its literal sense. To Bunyan, who had passed through such a deep
experience of the "terrors of the Lord," when he came out of
tribulation and anguish, he must have richly enjoyed the solemn
imagery of these words, depicting the inmost feelings of his soul
when in the horrible deeps of doubt and despair. But young Christians
must not be distressed because they have never experienced such
tempests: thousands of vessels of mercy get to heaven, without
meeting with hurricanes in their way.--Ed.

5 How thankful should we be, for the great spread of gospel light
in this country, since Bunyan's days. He for refusing to attend,
what he considered, an unscriptural church; suffered above twelve
years incarceration in a miserable den; while all his friends were
either imprisoned or plundered. It was a dreadful attempt to root
out Christianity from this country; but was overruled to make it
take deeper root. How long will Antichrist still hold up his head
in this country? He has had some hard knocks of late.--Ed.

6 The descent of Christ into hell has been the subject of much
controversy, and the question is as far from solution now as
it was in the dark ages, when it was first propounded, and then
arbitrarily decreed to be an article of faith. Those who explain hell
as hades, the place of departed souls, or of the dead generally,
fortify themselves with Psalm 139:8, and also Psalm 16:10; and
yet the first passage may only imply the omnipresence of God, and
the second, the resurrection of the incorruptible body of Christ
from the grave. The descent of Christ into the place of torment is
a figment, a monkish fable, in which Bible incidents and heathen
myths are woven together to delude a credulous and ignorant
laity. The formulary designated the Apostles' creed, has, beyond