The just, who admitted by grace, That first resurrection attain, And one with the Deity reign. 4. "O Heaven! what a triumph is there," etc The third verse, as above, appeared in the first edition of our HymnBook in 1780, and all subsequent editions to the eighteenth inclusive, 1805. In the twentieth edition, 1808, this verse is omitted, and has not since been replaced. We think its omission a decided improvement, leaving the hymn not only more compact and well-proportioned, but relieving it from all reasonable objection on the ground of good taste. The second verse of the hymn deserves our special attention. In this brilliant stanza, the singular and striking idea occurs, that glorified spirits 66 converse by sight," without the necessity or the intervention of words. To make this consistent, however, with Holy Scripture, it must be taken in a qualified sense. We may readily admit, that although ordinarily they may hold converse with each other in a manner analogous to ours, by the mutual employment of speech, yet occasionally they may, in their excess of rapture, or when" silence heightens heaven," converse by sight," and the mutual commerce of looks alone. We know that even on earth, eyes have their language, and features express more than words could convey. But we have poetic authority, at least, for asserting, that when this is the case, love, either Divine or human, is the inspirer; and sits looking through those windows, the eyes, when the door of the lips is for a season closed. 46 Dante, in his "Paradiso," has the following passages: "And of those splendours, lo, to pleasure me, On me the eyes of Beatrice, my guide, Fix'd as before, me of their dear assent "Ah! let my wish have quick accomplishment,' "To kuow from Beatrice by word or sigu What I should do, I turn'd myself upon So joyous they appear'd in their bright mood, "The enamour'd mind, which dally'd evermore With my dear lady, to bring back mine eyes To her, was now more eager than before. "Prove to me that what I think, is reflected in thy mind; so as to be known to thee without the necessity of revealing it by specch." The charms which nature or which art supplies All when united I should nothing find, Match'd with the bliss divine which turning there Rapt me at once...... And up into the swiftest heaven did bear." (Ibid., xxvii., 88–99.*) But perhaps the idea has been carried out most fully by a living author in America, O. W. Holmes, in his "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table." "I am too much a lover of genius. I sometimes think, and too often get impatient with dull people, so that in their weak talk, where nothing is taken for granted, I look forward to some future possible state of development, when a gesture, passing between a beatified human soul and an archangel, shall signify as much as the complete history of a planet, from the time when it curdled to the time when its sun was burned out." J. W. T. THE ETERNITY OF FUTURE PUNISHMENT. THIS is a subject of deep, intense, and overwhelming importance. If the destiny of only one immortal spirit is of profound interest, much more that of many. Though we purpose dealing specially with the question which relates to the duration of future misery, yet it may not be altogether irrelevant to direct attention in the first place to its nature. As there are two kinds of sin, the one consisting in forsaking that which is good, the other in committing that which is evil, so the misery of the lost may be divided into two kinds; the one comprehending pain of loss, the other pain of sense; both being included in that dreadful sentence which Christ is represented as pronouncing upon the finally impenitent, "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." There is pain of loss intimated in, "Depart from Me;" pain of sense in the words, "into everlasting fire." To be doomed to "depart" from the only Fountain of living waters, the only true Anchor of the soul's refuge, is the loss of all losses. Such a privation as this no mind can conceive, no tongue can declare. He that has incurred it, has lost all. Such a loss can only be selfinflicted. Could the wretched outcast only believe himself blameless, could he only flatter himself that his punishment was greater than his desert, or that he was the victim of a dire necessity, this conviction would greatly mitigate the dreadful anguish; but the thought, "I am now suffering the just rewards of my deeds," will pierce with ten thousand barbs the agonized conscience. • The translation of these passages is that of J. W. Thomas. See" The Trilogy; or, Dante's Three Visions," part iii. "Paradiso." They who are commanded thus to "depart," are given over to the unmitigated fierceness of their own sinful passions. For centuries the predominant notion of Christendom as to the nature of future punishment was that it chiefly consisted in bodily sufferings. Whoever has seen those paintings in which certain master-spirits have expressed their ideas on this subject, will remember the hideous demons, the flames of fire, represented in them. In that wonderful work in which the poet sang of Purgatory, Heaven, and Hell, the same notion is prominent; there is no idea of mental suffering embodied; all is awful bodily torture. But remorse contains in it the very essence of the anguish of hell. The lost will carry in their bosoms their own tormentors. To think of a human being racked with the cravings of that passion which it was the business of an entire life to gratify, but which it will be the employment of eternity to deny! There is sound theology as well as fine poetry in the words of Milton, put into the mouth of Satan :— "Which way I fly is hell, myself am hell: " which is only another version of the sentence: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." But the lost will also be doomed to feel the outpouring of God's positive anger, the bitterness of an eternal curse which will affect every power of body and every faculty of mind. A further sad and terrible aggravation of their sufferings will be the depraved society with which they will be surrounded: "For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." Among the very worst men in the present life, in the lowest strata of society, there may be a latent spark of generous feeling, some slight remains of the nobility of our nature, some check from conscience to restrain from sin. How revolting the thought to be separated altogether from the virtuous, to be compelled to associate with those destitute of every particle of goodness! The mind recoils with horror at the thought of spending an eternity with companions devoid of the slightest tincture of moral excellence. They to whom Christ will say, "Depart," will be cursed both with the presence and the absence of God,— with the presence of His justice, with the absence of His love and favour. These sufferings were never originally designed for man; every sinner is the author of his own ruin. There is no insurmountable barrier raised by God against the entrance of any human being into bliss. The eternal wretchedness of no man is scaled and determined by any fiat or stern decree of the righteous and merciful Governor of the world. The doctrine of unconditional election and reprobation has no countenance from Scripture; it is abhorrent to the nature of God, and is contradicted by plain and numerous passages of His Word. If one could say, "Christ did not die for me; or, if He did, it was no advantage to me, because God withheld from me the power to believe; " if this could in any case be justly said, the accusing voice of conscience would be greatly allayed. The question of the duration of future punishment must be brought for its solution to the Word of God: by that alone we must determine its truth or falsehood. We might naturally and reasonably suppose that in a matter of so much importance revelation would give no uncertain sound. John Foster, it is said, refused to credit this awful doctrine. It is not affirmed, however, that he had calmly and dispassionately weighed it in the scales of Scriptural truth and found it wanting; this, we are informed, he rather declined to do; but he based his disbelief of it solely on the ground that he thought it inconsistent with the mercy and goodness of God. But in the discussion of this question, with which the immortal interests of millions of the human race are inseparably bound up, the final appeal can only be to "the law and the testimony; and this should ever be approached, the subject of inquiry being one on which revelation alone can speak with authority, with minds unbiassed, with judgments unprejudiced. The true meaning of Scripture is still hidden from "the wise and prudent," but God reveals it to "babes" in Christian simplicity. It is not surprising that men should exert all their dialectic skill in defence of a theory so palatable to human nature as that the punishment of the lost will terminate at some period or other. From the days of Origen this subject has been discussed; but the controversy has of late been renewed with great vigour, and assailed from many quarters. Origen believed that the punishment of the wicked was purifying in its nature, and temporary in its duration. Augustine maintained that the sufferings would be eternal. It has been advocated by some that after the lapse of a certain period of time the wicked would even be restored to happiness; by others that they will be annihilated body and soul. Latterly a new theory has been broached; which is, that the punishment will be "everlasting," but that it consists in death,-in the loss of life in its essence, attended and preceded by various degrees of pain. This paper is not intended as a formal reply to any of these theories: its purpose is simply to establish from Scripture the doctrine that the award of the wicked will consist in a punishment which will be eternal, and which, being eternal, will be painfully and consciously felt. In the Book of Daniel we read, " And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Let attention be directed to the word "everlasting," prefixed to "life;" and also to the word "contempt.' If in the former it implies, as it evidently does, unlimited duration, why should it, when placed before "contempt," be infinitely restricted? The latter term is suggestive: they who rise to "shame and everlasting contempt" must be living, sentient beings, suffering an unending consciousness of degradation. Another notable passage is found in Mark iii. 29: "But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation." The parallel passage in Matthew xii. 32, thus reads: "But whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come;""it shall not be forgiven." (Luke xii. 10.) The language is distinct and forcible. We read of a sin which hath " never forgiveness;""neither in this world, neither in the world to come;" the perpetrator is pronounced to be in danger of "eternal damnation." To VOL. XVIII.-FIFTH SERIES. D an unprejudiced mind this might be supposed a sufficiently clear statement and convincing proof of the doctrine. But we are sustained by other declarations of Holy Scripture: "Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Matt. iii. 12.) By those who contend for the theory of annihilation, the word "unquenchable" is said to apply to the fire itself, not to the subjects on which it operates. The word in the original is doßéoro, which is "unquenchable," "inextinguishable," incombustible," and may express not only a property of the fire, but also of the future corporeal frame of those who will be consigned to it. The bodies of the martyrs were consumed, destroyed, but not annihilated. The destruction of the body does not destroy the soul, nor do we know enough of that fire to affirm that it will annihilate body and soul. This, however, is not the only passage in which the fire is said to be "unquenchable." In the ninth chapter of St. Mark's Gospel we read, "where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." These words are repeated a second and a third time; twice, in close connection, we also read, "the fire that never shall be quenched." These declarations are found in association with exhortations to the abandonment of all sin, however dear and gainful, inasmuch as it is better to suffer the keenest bodily pain, and the most torturing mental anguish, than to endure the gnawings of eternal remorse, and the torture of the flame that shall be fed for ever. This is plainly the drift and design of the Saviour's teaching. But it is said the language is only metaphorical; that the "worm" and the "fire" do not prey upon sentient human beings, but upon unconscious, dead bodies. The sinner, it is maintained, does not continue in the fire for ever; the " worm and the "fire" alone are said to exist. But why, it may be asked, should the undying nature of the "worm," and the quenchless character of the "fire," be so strongly, emphatically, and repeatedly dwelt upon, if they only represent certain elements of pain and ingredients of suffering? While they express intensity of pain, it is not upon that the emphasis is laid, but upon its never-ending duration. There is a marked contrast between the valley of Hinnom and the place of future torment. In the former, the suffering is transient,—the worm that preys upon the dead bodies, dies; in the latter, the worm "dieth not." In the former, the fire which consumed them is extinguished; in the latter, the fire is "not quenched,"-will never go out so long as that which kindled it endures. It is the "wrath of God" which feeds that consuming flame: " and one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever." (Rev. xv. 7.) Why, it may be inquired, is the wrath joined with the eternity of God, but to intimate that in the place of final woe God will display His righteous indignation against sin so long as He shall exist? Similar awful words also fell from the lips of the Incarnate Son of God. "The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." (John v. 28, 29.) Here, then, we have a plain, unmistak |