A DISCUSSION OF THE DOCTRINES OF ENDLESS MISERY AND UNIVERSAL SALVATION, IN AN EPISTOLARY CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, OF BETHANY, VA. AND DOLPHUS SKINNER, or UTICA, N. Y. UTICA: C. C. P. GROSH, PRINTER, No. 41 Genesee-street. BT 836 ENTERED, according to act of Congress, in the year 1840, by Dolphus Skinner, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Northern District of New-York. QUESTIONS, OR PROPOSITIONS DISCUSSED.* I. Are sheol, hades and gehenna,† (or either of them) ever used in the Scriptures to express a place or state of endless misery? II. Do the words olem, aion, aionios, etc., when applied to the punishment of the wicked, mean duration without end? III. Is there any word in human language that expresses duration without end, which is not applied to the future punishment of the wicked, or which can certify us that God, angels, or saints shall have duration without end? IV. Shall eternal life (meaning thereby endless holiness and happiness) be, according to the Scriptures, the ultimate destiny of all mankind? EVIDENCE TO BE RELIED ON. I. A future state being wholly a matter of revelation, whatever illustrations or corroboration, may be drawn from nature, society, or our own reasonings, no other witnesses than the Apostles and Prophets, or the spirit of God speaking in them, can be admitted as of any authority. II. That as their testimony on the subject is complete in the Old and New Testaments, especially the latter-to these books, especially the latter, every appeal shall be made. III. In this discussion the words of the Bible are to be subjected to canons of criticism or laws of language current in the commonwealth of letters; and that no new or by-laws, other than those to which all writings of the same antiquity are subjected, can be admitted in the interpretation of any disputed word of sentence. IV. That King James' version shall be ultimate in every appeal to translation; or, if the parties choose, the new version on the basis of Campbell, Macknight, and Doddridge. RULES OF DISCUSSION. 1. The Universalists having opened the discussion, D. Skinner shall continue to lead the way, and A. Campbell, to respond to the close of the discussion. II. The disputants shall occupy equal space in their respective peri odicals. III. No letter shall extend beyond six pages (bourgeois) of the Millenial Harbinger. IV. The discussion shall not transcend twenty letters each, from the *The Questions for discussion, drawn up by Mr. Skinner, and the Rules of Discussion and Evidence to be relied on, drawn up by Mr. Campbell, were not finally agreed upon, signed by the parties and published, till July, 1837, at the publication of letters 6 and 7; but they are inserted here at the com. mencement of the book for the information and convenience of the reader. PUBLISHER. Commonly rendered Everlasting. + Commonly rendered Hell. |