“(a) The doctrine is found nowhere in the Old Testament, nor any hint of it. The expression, in the end of Isaiah, about the fire unquenched and the worms not dying, is plainly of the corpses of men upon the physical earth.
“(b) The doctrine of endless torment was, as a historical fact, brought back from Babylon by the Rabbis.
“(c) St Paul accepts nothing of it as far as we can tell, never making the least allusion to the doctrine.
“(d) The Apocalypse asserts that not only death, but hell shall be cast into the Lake of Fire.
“(e) The Christian Church has never really held it exclusively till now.
“(f) Since the Reformation it has been an open question in the English Church.
“(g) The Church of England, by the deliberate expunging of the 42nd Article, which affirmed endless punishment, has declared it, authoritatively, to be open.
“(h) It is so, in fact. Neither I nor any others who have denied it can be dispossessed or proceeded against legally, in any way whatsoever.—Rev. Chas. Kingsley, May 9, 1857.”—Z. '11-363.
Ascendeth up for ever and ever.—“The remembrance of the destruction of these systems of deception and error will be lasting, the lesson will never be forgotten—as smoke, which continues to ascend after a destructive fire, [pg 224] is testimony that the fire has done its work.—See also Isa. 34:8-10.”—H. 64; Rev. 19:3.
And they have no rest day or night.—A literal fulfillment of this is expected. (Rev. 7:3.) A few days of it will be enough to satisfy the most ardent lover of the torment system of religion. And it will be a just recompense of reward.