The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1875-11-30
BRISTOL.

BRISTOL
On the irst Sabbath 10 November
the Rev. Mr.. Stewart, of Hntsburgh,
who is engaged to preach in Bristol one
fourth Of the time to the Advent people, in
pursuance Of appointment, made an argu.
meut upon his iavorito theme, "Thc Ma.
ture Of Man." taking for his text, Job
7:17, "What is man ?" part OF the
sentence only. In the forenoon his effort
was to show the popular idea Of mans
nature, and the absurdity of the opinions
held by philosophers and theoogians.
Several passages of scripture, in which
the words soul and spirit occur, were
cited, allusion was freely made to the ORR
giual tongues from which the scriptures
were translated, to show that the COM
monty received notions Of soul and spirit
were inconsistent and porversion of the
original text. lie said the terms signifed
the breath or the life; many passages cor.
roborating this idea, as he thought, were
adduced Instead Of this view, he said
it is commonly believed by theologians
that the soul and spirit is the man, that
the body is only the house in which the
spirit domicls. Several passages were
cited from different authors affirming this
position. 1t was then further stated
that many vugaries had prevailed in dif-
ferent periods Of time concerning the des-
tiny OF the soul. 1t is now believed that
when the body died it falls to the earth,
decays and is wasted but the soul lives on
somewhere, disembodied. Formerly the
Egyptians held the doctrine of the trans.
migration Of souls, a theory very preva.
lent at tho present time among heather
nations, viz the souls Of wicked mon
entered into some animals of the lower
orders, as dog cat, peacock, lion or
crocodile, &c. that this is a punishment
imposed upon them for their wiekedness
that when tho term of punishment expires
they will reappear in the form of men.
While in this state OF punishment they
have the ability to do much harm, there.
fore many and great5s Sacrifices are offered
to them to appease their wrath and avert
their displeasuro This doctrine, fabu.
lous and heathonsh as it ia, is far more
humane and creditablo to the character
Of the Deity than the evangelical notion
Of eternal punishment Of the wicked.
Citations from the most celebrated evan.
gellr.l PIC cais wetc here numerously
presented, omnng whom were President
Edwards and Sturgeon, tending to show
tina! the malignity and virulent rancor
usually assigned to tho Deity greatly ex.
ceeds the harbarity and malice ever attri-
buted to the hoathen divinities. The
quotations we're not located with sufi.
cient deGniiencss SO that we can find
them, although it was claimed that they
were verbal, yet nothing in their writings
have ever SO impressed us. Tho dis.
course in the afternoon from the same
text was i representation Of the preachers
own views. Man was declared to be en-
tirely material, that the scripture when
interpreted by itself represented the soul
being entirely and only material. A
number Of particulars were affirmed, and
passage Of scripture quoted III confrma.
ton in every instance. AS that man was
created Of the dust, and becomes living
soul 1t hungers, thirsts, fees, is pursu-
ed, ii bought, sold, imprisoned, torn,
maDgled tortured, slain, destroyed.
These citations closed with the last clause
Of iae 10Th verso Of Obadiah, They
shall be as though they had not been"
10 each passage Of scripture cited the
word soul occurs, except the last, such
as, "The liberal soul shall be made fat"
IAN idle soul shall suffer hunger" Two
hundred, three score and sixteen souls"
Every soul died in tho hca," &c. The
preacher then rallied his audience 10
in greut trinmrh sar realistically ohaffino the
soul plodders with biting satire and chal:
leDged anybody to dispute his doctrine
successfully, The audiance listened with
apparent interest aud good nature, though
they were taxed, for an hour aud half,
whilo assurance was made doubly sure
that God aud all angels, Christ and all
man are oll and entiroly material hninrs