The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-09-04

confirming the word with signs follow
ing, ITO the end of the age. Matt. xviii.
In the New Testament, many things
are called oionian, having reference to
the Christian age. In some instances
the meaning may be, "as long as that
dispensation shall last" but more gen.
orally the meaning is, pertaining to
the Christian religion" The term
aionioS may be used with no reference
to any of the ages, as when it is applied
| to God. But even in this case, the ref
erence was originally the same. In the
Hebrew of the Old Testament, the ever
lasting God is literally, the God of the
age, or ages. In the estimation of the
Hebrews, ne was peculiarly the God Of
the Mosaic economy. But he was also
the God of the ages, and of all ages.
Hence he is said to reign "unto the ages
of ages" In the Hebrew idiom, as in
the Hebrew New Testament, and the
Syriac version, everlasting or eternal
life is called the life of the age; and
eternal punishment, the punishment of
the age, thus confirming our view of
0iona0s.
In a few instances, both diOn and
aionios are used Of things that are i'm
mortal, or belong to the immortal life.
Such seems to be the usage of aion in
Luke Xxx, "a, 35, when the term denotes
the present constitution of things, and
of that pertaining to the resurrection
state. Also in II Cor. V, l, our spirit
ual bodies are called eternal in the
heavens. But in these instances, we
do not know that these things are eter-
nal, from the use of this word, but
from the nature of the things spoken of.
They are eternal in their nature, and
therefore the word may have that mean
ing when applied to them. 1t is more
probable, however, from the context,
that permanency, as compared with the
transient nature of our earthly taber-
nacle. is all that was intended by the
apostle.
1t may be observed here, that the
term everlasting, even when applied to
punishment in the Old Testament, is
unchanged. True, some of our best
scholars have long since given up these
passages, as affording any support to
eternal punishment. Perhaps the re-
visers are willing to take the same
position, feeling entirely safe, so long
as they find eternal punishment in the
New Testament. Perhaps for the time
being, they forgot the old adage, "Give
an inch and they will take an ell" 1t
will make no difference. We shall take
the ell, all the same, whether the inch
is conceded or not. The doctrine of
eternal torment is doomed; and if the
nineteenth century does not blot it out,
the twentieth will do it; and it seems
to us that intelligent men can be better
employed than in bolstering up doc
trine that has done nothing but mis-
chief since it came from paganism into
the Christian church, and can do moth
ing else, so long as it remains. The
sooner we get "quit'' of it the better.
1t is curious circumstance, that
aidioS, the strongest term in the Greek
language, or one of the strongest, for
expressing endless duration, which &C.
ours twice in the New Testament, Rom.
i, 20, Jude i, 6, is in the revision rem
dered everlasting. In the first of these,
everlasting is substituted for eternal,
as if it were not as strong term as
oi0nios, Is it possible the revisers
thought so ? If they did, it is plain
they had not examined the subject
No one who has read pure Greek, would
think of employing aionioS to express
an eternity of duration. The word that
would first occur to such writer for
this purpose, is aidioS, though there are
other words for the same idea. dion,
in the sense of life, is found in the most
ancient Greek classics. If the author
desired to express the idea of endless
life, another word was added, generally
aidios. For example, Hesiod calls Ju-
piter the lord of ceaseless life. For
the word life he uses aion, but employs
another word for ceaseless. Aristotle
says, "a life (aion) continuous and
eternal taidios) belongs to tho gods.''
AienioS is not an ancient classic word.
like aion, but came into use about the
time the Old Testament was translated
into Greek, not quite Boob. G. In that
translation it is used in scores of in
stances in limited sense. About the
time of Christ, the Jewish writers, Jo-
sephus and Philo, make use of aioaios
in limited and indefinite sense; and
when they express unlimited duration,
they employ aidios or some other word.
Josephus says the Pharisees believed
"that the souls of the base We're allOt-
ted to an endless (aidios) prison. %
Again he says, the Essences believed
that the souls Of the bad are sent to a
dark tempestuous cavern, full of inces-
SAINT (aidiOS) punishments. This usage
was the common practice in those days.
How then can we account for the rem
dering Of aidiOS, by what the revisers