
know enough of God already, because I am good
enough already? I do not wish to know any more
that I may be made any better! " But far different is it with the person of right understanding. Ile
says, "I would, by searching, find out more of God,
that I may love him, and serve him better, and more
cheerfully. I would not be deceived in his character,




SAFETY.                105
because I would not spoil mny own. What though
I, as an experimental Christian, am safe. Still, do
I not earnestly desire to know whether there is any
thing in the divine character, upon which I may
repose hope for my fellow beings,-fellow beings,bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh,-beings to
whom I am bound by a thousand tender ties of fellowship and love, and to whom my whole Christian
soul clings, in life and death! Surely, I must be
very unlike any good divinity, so long as I can rejoice over my own security, in the presence of their
endless ruin. So far from having the law of God
in my heart, I am then rather acting upon the
maxim, ":Te devil take the hindermost!"  Such
is the language of the man of true Christian understanding. To him, the discussion of the Father's
lovableness is never like " spending money for that
which is not bread."  He talks, not of safety, but
of duty. His concern is with his to-days, rather
than his yesterdays and to-morrows. And lost, indeed, to him, is that day, which witnesses, for him,
no deeper baptism into the knowledge and love of
God. So is he fed with the abundance of God's
goodness, and, exalted high above the miserable
desert of religious selfishness, in which browse the
lean and sickly ones, who only sadly and doubtfully
hope that they shall "one day see the inside of
heaven." But he is in a heaven already, and ever
progressing into a richer one.




106       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
Safety from Jehovah's everlasting wrath, an excuse for not searching into his character / Let those
who make it, go to the Sermon on the Mount, and
learn what are the first "' principles of the doctrine
of Christ."  For, surely, however skilled they may
be in scholastic theology, they are ignorant of the
Christian alphabet; and, however hopeful of heaven,
they lack the primary element of its character and
enjoyments.
And now, brother, though I am far from setting
you down with the pitiful class just mentioned, yet
it is possible that you, sometimes, incidentally think
thoughts, and hastily drop words, which suggest
some affinity with it. And I may again ask, in
concluding this letter, whether, however safe you
feel, and however well satisfied you may be, there
are not times when you greatly need rest from the
endless tossings of dreary, theological uncertainties!
-rest from the "" irrepressible conflict," ever going
on between the heart God gave you, and the faith
you have received! Be assured, Universalism is
not always to be judged by the rags which orthodoxy is pleased to throw about it, in the presence of
hoodwinked congregations. Its light is not always
to be hidden by clouds of prejudice. - Like the sun
of the morning, it is destined to burn them all away,
as it travels up the heavens. Man's whole nature,
as well as God's holy word, is the sure guaranty of




SAFETY.                 107
its ultimate triumph. This may seem strong language to you. But who knows but even you shall
yet endorse it, as, viewing the divine character from
some stand-point outside your creed, a new world
shall open before you, bright with the effulgence of
heaven? So we pray; and this the more hopefully,
seeing that great changes are taking place in the
theological world, and, unless all signs fail, are to
continue to take place upon a broadening scale.
Yours truly.




LETTER XII.
UNIVERSALISM  PRACTICALLY  DEFINED.
Reader, not addressed as careless, utilitarian, or conservative-Skeleton creed-Nazareths and Jerusalems-Tradition questioned-Prejudice-Universalism practically defined at length-Involves difficulties-Harmonious with the heart-Sweet influence of.
DEAR BROTHER,Permit me again to remind you that I do not address you as a person careless of his theology, nor
do I address you as a theological utilitarian, who
thinks of his creed merely in view of a present seeming availability; forgetting that the rod of terror,
which forces the sinner down into the position of
penitence, may, also, prevent his ever rising up into
true  Christian  manhood; -filling  his soul with
crouching fear, to the exclusion of intelligent love.
Nor, yet further, do I address you as a blind conservative, who, deeming that the dominant creed can
have no errors to abandon, and no truths to adopt,
is ready to stand over an antiquated sectarian altar,
blowing among its dead, cold ashes, long after its
fires have gone out; or, beside the old battery, long




UNIVERSALISM PRACTICALLY DEFINED. 109
after its electric power has departed. You, I trust,
have seen too much of theological change, to deem
that no further change is needful. You perceive
that the theological wheel of revolution is, even now,
steadily revolving, and that, if its movement for the
last half century shall be prolonged through the
next half, the doctrine of endless punishment will
have become but a fossil of the creed. Already
more than ossified, it is often used as a fleshless skeleton, shaken in the face of that timidity which is
more afraid of a dead human bone than of a living
human arm, by persons who, judged by their appearance, care no more about it themselves, than the
practical anatomist cares for the eyeless, grinning
skulls of his dissecting-room, which frightens timid
ones from its door! No, not as one, not as all of
these, do I address you; but, as a person who
thinks that, for all purposes, truth is better than error, and that the church may have many errors to
abandon, and truths to adopt, before her light shall
become 1" as the light of seven days," and her God
her glory!
The orthodoxy of to-day was the heresy of yesterday. Why may not the heresy of to-day become
the orthodoxy of to-morrow?  The Jew, in his prejudice, scorned Nazareth, and yet that despised village was honored with the training of the son of
Mary!  Jerusalem  could only crucify him! To10




110       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
day, too, may have its Nazareths, in which are being
trained, men of God, destined, wonderfully to bless
mankind. And to-day, too, may have its Jerusalems, in which these men shall be crucified. Free
inquiry is going abroad, and old traditionary foundations crumbling before it. Every doctrine is being more and more thrown upon the necessity of
standing upon real merit, or not at all. Even the
traditions of the papal church, are beginning to be
called in question by its worshippers. Evidently
the day comes hastening on, when, of all present religious Christian systems, that only, will remain,
which, like God's word, cannot "-pass away." The
church may, indeed, be given into the hands of
error, and lie in its thrall, " Yet for a time, times,
and dividing of time;" but the hour advances when
her eyes shall be lifted up to see "Jesus and him
only!"  Then will her deliverance have come!
1" There is nothing of which a man may be so long
ignorant, as of the extent and strength of his prejudices." I think I have seen this quotation credited
to Bishop Butler. But no matter where it came
from, il is profoundly true, and under the safeguard
of a vivid apprehension of it, I wish you to read
carefully the exposition of Universalism which I am
about to write. You will thereby learn what it is,
and whether your idea of it had, previously, been
correct. I have put some of the leading proposi



UNIVERSALISM PRACTICALLY DEFINED. 111
tions in negative form, that they may more directly
meet certain mistaken views and assertions, which
have been widely spread abroad.  Throwing off
technicalities, paying no regard to scholasticism and
metaphysical subleties, I have endeavored that the
exposition should meet the conditions and wants of
the ordinary enquirer, in the plain, simple language
of every day life.
What, then, is Universalis m?
First, Universalism is not a Godless system. It
is founded on the truth that " there is one God and
only one;" and He, infinitely powerful, wise, good,
just and holy. Its credal statement of the doctrine
of God does not differ front that of other Christian
denominations; though it may, indeed, lay more
stress upon it, as setting forth the principle of universal government, and as providing the key for
opening what would otherwise be the dead locks of
Scripture difficulty. In other respects, for aught
we see, it stands precisely with them, on the fundamental doctrine of all Christian religion - the doctrine of God.
Second, Universalism is not a Christless system.
The God whom it glorifies is " the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ," which Christ, it cheerfully accepts, as " the only name given under heaven among
men, whereby we must be saved." It believes that,
"When we were yet without strength, in due time,




112        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
Christ died for the ungodly;"-that he became " a
propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but
for the sins of the whole world; " -that he is the
way, the truth, and the life; "-that he is "the light
of the world;"-that he lived " our example," died
"our justification," and that, in "his resurrection,"
he becomes "6 the first fruits of them that slept." It
knows nothing of particular atonement, while in other respects, it agrees with other popular theological
systems, in regarding Christ as a practical and allsufficient Saviour, "' able to save to the uttermost all
who come unto God by him."
As to the metaphysics of the Trinity, whose nice
and blind questions, have convulsed cecumenical
councils, shaken thrones, and laid the dust of empires with fratricidal blood, Universalism, as such,
prudently lets them alone, satisfied to confide all to
Christ, and to teach his all-sufficiency. Thus do
Universalists exalt Him "C above all principality and
power," as the hope of the sinner, ",the Saviour of
the world."   None, more than they, have occasion to sing"In the cross of Christ I glory,
Towering o'er the wrecks of time!
All the wealth of ancient story,
Gathers round its head sublime!"
or, to sing, with apocalyptic ecstasy, " Worthy is
the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, and rich



UNIVERSALISM PRACTICALLY DEFINED. 113
es, and wisdom, and strength, and glory, and honor,
and blessing." And none, more than they do hear,
with the exile of Patmos, " Every creature which is
in heaven and in the earth, and such as are in the
sea, and all that are in them, saying, blessing, and
honor, and glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb forever and
ever! "  Thus is their faith not Christless, but full
of Christ. Therein it is
" Him first, him last, him midst, and without end."
Thirdly, Universalism is not an unspiritcual system. It worships God "as a Spirit," and believes
that, " as a Spirit," he is everywhere abroad; and
that man can do nothing without his aid, as a Spirit.
As to what are, and are not, special influences of
the Divine Spirit, Universalists, like Limitarians,
may differ in opinion among themselves. They
generally think that much is credited to its special
influence, which does not belong to it. For instance, here is a man of strong mind and will, full of
nervous energy, versed in human nature, eloquent,
and capable, therefore, of long sustaining the most
pathetic pulpit appeal-capable of painting the most
stirring pictures of endless woe, and eloquently and
tearfully holding it up full before the imagination of
his hearers. Now, when such a person preaches,
we expect the people who attend, confidingly, upon
10*




114        FOOTPRINTS HEAVEN~WARD.
his ministry, to be moved-moved to fly for refuge
from the fears he excites, just as naturally, as a man
is moved to escape from a house which he believes
to be on fire. And, when we see this, we are not
to regard it as the special result of divine influence,
but simply, as the result of mind acting on mind,alarm cries, acting on fears.
But, in all this, Universalism does not differ from
intelligent Limitarians, while it agrees with them,
that God's spirit is everywhere abroad, influencing
the hearts of the children of men, " both to will and
to do," of his good pleasure. If, in any thing, they
differ from other Christian denominations, it is in
giving to this Divine Spirit, a higher purpose and a
wider field. For they suppose its motions by no
means confined to temples made with hands, but
that it is with all men, everywhere, —in shop, street,
and counting-room, on mountain-top, ship-deck, and
desert sands, — and everywhere whispering, in a
still, small voice, "This is the way; walk ye in
it."
Fourthly, fUniversalism is not an unholy system.
No class of Christians are more tenacious than Universalists of the vital truth, that, without " holiness,
no man shall see the Lord." They believe that
nowhere in the realm of Deity, can a sinner be truly
happy —that nowhere can mere ritual service, cate?
chetical knowledge of God, or intellectual culture,




UNIVERSALISM PRACTICALLY DEFINED.  115
introduce an unholy person into the enjoyments of
heaven. This, they teach and exhort; and not, as
they " be slanderously reported," that men are to be
indiscriminately  swept into  heaven in their sins.
Universalists believe that sin is misery; and this,
not the less, though committed on the golden pavements of the New Jerusalem, and  under the very
shadows of the throne of Love. So says Universalism, and so it wills that all Christian teachers
affirm constantly.*
No, not  Universalism, but  Limitarianism,  is
more open to the charge of believing in an unholy
heaven.  For the latter generally teaches, —what all
observation confirms,-that Christians are sinful till
they  die.  It also  teaches that death  works no
change from sin to holiness, and that there can be
no such change after death. And, if all this be so,
then either heaven must be an unholy place, or no
pilgrim  from  earth can ever enter it.   For souls
unholy when they leave this world, and unchanged
* And yet how often have you heard ignorant or dishonest men
attempt to get the laugh of their hoodwinked congregation upon us,
by turning the heaven of Universalism to ridicule;-as, for instance,,
by telling how some little child said, of his nervous old grandpa,
"If he goes to heaven, I don't want to;" or how some one asked,
whether the murderer of " the babes in the wood," if he goes to
heaven, won't kill them over again. The misrepresentations involved in this whole class of anecdotes are the result of either ignorance or villainy. But against him who makes them, we bring no
railing accusation, but only say to him, as Michael to the devil,
"when disputing about the body of Moses," 1"The Lord rebuke
thee! "




116        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
on their way to the,next, must be unholy on their
arrival at heaven's gate; and, not sanctified after
their arrival, must ever be'" without," with " dogs
and sorcerers." Or, if they go in, as our opponents
affirm, then is heaven an unholy place.
But all this is foreign to the faith of Universalists. They believe, most sanguinely, that without
holiness no man shall see the Lord-that only in
degree as men are holy can they enjoy him. And,
hence, Universalism yields to no other doctrine or
system of doctrine, in its abhorrence of sin. It holds
sin to be, in itself, sinful,-the foul and monstrous
" mother of woe " and 4" death; "-that it touches
but to blight and curse, that it opens a burning
hell in man's bosom, and would in the bosom of
Gabriel, could it gain admission there,-that, could
it enter the perfect paradise, it would be a frightful
meteor, which must make holy ones pause upon
their harp-strings, and flee, with terror and dismay,
across the plains of light, to hide themselves in the
throne of God. Universalists hold that sin is so
dreadful, not because the Father is vindictive,
but because of its own dreadful nature. It hath
torment, and men must, in this or any  other
world, feel its tormenting sting, so long as they indulge in it. So they believe as a denomination.
And, so believing, repentance is the burden of their
ministry.




UNIVERSALISM PRACTICALLY DEFINED. 117
FifthIy, as is implied in the preceding remarks,
Universalists believe that, for all the wicked, a
change of heart is necessary. What they understand this change to be, is also therein implied. It
is simply a change from sinfulness to holiness, —from
sinfulness of heart to " holiness of heart." As to the
means of this change, I know not that they differ
from so-called evangelical denominations. As to the
manner of it, perhaps they differ from  some. Solomon says: c" Train up a child in the way he should
go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
Now if a person is already'6 in the way he should
go," he only needs be cheered on. But if in the
way he should not go, he needs be exhorted, persuaded, alarmed; for his sorrows will increase, as
he farther pursues it. And when, aroused by the
gospel, and brought to a stand, he " thinks on his
way," turns round, and resolves on a holy life, then
is he happy. And, in executing this resolve, is he
regenerated, "' conformed to the likeness of Christ; "
and this, not by his own might or power, "but
through the Eternal Spirit."  Then has he peace
with God, and his' fellowship is with the Father,
and with his Son Jesus Christ; " then, like the
eunuch, he goes i; on his way rejoicing."
Thus we think Universalists practically differ less
from the dominant sects in their views of a change
of heart, than they do in their mode of expressing




118       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
it. Throwing off theological technicalities, they use
terms which the people can understand; as some
physicians rule out the Latin upon their bottles, and
let them speak English to Englishmen. Many a
simple, in medicine, is often clothed with magical
properties, in the eye of the patient, by being shaken
from a phial, mysteriously labelled! To this, however, we have no disposition to file in any objection.
But we do file in an objection to mystifying discipleship to Christ, by covering it up with unmeaning
technicalities.  These technicalities, Universalism
aims to throw off, and to talk of discipleship in the
language of practical life. As Jesus addressed Jews
in language plain to Jews, so would Universalists
address men of this nineteenth century, in language
familiar to this century. And it is in doing this,
that the latter sometimes seem to differ from their
contemporary Christians, and where, really, they do
not.
Here is a noble tree, sweeping the clouds with its
majestic top. Two men stand looking at it. One
of them says, G" That is a "noble white oak.'  0,
no, says the other, that is not a white oak; that is
a macro carpa. Both are right, for macro carpa is
but the technical name for white oak. Two girls
run for a flower. One says, 0, is it not a pretty
buttercu2p?" l" Why, how you talk," says the other; "that is not a buttercup; that is a ranunculus.




UNIVERSALISM PRACTICALLY DEFINED. 119
But both are right, ranunculus being but the technical name for buttercup. So the Universalist says,
"the Christian is one that loves and serves God."
"0 no," says his evangelical neighbor, "' the Christian is one who has been born again."  And here,
also, both are right; for to be brought to love and
serve God, is to "6 be born again," as that phrase is
now understood by the church generally. And thus
we find a practical harmony where many look for
discord. And further, this being so, let no man
hereafter say that Universalism does not hold to a
change of heart.
Sixthly. Universalism believes the means of grace
which God has ordained, to be of infinite importance.
Among these, it reckons the creation, the Scriptures,
Jesus, the Spirit, preaching, parental counsel,
prayer, and every possible good influence "given
under heaven among men." And of these means of
grace, it believes that men must avail themselves.
But, do you say, men will be saved whether they
use the means of grace or not? Then we reply,
Never! Neither in this world, nor in any other can
men be saved without the use of such means of
grace as God affords them. Universalists only hold,
in reference to all, what you do in reference to a
part —that they will sooner or later, be led to the
use of the means. If you are a Calvinist, then they
only hold that God has ordained for all, what you




120       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWVARD.
say he has ordained for only a part of the human
family. If you are an Arminian, then they hold that
heforeknew for all, what you say he forelenew for
only a part. And so they are, at least, as consistent
as you are. Now, surely, you cannot suppose that
Universalists should think less of the means of grace
because they are to meet with a higher and fuller
success. Here is a ship, off shore, stranded and going to pieces upon the rocks. The shrieks of the
crew are in our ears. Here, too, is a boatman with
two skiffs moored upon the strand.  With the one,
he can bring off only a part of the crew.  ~With the
other he can bring off the whole. Now, s" which of
the twain," do you think the most highly of, as a
means of grace, to that sinking crew?  "Why,"
you answer, " of the one that can bring them all off,
of course! "  Then, for heaven's sake, don't think it
strange that Universalists esteem the means of grace
which can save the entire human race, more highly
than a means which can save only a part, leaving
the multitude to perish miserably, from the stranded
ship of humanity,-forever to blend their wail with
the roar of wrathful billows, as they dash them
about, and throw their fiery spray, high o'er the
rocks of everlasting death!
Seventhly. Universalism believes that "though
hand join in hand the wicked shall not go unpunished." This punishment, however long and severe, it




UNIVERSALISM PRACTICALLY DEFINED. 121
believes to be, not vindictive, but paternal; and that,
as such, it is designed to influence men towards ultimate repentance and good. It does not hold that
punishment purifies, or pays any debt, or is, in itself,
in any way a ground of pardon; but that its office
is to awaken reflection, and thus to assist the sufferer into the way to heaven. As to the duration of
punishment, Universalism only affirms that, as its
object is repentance, it must continue till repentance
is reached, whether in this or the future world. In
a word, it believes that God punishes men, not as a
being who delights in the endless pain of the souls
he made, but as a good and benevolent Being, whom
all creatures can love.
Eighthly. Un5iversalism holds that the will of
God is that all men shall be saved, and that he will
ultimately save all.  Save all from what?  From
hell? Yes; if by that you mean the hell which sin
opens in every sinner's bosom. But the Bible says
nothing about Jesus' coming into this world to save
men from hell! It does say that he came to save
men from their sins. Over the very gateway of his
advent to earth, as on the very bright cloud that
bore him down, was it written, "' His name shall be
called Immanuel, for he shall save his people from
their sins." And the beloved disciple says, "Ye
know that he was manifested to take away our
sins."  This was his mission to earth, - to "make
11




122       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
an end of iniquity, transgression and sin."  Will he
succeed?  Universalism  believes that he will. It
sees complete success guaranteed directly, by the
Divine promises, and indirectly, by the Divine character. It believes that complete success was involved in God's plan in the beginning, and that all the
means of grace which he employs have reference to
its full accomplishment; that, as mercy is a divine
attribute, the door of mercy is forever open, and that
the Father will never be satisfied till the children by
him created, and by him thrust under temptation,
shall have all returned to holiness and heaven. So
believe Universalists, and how reasonable and harmonious does their faith appear. And this, especially, when compared with the faith which makes the
Father create myriads of immortal beings, and put
them through the wilds of his providence, either
foreknowing or foreordaining their endless damnation. Surely, in the light of this latter faith, we
may well say, without irreverence, God is darkness,
and in him is no light at all; whereas, in the faith of
Universalism, we may exultingly exclaim, "6 God is
light, and in him is no darkness at all."
Such, brother, is Universalism. I hope you will
ponder it well.  Doubtless you will say it involves
difficulties. And doubtless it does. To man's feeble
mind, what does not? And especially, what system
of theology does not? But, compared with its an



UJNIVERSALISM PRACTICALLY DEFINED. 123
tagonistic systems, I am persuaded you will, on careful examination, find its difficulties few and small.
It neither sports with human affection, nor assaults
the citadel of man's consciousnes. It neither drives
Barnes into darkness, Beecher into cloud-land, nor
Hudson into annihilation.  But, joining all men in
one brotherhood, and presenting them  with the
Fatherhood, it seems the natural way of Love and
Rest.  Softening, with its mellow light, the otherwise mysterious gloom of earth, it fills the human
soul with a mild and blissful radiance, and lends a
silver lining to all the dark clouds of Providence,
with which man's mental day is overcast.
Yours truly.




LETTER XIII.
DESTINY — WHEN ABSURDITIES ALARMING.
Human destiny interests God, man, the glorified; and must forever,
though human origin be forgotten-Author's interest-Last letter
-Why absurdities will be noticed-Truth cannot fail.
DEAR B]ROTHER,The theme of these letters, - human destiny, -
must, for depth of interest to human beings, be forever without a parallel. It chiefly interested Jehovah when he planned human creation. And that he
is still interested in it, appears, as a golden thread,
running through the entire fabric of revelation.
Scarcely a page of the New Testament but discloses
some vista to higher skies, through which angel fingers beckon us upward.  And if it is a necessary
truth, that the end of human existence should chiefly
interest the author of that existence, it seems only a
natural truth, that, in that Divine interest, man
should sympathise.  The question,  "I came, but
whence?' is important, very!  The question, "I
go, but where? " is important infinitely!!  And,
though we might imagine the former question to be




DESTINY-WHEN ABSURDITIES ALARMING. 125
forgotten, in the lapse of unnumbered ages, the latter
can never lose its interest. For, though immortal
beings may lose sight of their origin, never of their
destiny! Origin is lived away from, - destiny is
lived into. The latter must fill the contemplations
of Eternity, and ever swell out in the song that wakes
its echoes.
The announcement of the old patriarch is solemn,
when he says, " ian dieth and wasteth away; yea,
man giveth up the ghost."  But infinitely more solemn is his startling question, when he adds, " and
where is he?"  This is the question of questions, to
every man who, filled with the light of Christianity,
recognizes in every handful of human dust with
which earth is bestrown, every human bone which
the furrow reveals, the relict of a real brother. Infinitely more startling to him is this question than
that with which Byron skeptically closes his apostrophe to a human skull:
" Can all saint, sage, or sophist ever writ,
People this lonely tower, this tenement refit?"
So grand is the theme of these letters. God forbid that you should turn away from them, because
of its improper treatment. Bungling speech is often
accepted by auditors, because of the evident pathos
of the speaker's heart. And could I, my heart
should so seal and spiritualize these words now drop11'




126       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
ping from my pen, that they should be read, if not
for their literal import, for the spirit they breathe.
Be assured, brother, they are the well-meant endeavor of a soul awed into humility, in the presence of
his subject, and sighing along every line, because it
is not receiving ampler treatment. But, brother, if
I can but arouse candid investigation of the subject
in hand, I shall be content. For sure I am, that
candor and impartiality can hardly fail to conduct a
waking soul, of your intelligence, quite away from
the doctrine of endless misery, for the many, to the
doctrine of endless life for all!
The doctrine of endless life, as holden by Universalists, I set forth in my last letter, and whatever
else you may think of that doctrine, I presume you
will admit, as I have before intimated, that it is harmonious with the generous and noble impulses of
the human heart, that it has an air of naturalness, if
I may so say, which commends it at once, as most
believable to the unprejudiced mind, and that, whatever absurdities it seem to you involve, it involves
none of the ugly ones, which so heavily burden the
popular faith, sowing deep suspicion in the very
hearts of its confessors. And now, with some of
these letters, I propose to present you; less, however, by way of disproof of the doctrine which involves
them, but as a means of stimulating further inquiry,
in view of allaying the suspicions they excite. And




DESTINY-WHEN ABSURDITIES ALARMING. 127
yet, I must say that, though I do not put them on
direct evidence here, they do seem to me, much of
the nature of that circumstantial evidence, which, in
civil courts, is often regarded as no less weighty
than positive testimony, and sometimes more so.
To man, with his limited knowledge, the truest
religious doctrines necessarily involves mysteries,
and may, for the time being, involve absurdities. I
say, for the time being; because, if the doctrines be
true, the absurdities it involves, exist only in man's
ignorance, and must therefore, fade away, as the
light of knowledge increases. But when a religious
doctrine involves many and obvious and radical absurdities, and when its absurdities increase, both in
number and ugliness, with the increase of light, I
think it may well be held under doubt. If the Bible is understood to teach such a doctrine, it is not
skepticism, but zeal for the Scriptures, to ask,
whether the teachings of that holy book have not
been misunderstood.
We will now proceed to the inquiry, whether
such, or such-like absurdities, are involved in the
popular doctrine of endless punishment. In prosecution of this inquiry, I may have occasion to express myself strongly. But unless I am led widely
astray, you shall have no occasion to suspect me of
unfairness, as I trust I shall have none to suspect
you of a want of Christian candor. With this in



128       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
quiry, I may be a little lengthy, for it has deeply
impressed my own mind, and is of sweeping importance. However, I hope not to be tedious. What
I have to say, I shall merely throw upon the current
of your thoughts, and leave it to work its passage to
your convictions or otherwise. If aught I say, when
well pondered, cannot bear its weight, let it fall.  I
shall be the last to prop it. It is then not of truth;
for truth, having no earthly centre toward which it
gravitates, can never fall, though it may be misunderstood. But I think I will defer entering upon
the inquiry indicated, until the opening of my next
letter.
Yours truly,




LETTER XIV.
FIRST  ABSURDITY —MAN CREATED  FOR ENDLESS
MISERY.
Central Truth of Universalism-Absurdities of the Doctrine of Endless Misery —First, Thalt God should create in view of it —Creator Independent, and " Love "-Probation short or long-G-od
not obliged to create, or keep alive —God and Satan, how alikeAdam Clarke, Confession of-No Afterwards-Absurdity inseparable from the Creed-Suppose the old Doctrine involved such,
what then?
DEAR BRO TIHER,Among Universalists, as among all other denominations of any intelligence, you will find  persons
holding more or less than is laid down in the authorized creed.  (The Procrustean bedstead has never
been made to work completely, even in the hands of
the papacy itself; and we trust it is going out of use
altogether.) But,' as we saw in our ninth letter,
Universalism proper contemplates one single truth,
well worthy to swallow up all others, viz., the Bible
doctrine of the final salvation of all men from sin;
and this in opposition to their being forever annihilated, or forever damned.  It regards- other truths,




130        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
compared with this, only as moments compared with
eternity, or only as stars which meekly veil themselves, and retire when the resplendant sun appears.
And now, rational and scriptural as all this seems to
me, to you it may involve more or less of absurdity.
Certainly, rational and scriptural as your penal doctrine seems to you, to me it involves the most alarming absurdities. Some of these latter I will now
consider; and
First. Your faith implies that " God, the Father,"
casts vast multitudes of intelligent, immortal beings,
in his own image, and places them in this world of
trial, either foreordaining that he" will, or foreknowing that he shall, damn them  forever.  And this
seems to me an absurdity.
The Creator dwells in his own self-sufficiency.
Of course, he is independent of everything outside
of himself, and, therefore, can have no occasion, in
creating, or in dealing with his creatures, to seek
selfish ends;-a thing, which is alike forbidden, by
the revelation of his essential nature.  " For God is
Love."  Now that such a God should interest himself in begetting immortal beings, "of his own will,
and in his own image, to feel his wrath forever-to
be forever dying, but never dead,-to have their
capacity for suffering forever filling up, but never
full, does seem to me absurd in the extreme.
For, mark, no matter how long the creature's pro



FIRST ABSURDITY.             131
bation may be,-ten minutes, or ten years, or ten
thousand years, or all the years of Beecher's imaginary pre-existence,-eternity equally follows; and
the eternity of the creature's anguish was equally present to the Creator, when he set him up in
being. You may say, as an Arminian, —not as a
Calvinist,-that God did notforeordain the creature's ruin; but you will not deny that he endowed
the creature with a susceptible nature, which, coming in contact with the world, into which he thrust
him, he foresaw would work his certain ruin. And
what you will not deny is, in the premises, all I ask
you to admit. For, either way, the creature's endless misery was present to the divine mind, at the
moment of his creation.
I do not intend dwelling long on this point, as it
has been indirectly intimated in preceding letters,
and must necessarily have an implication with the
entire discussion. But permit me to ask if the doctrine in review, considered in its relation to the creating hand of God, does not appear to you absurd?so absurd, that, as you steadily contemplate it, your
whole soul does not reel and stagger as with the
very giddiness of skepticism itself?
And here let it be borne in mind:
First. That it was optional with God whether to
create the subject of foreknown, everlasting misery,
or not.




132       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
Second. That, having created such a being, it is
optional with him whether to sustain him in his anguish forever, or to permit him to sink out of it into
nought.
And so much being borne in mind, how can we
but stand appalled at the dreadful inconsistency between our ideas of the divine character, and our ideas
of the divine action? For, allowing Satan a personal
existence, and all the malice and cruelty ascribed to
him, and to all this superadding infinite creative energy, what could he do worse than to create millions of intelligent, immortal beings, with such powers and circumstances that their existence should
culminate in ceaseless misery? And if God do this,
how is he better than Satan? How better?  Seeing that his creating hand so abundantly supplies
Satan with subjects for his torments.  And then
how are the words godly and satanic become synonymous!
Now to say that a God of infinite Love and Justice
should sink under his endless curse, the beings whom
he has thus created, endowed, and circumstanced!well, brother, I do not ask that it shall appear to
you as cruelly absurd as it does to me; but I do ask
that you think of it well, and ponder still more carefully the paths of your feet along the wilds of speculative theology.
Dr. Adam Clarke, speaking of God, in his com



FIRST ABSURDITY.             133
ment on 1 Peter iii. 15, says, "IDo not suppose
that he can do evil, or that he can destroy, when he
might save."  The doctor here assumes the inability
of God to save,-an inability which Barnes repudiates.* But the Being who is too good to destroy
(in the doctor's sense) one of his creatures, only
when he cannot save him, is certainly too good to
create a being, foreknowing that he must forever
damn him.
But the doctor further says, speaking still of God,
"Ever remember...   that he can neither be,
say, purpose, or do, any thing that is not infinitely
just, holy, wise, true, and gracious." But wherein
it is either infinitely just, or holy, or wise, or true,
or gracious, in Jehovah to create multitudes of bLeings, with the seal of their everlasting misery distinctly visible upon their brows, has never yet appeared; but only the contrary. So that even Dr.
Clarke himself, after having given the graphic and
truthful description of God, from which we have
quoted, immediately added, "What I have written
above is not against any particular creed of religious
people; it is against any or all to which it may
apply; it may even be against some portions of my
own," &c.  Did not the great commentator here
feel some of the "difficulties " which, Barnes says,
"meet the mind when we think on this great sub* See Letter.
12




134         FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
ject; and meet us when we endeavor to urge our
fellow sinners to be reconciled to God, and to put
confidence in him,.. real, not imaginary difficulties?
"Did he not feel, that the character with which he
had invested his God, most truly did "' lie against "
his creed, or, as he says,'" against some portions " of
it?  And did he not feel, in his heart of hearts, that
it lay equally against all creeds, which make the
Creator punish forever the creatures of his own will
and power?
Indeed, as a man of sense, feeling, and reflection,
how could he have felt otherwise?
We have already spoken of temporal evils, permitted to immortal beings, commencing upon a low
plane of existence, and destined to endless progress,
as admitting of explanation.  They have a use, and
an afterwards. But this absurdity of immortal evil,
I[ think, can have none, save a terribly Hopkinsian
or vindictive one.* Yet it is so involved in your
creed, that its separation from it were as impossible
as the amputation of the cloven foot of the devil.
To shrink from it, therefore, is to shrink from your
creed. To deny it is to deny your creed. To abandon it is to abandon your creed. If you have said
that Universalism involves absurdities, pray ask
* Dr. Hopkins supposed, as we elsewhere quote, that the presence of the lost before the eyes of the Sacred, would abundantly
augment the joy of the latter, raising it to "ineffable height."
Stuart, that it will aggravate the sorrows of the lost.




FIRST ABSURDITY.             135
yourself how it would show, if it involved such an
one as this; and whether it would not then be
thrown, by the dominant sects, into the waste-box of
self-evident error I
Yours truly.




LETTER XV.
SECOND ABSURDITY-THE  DEVIL.
Second Absurdity-the Popular Devil-God made him, foreknew
him, and can control or destroy him-He is one of the great Family brotherhood-works in God's Strength-His Works cannot
be overruled-" Friday's " Question,-why the Devil is not shut
up now, not to be again let loose-What he has done for our Ancestors-Quotation from Milton,-made Himself a Devil, no Relief-Out-generals Jesus-Must be taken with the Creed that involves him!
DEAR BROTHER,In my last letter, by way of illustrating the
character with which your creed invests the Father,
I referred to the being called  "6 Devil," "Satan,"
&c. And so I may as well here note
Secondly, That your creed implies that God, the
Father, sustains a mighty being called Devil, filled
with all malice against every thing good, in going
about to effect the endless misery of his human
creatures.  And this all seems to me an absurdity.
In discussing it, no question need be raised about
the personal existence, origin or character of this
evil being, further than to say:
1. That, whatever Devil there is, God the Father
made.




SECOND ABSURDITY.             137
2. That, however he may have been originally created, and whatever evil character he may have since
taken on, the Creator has not been disappointed in
him.
3. That, whatever strength he now has to do mischief, the Creator gives him.
4. That the Creator can control him, or destroy
him, at pleasure; —which is, indeed, implied in the
third of these propositions.
The Devil, then, is the offspring of God, no less
than we. And it is in God that he, no less than you
and I, "lives, and moves, and has his being."  He,
too, is one of the Father's great family of intelligent
moral beings, and, as such, is bound to all the other
members, by the ties of a lofty relationship. But
you say, he has sinned, and fallen into absolute, hopeless ruin, and that now, filled with hatred to all, and
mightier than all, he goes about for the destruction
of all-destruction absolute, endless. But, in all
this, you are obliged to admit that he is fulfilling the
divine idea in his creation; for the Creator has not
been disappointed. And, too, the great Father is
every moment strengthening the Devil for his constant work of spiritual carnage; so that, even he,
lifting his hand, dripping with the blood of souls,
plunged from the ship of humanity into the ocean of
damnation, may truthfully exclaim, "'By the grace
of God I am what I am."  He made me, he pre12*




138       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
serves me, and I do this work in his strength. And
yet I defy him to bring any good out of this evil
that I do; for the evil itself is endless. My hour is
eternal! There is no afterwards in which He,
almighty though he is, can either overrule or undo
this fatal work of my hand."
Now that God should create such a being, foreseeing what he would be and do,-what havoc he
would make of his other children,-and that, having
created him, he should preserve and sustain him in
his work of inseparable devastation through his
realm, seems to us exceedingly absurd. And in
view of it, we think the simple question of Crusoe's
man Friday, "Why not God kill Debbil," was well
put. Nor can intelligent Christians ever see anything but the most cruel absurdityin the notion that
God the Father should create such a being, and give
him the freedom of the universe for the everlasting
destruction of his children. They, too, may well
wonder why God does not, at least, shut him up,
for the protection of the race on which he preys.
We can easily conceive that, *hen such a being as
this Devil enters Paradise, " damnation should follow."  But we cannot conceive how it can be possible that, when the infant human race is nestling
there in peace, a God of goodness should let him in!
We are indeed told, that the Devil shall yet be
bound " for a thousand years," after which he shall
be "6loosed" again'for a little season."  During




SECOND ABSURDITY.               139
that happy time, of course, his havoc of human souls
shall cease, and perdition's supply of anguish be cut
off. But the loving Christian heart, in view of the
souls constantly dragged down to the pit all around
him, earnestly asks, "6 Why delays that happy hour?
Why comes not the angel with the chain now?
Why is not Satan bound to-day,-this ~minute?
Nay, why was he ever let loose? And when he
shall, at least, be bound, why shall he ever be let
loose again?  And who can answer these questions,
save by putting on true Hopkinsian boldness, and
saying that God yet has made work for the Devil to
do!-that perdition is not yet so full as he desires to
have it! —that greater havoc of human souls is
necessary before God shall be fully pleased!
These remarks may seem to you severe; perhaps
satirical. But, be assured, they are made on the
most sober and thoughtful earnestness. Why should
they not be?  For the Devil and his works, as understood by your faith, are matters of the highest,
deepest, broadest, longest, most overwhelming interest.  I feel it so, as I consider what he has already done, according to your creed, for many of
my ancestors and yours, and what he is still doing.
When he, himself, first sunk into the pit, Milton
makes him exclaim:
"Farewell, happy fields,
Where joy forever dwells. Hail, horrors, hail!
Infernal world! And thou, profoundest hell,
Receive thy new possessor!'"




140       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
And when I consider what multitudes he has
dragged,-according to your faith,-dragged down
with him, my gushing heart can but sympathize
in the question of the simplest child of nature,
"Why not God kill Debbil? "
But still you will, perhaps, seek relief from the
terrible absurdity of your orthodox position, by reaffirming that God the Father did not create   that
evil one " a devil, but that he has made a devil of
himself. Be it so. And what relief is gained?
Evidently none at all; for, first, no Philistine chance
has happened to the Deity.* The devil is only the
being that God foreknew or foreordained in his creation. And, second, if the question why God created him were satisfactorily disposed of, the question
why he lets him run, have free course, and glorify
himself in hell, by dragging others down into it by
millions, still remains unanswered, or answered only
with a glaring absurdity.
But I must say only two or three things more
relative to this satanic matter. And
First, we know that God so loved all the individuals of the human race, that he gave his Son' a
ransom for all, to be testified in due time," according to the Scriptures. And,
Second, you, through your creed, virtually affirm
that God created the mighty being, called "'the
Devil," let him loose, and now sustains him in work*See Appendix.




SECOND ABSURDITY.             141
ing the endless ruin of the responsible masses whom
he gave his Son to save;-so out-generaling the Son
of God that, while the latter, by the mightiest exertions of his love, succeeds in winning only "shere
and there a traveller," into the "narrow way" to
everlasting life, the former succeeds in perpetually
thronging, with his captives, the broad way to the
black caverns of endless woe! And
Third, when asked how you will dispose of the
dreadful absurdity here involved, you will say-I
know not what. But for ourselves, we see no way
of disposing of it, and feel bound to look, with not a
little suspicion, upon whatever system of theology
involves it. Such system, however time-honored,
and however sanctioned by majorities, and by great
and worthy names, should, to say the least, be accepted only after the most thorough examination,
and under evidence the clearest and most direct from
God. But every absurdity must stand or fall, be
taken or left, with the creed that involves it. " For
they twain are one." What God has naturally joined
together, let no man attempt to put asunder. The
Devil must be taken for better or worse, with anything whatsoever in which he dwells, or the thing
itself be rejected.
Yours truly.




LETTER XVI.
THIRD  ABSURDITY,-INFANTS SAVED, ADULTS
LOST.
Bible, the standard, how read without profit. —Third  lbsurdity,
Infants saved, ddults lost-Infant Damnation passed by-Few
Adults regenerated-We mavy know who are lost, as well as who
are saved-Absurdity dreadfitl-The Slave Mother-InfanticideTruthful Illustration, but dreadful-The Infanticide and her
Pastor-Illustration Tame-Mother's Dilemma-Don't turnuway
Brother-Dreadful Prayer-Heathen Infanticide —Mother's Prayer
the Greatest Curse!!-Earnest Qulestion -Why not arranged to
save all in Infancy-To live, perils everything-Objection, an
Absurdity-Parents stronger than God-Parents responsible for
the Child'spresent Condition-No Apology for Strong Language.
DEAR BROTHER,While we agree that the Scriptures are the ultimate standard of theological appeal, I think we shall
also agree, that he  who  comes to them  under the
influence of strong prejudice stands but a poor
chance for the truth.  For the spirit with which he
enters them will pioneer for him a sectarian way,
dividing the texts before him, attracting  these and
repelling those, till what remains, to his mind, of the
sacred word is certain to confirm him in his peculiar
views,-till, covered all over with the texts which




THIRD ABSURDITY.             143
his idiosyncrasies have attracted, and forgetting all
the rest, he becomes doubly sure that his views are
right. I am, therefore, anxious that our discussion
should reach the Scriptures rightly rather than hastily; and, consequently, must delay you yet a while,
with the discussion of the absurdities involved in
the faith which your prejudices all favor. For it is
only when one's mind is in a condition to say, 6 I
may be wrong," that he can hope to profit from any
doctrinal discussion, however scriptural. But we
proceed to say
Thirdly, that the popular creed implies that it is
only at the most appalling hazard, that a human being survives its infancy on earth;-that, for it to die
in infancy is to make its eternal salvation sure;
whereas, for it to live to the age of accountability on
earth, is to be exposed to endless woe, and, probably, to make that woe sure. And this, also, seems
to me an absurdity.
We say, nothing, here, of the once prevalent
doctrine of infant damnation, a doctrine which, a
few years ago, it was heresy to disbelieve, and
which has yet been dead hardly long enough to
warrant safe burial!  That shall pass for the
present, with only the passing remark, that, we
think its death forestalls the death of the entire
class of dogma to which it belongs; and that, to us
the question of the prevalence of better doctrine, is




144        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
only one of time. It is enough for our purpose
here, to say that, whatever may be the logical limits
of any modern creeds, the salvation of infants is now
practically regarded as secure, - afflicted parents
are now everywhere taught to dry their tears on
the funeral of their infant offspring, under the comforting assurance, that the flower that bloomed so
sweetly upon their bosom for a day, withered, not
that it should die, but only in process of transplantation to more genial skies.
Infants then are saved - all saved. So says the
church with one common voice. To affirm the contrary, were to shock the ear of Christian civilization, - even as, not many years hence, we think it
will be shook by any affirmation that this life, so
passionate, ignorant, and short, is to prove the anteroom to endless death, to multitudes of children
larger grown.
Infants then  are saved. And if the half and
more, who breathe the vital air, die in infancy, then
so many are saved, - saved, certainly and necessarily; and that, too, without the least possible spiritual
peril or exposure. And thus, a great host is being
gathered from earth into heaven, without any earthly probation at all. Such is the faith of the church
to-day.
And now let us turn and look at the other half of
our race, — that portion of it, which by dint of




THIRD ABSURDITY.             145
better constitutions, more care, and many prayers,
survive their infancy - live on earth till they reach
the hour of responsibility, - till they know the difference between moral right and wrong, and begin
to act in reference to it.
Now, saying nothing about total depravity, or
original, sin, it is believed, and very justly, that all
these latter, become sinners. And becoming sinners,
it is believed they are under condemnation to endless woe. And, further, it is believed that from
this condemnation there is no escape save by a
radical change of heart. * And, finally, it is believed
that no such change can take place, beyond the
grave. Of course then, all sinners who do not experience that change on earth are lost forever. But,
obviously, that change is experienced by only a
very small part of adult persons who go from earth
to the tomb. And, therefore, only a very small part
of them are saved; while all the rest sink to perdition!   And thus, brother, according to your
creed, it comes to pass, that, while infants are all
saved, in Heaven, adults, - those who come to the
years of accountability on earth — are nearly all
lost.
Perhaps you may query, whether the fact that
relatively, so few experience radical regeneration, is
so obvious. But it seems to me your mind shall not
13          * See Appendix.




146       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
have gone over the present aspect of our race, and
run back through the ignorant, barbarous, pagan
past, before you will be satisfied, that, in the light
of history and observation, nothing can be more
obvious.   For, if we know  anything about the
human race, up to the present time, we know that
only an infinitesimal portion of them, have, in this
life, been, in the orthodox sense of the term, regenerated, while all the rest have died in sin. From
the orthodox stand point, we see just as clearly that
the masses of human beings are lost, who have
passed away, because of the character they bore on
earth, as that any are saved, because of the
character they bore on earth. From that point, the
only evidence for joy or sorrow in contemplation of
the dead, is character.  And that evidence is just
as valid for the one as the other. And in the actual
state of the case, it proves very many of earth's
past dwellers, to be now in hell, where it proves one
to be in heaven.  And, brother, so obvious is this
in the light of your penal theory, that I think you
will readily see and frankly admit it. However, the
point we seek here is equally gained, whether you
admit or deny, that by your theory, so many are
lost.
Now we submit, whether it does not seem very
absurd, that the Great Father should deal so differently with those who enter eternity very young,




THIRD ABSURDITY.              147
from what he does, with those who enter it only, not
quite so young! -that he should take the former
directly to himself in heaven, while he leaves the
latter, a little time longer on earth, so exposed to
the play of passions which he himself ordained,
amid circumstances of temptation, which he himself
provided, that, for the thousands of years of time
past, their absolute endless ruin should be the law,
and their final salvation only the exception;- so
that, while very little children all ascend to Heaven,
most of their parents sink to hell! The absurdity
involved here, seems to me no less than dreadful.
Yet is it part and parcel of the popular faith - inseparable from  it.  So that if that faith is true;
this absurdity is true; and if this absurdity is true
(I speak in a paradox) what an appalling truth for
a family circle, and (pardon me, but I mean it all,)
what a temptation to infanticide.  Take breath and
read on, but find no fault with our illustration
unless it is severer than truth.
A few years since, a fugitive slave mother, overtaken by pursuers, took the lives of her children,
rather than see them remanded into slavery.  We
judge not her bloody act here.  Some pronounced
it heroic; others diabolical. It was certainly very
dreadful.  But the maternal perpetrator of the
wild deed, comforts herself with the thought that
her children are forever free in heaven 




148        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
Here is a mother who believes the popular doctrine of endless punishment. Her only child is yet
an infant. She looks upon it, loves it, considers its
exposure to everlasting death, if it grow up on
earth, kisses and destroys it. This done, she comes
forward to the communion table. Arraigned by the
church for her unnatural offence, she excuses herself
by saying to her pastor in the chair, "' You have
taught me that if my child die in infancy, its eternal
salvation is secure; whereas, if it live to years of
responsibility, it probably must sink in hell forever.
I could not bear to see it thus exposed to endless
woe! No, I could not, for it was the child of my
love! And because I loved it, I have saved it.
Yes, my sweet little one is now in heaven! Safe,
bless God! Safe! Satan cannot reach the little
cherub there!  Whereas, were it still on earth, according to what you have taught me, it would soon
be so exposed, that I could chiefly expect only its
endless ruin! 0, sir, my child is safe now. I have,
with these maternal hands, laid the dear one to sleep
upon the bosom of God, where 6 that evil one toucheth him not.'"  And thus addressed, what can the
pastor do, but either hold his peace, or deny his
faith, or take refuge in mystery. If he says to the
mother, "6Verily, you have grossly sinned," she
easily replies. "Be it so, seeing I have forever saved
my child from sinning! It well becomes mothers to




THIRD ABSURDITY.              149
sacrifice themselves for their childrens' sake. This I
have done!"  And if the pastor say, further:"God's great sovereignty must not be arraigned;"
she easily adds, " Certainly not; I have not arraigned it, but done only what it demanded, at my
hand, in view of my dear child's welfare! I have
committed my child to God, in the only possible way
to make sure of its salvation! "  And if the pastor
further add, with gravity, "You have by this act
shut yourself out of heaven," she readily replies,
"Be it so, seeing I have shut my dear child out of
hell! And yet, how is it that I should be sent to
that dreadful place for using the only certain, or
even probable means of saving my child from it?"
Thus this infanticial mother might proceed. And
what, I again ask, in all seriousness, could her pastor and church do, but take her strange case into
charitable consideration? What could they do less
than this, when they considered that she had acted
only in view of the plain logical consequences of the
creed they had put into her hands.
Perhaps you will shrink from this illustration, as
too dreadful!  And it were too dreadful for any
purpose under heaven, other than that for which it
is introduced. And yet, in view of that purpose, it
falls infinitely short of the fact -it is tameness itself! For, infinitely more dreadful is the thing
illustrated! Only just think of it, - an infant, im1-3,




1.50       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
mortal, crossing the line of accountability at the
imminent hazard of everlasting death! Think of
it, did I say? It cannot be thought of more than
in part. For the damnation of the popular creed to
which the little innocent is thus exposed, infinitely
surpasses all knowledge, all thought. Its perdition
is a wide-spreading wilderness, dark with woe, which
no imagination can traverse; a boundless ocean of
sorrow, over which no thought can wing itself!
And how must the Christian mother, whose eyes are
open to the subject, feel, as from day to day she
hears the tramp of burning surf, nearer and nearer
at hand, as her child nears the fatal line of accountability.*  How can she then but wish her child
secure? And what can seem to her too unnatural
or rash, if it but promise it a safe asylum? Hlow
can she but wish it in heaven?  And should she, in
the phrenzy natural to her dilemma (for to such a
dilemma frenzy is bhut natural), do as did the slave
mother, mentioned above, would she not be, at least,
as excusable? Nay, more? For what are the few
years of hard bondage to which that slave mother
could not bear to see her child doomed, compared
with the endless bondage of black despair?
Now don't turn away, brother, unless you are
sure that I overdraw the horror of endless death, or
the feelings proper to those who anticipate it for
See Appendix.




THIIRD ABSURDITY.             151
themselves or children! And if you do not, I am
sure that you will not turn away at all. Nor will
you then think me at all beside myself, or even rash,
when I say that, viewing the matter from the stand
point of your creed, were I the father of as many
sons as Jacob, I must sincerely desire that they
should all be laid in infants' graves!  Nay, if I
really believed with you, and my prayer for children
had been answered, what could I do, as a good
parent, but wrestle with God like Jacob, till I should
see them early removed from these suburbs of damnation to a place of safety in the skies; so terrible
would be my dilemma! And further, believing, as
you do, what could I do but rejoice in all the infanticide of the heathen. For what are the jaws of the
river monsters, or the beaks of soaring vultures, to
the beak and jaw of everlasting ruin, - ruin, the
most imminent exposure to which, is the dreadful
condition upon which alone the heathen infant can
survive its infancy, but which cannot possibly reach
it if it does not. Happy, then, the babe, made a
seraph by being cast away at birth!   Happy the
mother of many children, constantly written childless.
Now, brother, I ask, in all seriousness, if there
was or can be, another absurdity, or group of absurdities, more glaring, dark, and dreadful, than is
involved in this strange arrangement of an infinite




152       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
providence-a providence of infinite good-will!-for
separating infants and adults, parents and children,
forever? Who, by coaxing and driving his imagination at the wild watch hours of midnight, can conceive such another?  Why, brother, think of it.
It surpasses every thing! In view of it, the most
unmitigated evil, the most blasting curse, that can
befall a human being, is, that God should hear the
mother's prayer that it should outlive its infancy on
earth, - for that is to outlive its safety from evil and
curse, unparalleled,-imminently to expose it to evil
and curse such as the very universe, under no other
circumstances, provides, —to expose it to endless
misery I
And, further, seeing that Jehovah can so save
all the "little ones," why should we not wonder, as
he desires the salvation of all men, that he did not
contrive to propagate our species without any of
them coming to years of accountability? Certainly
he could have easily so arranged things, and then
parents and children, all, would have lived together
in heaven forever!  A  glorious consummation,
indeed, it would have been! But no, instead of
that, such is God's providence that, to live a little
span of life on earth, is made to peril everything, and
up to the present year of the world, to ruin almost
everything. So your creed —so orthodoxy! And
shall we not, as men of common sense, common can



THIRD ABSURDITY.              153
dor, and conmmon humanity, seriously suspect the
truth of any exposition of the divine word which
involves an absurdity so cruel, crushing, crazing; so
dishonoring to our father God?
But here, you will perhaps be saying that parents
have only to "6 train up their children in the way in
which they should go," to make them  secure of
heaven. Now, not to stop to speak of the fact that,
according to the popular faith, it is not training, but
spjecial regeneration, that the child needs, I remark
that this, at best, but partially relieves, or rather
affords no relief to one absurdity by inaugurating
another. And the new absurdity is this:- that the
feeble, sinning, earthly parent, (for there is no man
that liveth and sinneth not), the parent who can
scarcely stand himself in the hour of temptation, and
who, in the midst of all the evil influences to which
his child is exposed on earth, has the care of it, only
for a few fleeting days at longest, can do for its endless  weal, what God, and Christ, and all good
angels, and the spirits of the just made perfect, cannot, or will not do for it, in'all eternity!  The
earthly parent can train up his child directly into
heaven.  Whereas the child must sink to hell in
spite of all the heavenly parent with all his aids can
do, provided the earthly parent fail him. And thus,
under this view, is the child greatly destined to endless life or death, according to the character of the




154        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
earthly parent of which he chances to be born, and
not according to the character, or will, or purpose,
of the infinite heavenly parent, who gives being to
parent and child both. To save the child, the
earthly parent is powerful, even omnipotent; but
for this purpose, the heavenly parent is powerless,
without the earthly parent's aid I
How  true it is that on absurdities absurdities
grow; —each new one more glaring than that from
which it sprung! But from the absurdity that God,
the Father, who is more loving than all human
parents, and perfect in prescience, power, wisdom,
and goodness, and whose "years are one eternal
day," in his best efforts to save, is utterly outdone
by poor, weak, sinful, earthly parents, who can
hardly, and, taking the world broadly, do, only rarely, keep out of hell themselves;- from this absurdity, what more glaring one can possibly arise.
And here to anticipate, in a word, an objection
which seems to me as fallacious as it is plausible,
and yet, one on which stress is often placed by careless thinkers, I remark that, evidently, God has
made the present condition of the child very much
to depend on the will and action of the parent, whereas beyond the sphere of the present, the great overruling providence takes the child and sees that no
ultimate detriment befall it, and that the benevolent
purpose of its creation be not frustrated. To deny




THIRD ABSURDITY.             155
such providence, were to make children the merest
creatures of chance and human caprice, - to make
them the mere exponents of parental folly, lovingly
tossed about, and cruelly knocked about, at random,
— some into heaven, and some into hell. Whereas
to admit such providence, under the rule of a good
God, seems to me equivalent to admitting all that is
necessary to set the fore-mentioned absurdities in
the strongest light. I leave them to your consideration. And in closing this letter, some portions
of which I know are couched in horrid phrase, but
which, as it becomes the subject matter, I deem
needful of no apology, I find myself still praying
that we may be led out of all error into all truth.
I only add that the absurdity must be accepted,
however dreadful or the creed in which it inheres,
must be abandoned, however venerated.
Yours truly.




LETTER XVII.
FOURTHI ABSURDITY.-  CHILD OF " FIVE POINTS."
Freedom of Speech, man's birthright-Without it, the mind withers,
-Restrained only by violence-Truth, terra firma-Going aloftAbsurdities multiform-Foulrth absurdity-boy lost from'' Five
Points."-Victim, born and bred in squalor-Soon dies-His
probation a sham-Deserves recompense rather than endless
punishment-Less to blame than his parents? —If hope for him,
hope for all-Orthodoxy consistent with itself —Earnest question
-The Beecher family-Relief needed, suppose the boy grows up,
case not altered-Foolish shipmaster-The creed and its victimThe latter might as well have dropped into hell at birth!-Why
not use strong language-The case mentioned not peculiar, in
principle.
DEAR BROTHER,In whatever else we differ, we agree that freedom
of thought is man's birthright; and that only in so
far as he practically asserts it, is he the "6 Lord's freeman;" that without its exercise, in  spite of whatever pomp of circumstance, he is at the best, but a
splendid slave.
Freedom  of thought is the vital moisture  at the
roots of the mind, on which, its growth  depends,
and without which, of course, it withers, like the
rush without water, or the tree in the desert.  This




FOURTH ABSURDITY.            157
freedom is recognized by our Lord when he says,
" Yea, and wherefore of yourselves judge ye not
what is right?"  Why are ye bound by your old
Jewish education, tradition, creed?  "6 As a man
thinketh so is he."  This, too, is a conscious freedom. Hence the human mind naturally spurns all
restraints upon it. It submits to them, only through
its own ignorance, or somebody's violence.  Such,
brother, are my thoughts, as I seat myself for
another letter.
V I know not how my last, impressed you. And
yet, we have so many mental things in common, that
I can easily imagine. I think your criticism upon
it must have provoked criticism upon your creed.
As, turning to your creed,- you have said, "i66f tis
is so,"- -turning to my letter, —you have added,
-" then this is so," I can but imagine that you
have thrown back upon the former a suspicious look.
Nor need you be frightened, so long as you follow
the Saviour's rule of judging the tree by its fruits.
I am sure that you can receive nothing that I shall
offer you, without sufficient evidence.  I pray you
may reject nothing, in spite of it. Fear not to advance boldly. Feel that truth only is terra firma,
and that you are safe, only as your feet are upon it;
while error is but a bowing wall or a tottering fence,
or a deceitful mire. The man, established upon the
truth, feels not a jar from the earthquakes which
14




158        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
swallow up whole cities of tradition.  The sailor,
high up in the shrouds at midnight, with the strong
yarn above him fast clenched in his veteran palm,
cares little for the commotion  of the elements,
though the staunch ship dip her sails in brine; but,
intent on duty, swings fearlessly over the darkling
billows, and laughs in the very teeth of the gale.
So, the man who goes aloft on bold religious enquiry,
grasping with a vigorous faith the truth which
heaven lets down above him, cares little for the
billows of thought which swamp old creeds beneath
him, but fearlessly swings in the welken, till, through
the roar of the elements, he is drawn up into
Heaven I! The mount of religious enquiry is not always easy of ascent, but always heavenly.
But let us now return to our chapter of absurdities.
I shall continue to present them as they have presented themselves to my own mind. Nor will you
greatly err, if you regard them as notes taken by
the way by which I reached my present theological
status; or, as the disconnected soliloquies "of a
mind shrinking with consternation from the necessary
consequences of the faith it has been taught to
venerate - soliloquies, showing up the same difficulty, in different forms, or as it strikes the troubled
mind at different times; as, for instances, when it is
met in the cesspool of a great city, in the murderer's,ell, at the grave of a duellist, in the vicinity of




FOURTH ABSURDITY.             159
idols, in rural districts of christendom, in dying
chambers, in the funeral of the dead, &c., &c. For
it meets the intelligent Christian thinker everywhere, whether he knows it or not, an omnipresent
sorrow."
Fourth.  The popular creed implies that the
child, born and bred in the debauchery of some
6" Five Points," dying there at a youthful or later
age, is consigned by'"Our Father which is in
Heaven " to endless woe! And this also seems to
me, an absurdity.
Now it is but matter of course, that a child, thus
born in corruption, and nursed at the breasts of
licentiousness in a bed of shame, fed upon intemperance and every way debauched from uncradled
infancy, should grow up, vile. The voice of prayer
is never heard in its wretched home, nor does it
learn the name of Jesus, save from lips of blasphemy.
But in that home, if home it must be called, is ever
found that concentrated atmosphere of death, in
which, wedded intemperance and harlotry forever
move. Without the bible, without the church, with
only the worst examples to influence the formation
of character, and, withal, and perhaps more than all,
deeply tainted by hereditary transmission, of course,
the vices, mid which that child moves, must "grow
with its growth, and strengthen, with its strength."
Groping its way beneath a pall of ignorance, which




160        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
nothing but a miracle can lift, and under a constant
pressure of passion, which scarcely less than a
miracle can stay, its moral character is hurried
through the several stages of bad and worse, with
frightful rapidity, till, at length, a staggering mass of
tumefied corruption, the poor creature, smitten with
loathsome disease, dies early, is thrown into the
dead cart; whose rumbling wheels seem to say, as it
moves on towards the metropolitan Golgotha, where
its load is to be forgotten,
"Rattle his bones over the stones,'Tis only a beggar whom nobody owns."
You very well know, brother, that cases of this
kind are frequent, and that the fashionable faith is,
that their young victims, drop, at death, into endless woe.
Now, I know not how this matter may strike
you, but to me it seems extremely absurd, that the
Great Father, should suspend the immortal weal
and woe of a child of his own creation, upon such a
probation as that boy had.
Why talk of probation! The poor creature had
no chance! The die was loaded f  The jury was
packed! His freedom was but freedom to choose
vice — freedomr to fall. IHe falls of course!  We
expect nothing else, and are not disappointed! And
your creed implies that he sinks to despair. Yet,




FOURTH ABSURDITY.             161
it seems to me, nay upon my conscience, and in the
name of the God of us all, I put the question,
whether it does not seem to you, that that child,
now in eternity, rather deserves a heaven in which
to be compensated for what he suffered here, than
an endless hell in which to be punished for what he
did here?  Why, that that child, whose misfortune,
shame, misery it was to be borne into one hell here,
should therefore be cast into another infinitely more
terrible herecfter, — is it not too incredible for belief?  And as you contemplate it, in spite of your
best efforts at faith, are you not possessed with
doubts which " go not out," even with 6" prayer and
fasting?"  Yet must it be believed, or the popular
notion of punishment rejected, or both be held
under suspicion. To doubt that that child is lost, is
to lean toward heresy. To believe that he will
ever be saved, is really, to be a heretic!
Do you say that the lad was less to blame than
his parents. Perhaps so, for he was the child of
sin. And yet, perhaps not, for his parents might
themselves have had an equally miserable advent to
earth. But, suppose the parents are the more to
blame. The fact that the child goes into eternity
with a miserably debauched character, is not thereby blotted out. With him the development of vice
was so rapid, that at fifteen he was as unfit for
14*




162        FOOTPRINTS RIIEAVENWARD.
heaven, as most sinners are at forty-five.  He is
thoroughly a shiner!
The question, how he became a sinner, is of no
consequence to the creed, which, virtually, says,
46 as death leaves us so judgment will find us," and
that "6 there can be no change of character afterwards." And thus, the lad, unfit for heaven, and
in an eternity in which no fitness for it can be
secured, is hurled down to hell, —buried forever
beneath  the night of Jehovah's frown.  Now,
perhaps, all this may look to you reasonable —
believable! If so, we can only say, God help you.
But as for us, we must be excused for regarding it
with emotions of the profoundest horror and dismay.
W~e know, indeed, that many a holder of the
popular creed, pressed by common sense, and common humanity, will seek to relax its meshes sufficiently for the escape of our young sinner,- will set
the door of Heaven sufficiently ajar for him, somehow or other, at sometime or other, to crowd in!
And, too, we know that to do this, were to strike the
key stone from the arch on which rests the gray
fabric of Orthodoxy itself.  For if, for this lad's
sake, you admit a probation, into the future world,
by which he can be there fitted for heaven, then,
can such a probation be found there for all men. If
you set the door of Heaven so ajar, in eternity, that
one sinner may enter in, then, for aught that appears




FOURTH ABSURDITY.             163
to the contrary, all may enter in. In other words,
if redemption be once admitted into the future
world, for aught you or I can see, it will run among
all the hosts of the wicked, and thus fulfil the
Scripture which saith, that " it pleased the Father
that in him [Christ] should all fulness dwell; and
having made peace through the blood of his cross,
by him to reconcile all things to himself; by him, I
say, whether they be things in earth or things in
heaven; " - or that Scripture which saith of Christ
"' He gave himself, a ransom for all to be testified in
due time."
For, just so explicitly as the Scriptures deny probation to any soul beyond the grave, they deny it
to every soul. Orthodoxy is therefore consistent in
denying it, or anything equivalent to it, either to all
or to none. But it denies it to all. Its language
is, every person who dies in sin is unsaved forever.
So died our young and pitiful boy, and he, therefore, is lost forever! And this must be believed, as
the only alternative of denying the dominant creed!
And now, whatever becomes of your creed, I
earnestly ask you, whether or not, you can conceive
of a greater seeming barbarism and absurdity, than
is here involved? - involved in the notion that,
under the government of a good and just God, endless woe should be the sequel of such mere sham probation as that child had?  And what do you reply?




164       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
What can you, what can any body reply? Be silent
if you will, think as you please, but do not, as is too
much the fashion, with sectarian believers, when
light falls around them, tighten the blind of creed
and rush farther into mystery.
I am but presenting you with difficulties which,
as I have before said, many have felt, and not a few
acknowleged, - difficulties which have driven men
in all directions for relief. We have seen how they
drove Edward Beecher back into the dismal wilderness of the long past, and how, as the "wish is
father to the thought," he found relief in the bold
assumption of a long, pre-existent and forgotten
probation. One of his brothers, I am told, finds relief from these same difficulties, not in the assumption of a pre-6xistent probation, but in the anticipation of a future one beyond the tomb.  And while
Henry Ward, seems to trouble himself little about
the matter any way, and Catharine is trying to reconcile orthodoxy with common sense, the less dependent Harriet feels that a single doubt on the
part of the mourner concerning the ultimate wellbeing of the dead, is sufficient to make the surviver
miserable, and finds relief by virtually embracing
the doctrine of Universalism, or what is the same
thing universal restorationism. And the difficulties
which this Beecher family meet, in the contemplation of the popular creed of the day, are by no




FOURTHI ABSURDITY.             165
means peculiar to them, but common to all independent thinkers. And this same noble family, thus
broken theologically, all into pieces, is perhaps the
best possible symbol of the dilapidated condition of
the theological christendom of to-day.
Brother, I will try not to be tedious, nor over bold.
But do you not feel the need of relief from somewhere, past, future, or present, as you look, through
your creed, down upon that miserable boy of which
we have been speaking? If you are not afraid to
look downr upon him, and not afraid to think of what
you see, I know you must feel such need, and am
praying that you may find it;-not, amid the dim
uncertainties of a shadowy past or future, but in
the plain discovery of the true word and Fatherhood
of God.
We have supposed our young victim of hereditary
and home vice to die at fifteen.  But the case is but
little weakened, as an illustration of absurdity,
though he live to age, seeing that, under the circumstances, character is greatlyfixed at fifteen; at
any rate, so fixed that the church looks upon him as
very nearly helpless;  and this, especially if he continue as, with his established affinities, he almost in.
variably will, under the influences that spoiled him.
And even if, as rarely occurs, he emerge from them,
his reformation is regarded almost of the nature of
miracle.




166       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
Now facts are facts, and, in religious matters, as
elsewhere, it is dangerous to ignore them. Foolish
is the shipmaster, who ignores evident rocks, because they are not laid down in the chart. His
good ship will not, therefore, ignore them, nor be
the less broken. So, in theology also, facts must
not be disregarded. The creed may seem strong,
but there may be facts stronger than the creed.
And when these appear, they must not be put aside
lightly. Rightly understood, they are God's elder
Scripture, but by no means conflicting with his
younger.
Here, then, is our creed, one which our fathers
bequeathed us, or which has been provided to our
hand-one which we believe and delight to cherish.
T/ere stands our ill-starred child of wretchedness,
conceived, born, and bred in iniquity;-there he
stands, in filth and rags for which he is not responsible, blasted by passions bequeathed him, and which
obtained fearful rankness, long before reason or conscience was developed for their control; there he
stands, confronted by the creed which points ever
downward to his endless woe. For, however long
he may stand in the flesh, so have the passions
and appetites stolen the march upon his reason and
conscience, under the influence of the corruption in
which he was swaddled, that, as we have intimated
before, not while the sin-struck body hangs about




FOUJRTH ABSURDITY.            167
his soul, are repentance and reformation at all probable. He was as if marked for perdition before he
was born! H He was born as into the shroud of everlasting death. His lot would have been, practically,
little different, had he been dropped into perdition
at birth. His probation afforded but a chance to
fall. And, therefore, to regard it as ordained of God
to be his only opportunity to form a holy character
and thereby escape endless pain, is to put forward
one of the most monstrous and barbarous absurdities
that ever shocked the sensibilities of a good man, or
excited his ridicule, contempt, or indignation!
You will say I speak warmly; and I certainly do,
if I speak as I feel. I envy not the heart that can
coolly follow our young sinner-any sinner-down
into the pit of your creed. And, as I think of the
multitudes that seem to do so, what were I, if, with
the view  I firmly he-ld, my heart did not warm
with zeal for the glory of the God of heaven, and
with humanity towards the children of earth. Lukewarmness over such a subject were as criminal as it
were unnatural.
But one thing I wish you to consider well. It is
this: that to hope for that child of  "Five Points,"
is to doubt the popular creed, whereas to believe
that that child will be in some way saved, through
God's righteousness, is to believe that the popular
creed is, in some way, false, through man's ignorance. You may choose your horn of the dilemma.




168       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
And one thing further I wish to say here. It is
this: That, as all human life is short, and full of
temptation, and as eternity can be nought less than
eternity, the notion that any person whatever, dying
in sin, enters an eternity of sorrow, compromises the
character of God, no less absurdly and barbarously,
than does the extreme case which we have noted.
This proposition may strike you at first as bold: but I
think your reflection will have endorsed it, before
the receipt of my next letter.
Yours truly.




LETTER XVIII.
FIFTH ABSURDITY,-MEN  FIX EACH OTHER' S
DOOM.
Conversation with a Lawyer, his Testimony ruled out-" Judge not,
lest ye be judged. "-Fifth.bsOurdity — Men send one another to
Endless Woe-Illustrations, the Two Students, the Drunken Rowdy,
Battle, and how War can be advocated! —The Duellist, the Highwayman, the Murderer, and his Victim — " Whoso ca.n receive it,
let him receive it. "
DEAR BROTHER,Last evening, while awaiting the opening of services in a public hall, I incidentally fell into conversation with a certain lawyer. And, allusion having
been made to certain court proceedings, to which
we both had that day listened, I remarked, that I
perceive that attorneys, like theologians, were quite
liable to "' shove by justice," in the pursuit of victory.  " Yes," he replied playfully, " and of all controversialists, I think theological ones are most
likely to do so."  Making no denial of this charge,
I replied, that only yesterday, I told my people that
no other book had ever been so kicked and cuffed to
make it testify falsely, as the very Bible itself;that not even Blackstone, in the hands of interested
15




170       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
attorneys, had so suffered from the wresting of passages from their true intent, and making them mean
what their author never dreamed of! " I am glad
to hear you say that," replied our amiable colloquist,
adding, with a hearty laugh, " for I have never
known any denomination, so given to that, as the one
to which you belong."  To this I replied coolly,-a
group was gathered round,-" Either you are saying
this playfully, or you are ignorant' whereof you affirm.' The fact is right the other way. Nor is there
one of you who dares defend the logical consequences
of your creed." A few incidental remarks followed,
when my friend remarked, " Somewhere, the Bible
says,' What more could I have done for my vineyard, that I have not done for it?' "  " So it does,"
said I, and your now quoting that Scripture shows
that you have never examined the Bible in view of
this subject.  For if you had, you would have
known better than to have quoted it for your
present purpose, inasmuch as it has no possible reference to man's future condition. It must be that you
never have heard much Universalist preaching."' "Certainly, I never have," he replied. And yet
you dare make such broad assertions. Just as
though I should sit in judgment upon your fairness,
as a pleader, without having heard you make scarcely
a single plea. The judge rules you off from the stand
as a witness incompetent to testify in this case. The




FIFTH ABSURDITY.             171
meeting was now called to order. And he was incompetent to testify. He understood law, from actual study. He understood Universalism only from
rumor-only, as distorted by passing through the
hostile medium of an orthodox pulpit.
You will perceive, brother, how humiliating it
must be to us to be thus judged by excellent men,
who know little about us; especially, while their
mistaken judgment goes among the people as a pure
coin, and also, at the same time, forbids that they
put themselves in a way to learn that it is base. We
commend to such persons, the Scripture which saith,
"' Judge not, lest ye be judged," though the measure
they "mete" we have no desire to measure back
again. But you, brother, I trust, are not the man
to condemn an unpopular cause, before a hearing,
or, from motives of policy or pride, or any thing
else, withhold an honest verdict afterwards.
I have alluded to the logical consequences of your
creed, as shrunk from by its confessors. I will further proceed to notice some of these, and will say,
Fifth, That your creed plainly implies, that men,
both good and bad, may, and often do, determine
the endless destiny of their fellow beings, by determining the length of their probation,-virtually putting them into heaven, by cutting off all liability to
lose it, or into hell by cutting off all opportunity to
escape it. And this, also, seems to me an absurdity.




172        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
We have already presented one illustration of the
above proposition, in the supposed case of the mother
who made the " calling and election " of her infant
sure, by taking its life. Another is found in a sad
accident, which occurred at one of our New England seminaries a few years since. Two young
gentlemen were in their room, amusing themselves
with a musket, quite unconscious of its being loaded,
when the one innocently shot the other, thereby
determining his soul at once to heaven or to hell
forever.
And still another illustration is found in the death
of the drunken rowdy, who fell, at the head of the
rumsellers' mob, at Portland, a few years ago. The
balls which, at the order of the resolute city marshal,
laid him low, cutting off all opportunity for repentance, carried his soul directly to endless torment.
Illustrations to our purpose are also presented in
war. Two armies meet. Fearful are the imprecations! Dreadful is the carnage! Balls and bayonets are the swift instruments of everlasting death!
The soldier perishes forever, who might reform and
be saved if permitted to return to his home of piety.
At the hand of' his fellow  man, he falls lower than
the grave.  Nor may any tell how  many of our
revolutionary colonists are now, in endless despairs
sent there by the hired Hlessians of George the
Third. Nor how many of those whose bones have




FIFTH ABSURDITY.              173
been brought from the plains of Waterloo, as a fertilizer of British soil, are now in the endless despair
to which they were consigned by the arbitrament of
British swords. And this, especially, when it is considered, that, of all conditions, that of a soldier, in active service, seems least adapted to promote fitness for
heaven. Of course, it is a mystery to us how orthodox Christians can advocate war, or their chaplains
kneel mid guns, and swords, loaded and barbed with
everlasting death! For these, in their view, are the
terrible arbiters of souls' destiny, cutting off their
probation, and thereby saying, as with the authority
of the Infinite, You shall have no more chance to
escape. These are they that rise up in the place of
God, and "shut to the door" against their victims
forever.  Alas! for the orthodox advocate of war!
Let me do him the justice to say, that I think he
believes in his creed less than in humanity and common sense.
But, further, our point finds illustration under
the operation of the code duello, —that miserable
product of dark ages, —that foolishest, meanest mode
of settling difficulties.-that wretched footman of
chattel slavery, accompanying its desolating car, as
it dashes into the fair fields of Christian civilization.
The duel settles more than questions of chivalric
honor. Instance a case. A and B meet at a public
house, drink, altercate, challenge, and accept,
15*




174        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
choose their seconds, retire and fight. The question of honor is settled by the death of B. And
not only that, but the question of B's endless damnation also. The fatal ball settles both. For, while
A blows the smoke freom his pistol, and retires a victor, leaving the body of the slain to his surgeon and
friends, its spirit, prematurely driven out, and thereby excluded all chance of salvation, is met by evil
angels in the threshold of eternity, and dragged
down into the pit forever. Thus, according to your
penal view, is a question greater than honor settled
by the duel.
And what does the highwayman do?  He meets
the moneyed worldling in the way, robs him of his
treasure and his life, and throws his body into the
thicket, or leaves it in the ditch. But is that all?
0 no! He also robs his soul of all chances to repent, and tosses it into the thick darkness of despair,
— buries it alive in hell forever! So your creed.
But the absurdity we are exposing finds a fuller
illustration, in cases in which the murderer repents
in prison, and finally dies, regretting that he sent
the murderer into perdition. Such cases used to
be, by no means, very unfrequent.  We recently
read of one, but have not the details now at hand.
Let us suppose such a case, and see its bearing upon
the subject in hand.
A young lady, respectable, but not converted, is




FIFTH ABSURPDITY.             175
met and ravished, under a dark night, by a villain,
who destroys her life to escape detection.  Sent thus
hurriedly to her God in sin, she is, by the conditions
of your creed, of course, lost. No cycle of eternity
but shall witness her unrelieved despair. Her soul
is assassinated.  Out of a dark night of time, she is
hurled into a darker night of eternity. The brutal
hand that cut her probation  short off, thereby
plunged her infinitely below the sphere of possible
life, shut her up in woe, bolted the door upon her,
threw away the key, and left her to pine in anguish
forever. So your creed!
And now, leaving her there in her woe, let us
turn to look after her murderer. As 6 "murder will
out," he is detected, arrested, executed. But, while
in prison, blessed with a probation which he forbade
to his victim, he comes to himself, heeds his spiritual
advisers, repents, exhorts the multitudes from the
scaffold, and swings from it into Paradise. And
there, because he had much forgiven, he loves much,
and never ceases to give thanks for the prison confinement through which the mercy of God reached
him. Thus in heaven the murderer sings. But the
young lady, his victim, where is she all this time?
Lost! lost! He may have time for repentance, but
not she. That was forbidden her, by the red hand
that plunged the dagger to her heart. 1Viercy may
come to his prison, but not to hers. That red hand




176        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
of his, which might "the multitudinous seas incarnadine," may live to be washed, and forever twine
wreaths for the immaculate brow  of Him whose
wrath she must forever bear.
Now, brother, your creed, taken in connexion
with the history of crime, obviously involves multitudes of cases, similar to any and all which we have
stated above. This, you will admit. And, admitting this, can you, as the heart of a man beats in
your bosom, fail seriously to query whether that
creed is not at fault? Can you be confident in that
theology, which thus makes the frantic mother, the
officer of justice, the warrior, the duellist, the highwayman, and the libertine, the arbiters of the eternal destiny of their victims; so that, in the case last
stated, if it was the hard fate of the young lady to
be abused, scared into phrensy, and murdered, it
was her harder one to be, by her murderer's hand,
consigned to the bottomless pit; while he, by the
grace of God, which he denied to her, has space for
repentance, and goes up to sing in heaven!
Now, is a doctrine involving such absurdities —I
will not say barbarisms-heartily believable? To
deny that the victims, in the darker cases cited, are
lost, is to deny the sole principle of biblical interpretation, upon which your creed finds any scriptural
support. In the last mentioned case, to admit hope
for the young lady, is to admit hope for all; while




FIFTH ABSURDITY.             177'o deny heaven to her murderer, is to deny heaven
to all. For " all have sinned."  And he gave the
evidence of repentance, upon which we predicate
hope for others.
But I forbear comment. Be your own commentator upon what I have said. The notion that the
Living Father has made the endless weal and woe
of men thus dependent upon the phrensy, ambition,
lucre, lust, and brutality of their fellow beings,well, ", he that can receive it, let him receive it."
But let him be very sure that he has an unmistakable'thus saith the Lord," on which to rest, a faith so
at war with reason and all the humanities.
Truly yours.




LETTER XIX.
SIXTH ABSURDITY-ENDLESS REVENGE.
Revenge a dreadful Passion, not of God,-If it were, he would scorn
to wreak it on puny man.-Sixth A.bsurdity-Endless Revenge!
-Illustration from Hamlet-The murderer's soliloquy-Hamlet's
soliloquy-Subject brought home-" Bridge of Sighs"-Pause,
Brother.
DEAR BROTHER,I think we shall agree that, of all the fiendish
passions that ever possessed, as devils, the human
breast, no other is so fiendish as the passion of
revenge. It is emphatically the passion of little
minds, or of great minds belittled. It is antiChristian every way, and in the most extreme sense.
Therefore, notwithstanding the heathen speak of it
"as the attribute of gods," and say
" They stamped it,
With their own great image, on our natures,"
it surely can be no attribute of the Christian's God,
-of him who, as " our Father which is in heaven,"
is best seen in Jesus, and most fully in the prayer,




SIXTH ABSURDITY.              179
"Father, forgive them," which trembled from the
cross up to heaven. No, God cannot be vindictive.
HIis nature forbids it. Did it not, then he, like a
vindictive mortal, were quite unlovable. And, indeed, did his nature admit of it,-the worst passion
of the worst of beings, and culminating in the blackness of a demon's heart, —still, he must scorn to
wreak it on beings his infinitely inferiors; and, especially would he scorn to wreak it on the puny earthy
members of his great family, the human children of
his creation, foreordination, foreknowledge, and
love. Just think of it! The Great Cause of all,Jehovah-vindictively tormenting one of his insect
children between his fingers forever!
But, though revenge dwell not with God, yet it
does, sometimes, dwell with men. And, when it
does, the human heart-flower is no longer the rose,
but "the serpent under it." Then do the soul's
affections, which God would have shoot forth lovingly, become tormenting arrows, barbed with the most
subtile, and virulent, and deadly poison, ever distilled from iniquity. As
"The fairest action of our human life
Is scorning to revenge an injury,"
so is the contrary action, the foulest. And this
especially, when seen under the light of Christendom. Ugly is revenge, when reflected by the bat



180        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
tie axe of the desert barbarian; but how much uglier
when seen in the darkening brow of the Christian!
And what could be said of it, did it disfigure and
cloud the countenance of Jehovah!  Then, indeed,
were man's likeness to God to be looked for in his
deepest depravity, for there it would then be found.
But, though there is naught on earth more fiendish and terrible than the spirit of a man 66 ranging
for revenge, with Ate by his side," yet is it sometimes
treated as respectable, and even made to stand
boldly out in applauded characters, and especially
those of the drama. Thus Shakspeare gives us his
Hamlet, steeped in this passion to his very lipscaring for nothing else, if he may but "sweep to his
revenge."
"To this point I standThat both the worlds I give to negligence,
Let come what comes; only I'll be revenged."
And others than Hamlet have said, with Shakspeare's " Gloster," as they have dashed upon their
victims:
"Down, down to hell, and say I sent thee thither;
I that have neither pity, love, nor fear! "
And now, brother, let us return to remark
Sixth, that your creed enables any  miserable
wretch, whether acting from premeditation or impulse, and whether sane or crazy, drunk or sober,
to take endless revenge,-not only to kill, but to




SIXTH ABSURDITY.                     181
kill forevero  And  this, which under the government of the Father, seems to  me absurd, is so well
illustrated in " Hamlet," that I will call your attention to it, though its principle is involved in the preceding letter.
Hamlet seeks  to  avenge himself upon his uncle
Claudius, for the death of his murdered father.  At
length, opportunity presents itself. Finding his
uncle alone, he approaches behind him slily, and
with  deadly  intent.  But, pausing, he  overhears
him penitentially soliloquizing about his bloody
crime thus:
0' my offence is rank, it smells to heaven!
It hath the primal, eldest curse upon't,
A brother's murder! Pray, can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will;
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent,
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I should first begin,
And both neglect. What if this curst hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood,
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens,
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy,
But to confront the visage of offence?
And what's in prayer, but this two-fold force,
To be forestalled, ere we come to fall,
Or pardoned, being down? Then I'll look up;
My fault is passed. But O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? Forgive me my foul murder?
That cannot be; since I am still possessed
Of those effects for which I did the murder,
My crown, my own ambition, and my queen.
May one be pardoned, and retain the offence?
16




182           FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.I
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice;
And oft'tis seen, the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law;but tis not so above;
There is no shuffling; there the action lies
In its true nature, and we ourselves compelled,
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence. What then? What rests? [i. e.remains. 
Try what repentance can.  What can it not?
Yet what can it when one cannot pray?
0 wretched state! 0 bosom black as death!
O serried soul, that, struggling to be free,
Art more engaged! Help, angels; make assay;
Bow, stubborn knees! And heart, with strings of steel,
Be soft as sinews of the new-born babe'"
Having thus spoken with himself, the half-penitent
murderer kneels down  in  trembling  silence, and
seems  to  be  offering up  secret prayer.  Hamlet,
who had all the time been watching him, at first
thinks this a good time to " take him  off," at a blow;
-and then again, he thinks not; because, if he kill
him  now, in the midst of his penitence, it would be
to  defeat his  revenge, by  sending  the  murdered
soul to heaven.   And so he now  soliloquizes in turn,
as he steps up slily behind the silently praying king:
"' Now might I do it pat; now he is praying;
And now I'll do't; and so he goes to heaven?
And so am I revenged? That would be scanned 
A villain kills my father; and for that,
I, his sole son, do this same villain send
To heaven!
Why this is hire and salary, not revenge.
He took my father grossly, full of bread,




SIXTH ABSURDITY.                   183
With all his crimes, broadblown as blush of May;
And how his audit stands, who knows save Heaven?
But in our circumstance and course of thought,'Tis heavy with him; and am I thus revenged,
To take him in the purging of his soul,
When he is fit and seasoned for his passage?
No!
Up, sword; and know thou a more horrid hent;
When he is drunk, asleep, or in a rage;
Or in the incestuous pleasures of his bed;
Or gaming, swearing, or about some act
That has no relish of salvation in't:
Then trip him, that his heels may kick at heaven,
And that his soul may be as damned and black,
As hell, whereto he goes! 9
Thus saying, the avenger leaves his victim  till he
shall have  opportunity to  strike him  down  in his
sin, and thus not only kill him, but also send him
into endless pain. Shakspeare's illustrations are
always striking; but, in his entire writings, none is
more so than is this incidental, but complete illustration of the  absurdity under review.  Hamlet will
kill forever, and the creed of the church tells him
how!
And now, brother, to come right home with our
subject, do you  not, as we have before intimated,
find it hard to believe —nay, is it not really unbelievable, when under the practical test-that the
infinite God has made the probation of one man, the
result of one man's being, even his endless joy or
anguish, to depend  upon the deliberate malice, or




184        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
the momentary caprice, or passion, or anger, of another?  Yes, and even upon the carelessness of another, as when one man shoots, or otherwise destroys the life of another, unintentionally?-so that
we must not only exclaim,
"Great God, on what a slender thread,
Hang everlasting things,"
but must also be amazed, that he has made the cutting of that " slender thread " to depend upon the
rapier or bowie-knife of the assassin, or even upon
the accidental thrust of a friend;-that he has left
it to human accident and malice to determine when
the sinner, hair-hung and breeze-shaken " over the
pit, shall drop into it? Is not this hard to believe?
If the Bible teaches it, (as I am sure it does not,)
do we not feel that, in believing it, we are obliged
to disbelieve every thing else within us and about
us, and even to regard the textual Scriptures on
which we rely for its support, as at war with all the
humanities of the Bible, and with the very character of the God it reveals.  I know  not how
it may be with all.  I know  not how  it may
be with you. But I see not how any attempt really
to believe a doctrine involving such an absurdity,
can, to a thinking, candid mind, looking upon it
with open eyes, be any thing less than absolutely
distressing. The bridge over which the Venetian




SIXTH ABSURDITY.              185
despot caused his victims to be transported to a
returnless doom, was well called the bridge of sighs.
And so may the passage well be called, over which,
according to the creed, human beings are transported
to returnless woe. But what words shall express
the emotion the thinking man must feel, all overwhelming as it is, who really believes that God has
left it to passionate and ignorant human beings, to
push one another over that bridge at pleasure!
Brother, pause, consider! Criticize the scope and
details of these illustrations as you weill, ad still will
be left, in their presentation, a body of absurdity
necessarily involved in your faith, sufficient, as it
seems to me, to shake the soul of the sternest of the
John Knoxes of orthodoxy.
Yours truly.
16*




LETTER XX.
SEtVENTH  ABSURDITY -TE PEOPLE AND THE
PREACHER.
Blind side and " beam," different routs to conviction-Seventh Absurdity, illustrated by a rural scene- Scene described at lengthThe people lost forever, unless minister be sent, unlest he faithfully go, and unless he be of the right temperament-Indian anecdote-Knapps and Channings-lMaffit-Not a word against revivals-How revivals are to be estimated-Gospel, the power of
God, and should be sent everywhere-Its resources, the universe,
its day, eternity-Something wrong in the creed.
DEAR BROTHER1,If you should find these letters tedious, you may
bear in mind that they are far less so, than the
embarrassing  and  crippling  experience  in  which
they had their origin, and which at length aroused
their author to the fact, that, while belaboring his
fellow  sinners for their obtuseness, he himself had
his own blind side also-the fact that, if there was
not a "6 beam" in his own eye, there was a "' mote 
there, as large as that which he had been trying to
remove from his brothers.
But such may not have been your experience.
Nor, if it has, can the author feel sure that the saine




SEVENTH ABSURDITY.            187
considerations that moved him, can move you.
There may be more of you to move, you may be
more strongly entrenched in prejudice and tradition;
and, too, your mind may be so differently constituted
and educated, that conviction must enter it, if at all,
by a very different route. However, as truth is
never lost, he has no fears of his labors over these
familiar letters being entirely wasted. They are
freighted with the blessing of a brother who is confident that they will do good, in proportion as they
receive candid attention.
The difficulties which are experienced with the
doctrine of endless woe, are of shadings so numerously various, that they can be set forth only in
part, while any attempt to duo more than that, were
likely to become wearisome. I shall venture however, to look at them further, still drawing upon my
own experience. And now,
Seventh, I present you with another phase of the
omnipresent absurdity, which you will easily detect
in the discussion of the following true, pastoral
scene.
A few miles from my late residence in -—, is a
rural district, almost entirely destitute of what are
called the ordinary means of grace. There indeed
falls the shower of morning light, and there the
clouds drop down fatness. There the streams murmur God's praises, and there the winds blow his




188       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
hallelujahs. There Nature's means of grace are not
wanting.
There, too, are the plain dwellings, from which a
hard-working peasantry "go forth to their labor
until the evening," when, coming in, they rejoice in
the children of their love and care. Here and there
is seen a store, a small school-house, and now and
then factory-buildings, in some of which, the hum
and clatter of industry is no longer heard. The
highways are crooked, winding among farms, whose
stingy soil, yields a scanty but healthful support to
its toil-hardened workers. Cattle are seen grazing
and browsing in the pastures, and men and boys at
worli in the fields, while the humble dwellings show
that house-wives, and perhaps house-girls are not
idle within. But with all your seeing, you see no
sign of church or church-going!
Pass through this region as I have done, on the
Sabbath, on my way to an appointment, and you
will mark young men and boys abroad in the fields,
and young ladies and girls regaling themselves
under the family tree, and older persons abroad
tantivying, while, doubtless, not a few sinewy men
are fast asleep in the house, recruiting their exhausted energies for the hour, when the next rising
sun shall again summon them to another week's toil.
And, not least, at sundry corners and shops, you
will be likely to see groups of persons whose gen



SEVENTH ABSURDITY.           189
eral appearance indicates that drinking and gaming
are more than thought of.
But as we have before said, you will see nobody
going to church or Sunday-school, and this, for the
simple reason that there is none save far off, to go
to. Brought up without them, they know not the
worth of them, and therefore feel not the need of
them. And thus, without religious institutions
among them, they are, as a matter of course, an
irreligious people. Occasionally, to be sure, a
loftier religious nature will pierce up through the
superincumbent mass of ignorance and vice like a
wild flower in the desert, and, amid the surrounding
desolation, be marked as "6 an apple tree anmong the
trees of the wood."  Yet, as a general rule, the
people are wholly given up to the idolatry of what
is called irreligion. What they would have been
under other stars we may not know-we can only
imagine. What they are, we see. And what they
are we doubtless should substantially have been,
had we been born to their lot.
Over this community of churchless peasants and
mechanics, the dominant church, glorying in its own
salvation, and faring sumptuously every day upon
the legacy of a better religious bequeathment, casts
its eye, and says pitifully, "these souls are lost
forever, unless the gospel be sent to them; whereas,
if it is sent, many of them will be saved forever.




190       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
And thus is the endless weal or woe of these
countrymen, born to religious penury, made to depend upon the contingencies of somebody else's
faithfulness. If some one be sent to them and faithfully go, they may be saved. If he play the Jonah,
they are lost. If no man cares for them, then God
does not. If men will let them sink, EHe will. If
men, their brethren, scarcely able to stand themselves, will not open the door of their prison of
ignorance, vice, and misery on earth, God their
Father, infinite in goodness and power, will not, but
leave them, keep them shut up therein to all eternity.
"Whoso can receive this, let him receive it."  But
know all, that to reject it, is to reject the popular
doctrine of salvation and damnation.
Let us not be misunderstood here. We easily
and joyfully see that the preaching of the Gospel
may be of incalculable benefit to such a people as
we have indicated; and that therefore, it is the duty
of the church to provide it for them. But that the
Living Father should make their endless weal or
woe depend on the preaching of a day or year; while
at the same time that day's or year's preaching is
made contingent upon the faithfulness or unfaithfulness of their fellow beings, weak, tempted and sinful
like themselves, does seem  to me an absurdity
capable of staggering credulity itself. That the
church's faithfulness to-day, delivers men to-morrow




SEVENTH ABSURDITY.            191
at a judgment whose decisions are final; or that the
church's unfaithfulness to-day indirectly dooms
them to-morrow, to a pit whose despair is hopeless
-why, you tell me that, concerning this people,
bred without religious opportunities, and I either
disbelieve or am speechless. And I ask you, firmly
as you may deem yourself grounded in your faith,
if, when you attempt to believe all this, your whole
soul, everything about you God-given and God-like,
does not rise up and cry out in mutiny? And can
you then avoid querying whether you have not mistaken a demon for an angel, or the thing you are
attempting to believe?
But it is further to be noted that the absurdity
here involved is cumulative. For, according to the
popular idea, the salvation of this people is contingent, not only upon receiving preaching, but beyond
this, upon the temperament of the preacher. If he
be a man highly charged with sympathy, if he be
impassioned and confident in his address, and withal
make a fair show of sense, no prophet is needed to
forestall the result. He will succeed in influencing
many to feel as he wills them to feel. His own
visions of God, and heaven, and hell, are sure to become their visions. In a word, if he be a revivalist,
he will be about certain to have a revival. Whereas, on the other hand, if he be a calm, cool adviser
and reasoner about salvation, speaking as a man of




192       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
candor to men supposed capable of thinking for
themselves, he may expect no such result. Under
the phenomena of no popular revival, will he then
be able to count up souls, suddenly recovered from
endless woe, as the papers counted up the rescued
survivors of the ill-fated Lexington or Austriasouls saved to-day, who, had they died yesterday,
would have sunk in ruin to rise no more. All this
you understand.
And now what are we to conclude? That God's
saving power is so partial to certainforms of preaching? that the salvation of the people depends upon
the mere method of presenting truth?  That when
two men, equally sincere, preach the same gospel,
the one preaching according to his natural temperament, which is all fire, and the other according to
his, which is cool and sedate - the saving power of
the gospel is peculiarly partial to the former? that
the people are more moved by the former, because
more of the Holy Spirit inheres in his word?  And,
as we have intimated, are we to believe that God
has made the eternal weal and woe of the people depend not so much, certainly not more, upon preaching than upon the temperament of the preacher?
It may be that you can believe all this, - that you
see no insurmountable absurdity in the notion that
the great God thus hangs eternities upon trifles,even upon trifling ministerial idiosyncracies!! It




SEVENTH ABSURDITY.            193
may be that, to you, it seems well that the anecdote
which which which we deem discreditable to the Indian,
should receive practical endorsement in the popular
estimate of pulpit power. Said the Indian, to his
less eloquent brother, "You speak first, and when
you have spoken, then me speak, and the power
come down." But not the Indian only, deems that
God is dependent on the presence of certain " neciums,"U for the communication of his " free gift " of
everlasting life:-not the poor Indian only, is the
victim of this sort of orthodox "spiritualism," practiced upon the high plane of the eternities. Nay,
not he alone; for have we not all believed, is not
the notion prevalent to-day, that certain peculiar
ministerial gifts are about certain to make the power come down?  To be sure this notion, so absurd,
is now being abandoned by not a few. But that
more than few, you will find, largely composed of
persons, either fossilizing in the coolest Calvinism of
the creeds, or swerving off from it upon the liberal
highway which leads to Universalism - a highway
now filled with travellers, whose orthodoxy has yet
scarcely been suspected by others, or even by themselves.
In the ministry, there is, indeed, a variety of
gifts. Some of these more stirring than others,
move with greater power. But, whether the power
comes more from above, may be quite questioned.
1"7




194       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
We think it is by no means certain that the saving
power of the gospel is more partial to the Knapps
than to the Channings. Knapp gets up revivals of
religion, which, like "6 the crackling of thorns under
a pot," go out in more permanent revivals of infzdelity. Channing, less ambitious of show, more patient
of results, and more confidinog in truth and in God,
plays upon the hearts of his generation with the
sunny beams of love, loosening all their humanities,
turning them upward to` the Father, and, dying,
leaves so much done, without drawback-done, never to be undone!
As to revivals, you well know, brother, that any
man of the right kind of pulpit eloquence, and private address, can get them up in certain sections of
the country, provided he knows how;-that is, provided he understands the mental action of the masses, and how to influence it. Maffit, the great revivalist, who figured so largely, and died so miserably, used to boast, in his palmiest days, as I was
told at Hartford, that he knew how to do it. And
certainly he did do it, most successfully.  Whether
or not he did it by any special aid of the Divine
Spirit, is, I apprehend, a question on which you and
I should not much differ.
Now in all this, let us not be understood as saying one word against true religious revivals; we believe they are greatly needed - revivals of practi



SEVENTH ABSURDITY.             195
cal godliness, which evince their divine origin, not
by the flame with which they burn, but by the reformation of heart and life, in which they perpetuate themselves. Nay, we should go out of our way,
here, to say anything, more than incidentally,
against anyformn of religious revival. We only protest against the prevalent and absurd notion, that
the escape of an ignorant and churchless people
from endless woe, depends upon the contingency of
a gospel minister of the revivalist stamp, or of any
other stamp, going among them for a short season.
The gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
is, indeed,;' the power of God unto salvation." Let
us not be understood as speaking lightly of it. It
should be preached to all. It is capable of blessing
all. We fully believe it eventually will. But eternity is the field of its bevevolent action, and not the
narrow  circumference of a single hour.  As the
power of God, its movements have a lofty purpose,
which it is mighty to fulfil, for its resources are the
universe. How then, shall it depend, ultimately,
upon the weak, sinful, human preacher - put its
trust in an arm of flesh, so that if that arm  fa il
through infirmity or disobedience, its purpose is defeated, in the sinner's everlasting damnation?
I know not how the above considerations may
strike you; but I hope that you will consider them
well; not indeed as argument put forth in the




196        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
defence of any religious theory, but as suggestive of
the probability that there is something wrong in the
popular creed, and that it becomes men, personally
interested as we all deeply are, in the doctrine of
retribution, if possible to find out the wrong, and
rectify it.
Truly yours,




LETTER XXI.
EIGLHTH ABSURDITY — HEATHEN LOST.
Exclamatory introduction-Eighth Afbsurdity, the heathen lostIdolatry-Where are the swarms of idolaters of the past?-Paul
would not have his brethren ignorant of those who had fallen
asleep-Geology, and spiritual paleontology —President Wayland, quotation from-A shudder-Emblazonry upon the clouds
of despair- Quotation from Rev. E. N. Kirk -Kirk and Wayland, true to the creed-More souls saved by heathen infanticides
than by Christian.Missionaries!!-To doubt that the heathen
are lost, is to suspect Universalism true-No mild endless punishment -Kirk again-But two Orthodox receptacles for the dead,
or but two conditions —Dr. Livingstone's query over the dead
African-Does the Bible give no light on the condition of our departed heathen brethren? —Dreadfulness of the Orthodox view
of them-Wilds of scholastic theology-Se plus ultra of absurdity
-Interdict upon common sense-Ghost of Banquo.
DEAR BROTHER,This green earth, and you and I walking over it!
These spangled heavens, and you and I walking under them!  Grand conceptions.  How  they overwhelmed the Psalmist, when'" at eventide,"  lifting
up his eyes in the contemplation of the immensity of
God's works, he exclaimed, "When I consider thy
heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and stars
-isY




198       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art
mindful of him, and the son of man that thou visitest him?" But the Psalmist was, in this case, hardly peculiar. All thinking men are, sometimes, consciously wrapt in Jehovah, as king David was.
And when I, in my humbler measure, have been so
carried away in thought, I have felt a strong sympathy with the man who, on being told that an aged
neighbor, recently deceased, was probably in perdition, coolly replied,'"I think the Author of this vast
universe can find some better business than to be
damning forever that poor old man! "
But, you will say, this is a strange opening for a
familiar letter; and yet, if you will consider it well,
I think it will not prove an unprofitable one. But
to bring our thoughts into line again, we proceed to
remark,
Eighth, That a very large proportion of all who
have lived upon and left the earth, up to the present time, have lived upon and left it, heathen. This
is the fact. Your creed implies that they are lost.
This is the seeming absurdity.
Idolatry very early appeared among men. It
went with Ham to Africa, with Shem to China, and
with Japhet to Europe,-or, at least, soon followed
them. Its prevalence is attested by very early records, and from the dawning of historic ages down
to the present time, it has been the law, and truer




EIGHTH ABSURDITY-HEATHEN LOST.  199
worship only the exception. Very important, therefore, is the question, what has become of the countless millions of our great brotherhood who have
died in idolatry?    t
Paul would not have his brethren ignorant " concerning those who had fallen asleep," even though
they had fallen asleep heathen. No more would we
be ignorant of the condition of the multitudes of our
heathen relation, who, after groping their dark and
evil way on earth, have fallen on sleep. Well is it
that the geologist deciphers the mazy records of material paleontology upon the charred tablets of our
crusted globe. But far better is it, that the religious antiquarian should inquire after the spiritual,
which accompanied the material - after the millions upon millions of immortal spirits which have,
from  age to age, been leaving their bodies behind
them, in the dust of the grave.
This question of the heathen's eternity is a vast
one, everywhere stirring men up, either to the abandonment of the popular penal creed, or to such modifications of it, as require the abandonment of the
stereotyped plates from which have been stricken
off a thousand editions of it.
This, as we have before said, is the creed.
1. Death does nothing to fit a soul for heaven.
2. No soul can be fitted for heaven after death.
3. Therefore all who die un-fit for heaven are lost




200       FOOTPRINTS EEAVENWARD.
forever. Under this view the heathen are disposed of in a syllogism, thus:
1. All who die unfit for heaven are lost.
2. The heathen die unfit for heaven, and therefore,
3. The heathen are lost.
With so simple a word, are the heathen of all
ages disposed of under the popular creed, - the
creed which, probably, finds no more truthful expositor, than the PRev. Dr. Wayland, long president
of Brown University, one of the clearest reasoners
and thinkers of the age, and whose published works
are giving him a just celebrity upon two continents.
In his "' Moral Dignity of the Missionary Enterprize," a discourse whose sublime completeness,
makes it well worthy to stand at the head of a volume of discourses on missions, the doctor says:
"We have considered these beings, [the heathen,] as candidates for an eternity of happiness or
misery, and we cannot avoid the thought that they
are exposed to endless misery. Hence, you will
observe, the question with us, is not, whether a heathen, unlearned in the gospel, can be saved. We
are willing to admit that he may. But if he be
saved, he must possess holiness of heart; for without holiness no man shall see the Lord. It is in
vain to talk about the innocence of these children of
nature, It is in vain to tell of their graceful my



EIGHTH ABSURDITY-HEATHEN LOST.  201
thology. Their gods are such as lust makes welcome. Of their very religious service, it is a shame
even to speak. To settle the question concerning
their future destiny, it would only seem necessary
to ask, what would be the character of that future
state, in which those principles of heart, which the
whole history of the heathen world developes, were
suffered to operate in unrestrained malignity?  No.
Solemn as is the thought, we do believe, that, dying
in their present state, they will be exposed to all
that is awful in the wrath of Almighty God I "
Thus does this clear thinker and writer give the
only fair and legitimate exposition of his creed, in
reference to the heathen. All different ones set that
creed at naught. To be consistent, we must either
abandon the cardinal principle of that creed, or else
believe that the vast multitudes of heathen who
have, from age to age, swarmed up in the earth,
and swept away into eternity, a broad deep rolling
river of immortal beings, are now swarming in Hell;
that they are there this moment, and there forever
to remain, suffering  all that is awful in the wrath
of Almighty God!" - This was the thought which
the doctor could not avoid without denying his
faith. And, surely, it is " solemn," and can but
make us shudder-shudder for the heathen, shudder
for the honor of God, and shudder with the exclamation, what if we had been born heathen five




202       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
thousand years ago!!  But is not this thought so
4" solemn," that it degenerates into an absurdity?
Is it not so expressive that it expresses nothing; so
overdone that it does nothing; so shocking to common sense that the heart, on reflection, cares little
for it. For, surely if the heathen do, for want of
the Gospel, go thus quickly down to hell, over the
sulphurous gateway by which they enter, to come
up no more, might well be written in emblazoned
characters, which should shine out like live coals
upon the dark, "' CHILDREN of God, drinking the
WRATH of God, for  owant of OPPORTUNITY to
ESCAPE it  /!"  And, spanning the smoky abyss of
their everlasting pain, might well be written "nillions of immortals DESTROYED by the BEING THAT
MADE TIEM:,for lack of knowledge, WHICH THEY
COULD NOT OBTAIN!!! All this brother, all this,
or the popular notion of endless punishment is a nullity!
The Rev. E. N. Kirk, speaking of the heathen in
a published missionary sermon, says,
"If we examine their lives, considered in the
light of a disciplinary, probationary, preparatory
state, [and that is the only earthly state in which
the popular creed considers them] we cannot believe that they go to heaven. They, as well as we,
must be regenerated, and that in this world. But
we find them as in Paul's day, infanticides, liars,




EIGHTH ABSURDITY —-HEATHEN LOST.  203
adulterers, covenant breakers, bestial, sensual, devilish, murderers of mothers;" and so Kirk agrees with
Wayland, that "these children of nature," in the
sweet language of the latter-these "poor pagans,"
to use the language of the former-are lost forever.
And surely as we have seen, they are thus lost, or
the orthodox creed must one day be thus lost. If
that creed be true, the link which binds it to these
appalling consequences, was welded upon the anvil of eternity, and can be no more broken than that
which binds the will of God to the execution of his
purposes.
Kirk speaks of the heathen as "infanticides;"
and they are so. Now for all who die in infancy,
but three things remain,-annihilation, damnation,
salvation. But Kirk, doubtless, believes in neither
the first nor the second. The third, therefore, only
remains. Infants are saved. And if saved, then,
though the victims of infanticide, happy are they,
compared with the victims of Kirk's earthly probation.  Happy is the mother who sees her babe
die, compared with the mother who sees her babe
live. For it to die under the violent hand of the
mother is everlasting salvation; whereas to lie upon
her bosom, till reared from it into self-reliant responsible days, is everlasting damnation! And here
culminates God's plan for separating parents and
children forever to the wide extremes of glory and




204        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
perdition. Here it is clearly seen that infanticides
are, in the unblurred eye of the popular creed, the
most successful infant savers-that more souls are
saved from  endless woe by heathen infanticides,
than by Christian missionaries!   And I would
suggest, whether an argument to the purpose of
orthodoxy is not found in the fact, that a relatively
larger number die in infancy in heathen than in
Christian lands.  May  it not be that God, in
his wise providence, takes more of the heathen
away infants, because if he saves them at all, it
must be at that tender age! A word to the wise is
sufficient.
True, indeed, it is, that many, pressed with the
absurdity, and barbarism we have been presenting
as the consequence of their creed, are hoping that it
is not so, hoping that the heathen shall in some way
be saved. But plainly, just to the extent to which
this hope is sound, is their creed rotten.  So Wayland, and so Kirk, and so consistency. But however Wayland, and however Kirk, and whatever
else to the contrary, there stands the creed with
positive and unerring finger, pointing all who die
unfit for heaven, directly downward to the shades
of interminable woe. The creed that does not do
this is " another" creed, on which the church deep
lays its broad brand of heresy.
Furthermore, while there are many who seek




EIGHTH ABSURDITY-HEATHEN LOST.  205
relief by hoping, against their creed, that the
heathen shall, in some way, be saved, there are not
a few who seek it, by dreaming that the sufferings
of the hell into which the heathen fall, though endless, are not very severe-perhaps almost tolerated.
But surely all they who hope for a mild endless
punishment, under the popular creed, are only
dreaming. For under that creed to quote from a
missionary sermon by Dr. Kirk, "We can conceive
of it, as nothing less than eternal banishment from
light, and life, and hope, to regions prepared for the
devil and his angels;" (not to add as Kirk does)
" where the soul shall be enveloped and penetrated
with a misery immense, infinite; where it shall find
nothing more in all beings, but an universal hell-a
hell within, a hell without, a hell in God himself!"
A mild endless punishment! And can there be
such, to a creature like man? And if there can be,
can that be such which involves the endless loss of
God's favor, and the endless darkness of his power!
Can the condition of a soul be anything short aor
more dreadful than language can express, or finite
mind imagine, when the last ray of the light of
God's countenance dies away upon it forever! W ho
can imagine, for the soul, a worse condition than
that into which it falls, when, either by judicial
decision, or by the operation of the common law of
18




20G        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWAIRD.
his universe, God puts it forever beyond the reach
of all means of grace?  Talk of a mild punishment
of an endlessly damned soul 7 It is to talk at random. A  soul left to wander forever from  God,
without the possibility of languishing into noughts
must at length reach a point of wretched.ness, at
which, it would be a relief to be thrown in-to a literal
lake of fire and brimstone! So dreadfnlly are all
lost, who, mnder the popular view of retribution, are
lost at all.
The doctrine is that the fature world affords but
two receptacles for all the dead, the one heaven and
the other hell; and that these two are separated by
an impassable gulf. Of course, all who are unfit
for the former place, are banished from it into the
latter. If you choose, you may regard these two
conditions of the dead, as states, rather than places.
It is all the same for our purpose.  And now I leave
it for any one to discover, either a gloomy corner in
the orthodox heaven or a lightsome corner in the
orthodox hell! Neither can be found, as we have
already seen, and therefore must the above view of
the future condition of the heathen be accepted,
or the popular dogma of endless punishment be
abandoned.
Dr. Livingstone, whose benevolent explorations
in Central Africa are exciting so much interest,
being present with a Bechuana tribe, at the time of




EIGHTH ABSURDITY —-HEATHEN LOST.  207
the death of its chief, Sebituane, spealking of the
circumnstance, says:-"' I never felt so much grieved
by t-he loss of a black mnan before; anti it was impossible not to follow  him, in thought, into the
world of which he had just heard, before he was
called away, and to realize somewhat of the feelings
of those who pray for the dead."  And he further
adds, "4 the deep dark question, what is to become of
such as he, must however be left where we find it,
believing that assuredly, 6; the judge of all the earth
will do right.'"
And is it indeed true, then, that even to the
Christian missionary, (for such is Dr. L.) the Scriptures, which profess to bring life and immortality to
light, give no clue to the futnre condition of the
heathen-constituting as they have done up to a
late date almost the entire human race?    e?   rwe
still in utter ignorance of where the great, chief
stream  of intelligent human existence, which has
been for thousands of years broadening and deepening and sweeping away, empties itself? or whether,
as was once thought of the Niger, it loses itself in
the sands of annihilation?  We cannot think so.
Orthodoxy, straight out, does not think so. To it
the questioz of the future condition of the heathen
is neither deep nor dark, though the abyss into
which it makes the heathen sink, is both.  It rat-her
assures us, as we have seen, that the broad, deep,




208        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
rolling tide of heathenism, compared with which,
Christianity is but a little rill, has ever been, and
still is, pouring itself an awful Niagara down the
rocks of damnation into eternity's vast dead sea,
ocean, of living woe. And, I repeat, this I must
believe, as a votary of othodoxy, or part with its
theory of retribution. I may wonder that God
should have it so. I may be amazed that he has
not been, and is not, in greater haste to send the
gospel to the heathen! I may shudder at the compromise of his paternal love! I may deem  it all
unqualified absurdity, or something worse!  But I
must believe it, or oblique off into, what the church
calls, heresy.
And now, brother, however you may be at first
impressed with the presentations of this letter, I am
persuaded that, on reflection, you will see that I
have nothing overstated or overdrawn.  So true is
it that he, who with his eyes open, wanders where
orthodoxy leads, oft finds himself in the gloomy
depths of vast howling wildernesses, where, under
the dark shadows with which his theory invests his
God, he may well cry out in anguish, s all is dark,
dark, dark; and I cannot disguise it."
So true is it-and while it is warm on my heart I
will say it-that you may search the religious and
mythological records of all ages, and not another
doctrine can you find, written upon vellum or foolscap, by Pagan, Mahomedan, or Christian pen, in



EIGHTH ABSURDITY- HEATHE N LOST.  209
volving directly, and by association, so many, so
glaring, and so horrid absurdities as this same
most Christian doctrine of endless punishment.
Do you say again, I speak strongly. Be it so.
You will not say that I overstate anything. Nay,
do I not understand everything; and this of necessity.  Do you not feel that the doctrine I reject,
whether true or false, by the terribleness of its absurdities, sets all human language at defiance!
Are not some of them  such, that, shrinking from
their contemplation, your only rest and safeguard
against what is called heresy, is in putting an interdict upon your common  sense  and  consciousness. Do not some of the absurdities noted in these
letters meet you at every turn, and often confront
you so boldly, that you are obliged to attempt to
deal summarily with them, while at the same time,
you are astonished that they will not more readily
L" down at your bidding?"  But these, unlike the
ghost of Banquo, are 1" real, not imaginary difficulties."*  We close tlhis letter, praying that, under
the sure guidance of the word and spirit of God,
you may find your way out of them; and that way
I think you will have discovered, when you sufficiently consider Jesus as the exponent of the Fcather's love.
Yours truly.
*Barnes.
18.




LETTER XXII.
OBLIVIOUSNESS  TO  CONSEQUENCES.
Creed and consequences go together —Hard to separate the two in
thought —Advice to a widow —JV'inth A.bsurdity stated —Stuart's
method of relief, remarks upon; 1, Link broken; 2, Natures of the
righteous changed; 3, Why not of the wicked; 4, Ishmaelites in
heaven; 5, Sense of God's goodness forbidden. — God will destroy
sin rather than the Christian virtues-The good Professor restsSecond rate advisers-Perdition exposed, but not its victims!-Not
think of the creel's consequences!-Hard to hold it, sometimes
harder to abandon it-Veteran Soldier.
DEAR BROTIHER,Perhaps you are saying, I am weary of absurdities.  And if so, I think you may well be weary of
the creed which  involves them.  That very creed
you hold, say you are satisfied with it, and, I presume, intend to keep it. But if you keep it, you
must keep these wearisome absurdities.  For they
are part and parcel of it -  as inseparable from it, as
darkness from  chaos.  I know, indeed, that, pressed
with their hideousness, many a theologian, under the
deepening light of Christian civilization, is striving
hard  to  divorce them  from  it.  But all in  vain.
They are fixed to it, like serfs to their soil.  No




OBLIVIOUSNESS TO CONSEQUENCES.   211
shrewdness of management can ever secure a bill of
their divorcement, in any court of common sense.
Joined together like cause and effect, if the one be
taken, the other cannot be left. If the one be left,
the other cannot be taken. It is in vain that you
invite the Devil to dine, with the polite request that
he leave his cloven foot behind.
Perhaps the best thing that those can do, who feel
that they must hold the popular creed, is to be as
oblivious as possible to its consequences — a thing
which many are attempting; but which, to live
minds, were like attempting to forget the dead whose
ghosts nightly haunt their pillows. Yet, I once heard
a weeping widow publicly advised to do so, by the
minister, at the funeral of her wicked husband,-advisecd not to think at all of his condition in the future
world. But what advice! How comforting! Not
think of her dear husband! And had she not his
miniature in her bosom, and a lock of his hair in her
drawer, and loving words he had once spoken, in the
hour of their plighted faith, embalmed in her memory, — and dear children by her side, bearing his
imnage, and asking, "' Where's father?" And touched by their tender and ingenuous questions, does she
not often turn away to weep? And yet, is she cruelly told, not to think of her husband! Or shall she
think of him, but not of his conditions. Impossible!
The father and his believed condition must appear




212        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
only together upon the tablet of her memory!
They admit of no dissociation in her widowed mind.
Yet such was the advice given. And cruel as it
was, it was, perhaps, the best possible, under the
dominant creed. With no kindlier and more comforting words, can its Christianity minister to many
of the broken hearted victims of bereavement.
And, to accept such words, is to do the greatest
violence to our holiest affections, and the greatest
injustice to those whose condition we attempt to
forget. For myself, may nobody think of me, when
I am dead who will not sympathetically follow me
into the future world. And this brings me to a
Ninth absurdity, involved in your creed, and
which I will formally note.  It is this; that it
requires its votaries to believe that all the generous sympathies with our fellow beings, which
our holy religion teaches us to cherish in our hearts
here, and which are here the glory of the Christian
character, are, in heaven, to  be so completely
C' extinguished," that we shall be able, without pain,
to listen to, or contemplate, the wailings of unrelieved despair. By that creed, the loving husband is required to believe that, in heaven, among
the " spirits of the just made perfect," he shall so
cease to pity, or care for, his own excellent but
unconverted wife, that, after having  hung tearfully
over her in death, rcgrettiang only that he could not




OBLIVIOUSNESS TO CONSEQUENCES.   213
divide with her the anguish of its struggle, and
after having survived her to drop many a tear uupon
her miniature, he shall, all at once, become so indifferent to her fate, as to answer her endless wailings, with endless hallelujahs! And this seems to
me an absurdity.
But whether an absurdity or not, it has involved
great and good souls in difficulty. Instance, Professor Stuart. Speaking in reference to it, he says,
"' If parents, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, must
see those dear as their own life, perish at last, while
they themselves are saved, heaven, in mercy, will
either extinguish their social susceptibilities, or else
give them such a sweet and overpowering sense of
the justice and goodness of God as shall not permit
the joys of the blessed to be marred, nor the songs
of the redeemed to be interrupted, with sighs of
sympathetic sorrow. How this will or can be done,
we may never know in the present world; nay, we
may have many a distressing hour, while enquiring
how it can be done, unless our natures are wholly
changed." So speaks the Professor, and what
meaning is in his words! What must be the
strength of that necessity, which, in such a mind,
hypothecates such assumptions - social susceptibilities extinguished! natures wholly  changed!
And on these we may well remark,
1. That, if the nature of souls is to be so




214       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
"wholly changed" on entering the future world,
we see no such connexion between this world and
that, as can make our conduct in this, determine our
character and consequent destiny in that. For then
is our resurrection in the future world, just about
equivalent to a new creation. The link of moral
connexion between the two worlds, is then comnpletely broken. But this, Orthodoxy very justly
denies; and, in  denying it, virtually  denies the
hypothesis of Stuart, that our natures are to be so
wholly changed.
2. We remark that, if, consistently with the
Divine plan, the natures of the righteous can be so
changed in the future world, that they shall cease
to pity the hopeless sufferings of their lost fellow
beings, we see not why, upon the same principle,
by an act of God no more arbitrary-the natures of
the wicked may not be so changed, there, that they
shall cease to love and desire sin. And this latter
especially, seeing that it is evident that the motives
of sin are largely "in this mortal flesh," which is
put off in the grave. As above intimated, we
advocate no such arbitrary change, any way. But
its admission were fatal to the Orthodoxy which
says, " As death leaves us, so judgment will find
US.~
3. But more than this should be said. For, to
the intelligent Christian, the entire revealed charac



OBLIVIOUSNESS TO CONSEQUENCES.    215
ter of God, becomes ground of inference that whatever change of nature is arbitrarily wrought upon
the soul as it leaves the body, that change must be
in favor of virtue rather than of vice —must be
rather to soften and sanctify sinners, than to harden
and deprave saints-to " extinguish " earthly vices
rather than Christian virtues!
4. And further, the idea that God shall G" so
extinguish " the social susceptibilities " of the
glorified, strikes the mind with peculiar horror.
To do that, were to  fill heaven —if not with
Ishmaelites, every spirit's hand being against every
other spirit's hand —at least, with sorry anchorites,
sitting, every one by his own solitary fire, and without a neighbor, all over the deserts of eternity.
For, certainly, with "6 social susceptibilities" extinguished, there can be no society. The ability to
pity, is but a form of the ability to love.  With the
extinguishment of the former, therefore, must go
out also the latter.  And so because the saints nmust
not pity, they must be disabled for love; and hence
the many'voiced song of social praise must be hushed before the throne, forever! hence must darkness
gather over the eternal hills of light, and paradise
lie in its final shroud.  But,
5.  Unless the natures of the redeemed are wholly
changed, the very perpetual act of God in keeping
their friends alive in endless suffering, must forever




216        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
forbid to them that s" sweet and overpowering sense
of the justice and goodness of God," which, the
Professor supposes, may reconcile them to it. The
more " sweet and overpowering" is our sense of
God's " goodness and justice," the more severe and
distressing is our heart's struggle with the notion
that he inflicts endless pain, directly or indirectly,
upon our fellow creatures —" bone of our bone and
flesh of our flesh."
But thus did the heart of Stuart struggle, and
thus did his head speculate. Nor could he, on reflection, fail to see that, as "God is love," we
should look for his extinguishment of the sinner's
susceptibility to sin, rather than of the saint's susceptibility to pity-that whatever arbitrary change
is to be wrought in disembodied souls, must be
to destroy the vices which the Incarnate denounced, rather than the virtues which  His life
and teachings exalted. And certainly, among these
virtues, is the charity which loves all, pities all, and
seeks the good of all, enemies as well as friends.
PHow then shall this virtue, or the susceptibility to
it, be extinguished, even though it be, as our Professor supposes, to prevent heaven from being
eclipsed in the dark shadow of hell. But enough.
Thus did the heart of Stuart struggle with his
penal creed. The spectacle of his struggle is indeed
sublime.  It severely taxed his ingenuity.  But it




OBLIVIOUSNESS TO CONSEQUENCES.   217
is now ended. The good man rests. Nor do we
believe that his excellent "nature is so wholly
changed," or his "social susceptibilities" extinguished, or that, by any other means, he is brought
to rejoice in the endless woe of those whom he, as a
Christian, necessarily loved on earth.
But Stuart, so far as we know, said nothing
about relief sought by forgetting the dead. It is
only second class thinkers who thus advise. And
even these second rate advisers are even pointingy
fus to the miseries of the lost, to deter us, as they
say, from going to their'6 place of torment." So
inconsistent are they. Why, I have seen the exi
cellent minister, referred to above, as advising the
mourning widow, eloquently lead his audience, to
use nearly his words, " up to the verge of the pit,
that they might look down over the battlement of
hell upon the anguish of the damned." But he
would not have the widow do this, lest she should
descry her husband among them, "treading the
burningr marl."
The doctrine of endless woe is deemed so fundamental and efficient, that the creed from which it
is excluded, is deemed more than useless. But that
dark item were certainly, valueless, if unthought of.
And yet those men who value it so highly, tell us
not to think of it, or to think of it only abstractly;
which is to do the impossible thing, of thinking of
19




218        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
the sufferings of hell, without thinking of the sufferers. And what wisdom is here!  What consistency.
H-old a creed, and not think of its consequences!
Why, we need a creed, only in view  of its consequences, just as we need causes, only in view of
their effects.  If the contemplation of the consequences of a creed is unprofitable, then drop it. It
is not of God.  If any part of it is thus unprofitable,
drop that part.  So much of it as is of God is
profitable to contemplate, and so much, therefore
should be cherished; its damnatory clauses not
excepted. Its minister should see that its hell
stand as fully exposed, as its heaven, and that the
damned walk before the eyes of the living in the
darknes of despair, as distinctly as the saved in the
light of Paradise! Thus only shall they be well
assisted,
" To escape from hell and fly to heaven.'
Not think of the consequences of your creed! not
even when it involves our fellow men in an almost
universal and overwhelming everlasting ruin! and
when it involves the government of God the Father,
in almost every variety of seemingly, palpable,
evident, self-evident, absurdity and injustice.
Not think of the consequences of your creed!
As well be a "'dead man out of mind."  As well




OBLIVIOUSNESS TO CONSEQUENCES.   219
were the creed itself dead! We rejoice to see it
dying! 
Not think of the consequences of your creed!
You, brother, will not say so. For you must clearly
see, that, to be blind to its consequences, is equivalent to its abandonment. I think you will try to,
either boldly face it, or openly abandon it. I do
not impute to you the unmanliness, which declines
to do either. I will be charitable. My own experience has taught me that, to do either, is sometimes, only like doing the hardest of things. It is
only under the pressure of a terrible necessity, that
mourners submit to go wild in the funeral of the
wicked dead. They will generally hope, though
their creed go to the winds. The heart God gave
them will believe the dead in heaven, or in hopes of
it, even as though, to believe them  there, actually
tore them from  the meshes of their creed, and put
them there. Too true is it that
"Hope springs eternal in the human breast."
So hard is it to face the consequences of the popular creed! Whereas, its actual abandonment, is,
if possible, harder still. That is to be hoped for,
only in the last extreme! The veteran  soldier
surrenders, only when his last gun is silenced, and
the flag-staff of the enemy is upon the wall. And
yet you know, brother, and I pray that you may




220       FOOTPRINTS HIEAVENWARD.
feel, that immortal man is never more thoroughly a
conqueror, never more exalted in his humble consciousness, never in stronger sympathy with the
angels that excel in strength, and never more Godlike, than when he meekly surrenders himself to his
own convictions!
Yours truly.




CHAPTER XXIHI.
A POINT BETWEEN TWO MOMENTS.
Theological reform gradual.-Dawn upon the close of the clark
ages.-The Bramin's microscope.-Visit to a dying sinner.-Heart
query.-Title to heaven secured in a; moment. —Lorenzo Dow.Repentance always profitable.-A moment, a century, eternity.Eternity depends on a point of time between two moments.Catholic Priests.-Young man's funeral.-Last hour of life an
excitecl one  so is every hour. —Heart rebels.-Query comes.What if any other system of faith involved such absurdities!
DEAR B]3ROTH ER,I shall stop  writing  of absurdities.  But you
will, (as I have before intimated), be relieved of their
tediousness,  only by the abandonment of your penal
creed.  You cannot turn them out of doors, because
they  are part of the house.  Nor can they fail to
glare more sharply up, as the light of your heart
deepens.  Such, I think, has been your experience
thus far, and such must it continue to be.
It was only very gradually, that the light of civilization dawned upon the close of the dark ages.
And just so gradually, did the church  expurgate
her creed of the more obviously absurd of its damnatory clauses.  The doctrine of infant destruction,
190




222        F'OOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
for instance -who can tell when it ceased to be
believed? It only melted into a better faith, before
the deepening light, as night melts into day. We
only know that the church, from holding it firmly,
at length, impressed with its absurdity, came to hold
it loosely, and finally, turning to the Bible, found
that it was not taught there, and so, repudiated it
altogether. And so also, at this day, are other
things equally absurd and obnoxious, appearing in
the popular creed, brought out under the increasing
light, as new stars are brought out under the increased power of the telescope.  And shall not
these also pass away. Already are they driving
thinkers into all sorts of shifts for relief. Every day
are they becoming more startling and appalling.
And shall they not pass away?  They certainly
must. And this, in just so far as thinking minds
turn, impartially, to the patient study of the Scriptures!
We have referred to the telescope.  It does not
make stars, where  before  all seemed  starless.
Neither does light upon the mind make absurdities,
where before all seemed reasonable. It only reveals
them.  They were always matters of fact; as were
tile living creatures, in the water drank by the
Bramin who smashed the microscope.  We will
imitate the B3ralin, neither by resisting the light,
nor affecting to ignore the absurdities it reveals.




A POINT BETWEEN TWO MOMENTS.    223
For, in the language of Barnes, as before quoted,
they "are real not imaginary difficulties."  And
the more the believer in endless woe studies God in
Nature and in Grace, the more will they meet him
at every turn. For instance,
You, as a minister, are called upon at midnight,
to visit a member of your congregation, suddenly
and dangerously ill, lying at the point of death.
Like a faithful shepherd, you heed the summons.
Hastening to his house, his sisters meet you at the
door, with an air of the deepest sadness. Sad are
they because they are to lose their brother, but
sadder, because he is likely to lose his soul. For
he has been irreligious, and perhaps profane. They
feel that, according to your teachings, his eternity
depends upon a momentary treatment of his case.
Of course, they entreat you to do all for his salvation, possible; a thing for which you are quite
ready. You enter the sick room. The dying man
stretches out his hand to you, or barely gives signs
of welcome. Evidently the tide of life is ebbing
rapidly away. You seat yourself by his bedside,
and —-- but you can fill up the picture, brother.
And now, in that dark, dying hour, comes there
not a deep heart-querying, whether God has really
ordained that the popular alternatives of life andl
death to that man's soul, shall depend upon a midnight dying hour? an hour when he is abnorrnal




224       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
with pain and anodyne, and fear?  Comes not the
query, lurking among the shadows, whether, if the
sick man is prepared only for endless woe this hour,
anything that you can do for him, can, under grace,
so change his relations to the universe, that, dying
the next hour, he shall be fit for the society of
angels forever. Ah, brother, if you are the man I
mean, then, well do I know how deep are your
queryings here, over what you had taught, and
what your creed involves, and what, I am confident,
must pass away. For, of all hours for transacting
important business, a dying hour, with its weakness
and pain, and excitement or stupidity, is least
fitting; save perhaps in some cases of the calmest
Christian peace.
For the present, however, this idea of sudden
conversion in the hour of death extensively prevails
-prevails co-extensively with the popular creed.
So that, thousands upon thousands are now deemed
to be in heaven, who secured their title to it in a
brief moment of that hurried repentance, into which
they were frightened in the hour of death. But is
it so? Does it not, in calm reflection seem to you
too absurd?  Not only are the subjects of this supposed change, in the worst condition for transacting
spirit-work, but have you not seen that, when disappointed in dying, they, by their return to their
fornler thoughtlessness, show that the change, on




A POINT BETWEEN TWO MOMENTS.   225
which heaven would have been predicated in their
funeral, had they died, was, after all, only imaginary?  And when you have seen this, have you
not been staggered? Do you say, "I don't believe
in this dying bed repentance?" Very well. But
to say that, is to thin the ranks of the redeemed
and to thicken the ranks of the lost. To say that,
is to dash the fond hopes and anticipations of thousands of mourners, by casting their dead out of
heaven into hell!
Lorenzo Dow said what he had a mind to; and
among other odd things, that " sinners will burn the
candle of life all out, and then hope to appease
everlasting wrath, by throwing the snuff in God
Almighty's face."  But, brother, do you not find it
hard to believe that with that snuff —that miserable
residuum of a life of sin, the sinner can secure an
eternal reprieve from perdition, and an eternal right
to heaven?
WVe are not here saying one word against sincere
repentance, at any time and place. God hears his
children, always. But that he should say to the
sinner, 4" give me this last bed-ridden moment of
your life, and I will give you an eternity of blessing; withhold it, and I will give you an eternity of
cursing!" that seems too much for intelligent belief. But is it not involved in your creed? practically involved-so involved that about all the
holders of the one, hold the other also?




226       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
A Roman Catholic priest, speaking of the victims
of the fall and flame of the ill-fated "Pe6mbeqton,"
comforted their surviving friends, by hoping thft
they had time to make their peace with God, before
they died. And is not this the comfort that Protestant clergymen often give, at the funerals of the
irreligious dead?'" He might have found  God,
between mast head and deck." Only recently we
heard a minister, in the funeral of a young man,
after cautioning the audience not to delay seeking
God, by referring to the fact that the deceased was
so delirious in his sickness that he could not be
so much as "' pointed to Christ," add, for the comfort
of the family, that "just before he died, he had a
lucid interval, and might have got a glimpse of
Christ." And now brother does your hope for the
dead hang upon such uncertainties, as fill up the
medicated, and delirious experiences of a poor mortal's dying hour?
But if you say you do not believe in this death
bed repentance; then I reply-but you do believe
in the repentance of this life, as determining the
creature's eternity. And what you do believe in
this matter, involves an absurdity just as great and
glaring as that involved in what you do not believe.
For one single minute, or even the millionth part of
a minute, bears the same relation to eternity, which
is borne by the largest conceivable period of time.




A POINT BETWEEN TWO'MOMENTS.    227
In other words such' a period of time bears no
relation to eternity, which is not borne by the largest conceivable period.  Hence it is equally as
absurd to believe that God should ordain that man
should determine his eternity of weal or woe by the
action of a century, as by the action of a second.
All limited periods of duration stand to eternity,
only in the simple relation of the finite to the infinite.  Htence, if you hold that the creature's eternity is determined in this lfe, you may as well hold
that it is determined by the last moment of this life,
seeing that you hold to what involves precisely the
same principle.
But further; I think your credal theory is, that
every person is at every moment in such condition,
that, dying, he would go direct to either heaven or
hell. And this being so, it follows that, to every
person redeemed, there must have been a moment
in which he was fit for destruction, followed, imnmediiately, by a moment in which he was fit for glory.
And hence, in these two consecutive moments-nay,
at a point of time betiwee~n them, or on an imaginary
line separating the two-the soul must have been
completely redeemed-taken from  the "stones of
the pit" to the threshold of heaven-from  endless
nilght, to endless day. And thus, by a logical necessity of your theory, eternities mightier far than
the universe, turn on mere pivots, points of time.




228        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
And this being so, why should the notion of salvation in a last moment, —-" between mast-head and
deck"-be at all questioned.  If eternity depends
upon a single moment, why may it not be the last
one, as well as any other?
But, as we seem to have changed sides you may
say, "the last hour of life is generally an excited
one." And so it is. But what of that? Is not
every hour of life an excited one —if we except the
hours of sleep? Are not most men more than half
intoxicated with something or other, all the way
along fiom the cradle to the grave.  It may be with
business, it may be with pleasure, it may be with
politics, it may be with scholastic theology, it may
be with wine.'" Childhood is restless ever," and so
is age. And that, under all the passionate excitement through which man makes his way to the
earth, and under which he is born, and into which
he is thrown, and midst which he is obliged to live,
he should be expected, or rather necessitated, to
settle the appalling questions of' Orthodox eternities, were, to me, as great a wonder as, that this
eternity-work, should devolve on a last moment of
life; and this the more especially, seeing that the
creature knows nothing, only as he learns it, and is
obliged, therefore, to live one life, to learn how to
live. The principle involved in the two cases, is,
in the last analysis, entirely the same.




A POINT BETWEEN TWO MOMENTS.   229
Shuffle the matter as we will, to this nicety do
we at last come, making the man's eternity of positive joy or sorrow depend on some single moment
of his ignorant and excited earthly life. And perhaps, you deem that you can meet the difficulty it
involves, with ease. But, on reflection, and after
all, do you not find, the heart God gave you, charged with an inalienable idea of justice and goodness,
rising up in rebellion against it?  And this, especially, as you visit the dying sinner, and attempt
to comfort mourners around the coffins of death-bed
repentance? or, even as you look out upon the face
of society, organized under the eye of heaven and
in the midst of all the good which comes down from
the Father of Lights?"  And will not the query
come, and stay, whether the creed which involves
such nicety, may not, must not, be false?  And
does not such a query, oftimes greatly weaken the
confidence with which you assert the doctrine of
doom, and exhort and persuade your fellow sinners,
whether in the church, in the chamber of the dying,
or at the funeral of the dead? And if any new
system of faith were presented you, involving such
absurdities as we have seen that yours involves,
would you not reject it, without so much as examination?  0 the power of a false religious education. It almost conquered even Luther himself.
Yours truly.
20




LETTER XXIV.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN  MEN'S HEARTS.
Expounding the Judgment parable; line drawn, reflection afterwards-Query in social meeting-The exhorter and the exhorted
-The shattered man's remark-Difference between -men; too
small for the eternities-If we could see hearts, would the difference seem greater? —If so, would the increase of difference be in
favor of the righteous?-The Revivalist and the Philosopher,which soundest before God?-Gradation of character - The scale
cut-A pause in sermon-writing —'"Are you sure the Lord says
so?'-Punishment before judgment-Cursed out of sleep into endless woe-Future suffering forbids what the suffering of this life
seeks —Satan's thanksgivqing —-Items jotted —-The spectral camp.
IDE AR  BROTHER, — 
You are expounding the parable of the sheep and
the goats,-making  it separate the human family,
right and left, to the wide extremes contemplated by
your creed. And when you have made parents and
their children part-" part to meet no more,"-you
proceed to ask your audience, who of them are prepared for the'6 right hand" of the Judge, and who
for the  "left."   And perhaps  you  earnestly  cry,
" should the Judge descend this moment in  a cloud
of flame, and draw the  line  of eternal judgment
through this audience, on which side would you individually fall? "




DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN'S HEARTS. 231
Your sermon is ended. You shake hands with
A, B, and C, the congregation disperse, and you
are at home. And now as you sit there, quietly,
do you not seriously query, whether there can
be difference enough between, even the best and the
worst of your congregation, to make the former fit
for, or worthy of, endless life, in heaven, and the
latter, of endless death, in hell. Some of them
profess to be Christians, others do not. Some of
them are really better than others. But viewing
them from any stand-point, other than their profession, and especially viewing them  froln the standpoint of reason and common sense, do they not seem
too much alike, —to have too many good and bad
things in common,-to be the everlasting antipodes
of the moral universe! When in your 6 conference
meeting," sitting quietly by the altar, you hear one
of your brethren exhorting his neighbors to repent,
are you not often asking yourself whether, if that
brother be saved his neighbors can hardly be lost?
He may be a brother well worthy of your confidence. But even yet, after bating his habit of formal religious service, and, judging him by his daily
life and spirit, does he differ so very materially front
those whom he exhorts, as his profession, in the eye
of your creed, indicates? Is he less devoted to
gain, or more benevolent?  Is he less sh/arp in
trade? Is he more industrious, or has he less self



232        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
conceit? Is he more consistent with his profession?
Is he less ambitious, or does he do more to harmonize society? Is he less careless of his tongue?
Has he fewer sides, or do you better know where to
find him? Is he a better citizen? In a word, his
profession and ritual service aside, does he appear
so very materially different from his non-professing
neighbors?
Said a shattered man,  "The Lord knoweth them
that are his, and it is well that he does; for if he
did not, I don't know who under heaven could."
And, brother, do you not often feel the force of this
remark, as you look out upon the face of your congregation, or upon the church generally?  Do not
its deacons and ministers, almost equally with its
laymen, give unmistakeable evidence of selfishness,
ambition, jealousy of place. I scarcely know a minister, seemingly more ambitious than one whom I
heard put in the fact that ambition did not inhere
in, or depend upon the human body, and therefore
would not be thrown off with it, as evidence against
the doctrine of universal holiness. So true is it that
men may be "proud of their periods thundered
against pride," that
-"1ll men have flaws,
Some men have few, and some are flaw all o'er,"
and when a man finds himself intent on marking the




DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN'S HEARTS.  233
sins of others, and deeming himself worthy in comparison with them, he would do well to remember
the exclamation of Scotia's bard,
"0 wad some power the giftie gie us,
To see oursels as ithers see us! "'Now, in all this, let me not be understood as calling experimental religion in question, but the contrary.  Nor am I to be understood as doubting that,
taking Protestant Christendom  through, professed
Christians are, as a general thing, the more godly
part of community.  But I am to be understood, as
saying that the difference between their moral character and that of others around them, and intimately mingling with them, in their neighborhoods and
households, seems quite too small to become at
death, an impassable gulf, dividing them to heaven
and hell forever.  And, if I am not mistaken, the
absurdity here involved, sometimes so glares upon
you from your creed, that your soul is, for the
time being, paralyzed for its defense; and this, especially as you mingle with your promiscuous parishioners, sit in their families, acknowledge their kindness, and see their contributions falling into a common treasury.
Perhaps you will say, "M 1an looks on the outward appearance," and that, could we look at the
heart, we should see a greater difference between
20'




234        FOOTPRINTS IIEAVENWARD.
the so-called regenerate and the unregenerate, than
now appears." And perhaps we should. But is it
certain that the increase of difference would be in
favor of the former?  I think not, and that the contrary were the more probable. For, does not the
professed Christian feel a special necessity for keeping his external character smoothed up to the level
of his profession, to meet the public expectation?
And'is not his external character, therefore, a little
less likely to be the true exponent of his heart?
Whereas, the worldling, without any particular profession, is, I think, the more likely to pour his internal character, right out upon his surface life.  So
that, I think it biould be regarded as, at least, very
doubtful, whether, could we see the hearts of men,
we should find the increased difference of character
thereby revealed, to be in favor of professed Christians.
But further; I think it is not certain that, could
we examine hearts, we should find the difference between men greater than appears in their lives.
Though we might find their hearts all the worse, why
might not the difference between them, be all the
less? For, in the heart estimate, as God reckons
its knowledge and ignorance, happy and unhappy
stars, modify the result.
George Whitefield  vainly besought Benjamin
Franklin to seek religion as the former understood it.




DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN S HEARTS. 235
The great preacher deemed himself saved, and the
great philosopher lost. But could you have looked
into the hearts of the two individuals, even at the
time when Whitefield was preaching to congregated
thousands in the open air, and Franklin, removing
farther and farther from the stand, was philosophically estimating the compass of the human voice,
might you not have found the heart of the philosopher as sound in the sight of God, as that of the revivalist. So I am inclined to think. If the latter
fulfilled his mission, did not the former fulfil his?
What human being ever had a mightier mission
than Franklin,-inspired men excepted? And could
you look upon the hearts of your parishioners, I am
inclined to think that you would find them to differ,
even less than they seem to.  Certainly, all that I
have seen of testing hearts, by throwing them under
circumstances calculated to bring out what did not
before appear, goes to favor such a conclusion - to
show that hearts differ less at the centre, than at the
surface. And so I think you find no relief from
your perplexity, by appealing from the visible to
the invisible character of the people.
We have around us every grade of character,
ranging from the highest good to the lowest bad.
Now, to suppose a line to cut the scale at any point,
separating all above it to heaven, and all below to
hell, were to suppose a seeming absurdity. For the




236       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
one next above the point where the scale is cut,
must differ from the one next below, only by an inappreciable quantity. And when, in obedience to
your creed, you suppose such a line to be drawn,
separating the different members of your congregation,-of the families of your parishioners. and of
your own family, to infinite extremes of joy and woe
forever, I think you sometimes stagger backward,that then, if you are engaged at writing a sermon,
you sometimes pause; lean back in your chair, turn
upon your elbow, drop your head upon your hand,
look thoughtfully at the window till the ink dries in
your pen, and then, slowly wetting it again, and
turning to your growing manuscript, you ejaculate,
as you resume your work, "Well, the Lord says so,
and I suppose I must believe it;" and so your sermon is completed. But were I present, just then, I
should ask, "are you quite sure that the Lord says
so?" You have been taught and trained from a
child that be does, and studied theology through
text-books, based on the assumption that he does,
and as I look at your library, and see how  exparte
is the evidently used portion of its theological works,
I am bold to ask, whether after all, and frankly, you
have ever impartially examined the subject pro and
con. And if not, how dare you feel so confident
what the Lord says about human destiny? This is
a matter to be looked after, especially when it is




DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN'S HEARTS. 237
considered that, "there is nothing respecting which
a man may be so long unconscious, as of the
strength and extent of his prejudices."
You are preaching about the last judgment as
you understand it. But while you are teaching
your hearers that it is to occur at the end of the
world, and only after all questions of character shall
have been fully settled, and after both saints and
sinners shall have been long in heaven and hell respectively, (or in an unconsciousness from which
the latter must be cursed back into life again,) are
you not sometimes struck with the seeming absurdity that the Father should bring them up from their
flames, and down from their bliss, to be again mingled together for a judgment day, and then separated, right and left, to where they were before, or as
some suppose, respecting the lost, to a worse place
-to sorrows deepened and heightened forever.
Or if you take the ground that both saint and
sinner lie in unconscious sleep till the end of time,
and that then both are aroused for judgment, by the
trump of the archangel, are you not met by the cruel absurdity that the Father should curse the sinner
back to consciousness, make him sensitive again,
merely that he may pour upon him his wrath forever? Why not let him slumber on? Why awaken
him to have "no rest day and night," in the dismal
tossings of absolute despair! VWho may say why




238        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
any being less than an infinite despot, should do so
cruel and barbarous a thing. But such is not'"Our
Father which is in heaven."
Or further, if you take what I deem the only consistent orthodox ground - the ground that as judgment is not till the close of probation, there is no
punishment during probation, that is, during this
life - then you are met with the absurd notion that
the good Father withholds punishment, so long, as
it caa possibly do any good, and then, when it is
too late for it to do any good, pours it out upon his
children forever. Or, if you admit that God punishes sinners in this life, then are you glared upon,
not only by the absurdity that he punishes forever,
when too late to do any good, but that the punishment which he inflicts in the future life, should be
of a nature absolutely to forbid the reformation of
character, which in this life it is designed to promote. So that Satan, at length, should have occasion to thank God for barring the way of his victims from hell back to heaven again.
But this letter is long enough. Its several items
are jotted down as leading indices to a long series of
absurdities which we have not time to compute,absurdities which are meeting the open orthodox
thinker at every turn, and in every form - absurdities which multiply and become more hideous with
the increase of light, and in whose presence reason




DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN S HEARTS.  239
and common sense must bow themselves, as the vassals of the Vatican before the image of Saint Peter.
"Gigantic shapes,"'"midnight phantoms," as unreal
as the creed which grows them  is  untruthful, a
"spectral camp," they
"Beleaguer the human soul.'
I leave you, brother, to buffet them, earnestly
praying that with the Bible in your hand, wide open
towards the light of heaven, you may yet sing,
"Down the broad vale of tears afar,
The spectral camp is fled;
Faith shineth as a morning star,
Our ghastly fears are dead."
Yours truly.




LETTERI XXV.
THE ARGUMENT FROM TEMPORAL SUFFERING.
Reasoning from limited to endless suffering-The two things infinitely
unlike-The former limits itself, the latter knows no limitationSupposed Analogy-Paul-Argument applies to both the righteous and the wicked-Suffering in this world a means, endless suffering an end-The former has an afterwards, the latter not-The
true analogy-Tables turned -Lafayette at Olmutz-Prisonersof
the Inquisition, eternal prison -A caution-New scientific discoveries dissipate old fears-Illustrations, Thunder, Moon, CometThink.
DEAR BROTHER,
While the absurdities which we have mentioned
seem quite real, you will very likely try to prove
them imnaginary. For if they are absurdities in fact,
then is your penal creed an absurdity in fact, —a
chief absurdity, involving all the subordinate ones,greater than any, because comprehending all.  But
such  an  admission  you  will not readily  make.
Against it, you will be likely to argue.
For instance, in reference to the absurdity that the
living Father should create children for fore-known
or fore-ordained endless suffering, you will fall back
again and again, to say, " Absurd or not absurd,




ARGUMENT FROM TEMPORAL SUFFERING. 241
it is a fact, that God either fore-ordained or foreknew, suffering for the creature in this life; and if
in this life, why not in the life to come?  Why
may not the latter be matter of faith, seeing that
the former is matter of fact."  And to this I reply, very well, what of it? It affords no relief to
the difficulty in question.  For that lies, not against
the doctrine of pain or of punishment, in this or any
other world; but only against the doctrine of endless punishment.  We have seen that, on the question of punishment in the future world, Universalism, as such, is silent. It is against the doctrine of
endless punishment that it utters its protest.
And here, perhaps, you will again say, "It is a
fact that temporary suffering enters under the Government of God; and that the principle upon which
temporary suffering enters, equally opens the way for
the entrance of endless suffering."  But if you say
this, you certainly say what needs proof, and what
no thinking mind will accept without it.
And now let us again " look and see," whether
temporary and eternal suffering are so alike, that
the principle of the former, necessarily involves the
principle of the latter.  We think they are not.
1. Because the two things are infinitely unlike in
duration.  The former is but a span, a point of time;
the latter is like God's " eternal day."  Ilere, then,
is a difference between the two things, which no
21.




242        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
language can set forth, the extent of which no heart
can imagine;-a difference which does not begin to
be set forth by the alifference between a point of time
and an incalculable number of incalculable ages-a
difference infinite.  And, surely, an infinite difference may well be regarded as quite essential-so
essential that the principle of the less does not necessarily involve the principle of the greater. For illustration: I was this moment called from my study
to assist in comforting a daughter distressingly sick.
Now  it is by God's will, or permission, that that
daughter is in extreme pain. But relief is evidently
at hand. Her pain is temporal. And now am I to
believe that upon the same principle upon which her
temporal pain is reconcileable with our idea of God's
fatherly goodness, her eternal pain, (supposing her
present pain to be drawn out forever,) would be.
Even now, while I am writing, she is relieved, and
we are all enjoying the " afterwards."  And were
no new principle involved, and were God just as paternal, even though he kept my daughter in her distress forever!
2. But I remark, further, that the pains or punishments of this life, involve a principle essentially
different from that of endless punishment or pain,
inasmuch as the former, unlike the latter, tend to
limit and destroy themselves, either by exhausting
their cause, or working a change in their subjects,




ARGUMENT FROM TEMPORAL SUFFERING. 243
incompatible with their continuance. This is clearly
seen in physical life, when the pain of a sick person,
considered as an effect, reacts upon its cause, and
the sufferer is relieved; and also, when the pain, becoming extreme, disorganizes the nervous net-work
of the body, and relief comes by death.
If we had instances of persons lingering on for all
the years of earth,-from  creation till now,-in all
the agony of a death-struggle, without any indication or hope of change for the better, such instances
might, perhaps, afford imperfect, seeming, not real,
analogies to the purpose of those who attempt to
scale, with their logic, the wide gulf between the
sufferings of earth, and eternal suffering. But such
instances are entirely wanting, and must remain
wanting, so long as physical pain appears so essentially incompatible with its perpetuity.
Paul was for a night in the stocks of a cruel dungeon. And am I told that precisely the same principle of the Divine government was thereby involved,
that should be, if he had been kept there till now,
and would be till all eternity! Paul is for a moment
under the hands of the executioner. And do you
say that the permission of this, involves the same
principle of the Divine government that would be
involved, by his being hacked forever by the cruel
headsman, without hope or possibility of ever either
dying or arising from the block. Do you say that




244        FOOTPRINTS HIEAVENWARD.
the cases are completely analogous. I know you
will not; and yet I think you must say it, or abandon your analogical argument for endless pain.
Do you say Paul was a righteous man, and of
course he could not be punished forever. Then we
reply, that that does not alter the argument at all,
seeing that your proposition is, that whatever God
can justly influence, or permit, or suffer, for a day,
he can justly inflict, or permit, or suffer, to all eternity. If your proposition does not involve this, I
think it involves just nothing at all. If a righteous
man suffersfor a day, there is a reason for his sufferingfor a day, which may not be equivalent to, or
compatible with, his suffering forever. If a wicked
man suffers for a day, there is reason for his suffering
for a day. And why may not that reason, also, be
incompatible with his suffering forever.  Wrho shall
say, who can conceive that in the latter, less than in
the former case, the suffering shall not tend to an
end.
Do you say, this may all be true of physical suffering, but not of spiritual. Then we ask you why?
Do we not see the same general law operating in the
latter as in the former?  Does not mental anguish,
too, work a change in the condition of its victim,
which appears equally inconsistent with its eternity?
When it reaches a certain extreme, does it not, at
least seemingly, obtain relief, by divorcing the soul




ARGUMENT FROM TEMPORAL SUFFERING. 245
from the body, and putting it into entirely new relations in that world beyond the grave, to which our
logic of analogy cannot follow it with confidence,
and to which we can entrust it only as we confide
in the goodness of the Living Father. But this
thought will be better elaborated, as we say,
3. That suffering in this world appears to be a
means, and not an end. It is a means, when by a
slight pressure of it we are admonished to leap from
the jaws of mutilation and death. Nature has clothed man with a skin so sensitive, so susceptible to
pain, as a means of grace, to guard him against
danger. Suffering is a means of grace, when it
teaches to appreciate and enjoy freedom from it.
And how much we are all indebted to it, as such a
means, few are aware, and probably none, fully. It
is a means of grace when, by its experience, we are
disciplined in the higher Christian virtues.  Even
Jesus "' learned obedience from the things which he
suffered."  And the Psalmist said, "' before I was
afflicted, I went astray, but now do I keep thy commandments."  It is a means when, as in the inimitable parable,
" It stopped the prodigal's career,
And caused him to repent."
To be sure, in this world, we do not always, or
often, see the end perfectly gained, to which suffer21*




246        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
ing is a means. Not always does it make the prodigal repent, or stop his career. In spite of it, he
sometimes goes quite into his grave, bound fast in
the chains of wicked habits. But before he dies, if
sane, he admonishes others against them, and often
says, if he had not twisted his bands of evil habit,
he never would. But as it is, he sees the right, and
yet the wrong pursues.  So he dies. And then,
what more reasonable than that, with the fleshy organism in which his passions and appetites were
nourished up to a rankness that almost defied his endeavors at reform, thrown off, and, at the same time,
the better prepared to begin anew by all his remembrances of the past, he should find all the sorrows
he experienced on earth, a means of deterring him
from sin, and wedding him to holiness.
Perhaps it is enough to say here, that all the sufferings of earth, as man is an immortal being, have
an eternal afterwards, in which their subject may
undergo infinite changes of circumstance, affecting
his moral condition in as many different ways as his
Creator shall please, and by which deliverance may
at last reach him, and all his past but magnify the
glory of his future,-whereas eternal suffering can
have no afterwards, but is itself the bitter never
ending end of his being.
Reasoning this matter, as we have done, from the
particular to the general, I think we can hardly




ARLGUMENT FROM TEMPORAL SUFFERING. 217
fail to see, that all the penalties of the divine law
are underlaid with a benevolent intent, and that not
one of them is incompatible with the blessedness of
the sufferer. To doubt this, were dreadful. For if
any single one of the penalties of divine law is thus
incompatible, then all may be; and so the whole
law be but a concoction of Almighty malevolence.
To find a penalty in the law of God which is
against the good of the violator, is to find a stitch
dropt in the web of providence, and its whole economy ravels out. It is God good to all, or to no
one. God in all, or no where-his tender mercies
are over all his works, or over none!  Now limited
suffering, as we have seen, is consistent with the
divine benevolence towards the sufferer. But not
so eternal suffering. That, without an afterwards,
is to the creature, the great end-the absolute foreordained, or fore-known; at any rate fore-#fxed
finality of his being. And, certainly it seenms, therefore, of an essence entirely different from that of
temporal punishment. And so we think you are
quite mistaken when you say that the principle upon
which temporal suffering enters the government of
God, equally opens the way by which eternal suffering may enter.
But though the analogy you institute relative to
the subject under consideration is unsound, yet
there is an analogy capable of being' instituted




248       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
having nature for its basis, which seems to us of
great value, in this discussion. Nature's teaching
relative to suffering, is that it is protective, corrective, remedial, limited. This we have seen. For at
death admitting the soul's immortality, there is noth
ing to indicate that suffering will accompany the
soul into its new mode of life, and new world of
circumstances.  And as suffering in the world
below, is a means, and limited, we must infer, if we
infer any, that it will be thus limited in the world
above. And so the analogy in which you sought
relief, but increases your embarrassment, and confusion. For, as we have seen, " doth not nature
itself teach " that the tendency of all earthly suffering is in some way to limit itself-that it is not the
ultimate product of an immortal creation, but intended by the benevolent Creator, to work some
change, under which it shall give place to an " afterward " of good.
Lafayette, after lying long in the prison of
Olmutz, bound in the chains of Austrian despotism,
was at length set free, under the influence of the
revolution of empire. But there can be no change
in the empire of God, and no change in the condition of the victim of endless wrath, under which he
shall be set free from his dungeon of " outer darkness."  Its gate is forever closed upon him by the
wrathful, relentless purpose of Jehovah. By that




ARGUMENT FROM TEMPORAL SUFFERING. 249
purpose eternal, no death is permitted to come, and
" heave the massy bar," to set the sufferer free. It
was kind in God to permit the wasted victims of the
inquisition to die out of their loathsome, lightless,
subterranean dungeons, into the glorious'6 afterwards " of heaven. But no such kindness comes to
the victim of the prison of future woe. Even
though the Living Father should, as Stuart supposes, " in mercy extinguish the social susceptibilities" of the righteous, he has no mercy to extinguish the susceptibilities of the lost sinner, or rather
to extinguish the sinner himself. Endless punishment is indeed a long lane; for it never turns, only
as it turns forever downward through shades of
night, even darker and more dismal.
And here it may be well to say, that great carefihlness should be used in reasoning, analogical,
from things temporal to things eternal.  "The constitution and course of Nature"' is even yet but
imperfectly understood. We know too little of her
operations and their results, to reason very confidently from her details to the details of theology.
But our increasing knowledge of her is all in favor
of goodness. Science, busy among her dark mysteries, is ever making  discoveries, all quieting to
human fears; so that, whereas our ancestors saw a
" God in anger " when the thunders were abroad,
we then only see a God in kindness, purifying and




250       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
adjusting the elements, for the good of his creatures.
And the blazing comet, which, as a fell harbinger
of Divine wrath, drove our ancestors into hiding
places, but invites us forth to wonder and trustingly
adore. From  the moon's approach to the earth,
science has also taught us to have no fear, by the
discovery of a law which forbids that she ever ilmpinge upon it. And thus, from what science has
already taught us, (and we are yet but upon the
shore of knowledge,) we may easily infer, that,
what is dark she will yet illumine, and, that in the
highest and best sense, God, in Nature, does all
things well. And with the Bible in one hand, we
know that he does all things well in Grace.
But I must close this letter. I have dwelt thus
long upon the supposed analogy between the principles involved in limited and limitless pain, because
I know it to be a favorite resort of persons of your
faith, and because, when considered, as I trust you
will consider it —it plainly throws its entire weight
into the scale against you. I have only one single
word in conclusion. It is this, "think on these
things."
Truly yours.




LE TTERR XXV'I.
TIlE T-IREE STAND-POINTS. —BIGOTRY, CONSERVATISMA  AND PROGRESS.
Three Stand-points-First, Bigotry-The Bigot Characterized —His
favorite syllogism-His creed, his rock —Bigots everywhere-Impervious to logic-Eyeless fishes - Not so the reader - Second
Stand-point, Conservatism-Conservatism characterized - What
is, is best, and presumed about right-Getting al)ng pretty well
- Fault with Luther, Knox and Jesus - Brahminical quiescence
-Tempest-Feeling for the foundation - Skeptical - Living sinners and dead-Texts dropping out-Tendency to freedom-Alarm
of the N. Y. Observer- Its correspondent - Universalism, on the
heels of the revival of'57 —The catastrophe!!-Third stand-point.
Progress-Who occupies it? -- Why so few? - Positive testimony
needed-Exparte reading —Endless punishment flees as light comes
-Drops of water save! -Questions to the reader.
DEAR BROTYHER,I think every believer in the doctrine in review,
who contemplates its absurdities at all, must contemplate them  from  one of the three stand-points,Bigotry, Conservatism  and Progress.  His impression, of course, must depend upon which of these he
occupies. For, in morals and religion, not less than
in physics, does the view depend upon the relative
position  of the  viewer.   Boston, seen from  the




252        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
" Abonument," is very different from  Boston seen
from the State h1ouse, or Commercial street.
First, then, let us suppose the viewer of the difficulties we have been mentioning, to occupy the
standpoint of bigotry. How then, is he likely to be
affected?
The bigot is a person "unreasonably wedded," or
blindly attached" to some religious creed; one who,
hugging his peculiar faith, as absolutely true, and,
of course, rejecting all opposed to it, as absolutely
false, sees no occasion to open his mind to reasoning; but, impervious to logic, and blind to facts, his
mind is a barren rock to the seed of any better theology. If a Pharisee to-day, he will be to-morrow,
whether Servetus burn, or Christ be crucified.
For, if at any time, coming suddenly upon some
glaring absurdity in his creed, he is startled for a
moment, he is sure to find speedy relief in his favorite syllogism, always at hand, thus:
1. Whatever lies against my creed, is false;
2. This absurdity lies against my creed;
3. Therefore, this absurdity is false.
And thus, completely satisfied, he slumbers again,
as Luther, while yet but partially emancipated from
the thraldom of the Papacy, when defending the
doctrine of transubstantiation against Zwingle, satisfied himself, most provokingly to his opplonent, by
simply holding up a parchment on which he had




THE THREE STAND-POINTS.           253
inscribed the words, " This IS my body," so the
bigot easily disposes of all objections to his creed,
by holding it up and exclaiming, "6 Tis IS true."
Fixed fast in his faith, like a living creature on a
rock, he can neither move nor turn round. Imbedded in thoughtlessness, his fossilization is susceptible of no check. Whether the points of his faith
are true or false, they can no more be wrested away
by the power of logic, than a star from the belt of
Orion, or from the brow of Taurus. His creed is
66 his rock, and his fortress, and his deliverer." Under its "shadow he reposes."  Within its defense
he feels safe! And it delivers him from the inconvenience and danger of thinking for himself.
Such is the person, who contemplates the religious aspect of the world, from the stand-point of
bigotry. And such persons, whether few or many,
are scattered among all denominations. So that for
a person to suppose that his denomination is free
from them, were to show himself the bigot of his
generation. If any of this class should chance to
glance into these letters, very well. But wrapped
in a covering, tougher than that which defends the
monsters of the Nile against the attacks of the
musketeer and the spearsman, they will hardly be
affected by them. Having lived in darkness till
they have become blind, as fishes in subterranean
pools are said to become eyeless, whatever error
22




254        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENIWARD.
they have, must die a natural death. Its dlissolution can be hastened, neither by facts nor logic.
They will believe all that they agreed to believe.
To do this, they feel bound, as by the most solemn
of oaths. At any rate, they act as though they did.
For they either decline reading or hearing anything
against their views; or else, read as though they
read not, and hear as though they heard not. Yet
it is not for us to blame them. They may be honest, after all. They have our best wishes and earnest prayers, while we regret that, viewed from
their stand-point, our writing for their benefit, must
be vain.
But to this pitiful class, I think you, brother, do
not belong. You are not so dogmatically sure that
you are right, that you cannot listen to, and appreciate an opposing argument. But, while you will
not bear the close confinement of the class mentioned, it may be that you shrink, somewhat, from
roaming far beyond L"the liberty of the yard,"
freely over the rich and inviting fields of theological
enquiry. But,
Second; supposing such a discussion as the foregoing, to be contemplated by a believer in endless
punishment, from the stand point of conservatism;
how is he likely to be affected by it?
And who is the conservative?  The conservative,
as we use the term, is a person who would keep




THE THREE STAND-POINTS.           255
things as they are, not because he knows them to
be right, but because they are as they are. That a
policy is settled, is to him a sufficient reason for
sustaining it, without asking many questions about
its exact righteousness. That a certain system of
religious faith prevails, is to him, evidence that it
should prevail.  Of course, therefore, he is the foe
to innovation. To be sure, he would not support a
faith which he knew to be false! Nor is he very
confident that the prevalent one is true! Whether
it is or not, is a question lying back of his sphere of
thought. He is willing to presume it true, and that
some others know it to be true. If objections to it
are put forward, however plausible they may appear, he is satisfied with presuming them unfounded.
If it seems to involve great absurdities, he is quite
willing to presume that they are only seeming, and
so give himself no trouble about them. Such is
what we have called, the conservative.
Now, whenever any of this large class, chance to
hear or read things against their popular faith, they
are, as we have said above, very likely to assume
them to be false; or that, if true, they are truths
which had better not be spoken. For they get
along pretty well with things as they are. They
are members of a respectable society, and doing a
good business.  Their pew is eligible and easy, and
the pulpit does not trouble them. Their society,




256       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
too, is united, and makes a good appearance on the
Sabbath. To be sure, they don't like all that the
preacher says, and his creed has a rather hard look;
but then, they never have examined it, and are unprepared to disbelieve it. Perhaps they care little
about it, because they have too little faith in it, to
be moved by it. And, though they have as much
faith in that as they have in anything, they would
by no mneans, be regarded as skeptical. Indeed, if
they did believe itfalse, it were little matter, seeing the minister preaches as though he believed it
false also. Sometimes, indeed, in a lucid interval
of religious thought, interposed between the waves
of worldliness and conservatism, they have a confused notion of a better state of things-a state of
things more worthy of the God-like, thinking mind.
But then, stocks are up, and all is quiet. Whereas,
innovation, in matters of faith, would certainly produce a downward tendency and discord, sadly injuring " the oil and the wine."
Schisms, they cannot bear. Schismatics are unendurable.  Their spirit would  seem  to say,
"~ Luther should have kept his place;" "John
Knox should have held his peace;" " the Wesleys,
should not have lighted their incendiary fires;" and
even "Jesus of Nazareth should have left his
sword' of disunion behind him in heaven, and not
kindled a fire of excitement, under which, the peace




THE THREE STAND-POINTS.         257
of families should be broken up, and a man's foes
become they of his own household." Nor would
they have so disturbed the Jewish church, living
quietly as it was, before the great agitator came
among them!
So these conservatives would seem to reason. Of
course, they are greatly unmoved by anything that
can be written or said against their creed, save at intervals, when the sun of righteousness reaches them,
through the thick mists of their carnal policy. Until
they feel that the church has higher ends to gain
than a present peace, and that the individual soul
has God-like energies to develop, the awakening of
which depends on the breaking up of stereotype theological fashion, it were as vain to ply them with
facts and logic, as to sow wheat upon a rock! The
Bramin finds perfection in perfect quiescence. His
great god is absolutely perfect, because his sleep is
absolutely undisturbed. And so these conservatives
seem to find the perfection of the church in the perfect quiescence of the religious mind. To them,
therefore, every faith is good enough which disturbs
not her rest, while every faith is bad which does
disturb it. They have not learned, what Jesus
knew, and Luther felt, and philosophy teaches, and
observation shows, that the well-being of the church,
-the conservation of her healing virtues,-often requires the descent of the angel of agitation,-that
22*




258       FOOTPRINTS HIEAVENWARD.
she be lashed into excitement by winds of unpopular
truth, warring with the winds of prevalent error,s
and that, healthful, ofttimes, is the very whirls
wind which sweeps up the hat of the Cardinal, and
robs the Pope of his mitre. As the tempest strips
the trees of the forest of their dead leaves and limbs,
so does agitation strip the church of its dead faith.
Agitation,-why it is God's remedy for all evil,
and therefore should not be feared, so long as it is
but the result of truth. Yet is there nothing which
these conservatives so much fear. And though, pernaps, not bold enough to object to any innovating
theological proposition, provided they know it to be
true, yet, as they never examine, more than exparte,
and, therefore, never know, they ever satisfy themselves with pushing it aside, as a disturbing element
which is presumed to be false. And, in all this, they
may be very sincere, acting with an eye single to the
oil and the wine of evangelical piety. But though
sincere, and, therefore, hardly to be censured, how
be pitied.
And here it should be said, that, among the large
class in review, are many different shades of theological character. Some of them are scarcely distinguishable from the bigot, while others of them are
living on the verge of liberal, independent thought9
Not a few of them are becoming every day more dis.
satisfied with their mere policy, and secretly and




THE THREE STAND-POINTS.           259
anxiously enquiring after something better. At the
instigation of their awakening thought, they are
throwing out their feelers after the foundation of
their faith. Yet are they like a person off in a river,
who, with the waters up to his chin, hardly durst
step for fear of sinking deeper. Truth is beginning
to seem to them a primary rock, fit to become the
headstone of the corner, though rejected by master
builders; and error, but sinking sand, though accepted by the church, and relied upon as fundamental. As they think that, in past ages, the thoughtless masses of the church have been led into the
widest and the wildest errors,-errors from which
God has remarkably and miraculously interposed to
deliver them,-they begin to enquire whether the
present age is so free from false leadership, that the
mass of thoughtless followers are perfectly safe.
And thus enquiring, they become restless. That a
thing seems politic, no longer fully satisfies them.
They would know whether it is true. Hence are
they sometimes more than half ready to go to thinking and reading independently for themselves, and
abide the consequences.  Yet are they still conservative, carefully concealing their troublesome misgivings, and still regarded as orthodox to the core.
As is implied above, many of these conservatives
are quite skeptical. They may not be consciously
so, they may deny that they are so. But after all,




260        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
I think they are. The absurdities of their faith,
though assumed to be false, are, nevertheless, quite
sufficient to make them  suspicious whether it is
true; and hence it is, that it seems to sit as lightly
upon their hearts, as a thing without length,
breadth, or thickness. And hence, too, if they
preach as though all living sinners are going to
perdition, they are not impressed as though all dead
sinners are already there, and all dying sinners, just
ready to go there. If, for the living, their dogmatic
faith is stronger than their Christian hope, for the
dead, their Christian hope is stronger than their
dogmatic faith. And so they write comfort on the
tombstone of their unregenerate brother, and stand
in calm Christian trust above his grassy grave!
But, brother, all this you well understand, and
therefore I need not dwell.
_Now to this indolent, skeptical, traditionary class
of church-goers, believing everything, believing
nothing, I think you do not belong. You, I trust,
tread not the same ground with them, unless it be
upon its extreme verge, where it is ready to impinge
upon the region of independent enquiry.  You are a
conservative of a better school; thinking more of
the truth than of any error or doubtful thing, which
ignorance or tradition has foisted into the place of
Truth, and given its name and honor. You are
awake, I trust, to the fact that great error may now,




THE THREE STAND-POINTS.         261
as in time past, have great church patronage; and
that, therefore, the credit of the church now as in time
past, may not be so good as to make it quite safe to
receive her theology on trust. As her doctrine of
inzfant damnation was once found counterfeit, and as
she has often been proved guilty of other base issues,
you see no reason for holding her doctrine of adult
damnation, as necessarily true. And having never
examined it thoroughly, you are holding it very
loosely; and this, the more especially, as you begin
to perceive that the cruel absurdities, which, as
light increased, drove the former doctrine out of the
church, lie equally against the latter!
Indeed, brother, as you proceed with enquiry, are
you not surprised and even startled, at finding how
many things, bearing on the doctrine in review, are
different from what they had before seemed? Have
you not been surprised to see how the proof texts of
your faith have been dropping out of the Scriptures?
So that you have sometimes asked, whether they
will not all be gone by and by? And has not this
the more startled you, as you have thought that
such a faith as yours, a faith involving such absurdities, should be received only upon theffullest
and most positive proof?  It may not be so, with
you, but I am persuaded that it is. Whether it is
so or not, I do not set you down to the conservative
class of which I have been speaking.




262       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
But, furthermore, if you are occupying the standpoint which I am supposing, you will have anticipated the remark, that a tendency towards freedom is very manifest, throughout this vast mass of
enslaved  conservative  mind.  Such is the tendency of the age, and it is with the hope of strengthening  it that these letters are written.  Nor
can I doubt, (me judice) that every conservative
Orthodox reader of them, dealing as I think they
do, with facts and common sense, must feel quickened towards enquiry. The absurdities they present, must excite, in every mind, a healthful distrust
of the creed that involves them. Such we think,
must be the private experience of all our conservative readers; while we are hoping that some of
them, shall, by this humble effort of one who feels
that it may be his last, be brought quite out into
the open fields of free and independent enquiry.
And indeed such a coming out is now rapidly
taking place-so rapidly, as seriously to alarm the
fears of conservative, theological periodicals. The
"New  York Observer," in a late number, after
referring to the fact that a man was recently ordained to the Orthodox ministry who " held [among
other things] that the gospel is not absolutely
necessary to the salvation of adult heathens, some
of them being undoubtedly saved without it;" and
that, " after death, and before the final judgment,




THE THREE STAND-POINTS.         263
there is a state for all souls, where some who had
died impenitent, some who had rejected Christ in
this life, would have a new offer of Christ and salvation, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and be
saved; so that, if called to the death bed of an impenitent sinner, and knowing that he had but a
short, definite time to live, he would not shut him
up to faith in Christ within that time, or final
ruin," proceeds with comment, in the course of
which, it says, "'apostacies are generally gradual.
Scarcely any great defection in church history,
however, has been so rapid as that which is now
rushing to its crisis, in New  England. To turn
back the tide of corruption, to strengthen the things
that remain, to save the rising generation from
being borne away into the mire and misery of
Pelagianism and Universalism, is a work that should
command the active and untiring energies of every
sound man in the church.             Daily we
behold the gathering evidences that a new reformation of the nineteenth century must be preached. "
In such and such like language, does the " 06server" express its alarm. And as it partially
institutes a comparison between the nineteenth
century and the century of Luther, it were improper
not to say here, that we think the Observer is now
occupying exactly the conservative position in the
church, which was, in the sixteenth century, occu




264       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
pied by the very papal hierarchy with which
Luther had to contend. We do not mean to degrade the Observer to the level of Rome by the
statement of this fact; but we do mean to intimate,
that, like Rome, it is the practical enemy of theological progress. We do not say or mean that it is
dishonestly so. We only state the thing as it is.
We agree with the " Observer" that we do need a
reformation, like that under Luther. But if it come
at all, it must come by innovation-the very thing
which the Observer deplores. It must come, if at
all, along the way of free enquiry-the very way,
which is leading to what the " Observer" deems
alarming consequences. In a word, if it come at all,
we think the Observer must be among the first to
feel it, as an antagonistic force.
In the article from which the above extract is
taken, a correspondent is quoted, as saying, "My
strong conviction is, that, unless there shall soon be
a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the day is
not distant, which will witness a more extensive and
appalling apostacy in New England, than we have
ever before seen, and that apostacy will be into Universalism."  And we doubt not, there will be such
an apostacy. And no doubt, too, it is likely to be
to many, as appalling as was the apostacy of the
sixteenth century to the Orthodox masses, disturbed
by the eloquent tongue and pen of Luther.




THE THREE STAND-POINTS.          265
But what is quite remarkable, is, that the writer
above quoted by the Observer, should regard a
mighty outpouring of the Spirit as likely to cure an
evil which he finds so very rank and rife immediately uporn the back of the mightiest outpouring
of the Spirit, ever enjoyed on the Western Continentt. Really, one might well query whether that
outpouring had not some responsible connexion with
the so-called apostacy, which the -writer bewailsa thing which is certainly quite probable, and to
our mind, quite certain. For every religious agitation of the popular mind, but carries it another step
towards, what the writer regards as a catastrophe,
-it eventually makes better men, and makes men
find a better God.
But we have quoted from the " Observer," chiefly
to show that the tendency of the age is all towards
Universalism, and that this tendency is becoming
so strong that Orthodoxy is taking the alarm. The
masses of silent, acquiescing unbelievers in the doctrine of endless woe, are certainly and rapidly tending towards positive and active disbelief of it.
Multitudes there are, in our Orthodox churches and
congregations, who, while supporting the dominant
sects, are saying in their heart, as said an Episcopalian, a little time ago, "as to endless punishment,
the day is gone by for believing that." And what
is more, perhaps, its seeming advocates are often
23q




266       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
among its real doubters.  So that, should the private conversation of the lettered clergy, come to the
ears of the unlettered  and unthinking  laity, it
would, not unfrequently, fill them with amazement.
Third. But I must pass to say a word in reference to the third class-those who contemplate the
absurdities of Orthodoxy from the stand point of
progress. And who are these, but they, who in spite
of their creed, have reached the point of free and
impartial enquiry. Unhappily the number of such is
not yet very large; comparatively few, are yet so
freed from the bondage of creed, the blindness of
prejudice, the toils of fashion, and, what is not least,
the bias of Orthodox friendships, as to be prepared
for the impartial search necessary to the discovery
of the exact truth.
But, happily, the number of such is increasing,
and all they who are, as upon occasion, they meet
with the absurdities and barbarisms of their creed,
do feel, as said an orthodox brother a few weeks
since, " It has a hard look, hasn't it?"   And
scarcely will they have set off in their free inquiry,
before they will be saying to themselves, this creed
can hardly be true, if we are made in God's image."
And soon and deeply will they feel that it should be
believed only upon the clearest and most positive
Scripture proof-that, compromising as it seemingly
does, the character of God, and rending, as it does,




THE THREE STAND-POINTS.         267
the affections of man, it is not to be rested upon any
poetic Scripture of confessedly doubtful signification.
And to the Bible they will at length turn, to see for
themselves, whether these things are so. Nor will
they study the Scriptures by the light of their old
exparte commentaries, merely. They perceive, at
last, that to do so, were only to equal the folly and
wrong of an "unjust judge," who should solemnly
charge the obsequent jury to hear but one side of
the question which they had sworn to settle impartially.
In a word, we think anything like a fair view of
the bearings of the doctrine in question, must lead
all who are not the victims of bigotry the most intense, and indifference the most stolid, - all whose
manhood is not completely sunk in the sectary,-all
whose humanity is not hardened into misanthropy,
whose milk of human kindness is not turned to gall,
whose every generous and noble impulse is not dead
-all who care for the honor of Almighty God, and
of his Son Jesus Christ;-in a word, all whose religion has not proved to them the most unmitigated
curse, to search the Bible diligently, and, as we have
intimated, with all the helps, pro and con, which
Providence has put into their hands, to see whether
the church, since the middle ages, has not, very
generally and materially mistaken the will of God
relative to human destiny. Before the middle ages,




268       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
we know that Universalism prevailed. Origen, the
first scholar in the early church, was a bold advocate and defender of it, nor have we the least evidence that] it was then regarded as heretical. It is
only since the church emerged from the darkness of
those ages, covered all over with the errors which
her ignorance attracted, that the brand of heresy has
been laid upon it. This, we think, is pretty well
understood. And every person, who takes anything
like a plain view of the doctrine of endless woe,
must needs suspect, whether it does not belong to
that large brood of mediamval dogma, which wastes
as light increases, and whether it, also, is not to
pass away in the wake of retreating barbarisms.
Somebody has said that he dares think that the
day is not distant, when men will look upon war as
they now do upon the African slave-trade. And
we dare think that the day is not very distant, when
the doctrine of endless misery for adults, will be
looked upon as the church now looks upon the doctrine of endless misery for infants. The latter, recently believed, is now thoroughly repudiated. The
former, now believed, shall ere long, be repudiated.
And the latter change will be no more remarkable
than the former. The condition of eternal salvation
was once believed to be the sprinkling of a few
drops of water upon a baby's temples! It is by
many, now understood to be the hurried prayer of




THIE THREE STAND-POINTS.        269
an excited hour. The former act used to snatch the
soul from the jaws of unending woe. Now the latter is supposed to do the same. The former, the
church has repudiated as too absurd for belief, as
well as too unscriptural to be true.  And just so,
must she, ere long, regard the latter. Such is the
conclusion towards which we think every unfossilized and frank enquirer about human destiny, must
ever find himself tending, and which all shall eventually reach.
And now, brother, if I regard you as a representative of the class of impartial enquirers, mentioned
above, may I not conclude that the language I have
used in reference to their perplexities and misgivings
over their creed, and their tendencies away from it,
is none too strong?  For, is it not a fact, in spite of
your education, your old exparte reasoning, and all
the proof you have assumed from the Bible, —in
spite of all, in the face of which, doubt must arise,
if it arise at all-that you do doubt-doubt strongly,
and the more so, the more you think upon the subject? For, of the class of dogma in debate, as affected by the increase of religious light, we may
well say, as say the Scriptures of the beast of the
field, "' The sun ariseth, they gather themselves together, and lay them down in their dens." Ps. civ.
22. And further, do not your doubts so deepen, as
you trace your creed in its consequences, that you
23*




270        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
sometimes fancy you feel them hardening into disbelief?  In a word, are you not sometimes saying to
yourself, in reference to your penal creed,-" I must
either cease to think of it, or cease to believe it?"
Or, if you have not yet reached that point, are you
not conscious of being on the way to it? And,
therefore, may I not prove the truth of what I have
been saying, by an appeal to your own frank heart?
Finally, in closing this letter, permit me to recall
your mind to the old question, whether the doctrine
in review can possibly have had its origin in the
harmonious character of "the God of all grace."
Many are thinking not, many are saying not.  And
the number of them is rapidly increasing as Christian enlightenment advances.  And my heart shall
still be praying, that you, with the Bible in your
hand, wide open towards heaven, may soon be among
the number.
Yours truly.
NOTE.
Several letters intended for this series, and which would have
broken the seeming abruptness of its conclusion, are here
omitted to bring the book within suitable limits.




SECOND SERIES.








SECON D  SERIES.
LETTER I.
THE BIBLE  AND  ITS MEANING.
Theme, solemn-Dean Swift's critic-Indirect disproof —Soliloquy of
the reader-Heart-doubt, tenacity of-No dispute about Biblewords, but about their mneaning-Assertion balanced by assertion
-Romishness-The real Question-To the Scriptures.
DEAR BROTHER,The theme of these letters forbids that they be
written with an eye to safeguards against hypercriticism. You, in reading them, unlike Dean
Swift's critic, will not be "altogether conversant
and taken up with faults, blemishes, mistakes and
oversights," or like his " young critic," intent only
on " spying out the worst parts of the play."  For
eternities are not trifles on which to practice "intellectual gymnastics," but too awful and appalling
for any thing but seriousness, candor and awe; —
and this, whether to the dead, who are already
dead," or to " the living, who are yet alive."  In




274       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
the former series, I familiarly noticed, among other
matters, some of the difficulties of the doctrine of
endless woe, which have impressed my own mind,
and, as therein shown, other minds far greater,difficulties, 6'real, not imaginary," deep seated and
aggravated as light increases.  And, though not
introduced as direct disproof of that doctrine, I
think they have but to be thrown into logical form,
to amount to little less. To put them  in that form
would have been less in keeping with our design,
which was, simply, to arouse attention to the general
subject and leave the reader to state and sustain
whatever proposition he pleases. For, as we have
before said, no person is really convinced till he convinces himself.
Though the arrow be true, the bow may be badly
sprung. I know not, therefore, how the former
series of my letters have impressed you.  But,
as we are both human, must needs imagine. And
if I am not mistaken, you have sometimes been in a
mood to soliloquize something on this wise:" Well, these difficulties are serious! I cannot say
that they are overdrawn! No, for I see other
depths beyond them! I confess I don't exactly
know what to do do  ith them! It is a hard doctrine
that involves them! And yet I must believe it, —I
suppose. But after all, may it not be false. Other
doctrines have proved false,-why not this? Soul,




THE BIBLE AND ITS MEANING.        275
between you and me, I am  inclined to think it at
least half false,-or else I am not made in God's
image, and my reason and consciousness are a
stupendous lie! But what am I saying?  False?
This doctrine of the Father's false!:Nay, it only
seems so! It cannot be so! Seems so?  And
what have I to do with seems so!  Here is my
Bible!  Who am I, that I should array my idiotic
reason against it. This is God's word, and I believe
it. It is " forever settled in heaven, and woe unto
him who attempts to unsettle it. It is a rock, and
however the angry billows may dash and surge
about it, I will not fear to stand upon it. For
though the ocean be dried up, and the star-sown
heavens be harvested, it' shall never pass away.'
Anchored to it, my soul drifts no more. Away,
pride! Now balanced on the true centre of gravity,
I stand firmly! Let others bow  the knee to
plausible error, or fall in or out, with coming
majorities or minorities,-I never. Am I not taught
that vain philosophies are dangerous, and that evil
comes to him " who leans to his own understanding? "  Be it mine -to lean upon God's understanding! What he says is true, and who shall
dare be wise above it. Nor will I do so, though
tempted " forty days and forty nights " in a wilderness of absurdities darker and more appalling than
that with which my brother has presented me. Not




276       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
so shall I be frightened from the truth! And yet,
-well-."
Ah, yes, brother, I think I understand you.
"' And yet - well —"  And yet your misgivings will
not down at your bidding; or, if they seem to flee
before your "' scourge of small cords," it is only to
come thronging back again, as from the cold summits of your creed, you descend to a common sense
view of practical life.  You believe and you disbelieve. So that while in the act of affirming your
penal faith strongly, you are sometimes startled by
a voice like that which sounds in the soul of a witness who feels a little doubtful about the subject of
his testimony, just as he comes upon the stand!
When you say, " God says it, and I believe it, it is
but a moment, before the heart God gave you denies
it, and you doubt it. And this doubt is sometimes
aggravated by the thought that, what you doubt, as
unreasonable, but try to believe as being Scriptural,
many wise men absolutely disbelieve, as unreasonable
and unscriptural both.  Or if it is not so with you,
then you are not the person I mean.
When you say of the Bible, " it is God's word,
and I believe it," you say well.  We have both
set to our seal that " God is true."  That is but an
axiom in theological geometry, given of heaven for
our common benefit.  But, if you say, the Bible
teaches that God will punish sinners endlessly;




THE BIBLE AND ITS MIEANING.        277
then, what you say may be true, and may not; certainly it needs proof. Your assertion that it does
thus teach, weighs just as much as my assertion
that it does not. Your confidence that you are
right, but just counterbalance my confidence that I
am. You have miraculous evidence that the Bible
is true. But have you miraculous evidence that
you hold the true meaning of it? The question is
not what the Bible is, but what it teacles,-nor
what are its words, but what do they mean. You
have your honest convictions of their meaning.  So
have I mine. But for either of us to assume our
convictions of their meaning, as the basis of reasoning in the very cdiscussion of their meaning, were
the most bald petitio princippiii,-the favorite resort
of the narrowest of bigots. By such assumption,
you might say, "6 Jesus says of the wicked,' these
shall go away into everlasting punishment,' and that
settles the question."  And so might I reply; the
Bible says, " The Lord will not cast off forever," and
that settles the question. But you see we have only
settled it into grand confusion.
Neither you nor I would differ much from  the
IRomanist about the words of Jesus in reference to
men's forgiving sins.  Yet about the meaning of
those words, we should differ with him widely. We
are not Romanists. And yet may we not be a little.Romish in our assumptions for a protestant dogma?
24




278       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
We both mean to be fair; especially when reasoning out of the book which opens under the awful
shadow of the throne of God.  But after all, have
we not from childhood been so accustomed to hold
some certain meaning of it as necessarily true, that
the idea of that meaning's being either confirmed or
overthrown by reasoning out of the Scriptures,
strikes us oddly. It may not be so with you. But
no suggestion is profitless, which leads to a more
guarded study of the words of life.
Finally, brother, we agree that bf the Scriptures
teach the doctrine of endless punishment, that is
final.  But do they?  That is the question, over
which you and I hang, counterpoised upon our
affirmation and denial. What shall turn the scale?
We both answer, "the Scriptures."  To them then
let us turn, not to receive confirmation, but as newly installed learners, to sit meekly at the feet of the
Master, and listen to whatever gracious words shall
proceed out of his mouth.
Yours truly.




LETTER 11.
PENTATEUCIHI   VERSUS  ENDLESS PUNISHMENT.
Positive proof needed-The question-1. Moses as a Historian,What he doesnot see or hear-Garden threatening, the death meant,
not of the body-Wild notions —Error flies from the simple-hearted- Not eternal death-Nothing in the language to suggest itThen were all lost at once-The death meant, that which took
place at the time-2. Moses as a Lawgiver-His silence, significant
-God's silence-Origin of the dogma —Why Moses did not incorporate it-3. Moses as a Prophet-Sees not endless punishment-What he did see —Five important reflections.
DEAR BROTHER,As we now enter the Scriptures, I think we shall
agree that if the doctrine in question is taught there
at all, we  should  expect to find  it taught most
positively and e3clicitly; and this, not only because
of its vast importance; but because it is not in the
nature of the enlightened human mind to  receive a
doctrine, involving such obvious absurdities as we
have had under review, unless it is so taught. With
this single remark we enter at once upon the en



280        FOOTPRINTS HEAYVENWARD.
quiry, Do the Scri ptures teach the doctrine of endless punishment. And,
i. Is it taught in that portion of them,-their
first five books-written by Moses.
Moses was a prophetic historian of the past. His
inspired eye and ear, pierced and listened back to
chaos, while his inspired pen wrote what he saw and
heard. But he wrote nothing of any place or victim
of endless misery. He speaks of the wicked and
of their fearful overthrows; -of nations of them
swept away by flood, of cities, full of them, sinking
down in flame. But not the slightest intimation
does he give, that endless misery awaited them in the
future world. So much is plain to his simplest
reader.
No such intimation is given, even in the garden
threatenih,g. To be sure, men have made the death
therein mentioned, mean "6 death temporal, death
spiritual, and death eternal."  But never was assumption more bald, or so bald!
The record is simple.  "In the day thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die."  The death is certain, and the time of it.  But what death?  The
death of the body? That cannot be, seeing the
body did not die at the time specified.  Indeed, the
death threatened, so far from being the death of the
body, is represented as limited by the death of the
body. For the unhappy results of the trans



PENTATEUCH VS. ENDLESS PUNISHMENT. 281
gression, summed up in the sequel, are spoken of,
only as continuing until the transgressor should return to the ground.  And, too, that return to the
ground, so far from being predicated upon the
transgression, is spoken of as a natural consequence
of having been taken from the ground.  "For out
of it wast thou taken."  " For dust thou art, and to
dust shalt thou return."
There have been many singular and wild opinions
about the consequences of the first sin. It has been
thought and taught, that, before that event, what
are since beasts of prey, were without carnivorous
teeth, carnivorus stomachs, and taste for blood; or,
that if they possessed their present brutish forms
and instincts, they were held in check by some strange
sort of animal conscience, which they, unfortunately,
lost when Adam  fell. And so, also, has it been
thought, that, prior to that event, the seeds of thorns
and thistles were lying dormant in the ground, waiting
the fertilizing influence of the transgression, as rain
and sunshine, to develop their noxious growth!notions which, not only set common sense at defiance,
but which are absolutely exploded by scientific research. Tigers were always tigers, man was always
man, and Eve might have pricked her finger in a
rose tree, before sin entered paradise.
Milton has it, (poetry, to be sure,) that the earth
received such a shock from the transgression, that
24*




282        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
the hitherto vertical rays of the sun, obliqued off
from  paradise, leaving it damp and chill. And so,
also, will many have it, that the unnumbered millions of all subsequent ages, of all climes and conditions, were doomed to total depravity for the first
sin of Eve;-for I know not whether Adam's sin
was necessary to complete the ruin!!
But this whole brood of error flies from the person who, with childlike simplicity, reads the narrative of the fall. Certainly, such person sees therein
no connexion between the sin of our first parents and
their return to the -dust.
Again we ask, what death is threatened? Do you
say eternal death?  To this we object more strongly still. For, while the term'" die " * is of commonplace and widely variable import, and while there is
nothing in the context to indicate, or even suggest
for it, so fearful an import, it were just the term
which Jehovah would be most unlikely to use to express such import, and then, (as we will show,) leave
its true meaning to be evolved, only after vast millions affected by it, should have been swept into despair -upon the deep, strong tide, of, at least,four
thousacnd years.
And still further, if it mean eternal death, then all
suffer it. For the language is positive, leaving no
loop-hole of escape. Then the day our first parents`*Hebrew,-"- Dying, thou shalt die."




PENTATEUCH VS. ENDLESS PUNISHMENT. 283
sinned, their sun went down, and the dark night of
their Creator's frown settled upon them, a pall and a
shroud forever. But enough. He who can find
endless punishmsnt in the garden-threatening can
find it anywhere, and manufacture it where he cannot find it.
Do you ask, what death was threatened?  Why,
of course, the same that was executed at the time
specified - that which the guilty pair suffered
the very day they sinned - death of innocence
and peace — death of the sweet consciousness of
the divine smile which they had ever before
been experiencing — death in sin and shame,the true Bible death, - the death of those of whom
the apostle speaks, as "G dead in trespasses and
sins,"-the death which the apostle himself experienced when, (as he says of himself,) " sin
revived and I died."   Such  was the death
threatened, and executed in the garden, and which
Jehovah has been threatening and executing in
the world ever since. But not eternal death; nor
is such anywhere intimated by Moses, as a historian. Let us now turn to him as a LAWGIVER.
In considering Moses as a Lawgiver, it should
be borne in rmind that the government -which he
administered was a pure Theocracy, in which the
creed of the Church blent with the constitution of
the State. Standing, therefore, as he did, at the




284       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
head of the Church, next to God, and mouth for him
to the people, importance attaches to whatever he
says about the penalty in question. And what does
he say about it as a Lawgiver? Nothing? Yes,
just nothing.*  And what does this silence argue,
but that he was ignorant of it, save as a heathen
dogma, Many are the penalties he proclaims, but
they are all temporal. Did he know of another, infinitely greater than all, and which for saving the
people is (as we are told) more efficient than all, and
keep it a profound secret from the people! Many
were the penalties which God, through Moses, revealed to the people. Did He-the Father-purpose one infinitely greater than all, and keep it a secret with himself; so that, not the people only, but
Moses even, was liable to enter endless woe by the
way of sin, blindfold! For even Aloses, meek as he
was, sinned, and must, therefore, then have been exposed to it!
Importance is here. And I ask you, brother,
whether it were like God's servant, Mboses, to practice such concealment from the congregation he loved? or whether it were like the God of Moses?
And this, especially while manifesting so great an interest in their temporal welfare, admonishing them
against every variety of temporal calamity, and delivering them out of their distress, so that they
*Read his legislation and see.




PENTATEUCH VS. ENDLESS PUNISHMENT. 285
should sing, " O that men would praise the Lord
for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the
children of men."  Was it like the Lord, after all,
to sweep them, unadmonished, into eternal distress —
distress which knows no deliverance, -to reveal a
law and conceal such a penalty?
The doctrine of endless punishment took its rise
among the heathen. At first but a conception of
their poets, it was at length canonized as a Draconian
means of coercing the obedience of the people.
Why did not Moses incorporate it into his churchand-state-creed?  So available as it is! So available as the later church would have it! II answer,
just because Moses, being only Jehovah's amanuensis, could write neither more nor less of law and
penalty than Jehovah dictated. It was optional with
him to follow no mythological or ecclesiastical Draco.
Hence his silence as a Lawgiver upon the penalty
in question. Let us consider him as a Prophet.
For Moses was a prophet. And as a prophet he
foresaw startling events. To him was opened the
fearful vista, down which succeeding prophets also
gazed upon the tribulation such as had 1"not been
since the world began, neither indeed should be."
And thus, in part, he describes it to the congregation awaiting his decease in the plains of Mlkoab:The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the
end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose
tongue thou shalt not understand;




286          FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the
person of the old nor show favor to the young:
And he shall eat of the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy
land, until thou be destroyed: which shall not leave thee either
corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy
sheep, until they have destroyed thee.
And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and
fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all
thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout
all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.
And thou shalt eat the fruit of thy own body, the flesh of thy
sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given
thee in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith thy enemies
shall distress thee:
So that the man that is tender among you and very delicate,
his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of
his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he
shall leave:
So that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his
children, whom he shall eat: because he hath nothing left him
in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thy enemies
shall distress thee in all thy gates.
The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not
adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for
delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the
husband of her bosom, and towards her son, and towards her
daughter,?
And toward her young one that cometh out from between
her feet, and toward her children which she shall bear: for she
shall eat them for want of all things secretly, in the siege and
straitness wherewith thy enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.
If thou will not observe to do all the words of this law that
are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious
and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;




PENTATEUCH VS. ENDLESS PUNISHMENT.  287
Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the
Plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance.
Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt,
which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
Also every sickness and every plague, which is not written in
the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until
thou be destroyed.
And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the
stars of heaven for multitude; because thou wouldst not obey
the voice of the Lord thy God.
And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you
to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice
over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye
shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess
it.
And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the
one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt
serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known,
even wood and stone.
And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither
shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give
thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow
of mind:
And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt
fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life:
In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even!
and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for
the fear of thy heart wherewith thou shalt fear and for the sight
of thy eyes which thou shalt see.
And the Lord shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships
by the way whereof I spake unto thee, thou shalt see it no
more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for




288        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.-Deut.
xxviii. 49-68.
Such was the latter end of the Jewish nation,
which Moses foresaw,'" laid up in store " with Jehovah, "sealed up among his hid treasures."  He
heard Jehovah say, "' I said I would scatter them
into corners, I would cause their remembrance to
cease among men."  But nothing did he hear Him
say of driving them into perdition beyond the grave,
and making their sorrows ceaseless there. If any
one doubt this latter proposition, let him  read the
Pentateuch, and be satisfied.
And here, dismissing Moses from the stand, let
us make reflections upon his silence upon the matter in question. And
1. It is the silence of the first five books of the
Bible, historically covering more than two fifths of
the age of the human race, and embracing the only
revelation of recognized authority which Jehovah
gave to man during that long period.
2. It is to be noted that, during these thousands
of years, in which, of course, men were swarming
away into eternity, Jehovah was frequently revealing
his judgments.  How fitting to have revealed this!
3. It should be also noted that, of all the dispensations, that by Moses is justly regarded as the
most severe. It was by him that, from Jehovah's
6' right hand, went forth a fiery law."  Yet among




PENTATEUCH vs. ENDLESS PUNISHMENT.  289
all its penalties, is there no intimation  of any  one
which, compared with  endless woe, is so  much  as
the prick  of a pin, compared  with  the  torturous
death inflicted by the concentrated malignity of the
Spanish Inquisition.  And yet, further, why should
not the severe dispensation have the severe punishment?  Why look in a milder dispensation for a severer? *
4. This entire absence  of all allusion  to endless
punishment is the more significant, in the  fact that
Moses, brought up in the court of Egypt, must have
*Archbishop Whateley, after a lengthy argument on the subject,
says: —" Is not, then, the conclusion inevitable, that, if the doctrine
of future retribution had been to be revealed, or any traditional
knowledge of it confirmed, we should have found it explicitly stated,
and still more frequently repeated than the temporal sanctions
of the law? And when, instead of anything like this, we have set
before us a few scattered texts, which, it is contended, allude to, or
imply, this doctrine, can it be necessary to examine whether they
are rightly interpreted? Surely it is a sufficient reply, to say that,
if Moses had intended to inculcate such doctrine, he would have
clearly stated and dwelt on it in almost every page. Nor is it easy
to conceive how any man of even ordinary intelligence, and not
blinded by devoted attachment to an hypothesis, can attentively peruse the books of the Law, abounding as they do with such copious
descriptions of the temporal rewards and punishments which sanction that Law, and with such earnest admonitions grounded on that
sanction, and yet can bring himself seriously to believe that the doctrine of a state of retribution after death, which it cannot be contended is even mentioned, however slightly, in more than a very
few passages, formed a pa.rt of the Mosaic Revelation." -Thayer's
Origin and History of the Doctrine of Endless Punishmeint,
p. 37-8.
25




290        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
been familiar with it. For the Egyptians nominally
believed in it, and formally consigned their wicked
kings to it. That Moses should have left it behind,
therefore, when he forsook the Egyptian courtwhat does it argue, but that he regarded it but as of
a piece with the other superstitions of those who
worshipped apes and monkeys, leeks and onions.
Or, considering that Moses was but mouth for God,
what does its absence from his writings signify, less
than the seal of Jehovah's disapprobation stamped
upon it!
5. All things considered, and as God is good,
and was always good, as good to the ancients as to
the moderns, must we not infer from  the fact that
the people of the patriarchal and Mosaic ages, were
never admonished of endless punishment, that they
were not exposed to it. This inference seems natural and necessary. If any choose to deny it, and
say that the unadmonished masses of those early
ages are now, somewhere in Jehovah's empire, actually suffering on, and to suffer forever, they have
a right to their opinion. But for ourselves, we have
no language to express the horror with which such
an idea, set in the divine goodness, fills our soul!
And we can but rejoice that the later Scriptures
fully authorize its denial in favor of a better opinion
of " the Judge of all the earth."
And here, brother, let us pause, and see just




PENTATEUCH US. ENDLESS PUNISHMENT. 291
where we are. We have passed over the plains of
Paradise, through the land of the patriarch, by the
mountain that burned with fire; and leaving it far
behind, now find ourselves in the " plains of Moab,
before Jordan.' So that, chronologically, nearly
one-half of our Bible-discussion is completed. And
the result thus far has been to show, either that
God had no design to punish his children forever,
or that, having such design, he carefully kept them
ignorant of it. Which of the two things is most in
keeping with His Justice and Goodness, as our
" Father" in heaven, I leave you, brother, to judge,
praying that you may judge nothing rashly, " but
judge righteous judgment."
Yours truly.




LETTER  III.
JOSHUA -  PSALMS.
Passage over Jordan-History silent-Job silent-Psalms silentExposition of text " The wicked shall be cast into hell, &c," and
incidentally of the text, " thou Capernaum,.... shall be brought
down to hell." —Concluding observation.
DEAR  BROTHER,Our last letter brought us down all the way from
Eden to where Moses died " before Jordan."  And
in all that long journey, under the guide of Moses,
we discovered no trace of the doctrine we seek.
Let us now  "pass over Jordan."  What remains of
the Old Testament covers a period of a little more
than a thousand years. Does this residue teach the
doctrine in question?
As to the historical portions of it, it is enough to
say that we know not that anybody supposes them
to teach it.  We therefore pass them at a step.
Job,-tried as was his patience, I think it is no
where supposed to be intimated, either by himself
or his friends, that he was liable to have it tried by




JOSHUA —PSALMS.             293
the fiery ordeal of endless pain. Leaving him,
therefore, with his comforters and his potsherds,
we are greeted by the melody of the Psalmists.
Nor with them  also should we be detained more
than a moment, had not the sentiments swept from
their lyres been singularly abused.
Passing along the Psalms, one naturally catches
their inspiration, and finds himself exclaiming, " 0
Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all
the earth."  Thus he sings, till, approaching the
17th verse of the 9th Psalm, he is startled by the
announcement that therein is the lurking place of
endless punishment. Pausing he reads,' T/he wicked shall be turned into hell with all the
nations that Jbrget God."
And now, brother, let us examine this text. Does
it teach endless punishment? We think not for the
following, among other reasons.
1. Because such a meaning seems forbidden by
the context. The Psalmist is evidently upon the
subject of temporal judgments,-judgments  by
which 4' the Lord is known."  For while in verse
seventh, he says "G He hath prepared his throne for
judgment," in verse sixteenth he says, "' The Lord
is known by the judgment which he executeth;"
the obvious meaning of which, is, that his judgments are matters of observation,-abroad in the
earth; that, " verily he is a God that judgeth in
25*




294       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
the earth." To such judgments, the Psalmist is accustomed to refer, as they occurred all along the
line of sacred history.  But surely, judgments in
the fiuture world-the casting into endless woe
there, —were not judgments by which he could be
said to be known to men on earth; certainly not,
without such a revelation as in the Psalmist's time,
at least, had never been made. The awed camp of
Israel knew God by the judgment he executed upon
the rebellious companies of Korah, Dathan and
Abiram. The judgment which swallowed them up,
they could see from their tent-doors.  But surely,
they could not see them enter upon eternal pain, that
they should know God by that. The same general
remark might be made in reference to other judclgments of which the Psalmist speaks, and is, doubtless, equally applicable to whatever judgment is
meant in the text under consideration. And this
conclusion is confirmed by the fact that, if this text
teach endless woe, it is, as we have seen, an entirely
new outburst of light from above, or rather of
darkness from beneath. But, further, we think this
text does not teach endless punishment.
2. Because, whatever the judgment meant, it is
inflicted upon nations.
Nations are turned into hell. Can that hell then
be in the future world? We all believe in national
sins and national judgments.  God setteth up one




JOSHUA-PSALMS.               295
nation and pulleth down another.  As "Judge of
all the earth," and as a God who "judgeth in the
earth," and as he whose son came into this world
"for Judugment," he tries, condemns. and executes
nations. So has he dealt with nations of old. But
does any one suppose that Babylon or Greece,
Macedon or Rome, were turned into a region of
endless woe in the future world,-that they are
suffering there now, and shall forever?  The idea
were simply preposterous. But I further object to
making our text teach endless punishment.
3. Because there is nothing in its Hebrew to even
suggest such punishment.
The word covered up by the word hell is sheol,
which, as we will show, means simply the invisible
world-the grave-and, by an easy and natural
figure, a condition of solitude and desolation comparable to that of the grave. It is in the Scriptures
frequently translated grave. To show that it does
not mean a place of endless punishment, perhaps the
argument recductio ad absurcdum, will be briefest as
well as most conclusive.  Admit then that it does
mean the popular hell, and what follows. Why,
then you have made Jacob think his son Joseph in
hell, and that he himself is to follow him there.
For he says, translating the word sheol as in our
text, "I will go down to hell to nay son mourning."
Gen. xxxvii. 35. Then, too, does the samne patriarch




296       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
make his going to that awful place, to depend upon
any negligence  of his sons on taking care of
Benjanin.  "If mischief befall him by the way
which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray
hairs with sorrow to hell."  Gen. xlii. 38. Then,
too, is David made to charge Solomon to cast Joab
into hell, and to see that Shimei is brought clown to
it with blood.  1 Kings ii. 6, 9. Then, also, is Job
made to pray that God would send himn to hell,-' O that thoun  wouldst hide me in hell.  Job
xiv. 13, and, further, to say that he must go there
any way." If I wait, 1" hell is mine house," xxvii. 16.
Then, too, is the Psalmist made to pray that the
wicked may go into hell, and go quickly, (Psalm
xxxi. 17, Iv. 15,) and to say that'" our bones are
scattered at the mouth of hell, cxli. 7.
These references (which might be multiplied) are
sufficient to show the absolute absurdity of making
sheol mean a place of endless misery. For what a
bedlamn   Joseph in hell and Jacob going there, and
cautioning his sons not to send him there.  Job
praying to go there and the dying Psalmist charging
his son Solomon to send Joab and Shimei there, and
praying that all his enemies may go there quickly!
All this, and more, while from not one of the Bible
worthies do we hear of so much as a prayer or a
wish that any may escape going there.
Such is the bedlam into which we are thrown by




JOSHUA-PSALMS.              297
making sheol mean a place of endless punishment.
Whereas let it mean as it naturally does, the region
of the dead-the grave,-and by an easy figure,
desolation like that of the grave, and all this chaos
at once comes to order.
And now, having seen for ourselves what the
word sheol does not mean, we are prepared to hear
the learned orthodox, Dr. Campbell, say, that
" Sheol signifies the state of the dead without regard to their happiness or misery."
And also to hear the equally orthodox Whitby
say, that
"' Sheol, throughout the Old Testament, signifies
not the place of punishment, or of the souls of bad
men only, but the grave only, or the place of the
dead."
And of these authorities, it is enough to say,
there are none higher.
Having thus settled it that the word hell (sheol)
in our text does not mean a place of endless punishment, nothing further is necessary to our purpose.
We will, however, spend a moment upon the
enquiry, what our text does mean, as it will afford
opportunity to refer to the Great CommentatorJesus.  According to Matt. xi. 23, he thus addresses Capernaum, "6 And thou Capernaum, which
art exalted up to heaven, shalt be brought down to
hell."  And here note,




298       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
1. That the Greek word hades here used by the
Master, and translated " hell," is admitted on all
hands, to be just equivalent to the Hebrew word,
sheol, used by the Psalmist in the text in question,
and therein translated "6 hell."  And
2. It will be admitted that whatever be the hell
meant, the words of the Saviour, 6 "brought down
to," are equivalent to the words of the Psalmist,
" turned into."  And hence,
8. It is seen that to learn what the Saviour meant
by Capernaum's being " broutght clown to hell," is
to learn, substantially, what the Psalmist meant by
wicked nations being G' turned into hell." So much
seems plain.
What then did the Saviour mean.  I think he
meant that as men go down into the silence of the
grave-hades-and are forgotten, so Capernaum
should go down into desolation and be buried in oblivion. But I will neither assert nor argue what
seems to me so clear, but simply refer you to
orthodox commentators. I quote only Clarke and
Barnes. On the clause "shall be brought down to
hell," the former, in his commentary, says' "Here
it [hell] means a state of the utmost woe and ruin
and desolation, to which these impenitent cities
should be reduced.  This prediction of our Lord
was literally fulfilled; for in the wars between the
Romans and the Jews, these cities were totally




JOS]HUA-PSALMS.              299
destroyed, so that no traces are now found  of
Bethsaida, Chorazin, or Capernaum." Barnes, upon
the same clause, says,
G" This does not mean that all the people shall go
to hell; but the city which had flourished so prosperously, should lose its prosperity and occupy the
lowest place among cities. The word hell, is used
here, not to denote a place of punishment in the
future world, but a state of desolation and destruction as a city......  This has been strictly fulfilled. In the wars between the Jews and Romans,
Chorazin, Capernaum, &c., were so  completely
desolated that it is difficult to determine their present
situation.  (See Corn. vol. 1, p. 138.)  Then, for
cities to be "'brought down to hell," is to be
brought down to a state of desolation-buried from
the world. Therefore, as we have seen, for "' nations to be turned into hell," can mean nothing else;
so clearly does the Saviour explain the Psalmist "the New Testament throw back light upon the Old.
Thus have we shown what the Psalmist certainly
did not mean in the text in question, and also what
he obviously did mean. Nor have we given so
much attention to this text, because it deserves it,
but only because careless readers almost habitually
stumble upon it. And now, after having halted so
long about it as the traveller in the Holy Land halts
to decypher an inscription upon some ancient ruin,




800       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
we add a new string to our harp, and pass on
through the Psalms, singing as we go, " 0 sing unto
the Lord a new song for his mercy endureth forever." And as we leave them behind, let us pause
for an observation.
We have now passed over the first three thousand
years of the world's sacred history-that is chronologically, more than half of it,-and yet have failed
to discover the least trace of the doctrine of endless
punishment as threatened, feared, or thought of.
We have, indeed, heard threatenings and seen the
smoke of burning  cities.  But we have heard
nothing of the threatening and seen nothing of the
smoke of endless torment. We have seen Jehovah's
judgments all abroad in camp, court, and temple,turning cities and nations into szeol, but we have
heard nothing of the judgment to which evangelical?
Christians appeal.  Relatively to that, we have
found all silent as sheol.  And how  significant is
this silence of thirty centuries of Divine Revelation,
I pray you, brother, ponder well!
Yours truly.




LETTER IV.
PROVERBS -  MALACHI.
Silence of Solomon-Threatenings of Isaiah-His use of the word
gnolem (forever) —The worm that dieth not —Isaiah not evangelical Jeremiah, sadly abused, why he wept, also not evangelical-Eelkiel —-His threatenings, temporal-Silent upon the
doctrine in question, " Why will ye die," -Daniel also silent —
His figure of the Resurrection examined-Concluding remarks
upon our review of the Old Testament.
DEAR  B]ROTHER,We now come to the writings of Solomon,-Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Canticles.  WTith these,
we  need  be  detained but for a momnent.  For,
though, "6 because the preacher was very wise, he
still taught the people knowledge," he is silent upon
the doctrine under discussion.  In Ecclesiastes, lie
glances towards the future world, only enough to say,
6the dust shall return to the earth  as it was, and
the spirit to God who gave it;" and in his Proverbs, only enough to say, the "6 sinner is driven
away [from earth] in his wickedness'" W~Ye pass
over both with a step, and listen to  oriental strains
along the spicy groves of the Canticles. But here,
too, we find no business; and, therefore, as we pre26




802        FOOTPRINTS IIEAVENWARD.
fer business to pleasure, we hasten through them, to
where our ears are greeted by the lofty and energetic strains of the evangelical prophet.
6'Isaiah is very  bold."  And thus he cries,
"Hear, 0 heavens, and give ear, 0 earth."  And
listening, what do they hear?  They hear the principle authoritatively announced, that it shall be well
with the righteous and ill with the wicked. They
hear of judgments upon Israel, Assyria, Babylon,
Moab, Egypt.  They hear of the desolating march
of armies, of the overthrow of cities, of regions
swept with the besom of de struction. ]Butt nothing
do they hear of endless woe.
"' Then said I, Lord, how long?  And he answered, until the cities be wasted without inhabitant,
and the houses without man, and the land be utterly
desolate, and the Lord have removed men far away
and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the
land."'  Thus the prophet agrees with the Psalmist,
that Jehovah "jud'geth in the earth."  For thus he
further cries, "' Behold the Lord maketh the earth
empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside
down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof."  Thus does he speak of the overturnings and
overturnings, in the long line of providential preparation for the advent of.Messiah; and of Him in
his glory, and of the gatherings of the nations to
tyi. 11, 12; xxiv. 1.




PROVERBS - MALACHI.             303
him, and of how, under his reign, with joy, men
4" shall draw water from the wells of salvation," he
has very clear visions. But of any place of future
woe, as receiving the souls of the multitudes of the
wicked, whose death, by famine, pestilence and war,
he foretells, all vision is denied him. No judgment
does he announce which looks beyond the death of
its victims;-unless it be that pronounced upon the
King of Babylon: " Thou shalt not be joined with
them [other Kings] in burial,"* —a judgment, quite
harmless to the dead.
Do you say, Isaiah makes the people cry out,
(xxxiii. 14) " who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire?  Who of us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?"  And so he does, but is speaking
of the overthrow  of the Assyrian army which he
compares to the burnings of lime. Henry paraphrases the ejaculation thus, "'Who of us shall
dwell with this devouring fire, before which so vast
an army are as thorns, with these everlasting burnings which have made the Assyrians as the burnings of lime." And how the prophets use the word
gnolerm (translated everlasting and forever) is seen
in what he says of the smoke which should go up
from burning Idumea, —"  the smoke thereof shall go
up forever."t  Is it smoking still!
Do you say Isaiah speaks of the "'wormn that dieth
*xii. 90, txxxiv. 9-10. Terms denoting duration in a future letter.




304        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
not?" Certainly he does, in the last verse of his prophecy, and also explains himself to have reference
to what shall take place during the moons of earth.
His language there is the basis of a simile employed
by Jesus, which will be considered in its place.
Thus do we find Isaiah, like all his inspired predecessors, silent upon endless punishment. Why
then is he honored with the title, " evangelical," as
those at this day, who repudiate that dogma, are
not? But no matter; for, standing, as they do, with
the old Bible worthies, thpugh pushed out of the
synagogue, they are not punished into bad comPally.
But here we come to Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, whose tears are so frequently referred to as
being shed over the immortal ruin of souls. And
yet, singularly enough, and, for the credit of the
ministry, sacd enough, he makes not a single allusion
to the subject - not a single allusion, which, so far
as I know, has ever been argumentatively pressed
into the service of endless punishment.
Jeremiah tells us why he weeps. It is " for the
slain of the daughter of mly people "- that the city
6"sits solitary" —that "6 she weepeth sore in the
night, and her tears are on her face" -- that'" amlong all her lovers she hath none to comfort
her "- that'S Judah is gone into captivity,"
s" dwelleth among the heathen," and " findeth no
rest"- that the ways of Zion  [Jerusalem] do




PROVERBS - MALACHI.             305
mourn, and none come to her solemn feasts,- that'all her gates are desolate,"- that " her adversaries are chief, her enemies prosper" - that
" Jerusalem hath grievously sinned, and therefore is
removed."  "For these things," saith the prophet,
" I weep; mine eyes runneth down with water, because the comforter that should comfort my soul is
far from me."  " My children are desolate, because
the enemy hath prevailed." "; Mine eyes do fail because of tears; my bowels are troubled, my liver is
poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the
daughters of my people, because the children and
the sucklings swooned in the streets of the city."
"They say unto their mothers, where is corn and
wine. Behold, 0 Lord, and consider to whom thou
hast done this."  " Shall the women eat their fruit
and children of a span long?  Shall the priest
and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the
Lord?" "The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth
to the roof of his mouth, for thirst.  The young
children ask bread, and no man breaketh it to them."
4" For the punishment of the iniquity of my people is
greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom." *
The above texts sufficiently indicate why the
prophet wept, while he gives no intimation of endless punishment.  Shall not he also be stricken from
*Jeremiah saw no endles woe for Sodom; but only woe, less than
Jerusalem was then suffering.
26*




806        FOOTPRINTS HIEAVENWARDo
the roll of the evangelical?  For to say that he
believed in endless misery, andl yet, did not speak of
it, in his zeal and pathos, were to say that though
his head was a "6 fountain of waters," his heart was
a quarry of stone.
And now we pass to Ezekiel, "whose hot hurried
breath we feel approaching us like the breath of a
furnace."  We see him  portray Jerusalem  upon a
tile and then lay siege against it; we hear him say
of Jerusalem, " I will give it into  the hands of
strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth
for a spoil. The fathers shall teat the sons in the
midst of them, and the sons shall eat their fathers;
and I will execute judgment on thee, and the whole
remnant of thee will I scatter to the four winds."
6" Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye
have defiled the streets  thereof with the slain;
therefore, thus saith the Lord God,'Your slain
whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the
flesh, and this city is the caldron."   66 And they
shall know that I am the Lord, when I have scattered them among the nations, and dispersed them in
the countries."t-  This, and much more do we hear
Ezekiel say, after the manner of Jeremiah, and upon
the key note of judgTment struck by Moses in the
plain of Mloab."  But not a word do we hear him
say of endless misery.  Ie speaks indeed of dis* Not, eternity is the caldron, or'furnace!
tEzek. iv. 1, 2.  vii. 21. v. 10.  xi. 6, 7.  xii. 15.




PROVERBS   MA- LACHI.           307'
persion, but not into woe in the future world.
To  rise to that grand  conception  is the province of profane poets —poets, not divine, but
Miltonian. Moreover, the object of punishment, as
stated by Ezekiel, demands that it be limited in
duration.  " And they shall bear the punishment of
their iniquity; the punishment of the prophet shall
be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto
him; that the house of Israel may go no more
astray from me, neither pollute any more with all
their transgressions.  But that they may be my
people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord."*
Thus Ezekiel, like his brother seers, is also silent
upon the doctrine of endless woe. One text which
he uses, however, has been pressed into its service.
it is this, "6 Why will ye die, 0 house of Israel,"
(xxxiii. 11.) Relative to this, however, it is enough
to refer the reader to the remarks I made upon
the garden threatening. And yet, as conclusively
settling its meaning —very conclusively - I will
quote from  Hosea.  The prophet is speaking of
Ephraim and Judah,-that is, of the tribes that rebelled, and those that stood loyal to the house of
David  when lie says, "; When  Ephraim  spake
tremblingly, he exalted himself in Israel, but when
he offended in Baal, he died."f   Now we know,
historically, what Ephraim's death was -the being
sunk in wretchedness and carried away into captivi* Xiv. 10.  xiii. 1.




308       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
ty.  Such was his sheol. Does any one dream that
-Iosea has reference here to the future world? Such
a dream  were ridiculous.  Then, why dream so
about his brother Ezekiel. The whole prophecy of
the latter shows what he meant. We leave it behind without finding the least intimation of endless
woe, and pass to -Daniel.
Daniel also is a mighty prophet, whose vision is of
still ampler sweep, and longer range. For it embraces nations more widely spread, and opens down
even to Macedon, Greece and Rome.  But nothing
does he see of endless punishment, unless it is recorded in the twelfth chapter of his prophecy, where
he says, (xii. 1,) "And at that time shall Michael
stand up, the great prince which standeth for the
children of my people; and there shall be a time of
trouble, such as never was since there was a nation,
even to that same time. And at that time, thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found
written in the book. And many of them that sleep
in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." But I think intelligent Christians, at this
late day, will hardly attempt to raise an argument
for endless woe upon this solitary text, for the following among other reasons.
1. Because the prophecy of Daniel, being almost
exclusively symbolical, it were quite unnatural to
understand this text of it, literally.




PROVERBS -MALACHI.             309
2. Because the very same resurrection symbol is
employed by Ezekiel, who explains himself to have
reference exclusively to scenes of time. Ez. xxxvii.
1, 14. Why shall it be otherwise with Daniel?
3. Because the words "shame " and'6 contempt,"
seem quite too common-place to be dictated by the
Spirit, to express the awful doctrine of endless
punishment, to a people to whom that doctrine had
been before unrevealed.
4. Because the language employed, if taken
literally, does not express a general resurrection, but
only pc9artil.'" i/any of them that sleep," &c,
Why did the prophet not say all? Evidently, because it was not intended to embrace all, but only
a part; nor yet to embrace the righteous only, for it
embraces both good and bad.  A state of sin and
apathy is in Scripture language, a state of sleep and
death. The arousal from this state, may well be
called a resurrection, and Paul so calls it when he
says, 6Awalke thou that sleepest, arise from the
dead, and Christ shall give thee light."  The spirit
foresaw that many who were in a state of sin and
apathy would be aroused, and therefore he speaks
partitively, 6 nmany of them that sleep," &c.
5. Because, finally, and conclusively, it is plain,
that whatever event was meant, has already taken
place. The prophet tells us when it was to be, as exactly as he does when "6 Mlessias should be cut off."
And,




310       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
First, it was to be when there should "' be a time
of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time," xii. 1. In Matt.,
(xxiv. 21,) Jesus, speaking of the destruction of
the Jewish state, says, "' For there shall be great
tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of
the world, no, nor yet shall be."  The events are
one. Jesus thus explains Daniel.  Could he have
a better expositor.  Jesus is Daniel's "Michael."
But,
Second, Daniel was told, in language which events
have clearly interpreted, when the time should be.
1" Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold there stood
other two, the one on this side of the bank of the
river, and the other on that side of the bank of the
river. And one said to the man clothed in linen,
which was upon the waters of the river, How long
shall it be to the end of these wonders?  And I
heard the man clothed in linen which was upon the
waters of the river, when he lifted his right hand
and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him
that liveth forever and ever, that it shall be for a
time, times and an half. And when he shall have
accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished."  xii. 7.
Here then we have definiteness.  For we know
what the scattering of the holy people was. It was
the scattering of the Jews, prophecied as we have




PROVERBS — MALACII.             311
seen, * and largely dwelt upon by Daniel's brother
seers. And when that occurred, is matter of simple
history - as well known as the time of the sacking
of Rome by the Goths and Vandals, if not indeed
better.  It occurred nearly two thousand years ago.
And then " all these things should be finishedt."
To prove that the resurrrection spoken of by Daniel
is yet future, were, therefore, to prove that the dispersion of the Jews is yet future 1 That that resurrection, mean it what it may, is past, we have then
the exposition of Jesus, and the oath of the angel of
God. Unless it is past, Daniel made a mistake.
But no, we trust him for the event, and not less for
-the time when it should take place.
As to the word everlasting, we have seen how the
prophets apply the Hebrew it covers up to the duration of temporal calamities. It will be critically examined in a future letter.
And now leaving Daniel, with endless misery still
undiscovered, we come to the minor Prophets; but
still discover nothing of that fearful doom. Not a
glimpse of it appears among  all the hot curses
which they hurl at wicked men and nations in the
name of God.  To affirm  this, is not assumption,
seeing that we know not whether any intelligent
Bible reader denies it.
Thus ends our review  of the  Old Testament.
* See Ez. xx. 23. v. 10, D)cut. xxxii. 36. Jer. xviii. 17. Ez. xii 15.




312        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
Thus we bid adieu to the prophets.  "Munificent
and modest benefactors, they knocked at the door of
the human family at night, threw in inestimable
wealth, fled, and the sound of their feet dying away
in the distance, is all the tidings they have given of
themselves."  But they threw in no torch of endless
death    And if it be said, neither did they of endless life, we shall not stop to dispute it; because it
is in perfect keeping with Jehovah's character, to
surprise his children with blessings unforetold,-a
very different thing indeed from surprising them
with endless misery unforetold, and against which
they must, of course, have been unadmonished.  I
may, for pleasing effect, withhold, for a little time,
good tidings from my neighbor. Who will say that it
follows, therefore, that I may withhold alarm, when
at dead midnight, I see his house in flames over his
head and the heads of his sleeping family?  Who?
It is easily reconcilable with goodness, too, that
creatures like men, profiting from experience, should
not always be at once admonished, of their exposure
to certain temporal evils. For there is an "6 afterwards " in which they may profit from the experience of them. But not so, eternal evil. And here,
before proceeding to the New Testament, a few reflections, similar to previous ones, seem called for.
And,
1. At least, until Christ came,- that is, for four




PROVERBS -MALACHI,             313
thousand years-the Father gave to his children
upon earth, no intimation that he intended to punish
them forever.  Can it be, that he was all that time,
sending them " away into everlasting punishment?"
What a charge to bring against the Judge of all the
earth. A word and such a blow, and the blow
first! Think of it, brother.
2. This silence of the Old Testament seems the
more remarkable, because made up of every variety
of composition - historical, legal, prophetic, experimental. Especially do the Psalms draw aside the
vail from the pious heart, and reveal its workings;
yet no suspicion of endless woe appears. Jeremiah
wept in Zion, as it would seem no other person ever
did. Yet is he farthest from any intimation of endless woe. Even he assures us, withal, that " The
Lord will not cast off forever. But though he cause
grief, yet will he have compassion, according to the
multitude of his rlmercies."'
3. The heathen, during all this long period, or
rather as far back as their history carries us, were
in full possession of this dread dogma; though
" without God and without hope in the world."
Now, how is it that the poets of the heathen should,
in the discovery of divine truth, so steal the march
upon the prophets of God? -how is it that the
heathen should gather higher knowledge at the cave
*Lam iii. 32.
27




314       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
of the Sybils, than God's people at 6' the holy of
holies "- how is it that heathen priests should learn
higher wisdom at the shrines of their Apollos, than
Mloses in the holy mount where he talked face to
face with the living God? Is mythology so much
wiser than theology? Or is the dogma in review,
only a myth, a mere heathen ism?
4. Mlay we not well here ask, how this silence of
four thousand years of inspiration upon the doctrine
in question, comports with the modern notion that
without that doctrine, little can be done to save
souls. Evidently, the two things do not quadrate at
all. Either the church has made a mistake for the
last thousand years, or else Jehovah made a mistake for the first four thousand years. For he did
not see fit to suffer that doctrine to be 9revealed by
the prophets and wise men whom he sent to instruct
and save his people, for at least so long a time.
Was Jehovah so long experinzenting upon means of
salvation? and was it only after so long a trial, that
he discovered that it was of no use to belabor men
with the means which he had so long been employing, and that the threat of endless misery was the
effective saving agency?  Nay, for Jehovah never
experiments upon the immortal destiny of his
trembling ones!
Divine revelation is indeed progressive,-first the
blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear,




PROVERBS — MALACHI.                 315
(not first the full corn in the ear, then the ear, then
the blade, and then the dead germ.)  And this progressiveness of revelation is perfectly consistent with
Universalist ideas of human discipline and growth.*
But, viewing the present as man's only state in
which to fit himself for heaven, then the notion that
Jehovah had a mighty saving means which, for four
thousand years he would not employ, though for the
want of it he saw  unnumbered multitudes of his
creatures sinking  into hopeless perdition! —well,
brother, think of it!
5. If the individual man lived through the thousands of earth's years, with faculties unimpaired, it
would seem less unreasonable, that the doctrine of
such  a punishment should be withholden for the
earlier thousands of these years.  But it is not so.
" Throughout  all ranks  and  conditions one generation  passeth  and another generation  cometh;
and this great inn is by turns evacuated and replenished, by troops of succeeding pilgrims."  The
individual lives his short day, dies, and is thereby
carried quite beyond the reach of whatever means
of grace may be vouchsafed to his posterity.  To
him, born under Moses, and a thousand years lost
$ " What hinders, therefore, but that mankind may draw lots for
their conditions? They take their portion of faculties and opportunities, as any unknown cause, or concourse of causes, or as causes
acting for other purposes, may happen to set them out; but the
event is governed by that which depends upon themselves, the application of what they have received."- Paley's Nat. Theolo. p. 290.




316       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
before Jesus comes (with the saving grace of endless
woe?) the gospel is to him, indeed, an idle tale.
Said a prince of one of the South Sea Islands, who had
religiously devoted all his sons to death, before the
Gospel reached him,'" it comes fifteen years too late."
And, as the Gospel could not bring back to life
again, the children whom he had idolatrously sacrificed, so it can no more bring again into the region
of hope, those whom the law consigned to despair,
thousands of years before the Gospel was proclaimed.
In conclusion, if all this be so, may we not well
ask, " Who is the Lord?" And now, brother, leaving you to ponder the foregoing, let me pass on to
the New Testament, to see what light that throws
ulpon the question in discussion.
Yours truly.




LETTER V.
NEWi TESTAMENT EXAM[INED.
Positive evidence demanded, and five reasons why-Symbols of New
Testament and Old-Precise question in debate- Key-textsf.ionion supposed to be untranslated -What does it mean? -
Appeal, 1st, to classical usage-Authorities —Origin-How  Inspiration employs words - Bible usage inferrable from classical2, Appeal to Bible usage; First, Old Testament - Quotations -
Syllogism - Further quotations; Second, New Testament — Quotations - Clarke -"Eternal fire " of Sodom considered at length
-Summary - Specific meaning of Aionion in our own key-text,
not endless -Such a meaning forbidden, 1, By the spirit of its
Author; 2, by its substantive; 3, by the character of the discourse; 4, by God's elder Scriptures; 5, such meaning for it finds
no support in other written Scriptures-Texts examined-" VWrath
to come," " unqueenchable fire," - Clarke — Connexion between
the Old Testament and New-Quotations from Eusebius-" Wormn
that dieth not," - Origin of the figure, where Jesus got it -
Meaning of Isaiah lxvi. 23, 24 -"Iell (gehenna) fire"-(Hades
-Hell, considered in a note) —Eight considerations about itPreachers unapostolic? —"IHe that believeth not shall be damned"
-"Lose his own soul"-" The rich man and Lazarus"-" THVhither Igo ye cannot come," considered at length; —6, Endless,
forbidden, as the meaning of aionion, (note on the words,
life eternal) by other Scriptures,-1, By those which set forth the
character of God -Woods and Finney- Endless punishment useless - Stuart - Hopkins - Saints petrified-2, By those Scriptures
which speak of punishment according to works; 3, By the spirit
of certain parables; 4, By Matt. v. 43-48, &c., Lam. iii. 32, Isaiah
lvii. 16, &c.; 5, By the promise in the grdcen; 6, By God's revealed purpose; 7, By His plan; 8, By the completion of Christ's
work; 9, By the shout of the apostle Paul-Summary-Conclusion.
DEAR BROTER, —
We have now passed over forty of the less than
sixty centuries of time, without discovering the least
cr~w~




318          FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
trace of the doctrine of endless punishment among
the authoritative revelations of Jehovah.
We have also seen that the absurdities, which, to
human reason, are involved in that doctrine, are
great, numerous and both multiplied and intensified
by the increase of light.
From what we have seen, therefore, we conclude
that the evidence now necessary to establish that
doctrine, must be most positive and absolute.  For,
to do so, were to establish,
1. That the chief of penalties was carefully excluded frcm  the special cdispensation of penalties,that is, from the legal.
2. That in the dispensation, not legal, but so much
better than the legal, that the latter, compared with
it, " hath no glory by reason of the glory that excelleth," * this hitherto hidden hydra of everlasting
pain, is brought forth to the light and let loose before the eyes of men; —and all this, just at the
moment  when  wakes  from  overhead, the  song,
*But if the ministration of death, written and engravren in stones,
was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly
behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which
glory vas to be done away:
How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?
For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more
doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this
respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that
which remaineth is glorious.-2 Cor. iii. 7-11.




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMINED.         319
"Glory to God in the highest; on earth peace,
good will to men! 
3. It were to prove that the Father, for four thousand years, scrupulously withheld from the millions
of his tempted children, while alive, all knowledge
of a woe into which he forever plunges them, now
they are dead.
4. It were to prove that heathenism long stole the
march upon true religion.  For, as we have seen,
it had the doctrine in question, as a saving agency (?)
lonog before Bible religionists gained a glimpse of it!
5. It were to prove a point, as we have seen, in
the teeth of the most appalling absurdities.
Now we submit whether, to prove so much in
favor of heathenism, and against common sense,
consciousness, humanity and God, the evidence
should not be the most positive and absolute?whether, if the evidence leave a doubt, common
sense, consciousness, humanity and God, should not
have the benefit of it?
These preliminary remarks are dropped, merely
that we may see just where we are, and not because
we anticipate any formidable difficulty in what remains of our Bible examination.
We now enter a Dispensation, whose symbol is
not Sinai, with its rumbling thunderbolts, but
Calvary, with its soft whisperings of mercy, and the
cross from which the dying prayer of the Crucified




320         FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
floats up towards heaven.  We may therefore well
enter it hopefully.  And as we do so, let us note,
1. That we have no controversy about any place
of punishment.
2. About any time of punishment, but,
3. Only about the endless duration  of punishment.  And that, therefore,
No reasoning is relevant to our present discussion,
unless it bear upon the last of these three points.
By carefully marking this consideration, we may
avoid confusion, and prolixity. *
Does the New  Testament teach the doctrine of
endless punishment? This is the question. And
the most natural key to its solution, would seem to
be the text,c' These shall go away into everlasting punishment."  Matt. xxv. 46.
And, therefore, this text shall be the rallying
point of our argument.
What then does it mean? — or, rather, what
does its  word everlasting mean? or, still rather,
what does the word  aionion  mean, which  the
word everlasting covers up?  For the word which
fell from the Saviour's lips, may be quite as reliable
as that which fell from the translator's pen.
We have some words, as "6 rabbi," and "G baptizo,"
~ As the author, with printing, and writing going on together,
has already reached the limits he assigned his letters, he feels quite
embarr;ssed at the necessity of severe condensation.




NEW  TESTAMENT EVAMINED.          321
taken into the English version of the Greek and
Hebrew Scriptures, untranslated. Let us now suppose the word aionion so taken into our key-text.
It would then read, "' These shall go away into
aionion punishment."  Most readers would then be
obliged to say, we do not know the meaning of this
foreign word, and therefore cannot understand the
punishment. And now, as though you and I did
not know its meaning, let us proceed to ascertain it.
And,
1. As it is a Greek word, we will proceed to take
the testimony of the Greeks themselves. Certainly,
they must have understood their own language.
How they understood this word of it, we may learn
from dictionaries of their language, compiled, not,
generally, by theologians who had a creed to save,
but by critical linguists who had a classical reputation at stake.
Aion and aionzon have the same general signification, the latter being the adjective of the former and
drawing its meaning from it.  The same Hebrew
word, gnolem, being translated, sometimes by the
one, and sometimes by the other. * Of course, it
is aion, the noun that lexicographers chiefly define.
And how do they define it.
Schkrevelius says it means, 1" time, whether longer
or shorter, past, present, or future; the life of man."
~ The Hebrew has no formal adjectives.




322        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
Scdleusner says -'" Any space of time, whether
longer or shorter, past, present or future, to be determined by the person or things spoken of, and the
scope of the subject."
ParkhJurst. —' Duration  of time  with  great
variety."
Donnegacn. —" Time; a space of time; life-time
and life; the ordinary period of man's life; the age
of man; man's estate; a long period of time;
eternity."
Pickering.-" An age, a long period of time,
indefinite duration, eternity,    *    *  *  time
whether longer of shorter, past, present or future."
Such is the Greek usage of the Greek word in
question. The celebrated Origen, the earliest of
Christian scholars, writing in Greek, therefore
affirmed aionion punishment, while stoutly arguing
against everlasting punishment.  It was perfectly
consistent for ancient Universalists to believe in
aionion punishment.  Why not then for modern
ones?  And now, the term  in question being of
such variable signification, and, as we have seen,
involving the notion of eternity, only in its remnote
definition, by what authority has it been made to
mean endless, when it defines the punishment which
"6 the God of all grace "' inflicts upon his tempted
offspring?
But you will perhaps say that our present business is with the Bible-usage of the term in question.




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMIN ED.          323
And it certainly is. But we must bear in mind,
that Inspiration, ordinarily, uses the language it
finds in the world, rather than constructs a new
one; and, that, therefore, the presumption ever is,
that it employs words as they are understood by the
people to whom  it immediately addresses them.
Otherwise how could it be understood at all? However, we will not merely infer Bible-usage from
popular usage, but listen to a plea of the Book in
its own cause.
2. Bible-usage. And
First, The Old Testament.
In the Septuagint, (Greek version of the Old
Testament) the word gno7em is, as we have before
intimated, rendered by aion when used as a noun
and by aioniogn, when used as an adjective; while
these Greek terms are rendered, in our English
version of the Old Testament, by the words, "forever eer,   " everlasting," "6 never,  " of  old,"  &c.
They are the original Greek, in the following texts:
"For all the land which thou seest, to thee
[Abraham] will I give it, and to thy seed forever."
Gen. xiii. 15.
"6 And all this land that I have spoken of, I will
give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever."  Ex. xxii. 13.
1" Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden,
shall be thine inheritence, and thy children's forever."
Josh. xiv. 9.




324        FOOTPRINTS I-IEAVENWARD.
Now suppose I take these three texts and argue
thus -
1. What is to be possessed forever, can never be
lost.
2. Abraham and his seed were to possess Canaan
forever.
3. Therefore, they possess it still.
Thus do I Jrove, by the word of God, that the
Jews can never have been, and shall never be,
driven from Canaan. Do you dispute my reasoning?  Well you may! But mark, it is precisely the
reasoning by which you prove that the sinner shall
never be delivered from  punishment!  So I have
only to ask you, either to admit my reasoning, or to
abandon your own. But let us note other instances
to our purpose.
"' Thou shalt take an awl and thrust it through
his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant
forever."  Deut. xv. 17.
"'They shall be your bondmen forever."  Lev.
xxv. 46.
How idle then to talk of slavery, or servitudes
ever being abolished   Just so idle is it, to talk of
sinners ever being delivered from punishment 
"' The leprosy therefore, of Naaman shall cleave
unto thee, [Gehazi,] and unto they seed forever."
2 Kings v. 27.  Is Gehazi a leper still in eternity?
I-e was to have an aionion leprosy, just as sinners
are to have an aioniou lUnhi8IhyzeJt t!




NEW~  TESTAMENT EXAMINED.             325
And this city  [Jerusalem] shall remain forever.9)  Jer. xvii. 25.
" Godi will establish it forever."  Ps. xlviii. 8.
6 It shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down
any mzore forever."  Jer. xxxi. 40.
Does Jerusalem   still remnai  unl2ueced up and
stable?
" It shall not be quenched nioght nor day; the
smolke thereof shall go upforever."  Isa. xxxiv. 10.
This is the fire that burned up Idumea.  Do you
say it is still burning! Why then do not travellers
give some account of it?
In Leviticus vi. 15, it is said of the fire upon the
altar, "6 It shall nsver go out."  Does it burn there
still?  Texts like the above, illustrating the Bible
use of the terms in question,  might be multiplied.
But these suffciently show that, in the Bible, as il
the classics, it is used as an indefinite term, signifying "6 time, whether longer or shorter," duration of
time witnL great  variety.
But perhaps you will further say, it is the. Nw
Testament usage that we need to know.  Very
ywell.  Let us turn to that, and ask,
SecondlJy, What is the usage of the term in question in the New  Testament?  Its usage, where it
comes directly from  the  lips of Jeisus, and not
through the Hebrew?  Is it there used with a strict
reference to eternity, or inrlei,,nitely, as in the clas28




326         FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
sics and Old Testament?  In the following texts, it
is the original for the word world. The harvest is
the end of the world.*  Matt. xiii. 39.
"What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the
end of the world?"  Matt. xxiv. 3.
" Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of
the world."  Matt. xxviii. 20.' And they are written for our admonition, upon
whom the ends of the world are come."  1 Cor. x.
11.
6" And now once in the end of the world, hath he
appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself."  Heb. xix. 26.
Now whatever is meant by the term qion, (translated world, in these texts,) it means a period that
ends. And what ends, not to say, what ended long
ago, is not endless!  That's certain!
In Matt. xii. 32, we have aion upon aion.  "It
shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world,
neither in the world to come."  Certainly one eternity never ends to  give place to  another!  The
meaning evidently is, " neither in this age or dispensation, nor the age or dispensation to come.t"
* In this and similar texts, it is certain that the word should have
been translated age or dispensation; and here mark, that " the field
is the kosmos," while the " harvest is the end (not of the kosmos,
but) of the aion."
tDr. Clark says on this phrase, "Though I follow the common
translation, yet I am fully satisfied the meaning of the words is,
neither in this dispensation, (viz., the Jewish), nor in that which is
to come, viz., the Christian.   See Commentary.




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMINED.             327
The word aionion  is  translated, "ages" in
the following  texts.  And  when  used  in  the
plural, the ages it groups, must, of course, be
each limited. There cannot be a plurality of eternities 
6 That in the ages to come, he might show the
exceeding riches of his grace." Eph. ii. 7.
"6 Even the mystery which has been hid from ages
and from generations."  Col. i. 6.
These references sufficiently show, that the New
Testament usage of the term  in question differs' not
from that of the Old Testament, and the classics.
As to the adjective aionios, it is applied to punishment only five times, and, strictly speaking, only
four; twice by Matthew, once by Paul, and once by
Jude.  And in one of these instances, it is plainly
used to express  limited, very limited duration.
For what fire it was that burned up  fSocdom  and
Gomorrah is just as obvious as is what fire burned
up Mioscow, yet it is called aionion fire.
We have heard David say, the "6 Lord is known
by the judgments he executeth."  So Jude sets
forth the destruction of the cities of the plain, as a
judgment by which the Lord is known -  as an example.* But a fire out of sight, in eternity, cannot
be an example to mortals.  How strange the theo*Even as Sodom and Gomorrah * * * * are setforth as an
example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Jude 7.




328        FOOTPRINTS THEAVTENWAR.D
logical hallucinntion that should attempt to mn1,qke it
-o,
How did Jerenziah understand the punishmnent of
Sodom?  lIe regarded it as less than the punishment of Jerusalcm, wNhile, as we have seen, for Jerusalem  he intimates no punishment in the future
world.  Tihus he cries,; For the punishment of the
iniqlnity of the daughter of my people is greater
than the punmishment of the sin of Sodomn, that was
overthrown as in a ncment, and no hands stayed on
hero" Lain. iv..
LHow did Peter understanad the destruction of
Sodom?  lHe says, "  And turning the cities of Sodom  and Gomorrah into ashes, [God] condemned
them with an overthrow, m.akingthem an ensanmple
to those that afterwards should live ungodly." 2 Peter iio 6. This quotation from  Peter is obviously
parallel to that from Jude. Both speak of the punisihment as an ezctamfne, and both as byfire.  Of
course, both mean the same fire; only one calls it
a6 aionion fire9, and the other, the fre that turned
the "' cities into ashes9"
But it seems idle to spend time on a point so
plain as this.  Barnes, who does not wholly give up
the passage to Universalists, says   "6C It cannot be
used to prove that the particular dwellers in Sodomn
w ill be punished forever;" fand that, 6 the meaning
is, that the case  was one whicl fiknlished demon



NEW TESTAMENT EXAMINED.          329
stration of the fact that God will punish sin; that
this was an example of the punishment which God
sometimes inflicts on sinners in rthis world," —which
is all exactly to our point. But when he adds,
" and a type of that eternal punishment which will
be inflicted in the next," he travels completely out
of the record. For there is nothing intimated about
a type. The type was in his own brain, and he
must needs make this reputed orthodox text its
anti-type. If it is a type of anything spiritual, it is
of annihilation. But all this orthodox manceuvring about this text of Jude, would be amusing, were
it not lamentable! Sodom and Gomorrah were an
example to which the prophets and Jesus often referred, but never as suffering in the future world.
Why, we hear Jesus say, (Matt. xi. 23,) that if the
mighty works which were done in Capernaum had
been done in Sodom, "it would have remained until
this day;" which is equivalent to making its punishment, its being swept away, (brought down to
hell- hades - sheol,) as a city, without the least
allusion to fire in the future world!
But enough, - too much, only that theological
times are strange. The fire that burned Sodom is
called aionion fire, and we know that that went
out. And now, brother, I submit, whether we are
not prepared to say from actual examination, that
the Greek word aion, with its adjective, aionion,
28*




'330        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD
is used scr pturaliy  as well as classically, as an
indefinite termn, f equently expressing indefinite periods of limited duration.*  I tU ink nothing can be
plainer%
Under the light of the preceding remarks, let us
return again to our key-text, "6 These s all go away
in.to aionionpunishment."  But still we are in the
dark  abouit its meaning.   We  have only learned
that it may mean any one of a great variety of durathions, according to the  subject to which it is appliedo  We have seen it aipplied to nationalities,
which long aago expired; to cities, which long ago
came to nought; to priesthoods which long since
ended, and to fires w hich long since went out. We
have only ascertained its general meaning, without
reaching its specific meaning in our key-text. That
rneeal lugr can be ascertained only by specific examina-ton of the circumstances under which it is therein used.  To that examination, then, let us now
turn our attention.  The term  aionion, Sovetimes,
(by virtue of its object,) means endless.  Does it so
mean here?  You affirm -  I deny; and this, for
reasons amo ng which are the following:
t1.   uch a 9weaning of tAe word would seemn to be
fobrbicdden  by thAe Spirit of Hibm  wwho uttered it.
*It is said that, owing' to the bituminous deposites of the vale of
Sodorm, it burned vYery long, and even tradition has made it burn
for thousands of years —a tradition of no small moment in this discussion,




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMINED.             331
An(d we know  that his spirit was the spirit of the
Fath/er..Surely, firom  the same immaculate lips
proceed not both the prayer,  "Father, forgive
them," and the affirmation, "I will curse them with
endless despair."'  As it were not like Washington,
to doom prisoners taken in war to the slow  fire of
the most lingering torture, so, and infinitely more, it
were not like Jesus to draw out the. human soul in
suffering to all eternity..2. Sutc a tmeaning  seems foZriciden 6y the substan tire to which the ac7jective is cipplied.  That
substantive is kolasis.  What does it mean?  I
have before me, Pickering's Comprehensive Dictionary of the Greek language, published as late as
1846.  And thus he defines kolasis, 6" the pruning
of trees; in the New Testament, punishment, chastiselment, correction; a hindrance, an obstacle; reproof; restraint, check."  Of course, the noun, kolasis, draws its meaning fromi its root, which is kolazo, and which is thus defined;   to lop off, to
check, to prune, or curtail anything."'  And from
the samne root comes kolaspma, which is defined, a
punishmnent, chastisement correction,"  &c.  The
leading idea of the word kolasis is, theng that of
pruning, correction.  And I submit whether, to
speak of endless prtuning or endless correction of a
hop2less soul, at the hands of the perfect God, were
not absurd  - a solecism  in idea if not in terms.
Certainly, t1he punisshment which is coe reetive cannot




332        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
be endless.  The word kolasis is used to express
punishment, nowhere else in the New Testament.
Under the definition above given, it takes the adjective, aionion, -most naturally, as an indefinite modifier, merely expressing the fact that the punishment
will continue, till its object is fully gained.* But,
3. We object to giving the aionion of our text its
extreme meaning, because it occurs in one of the most
highly wrought figurative discourses ever uttered.
The whole of it is in the loftiest strain of Oriental
imagery.   Now, plainly, to  take the particular
words of such a discourse, and subject them to the
plummet and square of prosaic, literal criticism,
were simply ridiculous. As well attempt to literalize the language of Isaiah,t in describing the downfall of Babylon, —language, of which that of Jesus,
in describing the downfall of the Jewish state, is, in
many respects, almost a copy.  So that, if aionion,
did prosaically mean endless, it were contrary to all
rules of literalizing figurative words, to make it
mean that in this place. A word only is needed to
uncloak the folly of attempting to make it do so.
And so we pass on to say, further, that,
4. We object to forcing  the extreme meaning
upon the word in question, because such a meaninl
finds no support in God's elder Scripture, —no    sup*The reformatory object of punishment is clearly set forth in other
Scriptures, such as Ez. xiv. 10. How say some that there is no pun
ishment in this life! See Jer. iv. 6; Lev. xxvi. 24-28.
t See Isaiah xiii.




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMINEDo             333
port, in all which man reads, and from  which he
reasons, (Scripture aside,) both within antd without
himself.  This is sufficiently seen in the numerous
and cruel absurdities, involved in the doctrine of
endless punishment, in part set forth in the first series of these letters.  If the reader will reconsider
them, we have no need to dwell further upon the
point here.  And let him all the while bear in mind
that we are not arguing against giving aionion its
ordinary meaning as applied to suffering, but only
againstforcinvg upon it, as thus applied, a meaning
un~natural and extreme.  B ut still further,
5. We object to giving the  text so extreme a
eaning, because su8ch meaning finc7s no suopr't in
otther written Scri219trtes.
We have fully seen that such a definition of the
punishment which God inflicts, finds no support in
the revelations of the first four, tthousantcl years of
time. Does it in the revelations of the lacst two
thousand?  Of course, you will say it does, and,
perhaps, quote in proof, Matt. iii. 1-2.
6  TWhose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into his
garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
Let us efxamine this text a little carefully, inasmuch as the settlement of its import, must substanti ally settle that of several other similar ones, vary



334       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
ing but a little with it in phraseology, and evidently
the same in meaning.
And to begin, let us notice "6 the wrath to come,"
spoken of by John the Baptist, in verse 7th. What
that wrath was, we have seen all along the way of
"6 Moses and the prophets " down to the closing up
of the Old Testament canon, where it is graphically
set forth by Malachi. That prophet proclaimed it,
as a thing to occur in close connexion with the rising of the " Sun of Righteousness," that is, with the
advent of Christ.*  He also mentioned it as "the
great and terrible day of the Lord," of which Elias,
(John the Baptist) should be the forerunner.
When John the Baptist came, therefore, this woe,
smiting, "4 wrath to come," so long the subject of
prophecy, was immediately before him. And as his
mission had reference to it, it was natural that he
should speak of it. And, mark, he does not speak of it
as a new revelation by him mnade, but as one of
which the people had been already warned.  It
was, therefore, upon his lips, but the reiteration of an
old revelation, under which many of God's ancient
prophets had been bowed down. For they, many
of them, had "6 spoken of these things."  But let us
hear Adam Clarke.
"6  Wrath to come I' The desolation which was to
fall on the Jewish nation for their wickedness, and
threatened in the last words of their own Scriptures.
* Malachi iv. 1, 2, etc.




NEW TESTAMENT EXAMINED.          335
See Malachi iv. 6.'Lest I come and smite the
earth (r7wni n et ha arets,-this very land,) with a
curse. This wrath or curse was coming,' " &c.
The "wrath to come," then, was an Old Testament threatening, announced by John, to be executed under the New. But we have seen that the
Old Testament is silent about endless wrath.
And here let it be said, that this connexion between the closing up of the old dispensation, and the
opening of the new, is exceedingly important to be
well understood, and, to the unprejudiced mind, is
easily understood. Such a mind, stepping from
Malachi to the Baptist, Will see that the latter makes
no new revelation of woe, but is only the prophetic
harbinger of one already proclaimed. But Clarke,
proceeding, makes the tree, the Jewish nation,
and the "6 axe laid at the root" of it, and the' "fan,"
the Roman armies. From his remarks on verse 12,
we quote as follows:
"6 lsjfloor. Does not this mean the land of Judah, which had been long, as it were, the threshingfloor of the Lord? God says, he will now, by the
winnowing " fan" (the Romans,) thoroughly cleanse
his floor, —the wheat, those who believe in the Lord
Jesus, he will gather into his garners, —either take
them to heaven from the evil to come, or put them
into a place of safety, by sending them to Pella, in
Caelosyria, previously to the destruction of Jerusalem. But he will burn up the chaff-the disobedi



336        FOOTPUINTS HIEAVENWARDo
ent and rebellious Jews, who would not come to
Christ that they might have life.'
So speaks Clarke, while in the presence of the
immediate connexion between the Old Testament
and the New.  Nor could he speak otherwise, till
removed from that presence, he became forgetful of
it, and fell more fully under the influence of scholastic theology.
But you say, these wicked Jews, or whoever may
be meant, were to be burned with " unquenzchable
fire."  Certainly, they were to be burned up with
6"puri asbesto."  And what does this mean. Clarke
shall answer.  On this text he says:
"; I Uquenchctblefire.' That cannot be quenched
by man."
The simple idea is, that the fire would do its
work.  The tree being, as Clarke says, the Jewish
nation, the fire of judgment, spoken of, of old, would
burn till it should be consumed - or whatever its
fuel, it would burn till its end should be accomplished. A very clear illustration of this, is found in the
Septuagint version of Ezekiel. "6 I will kindle a fire
in thee [Judea], and it shall devour every green
tree in thee and every dry tree; the flaming flame
shall not be quenchedl, and all faces from north to
south shall be burned therein. And all flesh shall
see that I the Lord have kindled it  it shall not be
quenchfecd, [that is, it shall be unquenchable.]  Ez.
xx. 47. Jeremiah uses the phrase in the same way




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMINED.              337
in his prophecy, vii. 20, and xvii. 27.  So also Isaiah lxvi. 23, 24.
But, brother, my limits forbid that I should dwell
on all these points. The classical use of the terms
now  in question (asbestos pur) is the same as the
prophetic. Eusebius, as quoted by Thayer, speaking of several Christian martyrs, says,'6 They were
carried on camels through the city, and in this
elevated position were scourged, and finally consunmed or burned in unquenchable fire, (puri
asbesto,) the very phrase employed by our Lord,
and by our translators rendered by the words unquenchable fire.   So those mnartyrs suffered  unquenchable fire, but did they suffer, or rather are
they  suffering, forever!   Then why the  million
ignorant Jews who sank  down in the flames of
Jerusalem! Who believes that they are still burning?  5Whoever he be, he should have some better
proof than the Bible phrase, unzquenchable fire, affords.  For that phrase affords no support to the extreme meaning of aionion, in the key-text of our
discussion.
But, perhaps, you will say, Mark speaks, not only
of " the fire that shall never be quenched," * but of
fire 6' where their worm dieth not."'t  He does, indeed, but what does he mean?  The figure he em* The phrase " the fire that never shall be quenched " is in the
original (Mark xi. 45,) the same as in the text we have considered,
— 1"par to asbestos."  The only real difference is in the translation,                I-Mark xi. 44.




338        FOOTPRINTS I:EAYENWA1RD.
ploys was familiar to the Jews, and had its origin in
the seething corruption of the valley of Hinnom —
yehennac —(translated hell,) —a valley under the
walls of Jerusalem, which received all its filth, and
where, therefore, notwithstanding fires are said to
have been constantly burning, worms were ever
breeding in the unconsimned putrefaction.  This
valley is used thus figuratively by Jeremiah, to represent, fearful overwhelming judgments. So much
is plain.
But never mind  the  origin  of the language
Gw here  their worm  dieth not."  Where did our
Saviour get it?  If we turn back to isaiah lxvi.
23, 24, we read, "6 And it shall come to pass froin
one new moon to another, and froin one Sabbath to
another, shall all flesh come to worship before me,
saith the Lord. And they shall go forth and look
upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressedC against me; for their worm shall not die, neither
shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an
abhorring unto all flesh."
WTe have spoken of the importance of marking
well the connexion between the Old and New Testtmnent.  The above is another of those texts which
link them- together, and make them  mut1-ually expound each other.  Let us look at it.
1.o  hatever it mean, it is past all question, that
the scene of it is set in time.  "6ew  moons " and' carcasses " and "6 flesh," do not quadlrate with our




NEW  TESTAAMENT EXAMIINED,          339
notions of the world beyond the grave — spiritual
world.  So much -then is fact.  The scene is set in
time.
2. The coming of all flesh to worship before God,
is obviously the conming of the Gentiles, into the
church, when the middle wall of partition is broken
down, and the Gospel invitation is extended to all.
Says this same prophet, speaking of Christ, " to
hima shall the Gezntiles seek, and his rest shall be
glorious."
3. The men who have transgressed, and upon
whose carcasses the Gentiles look, are, plainly, the
Jews, who, for their disobedience are, as a nation,
miserably destroyed, by war, pestilence and familne.
For in fact, the very atmosphere was defiled about
Jerusalem-, by their unburied carcasses, when Titus
ran his plough share through it.
4. The destructive part of the scene, therefore, is
just that bitter 66 latter end 9" which  ioses foresaw,
and upon which later prophets dwelt —that very
6 curse " which Malachi threatened, — that 6" wrath
to come," of which John the Baptist was the immediate harbinger.  See Jer. vii. 33; xix. 7, etc.
Thus do we evidently get at the exact meaning of
the prophet when he says, "' for their worm dieth
not, neither shall their fre be quenched."  Jesus,
addressing  Jews, links the Old Testament with the
lNew, by copying Isaiah's words -words familiar to
the Jew,- how shall he not copy his mreanizng also.




340         FOOTPRINTS  IEAVENWARD.
Or in case he does not do so, how, pray, should his
Jewish  hearer  understand  him?   Certainly  he
could not, unless Jesus explained himself, as using
language in a new sense.  But he made no explanation.   When he  quotes  Isaiah, therefore, it  is
equivalent to saying, " As saith the prophet Isaiah,
so I say," &c. And I am bound to interpret his meaning in the text under review, according to the known
and obvious Bible-usage of the figure he employs.
Thus does neither the word " zunquenchable " nor
the phrase s" their worm'  shcall not die,' afford the
least support to  the  severe  interpretation  of our
leading text, - or  even  suggest that "6 aionon"
should mean endless, when applied  to  punishment.
But, perhaps, you will further say that, whatever
unnquenchable " may mean, and whatever, " their
worm shall not die g' may mean," the 6 hell-fire"
with which Jesus threatened, necessarily preys upon
its victims forever!   So have many said, and so it
is easy to say. But to say so is, simply, to beg the
question, as thousands have unwittingly done before
you.  But we will give it a passing notice; and, as
the question, what or where is hell (gehenna, not
hades' ) is not properly involved in a discussion` We no where read of hades-fire. Hades is found in the New
Testqment eleven times, in ten of which it is translated hell. As
we have before said, it is equivalent to the word sheol, and appropriately translated grave, when not used more figuratively.
In Matt. xi. 23, and xvi. 18, and in Luke x. 15, it represents the
grave-like desolation, predicted of certain cities, and, as we hav




NEW TESTAMENT EXAMINED.                       341
which has reference only to the cztration  of punishrenit, it shall  have only a passing one.!. We have no instance on  record  of the  use of
the  term   hell, (gehenna)  outside  the  Bible, to
signify a place of punishment in  the future  world,
till about one hundred and  fifty years  after Christ,
when  it appears  in  the  language  of  a  converted
heathen philosopher, Justin Martyr. -
2. The word Gehenna, as all agree is compounded   of " ge,"  and  " finno,%,"  (that  is, valley  of
Rfinnom), and that valley, with its fire and corruption,
is, in the Old Testament made a symbol of temporal
calamity.  Jer. vii. and  xix.
shown from the highest orthodox authority, has no reference to
punishmlent in the future world.t
In Acts ii. 27, 31, it represents the place where the soul of Jesus
was- and I think nobody believes he was in the popular hell. He
was only in hades, the grave -plaee of the dead.
In Revelation i. 18, and vi. 8, it is associated as the grave with
death, while,
In Rev. xx. 13; it is said to deliver up the dlead that are in it, and
In Rev. xx. 14, it is represented as being itself destroyed, together
with death.  And hence,
In 1 Cor. xv. 55, Paul shouts {" O hades [translated grave] where
is thy victory!"  I-tades is emptied completely by the resurrection.
The rich man, Luke xvi. 23, can no longer be therein, certainlly!
And these are all the instances of the use of HiYades in the New
Testament.  If you ask why it should have been translated hell in
every case, except in that of the apostolic shout, I can only answer,
T2he Lord knows —I don't.  The translators are gone, where they
can't be questioned.
* It is now well understood that thle Targ'mns in which this word
is thus used, belong to a much later age.'t See page 293.
29-,




342         FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
3. Our Saviour gives us no intimation that he
uses it in any new or more extended sense.
4. The first instance in which he uses it, is in a
way forbidding to the idea of endless misery. See
Matt. v. 22. For the difference between the offences
mentioned, is not so great, that the committer of
either of the two former should be merely punished
temporally, stoned, perhaps, and  the committer of
the last, handed over into  the future world to be
plunged into everlasting misery. Such an idea were
too  absurd.  Especially, while, as we have seen,
the term gehenna (hell) had never before been used
with such a meaning, and even endless misery itself
had never before appeared among the revelations of
God.  If our Saviour had here meant to give it a
new meaning, he would have said so.
5. The only instance of its Bible use, * in which
the context clearly and explicitly lays open its meaning, obviously makes it express merely  temporal
miseries -the very miseries predicted by Jeremiah
when he says, 66 And I will make void the  counsel
of Judah and Jerusalem  in this place, and I will
~ Matt. xxiii. 33. By reading right on from this text, its meaning is clearly seen, and that Jesus in weeping over Jerusalem, wept
over just what the prophet Jeremiah and others foresaw. Nor does
Jesus give the least intimation that he means any thing more. His
language is no bolder than Isaiah uses, prophetic of the downfa11 of
Babylon, —(which see Isaiah  xiii,) and he declares that all over
which he weeps shall be fulfilled ucpon (v. 36) and during, (xxiv. 34)
that  generation." What can be more definitO!




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMINED.            343
cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies,
and by the hands of them that seek their lives; and
their carcasses will I give to be meat for the fowls
of heaven and for the beasts of the earth.. 
And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons
and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat
every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and
straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that
seek their lives shall straiten them."   "For they
shall bury in Tophet [that is, Valley of Hinlom -
gehenna - hell] till there be no place." * And we
know how this was literally fulfilled when Jerusalem
fell, - when the Jewish state was overthrown, and
the "G holy people " scattered.
6. The term hell (gehenna) is not mentioned at
all by John in his Gospel; nor does he make any
allusion to the general tribulation of which the other
Evangelists so freely speak.  Why may not this
silence be, for the reason that, writing after the
ancient prophecies had been fulfilled in the destruction of the city over which Jesus wept, the special
bolt of gehenna-fire (hell-fire), had already expended its force?
7. The word hell (gehenna) is not mentioned in
the "6 Acts of the Apostles, " with all its recorded
sermons of the apostles, nor in all the apostolic
writings, save once: and that by Jaies, -*in a way
~ Jer. xix. 7, 9. vii. 32.    James iii. 6.




344        FOOTPRINTS IIEAYENWARD.
to make nothing for it as a place of post mortem.
punishment, but the contrary.
8. The Saviour threatens the unbelieving, Jews
with it but once. M* M/att. xxiii. 33.  In the other
instances of its use he is addressing the disciples,
whom he is ever guarding against being involved in
the approaching ruin — Sthe wrath to come  --
that wrath of which the prophets spake, who spake
not of eternal wrath,-that wrath which had been
so  long  accumulating, (verse  34), and  which
should come on that generation, (verse 36,) and
which Jesus more fully sets forth in the chapters
following, and all of which should be fulfilled before that generation should pass away, (xxiv. 34.)
9. Hell, (gehenna) is no where mentioned in connexion with the resurrection of the dead, or as
among its consequences.  How significant!
The above are among the considerations which
perfectly satisfy me, that our Saviour did not use
the word gehenna (hell), to express a place oe
endless misery.   Certainly, it would  seem  that
his disciples could not have so understood him, seeing that they make no use of the term, (save in the
solitary instance mnetiouned), in a   -ll their writings
ancd recorded discourses.  For hloow  could such a
word, conveCying 1 such a sense, have been so soont
and easily forgotten by themi?   Were they re* The Gentiles are never threatened with it —a very significant
DriJt?




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAlMINED.             345
creant?  And if they were not recreant in their
neglect to use that word, it may well be asked, by
what authority it so interlards modern sermons?by what authority are pulpits now so unapostolic? X
But I must hasten away from  this point, with the
single remark that we still find nothing to support
the terrific meaning which the church has given to
the aionion punishment of our key-text.
But, perhaps, you will say, "6 the Scriptures read
that,' he that believeth not shall be damned.'  And
to be damned means to be forever miserable."  To
this, it is only necessary to say that the word here
translated damned, is the same that is translated
condemned in Matt. xx. 18, 6 and  they shall condemn him [Jesus] to death."  Also in John viiii. 10,
6 hath no man concemned thee,..   neither
do I condemn thee."5   Also in Romans iio 1,'i thou
condemnest thyself'."  Also in Mark xiv. 64,-"' and
they condemned him to be guilty of death."  Now,
would it alter the meaning of these Scriptures, to
substitute the word damned for the word condemned?  Certainly not.  And so also, the saying, " he
that lSelieveth not shall be damned," means only
what it would have meant if the word katakrithesetai, (translated damned) had been translated  conA nd here it may be said that in all the sermons of Peter, Paul
and Stephen, and others, recorded by Luke in The Acts of the
Apostles,?no language is used which is capable of being TORTURED
into an equivalent to this word hell as popularly construed. Read
and see.




340         FOOTPRINTS IlEi.VENWARD.
demned as elsewhere. Its true meaning  is, indeed9
important.  But it is the mere form  of its translation that invests it with such boundless terror.   To
be damned then, is the same as to be condemned.
And this condemnation may be to suffer little or
much.  There is nothing in the word to indicate
which. *
Do you say, the Bible asks, " For what is a nlan
profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose
his own soul? "   And certainly it does.  And to
dispose of this matter in a word, let us quote with
the word psyken (soul) untranslated; thus — 6" For
whosoever will save his psyken shall lose it, and
whosoever will lose his psyken for my sake, shall
find it.  For what shall a man be profited, if he
shall gain the whole world and lose his own  $smykcn?
or what shall a man give in exchange for his
pyskes.  Matt. xvi. 25, 260.  Now, plainly, whatever this G-reek word means in any one of these
places, it means in the others.  But I will leave this
matter with Dr. Clarke, who frankly and truly says,'L  ose his own soul.' Or, lose his life, T1':vmviv
aTroV.  On;- what authority many have translated
the word tpIv?79 in the twenty-fifth verse, ife, and in
this verse, soul, I know  not; but am  certain it
nmeans life-in both places.  If a man should gain
the whole world, its riches, honors and pleasures,' The words damnation and condemnation following the same
aw, to them also the above remarks are applicable.




NEW V- TESTAM1ENT EXAMINEDo        347
and lose his life, what would all that profit him,
seeing they can only be enjoyed during  ife?"  So
Clarke; and the seminary school boy is to be pitied,
who cannot see the justness of his criticism.
Am  I pointed to the parable of the rich man and
Lazarus? Then I have to say that it is doubtless a
highly  wrought allegorical representation of the
wretchedness of the Jewish Nation, as the fulness
of the Gentiles should be  coming in.  But be it
what it may, one thing is clear, the misery it involves is that of which Moses and the prophets
spake. For when the rich man in hell (ades* —
shJeol-not gehenna) would send to his brethren
from the dead, lest they come to that place of torinent, the answer given by Abraham is, GG they
have  ioses, and the prophets, let them hear theml."
And this is certainly equivalent to saying that Mioses
and the prophets wrote about that dreadful place.
For, otherwise, why should the brethren of the rich
man be referred to temz for ccadmonition ctgainst
coming into it. But9 as we have seen, Moses and
the prophets make not the least allusion to a place of
punishmenet, not to say of endless punishment, in
the future world.  The argument then may stand
thus,
1. The miseries of the rich man are spoken of by
MI&oses and the prophets.
See note on p age 340. See also towards close of letter.




348          FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
2. Moses and the prophets speak only of temporal
miseries.
3. Therefore, the miseries of the rich man must
have been temporal.
I see not how any one can call in question  either
the soundness of the premises of this syllogism, or
the justness of its conclusion.  Andcl, therefore, I am
not surprised at the remark of a late and able clergyman,* of acknowledged evangelical faith: "' When
I would prove endless punishment, I do not go to the
parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
But perhaps you will quote the text, -
66   hither I[ go ye cannot come," as supporting the
notion that aionion should be translated  extremely
-a text which is, by many, deemed the Malakoff of
anti-Universalism.  Let us briefly consider it, with
the three following passages in which it occurs, before our eyes.
" Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and
tlhen I go unto him that sent me.
" Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am thitlher
ye cannot come," John vii. 33, 34.
"Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall
seek me, and shall die in your sins; whither I go ye cannot come."]
John viii. 21.
" Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek
rme: and, as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go ye cannot come.
so now I say to you." John xiii. 33.
* Rev. Martin Cheney.
t The two propositions, "'Ye shall die in your sins," and
" Whither I go ye cannot come," stand perfectly distinct in the
record. Not, if ye shall die, &c. Mark well!




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMINED.          349
The second of these texts is but a substantial
repetition of the first, as the evangelist would have
us understand from the use of the word "' again."
Do they teach the endless exclusion of the Jews
from  the Saviour's presence in heaven?  I think
not for a number of reasons, among which are the
following 
1. Because the seeking mentioned, obviously has no
reference to individual, spiritual salvation-salvation
in the future world. Our limits forbid that we
should more than hear Barnes on this point. And
he, being purely Orthodox, his testimony is sufficient. On John vii. 34, he says:' The meaning
is, where I shall be, you will not be able to come;
that is, the Messiah would be inheaven, and though
they-would earnestly desire his presence and aid, to
save their city and nation from  the Bomans, yet
they would not be able to obtain it, represented here,
by their not being able to come to him. This does
not refer to their individual salvation, but to the deliverance of their nation. It is not true of individual sinners that they seek Christ in a proper manner,
and are not able to find him. But it was true of
the Jewish nation that they looked for the Messiah,
and sought his coming to deliver them, but he did
not do it."   So Barnes, and, substantially, so
Clarke and Bloomfield. And surely, such testimony, coming from mlel of such depth of theological
30




350       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
research, and wealth of erudition, and critical exactness, and withal, so purely Orthodox, is not easily
set aside, especially when so plainly just and true.
But,
2. I object to the popular view of the text in
question, because no such impression was left upon
the minds of the Jews to whom it was addressed,
as that view would be likely to produce. It only
made them ask, "Whither will he go, that we shall
not find him? Will he go to the dispersed among
the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?" John vii. 35Now we submit, whether, if Jesus had intended
by these texts, to teach the doctrine of endless woe,
he would not have made his hearers, who were so in
danger of sinking into it, understand something
about it. But he does not make them even suspect
any reference to scenes beyond time. True, indeed,
he did not always make himself immediately understood. But in a matter of such awful and decisive
importance, as endless weal and woe, dependent on
a moment, we cannot believe that he would speak in
clueless enigmas. The meaning of a dark parable
spoken to-day, he might clear up to-morrow. But
that he should speak dark parables and blind words
to the Jews, to be understood by them, only when,
in some far-off region of eternity, where there is,
"to pain no pause, to guilt no plea," were too much
to believe of him, as the lovable and sympathetic
Son of God. But,




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMINED.         351
3. I object to the popular view of the first two of
these texts, because, to adopt it, were to make all the
promises of God of no efect. Let us carefully look
at the three texts recorded by John. Of these, the
first two are, as we have said, parallel; the second
being connected with the first by the word'" again,"
and so evidently meaning the same things, that Dr.
Clarke makes his comment on the one answer for
both. And both, you say, mean that the Jews can
never enter heaven. Perhaps our Lord foreknew
that you would say so, and, therejore, gave us the
third, which I requote; —" Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me, and as
I said unto the Jews, whither I go ye cannot come;
so now I say unto you." And here mark,
First, That Jesus, lest he should be misapprehended when addressing his disciples, quotes the exact words which they had heard him address to the
Jews —" Whither Igo ye cannot come."  And,
Second, Mark the "' as," and "6 so."  "A6 S I said
unto the Jews, SO I say unto you;;" that is, I use
towards you, the same words, with the same signification. Surely, nothing can be more definite -
nothing in logic can approach nearer to the absolute
exactness of mathematical demonstration.
Now do you say that the words, "G whither I go
ye cannot come," when addressed to the Jews,
signify their final exclusion from Heaven?  Then




352        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENAWARD.
you must also say that the same words, addressed
to the disciples, signify their final exclusion from
heaven. For, as we have seen,'" as" the Saviour
addressed those words to the one, "so" he addressed them  to the other.  The sword you plate is
double-edged, cutting both ways.  It visits the
good and the bad,- those who sought Christ's life,
and those who sought his salvation,-with a common doom.  To both, it says, " Whither I go ye
cannot comne."   But you  say,'"the disciples
would go to Heaven; — I do not mean to exclude
them."  I know you do not.  But the mischief is
that you cannot help it, so long as you cling to your
chosen exposition of the texts in review! Your
argument is good for the endless destruction of all,
or else it is good for nothing.  You must either
abandon it, in a complete reductio ad absurdurm, or
else abandon all hope for your race,-not excepting
the very body disciples of Jesus himself!  Such
are your alternatives.
Or, if, struggling in the meshes of logical difficulty, you shall say, "'there are other Scriptures
which show that the true disciples would be saved,"
you thereby admit what is fatal to your cause -
that is, you admit that there is nothing in this
text for6bicding their salvation.  And if there is
nothing in this text forbidding the discip2les' salvation, then, there can be nothing in the former two




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMINED.         353
texts, forbidding the salvation of the Jews. And
so, what you impliedly admit, is all that our argument requires. That third text so clearly interpreting the first two, enables us to conclude this
argument in a moral certainty. Jesus knew that that
text would be needed, and gave it. Let us be
grateful to Him for it.
Do you ask what these texts do mean? I answer,
(though not necessary to the argument) they mean
that, in the coming calamities, of which we have
heard Barnes speak, Jesus would be alike personally absent, both from the Jews and from his disciples,
without reference to any relation which they should
sustain to him, in the vast ages of Eternity. And
thus, even these texts, deemed so formidable to
Universalism, are the farthest from  affording support to the notion that an extreme sense should be
forced upon aionion when applied to the punishment of mortals.
But we cannot dwell longer upon this fifth proposition. What we have said, far from being exhaustive, may, however, well suffice, upon the principle that the greater contains the less - the greater
difficulties being removed, the smaller, involved in
the greater, take the same way. We pass then, to
say,
6. That the popular exposition of aionion pun30'




354          FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
ishment, is not only  unspported by  other Scriptures, but for'bidden by them. *    And,
First, forbidden, indirectly, by those  Scriptures
which set forth the attributes of God.  These attributes constitute a perfectly harmonious family, with
Love at its head. Justice and mercy have, therein,
no  quarrel.   Jehovah  cannot do  an  uznzerciiful
thing because he is just, even as he cannot do an
~ It may be said that if aionion does not mean endless when applied to punishment, it does not when applied to " life. " And so, as
the Jews have been driven out of Canaan, the Saints may yet be
driven out of heaven. Or that, if sinners get out of hell in spite of
aionion, so may also saints get out of heaven in spite of it. To
this we have to say,
1. That we cannot help the consequences of a fair, honest exposition of aionion. Whatever be the effect on the Christian's heaven,
we cannot put the Jews back into Canaan, or restore the ancient
glory of Jerusalem, or show that the fires of Idumea, Judea, and
Sodom are still burning. Nor can we, even to save heaven itself,
alter the classical or Bible-usage of the original Greek. Facts are
facts. We cannot ignore them. Nor can any heaven, built up upon
their ruins, be more substantial than castles in the air. But I remIark,
2. That aiosnion being an indefinite term, and as such, of course,
not marking anythinglike specific duration, as just so many months,
years, &c., but dependent for its signification upon the subject to
which it is applied, and the circumstances under which it is used,
may well mean differently, when appli ed to a punishment which, as
we have seen, the attributes of God naturally  limit, from  what it
does, when applied to benefits, which, it would seem quite natural
that the being possessed of those attributes, should everlastinDe'ly bestow upon his intelligent, accountable, progressive o:spring. So
that any limitation of aionion, as applied to punishmnent, by no




NEW TESTAMENT EXAMINED.                     355'unjust thing, because he is merciful.  There  is  no
truth, therefore, in the couplet,'Thy justice might have struck me dead,
But mercy held thine arm."
Does mercy hold back God from being just?
Then does it make  him  unjust!   Or does Justice
hold back God from  being merciful?   Then does it
make him  unmerciful!  But no, all the Divine attributes are in harmony, ever  acquitting  or condemning by unanimity. The voice of one is the voice of
all.  And now, if we question Justice about endless
punishment, what is the response?
Jehovah implanted  in  man  an  idea  of Justice,
which man can no more alienate, than he can alienate
means necessarily belongs to it, as applied to blessing, but rather
the contrary. However,
3. It is indeed true, that if our only hope of immortal life rested'
upon the word in review, we should feel that it was liable to fail.
How could we then avoid some suspicion, whether, as the Jews were
scattered from their aionlion Canaan, two thousand years ago, so
we might yetbe scattered from  our aionion heaven.  If in God's
covenant with them, it meant limited duration, why not in his
covenant with us. And thus, though, as we have said, there are
strong reasonsfor construing this indefinite term, when applied to
the blessing of a God of infinite goodness, as we should not, when
applied to his cursing, still, it were of itself but an inmperfect support for our hope of endless life. But,
4. There are other Scriptures which either by themselves, or in
combination with the revealed character of God, and man's instinct
of endless existence, put the fact of that existence for man, beyond
all question.




356       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
his consciousness of his own existence. And, under
that idea, he feels that, if Justice means anything,
it means some proportion between crime and punishment. But endless punishment recognizes no such
proportion. It is therefore unjust, and because unjust, not of God. Justice sets bounds to the
punishment of limited transgression, which no presumption can overleap, no councils vote away. And
so does every other moral attribute of Jehovah.
To set this matter in a clearer and more practical
light, let us further say, that, if, from  Jehovah's
character, anything is inferrible, as to what he will
or will not do, then, is it obviously inferrible, that he
will not punish his own tempted children forever.
Or, if such punishment is consistent with his attributes, then, who can conceive what would not beThen, we may never say, "the Lord is good, or
just, and therefore, he will, or will not, do this or
that;- then do we find in his character, no ground
of hope; — then have we lost our Father! This is
a point on which we will not dwell, as it was in'cidentally considered in the first series of these
letters, and, especially in those of them devoted to
exposing absurdities.  And yet, we wish to add
that,
The only ground on which endless punishment
can be justified to reason, is the ground that a single
sin deserves it. For, if a single sin does not deserve




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMINED.             357
it, no conceivable number can.  For no finite number bears any relation to infinite duration, which is
not borne by a single unit.  This is seen and confessed by the more consistent and hardier theologians
of the orthodox school, such as NWoods and Finney.
Dr. Woods says, "We hold that sin, wherever
found, and whether continued for a longer or shorter
time -that sin itself is so great an evil, that it
does, according to God's holy law, deprive the sinner of all good, and plunge him into a state of endless misery."  And again, "sin, here committed,
even one sin, has such hatefulness, malignity, and
destructiveness, that it does justly bring the sinner
into a state of never ending perdition." *  And yet
again he says, " the justice of that penal consequence of sin [endless punishment] which is set
forth in the Scripture, results, essentially from the
intrinsic evil of sin."  So the Doctor, and so we
have it; that the most trifling single sin, committed
under the most trifling circumstances, possesses in
itself the essence of endless damnation,-  so that
every child, of just a few years, even though born
in heathenism, has already secreted in his young
heart, the moral virus, the quintescence, the black
bile of a thousand endless damnations! Now I will
not say that this is a damnable heresy!  Buat I will
say, that, if it is not, then, reason is a dolt, con~ Woods' Works, vol. iii. p. 288, 291.




358         FOOTPRINTS HIEAVENWVARD.
sciousness a lie, and the doctrine of a Good God, a
myth 
But as Woods, so Finney, who says, "6 one breach
of the precept always incurs the penalty of the
law, whatever that penalty is;" —and he  holds it
to be endless woe. Nor is this all; for, arguing his
point in a way, practically to illustrate the infinite
divisibility of propositions, his metaphysics eke out
the conclusion that they 6" who deny endless punishment, manifestly consider the guilt of  sin as a
mere trifle," " that sin deserves endless punishment,
just as much as it deserves any punishment;" and,
finally, that a threatening of limited punishment
would G" be, after all, offering a reward for sin." *
What a descending climax is here! capable of
being reached only by Finney's accustomed infinite
series of propositions; and, when reached, a most
miserable absurdity, and every step towards it, an
absurdity! To punish an offender for only years,
though reckoned by billions, "offering a reward
for sin!! I t But such are the insanities of even
wise and good men, long bewildered in the maze of
speculative theology. It is not strange that men
thus bewildered, should see eternity in the aionion
of the punishment of sin.
* Systematic Theology, p. 215, 317.
t I would not be satirical. But if Juvenal were here, would not
Finney afford him a worthy subject? Yes, even Finney, the excellent, in spite of all his excellences.




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMINED.            359
Another word seems to be needed here.  For if
anything is plain, it is that the Bible character of
Jehovah forbids that he inflict a useless, and because useless, vindictive punishment. But endless
punishment is thus useless.
1. It must be useless to  the sufferer.  That
he should profit from his sufferings, is forbidden by
the very nature of his sentence.  All " afterwards"
for reformation is thereby denied him; and this,
equally, whether his anguish is made endless by
direct judicial decision, or by the withdrawal from
him, of all means of grace. To him, only, remains
the fatal alternative of hardening himself in sorrow,
saying, "6 evil, be thou my good," to all eternity.
Eternal suffering, then, must be useless to the sufferer, and, in reference to him, therefore, its infliction can be underlaid with no benevolent intent.*
And,
2. It must be worse than useless to  others.
If a portion of our race are to lie forever under suffering, that suffering must be either known or unknown to the saved.  If ucnknown, it can be of no
benefit to them. It will then be to them, only as
though it were not, and therefore, so far as they are
concerned, might as well not be; whereas, if known
to them, it must be to them, worse than useless. This
seems quite obvious. And yet Orthodoxy has attempted to conceive the contrary.
*Not so, temporal punishment. See Letter xxvo




360        FOOTPRINTS HEAYENWARD.
Professor Stuart says,'6 That the blessed in heaven have some cognizance of the wicked and their
sufferings, seems to be plainly disclosed in Luke xvi.
26."  The only use, however, which he finds for
this, is to aggravate the sufferings of the lost.
With regard to the saved, he finds some difficulty,
arising from their proximity to hell, but concludes,
as we have seen,* that Heaven in mercy, may either
extinguish  their " social susceptibilities," "or so
overwhelm them with a sense of the Divine goodness,
that they will not be disturbed by sights and sounds of
woe-woe, which the Professor likens to a perpetual
death-agony. For he says, (as quoted by Barnes, on
Rev. xx. 14.)  The "second death differs from the
first, in the fact that it is not a separation of the
soul and body, but a state of continual cCagony like
that which the first death inflicts-like that in intensity, but not in kind."  Well may the social susceptibilities of saints who are to witness it forever, be
forever extinguished.
So Stuart.  Not so the excellent Dr. Hopkins,
who figured so largely in New England orthodoxy,
a little longer ago. He is very bold, and says of
the lost, (as quoted by C. F. Hudson,)  " The
smoke of their torment shall ascend up in the sight of
the blessed forever and ever, and serve as a most
clear glass, always before their eyes, to give them a
* Letter xxii.




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMINED.          361
constant, bright, and most affecting view.
This display of the Divine glory will be in favor of
the redeemed, and most entertaining, and give the
highest pleasure to those who love God, and raise
their happiness to ineffable heights."  Should this
eternal punishment " cease, and this fire be extinguished, it would in a great measure obscure the
light of heaven, and put an end to a great part of
the happiness and glory of the blessed."
This is, indeed finding a use for endless punishment
with a vengeance. But as nothing is made in vain,
and this seems its only possible use, the doctor was
consistent in thus appropriating it. And we have a
sort of respect for that sternness of Calvinism which
shrunk not before so terrible a necessity. But what
a horrid conception!  Saints in the galleries of
heaven, so petrified into savageness, that they can
draw sweet satisfaction from looking down upon the
endless suffering of their friends in hell! Such is
HIopkinsianism, a natural wild of so-called Orthodoxy, from which we hasten away, and proceed to
say,
3. That, as endless punishment is of necessity, worse than useless to both the lost and the saved,
(saying nothing of angels,) it must be vindictive, or
something as bad; that is, God must inflict it, if at
all, merely because he finds pleasure in seeing his
creatures suffer forever. For no other conceivable




362        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
reason can he keep sinners alive in endless suffering. And can all this be true of an Infinite Being,
whose attributes all blend into perfect Love, as all
the colors of the rainbow blend into the purest
white?  No! God's character forbids that he punish vindictively-that he draw out a useless punishment forever. And so we come again to the conclusion that the aionion punishment of the Bible is not
endless. But we hasten to say,
Secondly, What is worthy to stand in a distinct
proposition, though the spirit of it is involved above,
-that endless punishment is forbidden by all that
class of Scriptures which speak of man's being rewarded " according to his works;"  for, certainly,
his works are lzimted, and,
lThird, By the spirit of such parables as that of
the "Prodigal Son," the "' Pieces of Silver," and
the "Lost Sheep."  The woman sweeps till she
finds her lost piece of silver, the shepherd goes
"'into the mountains " till he finds his lost sheep,
and the results of sin work the reformation of the
prodigal, whom his father welcomes back again to
his heart of undying love. And,
Fourth, Endless punishment is forbidden by all
that class of Scriptures to which belong the words
of our Lord,
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy
neighbor and hate thine enemy:




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMINED.                 363
"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse
you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you;
"That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:
for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
"For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do
not even the publicans the same?
" And if ye salute your brethren only, what do you more than
others? do not even the publicans so?
"' Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven
is perfect." Matt. v. 43 -48.
Now, if we are like God when we love our enemies, then he loves his.  And certainly, if he loves
his enemies, as he surely does, the punishing them
to all eternity, - inflicting upon them an eternally
useless punishrment, —were, certainly, a queer Way of
showing it.  Moreover, if he loves his enemies at
all, as he is unchangeable, he must always love
them, Or, if he ceases to love his enemies, then,
just in proportion as we are brought into his likeness, we shall cease to love ours.  But no; "his
tender mercies are over all his works " —that is, his
works, in all worlds, and in all duration.  And so it
comes to be true, that he ", will not cast off forever;
but though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion, according to",the multitude of his mercies."
Lam. iii. 31, 32.  That I, [Jehovah] 66will not contend forever, neither will I be always wroth! for
the spirits should fail before me, and the souls which




364       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
I have made."  Isaiah lviic 16. How tenderly does
Jehovah here speak.  "T ihe souls which I have
made!! "  As much as to say, 66 Impossible that I
should punish my own dear offspring forever I"
And so does it seem  impossible that the aionion
of our key text should mean endless.
And here let it be remarked, that this indirect
argument, going down, as it does, into the deeps of
the Divine character, is fundamental, affording the
only true key to what would, otherwise, be the dead
locks of textual difficulty.  The character of God is,
to the details of his government, what our tDeclaration of Independence would be, to the details of
ours, were we true to its spirit. But,
Fi/th. Such a construction of aionion is indirectly forbidden by the garden promise that, " the
seed of the woman shall'bruise' the serpent's' head.' 9 Gen. iii. 15.
The serpent is the devil.  Christ the seed. And
Paul tells us, (iHeb. ii. 14,) that Christ's mission to
this world was, "1 that, through death, he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the
devil."  And noW, where can any death reign, when
he who has the power of it is destroyed?
And, too, all moral evils are represented as the
works of the devil. Where then, can all these be,
when their Satanic author is destroyed?  Will
there be other Satans raised up to take them in




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMINED.           365
charge, or will the Father, who destroys the devil,
carefully protect and perpetuate his works of misery?
On the text, "thou shalt bruise his head," the
orthodox Henry well says, "He [Christ] shall
bruise his head; that is, give a total overthrow to
his kingdom and interest." But no, says our objector, The seed of the woman shall only bruise the
serpent's tail. The serpent shall triumphantly live
and reign forever in hell, over the masses of adult
humanity, while the seed of the woman - Jesus
shall find his enterprise of salvation, relatively to
the devil's success, a most splendid failure! But we
know the contrary, for the prophet assures us, that
Jesus shall 6; see of the travail of his soul and be
satisfied." *  And surely he can never be satisfied,
while millions, nay, while a single soul, for whom he
spilt his blood, is in sin and misery. But
Sixth, So dreadful a meaning for the aionion of
our key-text, is forbidden by those Scriptures which
set forth the comprehensiveness of God's saving purpose. And what is that purpose?  Paul shall answer.  "Having made known unto us the mystery
of his will, according to his good pleasure which he
hath purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of
times, he might gather together in one, all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on
~Isaiah liii. 11.
81'




366        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
earth, even in him."   Eph. i. 9, 10. And what
is intended by this universal gathering, can hardly
be mistaken, after hearing the same apostle say to the
Colossians, "6 For it pleased the Father that in him
should all fulness dwell; And having made peace
by the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all
things unto himself: by him, I say, whether they be
things on earth, or things in heaven."  Col. i. 19,
20. If we turn to Phillipians ii. 5-8, we find the
same general sentiment expressed.
And now, when it is understood that these several texts are but a sort of formal statement of the
radical design of the Father, in sending his Son into
the world, how plain it seems that, in the'" dispensation of the fullness of times," no soul shall be left
ungathered, unreconciled, unsubmissive, and that,
therefore, aionion punishment must have an end.
And further,
Seventh. According to Jehovah's purpose, is his
plan for accomrplishing it. For he makes the sacrifice of his Son a propitiation " for the sins of the
whole world."  1 John ii. 2. And again, "we have
seen and do testify, that he sent the Son to be the
Saviour of the world."  Surely Jesus is not the
Saviour of those whom  he does not save. And
again, "'For there is one God and one MI'ediator between God and men, the mnOM  Christ Jesus, who
gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMINED.           367
time.n  1 Tim. ii. 6. And how testified?  Evidently practically. For it had been theoretically testified already, by the apostles. In due time, or, as
Paul has it elsewhere, in'6 the dispensation of the
fulness of times," that Christ died for all, would be
testified by the actual salvation of all. And all of
this is in perfect keeping with the words of the same
apostle, when he says, "6But where sin abounded
grace did much more abound, that as sin hath
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign,
through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus
Christ our Lord."  Rom. v. 20, 21. And so shall
the promise made to Abraham be fulfilled, that in his
seedl, all the families of the earth should be blest. So
shall Jesus "6 draw all men " to himself, even as the
Father "1 will have all men to be saved and come to
[or by coming to] the knowledge of the truth."
Eighth. And thus is it just in keeping with the
Father's purpose, and the comprehensiveness of his
Son's mission, that the latter should reign till all';things shall be subdued unto him."  "6 For he
must reign till he hath put all enemies under his
feet. The last enemy, death, shall be destroyed.
For he hath put all things under his feet. But when
he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest
that he is excepted that did put all things under
him. And when all things shall be subdued unto
him, then shall the Son, also, himself be subject unto




368       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
him that put all things under him, that God may be
all in all."  (1 Cor. xv. 25-28.)  And here mark,
that the very same word, hupotasso, which is in the
27th verse rendered by "put under," and in the 28th
by " subdued unto," as expressing the subjection of
all to Christ, is used in the 28th verse, and there rendered by the words " be subject to," as expressing
the subjection of Christ to the Father; thus showing, as clearly as language can, that the subjection
of all to Christ is of the same nature as that of
Christ to the Father,-that is, voluntary. And, indeed, in no other sense can God's creatures ever be
more subject to him than they now are, have always
been, and must necessarily ever be. They are as
much shut up by. his power now, as they would be
if swept into a flaming subterranean prison, and the
gate barred down upon them forever. And is such
the victory of the gospel? Are such the spoils of the
Redeemer's war?  Nay, were not such, rather the
victory of that very devil, whom Jesus came into the
world to destroy?  But not thus does the Gospel
subjugate sinners.  Such a subjugation of them
could bring no glory to Jesus. But,
Ninth. The hitherto popular view of the duration of aionion punishment, seems forbidden by the
exultation of the Apostle Paul. That great Apostle
as, turning away to the Gentiles, he contemplated
the sin, the wretchedness, and the approaching ca



NEW TESTAMENT EXAMINED.                     369
lamities of the Jewish nation, had " great heaviness
and continual sorrow  of heart."   So we find him  in
the opening of the ninth chapter to the Romans.
But as he reasons his way along the ninth, tenth, and
eleventh chapters, his sorrow is gradually turned
into joy. For thus he soars in his conclusion:
"For I would not, brethren, that ye slihould be ignorant of this
mystery, (lest ye should be wise in your conceits,) that blindness in
part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come
in.
" And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall
come.out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob:
"For this lis my covenant unto them, when I shall take away
their sins.
" As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but
as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.
" For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
"' For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief;
"Even so have these also now not believed, that through your
mercy they also may obtain mercy.
" For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have
mercy upon all.
"' 0 the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of
God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past
finding out!
" For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who bath been
his counsellor?
"Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto
him again?
" For of him, (and through him, and to him, are all things: to
whom be glory for ever. Amen."  Rom. xi. 25-36.!
And what mean these exultant words of him  who,




370       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
just now, was so heavy-hearted. Why, he had been
looking, chiefly, upon the darkness of the present;
he has now come to contemplate the brightness of
the distantfuture.  He had been thinking of Israel
lost, and was sad. But now his inspired reasoning,
culminating in,'6So all Israel shall be saved," he
emerges from his sadness, and his exultation knows
no bounds. " 0, THE DEPTH OF THE RICHES i!"
&c.
Turn to the fifteenth of first Corinthians. There,
again, we find him filled with exultation,-and that,
too, just at the time when, had he believed in the
since popular doctrine of endless woe, it must have
most painfully weighed down his spirits. For he is
there expounding the "resurrection of the dead "of all the dead. The question he raises is, simply-'"'How are the dead raised up?"  In Christ, he assures us, all shall be made alive," and proceeds to
notice how. And here, without touching any nice
points about the resurrection, it is enough to say,
that Paul contemplates, in his description of it, certain final results; and that these are such as fill him
with unmingled exultation. For thus he concludes
his exposition:
"' Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed.
I n a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trump - for the trumpet shall sound, and the




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMINED.          371
dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be
changed.
"For this corruptible must put on incorruption,
and this mortal must put on immortality.
"So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is
written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
"'0 death, where is thy sting? O grave, where
is thy victory?
"The sting of death is sin; and the strength of
sin is the law.
" But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victorv through our Lord Jesus Christ.
"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of
the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is
not in vain in the Lord."- 1 Cor. xv. 51-58.
Now, I ask, what means this resurrection shout of
the apostle, if he believed that all who had died unfit for heaven,-and among them, of course, the
masses of his Jewish brethren, must, at the sound of
the " trump," come up out of gloomy hades, receive
their sentence, and go down with weeping and wailing, into fiery gehenna, for safer and severer keeping, forever! Ought he not, then, rather to be filled
with his "'great heaviness and continual sorrow of
heart?"  But no; the eye of the apostle is now




372       FOOTPRINTS HIEAVENWARtD.
upon ultimate results. He now sees that, though
"the creature," (Rom. viii.) or rather creation, "`1S
made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason
of him who hath subjected the same in hope." Yet,
it " shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."
Carried forward into eternity, and viewing all things
from the height of the immortal resurrection, he sees
no gehenna, nothing to deplore, nothing to idam2  is;spirits; but filled with necessary rapture, his exultation again knows no bound!  Then, though contemplating the worst for his nation and race, he can
well exclaim, "6 through the thick gloom of the present, I behold the brightness of the future, as the sun
in the heavens! "
W;5e have seen Stuart suppose that social susceptibilities shall be extinguished in heaven, to prevent
the songs of the redeemed from being interrupted
by sights and sounds of woe. But no one supposes
those most Christian attributes to be extinguished
in this world, that imen should look without sad
emotion, and even with jubilant exaltation, upon the
prospective endless pain of the "6 bone of their bone,
and flesh of their flesh."  The soul of Paul had not
been thus blighted yet-he was yet capable of sympathietic " sorrow " and'6 heaviness of heart."
HIow then, I again ask, could he exult over the
resurrection, if the masses of adult humanity, awak



NEW TESTAMENT EXAMINED.           373
ened by the Archangel's trump, were to be cursed
out of the grave$? (hades) into endless woe! How
then, as the heart of affection throbbed his breast,
and as he had well learned the lesson of loving his
enemies, must he not have rather exclaimed," Lord,
rather let us all be annihilated together!!/"
The rich man in the parable is represented as
being in hades (hell,) and now Paul sings complete
victory over (hades) hell.  For he exclaims, "0 
grave," (original,'" hades ")-"  O grave " —or, to
translate as the word hades is translated in every
other place in the New Testament —" 0 hell, where
is thy victory!"  Hell, (hades-the grave) is conquered, emptied! all have come up fromn it,-" raised in glory."  In the language of Dr. Clarke in another connexion:-" The salvation from sin here, is
as extensive and complete as the guilt and condemnation of sin. Death is conquered, hell disappointed, the Devil confounded, and sin totally destroyed!
Here is glorying, to ]Lim that loved us and washed
ussfrom our sins in his own blood, and has vmade us
kings andpriests to God and the Father, to glory
and dominion forever and ever-Amnen! HALLELUJJAH! THE LORED GOD OMNIPOTENT REIGNETH! AMEN AND AMEN.'*  SO Clark and so we.
It was with Paul, not altogether unlike as with
other Christians. In the midst of strife, and sur*'Com. on Rom. v. 21.
32




374       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
rounded by clouds and darkness, the glories of the
far distant future, were not always present to his
mind.  But when, enraptured with ultimate results, as seen through the golden vista of the resurrection, these glories are present to his mind, then,
sin, death, and hell are absent, and he exclaims,'" 0 THE DEPTH OF THE RICHES!!b"  And this, his
exultation, forbids the idea that he regarded the
punishment of sin as endless. And if not he, then
certainly not we. Andl our key text must be expounded accordingly.
Thus have we shown in this long letter,
1. That according to both classical and Bible
usage, it is perfectly fitting to apply the word
aionion to punishment of limited duration, and that,
therefore, its specific meaning must be determined
by an examination of its specific use. And,
2. We have shown that to make it mean endless, in Matt. xxv. 46, were to commit violence
upon it.
1. Because such definition is forbidden by the
spirit of him who uttered it.
2. Because forbidden by the substantive to
which it is applied.
3. Because used in highly wrought figure.
4. Because forbidden by Jehovah's elder Scriptures.
5. Because such an extreme definition of the




NEW  TESTAMENT EXAMINED.          375
term finds no support from other written Scriptures.
(Under this head, we have examined the texts supposed most formidable to Universalism.)
6. Because forbidden by other Scriptures. (Under this head, we have examined some of the Scriptures which, either directly, or by implication, prove
the contrary, that, is prove Universalism.)
7. Because inconsistent with the exultation, and,
especially, the resurrection-exultation, of the Apostle Paul.
Our attempt at brevity and comprehensiveness,
has, of course, left many things unsaid. No doubt
you will find difficulties unsolved, and even unnoticed. But you do well to bear in mind, that that
system of doctrine which presents no unsolved difficulties, even its most ardent abettors being judge,
has hitherto found no place among men. Nor
should you forget that the doctrine, over against
which, the doctrine of these letters is set, not only
involves difficulties unsolved, but also so great, so
numerous, and so increasing with the increase of
light, that, as we have seen in the opening of this
letter, it can be received only upon evidence, the
most positive and absolute.
And now, I submit to you, brother, whether such
evidence for it is not absolutely wanting; and
whether the argument we have indirectly presented
for the ultimate well-being of the whole human




376        FOOTPRINTS IEAVENWARD.
family, does not seem, even to you, to afford strong
ground for so glorious a hope.  And, bearing in
mind that the letters of this last series, are little
more than suggestive, (far from  being exhaustive),
and that, as such, they are designed, not so much
to convince, as to arouse to the thorough search
which shall result in self-conviction, I trust you will
prosecute the inquiry they institute, till, in your
mind, it is fully settled —practically settled-either
that God will 6"cast off forever," or that he will
"6 not." Nor, if you prosecute such inquiry with
the earnestness and impartiality which its supreme
importance demands, can I have any possible doubt
of the result.  Then am I confident that, you, too,
shall yet see creation fraught with richer and higher
glories, and that He, who nightly hangs out the
stars "6 to tell us he resides above them  all," can
have no disposition to punish forever the children of
his creation and care, "subjected to vanity, not
willingly," and by whom this earth is continually
evacuated and replenished.
Yours truly.




LETTER VI.
ORTHODOXY APPROACHING UNIVERSALISM.
Popularity cannot save error-Its decay gradtal, but sure-What
goes steadily to decay to be suspected-Inference, relative to Endless Punishment-Difference between Orthodoxy and Universalism
-That difference diminished; 1, By the salvation of all infants;
2, By the salvation of children, and this in spite of the lagging
creed; 3, By the salvation of heathen-Humanity hitherto nearly
all heathen; Heart-revolt; Quotations from Mrs. II. B. Stowe;
4, Relatively few lost; Dr. N. Adams, Dr. L. Beecher, Lee, &c.;
5, Doubtful whether any are lost —Welcome to Orthodoxy-The
two Pyramids.-Another route of Orthodoxy towards Universalism
-Dilution of Punishment-l, Punishment was in literal fire; Phlegethon directed into Paradise; Fire located; Pictures,-2, The
Punishment of the wicked only as severe as if in fire; Clarke;
Henry; Barnes; Relief Imaginary, —3, Punishment a merely natural consequence; Jehovah in alliance with the Devil; God the
author of the common law of the universe; Relief still imaginary;
How the soul reasons,-4, Punishment consistent with increasing
felicity; This modification is real-Quotations from  Knapp, with
remarks upon-Queer!-How  to believe in endless punishment,
and be Universalists still!-The great gulf dwindled-Significance
of Knapp's concessions-Relative relief of Annihilationists and
Universalists-The burning mountain sinking.
DEAR BRoTHER, —
If the difficulties, affectional, rational and biblical,
presented in preceding letters, are more than imaginary, we should expect to see the doctrine that in32*




378        FOOTPRINTS HEAV-ENWARDo
volves them, sinking into decay; for it must then be
error. And we know that error, like the human
body, has the sentence of death written in itself.
No matter though it be "6 approved in senates, applauded in theatres, and sanctified in pulpits;" no
matter though it be cherished as universally as was
Judaism  in Judea, in the times of Jesus; or IRomanism in the times of Luther; still it is doomed to
the waste-box of cast-off opinions. A monstrous
birth of darkness, it must perish in the light, even
though customs, creeds and philosophies provide for
it a thousand " cities of refuge."
But the decay of error is generally gradual, and,
like the furrows of time, stealthy. And so obnoxious is it to the wasting Providence of Almighty
God, that it can know no rejuvenation, more permanent than that which age sometimes experiences,
under the hands of the physician and the dentist.
MIoreover, as it is the nature of error to decay, so
whatever goes steadily into decay, under the
increasing light of successive ages, may be justly
suspected as not true; but, unlike truth, as possessing the elements of its own ultimate extinction. As,
for instance, if the doctrine of endless punishment
has been steadily wasting under the auspice of a
rising Christian civilization, we have a right to infer that, as error, it will finally fail altogether;that it is "; of men, and will come to nought." So
far, I think we are perfectly agreed,




APPROACHIING UNIVERSALISM.              9
But further, we have intimated that, in view of
the difficulties which lie against the doctrine in
question, it were natural to look for its decay. And
now we will show that what we should thus naturally look for, exists in fact - that that doctrine as
steadily going into decay; or, in other words, that
the so-called Orthodox view of human salvation is
steadily approaching Universalism, and promises ere
long to reach it.
Now the practical difference between Orthodoxy
and Universalismn is, the number which, by the former, are deemed lost.  Universalism says all will be
saved.  Orthodoxy says all will be saved, minus
the number of the lost. Any diminution, therefore,
of this minus quantity, is an equal diminution of the
practical difference between the two systems of faith.
For illustration, if x equal the whole human familay, and y equal the part of it deemed lost, then
we say,
Universalism — x.
Orthodoxy  -=  -y.
Now, obviously, if y means a great number, then
is there a great difference between the two systems
of faith.  If a small number, a small difference.
And in just such degree, as the value of y is diminished, do the two systems approach each other,
while y has only to be reduced to zero, for them to
meet and become one.




380       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
We now return to show that the doctrine of endless punishment has long been practically going to
decay, or, in other words, that Orthodoxy has long
been approaching Universalism. And,
1. When the church came out of the middle ages,
the endless damnation of infants was fully believed
in, and confidently justified by a simple appeal to
the sovereignty of Jehovah. To deny it, was to
deny that sovereignty, and, of course, a criminal
heresy! At length, by assuming baptism  as the
new birth, relief was partially found in a few drops
of water upon the dying infant's temples. A natural outgrowth of " total depravity," and'particular
atonement," that doctrine prevailed down to the
time of Calvin and later. But it has now nearly or
quite faded away. And thus has Orthodoxy taken
a long stride towards Universalis'm. For how numerous are the little ones of earth who tread with
tiny feet, the silent chambers of the grave. All
these, the church now lays to rest upon the bosom
of the Father. To multitudes of these, once excluded, she now throws the gate of heaven widely open,
and by so great a number is the value of y dinminished, and Orthodoxy brought onward towards Universalism. And, further,
2. It was formerly holden, that most children
who survive infancy, but still die at a tender age,
are lost. And, taking the penal creed that was,




APPROACHING UNIVERSALISM.          381
(or the Orthodox fossil creed that now is,) as the
basis of our reasoning, so dreadful a conclusion is
unavoidable.  For we know that children sin at a
very tender age, while it is- obvious that they only
very rarely experience anything like conversion, (as
popularly understood,) while under a dozen years
old. And so, nearly all who die from our primary
schools, and from the very large class there represented, die into perdition.
So the creed. But creeds, we know, are always
lagging far behind the Christian life of a progressive
age. Perhaps, therefore, he spake advisedly, who
said, it were better that they be changed occasionally.*  Unless they are, they are likely to be repudiated, practically.  For, to the mind on the march of
improvement-to the heart swelling with the love of
God —creeds are only as the "Gnew-ropes" to Samson. And so it comes to pass, that whether by
creed or in spite of it, the pulpits of to-day are
preaching these young children into heaven, either
directly, or by comforting mourners with the hope
of meeting them  there! And so here is another
large class, now admitted to heaven, which was formerly excluded!  So does Orthodoxy approach
Universalism; even so that the two practically
strike hands and walk together, from infancy up to
about the age at which Jesus talked with the doc*I. W. Beecher. We do not give his words.




382        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
tors in the temple. Thus is the value of y in our
algebraic illustration, sunk still further down towards zerlo. But further still,
3. It was formerly holden that the heathen of all
times and climes were lost. And, according to the
popular credal view of probation and punishment,
they certainly are. For nothing is plainer than that
they die unregenerate.  But how is it to-day?
Why, so does that doctrine contravene the spirit of
the Scriptures and grate upon sensibilities, educated
and refined by Christianity, that it is rapidly going
the way of all false opinion. The church that was
obliged to cast away the dogma of the endless
damnation of infants of "' two years old and under,"
— infants in days, — is now finding the same
necessity for casting away the dogma of the damnation of infants in knowledge.  And so it comes to
pass that comparatively little is said about it, even
by professed believers in it, in their very pleadings
for the missionary cause.  Rather do they, more
generally, seek, like Universalists, to move the
hearts of their hearers, by portraying the temporal
miseries of the poor pagans, children of nature,
hastening 66 after other gods "- rather do they tell
us as well they may, of moral pollution, human
sacrifice, infanticide, and widow-burning; while the
supposed eternal calamity of the fossil creed, is but
barely alluded to, passed over with a word.




APPROACHING  UNIVERSALISM.                 383
Up to within less than  two  thousand years  ago,
the  little  oasis of Judea  excepted, this was, exelusively, a heathen world.  The  swarming  multitudes of old historic and traditionary ages, perishing
along the centuries, by disease, famine, pestilence
and battle, have sanctified  every  field and  forest
and wild  nook  of  earth, with  the  sprinkling  of
hostile blood, and left their dust to mingle in all its
mountains, plains and valleys. Now of all these, the
fossil creed disposes fearfully. But against that
disposal, the intelligent Christian heart revolts, and
the more intensly Christian, the deeper the revolt.*
And so it comes to pass, that, if the church of today, does not boldly throw open the door of hope
and heaven to the ignorant heathen, it forbears to
close it against them as formerly -if it does not
"This is well illustrated by Mrs. Stowe's narrative of a conversation between her pure minded and refined " Agnes" and her
good-hearted, but coarse and unlettered " Jocunda."  The latter
may well represent the church as it was, the former the church as it
is becoming. In setting forth a colloquy between the two, the
authoress, who is doing the most to unsettle and overturn the theology that makes many an " Agnes " shudder, says:"Agnes abstractedly stooped and began plucking handfuls of
lycopodium, which as growing green and feathery on one side of
the marble frieze on which she was sitting; in so doing, a fragment
of white marble, which had been overgrown in the luxuriant green,
appeared to view. It was that frequent object in the Italian soil, -
a portion of an old Roman tomb stone. Agnes bent over, intent on
the mystic' Dis JMlanibus,' in old Roman letters.' Lord bless the child! I've seen thousands of them,' salid Jo



384          FOOTPRINTS HEAVENIWARD.
set the heathen down to the account of salvation, it
erases them from the account of despair; thus
bringing  Orthodoxy still farther on  towards Universalism- sending the value of y, farther down towards zero. So does the doctrine of endless woe,
languish rapidly towards nought.  And yet further,
4. It is now  openly proclaimed by bold advocates
of the doctrine in review, that the lost will be relatively few, - bearing only about the proportion to
the saved, which the number of the imprisoned, on
earth, bears to the number at large. So its late advocate, the Rev. Dr. Adams of Boston.   The same
I have heard affirmed of Dr. Lyman Beecher, — a
cunda;' it's some old heathen's grave, that's been in hell these hundred years.'' In hell?' said Agnes, with a distressful accent.' Of course,' said Jocunda.' Where should they be? Serves'ema
right, too; they were a vile old set.''Oh, Jocunda, it's dreadful to think of, that they should have
been in hell all this time.''And no nearer the end than when they began,' said Jocunda.
Agnes gave a shivering sigh, and looking up into the golden sky
that was pouring such floods of splendor through the orange-trees
and jasmines, thought, How could it be that the world could possibly be going on so sweet and fair over such an abyss.'Oh, Jocunda!' said she,' it does seem too dreadful to believe!
How could they help being heathen,-being born so,-anl never
hearing of the true Church?''Sure enough,' said Jocunda, spinning away energetically,' but
that's no business of mine; my business is to save my soul, and
that's what I came here for.' "
Old Jocundas' are rapidly giving place to young Agnes'.




APPROACHING UNIVERSALISM.          385
circumstance, in view  of which, we are less surprised at the heart that breathes in the 1" Minister's
Wooing," and at that other great heart, which'" leaps
at every pulsation sixty degrees beyond the logical
limits of its creed."  The same view was recently
affirmed to me by an orthodox clergyman.  It is
adopted by Lee in his late work entitled Eschatology.
It evidently prevails.
Now, not to stop to show that the Bible teaches
the destruction of the masses, just as clearly as it
teaches the destruction of so much as one soul, and
that, therefore, to prove that one will be lost is to
prove that the masses will, it is enough that we remark that, here again Orthodoxy makes another
stride towards Universalism,-almost reaching itreducing the value of y almost down to zero. But
finally,
5. Whether any soul will be endlessly miserable,
is beginning to be seriously questioned by not a
few, deemed orthodox. A few months ago, an Eable
orthodox clergyman affirmed to me that the duration
of punishment " was no matter of faith." And the
spirit of this remark lies at the bottom of that other
remark, so often heard, 66I don't trouble myself
about the dead.  God will do right by them." Surely such a remark would be perfectly idle upon the
lips of one who really believed that the Bible positively fixed the doom of the wicked in woe forever.




386        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
And thus it is that the hitherto dominant sects, following hard in the wake of Unitarianism, are rapidly
entering the deepening twilight of the full day of
Universalism.  We see them  coming with banners
all flying! The voice of their imusic is in our
ears! We hail them as brethren, and bid them advance to our heartiest welcome!
Thus singularly  is orthodoxy doing  what it
"would not." Thus is its y of distinction from
Universalism  going down to zero.  Thus is its
heaven constantly enlarging, and its hell diminishing. And to all appearance, the latter must ere long
reach the vanishing point. It is a pyramid, built
up in darkness, which the church finds ever becoming smaller as she ascends with the ascent of
Christian civilization.  By and by, she will reach
its apex, soar above it, ignore her old barbaric
creed, and know a pit of endless woe, no more forever."   Not so  heaven.   That is an inverted
pyriamid, broadening as the church ascends, and to
continue to broaden, till it shall fill the whole
horizon and be lost in clouds of living light.
At the opening of this letter, we remarked that
we should naturally look for the decay of any
doctrine against which lay the difficulties mentioned
in preceding letters. We have now seen the justness of that remark as practically illustrated in the
decay of the doctrine of endless punishment, —a




APPROACHING UNIVERSALISM.            387
decay, from which we justly infer its ultimate extinction.  An inference  which  we  think future
years will also practically illustrate.
But we pass to notice, briefly as possible, another
route to the above happy conclusion.  Having seen
orthodoxy steadily approaching Universal salvation,
by its steady diminution of the number of the lost,
let us now behold its steady movement in the same
direction, as indicated by its constant dilution of the
punishment which the lost are believed to suffer.
1. The church came out of the dark ages
believing that the wicked must forever burn literally
in " fire and brimstone," so sustained of God, that
they should be forever, like the bush on the back
side of Sinai, unconsumned.   As darkness came
brooding over the church, the heathen Phlegethon
— river of fire- was diverted from  Tctrtarus into
the Bible-sheol, and made to inundate paradise
with its burning flood.  And, this done, it was
seriously speculated, whether the scene of endless
torments would not be where Geologists look down
through fissures in the earth's crust upon its central
fires. * But speculations aside, this literal view of
endless punishment was formerly holden co-extensively with the Gospel, and proclaimed by both
preaching and pictures.  Describing the reception
~ Rome is saicl to have located Hell fifteen thousand miles beneath
the surface of the earth; that is, seven thousand miles beyond the
opposite side.




388        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
of " Father Allouez among the Chippawas," in the
seventeenth century, Bancroft says: " their admiring
throngs who had never seen a European, came to
gaze on the white man, and on the pictures which
he displayed of the realms of hell and of the last
juacgment."'
So it was. But not so now.  The element of
literal penal fire has departed, and with it, so much
of the intensity of endless pain as depended upon
it. And, whatever other elements of woe remain,
the absence of literal fire, it would seem, must leave
it greatly reduced. But further,
2. When the light had so deepened upon the
church, that the notion of literal penal fire faded
from the creed like a phosphorescent hand-writing
from a wall, still was she found holding that the
pains of the lost would be as excruciating as though
in fire. Hence, Clarke, after quoting all the most
horrible, from _ilton, the Institutes of Mernu, and
the Zend Avesta, exclaims, 6" And is this or anything as bad as this, hellt  Yes, and worse than
the worst of all that has already been mentioned! *
Hence also, Matthew  Henry says of the wicked,
"' the agonies and terrors of the first death will consign them over to the far greater agonies and terrors
of eternal death; to die, and be always dying."t
Hence, too, Barnes says, "1 they [the wicked] will
~ Cbm. vol. v., p. 87.   t Corn.




APPROACHING UNIVERSALISM.          389
be doomed to a punishment which will be well represented by  their lingering in a sea of fire forever.'7
Such was endless punishment, with the fiery element eliminated from it.  And its elimination was a
step of true progress.  For it indicated an awakening of the church's intellect and heart, and under
it, for a time, Christian humanity breathed easier.
But its rest could not be long. For the people of
God soon awoke to the fact that, though the fires of
perdition had been extinguished, it still held in its
bosom other infernal agencies, if possible still more
tormenting, and not less violative of the character of
the God of the Bible.  And thus, finding that the
ground of their relief had been only imaginary, their
hearts again cried out for the Father. For they
felt that, unless man's consciousness is a lie, and
God's handwriting upon his heart a forgery, the
doctrine of such a doom for the masses must be
false. And then, turning to the Scriptures, they
found it perfectly safe to make another remove towards Universalism, and made it. This done, they
again breathe easier.
3. By this second modification of endless woe at the
call of Bible-humanity, the positive element is taken
from it;-it is made to be a mere natural consequence of sin, which the sinner forever suffers, just
because he chooses forever to sin. This view is
* Corn. on Rev. xx. 15.
33*




390        FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
plausible, and has brought relief to thousands, and
thousands are finding an indifferent rest in it to-day.
"G For," say they, "God does not inflict punishment;
he merely leaves the sinner to choose sin if he will.
The sinner, freely choosing it, must not complain of
its consequences; nor need we complain for him."
But even this modification, reached by necessity,
must by necessity be abandoned.  For it leaves
the doctrine of doom no less terrible than it
finds it, while it equally compromises'the Divine
character. For they who hold it, tell us, as they
needs must, that, from the wicked dead, God withdraws all means of grace,-thus virtually excluding
them from all good influences, and shutting them up
to all bad ones. Or, if it does not make Jehovah
drive sinners into the pit, it makes him  so subject
them to only evil influences, as to render their escape
from it impossible;-so that, if there is a personal
devil, it is as though Jehovah had struck an alliance
with him to guard off penitence from the realms of
woe forever.
So it is then, that after all, this notion of endless
woe, as a natural consequence of sin, involves, in
its last analysis, the essence of all that is appalling
in the severest Edwardiantheology. For, literalize
the fiery Scriptures as you will, you cannot make
out a case of anguish more extreme than that of an
immortal soul doomed, by the withdrawal of all




APPROACHING UNIVERSALISM.           391
means of grace, to go farther and farther from God,
-sink deeper and deeper in despair forever. Nor is
it any relief to the loving soul, to know that God's
immortal children perish by the common law of his
realm, rather than by positive statute. For the two
are  equally Jehovah's positive enactments.  All
law of sin is of God, - all the pain of transgression,
visited upon the transgressor, is penalty. It may be
convenient for us to call it sometimes by one name,
and sometimes by another, but it is always equally
judicial and statutory, in God's sight. So that what
has been called the ntural tendency of sin, is God's
will,'embodied in legal enactment, no less than was the
positive edict by which Cain was a fugitive, Sodom
was overthrown, and Annanias and Sapphira died,
or, that by which it has been believed sinners will, in
the future world, be driven from  the judgment
seat. And the relief, therefore, which this mnodification of endless punishments affords, is only seeming.  And soon the truly intelligent Christian heart
must penetrate through its disguise to its essential
horror, by reasoning something in this wise:  "If
the lost soul retrogress, then, the sensibilities of the
victim, gradually blunted, must, eventually, go into
perfect decay, and therefore suffering, cease altogether -not be endless.  Relmain stationamry, t-hLe
lost soul cannot-, unless imiraculously pe-trified, like
the ftlgitive from  Sodom.  Whereas, if it progress,




392       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
its sufferings must increase with the increase of its
susceptibility. Any way, therefore, endless punishment must set all human language, however burning
or freezing, at complete defiance."  And thus completely overwhelmed with a conclusion which so belies all human consciousness, and blots the character
of God, relief demands another modification; and
the heart turning to the Scriptures, finds another warrantable. It is this; that,
4. Endless punishment is not necessarily endless
misery, but may be only the endless loss of a higher
state offelicity.
Under this modification, the man who sins is,
thereby, thrown back, and can never be as happy,
at any point of time afterwards, as he would have
been, had he never sinned.  And this modification
of endless punishment is real, impinging upon the
borders of Universalism — nay is Universalism;
and this, notwithstanding it makes all men suffer
forever!
Something like the above view would seem to be
a necessary step in Christian progress towards the
Father. And hence it was perhaps, that it suggested
itself so vividly to the pioneer theologian, Dr.
George Christian Knapp, as expressed in his "' Christian  theology," translated  by President Woods,
ID. D., and used as a text book in our Orthodox
seminaries. Speaking of natural punishments, the
Dr. sas s




APPROACHIN  UNIVERSALISM.           393
"As every action, morally good, is followed by
endless good consequences to him  who performs it,
so it is with every wrong action. This is founded
in the wise constitution of things, which God himself
has established. When, therefore, natural punishments are spoken of, it is obvious to reason how
an eternal duration of them may be affirmed. Indeed, reason cannot conceive it to be otherwise,
since there is no promise of God, either in the holy
Scriptures or elsewhere, that the natural evil consequences of sins once committed, will ever cease. In
order to do this, there must be some incomprehensible miracle performed, and this God has not promrised to do. Hence, as far as natural punishments
are concerned, their eternal duration may be affirmed
both on grounds of Scripture and reason."- C'ristican  heology, Sec. 158.
Here then, we have one law for all; and by that
law, all, whether good or bad, both suffer endless
punishment, and receive endless reward! This may
seem queer, but (to requote,) "1 reason cannot conceive it to be otherwise, since there is no promise
of God, either in the Scriptures or elsewhere, that
the natural evil consequences of sin, once committed
will ever cease; " while " every action morally
good is followed by endless good consequences."
And it is just as evident that so called bad men perform some actions, 6 morally good," as it is that so




394       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
called good men, perform some actions morally bald.
But the doctor, having spoken  thus of natural
punishments, proceeds to speak of those which are
termed positive, and among other things says:
"With regard to these, we may conceive that
they may be removed; indeed, much can be said on
grounds of reason, to render this opinion probable.
To hope that God would remove the positive punishments of sins, in case the sinner, even in the
future life, should come to the knowledge of himself,
and truly repent, would seem to be agreeable to the
divine goodness and justice. That the repentance
of the sinner inthe future world is absolutely impossible, is not taught in the Scriptures."
First, Then, according to the doctor, the belief
that the sinner will repent in the future world, is
neither unreasonable nor absolutely (a valueless
word here) unscriptural. And
Second, It is " agreeable to the divine goodness
and justice, to hope that in case of his repentance,
God would remove the positive punishments of
[his] sins."  And proceeding to remark upon this
supposition the Dr. further says:
"But allowing that positive punishments may be
wholly removed from one who may have actually
repented, still, the natural evil consequences of sin
will not, therefore, of necessity, come to an end.
[We have already heard the doctor say they cannot




APPROACHING UNIVERSALISM.         395
without an incomprehensible miracle.] These may,
indeed, become more light and tolerable to one
who has repented, but even such an one can
never be happy in the same degree, as another who
has never sinned. Such an one will always stand
on a lower point of happiness than others, and there
will always be a great gulf fixed between him and
them. "
Thus does ourlearned divine show how, without
positively violating the Scriptures, the doctrine of
endless misery may be so holden as very little to
disturb the sensitive benevolent heart. It may only
mean the being a little be1hind in climbing the hills
of light,-only what all suffer! Why, Paul taught
long ago, that in the resurrection " one star differeth
from another star in glory."
And then, the " great gulj," across which it has
long been said, the saved will hail their lost friends
in torment, comes at last to mean only that in the
future world, some, because of their sinful truancy
in this, will be forever a little behind the more studious of their class.
Knapp died in eighteen hundred and twenty-five.
And considering his position as professor of theology in one of the most learned Orthodox universities
in the world, and that Dr. Woods, his translator, let
the facts we have quoted pass without notes, we can
hardly over estimate the significance of the above




396       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
concessions. They seem equivalent to saying that
Universalism is not forbidden by either reason or
Scripture. They indicate the great moral difficulty
with which their author saw his creed involved, and
against which he maintained his adhesion to it.
Seeming to have heard the tread of a more heavenly
theology, advancing with the advance of Christian
culture, he carefully taught how it might be welcomed, without any change in the language of the
old creed -how all could be Universalists and believe in endless punishment still.  And  great
numbers, profiting from Knapp's shrewd suggestion, having abandoned endless punishment in fact,
are still holding to it in name; while others, seeing
the folly of attempting to make a Bible doctrine of
endless punishment consist with endless felicity,
further modify their creed by casting that doctrine
away, name and all. Some of these latter are called
Universalists, some Rlestorationists, and some Unitarians, while others of theml are scattered numerously and, perhaps, namelessly among all the congregations and sects of enlightened Christendom.
And while they agree with the annihilationist in
rejecting endless punishment, the relief they experience, compared with his, is as the flower-garden,
compared with the wolf's den — as the rainbow,
compared with the cloud it spans — as paradise,
compared with paradise burned over —as consistency, compared with absurdity- as heaven, com



APPROACHIING UNIVERSALISM.          397
pared with hell! Indeed the relief the latter finds is
complete! Our discussion here rests in the joy of it.
To conclude this letter, let us just reflect that we
have seen the decay of endless punishment, (forestalled by its absurdities and unscripturalness,) actually taking place; or, that we have seen Orthodoxy
rapidly approaching Universalism by two different
ways: 
1. By a steady diminution of the number of the
lost; and
2. By the elimination of the elements of suffering
from endless punishment, till it has become consistent with ever increasing, immortal glory!
Thus, under the increasing light of heaven, have
we watched the subsidence of the burning mountain.
Nor, from present appearances, should we deem it
could be long, before its volcanic head shall be hidden beneath the level of the plain. And then shall
the churches practically see in God, "' the everlasting Father," and in Christ "' the Prince of an eventually universal peace! "  Then shall the notion
that any of the Father's immortal offsprings shall
lie forever under his wrath, be as foreign to the
universal mind, as are now any of the old theological barbarisms which were once popular, which it
once was heresy to question, but which now lie deep
buried beneath the execrations of an advanced Christian culture. Amen I  Alleluia!
34               Yours truly.




LETTER VILT
REACTION.
emarkable admission —Why the more so —How reaction-Strong
statement of Lebbeus Brooks-When shall reaction begin?-No
sign of it among the clergy, but the contrary-No sign of it
among the laity-Why the seeming apathy of the laity? —Iow reaction seems alone possible'-" FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD " forever!
DEAR  BROTHER, —66 In the course of the next thirty years Orthodoxy
will reach Universalism, provided  it shall continue
to approach it as it has during the past thirty years."
So I said  to an able Orthodox  clergyman a few
months ago, when he admitted the justness of the
remark, but thought there would "6 be a reaction.'"
Now had the past thirty years been years of darkness -  a sort of middle age in miniature -  such an
admission from such a source were the less surprising. But when it is considered that those years
have been years of increasing light, and, consequently, of rapid progress in whatever is ennobling to
humanity, then the fact that the currents of theology have set so steadily and strongly in the direc



REACTION.                  399
tion of Universalism, may well startle the Orthodox
masses, as we have seen it does the'"1New York
Observer;" for it evidently forestalls what the Observer deprecates as a' catastrophe."
Reaction! Does the glorious sun at high morning, retire backwards through his auroral gate?
Shall civilization fall back again to brood error beneath the shades of another medimval night?  The
conquests which the church has made by thinking,
shall she lose by thinking?  Certainly if such a
reaction is to come, "' we see not our signs."  The
liberal tendency of the age is so set, that, to all appearances, nothing short of a miracle can change or
stay it.
And here I may well feel reminded of one of the
purest-hearted and clearest-minded Christians * of
the age, who, smitten down in his meridian, left behind the following in his sick-bed testimony. I
quote it here as clothed with no other or higher
authority, than that which attaches to the deduction of pure, calm, discriminating Christian minds,
wrapt in holy contemplation, and treading without
fear or prejudice, the border lands of eternity.
Thus he spake,"6 I have long been thinking that a few years only
will suffice to sweep away the the popular theology
upon the subject of endless punishment, - that all' Lebbeus Brooks.




400       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
our common schools are but so many volcanoes underneath it — that it must be abandoned, or we
must go back to the age of unthinking barbarism." *
So had he long been thinking;  and his thoughts
were certainly in perfect keeping with the' tendencies of the age,-tendencies which are constantly
being strengthened by such under currents of strong
Christian thought.  And it is only because our
common schools-the best exponents of Christian
civilization,-are multiplying thinkers, that they are
so dangerous to false theology.  The genius of
Christianity will stand by them, as the ancient vestal Virgin by her altar. So shall the world not 6" go
back to the age of unthinking barbarism."  But, in
reference to endless misery, she must either stop
thinking, or stop believing. Stop thinking, she
cannot; stop believing, she must. But it takes
time to stop believing. A train of belief, like a
train of cars, cannot be broken up in a moment.
But I think the dominant churches, conscious of
running out of time, and fearful of being thrown off
upon the rocks of infidelity, by a collision with the
tp-train of Scripture and common sense, are gradually putting down the brakes, reducing the speed
to a minimum, and will ere long reverse the steam.
But, to return, if we are to have the anticipated
reaction, it must begin somewhere. May we expect
it to begin among the clergy? That can hardly be,
~ From my journal.




REACTION.                401
seeing that they, as a body, are everywhere evincing less and less of hearty confidence in the decaying dogma. So much is abundantly manifest in
their neighborhood intercourse, parochial visiting,
and pulpit discourse. We do not set this down,
however, as against them, but only as a fact.
Their true "' zeal for the Lord," now more "' according to knowledge," may be unabated, and even
increasing, notwithstanding. But we can hardly
expect the anticipated reaction to begin among them.
Where then shall it begin?  Among the laity?
This also seems equally improbable, seeing, that
among them also, (" like people like priest,") the
doctrine in question is wasting with the advance of
intelligence.
It is not very long since I heard an excellent
clergyman remark, sadly, that "'it is now almost
impossible to arouse a church to labor earnestly for
a revival." But why so nearly impossible? Is it
because the brethren have lost their humanity?
because their sympathies have congealed? because
they are "' given up to hardness of heart?" This can
hardly be; seeing that they were never readier,
than now, to minister relief to any and all forms of
obvious suffering.  Nor do we think conscientiousness, and love to God and man, were ever more
predominant in their hearts. Why then this deplored apathy-this indisposition to enter zealously
34*



402       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
into the old forms of endeavor to snatch souls from
endless woe? Can it be because they have ceased
to regard the command, "' Go work to-day in my
vineyard?" Evidently not. For never was there
more putting forth of intelligent Christian effort,
than at this day. Never was man's duty to his
God better understood and more practically regarded than now; and never was the spirit of the
parable of the good Samaritan more widely shed
abroad.
Why then, we again ask, this deplored apathy of
the laity?  The answer is easy. The laity, too,
have become skeptical of what was the chief motive
to their former zeal and activity in the direction
indicated. Time was, when the minister had but
to "tuncap hell," and the church were in tears of
sorrow and pity. But not so now. Now, when, as
rarely occurs, the minister preaches an old-fashioned
sermon about 66 wrath to come," the people are little
moved, or moved only to admiration of the pathos
with which he describes it, and the logic with
which he proves it, rather than by any fear of suffering it. And this, not because they have lost the
instinct of self-preservation, but simply because they
do not believe in the danger. And not believing in
it, of course they are not moved to rescue their
fellow beings from it, but find other more rational,
and Scriptural methods of doing them good. And




REACTION.                403
so, among the laity, as among the clergy, we see
nothing to indicate the anticipated reaction. And
even if we did, we see not how it could transpire,
in the teeth of the absurdities and Bible-difficulties
partly set forth in preceding letters.
Had the essential unbelief in endless punishment,
so manifest everywhere throughout the churches,
been induced under some panic, we might well apprehend reaction from it under some counter-panic.
But, being only the gradual work of enlightened
progressive, Christian thinking, reaction seems out of
the question. Or, it would seem capable of taking
place, if at all, only through some mighty revolution
in things which we are entirely unable to anticipate
-only through some sweeping away of the present
civilization of Christendom, like that which debased
Egypt and the Holy Land, or like that which repeatedly exterminated those old forms of pre-Adamite
existence, whose awful record, the geologist deciphers upon the charred tablets of our crusted globe.
But no such thing do we anticipate. Nor do we
see how any one can, who understands, either God's
image within him, or God's word to him, or the
signs of the times around him. Sooner should we
expect to go from Christ back to Moses, and thence
backward still, by the patriarchs, and through the
six days labor into the chaos of things, when the
" Earth was without form and void, and darkness
was on the face of the deep.'"




404       FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD.
But no! Christian civilization shall not "go
back to the age of unthinking barbarism."  The
church shall not retrace her "FOOTPRINTS HEAVENWARD." IHer cause shall be ever onward towards
the grand goal of humanity, divinely fixed in the
Universal Brotherhood and Fatherhood. This may
be lamented by the bigoted and the ignorant. But
a necessity of man's head and heart, a demand of
the sacred Scriptures, it cannot be stayed. It is
but the grand march of man's eternity,
Nearer, my God, to thee!
Nearer to thee!
Brother, my letters are before you. And now,
wishing you "grace, mercy, and peace from God
our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ," I have
only to repeat the apostolic injunction, "think on
these things," and again subscribe myself,
Yours truly.




ERRATA.
The reader will please mark these, some of which are the following:For either, read ether, page 60; for intentions, read intuitions,
page 85; for It is, read Is it, page 92; for is the language, read is
not the language, page 105; for letters, read latter, page 126; for
casts, read creates, page 130; for inseparable, read irreparable, page
138; for helpless, read hopeless, page 165; for held, read hold, page
167; for or, read in, page 174; for shook, read shaken, page 144; for
tolerated, read tolerable, page 205; for or, read of, page 205; for
too, read so, page 219; for are completely, read are not completely,
page 244; for one, read our, page 250; for graves, read grave, page
373.