spider's web? Look at the context.

"He shall lean

Thus his hope,

upon his house, but it shall not stand." his confidence, his support on which he leaned, failed him. "He shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure. He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden." Does this language apply to the inmortal existence? Evidently it does not.

VI. Job. xi. 20. "But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall not escape, and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost."

All this frequently happens in the present state of being; such is the fate of the wicked in all ages; and yet Edwards, Strong, and Hawes adduce this text in proof of endless punishment. The language in Job xi. 20, is that of Zophar, see xi. 1. At the conclusion of the chapter, in reviewing what Zophar had said, Adam Clarke remarks, "Zophar seems to have had a full conviction of the all-governing providence of God; and that those who served him with an honest and upright heart would be ever distinguished in the distribution of temporal good. He seems, however, to think, that rewards and punishments were distributed in this life; and does not refer, at least, very evidently, to the future state. Probably his information on subjects of divinity did not extend much beyond the grave."

VII. "The triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment. Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet he shall perish forever," &c. Job xx. 5-7.

Strong and Hawes both adduce this passage as proot of endless punishment; but what circumstance is here mentioned, that will prove endless misery? He shall perish forever. So far from regarding this expression as proof of endless misery, Dr. A. Clarke, on the contrary, supposes, that it rather shows, that the writer of it did not believe in any future existence whatsoever. His comment is as follows. "He is dust, and shall return to the dust from which he was taken.' Zophar here hints his disbelief in that doctrine, the resurrection

of the body, which Job had so solemnly asserted in the preceding chapter, or he might have been like some in the present day, who believe that the wicked shall be annihilated, and the bodies of the righteous only be raised from the dead; but I know of no scripture by which such a doctrine is confirmed." How sadly the advocates of endless misery disagree in regard to their proof

texts.

VIII. "The wicked is reserved to the day of destruction, they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath." Job xxi. 30.

This is one of Dr. Strong's proof texts of endless misery; Dr. Ely also adduces it with much confidence. But is there the least hint given, that this day of destruction and wrath is after death? If this punishment is not to commence until death, it is hardly possible, that Job would have said concerning the wicked to whom he referred, "The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him." This would be singular language if Job had believed, that the punishment of the wicked was reserved until his death. Ev. A. C. Thomas remarks, "Korah and his company were reserved until the people had departed from the tents of those wicked men,' and then the earth opened and swallowed them up, with all that appertained to them. Numbers xvi. The Sodomites were reserved until Lot had departed from the city, then they were destroyed, together with all that grew upon the ground. Gen. xix. The antediluvians were reserved until Noah and his family were safe in the ark, then came the day of destruction, and every living thing died that moved upon the face of the earth, Gen. viii. You thus perceive, that the wicked are reserved to the day of destruction, and of wrath, in the present life." Theological Discussion, p. 96.

IX. "For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?" Job xxvii. 8.

This is adduced by Edwards, in his book against Chauncey. The hope of the hypocrite is good for nothing at any time, neither in the hour of prosper

ity or adversity, of life or of death. Let any one read the remainder of the chapter, particularly verses 13-23, and he will see, that Job did not intend to be understood, that the punishment of the wicked is not in this life. By reading the whole chapter, the subject is made plain.

X. "Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishinent to the workers of iniquity?" Job xxxi. 3.

This is adduced as proof of endless misery by Strong, in his book against Huntington. Is it declared, that this destruction is in the future state? that this strange punishment is beyond the grave? No, not the slightest hint of that kind is given; and therefore the passage proves nothing in favor of endless misery.

XI. "Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name forever and ever." Psalms ix. 5. [Strong and Dr. Ely quote Psalms i. 5, 6, in proof of endless misery; but it is unnecessary to notice passages that are in their true sense so obviously and utterly remote from the subject to which they are applied.]

Psalms ix. 5, is adduced by Strong and Hawes. The evident sense of the passage is, thou hast destroyed the heathen from off the face of the earth; and they shall be remembered no more. A. Clarke says, on this verse, "we know not what this particularly refers to; but it is, most probably, to the Canaanitish nations, which God destroyed from off the face of the earth." Thou hast put out their name forever, he understands to signify, that these nations will never again be restored to Canaan.

XII. "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." Psalms ix. 17.

Strong, Hawes, Lee, Cooke, Davis, Ely, Stuart, and a host of others of like faith, agree in applying this passage to the subject of endless punishment. It is evidently regarded as one of the strong proof texts of that doctrine. Does the passage say, the

But let us be careful

wicked shall be turned into hell in the future world? No, it does not. It merely asserts the fact, that the wicked shall be turned into hell; and it is mere assumption in any writer, without offering proof, to consider sheol, in this instance, as signifying a place of endless punishment. It is taking for granted the very point in dispute. Let the believers in endless misery prove, if they can, that sheol signifies a place of endless punish

ment.

Dr. Allen, then president of Bowdoin College, published a sermon in reply to Balfour's "First Inquiry;" but he was constrained to confess, that Psalms ix. 17 could not be justly considered as proving endless misery. He said, "The punishment expressed is cutting off from life, destroying from the earth, by some special judgment, and removing to the invisible state of the dead. The term (sheol) does not seem to mean, with certainty, any thing more than the state of the dead in their deep abode." Dr. Allen was not a Universalist; he was not led by any doctrinal bias to come to the conclusion which he adopted; indeed, the bias was all the other way; but the force of truth constrained him to make the above acknowledgment.

Those who wish to see a full explanation of this subject, and its true sense clearly set forth, are referred to an article in the "Universalist Expositor," Vol. IV. pp. 65-68. See also "Ely and Thomas's Discussion," pp. 128, 129; and Balfour's "First Inquiry," on the passage.

The passage will bear a general application to all wicked men, although we suppose David originally had reference to the heathen nations with whom he had to contend. Sheol is frequently used by the sacred writers, as a figure of darkness, and deep distress of mind, into which sin always plunges the transgressor. In this sense it may be said, all the wicked, and all the nations that forget God, shall be turned into sheol. Thus David was turned into hell, when he was a sinner. Hence he said, "the pains of hell gat hold upon me,"

(Psalms cxvi. 3.) which he explained by adding, “I found trouble and sorrow." This is precisely the Universalist's understanding of this matter. When men disobey the commands of God, they find trouble and sorrow, the pains of hell get hold upon them, they are cast into sheol. This is a sense which the word very frequently bears in the Old Testament. When David, by timely repentance, was delivered from his trouble and sorrow, he considered himself as having been delivered from sheol, hell; and hence, in one place, he praises God for such a deliverance. "I will praise thee, O Lord my God, and glorify thy name forevermore, for great is thy mercy toward me; and thou hast delivered my soul from the LOWEST HELL. "" (Psalm lxxxvi. 12, 13.) The Psalmist surely was in this world when he uttered these words; he had suffered the pains of sheol in this world; he had been delivered from the lowest sheol while in this world. He attempted to augment the force of the word sheol, the lowest sheol, which added to the power of the description. He was plunged into the deepest sorrow, the lowest depression; and that state of mind and heart is what he intended by the "lowest hell," from which God in mercy delivered him. A similar use of the word, we find in Jonah ii. 2. "I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of (sheol) hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice." What did he intend here by the belly of sheol? See the 1st verse. "Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly." God had cast him into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed him about, the billows and waves passed over him. He had been swallowed by a great fish, and had been in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. This was the hell, or sheol, out of which he cried, and from which God delivered him.

This is all we think it necessary to say, on Psalms ix. 17. Before this passage can be adduced in proof of endless punishment, it must be proved beyond all