Figurative terms. — Everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, Matt. xxv., 41. The hell of fire, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched, Mark ix., 44. The lake which burnetii with fire and brimstone, Kev. xxi., 8. Bottomless pit, Eev. ix., 2. The dreadful nature of this abode of the wicked is implied in such expressions as " outer darkness," the place " where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth," Matt, viii., 12 ; " I am tormented in this flame," Luke xvi., 24 ; " unquenchable fire," Luke iii., 17; "furnace of fire," Matt, xiii., 42 ; "black- ness of darkness," Jude 13 ; " torment in fire and brimstone," Eev. xiv., 10 ; " the smoke of their torment ascendeth for ever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night," Kev. xiv., 11. — Kitto's Bib. Ency.
6. What do the Scriptures teach as to the nature of future punishments ?
The terms used in Scripture to describe these sufferings are evidently figurative, yet they certainly establish the following points. These sufferings will consist, 1st, in the loss of all good, whether natural, as granted through Adam, or gracious, as offered through Christ. 2d. In all the natural consequences of unre- strained sin, judicial abandonment, utter alienation from God, and the awful society of lost men and devils, 2 Thess. i., 9. 3d. In the positive infliction of torment, God's wrath and curse de- scending upon both the moral and physical nature of its objects. The Scriptures also establish the fact that these sufferings must be, 1st, inconceivably dreadful in degree. 2d. Endless in dura- tion. 3d. Various in degree, proportionately to the deserts of the subject, Matt, x., 15 .; Luke xii., 48.
7. What is the usage of the ivords, diwv, eternity, and aiuviog, eternal, in the Neiv Testament, and the argument thence derived establishing the endless duration of future punishment ?
1st. The Greek language possesses no more emphatic terms with which to express the idea of endless duration than these. 2d. Although they are sometimes employed in the New Testa- ment to designate limited duration, yet, in the vast majority of instances, they evidently designate unlimited duration. 3d. They
464 HELL.
are used to express the endless duration of God. (1.) di&v is thus used, 1 Tim. i., 17, and as applied to Christ, Kev. i., 18. (2.) diuvwg is thus used, Rom. xvi., 26, and as applied to the Holy Ghost, Heh. ix., 14. 4th. They are used to express the endless duration of the future happiness of the saints. (1.) dt6v is thus used, John vi., 57, 58 ; 2 Cor. ix., 9. (2.) diwviog is thus used, Matt, xix., 29 ; Mark x., 30 ; John iii., 15 ; Rom. ii., 7. 5th. In Matt, xxv., 46, the very same word is used in a single clause to define at once the duration of the future happiness of the saints, and the misery of the lost. Thus the Scriptures do expressly declare that the duration of the future misery of the lost is to be in precisely the same sense unending, as is either the life of God, or the blessedness of the saints.
8. What evidence/or the truth on this subject is furnished by the New Testament usage of the word dtdtog ?
This word, formed from del, alivays, for ever, signifies, in clas- sical Greek, eternal. It occurs only twice in the New Testament, Rom. i., 20, " even his eternal power and Godhead/' and Jude 6, " Angels reserved in everlasting chains." But lost men share the fate of lost angels, Matt, xxv., 41 ; Rev. xx., 10. Thus the same word expresses the duration of the Godhead and of the sufferings of the lost.
9. What other evidence do the Scriptures furnish on this sub- ject ?
1st. There is nothing in the Scriptures which, even by the most remote implication, suggests that the sufferings of the lost shall ever end.
2d. The constant application to the subject of such figurative language as, "fire that shall not be quenched," "fire unquench- able," "the worm that never dies," "bottomless pit," the neces- sity of paying the " uttermost farthing," " the smoke of their tor- ment arising for ever and ever," Luke iii., 17 ; Mark ix., 45, 46 ; Rev. xiv., 10, 11, is consistent only with the conviction that God wills us to believe on his authority that future punishments are literally endless. It is said of those who commit the unpardon- able sin that they shall never be forgiven, " either in this world nor in that which is to come," Matt, xii., 32.
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10. What are two views on this subject, which have been held by different parties in opposition to the faith of the ivhole Chris- tian church, and the clear teaching of God's word t
The only two classes of theories possible as alternatives to the orthodox doctrine on this subject, are those, 1st, which involve the idea of the total destruction of being (annihilation) as an ele- ment of the "second death/' 2d. Those which maintain the future restoration of the sinner after an indefinite period of aton- ing and purifying suffering in proportion to his guilt.