principle of his nature called the soul is the Satan that God breathed into him. What would such a belief and profession make out God to be? Could he make the supposed phantom and breathe the same life into him and Adam also?

THE DEVIL,

The word devil has been made truly alarming and unpardonably wicked to those exercising the name upon the mind of one another, and more especially children, God's choiceth vessels, destroying their nerves for purposes. Cannot we inquire about this supposed personage? If we did, he will no longer frighten us. Who made him? I am not going to say there never was nor is a devil, according to scripture; but I do intend to say that there never was such a one as has been created by the mind of man, and he alone is responsible for the mischief occasioned through the phantom as imagined, neither am I going to enumerate the different shapes and colors and other properties attached and attri- * buted unto him, but his being considered such a powerful enemy. I must enquire, who made him, he could not make himself? The holy hands of God could not make him, neither could he bless him. If the Deity allows him to tempt every man all over the globe, in the same moment, with certain success, what use is it for man to pray to God to assist him against such an enemy? especially, when he has all given over to him that he can so mislead. This is encouraging him in his unholy work, and, consequently, the devil is hardworking and dutiful in fulfilling the work assigned him to perform, can we look at him in any other light? If he was an angel and transgressed, would he not have punishment as well as man, and not allowed to do more mischief still to a horrible extent. Where did he get to when the world was drowned? Was he preserved in the ark unknown to God, so that God punished his people and left him to commence his work again, and to keep him in being as a servant and instrument under the Deity, to avenge guilty man hereafter?

It is very evident that man has formed erroneous notions of the devil and conjured up frightful phantoms that have no existence only in the mind of the former, and frightens himself for the pains. Look into scripture and weigh it over, and the result will be quite another thing. Are we any longer to suppose that this horrid spectre-that is said to

fly from even the name of holy water-would dare lay hands on our Saviour and take him up upon a high mountain, that same God that' came down on mount Sinai, when it was commanded that not even a man or beast should touch the mount when he was there, or they should die, although the same hands made the man or beast; that selfsame God the Son who associated with Mary Magdalene, who, we read, was possessed of seven devils, could she be a fitting companion for him? There is no part of scripture that warran、s man to suppose that the devil is an invisible spirit, in form or not, whatever, or agent in God's hands, in any way; he could not be made by God, nor receive the breath of life from him, without at once laying all the sin and crime that has ever been committed in this world on God for making him, or causing or permitting such an agent any power to perform the things attributed to him. It is very necessary to observe the strictest caution in religious profession, or we may be found guilty of the greatest blasphemy against divine holiness. God never made any tempter as represented, he made nothing but what was good, and blessed all that he made, and was man now as when made, there would be no laws required to restrain his evil propensities. If the devil was from everlasting he would be as great as the Deity. If not from everlasting, who could make him and give him life but God? consequently, he would be as much a son of God as Adam, and brother to him; then how could this subject under Divine majesty go forth to destroy creation, changing the blessing of God into a curse, in open defiance? God says, "Vengeance is mine, and I will repay." Does he repay it upon the victims instead of the merciless destroyer, who is still allowed power, (according to such theory,) over all flesh, when a just demand calls aloud to holiness for revenge and punishment upon the tempter who betrays them and those yet unborn. Can justice be better given than at first? To destroy such a spectre would be an act of mercy. God could have taken vengeance upon the destroyer immediately after the sin was committed, and doubtless would have done so had the origination of sin been such as has been described by man, instead of allowing innocent victims of treachery to be destroyed by a power they could not withstand, and suffer punishment after death for failure against such power. Is it to be believed that the holy hands of God made such a subject and breathed life into him? If so, there would be no hope of mercy; depend faithfully that God Essay on the Bible, No. 2.

made no such devil nor hell or blessed them; neither did he sit upon a holy throne previous to making heaven and earth to govern them when nothing else appeared in sight. Oh! wretched mind of man, wreck of the once image and likeness of God, if our ancestors had not been driven forth from the presence and communion of God you never would have conjured up such frightful forms. Do not blame your sins and misdeeds upon another, it availed our ancestors nothing, neither will it us. But they could see and point out the object of treachery, and did he not receive immediate punishment? Yes, such a punishment as prevented him ever after committing the like again. Do not imagine he fled back to his region of refuge, there to laugh and chuckle over the mischief he had done, this would not be only the fall of man, but prove a sufficient power to change the blessing of God to a curse, making him too powerful to be punished, and annul the sacrifice our Saviour made in dying to redeem us, and render useless all his sufferings.

HELL..

Before the wisdom of God moved him to create a heaven and earth, and man and angels to inhabit them, in his own image and likeness, when the material before creation was untouched, in total darkness, without firmament, sun, moon, or stars, or in other words, nothing being in existence but his own dwelling place, where could Hell be? Was there such a place? Who made it? Not the holy hands of God, for he made nothing but what was good, and blessed all that he had made. If we read of hell beneath, it cannot be the centre of the earth, for that is water. If we travel over the surface of the earth, it always looks to Heaven. If we could mount to Heaven and ask the holy angels there, they would point to earth as the hell beneath, the place that god cursed through sin; where Jesus Christ decended into when burried although his spirit did not. The Paradise created and blessed became the hell by the curse and will become the place of punishment at its dissolution,. when they who by their works are not deserving of a better place, will perhaps be left in it. The dark abyss of man's mind is the bottomless pit mentioned in the Revelations of St. John, that cannot understand things above or below, a wreck of what once was the life of God. What pleasure could God take in sitting upon an holy throne to govern

over hell when nothing else appeared in his sight? He would not make such a place without there was a necessity, in which case it would lead us to surmise that the sin that came into the world was expected, and a place of punishment provided before hand. If any one considers this matter seriously over in his own mind, he will arrive at the conclusion that God can punish sinners without making a place especially for the occasion, and an accommodation for devils, and that such a place has no origination only in the dark imagination of man's own mind, which is the bottomless pit as mentioned in scripture.

Genesis ii 17 v.

HOW DID ADAM SIN?

"For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Christ bas told us that heaven and earth should pass away rather than his words should pass away, or one jot or tittle fail. Did not Adam sin? Did he die that day or live above nine hundred years afterwards? It is but just and needful that we should know what tree it was that they should not eat of on pain of death, and who made and planted it, for God says he made heaven and earth and all the host of them, there was nothing made but what he made, and he saw all that he made, and beheld it was very good, and blessed all the works of his hands. Then who made the tree of knowledge of good and evil and blessed it? It is evident that God made nothing evil nor blessed what was so. Christ saith that, "whatsoever entereth in at the mouth, pssseth in to the belly, and defileth not a man." Did Adam sin and die through eating the fruit of any tree whatever? decidedly not nor could he, for God gave every tree "wherein was the fruit of a tree yielding seed whose fruit was in itself" unto Adam to eat for meat and it was so, and there could be no harm in eating what God had made and blessed and planted for their use and benefit. Then we find that the serpent beguiled Eve and she did eat, what serpant could that be? Did not God make the serpents pure and good also and blessed them? Could satan as represented enter into a serpent just made pure and blessed by God, when he is said to fly from holy water so made by the prayer of man? We read that this serpent was cursed and condemned to, go upon his belly all the days of his life, in what way did it go before it was cursed, did

That is sufficient to

it go upon its back, tail or head? One might suppose it could travel better under the curse than it could under the previous blessing, but the curse was of course a punishment and therefore a change of locomotion different from that as God made it by his pleasure and blessing and why should all serpents travel under the same curse and punishment, instead of punishing that satan that was supposed to enter the first serpent? What way did the serpent travel up to the time he persuaded Eve to eat of the tree? Of what use or utility was this tree? Could or did God make it for any purpose whatever? It could not be as a monument as it was the only evil thing in existence, there was no wisdom in making it neither did God make it as such, and the penalty of death was suspended over them if they touched it. "For in the day that thou eateth thereof, thou shalt surely die." prove that if they touched it not they never would die, and consequently would be alive now, and his race too, as there was no specified day or time for them to die if they had not eaten it, and the same penalty would hang suspended over all mankind, as well as our first parents. Would it not be an awful suspense to endure life upon the mere chance of Adam or Eve touching or eating of the tree, during successive days or years continually, as through their sin death was to come upon all men? Would it not be the same if they had not touched it until the present day? As every one was affected by Adam, would not the same effect be whenever it took place? Suppose that any one else touched it, and Adam not, would not the same effect be produced? If so, then what chance of life could man have, throughout countless ages, as we must remember that no man would die until it was touched by somebody, and most people would sooner receive sentence than live in suspense, and the sentence in the first instance did not protect it from violation with two persons, much more the whole world, when some one would be sure to violate it; even then a resurrection to life would be a folly, so that it would be better to remove the tree, or rather it was foolish to have it in existence at all with the penalty of death suspended over it, and not only mankind, but the heaven and earth, and all the host of them besides. Where is such a tree now? Was it removed after the evil was done, instead of before? If this tree was of a botanical or vegetable nature, who are we to suppose made it but God? Although it is stated he made nothing but what was good, it was impossible to be otherwise,