Page images
PDF
EPUB

chapter, may with little expense or labor vie with the oldest and most eloquent in descriptions of hell, and its varied torments and horrors. It now only remains for me to speak of the numbers, who, it is believed, will be finally consigned to this "world of wo."

CHAPTER III.

OF THE NUMBER OF THE DAMNED.

On this important subject there has been, and probably still is, much diversity of opinion. In quite recent times some of our orthodox divines have shown a great solicitude to reduce the number of the finally damned to the lowest point possible. Indeed there have been pretty clear intimations from certain quarters that they were strongly opposed to damning any considerable portion of the human race, and thought the damation of a few necessary only as a kind of example. There are many honest christians of the present age, I believe, who would be very well satisfied if all were to be saved, except perhaps Judas Iscariot and a few other eminent sinners. They value the principle which embraces endless punishment beyond measure, but are not anxious to see it widely put in practice. Hence for years past there has been with many a growing desire to lessen

the number of the damned, and thus, as I more than suspect, to do something toward justifying the moral government of the Almighty, and saving orthodoxy from the attacks of Universalists which are becoming more and more annoying, and from which, on its old grounds, it is less and less easily defended.

To Dr. Lyman Beecher belongs the honor, I believe, of leading off on this new tack. As early as 1827 or '28, he said, “It seems to be the imagination of some that the kingdom of darkness will be as populous as the kingdom of light, and that happiness and misery of equal dimensions will expand, side by side, to all eternity. But blessed be God, it is mere imagination; totally unsupported by reason or revelation. Who ever heard of a prison that occupied one half the territories of a kingdom, or who can believe that the universe, which was called into being, and is upheld and governed, to express the goodness of God, will contain as much misery as happiness? How could the government of God be celebrated with such raptures in heaven,ifit filled with dismay and ruin half the universe? How vast soever, therefore, the kingdom of darkness may be in itself considered, it is certainly nothing but the prison of the universe, and small compared with the realms of light and glory. The world of misery shrinks into a point, and the wailings of the damned die away and are lost in the song of praise."

Prof. Stuart followed the example so nobly set by Dr. Beecher. On certain suppositions concerning the designations of time in the prophecies which he indulged, he thinks that "the triumphs of redeeming love will bring home to glory such multitudes of our ruined race, that the number who may finally perish will scarcely be thought of in comparison with the countless myriads of those who will come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads." Dr. Joel Parker, late President of the Union Theological Seminary in the city of New York, follows in the same strain. "We know not," says he, "the comparative magnitude of the prison of hell. It may bear a proportion to all the moral intelligences of Jehovah's empire, not unlike a country jail to the inhabitants of the world at the present time." On this hypothesis Dr. Parker seems to think that we may justify the character and government of God. Dr. Albert Barnes adopts a similar mode of expression. He says, "Taking the race as a whole, there is no reason to think that the number of those who should be lost, compared with the immense multitudes that shall be saved by the work of Christ will be more than the prisoners in a community now, compared with the number of peaceful and virtuous citizens." Other divines of the present day speak in much the same manner. One told his audience that "the Devil would not at the conclusion of the

judgment day, go down to hell with flying colors, at the head of a large portion of mankind, as some supposed, but on the contrary, a very small part of Adam's race would descend with him."

66

Still this is by no means the general opinion even now; and if we speak of past times, it is at a vast remove from the standards of established and venerable orthodoxy. The language of our Savior, Matt. vii. 13, 14, concerning the strait gate and narrow way that lead to life, and the wide gate and broad way that lead to destruction are almost uniformly taken by the orthodox as descriptive of the fact in relation to the concerns and fate of men in eternity. Many go to destruction, meaning eternal misery," says Dr. Adam Clarke, and FEW enter into life, i. e. reach heaven. The learned author just named says, "There are few who find the way to heaven; fewer yet who abide any time in it; fewer still who walk in it; and fewest of all who persevere unto the end." Bloomfield paraphrases the passage thus, “ Aim at entering in at the strait gate; though there be a gate that is wide and the way to it broad, and many are travelling along it, yet it leads to destruction; therefore take it not. And though there be a gate that is strait, and the way to it narrow, and few are they that travel thereto; yet it leads to life and eternal happiness." The pious Matthew Henry says, "They that are going to heaven are but few compared to those that are

Dr.

going to hell; a remnant, a little flock, like the grape gleanings of the vintage, as the eight that were saved in the ark."

This is, and has for ages been the common doctrine. It is generally believed that all who are not brought to true repentance toward God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, during this life, will certainly be damned. This of course consigns the whole heathen world to endless torments, and a large part of christendom itself!— With respect to the fate of the heathen, our so called orthodox neighbors entertain no doubts, nor do they hesitate to speak clearly of their damnation. The Rev. David Abeel, Missionary to China,contrasting of America and pagan countries, says, "Here there are comparatively few to be saved; there crowds are lying in hopeless, helpless wretchedness. None of these few are obliged to sink into hell-none of these crowds, we fear, can rise to heaven. They know no Savior." And he implores his brethren, "if there is any thing in the eternal and irremediable destruction of millions of immortal beings," to awake and be doing. Another writer says, "FIFTY THOUSAND A DAY. So fast the heathen die. They have sinned and not repented, and are unprepared for heaven. . . . Fifty thousand every day go down to the fire that 'is not quenched,' and should we not think of it as often as once every day. Six hundred millions more are going the same road.

« PreviousContinue »