THE FINAL CONSUMMATION

Our Lord's return and, the .final judgment brings about the end of the world, or the consummatio mundi. This is the vanishing point to which all the rays of reve lation converge. But this does not mean the utter de­struction of all things-rather it is a new beginning on a higher level. The mediatorial reign of Christ as a means of salvation will cease, and the kingdom of grace will then merge into the kingdom of glory. With the cessation of the mediatorial reign, the estates of men will be eternally fixed. All spirits having reached the final result of their being, the faithful will enter into absolute blessedness, and the wicked into absolute misery. Thus, as it respects the redeemed, man will be restored to the ideal of his Creator, but the wicked will be banished into outer darkness. The consummation will not only affect the world of personal spirits, how­ever, for nature itself shall witness the great transforma­tion. Spiritual bodies demand a new and higher envir­onment, and hence there shall be a new heaven and a

The re-established order will be so new that the old things shall hardly come to remembrance; but the relation between the new and the old is in many points a mystery reserved. Meanwhile, the combina tion of these is the only notion of Consummation, an end opening to a new beginning. The end of human development, combined of sin and redemption is but a contribution from one little section of what is to us an unlimited universe presided over by a Being whose infinite re­sources prepare our feeble minds for wonders which we cannot sketch, even in outline, to our imagination. Human science has taught us much of the amazing consummation which the physical universe has reached; the science of faith knows no limits to its hope. There is a third TETAearat of the divine economy, the fullness of time in the fullest sense, which we expect. The first was when the world was finished as the scene of redemption; the second was when the Lord's cry de­clared the new creation finished. We must reverently look at the dim reflection of the third as it is thrown upon us only from the word of God. The contemplation ought to be one of wonder and joy. As Abraham rejoiced to see the day of Christ in the distance, so may all the children of the faithful rejoice to see in the future the day for which all other days were made.-Pope, Compend new earth. The subjects which now present themselves for consideration may be classified as follows: (1) The Future State of the Impenitent; (2) The Eternal Blessed­ness of the Saints; and (3) The Final Consummation of the World,

THE FUTURE STATE OF THE IMPENITENT

The general judgment not only makes possible the bestowment of eternal blessedness upon the saints, but necessitates also the sentence of endless punishment upon the finally impenitent and wicked. The considera­tion of this subject brings before us one of the most solemn themes in the entire range of Christian theology. Dr. Asbury Lowrey says, “The simple thought of misery after death strikes with dread. The severity of that misery, to accord with Scripture representations, im­measurably expands the idea of woe, while its absolute eternity is enough to confound the sense and overwhelm with horror. . . . This consideration should suppress trifling, inspire caution, and wake concern. Nothing could be more unnatural and shocking than to make this doctrine a subject of jesting or the theme of ve­hement and vindictive declamation. Let none touch the question unless, with becoming solemnity, they can treat it as a note of alarm, sounded in the ear of guilty men for the sole purpose of impelling them to take refuge in Christ.” (LOWREY, Positive Theology, p. 269.) In our treatment of this serious subject, we shall con­sider (1) The Development of the Doctrine in the Church; (2) Heretical Theories Concerning the Final State of the Wicked; (3) Scripture Terms Denoting the Place of Punishment; and (4) The Scriptural Doctrine of Eternal Punishment.

The Development of the Doctrine in the Church. In order to properly understand the objections that have

If we accept the truth of the Scriptures we must be loyal to their teaching on the question of future punishment, as on all others, and none the less so because of its fearful character. On no subject could the perversion of truth be more disastrous. While such perversion may neutralize the practical force of the truth, and induce a false sense of security, it is powerless to avert the doom of sin. Our only safety lies in the acceptance of the salvation in Christ Jesus.—Miley, Systematic Theology. 11. p. 462.

been raised against this doctrine, it is necessary to re­view briefly the catholic position, and the various heret­ical opinions that have risen from time to time in the history of the Church. (1) In the ancient Church, it was the common opinion among the fathers, that the punishment of the wicked was of endless duration. Justin says that “Gehenna is the place where those will be punished who have lived wickedly”; Minucius Felix (c. 208) that “There is neither measure nor termina­tion to these torments”; Cyprian (c. 258) that “An everburning Gehenna will burn up the condemned, and a punishment devouring with living flame; neither will there be any source whence at any time they may have either respite or end of their torments”; while Lactan­tius (c. 325) says that “They shall be burnt forever with perpetual fire in the sight of angels and the righteous.” The first and principal deviation from the catholic view of endless retribution was in the Alexandrine school, founded by Clement and Origen. Their posi­tion is thus stated, “The punishments of the condemned are not eternal, but only remedial; the devil himself be­ing capable of amelioration.” Dr. Shedd points out that the question reduces itself to this, “whether the suf­fering to which Christ sentences the wicked is for the purpose of correcting and educating the transgressor, or of vindicating and satisfying the law he has broken: a question which is the key to the whole controversy. For if the individual criminal is of greater consequence than

Minucius Felix says, "there is neither measure nor termination to these torments. There the intelligent fire burns the limbs and restores them, feeds on them and nourishes them. As the fires of thunderbolts strike on the bodies and do not consume them, as the fires of Etna and Vesuvius glow, but are not wasted, so that penal fire is not fed by the waste of those who burn, but is nourished by unexhausted eating of their bodies.”

Origen’s Restorationism grew naturally out of his view of human liberty. He held that the liberty of indifference and the power of con­trary choice, instead of simple self-determination, are the substance of freedom. These belong inalienably and forever to the nature of finite will. They cannot be destroyed, even by apostasy and sin. Conse­quently, there is forever a possibility of a self-conversion of the will in either direction. Free will may fall into sin at any time; and free will may turn to God at any time. This led to Origen’s theory of an endless alternation of falls and recoveries, of hells and heavens; so that practically he taught nothing but a hell.—Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, II, p. 669.

the universal law, then the suffering must refer prin­cipally to him and his interests. But if the law is of more importance than the individual, then the suffering must refer principally to it (SHEDD, Dogmatic Theology, II, pp. 668, 669). (2) The Mediaeval. Church was al­most a unit in holding to the doctrine of endless punish­ment. Erigena (c. 850), however, was inclined toward the views of Origen, maintaining that the consciousness of sin and helplessness would constitute the misery of the lost; but ultimately all things would be purified from evil, and return to God. Thomas Aquinas taught that Gehenna is situated under the surface of the earth, that darkness reigns there, and a real material fire. The orthodox mystics dwelt with painful elaboration on the subject of eternal torment. (3) The Reformers accepted the catholic belief in eternal punishment, but avoided all detail in their confessions. The Augsburg Confes­sion (1530) contains only the simple statement that Christ “will give the pious and elect eternal life and perpetual joy, and will condemn impious men and devils to be tormented without end.” Since the Reformation, Annihilationism, Universalism and Restorationism have been affirmed at different times, but have never been generally accepted by the Church. (4) In modern times, Universalism grew up with German rationalism, and like deism before it, vehemently opposed this evan­gelical truth. The anti-rationalistic and mediating theo­logians, however, did much to spread the idea of uni­versal salvation under the form of Restorationism. Schleiermacher and his school objected to the doctrine

Schleiermacher offers the following objections to eternal punish­ment. “(a) Christ’s words in Matt. 25:46; Mark 9:44; John 5:29 are figurative. (b) The passage in I Cor. I 5:25, 26, teaches that all evil shall be overcome. (c) Misery cannot increase, but must decrease. If it is bodily misery, custom habituates to endurance, and there is less and less suffering instead of more and more. If, on the other hand, it is mental suffering, this is remorse. The damned suffer more remorse in hell than they do on earth. This proves that they are better men in hell than upon earth. They cannot, therefore, grow more wretched in hell, but grow less so as they grow more remorseful. (d) The sym­pathy which the saved have with their former companions, who are in hell, will prevent the happiness of the saved. The world of mankind, and also the whole universe, is so connected that the endless misery of a part will destroy the happiness of the remainder.” This is a fair sample of the rationalistic positions of that age.

of eternal punishment; Nitzsch taught restorationism, and Rothe contended for the doctrine of annihilation. Dorner concludes his discussion of endless punishment with the remark, that “We must be content with saying that the ultimate fate of individuals, namely, whether all will attain the blessed goal or not, remains veiled in mystery.”

Heretical Theories Concerning the Final State of the Wicked. While these heretical theories concerning the future state of the wicked reach back in some in­stances to the earlier periods of Church history, they have had their chief development in modern times. Four theories may be mentioned—Destructionism, Univer salism, Annihilationism and Restorationism.

1.   Destructionism is a term which was formerly used to express the materialistic belief that the soul is mortal and perishes with the body. Materialism as we have indicated (Cf. Volume I, p. 275) is that form of philosophy which gives priority to matter as the ground of the universe, and hence regards the soul as only rare­fied material essence. Being material, the soul is not immortal, and therefore perishes with the body.

2.   Universalism is the doctrine that all men will be saved, and exists in several different forms. The earliest English congregation of Universalists was founded in 1760. The promoters of this doctrine were men who believed in the divinity and atonement of Jesus Christ, and that He suffered the penalty for all men. Hence they taught that sooner or later, in this world or in the next, all men would believe and be saved. This it will be noted is a form of universal restorationism. Another class of Universalists taught that sin would be punished but the sinner himself would be saved. They based their doctrine on the Scripture, If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire (1 Cor. 3: 15). A grosser form of universalism was found in that of the Necessarians or Fatalists, who denied any distinction between sin and holiness, and held that “one man does the will of God as much as another. Every man answers the end for which he was made, and of course is a fair candidate for everlasting happiness.” There are other forms of Universalism which are also Unitarian. They deny the divinity of Christ and the merit of His atonement. They admit that men are sinners in varying degrees, but hold that none are entirely so. Punishment of sin, they main­tain, takes place in this life. They believe in a future life also, in which all will be gathered at the resurrec­tion, and upon which all will enter, regardless of their characters formed upon earth. The scriptures already cited are a sufficient refutation of these false positions.

3.   Annihilationism holds that the souls of the wicked will be punished by destruction, which is interpreted to mean annihilation The form of this doctrine which is most popular in modern times, is based upon a belief in conditional immortality. Man’s soul which survives his body, was created to be immortal, but by sin, this precious gift was forfeited. Christ died that men might

It may be stated in general, as to all the places which speak of destruction and death of the soul, that reference is made to its spirit­ual loss of God’s favor and holines8, and not to the extinction of its being. This extinction would be contrary to the natural immortality conferred on spirit. It is not even true, so far as we can know, that even matter will ever be annihilated. What is called its destruction is simply such a change of form as makes it unfit for the uses for which it had been so formed. Thus we speak of the utter destruction of a house, of machinery, of an animal, not meaning the annihilation of the matter which composed it; but the destruction of the form in which that matter appeared, and which was essential for its use. In like man­ner, the death of the soul means its becoming unfit for the uses for which it was made, namely, for happiness, for holiness, for the service of God, for the complacent love of God and for the reflection of His image. Such an utter deprivation of all the faculties for which the moral nature of man was made, may well be called its death, even its utter destruction.—Boyce, An Abstract of Theology, p. 49 I.

Many other objections to this hypothesis of annihilation might be mentioned, which do not affect theology so much as isolated interpre­tations of Scripture, and the psychological or physiological theories of human nature which it forces or tempts those who accept it to adopt. The student must be constantly on his guard as to both these points; otherwise he will be bewildered by the variety of plausible arguments with which both the heavier and the lighter literature on this subject abound. But, after all, it cannot be too habitually remembered that this solemn question does not depend upon isolated texts, nor upon specu­lations as to the nature of personality and consciousness. It is con­nected with the great principles and steadfast tendency of all the teaching of revelation, which everywhere speaks to man as an im­mortal being, having an eternal destiny, the issues of which are bound up with his use of the means provided of God for his salvation in this probationary state.—Pope, Compend. Chr. Th., III, p. 444.

be saved, and all who accept His offer, will receive in the most literal sense, the gift of eternal life. This gift is the restoration of the forfeited immortality, and is bestowed upon believers only. Hence in the resurrection, both the righteous and the wicked appear before God, but only those who have the gift of immortality will enter into His eternal kingdom. The wicked not being im­mortal, will be annihilated. Some hold that this takes place immediately; others, that there will be a longer or shorter period of suffering—but all teach that ulti­mately the wicked will cease to exist. This theory claims support from such terms as diróX€ta which is sometimes translated “perdition” and sometimes “destruction”; and ~X€Opoc, generally translated destruction (1 Thess. 5: 3; 2 Thess. 1: 9; 1 Tim. 6: 9). These words, however, do not mean annihilation, as other scripture references clearly indicate. Thus, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the ,wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name (Rev. 14: 9-11). There is no way to evade the force of such scriptures as these, without a direct denial of their teaching concerning eternal punishment. Without fur­ther discussion, we may say, (1) that, the theory of an­nihilation contradicts the commonly received doctrine of immortality; (2) that annthilation cannot be regarded as a proper punishment for sin; (3) that it allows no degrees in punishment—a fact clearly expressed in the Scriptures; and (4) that the doctrine is out of harmony with general trend of scriptural truth.

4.    Restorationism is based upon the principle that punishment of sin is not so much retributive as disci­plinary and reformatory; and therefore teaches that sin­ners, however intensely they may suffer in the will ultimately . be^.- brought to holiness and heaven. While this is a form of universal salvation, it differs from what is commonly known as Universalim, in that it does not limit the punishment of sin to this life. Restoration­ism lays claim to the support of such scriptures as the following: (1) the general promise to Abraham, that in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed

Dr. Wakefield gives the beat refutation of annihilationism, in our opinion, of any of the Protestant theologians. We can give only a sum­mary of his position. He says:

I. That the term death, as applied to man in the Scriptures, ever means annihilation and that annihilation is the penalty of the divine law, are mere assumptions for which there is not the shadow of proof, and which we may very confidently deny. Indeed, to understand the term death in the sense of annihilation would turn many passages of scrip­ture into downright nonsense, as a few examples will show. Thus: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death [annihilation] of his saints" (Psalm 116:15). "We were reconciled to God by the death of his Son" (Rom. 5:10). "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24). "He that loveth not his brother, abideth in death" (1 John 3:14).

2. The theory is inconsistent with itself. Its advocates teach, not only that annihilation is the penalty of the law, but that it is the most dreadful of all punishments, even worse than endless suffering; and yet they maintain that the annihilation of the righteous between death and the resurrection is no punishment at all, but a real gain. Will the wicked suffer any more from annihilation between death and the resur­rection than the righteous? Certainly not. And if the annihilation of the righteous at death is not the penalty of the law, how can the an­nihilation of the wicked be? If in the former case there is no infliction of punishment, how can the punishment be so dreadful in the latter? The system teaches, therefore, that annihilation is the penalty of the law and not the penalty; that it is a most dreadful punishment, and no punishment at all; and that the only difference between the righteous and the wicked, as far as this matter is concerned, is that the former shall be annihilated once, the latter twice.

3. That annihilation will not be the future punishment of the wicked is evident from the absurdity of supposing that they shall be raised again into existence merely to be annihilated. If annihilation is true, all men lose their personal identity at death; for it would be per­fect folly to talk about continued existence of persons who are an­nihilated. If death is annihilation, a resurrection is impossible. There might be other moral beings created, but they could not be justly re­wardable or punishable for the moral conduct of annihilated generations of men.

4. If the future punishment of the wicked is to consist in anni­hilation, then all sinners will be punished alike; which is both unreason­able and unscriptural. But as there will be different degrees of future punishment, and as there cannot be different degrees of annihilation, therefore, annihilation cannot be that punishment. Again, to those who are suffering these supposed torments, annihilation would either be a curse or a blessing. If the former, a state of endless torment would be better for the sinner than a release from all suffering by annihilation; and if the latter, annihilation cannot be the penalty of the law, unless it can be made to appear that a penalty and a blessing wre the- same rhjng.-Wakef eld, Ehriatian Theology, pp. (47, 60,

(Gen. 22:17, 18; 26: 4; 28:14; Gal. 3: 8-16) ;          (2) that Christ tasted death for every man, and consequently is the Savior of all men (Heb. 2: 9; 1 Tim. 4:10) ; (3) that God wills the salvation of every man (1 Tim. 2: 4) ; (4) that every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Phil. 2:10, 11) ; and         (5) that death itself shall be destroyed (1 Cor. 15: 26, 54). Ref­erence is also made to the purpose of God to gather to­gether in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him (Eph. 1:10) ; and also the pleasure of the Father to reconcile all things unto himself; whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven (Col. 1:19) .      A careful study of these scriptures and their contexts, however, makes it clear that they do not support the doctrine of restora­tionism.

T hg ~cripture T_erms-D,e2g1fng..the _Placa-4:-P-unish­ment. There are three words translated ".min the Au^--tborized Version of the New Testament-Hades, Tarta   .,qnd Gehenna. (1) Hades refers--ta:-t4e.realm of the dead, and the distinctions between place and state have already^{- -}been discussed. (2) Tartarus appears only in the _part cjple.f.Qrm,_f.the.verb..z%pFpapoc~_z which means to cast down to Tartarus. It is found only in 2 Peter 2:4-For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [TapTap"a-as], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. We may, therefore, regard Hades as the

It would be easy to show, however, by careful examination of all such passages (the references cited above), that they do not prove the doctrine in support of which they are adduced; but such an examination is uncalled for at this point. It is only necessary to remark, (1) that the blessing which comes upon all men through the seed of Abraham, does not necessarily imply the actual salvation of all. (2) That though Christ died for all men, and is, in this respect as well as in others, the Savior of all men, yet He is the special Savior only "of those that be­lieve." (3) That God wills the salvation of all men, but only in the appointed way, that is, "through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth," and not whether they believe in Christ or not. (4) That all men shall bow to Christ and acknowledge Him, either by a volun­tary reception of His grace and salvation, or by a constrained subjec­tion to His avenging justice; and (5) That death shall be destroyed when "all that are in the graves shall hear" the voice of Christ "and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation," -Wakefield, Christian Theology, p. 644.

intermediate state of wicked men, and Tartarus as the intermediate state of wicked angels. (3) Gehenna is compounded from the two Hebrew words Ge an Hin­nom, and means "the valley of Hinnom." In the New Testament it is called Gehenna (y€evva), and appears twelve times (Matt. 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5 and James 3:6). In all of these places, the word refers to torture and punish­rnent in the future world. In Matt. 18:9 the word Ge­henna isⁱ associated with the punishment to be meted out at the judgment; and in the preceding verse, the words "everlasting fire" are used as its equivalent. In Mark 9: 43, Jesus says, It is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched [ao-, a^-rov or in­extinguishable] : where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched [o~ a^-,&vvv-rac] ; in Luke 12:5, the words of Christ are, Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell [Gehenna]. It is frequently pointed out, that of the twelve passages in the New Testament in which the word Gehenna occurs, all were used by Christ himself, except that in James 3:6. The word "hell," therefore, in the sense of Gehenna, refers to the place provided for the final punishment of evil,angels_..and impenitent- men, after the day of judg­ment-the intermediate Hades of the wicked, and the Tartarus.of the fallen angels, already anticipating the horrors of Gehenna in the same sense- that Paradise anticipates the joys of heaven.

Bishop Weaver says, that in arriving at the meaning of any generic term, we must not only take the definition of the word, but it must be such a definition as will agree with the context. This general rule should be observed in determining the meaning of all generic words. Because the word "Gehenna" literally signified the valley of Hinnom, we are not thence to conclude that it was never used in any other sense. The proper meaning must be determined by the connection in which it is used. The original meaning of the word "Paradise" is, "a place in­closed for pleasure and delight." In the Old Testament, it is used in reference to the garden of Eden. In the New Testament it is used as another name for heaven (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 12:4; Rev. 2:7). If, be­cause the word "Gehenna " literally signifies the valley of Hinnom, it never means anything else, then Paradise never means anything else than the garden of Eden, or a place on earth inclosed for pleasure and delight. (Cf. Weaver, Christian Theology, p. 323.)

The„ Doctrine of Eternal Punishment, as_. Taught in the Scriptures. As in aYI matters which concern the future, the Scriptures must be our sole authority. We shall, therefore, in our study of this subject, arrange the scriptures in answer to three important questions which commonly arise: (1) Do the Scriptures teach the doctrine of future punishment? (2) What is the nature of this punishment? and (3) Is this punishment eternal?

1. Do the Scriptures teac                  e dQgtx9aae            ue punish_` me^Wn~~e mere perusal of Christ's,_tW Ws, with­out any note or comment, should convince the un„pye­

judiced reader, that.. e taught lijr,,,.:.fut e t. The following should be carefully studied. T en wil11 profess unto them, I never knew you: de­

Watson's Dictionary, Article Hell. This is a Saxon word, which is derived from a verb which signifies to hide or conceal. A late eminent Bible critic, Dr. Campbell, has investigated this subject with his usual accuracy; and the following is the substance of his remarks: In the Hebrew Scriptures the word sheol frequently occurs, and uniformly he thinks, denotes the state of the dead in general, without regard to the virtuous or vicious characters of the persons, their happiness or misery. In translating that word, the LXX have almost invariably used the Greek term a1S77s, hades, which means the receptacle of the dead, and ought rarely to have been translated hell, in the sense in which we now use it, namely, as the place of torment. To denote this latter object, the New Testament writers always make use of the Greek word 7Eevva, which is compounded of two Hebrew words Ge Hinnom, that is, "The Valley of Hinnom," a place near Jerusalem, in which children were cruelly sacrificed by fire to Moloch, the idol of the Ammonites (2 Chron. 33:6). This place was also called Tophet (2 Kings 23:10) alluding, as is supposed, to the noise of drums (toph signifying a drum) there raised to drown the cries of helpless infants. As in process of time this place came to be considered as an emblem of hell, or the place of torment reserved for the punishment of the wicked in a future state, the name Tophet came gradually to be used in this sense, and at length to be confined to it. In this sense, also, the word gehenna, a synonymous term, is always to be understood in the New Testament, where it occurs about a dozen times. The confusion that has arisen on this subject has been occasioned not only by our English translators having rendered the Hebrew word sheol and the Greek word gehenna frequently by the term hell; but the Greek word hades, which occurs eleven times in the New Testament, is in every instance, except one, translated by the same English word, which it ought never to have been.

Stuart says, while the Old Testament employs sheol, in most cases to designate the grave, the region of the dead, the place of the departed spirits, it employs it also, in some cases, to designate along with this idea the adjunct one of the place of misery, place of punishment, place of woe. In this respect it accords fully with the New Testament use of hades. For though hades signifies the grave, and often the invisible region of separate spirits, without reference to their condition, yet in Luke 16:23, it is clearly used for a place and condition of misery. The word hell is also used by our translators for gehenna, which means the world of future punishment.-Stuart, Essay on Future Punishment.

part from me, ye that work iniquity (Matt. 7:23); And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to de­stroy both soul and body in hell (Matt. 10: 28) ; The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out o f his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 13:41, 42) ; So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 13:49, 50) ; Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlast­ing fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: and these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal (Matt. 25:41, 46); For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36) ; And if thy hand offend^- thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched (Mark 9:43, 44 cf. vs. 45-48) ; The rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom (Luke 16:22, 23) ; and Marvel not at this: for the hour is com­ing, in the which all that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done

The miseries of the wicked, previous to the resurrection, must be purely spiritual; but, after that event, they will be, in part, corporeal. They will consist in the loss, the absence, of everything desirable, and in the infliction of positive, unmingled, sufferings. The rich man in hell is said to have received his good things; implying that no more good remained for him. Accordingly, he was denied a drop of water to cool his burning tongue. The wicked in hell are said to "have no rest day nor night." "The wine of the wrath of God is poured out without mixture into their cup" (Rev. 14:10). They will endure the tortures of an ever-accusing, stinging conscience. They will suffer from the indulgence of unsated malice, envy, revenge, rage, and every other hateful passion of which they are capable. They will suffer from perpetual disappoint­ment, defeat, and despair. They will suffer from one another. They will suffer all that is implied in those awful figures, those appalling representations, by which the Holy Spirit has set forth their agonies.­Pn-l_ Ch-t;- Th-l- „ 57A

good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation (John 5:28, 29). The solemn truth taught in these scriptures is, that those who reject Christ and the salvation offered through Him, shall die in their sins and be separated from God forever. Many learned men have sought to explain away this truth as contrary to the goodness of God, but the simple fact still remains that God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall o f the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting (Gal. 6:7, 8). This present life is one of probation, and following it must be the eternal consequences. This is no more than simple

It is an almost invincible presumption that the Bible does teach the unending punishment of the finally impenitent, that all Christian churches have so understood it. There is no other way in which the unanimity of judgment can be accounted for. To refer it to some philosophical speculation which had gained ascendancy in the Church, such as the dualism of good and evil as two coeternal and necessary principles, or the Platonic doctrine of the inherent immortality and in­destructible nature of the human soul, would be to assign a cause alto­gether inadequate to the effect. Much less can this general consent be accounted for of the ground that the doctrine in question is congenial to the human mind, and is believed for its own sake, without any ade­quate support from the Scripture. The reverse is the case. It is a doc­trine which the natural heart revolts from the struggles against, and to which it submits only under stress of authority. The Church believes the doctrine because it must believe it, or renounce faith in the Bible and give up all the hopes founded upon its promises. There is no doctrine in support of which this general consent can be pleaded, which can be shown not to be taught in the Bible.-Hodge, Systematic Theology, III, p. 870.

We have already admitted that the language of Scripture on this subject is more or less figurative; but whether it is figurative or other­wise, of one thing we may be sure, that it was intended to convey ideas strictly conformable to truth. God can no more make a false impression on the human mind by use of figures, than he can lead men into error by the plainest and most positive declarations; for both alike would be contrary to the divine veracity. Nor will his goodness, any more than his truth, allow him to alarm his moral creatures with groundless fears or to represent the consequences of sin as more dreadful than they really are. We may therefore safely conclude, that the future state of the wicked, as to its general character, will be one of intense suffering; for, to suppose that it will be more tolerable than absolute darkness, the agonies of death, and the action of fire, is virtually to charge God with the utterance of falsehood, and to set up our own standard in opposi­tion to divine revelation. This intense suffering which will be the por­tion of the ungodly, will arise (I) from what is called the punishment of loss . . . and (2) from the punishment of sense.-Wakefield, Chris­tian Theology, p. 642.

justice, and every person of sincerity must admit that the principles here laid down are eternally just.

2. What will-be the--r3 t nature of future ishment The terms which are used in the Scriptures to express the idea of future punishment, must of necessity be in

part figurative. Only by comparing it with that which is within our mental grasp, are we able to understand even in a small measure, something of this solemn truth. The following terms are used in the Scriptures to express the nature of future punishment: (1) .," called the second death. This is the term used by St. John n in h Apocalypse. But the fearful, and the unbe­lieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whore­mongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death (Rev. 21:8 cf. Rev. 20:14, 15). The fear of death brought the whole race of men into bondage (Heb. 2:15) . It is surrounded with gloom and terror, and is the source of tormenting fears. Then sentence of death cannot be executed while the sinner lives, but comes as an unescapable conse­quence at the judgment, because of the withdrawal of the remedy of grace. During his lifetime, the corruption of his soul was mitigated by prevenient and restraining grace, but at death he becomes eternally exposed to the corruption of his own soul without this mitigation. Thus the second death is the only possible condition of the unregenerate in the world to come. We have pointed out that physical death is a change which indicates the cor­ruption consequent upon sin; we may now reverse the order and say that the second death is that spiritual cor­ruption of which physical death is the visible type. Physical death is soon over, but here is a death that never dies-where groanings shall never cease, and

"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire" (Matt. 25:41). These words are not only pronounced against them by the Son of man, they echo against them from the depths of their own being, from

the abused divine likeness in themselves, they echo against them from all ranges of the creation, which now unanimously bear witness for Him. There is no more peace in the glorified creation for those who are thus condemned; they must be separated therefrom, and to any inquiry con­cerning their state, we have no other answer than this, "outer dark­ness."-Martensen, Christian Dogmatics, p. 474.

agony never end. (2) Our rd_speaks of future punishment as outer_ c> ness It is to be noted also, that in ment as outer each instance, He associates this darkness with weep­ing and gnashing of teeth (Cf. Matt. 8:12; 22:13; 25: 30). St. Peter speaks of the chains o f darkness, and the mist o f darkness reserved for the ungodly forever (2 Peter 2: 4, 17) ; while St. Jude speaks o f the evil angels which are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day (Jude 6) ; and again, of the blackness of darkness forever (Jude 13). Dr. Wake­field speaks of this darkness as resembling "the deep midnight of the grave, lengthening onward from age to age, and terminated by no succeeding day." "Let this darkness be understood literally," says Dr. Ralston, "and it denotes a condition inexpressibly horrible. We have read of a darkness in Egypt so thick that it could `be felt'; we have tried to imagine the cloud of gloom that would soon envelop our world, if the light of the sun and every star were to be instantly and completely quenched; but how indescribably inadequate must be these illustrations to portray the horrors of that `outer darkness' into which the wicked will be driven, and by which they will be forever overwhelmed!" (RALSTON, Elements of Divinity, p. 520). (3) it is described as a state of positive punishment. Our Lord himself informs us that the wicked shall be cast into a furnace o f fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 13: 42) ; while St. Paul speaks of the Lord as being revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire tak­ing vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 1: 7, 8). Attempts have been made to tone down the severity of these scriptures by regarding them as purely

Dr. Charles Hodge states that "the sufferings of the finally impeni­tent, according to the Scriptures, arise: (1) From the loss of all earthly good. (2) From the exclusion from the presence and favor of God. (3) From utter reprobation, or the final withdrawal from them of the Holy Spirit. (4) From the consequent unrestrained dominion of sin and sinful passions. (5) From the operations of conscience. (6) From despair. (7) From evil associates. (8) From their external circum­stances; that is, future suffering is not exclusively the natural conse­quence of sin, but also includes positive inflections. (9) From their perpetuity."-Hodge, Systematic Theology, 111, p. 868.

figurative. But the figure never fully portrays the reality; and the reasonable conclusion is, therefore, that the fire of future punishment, if not literal, will be in­finitely more intolerable. (4) Future punishment is further described as banishment from God                                                           is is worst form of punis ment conceiva^ble---before which death, everlasting fire, and the blackness of darkness are as nothing. God is the author of every good and every perfect gift, and the loss of God is the loss of all good. The words, Depart from me, ye cursed (Matt. 25:41) indicate a loss of light and love, of friendship, of beauty and song-the loss of even hope itself. To be banished from God is to be forever separated from heaven and all good. Such are the solemn representa­tions which the Holy Spirit has seen proper to make concerning the state of the finally impenitent and the nature of their punishment.

3. Is future punishment eternal? Since this ques­tion has been answered in the negative by some, a care­ful consideration of the subject necessitates a study of the word autohog, which in the Scriptures is rendered everlasting or eternal. The word aicriv, as the substan­tive from which the adjective alWVCos is derived, signifies an "age," and denotes indefinite duration-that is, it does not of itself determine the length or duration of the age. Thus the Creator has an alaiv and the creature has an alcov, but the former is infinite and the latter finite. Behold, thou hast made my days as an hand­breadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee (Psalm 39:5). Dr. Shedd, who made an excellent study of this question, says, that "In reference to man and his exist­ence, the Scriptures speak of two, and only two alWves, or ages; one finite, and one infinite; one limited, and one endless; the latter succeeding the former.... The two aeons, or ages, known in Scripture, are mentioned to­gether in Matt. 12:32, It shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world [aiwv], neither in the world [aiwv] to come; in Mark 10: 30, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time [rcatpos],. . . and in the world [alcev] to come, eternal life; in Luke 18:30, Who

Since the word aeon (aiwv), or age, in Scripture, may denote either the present finite age, or the future endless age, in order to determine the meaning of "aeonian" (al6vsos), it is necessary first to determine in which of the two aeons, the limited or the endless, the thing exists to which the epithet is applied; because anything in either aeon may be denominated "aeonian." The adjective follows its substantive, in mean­ing. Onesimus, as a slave, existed in this world (aiwv) of "time," and when he is called "aeonian" or "everlasting" (ai6vtos) servant (Phile­mon 15), it is meant that his servitude continues as long as the finite aeon in which he is a servant; and this is practically at an end for him, when he dies and leaves it. The mountains are denominated aeonian, or "everlasting" (aidrvta), in the sense that they endure as long as the finite world (aiwwv) of which they are a part endures. God, on the other hand, is a Being that exists in the infinite alawv, and is therefore aiwVLos in the endless signification of the word. The same is true of the spirits of angels and men, because they exist in the future aeon, as well as in the present one. If anything belongs solely to the present age, or aeon, it is aeonian in the limited signification; if it belongs to the future age, or aeon, it is aeonian in the unlimited signification. If, therefore, the punishment of the wicked occurs in the present aeon, it is aeonian in the sense of temporal; but if it occurs in the future aeon, it is aeonian in the sense of endless. The adjective takes its meaning from the noun. The English word "forever" has the same twofold meaning, both in Scripture and in common use. Sometimes it means as long as a man lives upon earth. The Hebrew servant that had his ear bored with an awl to the door of his master, was to be his servant "forever" (Exodus 21:6). Sometimes it means as long as the Jewish state should last. The ceremonial laws were to be statutes "forever" (Lev. 16:34). Some­times it means, as long as the world stands. "One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever" (Eccl. 1:4). In all such instances, "forever" refers to the temporal aeon, and denotes finite duration. But in other instances, and they are the great majority in Scripture, "forever" refers to the endless aeon; as when it is said that "God is over all blessed forever." The limited signification of "forever" in the former cases, does not disprove its un­limited signification in the latter. That Onesimus was an everlasting" (aiwVLOS) servant, and that the hills are "everlasting" (atwna), no more disproves the everlastingness of God, and the soul; of heaven, and of hell; than the term "forever" in a title deed disproves it. To hold land "forever" is to hold it "as long as grass grows and water runs" that is, as long as this world, or aeon, endures. The objection that because al6veos, or aeonian, denotes "that which belongs to an age," it cannot mean endless, rests upon the assumption that there is no end­less aiwv, or age. It postulates an indefinite series of limited aeons, or ages, no one of which is final and everlasting. But the texts that have been cited disprove this. Scripture speaks of but two aeons, which cover and include the whole existence of man, and his whole duration. If, therefore, he is an immortal being, one of these must be endless. The phrase "ages of ages," applied to the future endless age, does not prove that there is more than one future age, and more than the phrase "the eternities" proves that there is more than one eternity; or the phrase the infinities" proves that there is more than one infinity. The plural in these cases is rhetorical and intensive, not arithmetical in its force (Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, II, pp. 686-688). Dr. Shedd holds that 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 (cf. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, II, p. 682, 683).

shall not receive manifold more in this present time [rcatpos], and in the world [aiWv] to come, life everlast­ing; in Eph. 1: 21, Above ... every name that is named, not only in this world [aiWv], but also in that which is to come. The things present, and the things to come, mentioned in Romans 8:38 and 1 Cor. 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.' " (SHEDD, Dogmatic Theology, II, pp. 682-686). The present or limited aeon is denominated in Scripture, "this world" (Matt. 12:32; 13:22; Luke 16:8; 20:34; Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor. 1:20; and 2:6). The future or infinite and endless aeon, is called "the future world," "the world to come,"

` or "that world" (Cf. Matt. 12:32; Heb. 2:5; 6:5; Mark 10: 30; Luke 18: 30; and 20: 35).

With this study of the words al(dvtog and alto' )v, we may now note their application in the following scrip­tures: Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting [atUV­tov] fire (Matt. 18: 8). St. Mark uses this same scripture but adds the words into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not, and the fire is

It is also the doctrine of Scripture, that this future punishment of the incorrigible shall be final and unlimited; another consideration of great importance in considering the doctrine of the atonement. This is a monitory doctrine which a revelation could only unfold; but being made, it has no inconsiderable degree of rational evidence. It supposes, it is true, that no future trial shall be allowed to man, the present having been neglected and abused; and to this there is much analogy in the constant procedures of the divine government in the present life. When many checks and admonitions from the instructions of the wise, and the examples of the froward, have been disregarded, poverty and sickness, infamy and death, ensue, in a thousand cases which the observation of every.man will furnish; the trial of an individual, which is to issue in his present happiness or misery, is terminated;'and so far from its being renewed frequently, in the hope of his finally profiting by a bitter ex­perience, advantages and opportunities, once thrown away, can never be recalled. There is nothing, therefore, contrary to the obvious prin­ciples of the divine government as manifested in this life, in the doctrine which confines the space of man's highest and most solemn probation within certain limits, and beyond them cutting off all his hope.-Wat­son, Theological Institutes, I, p. 211.

not quenched (Mark 9:43, 44). He also says, But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation (Mark 3:29). St. John says, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting [aiWvtov] life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath o f God abideth on him (John 3:36). In the description of the judgment found in Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus says to those on his left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting [ahxivtov] fire, prepared for the devil and his angels; and the scene closes with the words, And these shall go away into everlasting [alWvtov] punishment: but the

Stuart in his "Exegetical Essays" states that "atwvcos is employed 66 times in the New Testament. Of these, 51 relate to the future happiness of the righteous; 7 relate to the future punishment: namely, Matt. 18:8; 25:41, 46; Mark 3:29; I Thess. 1:9; Heb. 6:2; Jude 6; 2 relate to God; 6 are of a miscellaneous nature (5 relating to confessedly endless things, as covenants, invisibilities; and one, in Philemon 15, to a perpetual service). In all the instances in which aiwvcos refers to future duration, it denotes endless duration; saying nothing of the in­stances in which it refers to future punishment." The younger Edwards says that al6v, reckoning the reduplications of it, to be single instances of its use, occurs in the New Testament in 104 instances; in 32 of which it means a limited duration. In 7 instances it may be taken in either the limited or endless sense. In 65 instances, including 6 in­stances in which it is applied to future punishment, it plainly signifies an endless duration. (Both of these notes are quoted in Shedd, Dog­matic Theology, II, pp. 688, 689.)

The Greek words atrw and alwvcos literally and properly denote endless duration. Their etymology (ael and my-being or existing al­ways) shows this. Their ordinary use and signification show the same. They as properly denote an endless duration as our English words eternal and everlasting. They are sometimes used, like the English words, in a restricted sense-restricted by the nature of the subject to which they are applied; but in such cases the connection readily in­dicates the sense, so that there is little danger of error. But we are not left to the general meaning of these words, however satisfactory they may be. The word alcuveos is so used by our Savior, in reference to the future punishment of the wicked, as to show, conclusively, that it must denote an endless duration. I refer particularly to the passage (Matt. 25:46) where the future punishment of the wicked, and the future happiness of the righteous are set over against each other, and the same term alorvcos is applied to both; thus indicating that the dura­tion of both is equal and endless.-Pond, Christian Theology, p. 581.

The materialistic interpretation of its figurative representations, as held in the earlier centuries, and particularly by the mediaeval church, is now discarded and replaced by a more rational and truthful interpre­tation. But through all these differences and disputations a very re­markable unanimity has remained respecting the duration of such punishment. On this question the best scholarship of today is in full accord with the historic doctrine of the Church. This is a significant fact, and the more so because such accordance is not from any pre­dilection or preference, but simply by constraint of the plain sense of Scripture.-Miley, Systematic Theology, II, pp. 470, 471.

righteous into life eternal [ai&Svtov]. If by these state­ments our Lord does not mean eternal punishment, what significance can possibly attach to them? The word at0wtos is the strongest word in the New Testament to express the duration of happiness. If, therefore, we limit the meaning of the word in relation to the wicked, we must also limit it in relation to the righteous, so that we shall then have neither a future heaven nor hell. "I have seen," says Dr. Adam Clarke, "the best things that have been written in favor of the final redemption of damned spirits, but I never saw an answer to the argu­ment against the doctrine, drawn from this verse, but that sound learning and criticism should be ashamed to acknowledge."

The objections which are urged against eternal pun­ishment may generally be reduced to these two: (1) It is objected that the punishment is disproportionate to the sin. This objection, as Dr. Asbury Lowrey points out, is based upon a low estimate of the nature of sin. He says, "The objection to the eternity of hell is made to appear contrary to divine justice and repugnant to the divine nature by two false assumptions: first, that sin, especially when it is connected with the moral life, pos­sesses so little turpitude, that it may be regarded as a human frailty or weakness; and second, that sin will not disturb any principle of the moral government of the universal Ruler, except only so far as the province of earth and the human family are concerned." (LOWREY, Positive Theology, pp. 276, 277.)           (2) It is objected that

Dr. Luther Lee declares that "the sentence which will be passed upon sinners, by the righteous judgment of God, at the last day, will be irrevocable. This must appear from a consideration of the immuta bility of God, the fudge. Immutability is that perfection of God, whi h renders Him eternally unchangeable. The force of this is plain. ich change by way of repentance and regeneration can take place in the sinner, after being condemned at the last judgment and sent to hell. The atonement of merits of Christ's death, and the advantages of His intercession, will after the day of judgment, no longer be available, and hence, all the benefits of the same, including the efficacy of prayer, and the agency of the Holy Ghost, will be forever lost. For God to condemn a sinner and send him to hell, at one time, and then revoke the sen­tence and recall him from his infernal prison, while he is yet the same in moral character, is to act differently at different times, in view of the same moral principles; which implies change or mutability.-Lee, Elements of Theology, p. 325.

God is too merciful to inflict everlasting punishment upon His creatures. Here, again, there is a low estimate of sin. God's mercy and His justice are never in con­flict with each other. As previously indicated, Jesus Christ himself, during His earthly ministry, gave to the Church its severest declarations concerning this solemn truth. The opponents of the doctrine, therefore, are brought into direct opposition to Him who suffered­the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18) .

THE ETERNAL BLESSEDNESS OF THE SAINTS

The Scriptures have more to say of the eternal bless­edness of the saints, than of the final state of the wicked; but the subject being less controversial, has generally occupied less space in theology. God's grace which warns the wicked against the day of wrath, assures the righteous also, of their eternal blessedness. In our treat­

The Christian Gospel-the universal offer of pardon through the self-sacrifice of one of the Divine Persons-should silence every ob­jection to the doctrine of endless punishment. For as the case now stands, there is no necessity, as far as the action of God is concerned, that a single human being should ever be the subject of future punish­ment. The necessity of hell is founded in the action of the creature, not of the Creator. Had there been no sin, there would have been no hell; and sin is the product of man's free will. And after the entrance of sin and the provision of redemption from it, had there been universal repentance in this life, there would have been no hell for man in the next life. The only necessitating reason, therefore, for endless retribu­tion that now exists, is the sinners impenitence. Should every human individual, before he dies, sorrow for sin, and humbly confess it, Hades and Gehenna would disappear.-Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, II, p. 749.

Those who deny the position that sin is an infinite evil forget that the principle upon which it rests is one of the commonplaces of jurisprudence: the principle, namely, that crime depends upon the object against whom it is committed as well as upon the subject who com­mits it. The merely subjective reference of an act is not sufficient to determine whether it is a crime. The act may have been the voluntary act of a person, but unless it is also an offense against another person, it is no crime. To strike is a voluntary act; but to strike a post or a stone is not a culpable act. Furthermore, not only crime, but degrees of crime depend upon the objective reference of a personal act. . . . One and the same act may be simultaneously an offense against an individual, a family, a state, and God. Measured by the nature and qualities of the offender himself, it has no degrees. But measured by the nature and qualities of these moral objects against whom it is com­mitted, it has degrees of turpitude. As the first three are only finite in worth and dignity, the culpability is only certain degrees of the finite. As the last is infinite in worth and dignity, the culpability is infinite also. (Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, II, p. 750 cf. Edwards: Justice of Clod, Works, IV, 228.)

ment of this subject, we shall consider (1) Heaven as a Place and a State; (2) The Blessedness of the Saints; (3) The Employments of Heaven; and (4) The Endless Duration of Heaven.

Heaven- Is oth a place _and a state That

_at  heaven is

a state of eternal blessedness is admitted. by _all. But heaven is a a place also ` in ^our d iscussion of the Inter­mediate State, we pointed out the scriptural teaching that both heaven and hell are places, and that at death, souls enter the one or the other. There they await the judgment which shall fix their final state with its re­wards or punishments. Heaven therefore, as we „must now view it, is_. the abode. o _ e righteous in their final state of"glorification. It is perhaps impossible to speak. o p ace in reference to spiritual bodies, in the same sense that we use the term when speaking of the pres­ent bodies of flesh and blood. We know, however, that Jesus comforted His sorrowing disciples with the words, In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And i f I go and prepare a place for you, I will

There is a blessed state beyond this life, of which we cannot speak minutely as if we had seen it, but of which we can speak confidently be­cause we know the principle of it. The man who has entered it is present with God and with Christ, in a clearer and truer consciousness of the divine presence than was possible on earth, and enters upon the higher stages of that divine life which has already been begun. He is living the life of progressive holiness; he is like his Lord and Savior, and is ever growing more like Him, advancing to perfection. He is under the most holy and inspiring influences, where all that is best in him is constantly helped to increase. All characteristic activities of the Christlike life are open to him. The grade of being in which he finds himself is higher than that which he has left, and fresh opportunities of holy service and of holy growth and blessedness are constantly set before him. He is in the life that he loves and ought to love, and the course of free and Godlike activity stretches on before him without end.-Clarke, An Outline of Christian Theology, pp. 471, 472.

God and blessed spirits are the exhaustless constituents of the life of bliss. Each spirit not only reflects God, but the entire kingdom of which he is a member. When God shall be all in all, it may be said that all are in all, in one another; and the multiplicity of charismata unfolds itself, in this unlimited and undarkened reflection of love and contemplation; in this ever new alteration of giving and receiving, of communication and receptivity. The medium by which the blessed in a spiritual manner communicate with each other, and are in each other, we designate as light (Col. 1:12), according to the indications given in Scripture, and we take this word in both a spiritual and corporeal sense. Thus we read of "the inheritance of the saints in light."­Martensen, Christian Dogmatics, p. 488.

come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also (John 14: 2, 3). But we need not here discuss the relation of the spiritual body to space. The Scriptures speak of the physical heavens above us, but they also speak of a third heaven, where God dwells and where His presence is manifested in 'a peculiarly indescribable sense. St. Paul speaks of being caught up into this highest heaven-whether in the body or out of the body, he could not tell, and having heard there, words which could not be uttered. It is commonly supposed that this was the occasion when he saw the glorified body of Jesus (1 Cor. 9:1) . Stephen looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God (Acts 7: 55) ; and St. Paul tells us that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). We need not, therefore, think of the soul as having to travel long distances spatially, in order to enter heaven. The distance is not to be conceived in terms of physical space, but of changed conditions. At the ascension Jesus was taken up into heaven, and a cloud received Him out

The heaven of the saints will therefore not be a realm of shades, unsubstantial and indeterminate, but a kingdom substantial and real, where the faculties and functions of human personality will be active in the joy of righteous freedom. Like the capacities of the soul, the powers of the body will be commensurate with the law and vocation of the everlasting life. These are they which have come out of the Great Tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall spread His tabernacle over them. They shall hunger no more; neither shall the sun strike upon them, nor any heat: for the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life, and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.-Gerhart, Institutes of the Christian Religion, II, pp. 914, 915.

When the teaching of the New Testament regarding the after life is carefully considered, the question naturally rises, "What difference is there between Paradise and heaven? What is the distinction between the life of departed believers before the judgment and after it?" The an­swer should embrace four particulars: in heaven a physical organism is bestowed upon the soul; the Church will be complete and perfected; the universe will be brought into harmony with the spiritual needs and longings of the Christian soul; a new and clearer vision of God will be opened to believers. At the resurrection and judgment the spirit will be clothed anew with a material framework which is so completely in harmony with the thoughts and desires of the Spirit that it is itself designated a spiritual body.-Clapperton, The Essentials of Theology, p. 461.

of sight (Gets 1: 9) : Heaven, therefore, is just behind the veil, which so often but "thinly intervenes," as mark­ing that which to us is visible, and that which is beyond the range of mortal sight. The word apocalypse means an unveiling, and at death, the righteous pass through this veil into the beatific vision of Christ. This to the redeemed soul is heaven. But as the cloud veiled Jesus from the sight of the disciples, so also, He will come again with clouds, that is, He will burst through the veil in an apocalypse, and be revealed from heaven in ma­jesty and power. When also, St. Paul speaks of Jesus as having ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things (Eph. 4:10), he is not speaking primarily of physical distance, but of his glorious majesty and the fullness of His redeeming grace. Heaven, there­

, will be a place, the eternal abode of all the re­deemed of all the ages.

St. ^John states specifically, that he saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev.

21:2) ; and again, he heard the words, Come hither, 1 will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife (Rev. 21:9).

The Scriptures ever represent heaven as a place. This is so plain a fact that it hardly needs any illustration. Our Lord represented it as a place or mansion in His Father's house (John 14:1-3); St. Paul, as a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (2 Cor. 5:1). Again, it is the temple of God, the place of His throne and glory (Rev. 7:9-17); and a great city, the holy Jerusalem (Rev. 21:10). No doubt these are figurative representations of heaven; but that does not affect the underlying reality of place.-Miley, System­atic Theology, p. 473.

Dr. Gerhart while regarding heaven as having substantial reality, emphasizes the difference between the present earthly order, and the future spiritual order. He says, "Heaven is the domain of uncreated glory, in which God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, lives the life of absolute love in fellowship with Himself. Heaven, the self-produced oticfa of God, is eternal, supernatural, transcendent. It is not a part of the created universe. It may not be located. Heaven is the form of existence which differs essentially from the present economy of man­kind or of the cosmos, as the Creator differs from His creation.

Nor may we think of heaven as an abode which is separated from ^.us conformably to the laws of nature-space or nature-time. Considered from this point of view, heaven is neither far from us nor near us. The conception is equally defective, whether we imagine the ohcla of God to be locally present or locally distant. Like God himself, the sphere of His essential glory does not, objectively, exist under the conditions of any natural or earthly category.-Gerhart, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 11, pp. 889, 890.

These references clearly indicate that the apostle is speaking of the Church in her perfected glory. Other passages, however, seem to refer to the Church militant on earth. Thus, they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it (Rev. 21:26). One passage seems to blend the militant and triumphant aspects of the Church in a single statement-And the nations o f them which are saved shall walk in the light of it, referring to the light which streams down from the Jerusalem which is above; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it-referring to the Church Mili­tant on earth (Rev. 21:24). Dr. Adam Clarke's com­ment is significant, as indicating the quick transition in thought from the Church Militant to the Church Tri­umphant. On Rev. 21:2 concerning the new Jerusalem he says, "This doubtless means the Christian Church in a state of great prosperity and purity"; while the dec­laration, "there shall be no more death," he applies to the Church after the resurrection. Dr. Ralston thinks that the true interpretation of the last three chapters of the Apocalypse is this: "In the preceding part of Revela­tion a prophetic sketch had been given of the history of the Church to the commencement of Christ's millennial reign. In the last three chapters the millennial reign of 'Christ, the solemn events of the resurrection, the gen­eral judgment, and the glories of the future state, are de­picted. As the millennial reign of Christ with His saints on earth will precede, and is typical of, His triumphant reign with them in the heavenly state, the most rational inference is, that both of these states are included. The burden of this description unquestionably relates to the heavenly state; yet, as both the millennial and heavenly glory are connected with the mediatorial reign of Christ, the one unfolding its greatest triumphs in this world and the other revealing its final issues in the world to come, it is but natural that the description of both should be blended. The triumphs of Christ's mediatorial reign on earth, and its rewards in heaven, are, in an important sense, one." (RALSTON, Elements of Divinity, pp. 535, 536.) As the one Church is sometimes viewed as militant, and at other times as triumphant, so if we mistake not, the concluding chapters of the Apocalypse, open up the prospect of a new and eternal order, in which the old boundary line between heaven and earth is effaced, and the latter inhabited by redeemed and glorified be­ings, has in itself become a part of heaven. Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God (Rev. 21:3).

The, Bl ssedness of the Saints. While the nature of future happiness cannot be known in this life, the Scrip­tures give us many intimations of what God has prepared for them that love Him. (1) Heaven will be a place from which all sin_ and unrighteousness shall be banished forever. There shall in no wise enter into it any thing ^th at defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie (Rev. 21:27). No unholy thing shall ever enter the abode of the blessed, nor shall the saints ever feel the sinister influence of Satan or wicked men. (2) It _will be a place where the penal consequences of sin are all. removed. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed

In referring to the description of the new Jerusalem, Dr. Ralston says, "But the question is often asked: Are these descriptions figura­tive, or are they literal? It is generally assumed that they are figura­

tive. Perhaps they are. But we dare not affirm that they are entirely so. The human body, in the resurrection, will be the identical body that we have here: yet it will be changed into a 'spiritual body'; it will be 'fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body'; even so, for aught we know, when the new heaven and the new earth' shall be created, God may produce new substances of gold and precious stones, so refined and spiritualized, that they will far transcend those metals, as known on earth, as will the spiritual bodies of the saints the 'vile bodies' they now possess. And if this be correct (and who can say that it is not?) then the descriptions here given of the magnificent city which shall be the final habitation of the people of God may be different from the literal acceptation only in so far as the spiritual gold and precious stones, and rivers and trees, of the celestial world, shall excel in beauty, mag­nificence and purity, those substances on earth; just as the vile body of the saint on earth shall be excelled by that body which shall rise from the tomb, with all the undying energies and unfading beauties of im­mortality. But if we conclude that these descriptions are entirely figura­tive, then we are bound to infer that all these glowing descriptions must come far short of imparting a full conception of the glorious reality.-Ralston, Elements of Divinity, pp. 536, 537.

away (Rev. 21:4). (3) Heaven, will not only De cnar­acterized negatively by the absence of^- all evil, but the saints shall also enjoy the possession of all positive good. The curse having been removed, St. John says, The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: and they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever (Rev. 22:3-5). The scrip­tures just cited represent heaven as the perfect answer of every holy desire. For those who are weary, it is ever­lasting rest; for the sorrowing, it is a place where God shall wipe away all tears; for the suffering, there shall be no more pain; for the mistakes and blunders of a sincere but imperfect service, the throne of God shall be there, and His servants shall serve Him-every deed being performed in His presence and under His approv­ing smile; for those who are perplexed and bewildered by the uncertainties and disappointments of this life, it is promised that there shall be no night there; for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign with Him forever and ever.

Another source of blessedness to the saints, will be their communion with each other and with their com­mon Lord. We may be sure that the distant personality of every redeemed saint will be preserved inviolate; and that the social instincts which characterized them here, will not be obliterated there, but rather intensified. Hence the apostle says, But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city o f the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of. angels,

joy consists in that vivid pleasure or delight which results from the reception and possession of what is peculiarly grateful. The humble Christian, even in this vale of tears, may sometimes possess a "joy unspeakable and full of glory"; but the glorified in heaven shall realize a fullness of joy which never can be experienced in this life. It will be joy raised to its highest degree of perfection, and expressing itself in songs of heaven-inspired rapture and delight. They will unite in ascrib­ing "glory and dominion unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood"; while the chorus of that multitude shall be heard "as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thun­derings, saying, Alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."­Wakefield, Christian Theology, p. 635.

to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect (Heb. 12:22, 23). Our Lord says that they shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 8:11) . "They shall hold converse with prophets and righteous men of olden time. They shall listen to the orations of Enoch and Elijah, of Abraham and Job, of Moses and Samuel, of David and Isaiah, of Daniel and Ezekiel, of Peter and James, of Paul and John. If a few moments of Mt. Tabor, where Moses and Elijah talked with Jesus, so entranced the apostles, with what thrilling emotions must the souls of the redeemed be inspired, when on the eternal mount on high they shall listen to the sublime strains in which so many eloquent and im­mortal tongues shall comment on the stupendous won­ders of redemption!" (RALSTON, Elements of Divinity, pp. 539, 540). Furthermore, the plain inference of scripture is, that the saints shall recognize and mingle with their loved ones of earth, who like themselves have been saved through the blood of the Lamb. "Then shall I know," writes the Apostle Paul, "even as also 1 am known (1 Cor. 13:12). To the question, Shall we know each other in heaven? we may then, confidently answer in the affirmative. Since memory remains, and the theme of our song is redemption, we may be assured that we shall also retain the knowledge of persons, places and circumstances connected with our salvation. St. Paul appears to hold out to the Thessalonians the joy of this knowledge when he says, For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence o f our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? (1 Thess. 2:19) .

Heaven will be replete with loving fellowships and holy worship. The imperfections which so often mar our present social life, even in its most spiritual forms, will have no place in those fellowships. There

love shall be supreme. Through the headship of Christ saints and angels shall form a happy brotherhood. Yet the saints will have a song and a joy which angels can share only by the power of sympathy-the song of redemption and the joy of salvation. Holy love will make all duty a holy delight. The heavenly worship, kindled by the immediate presence and open vision of God and the Lamb, shall be full of holy rapture.-Miley, Systematic Theology, II, p. 475.

If the apostle looked forward to meeting those who had been converted under his ministry, may not all cherish the same hope in respect to their own loved ones? But highest and best, it is promised that without dimming veil, they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads (Rev. 22:4) ; and St. John in an equally ex­ultant strain exclaims, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure (1 John 3: 2, 3).

The Employment Heaven. While heaven will be a place of rest, we are not to suppose that it will be a place of inactivity. The question, therefore, naturally arises, What will be the nature of the employments of heaven? We may well suppose that they will be first of all spiritual. God, who hath blessed us with all spir­itual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1: 3), will enable the souls of the redeemed to con      tly expand in the ocean-     of divine love. He who hat redeemed them, shall dwell in t e midst of them, and lead them to fountains of living waters. New views of divine grace, and fresh visions of His adorable person, will constantly burst in upon their enraptured minds and hearts. Their intellectual faculties will be enlarged and purified. "Before them shall lie the whole circle of cre­ation," says Dr. Graham; "the system of providence and

Heaven must be a social state, because this is our nature. Our character and our history have been wrought out in connection with our relations to our fellowmen. This makes our life; we must lose our­selves, our identity, before we can find satisfaction in a solitary, sub­jective life. The friends we have known we must still know. . . The rest of heaven, then, is not cessation from activity, but relief from toil and hardship and the burdens of life; a difference like that between Eden and the world cursed and bringing forth thorns, so that in the sweat of our face we eat our bread. We must have activity and re­sponsibility in heaven, because our nature requires these as condi­tions of blessedness. Heaven must be a progressive state, because growth, progress, is the law of our nature; and with an endless life before us, and a wide field of action opened to us, no limit can be set to progress in knowledge, in power, and in blessedness. That conception of heaven must be most true which is most wholesome, most effective, in its reaction, to beget a heavenly mind in those who cherish it.-Fairchild, Elements of Theology, p. 334.

the character and attributes of God. His wisdom, love and power they shall be able to trace in the mysteries of

The intellectual life of heaven must infinitely transcend the at­tainments of the present life. The mental powers will there be free from any present limitations. In the new conditions they must have large development. There is no apparent reason why they should not have perpetual growth. Certainly they will be capable of a perpetual acqui­sition of knowledge, and a universe of truth will be open to their re­search. Many problems, now dark and perplexing, will there be solved. The ceaseless pursuit and acquisition of knowledge through all the realms of truth will be a ceaseless fountain of pleasure.-Miley, Sys­tematic Theology, II, p. 475.

It is highly probable that the happiness of the redeemed in heaven, however full and perfect at first, will nevertheless be progressive. We know that the capacities of the soul for holy enjoyment are increased on earth by holy exercises; and may we not conclude that the con­tinuance of such exercises, under more favorable circumstances, will still enlarge these capacities? Again, the desires of the soul for happi­ness are constantly increasing in this life, and will probably increase in eternity. Hence, as the capacities for enjoyment will be progressive, and the sources of gratification inexhaustible, an ever-growing happiness will necessarily follow.-Wakefield, Christian Theology, p. 636.

The perfection of heaven includes the body, not the present earthly corruptible body of flesh and blood, but the spiritual body which is incorruptible (1 Cor. 15:42). As Christ now enthroned in glory is veritable man, in body as in soul, so will every saint be conformed to the body of his glory (Phil. 3:21). Of that spiritual body we are now not able to form a conception that is just and satisfying. Nor is such a conception a present necessity. What is chiefly a matter of im­portance is to recognize the life everlasting to be a reality compre­hending the whole man. The spiritual body is the finite form of per­sonal existence which will answer completely to the status of glorified manhood, not less real, but more real than the earthly body. Com­pared with corporeity during our present abnormal history, the spiritual body is the only true human body, of which our present material or­ganization is but an imperfect type and prophecy.-Gerhart, Institutes of the Christian Religion, II, p. 910.

Heaven is a sphere of unique blessedness as being the sphere of a unique harmony. External nature, ordered as perfect and unchecked benevolence may dictate, is there completely adjusted, we may believe, to the spiritual bodies of the saints, and spreads out into a scene of transcendent beauty. Each member of the heavenly community, radiant with spiritual perfection, is an object of complacency and spontaneous delight to every other. Thus, mutually giving and receiving holy joys, all know the fruition of a society in which love is absolutely sovereign. As the center of this holy society, the ground of its harmony, the life of its life, sufficiently known to invite to full confidence and loving communion, sufficiently mysterious in the infinite depths of His being to afford a field of endless research and revelation, is He who is truly known as Immanuel, the ever-present One, who is above, and in, and through, all things, and by whom all things consist. Each heir of im­mortal life knows Him as the source of his own perfection, and sees His grace and beauty mirrored in all the rest of the heavenly host. So all are "perfected into one," and the prayer of Christ gains its ideal fulfillment. To the Church Militant, struggling through earthly vicissitudes and battling with foes, has succeeded the Church Trium­phant, dwelling in unclouded light and secure in its eternal inheritance. -Sheldon, System of Christian Doctrine, pp. 578, 579.

nature and providence which are now hidden from human eyes.... The enjoyments of the mind must make up a great part of the b e sedness e va en. The freed and expanded reason will no doubt delight in tracing the laws of the material universe and the supreme wisdom which ordained them, the rise and progress of the various kingdoms and empires, nations and races, which con­stitute the dominion of God; in tracing the wisdom, love and goodness of the Creator in every department of being, from the insect on earth to the seraph before the throne. Oh, what a field for the intellect!" (GRAHAM, On the Ephesians, p. 72). Nor must we forget the bodily en joyments also. A new physical framework or bodily organism will be given to the soul at the resurrection, which will so perfectly express the new redeemed and spiritual nature, that it is called a spiritual body. The soul and body were made for each other, and death which occasioned their separation in this life, will itself be destroyed in the world to come.

The Endless Duration of Heaven. The crowning ex­cellency of heaven is, that its joys shall never end. Heaven is called "the city of God," a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Heb. 11:10) ; it is called a better country, that is, an heavenly (Heb. 11:16) ; and it is spoken of as a kingdom which cannot be moved (Heb. 12:28). The word eternity or some of its forms, is frequently associated with heaven. It is a house ... eternal in the heavens (2 Cor. 5:1) ; eternal glory (1 Peter 5:10) ; everlasting habitations (Luke 16:9) ; and the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:11) . We have al­ready considered the word a''Ovtos in its relation to fu­ture punishment, and the same word, as signifying end­lessness, is used in connection with eternal life. In fact, the endlessness of the future life is essential to the life itself. The very possibility of an end would seriously mar the concept of its felicity and security. When the saints enter into that eternal glory, they enter upon a life that shall never be finished, and of which it may be said of them, as it is of God himself, that their "years shall have no end."

In meditating upon what is revealed of the conditions of heavenly existence two errors are to be avoided: (1) the extreme of regarding the mode of existence experienced by the saints in heaven as too nearly analogous to that of our earthly life; (2) the opposite extreme of regarding the conditions of the heavenly life as too widely dis­tinguished from that of our present experience. The evil effect of the first extreme will, of course, be to degrade by unworthy associations our conceptions of heaven; while the evil effect of the opposite extreme will be in great measure to destroy the moral power which a hope of heaven should naturally exert over our hearts and lives, by rendering our conception of it vague, and our sympathy with its characteristics consequently distant and feeble. To avoid both of these extremes, we should fix the limits within which our conceptions of the future exist­ence of the saints must range, by distinguishing between those elements of man's nature, and of his relations to God and other men, which are essential and unchangeable, and those elements which must be changed in order to render his nature in his relations perfect. The following must be changed: (I) all sin and its consequences must be removed; (2) spiritual bodies must take the place of our present flesh and blood; (3) the new heavens and the new earth must take the place of the present heavens and earth, as the scene of man's life; (4) the laws of social organization must be radically changed, since in heaven there will be no marriage, but a social order analogous to that of the "angels of God" introduced. The following elements are essential, and there­fore unchangeable. ( I ) Man will continue ever to exist, as compounded of two natures, a spiritual and material. (2) He is essentially intellect­ual and must live by knowledge. (3) He is essentially active, and must have work to do. (4) Man can, as a finite creature, know God mediately, that is, through His works of creation and providence, the experience of His gracious work upon our hearts, and through His incarnate Son, who is the image of His person, and the fullness of the Godhead bodily. God will, therefore, in heaven continue to teach man through His works, and to act upon him by means of motives addressed to his will through his understanding. (5) The memory of man never finally loses the slightest impression, and it will belong to the per­fection of the heavenly state that every experience acquired in the past will always be within the perfect control of the will. (6) Man is essentially a social being. This, taken in connection with the previous point, indicates the conclusion that the associations, as well as the ex­perience of our earthly life, will carry all of their natural consequences with them into the new mode of existence, except as so far they are necessarily modified (not lost) by the change. (7) Man's life is es­sentially an eternal progress toward infinite perfection. (8) All the known analogies of God's works in creation, in His providence in the material and moral world, and in His dispensation of grace, indicate that in heaven saints will differ among themselves both as to inherent capacities and qualities, and as to relative rank and office. These differences will doubtless be determined (a) by constitutional differ­ences of natural capacity, (b) by gracious rewards in heaven corre­sponding in kind and degree to the gracious fruitfulness of the indi­vidual on earth, (c) by the absolute sovereignty of the Creator.-A. A. Hodge, Outlines of Theology, pp. 461, 462.

THE FINAL CONSUMMATION

The final consummation, sometimes known as the consummatio secu i, or consummatio mundi, marks the close of the history of this present world. In its place there will be a new eaven an a new earth, wherein e e rug eousness desti

be                                                        e sea    e kingdom of God in its prefection of beauty In this triumphant kingdom Christ will lay down the mediatorial work of salvation from sin, for the last enemy shall have been overcome. He will not, how­ever, cease to be the exalted one, for He shall still be the Firstborn among many brethren, our fountain of living waters, and our everlasting light. He shall for­ever be the mediate cause of our eternal life and light, our holiness and our happiness, even when He gives up the kingdom to the Father. The final consummation brin s to a close: (1) the ro ' na       history o mdividua -t e                                        na         consequences being the future The final issues of our Lord's return may be said to be the con­summation of all things. This, with reference to the Redeemer, will be the end of His mediatorial kingdom as such, while as it respects man it will be the finished redemption of the race, and its restoration to the divine ideal and primary purpose of the Creator. In regard to the scene of redemption, the world, it will bring in a renewal or transformation; and, as to the Church of Christ collectively and individually, it will seal the perfection in the eternal vision of God and blessedness of the heavenly state.-Pope, Compend. Chr. Th., III, p. 424.

The Son has now advanced the kingdom of God to that point at which the love of the Father can be perfectly realized. He has given up the kingdom to the Father, laid aside His mediatorial office, for by the perfect destruction of sin and death, no more place is found for the mediatorial work by making atonement and redemption, because all the saved are matured for the glorious liberty of the children of God. But the meaning of the apostle by no means is that the mediatorial office of Christ is in every sense terminated, for Christ abides eternally the Bridegroom, the Head of the blessed kingdom; all communications of blessings from the Father to His creatures pass through the Son, and now it is for the first time, in the full sense of the words, true that Christ is present in all creation, for He now fills all with His own full­ness.-Martensen, Christian Dogmatics, p. 484.

The mediatorial kingdom will cease in its relation to the Triune God; the redemptional Trinity which introduced the economy of sub­ordination in the Two Persons will be again the absolute Trinity. The Son incarnate will cease to mediate; as Incarnate He will be forever subordinate, but there will be nothing to declare His subordination: no mediatorial rule over enemies, no mediatorial service or worship of His people. The Triune God will be seen by all mankind in the face of Jesus Christ; and the mediation of grace will become the mediation of glory. The Intercessor will pray for us no more, but will reveal the Father openly forever.-Pope, Compend. Chr. Th.. III. n. 425.

punishment of the wicked and the eternal-bless- edness o the saints. (2) It mar^ks also the prefection of the hurch. Heaven will not be inhabited by an innumerable company of redeemed individuals only, but by the Church as an organic unity. However glorious the an­gels may be which in adoration hover about the throne, she will be the most precious jewel of heaven. Perhaps none, in an affectional sense, will be nearer the throne. For this reason, St. John speaks of the Church as the Bride of the Lamb, which he describes in the symbol­ism of a holy city-the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven (Rev. 21:2, 9, 10). No symbol is better adapted to express the complexity of social organization. In the present world, through the ill­adjustments of an imperfect social structure, the city becomes the seat of sin and wickedness, of want and penury, of pain and suffering. But in the city of God, the organization will be so perfect, as it affects the rela­tion of the individual to the social order, that there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away (Rev. 21:4). The Church Militant on earth, becomes triumphant in heaven, but she will never lose her identity. And when the Church shall have reached this perfection, and every enemy has been sub­dued and death itself shall be no more, then it is that the mediatorial kingdom as an agency of salvation must of necessity cease, and be absorbed in the endlessly blessed kingdom of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. (3) But the consummatio mundi includes the physical univers ^c well as the     e Church There shall be a new heaven and a new earth­a subject to which we must now give brief attention in the final paragraphs of our treatise on Christian The­ology.

The New Heavens and the New Earth. At the end of the present world, there shall be a new heavens and a new earth. The resurrected and glorified bodies of the saints demand a new and glorious environment. The form of the present world must be changed, and in its place will be a new and eternal order, as the sphere of the kingdom of glory. "While the path of eschatology," says Dr. Van Oosterzee, "is traced over against the high­est mountain heights, we cannot be surprised that the loftiest peaks are bordered by the deepest chasms. This is notably the case with regard to those questions which yet remain. We saw, after the long working week of the history of our race, with the appearing of the Mil­lennial Kingdom, the dawn of a Sabbath of rest, and after that Sabbath a last conflict, succeeded by perfect, victory. Time now disappears from our eye, and that which further awakens our devout attention belongs wholly to the realm of eternity. Yet the question cannot be put aside: what will now become of the world itself, for whose inhabitants the eternal destiny has been forever decided? If the Christian consciousness can give no single decision on this point, yet it is something more than a question of mere curiosity; and we rejoice to say that the word of prophecy is not wanting even here in hints, although these in turn call forth a multitude of new questions (VAN OOSTERZEE, Christian Dogmatics, II, p. 804). The Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testaments look forward to a new creation, when the present heavens and earth shall have grown old, and are folded up as a vesture. Thus, Of old hast thou laid the foundation o f the earth: the heavens are the work o f thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all o f them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed

The kingdom will have a new beginning: new as the kingdom of the new heavens and a new earth made one. The Spirit of Christ will be the immanent bond between Him and us, between us and the Holy Trinity: "He that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit" (I Cor. 6:17). The Incarnate Person will be glorified then as never before: His personality as divine will be no more veiled or obscured by any humili­ation, nor will it be intermittently revealed. God shall be All in All: first in the Holy Trinity, and then through Christ in us.-Pope, Compend. Chr. Th., III, p. 426.

The heaven of the saints will therefore not be a realm of shades, un­substantial and indeterminate, but a kingdom substantial and real, where the faculties and functions of human personality will be active in the joy of righteous freedom. Like the capacities of the soul, the powers of the body will be commensurate with the law and vocation of everlasting life.-Gerhart, Institutes of the Christian Religion, II, p. 914.

(Psalm 102:25, 26; cf. Heb. 1:10-12) . "The earth as yet wears its working garb," says Martin Luther, "then the earth also will put on its paschal and pentecostal rai­ment." The Prophet Isaiah waxes eloquent in contem­plation of the new creation: And all the host of heav­en," he says, "shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf f alleth off from the vine, and as a fall­ing fig from the fig tree (Isa. 34: 4) -a judgment against Idumea, which seems prophetic of the greater day of judgment to come. Again, Lift up.your eyes to the heav­ens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished (Isa. 51:6) ; For, behold, 1 create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy (Isa. 65:17, 18). In the New Testament, we are drawn to the plastic representation of St. Peter, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night: in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the work that are therein shall be burned up.... Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness (2 Peter 3:10, 13). This seems to be in harmony with our Lord's own statement that Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away (Matt. 24:35). In our discussion of the events connected with the Second Advent, we pointed out that the word "dissolved" as here translated is from the Greek ww which means to unloose, unfasten, unbind, but never

God and blessed spirits are exhaustless constituents of the life of bliss. Each spirit not only reflects God, but the entire kingdom of which he is a member. When God shall be all in all, it may be said that all are in all, in one another; and the multiplicity of charismata unfolds itself, in this unlimited and undarkened reflection of love and of con­templation; in this ever new alternation of giving and receiving, of com­munication and receptivity.-Mortensen, Christian Dogmatics, p. 488.

to annihilate. The Scriptures lead us to believe that God in time will set free these forces of earth which are now held in reserve, and use them to the purifying of that which has been defiled by sin. God destroys only that He may create something more beautiful; and upon the ruins of earth laboring under the curse, he will raise up another, which shall bloom in unfading splendor. This new heaven will be the consequence of dissolution and purifying-"the noblest gold, brought forth from the most terrible furnace heat."

The Restoration o f All Things. The great consum­mation marks the restoration of harmony and order in the universe. It was to this, doubtless, that St. Peter re ferred when he said that the heaven must receive, or retain Jesus Christ, until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began (Acts 3:21). The doctrine of restorationism is known in theology as the apokatastasis, from the phrase a1TOKaTaaTaa•ews iravTwv which occurs only in the passage just mentioned. As a form of universalism based on the disciplinary idea of suffering, this subject has already been sufficiently dis­cussed. In this connection, however, the subject pre­sents a different aspect. Many of the finest and tenderest minds of the ages, have sincerely hoped that all men might eventually turn to God and be saved. Attractive ag this doctrine is, however, these men have been com­pelled to confess the rugged truth of the Scriptures, that some will be finally impenitent, and consequently lost forever. "When we thus start from the idea of God's character," says Bishop Martensen, "and reason there­from, we are led on to the doctrine of universal restora­tion a7TOKaTaa^-,raa^-ts; but the anthropological, psycho­logical, and ethical methods, that is, life and facts, con­duct us, on the other hand, to the dark goal of eternal damnation. For if man can by no means be made blessed by a process of nature, must it not be possible for the will to retain its obduracy, and forever to reject grace, and in this manner to elect its own damnation? If it be replied that this possibility of a progressive obduracy implies also a continual possibility of conversion-this is a rash inference. For our earthly life already bears witness to that awful and yet necessary law according to which evil ever assumes a more unchangeable char­acter in the individual who chooses it." (MARTENSEN, Christian Dogmatics, p. 478.) Dr. Raymond, who holds firmly to the doctrine of eternal punishment says this: "The idea of endless torment is, beyond question, the most terrible idea ever conceived. It is the great burden of religious thought. It is not strange that generous minds have endeavored to avoid it. It is not prima facie evidence of the love of sin, or of enmity to truth, that man seeks grounds for belief that it will never be­come a fact of history. But on the other hand, it is evidently vain for human philosophy to attempt decisive proof on the negative of this question; no man can affirm that endless torment will not be; it is not absurd or self­contradictory to affirm that it will be." (RAYMOND, Systematic Theology, II, p. 520.) The Scriptures are clear on this important subject, and our Lord to whom all authority and power is committed, is a merciful and faithful high priest. Christian theology has to do with no other thoughts than those revealed by Himself. And when the curtain is drawn on this present age, we hear the words, He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still (Rev. 22:11). The consummation

Dr. Pope says that "there are some indications that the end of human history will be the restoration of the universe; as if man will then at length, perfectly redeemed, join with the other orders of in telligent creatures in the worshipping service of the eternal temple: their harmony, without human voices, not being counted perfect. But this does not sanction the speculative notion that the number of the saved from the earth will precisely fill up the vacancy caused by the fall of those who kept not their first estate. This speculation of the Middle Ages introduces a predestinarian element into the final con­summation which the Scriptures do not warrant. Nor does the testi­mony of Jesus by the Spirit of prophecy sanction the thought that the consummation will unite all spirits with all men in the blessedness of union in God. Discord will be suppressed, but not in that way. The reconciliation of which St. Paul speaks (1 Cor. 15:25-28) ; (Eph. 1:10) is heaven and earth: it does not couple hell. And the union is effected as the result of the atonement by the sacrifice of Jesus, which was offered in human nature and in human nature alone.'-Pope, Compend. Chr. Th., 111, pp. 450, 451.

of the ages, marks the glorious completion of the king­dom of God. Then the kingdom will have a new be­ginning, in a new heavens and a new earth made one. The glory of the divine Christ will no longer be obscured nor intermittently revealed, and His countenance is as the sun shineth in his strength (Rev. 1:16). His kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever (Rev. 22: 5). But until that glorious and dread day shall come, when the destinies of men shall be fixed for weal or woe, for eternal life or endless death, the invitation of divine love rings clear and strong, the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hear­eth, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And who­soever will, let him take of the water of life freely (Rev. 22:17).

Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen (Heb. 13:20, 21)