The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1888-04-28

| siah and Redeemer. Any service of man.
| kind is a serving of him, and qualities for
kingdom. Those on the right hand of the
king in the scene presented by JESUS, are
represented as being admitted to the king
dom because they had ministered unto him
in distress by ministering unto his distressed
brethren. "These, my brethren" undoubt-
eddy represent the Apostles and Evangelists,
who are probably the "angels" of verse 81
Those who Hospitality received and minis
| tered unto the necessities of the apostles oil
| Christianity as they went forth to proclaim
the gospel of the kingdom, we're admitted to
its privileges and blessings. What is repre-
sented by this scene was previously described
by different figures (see K. 1912; Will 20-23)'
Those who received the kings approval were
unconscious that they had done anything,
certainly for him, to merit his favor. The
highest form of Christian service is rendered
wholly unconscious of the reward it will
merit or receive.
THE ROYAL CONGRATULATIONS
on the right hand of the king, having been
approved and pronounced blessed" for
having Hospitality received and ministered
unto the messengers of the Gospel sent " TO
make disciples of all the nations" those OF
the left hand, who are represented as not
having ministered unto the king in this way,
are called "accursed," and condemned to go
away into eternal (dionion) fire, literally,
the fire of the age (eonic fire.. The eternal
or aionion fire. is equivalent to " the Gehenna
q.
12), the prophetic symbol of the punishment
of the Jews for rejecting the Messiah. 1t
was, therefore, the fire of the age (oio'o),
when the Messiah should come in Judgment
upon those who had rejected his kingdom.
1t is said to have been prepared for the
devil and his angels" The Greek word (di-
obolos) translated "devil," means accuser,
or slanderer, and is the equivalent of Satan,
adversary, or enemy. The Jewish rulers
falsely accused JESUS, and their nation was
the great adversary of his kingdom, the
"devil," for whom the "eternal fire" was pre-
pared. His angels are the messengers of
evil generally, and the emissaries of the evil
one. The nations which reject Christianity
will fail of the highest civilization and pros
and final destruction, while the Christian ma
tions will advance in civilization and pros
perity, till they embrace all the peoples of
the earth. The people of all nations who
fail to recognize their relation to COP and
humanity, which Christianity declares, how
ever unconscious they may be of their moral
delinquency, are unqualified for the enjoy
l. xr;k &bnu
believing Jews will be excluded from the
privileges of the heavenly kingdom, to suffer
the fate of evil doors, and endure the disci-
pline of Cons exacting love, which demands
the love and obedience of all His children.
"The Eternal Fire. THE words "everlast-
ing'' and ''eternal' stand in our version as
equivalent of the single Greek adjective
aionion. This we can anglioize at once by g
word which Tennyson has recommended to
English ears-0eoniGn. The adjective @olidn
is derived from the noun oeon. AoniGn
strictly denotes that which relates to or be-
longs to econ or aionion e).-Reu. j. N.
Wilton, Phi. D., Is Eternal Punishment
EndlessW
The word aion, over which there has been
SO much contention in the theological arena
means simply age. The adjective
aionias, derived from it, has sense corre-
spending thereto. But besides this
original, general sense of the word aion,
there is in the Scriptures in particular spe-
cial one 1t is of Jewish origin. The Jew
ish nation had had presented to them from a
very early period the idea of glorious time
to come, which was to be ushered in by the
advent of an exalted being whom they were
taught to call the Messiah, the Christ, the
Amounted one of GoD. The terms CLAM
hazzah, aion outos, this age, and Diam hab-
hn MIN mol
guish the present age or state of things from
the future, glorious Messianic age or dispen-
sation, became familiar household words.
Indeed, SO very familiar in thought and
speech had the idea of The Coming Age be-
CON @, that the adjective was often omitted,
and the expression dion, the age, was very
frequently used absolutely to mean the COM
ing glorious state of things to which the
whole Jewish nation, together with not few
outside its pale, with more or less material
or spiritual conception of its character was
looking forward. The adjective GiOn-
los in the New Testament frequently, and
particularly when used in connection with
life, punishment, judgment and kindred
words, has force corresponding to this spe-
cial sense of the noun aion,-that is to say,
it is not all temporal, but wholly qualitative,
and should be rendered not eternal, or age
Messianic age. Note the article and
the deiniteness which it gives to the passage.
1t is the fire. What fret The oeonian fire,
the fire of the coming age.-Reu. E. l..
Houghton, "The Force of the Adjective
Aionos in the New Testament" CHRISTIAN
LEADER, February 10, 1885.
Fire was recognized by the Jews as a SYM
Dol of temporal punishment, chastiselnent,
destruction. The word was familiar to them
through its frequent use by the prophets. 1t
is here synonymous with punishment" (verse
46), and is evidently fgurative. The endur-
ing ~ fire was prepared for the devil and
his angels;" but not, like the kingdom of
heaven, "from the foundation of the world"
1t does not belong to the order of Divine
permanences, but is Incidental to the cause
of human events and experiences. The
SIRE" is to destroy the devil, the combination
of evil men and of evil principles Hebrews
ii. 14), and its works (John iii. 81. Its angels,
those who are prompted to evil by it, that do
its bidding, must suffer loss and pain; they
cannot be destroyed in the full sense. They
are to be purged of the DEVIL other ministries
are to prepare them for the Kingdom of
Heaven. See Timothy j, 20; l Corinthians
v. 5.-Reu. G. L. Demarest, d. d., S. S. Helper,
May %, 1880.
"The Devil" The Greek word diabolos
Borrowed in Latin as diabOLIS, from which
come Italian diauoLo, French diabLe, Eng
lish devil, German teufeL, etc., is the term
regularly used in the Septuagint to translate
LD6 n6Dr6W name Odtdu. Inc Ihtter hlBul-
fes adversary" "opposer" while diabolus
strictly signifies ''slanderer," "false aocuser"
but in the New Testament is used as prac-
tically equivalent to Satan.-John A. Broad
us, ID. D., LID.
Satan or Devil, taken in the singular, is
not the name of any particular person, 9.
but name that generalizes bad persons or
spirits, with their bad thoughts and charac-
tiers, many in one. That there is any single
I l..