The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-29
Mr.. STRONG TO HIS CRITICS.
THEIR COMMENTS UPON HIS SER
Won ON HE'LL, REPLIED TO.

rr.e Reply Entirely an ImperSonaI
o,r-Mr. Strong states His Author
az for the Belief That Christ De-
ended Into HeII-He Discusses
hs Use and Meaning of the Greek
ward "AiOnios"-The Early Church
listed Three Centuries Before the
COMPILATION of the Bible and He
,ccepts Its Iden of PurgatOry-Is
Not a UniversaIist-The Action OF
b.. church With Reference to the
rbirty-nine Articles.
EDITOR Morning News: Disliking news
.ansr discussion of rel gious subjects as
-,,gt as 1 do, l yet feel cons -rained to re-
~,y 10 some of my critics in this mornings
l4i7n. 1 will mention no names, for de-
s.-a nv answer to be entirely impersonal,
and if is only The criticism, not the crit cs of
,tSh shall have anything to say. These
objections are all of them such as have
r.sn answered a dozen times, and the lit
orsuIre of eschatology, if one cares to
sndv ill., is fun of their REPUTATION.
First. Chrisfs descent into hell: St. Pc
,ers account of our Lords descent
i,to hell after His death, gives no
u,rd for the place either 'hades''
or "eehenna' but the point is
that those TO whom He went were wick
ID spirits. for it is sad that they were
ain prison." and that they had been dis
obedient" in the time of Noah. Some fee
HE attempt to get rid of this plain mean
ing is made by saying that We're under
guard" and that they had repented
before DEATH but all this is mere subter-
fuge. The simple meaning of the passage
Hes on its face: Christ went and preach
cd to The wicked spirits in prison, and if
He did. no man, L think, would assert that
He went and Knocked them with what
might have been, but that He went and
carried the good news of His gospel. and if
50 it follows that their chance of repent
ance had not ended with death.
Second. The same word that is used to de-
scribe eternal joy and happiness is used
TO describe eternal punishment. If there
is no eternal hell there is no eternal
heaven" This has been answered so Of
ten that one wonders that is should ap-
near again. The word used for life and
punishment is the same aionioS, which
has no connotation of time, and certainly
not endless time, for it is used, in the
septuagint and the New Testament of a
multitude Of things that end Thus, the
covenant with Israel Gen. 1913 is called
an everlasting (aionios) covenant, but ST.
Paul tells US CEIeb S:S-13) it has been alb
rogated; God promised to Israel "the land
Of Canaan for an everlasting (aionios) pos
session" Gen. 4S:D, but we know it is not
now in their possession; God promised TO
Israel the Aaronic ministry as IAN ever
lasting (aionios) priesthood" (Ex. 40:15),
but St. Paul argues (Heb. 7-12) that this
priesthood is changed; God commanded
Israel "as a perpetual (aionios) statute
not 10 eat fat nor blood" Lev. BID but
that statute no longer binds. We might
multiply these examples and show how
aionios is applied to hundred things that
have ended, as, for example the kingship
Of David, l Chron. 2S:4; leprosy of Nan
man. 2 Kings 5:27; pile of booty, Elk. 32:13;
mountains and hills, Hab. SO; sleep, Jer.
1885, sprinlIing blood on Intel, Elk. 1924
heave-offerings. NJ. 1919; Caleb's inherit
ance, Josh. 14:9, etc, etc. Thousands of
these things that have ended are called
eionos in the Septuagint dhe edition of
the Old TESTAMENT, from which the New
Testament writer's quoted) and similar
usage prevails in the new. Says our
Lord in st. Matthew $3.50: 1.-The enemy
that sowed them Is the devil; the harvest
IS the end of the aionr' Matt. 24:3 "Wfa
shall be the sign of My coming and of
the end of the aion?" says the Lord again.
10! l am with you always, even unto
the end of the aion.' Here then all
through the Bible, in Old and New Testa-
ments, are cons that end and aeonial
things that terminate! And as aionios is
me only word applied to punishment. if
we are to follow Scriptural usage, aeonial
punishment is one that terminates. But
what about the statement IF there is no
eternal hell, there is no eternal heavens"
here the very common mistake is made
OF confusing eternal with endless, one thai
Wtates most thinking upon this subject
When the two IDEAS are not kept separa tie
In the mind. Endless refers to time that
eIds not; eternal is the adjective of eter-
mty without any connotation of time We
believe in eternal punishment but not in
endless punishment That is, in punish
ment in the world to come, without refer
ence to its duration. We EpiscopaliaDs
saying the creed every Sunday of our
hNes nave no excuse for not understand
ing the meaning of aionios for in that
ueed we nightly translate il. "the world
70 come And thus giving to aionios its
Hshttul meaning; we translate that much
quoted text Of Matthew 25-46, These shall
20 away into punishment In the world to
come, but the righteous into life in the
ABOUT the duration of either, but
.es1 any one should think that
sn endless heaven is taken
away with an endless hell, let me hasten
70 assure them that it is guaranteed by
olher words and phrases about which
Jonn 1O:2S-29.
me whole question of endlessness rests
upon that one word aionios. If with a
utsek concordance. without prejudice, one
N IN 10 through the Septuagint and the
Nv Nv testament, he can very soon satisfy
himself whether it means endless or not.
Ihlrd THE Catholic idea of pur-
SdIoly." am charged with be-
55e"ns In this I confess that /
No as 1t existed in the primitive and
apostolic church, The church was found
p On Pentecost, A. D. 49, The first book
20 me New Testament was written A. d.
4 49, w., me last book in A. d. 81. The church
elu nor by concihar authority separate the
eacreo from other writings until the coun-
81 OF Carthage, A. d. 397. And no one
en- lu teil how many more years passed be-
~ me Bible came freely into the hands
an 'ne churches, as we possess them to-
durincr all