, 1874-03-15
ETERNAL PUNISHMENT.
Ehat Goes the Greek Word ssAIon.
los" Meant
Replies to Nr. Charles U. rccd,a
Article.
Letter from the Few. i. W, r1ar.oo

iast' ide positions he assumed and tbe Arr,
ments he framed. were common enough tvent
years ago; but they have long since been .ban
doned by the best defenders Of the doctrio
whose defense he makes. having first been mad
untenab|e by Universalist expositions. T1ea
e1posltionh are entirely overlooked BY Mr. Reed
who probably ID unaware Of their existence. MAJ
to know them, Ia to be destitute OF the knoy]od, !,
regulate 70 tile defense he volunteers. To knoy1
them and Ignore them, il to be equally deficient
! 1he concession which MT. Head makes a1 tn
start ia fatal to all that follo=s- From the lexi
cographe1s be shows, what DR.. Edward BeecLa
and himself admit, TINT the noun
AIoN
does not contain the idea Of eternity. The orig
1nat s1gnldcatlon OF tho word Ia "Gfe, )" I" no.
rlod." But, he adds: a.:
:. There IL another word-an adjective -used IN tn
New Testament, which has only Tho meaning "a laat
ing, "censant," "perpetual, i" sverastng,* etap
I nal" This word Ia dsonios.
| He does not inform your readers who are not
familiar With the Greek that aiontus is the id.
! ]ective derived from the substantive aion
ana That the law governing adiectives limits iii
meaning to that Of the noun, whence tt Ia Oh.
| tanned. The word beautiful is incapable ot
| meaning moro than, or different from, beauty =
! it's root. "Swaet" cannot exceed or differ FROM
"sTeetuess-' No adjective eau carry q scintilla
moro than its noun. II uion means limited du-
rs:'on. as Mr. Reed confesses i: docs,
cannot by any possibility mean more. "LuK =
coed - strength ;" "good" cannot 1 surpsa, 81
goodness" In concedlng that aion denotes
limited duration, Mr. Reed is forever estopped
from claiming that its adjective denolsa "en6l-
leas DURATION.
Mr- Reed is an acute lawyer; hut, while dis
believing his doctrine, re can give bin = much
better brief than he now holds Let him assume
TINT aion IS derived from aei on, ''always b.
ing" e. derivation once held. but now aban-
doned), and that, therefore, it means " absolute
e;ornity. and then he can with propriety a1gue
that dlon1os means endless time. The assump-
ton has no good ground to rest upon, but car-
ta1nly 1t Is great deal more lawyer-iiks to .s-
sumo point, and logically reason from it, than
it Is to make the fatal admission that noun
meaua one thing, aud then claim that its adieo-
tive means something utterly different. To aay
that a1o1. means " limited duration" and aior-
los az unlimited, is to say that "sweetness
stands for 1.-The saccbarilB quality" but tl.at
''sweet means "acd OF "saline."
II Any college il Ia want OF
4 GREEK PROFESSOR,
to make a '' new departure" we can recommend
Mr. Reed He would be- in high favor with in
dolsnt students. He would save them ali ths
perplexity Of delving among Greek roo1s. Tie
tips OF the branchea-the adiectives-are s1nplo
Tor his browning. Show him what an adiecsira
should mean to sustain some theological dogma.
and be at once cuts it from the root noun THAI
ASeAAo
contain.
AZ photographers worthy Of nenHon asrea that
a1on1os always mean constant '' lasting perpe-
u.l," everlasting" "of long duration" e;trna'
"eyerlasttng, n" ETERNAL" Is tha only definitions.
:, That Is to say, lex,cographers always gin
the word sererdl meanings. "A lucid e1egete
surely. In given case, then, how shall ne
render it? Shall We understand it as meaning
:. 1astng." Of long duration" Or IL eternal, Ii
any snec,de1 instAnea7 11anifestly we must b.
guided BY the subject. Tho priesthood Of Aaron,
tho mountalns. and other thln9a in the Rlhle,
arc aionlos. They are
EVERLASTING" BUT rxApohA1~
The priesthood Of Aaron Is succeeded BY Uhris-
shall b made low" Applied led to to
God, a:ontos has the force oi "end~
less, " because it acquires It from God. Itia
aneh saea, s';o Wora a. gIea1 We say great ay,a
the last instance, the word great contains the
idea OF in6nity, because it absorba It flou1 ia
word following it. In tho other instances d
carries different thought So the word 4'e7or-
asting Is! means "endIess" when applied to God,
ess- The theme treated determines tho mean
ng Of tha word. Long duration " Is tho actual
'ignitication, but how long is to b. ascsztatnsd
y what accompanies it.
lie REED DECLARES:
Wheresor in the New Testament tho doctrine o6
usnEo eternal Life Is t4ught this Elective a,o4a&ot
'sed, conioined with the Greek worsl zoe-"ufe Id
ONE form or forz1s Ut ason with the proper arsal
PROPOSITION.
The doctrine Of future eternal Hfo Is founded sole
fpon these words ia the New Testament: II they ID
royed iu the New Testament THIS same word aioa-
os u expressly used tn the New Testament 10 denote
b. future punishment Of the wicked. II II m4ans
eternal tn relation to the life aftes desth it also
ust aa surely means "etarual" in relation to futu1s
uuishmeut
The first sentence above quoted is very fncor-
eet. There are several words applied to tho
enoting +" endlessness," aud nothing else. J.
'et.. l., 4: San inheritance incorrurtibla (oph-
1drfon), indebted, and that fadeth not AMY"
anaronton); Heb. cii., 16: after the power
"a endless LIFE (zoes ahatafutou) Hence 1t
orrect, namely: that tile doctrine Of "a endles4
10 res.s On the word aionios. In fact, tho
hrase rendered 'egerlastiug" or st eternal lifer
oes @ not necessarily, or usually, uoan II sndles4
WHAT is ETERNAL LIFE,
J the Bible describes it? John, D., Il: "Ho
aat believeth On the Son hath everlasting lifa.'
ohn xrii., 8: - This il life eterual, to know
hes, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
hon hast sent" applied to Life, tho word
'nnlne Christian has everlasting Life abiding
Him" even though in month he should
pse into sin and lose it. The phrase ns1er Of
self means endless existence. 5..
wifi refer to on1y one verse to suatain my ttate
h chapter of Msthsv rs.a. IN tbe cor Common non version
" "; And these ahsu 60 Away into everlasting
but ths righteous into nfe eternsl" II.
:eak word hera used 10 denots - punishmeut" II
fd.in, tho aecusatve Of kolasts .nd ths G.esx
'rd used to denote life Ia zoe, ths aecosaye css9
aS Tho ~o1d assn oo .e
tire cass Of atonio*, and tbs ss1ne word md CO
{: afon9on II used to denote !" eternal" befoss ~
I'D "he-" In both casea tho adjective folosa sh