ages within which term all the wicked dead may be restored to virtue and happiness; and the fecond death, the last enemy, being deftroyed, the mediatorial plan may close, and Jefus deliver up the kingdom to the Father; and God fhall thenceforth be all in all, for eternal ages. Mr. S. may think as I do in the prefent world, as to many of thefe events now named; if not, I am perfuaded he will hereafter. We shall think more alike in the new earth, than we do in this old crazy one. Mr. S. next proceeds to recite our Saviour's reprefentation of the grand and amazing scene of the general judgment. My readers are well acquainted with that reprefentation. fhall recite only the laft verfe of the chapter. "And thefe fhall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal" An observation, which Mr. S. immediately makes, is this, p. 31."The words tranflated everlafting and eternal in the laft verfe, are expreffed by the fame Greek word in the original, and whatever duration of blesfedness the righteous have, the fame duration of mifery is declared concerning the wicked."

I

Mr. S. cannot intend, either from the real or customary meaning of the words ufed by our Saviour, to prove the never ending punishment of the wicked, or the never ending life of the righteous."And these fhall, go away into everlafting puniament; but the righteous into life eternal." From both the words used to fignify the future punishment of the wicked, it seems as though our Saviour really

intended

intended to convey his meaning in a manner leaft liable to be misunderstood. The word kolafis, ufed by our Saviour to exprefs the future punishment of the wicked, properly, and in its moft cuftomary meaning, fignifies chastisement. And the epithet applied to it aioonion, fignifies of, or belonging to, an age, or dispensation, whether the age or difpenfation be long or short.

Grotius, in his rights of war and peace, as I find him quoted by Petitpierre, fays, "that the kind of punishment which tends to the improvement of the criminal, is what the philofophers called, among other things, kelafis or chaftifement. Wyttenbach, quo. ted by the fame author, fays, "that God, by the infliction of fufferings, has three ends in view; the first of which, is the correction of the offender, in order to his future amendment. And that the Greeks frequently gave to such sufferings the name kolafis. As to aioonios, the derivative of aioon, it cannot fignify, naturally, any more than of, or belonging to, an age; fince the fubftantive aioon fignifies an age.

The proper tranflation of the Greek of Matthew xxv. 46, is, "And these shall go away into a state of chastisement; but the righteous into an age of life." And this And this very well agrees with our Saviour's language elsewhere, and with the language of St. John. We have seen in a forecited text, John v. 28, 29, that all that are in their graves fhall hear the voice of the son of man, and come forth, "they that have done good to the refurrection of life; and

they

they that have done evil, to the refurrection of damnation." Here, our Saviour fays the righteous fhall rife to life, and the wicked to damnation, or death. In Matt. it is, the righteous fhall go into an age of life; and the wicked into an age or ftate, or difpenfation of chaftifement; the fame that St. John means by the fecond death.

f

Mr. Whiston, in his Eternity of Hell Torments confidered, p. 21, has these words, "There is no end of reciting more ordinances, or ftatutes, or grounds, which were to be eternal, or everlasting, or to laft forever, in our modern way of interpreting those Greek words: which yet were to laft no longer, at the utmost, than the Mofaic economy itself, and have many, very many, of them ceafed, or at leaft have been intermitted abové fixteen hundred years together." After fo much hath been faid and wrote upon the fignification of thefe two words aioon and aloonios, it certainly cannot be neceffary for me to proceed to a long detail of examples of the use of these words, in the Old or New Teftament. I fhall content myself by prefenting my reader with a few pasfages only, in which thefe words really fignify an age, difpenfation, period, whether of longer or shorter continuance.

In the Septuagint tranflation of the Old Teftament, there are many examples of this use of these words. To cite only a few. Gen. vi. 4." There were grants in the earth in thofe days, mighty men which were of old, ap' aioonos" from 'eternity, according

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reader's view, to have seen the word everlasting, connected with the mifery of the next ftate, at leaft, in every book of the New Teftament, if not several times in each book: Whereas, upon examination, itappears, that by far the greater part of the inspired writers have never ufed the word, nor any other word allied to it in fenfe and meaning, with reference to the future torments; while those who have used it have very rarely done fo.. It is used but thrice by the Evangelift Matthew; but once by the Evangelist Mark, and this in a special cafe only; and but once likewife by the Apostle Paul, though his epiftles make so considerable a part of the New Teftament. It is not to be met with in the gofpels either of Luke or John; nor in either of the three epiftles of John. It no where occurs in the epiftles of Peter or James. And, what is very remarkable, in the account we have of the preaching of the apoftles, from place to place, throughout the world, in the book of Acts, there is a total filence as to their ever having used this word, or any other importing that the misery. of the wicked is endless, or never ceafing. All which is very extraordinary, if this is a doctrine of Chrif tianity. For, if it really be so, it is a most important one; and it cannot easily be accounted for, that the inspired writers should have fo ftrangely paffed it over with neglect. It might rather have been expected, that they fhould perpetually have infifted on it, and with great folemnity too, and in a great variety of plain and indifputable terms. And their omiffions,

omiffions, upon this head, are a ftrong prefumptive argument, that they knew nothing of this doctrine, which has been fo vehemently pleaded for in these latter days."-Dr. Edwards, in his book entitled, The falvation of all men ftrictly examined, fpeaking of the use of thefe words, aioon, and aioonios, lays of aioon and its reduplications, that "they occur in the New Teftament in one hundred and four inftances," P. 251. And, in the fame p. he goes on to fay, " in thirty two of which, it means a temporary duration.” We, therefore, find, both by the affirmations of Dr. Chauncy, and the conceffions of Dr. Edwards, that the word aioon does not neceffarily fignify an endlefs duration.

We have alfo feen, from many particular paffages, in which the word is ufed, that it does often, both in the Old and New Teftament, mean a temporary duration only. The inference from which, I think, is justly this, that the mere application of this word to future mifery, does not prove that mifery to be without end. From the qualities and properties of the fubjects mentioned, or fome circumftance about them, we must determine what their duration is, and not from the mere use of this noun aioon, or its derivative aioonios.

For Mr. S. therefore, or any man, to fay that, becaule our Saviour hath faid, refpecting the wicked, "and thefe fhall go away into everlasting punishment," their punishment must be ftrictly without end, because the word aioonion is joined with the

word