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fire of an interminable hell, where their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched! In Matt. x. 28. the destruction mentioned is not inflicted by men, but by God only; therefore, gehenna must, in this place, necessarily signify the punishment of the wicked in a future state. In Luke xii. 5. the casting into Gehenna, is after the death of the body, and the act cannot be performed by any but God, for which reason he isa pecular object of fear; hence, it is not the burning of a dead carcase that is intended here, but the destruction of the soul in endless misery. The phrases, "child of hell," Matt. xxiii. 15. "damnation of hell," Matt. v. 33. "set on fire of hell," Jam. iii. 6. must, undoubtedly be understood as relative to the world of endless wo. Any literal interpretation would do violence to the passages that would be highly reprehensible.

I shall close these remarks for the present by making an observation in relation to Paul not using the word Gehenna. First. The Jews wore well acquainted with the word Gehenna and its signification. Second. The Gentiles were unacquainted both with the word and is signification. Third. Paul was the Apostle of the Gentiles, not of the Jews, and on this ground I account for his not using the word Gehenna. Fourth. James in his epistle which was written "to the twelve tribes" of Jews that were scattered abroad, uses the word Gehenna, because they were familiarly acquainted both with the word and its signification.

A few strictures on your letters may be expected before long. Yours, sincerely, &c. JOSEPH MCKEE.

LETTER NO. IV.

BALTIMORE, Nov. 22, 1834.

To Rev. Joseph McKee:

I am unable to express my surprise, that you should charge me with glorying that you had given up some texts, and with asking trifling and unnecessary questions. I know that when faithfully wielded, the sword of truth, can de molish the strong holds of error and disperse its advocates; but I was not prepared to hear from you charges of this nature. Fear for the safety of a long cherished system, renders uncertain the powers of vision and reason; and in this instance it seems to have multiplied 2 Thes. i. 9. into several texts, and changed a refusal to consider it, until my four propositions were answered, into shouts of victory. As it respects my questions, you can answer them or not-they will have their weight with the reader, however often you may denounce them as trifling and unnecessary.

Believing your derivation of Gehenna correct, I will proceed to consider your proofs for saying, it invaribly signifies endless punishment.

1. The Targums: "Targum is a name given to the Chaldee paraphrases of the books of the Old Testament They are called paraphrases or expositions, because they are rather comments and explications than literal translations of the text. They were written in Chaldee because this was better known to the Jews than Hebrew after the time of their captivity

in Babylon." The most ancient of these are the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan. See Prideaux, Buck and Watson. Jahn says, the Targum of Onkelos was written in the third or second century of the christian era. That

of Jonathan Ben Uzziel was written, he says, towards the close of the third century; and the Jerusalem Targum is still more modern. This opinion of Jahn has the sanction of the most eminent writers.

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The Targums therefore, furnish no proof whatever, that Gehenna was used to signify endless wo, in the days of Christ. Your asser tion then, that the most learned Jews used Gehenna in this sense, is entirely unfounded.

2. Your quotation from Josephus is now universally considered the work of some christian writer of, perhaps, the second or third century. Josephus never uses Gehenna in those passages which speak of the state of the wicked after death. Add to this the fact, that the Jewish sects, in the days of Josephus, did not represent future punishment by the emblem of fire, which is the sense in which Gehenna is used in the Targums, and by the christian writers of the third and fourth centuries, and you will see that he is against you.

3. It is news to me, "that Parkhurst is one of the most learned men who ever wrote;" and as his opinion, was formed from a mistaken idea respecting the dates of the Targums, it an have but little weight with the unprejudiced and enlightened. At most, it is but the opinion of a man; and if you have no better proof than this, we had better relinquish our discussion. As then, there is no proof that Gehenna in

the days of Christ had acquired a signification different from what it had in the Old Testament, we must go back to this to ascertain the sense in which it is used. Here it occurs in two senses, 1. For the literal valley of Hinnom 2. As a figure to represent the temporal punishment, that God was to bring on the Jewish nation. See Josh. xv. 8; xviii. 16; Neh. xi. 30. 2 Chron. xxviii. 3; xxiii 6. Jer. xxxii, 35. where it signifies the valley of Hinnom.See Jer. vii. 29-34 and xix. 4—15. where it is used figuratively, to represent the destructionof the Jewish nation. Let us observe here the exact language of the Prophet. He says, the valley shall no more be called Tophet nor Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter, that the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem shall be made void, that they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, that their carcasses shall be meat for fowls and beasts, and that in their siege they shall eat their sons and daughters, and that they shall bury in Tophet till there is no place to bury. Now this prediction had a literal fulfilment, at the destruction of Jerusalem, when six hundred thousand bodies were suffered to lie unburied and were meat for fowls and beasts, when parents feasted upon their children, their land became desolate and their city as Tophet.

In connexion with this prophecy, let us consider, that in all the places where Gehenna is used in the New Testament, it was spoken to Jews, who were familiar with the old Testament. Must they not then have understood it in the sense of the Old Testament? And if our Lord did not use it in this sense, "did he not deceive rather than instruct"?

In Matt. x. 28, some difficulty exists in con

sequence of the translation. There is however the same difficulty in applying this to the fuure state, that there is Matt. v. 29, 30, for s the body remains in this world, it cannot be destroyed in the future. Now the soul was to be destroyed in the same hell with the body.— "Destroy both soul and body in hell." Gehenna therefore, cannot here mean endless punishment. Having rescued this text from your hands, I will offer a few remarks for the reader's satisfaction.

The disciples of Christ were as sheep in the midst of wolves; and they were told to beware of men, who would deliver them up to councils, Scourge them in synagogues, and bring them before governors. These however they should not fear; for they could only kill or torture the body; but they should fear God whose power is almighty. And to stimulate them to this, Christ describes the superintending Providence of Jehovah, his watchful care over them, and the awful punishment which would await those, who should through fear of men, renounce the Gospel. This punishment he confines to that age. He says, "ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake; but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Verily ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come." He also says, those who would seek to save their lives should lose them; but those who would lose their lives, or have no fear of men, should save them. Hence the command, Fear not them which kill or torture the body, but fear him who is able to inflict a punishment far more dreadful than the torture of men-a punishment represented by

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