_Dear sir, and brother_,--A careful perusal of your tenth number has
given me much satisfaction, and seems to suggest that my reply may be
general. You discover the rational ground on which your scruples are
removed, and state no difficulty that you do not surmount.
I agree with you, that the gloomy doctrine of eternal misery, when by
the imagination it becomes incorporated into the system of divine
revelation, "reverses the whole scene," and renders that, which in its
divine and native beauty possesses the most powerful attractions, the
most deformed picture that ever repelled the human affections. It is
this heaven-dishonouring doctrine, so repugnant to and irreconcilable
with the known goodness of God manifested to all nations in his divine
providence, that has, more than any thing else, so buffeted all the
best feelings of man, as in thousands of instances to drive the heart
of benevolence to lay aside the scriptures to whose authority this
unmerciful doctrine has been erroneously ascribed.
But let the scriptures be once considered as free from the above
horrible sentiment as in reality they are, they will then perfectly
correspond with the demonstrations of universal benevolence and grace,
rendered conspicuous in all the ways of God; they will also compare as
a perfect transcript of that inward light and love which renders man
an image of his ever adorable Creator.
As the christian church emerges from the city of mystery Babylon and
its suburbs, and advances into the light of the wisdom of God, the
doctrine above mentioned loses its influence and its votaries; nor
will it be in the power of our self-styled orthodox clergy, long to
chain the public mind to such a forbidding absurdity.
Nothing discovers the deplorable state of depravity, to which the
human mind is subject, by force of tradition, more than the unnatural
and absurd notion of enhancing future bliss, by beholding fellow
creatures of the nearest connexion in a state of indescribable misery,
there to remain time without end!
It seems to us astonishing that parents were ever capable of causing
their children to pass through the fire to an idol, but what is this
compared with what our pious fathers and mothers have believed
concerning their children's sufferings in the eternal world, for the
glory of that God who is the Father of the spirits of all flesh?
Tradition makes the most horrible things acceptable to the mind which
becomes blind to their deformity, and even the most detestable things,
desirable, by a certain feigned sanctity which it attaches to them.
But the charm once broken, the rational mind becomes transformed into
another image, totally different, and entirely repugnant to the things
which it before venerated as divine. You very justly remark, that if
truth be in any way connected with endless misery, you are not
reconciled to it; but the time has been when you and I viewed this
doctrine as an essential article of the faith of the gospel. What an
absurdity! Eternal misery an essential article of the faith of a
Saviour!
And this very moment there are thousands who set their feet on this
vagary, believing it to be the only rock of safety.
But we have reason to be thankful for our happy deliverance from such
a pernicious tradition; a tradition which has poisoned the doctrine of
the church, and hardened the hearts of Christian professors to such a
degree, that cruelty of the worst kind has become habitual.
Will our _pious clergy_ contend against this charge? Let them account
then for all the persecutions, the anathemas, the hangings and the
burnings, which owe their origin to this doctrine of eternal misery.
Let them account for their own sermons, in our day, which sentence
age, middle age, and infancy to endless torture, for offences they
never heard of, nor will they ever be informed of them until they find
themselves in hell for what a man and a woman did thousands of years
before they were born, and of whom they never had heard one word in
the land of the living! This they as constantly preach as they contend
that man must be sensible of his fall in Adam, of the justice of his
being eternally miserable for that offence, and of pardon through the
atonement of Christ in this life, or be miserable forever hereafter;
for thousands in all ages have lived and died who never heard this
absurd story while on earth.
Sir, we have no reason to wonder that religion is so little set by,
while it is held up in such a character. Let it put on the mild form
of the meek and humble Jesus, let it appear in the mercy of him who
said "the son of man came not to destroy men's lives but to save
them," let it be represented by its own similitude, by pouring oil and
wine into the wounds of an enemy, let it be heard when it declares in
apostolic language, God "will have all men to be saved, and to come
unto the knowledge of the truth," let its language be strictly
regarded when it informs us that charity is greater than faith or
hope, then it will be pure and undefiled before God and the Father; it
will engage the best affections of the human heart, and call to its
devotion all the energies of man. Who can count the damages which have
been occasioned by the preposterous error of setting up _faith_ as a
criterion of _charity_? Creed makers and creed defenders surely must
have been averse to St. Paul's sentiment concerning the superiority of
charity over faith; for they have sat charity at defiance with
undefined items in their creeds, which were acknowledged mysterious in
their own minds, and evidently repugnant to reason in the judgment of
those who were proscribed as heretics by their authority.
Relative to my quotations from the epistle of Barnabas and others,
your argument, as far as it is intended to lessen our belief in the
genuineness of these epistles, has no direct bearing on the argument
which I endeavoured to support by them; for it makes no difference
_who wrote_ those epistles, it is their containing quotations from the
New Testament which gives them the consequence for which they were
quoted.
In reply to what you say respecting Clement's not quoting Mat. v. 7,
xviii. 6. as the writing of St Matthew, but as the words of "our
Lord," I here set down Paley's answer.
"It may be said, that, as Clement hath not used words of quotation, it
is not certain that he refers to any book whatever. The words of
Christ, which he has put down, he might himself have heard from the
apostles, or might have received them through the ordinary medium of
oral tradition. This has been said; but that no such inference can be
drawn from the absence of words of quotation is proved by the three
following considerations:--First, that Clement in the very same
manner, namely, without any mark of reference, uses a passage now
found in the epistle to the Romans;[9] which passage from the
peculiarity of the words which compose it, and from their order, it is
manifest that he must have taken from the book. The same remark may be
repeated of some very singular sentiments in the epistle to the
Hebrews. Secondly, that there are many sentences of St. Paul's epistle
to the Corinthians standing in Clement's epistle without any sign of
quotation, which yet are certainly quotations; because it appears that
Clement had St. Paul's epistle before him, inasmuch as in one place he
mentions it in terms too express to leave us in any doubt--'Take into
your hands the epistle of the blessed apostle Paul.' Thirdly, that
this method of adopting words of scripture, without reference or
acknowledgment, was, as will appear in the sequel, a method in general
use among the most ancient christian writers. These analogies not only
repel the objection, but cast the presumption on the other side; and
afford a considerable degree of positive proof that the words in
question have been borrowed from the places of scripture in which we
now find them."[10]
[Footnote 9: Rom. i. 29.]
[Footnote 10: Paley's Evidences, p. 109, 110.]
I think, if we take into consideration the authority of external
evidence, especially if we duly consider how easily Celsus couid have
overthrown the gospels, if they had not been genuine, it must be
acknowledged sufficient, even of itself, to establish any matter of
fact however important, allowing no natural improbability were
involved in the fact. And this is as much as we want of external
evidence, of the sort refered to.
But as even the internal evidences of scripture would be insufficient
to support their authority without the concurrence of external
evidence, so would the external be found wanting without the internal.
But these together are abundantly sufficient to establish the
credibility of this gospel, which is, like every thing else of the
work and wisdom of God, the wonder and admiration of the believing
soul.
The purity of your motives in writing on the subject of our
discussion, will fully justify the exertions you have made to draw
forth such arguments as your brother has been enabled to adduce in
support of our common faith. I regret that my almost constant employ
on other subjects and other duties, has afforded so little time as I
have been able to devote to your queries, which, together with my want
of abilities to do justice to a subject of this importance is now an
embarrassment on my mind in regard to giving my consent to the
publication of this correspondence. And there is still another
circumstance which seems to operate as an objection to the publishing
of these letters, viz. the want of _extension of argument_ in many
instances, which would have been attended to, if the work had been
written for the conviction of common readers, which was not thought to
be necessary for the benefit of the mover of the queries.
However, as all human productions are imperfect and ought so to be
considered, and especially those from your humble servant, I am
willing to appear to some disadvantage if any considerable advantage
may thereby result to the cause of Jesus Christ our Lord.
I cannot close this valedictory epistle without a solemn
acknowledgement of heart felt gratitude to the merciful disposer of
all events, for the ample evidence which his providence and grace have
given of the truth of our religion, especially when consider the
glorious hope set before us; and am permitted to anticipate the
promised era when there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor
crying; when there shall be no more pain; but when tears shall be
wiped from all faces, and the rebuke of the nations removed from off
all the earth, and every creature in heaven, and on the earth, and
under the earth, and such as are in the sea shall harmoniously ascribe
blessing, and glory, and honor unto him who sitteth upon the throne
and unto the lamb forever and ever, I loose myself in the
contemplation of the transporting scene.
To conclude, as you, my brother, have laboured together with your
fellow servant, to look into, and examine these things which belong to
the kingdom of righteousness, and as we have been favoured with mutual
satisfaction in these researches, may it please the Great Head of the
church still to hold us in his hand, still to engage us in his blessed
cause, and render our mutual labours promotive of his grace among men.
And however distant from each other it may best suit the captain of
our salvation to place us, may it be his pleasure to continue our
fellowship in the bonds of the gospel.
Yours affectionately,