11. _Bible Doctrines constantly changing_.--The increase of intelligence, and the growth and expansion of the human mind, have the effect to change the views of the people generally and constantly upon almost every subject that occupies the mind; so that the creeds of the churches are constantly changing. Hence the Bible is made to teach widely different doctrines in different ages; and what is Christianity to-day is infidelity to-morrow, and _vice versâ_. (See Chapter lviii.) And so thorough is the change wrought upon the meaning or interpretation of nearly all the important texts in "God's perfect revelation," that it virtually makes a new Bible for each generation. I will present some proofs and illustrations of this statement by comparing the doctrine of the churches of the last century with those of the present. In the days of Jonathan Edwards, a hell, constituted of a lake of fire and brimstone, was preached in nearly all the Christian churches; also the doctrine of infant damnation, when the Methodists sang that beautiful and charming hymn,-- "For hell is crammed With infants damned, Without a day of grace;" also the doctrine of predestination, the doctrine of election and reprobation, the doctrine of purgatory, the doctrine of Christ's descent into hell, &c. All these and other similar doctrines were preached in nearly every pulpit nearly every sabbath; and the preacher who would have neglected to preach these doctrines would have been denounced as on the road to hell. But now the clergyman who should attempt to preach these old Calvinistic tenets would be denounced as "an old fogy." Hence the important query arises, When were the churches preaching Bible doctrine, _then or now?_ Who can tell? Such changes are unceasingly going on. Important changes are sometimes made in the popular creed in a few years' time, as we will cite a case to prove. Just before the last war the peace doctrine was becoming quite popular in nearly all the churches, and sermons were often preached from such texts as the following: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more." But, when the war broke out, new texts were hunted up, and the preaching all ran in the opposite direction. "Cursed be he who holseth back his sword from blood" (Jer. xlviii. 10); "He who hath not a sword, let him sell his coat, and buy one,"--then constituted the texts for a sound sermon. _Now it is evident that a book which thus teaches opposite doctrines virtually teaches nothing. Its moral force is destroyed. If a man wants to perform a certain act to-day, and an act of an opposite character to-morrow, and can find a warrant for both in the Bible, then it is evident the Bible can have no effect whatever towards changing his course of life_. When every moral duty is both commanded and countermanded, and every crime both sanctioned and condemned, as appears to be the case with the Christian Bible, then it is evident that