iliL NT age there
. 1 ir h This rculn i,
1 Ken of IS the
I declared bj
111 h onU in so
1 1 tpibcopatc, and,
sho]> of Rome a d 440),
Liinmiiniijin pastor ind people
spoken b\ the ininist r F
ir tmi f n 1 III
liilc^aidtu tilt \n,l i
absolution 01 leniibbioii ot s iis 1 alone, the people still kneehii^ clamation of Gods pardon to tt for true repentance The e\hoi i contains thit, inv itition, to be pi i i there be anv ofvouvvho caniKt'iuiLl
kt linn come to jne, or to some othci minister of God s v\ ord and open Ins ei lef of Gods holy v\oid he nn\ i i\c tli !
I ibinhte t solution
enjoined '
v^eishty
w lio trulv icpcnt and h^ lluethmeoficncii, am .■- hetheefrini all tl .
'absolution aie used
of theChuKh vshohi Chri t IS 1 iM h fl I
Th.
the Chii espeeialh that a e work of L vaded by tin
\I ilutinn, in the full meaning ((I the sense of God's foigiveness in that sense, may be said to be lit the Cliuich and its mmistry. mil ont mainly by pleaching, iiiiiviilual dealing with souls. 1 n 1 1 lov e indicates the more
I II stul methods by which
II I, his ,ndeno„i,d to fulhl I I 111 liM I 1 1 il liii In oidei \ I tiiih I il in this
mil I I 1 I I 1\ 111 1 widely pel it ol ( iiusl lu its whole mem
beiship The gift of powti in this vvoik is not conhned to the ministry; it is found wheievt
theie is a dc expeiience '' themselves 1 him to h IV , I
( bust hkl I I
[ily spnituil mind and Chiistian it betake 111! V feel longs to s) iritual
I . Ill tiuh called ot (xod to the 1 1 lie shown by then goodness to I \\ hip of God On the training- '/ / X bad boy met with .an accident; to the little hospital ^^ hen he was
ABYSS
ACCESS
awake at night he talked to the nurse. One night he said, 'Sister, I think I am dying, and it is so hard ; but I think if you kissed me as if I was a good boy, I could bear it.' This boy, conscious of an evil past and struggling to escape from it, felt as if the kiss of that good woman would give him cheer, and hope of acceptance with God — would be, in fact, an absolution. A Christian minister, in converse with a dying man in whom he discerns a true repentance, may be able to saj- with great power, ' Brother, be assured thy sins are forgiven thee,' and great blessing of comfort to the man may follow, may indeed be looked for. Only in a high moment of sinritual impulse and assurance could the minister venture to say, ' In the name of the Lord Jesus I absolve thee from thy sins. '
LiTERATPRE.— The Commentaries on the Gospels, especially Westcott on St. John, Bruce on St. Matthew, Dods on St. John ; Bishop Harold Browne's Expositnm of the Thirtij-niiic Artich's; A C<if/in/;r Ihrtunianj l.v Addis .ind Arnold, art.
7icr»H.;i'(i.i»s<(..|H /.,7,r,i ,■/«,.,< J.amhjrisHichni ; F. \V. Robert- son, of P.ntrhton, Sennoiis, 3rd series, v. ; Selbv, The Imperfect Angel, etc., xii. J, KOBERTSON.
ABYSS {ii (S/Swo-os).— The word ' abyss,' which we find in several places in the RV of the NT, is not found in the AV. There we find instead, in St. Luke (8'') and in Romans (10') 'the deep,' and in the Apocalypse ' the bottomless pit.' In Rev 9^- we find (RV) 'the pit of the abyss' (t6 (ppiap rfjs ipiaaov), a somewhat peculiar expression, but not having, it would seem, a different signification from the simple word 'abyss.'
It is not easy to see that the word ' abyss ' has the same signitication in Romans as it has in St. Luke and the Apocalj-pse. In a general way, of course, the word may be taken as meaning the underworld, the world of departed spirits and of things dim and mysterious, — a world conceived of as deeply hidden away from that of things seen and known, even as the interior of the earth and the depths of the ocean are hidden. The abyss is certainly the realm of the departed in Ro 10', where St. Paul himself interprets the word for us : 'Who shall descend into the abyss (that is, to bring up Christ from the dead)?' But a more specific meaning than that of simply the under- world must be given to the word in Lk 8" and in the various passages in the Apocalyp.se where it en in Lk "'
occurs. The abvs
", jierhaps,
the ultimate place of punishment, but it is there assuredly a place of restraint and of terror, as it is also so far in the Apocalypse. The abyss in the latter is the Satanic underworld, the dark and mysterious region out of which evil comes, but also the prison in which during the millennial period Satan is confined. Of course much that is given in the Apocalypse is given under poetic imagery. The abyss is rather a condition of spiritual beings than a region of .space. But under the imagery there is fact, the fact that there are si)iritual beings setting themselves in opposition to the Kingdom of God, and yet in their very opposi- tion conscious of His restraining power. Satan is bound for a season in the abyss. He has no absolute power, but must submit to such restraint as is put upon him. Evil comes from the abyss, but the very Spirit of evil has to submit to being bound there.