from the condemnation of others, without the help of fire and brimstone. As for common sinners, such as only lie and cheat in trade, or rob on the highway, or pick people's pockets in a crowd, or steal men and women, or murder people for their money or for revenge, great as are their crimes, and many and grievous as are the sufferings they cause to others, it would be madness to say that they deserve to be roasted, and frizzled, and broiled in eternal brimstone fires. Our judges and legislators hardly consider them deserving of being burnt to death in a common fire, a punishment not worth naming, compared with the eternal torments of an orthodox hell.

5. But the Bible dooms people to hell for less crimes than theft or murder, and even for things that are, in truth, no crimes at all.

1. It dooms men to hell for not believing the Gospel. "He that believeth not shall be damned." It so happens, that nine-tenths of mankind never heard the Gospel. Indeed, it is hard to tell whether any one has heard it, for Christians are not agreed what the Gospel is. According to the Roman Catholic it is one thing, according to the Protestant it is another. Protestants differ among themselves as to what the Gospel is. Trinitarians and Unitarians, Quakers and Baptists, Universalists and eternal torment men, Methodists and Calvinists, Shakers and Antinomians, Mormons and Swedenborgians-all have different notions about the Gospel. What Calvin calls Gospel, Wesley calls blasphemy. What the Trinitarian calls Gospel, the Unitarian calls absurdity and idolatry. What Quakers call Gospel, the Puritans and Formalists call damnable heresies. What Unitarians call Gospel, Trinitarians call infidelity. Who is to say which is right? Go to the New Testament, and judge for yourself, says some new heretic. But what New Testament? There are hundreds of them, differing from each other in thousands and hundreds of thousands of places. Christians differ as much about what should go to form the New Testament, as they do about what should go to make up the Gospel. But suppose the book in common use to be the genuine Testament, how am I to ascertain its meaning? The different sects give it different meanings; how shall I know which is the right one? Shall I judge of its meaning for myself? In that case, I must come to the conclusion that it contradicts itself,-that it teaches both Popery and Protestantism, Calvinism and Methodism, Quakerism and Baptism, Unitarianism and Trinitarianism, and a vast number of other isms besides.

But what proof is there that the Gospel is true in any of

its forms? I know of none. I see proofs in abundance that it is not.

Besides, a man's belief does not depend upon his will. In our childhood we believe as we are taught, and in after years our belief is modified by reading and experience. So it has been with me. My early training made me a Methodist; reading and reasoning made me, first a Unitarian, then an infidel. The changes in my belief were not the result of choice. In many cases, old opinions were expelled from my mind, and new ones introduced, in opposition to my wishes, by the mere force of evidence alone. It is evidence, not inclination, that governs my judgment still. It was no more in my power to keep myself from becoming an unbeliever, than it was in my power to keep myself from becoming older; and I have no more power at present to become a believer, than I have to become a child again. And can a good or a just God damn men to eternal torments for not doing impossibilities?

Besides, what is the worth of faith in the Gospel? It does not make people good. Believers in the Gospel are generally the meanest and most mischievous of men. They go beyond all I know in lying and slander, in hate and cruelty; while many unbelievers excel in truth and charity. And can a wise and good God damn the best of their race to brimstone fires, and take the worst to the joys of paradise?

But, even supposing a want of faith in the Gospel were really a fault, would it deserve damnation to eternal torments? Why, even our rigid Puritan fathers only used to hang people for unbelief. I question whether even our modern clergy would keep men burning in a brimstone fire above a week, in the present world, for unbelief; how then can they suppose that God will keep poor infidels burning forever? Would it not be as cruel and as unreasonable to burn people in brimstone fires in the world to come, as to burn them here?

2. But the Gospel dooms to hell not only all unbelievers, but all who resist or disobey political despots, or civil or priestly tyrants? "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers; for there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God; and they that resist shall receive to themselves DAMNATION!" Will people contend that such men as Cromwell and Hampden, Milton and Vane deserved damnation to eternal torments in a brimstone fire, for resisting the tyrant and the traitor, Charles the First; or that Washington and

Lafayette, Jefferson and Paine, Franklin and Adams deserved such a punishment, for resisting the pious and bloody maniac, George the Third ?

3. The Gospel next consigns to hell all rich people, who do not sell their possessions and give the price to the poor, and so become poor themselves. "Wo unto you that are rich: ye have received your consolation." "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Hence, the rich man is represented as sent to hell, not because he got his money dishonestly, or hoarded it selfishly, or spent it mischievously, or used it unwisely, but simply because, in this life, he had received his good things.

4. The Gospel next dooms all intelligent, well educated, scientific men to hell. None can escape who do not rid themselves of their love of science, their taste for philosophy, their disposition to investigate and reason, and cherish in their stead the blind faith and unbounded credulity of childhood. "I thank thee, O Father, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes."-Matthew xi, 25. Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter the kingdom of heaven." "Thomas, because thou hast seen, thou hast believed; but blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein."-Mark x, 15.

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5. Then all who give offence, or are an occasion of stumbling, to one of Christ's little ones, are to be damned. "Whoso shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depths of the sea." So that unless we can so accommodate ourselves to the weaknesses and whims of all our little-minded, goodfor-nothing Christians, as to avoid shocking their enormous pride and self-conceit, we are to be roasted for ever.

6. The Gospel next gives over to damnation all cheerful, merry kind of people,-all who laugh, or jest, or speak an idle word, or join in any kind of playful, humorous conversation. "Wo unto you that laugh! for ye shall mourn and weep." "For every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account in the day of judgment." "Let us have therefore no foolish talking nor jesting,-for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience."-Eph. v, 4-6.

7. And whosoever says a word against the Holy Ghost, even if he were the purest, the kindest, and the most use

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ful of men, commits the unpardonable sin, and from that moment is damned past hope.

8. And all who do not show special respect to the followers of Jesus, and treat them with the consideration due to the representatives of God himself, are damned.

9. Nay, all who, in their better days, lay by a little money against the days of sickness or old age; and all who labor for their daily bread, or provide their food and clothing a day beforehand, are damned to perdition.

10. All who break the least commandment of the law of Moses, all who eat an oyster, a mussel, or a shrimp,—all who taste of lobsters, crabfish, or pork,-all who eat rabbit, -all who eat squirrel, or hare, or who wear a garment made of woollen and linen, are to be damned.

11. And all who love their wives, or their children, or their friends, or any thing on earth, more than they love Jesus, or his Gospel, must perish.

12. And all who preach any other Gospel than Paul's, are to be accursed.

13. And all the Gentile nations are to be turned into hell.

14. And even all liars are to go down into the burning lake; so that even Christians themselves cannot hope to escape.

15. Then all who love the world, or the things of the world, are to be damned.

It is not enough, therefore, for the Gospel to say that but few shall be saved; for, if all are to be damned whom the Gospel consigns to damnation, none will be saved. But the Gospel, on certain conditions, promises pardon to all who do not say anything against the Holy Ghost: still, it assures us that but few-not more, perhaps, than one in a hundred-shall be saved. "For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: but straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." "Many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able." Such is the doctrine of the Gospel about hell. We may defy the universe to produce anything more monstrous or more horrible.

This doctrine is as mischievous as it is false and horrible. It tends to enslave and disable the mind. A person who believes that if he doubts a certain set of doctrines he will be damned to eternal torments, is afraid to inquire into the foundations of those doctrines, lest he should doubt. He is afraid to hear or to read anything except what is in favor of those doctrines. He is afraid to think, unless his

thoughts run all in the orthodox channel. He is afraid to observe, lest his observation should discover some fact at variance with his creed. He is afraid to listen to the voice of science, lest nature should throw doubt upon his creed. When reason speaks, and asks him puzzling questions, he trembles. He is afraid of reason, and, with the German poet, is inclined to pray,

O take my reason, Lord, away,

Or give me a new creed that can endure its ray.

This dread of doubt makes believers intolerant. They cannot endure dissenters, heretics or unbelievers, because such people disturb their minds. They regard them as the enemies of their immortal souls. If they could they would silence them utterly and for ever.

All

This horrible doctrine makes men miserable on account of others as well as themselves. The father trembles for the faith of his children, the wife for that of her husband, and every benevolent man for that of every other person. The Christian philanthropist, in his miguided charity, torments himself to secure the faith of all mankind. Christians, therefore, hate the man who reasons, or encourages others to reason. They would gladly imprison or destroy the reasoner, the skeptic, the unbeliever. Their very charity, their love of souls,-their regard for the eternal welfare of those so dear to them, make the pious father, the Christian wife, the pious philanthropist, ready to imprison or destroy every infidel on earth. "What is the destruction of the body of a few infidels, compared with the eternal ruin of a single soul? The infidel will go to hell any way, if he dies unconverted, and he will only go to hell a little earlier if we put him to death. Nay, by putting him to death, especially if we put him to a slow and very painful death, we may be the means of bringing him to God. The destruction of his body may be the salvation of his soul. If a cruel lingering death will not save him, there is nothing that will. Then let him die; and let him die slowly and painfully. Give him time to reflect and repent, and give him suffering sufficient to induce him to do so. Thus while securing the souls of our children, and husbands, and neighbors, we may save the very monster who was endangering their salvation." Thus kindness is turned to cruelty. Love of souls counsels the destruction of men's bodies. The best and noblest affection of our nature, perverted by the Christian doctrine of damnation, builds prisons, founds inquisitions, invents tortures, kindles green wood fires, subjects to the