that everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, should con- stitute only a part, and a small part, of future punish- ment ; and such too as, after a series of torment, must, next to being made happy, be the most acceptable thing that could befall them ? Can this be the object threatened by such language, as recompensing tribu- lation, and taking vengeance in flaming fire ? (2 Thess. 1). Is it possible that God should threaten them with putting an end to their miseries? Moreover, this de- struction is not described as the conclusion of a sue-
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cession of torments, but as taking place immediately I spectable advocates of the doctrine, and a very mod- after the last judgment. When Christ shall come to erate one, is Dr. McCulloh, of Baltimore, in his Aria- be glorified in his saints then shall the wicked be de- lytical Investigations concerning the Scriptures (Balti- Stroyed. 3. Everlasting destruction from the presence more, 1852, 2 vols. 8vo). He maintains that after the of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, cannot final decisions of the judgment, the wicked will be ut- mean annihilation, for that would be no exertion of terly destroyed by a dreadful visitation of Almighty divine power, but merely the suspension of it ; for let wrath. The ablest work produced on the side of de- the upholding power of God be withheld for one mo- structionism is Hudson, Debt and Grace, as related to ment, and the whole creation would sink into nothing. ' the Doctrine of a Future State (Boston, 1857, 12mo). 4. The punishment of wicked men will be the same as This work "denies that the natural immortality of the that of wicked angels (Matt, xxv, 41) : Depart, ye \ soul is ever expressed or even implied in the Bible, cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and \ On the contrary, life and immortality are brought in his angels; But the punishment of wicked angels j fulness by the Redeemer to the redeemed alone ; while consists not in annihilation, but torment. Such is all others are not only naturally mortal, soul and body, their present punishment in a degree, and such, in a j at death, but, after that mortal suspension of positive greater degree, will be their punishment hereafter. J existence, are raised at the final resurrection and cast They are ' cast down to hell ;' they ' believe, and trem- | into the lake of fire as the second death. It denies ble ;' they are reserved in chains under darkness to that endless conscious suffering is ever affirmed to be the judgment of the great day; they cried, saying, the nature of future penalty ; but affirms that the pen- ' What have we to do with thee ? Art thou come to I alty consists in privation, and in its perpetuity consists torment us before our time?' Could the devils but I the eternity of future punishment. The class of Scrip- persuade themselves they should be annihilated, they ture terms by which eternal misery is usually under- would believe, and be at ease rather than tremble. 5. stood to be designated, such as condemnation, damna- The Scriptures explain their own meaning in the use J tion, perdition, destruction, the writer understands to of such terms as death, destruction, etc. The second express the painful and penal consignment of the en- death is expressly said to consist in being cast into j tire nature to the disorganization and complete non- the lake of fire and brimstone, and as having a part existence from which it sprung" (Meth. Quar. Rev.
in that lake (Rev. xx, 14 ; xxi, 8), which does not describe annihilation, nor can it be made to consist with it. The phrase cut him asunder (Matt, xxiv, 51) is as strong as those of death or destruction ; j'et that is made to consist of having their portion with hypocrites, where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. G. The happiness of the righteous does not consist in eternal being, but eternal well-being; and as the punishment of the wicked stands everywhere opposed to it, it must consist, not in the loss of being, but of well-being, and in suffering the contrary."
Jan. 1858, p. 149). An exhaustive reply to Mr. Hud- son, and a thorough examination of the whole contro- versy, is given by Landis in his treatise On the Immor- tality of the Soul and the final Condition of the Wicked (N. Y. 1859, 12mo). The subject is also ably treated by Mattison in his work, The Immortality of the Soul (Philad. 1864). See also Alvah Hovey, State of Im- penitent De.id (1859) ; J. R. Thompson, Law and Pen- alty; Meth. Quar. Rev. 1852, p. 240 ; 1858, p. 149 ; 1861, p. 31 ; 1864, p. 689 ; Presb. Quar. Rev. April, 1860 ; Am. Theol. Rev. April, 1861 ; Bibliotheca Surra, April, 1858,
Bishop Law (f 1789) maintained that spiritual death ; p. 395 sq., and April, 1863, art. v; Buck, Theol. Diet.; is an entire destruction — an annihilation of the soul, \ Smith's Hagenbach, i, 226; ii, 451. Compare Immor- with the resolution of the body into its original dust tality.
(Theory of Religion, 7th ed. p. 339-351). The name of j Annius, or John Nanni, born July 7, at Viterbo, Archbishop Whately is probably to be enrolled among j in 1432. Having entered the order of Dominicans, he the modern supporters of annihilationism in England, became a proficient in the Latin, Greek, and Oriental In his work on the future state (.4 View of the Scripture i languages, and in theology. He published two works, Revi lotions concerning a Future State, Philad. 1855) he [ entitled, 1. Tractalus de Imperio Turcarum; and 2. argues the opinion fully. He says, that in the passages De Futuris Christianorum triumph', etc. (Genoa, 1480, in which the words " death," " destruction," " eternal | 4to), in which he endeavors to show that Mahomet was death," are spoken of, these words may be taken as | the Antichrist of the Apocalypse. But the work by signifying literal death, real destruction, an utter end ; which he is chiefly known is his seventeen books of of things. The "unquenchable fire" may mean that Antiquities (Rome, 1498, fob), in which he pretended fire which utterly consumes what it is burning upon. \ to give the works of Berosus, Marsylus of Lesbos, Ca- The " worm that"dieth not" may be that which entire- 1 ton, Sempronius, Archilochus, Xenophon, Metasthenes ly devours what it feeds upon. " Everlasting perdi- or Megasthenes, Manetho, and others. These writings tion" may mean that perishing from which the soul were the cause of a dispute among the learned at the cannotbe saved, but it will be final annihilating. The time, some, as Pineda, Louis Viveza, the Spaniard, passage " The last enemy that shall be destroyed is ', Vossius, Melchior Canus, and others, maintained the death," affords, according to Whately, some ground for utter falsity of all these pieces, and declared Annius to thinking that there may be a "final extinction of evil I be a sheer impostor; while others, who had among and suffering by the total destruction of such as are in- | them such men as Nauderius, Leander Albert, Sixtus capable of good and happiness. If eternal death means of Siena, Alph. Maldonatus, etc., declared themselves final death— death without any revival— we can un- in his favor. Annius was master of the palace for Al- derstand what is meant by death being destroyed, viz., exander VI, and was, it is supposed, poisoned by Ca> that none henceforth are to be subjected to it" (p. 184). sar Borgia, whom he had offended. He died Nov. 13, And Whately concludes this scriptural argument by I 1502. — Hoefer, Biog. Generate, ii, 729; Landon, Feci. this sentence : " On the whole, therefore, I think we Diet. s. v.