The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1869-08-10

ter quoting the passage, tThese shall
90 away into everlasting punishment,
but the righteous into life ETERNAL he
saws, The word here translated ever
lasting is the very. same word that IS
translated eternal; and 50 an honest
translation would have been this !: These
shall go away into eternal punishment,
but the righteous into eternal ife7-'to
know God and Jesus Christ whom he
has sent You see, by this use in this
passage, that it has no reference what
ever to, duration, but to quality .os The
reporter may not have done him justice
in this passage, but evidently the Doc
tor aimed to assert aionios, the word
rendered everlasting, is an adjunct OF
quality and not of duration that when
applied to life it means certain quality
of life.s rather than its endlessness,4 as
many have fallen into the habit of sup
posing. Well, our nguage, so far as !
know, has, it is true, its adjuncts Of quail
ity, as we'll as adjuncts of duration. For
example, sweet, bitter, black, white, ETC.,
are adjuncts of quality. in our language,
while everlasting is an adjunct Of dura-
ton. So that, oionios is a word of quail
ity, and not of duration, our translators
it into word of duration in English
And that they mighs have SO erred /
grant, and will therefore examine AIr.
C.'s position a little further. It will be
allowed, I suppose, that aa adjunct of
quality must always express q certain
quality-must always express the same
quality--no matter to what it is sap-
Piled. Sweet, for instance, expresses
A. xrln TO- I,a1
to an apple, a peach or a liquid. So
does bitter. And black expresses the
same quality Of objects, whether it be
applied to a ball, . beast OF man. It
means Hack always. Now, apprehend
it would be interesting to have any one
tell US just what quality 'aionios' ex
presses when applied to an object. It
is applied to life, in the phrase sransla-1
ted eternal life What particular kind
of life are we to suppose is meant by
eternal life? Perhaps we can all agree
that it is a happy life. Tt is the life in-
to which the righteous GO; and no mat
ter whether it be in this world or the
world to come, it must be happy life.
Then happy, is the quality that this
word of quality expresses-if, forsooth.
it is word Of quality. Then. no matter
to what it may be applied, happy is the
determined quality it indicates. w hen
it describes punishment it is happy
punishment! These said the Saviour,
shall go away into happy punishment,
but the righteous into happy life!' Eter>
nal punishment, after all is not so bad
as simply punishment--as undescribed
punishment that is, if Brother COL
lier scriticism is sound one. So it is
argued that eternal punishment is mere
ly a kind of punishment, and not end
less; and hence, though the wicked
should go into eternal punishment, after
the resurrection, still there is hope for
them. God, we are told, is not, in the
matter Of saving men, limited to this
brief life-time of ours But, my friends,
aHed into profound solemnity under the
awful weight of the truth that I speak,
l say unto you to night, after hearing
the best that can be said by Unitarians,
Restorationists and Universalists, the
Bible does not contain one " ord Of hope
for, men who reject the Gospel Of Christ
and die in their sins. Not one, word
And yet know that all around me men
are living and dying in the most con-
temptuousz disregard of that Gospel
For such dare not hope. have one
Gospel to preach here, and the same, or
none, at funerals. am not talking of
infants, idiots, heathens, Or any other
ignorant persons who know not their
duty.ao ButI speak CT persons who D.lk
not obey God He that would hope for,
such may well fall back upon conclu-
sions arrived at by reasoning from the
attributes of God, SO imperfsctly kno wn
by US sor from certain detached Scrip>g
ture expressions OF very doubtful inter,
probation. And, by the way, let 10 e Just
say here, that for my own part, can
accept no conclusion arrived at by In
ference from what are called the attri-
butes of God The finite mind can not
grasp the infinite. We can never know
the ,Infnite. Oce further than He re-
veals himself to US in our language
huns language, mean When we rea
son from the Infinite attributes we rea-
son from unknown premises, Or, at any
rate. from premises imperfectly under.
stood. But if we cannot know our
premises, we cannot know whether our
conclusion is in them Or not Th erefore.
1 accept no such conclusions The i'm
finite is not Legitimate subject of hu-
man reason, A hope based upon such
conclusions is, in my Judgment, neces
sarily very frail one. And, besides,
the Restoration view seems to me to be
opposed to very plain Scripture teach.
ing. Take, for instance, the following
John VIII. 81: Then said Jesus again
unto them, I go my way and We shall
seek me, and shall die in your sins
whittier 1 Isgo ye cannotscome.' BY such
words the Saviour meant something--
something, too, very hard to be recon
ciled with hope for such as die in their
sins. s'@ A7-s 'ss-l 81 - 4524 s52@t52E
Again-Luke XIII 2s:: Then said one
unto him, Lord, care there few that be
saved z And he said unto them, .S,rive
to enter in atthe straight gate for many,
I say unto you, will seek to enter in and
shall not be able. When once the mas
ter OF the house hath risen up and hath
shut to the door, and yesbegiu. to staud
without, and to- knock at the door, say
ing LORD, Lord, open unto us ; and he