02b Biblical Argument for Eternal Punis (continue)

Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength [Isaiah 26:4]. The nothingness of this life only leads the Psalmist to confide all the more in God, and to expect the next life. Behold, You have made my days as a handbreadth; and my age is as nothing before You: verily, every man at his best state is altogether vanity. And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in You [Psalms 39:5-7]. As Sir John Davies says of the soul, in his poem on Immortality:

Water in conduit pipes, can rise no higher Than the well-head from whence it first does spring: Then since to eternal God she does aspire, She cannot be but an eternal thing.

Another reason why the Old Testament contains no formal argument in proof of immortality, and a spiritual world beyond this life, is, because the intercourse with that world on the part of the Old Testament saints and inspired prophets was so immediate and constant. God was not only present to their believing minds and hearts, in his paternal and gracious character, but, in addition to this, he was frequently manifesting himself in theophanies and visions. We should not expect that a person who was continually communing with God would construct arguments to prove His existence; or that one who was brought into contact with the unseen and spiritual world, by supernatural phenomena and messages from it, would take pains to demonstrate that there is such a world. The Old Testament saints endured as seeing the invisible. 15[Additional texts which have no consistency, on the supposition that the Old Testament writers had little or no knowledge of a future blessed life for the Godly, are the following: Genesis 17:7, I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and your seed after you, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto you, and to your seed after you. Genesis 49:18, I have waited for Your salvation O Lord. Exodus 6:7, I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to you a God. Deuteronomy 33:3, Deuteronomy 33:29, Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in Your hand. Happy are you, O Israel: who is like unto you, O people saved by the Lord. Job 13:15, Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. Isaiah 33:22, For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us. Habakkuk 1:12, Are You not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? we shall not die. Psalms 31:5, Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.

[It is impossible to confine this "covenant" of God, this "love" of God, this "salvation" of God, this "trust" in God, and this "redemption" of God, to this short life of threescore years and ten. Such a limitation empties them of their meaning, and makes them worthless. The words of Paul apply in this case: If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable [1 Corinthians 15:19]. Calvin [Inst., II., x., 8] remarks that "these expressions, according to the common explanation of the prophets, comprehend life, and salvation, and consummate felicity. For it is not without reason that David frequently pronounces how blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom He has chosen for His own inheritance; and that, not on account of any Earthly felicity, but because he delivers from death, perpetually preserves, and attends with everlasting mercy, those whom He has taken for his people." In the same reference, Augustine [Confessions, VI., xi., 19] says: "Never would such and so great things be wrought for us by God, if with the death of the body the life of the soul came to an end." When God said to Abraham, You shall go to your fathers in peace [Genesis 16:16], He meant spiritual and everlasting peace. It was infinitely more than a promise of an easy and quiet physical death. When Jacob, on his death-bed, says: I have waited for Your salvation, 0 Lord [Genesis 49:18], he was not thinking of deliverance from physical and temporal evil. What does a man care for this in his dying hour?] The Old Testament teaches the conscious happiness of believers after death. Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him [Genesis 5:24]. Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his [Numbers 23:10]. My flesh shall rest in hope. You will show me the path of life: in Your presence is fullness of joy [Psalms 16:9, Psalms 16:11]. As for me, I will behold Your face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied when I awake with Your likeness [Psalms 17:15]. God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave; for He shall receive me [Psalms 49:15]. You shall guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever [Psalms 73:24-26]. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces [Isaiah 25:8]. This is quoted by Paul [1 Corinthians 15:54], in proof that this mortal shall put on immortality. Paul also teaches that the Old Testament saints, like those of the New, trusted in the Divine promise of the Redeemer, and of the resurrection. I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: unto which promise, our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? [Acts 26:6-8; comp. Acts 23:6]. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the Earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And, truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, a Heavenly [Hebrews 11:13-16]. These bright and hopeful anticipations of the Old Testament saints have nothing in common with the pagan world of shades, the gloomy Orcus, where all departed souls are congregated. The New Testament abundantly teaches the conscious happiness of believers in the disembodied state. Today shall you be with Me in paradise, said Christ to the penitent thief [Luke 23:43]. They stoned Stephen, while he was calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit [Acts 7:59]. Immediately on dying, Lazarus is in Abraham’s bosom; receives good things; and is comforted [Luke 16:23-25]. To die is gain. I am in a strait between two, having a desire to depart, and be with Christ, which is far better [Php 1:21-23]. I knew a man in Christ, above fourteen years ago, who was caught up to the third Heaven, into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter [2 Corinthians 12:2-4]. We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God; a house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. We desire rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord [2 Corinthians 5:1, 2 Corinthians 5:6, 2 Corinthians 5:8]. Christ died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him 2 Corinthians 5:10. I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom the whole family in Heaven [not Hades] and Earth is named [Ephesians 3:14-15]. Which hope enters into that within the veil; where the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus [Hebrews 6:20]. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who were slain for the word of God, and white robes were given unto every one of them [Revelation 6:9-11]. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord [Revelation 14:13]. The doctrine that the condition of all men between death and the resurrection is a disembodied condition has been greatly misconceived, and the misconception has introduced errors into eschatology. Inasmuch as the body, though not necessary to personal consciousness, is yet necessary in order to the entire completeness of the person, it came to be supposed in the Patristic church, that the intermediate state is a dubious and unfixed state; that the resurrection adds very considerably both to the holiness and happiness of the redeemed, and to the sinfulness and misery of the lost. This made the intermediate, or disembodied state, to be imperfectly holy and happy for the saved, and imperfectly sinful and miserable for the lost. According to Hagenbach [§142], the majority of the fathers between 250 and 730 "believed that men do not receive their full reward till after the resurrection." Jeremy Taylor [Liberty of Prophesying, § 8] asserts that the Latin fathers held that "the saints, though happy, do not enjoy the beatific vision before the resurrection." Even so respectable an authority as Ambrose, the spiritual father of Augustine, taught that the soul "while separated from the body is held in an ambiguous condition" [ambiguo suspenditur]: *[It is often difficult to say positively, and without qualification, what the opinion of a church father really was upon the subject of Hades, owing to the unsettled state of opinion. One and the same writer; like Tertullian, or Augustine, for example, makes different statements at different times. This accounts for the conflicting representations of dogmatic historians. One thing, however, is certain, that the nearer we approach the days of the Apostles, the less do we hear about an underworld, and of Christ’s descent into it. Little is said concerning Hades, by the Apostolic fathers. In the longer recension of Ignatius ad Smyrnaeos [Ch. ix], they are exhorted to "repent while yet there is opportunity, for in Hades no one can confess his sins." Justin Martyr [Trypho, Ch. v] simply says that "the souls of the pious remain in a better place, while those of the wicked are in a worse, waiting for the time of judgment." The extracts from the fathers in Huidekoper’s volume on Christ’s Mission to the Underworld, show the uncertainty that prevailed. The same is true of those in König’s Christi Höllenfahrt, notwithstanding the bias of the author 16[In proof of the unsettled state of opinion among the Fathers, on many points of doctrine, see Jeremy Taylor’s (Liberty of Prophesying, Section VIII)]. The incompleteness arising from the absence of the body was more and more exaggerated in the Patristic church, until it finally resulted in the doctrine of a purgatory for the redeemed, adopted formally by the Papal church, according to which, the believer, between death and the resurrection, goes through a painful process in Hades which cleanses him from remaining corruption, and fits him for Paradise. The corresponding exaggeration in the other direction, in respect to the condition of the lost in the disembodied state, is found mostly in the Modern church. The Modern Restorationist has converted the intermediate state into one of probation, and redemption, for that part of the human family who are not saved in this life. 17[Neander (II., 729, 730) shows that the later patristic view respecting the state of unbaptized children was an important factor in the development of the mythological theory of the intermediate state. "The doctrine of the damnation of unbaptized infants, which, ever since the time of Cyprian, by the habit of confounding the inward grace with its outward sign, had become predominant, appeared to the Pelagians as something revolting. Yet even they made no distinction of the baptism of the spirit from the baptism with water. Accordingly they must of necessity affirm, with regard to unbaptized infants, that, although exempt from punishment, they were still excluded from that higher state of being, and attained only to a certain intermediate state. And to the same result on this subject must everyone have been led, who was inclined to adopt the Oriental mode of considering the effects of baptism, and would consistently follow out the matter to a definite conclusion--unless he supposed a universal redemption or restoration as the final end, to which that intermediate state was destined to prove a point of transition for unbaptized infants. Such an intermediate state Gregory Nazianzen assigned for those who were unbaptized through no fault of their own. Augustine himself [De. Lib. Arbit., III., 23] had once entertained a like opinion." Neander adds that subsequently Augustine contended that "the notion of an intermediate place between the state of woe and the Kingdom of Heaven was a thing altogether unscriptural and incredible in itself; for man, being in the image of God, was destined to find his bliss in communion with God, and out of that communion could be no otherwise than wretched [Do peccat. et rem., I., 58; Sermo, 294, 3]. The Council of Carthage, AD 418, finally condemned, in its 2nd canon, the doctrine concerning such an intermediate state for unbaptized children, on the ground that nothing could be conceived as existing between the Kingdom of God and perdition, and affirmed the eternal perdition of all unbaptized infants"]. The Protestant Reformers, following closely the Scripture data already cited, which represent the redeemed at death as entirely holy and happy in Paradise, and the lost at death as totally sinful and miserable in Hades, rejected altogether the Patristic and Mediaeval exaggeration of the corporeal incompleteness of the intermediate state. They affirmed perfect happiness at death for the saved, and utter misery for the lost. The first publication of Calvin was a refutation of the doctrine of the sleep of the soul between death and the resurrection. The Limbus and Purgatory were energetically combated by all classes of Protestants. "I know not," says Calvin [Institutes II. xvi 9], "how it came to pass that any should imagine a subterraneous cavern, to which they have given the name of limbus. But this fable, although it is maintained by great authors, and even in the present age is by many seriously defended as a truth, is after all nothing but a fable" 18[The Heidelberg Catechism (Qu. 44), as did Calvin (Inst., II., xvii., 8-12), explains Christ’s "descent to Hell" figuratively, as denoting his piacular agony in the garden and on the cross. Witsius does the same in an exceedingly lucid and logical manner (Apostles’ Creed, Dissertation XVIII)]. The doctrine of the intermediate or disembodied state, as it was generally received in the Reformed (Calvinistic) churches, is contained in the following statements in the Westminster standards: "The souls of believers are, at their death, made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory [The Larger Catechism (86) and Confession (xxxii. 1) say, "into the highest Heavens"]; and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection. At the resurrection, believers, being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in full enjoying of God to all eternity" (Shorter Catechism, 37, 38). According to this statement, there is no essential difference between Paradise and Heaven. The Larger Catechism (86) asserts that "the souls of the wicked are, at death, cast into Hell, and their bodies kept in their graves till the resurrection and judgment of the great day." The Larger Catechism (89) and Confession (xxxii 1) say that "at the day of judgment, the wicked shall be cast into Hell, to be punished forever." According to this, there is no essential difference between Hades and Hell. The substance of the Reformed view, then, is, that the intermediate state for the saved is Heaven without the body, and the final state for the saved is Heaven [NOTE: the Bible actually teaches that the final abiding place for the saved is the new Earth–Revelation 21:1-3, Revelation 21:9Revelation 2:5 aal] with the body; that the intermediate state for the lost is Hell without the body, and the final state for the lost is Hell with the body. In the Reformed, or Calvinistic eschatology, there is no intermediate Hades between Heaven and Hell, which the good and evil inhabit in common. When this Earthly existence is ended, the only specific places and states are Heaven and Hell [see NOTE above -aal]. Paradise is a part of Heaven; Sheol, or Hades, is a part of Hell. A pagan underworld containing both Paradise and Hades, both the happy and the miserable, like the pagan idol, is "nothing in the world." There is no such place. 19[Dr. Charles Hodge (Theology, III., 716-756) presents and defends the reformed view of Hades in distinction from the patristic and papal, yet with some vacillation. On p. 734 he remarks that "there is no great difference between the [Rabbinical] Jewish doctrine of Sheol, in its essential features, and the true doctrine as presented by our Lord in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Both are represented as going into Sheol, or Hades." But on p. 736 he strongly combats that explanation, by "many modern interpreters," of Peter’s discourse on the day of Pentecost, which makes him "to teach that the souls of the pious dead do not ascend to Heaven, but descend to the gloomy abode of Sheol, Hades, or Hell--all these terms being equivalent"]. This view of Hades did not continue to prevail universally in the Protestant churches. After the creeds of Protestantism had been constructed, in which the Biblical doctrine of Sheol is generally adopted, the mythological view began again to be introduced. Influential writers like Lowth and Herder gave it currency in Great Britain and Germany. "A popular notion," says Lowth (Hebrew Poetry, Lect. VIII), "prevailed among the Hebrews, as well as among other nations, that the life which succeeded the present was to be passed beneath the Earth; and to this notion the sacred prophets were obliged to allude, occasionally, if they wished to be understood by the people, on this subject." Says Herder (Hebrew Poetry, Marsh’s Translation, II. 21), "No metaphorical separation of the body and soul was yet known among the Hebrews, as well as among other nations, and the dead were conceived as still living in the grave, but in a shadowy, obscure, and powerless condition." The theory passed to the lexicographers, and many of the lexicons formally defined Sheol and Hades as the underworld. It then went rapidly into commentaries, and popular expositions of Scripture. The Pagan conception of Hades is wide and comprehensive; the Biblical is narrow and exclusive. The former includes all men; the latter, only wicked men. The Greeks and Romans meant by Hades, neither the grave in which the dead body is laid, nor the exclusive place of retribution, but a nether world in which all departed souls reside. There was one adhV for all, consisting of two subterranean divisions: Elysium and Tartarus. 20[The Pagan nomenclature is self-consistent but the Pagan-Christian is not. In the Pagan scheme, Hades is a general term, having two special terms under it: namely, Elysium and Tartarus. But in the paganized Christian scheme, Hades does double duty, being both a general and a special term. When the Pagan is asked: "Of what does Hades consist?" he answers, "Of Elysium and Tartarus." But when the mythological Christian is asked: "Of what does Hades consist?" he answers, "Of Paradise and Hades." He cannot answer , "Of Paradise and Tartarus," because the latter is Gehenna, which he denies to be in Hades. Hence he converts the whole into a part of itself. To say that Hades is made up of Paradise and Hades, is like saying that New York City is made up of the Central Park and New York City]. In proportion as the Later-Jews came to be influenced by the Greek and Roman mythology, the Old Testament Sheol was widened, and made to be a region for the good as well as the evil. Usher (Limbus Patrum), and Pearson (Creed, Art. V), cite Josephus as an example. This mythological influence increased, until the doctrine of purgatory itself came into the Jewish apocryphal literature. Purgatory is taught in 2Ma 12:45. Manasses, in his Prayer, asks God not "to condemn him into the lower parts of the Earth." The Synagogue, according to Charnocke (Discourse II), believed in a purgatory. *[On the influence of Hellenism upon the Later-Judaism, see Edersheim’s Messianic Prophecy and History. Lecture IX]. 21[The strong tendency of the later Jews to adopt both the customs and opinions of the heathen nations is noticed by Chemnitz in his learned and thorough examination of the Tridentine doctrine of Purgatory (Examen: De Purgatorio, Cap . II) "Ex philosophorum ratiocinationibus, et ex superstitiosis gentium sacrificiis, quae ubique usitata erant, cum quidem sicut de caris absentibus ita etiam de mortuis naturalis quaedam cura et sollicitudo animis nostris insita est, ad Judaeos etiam hujus opinionis contagium quoddam, inclinato jam Judaismo, serpere coepit. Quanquam enim incisio carnis, et evulsio capillorum, in luctu mortuorum, expresse prohibita erant Leviticus 19:1-37, Deuteronomy 14:1-29], ex conversatione tamen inter gentes, Israelitis etiam prophetarum tempore illa usurpari coepta fuisse, ex Jeremiae, cap. xvi., non obscure colligitur. Sicut a gentibus etiam tibicines in funerum curatione mutuati sunt [Matthew 9:1-38], juxta versum poetae: ’cantatat moestis tibia funeribus.’

["Eadem ratione tandem post propheta rum tempora, etiam orationes et sacrificia pro mortuis, Judaei imitari coeperunt circa annum 170 ante natum Christum, cujus exemplum extat 2 Maccabaeorum 12. Id quod tum fieri coepit, cum collapsa doctrina, et rebus omnibus, cum in imperio tum in templo, perturbatissimis, Judaei una cum foederibus, etiam lingua, appellationibus, moribus, et ritibus, conformitatem cum gentibus quaererent et affectarent: sicut tota historia Maccabaeorum ostendit"]. The Pagan conception, as has been observed, passed also into the Christian church. It is found in the writings of many of the fathers, but not in any of the primitive creeds. "The idea of a Hades (lwav), known to both Hebrews and Greeks, was transferred to Christianity, and the assumption that the real happiness, or the final misery of the departed, does not commence till after the general judgment and the resurrection of the body, appeared to necessitate the belief in an intermediate state, in which the soul was supposed to remain, from the moment of its separation from the body to the last catastrophe. Tertullian, however, held that the martyrs went at once to paradise, the abode of the blessed, and thought that in this they enjoyed an advantage over other Christians, while Cyprian does not seem to know about any intermediate state whatever" (Hagenbach: History of Doctrine, § 77). 22[As an example of the degree to which the mythological view of the condition of the dead had worked itself into the Christian church in the first part of the third century, take the following fanciful description of Hades by Hippolytus, in a fragment of his Discourse against the Greeks: "Hades is a place in the created system, unformed, beneath the Earth, in which the light does not shine, and where there is perpetual darkness. This locality has been appointed to be, as it were, a guard-house for souls, in which the angels are stationed as guards, distributing to each one’s deeds the temporary punishments for different characters. In this locality there is a certain place set apart by itself, a lake of unquenchable fire, into which we suppose no one has ever yet been cast: for it is prepared against the day determined by God, in which one sentence of righteous judgment shall be justly applied to all. The unrighteous shall be sentenced to this endless punishment; but the righteous shall obtain the incorruptible kingdom, who, indeed, are at present detained in Hades, but not in the same place with the unrighteous. For this locality there is one descent, at the gate whereof we believe an archangel is stationed with a host. And when those who are conducted by the angels appointed for the care of souls have passed through this gate, they do not proceed on one and the same way; but the righteous, being conducted in the light toward the right hand, are brought into a locality full of light. There, there is neither fierce heat nor cold, but the face of the [OT] fathers and the righteous is seen to be always similar, as they wait for the rest and eternal revival in Heaven, which succeed this location. And we call it by the name of Abraham’s bosom. But the unrighteous are dragged toward the left hand by the angels who are ministers of punishment, and they go of their own accord no longer, but are dragged by force as prisoners. And the angels appointed over them send them along, threatening them with an eye of terror, forcing them down into the lower parts. And when they are brought there, those appointed to that service drag them to the confines of Hell (geenna). And the unrighteous hear the agitation and feel the hot smoke. And when that vision is so near that they see the excessively red spectacle of the fire, they shudder in horror at the expectation of the future judgment. And, again, when they see the place of the [OT] fathers and the righteous, they are also tormented. For a deep and vast abyss is set there in the midst, so that neither can any of the righteous from sympathy think to pass it, nor any of the unrighteous dare to cross it. Thus far, on the subject of Hades, in which the souls of all are detained until the time which God has determined; and then he will accomplish a resurrection of all."

[The Koran has also borrowed from the patristic Christianity this view of the intermediate state. Paradise and Hades are represented as coterminous in an under world. "The inhabitants of Paradise shall call out to the inhabitants of hell-fire, saying, Now we have found that which our Lord promised us to be true; have you also found out that which your Lord promised you to be true? They shall answer, Yea" (Koran, Ch. VII)].

According to this Hellenized eschatology, at death all souls go down to Hades: in inferna loca, or ad inferos homines. This is utterly unbiblical. It is connected with the heathen doctrine of the infernal divinities, and the infernal tribunal of Minos and Rhadamanthus. The God of revelation does not have either His abode, or his judgment-seat, in Hades. From Christ’s account of the last judgment, no one would infer that it takes place in an underworld. In both the Old and New Testament, the good dwell with God, and God’s dwelling-place is never represented as "below," but "on high." Elijah ascends in a chariot of fire. David expects to be "received to glory." Christ describes the soul of a believer, at death, as going up to Paradise. The beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried. And in Hades he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom [Luke 16:22-23]. According to this description, Abraham’s bosom and Hades are as opposite and disconnected as the zenith and the nadir. To say that Abraham’s bosom is a part of Hades, is to say that the Heavens are a compartment of the Earth. Matthew [Matthew 8:11] teaches that Abraham’s bosom is in Heaven: Many shall recline (anakliqhsontai) with Abraham, in the Kingdom of Heaven. Paradise is separated from Hades by a great chasm [Luke 16:26]. The word casma denotes space either lateral or vertical, but more commonly the latter. Schleusner, in voce, says: "Maxime dicitur de spatio quod e loco superiore ad inferiorem extenditur." Hades is in infernis; Abraham’s bosom, or Paradise, is in superis; and Heaven, proper, is in excelsis, or summis.

If Paradise is a section of Hades, then Christ descended to Paradise, and saints at death go down to Paradise, and at the last day are brought up from Paradise. This difficulty is not met, by resorting to the Later-Jewish distinction between a supernal and an infernal paradise. The paradise spoken of by Christ, in Luke 24:33, is evidently the same that Paul speaks of, in 2 Corinthians 12:3-4, which he calls the third Heaven.

It is sometimes said, that there is no "above" or "below" in the spiritual world, and therefore the special representation in the parable of Dives and Lazarus must not be insisted upon. This, certainly, should not be urged by those who contend for an under world. Paradise and Hades, like Heaven and Hell, are both in the universe of God. But wherever in this universe they may be, it is the Biblical representation (unlike the mythological), that they do not constitute one system, or one sphere of being, any more than Heaven and Hell do. They are so contrary and opposite, as to exclude each other, and to constitute two separate places or worlds; so that he who goes to the one does not go to the other. This contrariety and exclusiveness is metaphorically expressed by space vertical, not by space lateral. Things on the same plane are alike. Those on different planes are not. If Paradise is above and Hades is beneath, Hades will be regarded as Hell, and be dreaded. But if Paradise and Hades are both alike beneath, and Paradise is a part of Hades, then Hades will not be regarded as Hell (as some affirm it is not), and will not be dreaded. Hades will be merely a temporary residence of the human soul, where the punishment of sin is imperfect, and its removal possible and probable. A portion of the fathers, notwithstanding the increasing prevalence of the rnythological view, deny that Paradise is a compartment of Hades. In some instances, it must be acknowledged, they are not wholly consistent with themselves, in so doing. According to archbishop Usher (Works, III. 281), "the first who assigned a resting-place in hell [Hades] to the fathers of the Old Testament was Marcion the Gnostic." This was combated, he says, by Origen, in his Second Dialogue Against Marcion. 23[Irenaeus (Adv. Haer. I. xxvii., 3) mentions as one of Marcion’s heresies, his teaching that "Cain, and those like him, and the Sodomites, and the Egyptians, and others like them, and, in fine, all the nations who walked in all sorts of abomination, were saved by the Lord on his descending into Hades." Another opinion of Marcion, which Irenaeus mentions as heretical, was, that "Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and those other righteous men who sprang from the patriarch Abraham, with all the prophets, and those who were pleasing to God, did not partake in salvation. For since these men, he says, knew that their God was constantly tempting them, so now they suspected that He was tempting them, and did not run to Jesus, or believe His announcement; and for this reason he declared that their souls remained in Hades" Irenaeus agreed with Marcion in regard to the assumed fact of Christ’s descent to Hades, but differed from him in regard to its purpose and effects]. In his comment on Psalms 9:18, Origen remarks that "as Paradise is the residence of the just, so Hades is the place of punishment (kolasthrion) for sinners." The locating of Paradise in Hades is opposed by Tertullian (Adv. Marcionem, IV. 34), in the following terms: "Hades (inferi) is one thing, in my opinion, and Abraham’s bosom is another. Christ, in the parable of Dives, teaches that a great deep is interposed between the two regions. Neither could the rich man have lifted up his eyes, and that too afar off, unless it had been to places above him, and very far above him, by reason of the immense distance between that height and that depth." 24[The abode of the demons is denominated the abyss, in Luke 8:31. But, in Ephesians 2:2, Satan is called the prince of the power of the air. Ellicotts (in loco) explanation is probable. "As ouranoV is used in a limited and partial [Matthew 6:26], as well as an unlimited meaning, so ahr, which is commonly confined to the region of the air or atmosphere, may be extended to all that supra-terrestrial but subcelestial region (o upouranioV topoV, Chrysostom) which seems to be, if not the abode, yet the haunt of evil spirits." See the authorities in favor of this explanation mentioned by Ellicott.

[Hodge [On Ephesians 2:2] regards ahr as synonymous with skotoV."The word skotoV, darkness, is so often used just as ahr is here employed, as to create a strong presumption that the latter was meant to convey the same meaning as the former. Thus, the power of darkness, [Luke 22:53]; rulers of darkness, [Ephesians 6:12]; the kingdom of darkness, [Colossians 1:13], are all scriptural expressions, and are all used to designate the kingdom of Satan. This signification of ahr is not without the authority of usage. The word properly, especially in the earlier writers, means the lower, obscure, misty atmosphere, as opposed to aiqhr, the pure air. Hence it means obscurity, darkness, whatever hides from sight"]. Similarly, Chrysostom, in his Homilies on Dives and Lazarus, as quoted by Usher, asks and answers: "Why did not Lazarus see the rich man, as well as the rich man is said to see Lazarus? Because he that is in the light does not see him who stands in the dark; but he that is in the dark sees him that is in the light." Augustine, in his exposition of Psalms 6:1-10 [Migne, IV. 93], calls attention to the fact that "Dives looked up, to see Lazarus." Again, he says, in his Epistle to Evodius [Migne, II. 711], "it is not to be believed that the bosom of Abraham is a part of Hades (aliqua pars inferorum). How Abraham, into whose bosom the beggar was received, could have been in the torments of Hades, I do not understand. Let them explain who can." Again, in De Genesi ad literam, XII. 33, 34 [Migne, III. 482], he remarks: "I confess, I have not yet found that the place where the souls of just men rest is Hades (inferos). If a good conscience may figuratively be called paradise, how much more may that bosom of Abraham, where there is no temptation, and great rest after the grief’s of this life, be called paradise." To the same effect, says Gregory of Nyssa (In Pascha. Migne, III. 614): "This should be investigated by the studious, namely, how, at one and the same time, Christ could be in those three places: in the heart of the Earth, in paradise with the thief, and in the ‘hand’ of the Father. For no one will say that paradise is in the places under the Earth (en upocqonioiV), or the places under the Earth in paradise; or that those infernal places (ta upocqonia) are called the ‘hand’ of the Father." Cyril of Alexandria, in his De exitu animi [Migne, X. 1079-82], remarks: "Insontes supra, sontes infra. Insontes in coelo, sontes in profundo. Insontes in manu dei, sontes in manu diaboli." Usher asserts that the following fathers agree with Augustine, in the opinion that Paradise is not in Hades: namely, Chrysostom, Basil, Cyril Alexandrinus, Gregory Nazianzen, Bede, Titus of Bostra, and others 25[The Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438-9), composed of (Greek and Latin bishops, which endeavored to unite the Latin and Greek churches, decided "that the souls of the saints are received immediately into Heaven and behold God Himself as He is three and one" [Taylor, Liberty of Prophesying, Section VIII]].

These patristic statements respecting the supernal locality of Paradise agree with Scripture. The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from Sheol beneath [Proverbs 15:24]. When Samuel is represented as coming up from the Earth [1 Samuel 28:7-20], it is because the body reanimated rises from the grave. This does not prove that the soul had been in an underworld, any more than the statement of John [John 12:17], that Christ called Lazarus out of his grave, proves it. Paradise is unquestionably the abode of the saved; and the saved are with Christ. The common residence of both is described as on high. When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive [Ephesians 4:8]. Father, I will that they also whom You have given Me be with Me where I am, that they may see My glory [John 17:24]. Those who sleep in Jesus, God will bring with Him [down from Paradise, not up from Hades] [2TH 4:14]. At the second advent, we who are alive and remain shall be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air [1TH 4:17]. Stephen looked up into Heaven, and saw Jesus standing on the right hand of God [Acts 7:55]. Christ said to the Pharisees, You are from beneath, I am from above [John 8:23]. Satan and his angels are cast down to Tartarus [2 Peter 2:4]. The penitent thief says to Christ: Lord remember me when You come into Your Kingdom. Christ replies: This day shall you be with Me in paradise [Luke 23:42-43]. This implies that paradise is the same as Christ’s Kingdom; and Christ’s Kingdom is not an infernal one. Christ cried with a loud voice, Father into Your hands I commend My spirit, and having said this, He gave up the spirit [Luke 23:46]. The hands of the Father, here meant, are in Heaven above, not in Sheol beneath.

These teachings of Scripture, and their interpretation by a portion of the fathers, show that Paradise is a section of Heaven, not of Hades, and are irreconcilable with the doctrine of an under world containing both the good and the evil.

Another stimulant, besides that of mythology, to the growth of the doctrine that the intermediate state for all souls is the under world of Hades, was the introduction into the Apostles’ creed of the spurious clause, "He descended into Hades." Biblical exegesis is inevitably influenced by the great ecumenical creeds. When the doctrine of the descent to Hades was inserted into the oldest of the Christian symbols, it became necessary to find support for it in Scripture. The texts that can, with any success, be used for this purpose, are few, compared with the large number that prove the undisputed events in the life of Christ. This compelled a strained interpretation of such passages as Matthew 12:40; Acts 2:27; Romans 10:7; 1 Peter 3:18-20; 1 Peter 4:6, and largely affected the whole subject of eschatology, as presented in the Scriptures.

Chapter 2 - PART TWO THE BIBLICAL ARGUMENT FOR ETERNAL PUNISHMENT The Apostles’ creed, in its original form, read as follows: "Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day he rose again from the dead." The first appearance of the clause, "He descended into Hades," is in the latter half of the 4th century, in the creed of the church of Aquileia. Pearson [Creed, Art. V], by citations, shows that the creeds, both ecclesiastical and individual, prior to this time, do not contain it. Burnet [Thirty Nine Articles, Art. III] asserts the same. Rufinus, the presbyter of Aquileia, says that the intention of the Aquileian alteration of the creed was, not to add a new doctrine, but to explain an old one; and therefore the Aquileian creed omitted the clause, "was crucified, dead, and buried," and substituted for it the new clause, "descendit in inferna." Rufinus also adds, that "although the preceding Roman and Oriental editions of the creed had not the words. ‘He descended into Hades,’ yet they had the sense of them in the words, ‘He was crucified, dead, and buried,’" quoted in Pearson [Creed, Article V]. The early history of the clause, therefore, clearly shows that the "Hades" to which Christ was said to have descended was simply the "grave" in which He was buried.

Subsequently, the clause went into other creeds. The Athanasian (600) follows that of Aquileia, in inserting the "descent" and omitting the "burial." It reads: "Who suffered for our salvation, descended into Hades, rose again the third day from the dead." Those of Toledo, in 633 and 693, likewise contain it. It is almost invariably found in the Mediaeval and Modern forms of the Apostles’ creed, but without the omission, as at first, of the clause, "was crucified, dead, and buried." 26[If both clauses are retained, the explanation proposed by Whitby [On Acts 2:26-27] is consistent with Scripture. "The Scripture does assure us that the soul of the holy Jesus, being separated from His body, went to Paradise [Luke 23:43], and from thence it must descend into the grave or sepulcher to be united to His body, that this might be revived; and thus it may be truly said: ’He was dead and buried; His soul descended afterwards into Hades (the grave) to be united to His body; and His body being thus revived, He rose again the third day.’"] If, then, the text of the Apostles’ creed shall be subjected, like that of the New Testament, to a revision in accordance with the text of the first four centuries, the Descensus ad inferos must be rejected as an interpolation.

While the tenet of Christ’s local descent into Hades has no support from Scripture, or any of the first ecumenical creeds, it has support, as has already been observed, from patristic authority *[See Hagenbach’s History of Doctrine, §§ 77, 78, 141, 142. Smith’s Ed]. "The ancient fathers," says Pearson [Creed, Article V], "differed much respecting the condition of the dead, and the nature of the place into which the souls, before our Saviors death, were gathered; some looking on that name which we now translate Hell, Hades, or infernus, as the common receptacle of the souls of all men, both the just and unjust, while others thought that Hades, or infernus, was never taken in the Scriptures for any place of happiness; and therefore they did not conceive the souls of the patriarchs or the prophets did pass into any such infernal place." This difference of opinion appears in Augustine, who wavered in his views upon the subject of Hades, as Bellarmine concedes. Pearson [Creed, Art. V] remarks of him, that "he began to doubt concerning the reason ordinarily given for Christ’s descent into Hell, namely, to bring up the patriarchs and prophets thence, upon this ground, that he thought the word infernus [adhV] was never taken in Scripture in a good sense, to denote the abode of the righteous" #[Notwithstanding the currency which the view of Hades as the abode of the good and evil between death and the resurrection has obtained, it would shock the feelings, should a clergyman say to mourning friends: "Dry your tears, the departed saint has gone down to Hades"]. Pearson cites, in proof, the passages already quoted from Augustine’s Epistles, and Commentary on Genesis. On the other hand, in his City of God [XX. 15], Augustine hesitatingly accepts the doctrine that the Old Testament saints were in limbo, and were delivered by Christ’s descent into their abode. "It does not seem absurd to believe, that the ancient saints who believed in Christ, and His future coming, were kept in places far removed, indeed, from the torments of the wicked, but yet in Hades (apud inferos), until Christ’s blood and His descent into these places delivered them." Yet in his exposition of the Apostles’ creed [De Fide et Symbolo], Augustine makes no allusion to the clause, "He descended into Hades." And the same silence appears in the De Symbolo, attributed to him. After expounding the clauses respecting Christ’s passion, crucifixion, and burial, he then explains those concerning His resurrection and ascent into Heaven. This proves that when he wrote this exposition, the dogma was not an acknowledged part of the catholic faith 27[The American Episcopal Church does not regard the "descent into Hell" as a necessary part of the Christian faith. In the order for Evening Prayer, it is said that "any churches may omit the words, ’He descended into Hell,’ or may, instead of them, use the words, ’He went into the place of departed spirits,’ which are considered as words of the same meaning in the Creed"]. Still later, Peter Chrysologus, archbishop of Ravenna, and Maximus of Turin, explain the Apostles’ creed, and make no exposition of the "descent to Hades." The difference of opinion among the fathers of the first four centuries, together with the absence of Scriptural support for it, is the reason why the Descensus ad inferos was not earlier inserted into the Apostles’ creed. It required the development of the doctrine of purgatory, and of the mediaeval eschatology generally, in order to get it formally into the doctrinal system of both the Eastern and Western churches. %[Baumgarten-Crusius [Dogmengeschichte II. § 109] finds three stadia in the development of the dogma of the "descent to Hades." 1. The Descent was the Burial itself put into an imaginative form. 2. The Descent was a particular condition or status of Christ resulting from his Burial. 3. The Descent was entirely separate from the Burial, being another and wholly distinct thing] 28[Van Oosterzee’s [Dogmatics, II., 559, 560] history of the clause, "He descended into Hell," is as follows: "As concerns the history of this article, we find the conviction expressed, even by the earliest of the fathers--Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus, and others--that Jesus, after His burial, actually tarried in the world of spirits, and by some of them, also, that He there preached the gospel; while the romantic manner in which this mysterious subject is presented in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus is well known. Gnosticism, especially, warmly espoused this idea; according to Marcion, this activity of the Lord was directed to delivering the victims of the Demiurge, and leading them upwards with himself. From the symbols of the semi-Arians this much-debated article appears to have passed over to those of the orthodox church, according to some, with a view to controvert Apollinarism. In the Expositio Symboli Aquileiensis of Rufinus, this formula is found, and especially through his influence it appears also to have passed over into other confessions of faith; although it is remarkable that in the Nicene Creed mention is made only of ’was buried;’ in the Athanasian Creed, on the other hand, only of ’descended into Hell.’ It is manifest from this that both expressions were first employed by many interchangeably, though very soon greater stress was laid upon the latter, and its contents regarded as the indication of a special remedial activity of the Lord. As the doctrine of purgatory became more developed, the conceptions found wider acceptance, that the Lord had descended into the lower world, in order to deliver the souls of the Old Testament believers from their subterranean abode, the limbus patrum. Especially under the influence of Thomas Aquinas, was developed the doctrine of the Romish Church, that the whole Christ--as to His divine and human nature--voluntarily repaired thither, to assure to the above-mentioned saints the fruit of His death on the cross, and to raise them out of this prison-house to the full enjoyment of Heavenly blessedness. According to Luther, on the other hand, who regards the Descensus as the first step on the path of the exaltation, the Lord, after His being made alive according to the spirit, and, immediately upon His return from the grave, descended, body and soul, into Hell, there to celebrate his triumph over the Devil and his powers [Colossians 2:15], and to proclaim to them condemnation and judgment. The Reformed theologians either understood the expression in the sense of ’buried,’ or explained it of the final anguish and dismay of the suffering Christ. This latter is the view of Calvin [Inst., II., xvi], and of the Heidelberg Catechism (Ans. 44). Some divines, the Lutheran Aepinus, e.g., even maintained that the reference is to the sufferings of Hell, which Christ endured in His soul, while His body was lying in the grave. No wonder that the Formula Concordiae declared this article to be one ’qui neque sensibus, neque ratione nostra comprehendi queat, solo autem fide acceptandus sit;’ which, however, did not prevent its being possible to say, on the other side, that ’there are almost as many dissertations concerning the Descensus as there are flies in the height of summer’ (Witsius). Left by the supra-naturalism of the past century entirely in a misty obscurity, it was wholly rejected by the Rationalists, as the fruit of an exploded popular notion, to which, according to Schleiermacher, nothing but a fact wholly unnoticed by the apostles (unbezeugte Thatsache) served as a basis. Only in our day has the tide turned, and theologians of (different schools have begun to return with increased interest, yea, with manifest preference to this dogma; and to bring it into direct connection not only with soteriology, but also with eschatology." After this historical account, Van Oosterzee proceeds to defend the doctrine of a local descent to Hades, founding upon Psalms 16:10; Acts 2:25-31; Acts 13:33-37; Ephesians 4:8-10; 1 Peter 3:19-21; 1 Peter 4:6]. The personal and local descent of Christ into Hades--whether to deliver the Old Testament saints from limbo; or to preach judicially, announcing condemnation to the sinners there; or evangelically, offering salvation to them--if a fact, would have been one of the great cardinal facts connected with the Incarnation. It would fall into the same class with the nativity, the baptism, the passion, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the ascension. Much less important facts than these are recorded. Matthew speaks of the descent of Christ into Egypt, but not of his descent into Hades. Such an act of the Redeemer as going down into an infernal world of spirits, would certainly have been mentioned by some one of the inspired biographers of Christ. The total silence of the four Gospels is fatal to the tenet. Paul, in his recapitulation of the principal events of our Lord’s life, evidently knows nothing of the descent into Hades. I delivered unto you that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day [1 Corinthians 15:3-4]. The remark of bishop Burnet [Thirty-Nine Articles, Art. III] is sound. "Many of the fathers thought that Christ’s soul went locally into Hell, and preached to some of the spirits there in prison; that there he triumphed over Satan, and spoiled him, and carried some souls with Him into glory. But the account that the Scripture gives us of the exaltation of Christ begins it always at his resurrection. Nor can it be imagined that so memorable a transaction as this would have been passed over by the first three Evangelists, and least of all by John, who coming after the rest, and designing to supply what was wanting in them, and intending particularly to magnify the glory of Christ, could not have passed over so wonderful an instance of it. The passage in Peter seems to relate to the preaching to the Gentile world, by virtue of that inspiration that was derived from Christ"

*[Augustine, Bede, Aquinas, Erasmus, Beza, Gerhard, Hottinger, Clericus, Leighton, Pearson, Secker, Hammond, Hofmann, and most of the Reformed theologians, explain 1 Peter 3:18-20 to mean, that Christ preached by Noah to men who were disobedient in the days of Noah, and who for this cause were spirits in prison at the time of Peter’s writing. 29[It is objected that the phrase, He "went and preached" (poreuqeiV ekhruxen), in 1 Peter 3:19, would not apply to a preaching that was instrumental and spiritual. But the same use is found in Ephesians 2:17; Christ "came and preached (elqwn euaggelisato) to you who were afar off." The reference is to Christ’s preaching to the Gentile world by his apostles. Christ, in his own person, did not preach to them which were afar off; and He forbade His disciples to do so until the time appointed by the Father; [Matthew 10:5; Acts 1:4. See, also, Ephesians 1:20-21; Acts 26:23; John 10:16], for instances in which Christ’s preaching by others is called His preaching]. The particle pote, qualifying apeiqhsasi, shows that the disobedience (or disbelief) occurred when the ark was being prepared. But the preaching must have been contemporaneous with the disobedience, or disbelief. What else was there to disobey, or disbelieve? Says Pearson [Creed, Art. II], "Christ was really before the flood, for He preached to them that lived before it. This is evident from the words of Peter [1 Peter 3:18-20]. From which words it appears, first, That Christ preached by the same spirit by the virtue of Whom He was raised from the dead: but that Spirit was not His [human] soul, but something of a greater power; second, That those to whom he preached were such as were disobedient; third, That the time when they were disobedient was the time before the flood, when the ark was being prepared. The plain interpretation is to be acknowledged for the true, that Christ did preach unto those men who lived before the flood, even while they lived, and consequently that he was before it. For though this was not done by an immediate act of the Son of God, as if He personally had appeared on Earth and actually preached to that world, but by the ministry of a prophet, by the sending of Noah, the eighth preacher of righteousness: yet to do anything by another not able to perform it without Him, as much demonstrates the existence of the principal cause, as if He did it Himself without any intervening instrument."

[Another proof of the correctness of this interpretation is the fact that Christ’s preaching to the spirits in prison was pneumati, alone. The total qeanqrwpoV did not preach. The sarx, or human nature, of Christ had no part in the act. But Christ’s personal and local preaching in Hades would require His whole Divine-human person; as much so as His preaching in Galilee or Jerusalem. The Formula Concordiae [IX. 2] so understands and teaches: "Credimus quod tota persona, deus et homo, post sepulturam, ad inferos descenderit, Satanam devicerit," etc. Christ’s preaching through Noah, a preacher of righteousness [2 Peter 2:5], and therefore an ambassador of Christ [2 Corinthians 5:20], might be done through His divinity alone. Christ preached pneumati through Noah, as David en pneumati called Him Lord [Matthew 22:43]. The objection that actually living men upon Earth would not be called spirits is met by Romans 13:1; 1 John 4:1-3; and by the fact that at the time of Peter’s writing the persons meant are disembodied spirits.

[The passage 1 Peter 4:6, sometimes cited in proof of the Descensus ad inferos, refers to the preaching of the gospel to the spiritually dead in trespasses and sins. This is Augustine’s interpretation [Ep. ad. Evodium VI. 21]. In Ephesians 4:9, ta katwtera merh thV ghV to which Christ descended from on high signify this lower world of Earth. Paul is speaking here of the incarnation. The incarnate Logos did not descend from Heaven to Hades, nor ascend from Hades to Heaven. Compare Isaiah 44:23 Shout you lower parts of the Earth. This is the opposite of the Heavens, which are bidden to sing. In Acts 2:19, this world is called h gh katw. Hades would be ta katwtata merh thV ghV 30["The Hebrew phrase, Jra twytjt, to which the apostles’ ta katwtera merh thV ghV answers, is used for the Earth in opposition to Heaven, in Isaiah 44:23; probably for the grave in Psalms 63:9; as a poetical designation for the womb in Psalms 139:15; and for Hades, or the invisible world, in Ezekiel 32:24. [The context, however, shows that in this place, also, as in Psalms 63:9, it means "the grave." The "multitudes" of Elam, like those of Asshur, are "slain," and go down "to their graves."] Perhaps the majority of commentators take this last to be the meaning of the passage before us. They suppose the reference is to the descensus ad inferos, or to Christ’s ’descending into Hell.’ But, in the first place, this idea is entirely foreign to the meaning of the passage in the Psalm on which the apostle is commenting. In the second place, there as here, the only descent of which the context speaks is opposed to the ascending to Heaven. He Who ascended to Heaven is He Who first descended to Earth. In the third place, this is the opposition so often expressed in other places and in other forms of expression, as in John 3:13, No man has ascended up to Heaven, but He Who came down from Heaven, even the Son of Man, Who is in Heaven. [Compare John 6:38; John 8:14; 16:68]. The expression of the apostle, therefore, means, ’the lower parts, namely, the Earth.’ The genitive thV ghV is the genitive of opposition." [Hodge, on Ephesians 4:9-10.] Ellicott, in loco, while not adopting it, says that this is the interpretation "of the majority of recent commentators," and of Chrysostom and Theodoret among the patristic]. In Romans 10:7, Christ’s descent into the deep (abusson) is shown by the context to be His descent into the grave.

[Whatever be the interpretation of 1 Peter 3:18-20, such a remarkable doctrine as the Descent to Hades should have more foundation than a single disputed text. The doctrine itself is so obscure that it has had five different forms of statement. 1. Christ virtually descended into Hades, because His death was efficacious upon the souls there. 2. Christ actually descended into Hades. 3. Christ’s descent into Hades was His suffering the torments of Hell. 4. Christ’s descent into Hades was His burial in the grave. 5. Christ’s descent into Hades was His remaining in the state of the dead, for a season. The Westminster Larger Catechism (50) combines the last two: "Christ’s humiliation after His death consisted in His being buried, and continuing in the state of the dead, and under the power of death, till the third day, which has been otherwise expressed in these words, ‘He descended into Hell’"].

Having given the argument from Scripture, in proof that Sheol, Hades, and Gehenna, all denote the place of punishment for the wicked, we proceed to consider the nature and duration of the suffering inflicted in it. The Old Testament is comparatively silent upon these particulars. Sheol is represented vaguely, as an evil to be dreaded and avoided, and little description of its fearfulness is given by the holy men of old who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. The New Testament makes a fuller revelation and disclosure; and it is principally the Redeemer of the world who widens the outlook into the tremendous future. The suffering in Hades and Gehenna is described as everlasting (aiwnioV) punishment [Matthew 25:46]; everlasting (aiwnioV) fire [Matthew 18:8]; the fire that never shall be quenched [Mark 9:45]; the worm that dies not [Mark 9:46]; flaming fire [2 Thessalonians 1:8]; everlasting (aidioV) chains [Jude 1:6]; eternal (aiwnioV) fire [Jude 1:7]; the blackness of darkness forever [Jude 1:13]; the smoke of torment ascending up forever and ever [Revelation 14:11; Revelation 19:3]; the lake of fire and brimstone, in which the Devil, the beast, and the false prophet shall be tormented day and night, forever and ever [Revelation 20:10].

Sensible figures are employed to describe the misery of Hell, as they are to describe the blessedness of Heaven. It cannot be inferred from the mere use of metaphors, that the duration of either is temporary. Figures are employed to describe both temporal and eternal realities. The Psalmist describes God as a rock, a fortress, a shield, etc.; and man as a vapor, a flower, etc. A figure by its form, as the rhetoricians call it, indicates the intention of the writer. No one would employ the figure of a rock to denote transiency, or of a cloud to denote permanence. Had Christ intended to teach that future punishment is remedial and temporary, He would have compared it to a dying worm, and not to an undying worm; to a fire that is quenched, and not to an unquenchable fire. The ghost in Hamlet [I. v] describes the "glow-worm’s fire" as "ineffectual," that is, harmless. None of the figures employed in Scripture to describe the misery of the wicked are of the same rhetorical "form" with those of the "morning cloud," the "early dew," etc. They are invariably of the contrary "form," and imply fixedness and immutability. The smoke of torment ascends forever and ever. The worm of conscience does not die. The fire is unquenchable. The chains are eternal. The blackness of darkness overhangs forever. Had the sacred writers wished to teach that future punishment is for a time only, even a very long time, it would have been easy to have chosen a different species and form of metaphor that would have conveyed their meaning. And if the future punishment of the wicked is not endless, they were morally bound to have avoided conveying the impression they actually have conveyed by the kind of figures they have selected. "It is the willful deceit," says Paley, "that makes the lie; and we willfully deceive, when our expressions are not true in the sense in which we believe the hearer to apprehend them." The epithet aiwnioV (everlasting) is of prime importance. In order to determine its meaning when applied to the punishment of the wicked, it is necessary, first, to determine that of the substantive from which the adjective is derived. Aiwn signifies an age. It is a time word. It denotes "duration," more or less. Of itself, the word "duration," or "age," does not determine the length of the duration, or age. God has duration, and angels have duration. The Creator has an aiwn, and the creature has an aiwn; but that of the latter is as nothing compared with that of the former. Behold You have made my days as an handbreadth; and my age is as nothing before You [Psalms 39:5]. In reference to man and his existence, the Scriptures speak of two, and only two aiwne", or ages; one finite, and one infinite; one limited, and one endless; the latter succeeding the former 31[The common phrase, "Here, and Hereafter," denotes that human existence divides into only two sections. When Faust sells his soul to Mephistopheles, both parties understand that there are only two worlds--the temporal and the eternal. The former covenants with the latter as follows:

I to thy service here agree to bind me, To run and never rest at call of thee; When over yonder thou shalt find me, Then thou shalt do as much for me. The same tremendous truth, that after the temporal the endless follows, is taught in the "mighty line" of Marlowe, in which he describes the emotions of Faustus as "the clock strikes eleven."

Ah, Faustus, Now hast thou but one bare hour to live, And then thou must be damned perpetually! Stand still, you ever-moving spheres of Heaven, That time may cease, and midnight never come: Fair Nature’s eye, rise, rise again, and make Perpetual day; or let this hour be but A year, a month, a week, a natural day, That Faustus may repent and save his soul! O lente, lente currite, noctis equi! The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike, The Devil will come, and Faustus must be damned]. An indefinite series of limited aeons with no final endless aeon is a Pagan, and Gnostic, not a Biblical conception. The importation of the notion of an endless series of finite cycles, each of which is without finality and immutability, into the Christian system, has introduced error, similarly as the importation of the Pagan conception of Hades has. The misconceiving of a rhetorical figure, in the Scripture use of the plural for the singular, namely, touV aiwnaV twn aiwnwn for ton aiwna, has also contributed to this error. The two aeons, or ages, known in Scripture, are mentioned together in Matthew 12:32, It shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world (aiwn), nor in the world (aiwn) to come; in Mark 10:30, He shall receive a hundred-fold now in this time (cairoV), and in the world (aiwn) to come, eternal life; in Luke 18:30, He shall receive manifold more in this present time (cairoV), and in the world (aiwn) to come, life, everlasting; in Ephesians 1:21, Above every name that is named, not only in this world (aiwn), but also in that which is to come. The things present and the things to come, mentioned in Romans 8:38; 1 Corinthians 3:22, refer to the same two ages. These two aeons, or ages, correspond to the two durations of "time" and "eternity," in the common use of these terms. The present age, or aeon, is "time;" the future age, or aeon, is "eternity." *[It is relative, not absolute eternity; eternity a parte post, not a parte ante. The future aeon, or age, has a beginning, but no ending. This is the meaning, when in common phrase it is said that "a man has gone into eternity"; and that his happiness, or misery, is "eternal." The absolutely eternal has no beginning, as well as no ending; it is the eternity of God. The relatively eternal has a beginning but no end; it is the immortality of man and angel. The schoolman called the former, eternitas; the latter, sempiternitas. Scripture designates the absolute eternity of God, by the phrase, from everlasting to everlasting [Psalms 90:2]. The punishment of the wicked is more properly endless, than eternal].

1. The present finite and limited age, or aeon, is denominated in Scripture, this world (o aiwn outoV), hzh mlwu: [Matthew 12:32; Matthew 13:22; Luke 16:8; Luke 20:34; Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 1:20; 1 Corinthians 2:6], et alia. Another designation is, this present world (o nun aiwn, or o enestwV aiwn): [1 Timothy 6:17; 2 Timothy 4:10; Titus 2:12; Galatians 1:4]. Sometimes the present limited age, or aeon, is denoted by aiwn without the article: [Luke 1:70], Which He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began (ap aiwnoV); [John 9:39], It was not heard since the world began (ap aiwnoV).