SECTION XXVL

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.

"And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." Math. xxv. 31--46.

We have now come to a very important portion of the sacred record-one that is daily brought forward to prove a day of judgment in eternity, and the final separation of the righteous and the wicked-the latter to go away into everlasting punishment, and the righteous into life eternal,' that is the one to depart into an endless hell, and the other into an endless heaven! Such is the popular opinion, which we think is easily proven to be directly in contradiction to the testimony of Christ himself, on this subject. To arrive at the true meaning of the parable, we will first inquire, When were all the events, here recorded, to have their fulfilment ? When was Christ, or the Son of man, to come and sit upon the throne of his glory? When were all nations to be gathered before him, and this separation to take place? On a correct answer to these queries does the whole matter depend. Hear then what saith the faithful and true witness,' in regard to his own coming: For the Son of man shall come in the glo. ry of his Father, with his angels, and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily, I say unto you, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son man coming in his kingdom.' Math. xvi. 27, 28. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. * Verily, I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.' xxiv. 30-34. But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another; for verily, I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel until the Son of man be come.' Math. x. 23. Of the same purport is Mark vii. 38, and ix. 1; so also, Luke xxi. 20-36, where the judgments of the Almighty are recorded as coming on

*

Jerusalem and Judea, and the signs of which were to be a sure token to them, that the kingdom of God was 'nigh at hand,' even as they would know that summer was nigh, when the fig tree puts forth its leaves.

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Besides, the express language of Christ, in relation to the time of the coming of the Son of man,' there is other in. ternal evidence of that coming having reference to the tem. poral judgments hanging over the house of Israel. Those that were in Judea were exhorted to flee into the mountains,' and those on the house tops not to come down to take any thing out of the house,' at that eventful crisis, and a 'woe' was pronounced upon those that were with child, and them that gave suck in those days,' plainly intimating that the things of time, and not of eternity, were then spoken of by our Lord.

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This point settled-that the coming of the Son of man was 'before that generation should pass away.' and before some who heard Christ speak, should taste of death,' or die, the remaining portions of the parable will admit of easy explan. ation.

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'Depart ye cursed into everlasting fire,' means depart ye condemned into aionion fire, or the punishment of that age, set forth by the common figure of fire. By the Devil and his angels,' we understand the adversary,' or reigning pow. er which persecuted and opposed the religion of Jesus-and his messengers or vassals who aided and abetted in the unho. ly work. The wicked going into "everlasting (aionion) punishment,' and the righteous into life (aionion) eternal,' proves the equality of duration of their respective dooms, both being expressed by the same original word. And as Christ limits the phrase everlasting, as applied to life, He, that believeth hath everlasting life,' meaning the life of faith in the Gospel of Christ; so, we limit the meaning of the same word, when applied to punishment. Hence the conclusion, that everlasting punishment means nothing more than age-lasting punish. ment, or the punishment of that age-a view of the subject confirmed by a reference to the primary meaning of the

Greek term rendered punishment in the 46th verse. This word is koladzin, and signifies pruning, correcting, reforming; thus showing, that the punishment inflicted on the Jews was remedial in its nature, and entirely different from endless suf fering without mercy and without purpose of reformation.

SECTION XXVII.

"The Son of man goeth, as it is written of him, but woe unto that man, by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man, if he had not been born." Math. xxvi. 24; Mark, xiv. 21; Luke, xxii. 22.

"Those that thou gavest me, I have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition." John, xvii. 12.

"That he might go to his own place." Acts, i. 25.

It is generally thought, that the endless woe of Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of our Lord to the malignant Jews, is clearly proven by the above passages of Scripture. It is confidently asserted that the woe pronounced upon him by Christ, positively implies his utter ruin in the prison-house of hell, inasmuch as that doom is the only one which would jus tify the expression, "it had been good for that man, if he had never been born." Such a remark, says the objector, could not with propriety have been made, if Judas is to be eternally happy in the presence of God and the Lamb forever. To which we reply, 1st. that the phrase was a proverbial one among the Jews, intended to show how "deplorable was the condition of those persons to whom it was applied, but does not imply the positive impossibility either of their repentance or salvation." So says Dr. Clarke, who quotes many instances of the use of this proverb from Schoetgen. 2d. Language of a similar kind was used by Job and Jeremiah, those servants of the Living God, whom no one supposes to be heirs of perdition. Job cursed the day in which he was born, and wished he had 'died from the womb,' as as 'an untimely birth,' or, 'as infants who never saw light.' Job. îii 1,6: and Jeremiah cursed the day wherein he was born, and the man who brought tidings of his birth to his father, 'because he slew him not from the womb'-saying also, 'wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow.' Jer. xx. 14. 18. If the language of Christ, therefore, proves the dam

nation of Judas, we may infer that Job and Jeremiah are un der the same condemnation.

Nor does the phrase 'son of perdition,' as applied to Judas, prove his endless wretchedness, because the language used is in the past and present tenses. "Those thou gavest me I

have kept, and none of them is lost but the son of perdition.' Here the 'lost' state of Judas is put in contrast with the 'kept' condition of the residue of the disciples. They were already kept, and Judas was then lost, even before he had betrayed his Lord and Master! Of a certainty, therefore, we cannot conclude, that Judas will be eternally lost, because he was 'lost' here upon the earth, for, on the same principle, we should be able to prove the endless perdition of the whole hu. Christ came to 'save that which was lost'; and all who have sinned, are in a lost condition. All we like sheep have gone astray." &c.

man race.

Nor will the appellation of Devil to Judas prove that he is the fit companion of fiends of darkness. Christ said to his disciples, 'Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?' This interrogatory, on Calvinistic principles, would prove rather the safety of Judas than his ruin, as it implies that he was one of the elect, who cannot, by any possi bility, fall away, finally! Nor will the Arminian, who believes in falling from grace,' derive any advantage from this remark, unless he is willing to consign Peter, also, to the same awful doom; because, to him Christ said, on one occa. sion, 'get behind me, Satan'!

Again, it is said that the phrase, 'might go to his own place proves the perpetual misery of Judas; but Commentators are not agreed, either as to the application of the phrase, or its meaning. Some suppose that it refers to the place vacated by Judas, which Mathias was elected to fill, and that the remark was made concerning the latter. Others think, that 'his own place' means his former place of residence or business, as in Numbers xxiv, 25. where it is said, Balaam 're. turned to his place.' Others refer it the grave, simply, to which all were to go, as in Eccl. iii. 20. 'All go unto one place.' Dr. Clarke says, '1st, it remains to be proved that

this place means hell, and 2d, it is not clear, that the words are spoken of Judas, but of Mathias.'

Another reason why Judas is supposed to be suffering endless woe, is the assumed fact that he committed suicide. To which we reply, that it is not certain that he did take his own life; and if he did, it is no reason why he should be sent to the regions of endless despair. There are two versions giv. en of the catastrophe which befel Judas. In one place we are told that he 'departed and went and hanged himself,' and in another, that 'falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out.' Acts, i. 18. The form. er phrase might be better rendered suffocated or choked, and Mr. Wakefield supposes that Judas was suffocated or choked with grief or anguish. But admitting that he did take his own life, what then? Would you punish an idiot, an infant, or a madman, for any act they might commit? Certainly not. No more would it be just to punish a man, in eter. nity, for taking his own life, simply because it is the act of one, who has, for the time being, lost his reason. No one of sound mind would commit suicide, as 'no man ever hated his own flesh.'

But, the salvation of Judas can be made certain, even on strictly 'orthodox' grounds. He had time and space for repentance, and he improved the same. He openly confessed, that he had 'betrayed innocent blood;' brought back the money and cast it down at the feet of the Jews-thus affording the best evidence of the sincerity of his repentance. Now, all partialists admit that a death-bed repentance is sufficient, and many a base wretch is sent, from the dungeon's gloom to heaven's glory, by the ministers of the day, on no better grounds than are found in the history of Judas.

Besides, we read that the "the scripture must needs be fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of David, spake concerning Judas," and Peter says, that it was by the deter minate counsel and foreknowledge of God, that Jesus was delivered up, and 'by wicked hands crucified and slain.' Acts, ii. 23.

In view of these facts, how can it be supposed