the doctrine taught by our Lord in Matt. xxv. 46, and in like passages,
arises, according to the arguments contained in the Essay and in the
foregoing letters, from the little attention that is paid in the
Christian doctrine now generally accepted to what the Scriptures reveal
respecting "the age to come" (_aiôn ho mellôn_) as distinguished from
"the present age" (_aiôn outos, aiôn ho parôn_). The designation "age"
applied in common to both, indicates that each has a beginning and an
ending. The future age begins at the termination of the present age,
the separation between them being the epoch of a resurrection of the
dead--not, however, of all the dead, but "a resurrection of the just,"
that is, of those who have been prepared and sealed by faith, and
suffering, and good works, in the present life, for immediate entrance
into a new state of life. It is said of these that "they cannot {133}
die any more, and are the children of God, being the children of the
resurrection" (Luke xx. 36). These are they who "have part in the
first resurrection," of whom it is further said that "they _lived_ and
reigned with Christ a thousand years," whereas of "the rest of the
dead" it is said that "they _lived_ not till the thousand years were
finished" (see Rev. xx. 4, 6). It is plain, therefore, that there will
be a time of _separation_ of the one class from the other--the time of
_threshing_, when the tares are separated from the wheat; and that
whilst the elect at that time enter into the _[oe]onian_ life (that is,
the life of the age to come), the rest of the dead when they live again
enter into a state in which they undergo "[oe]onian punishment" (that
is, punishment that pertains to the age to come), ending eventually in
the second death, which, however, in common with all divine punishment,
is inflicted for producing a certain effect foreordained in the
counsels of the Almighty. (Respecting this effect, see what I have
said in the Essay and at the end of the first of the foregoing letters.)
That the words of the passage in St. Matthew might be understood, at
least by the disciples to whom they were addressed, in the sense above
indicated, may be inferred from the knowledge of the religious Jews of
that time respecting the events of the future age, as conveyed to them
by the writings of the prophets of the Old Testament, with which they
were familiar. In proof of the general diffusion of such knowledge we
may cite the response of Martha to the Lord respecting the resurrection
of Lazarus, "I know that he shall rise again at the resurrection in the
last day" (John xi. 24), and the common belief of a resurrection of the
dead entertained by the numerous sect of the Pharisees, as well as the
particular character of the unbelief of the smaller body of Sadducees
(see Acts {134} xxiii. 8, where it is stated that "the Sadducees say
that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the
Pharisees confess both"). It is hard to perceive etymologically how
the word _aiôuios_ could have received the meaning "ever-_lasting_."
There is, in fact, a very remarkable passage of the Apocalypse in which
that meaning is quite excluded: "And I saw another angel fly in the
midst of heaven, having the gospel of the age to come to preach
(_euaggelion aiônion euaggelisai_) unto them that dwell on the earth,
and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a
loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His
judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the
sea, and the fountains of waters" (Rev. xiv. 6, 7). It is evident that
if _aiônion euaggelion_ here meant an everlasting gospel, the event
which the good news is intended to announce would never come. It may,
perhaps, be asserted that this passage of the Apocalypse refers to a
gospel announcement taking place at the present time, considering that
a distinctive feature of this age is a large increase of the knowledge
of the facts and laws of nature, and that possibly, contemporaneously
with such knowledge, God may vouchsafe a fuller understanding of the
Book of Revelation, and a discernment of the [oe]onian gospel it
proclaims (compare Dan. xii. 3, 4). That the true interpretation of
the Apocalypse will eventually be reached is implied by the words,
"Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book" (Rev. xxii. 10).
On reconsidering the arguments of the Essay it occurred to me that it
would be proper to take notice in the Appendix of one other subject.
In pages 9, 15, and 63 the doctrine that immortality is dependent on a
state of perfected righteousness is regarded as "self-evident." I
{135} now think that the use of that term is objectionable, inasmuch
as, according to the title of the Essay, every such statement ought to
rest wholly on Scriptural ground. I propose, therefore, to adduce here
passages of Scripture which indicate an intimate relation between
righteousness and life. Out of many texts which might be cited for
this purpose, I have selected two, as follows. First, when under the
law, Moses said to the Israelites, "I have set before you life and
death: choose life," they must have understood his words as signifying
that on condition of submission to the will of God and obedience to His
righteous laws, they might look forward in faith to the enjoyment of
the future covenanted life. (See what is said on this text in p. 28.)
Again, the same dependence of life on righteousness forms an essential
part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, although taught in a different
manner. St. Paul, for instance, has given in Rom. v. 18, the following
summary of Christian doctrine. Therefore as through one transgression
(__di henos paraptômatos_), unto all men, unto condemnation (_eis
katakrima_), so through one righteousness (_di henos dikaiômatos_, i.e.
the obedience unto death of Jesus Christ), unto all men, unto
life-justification (_eis dikaiôsin zôês_), where, it should be noticed,
_zôês_ is not a dependent genitive, but, as in many instances in New
Testament Greek, a genitive of quality. Thus this text declares that
the justification of all men, which is their being eventually made
righteous through the operation of the Son of God, has the quality of
conferring _life_.
Transcriber's notes:
This book contains many fragments of Greek, so many that the convention
of using "[Greek:...] to indicate transliterated Greek passages was
abandoned in favor of using underscores to indicate Greek material.
Transliteration was done according to the Project Gutenberg Greek
How-To guidelines.
Underscores are also used to indicate italicized words, but in all
cases such words are English words.
The sequence "[oe]" is used to indicate the Unicode oe-ligature
character.