See

wux, which means the natural life of man. John xiii. 37, 38: "Peter said unto him, Lord,

I will lay down Jesus answered

why cannot I follow thee now? my life (uz) for thy sake. him, Wilt thou lay down thy life (uz) for my sake?" It is quite unnecessary to multiply quotations on this subject. The fact is well known to all who have examined this word, that it means the natural life; and there was no more propriety in rendering this word soul in Matt. x. 28, than there was for so rendering it John xiii. 37, 38; and then the passage would have made Peter to say, "I will lay down my soul for thy sake," and Jesus to ask him, " Wilt thou lay down thy soul for my sake?" As there is some reason to believe that there was something like a wrong influence operating in the minds of the translators of our Scriptures, we must beg indulgence while we quote several passages more. And this we do, that the common error concerning this subject, and which has been occasioned by the translation, may be corrected. Matt. xvi. 25, 26: “For whosoever shall save his life (wuz) shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life (yuz) for my sake, shall find it. For; what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (yuz) or, what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (wuzn.) If by the word soul, the translators meant what divines now

mean by it, that is, an immortal part of man, what could induce them to use this word in verse 26, in place of the word life, which they used in the verse preceding? This unwarranted variation of rendering the same word in these two verses, has had a most pernicious effect. And professed divines, either through ignorance or hypocrisy, have imposed the notion on common people, that Jesus, in the above passage, spoke of the eternal damnation of man's immortal soul! That the reader may see the gross absurdity of allowing the word rendered life and soul, to mean an immortal soul in man, we will put down the first verse of the last quoted passage agreeably to such a supposition. Then verse 25 would read thus: "For whosoever will save his immortal soul shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his immortal soul for my sake, shall find it!" See also Matt. xx. 28: " Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life (yvx) a ransom for many." No one supposes that Jesus here meant to say, that he came to give his immortal soul a ransom for many. Luke xiv. 26: "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life (yuz) also, he cannot be my disciple." We hardly believe that any will contend that Jesus meant that a man must hate

his immortal soul, to fit him to be his disciple. Acts xx. 24: "But none of these things move me; neither count I my life (uz) dear unto me," &c. Surely, Paul did not mean to say that he did not count his immortal soul dear unto him.

General conclusion.

Notwithstanding we expressed a want of entire satisfaction respecting the last objection to which we have replied, we now say that this want has been nearly, if not entirely removed, by comparing the different passages which relate to the subject. And we feel a good degree of confidence that the mind of the candid reader will feel the force of what has been offered, and see the propriety of paraphrasing our text as follows: “And I say unto you, my friends, be not so much afraid of them who have power only to scourge you in their synagogues, and to administer cruel tortures to your bodies, but have no authority to take your lives, as of that more extensive authority to which your brethren the Jews will deliver you, by bringing you before governors and kings; for this power can, after inflicting cruelties on your bodies, doom your lives and bodies to be destroyed in γέεννα.” It now remains only to give the

Gehenna

explained.

true meaning of the word γέεννα, which in our text is rendered hell, though this has already been done in the preceding pages.

Parkhurst, in his Greek and English Lexicon, informs us that yeɛvva is the corruption of two Hebrew words, one signifying a valley, and the other signifying Hinnom, the name of a person once the possessor of it. He says, "This valley of Hinnom lay near Jerusalem, and had been the place of those abominable sacrifices, in which the idolatrous Jews burned their children alive to Molech, Baal, or the Sun. A particular place in this valley was called Tophet, and the valley itself, the valley of Tophet, from the fire stove in which they burned their children to Molech." He further says, "A gehenna of fire, (Matt. v. 22,) does, as I apprehend, in its outward and primary sense, relate to that dreadful doom of being burnt alive in the valley of Hinnom." The passage in Matt. v. 22, just referred to, reads as follows: "But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." That the learned Parkhurst, who was a believer in future, endless misery, was in the right on this subject, there can be no doubt. But more authority might be quoted, if it were necessary, to show that the word rendered hell, in our text, means nothing but that place of execution, where malefactors were cast alive, and consumed in fire.

APPENDIX.

BY THOMAS WHITTEMORE.

A.

THE views of Mr. Ballou, on Matt. x. 28, and Luke xii. 4, 5, are given in the body of the work. They are worthy of deep consideration. The following remarks are offered as belonging to the controversy concerning the abovenamed texts.

"And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Matt. x. 28; Luke xii. 4, 5.

This passage is, confessedly, difficult of construction. Universalists are sincerely desirous, we believe, to learn what is its true sense. There are many persons who seem confident that the passage teaches the doctrine of endless misery in hell (Gehenna.) But let us look at the passage carefully.

Does it say, God will destroy both soul and