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day of judgment is altogether false,--without any foundation in the scriptures, and therefore ought to be considered as a heathen fable. Those who will put themselves to the trouble to examine the doctrine of Zoroaster, and the Persian mythology, will find an archetype for the orthodox view of a day of judgment. Zoroaster, a learned Jew, in the days of Darius Hystaspis, king of Persia, revived this system of Persian mythology, and taught that the author of good, and the author of evil, would continue to wage war against each other till the end of the world, and that, at that time, there would be a general resurrection of the dead, and a day of judgment and retribution; & that Oramasdez, and all good beings, would exist in a state of light and eternal peace; and that Ahramanius, the angel of darkness, with all his disciples, were to be driven to a state of darkness, where they were to have a kingdom to themselves; and from that time good and evil-light and darkness--were no more to be mixed. We leave the enlightened reader to judge what relation these heathen fables bear to the present orthodox system of divinity. The Mehestani, who were disciples of Zoroaster, reformed a part of his doctrine, and taught, that at the resurrection the bad would be purged by fire, and then associated with the good. And this accords

with the opinions of some Christians of the present day. Query-Did not the Christians borrow their day of judgment and future retribution from the heathen mythology instead of the bible? From what we have already seen, it appears to be the case, the precise doctrine itself was taught by the heathen, but cannot be found in the Bible. I shall now conclude this essay with a brief notice of the orthodox view of a day of judg ment, in relation to their views of the state of the dead, from death until their day of judgment. When their whole system is taken into one general view, nothing can present a greater absurdity. Their system of faith teaches, that when men die their final doom is sealed; and if they have been virtuous in this life, they go immediately to heaven: but if wicked, they are sent right off to hell: and each one remains in this state of happiness or misery as the case may be, until a day of judgment, which they suppose is to take place at the end of this world, and then all are to come forth, to be judged, and know their final doom. Now we ask, where is the necessity of this supposed judgment day? Does not this same system of faith teach us, that the final doom of all is fixed at death? if so, will this day of judgment alter the fate of one individual?

Has any been sent to heaven, who ought to be in hell? Or any to hell who ought to have been in heaven? If not, would such a day of judgment be any thing more than a mock trial, at the best? Why judge men after their doom is sealed? Absurd mortals! Will you impute folly to "the Judge of all the earth," which would disgrace the most corrupt court on earth?

Reader, if you think your Bible teaches this absurd idea of a day of judgment, turn to it again, and see if you are not mistaken.

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A VOCABULARY,

EXPLANATORY OF THE ORIGINAL WORDS RENDERED HELL, DAMNATION, EVERLASTING, ETERNAL, &c.

Showing the sense in which they were used by the writers of the scriptures, and the proper ideas to be attached to them, in order to a right understanding of those passages where they Taken from the critical remarks of the most celebra

occur:

ted classics.

HELL

This word is, now, made use of, exclusively, to signify a place of punishment in a future state of existence "THE PLACE of the damned." But it is admitted by all classical writers, that this is not its primary meaning; and that this was not its meaning at the time the scriptures were translated into the English language.

"The word hell is derived from the Anglo, Saxon, helon: which, in the Saxon language, signifies to cover or conceal;the tiling or slating a house, in Cornwall, is called healing, to this day; and the covering of books, in Lancashire, by the same name."-Dr. Adam Clark. "The word hell, used in the common translation, conveys, now, an improper meaning of the original word, because the word hell is now used to signify the place of the damned." Ibid.

There are three words, in the Greek of the New Testament, rendered hell by the translators, Tartarus, Hades, and Gehenna.

TARTARUS.

This word occurs but once in the scriptures, 2 Peter, 2nd Chap. 4th verse: and is supposed to be interpolated into the text. It is derived from the Tartarian caves, where slaves were confined to dig in the Tartarian mines; borrowed from thence and applied to the infernal regions of Pluto, the god of hell; and in the Pagan mythology, signifies that part of Pluto's regions which is opposed to the Elysian-"the Blissful seats of happy souls below." Virgil.

The whole of this fable of Pluto's infernal regions, which is the archetype of the orthodox hell, took its rise from the burying ground on the Nile.

HADES.

This word occurs eleven times in the Greek of the New Testament, and is ten times rendered hell, and once grave. The following are the places where it occurs: Matth. ix. 23 —xvi. 18. Ľuke x. 15–xvi. 23. Acts ii. 21-27. 1 Corinth. xv. 55. Revelation i. 18—-vi. 8--xx. 13, 14. "Hades, is improperly rendered hell in the common version. It is a compound of a negative, and to see; and literally means hidden, invisible, or obscure"--(not to see,): A. Campbell. "In my opinion," says Dr. George Campbell, "it ought never to be rendered hell." C. P. D. p-181. "Hades does not mean the place of the damned; it is literally the invisible world, the receptacle of separate spirits whether good or bad."-Mr. Wesley. Dr. Whitby has shown, that Hades, and Sheol, its corresponding word in Hebrew, both mean, simply, the grave. See Whitby on Acts, chapter ii, The learned differ in their explanation of Hades, but all say it does not mean "the place of the damned." The difference between learned writers, with respect to the meaning of the word Hades, is simply this, while some contend that Hades, in the Greek language, means the invisible world--the state of separate spirits; others say it means simply the grave. This discord in the learned world may be accounted for from the following facts: Hades, although literally meaning "not to see," is used by the Greek poets to express their imaginary world of invisible agents, as well as the state of the dead, physically, when entombed and out of sight. Those who believe in the existence of such imaginary agents, understand the word as used by Greek poets, when speaking of their ghostly regions; while those who do not believe in a state of existence separate from the body, take it in its absolute sense; when, in fact, it is used by the ancient Greeks, both to express the state of the dead physically and imaginarily.

The only thing that concerns us in this enquiry, is to know in what sense the word Hades is used by the writers of the scriptures: this is its only true sense, as a scripture term Much confusion and absurdity exists in our theological speculations by introducing ideas, which were intended to be expressed by Pagan writers, in using the same words.

If we wish to form a precise idea of the meaning of Hades, ás used by the writers of the New Testament, we must recollect that they were Jews-not Greeks: and although they wrote in the Greek language, they generally preserved the Hebrew idiom, and consequently, in using the Greek word Hades, intended to express that idea expressed in the Hebrew, by the word in that language which had the nearest correspondence to the word used in the Greek. This corresponding word in Hebrew, to the Greek Hades, is Sheol; and was never used by any of the Old Testament writers, to express any thing about ghostly regions; or the receptacle of separate spirits; notwithstanding, as the Greek word Hades, in its most literal and obvious sense, in its own language, meant the same as Sheol, in Hebrew, it was used by the writers of the New Testament, to express the very same idea expressed in the Hebrew of the Old Testament by Sheol. Hence, in order to understand the precise meaning of the Greek word Hades, when used by a Jewish writer, we must be governed in our views by the use of Sheol in the scriptures of the Old Testament. None of the classics understand Sheol to mean any thing more than the grave--the state of the dead physically, except when used figuratively: then it is used to express some great affliction, that brings the subject down, comparatively, to the gates of death, both Sheol and Hades are used by the Jewish writers in this figurative sense: but never to express the idea of a state of existence separate from the body.

Although Dr. Campbell supposes the word Hades, as used by the writers of the New Testament, means the receptacle of human spirits, from death to the resurrection, he admits that Sheol was not so used: for he says "That before the captivity, and the Macedonian and Roman conquest, the Jews observed the most profound silence upon the state of the deceased, as to their happiness or misery. They spoke of it simply as a place of silence, darkness, and inactivity. But after the Hebrews mingled with the Greeks and Romans, they insensibly slid into their use of terms, and adopted some of their ideas on such subjects as those on which their oracles were silent. Hence the abodes of Elysian and Tartarus became familiar among the Jews." See Camabell's translation, 2nd edition, page 407 This is fairly admitting that the idea of an intermediate state between death and the resurrection, is entirely of Pagan origin, and that this imaginary

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