Page:The New View of Hell.djvu/43

 and taught, would spring from a clear view, given to those there, of the dreadful torments of the damned, and from a contemplation of the contrast between the miserable condition of these latter, and their own happy condition in the realms of bliss!

Such was the dreadful doctrine taught from most if not all of the pulpits in Christendom a hundred years ago!—taught for the revealed truth of God!—taught by the professed expounders of the Word of God!—by the acknowledged teachers and guides of the people in matters pertaining to man's immortal life!

Yet intelligent people gravely ask, What need was there of any new or further revelation at the time Swedenborg lived and wrote? Considering how the Word of God was then misunderstood and falsified by its professed expounders—in what fearful darkness the minds of professing Christians were then immersed, not only upon this subject but upon others also pertaining to religion, it would, indeed, have been strange if a new revelation had not then been made.

Nor need we wonder, in view of this horrible doctrine concerning hell, which was commonly taught a hundred years ago for Bible truth (to say nothing of other doctrines equally revolting), that so many in Christian lands should have lost all faith in the Bible as a Divine revelation; and that many others who retain their faith, should have come to deny the existence of any hell whatever in the other world. Among the last and sure results of